September 11, 2001

Never Forgotten

Seen on the River/Road Trip 2010: Fry Sauce

You know you are in

or in my case, the intermountain West, when:

Your French fries come with a side of Fry Sauce instead of red stuff.

I almost picked up a couple of bottles of the stuff when I was visiting a traditional family stop in Ogden, the Rainbow Gardens.

This guy (and Grumpa Max) kept me on point. I only had 15 minutes to run around and get Utah-centric/specific food-related souvenirs for the office -- ones that had to be FAA and TSA and JetBlue acceptable.I grabbed honey for my sweet officemates, courtesy of a branch of Cox Honeyland. The Orange Creamed Honey is PERFECTION! Try it. Go ahead. You'll thank me.

As I was grabbing boxes of Great Salt Lake salt water taffy for the rest of the office, I saw this HUGE display of Fry Sauce, more specifically,Some Dude's Fry Sauce.As much as I thought about it, I couldn't see bringing a bottle back of that size. If I ate enough fries to justify a 12 oz. bottle, I'd be in need of an angiogram to check on my blockages.

Plus, I just saw how much the Some Dude's are charging, and minus s&h, I can get a bigger bottle for cheaper directly from their website.

Maybe I've been out of Utah too long, but fry sauce doesn't do it for me. I prefer to mix my barbeque sauce with yellow mustard. Or, to dip my fries in honey, mustard, or tartar sauce over redstuff. Or in hot fudge ...

Great. Now I'm hungry.

From Luddite to Lenovo-lover

Hi! My name is Auntie Nettie, and, for the last decade or so, I'm been a semi-Luddite in my personal life.

Because of an overly active professional life, I had made a decision to let technology pass me by during most of this decade.

Outside of the office, that is. Let's just clarify. I wasn't THAT out of touch.

At all of my various jobs, I was in-touch -- an information professional fully wired into the WWW, surfing full-speed down the information superhighway, cresting the waves tossed up by Google, surfing and clicking away through databases/libraries/sites ... and many times teaching others. Between the many gigs, the homework, the papers and proposals, and the teaching and teching, I was overwhelmed. My poor little state-of-the-art (from the tail end of the last century/millennium), dial-up-modem, 10 lb. PC laptop just couldn't hack it anymore. So, once I left the offices, I was on a much-needed break from technology.

However, in the last year or so, I've realized that has to change.

Beyond the need to be able to telecommute, I realized that I really shouldn't be relying on my work PC/office file server to store my digital photolibrary or all my personal non-work documents. I realized that it was probably a better use of my working hours to concentrate on my responsibilities than to catch up on my infotainment, post to my blog, or reading other people's content. I also felt that it probably wasn't a good idea to do work for your other job(s) while at your main employer, so running my side businesses, or getting ready to go online with them? A no-no! Plus, there was the whole issue of wanting to Skype all the far-flung nieces and nephews in various time zones. There was no way to justify me getting wired for Skype on the office computer. Not even a little.

So, I had started to think about getting a computer for home. I knew I would need storage --actually LOTS of storage; a hi-speed Internet connection and/or wi-fi; definitely a disc drive that would play/burn to DVDs; new and up-to-date software programs; not to mention web-cams, speakers, and mics. Alas, all of this would also require research and funding. None of which I really have/had time to invest.

For an information professional, I'm woefully inept when it comes to technology. Most of the upgrades made in my life have been due to other people being annoyed that I hadn't joined the modern world. If I hadn't already gotten cable, the government would have forced me off the rabbit-ear antennae with their recent format changes. The shift from a tape player to a CD player? A friend and her mom. The shift from shooting on a 35 mm film camera and to my current banged-up/taped-together Nikon digital? Santa Claus/Birthday Fairy. I did manage to move myself over from a discman to an MP3 player/iShuffle, but that's not saying much. (I'm not getting rid of my VHS tapes yet, thank you very much!)

Some other things you should know about me:

I'm not really that impulsive.
I'm mostly a lurker on other people's blogs.
I'm majorly passive aggressive.
AND
I never win anything. (Of course, you can't win if you don't play.)

Oh, and I'm not a major blogger. I'm not even a medium-sized blogger.
I'm a teeny, tiny, blink-and-you-miss-her-blogger. Heck. Most of my immediate family doesn't even read this thing.

Also, I don't link to advertisers, so obviously I don't get advertising sponsorships. Companies don't ask me to try out/hawk/laud/critique their products. And I'm fine with that. That's what the big girls are for -- people like Casey, over at mooshinindy.com.

I've read Casey's blog for a couple of years now, and have mostly lurked, with an occasional comment from time to time. I've been moved and amused by her, and marvelled about her courage in sharing alllll kinds of things. Our lifestyles are a little different, so most of her product giveaways haven't really applied to me.

