Adventures in Spreadsheeting, Mac Style

 In a previous post from a few weeks ago, I mentioned how I was getting ready to do my annual tabulation of determining the year's top songs, using readily available data.  I then see how accurate my calculations are based on the official determination from Billboard magazine.  This year, I was planning on doing so in a different way.  Instead of using my usual pencil, paper, and calculator, I was going to make a spreadsheet.  This would be my first one ever.  I consider myself fortunate in never having to create a spreadsheet before now.  Since I might by making a major career change soon, I thought in would be prudent to learn.  Even after I got my computer, I never really bothered looking over the spreadsheet app.  It was just one of the extra apps I never thought I would use.  Well, it was time for a change.  I looked over the scant information I had to work in the Mac spreadsheet app, Numbers.  Apparently, many of the guides I have guess that people would already know much about such apps from work and such.  People just needed to learn a few tricks specific to Macs.  For the neophyte like me, this is a slight problem.  I  started a new document, and I quickly became lost.  Sure, it is easy enough to set up the fifty-four columns I would need, but the rows weren't so easy.  I started out with sixty, since that was about the minimum for the last few years of songs that made the top ten lists each week.  The first real problem was making the columns the correct width.  The title column needed to be wider, but the weekly point total columns could be narrower.  I don't think I made each one the exact same width, but they are close.  What surprised me was when my Mac suddenly filled in the columns headers with the correct information, including the weeks in numerical order.  I was doing it a column at a time, so I was surprised when it did it one its own. As I progressed through each week, I had a different problem--filling in all the extra zeroes for the songs the weren't in the top ten for each week.   I finally found out about the "Autofill" feature that made everything so much easier.  As long as I had the settings correct.  I sometimes had the wrong numbers keyed up and I would have to go back to correct things.  Still, I pushed through.  Normally, it only takes me about one-and-a-half hours or so to make out my list.  This time around, it took me over two hours, spread out over a day, to complete the thing.  The final hurdle was the final totals column.  It took me a few tries to figure out the best way to get the computer to add all of the pertinent columns together to get the final totals I needed to determine the best songs of the year.  Songs with short stays were easy.  I could do those without help.  Songs that stayed months in the top ten needed the automatic "Sum" feature.  I am not sure I did it right for each song.  On occasion, I would wind up changing one of the figures while highlighting the right columns to total.  Yes, I know that there are multiple ways to get the to work out, but I was most comfortable doing it by the way I found out.  Still, I finished.  By my interpretation of the date, The Weeknd's "Blinding Lights" would be the number one song of the year.  And I was right, but then I already knew that.  Billboard had already posted that info a few days before I started my own work.  They are early this year.  For some stupid reason, they decided to end the year after only fifty-one weeks of charts, instead of the more expected fifty-two.  I didn't know that fact when I made my list, so I had to go back and delete a column.  I think the "Sum" function was still working, so the totals will be correct, but that wasn't my last problem.  I had to delete on last title as well, as it technically didn't make the list.  Also, there might have been two songs with the same title that made the top ten.  Since I didn't include artists in my list, I had no way of knowing if the two songs were the same or not.  A song could have debuted in the top ten, drop out, and then come back.  To be fair, I combined the data for the two instances.  I don't remember a song with that title for this year, but then my favorite radio station, WQHY 95.5, doesn't always play hard rap/hip-hop songs, even when they are very popular.  I would only hear this if a tuned into one of the few local stations that would play those songs, or wait until a few Sirius satellite radio trial came around.  I would have included the spreadsheet here, but it would be all but impossible. For one, it is huge.  Over eighty rows by fifty-three columns.  (There were a lot of songs the barely spent any time in the top ten this year.  Way more than average.). I don't think the entire spreadsheet could fit all at once, even if I shrank it.  I could have taken a screen shot, but that would require at least four pics just to get it all in.  This post simply doesn't have the space.  Furthermore, Mac documents are notorious for not being easily transferred to other formats.  While I could export it, I am not sure which format would work best for here.  I would rather just say I made the spreadsheet, and have everyone just assume I did it, instead of messing up and showing something that was posted in error, with who knows how many mistakes in it.  So, just trust me in this.  I made my first spreadsheet.

Shaving Takes Me to All My Worries

 Last month, November, was a time for many men to stop shaving in support of many men's health issues. I did not participate.  For one, I look horrible after a few days of not shaving.  I have a few bare spots, while small, that would ruin the overall bearded look.  Also, wearing a face mask with a fairly full beard just doesn't look all that good.  As well, I am not sure it would offer as full protection with such gaps that a beard provides.  So, I just kept my regular look for the month.  My mother gave me my first electric razor for my sixteenth birthday, even though I barely had a few whiskers yet.  I had been using manicure scissors to trim those few hairs, usually once a week, to take care of what needed to be done.  By my senior year, I just barely had enough hair to grow a mustache, although I still didn't need to shave on a daily basis yet.  As a side note, I can't remember, but I'm sure many of my male classmates were shaving more regularly.  Some already had chest hair before high school, for goodness sakes.  They had to be shaving by then.  In contrast, my chest hair didn't come fully in until I was twenty or so.  In college, I could shave daily, but I didn't.  I only had classes every other day, so I only shaved on those days.  Besides, I like the two day "dirty" scruff look.  Also, I was prone to ingrown hairs, due to their curliness as as well as my total lack of knowledge of shaving.  Trust me, it was sometimes bad.  Still is.  Once I had daily classes, I had to shave daily too.  That's when my old razor started to fail, so I had to get a new one.  Or at least my mother did.  The morning I tried to open the packaging, I was running late, so I couldn't finish the task.  When I went to look at it again that night, I noticed that it was only an electric razor, not a rechargeable one like my old one.  This meant that I could not use it in a room without an outlet, like my bathroom.  This led to many awkward moments, as there weren't many mirrors with outlets near enough for me to shave.  Like many young men of the time, I grew a goatee.  It was popular everywhere for some reason, so I went along.  I helped to make my chin stand out, giving me a "manly" appearance, or whatever.   Still, I didn't feel man enough.  So, during my four year's of hiatus, I made a change to cartridge razors.  The first time I tried it, after consulting a few men's magazines for tips, I developed horrible ingrown hairs within the next day.  This could have also been due to shaving with my electric razor barely a day later.  For the next few years, I would alternate which to use.  Sometime around 2005, I began to use my two-blade cartridge razor exclusively.  I guess I just forgot to switch it out.  Anyway, a few years ago, the only store that still sold the replacement cartridges for my razor went out of business.  Other place may have still carried them, but they weren't as easy to get to.  Strangely enough, the same store may have been selling the replacement heads for my electric razor too.  I thought I was gong to go back to my electric model, until I realized how long it had been since I had used it.  It was no longer in a state where I would use it anywhere near my face.  Or anywhere else on my body.  So, I bought a new electric razor, and I made sure this one was rechargeable.  Unfortunately, while it has such features as being able to be cleaned in water, it is not an electric model.  See, it cannot be used while it is recharging, only when it is not plugged in.  That its not too big a deal, unless the battery loses power while you shave, like it did to me last week.  I was just starting out, when the low power light came on.  I had to wash off the pre-shave fluid, and apply shaving gel so I could use my backup cartridge razor.  That's right.  Although my two-bladed model no longer had easily replaced bladed, I picked up a three-bladed model for such emergencies.  I had a free sample one time, and I ultimately picked up the full razor about the same time as the rechargeable.  In all honestly, I don't like the three blades as well as my old two-bladed model, but at least it still was easily available.  At the moment.  I been noticing the influx of five-bladed models over the last year or so, and less space to my current replacement cartridges. My skin can barely take the three blades when I switch out.  I don't know if it can take a higher blade count.  Not to mention the cost.  My current replacement has one less cartridge for the same price as my old two-blade model did.  How many would there be in a new model?  To add insult to all of this, I am almost out of my favorite aftershave lotion.  Trust me, I need the help in caring after I shave.  No local store can get it.  Since travel is currently a no-go, and I can't/won't/don't shop online, this means I will have to get a substitute, just so that my face and neck doesn't feel like it is burning on the days I shave.  Very sensitive skin you know.  Helps somewhat with ingrown hairs, too.  I would just stop shaving, but you already read my problems with that.

