Patti O'Shea's Blog, page 135
May 8, 2014
Creepers
Sometimes I don't know what people are thinking. Specifically how men approach a woman they don't know. I had two experiences that just had me shaking my head.
The first one was the most alarming. Shortly after I moved to Atlanta, I had someone follow me to the condo I was living in at the time. I had a complete lack of situational awareness because I didn't realize a car was following me. In my defense, I'd picked my parents up at the airport and I was talking to them.
So I pull into the garage and this guy pulls into the drive behind me, blocking my car in the garage. The only reason I didn't get right on my phone and call 911 was because I wasn't alone, but thinking back, it wasn't as if my dad and mom were going to be able to do anything, not at their ages.
The guy followed me because he saw my Minnesota license plates. He was originally from some small town in MN and didn't think there was anything wrong with following a woman home.
My second experience happened in Minnesota last month while I was home visiting my parents. My folks don't have internet, so I went to the hotspot near my house to check in. While I'm sitting there, some guy knocks on my window.
Why? He'd seen my Georgia license plates. He had a relative who lived in GA and he wanted to know where in GA I was from.
The only reason I didn't race screaming out of the parking lot was because it was a busy lot and there were a lot of people around. Still, after he went into the store to take care of his business, I left. There was nothing on the internet that was worth hanging around for.
I don't know if Minnesota men are unnaturally friendly or what the deal is, but these two experiences were creepy. And following someone home? Now that's going into crazy creeper territory.
The first one was the most alarming. Shortly after I moved to Atlanta, I had someone follow me to the condo I was living in at the time. I had a complete lack of situational awareness because I didn't realize a car was following me. In my defense, I'd picked my parents up at the airport and I was talking to them.
So I pull into the garage and this guy pulls into the drive behind me, blocking my car in the garage. The only reason I didn't get right on my phone and call 911 was because I wasn't alone, but thinking back, it wasn't as if my dad and mom were going to be able to do anything, not at their ages.
The guy followed me because he saw my Minnesota license plates. He was originally from some small town in MN and didn't think there was anything wrong with following a woman home.
My second experience happened in Minnesota last month while I was home visiting my parents. My folks don't have internet, so I went to the hotspot near my house to check in. While I'm sitting there, some guy knocks on my window.
Why? He'd seen my Georgia license plates. He had a relative who lived in GA and he wanted to know where in GA I was from.
The only reason I didn't race screaming out of the parking lot was because it was a busy lot and there were a lot of people around. Still, after he went into the store to take care of his business, I left. There was nothing on the internet that was worth hanging around for.
I don't know if Minnesota men are unnaturally friendly or what the deal is, but these two experiences were creepy. And following someone home? Now that's going into crazy creeper territory.
May 6, 2014
Suspicious Attachment
I don't know about you guys, but I have been getting a ton of email with suspicious attachments over the last two to three weeks. I have my website email filtered through Gmail to help deal with the spam issue and over and over recently Gmail has sent a warning saying that this or that email was left on the server because of the attachment.
I'm not sure what the virus/malware senders hope to achieve because I think most people now are too savvy to open attachments from people they don't know, no matter how legit (or not) the mail might look. Oh, sure, it's cheap to send email and there are a few people around who don't know any better, but is the number really large enough to warrant a barrage of suspicious spam? Maybe it is, but it has become annoying to deal with the onslaught.
Just an FYI, I delete these emails right on the server so they are never on my computer so even if the virus is in the email itself and not the attachment, I'm still covered. I'm very careful with my laptops.
I've been weighing the pros and cons of changing my website email address to something different just to thwart the spammers and virus emailers, but I'm afraid this might cause more work for me than dealing with the emails.
We'll see what happens, but I wish these people would use their powers for good and not evil.
I'm not sure what the virus/malware senders hope to achieve because I think most people now are too savvy to open attachments from people they don't know, no matter how legit (or not) the mail might look. Oh, sure, it's cheap to send email and there are a few people around who don't know any better, but is the number really large enough to warrant a barrage of suspicious spam? Maybe it is, but it has become annoying to deal with the onslaught.
Just an FYI, I delete these emails right on the server so they are never on my computer so even if the virus is in the email itself and not the attachment, I'm still covered. I'm very careful with my laptops.
I've been weighing the pros and cons of changing my website email address to something different just to thwart the spammers and virus emailers, but I'm afraid this might cause more work for me than dealing with the emails.
We'll see what happens, but I wish these people would use their powers for good and not evil.
