Bobby's Blog...<br>        " Process Poetic " <$BlogRSDUrl$>

                                                                   Font:  LG  |  sm


Wednesday, December 31, 2003


Added my help page to the sidebar .........................................................................
for putting photos on a web site that I've contributed in the past on Da Boards.

I'm out'ta here !

G'nite !!!


C'ya.  

Tuesday, December 30, 2003


"You know you're a geek when... You try to shoo a fly away from the monitor with your cursor. That just happened to me. It was scary."
-— Juuso Heimonen



The weather sux. It 'wants' to snow, but won't.

Humour... Gail motioning to a blind pedestrian Friday to allow him to pass in front of us as we waited for traffic in our van.

Mars... a link !

Grand-daughter Ashley to the hospital today... apparently nothing serious. She had fallen out of her raised bed the previous night, but only the following morning did she complain of what the doctor called a "kink" in her neck.

Brother-in-law Kenny at the hospital at the same time as Ashley... serious flu symptoms.

I think I'm getting the flu. Throat scratchy, difficulty swallowing, coughing, head aches, tired...

Interesting... " Crazy Train " playing as I correct this post ( see previous BLOG session ).

Happy New Year ! in advance.


Lòi chào xin cào biêt !


C'ya.  

Thursday, December 25, 2003


" Crazy, but that's how it goes, millions of people living as foes. Maybe it's not too late, to learn how to love and forget how to hate. "
--Ozzy Osbourne, lyrics to 'Crazy Train'



                 Tune Me Deaf

          Opened my present
          " Black Sabbath 'Paranoid' "
          Ozzy the sound
          the poet the
          voice the master
          of the darkness
          in the light

          Bobby Nichols 12/25/2003 ( Thank you Debi ! )


In a past conversation my Mother stated her lack of appreciation for Ozzy. I would imagine Ozzy's an acquired taste best served LOUD !

Rain/hail/partial clearing... a sunset.

Rain soaked ground with which to cast the flakes of hay for Eeyore ( donkey ), Tara, and Saudi. Gail believes she will breed Tara to Saudi ( Arabian horses ) for one last foal, hopefully.

Wonderful presents for the grandkids, David and Ashley. Paper flying, new clothes set aside in their boxes, eyes bright searching for the expectant treasures... found.

Turkey bird for dinner at the In-laws, Candy and Larry... Gail and I, Chrissy and Richard and David and Ashley, Kenny and Karen and Virginia and Carlie, and Greg in attendance.

Phoned my brothers and sisters. Had a great visit over the phone with brother Jim. Debi was almost out the door when I called, so a short visit. Message machine at Peg's with John's voice announcing... and a ( 10 ) second allowance for cheer. Perhaps ( 5 ) rings of the phone at brother Robins', then silence...

Gail's in a funk... me too. Best to be funky together.

Da Boards and Googling for further Accessibility ideas for web design and linkage on my help page... good info from sultan_emerr on Da Boards re: a local web design group in West Sacamento... http://www.mandarindesign.com/gallery.html ... cool !

Peace on Earth... Adieu !



C'ya.  

Wednesday, December 24, 2003


" There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know.
There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things we know we don't know.
But, there are also unknown unknowns. These are things we don't know we don't know. "
-- Donald Rumsfeld, U.S. Secretary of Defense under President George W. Bush.



To all... Happy Holidays !!!... or not, if that is your wont.

Though he has since passed, today is my Grandfather Nichols' 100th anniversary of his Birthday.

Da Boards and Google-surfing. Helping Gail with PC problems... helping her Mother with PC problems... my Mom still with MAC problems up Alaska way.

My Mom called to wish a Happy Holiday today. She'll be with ( Bob ) her significant other's family on Christmas Day.

Warm rain storms.

DSS TV channel ( 377 ), PBS, had two segments on Web Creation late at night ! More to follow ? Not too in depth, but a good intro to the uninitiated.

Mad Cow ( BSE ) possibly detected in Washington State. It was just a matter of time.

Lukim yu bihain !



C'ya.  

Monday, December 22, 2003


"Beauty of style and harmony and grace and good rhythm depends on simplicity."
--Plato Greek philosopher 427 BC - 347 BC



Togo's Sandwich shop for lunch for Gail and I last Thursday. Made a picnic out of the meal at a park in Gold River, down Sacramento way. Hot Pastrami with all but onions and peppers on a white roll... yum. Pricey, but we've earned a treat.

