A few Measly Steps a Day

Thanks for the advise to go brand name. Did so, it's on its way. Did I get those i-t-s es right?

Which brings me to, read it out loud with another person! Going through some papers I saw the original graph which turned my head around about proofing. It said 2 people proofing in series (first I proof alone, then you proof alone) are not even close to as good as 2 people taking turns reading out loud while the other follows the text. This has been enshrined in extreme or agile programming where pairs of programmers work together.

I think the factor difference was 1000, meaning, dual proofing is 1000 times more accurate than serial proofing.

A sort of meta-meta-analysis on paired programming. It's meta squared because they cite meta-analysis studies along with a bunch of garden variety studies.

R, I enjoyed the few times I've coded alongside a colleague.

D, book publishing has changed a great deal since I participated in a writer's group during the 1980s. For example, back then publishers would not accept a photocopy of a manuscript -- you'd have to submit the original.

Hey supports. Yesterday sent by cert. mail the close-out check for the condo's reserve study. After the usual diligence, selected a company based on their verbal promises. They were disrespectful, arrogant, and just simply wrong on several things in their report. I did my strongest to dissuade them misguided path and persuade them to write a report or study honoring and following our policies. No avail.

The law wanted it done, so check that box. We're going to lock it away and nobody will see it. In 3 years another owner or group of them can take it if up they want. I'm done.

Thus concludes my 2 yrs of service. Added to my partner's 5 yrs, we've been leading things here for 7 years. There are 11 other owners. None want to work but we're not stepping back in. We have a problem. Longstanding and common in condos, I know.

The rub is, unlike leaving the CEO post for a company, I have to continue to live where I led. This is my home, and we'll need to keep watch so they don't screw matters up. A huge less heavy load, but still a load.

So be it, And so It Is.

R, you did more than your share of condo management. Enjoy your freedom from it.
Me - I'm chasing commas. My computer and Grammerly don't agree on everything. And my friend who proofs has her own ideas as well. She's usually really good about catching typos. But I took her advice on one comma issue. Meet my friend Roy, Vs. Meet my friend, Roy. I put the commas in. Grammerly says to leave them out. oy vey!
The weather is gorgeous out here, and we got a lot of rain this winter. Our reservoirs are full, and my neighbors' lawns are green. I have other issues, but I feel like getting back to the commas. Good stuff to all of us.

"Meet my friend Roy" vs. "Meet my friend, Roy"...

The first sounds like you're telling someone to meet your friend who's named "Roy." The other sounds like you're telling Roy to meet your friend.

If I were not due to turn into a zombie in four minutes, I'd dig out my Little, Brown handbook of grammar / writing and find a definite answer.

Sometimes these conumdrums can be avoided by reordering the sentence. But not by a Zombie

I think SPG is onto something: reword the line. Sometimes in life I might say, "Joe, this is my friend Roy ... Roy, this is my friend Joe."

Getting into the next iteration of my laundry device crisis. Today, we finally got a new one after shipping the old one off to the insurance company. They say so they can test it and maybe go after the manufacturer with a claim. Hm, they can just as easily "discover" something and say we were at fault somehow.

It's in. Put on the 3 hoses with new washers. 2 hoses, 2 worked, one leaked. It was the hot water, so took it off. Big leak, the inlet must share water internally. Decided that the hose might be at issue, but before getting a new one decided to try faucet caps because we don't use hot water to wash clothes. That's what the device eliminated.

Sitting collecting my nerves and breathing before trying yet another round. Touching my Luck Charm. ...

Well, took more than it should, but got the cap on tight and no leaks. The issue was the threads on the plastic (really Maytag, plastic?) inlet. Washing a load now.

Case closed.

