“Houston, we have a problem.”
Ah, technology. Love it or hate it. Sometimes I love it, like when it allows me to stay connected with people or to read about stuff I couldn’t otherwise be privy to. And sometimes I hate it, like when “that darn Shift key” gets stuck and I have to go back to add a capital letter somewhere – or the mouse button stops working!
Recently, I have noticed that the right mouse button has not been working very well. I usually right-click on links to open them in another tab (like for the MANY science articles I like to read!) or right-click on a PDF link to save an ebook onto the hard drive. But lately, that has not been going so well. The right mouse button has been stuck and I have had to really PRESS on that darn thing to get it to work!
After I noticed this was happening a lot, I realized this was a mouse-button problem and not so much a temporary thing. It wasn’t me being a real weakling in pressing the mouse button, either.
In fact, I think that hubby has noticed this problem, too. I never mentioned it to him but it seems that he, too, has caught on that the mouse button was being so darn stubborn because he recently went out and bought a new mouse.
So the problem has been resolved without either of us having to say anything about it. I kept reminding myself to mention this problem to him but never got around to doing that. Now I don’t need to worry about saying anything because he noticed that problem too and took action.
As to the tech woes? If I have problems with the Shift key, I usually cry out “That darn Shift key!” and go back to correct mistakes, all the while muttering expletives under my breath. (Or sometimes I don’t catch the mistakes before an email gets away from me. Yikes!) And, usually, about the only other thing I have done with the mouse is imitate Scotty by holding it up and saying into the back of it, “Helloooo, computerrrr.” The kids have had a good laugh over this and even did the same thing a time or two. Good thing they never saw me scream my head off at the mouse, yank it out of the computer and angrily bang it against the desk a hundred thousand times after that darn button once again didn’t work. Because I was sure tempted to do that after having to deal with that problem for so long!
The mouse has been spared, though – and replaced. Peace is once again restored in our home.
Now if only something could be done about that darn Shift key.......
Showing posts with label computers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label computers. Show all posts
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Friday, June 18, 2010
Summer vacation starters
Yesterday was the last day of school. Yay! It was also a day we had a baseball game. Unfortunately, we couldn't get to the game. I could not find Jennifer's baseball stuff! It's so weird; her baseball stuff keeps disappearing. I felt stupid not taking her to the game just because we couldn't find her stuff, but I didn't want her to show up without it, either. Believe me, I turned the house upside down trying to find it. I even kept asking Jen where she had her stuff last but she couldn't remember. (Oh, that helps!) What was even more frustrating is that she would not help me look for it after she got home from school. So I just pretty much gave up the search. I guess it wasn't that important to her! Wasn't happy she missed a game, but...there it was.
Also yesterday, I had a bit of a scare. I had the baby with me while running errands and managed to get to the bus stop in time to pick Jennifer up. We sat there for a while and I kept myself occupied with reading the EW. Jesse kept himself occupied by keeping himself occupied. Haha. Anyway, we just sat there waiting for the bus to get there, and it ended up being about 5 minutes late. I watched the doors of that school bus open and children file out, keeping my eyes peeled for Jennifer. One child after another came off that bus and I kept expecting Jennifer to appear. But, she didn't. And the bus doors closed and the bus drove away! My heart froze. I scanned the children again, thinking maybe I missed her. But, she wasn't there! I asked a little girl who knew Jennifer if she had been on the bus and she told me no. ACK! I raced home, my heart pounding in my chest and feeling very scared. Remnants of the story of the disappearance of the Portland boy, Kyron Horman, ran through my mind, mainly because it wasn't discovered he was missing until the stepmother was at the bus stop to pick him up and he never appeared. So I got home, logged on to the computer and emailed hubby, asking him if he'd picked Jennifer up while he was out meeting with his friend. I was barely able to breathe at this point, my hands practically shaking. Finally, he replied that, yes, he did have Jennifer with him. THANK GOD! I was so scared something had happened to her. I politely thanked him for telling me (NOW!), though I was tempted to scream at him, "Don't DO that!" Sheesh. I'm just glad she was okay. I hugged her extra hard when he later brought her home. Now I DEFINITELY need to get a new phone, just so we can text each other faster and know where everybody is at!