Coming up the grade on US Highway 50 the view of the Sierra's from the town of Shingle Springs is spectacular: white with snow. Although Gail and I live closer to the Sierra's than Shingle Springs, we're too close to the higher foothills and our view of the Sierra's is obscured.

Last month our Kilowatt usage doubled with the 'Kids' living with us. This month we managed to add another 400 Kilowatt hours from last month... with the really cold weather not even here yet. Gail and I are snug with lots of blankets, while the 'kids' use an area heater cranked up to 80° plus Fahrenheit.

I've set up Gail's internet with Earthlink with just one bug... our main telephone line works to dial out but the new line is buggered somehow. Pretty sure it's something I did... just need to figger out the solution. Update... yup I did it... added *70, to the dialing properties that was not needed ( used only if we use call waiting which I assumed she had ordered, since I use it... oh well... live and learn ). Gail found a telephone operator that knew their s*** and could actually hear the extraneous modem tones and told her to tell me what to look for.

Also added ZoneAlarm freeware version along with: Belarc, AdAware, and AVG anti-virus ( all freeware ) to get some protection from the 'bad guys' on the net. First AdAware scan netted (7) bugs, and we'd only been on the net for an hour ! The 'puter came bundled with Semantec's Norton anti-virus, but seems I've read on the boards that it can be buggy, though I could be wrong. Will check Da Boards with a search to nail down that concern.

Total steps up to 9400. Friday's end of day pedometer tally about 2000 steps ( let's see... about a ( 0.667 ) meter stride times ( 2000 ) = ( 1334 ) meters or ( 1.334 ) kilometers or ( 0.83 ) miles ). Need to improve a bit on that.

" NoteTab Light " utility I'm using has been weirding out. If I went back to fix a typo it would erase a character as I typed in its place rather than just advance the subsequent characters in a string. " Fixed " the bug by saving the document and then exiting " NoteTab Light "... and then re-opening the document in " NoteTab Light "... strange !

Gave Gail a quick lesson in cut and paste techniques. I'll have her start a document and play a bit later on. I tried to instruct my Mom when I was visiting during American Thanksgiving Holiday. Mom seemed to pick up the concept easily enough... have to check to see if she has been able to practice.

Speaking of Mom... we played a bit of phone tag the other day... finally got to visit on the phone a bit. She's having some problem connecting to the internet on her Mac...

E-mailed Debi... and received a Hallmark eCard from her as well as my brother Robin

Friday: TV viewing of " Lord of the Ring " marathon of part one and two... cool !

Saturday: Gail and I went to see " Lord of the Ring, Return of the King "... simply put: AWESOME !!!

6.5 Richter magnitude quake near San Simion, California... [ a link ! ]... with (2) 4.0+ aftershocks this Monday afternoon... more to follow certainly. Luckily the area is fairly sparse in population with low mortality and moderate damage reported so far.

The winter solstice has passed... the daylight to lengthen in the measure of each day.

Toodles !



C'ya.  

Wednesday, December 17, 2003


" Nothing contributes so much to tranquilize the mind as a steady purpose — a point on which the soul may fix its intellectual eye. "
--Mary Shelley



Walked to bus stop to meet my grandson David and walked him home.

Dug trench to bury new phone line my father-in-law, Larry, was kind enough to string the wire for and connect. After a few difficulties and Larry calling a few knowledgeable souls... the phone is working nicely. Gail hooked up an old decrepit FAX machine to the line and we now have FAX capabilities and phone use. Next: ISP connecting for Gail's computer.

Reading Da Boards... re: To: Marty (lanimas55) set me to waxing philosophical:

My credo:
Trust everyone and no one.
... perhaps even original !? A few years back I lent a jacket to one in need knowing there was the probability that I wouldn't get it back... I didn't get the jacket back, but then I was prepared for the loss.

I don't consider myself a cynic in the contemporary usage of the term, merely a realist. A Cynic in ancient times believed " that virtue was the goal of life " ( Funk & Wagnalls Standard Desk Dictionary 1974 )... a worthy endeavor for anyone.

From " I, Claudius ", by Peter Graves:
setting: Rome in the time when Claudius was Emperor of Rome circa year (40 ) A.D. and Herod was King of Judea... A link...

