Life Muses by Ro

Authors 8-9------10---if you count me...

Authors 1, originally uploaded by idahostudios.

I'm working on getting ready for the Scrap Girls Convention. Since I've been sick this week, I've had a lot of time to think about things. (That's a dangerous occupation....)

Anyway, one of my life-long goals is to become an author. I know, technically I am an author. I published a book in 2001 (Up the Down Hill: One woman's struggle to survive major depression

and I have continued to sell copies of it since then with absolutely no marketing. People buy it because I tell the truth in it. I tell my story - how I recovered from major depression and it is helpful for people who are dealing with it to know that you can survive it. So I basically wrote it, published it, and then put up a website that tells people about it. And people do come and buy it regularly. I'm not getting rich off of it, but hey... I'm an author.

I am also technically an author because of Scrapbook Software Secrets Revealed movie tutorial programs that teach people how to be digital scrapbookers. I've sold a lot of these tutorial programs over the years because people seem to like them a lot. I am most gratified for that. I like to teach so it works out.

I write at least 3 columns a week for the newsletter with just a few weeks of "re-runs" so that I can decompress my brain a little bit). I am basically writing, writing, writing, writing.

When I feel good and everything is going well, I come out to my blog and what do you think I do? I write some more.

I have a dream of writing some more books, though. Obviously, I have some non-fiction books in me. I can see writing a book in which I will teach people "how I did it" in regards to building Scrap Girls. I think there would be some people would like to know what the process was like, how I made my decisions, how we picked our staff, etc. I have some other non-fiction books in me, as well, and it seems reasonable that at least one of those ought to have some kind of scrapbooking element in there. We'll see.

But you know what is gnawing at me? Fiction. I adore writing conversations. I love how fast the story can move via conversation and how it takes very little to make a big leap in the story line with a carefully crafted speech. I find them fascinating.

Someday, I want to write a novel... or a series of novels. I have an idea already, but I guess I'll have to keep it a secret! HA!

I will tell you a secret though... so lean up close to your monitor so that no one will hear what I am going to whisper in your ear.... Got it? Are you close enough?

Here's the secret: Working on my class for the upcoming Scrap Girls Convention has me all jumbled up. The topic I am teaching at the Convention is dangerous, even for me. It should come with a warning, in a black shiny box with a red bow that says, "Unwrap at your own risk because your life could suddenly alter if you try these techniques!" This visionary topic I'm working on does tend to push you forward in areas you have been neglecting. If you follow them (and yes, they do involve digital scrapbooking), you'll be set off on an emotional, spiritual, and physical journey. The very course of your life can change without you realizing it is happening to you.

I'll have to tell you more later. My night meds are kicking in and I'm having a hard time staying awake. I just didn't want you all to think I'd completely forgotten about you! Nah... I've just had....

1. Computer problems. (One is still at the factory)

2. Health problems. (I've had an ongoing yeast infection since May and it has started to wear me down. The doctor is going to start a more aggressive approach now and I'm hoping that will end it for me. This this one is largely responsible for me being so quiet recently. I've just been doing the work I absolutely had to do for the company and then I'd go crash back in bed. But today was a better day. I got my work done AND a muse with a fun layout to match. And now I'm talking to you! I also made a little progress on my class for the Scrap Girls Convention. It is turning out to be quite a big deal. I hope people will like it. If they don't, they will know - once and for all - that I'm a nut and I suppose there will be some relief in that. :-)

Well, I'm off for tonight. I can't proof read this: Too tired. So forgive the rambling and overlook anything that doesn't make sense, okay? And please ignore any poor spelling and grammar errors. If you could see me typing right now, you'd be shocked that my fingers can still move at all.

Here's a good quote to end on: "No day is so bad that it can't be fixed with a nap."  - Carrie Snow

Even though I had a good day, I need a nap. But it's 2:12 a.m. so a nap would be the appropriate thing to do now.

Night.

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I edited this the next day. Oh... I do mix up words a little bit when I have taken my medication!