May 4, 2014
10 Useless, But Awesome Life Hacks
Some of these actually would be useful like the egg white one.
May 1, 2014
Adventures With Wind
Some nasty weather moved through parts of the nation this week. I escaped the worst of it, but there was a freaky weather thing that happened yesterday (Wednesday) morning.
At around 3:15, 3:30 in the morning, the power went out. That woke me up because I have an air cleaner running at night and the sudden silence jolted me awake. That's when I noticed it was raining and there was an incredible wind blowing. It was really intense. So intense that I figured that it wouldn't last too long.
I was wrong. The wind blew even harder and I started worrying about trees coming down. It was still bad at 5:30, scary bad, and there was no way I wanted to drive in this, not even the distance it would take to get on my van pool to work.
I ended up taking a vacation day, although I hate to waste it like this, especially in the middle of the week.
The weird part about the storm? No lightning that I saw and very little thunder. Certainly nothing loud. I have a weather radio, but confess I did nothing to set it up. I always figured thunder would wake me up before the power went out and I'd just flip on the TV and find out what was happening.
I did put on a local news station, but Atlanta is a sprawling city and apparently this storm was only affecting the southern suburbs. The fact that so little was said about the weather made me fairly confident that there wouldn't be a tornado, but I wanted to see radar. I wanted to find out when the intensity would finally drop.
The wind was still screaming when I went back to sleep. I'm not sure when the power was restored, but I was so glad it did
Later, I found out that what happened was called a Wake Low Event. I've never heard of it before and I don't remember ever experiencing one. Winds can reach 50 mph and it can last for hours.
Just to add to the fun, while the power was off, the low battery chirp in the smoke detector in my room repeatedly went off. It's the only battery I haven't replaced recently, but it's way up at the top of a lofted ceiling and I'm waiting for my handyman to come out and replace it for me.
Also, when I finally woke up after the storm was over and the power was back on, I found a scorpion in my kitchen. Some days it doesn't pay to get out of bed. :-/
At around 3:15, 3:30 in the morning, the power went out. That woke me up because I have an air cleaner running at night and the sudden silence jolted me awake. That's when I noticed it was raining and there was an incredible wind blowing. It was really intense. So intense that I figured that it wouldn't last too long.
I was wrong. The wind blew even harder and I started worrying about trees coming down. It was still bad at 5:30, scary bad, and there was no way I wanted to drive in this, not even the distance it would take to get on my van pool to work.
I ended up taking a vacation day, although I hate to waste it like this, especially in the middle of the week.
The weird part about the storm? No lightning that I saw and very little thunder. Certainly nothing loud. I have a weather radio, but confess I did nothing to set it up. I always figured thunder would wake me up before the power went out and I'd just flip on the TV and find out what was happening.
I did put on a local news station, but Atlanta is a sprawling city and apparently this storm was only affecting the southern suburbs. The fact that so little was said about the weather made me fairly confident that there wouldn't be a tornado, but I wanted to see radar. I wanted to find out when the intensity would finally drop.
The wind was still screaming when I went back to sleep. I'm not sure when the power was restored, but I was so glad it did
Later, I found out that what happened was called a Wake Low Event. I've never heard of it before and I don't remember ever experiencing one. Winds can reach 50 mph and it can last for hours.
Just to add to the fun, while the power was off, the low battery chirp in the smoke detector in my room repeatedly went off. It's the only battery I haven't replaced recently, but it's way up at the top of a lofted ceiling and I'm waiting for my handyman to come out and replace it for me.
Also, when I finally woke up after the storm was over and the power was back on, I found a scorpion in my kitchen. Some days it doesn't pay to get out of bed. :-/
April 29, 2014
Research Challenges
Writers need to know some strange stuff and answers aren't always easy to find. Like my character who wants to work in a museum and takes a job in a country torn by civil war to get leg up on her dream job. I want to know what kind of educational background she'd have. I found someone who has the exact job she wants, but his educational background wasn't posted.
There's my hero who's a professional surfer. Try finding out an average day in the life of a pro surfer or how much money they make a year. I've been trying off and on for a while now and I've had no luck.
I had a million questions about the Los Angeles Police Department that I couldn't get answers to online. I emailed the LAPD public relations office asking for help and never heard back. I figured they had to be used to goofy questions from writers, but maybe they get too many of those.
The other problem I sometimes run into is when I need to search for information from another country and it's a country that doesn't speak English as an official language. Translating page by page to try to figure out if what I need is on that site is torturous.
