February 13, 2007

Postie Carnival!

Get on over to Cass Knits for a fine roundup of bloggings’s best, all contributed by posties! Posties are folks who get paid to blog about the things they love at PayPerPost. See the little review icon below this post? You can click on an icon like that for any post in my blog and get paid to review it. How cool is that? PPP will create that review opportunity just for you so you can see what it’s all about. If there’s nothing here you want to wax eloquent about, that’s okay. Just click the PPP icon right over there on my sidebar and they’ll hook you up to select from all of the great opportunities they have available. Just don’t forget to check out the Postie Carnival, too!

February 12, 2007

Spell check

I’ve always been a fanatic about spelling words properly. I proofread everything I write several times before I share it with others, then go back and read it again, slap my forehead and wish for instant recall. I have been known to edit my blog posts a half-dozen or more times as I spot mistakes that I somehow managed to glide over with each prior reading.

Some friends are discussing spell-checker software on a message board right now, and you’d think that would be a reasonable solution for me. You would be so very wrong. I don’t see spell checker corrections. It’s analogous to being colorblind, I guess. They’re there, but I am totally unaware of them most of the time. Yes, if I think about it and make myself notice, I see them just fine. Without that directed concentration, fingers flying across the keyboard, they don’t exist for me.

There’s a reason for this, of course. I do termite inspection reports for real estate transactions in Hawaii. When I started my business I created custom templates for my reports, using a friendly competitor’s report forms for guidance. My primary software is Microsoft Word, which has a standard spell checker.

There are two types of termites that are of concern to homeowners in Hawaii. One of them is the drywood termite. I also report on conducive conditions that might attract termites. Sometimes I need to describe evidence found on a lanai or in an ohana. I may note damage to a ridgebeam or rimjoist. I have two pages on Termites in Hawaii appended to each report, followed by a one-page legal disclaimer which my insurer loves and everyone else hates. As you can well imagine, my templates are quite colorful in Word, with red and green squiggles on almost every line.

But the fun is only just beginning. Most, but not all, local place names are Hawaiian. Street and community names in recent reports include Kekuilani Loop, Kapolei, Waialae Avenue, Kokole Street, Kapiolani Boulevard, Pali Momi Street, Waipaipai Street, Walua Road, Kahala, Kuhio Avenue and Kailua Road. The people here are from many places. Some surnames that have crossed my desk recently are Nagatori, Soares, Magabee, Sunio, Heitink, Ehrnhardt, Ogino, Imoto and Lono.

Spell check just does not work in such an exotic environment. When I’ve completed a report, I proofread it, checking each proper noun, letter for letter, against the order form I copied it from. I re-read the report of my findings and the recommendations I’ve made. It’s tedious and makes my eyes burn. I still miss one from time to time. Depending on the egregiousness of the error, my anal-ness may demand that I issue a corrected report to all of the parties involved, along with an apologetic cover letter.

What’s really embarrassing about all of this is that, by ignoring spell check, I’m missing the normal typo/grammar/silly misspelling mistakes that we all make. There are words that my fingers always stumble over. One of them (yes, even after twenty-seven years,) is termites. I’m sure I’ve issued a few reports where termties slipped through. Aobut = about. Fo = of. You all have a few of those, dont’ you? Oh, there’s another. Those apostrophes want to dangle from the end of contractions. Anyone in a normal, English-speaking and -writing environment would catch them all with spell check. I’m waiting for the English/Hawaiian/Samoan/Chinese/Japanese/Tahitian/Portugese/Korean/German/Filipino/
Thai/Vietnamese/French/Spanish/Tongan vesrsion before I start paying attention again. It will need to also address entomology, pesticide chemical names, building terms and modern technological jargon in order to be a helpful tool.

Some day I may tell you about my filing nightmares.
K
Ka
Kaa
Kaaa
Kae
Kah
Kai
Kak
Kal
Kam
…

I’m on the third, make that fourth edit here. Am I ready for my public yet?

February 11, 2007

Flowers for all occasions

Is there a woman alive who doesn’t want flowers for Valentine’s Day? The day is for lovers, of course, but moms and friends and sisters love to get them, too. I once worked for a man who sent a dozen red roses to every woman who worked for him each Valentine’s Day. Why can’t all bosses be that nice?