Since it's now officially summer vacation, I have been pondering just how to plan it all out. We're DEFINITELY going to have some mornings of sleeping in -- though, in order for me to have time to work on my books, I'll still be getting up early. Except for today. I slept in today. Maybe it was until 6:30, but, hey! That still counts as "sleeping in" for me! It's later than 5 or 5:30, anyway. The kids slept in this morning, too. But we won't be sleeping in ALL summer! No, sir! Just the first week. I'm planning to have Jennifer back on her "summer schedule" just so she won't veg out in front of the computer or TV all summer. I know it's important for children to have structure.
I was reading the papers sent home from Jen's school and comments her teacher made. Her teacher had, in fact, expressed her hope that Jennifer will continue to read books this summer. Well, that's not going to be hard; she DOES love to read! But, I thought, it would be nice if her teacher would be able to see just what kind of progress Jennifer makes with her reading during summer vacation. Eventually, I came up with an idea: Create a reading chart! This way, we could keep track of all the books she reads over the summer and we can show it to her teacher when school starts again. Also, I think maybe a reward system would be a nifty feature for that reading chart. Say, after she reads 20 books, she gets a reward. We have decided that her first reward will be a visit to the Splash! water park. Other rewards could be an ice cream outing, a new book, a new toy, a picnic, etc.
I think this "reading challenge" will be good for her because I have growing concerns about her addiction to computer games and TV. Yes, yes, I know I am partly to blame for that. It is just so hard for me to curb that addiction. I certainly DO NOT want her to end up like her father, spending hours on the computer every day. So I know I need to step in and DO SOMETHING about that. The reading challenge is just one thing I can do. Another is to set a time limit on how much computer time and TV time she can have. I'll need to put my thinking cap on about that one and see what I can do. Really, if it was educational stuff, I wouldn't be bothered by it so much. But it's...computer games (like the one with plant zombies) and kid-friendly sitcoms (though she'll try to watch OTHER, teen-related shows if she could get away with it!). It's something I'll have to work on.
My plans for the summer are not all worked out just yet, but at least we can start it off with some ideas.
Also yesterday, I had a bit of a scare. I had the baby with me while running errands and managed to get to the bus stop in time to pick Jennifer up. We sat there for a while and I kept myself occupied with reading the EW. Jesse kept himself occupied by keeping himself occupied. Haha. Anyway, we just sat there waiting for the bus to get there, and it ended up being about 5 minutes late. I watched the doors of that school bus open and children file out, keeping my eyes peeled for Jennifer. One child after another came off that bus and I kept expecting Jennifer to appear. But, she didn't. And the bus doors closed and the bus drove away! My heart froze. I scanned the children again, thinking maybe I missed her. But, she wasn't there! I asked a little girl who knew Jennifer if she had been on the bus and she told me no. ACK! I raced home, my heart pounding in my chest and feeling very scared. Remnants of the story of the disappearance of the Portland boy, Kyron Horman, ran through my mind, mainly because it wasn't discovered he was missing until the stepmother was at the bus stop to pick him up and he never appeared. So I got home, logged on to the computer and emailed hubby, asking him if he'd picked Jennifer up while he was out meeting with his friend. I was barely able to breathe at this point, my hands practically shaking. Finally, he replied that, yes, he did have Jennifer with him. THANK GOD! I was so scared something had happened to her. I politely thanked him for telling me (NOW!), though I was tempted to scream at him, "Don't DO that!" Sheesh. I'm just glad she was okay. I hugged her extra hard when he later brought her home. Now I DEFINITELY need to get a new phone, just so we can text each other faster and know where everybody is at!
