It's all fun and games with technology

Can you explain this to me? 

I spotted this when I was on my way home from one of the morning walks. 

A friendly dog walk? I think NOT!

Nothing appears out of the ordinary in the photo. The person in the front was jogging (although she stopped to walk a fair bit), and she had her dog on a leash. OK -- so nothing wrong about that. Someone was following her on the bike - husband? Son? Nothing wrong with that, either. 

But she was talking on her cell phone! She didn't have earbuds in, so she held the phone flat in front of her while attempting to jog and walk the dog. Now - did she accomplish any of those things well? That poor dog probably felt terribly neglected. 

It's like kids in the car. If you give them a device to play with, you've just lost interactive time with them. M and I used to have some of our best conversations in the car. We played games and we communicated. While I do a lot of thinking when I'm walking the girls, I also spend a lot of time chatting with them. They love it and I can see their ears prick up or back, depending on the dog! 

Oh well—each of us has our lives to live, and how we do so is our choice. Just the thought of doing what she was doing is stressful!

While I do not usually eat bread, someone gave me some jam a while back, and I thought I'd better use it, so I bought bagels the other day. Hmmm --- doesn't it look like the bagels are thinner, and that hole is bigger? At least there are fewer calories in each bagel, but I'm hungry an hour after eating one!

Are the bagels smaller? 

In an attempt to clean up some of this data clutter, I emptied my Dropbox account last night. I canceled my subscription, and although I won't get any money back, I won't get charged next year. I'll have access to the free amount of space, which is 2 GB. That should be plenty to share the few files that I need to—should I need to. Before, I was using it a lot to share files, and I no longer use that method. 

Copying, then deleting files! Lots of them!

I downloaded the files to my other cloud storage (which I will ALWAYS keep), my other external hard disk, and my new external hard disk. Before I do anything else, I need to sort out what's on the new external hard disk. I hope the word of the day will be DELETE, but I don't have time for that at the moment. I'm taking it with me so I have something fun to do in the evenings!

Then, like I've done in Studio B, it's to continue to sort the same topics into specific directories (I have an impressive file system), but with a bit more duplication than I would like! 

I registered my broken hard disk with a data recovery company, and I think I need to drop the disk off today. Working that out was a challenge, but I think I'm good.

The bottom line? There is a ton of work to do, but I'm taking steps. Getting rid of that Dropbox storage was one step closer, even if all I did was move the stuff. I'm understanding the storage between all these places a bit more, and well, I'm now dangerous!

What still needs to be done? 

1. Find all those USBs - they are in a safe place in the office, but which safe place?
2. Sort the data on those USBs -- probably a LOT more duplication. 
3. Sort through all the files on the external hard disk
4. Figure out the next steps, including a way to back everything up! 

Since I have multiple devices, I like the idea of Cloud storage because I can share my data between computers, and I have easy access to my files if I'm on the road. What I would like to do is perhaps become less reliant on Cloud storage except for certain things and use several external hard drives that I can carry on the road and switch between computers. But the most important thing is I need to find a way to back everything up! I'm not worried about that now, but I need to figure it out before I go further so I don't end up in a mess again. And there is one thing to say about Cloud storage -- they do not let their equipment lapse and provide backup! 

Now, I could do that cleanup in the gazebo!

Speaking of the great outdoors, it's summer! The girls have their freedom back, as I leave the back door open, and they come and go as they please. They are VERY happy. And Lexi slept outside the entire night and is still not in the house. 

Open door season at our house

There's the proud Murphy who is happy to be outside but still needs to be close to Mom! 

Majestic Murphy!

I had seven things on my list to do yesterday, and I managed to get five of them done. One requires some research this morning, and I'll work on the other two today, but I already have a list of what needs to be prepped today. The bottom line is that I am making samples to show on my Facebook Live (May 16), and one can never have too many samples. Let's say when you make samples, you are never done!

I'm working on the Singer SE9180 sewing and embroidery machine. This is a small machine, but mighty! While it's missing some of the bells and whistles from the top-of-the-line embroidery machines, and the largest hoop is 170 by 100, it packs a LOT of punch in a small space. Can you believe that it's Wi-Fi enabled? 

The Singer SE9180

Yep—I was able to search the mySewnet Library for a design and download it right to the embroidery machine!

Searching the mySewnet Library

The price is also right and would be perfect for someone just starting out in embroidery or who wants an embroidery machine for small things but without the cost of the bigger machines. I love the darn thing!  

As I was sewing something on it the other day (it also sews very nicely), I was using enders and leaders from the Barn Star quilt. And I trimmed them yesterday on my squeaky clean cutting mat. 

Trimming half-square triangles

Remember that little block I found on the floor? 

A lost foam block

I opened the sewing machine I had just boxed, and sure enough, that little foam block went inside the hardcover to prevent it from moving around. So it's back in the box. I tell you, it's all these little things that are time-consuming and create clutter if we don't keep on top of them. 

The next customer quilt is loaded. I received a few in the last month, and I had better get to work on them. I'll quilt it today. 

Customer quilt loaded

Take a look at this goof. I was listening to a hilarious video about surgery on a dog toy, and when the guy inserted the "heart" (a squeaker), Murphy became instantly alert! She heard a squeak and wanted to know where it was coming from! Like many other dogs, she is very reactive to sound! She comes running when certain commercials come on the TV, and it's the music that attracts her. She can associate the music with some animal on the screen! 

MOM -- I heard squeaking! 

I had a software class last night, and things went well. OK -- THREE things didn't go well and I need to follow up with them today. The first thing was my mistake -- when I saved the file (it was an alphabet), I saved the A as the A file. That's good. But then I saved another A in the B file, so when I went to load them, it looked like a mistake. Sigh..... I'm my own worst enemy sometimes. I had two other things I wanted to share, which didn't work quite like I wanted, so I have some digging to see. 

I did some of it last night, and that's when I discovered I had incorrectly saved the B file. Guess what? I'm just like the students in the class—I learn by doing, and I dig deeper when it doesn't work out. I need to dig deep today. 

While I want to work on the samples, I have other things to do, and well, I'll get done what I can—I can't do more. But that Singer SE9180 is so small, I could tuck it in my suitcase!

On that note, it's looking like another great day, but I'm stuck in the house. Well, that's not entirely true since I'm out walking for at least 2 1/2 hours each day, so I don't feel like I don't have any ME time each day! 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!