Puppy Linux 4.1.2 Barebones Retro

Pic is from photobucket and, of course, is of some super old computer gizmo, not the one I'm speaking about below.

Hello All. It's been a couple of days since I posted I think. On top of all my unemployment disappointments, I have a sore throat and feel blicky! Waaahhhh!

I've spent this sick day working on (read killing time, playing, etc) getting this old Toshiba 1625cdt/4.3 laptop going with linux. I am a total linux newbie and came across it when I was trying to reload windows 98se with a boot disk. Now I know that can't be done. I messed up the hard drive partitions, basically. Other facts about this laptop: around 400 mhz, 192 ram, 20 gig hard drive. I'm posting from it right now!

Puppy Linux os has been interesting to take a look at today. It comes bundled sort of like windows and it's free. You make bootable disks from the internet and it runs from your cdrom. After messing with it a bit I got it to save settings, boot faster, and cdrom is usable. I still have to boot with cdrom. It's been fun fiddling with it. Seamonkey browser seems to work ok. It's a bit slow, though. I can't get video to work and not sure about sound. I finally got a word processor to work and I think it's called Text master or something to that effect. It is free also. Linux Puppy was the only Linux thang that wasn't over my head and people use it on old machines. It will be great for camping (lots of koa's have wifi), using in my car, etc.

Being Earth Day and all, I decided to get this old thing going because I know what great machines they are. It's about 8-10 years old, clunky, and has been used very little. I hate to throw it out. Happy Earth day to all!

Oh, thanks to Amy for the comments. I also wanted to mention how great it is to be around my neices - watching Natalie get ready for the prom, and Casey navigating young adulthood/college. They're great girlies! I miss that Matty (nephew) in WY immensely!

Bobbie! Play Penduli Pendulum!

I've had another full day on the computer putting into effect all the things the feller at Computer Masters in Navarre told me. Well, I did spend a little too long this a.m. on an old beater computer I was using to practice on. Thankfully I had an old wireless notebook card lying around. Otherwise I would've been in a pickle, as I wouldn't have had Internet access for drivers. Blah, Blah, Blah.

Thanks, Mardi, for all the thoughtful comments!

Still haven't heard from Cloud10. I'm firing off an email this eve, now that the computer is pristine and in hyper deluxe working order. Time will tell.

Above is a video of a longtime fave, Bobbie Gentry. The title of this post refers to a long running and comical bit of silliness between my pal Amy and me. We joke that if Bobbie were to ever come out of her reclusivity (No one really knows where she is!) and had a concert, we would hold up our lighters and plead "Bobbie! Play Penduli Pendulum!". You had to be there, I guess, AND you have to hear the song.

The song in the video is "Fancy" and her dancing cracks me up. Every move is planned and she has that soulful, scratchy voiced thing going on. She's awesome and I thought it fitting for my first video post. I finally figured out how to do it.

Peace!

Divine Mercy Sunday

Pic is from photobucket.com

Get ready. I'm going to wax spiritual for a minute here. Today is divine mercy Sunday. This is an important feast day for me. Before I became Catholic I was going through some hard times. Toward the end of it I came to a spiritual understanding that soothed and calmed my soul and continues to do so even now. This was not a revelation or vision. It was just an understanding of the ways of God. I knew that I was loved by God and that I was supposed to trust Jesus. So, when I learned about St Faustina, the divine mercy image and the inscription at the bottom of the image (Jesus, I trust you), it was a confirmation of sorts. Everything I'm quoting here, I know to be true from other sources (pamphlets from church, St Faustina diary, etc). The folks I use for quotes explain more clearly than I ever could, instead of explaining it all myself.

A bit about this celebration from Wikipedia:

According to the notebooks of Saint Faustina, Jesus made the following statements about this day: "On that day the very depths of My tender mercy are open. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approach the fount of My mercy. The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment. On that day all the divine floodgates through which grace flow are opened. Let no soul fear to draw near to Me, even though its sins be as scarlet. My mercy is so great that no mind, be it of man or of angel, will be able to fathom it throughout all eternity." (Diary of Saint Faustina, 699)

Famous quote of Pope John Paul II on first celebration of Divine Mercy Sunday, 2001:

The elevation to the honors of the altar of this humble religious, a daughter of my land, is not only a gift for Poland but for all humanity. Indeed the message she brought is the appropriate and incisive answer that God wanted to offer to the questions and expectations of human beings in our time, marked by terrible tragedies. Jesus said to Sr. Faustina one day: "Mankind will not have peace until it turns with trust to My mercy" (Diary, 300). Divine Mercy! This is the Easter gift that the Church receives from the risen Christ and offers to humanity at the dawn of the third millennium.

About the image (see picture above) from Wikipedia:The painting shows Jesus raising his right hand in a gesture of blessing and pointing with his left hand on His chest from which gush forth two rays: one red and one white (translucent). The picture by Adolf Hyla contains the message "Jesus, I trust in You!" (Polish: Jezu ufam Tobie) shown underneath to emphasize the meaning of the figure. The rays streaming out have symbolic meaning: red for the blood of Jesus (which is the life of souls) and pale for the water (which justify souls) (from Diary - 299). The whole image is symbolic of the mercy, forgiveness and love of God.

