The Silver Lining of Losing Your Email

When we got back from our travels I discovered that my primary email account was deactivated.  Our internet provider is Comcast and despite what their commercials say, they are the poster child for bad service.  We've had an ongoing battle with them for years over redundant charges.  This was their next strategic move - deactivating my account.  It's been a bit of a bother to switch to an alternate email account and I still haven't switched everything since I'm a tiny bit hopeful that we will be able to resolve this (I know....silly me) We still have internet because, well, because they have been charging us for two accounts for years. The funny thing is, though that in some ways it's been a great thing.  I used to want to check my email frequently even though most of the messages were just junk trying to get me to buy something or donate money.  Now I only get a handful of messages a day and have no urgency to keep checking since there is so little to see.  I feel like I've been given more time in the day!

Maybe losing your email suddenly isn't that bad a problem.

Vacation and Technology Ponderings

We recently spent two weeks at the Outer Banks of North Carolina.  Neither the husband nor I have ever spent two straight weeks in one place.  But this year everything seemed to fall into place to make that happen.  We are both now retired; we liked the rental house; it was available the following week; the weather was great; we had minimal commitments at home to cancel; we were able to get the mail delivery/paper delivery, medication, flower watering, etc. managed; and the owners gave us a last minute rental discount to stay another week.  So, we went for it.  And the experience of staying two straight weeks away from home brought some interesting thoughts to mind and some longing for the "old days".  For instance:

• Two weeks was long enough.  We were both ready to come home by the end.
• We noticed when we got home how very soft our carpet is.  I know that sounds funny.  And it wasn't like the carpet in the rental home was bad, but apparently ours is much softer and something we had never appreciated fully before.
• A reversed floor plan (bedrooms downstairs) might be nice at the beach, but it makes for a lot of stair climbing throughout the day.
• Dogs who swim in the sound daily begin to stink.

But, perhaps my biggest revelation was how very complicated technology has made our lives.  Disclaimer:  I'm about to rant.  In the old days, we got up, ate, showered, did some housework or went to work and that was it....our daily duties were done.  Our free time was free.  But now we add to the list:  check the email (maybe several accounts), the voice mail - on the home phone AND the cell phone, Facebook, blog updates and whatever other internet distractions we participate in.  And here's the thing....they follow you whenever you leave home.  Sure, you can unplug, and to some extent we do, but now if you have a cell phone or an email there is an expectation that you will respond no matter where you are just because the message can get to you.

It wasn't always this way.  Let's take a look back in time. It used to be that when you went away you told a few trusted neighbors where you were going and gave a general number (like the number at the resort or hotel where you were staying) to reach you.  In the small town where I grew up my father even told the police that we were going away so that they would "keep an eye" on the house.  And you were really away.  In fact one time we were staying in a cabin in a remote part of the state and my oldest sister needed to tell my father about a death in the family.  She called the State Police who drove up to the cabin, knocked on the door and told us to call home because there was an emergency.  We drove into town, found a pay phone and called her landline and she answered.  And when you did get home there was no answering machine to check, no emails to delete, no Facebook, blog or websites to catch up on.  And there was no backlog of TV shows to watch....you just missed them and waited for reruns. There were no pictures to download from your camera or rename and file on the computer so that someday you could find them again. 

My conclusion: technology is a two edged sword.  I love that it lets me keep up with extended family, pay bills fast, and I really do enjoy the blogosphere.  I like that I can Facetime with my granddaughter when we are apart for awhile.  And our spontaneous extra week of vacation would have been much more difficult to pull off without the wonders of the Internet.  But keeping technology in it's place takes a real conscious effort.  I guess that's why I played blog hooky last month.

 I just needed to remember a simpler time.

 

Postcrossings: Progress Report

A few months ago I posted about one of my new hobbies: Postcrossings.  This is a website for sending and receiving postcards around the world.  I love to get and send mail, so this seemed like it was made for me and I enthusiastically dove in.

