Aunty's Hide Out

Astrology Blog Link

2011-10-05T22:24:00.000-07:00

MsAstroStone Blog for Astrological musing

Ok, so what's the deal with having another blog other than this? Well I started up a new YouTube channel that deals only with astrology videos. That YouTube channel is named MsAstroStone. I started it on July 1, 2011. I figured it should have a blog of its own that only deals with astrological topics.

This blog "Aunty's Hide Out" has always been the blog where I'd come to whine when my website wasn't working for me.

I'm planning on traveling in the near future and I won't be able to access my website. I will be able to access the two blogs on my website. But in case my website is offline for some reason I wanted two blogs that are off site that I can go to to whine while I'm on the road.

So where might I be going? Nantucket, MA and Key West, FL, for starters. I have some locations in NY, both in NYC and update, as well as places in GA. But traveling is on the menu and I need to prepare my blogs to be able to share my adventures.

http://norajean.com/Blog2/ is the non astrology blog on my website.

http://norajean.com/AstrologyBlog/ is the astrology blog on my website.

Those two website based blogs are where I'd be posting while on the road. This blog "Aunty's Hide Out" and "MsAstroStone Blog" will be back up. Sort of the belt and suspender approach. Yeah, it's a bit excessive, but I've been on the road unable to access my website and needing to use blogger some years back. Back in 2001 I was on the road for 3 months, posted my adventures on GeoCities and they went belly up. Well actually I had three GeoCities websites because I didn't have a website of my own and when they sussed me out they closed down two and one of those had my travel logs. Ah well, the price was right.

Three Eclipses are coming

2011-05-30T23:25:00.000-07:00

June 1, New Moon in Gemini, 11 degrees

June 15, Full Moon in Sagittarius, 24 degrees

July 1, New Moon in Cancer, 9 degrees

It is unusual to have three eclipses happen in a row like this so the next 6 weeks are going to be rocking. If you have anything at 10 degrees or 24 degrees of anything look at that part of your chart for where you'll be rethinking, letting go of ways of doing things, letting go of relationships, drawing relationships to yourself, a whole bunch of activity will be kicked into gear with these three eclipses.

June 13th also is when Saturn goes Direct. So what we had been mulling about our relationships, Saturn being in Libra and that rules relationships, we will be clear about what changes need to be made. Saturn constricts so you may be letting go of relationships.

If you would like an astrological reading come on down to the astrology section of my website...

http://www.norajean.com/Astrology/Index.htm The month of June has a lot of activity with Jupiter moving into Taurus, getting away from that Saturn in Libra opposition that slowed Jupiter down when it was in Aries. Mercury rushing through Gemini in record speed. Venus and Mars moving into Gemini. What else, Oh Neptune going retrograde and re-entering Aquarius in August, not to be coming back to its home sign of Pisces until Feb. 2012.

So if you're antsy about the three eclipses or if you've never had a reading before, come on down. My prices are negotiable depending on a number of factors. Don't forget to read the disclaimers. I'm not an astrologer who promises to tell you the winning lotto numbers.

My website is back online

2011-03-10T12:28:00.001-08:00

Oh can you tell that I'm a happy girl?

I don't know why my website was off line or why my webhost was

also off line, or why I could not see either site through ananomouse.org. I have not received an email from my tech support yet but I'm sure I'll be hearing from him because we need to add space for my son's new domain. Soon this link will work.

http://www.stonesifumartialarts.com

Yeah I'm working on a website for my Kung Fu teaching son. When I told him that I couldn't access my website he said, "When you would tell me before that you couldn't access your website I would be one step above indifference. Now it's PERSONAL!" and he struck a Kung Fu pose.

One good thing about having my website go offline for a day or so is I did price out DreamWeaver. I have been using FrontPage 2003 and it is discontinued, no tech support, IT support teams hate to deal with FrontPage extensions, and FrontPage uses more server space because of the FP extensions and it's "spaghetti code".

If I fall over $500 that does not have anyone's name on it I want a new copy of DreamWeaver and a couple of support books and a new flat screen monitor. If you saw my monitor you'd weep. It is over 10 years old and takes up a ton of room on my desk.

So I'm sending out creative visualization vibes out into the universe: New copy of DreamWeaver, support books and a flat screen monitor. Just saying...

Off to do Laundry.

Solar Flare, Mercury conjunct Uranus, WTF?

2011-03-09T16:43:00.001-08:00

I don't know if it is because of solar flares or Mercury conjunct Uranus at the last degree of Pisces or what...

My website http://www.norajean.com is offline and I don't know why. The webhost, http://www.emonsterhost.com is also off line and that's not a good thing. Sorry for any inconvenience and I'll post as soon as the problem is solved. I sent a message through a cached copy of their website contact page to see what would happen. I got a failure notice saying it could not go through, but I didn't get such a failure notice when I emailed their regular support email address.

