Continued, Etcetera

Fiorella is running late today because her modem died last night. That's how it's been all week--one crisis after another, with the elctronics taking a leading role. No sooner had Fio tamped out one fire than another one sparked up. Fiorella still has no hot water and still cannot get back onto Facebook and is still swallowing Tylenol and penicillin every six hours to prepare her for a dental appointment tomorrow. but God bless him, Husband took a furlough from rehab and came home to reestablish the modem, make insurance appointments to take care of the bad tire on his car, and to look over the damage to our heating system, which the plumber told Fio was a complete gut job.

La, what will tomorrow bring?

Planning and Preparing

Fiorella is packing for her trip to Ohio. She has a list and is checking it twice, but knows she'll forget something vital. But one thing she won't forget is La Senora Isadora de la Computadora. You'll be receiving daily updates.
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Minnesota son helped her buy a NEW CELL PHONE for the trip and sent it to her overnight, and of course, as she's already mentioned, Daughter will be accompanying her on the trip. To top it off, Bastrop son will be checking on his father daily while Fio is gone. So proud of all three of them.
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This will be Fiorella's last trip to Ohio so she'll be taking a lot of pictures. She's especially interested in getting a picture of her daughter sitting on the same glacial rock that Fio has  photo of herself sitting on when she was about seven.

Fiorella's Ever-Annoying World

 Fiorella's her new computer won't let her save revisions, and her cell camera won't let her transfer photos onto Facebook. Now do you see why she doesn't trust electronics?
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It's offical--the daddy-long-legs spiders adore us, but it's not as cute as it sounds. They've built huge colonies on the ceiling and down the walls of the front porch.
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If Trump is such a germaphobe, how come he was all over KJU?
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What happened to that "cut" that Fiorella tried to transfer? Is la computadora working against Fio again? It only makes sense because, all of a sudden, the camera in her phone has revived itself. Apparently, Fio is allowed only one working electronic device at a time.
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Fiorella is hoping the next big advance in IT technology is a self-feeding computer. She's tired of carrying an awkward roll of power cord with her when she has to go upstairs or move into another room.

Mixed Bag

Just when Fio thinks everything is hunky-dory, her baby car refuses to turn over when she comes come back from delivering boxes to her INR nurse for a future move, her new computer decides not to let Fio "save," and her body decides to come down sick. On the other hand, friend Patricia has set up an electronic route which allows her and Fio to send story ideas back and forth, friend Jane/Juana has sent Fio a pack of Spanish cards that she can carry in her purse for odd moments, and she's recovered from whatever bug had her down. Guess it evens out, but Fiorella sure would like to get ahead of the curve.

Ah, Nature!

Yes, that was Forella stumbling into the house after an hour outside in the ever-warming sun hauling rocks and dragging cut cedar branches out of the forest. She also spotted some dead oaks that would make good firewood and dragged some of their better limbs to the side of the driveway. Why all the physical labor, you ask. Well, first, for excercise and that sometimes Fio likes to be alone in silence. Second, because Fio gets a lift from accomplishing something tangible. Third, because she is frustrated with all the ceremony that goes on with getting a new computer up and running. The latest glitch, aside from the missing key code, is that she can't print anything because the computer lacks the needed printer driver--whatever that means.

One Thing After Another

Another snag. Libre Office won't let Fio "save" and some of her Carbonate files are in trouble. Also, as she previously reported to you in song, she can't find "find." So, following the advice of friend Patricia, Fiorella has bought a Microsoft replacement which should arrive today. She's hoping it will get installed today too because she'schampimg at the bit to get back to work on Sabrina's story (formerly Phillipa's story).

Send good vibes her way.

I CAN'T FIND "FIND!"

You don't want to be around me
Not when you hear the news
I'm as down as I can get
And you've been there, I bet,
I've got the new computer blues

The blues, the blues--the new computer blues-
You don't want be me in my sad shoes
'Cause I've got the new computer blues

(Music to follow later)

copyrighted

Sigh of Relief

Fiorella, reporting in. I like my new laptop, even though I haven't figured it all out yet. The keys are are more seperate than in my old one, and they are slightly scallaped on top, which means my fingers are less apt to slide onto the ones next door. Also, the surface is smooth, which means my wrists and outer palms won't get chafed as much. Also, the bottom buttons for procedures like copying and posting are clearly dileneated, which means I don't have to use acrylic paint to mark them off of a long, double and triple duty bar.

