I cannot believe that September is almost over. Come Thursday, October will be here and only three months will remain until 2010. It seems like only yesterday, we were celebrating the beginning of 2009. Soon, the holiday season will be upon us and this year, I am hoping to celebrate in a fun and meaningful way. How, I am not too sure at this moment. But I will figure it out. To do this, beginning the first of October I will begin searching the Internet for fun holiday traditions, games, songs, stories, recipes, decorating ideas and just anything to do with the coming holidays. I am excited for what can be found. Here’s hoping I can find lots of good things.
Monthly Archives: September 2009
My computer kicks ass
I do love having an entertainment based computer. Not only can I sit here and import my iTunes library but I can also listen to it at the same time and have a blast while it’s importing. Yes, I am sitting here listening to the Alvin and the Chimpmunks soundtrack while dancing around my chair. Excuse me for having fun. 
Of course the music is only for a few minutes as CASTLE is coming on at 10. I cannot wait. I have missed seeing Nathan Fillion every Monday night. But I regress. I’m filtering through my music and going from Billy Idol to Big and Rich…and Castle is on. I must run.
Crushed – an original writing
I found this on an old journal and thought that I’d through it up here. I wrote this two years ago.
Title: Crushed
Genre: Original Fiction
Word Count: 405 Words
Rating: R for violence
Lightening lit the black sky, striking out to all points visible in the horizon. Thunder rumbled as waves crashed against the shore.
She stumbled forward, her fingertips brushing against the grain.
Rain pounded to the earth, eroding lose ground and stinging the flesh.
She stumbled again, losing her balance on the unsteady surface. Knees landed against sand as she fell forward. Her forehead landed against the wet sand and she stayed there for a moment drawing in much needed air.
‘In and out, in and out’ she repeated in her head while she sucked in as much air as was humanly possible.
As the wind whipped strands of crushed garnet hair against doll like skin, she threw her head back. Rain beat against flesh, plastering strands of hair to her face and washed away signs of the tears that pooled from her chocolate fudge eyes.
Lightening flashed again, illuminating the angst. Her body shook as she chocked back sobs, as muffled sound emitted from her lips; as pain wretched through her soul.
She watched as lightening rippled from here to there, as electricity crackled through the air.
Her lips parted as a scream ripped from her lungs, the angst and pain as plain as the primitive emotions. It caught in the wind and chased away the time as the tears fell freshly opened wounds.
Slowly she lifted her hands, the sand she had been clutching fell.
“Why?” she screamed, the rawness of her feelings present?
The metal glistened with the next flash of lightening and than it was gone, plunged into her breast as though guided by imaginary hands.
Her screamed ripped through the air; tears streamed down her face as she pulled the knife from muscle and flesh. It moved slowly, her hands guiding it back until it rested against bloody palms.
Muscles trembling she lifted those open palms and the pain slowly spread.
Her eyes closed as she felt the soft caress of his mouth against hers; as crimson blood trickled between parted lips.
The knife fell to the ground, landing silently in the sand as final breath choked itself from her body.
She fell forward, her face falling to the side. Soulless eyes as cold as ice watched the rain fall. Watched as it slowly washed away the clotting blood down the sandy shore and into the ocean. Watched as her life was carried away by the ragging water – - alone.
My postive experience using a Web Hosting Rating site
As I mentioned in an earlier post, there are events occurring in my life that have caused me to look at my current expenses and think of ways to decrease them. One of my major online expenses is the hosting of my web sites. With having multiple web domains, I have found myself using a reseller account for my web hosting. But with law school now in full swing and a few other events going on, I’ve realized that for the most part, I am only going to need one web site hosted – my blog.
Because of this, I began looking at getting out of a reseller account and changing to a single domain hosting. As in the past, I have never been one to rush out and pick the first web host I find. Instead I take time and research the new hosting company using various web hosting review sites. My goal is to find out not only what other customers are saying but also statistics on their up time and how they compare to other hosting companies.