Since it's now officially summer vacation, I have been pondering just how to plan it all out. We're DEFINITELY going to have some mornings of sleeping in -- though, in order for me to have time to work on my books, I'll still be getting up early. Except for today. I slept in today. Maybe it was until 6:30, but, hey! That still counts as "sleeping in" for me! It's later than 5 or 5:30, anyway. The kids slept in this morning, too. But we won't be sleeping in ALL summer! No, sir! Just the first week. I'm planning to have Jennifer back on her "summer schedule" just so she won't veg out in front of the computer or TV all summer. I know it's important for children to have structure.
I was reading the papers sent home from Jen's school and comments her teacher made. Her teacher had, in fact, expressed her hope that Jennifer will continue to read books this summer. Well, that's not going to be hard; she DOES love to read! But, I thought, it would be nice if her teacher would be able to see just what kind of progress Jennifer makes with her reading during summer vacation. Eventually, I came up with an idea: Create a reading chart! This way, we could keep track of all the books she reads over the summer and we can show it to her teacher when school starts again. Also, I think maybe a reward system would be a nifty feature for that reading chart. Say, after she reads 20 books, she gets a reward. We have decided that her first reward will be a visit to the Splash! water park. Other rewards could be an ice cream outing, a new book, a new toy, a picnic, etc.
I think this "reading challenge" will be good for her because I have growing concerns about her addiction to computer games and TV. Yes, yes, I know I am partly to blame for that. It is just so hard for me to curb that addiction. I certainly DO NOT want her to end up like her father, spending hours on the computer every day. So I know I need to step in and DO SOMETHING about that. The reading challenge is just one thing I can do. Another is to set a time limit on how much computer time and TV time she can have. I'll need to put my thinking cap on about that one and see what I can do. Really, if it was educational stuff, I wouldn't be bothered by it so much. But it's...computer games (like the one with plant zombies) and kid-friendly sitcoms (though she'll try to watch OTHER, teen-related shows if she could get away with it!). It's something I'll have to work on.
My plans for the summer are not all worked out just yet, but at least we can start it off with some ideas.
Wednesday, September 02, 2009
Hacker alert
When I checked my email this morning, at my writing email account, there was an email there from a friend, who is also a writer. The subject line reading "urgent help needed" had me open it at once. As I read the email, I started to feel confusion then alarm then suspicion and concern.
The email said that my friend was traveling out of her country and was robbed. Her phone and all of her money was stolen. All she had left was the clothes on her back and her passport. And now she was using a laptop provided by a kindly Chinese gentleman to email everyone asking for help. That help came in the form of asking for $2000 to be sent through Western Union so she could fly home and be with her children.
I became suspicious of the email after I noticed that the English was not very good. (My friend is, after all, a PROFESSIONAL writer, with many books under her belt, and an editor! Surely she would be able to put together a sentence in decent English.)
My second reason for suspicion was when I saw the location for the money to be sent to: Nigeria. Right away, "Nigerian scam" went through my head. (Poor Nigeria, for being stigmatized as the homeland of so many scams.)
So instead of replying to the email asking "is this true?" I sent my friend an email to her OTHER email address, asking her if this was indeed what happened to her. (I was kicking myself for not having her phone number, but I might have it written down around here somewhere.) I was worried because she might've been hurt and she could be left stranded somewhere with nothing. I was also concerned that, if this was indeed an email from a hacker, then that meant her Gmail account had been hacked.
Thankfully, my friend responded to my email right away. She was fine, she told me. And, no, that email did NOT come from her. And, on top of this, she was not able to log into her Gmail account. Later, she told me that she contacted Gmail about this, as well as the FBI.
I was so enormously relieved that my friend was okay. I was also relieved to hear that other people on her Gmail contacts list contacted her FIRST before doing anything. They, too, noticed the bad English and also noted that, because she is a writer, it just didn't seem like the kind of email she herself would write.
Nevertheless, she made it an effort to resolve this matter and get control over her email account again. I hope she does. I also pray she hasn't lost anything.