All Decorated up and No Place to Show

 For over a month now, I have been seeing holiday decorations.  First, it was the last of the Halloween decorations.  Some place went over the top.  Other place chose to go the more understated route with an autumnal theme.  Such a decision could stay up longer as well.  Even before November started, some people had started putting out Christmas decorations.  Yes, some people had Thanksgiving decorations up first, but not too many.  Mostly, I have seen the inflatable turkeys in at least two different sizes.  Of course, at least one house that I drive past every day when a somewhat different route.  I have mentioned them before.  They are the ones that have mannequins up all year round, dressed up for every holiday.  Originally, they seemed to have masks marking them as some sort of zombies, although that aspect of their get-ups seem to have mostly fallen by the wayside.  This Halloween, the house had at least ten different mannequins up.  Among them were a trio of witches at a cauldron, a pirate queen, and a demon nun.  I even saw a pair of legs with the red and black tights of Harley Quinn, but that was after the holiday and the decorations were being taken down.  Well, some of them were reused for Thanksgiving.  One is a female pilgrim with long reddish-purple hair.  Another is a Native American woman in somewhat traditional garb.  There is even a turkey decoy nearby.  Oh, and there is also a zombie scarecrow with a pilgrim hat on it.  I call it a zombie because of the face mask.  It is a scarecrow because it is stuck up in the garden plot they had out this past summer.  Also, one of its hands was positioned by its hip.  Actually, it is in front of itself, around the crotch area.  As if it might be trying to pleasure himself or something.  The scarecrow has been knocked down at least twice, but it hasn't been put back up since the most recent falling.  I admit, I sometimes sneak such stunts into some of my decorating myself.  You should look at my store's Christmas wreath.  It has a sneaky jab on display that I think most people will overlook.  While that person's display might not have been appropriate, at least we can appreciate how they manage to use such decor for more than one holiday.  Other people have been doing so as well.  Just this past weekend, I saw a Halloween decoration remade for Christmas.  It was a giant skeletal dragon, with a Santa hat on its head.  Hey, if you spend hundreds of dollars on a decoration (an estimate based on other such decorations I've seen in catalogs), then you should try and use it as much as possible.  Even when it isn't exactly appropriate.  That isn't even the only Christmas dragon I've seen this year.  At least one other house has a small inflatable Christmas dragon out.  Legitimately Christmas.  It was displayed as if it was getting ready to fight a Christmas T-rex.  Both were under three-feet tall.  Well, at least they weren't penguins.  Don't get me wrong.  I don't hate penguins.  Unless they are being used as Christmas decorations in the Northern Hemisphere.  All kinds of wrong there.  Even worse than naughty zombie pilgrim scarecrows.

No (Big) Sur

 Just last Thursday, early afternoon, I was starting the latest Golf Clash tourney.  This was one of their regular tournaments, held every other week or so.  This week, there will be a special shortened three day event, compared to the usual one that takes place over an entire week.  Anyway, I began the first hole.  My first shot was great, but my opponent landed off the fairway.  My opponent's second shot got onto the green, but missed the hole.  For my second shot, all I had to do was hit the ball the win with an eagle.  The wind was in my favor, and I was close enough that it would be hard to miss.  I took my shot.  I scored a "Perfec." meaning that the ball would go exactly where I was aiming.  It rolled directly to the hole, and then it just stopped.  Right on the lip of the hole.  I guess I either didn't give it enough power or enough topspin to make the distance.  So, instead of winning with an eagle, I drew with a birdie on my next shot, as my opponent also made their putt.  While I would have loved getting the extra stroke, I was okay with only getting a birdie and the draw.  I went on to the second hole.  That's when everything fell apart.  My opponent shot first, but I was having connection issues while my opponent played.  That is actually a common occurrence with this game, especially since I also have inconsistent wifi at my store.  At the time, I though nothing of it.  Then came my turn.  I had multiple connection warning as I set up my shot.  They barely cleared up in time for me to play before my time ran out.  As it was, I had less than five seconds to finish my turn.  I made my shot, but I wasn't able to set it up correctly for the wind and I landed in a bunker.  My opponent then made their putt, easily.   I still was getting connection notifications.  Now, shooting from a bunker isn't great, but I felt I was close enough to make the shot, with my equipment and skill up to the challenge.  Unfortunately, my gauge swung wildly to the left just as I was making my shot.  This turned a perfectly aimed shot to miss, well to the left of the hole.  To add insult to this injury, a notification came up after the ball stopped rolling, saying that my connection was too bad and that I would be forced to forfeit the match.  I had already lost!  How could I forfeit after the game had ended!?  I wisely decided to wait to finish the round.  I usually take my time to play a round, as one usually gets two days to do so.  When I went back to play later that afternoon, the game had posted a notice on Facebook that there had been major connection issues all around the world.  The problem was so bad, that the game was taken down for maintenance. I wasn't sure if I had been effected or not, but I wouldn't be able to play again until that evening.  Against my better judgement, I decided to play the remaining sixteen holes that night.  That was a mistake.  While the connection issues had been resolved, something was still off.  I had a hard time logging in to play.  The controls weren't responding well, either.  Most of my shots were just a little off.  Sometimes, my opponents seemed off as well.  In hindsight, I should have waited to finish playing the round until Friday, but I was going to be somewhat busy that day, so I went ahead with the round.  I ended up with a very dismal score, but I finished.  I knew I wasn't going to make the next round, because of my bad start, that I didn't care about how I finished.  The next day, Golf Clash posted that they were expanding the number of people moving onto the weekend round.  If I played a little better, I might have made the cut.  Instead, I had my worst showing ever at that difficulty level.  While this confusion was going on, I all but missed that Apple had notified me that updates were available.  Somehow, I had missed the notice that Apple newest OS, Big Sur, had debuted that day.  I never update immediately.  I usually wait a few weeks, to make sure all of the problems get worked out.  Also, in this update, a major feature was going to be removed.  Since I needed this feature to play one of my games, I was going to postpone upgrading until the game gets taken down in December.  Well, when I searched about Big Sur, I found out that many users were experiencing problems with internet connectivity.  Even users that hadn't upgraded yet were noticing problems, like me.  Apparently, a workaround to get Macs to identify the new system prevented direct internet access.  Since all Macs use the same basic interface regardless of which system they are using, all Macs experienced the problem.  I am guessing that I was dealing with the issue while I was playing that night.  I got a slowdown for many of my plays.  This could have led me to aim improperly, leading to my meltdown.  And while the servers hosting my game wouldn't have been affected by this and causing the shutdown from earlier in the day, the new details for the game might have been downloaded from a series of Macs or so.  This might have been a secondary cause for everything.  I could be wrong, but it is a coincidence.  Either way, I failed miserably. I have chance for redemption.  Two actually.  Now all I have to worry about is having enough in game purchased gear to compete at an equal level.  I went through a lot trying to improve my chance last week, that I am down more than I would like.  I least I don't spend real money on this game, or I would be even more frustrated than I am now.

Spreading My Sheets to the Wind

 It is about the time that I figure to the yearly year-end chart, based on the data compiled by Billboard magazine.  I have been following the charts ever since grade school, but I have only been trying to guess the year end rankings for the last decade or so.  This year, I have already picked out the three songs most likely to vie for the top spot:  "The Box" by Roddy Rich, "Circles" by Post Malone, and "Blinding Lights" by The Weeknd.  I believe that last one has the best overall chances.  I have been thinking about doing something different in my calculation -- I will be making a spreadsheet.  I would be my first time ever in making one.  Since I will probably need some sort of skill in the next few months if I get a new job, I thought it would be prudent to learn about them.  Why haven't I used them before?  Good question.  First, I have only had a computer of my own for a few years.  Since I didn't have an easy way to create spreadsheets, I never learned much about them.  Sure, I would occasionally see them online during my short periods of time I was able to do so, but I didn't give two thoughts about them.  I did all of my business needs either in longhand or in my head.  Official documentation was left to my accountant.  Things got a little confusing at times, but I managed to muddle through.  When I finally did get my computer, I only had two months to get up to speed before my classes started.  That was the reason I got the computer in the first place.  I didn't even get an internet hookup until a few weeks before classes started. I tried to get as much information from guides before then, so I wouldn't be too far behind in my skills.  Strangely enough, some applications were skipped or only mentioned in passing, while others that I didn't think were important were given multiple pages.  One group barely mentioned were the office suite of applications -- Pages, Numbers, and Keynote.  These are Apple's word processing, spreadsheets, and presentation apps in order.  I was already familiar with word processing.  I had my blogs for well over a year before I got my Mac.  The techniques were similar enough that I didn't have much more to learn.  Well, I actually had a lot more to learn, but I knew enough to get my work in on time.  I have yet to give the other two apps more than a cursory look, usually when they are updated.  I admit that I could have used Keynote as a part of one of my assignments, but I chose an option where I could get around it.  Numbers looks like it will be easier, but I will probably have to learn both before getting a new job or going back to school.  It has usually taken me a little over an hour to write out my own calculations for the year end rankings.  Because I don't have the the entire weekly totals at my disposal (I only focus on the top ten), I know from the start that my calculations will be off.  However, my estimates are frequently within the range of the actual year end positions.   I just have to plug the data into the app and see what pops up.  I managed to find one guide that discusses the office suite of apps.  It is about two operating system updates behind, but the basics should still apply.  I am planning to start this project the first Monday in December, after the chart year ends, and after I finish up my latest college application attempt.  I know that this isn't exactly the primary use for a spreadsheet, but it will work.  I guess.  At least I can try.

