Welcome to 2012

Here in Florida, I said goodbye to 2011 almost 30 minutes ago.  And it was a year that I was more than glad to see go.  I am not going to rehash all the problems of 2011.  But this was a year when the light at the end of the tunnel sometimes turned out to be an oncoming train.

I do hope that 2012 turns out to be a great year.  I sure am looking forward to seeing what the new year brings.  I truly hope it's a great year for all of us.

Happy New Year Y'all!!!

Pets Are Amazing But Please Make Sure You Are Ready To Commit

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love my four legged and winged babies.  I can totally understand why someone would want to bring an animal in to their lives.  But before you do so, please make sure you are ready for the commitment.  Dogs and cats are amazing friends and they deserve our love and protection.

So many dogs and cats are without homes in this country.  My Sazume was found on the street by the humane society.  Never could you want for a nicer, sweeter dog.  Yet when she was 10 months old she was abandoned.  I've had my baby Sazume for seven years now and I cannot understand how anyone let this baby go.

My cat Lorenzo was kicked out of the house by our former neighbors.  This is an angel kitty, yet someone was willing to just abandon her to the streets.  I have no idea why.

And if you are looking for a pet, please visit your local shelter.  There are so many dogs and cats put down every day because there is no one to give them a forever home.  Bypass the pet store in the mall.  Those animals often come from puppy mills where the breeder dogs are so badly treated.  My Lady, who we lost to kidney failure in 2004, was a breeder dog rescued by animal control in Palm Beach County.  I still remember how happy she was to come home with us in 2003.  Alas we only had about 14 months with her.  And I am certain that she died so young, she was only seven, because of her poor treatment by the puppy mill owners.

I realize that there are occassions when someone may find they have no choice but to give up a beloved pet.  If that happens make sure you find your friend a good home where it will continue to be loved forever.

I wish I could save every pet in need of a new home.  But I can't.  So please help me by really thinking through your deicision to bring an amazing animal in to your life.  And when you know you are ready, visit your local shelter and help an animal find a forever home.  Your new friend will thank you!

Starting Over

A little over a week ago, I woke up to find that the original Scribbles and Musings was gone.  Six months of work deleted by the webhost when they decided starting from scratch was the best way to deal with a security issue.  No advance notice so that a backup could be made.  It was all gone.

After getting over the discouragement of all that lost work, I had to decide where to go from here.  Should I continue self-hosting my blog?  Should I choose a new webhost wtih more features than No Support Linux Hosting.  Yes, the $1/month price tag is awesome.  But I was no longer sure it was the right way for me to go.

But I finally made a decision today.  Squarespace sponsors two of my favorite podcasts, Tech News Today and All About Android.  So I am giving them a try to see if I like the page I can create.

Right now, I am in the process of sorting out all of the posts I made on my Blogger blog prior to the switch to a self-hosted Wordpress blog and waiting for the DNS to repopulate so that users going to scribler.us can fine me.  But while I get all of that sorted out, I will be posting again.  And I am really glad to get my site going again.

Am I the only one??

Tell me I am not the only one who has this problem. I have so many ideas for things I want to blog about that I can't decide what to do next and so I do nothing. Surely I am not the only one with this problem.

For instance, I have a couple of followup blogs posts I want do do as far as podcasts and the Roku Box goes. I also really want to share with you how I feel about Walmart photo printing. lol I did manage to successfully complete Project 52 last week, but I have yet to post the photos. I have new stuff from Merkeley Designs that I want to share with you. And a new layout that I really like how it came out, so I need to share it. But it's been several days since I've posted anything.

So, am I the only one with this issue? Am I the only with so many ideas on what they want to do next that they do nothing? Let me know if I am the only one with this issue.

Do you know how David and I met?

Well, for those who don't know, I am here to tell you.  David and I met in an IRC chatroom on Dalnet.  That's right David and I met on the Internet.

It was the Summer of 2000.  I was watching the Democratic National Convention (yes, I do things like that) and chatting in #mormon-friends with Randy (wolffarmer) about what was being said.  David was in the same chatroom, but he and I really hadn't met.  (At the time, #mormon-friends was a very active chatroom.)  However, he was very impressed by my discussion with wolffarmer, so he decided to send me a private chat.  And that is when I began chatting with David.

After David and had chatted for a couple of weeks, we began talking on the phone.  The whole time we were saying we just wanted to be friends that is all.  And then we started planning a visit for David (who lived in Florida) to fly out to Texas to meet me.  David flew in to DFW airport on Thursday, October 12, 2000 and we met in person for the first time.  It was a short visit as he had to go get his car and our first date wasn't until the next night.  While it was a short visit, it is a very important date as it is the day I met David in real life.

Here is a layout I created about David and I meeting in an IRC chatroom.  The layout was created using Funky Club Vol 2, Week 14 by Amanda Carlson.

(fonts used: SNF Mellow Moxie, Annoying Kettle Serif Bold Italic)

I'll be back another day to tell you about our first date.  Then you'll know why our meeting on 10/12 ended up being so crucial.