I always seem to get characters interested in things I know nothing about: Restoring cars, glass art, surfing, archaeology, Polynesian dance, sport fishing... well the list goes on and on and makes things challenging for me. I keep reminding myself that it could be worse. At least these topics aren't as bad as some of the stuff other writers have been stuck researching.
There's my hero who's a professional surfer. Try finding out an average day in the life of a pro surfer or how much money they make a year. I've been trying off and on for a while now and I've had no luck.
I had a million questions about the Los Angeles Police Department that I couldn't get answers to online. I emailed the LAPD public relations office asking for help and never heard back. I figured they had to be used to goofy questions from writers, but maybe they get too many of those.
The other problem I sometimes run into is when I need to search for information from another country and it's a country that doesn't speak English as an official language. Translating page by page to try to figure out if what I need is on that site is torturous.
I always seem to get characters interested in things I know nothing about: Restoring cars, glass art, surfing, archaeology, Polynesian dance, sport fishing... well the list goes on and on and makes things challenging for me. I keep reminding myself that it could be worse. At least these topics aren't as bad as some of the stuff other writers have been stuck researching.
April 27, 2014
Honest Trailers: Independence Day
This is one of my all-time favorite movies, but that doesn't mean I can't laugh at it.
April 24, 2014
Too Much TV
While I was up in Minnesota, I watched a lot more television than I usually do--between dentist appointments. I have a few observations.
First of all, daytime TV right now makes soap operas look awesomely appealing and I gave up soaps years ago. I never thought there would be so much idiocy on daytime television, but considering how stupid nighttime shows are, I guess I should have known.
Second, I really miss MLB Network when I visit my parents. They just have basic cable, which means I lose my baseball lifeline.
Third, HGTV. I have some subpoints here.
3a. Dear HGTV, showing a kitchen makeover show is evil. EVIL! Now I want to redo my kitchen and there's nothing wrong with it. My house was just built in 2008.
3b. There are some really shallow/ridiculous people in the world. I watched House Hunters and this Los Angeles couple was house hunting. The girl, and even though she's old enough to be married, her maturity level was more girl than woman. She wanted to live in Manhattan Beach. Period.
The couple had a million dollars to spend (what does HE do for a living to have that much money at his age???) and saw a gorgeous house just outside of Manhattan Beach that was move-in ready, it was even decorated the way she wanted, but she didn't like it because it wasn't right inside her city of choice.
The next house they saw was in Manhattan Beach. It was much more expensive than the first house and it was a fixer upper! It needed a ton of work. Of course, this girl loved it solely because of its location.
Guess which house they picked? Yep, the million dollar fixer upper because (the husband said) he wants a "happy wife." I'm thinking wow, really? Even the girl's mother said she was spoiled on the show. ::shaking my head::
She wasn't the only one who made me think WTF, but she was the worst.
3c. I got hooked on house flipping shows on HGTV while I was in MN, too. I'm not sure how this happened. It makes flipping look easy, but I know it's not. I managed to discard that thought pretty easily, but I can't help thinking about home improvement now.
First of all, daytime TV right now makes soap operas look awesomely appealing and I gave up soaps years ago. I never thought there would be so much idiocy on daytime television, but considering how stupid nighttime shows are, I guess I should have known.
Second, I really miss MLB Network when I visit my parents. They just have basic cable, which means I lose my baseball lifeline.
Third, HGTV. I have some subpoints here.
3a. Dear HGTV, showing a kitchen makeover show is evil. EVIL! Now I want to redo my kitchen and there's nothing wrong with it. My house was just built in 2008.
3b. There are some really shallow/ridiculous people in the world. I watched House Hunters and this Los Angeles couple was house hunting. The girl, and even though she's old enough to be married, her maturity level was more girl than woman. She wanted to live in Manhattan Beach. Period.
The couple had a million dollars to spend (what does HE do for a living to have that much money at his age???) and saw a gorgeous house just outside of Manhattan Beach that was move-in ready, it was even decorated the way she wanted, but she didn't like it because it wasn't right inside her city of choice.
The next house they saw was in Manhattan Beach. It was much more expensive than the first house and it was a fixer upper! It needed a ton of work. Of course, this girl loved it solely because of its location.
Guess which house they picked? Yep, the million dollar fixer upper because (the husband said) he wants a "happy wife." I'm thinking wow, really? Even the girl's mother said she was spoiled on the show. ::shaking my head::
She wasn't the only one who made me think WTF, but she was the worst.