Still, I was worried. All this time, I have assumed that Gmail was top notch in preventing accounts from being hacked. But I guess there isn't anything on the World Wide Web a hacker can't get into, if they try hard enough.
With this in mind, I strengthened my security settings on my Gmail account and changed my password. I'd had that password for over a year and never had anyone hack into my account. Still, you can never be too careful. Don't get comfortable or favorite a password. It's important to get those passwords changed!
I have not received an update from my friend yet on whether or not she was able to finally access her Gmail account but I hope that she can. I hope I will hear from her soon about this. I can imagine she would be devastated, as I would be, if anything is lost. I started to wonder if there's some kind of "back-up" in place to "rescue" emails that hackers delete or encrypt.
This unfortunate situation my friend was in made me feel really uneasy. What if the hacker took my email address and managed to use it in some way? And send that very same email to everybody on my contacts list? What if he hacked into my account despite my best efforts to protect it??? (I was kinda afraid to log out of Gmail today!) If this happened, I didn't think I could bear it if anyone on my contacts list fell for that scam.
I debated sending out a mass email to EVERYBODY on my contact list saying something like "If you get an email from me saying I am out of the country, was robbed and need $2000 to fly home and be with my kids, just know it's not from me but a hacker." But I know there ARE people on my contact list who HATE getting mass emails. And a lot of them might worry that if a hacker gets into my account, he might get into THEIR account, too! What sort of virus got a piggyback ride on the email they just read??
I didn't want to alarm anyone. I didn't want to cause panic. So, instead, I texted a FEW people who are on that contact list. With that same message.
One of the people I texted was my sister-in-law. I was surprised when I got a response back very quickly, because I knew she was at work and probably busy. But when I opened the message, it was using "text language." She usually does not type with "textspeak." (Whatever it's called!!) I got confused and told her who I was and soon enough I realized that the person responding WAS NOT my sister-in-law! It was someone who kept asking things like "who are you?" "what's your name?" "you gonna tell me your name?"
At one point, I thought it was one of my sister-in-law's teenage sons playing a prank on her phone. That's something I am going to find out about.
He or she just kept sending me messages and I had no way to block the messages, either. (Maybe Virgin Mobile should look into making that an option on the phones???) I stopped responding and thought that would be the end of it. But the person kept texting me again and again and again. It was irritating!!
I did tell my husband about this. He read the messages and told me just keep ignoring it. It'll stop eventually.
But it didn't.
Finally, while I was busy working on an article, I had the phone nearby and it went off again. I was really busy, though -- just typing away -- and my husband grabbed the phone before I got to it. He read the message, responded to it then deleted EVERYTHING. I asked him what the message said and he said he didn't know. I asked him what HE said and he said he told whoever that was "wrong number." I have to wonder if that's true. I'm guessing he said something else, because whoever that clown was didn't bother me anymore. Thank goodness! (It's times like this I'm glad I have a husband! LOL)
Later, when I had the chance, I called my sister-in-law to ask her what was up. Had she been joking around with me? Was it one of her boys playing a prank? Had she changed her number? Or had her phone been stolen?
I considered all of these possibilities as the line just rang and rang. Nobody answered, so I sent her a message on Facebook. Hopefully, I will find out what happened!
So today there was a hacker scare and quite possibly my cell phone number getting into the hands of someone who has nothing better to do than taunt others. What a day!
The email said that my friend was traveling out of her country and was robbed. Her phone and all of her money was stolen. All she had left was the clothes on her back and her passport. And now she was using a laptop provided by a kindly Chinese gentleman to email everyone asking for help. That help came in the form of asking for $2000 to be sent through Western Union so she could fly home and be with her children.
I became suspicious of the email after I noticed that the English was not very good. (My friend is, after all, a PROFESSIONAL writer, with many books under her belt, and an editor! Surely she would be able to put together a sentence in decent English.)