What I'm Not Talking about This Week

 So, has anything happened lately?  Not much, huh.  Well, I've been through some difficulties, all minor.  I started reading a new book yesterday.  It was the latest novel for adults from an author more known for his work for children.  It was the first of his adult works that I have read, and it was nothing like his others.  While I know that ht formats aren't exactly the same and I shouldn't expect them to be, the changes in this book wherefore like it was a completely different person.  Sure, some of the underlying snark was there, but that was about all this book had in common with his other novels.  The genre was the same, modern fantasy.  One of the main characters was also a teenager.  I have only read a few chapters so far, but I'm having problems with the abrupt change in style.  The language and the situations were so unlike what I read before.  Now, I've read books by other authors who have shifted audiences, and the changes were not this great.  The styles remained the same, even when most other things changed.  Maybe I will find some differences when I get to read more, but I have feeling that I will have a hard time going through with it.  On the other hand, I breezed through another book I read.  Technically, it was a comic book collection, but I say it still counts as a book, even if some critics suggest otherwise.  I got the collection because the series was cancelled before all the issues could be printed.  The remaining two issues were available as digital copies only.  Since I do not consider those books, I had to wait until the entire run got collected and printed.  Yes, this means I actually bought a book, through my store, for just two issues, when I already had the other eight issues in the collections, as well as the short piece included with another book.  I hate to say it, but the stories were slightly disappointing.  It was a two parter that showed how the character was dealing with a major problem she was going through that had lasted the last few issues.  She was coping with it a little worse than she could have, but she was optimistic, even when dealing with a natural disaster and a somewhat rouge element in the US government.  However, the story felt rushed and only added to show that the character was moving on even after the series was cancelled.  That's right.  The series had been cancelled months ahead of the issues before the decision was made to publish the final two issues online only, and then the delay of a few more months before the collection was printed.  The publisher could have just let the two issues never see print, but they decided to put them online instead.  In fact, this publisher has been doing that with many of their issues over the last few months.  Letting the last issues of a title to be cancelled go online only.  I think other publishers are doing this as well, with the issues only seeing print when the trade collections come out.  It is a tacky thing to do.  Yes, we are cancelling your favorite series, and you won't get to see those final issues in print unless you pay for the collection, which includes all the other issues you have already bought.  I wouldn't be so mad, if the story had been better, but it wasn't.  I will have another cancelled series come out in December.  This time, it will include a three issue storyline from the title.  Hopefully, it will turn out better than this experience.

Reloading My Magazine

 I bought a magazine last Thursday, but I have yet to read it.  Sure, I have glanced through it, but I haven't read it.  I've had the time, just not the interest.  Used to, I would never wait so long to read something.  Now, I just don't feel like it too much.  For decades now,  I would follow the same routine whenever I got something new to read, whether it was a magazine, comic, or book.  I would give it a once-over as soon as I could.  Then I would read it fully later.  The only exception would be fiction, particularly if it was a book I really was waiting for.   I would never skim it for fear of ruining the ending.  Nowadays, that last rule is just about the only one I still follow.  First, there is the decontamination phase.  Then, I do the usual skimming.  While I still try to read comics as soon as I can, but everything else no longer keeps my interest so much.  The previous two issues of this magazine had some features that didn't interest me at all.  I barely scanned them.  I used to read every article in every magazine I bought, no matter how much it interested me or not.  Now, I just skim the parts that no longer pertain to me.  I still feel a little guilty for not checking out about half a magazine, but at least I save time by doing that.  On the other hand, whenever a magazine starts to change its format too much, I fear that it will not be published much longer.  Just earlier this year, another one of my magazines switched to online only.  The entire line went digital.  I didn't even realize it for two months.  I thought I had missed an issue.  Magazine distribution around here can get strange.  New issues can be up to a week late.  For weekly magazines, this is a major problem.  This hurts even more when many of my favorites aren't readily available locally.  Since I'm not traveling much, this means I have missed out on a few issues.  Sure, some content is online, but I like having the physical copy.  Reading online causes eye strain when I do so for long periods of time.  This prevents me from enjoying my game supplement PDFs as much as I used to.  I would read them again and again, trying to irk out some new information or catch a cool rule.  I used to do the same with my comic books.  I would read my favorites two or three times before I would put them into longer term storage.  Now, I barely read them once before putting them away.  So many are being cancelled lately.  I will barely have half my former monthly totals by January.  Back to magazines.  I still get a few magazines on their regular basis.  I keep most of them about a year, before looking through them one last time before I get rid of them.  I keep the parts I think will be useful, going through them again and again to thin out my stash.  Even that chore is getting to me.  I just don't feel like it is so important any more, and I let the older issues start to pile up.  For my current puzzle magazine, I have an entire section of forty puzzles that I have yet to go through.  I like the type, but not necessarily how company does them.  I usually only do one puzzle of a type per day, but if I want to finish this issue before the next one comes out, I will have to do at least four a day.  I already have two other in waiting, although I already started one accidentally.  I mixed up the order.  I try to do them in the order they came out.  I just have so may other things to do, and not as much interest to do so.

Things That Bump You off in the Night

 I got a new idea for a book a few months ago.  It has been percolating ever since.  It is about a group of former college roommates who get back together and start a paranormal investigation team.  They meet once or twice a month to investigate something unusual, but they wind up involved in actual, real-life murder mysteries.  I'm thinking about calling the series "A Monster Hunter Mystery."  I might change it to "A Ghost Hunter Mystery," but I think I prefer the alliteration of "monster" better.  It seems to poke the bit of levity that many such armchair amateur detective series need.  Unlike my previous work, I will not be posting anything about it on my online blog, just yet.  I am currently in the middle of writing the prelude story as part of my latest writing sample to be sent out, so I would prefer not having it be seen in such a widespread format.  However, I will give out some of the basics of the characters and plotting here, just to drum up some feedback or further suggestions.  The team is formed around these four roommates/friends from college.  They are all in their upper twenties, but the four of them have distinctively different lives.  The main character is Micheal.  He is married to Lily, an attorney for the county courthouse, with a young son, Timmy, who is getting ready to start school.  Michael owns a book store (nothing to add here, so just keep reading), but is dissatisfied.  He has a degree in journalism, but he became disheartened with the trend the field was heading, so he wound up taking over a store, while struggling with starting a writing career (again, nothing to add).  They barely can afford to keep the store going, but with Lily going back to work full time, they should be able to get ahead.  Micheal is the researcher for the group.  Although a fan of horror fiction and folklore, he is mostly skeptical.  He only reluctantly went along with the idea for the group.  In my prelude piece, Lily all but forces him to go on the first case.  Christopher, who prefers to go by his shortened last name of Beck, is the leader of the group.  He is about halfway through getting his doctorate in sociology, with a focus on folklore and the belief in the supernatural.  He is the only one not native to Kentucky, and his problems with his family is the major reason why he doesn't go back.  This team is a sideline to his research, but he is really getting deep into the subculture.  He is at risk of losing his academic and professional clout by doing this, but he really is beginning to not care anymore.  He is also single.  Jesse is the legal advisor for the group.  He was recently made a junior partner is his uncle's firm.  Jesse is also the reason why Micheal and Lily met, as well as how Lily got here job in Jesse's hometown.  He is on the verge of proposing to his longtime girlfriend.  He also has a big secret, beyond trying to keep Micheal's store afloat by buying extra books there.  Jesse has been seeing ghosts his whole life, but he has kept it a secret from his friends, although Beck has suspected something since the time they met.  It is one of the reasons why Beck wanted Jesse brought into the group.  Jesse has also represented another paranormal investigation team, and it is one of the reasons he became a full partner so quickly after passing the bar. The final member of the team is Ed, a consummate outdoorsman.  Ed and Micheal actually went to high school together, but they hung out in different circles.  Neither knew they were going to the same college until they sat next to each other on the first day of classes.  Ed is the only former classmate that Micheal talks to or sees on a regular basis, even with Ed living in Lexington.  He is a chemical engineer for a mining company.  Most of their properties are out west, forcing Ed to travel constantly.  However, a recent promotion will allow Ed to stay at home more often and finally start a family with his wife, Mary (placeholder name, it might change).  On one of his trips, Ed may have had a close encounter with "something," and has kept it secret from everyone.  For their first case, I have the team at a site, only to be interrupted by another team.  Ed's younger brother, Rick, who is more of an outdoorsman and hunter, almost gets into a fight with the other team's leader.  A day or so later, the team leader is found dead, and Rick is the prime suspect.  Ed has been keeping secrets about Rick's brief military stay, as well as the reasons behind his two previous marriages.  It is up to Micheal, and the rest of the team, to find a way to clear Rick, as well as what happened at the site originally that led it to become haunted.  I'm still working on the prelude though.  I want to get the feel of the series before writing anything else, as mysteries have a certain style I would need to get right before going on, but it is getting there that is the fun part.  By the way, the title of this post would also be the title for the first book in the series.  Themed mystery series are known for the wordplay and puns in their titles, and this is something I am great at.  See previous blogcast posts.