No matter what the occasion or who it is you’d like to honor, online flower delivery will assure that your expression of affection arrives right on time. Digital Flowers Online also delivers Gourmet Baskets, balloons and other gifts. They’re a certified FTD online florist, and sponsored this post so I could remind you that Valentine’s Day is just around the corner.

February 10, 2007

What folks are talking about

Here are a few items I picked up today while surfing around.

I suppose most of us were shocked by the death yesterday of Anna Nicole Smith. She’s made herself a target for cheap shots for years. I love that Hunna was not worried about the false faces we always wear when someon has died. She’s summed up Anna Niclole’s contributions to society quite nicely. You know you wanted to say the same things!

Anne over at Candy! Candy! Candy! sent me on a nostalgia trip with her post about candy we ate as kids. I had been to a similar site a while back, but lost track of it. I’ve bookmarked it this time.

At Downtown Magazine, Rick has a recommendation for those those who have their eyes on the current power structure in Washington. Ah, but can we follow his sage advice?

I’m glad I was roaming around the blogsphere today, because I’d lost track of the Postie Carnival, which will be at my friend Lisa’s place next time around. There’s still time to signup, so get on over there & do it!

Kim shared a story familiar to many of us over at her new blog home, lifes-like-that. She needs a good housewarming to get her blog off to a good start, so I hope you’ll go on over and say hello.

While many of us tiptoe around racial issues, Chris reminds us that sports should be colorblind. Make sure you browse through his sci-fi posts while you’re there!

Deb at When No*One’s Around wonders what lessons her son is learning from his game-playing. Her blog makes me miss the days of having a boy in school.

I hope I’ve gathered up something to interest you in today’s wanderings. Check them out and see!

Welcome to my new home!

You found me! Whew! I was afraid you get lost on the way over. This is my new blog on my very own domain. Some of it will look very familiar, as I’ve transferred all of my old content to this new address. The theme and layout are quite different. I hope you like them, but don’t get too comfy. I’ll have a new custom template soon that I hope will personalize my blog and make it a better reflection of who I am and what’s on my mind.

Take your shoes off and set a spell. Let’s all get reacquainted.

February 7, 2007

For the Home Office Woman

I’m amazed at how savvy young business women are today. I’m very good at providing a professional service to my clients, but am well aware that I run the business end of things poorly. I visited my friend Doris at A Meeting Place for All Home Office Women and was very impressed. Doris gathers information from around the web and gives her fresh voice to information on operating a business effectively and profitably. I was very diappointed to discover her invitation to join eWednesday Chat a few hours too late to participate in a session on Negotiation Skills for Women, a weak point for me. I’ll make it a point to take in some of these chats when I can. Networking is a wonderful way to make friends and discover new, creative voices to learn from. Doris has recently featured Blogtripping, an endless circle of blog visiting and critiquing and also reminded us Don’t Stop Bloging. She also runs the Birth of a Home Office blog carnival, a wonderful roundup of different voices that can contribute to your home office experience. Doris is full of wisdom and I need to make her a regular stop on my rounds. I think it she can help me be a better business woman.

While you’re in the neighborhood, make sure you sample Doris’s personal posts, too. She collects Barbie Dolls, but the living doll in her life is Clayton, who gains great benefit from Mommie working at home.

Flucidity

I got so fascinated reading about flucidity that I almost forgot to come back over here & write about it. I’ve been wandering around the website and following one link to another, trying to wrap my head around the idea. It’s not difficult to understand, but it does require a different way of thinking. Everyone is familiar with some very basic concepts like the power of positive thinking and using visualization techniques to see your goals, right? Flucidity is the next level. It is The Universal Language and says that everything exists in one of the following ways:

Representation
Potential Energy
Measurement & Structure
Interaction & Association

No, that’s not geek-speak. It actually makes a lot of sense and can bring focus and clarity to your thought processes. Obviously the Theory of Everything can and does explain it much better than I can, but I’ll take the first one just to give you an idea of the thought process:

Representation is proof of existence. A name, a photograph, a fossilized bone, a souvenier from your last vacation. It’s the starting point for your thought processes. You can see, visually or in your mind, this focal point. And every representation is filled with potential energy, leading you to the next step. See how easy that is?

I like this very organized way of thinking. I’ve been going through a lot of changes in my life recently which have led me to restructure some short- and long-term goals. I think that the Theory of Everything can help me clarify those goals and achieve them. I’m glad I stumbled across this sire so I could investigate it myself and share it with you.