Parable: Solving the World's Financial Crisis - One Virus at a Time

Once upon a time, a terrible computer virus migrated into the earth’s waterways by means of marine hard drive dumping, infecting an entire species of fish that was swimming in the vicinity. The infected fish could easily be identified because once the virus infiltrated their gills; the fish grew red fins and became extremely aggressive.

 But because the red fins were quite attractive, people began eating the infected fish. As they did, an unusual thing began to occur: anyone who consumed a portion suddenly was able to have anything they wished for. (So in essence, fishes did indeed become wishes….)

However, once the wish was granted, an inherit change to the body of the person making the wish and the person who had made a wish became immune to the virus. This meant that every person had but one wish to make. Naturally, everyone who had access to one of these wishing fishes immediately ate a portion and made their wish, which usually contained some language wishing for all of the gold they would ever need during their entire lifetime. Before long, nearly every man, woman, and child throughout the entire world had so much gold that they didn’t have anywhere to put it.

They used gold coins for tiddlywinks.

They used gold bricks to line their streets and to make bookshelves with.

They used gold as door stops and gold as shotputs.

“Gold is so boring,” one boy in Montana was heard to say. “I hate it. I'm tired of people fighting over it. All I see morning, noon, and night is gold, gold, and more gold!”

Now it just so happened that this boy hadn’t used his wish yet, so he went to the river that ran behind his house and caught one of the infected fishes. After roasting it over a fire, he ate a piece and said, “I want something else. I love coconut pie and my mother doesn’t make it for me anymore. She’s too busy counting her gold coins. I wish everyone loved coconut as much as I do.”

Immediately, the entire population of the world was seized with an intense longing for coconut. Nobody cared about his or her gold anymore. There was a run on the limited world stores of coconuts and people began to hoard them. Indeed, it was rumored that some people even had coconuts buried in their backyards in steel-lined, humidified vaults. Coconuts soon became the means of exchange and people feared that governments would begin seizing real coconuts and issuing plastic coconuts in their stead.

This continued until only those people in tropic areas of the world had access to coconuts (because they wouldn't sell their coconuts at any price) and everyone who lived in the north began to get extremely angry.

“Something must be done!” shouted a senator from Alaska in an emergency session of the United States Senate. “The people from the great state of Alaska are being starved by the terrible shortage of coconuts in our region. We must find someone in this great land who hasn’t eaten a wishing fish yet. It's the only way!”

So a search was begun. The government issued a call, demanding that anyone who hadn’t made his or her wish must come forward to make a “Wish for Uncle Sam!” 

At last an old man, residing in a nursing home was found and since he had been a veteran during the Great War and was very patriotic, he happily made the wish he believed could solve the crisis.  “I wish that everyone in the entire world would have the ability to grow coconuts,” he said as soon he swallowed his portion of fish. Immediately, a change came upon the surface of the earth. Every spot in the entire world was warm and humid.

At first, the world celebrated when the weather change because people in the north felt like they had been granted an extended summer vacation. Everyone burned their coats and dismantled their furnaces. They threw away their sweaters and installed air conditioning.

As people planted coconut groves in their backyards, they were became so busy rejoicing that could now have as many coconuts as they wanted that they failed to notice that the polar ice caps were melting. Before long, the oceans had risen to an alarming depth and it became evident that they might all drown. An emergency meeting of the United Nations was called to determine what to do about the new crisis that threatened the planet.

At the exact moment the chairman of the UN began the emergency meeting, the little boy who started the run on coconuts was taking a walk by the river with his little sister. “Look at that!” he said. “There’s one of those wishing fishes. Susie, you’ve haven’t made your wish yet. We can save everybody!”

The boy caught the fish, cooked it and fed it to his sister, and then told the little girl exactly what to say. “I wish that everything would be the way it was before fishes turned into wishes,” she parroted, and happily, her wish was granted.

The boy smiled at his little sister and she smiled back at him. They had done it. People received gold when they worked for it and coconuts when they purchased them. Sometimes winters were warmer in some regions of the world than usual and sometimes they were colder than people enjoyed. But it all worked out because balance had been restored and everything was as it should be.

