The best of both worlds!!!!

OH MY!!!!!! When I sit down to write the blog, I have to come up with a title, and some days that's a struggle because nothing super exciting happened. But there are days, like today, when I have many titles! I called it "The Best of both worlds," but "Happy Dance," "Exciting update," and "The email saga continues (part two)" would have worked as well. 

It was a good news day all around, so I'm excited. 

The knee update is all good. I did a short walk with the girls in the morning. While I feel perfectly fine at home, prolonged walking doesn't make my knee feel great. I managed to walk 9 KM yesterday, so it can't be all that bad. I'm walking slowly outside to be mindful of the ice and to take it easy. Who would have thought that was possible for me? 

Anyway, I've never been good at telling if my "fat" knee is swollen, so I'm going to assume it is based on feel. But it seems to be fine once I stop walking. So I'll stick to shorter walks, take it easy, and see how it goes. Hopefully, I'll be back to normal and can get to the gym next week. But I have taken full advantage of using that gym wisely in Studio B. 

Now let's check in with the email saga. OH MY GOODNESS - I have to give Microsoft credit. It had been arranged with the second-level escalation guy (Christian) that he would call within the 12 to 2 PM window yesterday. He might be on a call, so we set a window for the callback. He called at EXACTLY NOON. That was impressive. 

The issue at this point was that the emails only populated into the inbox, while anything in the subfolders was still missing. That's an issue.  

I was on the call with him for two hours. We were both patient - hey, he was helping me, and there was no need to get upset. Life is life, and we are talking email, not life and death. 

Here's what I learned about the NEW Outlook:

1. This is the icon
2. This version of Outlook is free for anyone to use - you do not need a license.
3. It does not use an address book that you can view. It retains the email addresses you have sent to, so it will autofill as you start typing, but there's no place to see them. 
4. It uses the contact list on your cell phone. So if you are a Google user, like me, that's the list that you can see. OK—that's good, but why would I want to see that list in Outlook? They are NOT the same. 
5. New Outlook is targeted at a different end user. I'm not sure who that is, but if I Google it, it says it's for personal accounts and small and medium businesses. I would assume that many personal users do not use distribution lists, or, if they do, they add those people to their contacts list. If they are a small- to medium-sized business, they likely use a third-party mailing service for their lists. 
6. New Outlook is OPTIONAL. Even though Windows 11 computers come with the New installed and the Classic is nowhere to be seen, you do NOT have to use the New. Thank goodness for that! 
7. It is a WEB-BASED app!!!

And here's what I know about the Classic version of Outlook

1. This is the icon—pay special attention to the differences. They are slight, but absolutely important - I'll tell you why in a second. The old is squareish, the new is rounded! 
2. The Classic version uses an address book where you can create, edit, and delete distribution lists using Autofill properties. You can include all kinds of information about your contact, including addresses, multiple phone numbers, etc. Perhaps you can do this in contacts, but not the way I like it to happen. 
3. This version is part of the 365 Office License, or you might be able to get a standalone version, but it is NOT free. I'm good with paying - the cost per year for the license for the entire personal version of 365 Office is around $100 CDN. You get FREE support with that. It's an amazing deal if you use tools like Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. I use three of the four tools daily, though I'm not a heavy user of Excel. My friends all think I should use it more! 
4. An actual Windows program!!

I almost wept when I saw my distribution lists on the new computer!

My beloved distribution lists are back!!!

OK --- so that's a recap. Wait --- I'm getting to the good news, but I know there are others out there that are confused by this, so that's why I'm writing it down. 

So here's how my computer is set up right now, and I might just keep it this way. I have BOTH versions of Outlook installed - that's why understanding the different icons is ESSENTIAL. I can go to Classic when I want to do anything related to distribution lists. YES --- Christian helped me migrate the data from my old computer to the new computer. I learned a lot in that process, and I'm going to take that same database and install it on my laptop. It will be as current as the distribution lists are now, but that's better than not having access to them when I'm away. They don't change much during the year. 

I asked about putting that address book file on OneDrive so it would always be up to date on both computers, and while it's possible, he suggested against it. But I think it was more of an issue that if I ran out of room, it wouldn't be able to update. Running out of room is no longer an issue, so I might resort to that at some point. Technically, there's no reason why you can't do that, and I know someone who does that. 

If I want to use the FOCUS email feature, I can read my email in the NEW version. And currently, all my emails in the subfolders are in the NEW version, so I have to use the two versions interchangeably at the moment. No big deal, now that I understand!

Part of my issue (and I confessed this to Christian) was that I was confusing those icons! I just ASSUMED (and we all know what happens when we do that) that opening the ICON would take me to the version I had installed. WRONG!!!!! I have to use the CORECT icon. DUH!!!!!

