Laptop!!

Woohoo, I am rather excited!! Show and Tell this week is allllll about the new laptop!

As you can see, it has a red cover, which distinguishes it from the black ones that everyone else in the family seems to have (although Andy may have a silver one, I can't actually remember!!), still at least if I need to leave in a hurry then I know that I can just grab the red one!!

Anyway, it has been a while in coming - I have wanted a laptop since forever as you get so much more freedom with a laptop (which is the point of course!), I can show off my photos without having to cram everyone into my third bedroom, I can curl up on the armchair and chat to Mum while watching Dr Who (as I was doing last night - how dare Dr Who leave us all on a cliff hanger!!), I can take my laptop to my brothers house and go online without having to wait my turn on his laptop!!

As you may recall from earlier posts, I had great difficult in choosing which laptop to get, as you can see I eventually ended up with a Dell Inspiron 1525 and so far so good, it's light on the lap and fast on the internet! What was also rather good is that the laptop was very much plug and play - I just had to plug it into the wall, open it up, turn it on, do a few bits of setting up and then away I went, I didn't have to add any software or mess about with the settings too much, I was online about five minutes after I'd unpacked it all!!

P.S. If you were looking my weekly faith based question (that I get from Christian Women Online) yesterday - I have set up a new faith blog so that you can read it if you want to, after all, not all of you may be interested in my faith journey, anyway that's where you'll find yesterdays question!

Childhood game

Thanks to the Rich Gifts blog I discovered an online version of one of my favourite childhood games, I don't know if it ever had a name, but it was a good travelling game. All it involved was pencil and paper, and you had to set up the game first by drawing lots of dots on the paper all in several lines both vertically and horizontally and then you had to use the dots in order to create little boxes! You have to take it in turns with your opponent and whoever gets to close a box wins the box and naturally the person with most boxes wins!! Have fun!!

Gadget by LabPixies.com

A one word meme

AMomTwoBoys has recently posted a great meme where you have to answer a series of questions in one word and one word only! She hasn't specifically tagged anyone, but said that if we want to do it we can, and I quite fancy it!

However, I cannot do justice to the meme that she did because she did it twice!! Once with one word answers and then again with the answers that she really wanted to give - it makes funny reading so do click on the link above and check it out!

Where is your cell phone? Handbag
Your significant other? Nonexistent!
Your hair? Unruly
Your mother? Slender
Your father? Bald
Your favorite thing? Books
Your dream last night? Forgotten
Your favorite drink? Tea
Your dream/goal? Undecided
The room you’re in? Library
Your hobby? Reading
Your fear? Spiders
Where do you want to be in 6 years? Holiday
What you’re not? Ambitious
Muffins? Chocolate!
One of your wish list items? Dog
Where you grew up? Sussex
The last thing you did? Blogged
What are you wearing? Trousers
Favorite Gadget? Dunno
Your pets? Cat
Your computer? Laptop!!!
Your mood? Settled
Missing someone? Nope
Your car? Silver
Something you’re not wearing? Socks
Favorite store? Borders
Like someone? Mandy
Your favorite color? Purple
When was the last time you laughed? Today
Last time you cried? Nana

And I don't think that I will tag anyone with this one either, but if you fancy doing it - give it a go and let me know that you've done it so that I can be nosy and see what you said!!

My job!

About twenty days ago I was in a bloggy funk with no forthcoming inspiration, so I asked for some questions and Katie obliged! I can only say that I am very sorry for leaving it so long to answer!! She asked me what my job was to do with and how I ended up in that particular career. Well, Katie, you have been waiting patiently for my answer and you need wait no longer!

My recent six word memoir was "books, books, books, here, there, everywhere!" and this is so very appropriate for both my personal life and my career. Appropriate for my personal life because I am rarely to be found without a book in my hand and every surface in my house usually has a book on it!

It's also appropriate for my career because I am a dyed-in-the-wool Librarian (without obligatory bun or cardigan!!) and I am surrounded by books at work too! I am actually what is known as a Special Librarian because I focus on a very particular type of library, by which is usually meant that I am anything but a public librarian! (I don't think that I could put up with children running around the library all day long!)

I should point out that "Special Librarian" really covers those that do not work in academic or public libraries, instead it is a category that tries to cover business, hospital, and legal libraries. Anyway, my specific catch-all title has undergone many changes over the last few decades or so! We were originally Medical Librarians, with variants such as Nursing Librarians, but today most of us are Healthcare Librarians so as not to discriminate against any doctor, nurse, physiotherapist, psychologist, etc, etc, that may wish to use the library.

Naturally we all have very different job titles, I started off as Senior Library Assistant when I was freshly sprung from University just over ten years ago and now I am pleased (horrified?!) to say that I am now Head Librarian, albeit in a different hospital library to where I started ten years ago!