Kiss My Facebook

 Just recently, Facebook fully switched over to its newest format.  I wasn't around for the last big switch, but I remember hearing on the news how so many people disliked the change.  This time around, I haven't heard much negativity.  Until now, and with me.  I knew there could be problems as soon as the first trials began when I logged in through Firefox.  I usually only log in that way once a day, and then only to get a daily Candy Crush Saga bonus.  I have mentioned the glitch on my regular web browser before.  Basically, Facebook removed the blue banner for the menu options and increased the size of the newsfeed posts.  The aesthetic design left too much open space for my liking.  Other changes were not so immediately noticeable.  Many of the secondary menu options for the left sidebar got included with the major ones.  This creates a very long list, especially since I would never use most of them.  Groups were now a featured option.  The way one searches for ones, as well as viewing them, was made a little easier one way, but it was now harder to go back and forth from one page to another.  Other changes would come later, after all web browsers were updated and the full change implemented. This occurred a little later with my usual Safari app.  I tell you, Apple and Safari users get the short end of the stick.  Many options are still not available to us.  Rooms is a great example.  This function wasn't available the last time I checked, unless I switched browsers.  Pages were changed as well. Most of the menus for pages were moved to the left sidebar.  This makes it harder to help design them.  At least Facebook currently has the option to switch back for forty-eight hours if you need the help in editing a page.  This is particularly useful, as the method for uploading media to posts has changed.  I learned this the hard way when I tried to post the latest "Making the Logo" video.  I had to go to a new subpage to do so.  Uploading pictures are also harder.  While I admit that I might not have done it correctly, some of the editing features to my pics were missing.  For instance, I could no longer put funny captions on them, in contrasting colors.  That was a signature style for the page.  This new format definitely doesn't work in this instance.  Pages for games are correctly still in the previous style, for the most part.  Instant games are in the new style, but others may join them.  Since the update, I have had two separate instance of games not loading properly.  The second time seemed to not be confined to Facebook, but the first one effected many games, at least one will be leaving the platform due to the ongoing Flash phase out.  However, none of the compares to my biggest gripes.  At multiple times, Facebook would stop loading posts, claiming there was a technical issue.  It was suggested that I should reload the page.  I admit, this usually happens when I have bad wifi, so it might not be Facebook's fault.  However,  Facebook has begun to do something very displeasing.  It will randomly delete all of the posts on my newsfeed, and suggest that I get new friends so that more posts will appear.  I have to check on all posts as soon as I log on, for fear that they will disappear without notice.  Just last night, Facebook did this to me three times.  Once, it deleted everything.  Not a single post remained.  Sometimes, it leaves a dozen or so, all new at least.  Sometimes, only one or two, possibly including a suggestion or ad.  I have no idea why this is happening.  It could be Facebook's new format.  It could be my ISP messing up, as this usually occurs at home and not at work.  I don't know.  It is very inconvenient.  Facebook already tries to limit how many people's posts I receive, at least according to the posts of people claiming to have their algorithms changed by copying and clicking on the post.  I don't trust them, so I never do.  I fear that I will mess something up.  Besides, if I really wanted to, I could change my own preferences to try and alter the algorithm myself.  

Twenty Years at Booknotes

It was twenty years ago today, a Saturday, that my store, Booknotes, opened.  Of course, that makes today the store's anniversary.  This is the china anniversary.  We had actually started cleaning out and remodeling of the unit back in July of 2020.  It just took a few months for everything to be fixed.  The fixtures and books starting coming in September.  I had to sit down and open dozens of books and make sure that the inventory was correct.  At least one book was missing, but it has been so long I can't really be sure of anything else.  That first day, we only had a few people come in.  Our first customer was an associate of my mother's, either someone who worked for her dentist or hairstylist.  One of the books she bought was a food lover's companion.  That maybe the actual title, but I can't be sure, so I won't put it in italics.  She wound up paying for the books with a check.  That means we never had a first dollar as a good luck charm.  That might be one of the reasons why we were never a huge success.  In these twenty years, Booknotes has had many ups and downs.  We have had well over a dozen events.  Some were great, but a few had hardly anyone.  The store got flooded from pipes twice.  It almost got flooded from a mudslide.  There were multiple closures due to snow storms, not to mention the reason two month forced lockdown due to a pandemic.  Almost every other business that was at our shopping center has moved, closed, or both.  Some are still here, but are under new management.  I haven't even looked at some of the newest businesses yet.  There is even a church across the parking lot.  This lot is actually one of the main reasons why we chose this location.  There is usually plenty of parking, although we only needed all of the space just once.  To be honest, there aren't many things I still like about being in business.  I have always loved knowing about what books will be coming out, months or more in advance, even if there is only one distributor that we can still deal with.  I love to finally get the chance to read some books that I had been waiting for.  It is only because of the store that I read The Lord of the Rings and the Harry Potter series.  I have read so many books, and kept some of them entirely for me.  I love coming up with ways to decorate the store, making logos and filming them, coming up with the themed puzzles behind displays, drawing up the "Upcoming Releases" board each month, and even designing the store's website and social media pages.  Still don't have those last two exactly as they should be.  Lately, that is all I do.  Hardly anyone is coming in any more.  Most of our business has been on special orders.  We have never truly figured out which books we should always have in stock.  Sometimes we work it out, but we never seem to have enough money to get all of the special orders and new books to reorder much, especially now with direct withdrawal.  We have been through four cash registers, three microwave ovens,  five calculators, but barely three-fourths of the thousands of staples in the box we got at opening.  We still have dozens of the books from those original shipments, too.  Some are out-of-date, and dated, but many are still perfectly enjoyable and useful.  I don't know how much longer I will be here at the store.  Its time is definitely numbered.  I had expected to be in school and out of the area by this fall, but I'm not.  If I could just have some way to keep doing this, while making money, then the picture wouldn't be so dim.  Here's hoping for at least a few more weeks.

Gone in a Flash

 A few weeks ago, I received a notice from Apple about a systems update.  As usual, I checked it out before applying it, to make sure it was legitimate and what it would do to my computer.  The update was predominately for changes to Safari, Apple's web browser.  Most of the changes looked minor.  For instance, slight changes to extensions to help them work better for more web pages.  One change took me by surprise.  Apple was doing away with the Adobe Flash service early.  Flash is, was, a program used for graphics interfacing on web pages.  The primary users were games, but any site with intensive graphics would have a use for it.  Since it was first developed, newer programs came about that worked better, especially as computers became more advanced.  So, in 2017, Adobe began to phase out the use of Flash, setting the end of 2020 as the termination date.  Apparently, Apple was setting itself up to end the use sooner than that, even before the releases of its latest operating system soon.  As of yet, I have not updated my computer, nor I am expecting to upgrade either, when the time comes.  Why you ask?  Some of the sites that still use Flash include some of my Facebook games.  Many of them are transfers from smart phones and mobile devices.  Those versions already had switched over.  The Facebook versions either did not or could not do so.  I'm not entirely sure how many of my games will go away once Flash is disabled.  The only one I know for sure is Songpop 2.  The game is quite simple.  You and an opponent listen to a music clip.  You have four choices or either artists or song titles.  The one who picks the correct answer the fastest wins the round.  After five clips, one person wins "coins" that can be used to purchase new categories, with the loser receiving just one "coin."  The faster one correctly answers, the more game points one receives.  The more correct answers one gets in a row, the more they fill out their mastery levels in the category, opening access to more clips.  This occurs even if they don't already own the category.  The more players you beat during the week, the more power-ups you get at the end of the week. The power-ups can be used to eliminate wrong answers, as well as providing bonuses in the games party mode.  In the party mode, you and four opponents try to guess ten songs.  The person who gets the most right answers in the shortest amount of time, thereby getting more points, wins.  Players spend tickets to get into these party mode games, earning more through daily bonuses or purchases. Each party mode game lasts about a day or so, with winners getting in games bonuses based on the final tallies.  I don't play the party mode that often.  I've Benn focusing on finishing out my in game achievements and category masteries.  I lack one last achievement-- playing fifty games against a single opponent in one week.  So far, the best I can do is forty-four.  It's hard finding time to play the six or seven times a day to reach fifty, especially since so many of my regular opponents aren't playing any more. I would have tried my Facebook friends, but almost none of them are being listed any more.  I should have tried going up against them when I had the chance.  The only regular opponent I can count on is the computer.  That's right.  One of my opponents is probably just a random computer pity opponent that the game uses to make sure everyone has at least one.  It took me over a year to realize the she wasn't a real person.  I could tell by the fact that her category mastery levels have never gone up from basic levels, even after getting one round with five in a row usually gets you the first level.  I'm hoping to get that last achievement before Facebook cancels the game at the end of the year.  I've already been notified.  I also am trying to master current seven categories that I am lacking in that time. I have not received any other notices about games leaving Facebook.  At least one other had used Flash, but it may have upgraded since then.  Anyway, I am so into too many of my games, that I don't dare update Safari until I absolutely have to.  Either that, or try to get an iPhone by Christmas.  Can't afford it and don't really need it, but I'll still be gaming.

