The damn home computer has been giving me fits the last three weeks. Initially, I thought it was a faulty Internet connection on the part of Time Warner. I talked to THREE servicepeople, then a fourth actually came to my house. This seemed to fix the problem, briefly, but then it start up again. Finally, with help, I discovered:
1) I have an Internet connection – I can play Internet backgammon – but I can’t get to any URLs. I was thinking about reinstalling one of those old AOL discs, except that
2) I’m apparently dangerously low on memory
So, I’d done some blogging – actually a lot a couple weeks ago Saturday – at the library, and wrote all the posts you read so far that week. And I did write a couple things at home in Word for this week. But I find it harder not to go fact checking or finding a picture or adding a link. So, it’s made me frustrated.
My very good friend Mark came up from the Mid Hudson (an hour or so south of here) to try to fix the beast, but it became so problematic that he had to take it home with him. So I couldn’t even write stuff in Word at home for a few days this past week.
Since I tend to work ahead, it wasn’t TOO problematic for the pieces already posted, but it MAY be in the next couple weeks, because my inventory of emergency posts are kaput. Ironic because..well, you’ll see.
And, oh, yeah, I also lost my wallet. Trips to the DMV, the library and the bank, calls to the credit card companies, blah, blah. (And it gets more brain-dead than that, but never mind.)
…and then I get a couple lovely e-mails:
From an old friend, to her friend, with a copy to me:
Many adore Roger and his understated but hilarious way. I love his curiosity on oh just about any topic and his librarian-like thoroughness when he riffs on it. Have you been reading his blog? Top ten. Met him probably about 15 years ago now…
And from someone I did a workshop on “Guerrilla Marketing for Librarians” a couple weeks ago:
Hi, Roger! I wanted to thank you again for taking the time to share your expertise and ideas with us yesterday at the meeting. I enjoyed meeting you and really found your presentation to be motivating and inspiring! I am sure others felt the same. Thanks for speaking to the group — your energy and enthusiasm, mixed with your business know-how, made for a wonderful presentation.
I post these, not to be an egomaniac. (I may be an egomaniac, but that’s not why I’m posting them.) I’m posting them to remind myself, when I’m a little blue, that it’s OK, I’m OK.
For it was the great ADD who told me, when I started blogging, “”You can’t please everyone; you got to please yourself.” No, wait, that was the late Rick Nelson. Well, ADD said SOMETHING like that at the time.
And, not that anybody asked, but I was considering moving the bloggy to the Times Union page. I think I decided not to on Easter morning. So now that Mark has returned my computer and it’s working again (thanks, effendi!) I can actually work on updating my weblinks, which I’ll try to do a little bit every day.
***
Oh, Jack Valenti, former head of the MPAA, died. I remember my first non-G-rated film, The Night They Raided Minsky’s, which was rated M, the forerunner of PG. (I have the soundtrack on vinyl -“Take 10 terrific girls, but only 9 costumes.” The movie ratings, which Valenti helped instigate, were imperfect, everyone knows (much kinder about violence, too fussy about the hint of sex, to my mind), but they’re still somewhat useful.
ROG