Patti O'Shea's Blog, page 107
March 31, 2016
A Bazillion Channels, But Nothing Is On
On the weekends, I usually try to find something on television that both my dad and I can watch, but it's rare that there's anything on that's of interest to either one of us. It's frustrating. I have more channels now than I can possibly watch and yet, there's never anything on that I want to watch.
My dad doesn't like to watch HGTV that much so that rules out my go-to channel. Although, TBH, I've gotten tired of Property Brothers and they're on Saturday nights which kind of ends it anyway.
I've tried on-demand, but for some reason when I search for free movies, they keep showing me HBO and Cinemax which most definitely are not free for non-subscribers. That's totally frustrating. And even if that wasn't a problem, we'd still have to agree on which movie. Not easy.
Then there's the free-to-stream for Prime customers stuff. This runs into the same issues of consensus. And heaven forbid if I try to watch a movie my dad has already seen before. Seriously, the man writes everything down because he forgets easily, but he can remember a movie he saw eight years ago and complain about having already seen it. Grrr.
I'm waiting for baseball season to get underway, then there will always be something on.
My dad doesn't like to watch HGTV that much so that rules out my go-to channel. Although, TBH, I've gotten tired of Property Brothers and they're on Saturday nights which kind of ends it anyway.
I've tried on-demand, but for some reason when I search for free movies, they keep showing me HBO and Cinemax which most definitely are not free for non-subscribers. That's totally frustrating. And even if that wasn't a problem, we'd still have to agree on which movie. Not easy.
Then there's the free-to-stream for Prime customers stuff. This runs into the same issues of consensus. And heaven forbid if I try to watch a movie my dad has already seen before. Seriously, the man writes everything down because he forgets easily, but he can remember a movie he saw eight years ago and complain about having already seen it. Grrr.
I'm waiting for baseball season to get underway, then there will always be something on.
March 29, 2016
Scanning Stuff
Paper is a challenge. I don't think I'm alone on this. There's stuff I want to keep, but I really don't need to have a paper copy of it. Like the sheet of paper the lawn guys leave every time they spray for weeds.
You might think why do I want to hang on to the weed information. Why don't I just get rid of it right away? Sadly, I have a home owners association and they regularly patrol. And yes, they will right you up for weeds and there, in the mailbox, will be a love letter from them about lawn care. Never mind that I'm across from the retention pond and the HOA never gets that treated for weeds. Anyway, if I get another note, I want to be able to send them every damn lawn care sheet I have.
With the paper getting unmanageable, I decided a new tactic was needed. A page feed scanner. This way I could scan all these documents I want to keep into PDF format and store them electronically rather than physically.
I finally bought the scanner I'd been eyeing and began scanning. I learned a few things as I went along. Like to only scan what I wanted in a single document in one fell swoop. I spent a little too much time separating out the documents later. I also needed to create file folders for each of the categories. That didn't end up being too bad, but I wish I'd thought of it before I started.
I still have file drawers full of stuff to scan as well as three-ring binders. I'd also like to scan in my old manuscripts. Not the notes I might refer back to if I write in one of those worlds again, but the actual manuscript itself. I used to print those out.
Overall, I think this is going to be a fantastic solution. The real pain, though, is going to come as I scan in years worth of paper. I made it about two hours on Saturday and didn't accomplish even a fraction of what I'd hoped to do. I think I'm going to have to plan on spending an hour or two every weekend until I get caught up.
You might think why do I want to hang on to the weed information. Why don't I just get rid of it right away? Sadly, I have a home owners association and they regularly patrol. And yes, they will right you up for weeds and there, in the mailbox, will be a love letter from them about lawn care. Never mind that I'm across from the retention pond and the HOA never gets that treated for weeds. Anyway, if I get another note, I want to be able to send them every damn lawn care sheet I have.
With the paper getting unmanageable, I decided a new tactic was needed. A page feed scanner. This way I could scan all these documents I want to keep into PDF format and store them electronically rather than physically.
I finally bought the scanner I'd been eyeing and began scanning. I learned a few things as I went along. Like to only scan what I wanted in a single document in one fell swoop. I spent a little too much time separating out the documents later. I also needed to create file folders for each of the categories. That didn't end up being too bad, but I wish I'd thought of it before I started.