" Herod: Listen Claudius, let me give you a piece of advice.
Claudius: Oh, I thought you'd finished giving advice.
Herod: Well, just one more piece, then I'm done. Trust no one, my friend, no one. Not your most grateful freedman. Not your most intimate friend. Not your dearest child. Not the wife of your bosom. Trust no one.
Claudius: No one? Not even you? "...Herod eventually betrays Claudius.

p.m. Gail's cooking / Chrissy's at work / David and Richard playing some video games / Ashley watching cartoons " Arnold " / (on occasion) David and Ashley teasing and screaming as (3) and (7) year olds will - while Richard, their father, tries to maintain his sanity / me: 'putin...

Namariè !



C'ya.  


" I would venture to guess that Anon, who wrote so many poems without signing them, was often a woman. "
—- Virginia Woolf



More quotes by notable women at: http://womenshistory.about.com... a link !!!

Focus / focuses / focii

LOTR ( Lord of the Rings, Return of the King ) out today in theaters in the US !!!!

Defragged, and updated spyware and anti-virus definitions Monday and Wednesday. Da Boards. Bug in Spybot for some reason... AdAware still runs o.k. though. Watched " Call For Help " on TechTv... new look 'looks' good.

Need to attend to "artwork" and Poetry...

Still catching up to 'stuff'.

Family stuff... tensions at orange alert. Chrissy's hoped for rental appears to have fallen through... Going to call Mom after I post this... hopes she's awake ( snicker ! ).

Dios dana u machivan !



C'ya.  

Saturday, December 13, 2003


" One word frees us of all the weight and pain in life. That word is love. "
--Sophocles


Whither the weather: O'cast and threatening rain, ground still soaked from yesterday's rain.

Friday night Chrissy's key broke off in the SUV. Gail and I drove in the rain to Placerville with one headlight working in the rain limping along as best we could in the dark to pick her up. Stopped at Kragen Auto, for our van, where the nice clerk sold us the correct part and even installed the lamp so we could get home easier... cool ! Chrissy picked up her SUV on Saturday after getting key made.

Da Boards: Read only... damn, I know so little ! Learn, learn, learn. Faster !


Still problems with setting up Mother-in-law's internet. Phone lines checked and minor problem fixed ( water )... No joy with Earthlink's Tech Support who suggested I call Gateway re: issues with their modems. Gateway had on record that the 'puter was no longer on service and suggested a 1-900 number ( can you say: 'gimme the money ?' ). Modem or software or config between two now left ?

update...( a little later )
: Remembered I had an AOL 9.0 disk given to me by Mrs. Cameron and popped it into my Mother-in-law's 'puter... Damned if it didn't connect right off the 'git-go', [ ie: It connected with no hassles or problems at all !!! ] Candy is forthwith ( and fivewith and sixwith and... ) canceling Earthlink's service. The only caveat is I used MY credit card ( VISA account# 5555-5555-5555-5555 expires 5/05 ) as a reference for the trial period billing setup. Well... 60 days free AOL for Candy to check it out and change the billing.

New phone line works for Gail... internet setup next. Hope the Earthlink setup goes better with THIS setup !!! BTB: I have Earthlink on my WIN98SE 'puter... and love it ! No clue what's going on otherwise.

Received an interesting e-mail from Robin, my youngest sibling. I take no credit and have no knowledge of whom should benefit from copyright... soooooooooooooooooooooo:

Subject: Fw: An explanation of a Christmas carol.........
Date: Saturday, December 13, 2003 1:56 PM

" The Twelve Days Of Christmas "

" There is one Christmas Carol that has always baffled me. What in the world do leaping lords, French hens, swimming swans, and especially the partridge who won't come out of the pear tree have to do with Christmas?

From 1558 until 1829, Roman Catholics in England were not permitted to practice their faith openly. Someone during that era wrote this carol as a catechism song for young Catholics. It has two levels of meaning: the surface meaning plus a hidden meaning known only to members of their church.

Each element in the carol has a code word for a religious reality, which the children could remember.

The partridge in a pear tree was Jesus Christ.

Two turtledoves were the Old and New Testaments.

Three French hens stood for faith, hope and love.

The four calling birds were the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John.

The five golden rings recalled the Torah or Law, the first five books of the Old Testament.