Later that evening, as the boy fell asleep in his mother’s lap while watching television, he thought he heard a newscaster say, “This new over the wire: Governmental and private security experts announced today that a computer virus has infected a strain of sweet potatoes, grown in Peru. The potatoes have the potential of solving the world’s energy crisis because…”

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Rozanne W. Paxman (Originally written in 2001. Modified in 2008)

True Life Story: This is why you MUST back up your files

Whew. That seemed like a long vacation, didn't it?

Well... not so much...

I did a few fun things that I think I'll write about in muses. I worked all day long on Thursday because I had to get this week's muses turned in so that the team had access to them. Then Friday I drove home. I brought my mom with me and dropped her off at my brother's house.

On Saturday, I came home and caught up on a bunch of things - such as mail, bills, etc. I no sooner got the very last item finished when my laptop black screened again.

Yes, my laptop.

I'm going to back up and explain my computer woes. They are kind of crazy, so I apologize for the long explanation in advance.

I have four hard drives in my big desktop. As hard drives will, one of them failed a while ago. It was clicking at me all of the time, annoying me and it made me nervous. I had everything backed up, though, so I wasn't panicking. But I had been waiting for the right opportunity to take it into the shop and decided that my vacation was the perfect time. I did a few last minute backup/cleanup things (just in case...) and then carried down to the shop.

MEANWHILE.... when I was there, I picked up my laptop which - it turned out - just needed the fan cleaned out, and a few other minor things done. Nothing significant. The techs had it running swell..

Following me???

I decided, once I got to the stop, to upgrade my desktop's case because they had a swell new one with lots of ventilation in it. It made me drool as soon as I saw it. I knew it would be perfect for keeping these massive hard drives of mine cold. I also decided to replace my broken CD burner and limping-along DVD burner with a new matching set of DVD burners. They would be perfect for making duplicate sets of backup DVDs, you see... Oh - and I decided to upgrade that replacement hard drive to a 1 TB drive, as well. Why not? I can always use more storage, right?

I asked them to do a few minor cleanups for me, as well. (They do all of this for free, by the way. You just have to pay for the new equipment. Once you buy a computer from PC Laptops, you get free lifetime service!)

It sounds like a lot to do, but it was an easy job. All they had to do was notice which cables where plugged in where and then plug them back into the same place when they put everything in the new case. In fact, it was soooooo easy, they decided to let a salesmen to do the hardware switch-out.

Oops.

And he messed it up.

Oops.

Okay... So I'm back from my shorter-than-you-guys-realized-it-was vacation, working away and my laptop that had been fixed for a grand total of 9 days and it black-screened again. This time, it was as dead as a doornail. BANG!

I called up the shop and they told me to bring it right down. Oh - and by the way - they had my big desktop ready for me so I could pick it up.

I drove to the shop and the tech plugged in the laptop. Nothing. Then he tested it and told me that it looked like motherboard and other critical hard ware had fried. The hard drive is fine, though (WHEW). The laptop is still under warranty so it will make a trip to the factory and either come back repaired or I'll get a brand new one. Whatever... as long as it works, I don't care.

So, I waved goodbye to my laptop, carried my big desktop home, plugged it in, and the monitors (I have two of them) wouldn't work right. And what's worse, one of the drives that has a LOT of important stuff on it, wasn't showing up at all. It was completely missing.

Sigh...

I called up the shop. I got the head technician who told me - in a very embarrassed way - that someone had put it together who "probably shouldn't have done it". No kidding.

So I carry this monstrosity otherwise known as a desktop back in there again, the sweat pouring off of my head. I think I should call it an "under-the-desktop" because it is so big that it would consume a desk top in the same way I consume Dove Bars if it landed on an actual "desktop".

When I arrived at the store, the technicians came running to the door when they saw me and everyone yelled out, "Hi Rozanne! We're here for you. We're ALLLLLLLL going to make you happy."

Funny stuff.

The head tech fired it up, started swapping around the cables, and I could see that he was having a hard time getting it to behave.

I said, "Obviously, this is going to take more than 5 minutes."

That was Monday. I got the desktop back late this afternoon (Wednesday).

The laptop? In a week - week and a half I might have it back from the factory.

I have been trying to work from my BlackBerry most of the time I've been absent from the Scrap Girls message board and from my blog. It's hard to type on that thing and so I've been working via phone calls, pretty much.

