Archive for the ‘Misc’ Category
Posted by terrepruitt on November 7, 2022
Ahh-haa! I’ve got it! The real way to get people to vote. Ok, I know it is a privilege and as a woman I know it was a hard won one, but it is such a challenge. I feel pretty confident in saying that we all know that our devices spy on us. Most of us have experienced a situation where we were looking on the internet or talking to someone about something and the next thing you know there is an ad for it showing up on your device. We know marketing is insidious. They pretty much can know what we have done, are doing, or are going to do so I want them to put that to constructive use. Instead of having reminders on Facebook and Twitter, and ads with celebrities telling us to vote why don’t they make it so once we DO vote we no longer have to see or receive any more voting propaganda? They would stop showing us the endless ads and sending all the flyers.
Both the ads and the flyers are beyond ridiculous and the amounts in which they are done (both played and sent) are on the verge of harassment!!! This year is the first year in a long time that I was done before election day . . . yet I have still been suffering through all of the ridiculous ads. And the mailers . . . . my word, it amazes me that these politicians have the gall to say they are concerned about the environment yet I have stacks and stacks of flyers that just get thrown away. It could be set up that big-bang-boom–you did your civic duty you don’t have to suffer through all the endless crap! If they can send me ads for things I’ve looked for and talked about they can stop the ads once my ballot has been dropped off/mailed.
If voting would make the stuff stop I think some of us might be encouraged to do it sooner. I think THAT would be a good use of all the technology they have been creating! Wouldn’t that be cool?
Do you get tired of the ads on TV? Do you have a garbage can full of mailers that you didn’t even look at? (Maybe you looked at them, but your garbage is still full of them.)
Posted in Misc | Tagged: data collection, election day, enviromental issues, Facebook ads, flyers, internet tracking, mailers, marketing spys, privilege, spying devices, Twitter ads, vote, voter encouragement, voters, voting propaganda | 4 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on October 31, 2022
We do not need another mug in the house. I have already said this on Twitter after I bought – yes, bought this mug. I really liked everything about it. The color, the design, the shape, the size, and the fact that the handle is high on the mug itself. It is a great mug. I like to use all our different mugs, but I do have a few favorites and this is now one of them.
And then last week I posted how I love our winters and was reminded by a friend that it is actually fall – snap! My point was that our winters are mellow (not much different than fall/autumn) and both seasons bring temps that actually allow me to sit outside in the sun. I enjoyed the rest of my coffee outside while listening to a book.
What I find funny when I look at the mug is, I bought it loving the bird on it, but didn’t even notice the heart until I got it and really looked at it. There are a few hearts on it. It is a great mug . . . even though it was not needed. 🙂
Does your household have a lot of mugs? What are you reading/listening to?
Posted in Misc | Tagged: backyard sun, coffee mug, Cool temps, Fall, painted bird, painted mug, Winter | 4 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on June 10, 2022
Preserved via pictures. They come and go so quickly I am going to post a few of them. They were particularly spectacular this year!
Posted in Flowers, Friday Photo | Tagged: amaryllis, backyard bulbs, Flowers, Friday Photo, mom, mother-in-law | 4 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on May 20, 2022
Always have to have a least one Friday Photo be of my mother-in-law’s Amaryllis. It is looking particularly lovely this year. I will probably post more.
Posted in Flowers, Friday Photo | Tagged: amaryllis, fabulous flower, Friday Photo, mom, mother-in-law | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on April 8, 2022
Flowers. Yay! I love flowers. It has been a bit since I got flowers from my hubby, so these were extra special.
As I am posting this he is “processing” some yard roses for the house. (Trimming, debugging, finding vase(s), etc.) More yay!
Flowers for a Friday Photo.
Posted in Flowers, Friday Photo | Tagged: Anniversary Flowers, Flowers, Friday Photo, husband bought flowers, pink rose, yard roses | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on March 9, 2022
***(Nov. 9, 2022) PLEASE NOTE: The Peptoc number has been changed to
707-8PEPTOC / 707-873-7862***
Pep talk, or what they call Peptok, from children, that is what you can get. A friend on Facebook posted this and immediately I wanted to call to hear it, but then I paused and thought it might be a scam, but she was confident in it so I called. Kinda cute.
When you call there is a menu: “If you are feeling mad, frustrated, or nervous, press one. If you need to hear words of encouragement & life advice, press 2. If you need a pep talk from kindergartners, press 3. If you need to hear kids laughing with delight, press 4. . . . For encouragement in Spanish press 5.”