One website that I looked at in this quest is Web Hosting Rating. The website offers not only various articles to read about what to look for in a webhost and how to use the webhosts various services but also offers a listing of the top ten web hosting companies of 2009 and also offers a directory of 143 various web hosting companies. In looking through the directory, I did find the web hosting company that I eventually web with. In clicking on the link for them, I found not only information on the actual plan including various payment options but also the operating system that the server is and all additional features that they offer.
One thing that I really like about the Web Hosting Rating site is that they do not post only positive reviews about a company. Many sites that I have visited when investigating a company only offer positive reviews. I know that web hosts are not 100% perfect. While I wish it was true, it’s just not possible. It was a nice to finally see a review site that offers the positive and the negative reviews that they have received for the hosts.
All in all, I was pleased with my experience in using Web Hosting Rating in my quest to find a new web site hosting company.
Please note that I may have received payment for the above review but that does not affect my personal opinion expressed in the article.
Sleep is a wish I want to follow
Last night sleep seems to have evaded me. It is not that I did not try to go to sleep; I did; but my mind would not shut down enough for me to fall asleep. There were many different thoughts going on in my head. Some of those I can talk about now and others will have to wait until a later date. Whatever the case, I am hoping that sleep comes a little easier tonight. I’ve been avoiding caffeine for most of the afternoon and my plan is to get off the computer sooner rather then later. Actually, I had plans to be off now and was going to watch the video lectures for my class tomorrow night but I forgot that Monk and Psych are on tomorrow night and well it is Monk’s last season and it looks like a Lassie-Centric episode in Psych so of course I’m going to want to watch that. So my plan changed a bit and I watched most of the contracts lectures tonight and then tomorrow when I get home from work, I can watch the rest of contracts, my criminal law lecture and the torts lecture. I’ve already finished the legal writing module so I do not have to worry about those videos tomorrow. Once I’ve watched all the videos once then I’m going to watch them a second time and take notes. That is probably going to be the way that I remember it best.
Between last night and tonight I’ve been moving my domain from my old host to a new host. There were a few reasons for this. The first is I just am not going to have the time to keep up multiple web hosts. In the future if I decide to bring up one of my other domains, then I can look at getting a reseller account again but right now I really did not need a reseller account anymore. The second is cost. For an entire year on my new host, I am paying what I would have paid in six months over on my old host. With starting law school last week, I have been looking at different ways to cut costs and one of those was reducing how much I pay for web hosting. It was not a rash decision that I just said last night “hmm, I think I need a new web host” but one that I was thinking of for some time. I didn’t mind the cost on my old web host; but I was beginning to find that even though I was paying the money for them, there really wasn’t any updates coming out. They were still running old versions of php and various other programs that were running on the server.
Besides that, I have been worrying about flying out to California next October (2010) for my FYLSE. I don’t fly well. Okay, that is probably an understatement. I’ve only flown five times; twice to Florida and three times back from Florida. And each time, I have not enjoyed it. Flying to and from Florida is a lot shorter of a flight then flying to Los Angeles. So panic attacks have set in. Yes, a year in advance and I’m having panic attacks. I looked at taking Amtrak to the west cost but that’s 70+ hours on a train. And while I do not have a problem with that; it would be about three days out, five days there for the study sessions and test and then three days back. That’s a total of 11 days. But there is a solution. I’ve always wanted to visit Disney Land and so once I’m done with the FYLSE, I’m going to Disney Land. That is a happy thought; one that is very good and is probably going to get me to California. I will tackle the fear. Of course, I am going to pass this test even if the average pass rate of those required to take the test is 20-25%. Because you know what, I am NOT flying to California a second time to take the FYLSE. Sorry but screw that. I will be paying a small fortune in taking the test the first time, flying to California and staying there. Plus there’s Disney Land.