I just wanted to report that it has turned out to be all the fun that it promised.  So far I have sent 20 postcards, received 17 and presently have 7 "traveling"...that means that I've mailed them but they haven't been received yet.  Some countries, particularly in Eastern Europe, seem to take forever to arrive.  It has made me realize how the internet has really changed the world!  Before email sending communication to some countries took quite awhile.  Now an email travels in a fraction of the time that snail mail does.  It has truly made the world smaller in that respect.

But....as with any progress, there is a price.  Just as you absorb more culture when traveling to another city than you do by looking at pictures of the place; you learn more about a country's culture through a written postcard than you do from an email correspondence.  Everything from the stamps to the handwriting to the embellishments (stickers, etc) to the card chosen communicate something about both the sender and his location.

Here are a few of the ones that I've received:

It's been great fun and I hope to keep this up for awhile.  The only disappointment is that occasionally a postcard seems to not arrive.  They "time out" after 60 days.  I have one that I sent to Belarus that will time out at the end of the week and mysteriously, one to Texas that has been "traveling" for 34 days!  But, maybe now that the Christmas rush is over it will be found in some forgotten mail bag and make it's way to Texas. 

 

So, for snail mail fans.....Postcrossings is definitely worth a try!

 

Postcrossing: Postcards from the World!

 I've posted before about how very much I enjoy getting mail.  I've always enjoyed mail.  I was the kid who every summer would write to someone listed in the back of comic books looking for pen pals.  I know...it was probably some guy in prison somewhere, but it was mail!  I still keep in touch with several family members including son #1 by written letter and one of my dearest possessions is a pile of letters written to me by my parents many years ago when I was at summer camp and then during my first year of college.

So, when I heard recently about a site called Postcrossing that would result in people sending me mail, my immediate thoughts were:  "This was made for ME!" and "How is it that I haven't heard about this before?!?!?"

 

I've only just joined and have yet to start getting mail, but it works something like this.  You sign up for free and start sending postcards.  Once you've sent five and they are received, you get on the list to have postcards sent to you.  Your address isn't listed on the site, it is just emailed to the person who sends you a card.  For added security I rented a box at my local Post Office but that isn't a requirement.  Each postcard gets a number assigned to it by the site.  The receiver then registers the card by that number which makes it clear that it reached it's intended destination.  It also helps them keep track of statistics like how many cards are sent across how many miles and to how many different countries. The person who told me about this had shoe boxes filled with cards from all over the world!  He has been doing this for several years and some of the cards are very interesting.  You can even put a preference for a particular type of card.  For example, he likes to get pictures of bridges whenever possible.

 

The total cost for this new hobby of mine includes my box rental ($20 for 6 months in my area); postcards (50 cents to one dollar each) and postage (33 cents domestic; $1.10 for a global forever stamp which sends a postcard anywhere in the world).

 

So, if you like little surprises in your mailbox from places far and wide....check it out. 

Quilt Contest

Remember this quilt from last year?

Well, I decided to enter it in a weekly contest that happens over at The Quilting Gallery.  Each week there is a different theme and this weeks is scrap quilts.  This is truly a scrap quilt.  The winner is chosen by a combination of points from visitors and from some judges.  The voting starts today and ends Sunday night and you can only vote one time.  Hop on over, see some quilty goodness and pick your favs.  I'm hoping that it's mine, but truly, just pick your favorite.  Oh, and there's a prize drawing for voters!
 

Easy Street: Step 4

My journey down Easy Street continues.  This week was a bit difficult since the Christmas chaos has begun in earnest here.  My sewing room and guest room are both serving as sleeping quarters.  I managed to finish my blocks before family arrived, but you might be able to tell that the pictures were taken on the bathroom counter and I'm posting from a folding table in my bedroom.

This step was a bit of a reality check of my sewing abilities.  Apparently my seams are not as consistant as I wanted to believe.  Some of the blocks seem a bit small.  We'll see how it all turns out in the end.  I may need to remake some of them.  On the positive side, I'm liking the color choices more with each step and still enjoying the journey.  I haven't done any of the "extra credit" cutting at the end of each step, so I may have more work further down the line.  But time was running short; the room needed to be transformed and I didn't want to rush things.

