I've had houseguests for the last three weeks

[DoYouKubuntu]

Hey everybody! I've been preoccupied with houseguests for the last three weeks. It's a long story--but, from me, what else would you expect, right?! --but the short version is that it's a friend of mine, her husband, their daughter, and their cat. They're having REALLY bad financial problems and I said, "hey, there's this whole empty house, stay here!" I'm giving them a chance to get on their feet while not paying any rent. Right now we're looking at this week for them to be leaving.

It's been...interesting. I kind of like having other people in the house, but I also really like my privacy and my alone time. It's been hard getting anything done, like working on my web sites, because someone's always around or someone always wants to chat, etc. In one way, I'll be glad when they're gone, but in another, I'll be sad.

Anyway, just wanted to pop in and say hello and see what's up. Anything new or exciting happening?

[Qqmike]

Hi back, DYK!

I also really like my privacy and my alone time.

Boy, I mean girl, if you ever figure this one out--figure the balance, figure how to have the best of both worlds--let me know. Nothing beats alone time, quiet time, especially early mornings, creative time. But, and especially as one gets older, ya just need some socializing, too. Socializing "on-demand"? That's the nice thing about the telephone: much easier than arranging a F2F for a social fix. Anyway, I think you get what I'm saying here.

"hey, there's this whole empty house, stay here!" I'm giving them a chance to get on their feet while not paying any rent.

Very nice of you!

[Qqmike]

Posting above reminded me of common misspellings I make in these posts.

quite instead of quiet

That's not so bad. But this one:

precious instead of previous

can really change the meaning and intent of what you want to say, and note that the c and v keys are neighbors--very easy to goof up.

[DoYouKubuntu]

You know, it's funny you should mention misspelled words. I'm a huge stickler when it comes to spelling, yet...increasingly often as I age...I find myself typing things I DID NOT INTEND. I really started noticing this after my brain tumor was removed, but the docs insist there shouldn't be any correlation, but I don't know. It's easier to chalk it up to old age, I suppose. Anyway, I'll be typing a sentence like, "I didn't know you were from Australia," but when I proof it before posting, I'll see that I actually wrote, "I did know you where from Australia." Also, sometimes my fingers are just moving too fast for my brain to catch up with them, and I leave out entire words. I always TRY to go back and proofread before posting, but even that's hit or miss, depending on what else is going on around here.

[DoYouKubuntu]

Hi back, DYK!

Boy, I mean girl, if you ever figure this one out--figure the balance, figure how to have the best of both worlds--let me know. Nothing beats alone time, quiet time, especially early mornings, creative time. But, and especially as one gets older, ya just need some socializing, too. Socializing "on-demand"? That's the nice thing about the telephone: much easier than arranging a F2F for a social fix. Anyway, I think you get what I'm saying here.

Yes, I definitely know what you're saying. It's hard, isn't it? I've always liked my alone time, but I also like having people around. It's tough getting just the right balance. Also, depending on WHO it is that's around, it can be a lot easier to take--like my grandsons, for example. They're such a joy, and since they live out of state and I only get to see them once or twice a year, it's really special when they're here. So they can pester Grandma all they want and it's fine! They like to come into my room in the morning to see if maybe I'm awake yet. (I am NOT a morning person...any more. I used to be, but no longer.) Then they'll give me a report later, telling me how my [favorite] cat was snuggled up with my hand on her while I was sleeping.

[vinnywright]

Posting above reminded me of common misspellings I make in these posts.

quite instead of quiet

That's not so bad. But this one:

precious instead of previous

can really change the meaning and intent of what you want to say, and note that the c and v keys are neighbors--very easy to goof up.

O ,,,,,I totaly relate to that ,,,,,,,,,

Hay DYK ,,,,,,, I totally get you as well

We happen to have my wife's cozen staying with us ATM ,,,,,,and my house is small ,,,,5 rooms ,,,,,luckily she is not hear all the time (she has found a new guy )

VINNY

[DoYouKubuntu]

O ,,,,,I totaly relate to that ,,,,,,,,,

Hay DYK ,,,,,,, I totally get you as well

We happen to have my wife's cozen staying with us ATM ,,,,,,and my house is small ,,,,5 rooms ,,,,,luckily she is not hear all the time (she has found a new guy )

You think THAT'S small?! My former gardener owns a 900 sq ft house that he lives in with his wife, their three kids, AND his mother-in-law!

[DoYouKubuntu]

I've had my house back to myself for a few days now. I'm glad, but sad, too, as expected. It was kind of fun having people around, but I'm glad I have my alone space now. I've gotten more work done on my web sites in the past three days than I had in the previous three weeks put together!

Speaking of my web sites: I tackled a long-overdue project in my Zazzle shops, replacing all of its section thumbnails with larger images. Zazzle, unlike CafePress, has the very annoying habit of springing changes on us that DESTROY the look of our shops. In this case, the 150x150 thumbnails that I'd uploaded eons ago had now been stretched to 350x350; they looked AWFUL, all pixelated and blurry. Ugh. So I let my fingers do the talking at a command line; I used ImageMagick to mass convert hundreds of images, first resizing them (the images I was using were big, at least 3300x3300), then overlaying them on top of a 350x350 thumbnail image. Between ImageMagick and bash, we're talking a few seconds of processing vs what would take someone *WEEKS* to do one at a time via point-and-click. I love Linux.