Before I go any further, I want to say something that will spare us all a little aggravation, if you don't mind...

Please have mercy on me and don't tell me to buy a Mac. Please don't tell me that I wouldn't have had any computer problems if I owned a Mac. It's not true and it makes me unhappy when you say it to me because I don't like having arguments about things that don't really matter (in the big scheme of things). People matter and so these types of discussions about operating systems seem pointless to me because they just have the potential of hurting people's feelings. I don't like that.

I like my PCs. I'm used to them now and know a bit about them so its easier for me to keep using a PC. I have tons of mission-critical software that can't be used on Macs and I need that software. (That's why I refer to it as "mission-critical".) Overall, I'm just content as a PC user. Besides, I have a very good acquaintance who has lost three Mac computers in the past two years.

But of course, that happens. It will happen because there is a universal law named decay and we are all stuck with it. PCs break down eventually. Macs will too. Almost everything does. Plants, animals, rocks... you name it. There is a law of thermodynamics that addresses this law, actually, but I like to say it simply:

Everything wears out or gets ruined. Accept it and you won't get as upset when your kids pour a pitcher of red Kool Aid on your brand new carpet. (True-life experience.)

Electronic equipment decays, too. It wears out, breaks down, and is subject to all sorts of things like power surges, excess heat, and water spills. Databases fall apart and software breaks down. Everything wears out eventually. Everything!

The problem computer users have is not which kind of computer they buy, it's that they get complacent about the computer they own. They expect that once they purchase a computer, it will continue working for the balance of their life. But why should it?

• Show me a car that never has the possibility of needing to be fixed. I would like to buy it.
• Show me a refrigerator that will last a lifetime. I've purchased three or four during our marriage and so I would love to own one of those.
• Show me a clothing washer, shoes, clothing, a television set, a radio, a paint job, a cement driveway or... or... anything that never wears out and that needs repairing or replacing at some point and I'll be first in line to purchase it.

But that's silly and we know it.

I know I talk about backing up a lot - maybe too much -  but it is so important. People tell me heart-wrenching stories of losing their photos and important files all of the time. (They are usually the uniniated who think that computers will last forever... or they are stalling... or think it won't happen to them...) It makes me feel so bad that now I am on a mission to make sure Scrap Girls know that they need to back things up!

To not have your files backed up is like walking on a high wire suspended over a freeway. A strong gust of wind could blow you off at some point and you'll go splat and get creamed by a refrigerator truck filled with cold lettuce. If you back your files up, you'll have a net to break your fall.

Even with all of this computer excitement of mine, I didn't have to worry that I was going to lose the company's records, my financial memory, or my family history because both of my computers went bad on me at the same time. I had backed everything up.

So worse case scenario... I would have lost a week's worth of vacation photos because I hadn't been online enough for Carbonite to grab them or at home long enough to burn them to a DVD. In the big scheme of life, that's not too much.

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That is a VERY long winded explanation of why I went missing in the middle of the story of my vacation. The great news is that I got a lot of fabulous photos that I can't wait to scrap, write about, and show you. There are some interesting muses brewing in that pile, I'm certain of it. I am simply bursting at the seams to show you one group of photos and tell you about what happened but I am forcing myself not to do it that way. I want to make some layouts and write a nice muse instead because the event was "muse worthy".

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Here's what I used on my layout:

Brush Set: Circles 1ScrapSimple Tools - Shapes: Streamers 2101

ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Paper 4901-Biggie

ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Silver 5701

Road Trip - Part 2

Ro_Sunset-RoadTrip, originally uploaded by ScrapGirlsRo.

Va-ca-tion = vacate-one=vacat-i-on

i-on-vacat = i (am) on (a) vacat-i-on

To vacate: to leave, to un-occupy, to go elsewhere, to empty out, to go away

Vacat-i-on:

• to empty the clutter from the mind-closet
• to get away from your whiny self
• to leave behind the place that has tired you out
• to go to a place that refreshes and renews
• to go on a journey

I have va-ca-ted. I asked Gary for a blessing, packed up, and drove away from home. I am now sitting in a motel in Fillmore, Utah - the little town in which I grew up and you know what? I am perfectly fine.