You can also press 6 to make a donation to support the project.
This is a public art project by West Side Elementary School in Healdsburg, CA.. I think it is pretty cool.
Did you call? What do you think?
The Peptoc number has been changed to 707-8PEPTOC / 707-873-7862
Posted in Misc | Tagged: advice, delight, kindergartners, life advice, Pep talk, Westside School, words of encouragement | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on March 2, 2022
I am still teaching via Zoom. I have students not in my area and some of us that enjoy the fact that we don’t have to deal with traffic to get to a class. And I STILL have issues with technology. Sometimes I think it is Zoom, sometimes I think it is the internet, sometimes I think it is the various cords and cables, but basically it is always something. I believe that if I didn’t set up and breakdown my set up so often I wouldn’t have a few of the issues, but some are just whacky. It could also be that my laptop is about 8 years old. There are several things that Zoom does that my computer can’t do because the operating system cannot be updated. So, there is that.
One of the issues I have is when people come into a meeting it disrupts my “share”. When I first started teaching virtually I would start the meeting early, set up sharing, and get the music all cued up to be ready for class, and it worked fine. But at one point it stopped working. As soon as a student would sign on my share would stop working. Today I started class after already doing a sound check with students and the music wasn’t working, but it just had been. I think it was because two students had signed on. So somethings are just whacky and I can’t explain and then somethings . . . . oh the shame!
Last week, I had started the meeting, checked my microphone and was waiting for people to come on, once they were on I checked the music and I believe it worked. Then, since it was a Nia class, I talked about our focus and intent, while moving some things around, and then started the music and it wasn’t working. It had just been working. Now, if you teach virtually you may know there are a lot of things to check. Some people may have more than me, but I have my laptop, my mic, and my speaker. Now with that there is the laptop volume: output and input. And then the mic volume – actual buttons, and the speaker volume. Plus there is the volume on Zoom – both speaker and mic. There is an aux cord for the speaker and a connector for the mic and the speaker. So there are all these various things and I checked them all. My students are thee most awesome people in the world because although they wanted to get the class underway (of course!) they were being very kind and patient and I was just bewildered. I kept noticing that the speaker sound kept changing to “Zoom camera”, so I was thinking it was something to do with the update I had just done. Just as one person started to enlist the help of her son I glanced up and had an idea.
So, when I mentioned my computer was old I didn’t say that it is a hand-me-down and one reason it got handed down to me in the first place is that when it was an actual work computer in an office it had an unfortunate accident . . . it got drenched in a Big Gulp so the touchpad stopped working. Since I have to use a dongle and an external mouse, I just use an external keyboard too. Well, when I looked up I noticed that I had set a box on my external keyboard. I removed the box and the speakers stopped changing to Zoom camera. I think the box was pressing a key on the keyboard.
Geez Louise! I was embarrassed and annoyed and a little surprised I hadn’t actually done that before. Today I made sure there was nothing on the keyboard. When we had the aforementioned problem, I didn’t check anything because I had already checked everything so the first thing I thought of was the share and thankful that was it. Last week, — red faced me!
So . . . sigh, just sharing yet another thing that can mess with getting a virtual class underway! Since it was so silly I thought you might get a giggle or at least a smile out of it!
I welcome any embarrassing story someone would like to share . . . . anyone?
Posted in Misc | Tagged: embarrassing story, external keyboard, Nia class, Technology, touchpad, virtual classes, Zoom | 4 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on February 23, 2022
Recently a friend brought up the fact that West Coast Swing is our state dance. I was puzzled. I didn’t know states had state dances. Or if I ever did, I certainly didn’t remember that states had dances. Did you?
According to Wiki not all states have a dance. And in 1970 Square Dancers tried to get Square Dancing to be the National Dance. Most states still have it as their state’s dance: Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland , Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Washington.
The District of Columbia’s state dance is Hand dancing, which is compared to a type of swing. I am sure you can guess what Hawaii’s state dance is.
California is listed as having both West Coast Swing and square dance. Looks like Delaware HAD a state dance from 2016 to 2017, Maypole. Kentucky’s state dance is Clogging, whereas Minnesota does not have one.
North Carolina’s state dance is Clogging AND the Carolina Shag. South Carolina went with The Shag, square dance, and the Waltz. And Wisconsin went with Polka.