Eggplants

 With so much news about celebrity scandals and such lately, I decided to put my two cents in.   I even searched the web for some of the news, and images. Today, I have decided to write about eggplants.  The eggplant is known to come in a wide variety of shapes and colors.  The typical eggplant is somewhat long with one end being slightly rounder and larger than the other.  However, some can be very long and straight.  Others are smaller and rounded.  Most eggplants come in that particular shade of reddish-purple that is difficult to be found anywhere else.  Some are paler, all but white.  Others can be found with a distinctive dark stripe.  Regardless of size, shape, and color, all eggplants can be treated in about the same way.  While fairly hard, they are known to become quite some at times, when under the proper conditions.  If one is not careful with their eggplant, one may have to go to the hospital because of not waiting for the eggplant to get in the proper state.  If one doesn't know how to properly treat an eggplant, there are many place on the internet where one can find out.  Many have images as well, so one doesn't get confused about the eggplant they have.  Just be careful in you searching, as some sites might not have the type of eggplant you are searching for.  Or maybe even more eggplants than you can deal with.  Too many eggplants can be a problem, unless one really, really, likes them.  Eggplants are frequently found with tomatoes.  I, for one, find it hard not to think of eggplants without having some of those orbs nearby.  It is practically a crime not to have the two together.  I mean, why have one without the other.  To two were made for each other.  While one could have the two separated, it would leave the eggplant incomplete.  Sure, there are other ways of having eggplant without tomatoes, but why?  I was going to have a link to some, but I had a hard time choosing.  There are just so many.  Ultimately, this one seemed to be the easiest.  Not too long or hard, but very thorough. Click here to see it.  I mean, isn't it great!  I have seen plenty of eggplants in my days, but this one is very good. Some people don't like eggplants.  I get that.  They are an acquired taste.  Either you have one, or you don't.  You either want one, or many more, or you don't.  Personally, I just like one eggplant, at a time.  More aren't really necessary for me.  All I need is my own eggplant.  I could look, and have,  at other eggplants, but most of the time, I can do without them.  As for melons.  Well, that is the subject of a whole other post.

Shall We Play a Game? Psych! Not Tonight.

 So, just after dinner last night, I went back to playing my semi-regular, weekly, six-hour, double-bonus, session of Candy Crush Saga.  I use this bonus to try a run through as many levels as possible in the limited amount of time I have.  It helps racking up secondary bonuses.  After I ran out of lives, I went to another game so I could exploit a glitch the my computer has with interacting with the game.  As I mentioned in previous posts, whenever I exit Candy Crush, the game resets to its baseline immediately after I return to it.  This means I have full lives, and I receive my first day daily bonus again, exactly as if I just signed in for the day.  This allows me to play through levels faster, since I can always get full life back any time I want just by refreshing the page, as well as getting huge numbers of the current first day bonus. It limits me to just one type of bonus, at least on my regular browser but not others.  It also means that certain side quests don't activate until I play a level.  I sometimes miss out on some bonus points for some side quest due to this.  Anyway, it is still a benefit.  Well, when I went to my second game, it didn't download.  Did I mention that I play these games only on Facebook?  Well, I do. I tried refreshing the page.  I switched browsers.  Nothing worked.  It wasn't just one game, it was three games that I play regularly, and two I don't but I still leave up just in case I want to go back.  Strangely enough, my Candy Crush games weren't effected.  Neither was my lone instant game that I have up.  Not was a trivia game I only keep up so I don't lose some of my accomplishments on it.  The situation lasted through the night.  I lost out on a large bonus on one of my games, which will probably reset to day one when it comes back on.  I missed out on two free bonuses, as well as the changed to improve my weekly score, on a second game.  The third game?  I just missed out on playing more games.  Unfortunately, it will make it harder trying to score my last achievement missing form that game before it leaves Facebook at the end of the year.  Still, I'll keep trying for it.  When I went back online this morning, at least the one game I checked on had came back.  I didn't check the others, at hat would have activated the daily bonuses on them, and I didn't have the time nor the inclination to play them so early. I had sent Facebook a message about the problem just before I logged off last night.  I don't know if that was why the game came back or not.  For all I know, it was just a side effect form Facebook's upgrade that is finishing up soon.  As long as I can still play in some form, I don't care, although I will admit to not really liking the new format that much yet.

Hanging out with My Group-ees

 I am involved with a number of online groups, compared with my actual life where I am pretty much solo.  This is partially due to my own social awkwardness.  I am just not that used to being around people any more.  Also, I don't know that many people, at least those that I think share these interests with me.  They are somewhat niche interests.  This past weekend, I was searching for a few more groups, not to join necessarily, but just to see if a I could look in on a get information.  Many of the groups were private, so I wouldn't be able to see what the online group was about, unless I tried to join.  I wasn't up for that at the time, so I didn't try to join those groups.  I looked into a few others where I discovered some I at least want to follow a bit before I decide to join.  There was also a few topics in another group that really intrigued me.  By the way, the majority of the groups I am talking about are game related.  Since I don't have a physical group to play with, at least I can converse with like-minded people and get tips and information.  Well, many times when I comment, I feel like I am faking it.  Sure, I talk a great deal, but I frequently fear that I don't have an idea what I am doing.  I have yet to post anything directly, just Like or comment.  Just last night, I was actually involved with a thread that really made me think about the game, about the ideas behind the game and its related partner game lines.  I almost posted a link to this blog, one of my older posts that has pertinent ideas to the thread.  I didn't, of course.  I was afraid that I would be breaking the group's rules, or that it was too off-topic, or that it wouldn't be accepted in the way I intended.  And so on.  I was out of touch with so much of the world for so long that there are things that are commonplace that I have little idea about what they are.  What if my favorite interests are no longer available in the ways I remember them?  I know that is slightly an exaggeration, but not by much. I just don't have the background most people have.  That is why I usually just lurk behind-the-scenes on so many public groups.  I get the information and the "conversation" I crave, I am just unable to participate unless I join.  There are times that I just want to comment on some opinion or correct a grievous mistake, but can't until I officially join. I wish I could do more in many of these groups, but I am just not social enough.  I just don't know enough to feel like an equal.

This Mystery Novel Doesn't Have a "Clue"

 I recently read the latest novel in the "Witch City" mystery series.  It stars Lee Barrett, currently a field reporter for a Salem, Massachusetts television station.  She has not had the best life.  Her parents died in a plan crash when she was four, leading her to be raised by her aunt Ibby.  After spending time at the station as a "fortune teller" hosting the late night horror movie, she went to Florida.  There, she married a NASCAR driver, who died in a terrible wreck.  Lee then moved back to Salem, living off her inheritance and her husband's life insurance, as well as a teaching a television production class at a local art school.  Soon after she returned to Salem, she was the one to find a murder victim.  This also triggered her long lost talent of scrying.  As a scryer, she can see visions of events form the past, present, and possible future when she looks into a reflective surface, such as a mirror or shiny metal.  She can't control when she gets a vision, nor can she quickly determine the meanings behind her visions.  While she investigates this crime, she meets up with police detective Pete, who later becomes her boyfriend.  In a later novel, she becomes the caretaker for O'Ryan, the former cat familiar of an actual "witch" who was also killed.  The cat seems to have abilities of its own.  In the current book, Murder, Take Two, Lee is asked by some former students to investigate a recent murder where their nephew is the prime suspect.  She easily agrees.  During her investigation, she still has to do her job at the station.  One of her assignments is covering the opening a new toy store in town.  In a slight coincidence, the store is running a promotion on the mystery board game Clue.  It is during an interview with the store owner that a mistake occurs.  The owner suggests that the famed New England game company, Parker Brothers, based the game on a famous murder that happened a century ago, one that the current murder is remarkably similar to. There's one very big problem with that theory.  Parker Brothers never developed the game; they only licensed it from England, where it was created.   The murder was never an inspiration for the game.  Even the store owner's theory on the suspects' names and the weapons are totally wrong, as the character names and weapons were altered before the game went into mass production in England. While there were some minor changes when the game came to America, done reflected any attempt to link the game with the famous murder.  Don't get me wrong, I still like the book, and the series as a whole.  I just get annoyed when an easily checked fact, such as this, slips by and editor.  Maybe the author, Carol J. Perry, wanted the connection to be made, even when it was patently wrong.  Perhaps she wanted the toy store owner to make a link that wasn't there for the sake of the plot, even though in makes Lee look unprofessional for not double-checking the facts.  I actually owned the anniversary edition of the game, which featured much of this information.  Unfortunately, I lost the game, as well as pretty much every other game I owned, back in the 2003 flood, and I have yet had to opportunity nor the interest, to repurchase any.  Still, I remembered the background material enough, as well as an article in a fairly recent issue of Games World of Puzzles magazine, to catch the mistake.  I'm just surprised no one else did before the book was published.

