We Are Not The Same, Ha

I love this! Totally identify with reading part of a book or just the back cover and making up a very creative book report! Or one year we had the option of either a report or an art project illustrating the theme of the book. I sure made The Hound of the Baskervilles look sinister and scary... even though I did not read a single page! Was it even about dogs?!

So much creative thinking required by my generation!

Things are different today. I would not want to be a teacher of any kind trying to determine if their students are good writers – or just good AI users. Oof.

There's been so much news – frankly disturbing – in recent days about AI. Like Doomsday-type news. I really don't know what it all means or what to believe. But as a professional writer for nearly 40 years, it's been a hot button in my field for some time.

Some of my co-workers use it a lot and some of us just rely on the skills we've honed for decades. I'm kind of defensive about it. Can you tell? LOL.

As a mentor of interns the past two summers, I told them quite frankly that AI can help you write your resume and your cover letter, but it can't help you answer questions in your "live" job interview. You need to develop critical thinking skills. No "machine" can replace that.

It probably helped that us X-ers had to do a lot of legwork to cobble information together and make cohesive sense of it for school work. No Internet. Just card catalogs in the library. And potentially outdated encyclopedias. I still got straight A's so I'm guessing that was sufficient information for the time. 

As Carter went through high school, I was kind of jealous how easy it was for him with his access to worldwide information. That would have been SO handy as a newspaper reporter in the '90s!!!

Today I feel a bit (mildly right now) threatened because it can replace all my income streams – writing, graphic design, and photography. I sure hope my retirement countdown on my phone expires before "humanity" will! 

God, save us all!

Why IT starts with SH

So there's this weird thing in our house where I can answer all IT-related questions. Beats me why. Especially when I use a Mac for my photos and creative stuff and hubby and I both use PC laptops for work.

Usually it's no big deal....

Assumption football starts tomorrow and Jim needs to keep stats. Suddenly I cannot print his freaking sheet of defensive players to mark stats on. I have been trying for 90 minutes and have no reason why this isn't working!

I mean it's an Excel spreadsheet but I can't print it. I think I'll have to take a screen shot then print it out.

Oh gosh. Sorry! No one really cares about this crap. I'm just so frustrated!!

This is why all IT issues shout be spelled SHIT!

My T-Shirt Era

For us working folk, there's not many casual days in our lives, if you think about it. Saturdays might be an occasion, but there's usually a little dressing up for church on Sundays. After yesterday's fun coincidence of matching my neighbor, this morning I thought, "I'm going to start wearing all these t-shirts I insisted on buying but don't get an occasion to wear."

First one off the pile – King Cone of course! It's a pretty cool shirt, if I do say so myself.

Don't worry, I'm not boring you with a picture everyday. Just had to prove at the same time that I am leaving my desk and getting out walking. A must-do when working at home can keep you chained to your desk. 

I discovered today that 3 laps around the neighborhood "larger circle" will net me 5,000+ steps. So that's a start anyway. Each lap is a nice short break. Just have to keep reminding myself to do it!

Today was also highlighted by military jet training overhead and sonic booms and a nice thunderstorm. All ending before Jim's golf league, naturally.

Also, thanks to the internet and livestreaming, I was able to watch my cowboy nephew Zach compete in the AQHA Versatility Ranch Horse World Championships in Amarillo, Texas. He's doing pretty good. Now I feel the need to watch The Man From Snowy River, which helped fuel his horse obsession as a young boy!

Don't be to jealous of my exciting life these days! 

TDF (Technical Difficulties Friday)

Honestly it wasn't a hard day, just a long day. Which I should have realized when my work laptop needed a lengthy security upgrade. 

Then I had a meeting about a website launch that I heard 10 minutes before that that I needed to write some copy for by end of day Monday. I was not feeling any Friday vibes.

To sort of cheer myself up, I caught the end of today's Ryder Cup action at the end of my workday. That didn't go as well as I hoped. Let's go, USA!!

After running a few weekend errands in town, I figured I would relax with the remote since hubby's keeping stats at the Royals' football game in Edgar.

Unfortunately after watching Pretty Woman more times than I can count, I realized I used our non-cable remote to watch it on some unknown channel. And it took me a more-than-frustrating hour to figure how to get our TV back to our expensive cable channels. I was ready to throw so many things at the cable box! Life should not be so complicated when it comes to marrying cable and streaming channels!

