Transitioning to an Apple MacBook

Since I mentioned my computer dilemma earlier, I ought to put an update in.  I went back and forth a bit, but the decision came down to the fact that I either had to go through a learning curve with Vista, or go through a different learning curve with Mac.  And I’m tired of virus protection programs that clog the computer up, tired of Microsoft, and apprehensive about Vista, although Tim is looking forward to it.  (MS has done the first big patch already, so it ought to be a lot better now than a year ago.)  And MS Word:Mac (Word is just about required for writers) has been around long enough that I’m feeling comfortable with the idea, and I know several writers who are very happy with it.

So I took the plunge and bought a MacBook.  Actually, I ended up in contact with a very nice, very knowledgeable guy online in Indy who answered some questions and gave some advice, among other things to think about e-bay.  He told me what he looks for in a seller and to make sure it comes with the 3-year warranty, and highlighted some possible auctions to look at.  So I browsed and successfully won a MacBook Pro with a bigger monitor, more stuff on it, and with almost everything I wanted for the same price that the regular MacBook plus the add-ons would cost.  Hurray!

Unfortunately, after numerous back and forth e-mails, and with the moving deadline fast approaching, the seller couldn’t verify shipment.  I think it was a drop shipment set up, which is fine, but her supplier must not have had the computer in the first place or else had sold it several times.  So I had to put a claim in to get my money back (thank goodness for PayPal!), and I bought the regular one from the Apple Store in Indy.

I’m generally happy with it, but the transition is frustrating.  I don’t have the Apple Store for classes, and I can’t get online for the tutorials.  I expect that once I’m online, what I can’t learn from the tutorials, I can get from forum discussions.  But it’s been a bit of Ugh.  I think once I learn, though, I can do some pretty cool stuff with it.  Already I like being able to click a picture in iPhoto and tell it I want to e-mail it.  It brings up the e-mail, converts the photo to a better e-mail size, and attaches/includes it all in one.  But my MS Office for Mac has a program called Entourage instead of Outlook, and it won’t import my Outlook Express e-mail addresses.  I have to enter them all by hand, so it will be awhile before I’m in full contact with everybody.  Sorry, folks.  Although you’ll get more pictures here than through individual e-mails, anyway!

Mac vs. PC–HELP!

My computer is dying . . . fast.  It’s been having weird problems so I knew it was coming (looks like the hard drive is going, not just the fan), but I hadn’t planned on getting a new laptop now, in the midst of moving.  However . . .

I’m fed up with virus updates, windows updates, registry problems, etc.  Don’t know that I want to deal with Vista.  And Macs have run MS Word for a while now, long enough that I trust it, and other compatability issues seem to be resolved.  BUT, PCs are a whole lot cheaper than Macs.  BUT, I don’t get a new laptop every year or two–more like every 5–and Macs are supposed to be more reliable and last longer in general.  BUT, it’s S-O-O-O different.  And I’ll need new software for a bunch of stuff.

Decision has to be made in the next day or two.  If you have any input, please let me know!

A House in Ireland

We have a house and a moving date!  The house is brand new, actually not even finished yet, but it will be by the time we get there.  Or at least by the time all our stuff gets there.  It’s about 5 miles NW of Kinsale, which puts us definitely out in the country.  It’s about two miles from Blaik’s work in Dunderrow (dun-DARE-oh), and he’ll walk back and forth each day. 

The house is big–5 bedrooms!  Small master bedroom for us, two smallish downstairs bedrooms that will be my office and an exercise room, and two larger bedrooms upstairs under the eaves.  Translation:  TWO permanent guest rooms!  Lovely large kitchen (although the small refrigerator and freezer will take some getting used to), and I think the best part is a conservatory–a sunroom to us Americans.  The grass isn’t planted yet, so they’ll leave a square for a vegetable garden for us.  There are sheep and a horse across the road.  Here’s some views from our front yard.

I know it looks like we’re isolated, but there really are other houses close by.  These are just the pictures I like!

We leave on June 30 (less than 4 weeks–ack!), and will arrive in County Cork on July 1.  Tim is coming with us for a month, and the company is arranging for a furnished apartment for us until our stuff gets there in about mid-August, so that’s nice.  Since we didn’t have time to do any touristy stuff during our househunting trip, Blaik will take a few days before he goes in to the office to settle in and we’ll take the harbor cruise and visit the remnants of Charles Fort, etc.  I don’t know the whole story, but Kinsale was where the Spanish Armada landed, met up with Irish from the north, and fought the British.  