3c. I got hooked on house flipping shows on HGTV while I was in MN, too. I'm not sure how this happened. It makes flipping look easy, but I know it's not. I managed to discard that thought pretty easily, but I can't help thinking about home improvement now.
April 22, 2014
Vacation Fun?
I spent the last two weeks up in Minnesota, and since my parents don't have internet, that meant being out of touch online. My vacation wasn't quite as fun as I might have hoped. My first day back, I went to see my dentist because I don't have on in Atlanta yet.
I mentioned that I'd been having a little discomfort and the X-rays showed a cavity. An old filling had parted from the tooth far enough to let bacteria in. Because I already had a lot of filling, this mean I needed a crown. Okay. well, that isn't much fun, but it could be worse. I've had a crown before and it wasn't the worst thing ever.
And, my dentist said, this decay looks awfully close to the nerve in the tooth. If it penetrated we might need to do something else.
Silly me, I didn't understand what "something else" was. I found out.
Yes, after she got the old filling out and got rid of the decay, the nerve was affected. She couldn't finish the crown until I had a...Root Canal! ::gasp:: ::sob::
It wasn't as painful as I'd heard, but the endodondist (I think I spelled that right) said that it was a ticking time bomb. I guess then that it's a good thing that I got it taken care of while I was home. I have a dentist there that I trust and she referred me to the root canal specialist.
While the experience wasn't all that painful, it did mean that I had five different dental-related appointments and that meant I didn't get much of anything else accomplished while I was home. And having fun? No. :-/
I mentioned that I'd been having a little discomfort and the X-rays showed a cavity. An old filling had parted from the tooth far enough to let bacteria in. Because I already had a lot of filling, this mean I needed a crown. Okay. well, that isn't much fun, but it could be worse. I've had a crown before and it wasn't the worst thing ever.
And, my dentist said, this decay looks awfully close to the nerve in the tooth. If it penetrated we might need to do something else.
Silly me, I didn't understand what "something else" was. I found out.
Yes, after she got the old filling out and got rid of the decay, the nerve was affected. She couldn't finish the crown until I had a...Root Canal! ::gasp:: ::sob::
It wasn't as painful as I'd heard, but the endodondist (I think I spelled that right) said that it was a ticking time bomb. I guess then that it's a good thing that I got it taken care of while I was home. I have a dentist there that I trust and she referred me to the root canal specialist.
While the experience wasn't all that painful, it did mean that I had five different dental-related appointments and that meant I didn't get much of anything else accomplished while I was home. And having fun? No. :-/
April 20, 2014
April 17, 2014
Drum Making
To say I have an eclectic range of interests would be understating things. Sometimes even I'm surprised by what I get involved with--container shipping, anyone?
One of the things I did that I can't quite believe was that I signed up for a drum making workshop a number of years back.
I did have some attraction to the workshop otherwise I wouldn't have paid to do it, but I didn't think I would become entranced by the process. I did. The hours of the class flew by. I worked with the frame, I put the deer hide around it and fastened it in place with strips.
And it was fun! Oh, so much fun. I'm not a person who does crafts. I don't have the patience for it and the results are never quite good enough, but this drum turned out perfectly!
A friend of mine went to the workshop with me and she said I was intent on my drum. And I was. I would have loved to have taken the workshop over and over and over yet again. But I didn't; I only went once because what am I going to do with lots and lots of drums? Also, I had no desire to get into the business of selling drums, so it didn't make sense to go again.
I've decided my ability to get interested in unusual things is good. As a writer, I have characters and books that require me to research a wide variety of topics. Not all of them are scintillating, but if I can be held rapt by container ships, I know I can make it through almost any topic.
One of the things I did that I can't quite believe was that I signed up for a drum making workshop a number of years back.
I did have some attraction to the workshop otherwise I wouldn't have paid to do it, but I didn't think I would become entranced by the process. I did. The hours of the class flew by. I worked with the frame, I put the deer hide around it and fastened it in place with strips.
And it was fun! Oh, so much fun. I'm not a person who does crafts. I don't have the patience for it and the results are never quite good enough, but this drum turned out perfectly!
A friend of mine went to the workshop with me and she said I was intent on my drum. And I was. I would have loved to have taken the workshop over and over and over yet again. But I didn't; I only went once because what am I going to do with lots and lots of drums? Also, I had no desire to get into the business of selling drums, so it didn't make sense to go again.
I've decided my ability to get interested in unusual things is good. As a writer, I have characters and books that require me to research a wide variety of topics. Not all of them are scintillating, but if I can be held rapt by container ships, I know I can make it through almost any topic.