I still have file drawers full of stuff to scan as well as three-ring binders. I'd also like to scan in my old manuscripts. Not the notes I might refer back to if I write in one of those worlds again, but the actual manuscript itself. I used to print those out.
Overall, I think this is going to be a fantastic solution. The real pain, though, is going to come as I scan in years worth of paper. I made it about two hours on Saturday and didn't accomplish even a fraction of what I'd hoped to do. I think I'm going to have to plan on spending an hour or two every weekend until I get caught up.
March 27, 2016
Why Did Our Toes Evolve to Look so Weird?
Toes and feet are icky. Necessary, but I don't want to see them. :-)
March 24, 2016
Suggested For You
Google has this feature in its News section called Suggested for You. I guess they get it from things you searched for on regular Google. I can't think how else they do it.
Today's section of suggestions included an article about Geico. I was all like WTF? I've never searched for Geico, but then I remembered that yes, I did. When I was blogging about the commercial with the spy and his mom calling him, I did Google them.
There are some really odd suggestions at times, but then I do searches for a lot of off beat things. What I don't think the good folks at Google realize is that just because a person does one search on a topic, that doesn't necessarily mean they have any interest in ever seeing anything about it again. Put me squarely in that category. I mean really, just because I Googled about a television commercial that I liked, doesn't mean I have any interest in the company itself.
I get a lot of suggestions on things I looked at once and have zero interest in after that. Sometimes the suggestion seems to have no relationship to anything I ever searched for, but I'm assuming that's because I searched so long ago that I've forgotten about it. Either that or Google has decided to just throw random stuff at me and see if I care.
I usually click the not interested option.
Today's section of suggestions included an article about Geico. I was all like WTF? I've never searched for Geico, but then I remembered that yes, I did. When I was blogging about the commercial with the spy and his mom calling him, I did Google them.
There are some really odd suggestions at times, but then I do searches for a lot of off beat things. What I don't think the good folks at Google realize is that just because a person does one search on a topic, that doesn't necessarily mean they have any interest in ever seeing anything about it again. Put me squarely in that category. I mean really, just because I Googled about a television commercial that I liked, doesn't mean I have any interest in the company itself.
I get a lot of suggestions on things I looked at once and have zero interest in after that. Sometimes the suggestion seems to have no relationship to anything I ever searched for, but I'm assuming that's because I searched so long ago that I've forgotten about it. Either that or Google has decided to just throw random stuff at me and see if I care.
I usually click the not interested option.
March 22, 2016
My Top Five Favorite Name Sites
My hero and heroine pretty much never let me choose their names. Out of all the ideas I've had, there's only been one time I've been allowed to pick a name. It ended up being torturous and I told my characters that they can go back to telling me their names. It's easier that way.
But there are times when they give me clues rather than their real name. Case in point was Ryne from In the Midnight Hour who simply said, My name starts with an R. Thanks. I went through about a million R names and all I heard from her was no, that's not it until I was ready to scream. I'd about exhausted all the resources I had when I finally stumbled across Ryne under girls' names. Usually, it's a masculine name.
There are also secondary characters who need names, and since they probably only introduce themselves about 30% of the time, I need naming sites. Here are my favorite sites for searching out character names.
-- Great lists, lots of unusual names, and community contributors make this one of the first sites I visit when I need a name. -- Again a lot of unusual names from around the world, this site also has a name generator which sometimes comes in handy. -- They have tabs of names from around the world, but my favorite part is where they have names in categories for example Warrior Names, Dragon Names, etc. -- The generator lets you make choices like long names, short names, consonant heavy names, etc. -- Not only sorted into country of origin, they also have categories like Arthurian Legend Names and Mythology Names.As I'm looking at my list, I realize it's the sites that put names into categories that I like. Not so much the country of origin because that really makes no difference to me, but things like Warrior Names or Arthurian Legend Names really work well for me. Sometimes I just have a sense and these categories help a lot then. Other times, it's just neat to see a group of different names in one place to have a look when I'm absolutely clueless on a secondary character's name.
