If you do what you have always done, you will get what you have always had.

Friday, August 17, 2007

Interesting.....

We've had a little relief from the heat. I was just sitting outside enjoying the cool breeze and started thinking about Sword and Scabbard. That's when I realized the correlation between my writing and the weather. I did check my records to verify my theory, and sure enough, my most productive months this year so far were April and May when the average highs averaged 74. Productivity dropped off in July and August as the temperatures have climbed. This looks like a trend I need to track. It might be helpful to know in the future.

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Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Adventures in birthday shopping

Alex had a birthday a couple of weeks ago. Per his request, I ordered parts to upgrade his guitar and guitar tab software. Mind you, I have no idea what this stuff is, really, other than guitar stuff. The parts were electrical and needed a soldering iron to install, but we have a friend who does that stuff and was happy to come help.

Problem #1: One of the guitar parts got left off the list. No biggie. I went back to the site and ordered it. When it came in, Alex's face fell. It was the wrong part. I e-mailed the company: "I got the wrong piece. The invoice says I'm supposed to have H23 but the box says I23. How do I exchange it?"

We were on vacation when I got this reply: "There is no record of an H23 on any of your orders. Please send a copy of the invoice and, if possible, digital pictures of what you received."

Umm, OK. When we got home, I scanned in the invoice, but I couldn't find the camera. (Go figure.) So I went to their site and, now being quite familiar with how to find things, sent a link to the piece we got. Today I got this answer. "Please send the piece to (address) and we will send your H86 right out. Thanks for shopping with us and reply to this e-mail if you have any other questions."

Jeez, H23, H86, whatever! Why can't you just send me the part? Send me what I mean, not what I said! (Why, yes, the box DID say I86! It's still the wrong piece!)

Problem #2: I ordered the software and it went on back-order. They can't give back-order status on-line, and remembering to call has been a lost cause lately. However, the company has a store near here, and I just happened to be in that area yesterday while we were shopping for school clothes. I'm such a nice mom that I went into the store and bought the software. When I got home I grabbed the phone to cancel the internet order and discovered they'd shipped the software already.

This is the part where I should stop shopping on the internet, but you know that's just not going to happen.

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Sunday, August 12, 2007

Simon says, "Sorry, no record deal."

I ran across this early this morning. Apparently, Simon Cowell really likes 6-year-old Connie Talbot's singing, but not enough to follow through on the record deal he proposed. His record label reps said she's too young for a singing career, so even though he said her voice is pure magic she won't be recording with BMG anytime soon.

There is a video at the link, and there's no doubt that she's good. The kid sings better than I do! For once, though, I agree with Simon. Child star syndrome aside, she could benefit from waiting a while before breaking into the music business. Yeah, she could make money now. She could also blow her voice before she's old enough to drink. She's amazing now, but with a few years vocal training she'll be phenomenal.

I hope we see more of her, but not for a while. For Pete's sake, she needs to be a kid for a while.

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Home again, home again

We got back Thursday afternoon and have been busy with getting home stuff. I wanted to have some pictures ready to post, but we're having technical difficulties. I'll get my tech support working on that today, I hope.

I have an early singing gig in one of our new satellite churches this morning so I don't have time for more than a run-by posting, but I'll be back with one of my famous opinions later.

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