Where do we go from here? The case is being escalated to Level Three! I should be able to have access to all my emails in the subfolders in the Classic version, but they have a known issue with Google accounts. So they will arrange a call in the next couple of days and see what we can do about that. 

The bottom line is that I may have to retire my old computer now, since I won't need it, as I have access to my distribution lists on the new computer! 

There is another issue I need to resolve, and it involves the printer (Scanning), but I'm not going there at this time. So it stays for the moment. 

I see that Microsoft plans to roll out the New version to their corporate clients starting in April this year. Oh boy --- that's when the crap hit the fan! I should try to find out the plans for the end of the Classic, but they had better not do that before they completely fix the New. It is NOT mandatory to use either, but one day.............

Phew!!!!!! You can't imagine how good I felt after that call. Christian was so patient, and he was obviously in a different country because he wasn't sure what day it was here. I don't care - he was good, and he was a very good representative for Microsoft support. By the way, he tried uninstalling all my Microsoft products and then reinstalling them -- manually, which is what took so long. 

BUT WAIT --- other things happened at the house. 

Well, this didn't happen at the house, but I had to go to Indigo to pick up a magazine, and yes—they had another puzzle on the table. 

A jigsaw puzzle on the community table at Indigo

It was appropriate for the Olympics, as the puzzle had a winter sports theme. 

The picture of the puzzle

I didn't stop to put in a piece because I was on a tight schedule, trying to get all the homework done and into a presentation for tomorrow. I've almost completed the work on one and need to start on the second one. No need to panic! 

I also spotted these books of paper, so if you are into making junk journals or any kind of paper project, these books are filled with all kinds of wonderful papers and cardstock. I was tempted, but I decided they would still be there when I actually had time. Now that my days are less busy, I could perhaps work that in, but not right now. See how good I am? 

Books of paper at Indigo

I have so much "free" time that when Miss Murphy came to see me at the sewing machine for one of her many cuddles, I took her to her mat in Studio B, and I lay down on the floor beside her, and we had a good cuddle. She was pretty excited about that! And heck --- if all the work doesn't get done? Who cares? Well, I will get the work done, but it's also important to give her some time. She's getting older, and she won't be around forever. 

This morning I was looking in the bookcase for a particular book. While I didn't find the book yet, do you see what I spotted? 

OH MY --- who knew!

Yes -- there are TWO identical books. I've never noticed that before. What are the chances of them being put on the same shelf? The books are NOT in any particular order at the moment, but as I was going through them, I thought to myself, "Wouldn't it be so much easier to look through these books if they were organized?" So you can see that might happen next week. I am getting tired of searching. And I might try putting them into a database. 

OH GOSH -- do not tell my Excel fanatic friends about that because I bet they want me to put it in Excel. WAIT -- -there are apps for that that are totally automatic!!! I'll see. 

But of course, as I was looking through the shelves, who should appear? 

MOM -- can we lie on the mat again? I need a cuddle!

I've been doing a lot of reading these days and typically have an audiobook and an ebook going at the same time. Well, not at the exact same time, but you know what I mean. It just so happens that both of them are SELF-HELP books at the moment. And I have to say that I'm doing OK. I'm running out of time this morning, but I'll chat about both tomorrow and get the painting of the dogs that Cynthia painted. A LOT is going on, and it's hard to keep up. 

But here's an amazing quote about books. This is so true!!!!!! I designed this based on the quote and using my Creativate Machine Embroidery software. 

A great reading quote

I also need to dig out some stuff to photograph for Monday sewing and one class tomorrow, so I'll be busy with the camera today. 

Before I go, I would be remiss not to mention the girls who were back to their shenanigans while I was trying to concentrate on a book about my brain!!! They are so entertaining and just need to be there! I was eating an apple, which they don't like! It's all about being with Mom when she wants a quiet moment! Do not feel sorry for Lexi in the least, as she is the one who instigated this!

MOM - Murphy is trying to bite me!

I'll post the links for the Virtual Retreat today and get yelled at by the Zoom robot for doing so. It's a privacy thing!!!

Saturday, February 21 --- starting at 6 PM

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89610782501?pwd=7dCrhiL5t8Xa4TVwZPvhL6cOymbcjK.1

Meeting ID: 896 1078 2501
Passcode: 148311

Sunday, February 22 --- starting at 3 PM

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89869001291?pwd=h57kT9axwTnd2xtJvuO0z2UOmUo45w.1

Meeting ID: 898 6900 1291
Passcode: 136711

By the way -- I REFUSE to give in with the Outlook situation. It's a thousand times better after yesterday, and I learned so much about it. I need to understand how things work, and now I feel better. I'm not in control -- I get that, but I feel better. 

On that note, I have so many great and exciting things to do today, so I'd better get started. 

Have a wonderful day!!!!

Ciao!!!!