But there are times when they give me clues rather than their real name. Case in point was Ryne from In the Midnight Hour who simply said, My name starts with an R. Thanks. I went through about a million R names and all I heard from her was no, that's not it until I was ready to scream. I'd about exhausted all the resources I had when I finally stumbled across Ryne under girls' names. Usually, it's a masculine name.
There are also secondary characters who need names, and since they probably only introduce themselves about 30% of the time, I need naming sites. Here are my favorite sites for searching out character names.
-- Great lists, lots of unusual names, and community contributors make this one of the first sites I visit when I need a name. -- Again a lot of unusual names from around the world, this site also has a name generator which sometimes comes in handy. -- They have tabs of names from around the world, but my favorite part is where they have names in categories for example Warrior Names, Dragon Names, etc. -- The generator lets you make choices like long names, short names, consonant heavy names, etc. -- Not only sorted into country of origin, they also have categories like Arthurian Legend Names and Mythology Names.As I'm looking at my list, I realize it's the sites that put names into categories that I like. Not so much the country of origin because that really makes no difference to me, but things like Warrior Names or Arthurian Legend Names really work well for me. Sometimes I just have a sense and these categories help a lot then. Other times, it's just neat to see a group of different names in one place to have a look when I'm absolutely clueless on a secondary character's name.
March 20, 2016
Honest Trailers: Star Wars
Kind of amusing.
March 17, 2016
My Five Favorite Words
When I write, I have to be really cognizant of how much I use my four favorite words.
ReallyJustThatTotallyActually In case you missed it, I used really already in the first sentence of this blog post. I seriously love that word. I don't try too hard to avoid these words as I write because there are enough other things I need to worry about that are more important. What I do is while I'm revising, I'll run a search and hunt down these words.
This is the same time when I'll do a search for character's names to make sure the hero and heroine aren't addressing each other by name too often because people don't talk like that in real life. If you pay attention to conversations, especially those between two people, you'll notice that names are rarely used. I like my dialogue to be realistic, and while I do a pretty good job on the name thing, it still creeps in.
Also, each book seems to develop its own favorite word. This one I need to be aware of because it's different for each story and isn't on my list to search for until I can identify it. I'm not sure how this happens, but it does without fail.
Just one of the many reasons that revisions (and editors) are an author's best friend.
ReallyJustThatTotallyActually In case you missed it, I used really already in the first sentence of this blog post. I seriously love that word. I don't try too hard to avoid these words as I write because there are enough other things I need to worry about that are more important. What I do is while I'm revising, I'll run a search and hunt down these words.
This is the same time when I'll do a search for character's names to make sure the hero and heroine aren't addressing each other by name too often because people don't talk like that in real life. If you pay attention to conversations, especially those between two people, you'll notice that names are rarely used. I like my dialogue to be realistic, and while I do a pretty good job on the name thing, it still creeps in.
Also, each book seems to develop its own favorite word. This one I need to be aware of because it's different for each story and isn't on my list to search for until I can identify it. I'm not sure how this happens, but it does without fail.
Just one of the many reasons that revisions (and editors) are an author's best friend.
March 15, 2016
Chairs
When I lived in Minnesota, I only had a eat-in area in my great room, but in my current home, I have a dining room and an eat-in kitchen area. I have my table and chairs in the dining room and now I'm thinking it's time to get a table for the kitchen, too.
Which brings me to chairs. I'd love to have hugely comfortable chairs for this table. The chairs that came with my dining table look like they should be comfortable, but they're not. I even tested them out at the furniture store, but discovered there's a big difference between comfortable for a few minutes and comfortable for half an hour or longer.
One of my favorite memories growing up is sitting around the kitchen table in my parents' house and being able to talk or have a notebook out and jot things down. Or now, I'd like to sit at the table in the mornings and drink coffee or work on the computer.
So how do I find a comfortable chair? It's not like I can go to a furniture store and sit in each one I like for an hour to find out if it's going to work. Do I take the word of other people who've purchased a chair and declared that it's comfortable? It might not be reliable because what works for one person might not work for another and they might have used the chair completely differently than I would.
