PSA: Windows Live Writer

For the last two weeks, I’ve been using a super-cool blogging tool, one that’s good enough to share. The biggest hang-up I have with Blogger is formatting. M & I are hardcore Blogger loyalists (thus far), and I’m impressed with their continual improvements and efforts to make the system more user-friendly. But I’m a little nit-picky when it comes to things like pictures, and spacing, etc. I’ve had many a post where I fuss with it and fuss with it, and finally just throw my hands up in aggravation before posting. It does not look the way my little OCD heart desires, but what am I going to do.

So my mom, who is always looking out for me in good-mom fashion, told me about Windows Live Writer, which was boasted about on another blog she reads, and I thought I’d give it a try. I’m hooked.

Here’s what you can do with WLW:

• compose all your blogs offline
• preview the post before publishing
• set the publish date and time
• select categories from a big checklist that also contains “add” and “find” features
• drag and drop photos
• FORMAT those photos easy-peasy
• crop, add borders, resize, and rotate the photos
• insert videos, tables, tags, etc.
• set it up to auto-save your drafts as often as every minute
• switch easily between blogs, if you’re a triple-blogging maniac such as myself
• automatic spell-check
• all that usual good text tool/formatting stuff like bold, underline, italicize, hyperlink, and strike-through

WLW snatches your blog’s login and style info, which you can also update easily if need be, so while you’re drafting, it’s like you’re “in” the blog. Pretty cool. You can use it with several different services, Blogger obviously included. You don’t have to have a Live account. You do have to have a PC, but well, if you have a Mac, maybe you have a cool blog-editing software already.

Want to be my WLW pal? You know you do. Download it for free here.

 

 

fun at work, by pen!

 

fun at work...

Animal Facts Wednesday, by special guest writer pen

May I begin by saying, *ew.* I don’t know how m can write these things every week in such a kind and generous way. Acknowledging that undomesticated animals are all beautiful and complex and integral to our ecosystem and whatnot. This week, we are talking about a housefly. Because, as previously mentioned, there a lot of houseflies in my house at the moment. I do not know why. I still have visions of poisoned rats littering the space underneath our deck, though I have no logical explanation for how these theoretical creatures would have gotten there. And it’s not like it smells or anything—I have smelled a dead, poisoned rat or two in my day, and there ain’t no mistaking. (Plus, I looked under the deck. No rats. No dog poop, either.) But the flies are on the slow and sluggish side. At least slow and sluggish enough that they appear to be having a coffee hour of sorts, or maybe a book club meeting, like the French door windows are just the place to be at the mo, to meet, and hang, and discuss. I will say that a) their presence has diminished somewhat in the past three days and b) I still have no viable theories as to their presence. Or c) how to get them the fuck out of my house.

BUT, houseflies are wonderful and magical, people. It’s true. And I am here to convince you of this truth with the following facts (courtesy of the wiki):

• Adult flies are 6-9 mm long.
• Female flies are slightly bigger than males.
• They are primarily gray (thorax) with 4 dark longitudinal lines on their backs.
• Their bellies are yellow. Yellow-bellies! Ha. Ahem.
• They are covered in hair.
• Female flies have a larger space btw their compound eyes.
• Their compound eyes are RED.
• They have one pair of wings, but also hind “halteres,” which balance them in flight.
• EACH female fly can lay 9000 eggs, which are white and 1.2 mm long.
• They are born as MAGGOTS, and live and feed in things like garbage and shit.
• After a week of being a maggot, they crawl to a cool, dry place where they transform into pupae, and then into a HOUSEFLY.
• They don’t grow after becoming a housefly. If you see a small housefly, it just didn’t get enough to eat while it was a young maggot.
• After 36 hours of being a housefly, females are ready to breed.
• Females usually only mate once, store the sperm and use it for multiple egg-layings.
• Male flies are territorial. Shocker.
• Flies need warmth.
• Flies take in liquid food only. They spit on solids for pre-digestion, and then suck it up.
• Flies can walk on walls and ceilings. Glands near their feet secrete liquids that create a surface tension, making said wall-walking possible.
• When they’re not flying around, they’re preening. They like to preen.
• Fly swatters have HOLES in them to lower air resistance, which would clue in the fly to its fate.
• Flies have been around like, forever, but the real housefly evolved about just 65 million years ago.
• In colder places, houseflies can only survive around humans.
• They can carry diseases aplenty. Typhoid. Dysentery. Anthrax. Stuff like that. Parasitic and bacterial diseases, viruses. You name it.
• They eat constantly, and poop constantly, which helps them to be such good disease carriers and filth perpetuators.
• They can fly for several miles!
• Houseflies are active in the day, and sleep at night.