That Doesn't Sound Too Good to Me

 I have mentioned problems with radio reception multiple times on this blog.  In fact, it was the subject of one of my earliest posts.  Well, things are still the same, if not worse.  Firstly, there is the store radio.  For some reason, I cannot receive a clear signal, or even a halfway decent one, most of the time on my store radio.  At least when it comes to my favorite station.  There are so many factors to consider, I am not sure where to start.  Moving the antenna sometimes works, as does adjusting the dial, but neither one can totally improve reception.  Turning of some of the store lights can help, but it also leaves the store fairly dark.  I can only do it when it also cools the store down, and when it is not too dark out.  Otherwise, I just turn off some lights when I think I hear a weather alert coming on.  The strangest help is by moving any vehicles in front of the store.  Obviously, I cannot ask others to move their cars, but I can at least make sure my car is not the one causing interference.  When all of these measures fail, I am forced to listen to either staticky songs or the bleeding in of a country music station, the one that seems to dominate the area, of some all news station, one whose signal is otherwise so weak, I cannot even tune it in many days on my car radio.  Speaking of my car radio, things have not been so well there either.  I got a new car last fall.  The radio system on it is different from the old one.  I can receive signals in some places that I couldn't get them in before.  Even the satellite radio has shorter dead spots, even when I do not have s free trial going on.  However, something unusual has occurred in the last few months.  Some stations, many of which are owned by the same company, have been getting very bad static at certain times and locations on my daily commute.  Some days, the static is so bad, I cannot even tell what station I am listening to.  Other days, the static is barely in the background, annoying but I can still tell what is on.  It occurs usually on the same stretch of road, with curves and hills causing the occasional improvement.  However, there is no way of knowing if going by later or earlier will cause any changes.  Some days, it does make a difference, maybe.  This also happens on a few other stretches of road, but since I do not travel them that often, I am not sure if the interference is connected.  This happens to a few other stations, but not as frequently.  Strangely enough, it never happens to that country station that regularly overtakes my favorite at the store, and the two stations are not even close in their frequencies.  Speaking of my favorite, I sometimes have another problem with it.  Just yesterday, the transmission started to fade.  It was like the signal was coming from a radio playing into their microphone, as opposed to being transmitted directly.  It corrected itself this morning, while an introduction to a morning show segment started.  Suddenly, the signal improved, but the conversation jumped to the middle of the first news item in the segment.  This station has a habit of having signal jumping, such as songs running too long and cutting off when it is past time to go back to a show or when it is time for a commercial.  I cannot be sure, but I think some of the problems started when the station joined a new service a few years ago, a national one.  I could be wrong, but it would explain the usual mx of older and old songs being played with newer ones, that just so happen to not necessarily be the ones that are on the top of the charts.  Especially the ones with a heavy rap presence, not that I always mind that.  But still.

Let's Get into Metaphysical; Let Me Hear Your Body/Mind/Spirit Talk

 First, my apologies to Olivia Newton-John.  That is really a bad pun in the title.  Anyway, on to business, quite literally.  A new store is getting ready to open in the shopping center, just down the sidewalk.  This will be the second new store opening in the last few months.  The first one is a smoothie and nutritional supplement shop.  I have yet had to opportunity to check it out.  The new store coming in, if you couldn't guess from today's title, is a metaphysical shop that will be selling a variety of stones, herbs, and other products.  My mother has been dismissively calling it a "woo-woo" shop.  This might be because they might be selling books among their other wares. She really shouldn't be so mean about putting down another person's beliefs, especially since we had been looking into the very same things a few years ago for BookNotes.  She would never get into that idea, or most of the other ideas I had to improve business, except for trying to stock some cheese dip mixes.  We barely sold any, and we still have over a dozen of them left, unsaleable, hidden away even though they probably expired years ago. She refuses to throw them away, so they are in a cardboard box in storage somewhere no one can see them.  Why she wanted to go into food, when nobody was asking for it, I can't fathom.  At least people had been asking for the metaphysical stuff.  But I have gone well off topic.  So, as I mentioned, I am into some metaphysical, or New Age or Body/Mind/Spirit as some people prefer to call it, since I was a kid.  I even did my own astrological chart back in seventh or eighth grade.  Some of the math was a little beyond me at the time, but it was fairly accurate.  I would do another one when I was in college, using a separate method.  There was only on big difference between the two, and I never did figure out which one had the mistake.  I used a book I checked out of the library for the first time, but it vanished sometime after I returned it, so I could never double check my calculations.  (Don't tell anyone, but it was also one of the first books I saw that had pictures of partially naked people in it.  Still fairly tame, for someone in grade school at the time.  Hey, I was already reading at adult levels.  No judgement.). Most of my other explorations in this field have been focuses on cryptozoology.  I just love reading about creatures that may not exist, especially from the point of view of legend, myth, and folklore.  I try to keep up with such books on "monsters" whenever I can.  I don't think you could call me an expert, but I might be close.  The same thing can be said on my love of tarot.  I got my first deck back in college, for my birthday.  It was one of the weirder themed ones, no longer published with the original art, but still available.  Alas, it was one of four decks that I lost in a flood seventeen years ago, along with most of my books on metaphysical studies.  Owning a bookstore allowed me to start a new collection, but most of the original books and decks are no longer around.   Still, many of the replacements are just as good.  One of my favorites was the Justice League art tarot that was the topic of a previous post.  Many of the points I brought up in it actually came to pass, and are still coming about. I guess I can spot some things coming, even if most of my studies are purely academic in nature as opposed to actually usage.  Don't get me wrong.  There could be something real about many of things of this nature, but I still approach them with an open mind about how real they might be.

My Fall of Discontent

 After a long time of thinking, I have decided not to take any classes this fall.  I am still second-guessing myself, but I think I am making the right decision, even with the many reasons why I should.  Money is actually a minor reason.  I could find a way to pay for it, if just barely.  A major reason is the classes themselves.  There aren't any classes I really want to take, as I am finding faults with them all.  There are five classes being offered this fall, plus a sixth one that I have already taken.  First, there is Psycholinguistics.  This class is so outside of my path that I wasn't even halfway considering to take it.  Next, there was Literary Theory.  One of the books is available from my book store's regular distributor, but it is currently out of stock.  This means that I would have to go through the college book store to purchase it, as a digital download rental.  I know about downloading books, but I have no idea how a rental would work, not to mention how much room such a book would take up on my computer.  The other book is only available in a shorter, newer edition forth same distributor, meaning going through the university for that one as well, for about the same price.  Also, one of the projects for the class is creating a website, or at least a page, dedicated to a school of literary thought.  Call me "old school," but I don't feel that is a way to learn.  At least for me.  I have floundered in similar online projects before, barely doing the minimum to get a good grade.  I have had trouble simply chatting and doing online tests.  Give me basic reports any day.  The next course is on Chaucer.  Again, most of the texts are online rentals.  While I could find similar physical books, I don't want to get lost by using a different version.  I've had that problem before.  Also, I am not too thrilled with reading Middle English, even with my flair for languages.  Then there is Eighteenth Century British Literature (not the complete title for the course, but close enough for you to know what I'm talking about). As of this morning, no materials have been listed for the class.  While I could make an educated guess about what authors and works would be covered, I would not be able to get the books before class started,  even if they were downloads, which I would not want to do.  Forgive me, but I don't want to start class that unprepared.  That left Advanced Poetry Writing.  With me included, there would be three people in the class.  I am not sure a workshop style class like this could work that well with so few people.  Again, the textbook for the class was out of stock at my distributor, meaning I would need the university store to purchase it.  Furthermore, the class is being taught by a professor I had before for fiction writing.  His hands-off style was a little off-putting for that class.  He didn't post any assignments or feedback for over a month in the middle of the term.  Many students were left wondering about what to do.  It also meant a very rushed flurry of activity to get everything done during the last few weeks of class.  Add to this the fact that poetry is not my strong suit, and everything just clicked into place.  I didn't find any classes that were working for me.  I am still doubting my decision.  If I take just one more class, I might be eligible to teach on a collegiate level, but I would have to confirm that.  The thing is, I would need to take at least two classes this fall to be eligible to take the exit exam next spring, and that is with taking an extra course in December, so I could graduate by next summer and before the possibility of going to the University of Kentucky in the fall to get the degree I have been hoping for.  I feel guilty for not doing more right now, but things aren't lining up the way I would prefer them.  I know it sounds selfish, but it is just the way I am.  I will have to take at least one course in the spring to stay enrolled, as a fallback if I don't get into UK, again.  It just feels so hopeless acknowledging it, knowing that I might be wasting so much time and money, for something I wasn't planning on doing or using.

