For author Betty Sullivan La Pierre, a good hair day means a day with hair. Recently having undergone an aggressive form of chemotherapy, she's now coming out the other side. Her lymphoma is in recession, and she's concentrating on getting her health back.
And she's celebrating her good hair day, and inviting others to celebrate with her. She's giving away free copies of her book, so if you want to enter to win, just visit http://www.geocities.com/e_pub_2000/
Monday, September 05, 2005
Sunday, September 04, 2005
Messages From Beyond
Career questions are the order of the day. I enjoy the freelance life, and believe I can eventually make a good living doing a combo of my website work and the freelance consulting gig. Now, however money's thin, and while I love the freedom to do what I want, I do miss the nice, regular paychecks I was drawing as a cog in the employment wheel.
During a particularly dark moment a few months back, I saw a job posting and sent a resume off "just to see." Months later, I've had an interview, and I know I presented well. So the question is should I or shouldn't I (if the offer comes through).
So many threads are involved here, and it is a far more complex situation than paycheck vs. not.
So I did what any self-respecting confused person should do. I consulted the Tarot cards. It was a spur of the moments decision, based on being in the right place at the right time kind of situation.
The reading did not go well. I have so many neurons bouncing around in my little brain that I'm sure it was hard for her to pick up on just one energy strain, but pretty much nothing she said matched my reality. The "Death" card showed up, which as we all know means "Change" and not actual "Death" but still what change?
It is interesting though, what energies she did think she was getting from me. "There's a man in my life, I'm ignorning." God, would that were true.
Ah well, I'm sure the voices from beyond are trying guide me, and I'm just not paying enough attention. I know the decision I ultimately make will be the right one, I just wish it weren't so nerve wracking to get to the decision.
During a particularly dark moment a few months back, I saw a job posting and sent a resume off "just to see." Months later, I've had an interview, and I know I presented well. So the question is should I or shouldn't I (if the offer comes through).
So many threads are involved here, and it is a far more complex situation than paycheck vs. not.
So I did what any self-respecting confused person should do. I consulted the Tarot cards. It was a spur of the moments decision, based on being in the right place at the right time kind of situation.
The reading did not go well. I have so many neurons bouncing around in my little brain that I'm sure it was hard for her to pick up on just one energy strain, but pretty much nothing she said matched my reality. The "Death" card showed up, which as we all know means "Change" and not actual "Death" but still what change?
It is interesting though, what energies she did think she was getting from me. "There's a man in my life, I'm ignorning." God, would that were true.
Ah well, I'm sure the voices from beyond are trying guide me, and I'm just not paying enough attention. I know the decision I ultimately make will be the right one, I just wish it weren't so nerve wracking to get to the decision.
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
Culture-Loving Monica
Had a super-duper cultural couple of days.
Sunday, I went to the Walt Disney Concert Hall for the first time ever. Bizarre as the place may seem on the outside, the inside is marvelous. It is designed to feel intimate (indeed some classrooms at my University felt larger than the hall), but still seats nearly 2,500 people. Tremendous, really.
Inside sources tell me that the wood used to construct the theatre is the same wood that cellos are made of.
Personally, I give the concert itself mixed reviews. It had kind of a funky program, ranging from very popular music (think "Singing in the Rain") to more obscure works by Strauss and Dvorak. I don't mind either, but found it odd that they would share a playbill.
I did particulary enjoy the piece by Leonard Bernstein called "A Young Person's Guide to Television" which featured a medley of works from many favorite TV shows and commercials, including such favs as Pink Panther, Plop Plop Fizz Fizz, The Brady Bunch, NBC Nightly News, and many, many others. What wasn't so fun was the dipstick guy sitting beside me, who insisted on saying the name of each piece he recognized at more than just a whisper.
After the concert, I walked across the street to see the Basquiat Exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art. That is one weird exhibition. I know it is very popular, and people are lining up to get in, but maybe that work was just a little too contemporary for my taste.
Monday morning, my art-filled life continued, and I went with some friends to go see the King Tut exhibit at LACMA. Now this display is quite a spectacle. A lot of time and money went into the creation of this exhibit. If you are a fan of the legends of Tut, I recommend you go, but don't be too disappointed when you learn that the main coffin, sarcophagus and other big pieces from the tomb didn't leave Egypt.