There are some downsides. The machine is a little heavier. I don't have a problem carrying it, but because it is a little thicker and I do not have a big hand, I have use two hands to pull the newbie up off the floor. Also, the power cord plugs in at a different place, which sorta throws me, and I now must us a three-step process to open the computer up and close it down. (And I thought computers were supposed to simplify our lives.)

But all in all, things are working out. In fact, I'm feeling so good about having a computer on my lap again that I'm planning to swing into action on the book again this afternoon. Wanna join me?

FINALLY!

At last, at last, I'm in!
Let the fun begin!
My new computer threw a fit
And wouldn't let me enter it
She held me at bay
Most of the day
But now at last I'm in
So let the fun begin!

Facing Reality

Fiorella didn't realize how much time she was spending with su computadora until now, when she has to  make special arrangements to engage with her. The loss of her constant companion has left a big hole in Fio's life, but, on the other hand, she's grudgingly turned her attention to things that have needed doing for a while--like going through her piles of notes that seemed vitally important to her when she wrote them. Then, of course, less grudgingly, she has more time to tend to the rocks and the cedars. And--surprise, surprise--she's been reading her first two books, wincing occasionally at what could have been better said, but, overall, quite pleased with herself.

But Fio still wants her laptop back. The simulacrum should be ready this coming week.

Triste

Fiorella is sad. Dora, her sweet computadora, is dying. Fio's planning to go shopping for Dora's twin tomorrow, but in the meantime, she has her long-time companion resting on the hard-surface of the mostrador de madera she seems to favor. Blessings.

ELECTRONIC AMBITION

Just a quickie to tell you that Fiorella has discovered que es la problema de la Dora, la Computadora--envious ambition. Fio noticed that Dora will misbehave herself only when she is jostled or on an uneven surface, but remain cool, calm, and collected when she is rested on a desk or un mostrador (a counter) which obviously means that Dora is tired of being carried from pillar to post as a laptop and wants to settle down to a more respectable life as a desktop.

We'll see what her psychologist at Click Computer Repair says.

Blast Furnace!

This has been an up and down week for Fiorella, and right now, she's raging. Her computadora is playing games again, pinging off, then correcting itself, then ping, ping, pinging again. Of course, that would have to happen just when Fiorella is trying to devote several hours a day to her book. And, of course, it would have to happen on a weekend. Come Monday, Dora will make another little trip to Dr. Click.

And also come Monday, Fiorella will be calling stupid Chase Bank again, which sent her a very dumb form letter because apparently it is so stupid that it is out of touch with anyone else in the banking industry. Fio does not have time for this nonsense. She has a book to finish off before she forgets what it's all about.

And sometime this coming week, Fio hopes her mail-order eyeglasses, which she has gone through it the seven gates of hell about, will arrive. Bless Son and his wife for guiding her through the process long distance. For the past four months, Fio has been driving with glasses that are no better than none at all. NEVER BUY GLASSES FROM EYEMART EXPRESS!

Of course, Fiorella is seething about the national news too. When will Trump be thrown out on his tail? When will all his cronies and hangers-on be thrown out? WHEN CAN WE HAVE A DECENT GOVERNMENT AGAIN?

Written Against the Odds

Except for the Jesus portrait Fiorella did for her brother when he was a child, Fiorella does not do religious paintings. She considers them, even the famous masterpieces, to be fantasies that all too often people take for real and embed with supernatural powers, like the Russian icons, like "holy" water, like religious medals. For Fio, God is all around us, in every breath we take, and the veneration of material items is a mistaken form of worship. (No, Fio would never have bitten off the toe of a dead "saint" and take it back to Rome with her.)
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Now that the weather has turned, Fiorella is turning her attention to her rocks again. She emptied the trunk of the car of the bigger rocks she'd filled it with a couple of months ago and filled her little red wagon full of smaller rocks she'll back the bigger ones up with, if any of that makes any sense. If it doesn't make sense, blames it on the scorpion sting and the mosquito bite Fio got while clearing out her rock pile.
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WARNING: Dora, la computadora, has been acting up lately and Fio doesn't know what's going on. In case Dora doesn't heal herself, Fiorella might be out of touch for a day or two.

Catchng Up On the News

Good morning! Did you miss me? Fiorella was paying a visit to computer hell. More specifically, yesterday afternoon, her laptop decided to block her from getting on line, although Husband's laptop was happy to accommodate him. And because it was Sunday, Fio couldn't run over to Click for a quick fix. That meant she went almost twent-four hours without Google News, Facebook, and gmail, which drove her crazy.