Getting Crushed by Candy

I play a lot of the Candy Crush games on Facebook, at least the first three saga games as the fourth one doesn't seem to be on that platform as of yet.  Unfortunately, I have not been doing too well.  Don't get me wrong, when I get on a roll, I am scoring major points and clearing levels left and right.  The last two weeks or so, I have had problems.  My efforts on Candy Crush Jelly are about the same, but that is my least favorite of the games and the one I have had the least advancement on as well.  It can take me a few days to pass a tougher level, usually only when I get the right daily bonus set up.  Candy Crush Soda hasn't been too fair for me either.  Ever since the game stopped giving out winning streak bonuses, I have had problems.  Sure, I do well enough when I get a candy box team bonus, but I never seem to have a really great teamwork bonus with my current crew, the Violet Puppies.  I didn't choose the name or the crew.  I think I got randomly picked for both.  I have also had problems with level races.  I rarely even get third place, as it takes me days to win just one game, that others I'm competing against can win five or six in the same time period.  My worst problems stem from the original Candy Crush Saga.  Just last week, I was in first place for the weekly weekend challenge.  I was planning on padding my lead, but I forgot to do so before I went to work.  I got delayed, and I wound up getting online after the game had ended.  Because of some unusual programming glitch, certain game functions only work when I use a certain browser to access the game, such as the daily login bonus.  And the prize for the weekend contest as well. So, last Tuesday, I logged in, as usual, around three so I could get the maximum use of the prize as I could, six hours of three different starting bonus pieces each game, as well as a few one-time one ups for the stockpile.  Unfortunately, I came in second as someone overtook my by less than one hundred points.  Maybe they sniped me just enough to take the lead, but I still could have won if I had just remembered to play one last game on one of the levels to rack up extra points.  Meanwhile, I was burning though bonus pieces just to try and get through some tough levels, just waiting for the weekend challenge.  Well, there wasn't a challenge this weekend.  Instead, there was the first in a series of special challenges.  This one was getting through levels on your first try, not a strong suit of mine.  I wound up finishing around ninth, winning a paltry consolation prize.  The second challenge started this morning, where one has to beat levels to score points.  I think I might be able to replay early, easy levels, but I haven't tried that out yet.  Instead, I got an hour long team bonus, just as the time limit for us was drawing near its end and I will get on a new team later on tonight.  I also got to relive a thirty minute music box bonus that I had actually finished last night, a glitch from switching browsers between then and this morning.  I got through a few levels this way, but I had to burn a bunch of tools doing so, all of the regular ones, anyway.  I still have a huge stockpile of starting bonuses in reserve, but even they will go out if I overuse them, even if I have hundreds from the various glitches I spread out over browsers.  I don't know why my gameplay has been suffering these past few weeks.  Yes, many of the levels seems to be a tad harder than usual, but I still should be able to fly by them a little easier than it has been.  Maybe they will get easy again when the game updates.  I replay a few levels for various reasons, and I know that some levels have changed, sometimes greatly, and not always easier.  But what can I do?  Just keep crushing I guess.

No Mo' Mojo

I admit it.  I've been in sort of a slump lately, and I just don't mean the topics for this blog.  Yes, I have been grasping at straws quite a few times here in the last few weeks, but this type of thing frequently occurs.  No, I am talking about a few other things.  Mostly, it is about my games.  I am on multiple losing streaks, and it is starting to frustrate me.  On one game, I hadn't won in three days until I finally beat my opponent in a very haphazard playoff.  I was getting so bad that I not only had to drop down a level, but I also was nearing the point of giving up on the game for awhile.  On another game, I was stuck on the same level for about as long, before a few lucky moves finally got me through, not to mention the use liberal use of a few tools.  I also missed out winning the contest for a major bonus, by less than one hundred points!  I could have won, if I had just remembered to double check my competition and played one last round to help my chances.  Speaking of special tools, I used up pretty much all of my resources in a third game.  It was a moment of weakness.  I stuck past two really hard levels that had been giving me trouble, but I had to use up the last of my uncommon bonuses.  I still have a stockpile of starting bonuses, but I try not to use most of them up unless things get super desperate.  I hadn't realized that how much I had been relying on my "free" bonuses, those I get by just logging in every day or completing easy challenges.  Many of these challenges haven't been showing up as often as they used to.  In fact, I managed to use a bunch of such freebies to pass through many levels on one of my games just this past weekend.  Still, one in five games is not that great.  The same things I happening with my puzzle skills.  I had been trying to finish up all of my favorites in my oldest puzzle magazine, but I somehow left all of one type to the end.  Unfortunately, solving forty of the same type of puzzle gets very boring after a few days.  I don't want to start on the next magazine until I finish this one, with only eight more to go and a month to finish of the next one before a new one comes out.  I had even skipped some of the puzzles I only sort of like, just so I can finish the stupid thing a little bit sooner.  I mean, some of these puzzles didn't seem fair.  They were using words that even I had never heard of, and I'm an English major with multiple interests, as well as being a lifelong puzzle enthusiast.  There aren't that many words that I am totally unfamiliar with, but somehow, these puzzles are finding new ways to befuddle me.  I could go on with my problems, but you can get the picture.  I am slowing getting my enthusiasm back, but it has been tricky.   Well, that's all I can write this week, so don't expect a well-written ending.  I just don't have it in me right now.

Can or Cannot, There Is No Pop

Last week, I had to pick up a new carton of pop.  I would be drinking my last can that afternoon, so it was time to pick up some new.  However, I was expecting problems.  You see, for the last few weeks, if not longer, I had been noticing a distinctive lack of variety in most brands.  So, instead of picking up a carton of Cherry Dr Pepper or the new Cream Soda flavor, I had to go with the regular.  I was fortunate enough to find one bottle of Cherry hiding in one of the coolers in the checkout aisle.  Supposedly, the reason for this lack of variety is a shortage, not of ingredients, but in aluminum cans.  Not the aluminum, just the cans.  Because of all the restrictions on restaurants and other food places, people have been buying more pop to drink at home.  I honestly didn't think that most people drank pop while eating out.  Admittedly, until the shutdowns, I only ate out two or three days a month, max. Well, since people having been eating out, there's more of a market for buying for home use.  The majority of this has been in cans, as they are supposedly more environmentally sound, over plastic bottles.  [As an aside, I have always found it strange that the materials that are the most likely to be recycled are the ones least likely to be used up.  Aluminum is the most common metal found in the earth's crust.  It will take a long time for al resources to run out.  The only elements more common are silicon and oxygen, pretty much found in every rock on earth. They are also the major components of glass, another commonly recycled material.  Sorry about the rant, but I had to mention it.]  While there is no shortage of aluminum, the plants that manufacture the cans are running behind in making them.  In an effort to keep up, most beverage companies are shifting plants away from many of the niche flavors to focus only on the tip sellers.  Apparently, the smaller plants, like my local one, starting changing over much earlier than the larger ones, who only began shifting a week or two ago.   I kind of expected this, as I had known that my local bottling plant didn't produce all flavors.  A few years ago, when I still drank diet pop regularly, I had a hard time finding my favorite, Diet Cherry Dr Pepper.  I was only able to get it when I went to Lexington, once or twice a year.  Then, one year, I finally started going back to Virginia, after a long time from traveling there.  Starting just one county over, I was finding it everywhere.  Even the smaller stores carried it.  I had never known that a different bottling plant took over just one county away.  Of course, I no longer drink diet pop on a regular basis.  I still only average one can every two days, like I have for decades now.  This still doesn't explain why plants aren't making more flavors available in bottles though.  It probably has something to do with keeping large amounts of ingredients around.  Still, I like flavors and variety.  I will be on the lookout for bottles, if nothing else, until this shortage has ended.  Who knows?  This might finally allow the return of one of my most favorite flavors of all time to be made again locally, Cherry Vanilla Dr Pepper.  The only thing I like better is Crystal Pepsi, but at least I can hope for a comeback.

Going Back or Not

I don't really have anything I want to write about today.  Sure, there are a lot of things I could be writing about that are on my mind, but most really aren't appropriate for this time.  Instead, I will write about something somewhat pressing on me, my upcoming online classes.  I am currently registered for two graduate courses for the fall.  However, I am still in doubt about whether or not I will actually take them.  On the one hand, I will be getting closer to a Masters degree, even if it is not the one I initially planned on.  Actually completing my degree will look better on any resumés or applications then just having a few random classes.  It would also give meaning to all of the time and money I have already put in on these classes.  On the other hand, I am not all that enthusiastic about the classes.  To be honest, I'm not too thrilled about anything at the moment.  I should be taking two classes, but I really don't have the finances to pay for that many classes all at once.  I might be taking the class that will be offered during the shortened Winter term.  It would be about the same amount of money, but spread out so it wouldn't be such a hard hit.  Also, these are the only two classes for the fall that I am even halfway interested in.  They are also the classes that look like they would have the fewest total books needed.  I'm still not sure if I want to take either of them, though.  None of the other classes that I could take seem right for me, or my ultimate goals.  I'm just unsure about if I should be doing this at all, especially at this time.  As I mentioned, I don't really have the money.  I'm not sure if I will have the time.  Even with the limited schedule, I might be stressed.  I took three classes my first semester, and I wound up having to read first thing in the morning just to make sure I finished a book on time.  For my second semester, I had assignments that took much longer than planned, sometimes taking twice as long just to format the work correctly.  I'm worried that such a thing could happen again.  Worse, closings might limit my access to research materials.  Even with internet connections, I having problems finding all of the materials I needed.  Fortunately, I had local sources.  (I even got to use some of my private library to compensate for a few things.  Don't ask how I got to tie some of my more esoteric interests into a research paper, just be advised that I could.)  I am just having so many doubts about having another semester.  Even if I manage to get these three classes by the end of the year, I still have a least two more classes to go, as well as an exit exam to look forward to, which I'm not.  I don't know if I can find two classes for the spring.  I am not even sure if I need just two more classes, as the qualifications changed for the degree at the end of my first year, so I might need three classes instead of two.  The exit exam is a different problem.  I am only somewhat familiar with many of the works that could be covered.  Others, I am not interested in at all, almost to the point where I don't want to even think about reading them.  I don't even know if I could find a proctor that would allow me to take the test.  Everything just seems to be pointing to me that I shouldn't be going back.  I have about a month to make the final decision, and I honestly don't have an opinion either way.

