Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Still here, just choking on drywall dust.

Why, hello.  Haven't been around much these days.  I see I've missed not one but TWO weeks in review.  I think I can get to those in a bit.  Grab a cup of coffee, pull up a chair.  Here's what's been going on:
Imagine the computer perched on that cabinet to the right...

This is what it looks like at my computer!  We are in the throes of a total gut/overhaul of the kitchen and laundry room, which led to re-doing the family room--it's all kind of one big area so it just made sense anyway.  But the electrician had to rewire many things in this area and now my Monster Powernet seems to not be working. 

What is a Monster Powernet?  You are going to be so glad you asked.  It makes your house ETHERNET.  ALL of it (theoretically).  WITHOUT wiring.  It rocked my world for about five months. 

You run an ethernet cable between your router and the Powernet box, and plug the box into the wall.  Then, wherever you want in the house, plug another Powernet box in, and run the ethernet cable from it to your device--computer, Apple TV, whatever.  Voila!  Instant Ethernet!

But my pretty iMac should have wireless, right?  Ah, that is where you would be sadly mistaken, as I was.  It turns out that Mac desktops purchased in 2011 and 2012 have a KNOWN software issue that means that Wi-Fi is almost useless.  I am not kidding.  The thing blinkers out about ten times an hour, making it impossible to actually do anything on the Internet.  I discovered this after hours upon hours with Apple Tech Support and having a new Wi-Fi card put in. 

This issue almost makes me want to swear off Apple computers.  Until I use my kids' Dell.

The Powernet doesn't work across junction boxes, apparently.  Or something.  I think in rewiring my house the electricians split something up so that I could no longer get wi-fi in my sewing room, where the computer lived.  So my ethernet quit.  However, moving my computer so that I could hardwire it into the router solved my problem.

Kind of. 

I have to move the computer every morning before the workers get here.  And I have to set it back up at night.  And I have to sit in our construction zone to use it.

Most of my time on the computer is spent on my photography class.  I want to share some of what I'm learning, but it will keep.

Right now I have to go get a son who is at track, getting ready for the middle school State Track Meet!  Woo hoo!  And then dinner and all the evening busyness.

I'll be back.  I can't live in a construction zone forever.

Can I?

Friday, April 5, 2013

Grading Lent

My view:

Still not the glorious spring green I had expected back on Ash Wednesday. That was when I wrote about how I wanted to spend my Lenten season, especially in light of the fact that I had barely gotten through Advent with my sanity.  I wanted Lent to be different.  In an effort to close that line of thought, let me share how it really went:

  1. Spiritual Discipline:  We made it almost all of the mid-week Lenten services, as well as the Maundy Thursday and Good Friday services.  I'm very, very glad we added that to our schedule, even though it felt like too much at times. The Wednesday services were a reminder and a quiet respite, and even the kids liked going.  Good Friday may be my favorite service of the year.  AND I have generally kept up with my morning devotions.  Generally.  
  2. Physical Discipline:  Total Fail.  I need to re-read Why We Get Fat, which I think I said earlier.  Gary Taubes' idea is that carbs make you fat.  Maybe not you, but they make ME fat.  And they keep me from sleeping and give me stomachaches.  It's all true.  And while I've never gone back to bread unless it surrounds a Chick-fil-A sandwich, and I hardly eat potatoes, sugar is another story.  So this is a fail.  Especially with the Easter candy that now floats around my house, and into my mouth...
  3. A book:  Complete and utter fail.  I wanted to read Bonhoeffer.  I still haven't.  Haven't even put it on my Kindle.  Only 3/4 of the way through Les Miserables, for good measure, which I have been reading off and on since around Christmas.  (That book has the interesting quality of being put-off-able, meaning that I can set it down and pick it up two weeks later and understand exactly what is going on and yet somehow not feel one bit bad about leaving it aside for a while.)

I did, however, read Mike Breen's Building a Discipling Culture, as a result of my unexpected trip to Pawley's Island.  Given its subject matter--doing things the way Jesus did them in His earthly ministry--this book is almost a substitute.  And it was a great book to read, to boot!  (If you want to read a wonderful and inspiring story about an English minister, go here.)

One out of three.  That is a failing grade!  No spinning this--maybe I just aimed too high for Lent.  Nah.  But I did find some peace, and I wonder if I didn't make at least a little more room for God in my life. 

Someday those leaves will be green.  Someday soon.  And I'll keep trying to make room, and make peace.