Google groups throwing a monkeywrench

I manage a google group for a small committee. We use the files section to store different documents that are used by the committee members, since physically getting together to transfer paper can be difficult at times. Unfortunately google has decided that they are changing the groups, and disallowing new files to be uploaded to the groups. I’m trying to figure out if I can use google documents to store the files for the group. Everyone who has access to the group needs should be able to access the files. From reading the documentation, it looks like I should be able to do it, but I may end up having to walk some folks through retrieving the files a time or five in the future. And there doesn’t seem to be a way to transfer the files directly to google documents, I’m going to have to download each one (or the entire group) and then upload them separately to documents. Boo. That’s not particularly use friendly.
Thanks so much for the help.

Timmy visiting town

Well, while he’s been here, Timmy decided he wanted to see a bit more of Birmingham than just our house.

Since it was so nice this weekend, we took a bit of a ride with him! He stayed with me on my scooter.

We had to fuel up the Ural first. Then we visited Matt at Magic City Motor Scooters. Timmy got his picture made on the scooter frame that Matt puchased from the American Pickers guys when they came through last year. He tried on a few scooters for size while he was there. Then he hung out with with us there for a while!

Life has been throwing curveballs

Well, my small business has been interesting lately. Its the busy season. I had a job scheduled for both days this weekend. It had gotten set up late, but was going to be both days.

Unfortunately the client who hired me had a problem with their client who I was hired for. Rather, my client’s client had a problem with someone else who my client had hired, and ended up telling my client not to have me there for the event. In spite of my client’s efforts to keep the job, it ended up canceled. Fortunately I was able to keep a good relationship with my client, and I hope to work with the client’s company in the future.

But this afternoon I got a call from a friend who has been sick. She needs some help moving stuff around at home and getting to the store to pick
up some additional things for her. She’s been dealing with a metric ton of problems, both with her health and other parts of her life. So it turns out that I was meant be available to help her out. And I’m good with that. Its important to be able to help her out.

Between going to the Nasa tweetup that will be on Halloween and Nov 1st, and stuff like this, it has been a humbling season. On the one hand, I have really cool things happen. On the other hand, I have problems with jobs and seeing folks go elsewhere for jobs. So its time to pay forward, and
let life take care of itself.

Fashioning Kimono exhibit visit

Thursday evening I had the opportunity to visit the Birmingham Museum of Art and see the Fashioning Kimono exhibit that is here for a few more days. The best part about the visit was that I was able to see the exhibit with one of the curators of it!

I had seen the exhibit in August not long after it opened, and was blown away by wide variety of designs in the kimono from the 1920s and 1930s. But with the additional information that the curator gave us as we were there Thursday, it made the impact of the designs even stronger.

I cannot recommend strongly enough that you go to see this exhibit. If you are interested at all in Art Deco or Japan, go and see this exhibit! I don’t know where it will be next, but if you are anywhere close to Birmingham, Alabama, get out and see this.

Tuesday nights here

Tuesday nights here are busy ones. After work I head to church for choir practice. We usually practice for an hour and a half or two. By the time choir practice is over and I make it home, its usually 9:00 or 9:30. Then its dinner time,

Once a month I miss practice, because I have a job with my small business for 2 hours in the evening. Of course a two hour job is actually longer than 2 hours, given the set up and clean up times. I need to make sure to add at least an extra half hour to the time of the job.

So Tuesday nights I’m getting in very late to get caught up on my computer. My Tuesday posts may be short in the future, and now you know why.

Worked today and played a bit this evening

Hooray, I was able to get to work today! I was so glad to be feeling up to it, that it wasn’t even funny. Folks at work were glad to see me and glad I was feeling better! I really don’t like being sick. (obviously, most folks don’t, duh!) I was even able to get some work done.

Wordcamp starts tomorrow! The pre-camp dinner was this evening at The J. Clyde’s on Cobb Lane. I dragged DH out to it, and in spite of his ribs’ bothering him he was a good sport and was social. It was good to see folks from last year out this evening. I’m looking forward to the sessions tomorrow and Sunday.

Packing for the trip

I’ve been researching packing for this trip to the KSC. I’m flying down to Florida for it. I fly occasionally, but is isn’t something I do all the time. Normally when I go to events I take a car. Of course, most of the events I attend are within reasonable driving distance to, so that isn’t a problem.

Ive been doing a bit of research, and found a wonderful site on traveling more lightly, One Bag. Or more importantly traveling with just one carry on bag. One of the ways to do that is to use a strict packing list and not take more than that list. Now I’m starting to work on a packing list for this trip. Since I’m there to tweet up, I need to take appropriate electronics and support for twitter tools. So netbook, power cord, cell phone and charger. Camera(s) and batteries. Then I’ll need medications with prescription id, and toiletries, as well as contact solution and extra contacts. At the end I’ll worry about clothes.