My second reason for suspicion was when I saw the location for the money to be sent to: Nigeria. Right away, "Nigerian scam" went through my head. (Poor Nigeria, for being stigmatized as the homeland of so many scams.)
So instead of replying to the email asking "is this true?" I sent my friend an email to her OTHER email address, asking her if this was indeed what happened to her. (I was kicking myself for not having her phone number, but I might have it written down around here somewhere.) I was worried because she might've been hurt and she could be left stranded somewhere with nothing. I was also concerned that, if this was indeed an email from a hacker, then that meant her Gmail account had been hacked.
Thankfully, my friend responded to my email right away. She was fine, she told me. And, no, that email did NOT come from her. And, on top of this, she was not able to log into her Gmail account. Later, she told me that she contacted Gmail about this, as well as the FBI.
I was so enormously relieved that my friend was okay. I was also relieved to hear that other people on her Gmail contacts list contacted her FIRST before doing anything. They, too, noticed the bad English and also noted that, because she is a writer, it just didn't seem like the kind of email she herself would write.
Nevertheless, she made it an effort to resolve this matter and get control over her email account again. I hope she does. I also pray she hasn't lost anything.
Still, I was worried. All this time, I have assumed that Gmail was top notch in preventing accounts from being hacked. But I guess there isn't anything on the World Wide Web a hacker can't get into, if they try hard enough.
With this in mind, I strengthened my security settings on my Gmail account and changed my password. I'd had that password for over a year and never had anyone hack into my account. Still, you can never be too careful. Don't get comfortable or favorite a password. It's important to get those passwords changed!
I have not received an update from my friend yet on whether or not she was able to finally access her Gmail account but I hope that she can. I hope I will hear from her soon about this. I can imagine she would be devastated, as I would be, if anything is lost. I started to wonder if there's some kind of "back-up" in place to "rescue" emails that hackers delete or encrypt.
This unfortunate situation my friend was in made me feel really uneasy. What if the hacker took my email address and managed to use it in some way? And send that very same email to everybody on my contacts list? What if he hacked into my account despite my best efforts to protect it??? (I was kinda afraid to log out of Gmail today!) If this happened, I didn't think I could bear it if anyone on my contacts list fell for that scam.
I debated sending out a mass email to EVERYBODY on my contact list saying something like "If you get an email from me saying I am out of the country, was robbed and need $2000 to fly home and be with my kids, just know it's not from me but a hacker." But I know there ARE people on my contact list who HATE getting mass emails. And a lot of them might worry that if a hacker gets into my account, he might get into THEIR account, too! What sort of virus got a piggyback ride on the email they just read??
I didn't want to alarm anyone. I didn't want to cause panic. So, instead, I texted a FEW people who are on that contact list. With that same message.
One of the people I texted was my sister-in-law. I was surprised when I got a response back very quickly, because I knew she was at work and probably busy. But when I opened the message, it was using "text language." She usually does not type with "textspeak." (Whatever it's called!!) I got confused and told her who I was and soon enough I realized that the person responding WAS NOT my sister-in-law! It was someone who kept asking things like "who are you?" "what's your name?" "you gonna tell me your name?"
At one point, I thought it was one of my sister-in-law's teenage sons playing a prank on her phone. That's something I am going to find out about.
He or she just kept sending me messages and I had no way to block the messages, either. (Maybe Virgin Mobile should look into making that an option on the phones???) I stopped responding and thought that would be the end of it. But the person kept texting me again and again and again. It was irritating!!
I did tell my husband about this. He read the messages and told me just keep ignoring it. It'll stop eventually.
But it didn't.
Finally, while I was busy working on an article, I had the phone nearby and it went off again. I was really busy, though -- just typing away -- and my husband grabbed the phone before I got to it. He read the message, responded to it then deleted EVERYTHING. I asked him what the message said and he said he didn't know. I asked him what HE said and he said he told whoever that was "wrong number." I have to wonder if that's true. I'm guessing he said something else, because whoever that clown was didn't bother me anymore. Thank goodness! (It's times like this I'm glad I have a husband! LOL)
Later, when I had the chance, I called my sister-in-law to ask her what was up. Had she been joking around with me? Was it one of her boys playing a prank? Had she changed her number? Or had her phone been stolen?
