The Amazing World of Techies

I purchased some new software today. I needed to upgrade my Quickbooks at work to a newer and more advanced version. The old version did not have the capability I needed to do some "stuff" my boss wanted. Well, I could have told her to go jump in the lake since my boss is my daughter but I decided to try to accomodate her wishes and install the upgrades myself. OMG ! That was a disaster!

I followed the simple instructions to the letter only to jam my computer into complete uselessness!! It would not move! Even control alt delete just sat there and stared back at me!!! There is a computer wizard in our office who used to be the business manager for a major company and as a last resort I solicited her support! Good thing she didn't have any appointments this afternoon because it took her three hours on the phone to India to get the thing installed! The first two techies who tried to help - she had to ask for different ones because she was repeating every word approximately 17 times to get them to understand Alabamian - and you can imagine what it was like to understand whatever language they were speaking.

Finally, my co-worker requested another techie and after asking for the same information over again as she had given to the previous two, she was ready to start over with the "head honcho"!

He confirmed that the software was installed properly but it would not transfer my information from the other version I had on my computer so the bookkeeping records for the last three years were somewhere in cyberspace and could not be found!

I want to make it clear that I love techies - my son-in-law is the best one in the world but he was at work and I couldn't talk to him and besides he had told me that Quickbooks is not his forte so we spent literally all afternoon in utter frustration!!! Knowing that middle of the month checks have to be written tomorrow I was pretty much freaking out when the fellow in India said if we would give him permission to go into our system, he could transfer all the data to the new program. At that point, I would have given him permission to get into my personal bank account, my health records, my school records, my credit card numbers , and would have given him my date of birth and social security number just to get some relief from the mess I was in.

Three hours and ungodly frustrating trials later, I got it all working properly. Now I just have to figure out to work the new system!

I know one thing - techies don't get paid enough!!!! In fact, a couple of them in India probably turned in their resignations after today.

Matt Lauer Calls Foy Union

For those of you who are Auburn fans, check this out! For those of you who aren't - oh yeah, you probably aren't reading my blog anyway. www.thecornernews.com/index.php/news/comment/today-show-calls-foy/

My Pet Peeve

I work in a 10-person office. One of my jobs is to answer the phone and frequently someone will call and say, "Someone just called me from this number!"

I go through my list of questions: "Are you working with someone at a real estate company?"
"Do you know who might have called you?" "Do you want me to name the people who work here to see if you recognize any names?" The more questions I ask, the more peeved I get! What if it were someone from Wal-Mart who called? They have 1.8 million employees - could have been any one of them. Do you want them to see if they can figure out who called you ?

I want to say, "If someone called you and it was important, they would have left you a message, you numbskull! Is that all some people have to do - look at their phones for missed calls and try to track them down?

Okay - I'm glad I got that off my chest!

Some Days Are Special

I have an extended family member who lives in an assisted living facility and since I visit her a couple of times a week I have grown to know most of the other residents who live there. I talk with all of them and most have something to say in return but one lady in particular rarely speaks. I have actually wondered if she had the ability to speak but I continued to greet her each time I visited.

Today, I went to pick up my family member and as I was signing the registration book, I felt a tap on my shoulder and the quiet lady asked me if I wanted to come look at something in her room? She showed me a quilt that she had made by hand. It was squares of each of the 50 states. Each square had a state embroidered on it with the name of the the state, the number of the state and the date it became a state, all stitched by hand. Included in each square was the state bird and state flower all embroidered by hand. Each square was sewn to strips of cloth and they were perfectly lined and perfectly square. There were literally millions of hand stitches all done to perfection.

In my estimation, it would have taken her years and years to complete such a project and it is unbelieveably beautiful! She told me her husband was sick and bedridden for many years before his death and she occupied her time working on the quilt.

Today, I left there with a lighter step, a song in my heart, and a promise to bring my camera next time I come so I can take pictures of her quilt. She thanked me and smiled.

Some days are just special!

My Beautiful Granddaughter

Kristen participated in the Fort Payne High School Calendar Girl contest Saturday night. She was absolutely gorgeous and she placed in the top 10 in her class. Of course, to all of her family she has always been beautiful in more ways than one!