By the way, there is TYPO on one of the historical exhibits in the display, which I find very upsetting, especially considering how much money went into producing this show. However, since this may be one of the last time this show gets to L.A., if you are interested, you probably should take a look. I recommend you go early in the morning to avoid the larger crowds. Our reservation was at 10 am, and while there were a lot of people there, it was manageable.
Sunday, I went to the Walt Disney Concert Hall for the first time ever. Bizarre as the place may seem on the outside, the inside is marvelous. It is designed to feel intimate (indeed some classrooms at my University felt larger than the hall), but still seats nearly 2,500 people. Tremendous, really.
Inside sources tell me that the wood used to construct the theatre is the same wood that cellos are made of.
Personally, I give the concert itself mixed reviews. It had kind of a funky program, ranging from very popular music (think "Singing in the Rain") to more obscure works by Strauss and Dvorak. I don't mind either, but found it odd that they would share a playbill.
I did particulary enjoy the piece by Leonard Bernstein called "A Young Person's Guide to Television" which featured a medley of works from many favorite TV shows and commercials, including such favs as Pink Panther, Plop Plop Fizz Fizz, The Brady Bunch, NBC Nightly News, and many, many others. What wasn't so fun was the dipstick guy sitting beside me, who insisted on saying the name of each piece he recognized at more than just a whisper.
After the concert, I walked across the street to see the Basquiat Exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art. That is one weird exhibition. I know it is very popular, and people are lining up to get in, but maybe that work was just a little too contemporary for my taste.
Monday morning, my art-filled life continued, and I went with some friends to go see the King Tut exhibit at LACMA. Now this display is quite a spectacle. A lot of time and money went into the creation of this exhibit. If you are a fan of the legends of Tut, I recommend you go, but don't be too disappointed when you learn that the main coffin, sarcophagus and other big pieces from the tomb didn't leave Egypt.
By the way, there is TYPO on one of the historical exhibits in the display, which I find very upsetting, especially considering how much money went into producing this show. However, since this may be one of the last time this show gets to L.A., if you are interested, you probably should take a look. I recommend you go early in the morning to avoid the larger crowds. Our reservation was at 10 am, and while there were a lot of people there, it was manageable.
Monday, August 08, 2005
Monica The Tech Geek
Most of you know, I run a website for writers. But what surprises most of my readers is that I actually have a techno-geek background. Many a person has lost a bet, when it has come to guessing my major in college. (Mathematics, and I'm not lying.)
After college, most of my marketing successes came on the shoulders of understanding data, how to store it, how to access it, how to manipulate it. I'm a crackpot programmer in database languages, and I challenge you to find a database software I can't manage.
So, how come, I was asked the other day, I'm not using a database to manage the very data-heavy content on my website, OnceWritten.com? The question came from a super techo-nerd friend of mine, who felt, I think, that I'd lost the way. I'd abandoned the data crowd in favor of my cool new literary crowd.
The thing is, that he was right. I'd developed a data-reliant website, and was hand coding each page. Egads, you can imagine how long that took me every week.
So now my new challenge is this. I'm already converting the site, but now all of a sudden all my web pages are going from a .htm ending to a .php ending to keep up with the new code. Doesn't sound like too much of a problem, does it? And really it isn't. But oh my gosh, I'm losing my very cool Google Page Rank left and right. I'm being dumped from a 5 (and even in some very cool cases a 6) to a zero for the same content. Frustrating to be sure.
However, I guess its better to do it now, rather than save it for later. I only wish, my techno geek pal had challenged me to do this much, much sooner.
There is a lesson to be learned in this tale, which is, if you are considering creating a website, and have a general "marketing" plan, or at least an idea of what you'd like to have that website do in a few years, think twice before you plop down a bunch of code, that may become obsolete in a year's time. When you have over 300 pages, as I do, you will not be ecstatic about re-coding every page.
And for those of you checking in at the website periodically, be patient with the changes. They are happening slowly, but surely, and I'm trying to cover my tracks. If you happen to catch a link to nowhere, do let me know, so I can get those loose ends taken care of.
