I'm back, didya miss me?

Wow was it bizarre to not have my computer for most of Saturday, all of Sunday and most of today. Yikes!

The printer still needs installed (yes, I'm perfectly aware of my Pittsburgh-ism there.) Oh and snap, Blogger or someone thinks I need spelling help. Yuk. I think I fixed it the last time it happened.

But seriously, I have been online for over two hours, messing around on Facebook, taking quizzes, playing Scrabble, playing Scramble...

So I have no wise words.

Except these: it is time for SL to get off the computer and get ready for bed.

Hogs and quiches to you all,

SL

to xp we go...

"Why do you want to upgrade to XP?" asked one of the Sallys I work with.
"Because my computer currently runs on Me."
"Oh."

So tomorrow morning, I will dismantle my computer and take it to NH Sally's, where her hubby has generously agreed to wipe it and then install XP. Woot!

What this means is I will be without my computer... (read: without that thing that seems constantly connected to the edges of my fingertips...) But my fambly sans Bro will be here, so I'll be sufficiently entertained...

I'm tired. The stress test went well, apparently I did well. I'll get the results when I meet with the woman who is administering the study. The teleconference was...um. It was good to see CLP Main, and say hello to a woman I worked with when I did my internship there in Library School. (CLP Main is Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Oakland Branch, which is the main branch, connected to the Carnegie Museums of Art and Natural History.)

Then I went to work, worked, went to dinner, came back for an hour, and then went to Targét. Where I paid my bill and promptly spent almost as much as I'd just paid by getting laundry detergent and the soundtrack to Juno.

I think I need a lay down. I'll see you in a few days, unless I blog tomorrow. Oh, AND, I get to meet the Babelbaby tomorrow, woot!

Percolating and doing stuff n'at...

It is a be-gorgeous morning here in Highland Park. Soon I'll post a picture of the bench they put up in memorial of the Italian Ice guy. It is shiny! It is new! It has Italian flag color ribbons! It has his name on it!

I finished the Steering Team questionnaire. Then I called North Hills Sally who gave me the low down on the HP movie. In exchange for her shark (a mini vaccuum) she's feeding me lunch. I may vacuum before then! It would be a mini-miracle!

I have the thing to do my car registration in my purse! To check my mileage! NH Sally says they won't come make sure, but I want it to be accurate, n'at.

I called a congressman and a senator!! To ask them to support Internet Radio!! Because it's really in danger!! (The other senator's line was busy both times I tried....) If you click on the link, you put in your zip code and they give you all the phone numbers to call! It's super EASY!!

I bought prizes for the Smackdown on Saturday! (First time I got to do that! I spent $40 at Target and $10 at the Dollar Store.) And I figured out how to work things! And I have a helper!

So, I guess I'll go vacuum...

In which Sarah Louise wonders what all this technology is for if it DOESN'T WORK????

Okay, so today or tomorrow will be Day Two. (I'm just saying.) I think I'll see if I can schedule a haircut. (Yes, at my regular place...)

Oh, I promised you morning walk pix, didn't I? Oh, and I'm not stupid, I know that posts with pictures get more comments. I should adopt a child just so I can post baby pictures...NO!

Yes, I'm a little loopy. You'll have that.

And yes, today (toady?) I'm going to send emails to decide which neighborhood computer guy I'm gonna use for the "Official Changeover of Sarah Louise's Computer--Goodbye ME, Hello XP!"

Maybe that should be the raison d'etre of the upcoming party I'm throwing. Yes, SL is tired of answering everyone else's e-vites. And yes, I'll be sending one of my own, but it is easier, and I don't have people's mailing address...and and and.

(Although I did spend most of my day yesterday doing a pros and cons of paper invites.)

[for you viewers at home, this is where it all went bust...the technology went on strike!]

AND since my software thing for my camera is not working, I've just installed Picasa on my computer. Yes, just like that. So additionally, if you have comments on Picasa or why I should choose Flickr, it's another opportunity to comment.

OR if you know why my stupid computer won't import my stupid pictures...ARGH! Something is broken and I don't know what it is. Which means there will be no NEW pictures from yesterday's walk.

(All that time lapsed was me trying to see if I could figure out how to use Picasa for today's blog picture display and no, it's not intuitive enough for me.)

(And the rest of the time lapsed, yes, it is now 10:00 am, the TIME STAMP is for when I started this post...is for my computer freaking out, me shutting it down, Firefox updating itsself...SOMEBODY STOP THE MADNESS!)

Sorry, I just had to have a shout. (Does anyone else remember that moment from About a Boy, when they're in the restaurant, and the kid shouts Cow a bunga!)

So, no pictures, because not only is my camera and/or my computer not wanting to do import/export of new pictures, "My Pictures" doesn't want to open so I can see what I might be posting to yins n'at.

Oh, and Picasa? Thinks that I had a digital camera in 1980. Some of my 2007 pictures showed up in a folder labeled with that year. Let's see, I was still using my mom's Brownie camera at that time--with 126 film, so that would be a NO! And unlike David (see, I remembered his name) I have not decided yet to scan all my photos to my computer (which seems like a great idea until you have one of the mornings like I've had this morning.) I wonder if it's too late to take a WALK!

Lucky for me, I don't have to be at work until 1 pm. Which is I'm sure a good thing for my co-workers too, considering that I probably have bulging veins at this point in time.

And just in case you are wondering, yes, I already had all those labels. No new labels were created for this post.