Disclaimer: Jim considers me the IT/tech expert in the house but it's time to hire someone younger. I especially realized today I have official old person no-patience vibes running through my veins. And I'm not as smart as I thought.

I've also gotten sideline reports from Edgar that our Royals aren't doing so hot. Right now I'm just wishing we all have a great Saturday! 

Technical Difficulties or Something

Figures that when I'm having technical difficulties with my "old" computer, I have them with my new one, too.

I was so frustrated last night with Photoshop issues with boys basketball pictures I took, that I almost said screw it, and bought a new computer.

Then this morning, I said screw it, I'm getting a new iMac from Best Buy – who only had 2 in stock. 

I was thrilled to pick it up after work and get home. Then I realized these new Macs don't have regular USB ports, but require some sort of transition devise. I didn't find that at WalMart despite talking to 3 associates in the Tech area. So ordered something off Amazon tonight to help with the transition from old to new.

I mostly feel bad that it will take another 2 days or so to share pictures from a Monday JV game. It sucks to have to rely on technology. Hopefully this old lady will eventually catch up!

Back to the Grind – If I Can Log Back In

This image is quite legit. After 10 days out of the office and inactivity, I struggled with a few routine tasks at work today.

Nothing major, just – where do I park, how do I purchase a Diet Coke at the cafeteria, and oh what's my password again?! We actually keep the same password for about a year. The good thing is that you can remember it. The bad thing is that it always falls about now (8 days, according to my annoying reminder) and I have to set it, then remember it AFTER Christmas break!

My mind is not quite prepared for that.

The good news is that today was the first day for Secret Santas on our writing team. I got some Very Milk Chocolate Cocoa Mix that I can't wait to try!

The other positive thing is that my 4 p.m.-ish departure from work means I'm guaranteed some sort of sunset on my commute home. Very vibrant strip tonight! 

Unfortunately, next week I'll have to adjust to dark on the way to the office. And dark on the way home.

Maybe by then I'll resent my password to IhateTheDark24-7!

CSI A.I.

All this artificial intelligence talk shouldn't be ignored. I mean, "they" (the A.I. folks) know things. Look at this "automated" response on my name test today. This is so 100% accurate for unfiltered Robyn!

But it is a bit unnerving sometimes, isn't it?

Whether it's autocorrect in your Word document or in your texting app, "they" know things. Like when I tried texting hubby the name of a town starting with an S and "it" automatically thought I was typing "sensual." H-m-m. One, where did that come from? And two, keep my secrets, smartphone!

But a side note, this A.I. business is a threat to my career. For real. Who needs reporters and writers of any kind when you can just plug in a few key words to your A.I. app and you're in business? Kinda crazy.

By the time I retire (not soon enough) I will have survived the daily desire for paper newspapers and magazines (hello, online publishing) and the need for human writers. Pretty unnerving.

But obviously, as a woman who won't be remembered for keeping her mouth shut, I'll keep you posted.

Stay safe out there – and keep command of your own voice. In any form!

It Should Be Epic

Actually got up and was out of the house before 8:30 to head to Camp Crop-A-Lot. Helps when I just have to pack clothes, goodies, and grab my desktop computer – instead of all kinds of heavy totes of heavy paper, photos, etc.

Roads were thankfully plowed to the state Lions Camp in Rosholt. And it was subzero, so I guess I'll literally be chilling with Louie the camp lion this weekend. 

Which is why there were several space heaters going in our scrapping area. And why it blew a fuse. And why I lost hours of work on my computer – which would never happen if I was doing "normal" scrapbooking this weekend. I blame the sketchy internet more than anything. I thought my project was saving but it wasn't.

Trust me, I'm saving every 2 minutes now, whether I see the computer saving our not! I am through Wednesday of our cruise on the Norwegian EPIC, so if I keep cruising (pun intended), I should get this book done this weekend.

Of course, power outages aren't the only distractions. When I say our Lady Royals were down at halftime, I had to watch the livestream of the second half to be sure they're continuing on in the playoffs. It was an EPIC turnaround there, too, and they beat Pacelli by 20 in the end. Probably should plan to just take a break from scrapping Saturday night at 7 p.m. to watch the Regional Championship. 

Might require EPIC concentration!