The six geese a-laying stood for the six days of creation.

Seven swans a-swimming represented the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit: Prophesy, Serving, Teaching, Exhortation, Contribution, Leadership, and Mercy..

The eight maids a-milking were the eight beatitudes.

Nine ladies dancing were the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self Control.

The ten lords a-leaping were the ten commandments.

The eleven pipers piping stood for the eleven faithful disciples.

The twelve drummers drumming symbolized the twelve points of belief in the Apostles' Creed.

So there is your history for today. This knowledge was shared with me and I found it interesting and enlightening and now I know how that strange song became a Christmas Carol ... so pass it on if you wish. "


... Done and done.

*note: All the recipients ( many ) were cc:'d instead of bcc:'d... ripe for e-mail address harvesting... yipes !

4:00 p.m. PST: OK... Pedometer on... start at 00000 steps... let's rock !!!

10:00 p.m. PST... 85 (?) steps taken (?)... guess I need to calibrate my hips a bit.

G^is baldau^ !



C'ya.  

Friday, December 12, 2003


"Because reality hardly seems real, why assume that dreams are really dreams?"
--Saigo Takamori, 'The Last Samurai' ( 1827-1877 )



Phew ! Finally a BLOG session !!!

Bought a pedometer at Walmart.

Debi's e-mail(s): will respond... trying to bloody catch up with things, still.

Hallmark card to nephew Matt from sister Debi... couldn't have said it better myself.

Da Boards: trying to bloody catch up with them too !

RE: I'm going to set up Gail's new eMachines 2800+ on Saturday the 6th... finished on Sunday... agonized mostly on situating what meager furniture we had into a small footprint. Next... internet connection ( need to set up new phone line ), zonealarm, AVG, Microsoft updates... " Sponge Bob Square-pants " mouse pad ? ... gahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh !!!!

Installed Windows XP on mother-in-laws 'puter. Good upgrade for her from WIN98... although she had XP for a short while: before some *&^%##@ ( not me ) wiped it and told her that XP was incompatible with her computer after finding beaucoup virii from previous owner KAZAA use. As usual... problems with setting up her internet. This time ( again ) looks like the phone lines and not the software nor the network configuration. Tried the Earthlink 2004 setup, which was pretty much a breeze to set up.

WON A TECHTV T-SHIRT !!! Sizes too small for me ... go figger... would think an XXXL-Tall would work nicely in their selection. Received the XL and presented to Gail, my wife. Thank you TechTv !!!

Cool viewing: " Battlestar Gallactica "'s latest incarnation; " 2001 "; " The Time Machine " circa 1960 version.

Ngali añdja ngurba !



C'ya.  

Thursday, December 04, 2003



" It is my belief that nearly any invented quotation, played with confidence, stands a good chance to deceive. "
--Mark Twain, " Following the Equator "



My brother Jim's birthday today December 4th ( 49 years old ) !! Tried calling his home ( and brother Robin's also ) with no luck... just ring, ring, ring. Not even a bloody machine to talk to... so anyhow: HAPPY BIRTHDAY JIM !!!

I've been reading an adaptation of Dante's " Inferno "... a tough read... the Italian verse on the left pages oft times makes more sense to me than the English version... and I don't understand Italian !

Vacations over. Much excess in food and drink and familial bonding and relaxation. Trying to re-adapt to normal home life in the zoo.

My Mother-in-law's computer took a dump... I'm trying to help resurrect after Gateway did an OS wipe. USB mouse/new Epson 3 in 1 printer/Earthlink: After connecting a PS2 mouse in addition to the USB mouse... that problem solved. Epson 3 in 1 installation went smoothly... once we had a mouse !!! Well, still mucking with a missing DLL ( OLEACC.DLL ) to get Earthlink up and running.

I'm going to set up Gail's new eMachines 2800+ on Saturday...

My attempt at helping Gail with her accounting study is poor at best... seems another foreign language I missed.

Catching up on e-mail... ugh !... s,lnmmmmmmmmmmmmmm ( kitty on keyboard ! ) pyware and anti-virus updates... and wuz-up with Da Boards.

(3) kittens hangin' in there... (2) in here right now.

'Kids' may have a rental in Georgetown soon???... be still my bleeding wallet... I mean - beating heart !

Kuv yuav rov qaab moog tsev !



C'ya.  

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?