Family News
- October 2000
October 15, 2000 -- Matt just had his fourth birthday. We didn't do
much, but we did take him out to dinner at The Olive Garden. It was a wonderful
meal, and all the waiters and waitresses sang "Happy Birthday" to him.
I fell a little sorry for him that he couldn't have had a party with
friends his own age, but there don't seem to be any kids his own age in our
apartment complex.
His current favorite program is called, "Little Bear Rainy Day
Adventures," and he's really good at using it. He seems to be developing in
leaps and bounds. My real problem now is getting him away from the computer so I
can use it myself.
On Tuesday, I'll be leaving for the STC
Pan-Pacific Conference in Hawaii. The STC
is the Society for Technical Communications, a technical organization for
writers, editors, illustrators, printers, publishers, educators, students,
engineers, and scientists. I'm really looking forward to the conference. I
signed up for seminars in project management and document design, so I'm hoping
to learn a lot.
Summer, 2000 -- Well, the entire summer has flown by and part of the
fall as well. It all started shortly after I got back from New York City at the
end of June. I contracted Pleurisy. When I went back to the doctor for my
follow-up visit, I mentioned the fact that I really hadn't been feeling well for
quite a while. They did some tests and discovered that I had a borderline case
of diabetes, a mildly under active thyroid, and gall stones. I spent most of
August and September working from home because I was too tired to make it
through an entire day at work. I would work for an hour or so, then rest for an
hour or so and so on. By the time I managed to get my work done, I didn't feel
like doing anything else.
Just about the time I started feeling better, my computer went down for the
count. It started acting really flaky and needed to be re-booted constantly. We
were saving for a new computer for me, but wouldn't have the money until
mid-September. I used it only when I absolutely had to and made sure to back up
everything.
While all of this was going on, we decided that it would be much easier for
me to work from home and do the other things I have to do with a DSL line, so we
ordered one. DSL Internet access is great once it gets installed, but not so
great along the way. If you haven't been through the process of installing a DSL
line, you should know that it takes a long time. I signed up for the line in
June and it wasn't working until the end of September. Just as they tell you
that you shouldn't quit your day job when you are trying to get started as a
writer, you shouldn't cancel your old Internet service until your DSL line is
working.
I finally got my new computer in the middle of September and got to use it
for a whole three days before the hard drive died on me and I had to wait three
weeks to get another one. I finally have all the things I need to really work on
my web site. I have a brand new, 900 mhz. computer with a 75 gb hard drive. Yes,
you saw that right, 75 gigabytes! I wanted to not run out of space right away
for once.
I now have all the bells and whistles. I've got a re-writable CD-ROM drive, a
DVD, a fantastic video card, and even a TV tuner so I can watch TV in a little
window in the top corner of the screen while I'm working. It's great fun.
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