Why yes, I am addicted to my computer
I need to work on my writing skills; both for school and just in general. While I can get by, I notice that in the year and a half that I have been out of school, I have gotten lax. And that is just unacceptable. One would think that these skills would keep fresh working in a business environment every day but they have not. I have really begun to notice this with blogging frequently and with writing the articles for Associated Content. While I do have a class in Legal Method and Writing this year, I want to work on my general writing skills as well. So my goal this weekend besides working on some homework; okay getting at least Contracts fully read and the video watched; is to look for some free, online writing classes. More then likely these will need to be self paced. Perhaps it is not the wisest of courses looking to take a writing course on top of my law school classes but I really feel that I need to polish my writing. And I’m really thinking I’m not going to find anything that in depth for free.
As I mentioned briefly, classes began on Tuesday the first. While the classes went up at 3:01 am, I did wait until 6:30 to get up. I had taken my lap top to bed with me so all I had to do was roll over, grab it from my night stand and log on. Since I only had a few minutes before I had to actually get up for work, I didn’t do anything but write down all my writing assignments for the first set of classes. While it is a lot of reading, I do not think it is going to be that bad. I did begin with my Legal Method and Writing homework since that was the online class that we had Tuesday night and I wanted to make sure that if anything was brought up from the reading, I was prepared. Nothing was brought up but that’s not to say that it couldn’t have been.
I did do a quick read through of the chapter and watched the video. My plan is to read everything and watch the video and then go back and take notes. I was never the best at taking notes so it is something I need to learn to do and improve upon. Maybe I need to add that to my list of things to do this weekend. And yes, I have been keeping a list. The list includes:
- Complete the reading of all my homework
- Watch the videos for all my classes twice
- Go through all the clothes in my bedroom and get rid of what I don’t need/doesn’t fit/is stained
- Write an article or two for Associated Content
- Looking for online writing courses
- Go over note taking web sites to learn how to improve my note taking skills
I am sure there is more that I need to do; actually I know there is more that I need to do but my brain is saying that it is too tired at this moment to try and come up with what that is. So I believe I am going to bid adieu to my computer and go sleep.
The pieces begin to fall…
I have a couple of things to write about so let’s get started.
First, the shoes that I ordered from Zappos on Sunday were received in the mail on Wednesday. Not only was that a fast shipment but the shoes are great. They are the shoes I was looking at in the Sketcher store out at the Lancaster Outlet’s. Of course, the store itself did not have the clogs in a size eleven and so I did not think I was going to get them. But then I was looking at Zappos and not only did they have a pair but they were even less expensive then the shoes at the store. And guess what – I got free shipping! So not only did I get my shoes but I got them for less then I would have if I had bought them in the store. Go me! Of course, now that I’ve found the site, I am kicking myself for ordering winter boots from j.c. penny’s. If I do not like them when they come, I am going return them and look at Zappos.
Second – law school began on Tuesday. And so far, I am loving it. Yes, it is a lot of work. And I already feel like I’m falling behind even though I am moving through the modules like I am suppose to be. I do not know if I am suppose to be feeling that or not; but I am. Of course, it probably is just my mind that is doing this since it’s been over a year since I’ve been in school. Hopefully by next week, everything will just feel normal to me. I was wondering though, if anyone has any suggestions for outlining content? I’ve never been one for creating outlines or flashcards or really studying in general. I was always one for just reading the text book and listening in class. Not taking notes or making outlines. This is probably what is going to kick my butt. Blah.
I am happy to say that I made a whole $2.00 in writing an article for Associated Content. While it doesn’t seem like much, that $2.00 went into my savings account and hopefully I will get a few more writing assignments worth that. Actually, I’m not picky. I’ll take $0.50 for an article, just like I’ll take $20.00. The money can add up if I can get the writing assignments. And I am liking finally being able to build a savings account. It is not a lot of money, I know that, but it is money and eventually I will have a happy little nest egg.
