Artificial Intelligence

 There are a couple of things to clear before I start on today's topic. 

1. The USB stick --- good grief - this was a challenge, and it was only when someone sent me a picture of how it opened that I got it! DUH!!! There are days when I wonder how I make anything happen, and then there are days when I amaze myself with my creativity! Oh shoot -- I didn't take a picture of how it opens, but the ENTIRE top of that white square turns, causing the connector to pop out. There were little arrows on the side, but I was pushing and twisting, but I didn't do this! Perhaps I should have given it to DH; with our combined puzzle-minded brains, he would have figured it out! Anyway - problem solved! 

The USB works!

2. The stash downsizing. I got several suggestions on who to donate the fabric from Diane's stash to, and I truly appreciate them all as I learned of a couple of new places. However, the message was for YOU to start clearing up your sewing mess. Getting rid of the fabric is easy. You find an organization, and you donate it to them. But what about the patterns? Rulers? Notions? PAPER crap? The UFOs? Who will take care of that? Some people mentioned putting it in their will - great idea, but that lucky person still has to DEAL with the non-fabric crap! 

For the most part, non-quilters would just order up the dumpster or a black garbage bag and toss it all. And that's one way to deal with it, but is that responsible? I don't think so, and I could NOT live with myself if I just put everything in the garbage. Remember - I'm slow and methodical. 

I brought home one carload of Diane's stuff yesterday. Yep - the back of the car was jammed with bags of fabric and a few other things. It'll probably take one if not two, more carloads to get the rest here, as there are two sewing machines and a sewing machine tote. All of those are big. 

The car was packed!

Thankfully, I had an empty shelf in the garage, so I piled all the bags on the shelf. Yes - it smells of smoke, and I don't want it in my house. The garage door opens into the laundry room so I can toss a bag or two of fabric into the washer with that very SMELLY soap. Someone mentioned that sunlight can also eliminate the smoke. We get lots of sun in the front. What would the neighbors say if I strung up some rope and hung fabric across the front? 

My MIL needs company, so I might bring her here so she can iron it all! 

Some of Diane's stuff is in the garage

I had grabbed a couple of binders off a shelf and brought those home to explore. Oh my --- this is the kind of stuff I'm talking about that needs to be dealt with! No charity organization wants to deal with this crap! I reviewed the books, and all of them will be donated to the thrift store except two. 

Some binders and loose papers

Diane was a neat and organized person. WOW -- she had the pattern and the template in a labeled envelope. How many of you can say that? And it was all neatly contained in binders. 

Everything was neat, organized, and LABELED

I found a couple of handouts that I had prepared. 

Handouts that I wrote!

Yes - even in 2009, I was twirling seams!!!

Twirling seams back in 2009!

I found bindings and labels for THREE quilts that I quilted for her in 2020 and 2021. I have no idea where the quilts are, but I'll keep the binding for community projects. I will air them out, and the labels will be placed in the pet mat scrap box. I should ask Jerry, but I can't imagine that Diane would let these quilts sit unfinished. 

Labels and bindings

I found a few bits of paper I'll hang onto, but the rest is either in the garbage, the recycling, or my printer paper box. Gosh, there's an acronym for paper, which is still good on one side, but what exactly is it? GOOS? It doesn't matter, but I went through two binders, and they are gone. I'll explain what I will do with this paper another day. I have a few others like it, and I have a plan! 

Instructions for No Math Flying Geese

Do not yell at me for this next photo, but this is the state of Studio B at the moment. Can you imagine if I didn't come home? Where would anyone even start? I barely even know what to do with all that stuff. I need a lot more time to catch up, let alone start sewing something new. I will have to cut back (but what?) so I can start getting that place under control! 

The state of Studio B this morning

And now for the story of the day—artificial intelligence! It was a glorious day for a walk, and DH needed some things from the drugstore, so I offered to get them. I thought the drugstore had eliminated its magazine section, but I realized it had only been moved. I always look and spotted two magazines on organizing. If I never see another magazine about storage and organizing, it'll be too soon! I know how to do it, and I'm doing it! 