It isn't the usual problem I have with triggering their firewall because I did test whether I could get to my website and my webhost's website through http://anonymouse.org/ and it was a no go.

So wish us luck that it is something like a server needing to be replaced. Otherwise it is a matter of finding a new webhost and I'd rather not go through all that if I can help it.

On the personal front. I had posted that I was returning to my former name after my divorce became final. I was going through all my online profiles and changing the name ahead of time. I still had my Social Security card, CA ID, and voter's registration to change all official like.

On Monday, March 7, 2011 I changed the name on my Social Security card. I knew I had to do that before I changed the name on my CA ID. I looked at the DMV website, talked to a support person (after waiting for 45 minutes on hold) and was told I could get a sticker on the back of my CA ID for free. The website said a copy of my divorce decree was all I needed. My sister is on vacation so she said she'd pick me up early and we make a day of going to the DMV. That was today.

No one had the same information. Once I got to talk to a live person at DMV, after waiting in line for an hour, he said a "certified copy" of the decree. Off to City Hall to get that for $16.00. I had to apply for a new ID and take a picture (on a bad hair day) for $25. The lady showed me the second picture because the first one I was smiling so hard my eyes were squinty. "You can blindfold me with dental floss." I said. When she showed me the second picture it was a close up with all my chins.

"More chins than a Chinese phone directory." I told my sister. I also changed my voter's registration while I was at the DMV. Since the state of CA is taking so long to get new IDs and Licences to people they let me keep my old ID so I have something on hand to use. Mighty nice of them to do that.

The security guard at DMV came up to Linda and me, saying, "I've gotten reports about the two of you. You're having too much fun." At that we both started laughing.Good thing my sister was driving me around to do this or I'd have spent the rest of this week going hither and yon. Even getting up early and getting to DMV at 8:30am there was a long line to just get into the building. Thankfully, we were done by Noon and we went out to JapanTown for a bento box lunch and some window shopping.

The joke of the day was about a friend saying he thought when Samurai committed ritual suicide it was "sudoku". We have been laughing about that for days. Even Mom got a laugh out of it. Linda and I picked up Mom on the way back to my place while we were dropping off the potato croquettes I made yesterday for them.

"And there the distraught Samurai sat writing numbers on his belly, preparing to commit sudoku." LOL

So it's done and official I am now

Nora Jean Stone and my website is offline. Time go to zen about it.

Locked myself out of my website again

2011-01-21T16:32:00.000-08:00

Well ya know... old age and computers, you can know just enough to get yourself into trouble.

I was editing my onsite blog and editing a webpage on my site via FrontPage and then for some reason I got the "blue screen of death" on my monitor and my computer restarted.

Yikes! So reopen my brower tabs and got the autosave of my blog post and it wouldn't save. Says that I had to get in touch with the webhost or some such.

As I'm poking about trying to figure out what happened I lose internet access. After an hour of resetting the router, reinstalling the AT&T HighSpeed Internet, and jumping through flaming hoops in a ball gown of cheap toilet paper, humming "O Fortuna" on a kazoo. I still can't update my blog post.

Rats. I can get to Facebook and get encouragment from family and friends, but I got to be able to blog to the WordPress blog on my site and update my web pages.

I go to my cPanel for my website and can't get in there.

I go to my webhost's home page and no go.

Then it dawns on me. This has happened again. If you go through the history of this blog here, the Hide Out, you'll see how many times my IP has been blocked my my webhost firewall. The only time I use this blog is when my website is down and that's usually the cause.

I used a website that hides one's IP address and I can see my website and my blog. So others can see it also. Good. I make effort to update my blog post, no go because I got to pay to do that. I go to my webhost's home page, I can see that, good. I make effort to post a trouble ticket, no go, free use of the cloaking site won't allow that. sigh

Ok, so email to the support team of the webhost will have to do. No big problem. I wasn't doing anything all that critical on my website other than updating the volunteers on the CITY-Computer Moderator page, which I don't think may of the members of CITY-Computer has gone to visit anyway. My blog entry ended at "Good, the update worked." LOL

So here I am again, writing on this blog when my website is unavailable to me. All this has taken about 4 hours to transpire. Let's see how long it takes my webhost to fix what I screwed up.

Returning to "Stone"

2010-04-24T11:08:00.000-07:00

I am returning to my former name of "Nora Jean Stone". I'm going through all the online profiles and updating my photo and changing my name. As of 9/15/2010 I will be officially single, not that I'm looking to hook up or anything. Just to state that the divorce process is all but complete. Nothing left to do but sign some papers.