Yes, Ireland Has Trees

Have you ever noticed that most of our favorite pictures of Ireland’s scenery are grass-covered hills with stone walls and sheep, but hardly any trees?  The more I looked, the more I wondered if I’d be able to handle a land without forests.  But Ireland has forests! 

According to one site, Ireland had only 1% forests a century ago.  The Irish Forest Service has been planting managed forests, and when they got to a third of a million hectares (however that translates into acres), the company Coillte was formed.  Coillte (sort of pronounced Kweelcheh) now privately owns most or all of the harvested forests, which have walking trails and recreations spots in the “forest parks” which are open to the public.  Other forested land is owned by farmers, and the total is now up to about 10%. 

If you want a long hike, head for the waymarked trails.  But for shorter adventures, you can head for the forest parks and walk the paths there.  Check out the Coillte Outdoors site–click on a county and then a recreation site for details.  Fun to browse and anticipate, and I love names like Castlemartyrs Wood and Ballaghisheen.  Some are just the woods, lakes  & streams, but some, like Gragans Wood in County Clare, have ancient forts, castles, and cairns as well as the flora and fauna. 

Hiking in Ireland

We want to walk and hike in Ireland, and have found that hiking is generally called hill-walking.  After browsing a link that Ciaran (pronounced Keeran) sent after our “cultural orientation,” it sounds awesome!  Ireland is filled with “waymarked walking trails,” paths & roads through public and private land that are marked for hikers.  Some go through several counties, some are short with different starts and finishes, and some are loop trails.  There are guides for difficulty level, length, how much elevation, etc., so you know what you’re getting into.  And if you follow one trail along over several days, there are usually youth hostels or bed & breakfasts to stay in on the way. 

So maybe I didn’t manage the mini-marathon, but I’m really looking forward to this.  Here’s a map showing the trails (if you click on it you’ll get the big version).  And check out the link to the “Waymarked Ways of Ireland.” 

 

Choosing White Paint is Not for Wimps! (and other fixing-up advice)

Choosing white paint is not for wimps!  I didn’t think it would be any big deal, but it was.  The off-white we used at the Lebanon house seemed fine.  So I dipped a stick in it, had Home Depot do a color match, and bought 5 gallons.  Painted one coat in our bathroom.  It was green!  Was it because of the green drywall underneath?  No, the second coat wasn’t any different.  Dip a stick in the new paint, lay both above the edge of the shower surround.  The original was a tad green, but Home Depot’s was definitely greener. 

Leave the bathroom paint problem for later, go to Lowe’s this time to chose another color.  An original color, not a color match.  Look at samples under the different types of light in the little paint department machine.  Go outside and look at it in bright sunlight.  Back and forth, back and forth.  I think I’ve got it.  How hard can it be to choose a nice, vanilla-ice-cream color? 

Come home, paint bedroom #2.  It’s peachy!  What happened to vanilla?  It actually wasn’t too bad, the room wouldn’t have to be repainted, but it wasn’t what I wanted in whole house.  Back to H.D.  If they color-matched it wrong, they can darn well replace it, even if it says “non-returnable.”  Took a friend this time, looking for one gallon to test before I commit to five.  With a better sense for underlying tones than I have, Susan narrowed it down.  She pushed for a slightly whiter white, I pushed for a little creamier.  Just one shade different.  I win.  Go home, hold breath, paint main bathroom.  YES!  This is it!  Paint bedrooms #3 and #4.  Yes!  Still the one! 

Paint whole house.  And paint.  And paint.  And hire someone else to paint a little.  And then paint some more.  And more.  And hire the painter again.  And keep going.   