Re: the commas. I'm tempted to spell it comas. If you remember, the same problems come up every time I publish. Anyway, I wasn't writing about Roy. Grammarly's point was that if you need the name "Roy" to explain whom you are talking about, leave the commas out. If not, use commas. Example: I like Roy, the master of gardening . . . I didn't even think of the two ways the sentence could be construed. Anyway. I want to say, "who cares?" I don't but I have to get it right so . . .
The teeth saga continues. Stay tuned for gory details. Surgery coming up.
On a very girly note - I just volunteered to do flower arrangement for our church. (two vases - one for each side of the altar.) I get to do the one for May 5th (mainly because I asked for it) I wanted Cinco de Mayo because I have a lot of succulents in my yard that have been asking for attention. I have two small bowls with Hispanic designs, The succulents will fill the bowls, swirl down and the the side, and they'll be accented by white, red, and magenta flowers from succulents. (except for the red ones - don't tell.) I love making things like that.
I want, so badly, to be done with editing. I just rewrote a paragraph, changing it from "he had nightmares and hallucinations . . ." to Hoards of brooding Arabs with scymetars were closing in on him . . .
I'm not writing the whole thing - too long . But that also gave me a dose of happy.
Saga of stiff shoulder continues.

Good wishes to you all. R and SPG, may you thrive. R, may your washing machine thrive as well. May I thrive along with you.

The flower arrranging idea sounds wonderful, especially if you can use plants that you've grown yourself.

I've had a similar idea on the backburner for a while. I would provide indoor plants for the office.

So far I've been bringing my own houseplants into the office for the winter. I tend to collect (hoard) annuals that I keep in pots all summer and part of autunm.

But the next step would be to purchase some plants that do well under artificial light and that provide some air purification, such as peace lily. These would stay in the office year round.

I got this email from Patty Newbold about Barbara Sher. I'm passing on part of it in case either of you is interested.

How to Keep Barbara’s legacy alive

As much as I admire Barbara’s work, I am not Barbara. And I am not immortal. She needs you, too.

I hope you will join us next weekend (May 4 and 5) to discuss what’s needed to keep her work alive, make it available to many more generations, and how you might enjoy helping with that.

If you have not yet received a Zoom invitation from Kandy Sartori (WriteSpeak grad, Cleveland Weekend of Wishes alumna, entrepreneur, and master’s degree candidate), please reply, so I can ask her to send you one.

We will meet, in large groups and small, by Zoom (or just telephone if you prefer), from 1 to 5 pm Eastern on Saturday, May 4th, and Sunday, May 5th. Using Appreciative Inquiry, we will brainstorm ideas, discuss options, and make plans for the future of Barbara’s Club (Hanging Out, WriteSpeak, our book clubs, and the Survival Guide) and Sher Success Teams.



email: webmaster@barbarasclub.com
web: barbarasher.com and barbarasclub.com

Thank you for sharing that! I"ve changed my email address since those days, but I think I can still access the old mailbox.

Thanks Delightful for passing this through. We're peddling along here on Support Forums to continue what we began on her site.

Wishcraft solidified for me how crucial support would be for my life. Positive-side support to offset the "hit bottom" X Anonymous approaches. Good stuff.

I was always thrilled when she piped up in a discussion.

One of the joys of jubliglee is contentedly sitting in the stands and watching how others take to getting things done. I'll be curious to see the creative ways which emerge to carry forth Barbara's work, but in some random way as I'm eager to cull my email inbox.

My partner is coming back from her 2-week retreat on the WA peninsula on Saturday. Did I get my long sought rest? Not really. She left me with her 340 pg memoir to review/comment/edit. Grrr! Not really her problem or fault, just annoying as it pushes off for later any sense that I hold no major commitments to anyone.

Hm, how will Friday, my last full day, unfold? I'll check back with a report.