All of that changed one day in July ... with four little words.

Win a Lenovo A70Z

Remember how I said I wasn't impulsive, how I usually lurked on blogs, and how I never win anything?!

To this day I don't know what made me click through to the comments, or where the words came from. I wrote something pithy, hit Send, and forgot about it for a while. Because, you know. I never win things. I got on with my busy (and illness-filled) summer. I checked back on the contest a while later and saw that it had closed.

Oh well, I thought. Just like I figured. I never win things.

Since this was actually the second time I had tried to win a computer via a blog, I didn't think much about the contest after that. Even AFTER I got an vague and ambiguously worded e-mail from Casey.

A few weeks later, a HUGE box showed up in my office. FOR ME! What? IT'S A COMPUTER FOR ME! Casey and Lenovo made my year!

Ask and ye shall receive indeed ... I'm not ashamed to admit that there was gushing and embarrassingly girlish high-pitched squealing, plus some e-mails to Casey saying things like ARE YOU SURE? I'M NOT WORTHY! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

Before she could change her mind and contact the company to have it shipped to someother deserving commenter, I hauled that thing back to the Attic studio and unboxed it.


I have to say -- it was better than some of my recent Christmas/Birthdays combined! (Sorry friends and family. A new gift of a computer? Seriously trumps you ALL!)

It was as easily to set-up as promised, and is compact enough to not be intrusive on the worktable.

I'm still working my way through all of the software installations -- made much easier now that I'm connected to the Internet. My semi-Luddite status is probably something that computer manufacturers like Lenovo aren't too familiar with. You can't completely do primary installations without an Ineternet connection. My one piece of feedback: Don't assume everyone is au courant and connected.

Here's a side by side comparison of the old and new computers.

left: another computer company PC lap-top c. 1998-2000 -- large/heavy/old/expensive

CD drive/dial up modem/no ethernet connection
right: NEW FREE Lenovo! SOOOO shiny and new and pretty and modern.

I'm proud to say that this is my first blog post from the Lenovo ThinkCentre ... in my studio ... using media stored on my own desktop. As I'm typing, I'm listening to my iTunes library, and music is pouring out of my speakers. I have two different e-mail accounts open, while on another tab, I have my new Twitter account keeping me posted on friends. My Skype account is set-up and ready to call a friend in London that I haven't talked to in two years. (Darn time zones!) PLUS, while I'm doing this my external hard-drive is busily uploading all my personal files and photos from the work computer into all of the storage room I have. What a change!

Finally: This photo? Is of Casey in the Market at Grand Central Terminal in August 2010, when she came out to visit for the Blogher Convention. How could I not arrange to see her and say thank you in person? She even got to come to the studio and see the Lenovo in its new home. Thanks to her Verizon Wireless MiFi Card, we both got to connect to the Internet before I could get set-up via my cable provider.

Hi! My name is Auntie Nettie, and I've finally entered the 21st Century. I'm in love with my Lenovo ThinkCentre. We're going to be holed up in the Attic here for a while, getting to know each other. I'd say respect our privacy during this time, but that would be weird....

Thanks to Lenovo for the give-away and to Casey for being connected!

Seen on the River/Road Trip 2010: Soles vs Souls

You know you are in Utah when:

The Soles versus Souls debate can be had in the shoe department of the local WalMart.

It's not so much Chucks versus slip-ons, but whether the inter-state rivalry will descend into a Holy War, with name-calling, hair-pulling, or good old-fashion omi-heck cursing.

As for me and mine, if we're going to take sides in the Utah Holy War, we're going to be smart and align ourselves with a third party altogether. GOOO AGGIES!

Signs from the River/Road Trip 2010: Free Verse

I don't think that the people at the Riggins One Stop realizes that their signs are so ... free verse or philosophical. Another couple of syllables and they would be haiku.

I'm not even going to address what TEAL would say about the signs.

Signs from the River/Road Trip 2010: Yetis only

Riggins, Idaho

One Stop (a convenience store and more)

South Main Street

Groceries, gas, tackle, beer, ice, deli, lotto, and Fish & Game vendor

Open 7 days per week 6:30 am to 10:30 pm

Not to be exclusionary -- they might also welcome Bigfoot!

Postcards from The Shushing Librarian: Road Trip 2010

Hi again - greetings from Custer State Park in the Black Hills. C & B got a great log cabin with a fireplace and amazing porch with open views of the Hills. We woke up this morning to buffalo grazing in our backyard. There are no fences so they are free to roam! Went to Crazy Horse, Mt. Rushmore and lots of beautiful scenic drives. Already put 1,200 miles on the Harley. So much fun.


[heart] S.L.

C & B took this picture ...

"Oh, give me a home

Where the Buffalo roam"