I’ll need to weigh the resulting luggage. But I won’t come close to my fellow tweet up attendee, Raam Dev. He travels around the world with only one small bag! He will be the first to tell you that this style of travel is not for everyone. I don’t think I would prefer traveling quite that lightly, but he is a someone that enjoys what he’s doing. Talk about traveling lightly!

Decisions, decisions! I’m still floating about this tweetup opportunity. There’s plenty left to do for this, so I’m still working out the details. And then the timing could completely change too. So the details will be up in the air for a while. But it doesn’t matter, its going to happen! Whee!

Stupendous news here!

I’m reeling from it, but I got word on Wednesday that I have been invited to attend the NASA Tweetup for the launch of the next Space Shuttle at Kennedy Space Center in Florida! Imagine me jumping up and down while squeeing like a little girl!!!! OMG!

This is something I never imagined I could win, since it was a drawing for people who tweet and there are a very large number of us. There was a 24 hour period of time to sign up on August 24-25. I later got the figure of over 2700 entries were created on the form for this. Then NASA pulled the entries out of a figurative hat and started notifying 150 winners that they were able to attend if they could, as well as 150 alternates and all the other people that entered.

The bad thing is, DH can’t get into the tweetup. He is welcome to come to Florida and watch from the public viewing area, but he will not have access to the areas I will for 2 days. So this is bittersweet for me. I’ve never seen a shuttle launch, or a space launch of any kind. I had vowed to my self that I would find a way to witness one of the last launches, but I really thought DH would be by my side to watch it, both of us holding the other’s hand and willing that rocket on its way safely out and back.

I have to pay my own way there and find a place to stay contingent on the shuttle keeping its intended launch date. I have a flight, and can re-arrange it if I need to. I have a room booked that is more than I really want to pay, but I need to call em up and adjust the reservation so if the shuttle launches on Nov 1 and I check out I won’t be paying for additional nights at 200 a pop. I still have to get a rental.

You can follow me on twitter at @ageekgirl. The hashtags for this are #NASATweetup and #STS133. NASA’s aggregator page for the tweetup and social media feeds is http://buzzroom.nasa.gov/.

Right now the twitter hashtag #NASATweetup is being used by the folks selected in a an introductory way and is all abuzz with folks who are like me, insanely excited to have this once in a life time opportunity. If you have any suggestions for me about the area, I’d love to see ‘em! I have no idea what its like to be there for a launch,and how crazy it gets. So please suggest places or tips for dealing with it all!

I’m alive and half awake.

I’ve been really busy with my business these days. Sorry that I haven’t checked in in so long.

Then we had a minor flood at work at the day job 2 weeks ago. One of the automatic toilets wouldn’t stop filling after it flushed one Friday afternoon/evening. So we came in to the entire first floor of the building with a nice layer of water in the hallway and the offices. At least it was clean water and not sewage. We had boxes and paper that had to be trashed before we got sick from it growing mold. All the carpet in our offices has been ripped out. The glue holding the carpet down is still on the on the tile floor, but having the carpet out made a world of difference in the smell and mold. After all of that, we didn’t lose any electrical equipment to the water! I was amazed.

New vehicle

Well, I got a new vehicle for getting around in town. I got a scooter. It’s a Genuine Buddy International 150 cc. I got it at Magic City Motor Scooters. Thanks to Matt and Will for all their help with my purchase! It came in on July 3rd. I paid the balance on it and brought it home that evening. DH followed me in his car as I drove it home like a granny.

I drove it Friday morning before we headed to Huntsville, then Sunday afternoon to kickball. What, you have a problem with adults who play kickball? Go on with ya then. No one ever said I was really good at it, but I made several good catches last Sunday. I also fell on my ass and hit my head, but I didn’t drop the ball I caught. Unfortunately it was so busy last week that I didn’t have the opportunity to drive at all after work. DH had the time to play some on the scooter last week, and did. He has much more experience on 2 wheel motorized vehicles than I do, so I do take his suggestions on my riding to heart.

Then yesterday DH followed me as I tried the route to my office. I will take First Ave North to Roebuck, go on Five Mile Road to Carson Road. When we got into parking at my work, DH was not pleased with how I drove, especially on First Avenue North. I was much slower than the posted speed limit. When I was reading reviews of the scooter, the reviewer was going 10% slower than the speedometer read. So DH was telling me I was actually going about 10 mph slower than I thought I was going. That is not going to be safe on the roads! After walking around for a little bit, we headed back to the house. With a stop for gas for DH’s car. Now that I knew the speedometer was reading faster than I was traveling, I could mentally make the adjustment for it. And the trip back went much better in DH’s mind. There were some folks along First Avenue North who were out grilling in front of a store who thought the scooter was cool and wanted me to stop, but DH needed a pit stop, so since he was being so helpful to me I didn’t want to cause him additional discomfort with an unintended stop. So I thanked them for their interest, but told them I needed to head on. We got home and DH was much happier with how I drove back. I did stay up at very close to the posted speed limit, or with the flow of the existing traffic on the large roads. Actually knowing how far off the speedometer reads helped my driving back immensely. DH was not ready to say I was ready to drive to work on the way out, but after the trip back, he was willing to concede that with a little more practice I would be ok.