But all is now well, thanks to a visit with Click an hour ago, and guess what? IT WASN'T FIO'S COMPUTER, IT WAS THE ROUTER, WHICH IS UNDER HUSBAND'S JURISDICTION.  When Fio came home and gave him the news, he scrambled around upstairs and took care of the problem so now she's now getting caught up on everything--but she doesn't like what she's hearing. The LasVegas massacre is beyond comprehension, and the only theory Fio has heard so far is that the shooter, who loved to gamble, lost everything and was wreaking his revenge on Las Vegas. If so, how sad, to make one's legacy a horror story. The only one who benefits from it is Trump because it's taken the spotlight off his mishandling of the Puerto Rican situation and the football kneeling.

Explanation

If you looked at Fiorella first thing in the morning, you saw far more of what goes on behind the scenes than Fio ever wanted you to see--the jumbled notes, obscure references, and sheer gibberish that she shapes into her morning offering. Yes, as you probably guessed, the computers at la casa Fiorella went off-line last night, and it was an eye-opener. Not only was Fio blocked from writing a stunningly brilliant blog, but she couldn't check out her baby-steps attempts at Spanish sentences on Translater, contact friends on email, check out Google News or KEEP UP WITH FACEBOOK.

But now she's at Starbucks, every writer's home away from home, and has hooked onto their power, cleared her blog, and explained to you exactly what has happened. Except that she almost forgot to mention that she crashed a tall chair to the floor as she was trying to mount it, and the store was stunned into silence, then erupted into voices of concern. But that's your Fio--drama follows her wherever she goes.

Downers

Nothing like opening up the morning with four loads of laundry that Fio brought home from Husband's rehab hospital, son still in bed with a migraine, and a computer that refuses to perform,
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The cast iron plants that Fiorella spent hours planting--and replanting--are looking sallow, and an armadillo has been tearing up the planting bed and the lawn. We'll have to get out the trap again.
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Fio cleaned out under the couch and found six pens and seven rawhide dog bones, but not the credit card she was looking for.
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Estella was killed off in La Piloto. Everyone but the bad guys are getting killed off. Mena is probably next.
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Fio's hair refuses to behave. She looks awful.

Photo, Computer, Sonia, Easter, Spanish

As you probably figured out from yesterday's post, Fio tried to add a photo onto her blog, but ended up messing up the post instead. She promises not to try this maneuver again until some knowledgeable person is standing behind her and telling her exactly what to do. Apparenty a big part of the problem is that she has a Droid and her blog is on gmail.
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Speaking of computer problems, Fio is not thrilled to announce that she accidentally deleted about three hundred pages of text and notes as she was closing down from reviewing her current work-in-progress. Luckily, she has a Carbonite back-up and is on good terms with Click Computer Repair.
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In a complete change of topic, Husband is training Sonia Dog to close the back yard door after herself. It's going to take a while, but it will be worth it.
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Fiorella has plans for Easter. She'll buy enough chocolate tomorrow to take some around to the neighborhood people who have helped her with her murita de rocas (little wall of rocks), which should be finished off in a couple of months, maybe sooner. Spoiler alert: Fio will be wearing the bunny ears Husband picked up for her at Target yesterday.
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One more thing--Fio has decided to check out Target and Walmart for DVDs for people who are trying to learn Spanish. Duolingo was too repetitive, and telenovelas talk too fast.

Running Late

Greetings, Fellow Mortals!

Yes, Fio is running late.  A little problema with her computadora, claro que si. To be preciso, her internet wouldn't open up.  Panic--was it another internet attack?  Fio sped off to ever-reliable Click, where her internet opened up immediately, so she brought la computadora back home and her esposo labored in his oficina for half an hora and finally got la machina working right, although Fio has to go round-about ways to reach Google News, Facebook, and her G-mail.

Will Fiorella every have a nice, peaceful, productive day again or has she already entered the gates of electronic hell?

Carando to the Rescue

The rider on the white horse who rescued Fiorella?  None other than Patricia "T" Carando--again. She has been Fio's electronic savior too many times to count this past year, and your faithful correspondent is muy grateful.

What happened this time, you ask.  Fio's icons wouldn't open.  First she lost access to her email icon (again), and then she lost access to all her other programs except (whew) the one for the romance she is writing. Fiorella promptly sent out a panicked SOS to T and met with her at Starbucks, where all good writers meet.  The mighty T began by wrestling with Fio's email situation, which was caused by the failing mechanisms of Windows Live Mail (no longer supported by Microsoft), and which will necessitate Fio changing to gmail in the near future.  Then, while Fiorella raced back home to pick up her credit card so she could buy chocolate chunk cookies, T restored her other programs.

All is now well in Casa Fiorella, thanks to T Carando.  Well, T Carando and chocolate chunk cookies.