And an EPIC night's sleep on the 2-inch mattress. Scrapbooking ain't for sissies!

Off The Griddy

Much like this Amish buggy I recently saw on my road trip to Minnesota, I was blissfully off the grid today. 

My exhaustion caught up with me and I was in bed until 9:25 a.m.! No way I was getting to 9:30 church on time. So I stayed home. And pretty much stayed put all day. I had one quick run to Wal-Mart to get a printer cartridge, but otherwise was in my office typing up address labels for funeral thank-yous and editing hoops pictures from yesterday.

I relaxed and watched a little Hallmark, too. There's nothing else on for us purple people. We have our W for the week and are off the Griddy for today, too!

As we wrap up Gratitude month, may we all find a reason to do a little dance this week!

Big City Scenes

Oh I forgot to share some of the scenes from the big cities – Milwaukee and Madison. The photo above was the nice sunset on our way to eat in the Third Ward Explorium on Saturday night. Not time to dawdle and look long because the temperatures bleepin' cold and it was windy.

On Sunday, when we made our way through Madison to drop off our friends' son and girlfriend – both students there – we saw a few unique scenes.

First was this dog actually wearing shoes and a jacket, just like his owners. Except the owner was wearing a certain brand and style of winter coat that retails for $1,500. Yup. Only in the big city.

And then there were these cute little R2-D2 type robots all over the place. They were delivering pizzas! Not kidding. I wouldn't have believed it if we hadn't seen them on several streets around campus. 

Guess we're finally getting to the kind of living we predicted the 2020s would be when we watched The Jetsons. I mean, I guess we are ... sort of...

More over, big town. We've even got most of these gadgets in our little sections of rural paradise! Still, it's fun to see an unusual thing or two in these strange lands that make us feel "normal," just the way we are.

New Beginnings

It's fun when the Fed-Ex man can deliver a fresh start. This may look like an ordinary laptop box to you, but to someone in this house, it signifies the gateway (oops, wrong brand) to adulthood and a career.

Raise a cold one to Carter, who started his official first real, adult job today actually using his college degrees in business and German. Whoo-hoo!

When COVID hit the spring of 2020, he was just getting into an internship at the university study abroad office. He really enjoyed it and was bummed when it was basically canceled. Now, he's going to resume that line of work at a study abroad organization. He won't be focused just on German, but a variety of potential students going abroad or coming from abroad. I'll learn more as he gets into it.

It's a remote position – the headquarters are on Wall Street (true story) – so for now, he's working from the third home office in this house. No more nagging texts from Mom asking, "How's the job search going?"

That's a job perk right there! Wishing him the best as we all move forward in the journey called life! It can be pretty amazing.

Extreme Sports Therapy

 

When I show up at my massage therapist's and tell her she'll have her work cut out for her, I have to explain that my extreme sports injuries are Extreme Sports by Robyn standards. 

In other words, taking 2,000 photos while standing on Friday night, then 5+ hours of sorting and editing said photos on the computer on Saturday, followed by 6 hours of extreme crocheting on Sunday.

And culminated with sore neck and shoulders and forearms on Monday.

Ouch.

So yes, it's a good thing that we had a deep-tissue torture session on the books for today. (And a back-crackin' spinal adjustment with my chiro on Wednesday.) And that my massage therapist has non-judgmentally dealt with all my random sports injuries over the years – including the Hallmark movie marathon in the recliner that did a number on my glutes!

Was it worth it? Of course. It's just embarrassing that I can't handle these extreme sports at my age! Even had to take the night off from shooting pictures. Jim and I went to the girls hoops game (a close one losing to Neillsville) and I just sat there and watched. And it was kind of fun.

Now when I'm typing this, my shoulders are burning so I better stretch out a bit before hopping into bed for some extreme reading!

Be careful out there!

Jingle, Jingle for Danish Kris Kringle

Nothing says Happy Festivus or Merry Christmas Eve Eve like a visit from Kris Kringle. 

Or in our case, my friend Kris (but spelled differently) delivering a Kringle. A Nordic Noel Kringle!

You can see the by the description that our friend from Racine has good taste. And, of course, the Kringle had great taste! We are trying to see how far this lasts into my vacation.

Oh yes. This afternoon I shut down my work laptop and don't have to start it up again until 2022. Now that has a nice jingle jingle ring to it!