I archived a journal I write in when I'm out and about, waiting for buses and such all. It was started in 05/26/2007, at the beginning of the end of the marriage. Since the dissolution took nearly 3 years to complete I can't say I'm all that torn up about it.

It felt like I was mourning a critically ill entity and weeping tears before it died. So when it finally did perish I was done with my mourning.

So this is a little update and why you'll see my former name on my electronic foot print around the net.

Lori Turner & Friend

2010-02-10T14:04:00.001-08:00

Lori Turner & Friend
Originally uploaded by academy of american poets

This is my darling Ms. Lori Lynn, a BFF for 15 years. Now watching the snow fall in NYC.

P021010PS-0204

2010-02-10T13:40:00.001-08:00

P021010PS-0204
Originally uploaded by The White House

Bo in the snow. What's not to love?

A blog post about a blog post

2010-02-10T11:06:00.000-08:00

Check my website blog statement of intent:

Hanging out my astrological shingle.

AuntyAlias' Hide-Out is a back up blog, for those times when my website has difficulties or when I'm on the road away from my software.

Now that Goggle Gmail has the "buzz" and blogger can be connected to it I will be adding updates here, as in this case, leading you to the blog on my website.

Let's see if this picture shows up on Google "buzz". The pictures on my previous blog post did not and that is obviously a bug on their end of the equation.

Mercury goes into Aquarius, a perfect time to do geeky things like add "buzz", blog about a blog post elsewhere. I'm so totally amused.

We survived

2010-01-17T13:48:00.000-08:00

I just realized I should put an update here. We survived and with the generosity of ClayMates and StarGazers we were able to bridge the gap that loomed ahead of us in January.

My son was able to find an alternate contractor to work for until his former boss could get funds from a client, long and very boring story that. My son's girlfriend was able to untangle the snfau with her unemployment.

I was able to pick up a couple of astrology readings for pay.

The rest came from ClayMates and StarGazers from my yahoo groups. I didn't get permission to mention their names, but they know why they are and I'm ever so grateful that y'all pitched in to save my hide.

The website http://www.norajean.com will be renewed for a year. CITY-Lists.com domain was locked down for another year.

I'll have to admit that I knew I could handle losing my apartment, even though I've been here for over 22 years. But if I lost my website I'd be totally bummed. When I realized I valued my virtual space more than my physical space I had to admit I am a geek.

In the 10 years or so of having my website open for ClayMates to come and use free tutorials it has become a space where I can come and goof around. Ever have a play house when you were a kid, a special tree house or fort? That's the sort of feeling I have for my website. Many polymer clay and/or miniature website have come and gone in these 10 years. I want mine to endure. Call me a Leo born in the year of the Ox, but I'm just determined that I will continue to provide free tutorials for ClayMates. Not only that but I'm building an astrological following and CITY-Lists with Astrol-CITY are connected to this web host account.

But I digress, as is my wont to do.

On my To-Do list: update my website because with the scramble to keep the crib the website has not seen its usual monthly update and with the turn of the year the consolidation of 2009 still needs to be done.

I've been uploading files to Astrol-CITY: planets in the signs and planets in the houses up to the 10th house. I have some retrograde planets in the 11th and 12th to do and then those files will be added.

I've given away so much of my inventory over the holidays for gifts I need to start stringing more beads so I'll have something to sell in my e-commerce section. It just didn't seem logical to load up pictures of things to sell if I didn't know if I would have an apartment or a website. Those things had to be saved first. Now I can think of selling my artwork.

The soon to be ex-husband keeps on promising to file for the divorce. So far, no go. He got stereo nag. I want out and she wants in and he hates doing paperwork. Too bad.

Well, that's all the news from the Left Coast. We survived, alhamdolilah. reward to myself is to stop running about in a panic and read some fiction I bought years ago and never got around to reading because there's "always something to do". Reading is my reward and my escape from the hustle. The biggest treat, the hardbound copy of "The Golden City" by John Twelve Hawks. My son and I shared for the turn of the new year. We both agreed that we could live in a cardboard box if we had access to books.

It is not important where you live or what you have but what you can imagine in your head, you betcha.

Winding Down

2009-12-10T02:32:00.000-08:00

All the email that had been stored on Yahoo now has been transfered to my external HDD. The Yahoo Group mail is archived so that I did last. It was all the personal email from friends and family that I wanted to archive. Everything else can be found online one way or the other. But I got all of it done. I feel better having done that.

I invited my gmail address to all the groups I own or moderate and changed the admin settings and went on no-mail for auntyalias@gmail.com . A "just in case" preparation because once I lose this land line and DSL all my Yahoo stuff will go with it. I really regret going for that AT&T/Yahoo partnership set up. I couldn't find any email that said I had a choice. It just sort of happened to those of us who use PacBell.