After college, most of my marketing successes came on the shoulders of understanding data, how to store it, how to access it, how to manipulate it. I'm a crackpot programmer in database languages, and I challenge you to find a database software I can't manage.
So, how come, I was asked the other day, I'm not using a database to manage the very data-heavy content on my website, OnceWritten.com? The question came from a super techo-nerd friend of mine, who felt, I think, that I'd lost the way. I'd abandoned the data crowd in favor of my cool new literary crowd.
The thing is, that he was right. I'd developed a data-reliant website, and was hand coding each page. Egads, you can imagine how long that took me every week.
So now my new challenge is this. I'm already converting the site, but now all of a sudden all my web pages are going from a .htm ending to a .php ending to keep up with the new code. Doesn't sound like too much of a problem, does it? And really it isn't. But oh my gosh, I'm losing my very cool Google Page Rank left and right. I'm being dumped from a 5 (and even in some very cool cases a 6) to a zero for the same content. Frustrating to be sure.
However, I guess its better to do it now, rather than save it for later. I only wish, my techno geek pal had challenged me to do this much, much sooner.
There is a lesson to be learned in this tale, which is, if you are considering creating a website, and have a general "marketing" plan, or at least an idea of what you'd like to have that website do in a few years, think twice before you plop down a bunch of code, that may become obsolete in a year's time. When you have over 300 pages, as I do, you will not be ecstatic about re-coding every page.
And for those of you checking in at the website periodically, be patient with the changes. They are happening slowly, but surely, and I'm trying to cover my tracks. If you happen to catch a link to nowhere, do let me know, so I can get those loose ends taken care of.
Sunday, July 24, 2005
Best Buy's PSP and Selling Your Soul
For those of you that have been following my technology woes, I own an HP laptop, which I bought at Best Buy about a year and a half ago.
I bought the PSP (Performance Service Plan), and was glad to have the protection the first time I had to take said laptop in for repairs. (The power cable wasn't connecting to the battery, so the computer couldn't keep the charge.) Ten days later, works fine. Still feeling okay about the PSP the second time I had to take the computer in for the same problem, some nine months later. Another ten days without, but this time its okay, because I'm heading on vacation. The third time, though, I'm not so thrilled to be bringing in the computer for the SAME problem, some six months later.
Don't worry, I was told, on your fourth service call, you get a brand new computer for free. Well gosh, now I'm praying for my computer to break down.
But I digress.
This third time, they keep the computer five weeks for repairs, with no word of why or even when I'll get it back. I bring in my receipt, and say, "Look this is the day I've been promised my computer. Where is it?" Answer: "That's just a suggested date." I take another look at the form, which does NOT say "Suggested Date" but am told that it was meant to say suggested.
Okay, so finally, five weeks, I get the computer back. Oh, happy day. I turn it on, thrilled. Now I'm checking emails, I'm gonna go back to being Internet queen. But oopsie, the whole thing turns off and no amount of praying, clicking or cursing gets it working again. As I'm shaking the thing, and trying to find a magical way to bring it back to life, I notice the service guys removed my battery and never put it back in before shipping the unit back to me.
Now I know I've got to buy a back up, because I can't go another three weeks without being able to do any work. So being mentally challenged, I return to the scene of the crime, and buy another laptop at Best Buy. Get that baby home, and no kidding, I mean, really no kidding the new lap top doesn't turn on.
So, come Monday morning I'm hauling two computers to Best Buy for repairs. How retarded is that? I did get the new one back in about an hour, thankfully, or I wouldn't be able to rant to you all right now.
The other one they keep for a week, and after not hearing from them, I call them to enquire (not so politely) of the status. The hard drive is dead they tell me. And by the way, data back up is not included in the service plan. "But since I didn't originally bring in the computer for a data problem, but a hardware problem, and since my battery was dead, and I couldn't charge the computer due to said hardware problem, there was no way for me to back up my data." Not their problem.
So the data backup process takes a good week. Won't bore you with those details but I did have to go in person to Best Buy eight times in two days.
