Ethan looking really cute!

Produce

Grown in the Rio Grande Valley- Purchased from the produce cart today. This was one HUGE cauliflower.

Computer Class

Windows 8 is proving to be a challenge. The more I read about it the more I think it is a mistake. In my opinion they made the same mistake as the phone company's who have made their "phones" little tiny computers that do not work well as phones. So now Microsoft has made a great big "smartphone" that doesn't work well as a computer. It takes two to three times as many clicks/motions to get things done. In other words everything takes longer to do. Is that smart computing? Not in my book. We can hope they put out a major fix for it or come out with Windows 9 that resembles Windows 7. It looks to me like Apple is going to win this war. This too shall pass. I do have a friend who has Windows 8 and she says she likes it. She will have to show me why when she gets here. We had a few other simple fixes for various people. Like the easy ones. One thing I can say about all this is that it is a mental challenge and keeps me on top my game. My advice for Windows 7 users at this point is take very good care of your computer or start saving your nickels for an iPad or Mac.

One of those days...

It was one of those days when a great share of it was spent on association business. Days like these help me cement my resolve to let it all fall into others hands next season. It wasn't so much that it was stressful although some of it was, but it was more that it was there to deal with at all. The stress was a difficult person who doesn't listen or understand my position no matter how much I explain. Next year they can be someone else's problem. And that makes me happy. It was Thursday so today Butch shuffled in the AM and cribbaged in the afternoon. It isn't so much warm as humid. We have a real cold front headed our way soon and it is real because high temps will be in the low 60's. You can feel our pain? Right? I thought so...

Windows 8

I helped a friend set up a new computer and its operating system is Windows 8. There are some neat things about it and then some not so neat things. I spent much of the 2 hours we spent on it looking for things. So my final assessment is that it will be all right once you "find" all the stuff they have stashed away on it- things that used to be obvious.  It has a bigger learning curve, much bigger curve than from say XP to win 7. For instance- lately, like in the last year, I have been using Microsoft Security Essentials for antivirus protection. It is one of the few things Microsoft has done right. It is free, works very efficiently, updates automatically and never tries to encourage you to buy a bigger and better version. So on Mary's computer we planned to take off Norton and put MSE on it. So I go to Microsoft's website to find MSE for Windows 8 and there isn't one! I googled it and discovered that there is one but they have renamed it Windows Defender. It looks the same, acts the same and is the same wonderful little Antivirus program they just renamed it AND they used a name that means something entirely different on a Windows 7 machine. In addition by googling it I find that most manufacturers disable it in order to put a "free" trial of Norton or McAfee on  it. So then the we had to remove Norton-Done- and then enable Windows Defender-Done. Easy you say? We had to find it first! We were like two blind people trying to find our way. We did get a fair amount done but it was very much a learning experience for BOTH of us.
It was a fun evening and I am not being facetious in saying that. For me learning is always fun. Can be a bit frustrating at times but fun. Patience is my middle name- not really. But it could be.

Weight loss

Okay so I know you are dieing to know. My total weight loss thus far is 14.5 pounds. I really expected it to be more than that but it is what it is. My body tends to hang on with an iron grip to all the extra I have supplied it with over the years. But I am hanging in there and not giving up. If anything it cements my resolve to succeed. I feel better, more flexible and everything seems easier, like walking etc. Also my clothes fit better and I have dropped a size in blue jeans. Heck, I avoided wearing blue jeans altogether! And if one stops to think about a  15 pound bag of potatoes you have a visual of how much less I am carrying around today than I was 8 weeks ago.
Butch on the other hand is very near his goal. He is looking very slim and trim. I think his total loss thus far is 18 pounds. He has a different mindset than I do. He is looking forward to the day when he can have his special "treats". I am not doing that. I know those special "treats" are my undoing and if I ever have them again it will have to be a very special and rare event and I am okay with it. Yeah, the unfairness of it grates on me now and then but it is proof of my maturity that it hasn't knocked me for a loop. The truth be known I really haven't missed those so-called treats very much at all.
And then there is my friend Pat in Jefferson waiting to see how I fared with my plan over the winter. I am almost halfway to my goal, Pat! Whoohoo!!

One more thing...

I forgot to tell you another interesting little side story to the movie adventure.When Butch and I chose our seats we went into the row by two seats leaving two empty seats next to the aisle. And there were two empty seats on the other side of us as well. Shortly a Hispanic couple came and chose the two aisle seats and shortly after that a French Canadian couple came on the other side of us. I thought it was a bit strange that the six of us were all watching a movie about "Lincoln". It was something that caught me a bit by surprise. Surprising but nice.

December business meeting today. Glad that is out of the way. 2 down 3 to go.

Today was hot and humid. I hear that much of the country is having record setting high temps. Well we are too except down here it doesn't seem like it. They did say a cold front was coming through in a few days but we wouldn't probably notice the difference but drier air was behind it.

To the Movies

Butch and I ventured out of the park together. We went to the movies in McAllen. I wanted to see "Lincoln". Now we could have waited till it was showing locally as we have a theater about a mile from the park but we have not done anything out of the ordinary since we got here so we drove the 15.4 miles to the theater in McAllen to see "Lincoln" and it was worth the effort. The movie brought the man to life and made him very real. We can easily see the main actors being up for academy awards. I would see it again even though I am not much on watching movies twice.
There is a movie coming up that I may want to see. "The Impossible". Why am I hesitant? Because the preview made me cry. I am afraid I might sit for two hours and cry. It is about a couple vacationing with their children when the BIG tsunami hit and they get separated. I am not sure it has even been released yet but the preview was certainly powerful. It is a true story.