Friday Fragments

TGIF!

Whoever said "Happiness is the cool side of the pillow" was a pure genius.

I've encountered a couple IE9 "gotchas" - one of them while typing the last post. I clicked on the "Publish Post" button and nothing happened! Apparently the "little program script" that kicks off when you do that is blocked by IE9's default setup.

Fortunately, my younger brother was hanging around and walked over and said, "Try 'compatibility view'." So I first had to find the menu bar which IE9 hides (right click up around where the tabs are and click Menu Bar) and then click Tools and then "Compatibility View." That did the trick and I was able to publish my thank you's.

I always feel so good (and then guilty for doing so) when someone else besides me has a problem with "sideways videos." I still remember my mortification of having to post a sideways video because I took it holding the camera on end to maximize the scene!

Fortunately, I've since learned there are at least a couple ways to "fix" them. I often use the Movie Maker program that comes with Windows XP to edit the video. Within that program (hidden away) is a way to flip your video over so it's upright.

Since Blogger videos are such a hassle, I've gone to posting mine on Youtube and "embedding" the video in a blogger post. Once you upload the video to Youtube, you can rotate it and put captions on it, amongst other things. There is a menu bar option in the "My Videos" area called Video Editor.

It works bascally the same way as Movie Maker does - you "drag" your video down into the "video timeline" area, and right click on the thumbnail - you will then see an option to flip your video right or left. Save your change, rename the video project, and click publish. Voila - sometime later, you will have a new video that is right-side up.

It is still cold and wintry here in southern Pennsylvania and some lucky animals have the right idea... wool coats.

Each day, to and from work, I see a small flock of sheep at the "Dutchy Church". A short while back, the sheep had their lambs, so there are about 20 cute little "guys (and girls)" running around kicking their heels. I always think about Punkn when I see them.

When the weather is less "icky", I will pull over and take some pictures of the lambs. Some of them are black and some are beige colored and some seem to be a little of each. This is what I see when someone says, "Pumpkin Patch" and not this...


As silly as it might sound, I was driving to work one morning and looking at my hands on the steering wheel when I was reminded of an old Elementary school memory trick.

Make two fists and put your hands together so you can see your knuckles... From left to right, the knuckles and valleys tell you which months have 31 days. Knuckle - January, 31 days. Valley - February, less than 31. Knuckle - March, 31 days, and so on...

You will notice July and August are adjacent knuckles from each hand. I stopped there and pondered, "How did this work out so well? Did they design the calendar this way on purpose?" When I got to December, I noticed I had a spare valley and knuckle leftover. Ut oh... someone goofed up.

:)


I recently received this painting and hung it on the wall in the entrance way of my house. It has quite a history behind it. For now, I'll just say this - each day when I see it, I ponder the human condition, both the ugly and the good, and attempt to have the painting tell me what it is trying to say to me. I cannot hear what it is saying clearly because of the clouding, emotional baggage that comes along with its history.

I think the artist, who I greatly respect and am fortunate to know and call a dear friend, has created a very evocative image.

I'd like to hear what it "says" to you - and then I will tell you it's history.