Yesterday I wrote 3 muses. I took a lot of photos. I drove to Ephraim and Manti. I spilled the sauce from a Big Mac on my white shirt. I created 3 pages in my journal. And I slept so soundly that when I woke up, it took me a few minutes to realize where I am.

Today - in a few minutes - I am leaving this motel and will wander around the town, taking photos of nooks and crannies I remember. I will visit my fat her's grave site. I haven't been there yet. (He died two years ago.) Once I am finished, I will drive down to St. George and see my mother.

I need to do this more. My head is clearing up.

All of the photos I took yesterday where shot while I was driving. I happened to see an amazing sunset and I was able to get a series of shots that followed the progress of the sun as it went down. This is the best of them. I was about to Gunnison at the time.

Isn't it lovely?

Talk to you later!

Road Trip - Part 1

Hey you guys! I got my laptop back from the shop already. They fixed the fan, got rid of one virus that sneaked on there (McAfee... you slipped up - first time I've ever had it happen to me), and took care of a few other small things that was affecting the performance. And good news... They didn't have to do anything that messed my software or files up so I'm rockin' and rollin'.

My desktop is currently down there getting a big face lift...new case, new huge drives and more. I'll get back pretty soon, I'm sure.

So despite what you are going to read in next week's newsletters (because I already turned that stuff in to the team), I will have a computer with me on my road trip!

Yes! I'm Going on a Road Trip.

Just me. By myself. Alone. In a car. Eating fast food and stopping to take photographs whenever I want to. Or maybe not. Or maybe so. Or...going to little old stores to see what they have...  I don't know or care... My family can't come this time and I was dying to go somewhere, so I decided to just go myself. I am just heading out and the Scrap Girls team has instructions and everyone wants me to get away and stop bugging them. (They need me to go on a road trip, too!)

It took me two days to decide which direction I will point my car and what the main event of the road trip will be. I am leaving today and may - or may not - make it to St. George this evening. I am completely undecided about which path I'll take there (there are several options). Maybe I'll go all of the way down there tonight. Maybe I'll go part of the way down and stop at a B&B or something. I'll find out shortly.

The Main Event

Next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, I'm taking my mom to the Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City, UT. We are going to drown in it - 6 plays in 3 days. I've got us booked up in a cute B&B for two nights. Mom is excited... very excited. Since I haven't been to the festival since I was 12 years old, I'm excited, too.

Other Random Road Trip Facts

I also know that I am taking three cameras, my journals, a whole stack of magazines, a book I'm reading, my colored pencils and calligraphy pen. I'll have my Neo Alphasmart (that little thing I write on) and my laptop. If I want to be creative, I will have it covered. If I want to create digital scrapbook pages, I will have it covered. If I want to finally cut out all of the ideas I like from those magazines and glue them in my journals, I will have that covered. If I want to write 10 muses in 3 days, I will have that covered.

I have my iPod charged, my brain wired, and my suitcases packed. All I need to do now is shove my laptop in there so as soon as I quit talking to you, I can do that.

If I can, I'm going to give you Road Trip reports. We'll see... I've never done this before, so it will be new.

My "Light" Road Trip Reading Title

Epicenter - Why the current rumblings in the middle east will change your future - by Joel Rosenberg

This link leads you to Amazon, which is where I bought my copy.

(Yes, this is a fun read for me. I finished the fictional series he wrote on the topic. It is amazing! It made me want to read the other two books he has written.)

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Note to all of my blogging friends: I just wanted to tell you guys that you have been so nice to nominate my blog for awards and stuff recently. I love ya for it and want you to know that.

The problem I've had is that I haven't had a moment to go out and find 7 other blogs so that I can participate in the fun. I think I've had 5 invitations this week and that would make 35 blogs I would have to find! I love looking at other people's blogs but it is kind of hard for me to do this particular thing. I hope you'll understand.

Please keep talking to me and commenting on my posts, okay? I'll be wandering over to your blogs to talk to you as soon as I can, as well. I've been having a lot of fun making new friends by blogging and you guys are the best ever!