Now, though, it's the fourth time, technically that I've brought in the computer, so I'm expecting a shiny new one. Not so, apparently it's only after the fourth time the samething has to be replaced NOT the fourth time you bring it in for service.
So I get the computer back, just yesterday. I'm sort of thrilled, but sort of skeptical. Check out the computer at Best Buy, and oh dear, STILL the service guys forgot to replace the battery. Incredible. But okay, at least I have it back. So I'm testing the thing out, because why leave the store if there's going to be a problem. And the double click on the keypad isn't working. I'm not jesting here, this is all true stuff.
So exactly 23 minutes after I turn on my new hard drive, the laptop is back in its box, being shipped back to the service center. Hard to believe, but here it is two months! later and I'm still waiting for Best Buy to figure out how to repair a computer. I'm beyond irritation now and in a zen, oh well, someday it will make a good story kind of place.
So, some of the data I have, some has been losst forever. The backup is working fine, the original laptop believes I've abandoned it completely.
I'll keep you updated on the next step.
Monica
I bought the PSP (Performance Service Plan), and was glad to have the protection the first time I had to take said laptop in for repairs. (The power cable wasn't connecting to the battery, so the computer couldn't keep the charge.) Ten days later, works fine. Still feeling okay about the PSP the second time I had to take the computer in for the same problem, some nine months later. Another ten days without, but this time its okay, because I'm heading on vacation. The third time, though, I'm not so thrilled to be bringing in the computer for the SAME problem, some six months later.
Don't worry, I was told, on your fourth service call, you get a brand new computer for free. Well gosh, now I'm praying for my computer to break down.
But I digress.
This third time, they keep the computer five weeks for repairs, with no word of why or even when I'll get it back. I bring in my receipt, and say, "Look this is the day I've been promised my computer. Where is it?" Answer: "That's just a suggested date." I take another look at the form, which does NOT say "Suggested Date" but am told that it was meant to say suggested.
Okay, so finally, five weeks, I get the computer back. Oh, happy day. I turn it on, thrilled. Now I'm checking emails, I'm gonna go back to being Internet queen. But oopsie, the whole thing turns off and no amount of praying, clicking or cursing gets it working again. As I'm shaking the thing, and trying to find a magical way to bring it back to life, I notice the service guys removed my battery and never put it back in before shipping the unit back to me.
Now I know I've got to buy a back up, because I can't go another three weeks without being able to do any work. So being mentally challenged, I return to the scene of the crime, and buy another laptop at Best Buy. Get that baby home, and no kidding, I mean, really no kidding the new lap top doesn't turn on.
So, come Monday morning I'm hauling two computers to Best Buy for repairs. How retarded is that? I did get the new one back in about an hour, thankfully, or I wouldn't be able to rant to you all right now.
The other one they keep for a week, and after not hearing from them, I call them to enquire (not so politely) of the status. The hard drive is dead they tell me. And by the way, data back up is not included in the service plan. "But since I didn't originally bring in the computer for a data problem, but a hardware problem, and since my battery was dead, and I couldn't charge the computer due to said hardware problem, there was no way for me to back up my data." Not their problem.
So the data backup process takes a good week. Won't bore you with those details but I did have to go in person to Best Buy eight times in two days.
Now, though, it's the fourth time, technically that I've brought in the computer, so I'm expecting a shiny new one. Not so, apparently it's only after the fourth time the samething has to be replaced NOT the fourth time you bring it in for service.
So I get the computer back, just yesterday. I'm sort of thrilled, but sort of skeptical. Check out the computer at Best Buy, and oh dear, STILL the service guys forgot to replace the battery. Incredible. But okay, at least I have it back. So I'm testing the thing out, because why leave the store if there's going to be a problem. And the double click on the keypad isn't working. I'm not jesting here, this is all true stuff.
So exactly 23 minutes after I turn on my new hard drive, the laptop is back in its box, being shipped back to the service center. Hard to believe, but here it is two months! later and I'm still waiting for Best Buy to figure out how to repair a computer. I'm beyond irritation now and in a zen, oh well, someday it will make a good story kind of place.
So, some of the data I have, some has been losst forever. The backup is working fine, the original laptop believes I've abandoned it completely.
I'll keep you updated on the next step.
Monica
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