My website is backed up. In January I have to renew two domains and pay for my web hosting. I wrote to my contact at the webhost asking if I could go month to month while things are slim financially. If I can do that then maybe I can afford to renew the three domains (Norajean.com, Norajean-Designs.com and CITY-Lists.com) when they come up.

I posted the SOS to my website.

Now that I have the "virtual" house in order I look to the future, as uncertain as it might be. I have this attachment to the email I've exchanged with my friends and family. Back in the day we wrote letters to each other, had paper we could hold in our hands, something for our children and grandchildren to refer to. Now the exchanges are digital saving one's history is a technical challenge.

Push come to shove I'll do all I can to save the NoraJean.com domain. Even if I lose the webhost I can get another and reload my website when the finances are better. I might have to take a couple of steps backwards but I feel confident that I can regroup, no matter what.

I've gone through worse than losing an apartment. I've had practice in taking the big tumble when money dries up like a shallow pond during a drought. One just has to be determined to get back up, dust oneself off, and say, "Well that was real." and keep on moving on.

Where I'll end up if I lose this apartment I have no idea. I got a couple of girlfriends out of state who have said, "Come live with me until you're 62 and then get early retirement." I'm 60 1/2 now. That's not a long time to be obachan at a girlfriend's crib. I do cook well and am good company.

Even when I was young and marketable I couldn't get some guy to help out, not very much anyway, not with a couple of kids to take care of, so not being particularly marketable now to someone doesn't strike me as anything odd. Not really.

I am peaceful now that I have my email archived and organized. I've started sending out email to my Moderator teams on the Yahoo Groups, giving them the head's up that I might go MIA for a bit. That's why I am glad there are other co-owners who can look after the subscribers.

I'm so totally glad I have this blog as a back up and I'm going to start using this more regularly now that I am in the winding down mode.

An old hippy boomer who lived on communes, hitch hiked across the country with a baby on her hip as a teen mother, has a certain sort of flexibility when things go wonky. I never had a stable situation to get used to. Things were always on the edge of the abyss. There's a faint sort of familiarity to the oncoming storm.

I know the steps to this dance, the dance of uncontrollable change, the chaos cha cha. Well it's 3am and I should get some rest. Tomorrow I am going to be throwing out stuff that isn't going to come with me should I take a tumble.

SOS and Head's Up

2009-12-09T22:54:00.000-08:00

http://www.norajean.com/2009/12-09-09-SOS.htm

The recession is hitting our family hard. I might have to keep contact with the outside world through this blog. My other blogs are connected to my website and if I can't raise the $160 I need to renew the domains and the website those free tutorials will disappear.

The link above is to an open letter and SOS to the polymer clay public and it's on my website, we're paid up until Feb. 2, 2010.

If I take a tumble and lose my apartment and my phone I'll be using this blog to post updates on my situation.

If you've used my free tutorials and want to help keep my website up and running, click the link above and I'll be thankful for your mercy.

NoraJean

Website is up

2009-11-05T22:23:00.000-08:00

Just a note to let folks know that my website http://www.norajean.com is up and the problem was my web host's firewall. When I'm editing my website and open the WordPress blog that is on my website the firewall gets twitchy. My IP was blocked, just like last April.

It was fixed in a couple of days.

My website is down again

2009-10-22T00:15:00.000-07:00

It's not just NoraJean.com
but it's also CITY-Lists.comWhich has sections for

CraftBizAdvice
Computer-CITY
CITY-Adornment
CITY-o-Clay
Astrol-CITY
Para-CITY

and my "not ready for prime time" e-commerce section...NoraJean-Designs.com

It started around 10-21-09, 10:30pm PST, when I was posting a blog on my WordPress blog that's on my website. It wouldn't go through.

I go check a page on my site that I've not gone to since I cleared my cache, no go. I check the C-Panel, no go. I go to the "report a problem" page on my web host's site, no go. The home page for the web host, no go.

It's a big problem then if the web host site is down.

I go look at Green Bay, WI, electrical outage and the picture they have there is the same exact outage problem area that I have in my blog post of April 19, 2009.
http://auntyalias.blogspot.com/2009/04/norajeancom-is-down.html

If I had the money I could consider getting a new webhost, but that's out of the question right now.

So I'm posting this blog as a continual record of the problems I'm having with my website. Let's hope it gets cleared up by tomorrow.

I wasn't at WoodStock

2009-08-14T15:59:00.000-07:00

All this talk about Woodstock. I wasn't at Woodstock. I was a former Navy Wife, had two children, was in a marriage that was failing and still hadn't completed high school. All this nostalgic talk about 40 years ago I can just wave away with a roll of my eyes and an audible sigh.