Icky sick

I thought I was just having allergy problems because of my ti plants blooming. Sneezing, runny nose, watery eyes, puffy face & all that stuff. Got up this morning with all of that still going on plus & my chest is croupy & my head is aching & I think it will explode any minute now. Guess I’ll have to abandon the benedryl & go get some real cold meds after I wake up a bit more.

I think I might make a big pot of chicken soup later today too. I’ve been making it for years, of course, but if you have a recipe you want to share I’d love to see it. Other home remedies for a cold? I usually try other stuff first & then end up resorting to Nyquil. It works but it’s just so nasty & knocks me out. If you have a secret cure, now is the time to share.

February 6, 2007

Belisi Radio

I grew up listening to an eclectic mixture of contemporary, top forties, country and jazz. What else would you expect from a child of the fifties and sixties, born in small-town Texas and raised on the outskirts of New Orleans. Local Hawaiian music has been added to the mix in recent years. I guess you could say my tastes are all over the chart. I still love the nostalgic oldies that I fell in love with as a teen, and I think Billy Joel is one of the best songwriters of the last century. Nora Jones is, to me, a magnet drawing me back to jazz. The nice thing about music is that you don’t have to agree with me. It’s deeply personal and helps us define who we are. Our tastes may converge on the raucous renderings of Phil Harris, but we’ll be miles apart if you’re into heavy metal.

Peter Belisi, whose name is synonymous with beauty, also seems ot have ecletic tastes. He’s launched Belisi Radio, showcasing top contemporary artists, legendary stars of the past, smooth jazz and hot new artists. “Belisi Music is my attempt to take the same qualities I look for in fashion - sophisticated, classic, beautiful - and take it to music,” says Peter Belisi, founder and creative director of Belisi.

Anyone who will put Billy Joel, Dido and Coldplay into the same playlist is at the very least adventurous. I’m looking forward to Belisi’s foray into broadcast music. I know he’ll be presenting artists that I already love, and I look forward to perhaps discovering some new favorites. Belisi’s luxurious and sophisticated scarves, ties and handbags first drew me towards him, and his company mission of giving back to the community has earned him my respect. I’m looking forward to seeing where his music takes me.

Lucky we live Hawaii?

I walked into my screened lanai last night (that’s the room I showed under construction in my last post) and was overwhelmed with a cloying sweet fragrance. Within less than a minute my nose was running, my eyes were itching and I was sneezing. I did what I needed to do (the laundry is out there) and dashed back into the house, shutting the door between the house and the lanai. My allergy symptoms continued until bedtime. I know that benedryl will control this stuff, but I already have problems with extreme dry mouth from my tummy meds, so I decided to try to ride this one out. When I go up this morning I knew I’d made a mistake. My entire face was puffy, the area around my left eye disproportionately so. The sniffles and sneezeing started up again as soon as I walked into the front of the house. I’ve been taking benedryl all day. It makes me sleepy and saps my energy and there’s the whole dry mouth thing also.

I’ve been assuming something was blooming in my neighbor’s yard across the fence. I went outside a few minutes ago to see what it is that is making me so sick. Darn! Can’t blame it on the neighbor. I usually trim the stalkes off of the top of my ti plants as soon as they appear. I found out my first year here that they attract massive quantities of bees. I’m allergic to bees, too, so I try to minimize the attraction. I hadn’t been out in that yard in a while and the stalks had shot up and are covered with spikey purple balls. Little white blossoms open up when darkeness falls, which is why it was so strong last night. Unfortunately, darkness is falling now and it’s a little late to start trimming. I’ll have to take care of that when I finish work tomorrow.

While I was out there I realized I’ve been horribly neglecting my herb garden. The birds have planted wild tomato plants again, the sort that make little tiny, bitter tomatoes. My Dad liked them on his salad, but I don’t at all. I guess I need to spend a few hours out there tomorrow. I pulled a few small ones the last time I was out there. Today I discovered one growing into my rosemary bush. It’s large enough to already have little pea-sized green tomatoes showing. If I can just stop sneezing long enough & open my eyes fully behind the puffiness I’ll take care of all that.

No, I didn’t get a new camera yet. I have possession of the homeowner’s association camera for a few days. Maybe I can sqeeze in some time tomorrow to stock up on fresh photos for my blog!