I kind of know what I want--a white chair with a leather/leather-look material, preferably with nickel legs, but I'm not opposed to wood. I want the leather/fake leather so that it will be easier to clean, but I love the brightness of white. I also like that keyhole back look that I've seen on HGTV, although I'm not set on that yet. Then there's the super cool mid century modern chair I found. I'd have to go with fabric and not fake leather, but it was named the second-most comfortable dining chair by a magazine and I like the shape of it. It's also $500 a chair, which makes me cringe. That's a lot of money for one chair.
Too bad there isn't some website that gives comfort ratings to chairs. Like this chair is a 5 star chair; I could sit in it for two hours and not moan when I stood up. Now this would be helpful.
Which brings me to chairs. I'd love to have hugely comfortable chairs for this table. The chairs that came with my dining table look like they should be comfortable, but they're not. I even tested them out at the furniture store, but discovered there's a big difference between comfortable for a few minutes and comfortable for half an hour or longer.
One of my favorite memories growing up is sitting around the kitchen table in my parents' house and being able to talk or have a notebook out and jot things down. Or now, I'd like to sit at the table in the mornings and drink coffee or work on the computer.
So how do I find a comfortable chair? It's not like I can go to a furniture store and sit in each one I like for an hour to find out if it's going to work. Do I take the word of other people who've purchased a chair and declared that it's comfortable? It might not be reliable because what works for one person might not work for another and they might have used the chair completely differently than I would.
I kind of know what I want--a white chair with a leather/leather-look material, preferably with nickel legs, but I'm not opposed to wood. I want the leather/fake leather so that it will be easier to clean, but I love the brightness of white. I also like that keyhole back look that I've seen on HGTV, although I'm not set on that yet. Then there's the super cool mid century modern chair I found. I'd have to go with fabric and not fake leather, but it was named the second-most comfortable dining chair by a magazine and I like the shape of it. It's also $500 a chair, which makes me cringe. That's a lot of money for one chair.
Too bad there isn't some website that gives comfort ratings to chairs. Like this chair is a 5 star chair; I could sit in it for two hours and not moan when I stood up. Now this would be helpful.
March 13, 2016
Daylight Saving Time
This is a repeat from last year, but too good not to replay.
March 10, 2016
Theme Songs
I used to pick theme songs for my stories. This wasn't something I'd ever planned to do, but one day (as I was driving home from work) Devo's Girl U Want started to play and the lyrics made it perfect for my first book, Ravyn's Flight. The book officially had a theme song.
Nothing popped out at me like that for The Power of Two, but I chose Corey Hart's Never Surrender because that was Cai's attitude.
I never was happy with the theme song for Through a Crimson Veil. The title kind of fit, but the rest of the Travis Tritt song really didn't work for Mika. But Eternal Nights did fit perfectly with INXS's Never Tear Us Apart and every time I hear it, I still think of Kendall and Wyatt.
Because it sometimes helped with the writing, I even tried to choose theme songs for my Works In Progress (WIP), but it's very time consuming to find the right song and as time became harder to come by, I've pretty much given it up. Part of me misses having a song come on the radio and getting all excited because it belonged to one of my books, but on the other hand, a lot of my characters ended up with theme music that I picked just because I was tired of looking for something. Those tunes evoke nothing in me.
I think what I've decided to do is to pick a theme song only if one jumps out as being perfect for the story. That means most of my stories won't have anything, but I think it's better than trying to force something to fit.
Nothing popped out at me like that for The Power of Two, but I chose Corey Hart's Never Surrender because that was Cai's attitude.
I never was happy with the theme song for Through a Crimson Veil. The title kind of fit, but the rest of the Travis Tritt song really didn't work for Mika. But Eternal Nights did fit perfectly with INXS's Never Tear Us Apart and every time I hear it, I still think of Kendall and Wyatt.
Because it sometimes helped with the writing, I even tried to choose theme songs for my Works In Progress (WIP), but it's very time consuming to find the right song and as time became harder to come by, I've pretty much given it up. Part of me misses having a song come on the radio and getting all excited because it belonged to one of my books, but on the other hand, a lot of my characters ended up with theme music that I picked just because I was tired of looking for something. Those tunes evoke nothing in me.
I think what I've decided to do is to pick a theme song only if one jumps out as being perfect for the story. That means most of my stories won't have anything, but I think it's better than trying to force something to fit.
