Category: Uncategorized

2017/09/15 Definitely cut the cable!

Update 09/15/2017: We are saving $100 per month and have updated streaming to: NVIDIA SHIELD TV Streaming Media Player [2017 Version] which will let up play games and video off HD, but the improvement in streaming is well worth the cost of approximately $200.
Original 07/12/2017: It has taken me over a month to get the information I need to finally get rid of cable, though we are still getting internet service from the same company. I had an old emergency HDTV antenna to receive free channels of live TV which did not work well. I purchased Winegard FlatWave Amplified FL5500A Digital HD Indoor TV Antenna from Amazon and after I moved equipment around so I could free up a power plug, I managed to get in NBC, CBS and ABC acceptably, though it does burp occasionally. Other channels, CW for example, is not as clear, but much improved over my old antenna. Also, we are getting GRIT, which has old westerns, Walker Texas Ranger and other old shows, which is ridiculous, I know, but using anything to get off the horrible NEWS during dinner is my idea of stress relief. My next task is to determine which DVR system we need to record when we can’t help missing our favorite shows. Actually, we don’t have many favorite shows, especially during the summer which is why I chose to work on it. I like some of the summer fare, like ZOO, but other(s) in my family cannot stand it, so I made the big SACRIFICE so I can get later this year, hopefully, on Amazon Prime Video or Netflix, which we have had for literally — years. So I am looking forward to watching my shows this fall, like NCIS, which we don’t want to be so addicted to but somehow can’t seem to pull away from, ha! We have HBO NOW so we can watch GOT in mid July, and we are currently using SLING TV (Both Blue and Orange) for everything else, eg. SPORTS and added STARZ, EPIX and SHOWTIME and still managed to save around $100 from what we were paying. This is both encouraging and exasperating. To search for what we want to watch takes much longer and more time and I forget and totally miss shows I used to record on DVR for those JUST IN CASE WE CAN STAND IT moments. I ordered a TV Guide today subscription today to help me/us FIND stuff. Just looking at reviews, like Rotten Tomatoes every night is getting too complicated for late in the day. Also, I have to remember to plug in the Amazon Firestick for SLING, because it only runs for around three hours before if overheats and locks up. I am waiting until fall, to see whether we need to get invest in better equipment, eg. Roku or XBOX One, though I am, so far not really that impressed with either. In fact, I have been looking at Tablo and/or Tivo as alternatives. I have burned out on Microsoft (XBOX) after decades of updates and I would like simplify. Speaking of which, I heard about Simple.TV and that may be a possibility. Frankly, I expect to be in the process of getting all the features I want for some time as no single system, plan or company is really meeting all my requirements and I am thinking that’s a good thing, because if there was, they would probably be charging me/us a fortune. Ha!

About the internet charges: I have already been using my own Modem/Router for years, with good outcomes, but I can only get 30mbps from this company and we are paying around $70 per month. The company “Store” said I could get 100mbps (maximum) for this market for around $100 per month, but with a whopping $200 installation (guarantee fee)!! Really!? Before I found this out, on the phone with the commpany that is supposed to be SO MUCH IMPROVED and customer oriented, they quoted me 100mbps at special rate this month of $49.99 or for $100 per month I could get 300mbps rate and that had me drooling! Unfortunately, they did not directly handle our business. They set me up for a big disappointment. We had to “turn” in our cable equipment and deal with the “local store”. The quoted deals were reserved for the big market area?! So what does it take to be a big enough market? Is it the local equipment that is stopping them? They are going to lose their business because other companies in this area are at a MINIMUM of 60mbps and around $50 per month. So, I did not yet take us on that time consuming task of road of converting all our email over to something else yet. It’s hot, I’m tired, and can I even remember all the places, people that have my email address? Really? Why aren’t they improving our systems? People surely know about the 97% profit margin they are making. The shame is that they have the best email (webmail) I’ve ever had. I am looking into that too. I need an email system that is web based and independent of these providers. Yes, it’s true, I am a demanding customer. Remind self: don’t sweat the small stuff. I have survived the headache of research and experimentation and I am saving $100 per month! Woo hoo!

2016-07-27 PHP Testing, 1, 2, 3

<?php echo “<p>Testing my new PHP function.</p>”; ?>

Doesn’t work in attempts to embed in content-area.  I also tried other places, but it ‘broke’ the code of the theme. Changed the theme to twelve for now.