In addition to being beautiful, she is also smart, talented, and sweet. We are so proud of you, Kristen, and we are blessed to have you as our granddaughter. Congratulations!

As Time Goes By . . . .

In the school year 1991-1992, Mikko Hollo from Finland lived with our family as an exchange student. Grandson Will was 1 and 2 years old during that year and we took a picture of Will, Susan, Mikko and Amy.

Last week, Mikko came back for a visit and we took the same picture. Of course, it was a little harder for Will to sit in Susan's lap but we had a blast trying to recreate the picture.

Now THIS is a CAKE !

Someone spent a lot of hours on this but it is actually a cake! (Click on picture for a closer look at detail. ) I'm dressed in orange and blue as I write this and am heading to the plains for a weekend of tailgating and watching the Tigers with my family.

Life is good! WAR EAGLE!

Worth Remembering

The really lucky people are not necessarily the ones that have the best of everything -
They are the ones who make the most of whatever life throws at them.

Fun Times in Athens !

This weekend I went to Athens, Georgia, to watch Hunter and Will play in an SJGT golf tournament. It was held at the University of Georgia golf course and I have never seen so much red and black in my life! Even the bathroom at the course was red and black! I have to admit that even though I am definitely NOT a Georgia football fan, the little UGA bulldogs on each tee box were absolutely adorable!

Anyway, Will was tied for the lead the first day but didn't do quite as well the second day and ended up in 4th place! Will is now ranked #5 in point standings in Southeast Junior Golf stats. Hunter had a good day the first day but not so good the second day but Hunter never lets it get him down. He is always the same in attitude no matter what his score and that is such a good quality to have. (Will will be signing with Auburn University and Hunter will be signing with Troy State University the third week in November.)

The course has really suffered due to the drought in Athens but all in all, the weather was beautiful and we had a wonderful time! Traveling with two 17-year-old boys who are funny, have a great positive attitude and are polite and well-mannered is just a good thing to do. Thanks, kids, for giving a Grandmom a great weekend!

ANDRUW JONES LEAVING BRAVES

For those of us who have made our living in nursing, social work, teaching, etc. with our paltry salaries of $25,000 - $30,000 per year, it is really hard to have sympathy for a guy whose contract was not renewed when he asked for $20 million a year!

I don't care how many Gold Gloves you have - you are not worth it !!

Some "greats" are just "greater" than other "greats"!

It's always "GREAT TO BE AN AUBURN TIGER" but sometimes the feeling of pride looms larger than at other times. Such was the case yesterday when the unranked Tigers took on #4 Florida in Florida. No one believed Auburn could win - especially all the sports commentators. Most had Florida a three-touchdown favorite and some had it even more than that!

Florida Coach Urban Meyer had never lost a game in Florida and was pretty sure his team would have no trouble putting Auburn away in short order. Florida was also hoping for another shot at a national title this year. Supposedly, they have a #1 quarterback (Tebow) who is touted as one of the top best three in the nation.

Auburn's team has young players and a quarterback who had a rough start this year and by all calculations and all common sense, Auburn was supposed to lose and lose big! The only thing wrong is that apparently, nobody told the Auburn players that! And apparently Coach Tuberville gave his "Little Engine that Could" speech just at the right time and Auburn came on the field ready to win!

We had to beat Florida and also beat the referees - for instance, when a Florida player had the ball in his hand and got hit and then Auburn was penalized for hitting him because he didn't have time to call for a "fair catch"! That was preposterous!

Our freshman kicker had to end up kicking a field goal twice due to a little trickery on the part of Florida's desperate coach but all in all, we played hard and deserved to win! Our young defense just about shut down Florida in the first half and kept Tebow from showing off his stuff.

My hat is off to you, Tigers! You gave your fans a great game! Thanks and WAR EAGLE!

The VFW Fair Begins!

The DeKalb County VFW Fair has won 1st Place honors for Best County Fair in Alabama for years and last night I attended the opening night of this year's event.

There are the typical carnival rides, and judging of displays with ribbons being awarded for flower arranging, home-canned and home-baked foods, hand work and needle work of all varieties, agricultural products and much, much more!