So to start vacation, we finished buying and wrapping presents. And ordered out pizza for dinner. And, I may or may not have watched a Hallmark movie already. There's no judging on Christmas vacation!

Hope you all enjoy some special time off, too. Until then, Merry Christmas Eve Eve and Happy Festivus to the rest of us!

$tre$$ Relief

After pulling my hair out for the past month (at least) over computer issues, I decided to take action today. Which, of course, always comes at a price. But look at this pretty view...

Yep. It's a clean, completely uncluttered desktop of a new iMac. I had to do it. We just happened to be gifted a free afternoon off at work, so although I hated to spend off time getting stressed and dealing with computers, it was worth it now.

Went to Best Buy in Plover and had it all set up by the end of what would have been a normal work day.

It's so nice! I couldn't believe how quickly Photoshop worked. And well, everything worked! Finally got through some volleyball pictures I took weeks ago but couldn't edit since the old computer (still sitting here for now) was locking up and restarting and only letting me open up 25 pictures at a time. That is so time-consuming when I have my typical several hundred from an event! 

So hopefully tomorrow will be stress-free after shooting state cross country where our Lady Royals return for the second year in a row. Finally got to create their "good luck" graphic, too.

It's possible I rely on my computer a little too much, eh? I mean I just realized I have 5,000 blogs under my belt so yeah, I do use it a lot. Lucky you, though. Right?

$igh.

Oh, 600!

Would you rather wake up at 0-600 hours every day or wake up and work at home for oh, 600 days? 

Uff da. You know which one I'm living! Yup, 600 days ago was my first in the home office.

600 days and I'm still using 4 empty Cricut cartridge boxes to prop up my laptop and just the right height. And thank goodness at least 575 of those days was in a new (back then) office chair and using a second monitor, full-size keyboard, and mouse. Made it so much easier to adjust and endure!

Oh, 600! On the plus side, that's about 1,000 cups of tasty flavored coffee. But 600 days also means I've been in about 1,000 virtual meetings from Zoom (back when this started) to Microsoft Teams. And my eyesight has gone to Hell in a handbasket. Along with my average of 10,000 steps a day. And my ability to wear pants.

Just kidding on that last one. Had to see if you were paying attention.

The current back-to-office plan might put me out these 4 walls by year-end. We'll see how the plethora of unknowns line up for my company. Well, and the world. 

A friend asked me today, "Will you have anything to wear?" Obviously my state of dress – hole-y jeans and a hoodie – didn't spark thoughts of a corporate marketer.

I said I'd pretty much have to wash everything in my closet since 98.3% of it has just been hanging or sitting there for about 86 weeks, gathering dust. 

So there's plenty to do before my return to the real world. Including getting a lot more steps if I want to fit into my dusty clothes! We've got this, my fellow WFHers.

So Last Week

As I hear the rain on the roof right now, I can assure you I did not take this photo tonight. It was so last week! I stumbled across it while going through a senior photo shoot from last Wednesday night.

This is up in Biron looking toward Wisconsin Rapids. And it was a gorgeous night for photos of a gorgeous girl.

Every picture was so pretty. But then, now could they not be?

I had a handful of other projects I wanted to get done tonight, too. But my computer is still a bit touchy – and slow – so I didn't get far. that leaves one more night to get them done PLUS pack. 

Sister weekend is only two sleeps away for some of us! So yeah, gotta catch some ZZZs so I can get through this 3-day work week like a boss. But without responsibilities of a boss, etc. You know what I mean. 

Here's hoping all my productivity is so THIS week!

Oh Deer

What do you do when two of the top social media platforms are out of commission for the day? You drive around see real-world stuff.

Seriously, it was kind of weird not having any Facebook or Instagram working today. But yet, I probably got a few more things done. Except when I needed to do some legit marketing research for work. Who knew how much we rely on these silly time-suckers!

So I did a spot check on some fall color. And, oh deer, got a few surprises.

There was not any traffic out in the town of Rudolph, so I could slam on my brakes and catch this trio. "You lookin' at me?"

"Run! It's the crazy camera lady!"

They all ran and THEN crossed the road behind me. They did not want to get hit and did not want me to get another picture of them. Maybe they're smarter than we give them credit for. 

Nah.