Wiki has a nice little table of state dances as does a site called NetState which I came across when I did a quick search to find out HOW a dance becomes a state dance. I didn’t spend a lot of time on that quest.
Did you know some states had state dances?
Posted in Misc | Tagged: hula, Square dance, state dances, west coast swing | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on February 21, 2022
The Irvine Nursing & Rehabilitation in Kentucky did a follow up post on Facebook about the overwhelming response they received to their request for Valentines. Oh my. It was so sweet. They had THOUSANDS of Valentines sent. (My original post: Sending Valentine’s Day Cards)
I am thinking you may have to have Facebook to see the video.
The residents were so touched. It was a very successful campaign. Super sweet, don’t you think?
Posted in Misc | Tagged: Facebook video, Irvine Kentucky, Irvine Nursing & Rehabilitation, sweet Valentine's Day, Valentine's Day, Valentine's Day cards | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on February 14, 2022
So, I was listening to a song the other day and it reminded me that I like the cover better. Then I started thinking about the songs I could name off the top of my head that I like the covers better. Some I didn’t even know were covers at first. I bet there are a lot more songs that I like the cover better and a lot of songs that I don’t even know are not the original artist’s version. Here is my short list with more info below.
Tainted Love
XO
Beggin’
Big Yellow Taxi
The Tide Is High
It was Tainted Love that sent me down this path. I was in an online class listening to the original artist, Gloria Jones. I don’t remember having heard that version before, but I imagine I have since it was recorded in 1964! But I am familiar with (and love) the Soft Cell cover from 1981. I have a vague recollection of hearing the Soft Cell version and thinking, “Hmmm sounds different. I like it.” So I bet I had heard the original version first, but forgot and went with the Soft Cell version. Love it!
XO, is one of the songs that makes me laugh because the first version I heard was John Mayer’s and when I heard Beyoncé’s I thought, “Eww, she ruined John’s song.” When I was exposed to a collection of Beyoncé’s songs and XO was in it I realized that it was HER song and John had done the cover. This is a case where I don’t like the original and I love the cover. I think that may happen with me more often than not, but I am not sure. At least with the songs on this list I am sure. Since Beyoncé released it in 2013 and John covered it in 2014, it is completely understandable that I had never heard Beyoncé’s version before I heard (and fell in love with) John Mayer’s version.
Now Big Yellow Taxi is another song that I cannot imagine not having heard the original version/artist before. I think that with some songs I hear them but I don’t like them and then when I hear a cover that I do like, then I like the song. Joni Mitchell wrote and released Big Yellow Taxi in 1970 and I am sure I had heard it back then. As I mentioned I bet I heard it and didn’t like it so I never thought about it, but then in 2003 when the Counting Crows covered it, I liked it.
Beggin’ I have been seeing videos of the cover by Måneskin all over and didn’t even know it was a song from 1967. The Four Seasons originally recorded it. And I can’t say I remember having heard it. Like many songs there has been several versions done. So, like many songs, I can’t say for sure if I have heard the original or a version after, but I can say I like Måneskin’s version.
Now, most might be familiar with Blondie’s version of The Tide Is High, not sure if many people have heard the original version by The Paragons from 1967. Sometimes I feel bad for original artists because sometimes it could just be the time at which the song is released was just not ideal, but not always.
Anyway, those are the songs right off the top of my head that I know I like the cover better than the original version.
What about you? Do you have opinions on these songs? Do you have songs that you like the covers of better than the original versions?
Posted in Misc | Tagged: Beggin', Beyonce, Big Yellow Taxi, Blondie, Counting Crows, cover songs, Gloria Jones, John Mayer, Joni Mitchell, Maneskin, music fom the 1960's, original artists, Soft Cell, Tainted Love, The Four Seasons, The Paragons, The Tide Is High, XO | 4 Comments »
Both the ads and the flyers are beyond ridiculous and the amounts in which they are done (both played and sent) are on the verge of harassment!!! This year is the first year in a long time that I was done before election day . . . yet I have still been suffering through all of the ridiculous ads. And the mailers . . . . my word, it amazes me that these politicians have the gall to say they are concerned about the environment yet I have stacks and stacks of flyers that just get thrown away. It could be set up that big-bang-boom–you did your civic duty you don’t have to suffer through all the endless crap! If they can send me ads for things I’ve looked for and talked about they can stop the ads once my ballot has been dropped off/mailed.
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