I'm happier now at 60 than I was at 20. Oh that's not me in that picture. I found that picture online when looking for "old hippies" pictures. She's just a darling.

I also feel blessed that since 1975 I've had the pleasure to watch my third born son grow instead of being in jail like Squeaky Fromme (Dangerous but inept). She got out of jail today and it is just mind blowing to know that she and I are the same age. We obviously made different choices in our life.

Anyway, I'll celebrate the moon landing and the crossing of Abbey Road (check out the webcam images of the 40th anniversary of the crossing of Abbey Road) , but Woodstock doesn't resonate with me because I was up to my elbows washing cloth diapers and being in a loveless marriage.

My then husband wanted to go to Altamont Free Concert and I said "With two children in diapers? Do you know that area? I do, it's pasture land, two lane road, it'll be nuts." and it was. One of the reasons he is my ex-husband, we obviously saw the world in different ways.

So this is just to record that for all the looking back that people are doing, especially boomers, looking back at marching for civil rights, to end the war, going to love-ins, living in communes, et al... I'm happier now than I was then. I would not turn the hands of time backwards to live that life again.

I'm content to live in the now, thankyouandhaveanicelife.

It wasn't a Power Outage

2009-04-20T18:07:00.000-07:00

My tech guy, Ryan, writes to me asking for my IP address, saying he's going to check the server's firewall. While I was waiting for him to check it out, I sent an email to myself using my website email address, came through lickity split. So the address forwarding filter is working and that only works when my website is functioning. Then I asked the COCModSquad to check out the CITY-o-Clay's web section on CITY-Lists, to check if they can access that site. They could. So I figured Ryan was on the right track.

The power outage was a separate issue that wouldn't effect my website because where my website is stored isn't in Wisconsin. He appreciated my concern.

I'm just relieved that visitors to my three websites didn't get a 404 error message. I would rather be the only person put out about the problem. I didn't want my visitors to be discomforted.

I am glad I keep track of my website outages here. I'd forget otherwise and going through old email is a time sink. It's boring for anyone coming here though. Sorry about that.

NoraJean.com is down

2009-04-19T18:45:00.000-07:00

EmonsterHost Outage, 04-19-09: As of 6pm PST my webhost couldn't be contacted, not the home page, not their support page, so my websites NoraJean.Com, NoraJean-Designs.com, CITY-Lists.com, my two blogs, everything is unaccessable.

I thought... electrical outage I'll bet. So I went to go look for Wisconsin electrical outage and the picture there is what I found. My webhost is close to Green Bay. See that grey area? That's where the outage is at this time.

So there's not a lot I can do when that whole area is suffering from an outage.

It's just frustrating because I was on a web page update and build mode today. I sent out a bunch of posts pointing to the new pages and feeling pretty good about getting a bunch of web work done.

So here I am at Blogger.com, venting.

Google Profile

2009-04-10T13:55:00.000-07:00

I just filled out my Google Profile.

Rites of Spring

2009-03-21T17:58:00.000-07:00

It's been almost a year since I updated my profile picture. I cut the dyed part of my hair, the left over of my 2007 Thanksgiving Tour, so it's back to growing it out again.

As for what's new, my website is back up. The webhost had a super duper firewall that blocked my IP. I still can't get the norajean@norajean-design.com email address to filter to my pacball account.

I've been working on building inventory for NJD, getting a new paypal account that actually goes to my bank account and not my soon to be ex-husbands. Picked Mals-ecommerce for the electronic shopping cart.

I'm not surprised that I'm facing a new life as a single woman just after my second Saturn return. It actually feels liberating. There are some things worse than being alone after all. Solitude isn't lonely when one is busy following ones bliss. Having over 1,800 list members in my Yahoo Group, 9 team members helping me administer the group, my two youngest sons, aged 34 and 30, and their girlfriends living with me and near by, it's difficult to feel lonely.

I feel a blossoming of my creative potential. After 10 years of building my polymer clay skill set I feel confident with myself.

Last night I was watching a movie about CoCo Chanel and I was inspired to start sewing again. But not to make clothing for people, but to explore fashion ideas for dolls. I keep on having this desire to do Harajuku dolls, Goth Lolita Lite sort of fashions. It's a recurring idea and it's going to have to be expressed.

That's about it for now.

Website Down Again

2009-03-09T17:51:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do with my webhost. NoraJean.com is down, NoraJean-Designs.com, is also down.

I was working on building my e-commerce section: updating paypal, Mals-ecommerce, and when wanted to change the email forwarding for NJD to go to a NJD email address I found that the site wasn't online.