Anyway, the house is pristine, most of our stuff is in boxes crammed into the garage, and the Century 21 sign is in the yard.  Other things we’ve discovered through this very long and very exhausting process:

• Old English Scratch Remover is a miracle worker when it comes to reviving old woodwork.  Wipe on with a rag, wipe off with another rag, and be ready with a sponge to wipe off what gets on the walls and floor.  (There’s always some.)  Best if done before painting, but works afterwards, too.
• Rosin/Resin paper is great to protect the floor from drywall mud, but watch out if it gets wet.  It can stain the vinyl floor underneath so that it’s a big pink splotch and entire floor has to be replaced. 
• Wear a tennis elbow brace if you’re going to be doing a lot of painting.  And if you start hurting, start wearing it even when you aren’t painting.  It may save you going to the doctor for a steroid shot and then wearing it 24/7 for months.
• If possible, try not to move stuff/people from room to room as you paint.  It makes for chaos, lots of work, and your kids not knowing where they’re sleeping that night. 
• Definitely don’t try to be painting one area of the house while the carpet layers are working on another.  That leaves absolutely NO space to put anything!
• Have lots and lots of money available.  That way you can hire someone to help when you get overwhelmed.  Or better yet, hire someone to do it all.  And it gives you money for the repairs that will undoubtedly be uncovered. 
• Breathe.  If we can survive this, so can you. 

Slaintè!

 

Fun Stuff on Google

It’s amazing the things our teenagers discover for us.  Try these for some fun:

• Go to Google.com.  It has to be Google and it has to be the actual website, not the search bar on your internet browser.  Type “Chuck Norris” in the search box and click “I’m Feeling Lucky.” 
• Check out elgooG.  After you’re done examining the page, try entering something. 

Enjoy the giggles on Google!

Another Editor’s Choice Award

I just received my sixth Editor’s Choice award in Suite 101’s Writing & Publishing section.  It’s for an article called “Complex Scope of Writing a Novel: Motivation, Intimidation and the Dreaded Writer’s Block” that I posted last week.  It’s based partly on what I’ve been learning from the fiction workshop I’m taking and the freewriting I’ve been doing for the class, and partly on my six-month experience with intimidation-caused writer’s block after a major conference I went to when I was first starting out.

The Editor’s Choice Awards are given to one article in each major section each week, for an article that “exemplifies the quality content, excellent presentation, and high standard” that Suite 101 is looking for.  Good writing, hopefully, but also good content and good Search Engine Optimization so Google and others can pick it up.  SEO has been interesting to learn, and makes for very different articles and especially titles than I’ve been used to.  They’re spotlighted by a circled green checkmark wherever the article title shows up on Suite 101.  Click here if you want to read it.

Homes for Cats

Hallelujah, Amen!  (We just sang that for Easter, and it was awesome!)

Anyway, both Blinkin and Pumpkin found new homes this weekend.  After having signs up at the grocery store, where everyone puts everything in Zionsville, and having lots of people pull the little phone number tabs off but not call; after putting signs up in feed stores, especially for Blinkin who likes to spend most of his time outdoors; after asking friends and neighbors for months; I put an ad in the paper for free cats and got more calls than I imagined.  Partly because I said “neutered, 12, current shots” and people wanted to know if it was 12 weeks, 12 months or 12 years (it’s years), and were they male or female?  Doesn’t neutered automatically mean male?  Blaik would say, “What do you expect?  These are Hoosiers, after all.”

So Blinkin has gone to a home with a 9-year-old boy who loves animals and wants to be a vet, and whose previous black and white cat was misappropriated by someone on the block who refused to give him back!  Needless to say, the boy fell in love with Blinkin and is no longer in tears.  Pumpkin has an indoor-only downtown home with a guy (and his wife) who has always wanted a Garfield cat.  He was awesome and I think Pumpkin will get spoiled.  As if he’s not already. 

Both families are prepared for cats who are healthy now, but may have senior-issues later.  I’m amazed at how easy it was.  Blessings from the Lord, I think.  I was really stressing out over it before, and I’m very relieved now.  Even at a no-kill shelter, they wouldn’t have survived living in cages for long, and I don’t know if they were adoptable with their age.  Happy day!

31 pounds down!

As of weigh-in at my Weight Watchers meeting tonight, I’ve lost 31 pounds.  Three pounds in the last two weeks, and a total of 6 since I switched to Core a month ago.  Hurray! 

And the weather is getting moderately better, so I’m picking up my walking outside.  The Mini-Marathon is only about 5 weeks away, though, and the most I’ve walked at one time is 4 miles.  Uh-oh.