 

Well I, by M

Today is off to another start that didn't quite ever leave the 2" space above the floor. Cat thwaping at the door, wanted to get in. Could not relent due to ensuring positive reinforcement principles. Threw 2 pillows. Had strange dreams. Woke up in turquoise and burgundy and on my way to work. Eating, supping on a diet coke. Watched episodes of Firefly and found something about that intro song makes me sad. Makes me longing. Find myself tethered to this place and wanting to be in a western... incongruous. with bad grammatical uses and a gun. Find myself on a strange land anyway with debt, and kicking dust up at my feet, walking in a forest of sunflowers, and the cool breeze coming at my back. Counting pennies and watching time, soon to make a universe on the theatre floor. Going where only I can go, and no one follows. And it seems I am already here.

OH WELL, BY m

So far the day is off to a sluggish start.

• cat woke me up at 9. nice cat. work officially started at 9 but luckily no one is watching the clock. though there's this one girl who knows i barely do anything and she is always burrowing death rays into me with her hostile eyes. I would help you Pris but I don't get paid to be a producer.
  
• just now discovered my shirt is on inside out. awesome.
• reviewed finances, too sleepy to be horrified
• reviewed evening watch carmen at the hollywood bowl: lovely
  
• am watching southpark reruns on watchtvsitcoms .com ... will update should anything more significant happen to me.
  

random whys, by pen

1. Why are there like a million flies suddenly by our back door? First ants in the kitchen, and now flies by the window. I shudder thinking of where they’re coming from, and yet I have no viable theories.

2. Why is it that everything feels better after restocking a few sundry items: tissue boxes, Oil of Olay daily facial cloths. It’s like I can’t live without these things and now that I have them again, I feel *clean.*

3. Why when I have a moment do I naturally gravitate toward the computer and Internet, rather than my book.

4. Why am I such a slow reader, sensitive to every word?

5. Why isn’t J.Lo’s new eye working the way he wants it to.

6. Why are Pisces, Aquarians, and Libra/Scorpio cusps all (apparently) moody creatures. At least at our house.

7. Why is my daughter deathly afraid of everything from airplanes to “shoo flies” to puppets. Is there a common thread?

8. Why will they not play Gossip Girl in order, why. Or at least throw in the missing eps sometime before summer is over.

9. Why didn’t this new DVR system (hate it, btw) automatically pick up the series recording of ProRun for later this week.

10. WHY doesn’t the dinner menu occur to me until an hour before I need to have the food on the table. Especially when certain dinner elements need thawing.

Backed

I confronted my pool fears and it was a good day to return as fridays are normally quiet. And it was as beautiful and cathartic as I thought it should be and as a bonus I talked to the guy who yelled at the asshat! He was swimming in the lane over and he said, "Oh was that you? That's why I was getting so upset, because I saw you had to stop your swimming a few times and then I saw the guy collide with you and I thought it was a different guy who collided with me!" I said, Thanks for defending me. And he said, "Yah I thought it was wrong and the time in the pool shouldn't be like that." Aw. Chivalrous guy! Wow.

That felt good.

Bad Workout Mojo

Worst workout in history!

Though my amusement at the gym has waned with the lack of said posts about ever-sweaters (guys who sweat allovertheequipment) and sweaty-cakes (girls who wear makeup to the gym)... and well jason the trainer and i, broke up, like i just couldn't afford the lifestyle he kept throwing me into. But everything slipped into a tranquil bliss of liking to go to the gym and routine and the pool being one sanctuary that I looked forward to... though it be small and humble.