Why did I decide to become a librarian? It's a mix of reasons really, the first one being that the Library and Information Studies degree on offer at Loughborough University seemed to be the right one for me - up until that point I don't think that I had really given Librarianship much point. Plus, it was a vocational degree rather than any old subject which I reasoned would give me a headstart on those who would try to say that I couldn't do a job because I am deaf (huh!). In addition to which it seemed to make sense...I enjoy books so much, why shouldn't I work with them? I am not even one to get all squeamish at the sight of the surgical and trauma books as they actually quite fascinating!

So there you have it - which is why my six word memoir is books, books, books, here, there, everywhere!

NaComLeavMo is over!

Well, NaComLeavMo is now over - it actually finished yesterday and although I missed a few days (especially towards the end because it was getting a bit tedious!) I am pleased to say that I managed to average nearly 10 comments per day, so it is really no wonder that I was getting a bit fed up with it!

I also managed to leave comments on over 50% of the blogs listed on that NaComLeavMo list and have definitely added what feels like a few million more blogs to my bloglines account! The whole idea has now evolved into a one week per month deal that we can all drop in and out of according to what's going on in our lives, so we wont feel quite so intimidated by how many comments we have to leave!

What happens now is that at the beginning of each month we can sign up at the original blog and then from the 21st - 28th of that month we begin a frenzy of commenting!! Having said though, I am definitely more of a commenter than I was before I did NaComLeavMo and definitely appreciate all the comments that I have received! Thanks to everybody who visited!

Password protected posts

I can't quite get my head around password protected posts. All blogs can be set up to be accessible by chosen people only if that's what you want to do, but the Wordpress platform takes this further as it offers the option to password protect individual posts!

Blogger doesn't have this facility, although I could set up my blog only for those with a Google account or even selected people with Google accounts, but this is different to individually protected posts, more of which below....

I totally understand that there are some things that perhaps you don't want certain people to read, but what I can't quite grasp is that if those people are regular readers of your blog and want to read your protected post and ask you for the password you will have to deny them. Which would strongly suggest to that individual that you've been talking about them, or perhaps merely about a subject that they violently disagree with! (although I think that most people would be inclined to jump to the conclusion that you are talking about them - we are all paranoid in that way!!)

Anyway, my point is that this seems to be the equivalent of whispering behind cupped hands and wouldn't this be more hurtful? I am very much in two minds about this as I feel that you should be able to say what you want (to a point) without having to censor your thoughts, but at the same time we still need to show the courtesey that we would normally show in every day life, or if you are quite up front and open about your thoughts and feelings in real life then you should be the same on your blog!

I am very conscious that my family and friends read this blog and so I try not to say things that could be inflammatory or upsetting, and I know that if I want to vent about certain issues (whether about work, family, life or whatever!) then I will have to find another forum or medium where I can do so. The other alternative is to be scrupulously honest and then have to deal with the consequences and as this blog names names I don't feel that this is the right place to be so honest that it's painful! Of course, that's not to say that I lie on this blog! :-)

So....what do you think? What is your opinion of password protected posts? Do you see them as a life-saver where you know who has access to the protected post and can therefore say exactly what you want? Or do you see them as being contrary to the ethos of blogging? I would love to know what you think, particularly as I don't quite get it myself!!

Bowling!

I had an invitation to join the girls from work and go bowling on Saturday! This wasn't just any old bowling centre though, this was the "Skytanker" arcade at the American air force base about half an hour away.

The trouble was that this meant giving names and car registrations a few days ahead and making sure that we turned up with photo identification (like a passport or driving licence) and then showing said identification to a guy with a serious looking gun!! All this before we can knock down a few pins!

Anyway, I managed to get onto the base without too much hassle and then proceeded to be either quite hopeless or quite good with my bowling as I just don't seem to have a medium setting when it comes to aiming that ten pound ball!! Unfortunately I didn't win the honorary trophy - a skittle that lives in the office next door and has all the last winning names on it from the last two years (it's becoming an annual event!), but neither did I win the wooden spoon! ;-)

The other funny thing about going bowling on an American base is that you can pay for your food in sterling, but you'll get dollars and cents back!! I now have about 15 cents floating about my purse at the moment and I really must take them out before I give them to someone and have them think that I am trying to fiddle them!!

It was good fun though, I really must go bowling more often!

Phoebe Cat

Phoebe is this week's subject for Show and Tell! She is a lovely fluffy silverish cat as you can see from the photograph.

I regret to say that she is a rescue cat, her previous owners moved house and left her behind! Fortunately she was found by the Cat Protection Society who found her a 'foster' home, got her fed properly and made sure that she was all clean (not to mention spayed!) and then I came along and chose her.