Organizing magazines! 

However, I spotted this magazine. 

OH -- An AI magazine

And so help me god - I bought it! I'm going to sit down later today and read through it. Hey - it says that with Chat GPT, I can cut my workload by HALF! I can get HEALTHIER and stress a LOT less. Hmmm -- so I got sucked in! 

I found it quite ironic that when I went to the cashier with my SEVEN items, everything scanned perfectly, except this magazine! I had a good laugh about that! It went into the system as a sundry item!!

Wait -- there's more to this story. Have you ever been to a restaurant and seen a couple sitting there and not talking to each other? Perhaps they are on their phones? Well, that doesn't happen when we go out. We've had some rip-roaring discussions at the restaurant, although we try to keep it tame. There's no food throwing or anything like that. Not yet! Talking politics in a restaurant is bad news for us, so we don't go there! 

But the conversations can be very animated, and I usually learn something new about my damn phone. DH thinks I'm a loser at technology, and he's right! I have a love/hate relationship with technology. Of course, I sometimes play dumb just to drive him crazy! And he's so easily perturbed! Oh - that's very naughty of me! 

Anyway, the conversation came around to this magazine, and we discussed AI. I told him that I use AI for writing. I do NOT let AI generate the writing -- that's the fun part, but I use Grammarly to correct the text. OH boy --- I got a big story about how he knows AI - he deals with it daily, and Grammarly is NOT AI. This was the conversation: 

DH: Grammarly is strictly a rule-based grammar and punctuation checker. 

ME: No, it is AI. 

DH: NO - it is NOT AI. 

Then he checked on his phone. 

DH: OH. 

Here is what Wikipedia has to say about it. 

Seriously - does he think I'm that much of an idiot that I don't know what AI is? Grammarly used to be a rule-based writing assistant that would check for spelling and grammar. Now, it tries to rewrite some of my sentences, and we have a merry time going back and forth until we can agree on the best wording for the sentence. It still gets things wrong by switching the order of the words, which makes for some hilarious sentences. But I am the "supreme commander," and I can overrule the darn thing. 

So AI is here to stay, and I'm sure we will see giant leaps and bounds in that area in the next ten years. I've already seen considerable changes in how Grammarly works. Do not worry -- it's always ME behind the words, while my writing assistant is helping at least to check the spelling and to put those darn commas where they are supposed to be!!!

By the way, I use Grammarly for everything I write - emails, documents, blog posts, absolutely everything I write. I'm getting my money's worth from that subscription. 

Let's see if I can get AI to help me in other areas!!! I'll let you know if I discover anything of interest. You can be sure of that! 

Now, back to something I understand- these are my two favorite products in the house. One to loosen stuff and one to remove goop! I had a very tight screw on a sewing machine and couldn't change the needle. It would appear the people at the factory wanted to make sure that screw didn't come out! In a few minutes, after a quick spray of WD-40 and the screw was loose! 

My two favorite household products

I have some USBs with sticky residue on them, and I'll get rid of that goop this morning. I will never be without these two products!!!

Sorry, I am very verbose this morning. I have one last thing. 

Yesterday, Murphy and I did our walk, but in reverse. Oh gosh -- she can't handle change and was going crazy. Then, just as we were about to enter the forest, look at who we had spotted!

Who's afraid of the big bad wolf - wait - that's a coyote! 

Here's a better picture. When it saw and heard Murphy (the entire neighborhood heard her), it just lay in the snow and looked at her like she was an idiot!!! 

Hey dog -- you don't scare me! 

We did not go into the forest. We had barely walked any distance on the sidewalk when I noticed an Animal Services van across the street. I asked the driver if they had spotted the coyote. Nope—they were watching Murphy! So they turned around, and I'm sure when they drove up, the coyote went away! 

I'm not frightened of the darn things. One good WHOOP and some frantic arm waving, and I'm sure the thing would flee! If not - I'll charge! Kidding!

Well, that's it for today. Grammarly and I can now discuss the changes to the initial rough draft! Oh, joy! 

Have a SUPER day!!! 

Ciao!!!