JetPens is going to send a pen to Africa for every person who joins the JetPens.com Facebook Group through Pens for Kids, a non-profit organization. Their goal is to send 1000 pens this Christmas! So… go join!!
Don’t use any plugins that haven’t been tested with 2.7. For me it was WP-Amazon, which is a known issue on the WP 2.7 compatibility page in the WordPress Codex.
I couldn’t figure out the problem but on one of my blogs that I recently updated, I couldn’t get the upload/insert function to work properly. Instead of opening up the upload/insert dialog over the edit page, wp-admin went to an entirely different page, navigating away from my edit page to the upload/insert form.
After crafty troubleshooting by deactivating all my plugins & reactivating one by one I found that WP-Amazon was the culprit. Hope the developers fix the issue quickly — I like that plugin. So if you’re having trouble with “Coltrane,” check your plugins!
psst… Modish is giving away over $2k worth of handmade goodies over the next few days. Today’s giveaway is a package chock full of fantastic stuff (as always). Whee! Go enter & good luck!
I have decided that it’s time for me to get my act together and write a book. Inspired by authors Haven Kimmel and Augusten Burroughs, I realized that I can actually write a bit about my life and someone may actually want to read it. My mother told me a while back that she thinks I have a book in me – and I would like to think she’s right.
My childhood wasn’t nighmarish like Augusten’s, and I didn’t grow up in a religiously strict home like Haven, but I think that I can focus on something in my life that a lot of folks may relate to. I think I have something to say.
The past few days I’ve written furiously in my red moleskine daily planner (which hasn’t exactly been used daily…) the beginnings of my memoir. Memoir sounds so pretentious – autobiography more so but it’s a memoir nonetheless since it focuses on a small part of my life and who I am.
I may post some excerpts as I go along – I may not – but I will post some inklings of my progress.
I think that this may be the biggest task since finishing my Bachelor degree in Psychology… Cross your fingers!
It’s probably plastered all over teh interwebs at the moment but I can’t believe all the lovely stuff that Modish has for their November Giveaway! Here’s a snapshot…
So get on over to Modish and enter! 
Some woke up today and said “so this is what it’s like to wake up to a hopeful world.” Others woke up and said “Oh Crap.” I’m in the second camp. (I’ll be ordering “O Crap” bumper stickers shortly… anyone want one? 
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For those of you who know me IRL (in real life), you know my opinions on this election cycle. For those who don’t — I think the first sentence of this post wraps it up nicely. I never thought I’d be this caught up in an election, and so disappointed in my country. The freedoms fought for over 250 years ago are in danger, and have been (increased taxation, increased government, increased dependence ON government) for a very long time. This “new day” of “change” is only going to keep us on the same track, and possibly drive us into a more leftist/socialist nation quicker than any of us ever thought.
Achievement and progress will be stifled because those who are high achievers will be punished by draconian taxation. This will result in a disincentive to actually go out and make something of ourselves, and turn us into a nation that depends on the government for our every need, forgoing the work ethic, innovation and creativity that has characterized our nation since its inception.
I am not incredibly optimistic about our future. But I know that my family will pass through these storms, take advantage of whatever opportunities are thrown our way and end up better for it. I hope, too… My hope is not in our political processes or our new “messiah-president” but in God – and that transcends anything that happens here.
p.s. I hope the country doesn’t wake up one morning in the next four years and say “WTF!?!?” My prayers are for our new president to make the right decisions for our country, keep us safe, and get us out of this economic turmoil. If he can do that, he has my respect.
Number 151:
Power goes out first thing in the morning. You have the bright idea to boil some water on the gas stove & make french press coffee. After putting the water on to boil, you realize your grinder is electric. You have a mortar & pestle and proceed to grind beans by hand. Water’s done boiling, beans are ground – and you have coffee. Power comes back on just after you take your first sip…
And that was how my morning went.
Thanks to the wonderful Lily at Jetpens.com, I have the opportunity to review these great craft pens from Pilot Japan. They’re Latte Gel Pens and I got two from the Sweets series – Grape Purple and Strawberry Pink.
My first observation while getting them out of the package was how small they were – tiny pens measuring 4″ long capped and just an inch longer when the cap is on the other end. I couldn’t wait to try them since they’re touted as being able to write on just about any surface.
I first tried them on plain old moleskine paper. The pink pen needed a little coaxing to get the ink flowing but when I started writing, they reminded me of the Sakura Gelly Roll Glaze pens in the way that pushing down on the nib released more ink and I couldn’t go back over an area I already wrote on. The ink would start gobbing up and it wasn’t pretty.
Then I rummaged through my drawers for various shiny/non-porous surfaces to test the pens. I grabbed an old moleskine volant, an empty tin of Starbucks Dark Chocolate Mini Beans and a photograph. Again the pink needed a little scribble on plain paper before it would write smoothly, but pushing down on the nib encourages ink flow and I got great coverage on all my surfaces, even the metal! The ink looks dark when first applied to a non-porous surface, but soon dries and brightens up a lot. You can sort of see this on the photo below. The star at the top of the photo is half-dry.
I also took a quick little video of testing the pens on the back of a moleskine volant:
One helpful tip: if you make a mistake on a non-porous surface, wet the mistake right away (I just licked my finger) and wipe it off. And your marks with the Latte pens will scrape off eventually, so try not to use them on things that get jostled around a lot.
This is my first Illustration Friday entry – hope it’s up to snuff.
At the end of every September, store shelves are stocked with Candy Corn. And every October, I go through several bags of candy corn. No matter how much I try to avoid or ration it out, I always end up eating candy corn until I can feel the sugar coursing through my veins. It doesn’t matter if my stomach starts feeling queasy… I just keep on going. I’m positive the candy manufacturers in Mexico put a little something “extra” in the Candy Corn.
Dear well-meaning person,
I am me.
And as cheesy as it sounds, I am the only be I can be.
If that scares you, I’m sorry you’re afraid, but just because I am an unknown to you doesn’t make me dangerous. On major points of faith we agree. The expression of that belief differs dramatically but we are both children of the same God. If you don’t understand me, at least don’t assume the worst. I may not take it well.
I’m sensitive to things you may find silly, but that doesn’t make me a crybaby. I see things differently than you but that doesn’t make my views wrong. I go about my life in a different way but that doesn’t make me bad. I think about things you probably never think about but that doesn’t make me untrustworthy.
Please don’t project your fears on me and try to control what you don’t understand. I’ll only retreat further from you and that will possibly make you even more afraid of me and what I do.
And that won’t get us anywhere.
Yours Truly,
Me.