I considered all of these possibilities as the line just rang and rang. Nobody answered, so I sent her a message on Facebook. Hopefully, I will find out what happened!
So today there was a hacker scare and quite possibly my cell phone number getting into the hands of someone who has nothing better to do than taunt others. What a day!
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Glitches
Today while doing some grocery shopping, I headed over to Starbucks and got coffee. Today they gave away a FREE pastry to anyone who bought a coffee. I bought 2 coffees and got TWO free pastries. Yay! I chose the blueberry scone, which is my favie. I ordered a venti White Chocolate Mocha for myself. This is my chosen drink but sometimes, it tastes different when other people make it. One lady who works there knows how to make it just right. Still, I can't complain. IT'S COFFEE!!
Which is what I drank a lot of today. A LOT. Sure that meant running to the bathroom a lot, but, hey! At least I got my caffeine fix for the day! (Which, apparently, is not yet winding off. Hmm.)
Also today, I had some computer glitches. Been having some problems with MS Word but hubby fixed it today. Woo-woo! Now I can get back to work! I was practically tearing my hair out of my head because Word kept freezing up and I couldn't get ANYTHING done! Gah! I took this as a sign to get my short story written and finished up (which I have been working on since Saturday), but I still wanted to work on the books. Must! Stick! To! Schedule! Believe me, the only time I'll be able to take a break from these books is when they are DONE and SENT OFF. Then I will relax.
I just can't until then, y'know?
Must finish books! Must meet deadlines!
Today we were planning on having a talent show for a special activity. Jennifer wanted to sing but she had a thing about singing when I wouldn't be able to hear her sing. So I invited the neighbors over but they never showed up. She felt bad about that. I assured her we'll have another talent show next week and she can do something else. I suggested she do something else today but she was SO insistent about singing. She does like to sing.
And I bought goodies for nothing, too. So I guess both of us were disappointed.
Still, in the evening, she did sing her song to me. She sang a bedtime lullaby. It was SO SWEET! It was one she made up. This reminded me of how I made up a lullaby for her when she was a baby. I wrote mine down at the time, but she has not yet written this one down. I think I should tell her to write it down. If anything, it could be a keepsake for her brother, who she made the song up for. It's a really sweet lullaby.
Today when I did the housework, I went the extra mile and dusted areas of the house I usually don't dust. I was appalled at how much dust can collect EVERYWHERE in a house! That's craziness! I made a mental note to be sure to keep up with the dusting in those little areas just so dust does not collect. Too much dust in a house can cause serious respiratory problems. As it is, I have bronchitis, and I know that too much dust will only make it worse.
Anyway, another computer glitch we ran into was the speaker not working. This was my "duh moment" for the day. I was trying to play some tunes via YouTube the kids could enjoy listening to but Jen tells me that the speakers were not working after I already ran two videos. This, after she played her computer game for over an hour, with the speaker turned on! I thought it was working. So I got a tip on how to fix that and soon they were rocking to the Beach Boys and ZZ Top.
The problem with the speaker is that, by default, it's muted on my account. Gah! I did NOT know that. So now I know that, from now on, I have to turn "mute" off if Jen wants to use the speakers on my account.
And the other computer glitch I had was with Firefox, the browser I use. (I read on a friend's blog how Firefox had MUCH better security then IE, so that's why I started using Firefox.) Today I upgraded to the new version of Firefox and thought it was pretty cool. For one thing, no more going to "File" and WAITING for the drop-down menu to show to open a new tab. Now I just click on the "plus" sign and a new tab opens. Huzzah!
But this evening, something weird happened. When I tried to close a tab by clicking on the "x" thingy, a new blank tab opened! Huh?? I tried to close it and another one opened. Then that happened again!