I checked it last night. I checked NJ.com today. Both were working. Now both sites are belly up and the Cpanel doesn't work for NJD.

What's a grandma to do? I have two emails going to the webhost support and am waiting for a reply. I also tested norajean@norajean.com and the test emails are not coming in either. That tanks my plans of doing ecommerce with this webhost. Without the money to change hosts I'm feeling the effects of the full moon in Virgo raising my urge to grutch.

What would Willy The Shake do? That picture is supposed to be a painting done in his life time and had been hanging on the wall of the home of the descendants of his biggest supporter. Looks better than the engraving.

NoraJean.Com is back up

2009-01-09T18:48:00.000-08:00

Well eMonsterHost.com came through and my sites are back up.

Thank you Ryan!

Nothing like a short outage to remind a person to do back up.

It's not just NoraJean.com but it's also

CITY-Lists.com

Which has sections for
CITY-CraftBizAdvice
Strange-CITY
CITY-Computers
CITY-Adornment
CITY-o-Clay

to name a few

and my "not ready for prime time" e-commerce section...

NoraJean-Designs.com

Mind you the sections that use FrontPage themes, like CITY-Computers and the e-commerce section are seen better using IE. FireFox doesn't play well with Windows stuff, so it seems.

I'm so happy I can just dance about. There's nothing more horrid than having my sites down. Some people work jobs and make money and buy a house and fill it full of stuff. My "house" is my website, it's what I've put time and energy into over the years, and when it's down it's like getting locked out of my crib.

I was glad my back ups were just done and if I had to rebuild, for some awful reason, I wouldn't have had a huge job to do. Now I have those couple of days I did add stuff to my website all backed up and I'm a happy gal.

WebHost Problems Again

2009-01-09T15:19:00.000-08:00

I can't seem to win for losing with webhosts. eMonsterHost.com is hosting norajean.com and it's not coming up, again. I went to the host's website and that's not coming up either. I sent an email to the support team and the owner and haven't gotten a reply yet.

I know that they are located in snow country and it's been a harsh winter for them. Could be that lines are down. Could be the recession got to them and they are out of business. Could be a number of things and I have no idea what it could be without a reply to my email to them.

It is frustrating because I'm working on building an e-commerce section to my website, got a new domain for it and everything. Good thing I didn't have the doors open and have customers to serve because that would have done more damage to me. This way it's people who are looking for free tutorials who are being inconvenienced.

So I'm venting here because my main blogs are on my website, which was working last night when I mentioned that Bob Wilkins of "Creature Features" died. What ever happened to my website happened between midnight last night and 1pm today.

Mercury turns retrograde Jan. 11th, and my communication problems star two days early.

Rats.

What's up with Blogger Gadgets?

2008-08-12T15:57:00.000-07:00

I was trying to add this picture via the Blogger gadgets and I kept on getting the message that the picture wasn't valid. Then I added it to a webpage on my site and was told that the url wasn't valid. I think that the picture portion of Blogger Gadgets isn't valid. What a time sink all that was. So here's the picture of the Old Woman with the computer which is an embodiment of who I am.... just an old woman with a computer.

My Website is working

2008-08-12T15:10:00.000-07:00

It took a month but my website is now functioning like it was before the content was moved to a new server. I know it's a problem with FrontPage and with FrontPage being discontinued I'm wondering what I'll have to do going forward. There's Expressions Web that's supposed to replace FrontPage but I've read that it's still buggy.

If my site weren't linked all over the place I'd give it a big re-org. But the tutorials are linked on a mess of other sites around the world and if I do a re-org I'd hear monster teeth gnashing.

This blog post is a test to see if my new Gmail email account is connected to this blog. It seems to be. I'll have to log out and log back in to test it.

Problems with Web Host

2008-07-20T12:17:00.000-07:00

I tried to edit a page today and got the message that the permissions have been changed for my website. Not by me, that's for sure. Then when I tried to back up the site I got a message that there's some pages duplicated and I should delete them or change their names. I went to delete them and then got the message that the Front Page extensions have a problem.

I opened a tech support ticket at eMonsterHost and found that the date for the ticket was 12/31/1969, for goodness sake.

I checked my stats and they have not been updated for three days.

To say that I'm bothered is an understatement. I just got this new web host in Feb of this year.

I'll be blogging here for the duration of the problem.

It's all fixed

2008-03-30T00:13:00.000-07:00

Ok, now that I can use FrontPage with my new computer I'm putting this blog to sleep for a while. 03-28-08: Computer wrestling. has a mess of nattering about it.

New Computer no FrontPage

2008-03-28T19:59:00.000-07:00

It started around Valentine's day and with some difficulty I have my new computer up and running today, (03/28/09). What a PITA.