Being a farmer's daughter and having participated in showing farm annimals at various events, I am always most attracted to that segment of the fair.

My favorite part of last night's visit to the fair was when a little 8-year-old boy (the son of one of my former customers) ran up to me, grabbed me by the arm and insisted that I go look at his prize-winning chicken !

Life is good at the Fair!

BOOM DAYS IN FORT PAYNE

Saturday my home town celebrated its heritage by celebrating the Boom Days in Fort Payne. These were the years from about 1880 to 1893 when the population swelled from 450 to thousands as northern investors came to Fort Payne to invest in the Fort Payne Coal and Iron Company. They built beautiful homes, a huge hotel, and the now famous opera house. As the iron ore fizzled, the investors went back up north but many of the things they left behind are still a large part of our community.

There were people dressed in period costumes, horse and buggys, a smelting display, broom makers, furniture makers, as well as area artisans of all kinds displaying their work.

Fort Payne was honored to host the Gees Bend Quilters. These are ladies whose quilts are world renowned and have such a rich heritage as children and grandchildren of the original quilters carry on the tradition of making gorgeous quilts. I would have bought one but they are pretty pricey but well worth the money. The workmanship on them is unbelievable.

Another interesting display was the folk art work of the late Howard Finster. Again, I would have loved to have purchased something but his work has gotten a little out of my price range. I have a couple of signed prints by him and thankfully, I bought them a long time ago while I could still afford it. Maybe my children and grandchildren can enjoy them for a long time to come.

Finally, Fort Payne celebrated our home town boys Alabama by dedicating a beautiful park in their honor. It is across from Union Park in downtown Fort Payne and has walking trails and will have a beautiful bronze sculpture of the guys when it is completed.

Thanks, Fort Payne, for such a great celebration!

Another Alabamian Sets a Record !

Jeremy Harper, a 31-year-old UAB graduate, computer programmer and valedictorian of his high school graduating class accomplished a goal Friday. He finished counting to 1 million out loud and recorded it all on camera on the internet.http://www.millioncount.com

It took him 89 days to complete the count - days in which he never left his home - just sat there and counted!

I don't quite understand the attraction for doing something such as that but then I don't understand soaking hot dog buns in water so you can swallow hundreds of them in order to win world hot dog eating contests. Maybe I'm just satisfied with mediocrity more than I am interested in setting world records.

There were at least two good things that came out of this: (1) Jeremy raised $10,500 for Push America, a charity for the disabled; and (2) he gave us somebody to read about in the paper besides Nick Saban!

Thanks, Jeremy!

Carrying Low Inventory Eliminates Problems

Several times I week, I pass the G & G Auto Sales car lot and their inventory always seems to be very low. Last week they had one car on the lot and my daughter Susan and I discussed taking a picture and putting it on her blog showing their selection of one! Too late! They have apparently sold the one car they had and now have none! I suppose there are advantages to carrying such a low inventory.

1. If you don't have anything to sell, you don't have to worry about disgruntled customers.

2. If you don't have any employees, you don't have to worry about not making payroll or paying unemployment.

3. If you don't sell anything, you don't have to worry about paying taxes.

4. You don't have to worry about taking trade-ins because you don't have anything to trade.

5. You don't have to worry about rearranging the placement of inventory on the lot so it doesn't look like you don't have anything new, because you don't ever have anything new.

Come to think of it, if I ever decide to have a car lot, I think I'll have one with no inventory - I think it would be a lot easier.

AND - Topping the List of Ridiculous Rules . . . .

I am a huge football fan and certainly not a football expert but for the life of me I can't find one single redeeming feature in the penalty for "too much endzone celebration."

Do they think that one man doing a little dance after running 80 yards is the last stop before he turns to drugs and child pornography?

I think scoring a touchdown should be a cause for celebration. We ask those athletes to risk breaking their bones, splitting their heads open and suffering other serious injuries for the love of the sport but then say - "Don't have any fun with it or we will penalize you."

Yogi Berra entertained fans by jumping into Don Larson's arms after a World Series perfect game - good thing he wasn't playing football - that would not have been allowed.