Update on 2016-07-30: I have spent the last two days using Cloud9 to test PHP code and copy proven snipets to twelve successfully. I cannot remember exactly what else I wanted to do, so I am going through the code section of PHP in PHP, MySQL, JavaScript & HTML5 All-in-One For Dummies, which has proved reasonably accurate so far.  I have corrected (library) book in a few notations where print faded.  However, the statement that single quotes are interpreted as literals does not seem to work in Cloud9. Everytime I put in a variable name that matches, even without the preceeding dollar sign, strange things happen.  I may pursue this later, but for now I am happy that I have added this statement to theme twelve successfully:


        <?php
	echo ‘<br /> &copy;’;
	echo date("Y");
	echo ‘Creative Aspects, Inc.’;
        ?>

This produces: Content ©2016 Creative Aspects, Inc.
Note that this was hard to get into Word Press post because the editing took place and converted text to html even using the Text tab, so all HTML symbols were used for less than, greater than, left single quote, right single quote AND ampersand.

Added function to actually get the year from posted/updated. Look at source code of the pages to actually see the function called auto_copyright.

2016-07-03 Virtually Madeup for July 4th

I tried Makeup Plus to virtually make up this morning and “share” with my friends on my Android tablet. I don’t like makeup and it never likes me. So it is perfectly fun to dress up without really doing anything. Ha! The ad showed red, white and blue on a model’s lips and I thought there would be some wild and silly things to put on. I settled for a couple of stars. Then I used my tablet picture editor to change the picture. I still wanted more! I looked for images of flags and fireworks. I used these to layer in Art Rage and made a virtual me in celebration. Happy Fourth of July!

Art Rage for Android
Makeup Plus

P.S. Does it look like my tongue is sticking out? It isn’t.

2016-06-23 Menu, oh me oh my oh.

I finally deleted all the menu pages and then added a few pages back in.  This theme has other pages at the top which were not appearing.  They are working now?  I changed them and it lost the link, but they were still on the menu.  So I do not know why it was not working earlier.

I have added a plug in for side menus, which looks really great on the demo, like the ‘print’ icon that stays with the pages throughout the website no matter where you go, but I still need some time to learn how to use it.

 

2016-06-23 eBooks Free Due to Apple Settlement

I bought three books for around $6 yesterday because Amazon gave me a credit due to settlement over eBooks with Apple.  Hey, I didn’t even know what was going on, but apparently it is a big deal in terms of financials, because I can’t imagine that this credit times the millions of their customers didn’t amount to a pretty penny.

“If you purchased a Kindle book from Hachette, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Penguin, or Macmillan between 4/1/10 and 5/21/12, you should have some free money sitting in your Amazon account right now.”

https://lifehacker.com/apple-begins-paying-out-on-ebook-settlement-check-your-1782364135

Books:

WordPress Web Design For Dummies Kindle Edition by Lisa Sabin-Wilson

and cPanel User Guide and Tutorial Kindle Edition by Aric Pedersen

2015-06-06 Time to review the condition I am in

Every once in a while I have to do a condition statement.  Yes, it’s a programmer’s joke.  If I could ever finish all these household projects, could I spent at least half a day writing? Would I want to or would I just get lazy (and fatter) instead of just older?  I have looked at lots of ways to make things simpler, but in the end, after all the tools, it just take time.  I have to go back through and read to catch up with myself every time I leave off for a while. Still, the output improves is better, because I took the time to think about it and I enjoyed it more.  Ah, maybe I will get it done someday.  In the meantime, I have household stuff to take care of.  Lucky me. Seriously.

Big Lebowoski “what condition my condition was in”

2016-05-09 Treetastic

Now these are so tall and lasting so long this year with the good weather and rain.  Much better than the dry, dusty drought we had, though I doubt those who suffered through this year's floods and storms are of the same mind.  Loverly, though.
Trees after trim Nov 2017 SLH (Original Picture Lost)

2015-11-10 A future’s vision.Too Disney?

I had an opportunity to walk around a property that would be perfect for the tiny house and/or energy efficient, depending on $ available. I am not invested in the outcome, but talk about location! So I know that nothing ever seems to work out like we imagine, but my future, in my head looks like Disney, with a tiny house, big garden, old fashioned windmill, water well, and maybe some solar panels. Hey, a old girl can still dream.[images no longer available]