I can actually remember how it all happened (mind you, it was only about two and a half years ago!), I had finally decided that I wanted a cat and thought that it would be best to get one from the Cat Protection Society and so I found their website and registered my interest in having a cat. Did you know that you have to have a visit from the society to see whether you are a suitable cat owner? Needless to say, I passed the test and they recommended that I get an older cat rather than a kitten as I at work most days.

As much as I would have liked a kitten, I agreed that it would be best for me and the cat if the cat were a bit older. Then I picked Phoebe from the pictures on the website and spent most of Christmas worrying that someone would pick her or that her previous owners would try and reclaim her.

Two and half years later, I am not entirely sure who's the boss of this relationship!! She sits in front of the computer when I am trying to type, she paws at me in the wee hours of the morning demanding an early breakfast, she turns her nose up at her food sometimes and I have to restrain myself from putting down a fresh lot!

It is quite lovely to come home to a cat that is belly-up on the hall running expecting a tummy rub, lovely to have a cat that will curl up in your lap even though you're just about to get up and do something else! She's my little Phoebe and I love her to bits!! (even if one of my brothers calls her Feeble!)

Heartbreak

There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance

Knowing this, we are aware that there will be times when our hearts hurt and break. Each of us has experienced that heart break in one form or another. Thinking back on your life, what makes your heart break, and why?

And that is this week's question from Christian Women Online and like many of the previous ones, I have to stop and think about what I want to say. Not because I have had my heart broken so many times that I can't choose, because that hasn't happened and I do count myself fortunate in that respect. What it does mean though is that I have to dig a bit further back into my own history to try and think of something that makes (or made) my heart break.

Of course, there are the little upsets that every one has, such being let down by a friend; or the more painful events like the death of a grandparent, but while those events did upset me and cause me to cry or be a bit morose for a while, I can't say that they broke my heart because those are simply life's hard knocks and you learn a bit about yourself each time they happen and generally they make you a better person for it.

However, I don't think that I have ever had the breaking down sobbing kind of hurt that this question seems to be asking about. Not unless you consider the time that my parents left me at my boarding school for the very first time at the age of about 12 - I seem to remember that I was very busy at first being shown around and unpacking and stuff like that I didn't have time to think about it, but I also remember that it didn't take long for me to realise that I wasn't going to see my family for a couple of weeks and that this would be my life for the next six or seven years.

Oh dearie me, I was devastated, but I soon made friends and settled in to the daily life of school. All though out my school life I didn't like the end of school holidays and I would get grumpy and twitchy and want to drag out the leaving home for as long as possible. It is a memory that I can accept these days because that school was the best place for me at the time as it catered to deaf children and so I got the best education possible and so I can't really say my heart was broken, but I still didn't like going back to school! ;-)

It has taken me a long time to accept any kind of goodbyes with equanimity as I expect that subconsciously I associated them with going back to school. I am glad to say that I am fine with it now, in fact, I recall telling Mum off a few months back for leaving too quickly because she thought that I still didn't like goodbyes - well, she knows that I have gotten over all of that now; so much so that I don't even mind if Dad comes up to the car to wave me off - this was one of my trigger points as Dad would always seem to be more emotional about the whole thing, which set me off of course!!

If it's almost Thursday...

...it must a Random Thought Bubble!

• Believe it or not, I had to rescue another bird this week! Phoebe had nothing to do with it this time around! I arrived at my evening job to find that a chaffinch had got itself stuck in the skylight of one of the study rooms!! It was perched at the top of the skylight 'tube' and was just not prepared to come down and leave the room by the door like any proper bird would! In the end Wendy and I tied two brooms together and persuaded it down to our level, where I caught it, and got pecked twice for my troubles, and released it to it's frantic partner outside!



• Still no laptop although I will be paying for it tomorrow and hopefully getting it by the beginning of July. Why no laptop yet? Well, one of the current offers on the laptop that I want is for free bluetooth headphones (worth £30) which I am sure are very nice indeed, but seeing as I have a little hearing problem - headphones are no good to me, so I got on to Dell and see if they'd negotiate a bit and they did! I will be sorting out the final details tomorrow!



• It looks as though I have a canal holiday to look forward to some time this summer! I have always fancied a holiday where we travel on a narrowboat for a week, opening and closing locks, stopping at the pub for lunch, and mooring overnight where the cows live! Mum, Dad, Matt and I will be travelling together (not forgetting Mum and Dad's dog), so it's a good job that we get on well as those narrowboats are the ultimate in minuscule living! Mum and I are already looking forward to it and will be doing some research and planning so that we know where the best places are!