So, that's enough excuses.  (One more: sorry for the bad picture)  Here they are:

In case you've stumbled onto this post, let me give some background.  I'm participating in Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt.  Each Friday she gives the instructions for a set of blocks and then on Mondays we link up with her blog - here.  We don't know what the final quilt will look like - that's the mystery.  She did mention this week that we are about half way through.  She has an Easy Street tab at the top of her blog where you can check out the past details, or join in if you choose.  

Easy Street Correction

It appears that I've mixed up my blog friends.  I credited Miss Thimble for the encouragement to get involved in Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt.  She graciously told me that I was mistaken and indeed she is not traveling Easy Street. 

I owe Nancy at joy for grace  both an apology and a BIG thank you for posting about Easy Street which resulted in my participation.  So sorry about my confusion!

On a positive note, it sounds like perhaps Miss Thimble has become interested in the mystery quilt idea.  I guess there are several ways to pass on inspiration.

Walking Down Easy Street

I'm late to the party, but all caught up now!  A mystery quilt was on my "some day" list.  So when I read Miss Thimble's (please see correction here.) post about joining in on Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt I decided to check it out.  At first I dismissed it as being too large a time commitment at this season of the year but it kept calling to me. So I jumped in with a few changes:  I'm only making half the blocks hoping that I can make this into a child sized quilt as a donation (more on that when I get to my 2013 goals).  And I tried to lean toward primary colors for the same reason.

First let me say a BIG thank you to Miss Thimble for the nudge and to Bonnie for the experience.  I am SO enjoying the journey.  As someone who is usually anxious to see the finished product the mystery part helps me to focus and be satisfied with the product of one step at a time.  And the practice is great.  These might be the most precise blocks I've ever made. Bonnie's directions give great detail.  I'm not so sure that I've made good color choices since determining "color value" is an emerging skill for me.  But, time will tell.

And I think the added task has amazingly made me more productive overall.  Not only am I caught up on my blocks, but also on my decorating, shopping and after today hopefully my wrapping!

Here's my progress thus far.  I'll be linking to Bonnie's post:

Flicker? (Not the bird)

There was a time that I considered myself pretty computer savvy.  That was about 15+ years ago.  We had just bought our first computer and I realized that no one in the family knew much about it.  Since I'm one of those people who likes to read the directions, I sat down with the instruction book (all in print and very extensive in those days) and learned how to operate and maintain our new family edition. But technology moves at lightning speed these days and I quickly fell behind.

Flash forward to today.  I can manage many aspects of the computer with ease, but I choose to ignore others because I just don't see the point.  And I learned early on that computer files are just one more cleaning chore - you need to declutter now and again or you have a mess - just like your sock drawer.  So, I can do some basic blogging although I still struggle with some of the finer points.  And I'm acquainted with Flicker, although until recently I didn't care to participate.  But, my desire to join a particular group required me to have an active Flicker account.  Hence, I took the plunge.  Call me dense, but I still don't quite get it, so any clarification is appreciated.  It appears that Flicker is sort of a place where you can have a visual blog with short discriptions and comments?  Or am I missing something?  So far I've uploaded some pictures but haven't gotten as far as adding comments or even really figuring out how to tell anyone how to find my Flicker page!  And, I've yet to use it to connect to the group that originally caught my attention. 

Pinterest: Caution, Addictive

I've stumbled upon a new sight that is fun to browse through called Pinterest.  I don't completly understand it, but you can "pin" items from various places online to your virtual "bulletin board".  For instance, suppose I was trying to pick out a new quilt pattern.  As I found them at various sites I could pin the pictures to my board and then view them all together.  They link to the original site.  Others can also view your boards and can comment or "like" your pin or even "repin" it.  Right now I can browse, but you have to sign up to use all the functions and to sign up you need to be invited AND apparently there is a waiting list to sign up.  I don't know why there is a limit on members.  That seems sort of counterproductive to business, but I don't pretend to understand the business of Internet sights anyway.  Try it out and see what you think.  As always, if anyone has any comments, good or bad about it or can shed some light on the workings of the whole thing, please share!