I exported my bookmarks to an external HDD and imported them to the new box. I had already copied PhotoShop to the external but didn't know if it would open so I tested it and I can open my PhotoShop! Yeah!

But my FrontPage isn't buying the new OS (Vista). Good thing my old computer isn't dead, it's just old and wheezy. Updating my website (norajean.com) is going to be slowed down since I have to unplug 4 plugs and plug them in do edits and switch plugs again. My worktable looks like a geek's dream date, computers, wires, externals, piles of software to be loaded up, notes on transfering data.

I don't like the new keyboard but my old ergonomic keyboard isn't a USB plug and it was starting to skip letters so I'll have to get used to using this one. If I ever get tested for typing speed they use these little rectangle jobs anyway.

The new computer came with 60 days of MicroSoft Office Suite to goof around with. I updated my resume at Monster.com. I had been wanting to do that but my Word files were on the D drive that died, prompting me to barter astrology for this external HDD, and I couldn't update my resume. Not much to add by way of job experience: four years of volunteering to teach art online and goofing around with my website. If someone finds that amusing and offers me a job I'll fall off my chair.

What else is going on... Oh I've been answering astrology questions on Yahoo Answers, there's a link to it on my website's home page.

With this new computer I am obligated to set up an e-commerce section on my site. I figure that astrology consultation has always been one of my "products" over the years so I'm adding that as what I have up for sale.

It couldn't hurt that there's over 1,800 list members at CITY-o-Clay who might be interested in having me read their charts since they know me already.

There's a couple of things I've been being told by family about marketing: I am not the best one to toot my own horn, I don't take my skills seriously, that I am my own art project, that there's got to be some inexpensive things as well as expensive things, etc.

Yeah, but I'm thinking that there's a couple of things I have done: established a web presence, built a fan base, and established a brand. This astrology answering stuff is a brand building that's deliberate.

I've already consulted young adults in India, competing with the Vedic astrologers. Russia is the leading country visiting my site. I'm thinking that maybe my Russian visitors would like to have their charts read by their favorite polymer clay teacher. With the internet anything is possible. The days of walk in traffice has been replaced with hits and eyeballs to the website.

So we'll see if I can parlez astrology readings as part of my earning potential. I could fold in some astrological polymer clay things while I'm at it. That would be hip. Individualized charts done as key chain fobs.

I'll be linking this blog to the site's home page when I give the home page an update.

What I have to figure out is since I'm a legit customer of FrontPage, I want the $99 upgrade to Expressions, but the FrontPage is on my old computer and I need the Expressions to be loaded on my new one. Can it happen? That's the big question. If I can't figure that out then it's hundreds of dollars for a new copy of Expressions.

Gave up on WordPress

2008-02-26T21:16:00.000-08:00

Yahoo mail is down and it's made me realize how much email I have stored on Yahoo's servers. It's scary. I grew dependent on Yahoo through the Yahoo Groups and Yahoo email, that when there's an outage I'm dead in the water. Looks like I need to do an archive through Outllook sand store it on my own HDD.

I had a WordPress blog, it went wonky and I figured it was the old web host . I got a new webhost and have been spending the last couple of months updating my website, copying thousands of pictures off of Epson because that's closing down April 2008, I got a Valentines's gift of a new computer from my estranged husband and it came in broken. It should be arriving at the ACER repair as I type. So that's where I've been lately.

I also started up a wee prefab websection that's going to be my blog area on my website. This space is a back up, something that's needed when switching webhosts. Or when Yahoo Mail has an outage and I'm jonesing.

I didn't blog while I as gone

2007-12-23T17:03:00.000-08:00

12-05-07: The Texas Thanksgiving Tour "I'm back" post to CITY-o-Clay.

I didn't blog as I had intended while out on the Texas Thanksgiving Tour. It's a little weird to use other people's computers, especially as much as I'd have to in order to blog regularly. I found myself being shy about asking for computer access and when I got it I kept the usage time down to a minimum.

I did have a great time and got some good feedback. As soon as I get pictures from the Ladies who attended the workshop I'll share them. My camera was acting odd while on the road so I didn't take but a handful of pictures. I need a new digital camera and a laptop with WiFi and that's on my wish list for 2008.

I realized how much fun I had when I was flying back home. I found myself feeing blue. I wasn't ready to come home I wanted to keep on traveling. It took me a week to get the apartment cleaned and all the laundry done. Back to "real life". I'm still not on schedule with going to the gym but I only gained 4 pounds while I was traveling and that was a miracle because I was being fed very well by my hostesses.

My WordPress blog on my website is still on the fritz. Something about the database being crashed. I'm in communication with Ipower Customer Support and I hope it gets fixed soon. I don't want to depend on blogs that are off of my website. Not that I don't appreciate this blog as back up, mind you, it's just that I want the blog that's on my website to work.

