Changes

Boy, have I had a busy week! How about you? This was the final week of school for many of us (YEA!). I also celebrated my birthday this week. Okay, maybe celebrate is the wrong word. Let's just say I acknowledged my birthday. My kids celebrated. You know how kids are... any excuse for sugar and they are right there with their party hats on!

These days, birthdays (mine and others') are opportunities to pause and reflect. The thing that hits me is how things have changed. It wasn't all that many years ago that the very concept of a home computer was nonexistent. Today, almost every home has at least one. When I was growing up, a lot of homes had a TV. Today, NOT having a TV is considered rather odd. If fact, most families consider it normal to have a TV in almost every room.

My mother did administrative work, just as I do now. When she learned to type, she learned on a manual typewriter. I learned to type on an electric typewriter. My kids don't even know what it is like to type on a typewriter, electric or otherwise. My mother is finally getting used to typing on a computer and is even doing some surfing on the Internet. My kids don't know what it is like to NOT use a computer or access the Internet. Things have always changed. They just change a lot faster now.

My mother had to drive to her job and bang away (literally) at the keys of the manual typewriter that her boss chose for her. She was required to dress in a certain fashion and deal with the clients that her boss determined for her. She was required to be there at a certain time and stay there for a certain number of hours. If one of us kids was sick... too bad for her because her boss didn't offer family sick time (unheard of back then). Today, I can work at home (in my jammies, if I so choose) using equipment that I choose for myself. I choose my hours. I choose my clients. I choose my wardrobe. If my kids are sick, I don't have to risk losing my job to stay home and care for them. I am able to get my work done AND care for my family all without having to burn even one gallon of (overpriced) gasoline. Yes, things have always changed. And yes, they are certainly changing a lot faster these days. But maybe, just maybe, that isn't such a bad thing after all.

Time for a Laugh?

I have been doing some surfing lately, looking for some humorous sites to bookmark for those moments when I need to take a break. As the end of the school semester looms on the horizon, I have less time to take a break, but significantly more need for one. There are, as I'm sure you know, many sites available to enjoy. I recently found one that lists peoples excuses for various situations. The site is called The Mother of All Excuses Place.

If you have a few minutes, or if you need to take a few minutes, navigate your way there and check out some of their submissions. They have over 35 pages of excuses in almost as many different categories. They have everything from Work Excuses (Why I can't/didn't come in to work today...) and School Excuses (Why I can't/didn't turn in my homework...) to Debt Excuses ("I only spent $500 so I only repaid you the $500. That is fair." The man had borrowed $1,500.). I will be checking back to this site on a regular basis. It's rather unnerving to consider that many of these excuses are "real". Many of the excuses I read were prefaced with the claim "This is an actual excuse".

There is also a link to submit our own excuses. They don't have to be "real" (actually used), but they do need to be creative. The old "my dog ate my homework" has already been submitted. (I used to think that one was pretty silly until my mother actually had to use it... and she even had the chewed up pieces as evidence!) LOL!

Hang in there, folks... for those of us in school (still, or yet again), the semester is almost over. We are in the home stretch. Take a deep breath. There is light at the end of the tunnel. (Okay, that's enough cliches for one night!) Until next time...

What a Week!

I don't know about the rest of you, but I have had quite a week... and I don't mean that in a good way either! I've had way too much to do and way too little time to do it in. I did manage to write another article though. Check it out at Go Articles.com if you get the chance.

Here's hoping you all have a better week than I just did... Tell your friends how much you care about them. Hug your kids whenever you can and be sure to let your spouse know how important he or she is to you. Life is very fragile... handle it with care!

Writing for Publication

Wow! Imagine that… I am now a “published author”. The writing experience was fun. After so many years of school and being “assigned” my topic, I really enjoyed getting to pick the topic. However, then I had a problem settling down to just one topic. The more I researched one area, the more information I found that sounded interesting about another area. Finally, I just had to close my eyes and pick one.

Then I had to choose from the plethora of sites on which to publish. First, I looked here, then there, then back over here. I didn’t realize this assignment would entail so many choices. Once I finally settled on a publishing site (GoArticles.com), I began the process of uploading my article. That was a bit of a challenge, but it wasn’t anything with which my teenager wasn’t able to help me. (It’s been a few years since my html class, and writing tags correctly is not my forte.) You can read my article at http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=868914.

Well, I’ve made all my decisions, I’ve written the article, and now I’ve published it. Before I began this program, I never would have even considered the idea of publishing something I had written. Now I have actually done it! I don’t know about the rest of you, but I feel rather accomplished.

Hello...

Hello and welcome to my new blog. I am starting this blog because I often find myself wishing there was someplace where I could go to just "take a breather" during the long days (and nights) when I am at the computer.

I am just in the creation stage now, so please check back often and see what I have been up to. Leave me a note and let me know what's going on in your world.