Off to email the computer guys...or maybe I'll take that walk...Yes, I think for everyone's sake, I NEED to take that walk.

[This post was brought to you by your local Luddites lodge, who reminds you that a pencil is an amazing invention. It has a writing component and a delete button and neither require batteries or electricity or TECHNOLOGY]

If I had more energy, I'd bring up scads of quotes from You've Got Mail. Instead, I'll just link to some quotes. (And imdb doesn't even have the one I want, which is

"You think that machine is your friend, but it's not."

And that, as they say, is a wrap.

and yet, she can't stay away. the screen draws her in, like a moth to the flame....

Oh man. It's ten in the morning on a Sunday no less and I've spent the past 45 minutes doing what? Blog hopping. I did write a letter (yes, on real paper, with a pen on paper) to Lorelei, but when I went to the desk to grab some stickers, my hand brushed against the mouse and the computer...it was alive...

(I keep my computer on. It hibernates or something. I know it's not the best policy for electrical conservancy and security, etc. but my computer is haplessly running on Windows ME and it hates to shut down. When I occasionally DO turn it off, it takes five minutes, it makes rude noises, and it invariably changes my wallpaper. Now that my taxes are fini! I can move towards purchasing and installing Windows XP...) (And, no, I'm not ready to jump on the Mac bandwagon, thanks for thinking of me--I saw that thought balloon forming in your mind--you know who you are.)

So I browsed my new favorite blog (see yesterday's post) and found a whole world of Holy Cards. As a woman who was a card carrying Catholic for almost 365 days, (and a wanna be for at least three years prior) and an owner of at least five holy cards, I found Julie's story fascinating and wonderful.

Then, because I somehow find Pat's friends interesting, and he hasn't posted anything new for ages, I hopped over to see Liz. I commented on her thoughts on comments, and coined a new phrase: a responsible overseer of your online domain. (She was writing about the whole blogger code movement.) (That inaudible 7 minute pause was me searching for a link and coming across Kathy Sierra's blog and reading a fascinating post on multi-tasking. Ah...I'll save my thoughts on that for later...)

Katrina has recently added "Kind Blogs" as a button on her blog and I clicked on it a few days ago and I think I'll join. It's a shortcut to knowing that the content you find here will not be intentionally hurtful and that by reading my blog, hopefully "I've helped in some way to make your day just a little bit better." It's like a non-MPAA label. You'll find surprises here, but they'll be kind ones. They'll be within a certain parameter of courtesy.

A while back I remember reading a blogger writing about comments and since I love the comment factor of blogs--I like knowing who is stopping by, I love what I call "blogversations," I tuned in. Said blogger talked about how some bloggers let the comments rip. They write the posts, you write the comments, and never the twain shall meet. Then there are bloggers (I'll now call them the "responsible overseers of their online domains") who read comments and respond to them. Some folks even email folks back every time someone comments. As I am trying to limit my time online (SO NOT WORKING!!) I don't see how I would do that.

Besides, I don't have everyone's email address.

I don't like comment moderation, as a) it seems like so much work--having tried it and b) it prevents the natural generation of blogversations--while you sleep, women in Australia could be reading and commenting on your blog and when you wake up, voila! a letter from the other side of the world! Maybe many letters!! Maybe, could it be? a blogversation!!

Warning: the following paragraph is rife with parentheses, brackets, links, strikeouts, and all other sorts of bloggy silliness. When I started this blog (almost two years ago) I was looking for a way to share my words with the world. (I had recently spent way too much money and time trying to start up a website about chick lit that was going to make me rich beyond my current knowledge.) I knew at least one blogger (Babelbabe of BTS) and Marian (the Librarian, who was largely responsible for my foray online...) had her own little online community kingdom going. I know two folks from my high school who met their spouses (for better or worse) online in the days before e-Harmony (blech!).

[Disclaimer: I had a really bad experience with e-Harmony but they did refund me my money and I have heard of folks who have found lasting love that way, so take that with a shaker of salt.]

Our library sponsored Jessamyn West for our staff in-service day and I've never looked back. While half our staff was like "Boo! hiss! I'll never use the Internet for blogs or Flickr or other cool stuff," by the time the day was over, I had come up with a name for mine. Pink Sneakers and Pocket books. At the time, I had a pair of BRIGHT pink (you might say fuchsia) sneakers and I loved the play on words of "pocket books"--it could be a pocketbook (purse) or a pocket book (small paperback). Since then, my blog has been named everything from Rose Slippers (for a brief moment in time) to just plain Pink Sneakers to its current Pittsburghese loving name, Pink Sneakers N'at. Poppy (a blogger I love) calls me Pink Sneakahs on her blog roll, and for that alone she'll always have a place in my heart. Babs called me Sary Lou once (I can't remember the exact situation) and so that's how I fit my moniker on a USS something PA licence plate that I made yesterday when

I-could-not-stand-being-a-cataloguer-for-one-more-second.

It was my mindless mini-break in a day of checking Dewey numbers, correcting catalog records, and writing responsible emails.

Where was I going with all this?

Oh, I was telling yinz how I spent 45 minutes hopping 'round the blogosphere. And I just spent over an hour in the telling which might take you 10-15 minutes to read if you don't get distracted and click on all the links.

It's a crazy world out there--look both ways before you cross the street! I'm outta here!!

In which Sarah Louise shouts, "I hate my computer!!" and goes for a short walk

I'll be back.