It's hard for me to believe that it's taken me as long as I was gone to get back into the swing of things. To begin to clay again. To update my website. To post in the blog. I'll have to remember that when planning my next tour and how much time it takes to turn around and head out again.

Two days to Christmas and I find that I'm always a bit blue around this time of year. I'm keeping a low profile. The frenzy of consumerism gets in the way of remembering it's supposed to celebrate the birth of Jesus.

There's a dilema in this with my wanting to set up an e-commerce section of my website. Should I feed into the frenzy of conspicious consumption by making things just for the holiday season? Or should I just make what I want to make and people can buy what they want to buy without any indication that the items are seasonal? I'm leaning towards the latter option. Most people making things for Winter Holiday sales start in July. That always made me feel weird. It's hard to be inspired to make winter things in summer.

I think what I could do is make things inspired by winter in winter, just sell them the next year. Make things that are summer inspired in summer and sell them the next year. That makes more sense to me because it gives me lead time to build those e-commerce web pages.

I still need to get a business license, sign up for a reseller's license. Remove the OScommerce section off of my website and download Mals-ecommerce software to my computer and work with that. Seems easier to use and leaves me the option to customise the shopping cart page to match the rest of the site. I'm just thinking outloud really.

I just want the next few days fly by while I watch Bible Documentaries recounting the birth of Jesus and to eat the foods that Jesus must have eaten in his day: pita bread, fetta cheese, dates, black olives, a bit of fish. I want to throw a blanked over my head and stay quiet the next few days, dodging phone calls.

The reason why I can't get into the "Merry" mode is with the birth of Jesus there is his fate to die. When I sculpt Mary and Jesus figures I make her look loving but sad. It's bitter sweet that look of love, knowing that he is to be sacrificed.

But maybe it's the lack of sunlight or Capricorn transiting planets opposing my Mars in Cancer. All I know is I want to hide this time of year. I hope all of you who are reading have the type of Christmas you wish to have. I know I will: quite, contemplative, and low key.

Texas Thanksgiving Tour

2007-11-12T23:33:00.000-08:00

There's something broken with the WordPress Blog on my website http://www.norajean.com/ and I can't post to it. Something to do with the SQL database and I'm not able to access it to repair it. I sent an email to the support staff at Ipower-inc.com and if they give me the right reply I might be able to repair it when I'm on the road. Although given Murphy's Law I doubt it.

This is a problem because I'm leaving for Texas in less than two days. Since this blog has a picture of me in my 2001 Easy Breezy Tour Rice Cracker outfit, which I'm going to be wearing on this tour, it seemed fitting that I'd keep contact with the ClayMates through this blog.

If you can't go over something you can go around it and this is my work around.

I'm all packed up, been packed and repacked because I keep on adding cured polymer clay things to bring to show to Densie, Jen, Eva and Debbie, who are my team members on the COCModSquad, and my hostesses when I'm in Texas.

Check my home page for details on the "Triple T" the Texas Thanksgiving Tour and check here for the updates, since my WordPress blog on my website decided to go wonky at the worst possible time.

One of my favorite pictures

2006-12-13T16:10:00.000-08:00

Testing the photo function. This photo is loaded up at my Flickr account. There I tested the url function.

This has got to be one of my most favorite pictures of myself. I got on my leathers, my ostridge boots I bought for $3.00 at a Little Rock, AR, yard sale. My goofy tiger stripe cowgirl hat and I'm as fat as I want to be.

Down with the tyranny of the thin!

I was in Jackson, Missippi, with three of my sisters, to clear out the trailer after our father died. He was cremated in a cardboard box. "Spare no expense in the Cardboard category!" My older sister, Linda, hollered when meeting with the Funeral Director. He laughed until he cried with us Brummett girls.

Oh get over it. Daddy had a good death. He had coffee grinds and water in the Mr. Coffee machine just waiting for the next morning. He died in his sleep in his bed. The next door neighbors adopted L'il Sheebah, Daddy's Dog. Daddy was able to remain independent until he died. That's a good death.

But he left little behind, being too poor to pay attention to such stuff.

This outhouse was across from the Motel we were staying at and I told my sister Geri to take a picture of me there and I'll tell folks this is my inheritance from my father's vast estate. She is such a good sport she said, "Sure thing, that would be too funny."

It was back in 2001 and we're still laughing.

2006-12-13T15:04:00.000-08:00

I'm testing free blogging sites for a Yahoo Group where I volunteer as a Moderator. So this is a test, if it were a real emergency you'd see some real content.

Happy Holidays to those who aren't "humbugging it" this season.