Today I went out after church on my scooter with DH following me on his bike. I drove around the block, then headed over to Forest Park on Clairmont. I did ok heading out, and we turned around Triangle Park and came back on Clairmont. Unfortunately, coming back up Clairmont my engine died. I tried to restart it, but it wouldn’t go. So DH went ahead on home to get gas, and I pushed the scooter up the road to a little more safe spot on the road out of the way. While I was there, I checked the gas level in the tank, since I was at about a third of a tank on my fuel gauge. After a few minutes, the scooter started up again, so I started back on my way home. I was really wanting to get home, because the weather was threatening. Rain was moving in and thunder was rumbling in the distance. But about halfway back to the house while on Clairmont the scooter engine died again. So I called DH to let him know what happened and where I was. He came back with his car and a gascan. Even though I wasn’t out, he added about a half a gallon to the tank and the scooter started again. I got it to our block and the engine died a third time. But I was close enough to push the scooter to the house. So I now have a call to Matt to see what I need to have done.

50 years

DH’s parents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary this past Saturday. DH’s mom is a lovely lady who is a joy to be around, and his dad is a wonderful guy. I am blessed to be able to have become a part of their extended family. DH’s brother’s family was in from Virginia, and a cousin was here with her boys.

We had gone to Huntsville for the 4th of July to spend family time together. DH had spent the earlier part of the week up there while I was at work. We don’t often get to see Nephew 1 and Niece 1, so him getting the opportunity to spend time with them is good. DH’s other brother lives north of his parents, and we went to his house for the 4th. We ate, and swam, and had ‘splodies. DH likes having good ‘splodies, so we had bought some nice star shells and a few roman candles. Its a good thing we aren’t planning on taking a plane, because chemical sniffers at the airports would probably not be very happy.

Then Saturday was fairly laid back. We beboppped around Huntsville for a bit, then got ready for the big evening. A limo had been rented to take us to dinner. We had to get the front curtains of the house closed so the limo would be a surprise. So a suggestion was made to close the front curtains so we could get a plain backdrop for family pictures. It worked without raising suspicions. Then we headed out of the house and DH’s parents got a huge surprise. A white stretch limo was waiting for us out in the street. DH had gone and gotten 2 bottles of bubbly to toast with in the limo. And there were plenty of glasses there in the limo to use. So all the adults received a glass of bubbly. And we headed to dinner at Conor’s Steaks and Seafood. The food was good, it wasn’t so pretentious that adults and kids were uncomfortable, and they were able to accommodate us all. Hooray! After we ate, the limo came back to bring us home. We ended up calling the neighbors so we would have an audience for the arrival. I mean, what’s the use of a limo if no-one sees you use it? Besides, it was a good excuse for the neighbors to learn that it was a 50th anniversary!

We got back home today. The kitties were very happy to see us again.

Oven element problems

We’re having problems with our stove right now. The baking element has gone out and we haven’t gotten it replaced yet. The stove is over 30 years old, and is an electric GE model. The broiler element is still working, though. And the range top works still, so we are looking at getting the oven fixed up to keep going.

We’ve been looking to see where we might find the appropriate part to replace the element. So DH has come up with the bright idea of taking out the damaged bake element and replacing it with the working broiler element, since both seem to be the same size. Do you know if this might be a good idea or not?

I’m alive

But life is insanely busy right now. I’m sorry that I haven’t updated anything in a while. Hopefully after the middle of the month, life will slow down a bit. I’ll update you about the yard, yes its a weird situation still; and get pictures uploaded after the middle of the month. Its bad when you measure your commitments in months.

Happy Groundhog Day

In Birmingham, Birmingham Bill saw his shadow. I guess we’re having 6 more weeks of what passes for winter here. Of course, my friends up north laugh at me when I tell them what our weather is, but for us here it still gets cold. Besides, no one here has any clue how to actually dress for the cold or drive when it snows. You are gambling with your life when you try to drive in the snow. There are too many folks who think they can drive normally and slam on the brakes at the last minute when the weather conditions are bad. They are the ones causing accidents for themselves and others.

Happy first day of Winter

So its the first full day of winter in the northern hemisphere. Its a grey day here in Birmingham, and the rain is coming, eventually. Right now the rain line is in Arkansas and Missouri. So the folks delivering the angel tree items today should be in pretty good shape. Go rain! we’re still 20 inches behind on the rainfall for the year, so any rain is good rain here.