I had a recent knee injury as it's all angry and sorta swelly- I blame my affection for the rowing machine. Anyway which means I've amped up my swimming, and lately my time in the pool has been unpleasant-- with summer it's brought out all the bullies.

And by bullies I mean people who walk in with the attitude of hi, i'm an aggressive swimmer. People fear me in the wake that I create. I will kick and plow with an unparalleled and disruptive vengeance because as you see I'm very VERY serious about what I do. And I will somersault, violently pushing off from one end to another. Mostly these asshats are male but occasionally we get a gung-ho asshat girl. Yesterday they all came out in record numbers, scaring all the quiet, graceful water nymphs away.

I maintained my position as a fight for all the meditative meek ones out there, though I'm not that. I'm just a middle of the road big woman who wants some peace and quiet and not the pool lapping up at me like I'm in open water. At one point 2 guys come in (speedos, caps, goggles, swim toned bodies- sure asshat warning signs). I see the one in the redhat jump into my lane already filled with one marginal ass-hat and me...who uses hand paddles to improve performance. (eyeroll) I think you've got to be kidding. And sure enough midway thru he collides with me, pops up and tells me pertly that "It's protocol. We swim in a circle."... Right. Like I can keep up with tweedle-dee and his dumber brother. In a beat he moves to another lane and collides with ANOTHER person. An older man who, by the time I popped my head up was fully chastising him about courtesy, manners and not being an ass-hat, bringing all the people in the pool to a water-dropped screech. He stuck it out with the 2 asshats in his lane, defiant. Daring them to provoke him. By then a vast desert of awkward muck had evaporated most of the swimmers. I moved into the middle lane, quiet and peaceful which was not to last.

Abruptly ruined by an older ass-hat who was putting on fins. Yes. Fins. Whose opening line to me was "Want to watch a beautiful body in the water?" ... He promptly took off and flipped water into my face. I thought, that's it. I have to leave. I've been broken. They've beat me. I got out and sat in the bubbly hot water goodness and tried not to think of ways to drown them all, but it persisted all the way out of the gym and home. Fully marinated in badvibes and hostility.

I need to return to the gym just like returning to the murder scene. Try to sort it out, understand, walk in a place that's normally so full of peace and goodness that it's incomprehensible that such evil could take place there. Maybe lay some flowers down and put it to rest. And hope it won't happen again. Or if does have a better answer for it than murderous rage? Maybe not.

Animal Facts Wednesday

Rabies.
I had to do a search for rabid animalpics and it was totally a downer. Especially with the proviso of 100% FATAL to humans. Yikes! Which led me to a disturbing video or two of actual people doomed to die who had it. Gross. UGH. Damn internet. Another reason I suppose we can have affection for our government here in the US is that they do go thru a great deal of effort to vaccinate wild life populations so that it becomes increasingly rare for people to contract it via domesticated animals HERE... because once signs appear you're deadzo. Though i do know here in SCali rabies is alive and well in the angeles crest forest- squirrels and bats you know. Ah well. Which is why people are always like if you get bitten ensue panic, capture the animal... whose fate is never anything other than death, bcs well you know animal dead is better than you dead. Reading about things like this makes me trepidacious about living. And doubly so of rescuing animals who look ill.

Part of my vaccine retenue for central america did include rabies vaccine but the deep discount price for a vial is $171. So by not doing it suddenly you feel your kissing caution to the wind. But my mind was immediately put to rest when I read on the CDC (i've grown to love them by the way) that the vaccine only buys you 24 hours-- and then still another 4/5 shot round. Either way. So don't get it: get bitten: get shots. Get it: get bitten: get shots... so there you go.

Here's some rabies info should you want to keep reading about things that go bump in the night:

• There are 2 forms of rabies: dumb and furious (fairly awesome categorization names). dumb rabies is actually the more common form.
• Rabies free zone: Ireland, Taiwan, Japan, Hawaii, Mauritius, Barbados and Guam
• Dogs are the most common domestic carrier.
  
• Racoons are 50% of possible victims but bats are where its at for most all the initial trouble.
• World Rabies day: September 28th
• Vaccinate your pets.
• Meredith on the Office contracted Rabies.
  

http://www.cdc.gov/rabies/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabies