Friday, September 4, 2009

Friday Hodge Podge

Typing Tart We are back in computers at my house. This is a good news/bad news thing. Both of them are up and running, which is definitely good, neither seems to have any of the former problems, so YAY! But both have brand new operating system, neither with any of the normal software I’m used to. I am now using Office Open, which I have hopes will be like Microsoft Office, without the monopoly issues or quirks, but I am now learning a new system. My first venture in this morning… starting to type the first chapter of this book I’m going gangbusters on, and it seems to work about the same as Word or Works, but the settings are wonky… I suppose it will just take some getting used to, being free of the corporate puppet strings… The only real problem, is I’ve forgotten how to connect my laptop to my DSL system and will have to call and have them walk me through it—not the end of the world. Just a hassle. Weekly Word Oh, I know… this is only the second time I’m teaching you a word, and last time I wrote a whole blog about it, but I thought… every tradition has to start somewhere… I’m going to make an attempt to edjumakate you all on some of the Burrow vocabulary (edjumakate is a freebie—Aussie in origin… means what it looks like—educate, to the uneducated, but used as a joke). But today’s word is FRUNK. Frunk: (adj) What happens when a person gets online after one too many drinks and tries to type that they are DRUNK… inevitably the D misses. Etiology: natural… I don’t mean to imply that I hang out with a bunch of drunks, but you spend enough time online… it comes up… again and again and again… funny how that is the only typo the word seems to see, but it is seen with some regularity. Naked News Curious as to the outcome of my querying process? Probably not, which is good, because there is NOTHING new to say. Nada, Zilch, Zippo… Still 10 queries out there. I suppose the people taking a last break before summer ends have been gone and will get back to it starting Tuesday, so this silence may very well be just vacation silence… but I keep hoping… Last Lounge All summer I’ve been taking Mondays off. I had vacation time accumulated (more than 10 weeks) and I EARN two days a month, so taking 3-day weekends all summer only cost me 2 days a month of that accumulation… it’s been nice, though oddly, it has almost made the work week harder—a work week should be symmetrical, I think… I am now advocating for the three-day work week… even if I am stuck returning to a five… I’m saving that extra vacation time for emergency editing and a book tour [/possibly delusional optimism] Contest Call Most of you have heard me sing the praises of my friend Joris, who graciously helps me every time I need help with something graphic. He has entered a work in a contest for ‘ad creation’ and his entry is gorgeous. He and I would both really appreciate it if you’d take a look and vote in the contest! Create Ad Contest-Joris' entry I hope all of you have a really fabulous weekend—a long one in the US and Canada—so enjoy the last of summer!

6 comments:

joe doaks-Author said...

Gotta love Funk. Been a lot of years since I was frunk, but one memory is trying to play basketball while my good friend Jack Daniels was on my team. Hold that backboard still. This was well before computers.

Now, to go help out with some voting.

Best Regards, Galen
Imagineering Fiction Blog

TreeX said...

Thank you for the plug, Tamster!!! =D

And everyone who does, thank you for voting for me! -- even if I don't win the prize I'll still help anyone out that needs something graphical done ;)

Paul FooDaddy Brand said...

Lately I've been diversifying my list of things to call stupid drivers. Not to their faces, of course, but just sort of through the windshield in their general direction. Recent ones include:

Douchepuppet
Sticky hobbit
Mototard
Hummer driver

Like Open Office, these are all open-source insults, free to be picked up and used by anybody.

Hart Johnson said...

Galen--Oi! Drunk contact sports are BAD--always sort of enjoyed a swim with a buzz though... you know... back in the day...

Paul--I totally fell off my chair with those open-source insults... Mototard is now permanently in my vocabulary (as well as my family's)

Natasha said...

Tamster, I am pretty sure you are going to get the hang of the new software really fast. And even if you don't, no loss because you do write in longhand first, so none of the creativity will go.


And you just gotta love the word frunk, specially since you don't even have to have a drink to get frunk- even a mind-numbing day can produce that euphoric effect.

Cruella Collett said...

GOOD digression-work, my fellow zealot! And good job on promoting our words to the world ;) (Which also earns you points with the Great Digression)

As for Open Office - I tried it for a while, and some of it I liked (the fact that it makes suggestions on how to finish your words can speed up typing like hing, but unfortunately this in combination with the lack of spell check only speeded up my typoes. Spell check might have been added since, though). I am truly and completely back in Microsoft delusional fluffy pink world now, however. Anyone who tries to convince me that's not the place to be is a sticky hobbit.