I spent a couple of hours on the Barbara Sher Zoom conference. (a conflict - I didn't stay for the whole thing.) A couple of people from the Boards were there - Lyndon and Karen Lu. ( probably misspelled her last name.) Probably others that I didn't recognize.
BarbaraSher.com is mostly about on-line book clubs, Hanging Out, and on-line workshops now. The focus was how to bring Barbara 's message to the world. It was boring at first and then got interesting. I mentioned the Boards, and that three of us were still meeting online.
We thought that we should be reaching out to the younger crowd - under forty. Patty asked how many of us were under forty. Three out of forty-one raised their hands. We all talked about modernizing the look, and having a main page and having all the activities available from there. One of the younger three talked about Instagram, Tic Tock YouTube and other sites more popular with the younger crowd. I was interesting in this re promoting my books.
They talked about rebuilding the Boards. Yay! But don't hold your breath.
And we all thought that the most important thing we got from Barbara was the importance of a supportive community.

Patty Newbold heads all the Barbara Sher workshops, etc. now. You probably know that. Money is a problem, and designing websites, etc. costs $. That's why they probably won't bring the Boards back. I pointed out that Barbara always said there are ways to get around money. Bartering. One lady suggested college students as a source of work and ideas for not much money.

Thx for the update. I haven't followed Sher's legacy and never paid for anything she offered except for a book or 2 along the way. I might have paid something for the support forum as they ever asked.

Looked at Patty's site. She's been busy, and a success. Cool.

As you've learned, social media takes a lot of attention, skills, and even luck.

The past 3 days I've kept a very slow and slow profile. Mostly runny nose; COVID negative. And a cough every once and a while. My immune system enforcing a time out to allow itself to reset after so many years of nearly unbearable stressors.

Using the time to scan the upcoming annual film festival. 100s of films in lots of genres. I've picked out a set and my partner has hers. Thinking of getting an annual membership to lower the prices, plus I get 5 bags of popcorn as a benefit. Yum.

-snip-
Seems like a good strategy -- there are more Gen Y and Gen Z than there are of us

Post-COVID, there was that "Mass Retirement" (or whatever it was called) and folks wanted to earn a living by doing something meaningful. These would be good folks to target.

Ahoy! The 50th edition of the Seattle International Film Festival is going strong. I've attend 2 films, with a 3rd slated for tonite. That will bring me to half of the 6-pack I bought. My criteria is weighted towards stuff I'm interested in. Went to the first shorts program because I'm in a film chat group and might catch a rising star early. The other one was "Agent of Happiness" and set in Bhutan, the only country with a happiness index. The main character is having an unhappy time, ironically, because he has no citizenship due to some ethnic conflicts from when we was a child. This means no long-term jobs and also limited marriage prospects. It was interesting seeing people actually turning prayer wheels and reciting a mantra. I always fear I'll be caught out when I do this when given a chance.

Tween movie shows I'm hauling out excess stuff. Today it's glass bottles and jars. No worries, we'll start collecting more before sundown, it seems.

I also want to take photos of our panasonic transcription machine. Very handy for grad school interviews and such ... 30 years ago. Ay!

A transcription machine from more than 30 years ago! I'm just sitting here pondering that.

Lots poppin about the place. Finally ultimatumed our handyguy to come and patch and paint our walls. I said, if you're too busy and need to pass, let us know. He wanted the check, but even then he inserted a couple of errands for other projects on the day he was supposed to be here. Good worker, nice guy, and as gently as I could I hinted this is not ideal for his reputation. People think because I will grant a delay or nod when they say something more important is afoot I am not seeing what's going on.

A friend is out of town for a few days so I offered to stay at her place to keep it occupied. She said yes, and today is the start of my stay (till Sunday). Laundry, some dusting, packing, and a [raw] milk run and I'll be all set to take a nap! Tonight I'm at a personal story event then a movie till late.

Lots for a single day.

Teeth issues persist, but I'm going a cheaper route. I was going to do implants, with the endodontist replacing all the upper teeth in my mouth. I got nervous when I felt that the the dentist resembled a snake oil salesman, and I got a second opinion. The second opinion made more sense to me. One of the issues was that the first dentist wanted to do the surgery while I was awake, six hours with valium and Novocain shots for pain relief. There were others.