The further absurdity of this penalty is the fact that it is up to the referee to decide what is excessive celebration and what is not. I saw some guys high-fiving and bumping into each other in the endzone - no penalty. I saw another guy jump up and down twice and hold the ball up high in the air - oops! Can't do that ! Penalty!

I think a lot of old men are making rules for young men who just want football to be a fun game that they can get excited about. In my opinion, making a touchdown is something to celebrate - not penalize!

Mixed Dog Breeds

Mixed dog breeds have come into a world of their own lately. They even have names for them. The Maltipoo, Peekapoo, and Labradoodle are quite popular but there are so many that the breeders have missed, I thought I would come up with some of my own. Here are my suggestions and I invite my readers to add their breeds to the list:

Purebred Canaan Dog + Chow Chow = Purina Dog Chow
Chocolate Lab + Maltese = Chocolate Malt
Cocker Spaniel + Bull Mastiff = Cock n'bull
Teacup poodle + Irish Setter = Tea Set
German Shepherd + Dalmation = Germination
Bloodhound + Kerry Blue Terrier = Blueblood
Whippet + Bull Dog = Bullwhip
Shih Tzu + Bird Dog = Shihtbird

The Three Purchase Categories

I have always said there are three categories of purchases:

#1. These are purchases you need and get excited about making and showing off to your friends; such as, new clothes, new shoes, new cars, new houses, etc.

#2. These are puchases you don't need but make anyway and get excited about making them and showing off to your friends; such as new golf clubs, new jewelry, new motorcycles, new boats, etc.

#3. These are the purchases you need but don't get excited about making and rarely ever show them off to your friends.

Today I had to purchase a new stove! Definitely a category # 3 ! The old stove would start out just fine - on broil or bake - then about halfway through the process, the oven would take on a life of its own, cut off, and the food would sit there sogging for the remaining part of the cooking cycle! I tried going the "repair route" but I think all those people probably get commission on every new item sold because they always tell you it will cost more to fix it than to buy a new one. The "sensor" I needed to repair my old stove was $500 and the new stove was $524. That sort of seemed like a no brainer so for all my friends and family out there who could care less about whether or not I have a new stove, I'm telling about it anyway and am enclosing a picture for your viewing enjoyment!

Today is My Day!

Today is National Left-Handers' Day. (If you don't believe it, look it up) Us lefties deserve a special day. After all, history has not been very kind to us. There is a strong association with things referred to on the left as being bad. The word "sinister" is from a Latin word that means "left", and a left-handed toast amounts to a curse, not a well-wish.

Just one generation ago, many left-handers were forced to change with the rod of the school marm hitting their left hand every time they tried to write with it. My uncle, who was born left-handed, was forced by his parents to switch to being right handed and it caused him to stutter so badly that he had to go to a speech therapist.

Growing up left handed in a right handed world is not easy. I spent most of my college years sitting sideways in a desk which had the arm and desk part of a chair on the right side. I can't really use a power saw, hedge clippers, or a can opener , vegetable peeler, knife sharpener or many other helpful tools and appliances without the threat of amputating my limbs. After ironing with the cord sticking in my stomach for years, I finally learned to iron right handed and the same thing with scissors - just finally gave in and started cutting stuff with my right hand.

Here's a leftie discrimination for you. You can play polo if you are right handed or left handed except polo rules state that you must hold your mallet in your right hand. DUH!

So, for all you lefties out there who struggle in our right-handed world, today is our day ! Enjoy it and go out and play a trumpet or trumbone or strum a guitar (oops, I forgot- you have to be right-handed to do that!)

US Junior Amateur in St. Louis

Last week, I had the privilege of attending the US Junior Amateur Golf Tournament in St. Louis. It was spectacular! The golf course was absolutely gorgeous and the weather was perfect.

Grandson Will advanced to the top 32 out of a field of over 3100 junior amateur golfers and is now ranked number 81 out of a field of thousands of junior golfers throughout the world. I don't know how we could be more proud of his accomplishments. (And he still hugs his grandmom in front of people which is the thing I like most about him. )