A little further down the road I drove past this, braked and put my wheels in reverse for a quarter mile. Thank you again for not having traffic on the road.

Just seeing the windmill with fall color bursting behind it was so brake-worthy! 

Maybe experiencing real life isn't that bad. Of course, I do need some social media platforms to work – otherwise how could I share these pictures or my blog? Oh dear, indeed.

Sunday Smiles

In unusual turn of events, I had plenty of reasons to smile on a Sunday in the winter. Usually that's reserved for summer time!

Today, though, it was "nice" by Wisconsin winter standards. Temps around 22 degrees and no wind made for a pleasant walk around Lake Wazeecha. Saw this smilie face on a big rock and it reminded me that yes, we have reasons to smile today.

Nice walk and I got to try out my new mittens I just got in the mail from my back-home bestie Jules. Since we've known each other since junior high, it's a safe bet to make me mittens that have some purple in them – and a nod to Assumption's Royal Blue, too! She sent them to since she can't join me for Camp Crop-A-Lot next weekend. This way, I can take her with me on my / our walks! Thanks, dear. Love them! 

The other fun today was wishing my Aunt Gwen a happy 92nd birthday in person. Well, kind of in person. Our cousins set up a Zoom call at their house so she could SEE people giving her birthday wishes.

Even got to sing Happy Birthday and see her cake. Sweet! Thanks for setting that up, Carolyn, Laura, and your young, tech-savvy family members. That was nice!

The rest of the day was spend getting my scrap together for next weekend. If I'm going to state basketball Thursday, I pretty need everything set to go by Wednesday night. I'm pretty much set to go. As usual, if I don't remember details about something, I just check my blog. Thankfully I've been doing this for nearly 14 years. Might be time to retire from it and actually finish my scrapbooks. That sounds like a lot more work, though. I'll just keep plugging away and smile at the completion of each page.

Hope you found a reason or two to smile today. Based on the forecast of above-freezing temperatures here, we might even make a habit of it!

The Cat's Meow

It was the strangest coincidence last week. One day hubby mentioned he wished he knew what Sylvester was saying because she's so vocal now. (Must be a typical old age / lose your filter type thing.) Then the next day on the noon news they were talking about an app for your phone that can interpret dog barks. As an aside, they mentioned there's a cat one, too, called Meow Talk.

They weren't even to commercial break before I was downloading that. I couldn't wait to figure our girl out. I honestly followed her around for days. The result? She will not make a sound when she sees that phone of mine getting close to her. And if she's howling down the hallway, as soon as I pop my head out, she stops. The challenge is that you have to be really close to the cat to pick up her sound so the app will "translate" it. 

I finally hit pay dirt when she was trotting into Jim's office and she didn't know I was standing there. Any guesses what her meowing meant?

I laughed out loud. Very loud. Oh my gosh. Of course this is what she's saying. Jim is her human!! She can't be more than 3 feet away from him most of the time. My love?! Who writes this stuff?!

Anyway, I'm thinking maybe it's best I don't know what she's saying to me – especially when he's not around. Whatever it is, I'm sure there's not any filter!

If anyone gives it a try, I'd love to hear what your cat is saying. I'm not giving up... until my feelings are hurt. Ha.

New Year's Re-Entry

There's nothing quite like the re-entry to work after 11 days out of the office. I tried to follow the steps above to help my efforts.

First of all, I did check the alarm last night. I just didn't recognize the "new" sound when it was going off this morning. Hubby nudged me a few times before I realized what was happening. At least I still remember how to hit the snooze.

Number two was easy since I still could just cross the hallway to get to work. I'll admit I logged on yesterday, though, for this exact purpose. Glad I did because there was way too much work piled up for me to waste time sifting through emails today.

The third step was the tough one. First challenge was that I had changed my password right before vacation. They always expire at inopportune times. Thankfully I wrote it down (I can do that in my home office!) Then I had to remember what I was working or what I promised to work on "after I get back." Yikes.

Then there was that one task today where I was clueless. I had been shown how to do this specific video-editing process maybe early December for one project. And for the life of me, I could not figure it out today. With some hesitation, I raised the white flag and got my quite tutorial. This time I took notes. 

So I'll know what to do the next time I go back to work after a long holiday weekend... You know, in 147 days. Oh Memorial Day, you might as well be 2 years away!

Welcome back to the daily grind, folks.