My hubby and I were chatting at the time. He advised me to just close Firefox then try getting back on to see what happens. After I finish with this blog post, I will see what happens!
Which is what I drank a lot of today. A LOT. Sure that meant running to the bathroom a lot, but, hey! At least I got my caffeine fix for the day! (Which, apparently, is not yet winding off. Hmm.)
Also today, I had some computer glitches. Been having some problems with MS Word but hubby fixed it today. Woo-woo! Now I can get back to work! I was practically tearing my hair out of my head because Word kept freezing up and I couldn't get ANYTHING done! Gah! I took this as a sign to get my short story written and finished up (which I have been working on since Saturday), but I still wanted to work on the books. Must! Stick! To! Schedule! Believe me, the only time I'll be able to take a break from these books is when they are DONE and SENT OFF. Then I will relax.
I just can't until then, y'know?
Must finish books! Must meet deadlines!
Today we were planning on having a talent show for a special activity. Jennifer wanted to sing but she had a thing about singing when I wouldn't be able to hear her sing. So I invited the neighbors over but they never showed up. She felt bad about that. I assured her we'll have another talent show next week and she can do something else. I suggested she do something else today but she was SO insistent about singing. She does like to sing.
And I bought goodies for nothing, too. So I guess both of us were disappointed.
Still, in the evening, she did sing her song to me. She sang a bedtime lullaby. It was SO SWEET! It was one she made up. This reminded me of how I made up a lullaby for her when she was a baby. I wrote mine down at the time, but she has not yet written this one down. I think I should tell her to write it down. If anything, it could be a keepsake for her brother, who she made the song up for. It's a really sweet lullaby.
Today when I did the housework, I went the extra mile and dusted areas of the house I usually don't dust. I was appalled at how much dust can collect EVERYWHERE in a house! That's craziness! I made a mental note to be sure to keep up with the dusting in those little areas just so dust does not collect. Too much dust in a house can cause serious respiratory problems. As it is, I have bronchitis, and I know that too much dust will only make it worse.
Anyway, another computer glitch we ran into was the speaker not working. This was my "duh moment" for the day. I was trying to play some tunes via YouTube the kids could enjoy listening to but Jen tells me that the speakers were not working after I already ran two videos. This, after she played her computer game for over an hour, with the speaker turned on! I thought it was working. So I got a tip on how to fix that and soon they were rocking to the Beach Boys and ZZ Top.
The problem with the speaker is that, by default, it's muted on my account. Gah! I did NOT know that. So now I know that, from now on, I have to turn "mute" off if Jen wants to use the speakers on my account.
And the other computer glitch I had was with Firefox, the browser I use. (I read on a friend's blog how Firefox had MUCH better security then IE, so that's why I started using Firefox.) Today I upgraded to the new version of Firefox and thought it was pretty cool. For one thing, no more going to "File" and WAITING for the drop-down menu to show to open a new tab. Now I just click on the "plus" sign and a new tab opens. Huzzah!
But this evening, something weird happened. When I tried to close a tab by clicking on the "x" thingy, a new blank tab opened! Huh?? I tried to close it and another one opened. Then that happened again!
My hubby and I were chatting at the time. He advised me to just close Firefox then try getting back on to see what happens. After I finish with this blog post, I will see what happens!
Monday, June 30, 2008
Horribly Terrified and Mentally Limping
Forget about what people tell you what "HTML" stands for. For me, the acronym means "Horribly Terrified and Mentally Limping." That is the exact way I felt yesterday as I set about the task of learning how to create a website. To wit, learning HTML code so that I can create my own websites. I've been trying to do this for MONTHS. And there are so many people who have tried to teach me how to do HTML coding to create websites, but it never sunk in.