My comment: When we receive mercy, we are able to be merciful.

Keep On Truckin'

This is just a quick post, primarily because I don't want to get out of the habit of posting every day. Haven't heard back from Cloud10 about rescheduling training. Choosing not to worry about it.

Boring details:

1. I finished up laundry for my backbreaking cleaning job tomorrow.
2. Ran to Pensacola with my dad to look at the possibility of getting a new computer. We did not because it's hard to get them new with Windows XP - a Cloud10 requirement. A requirement I'm starting to disagree with. (Chuckle - the visual of my dad and me actually running to P'cola - by the bay, on 98, over the bridge, etc -Silly).
3. Suffered most of the day with cramps (I'll leave it at that).
4. Ended up talking again to Computer Masters Tech guy extraordinaire, Steve. He gave me some good advice about wiping my computer again and a better way to reload Windows. He also ruled out the possible problem with the headset, which I had pretty much already ruled out with some other tests.
5. Spent eve in recliner with adorable wee min pin, Coco, snoozing at my feet on recliner while I loaded every possible necessity and driver onto thumb drive. So's I kin git to crackin' on the reloadin' of the Operatin' Seestom tomorrah eve. Oh, all occurred while Les Miserables played on the DVD and Cheryl commented often to my "uh huh". (You KNOW Les Miz viewing was inspired by the lovely Miss Susan Boyle. )

Yahoo Cap'n Phillips (Sp?) has made it home safely!

Funny pic of a sleepy Coco taken by me.

More Setbacks and an Open Door

Man, I've had another trying couple of days. As you know, I was all set to begin my training with Cloud10 this past Tuesday. My computer had other ideas. The tech folks at Cloud10 are outstanding! They are patient and do everything possible to get you up and running, but to no avail.

Last night I had to completely wipe my hard drive and reinstall windows. Today all of the Cloud10 stuff had to be reinstalled, a process in itself. When it got down to trying my headset, all was lost again and my computer froze with the dread "kernal error". I have to either get my computer looked at by a computer shop or try a new headset. I'm waiting to hear from my supervisor, as we speak, to see what my options are with Cloud10, since training is under way. Bummer. WITHOUT ME!

The good news: Ever the Polyanna, I got all my training info for www.homeEDdirectory.com yesterday and soon will be up and running with the selling of the ads for this homeschool directory started by a homeschooling mom out of Phoenix. Thankfully, this iron in the fire is sparking up at the same time the other iron is smouldering.

Just continuing to jump through hoops as they are coming in front of me, one jump at a time.

My mind turns to others: Our US Gov't as it seeks to deal with our country's issues, all of us working stiffs as we try to deal with our country's issues, hostages on pirate ships, all the folks who go hungry every day in our country and abroad, the children in Africa who are missing a whole generation of parents, our priests and religious and other caregivers in our nation and abroad. The innocent unborn are included as well.

The pic was taken by yours truly of our Easter feast. (Sis Cheryl behind the lily, Casey and her beau Tyler on her left, and Natalie and her beau Chris on her right. Quick aside: I read a bit today about the Easter season and the jyst(sp?) was that it can be seen as a time of alms, prayer, and feasting. Instead of the alms, prayer, and fasting of lent. Live and learn!

God bless all who happen upon my blog this day!

An Erratic Few Days

Wow. It seems like whatever could go wrong has gone wrong over the last few days. Sunday morning I was to go up to Birmingham to welcome my cousin into the Catholic church. I had some nausea and was unable to go. She ended up bringing all of my stuff from Birmingham yesterday, spending the night, and heading back up today. Very sweet!

:THEN after my Dad, the steadiest fellow in the world, made arrangements to buy some property, he decided it wasn't a good idea after all. See earlier post about said, GIDDY property. The property will not be purchased. Oh well, I'm disappointed, but easy come easy go. My dad is getting older and can't quite manage business transactions the way he used to.

My plan to change a lot of my ads over to fair trade and "green" ads has not panned out. I've been turned down by quite a few. Mostly because my traffic is too slow - I guess.

The last straw was during my first night of training tonight with Cloud10. I'm going along great for the first 3 hours. Everything was working great. Computer and headset were giving me no troubles whatsoever. After the break, my computer starts running slowly, and I can hear not one thing. Thankfully one of the other students transcribed everything that was going on through the chat feature. The first few days are for getting kinks worked out, so I didn't miss any content. But, dang, it's been an up and down few days.

Oh well. Life spins this way sometimes. An old, old country gospel song comes to mind: "Praaaayyeeeeze Gaaawwwdd Ennyhowwwwww"! I am an annoying Pollyanna. My sister Cheryl would probably not agree. Just call me Crankella Deville. GRRRRRR!

Pic is of sis Cheryl's dog Gracie. My sentiments exactly...