The Return of "The Dresden Files" Files

This week will mark the finale of a months-long project of mine, to read the entirety of Jim Butcher's "The Dresden Files" before the latest book in the series comes out next week.  I used "read" instead of just "re-read" because I hadn't actually read all of the books the first time around.  I know.  How can someone like a series if one hasn't read all the books involved.  Don't ask me, as I'm not sure how it happened myself.  In fact, I hadn't read the third through eighth books in the series until aI started this project.  Here is the order of how I first read the books:  2, 1, 9, 10, 11, 12, [A?], 13, 14, 15, [B], 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.  As I mentioned in a previous post, I had gotten the second book, Fool Moon, for my book store, Booknotes, and I didn't give it much attention until the television show premiered on what is now known as Syfy.  I read the book soon after, and the ordered the first book the try and read the series in order.  I then read all the new books when they came out, which was at the ninth book, White Night, by the time.  Until this year, I never read the intervening books.  The "A" represents the first collection of Dresden short stories, Side Jobs.  Most of the stories had appeared in other collections before, but this was the first time they were all brought together, in a rough chronological order.  The book also had a new story that took place soon after the twelfth book.  I can't remember if I read it when it first came out or later.  That's why it has the question mark beside it.  The "B" is first the second short story collection, Brief Cases.  This collects the rest of the short stories that were written for other collections.  This one I know I read soon after it came out, as it included the first new Dresden works well as the first longer fiction by Butcher, in some time.  The inclusion was a novella that marked the first time Dresden wasn't the main POV character, as portions were told form the views of Maggie and Mouse, Dresden's daughter and dog respectively.  That's right, a dog.  Don't worry though, as Mouse is definitively smarter than Dresden.  [He's a magical creature that could live for centuries, and it is highly unusual that the dog chose to be with Dresden.]  Maggie might be too.  Anyway, it was a good stop gap to last until this month.  Peace Talks is currently on track to be released next Tuesday, July 14.  I was able to read a short excerpt earlier this year when the book was officially announced.  What is amazing is that in might not be the only Dresden book out this year.  See, as a book store owner, I have access to advance knowledge of release dates.    Frequently, these dates can be pushed back, or even bumped up, if there is a need.  As of the last time I checked,  a Dresden book titled Battle Ground is due out in September.  The accuracy of this release is still in doubt, as Butcher has never released two new books in the same series so close together, so I expect this date to change or be revealed as something slightly different than the usual book.  Anyway, back to the reading.  I'll start on the fifteenth book, Skin Game, this Friday.  I'll start the short stories collections immediately after.  I'll then be ready for Peace Talks, soon after it comes out.  I'm giving a a rest period before touching it.  Just to be safe.

Read 'Em and Weep at the Lackluster Writing

While I don't mean to brag, I feel that I am qualified to judge other people's writing.  I was an English major in college, and I am slowly working my way to a Master's degree, or two.  I have an ultimate goal of becoming a professional writer, probably.  I have owned a book store for almost twenty years (and maybe not for much longer), so I know about trends and current tastes.  I feel confidently that this makes me almost an expert, allowing me to assess and critique works.  For the most part, I try not to as it can come across as bragging.  I usually only to so when someone makes such a huge error that the meaning they were trying to convey is lost, or when it was an easily corrected typo or such.  I honestly try not to do so when English might not be the writer's first language.  Such a correction might not be seen in the way I meant it to be.  Honestly, I am trying to help people out, even when it allows me to show off a bit.  There is a downside to all or this, though.  This can take some of the enjoyment out of reading, especially when the work lacks something.  Sure, I can appreciate a work that I have to read, such as for a class, even when I don't like it all that much.  Usually, if I really like a book, I ignore any minor flaws in the writing.  Unfortunately, the opposite can also happen.  I have just finished reading a book that I had been waiting a while for.  [I will not mention the book's title or author, nor will I provide definitive details about the plot and characters, as I refuse to give any book a book review.]  The plot was interesting, and the main characters were intriguing.  However, much of the writing felt off.  The writing was grammatical , and the editing seemed to be correct.  The word choices were off-putting at times.  The narration was handled by the main character.  Much of it was repetitive, detailing events that occurred on a regular basis.  Once something happens, you don't need to go into so much detail when it happens again unless something drastically changes or is otherwise different.  It doesn't help if you add or subtract a detail if it is just the same routine.  The dialogue also felt off.  Sometimes a character would say something that didn't fit their style, or in such a way that most people wouldn't usually use.  The word choices weren't really wrong, just not what most people would use in an everyday conversation.  It wasn't every time, but enough for such stylistic choices to stand out.  A few details were left hanging without any explanation, but this could be due to the fact that it is the first book in a new series and plot hooks needed to be set up for the sequels.  Don't get me wrong, I still liked the book, overall, I just feel that it could have used a stronger editorial hand to guide the work along. This wasn't the author's first work, and I don't think I have read anything else by this author.   I am planning to read the next book in the series in another week or so, but I am still not sure if I will like the writing as much as I will enjoy the work as a whole. 

Electile Dysfunction

Yesterday was the rescheduled primary day in Kentucky.  While some state officials and national pundits praised the state's turnout, not everything could be considered something to crow about.  I first saw signs of possible trouble when the governor delayed a original May election date by a month during the first week of the lockdown.  At that time, it was premature to delay anything, not knowing how the pandemic would be playing out.  As it was, some form of an election could have been conducted on the original date, but it would have needed major changes to work as normal.  A month after the first announcement, details about how the election would be handled came out.  Mail-in absentee balloting would be expanded so that fewer people would be showing up at polling places.  Voters could email or call in to get a ballot.  They could also set up appointments to vote early, as can be done in regular elections.  The biggest change was that only one polling place would be set up in each county, regardless of the needs of the county.  Every registered voter would be sent a postcard with the information needed to vote.  Things didn't turn out that way.  I never got a postcard.  I heard from many others that they didn't get one either, mostly in eastern Kentucky.  It could be the postcards got lost on the way to or from Charleston, West Virginia. [A few years ago,  the postal service closed the main processing hub for the region and sent all future mail to Charleston for processing.  While this saved money, it could add a day or so to the delivery of out-of-state mail and two or more days to intrastate mail, as it had to go through another state to get to its final destination.]  Some people never got that information, even though the same information was available elsewhere.  Not everyone had internet access either, as not everyone owns a computer or smart phone, and many free internet services, such as public libraries, weren't open yet.   I'm not sure how many knew about being able to make appointments, even though the service has always been available.  Furthermore, some counties were able to have more than one polling place.  Pike county had five, six if you count the county court house where one could still make an appointment, if they were in a high risk group for contacting anything.  Jefferson and Fayette counties, the two counties with the highest population in the state, only got one place each.  [For argument's sake, Pike county is the largest county in area in the state.  In fact, it is one of the largest counties in the nation east of the Mississippi River.  It can take over a hour to drive from one end of the county to the other.  Having multiple sites may have been needed.]. With populations in the hundreds of thousands, more sites were needed.  Some tried to get more sites open, but the legal results were not in their favor and there would not be enough time to appeal, not without the possible confusion on behalf of the electorate.   On Election Day, I heard of waits of over an hour, outdoors, in the rain, locally.  Fayette county had it worse.  Waits of over two hours were common.  The last voters left after eight pm, two hours after polls were supposed to close, only because the were in line a six.  In Jefferson county, election officers actually shut the doors at six, even with people still trying to get in line.  [At one time, I was an election officer.  Anyone still in line at closing time can still vote, but officers can shut it down at exactly that time.  Picking hairs, but it is still a borderline call.] Difficulties with getting in and parking caused delays.  Candidates tried to file injunctions to keep the doors open, although, the last I heard, a judge at 6:30 pm allowed those still on site to vote.  How many were still there, I don't know.   Afterwards, sites announces the day's results.  A few races were declared, but the major ones that were making national headlines were still too close.  The final totals cannot be announced until all of the absentee ballots are counted, and they are due back in until next week.  Only those postmarked by the election are to be counted.  However, there is no way of knowing how many of these ballots were filled out correctly or if any were not filled out seriously.  Once the final totals are in, there could be a few lawsuits about the legitimacy of the results.  I'm surprised more lawsuits weren't filed beforehand, but, since the courts and state government weren't fully open, it does make sense.  The governor could have asked the state legislature to do something during the last days of their session to help make the process run smoother, but he didn't.  He couldn't, not without losing like a hypocrite.  He had complained that the legislature shouldn't be in session at the height of the pandemic, and that they should do the basics of passing a budget or just close and he would call a special session that would cover the budget, and only that, at a later time.  [Kentucky is just about the state where the legislature cannot call itself to order.  Aside from a regular yearly session, only the governor or acting governor can call a session, and they are the ones who get to decide what can be considered.  The legislature can always close the session if they don't want to consider that action, though.] So, while turnout looks great, I wouldn't call this a success, by any means.  Many voters may have inadvertently been disenfranchised by these actions.  It was all a confusing mess, with a hint of controversy surrounding it. November's election can't be held this exact same way, even if there are those out there who think this is a viable way to conduct the democratic process.