I have a friend who is so tech-savvy and has created several websites. They ARE impressive sites and I always enjoy how beautiful her sites are. So I've asked her recently, "How did you learn it?" She told me she had to learn EVERYTHING on her own. She started talking about it and I tripped up over something in her email. I asked my husband, "What is a host?" He explained it's where people are able to put up their sites. He asked why I wanted to know and I told him I am trying to learn website design so that I can create my own sites (namely, an author site). We spent many hours at the computer last night as he showed me different codes and techniques on creating a website. (It helps to be married to a computer programmer. LOL) He said one easy thing to do is to just create the site the way I want it to appear on Notepad then go back and put all of the codes around it.
Now, learning HTML code has been the biggest challenge for me. I mean, I only know basic HTML, nothing as complicated as font size and color numbers or extra features like sound files or anything like that. I don't even know what that thingy is called at the top of the window that shows the page title! So as we worked together on that last night, I kept looking over the different codes and how they are all used. There's a code for the background color, the text size AND color, a code for how text appears and where everything will go.
In the past, when I tried to learn HTML code on my own, I enlisted the help of the Internet. Now the problem with this is that there are bazillions of sites out there offering HTML code tutorials, and I soon had a headache trying to sort through them all. It was just REALLY confusing! I also asked many people what sites are the best to use to learn HTML coding and I visited those. Another thing I tried was taking a free online course that teaches HTML coding, but without a program like FrontPage to work with and test out everything I did, it was hard to learn everything.
My husband went to the site tucows.com and downloaded the free program, Page Breeze. We were working with it last night and THIS is how I have something that BOTH teaches me about HTML and gives me a way to practice the codes and see what turns up. YAY!! (My friend said that's what FrontPage is like.) But in addition to using this program, I am also going to keep checking out sites and read a couple of books. (One book I have heard is really good for the beginner is HTML for Dummies.) There's so many things I still don't know about. I got proof of this when my friend sent me an email with even more site-creating info in it and I was so confused after even reading it twice. So maybe after I get some more practice done and read up on it some more, my brain won't be limping through this task as much as it is now.
I have a friend who is so tech-savvy and has created several websites. They ARE impressive sites and I always enjoy how beautiful her sites are. So I've asked her recently, "How did you learn it?" She told me she had to learn EVERYTHING on her own. She started talking about it and I tripped up over something in her email. I asked my husband, "What is a host?" He explained it's where people are able to put up their sites. He asked why I wanted to know and I told him I am trying to learn website design so that I can create my own sites (namely, an author site). We spent many hours at the computer last night as he showed me different codes and techniques on creating a website. (It helps to be married to a computer programmer. LOL) He said one easy thing to do is to just create the site the way I want it to appear on Notepad then go back and put all of the codes around it.
Now, learning HTML code has been the biggest challenge for me. I mean, I only know basic HTML, nothing as complicated as font size and color numbers or extra features like sound files or anything like that. I don't even know what that thingy is called at the top of the window that shows the page title! So as we worked together on that last night, I kept looking over the different codes and how they are all used. There's a code for the background color, the text size AND color, a code for how text appears and where everything will go.
In the past, when I tried to learn HTML code on my own, I enlisted the help of the Internet. Now the problem with this is that there are bazillions of sites out there offering HTML code tutorials, and I soon had a headache trying to sort through them all. It was just REALLY confusing! I also asked many people what sites are the best to use to learn HTML coding and I visited those. Another thing I tried was taking a free online course that teaches HTML coding, but without a program like FrontPage to work with and test out everything I did, it was hard to learn everything.
My husband went to the site tucows.com and downloaded the free program, Page Breeze. We were working with it last night and THIS is how I have something that BOTH teaches me about HTML and gives me a way to practice the codes and see what turns up. YAY!! (My friend said that's what FrontPage is like.) But in addition to using this program, I am also going to keep checking out sites and read a couple of books. (One book I have heard is really good for the beginner is HTML for Dummies.) There's so many things I still don't know about. I got proof of this when my friend sent me an email with even more site-creating info in it and I was so confused after even reading it twice. So maybe after I get some more practice done and read up on it some more, my brain won't be limping through this task as much as it is now.
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