A few Measly Steps a Day

My computer caught a virus. I think I took care of it by powering off the computer, but it still seems to show up on Google. I'm using Firefox - so far so good. It's the one that tells you, "don't turn off your computer. Call this number." If you ever get it, don't call the number and turn off your computer.

I'm reading about horrible flooding in Washington and British Columbia. Is everyone all right?


Thanks for the hugs SprinkL3.


We did a drum circle yesterday. I loved it.


I'm writing up a storm. I hope the streak continues.

My few steps today is to update my logins online (i.e., my passwords). I have a spreadsheet with hints (not the exact PWs) that I utilize whenever I update each online account. It takes me a while to do, but my alumni and other educational accounts often require PW changes every 6 months, so I decide to change all of my PWs every six months to keep things as consistent as possible. Given my brain fog, I adjust to changes better when things are more consistent, and when changes occur methodically (as opposed to impulsively, like the seemingly rapid impulse decisions we've seen with the CDC and FDA and other governmental changes during this pandemic). I try to take my time and embrace the changes slowly, and do what I can to find safety while changing some of my routine.

Hello World. No flooding here around Seattle. It's a luck thing.

These virus things are too annoying. I think that same one appeared on my browser and I did what you did, turned off everything, restarted and then ran my virus check.

SprinKl3, If I may, I think you have a couple of ways to make your life easier around passwords. You may know that there are apps for tracking passwords, which you need a password to open. I happen to use password wallet, but there are many like this.

Another is that most browsers, I know Firefox does a great job, also keep a list of your passwords. You can find them under the preferences > security or some such tabs.

A third options is save your spreadsheet with password protection. Tap file, and near the bottom of the menu look for password ...

I'm adjusting to having another person back home. Mostly good, and rest is about adjusting. I really understand today out of some misguided need to help me feel disappointed before the world disappoints me, she cannot accept I want her first reaction to any of my new ideas to be positive. This works down even to the level of conversation as she's constantly "editing" my general way of speaking to more specifics, and the like.

Just listened to Whitney Cummings's podcast with David Sedaris. David said he's very careful with the first time he shares a new story he's written. He gets an intuitions about the audience and only when he feels a particular audience will be receptive will he read it that first time.

I have other people I can share new ideas with.

Sad, but it preserves my emotions and likely the other working aspects of this relationship. Better sad than mad, preserve the glad.

Revu2

I'm glad you're safe and dry, R.


I identify with what you both wrote about critics. For me and my writing, when I'm working on my first drafts, I just want to know that I'm wonderful. When I'm getting close to publishing, I need to know what the weak points are. I hate it. I don't want to hear what's wrong with what I've written, but I have to know what to fix before it gets published, not after.


I'm getting a fair amount of writing done, which is good,

I'm having people over the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I haven't hosted anything for a long time, so it's a bit of a challenge for me.


Good wishes to both of you.


I'm going to take a shower, do a Twitter post (which is also a challenge) and call it a day.

@ Revu2 - Thank you!

Hi thread, just needed to upgrade my mac operating system because ... turbotax demanded it. Which they do every couple of years which I hate doing but less than I want any tax data out there on the cloud, so I do the deed.

As a result now I have a true 64-bit system (Monterey on Macs) which kicks to the corner a few of my 32-bit apps like Inspiration mindmaps and Alphasmart keyboard.

It happens we've kept a Mac plus a couple of laptops about for just this eventuality. It all began to get annoying when Apple tied a bell around Clarisworks/Appleworks and sent it wandering into the lonely desert in search of other "unsupported" programs. Recalls to mind dealing with a scofflaw spouse after a messy divorce who stops sending child support & alimony.

As it so happens, I was tooling around with an online free mindmap app called Coggle yesterday. Some intuition tickling my fingers?

SprinKL3, you're welcome.

Revu2

I'm a PC gal (and have Dell computers - one laptop, one desktop). I only have an iPhone, but I kind of prefer Android (like Motorola or something).

I do want to learn how to be efficient at both, or to create my own "vanilla machine." I wonder if it is too late for me to learn programming languages. When I was 18, and we're talking 29 years ago, I placed in a computer science course that taught Fortran, Pascal, and C++. I wound up dropping that class and going in a different direction. Now I wish I could have focused on computer science, statistics, and math back then. I would have rather done that than what I got myself into over the years. Life would have been way better for me. At 47, however, I think it might be too late.

You both mention evolving technology and changing passwords, and change in general. I hate it! If I were twenty, I'd love it. I always wanted to learn new things. Now I just want to be able to work with what I know. I have to laugh. On my first day of college, I was afraid that I'd learn everything, and there wouldn't be anything new to learn. I figured out soon after that that wouldn't ever be a problem.

My writing has slowed down - partly because I've been cooking after-Thanksgiving dinner and inviting a friend over for after-after-Thanksgiving lunch., and partly because I've hit a place in my writing where I'm having trouble finding the words. I have three thousand words left to write for my Nanowrimo challenge. I can do that if I can get over my writing glitch.

Good luck to you both.

Have you tried reading Julia Cameron's "The Artist's Way" book? She offers tips for writer's block. It requires writing anything and everything that comes to mind - typos and all. This helps with the creative process. Once you do your "Morning Pages" for a while, it will help you to find the words. You can also take breaks and read, enjoy nature, watch some shows, do artwork, until you have exactly the next idea to write about and finish your writing challenge.

Good luck!

Honestly, I don't trust those programs that keep all of my passwords in some vault. So I change up my passwords in my own unique ways, and I leave myself hints that only I can understand in a spreadsheet. I'm 47 and too old to do all that stuff, though I seriously wished that I could learn the ins and outs of networking and programming so that I'd trust programs like password vaults more. Right now, I don't have enough knowledge to make an informed decision.

Why?

Because this weekend someone used my phone number on their Apple order, and I received a text stating that my order (which I never placed) was ready to be picked up. I contacted the Apple store to indicate that I never placed the order. I contacted the FTC to file a fraud activity that was used with my phone via a text message I had received. I contacted the BBB to inform them that I received various answers from various Apple representatives (one at the store, one online, and one horrible lady in C/S that I was accidentally transferred to), which included one cancelling the order and making the lady reorder the item once she showed up in the store or otherwise, one that stated that the person who used to have my number accidentally used it to place this order (even though Apple, the company, should have validated and verified the number before sending me an unwanted text, if that were truly the case and not some spoofing hoax), and yet another who said that the lady with the old phone number who placed the order was the victim and not me - of which I dissociated and told her where to go before hanging up on her. I also contacted my phone carrier to inform them about the potential fraudulent activities, and how I've been receiving numerous unwanted spam calls and texts, and how the app wasn't working to block them. They finally fixed it, but that took me deleting and then reinstalling the app because of some glitch on their end. The technology is there, but the functionalities are not always on par with user-friendly needs. Ugh - not a simple task at all. Very taxing, stressful, and time-consuming. It took me a few hours (half my day) to complete that because of unwanted texts, which took away from my day and worsened my mental health. It also partly ruined my holiday weekend - as I'm alone anyways, but who needs a retraumatization scare about possible identity theft when I've experienced it as a veteran many times in my past because veterans are often targets of data breaches and the like. I'm sick of having spoofed this, hacked that, money stolen, etc. It's driving me insane, and then to be told by companies covering their asses that I'm wrong in reporting fraud, when that is exactly what is within my rights to do from the FTC, etc. I contacted the BBB to ensure me that the order placed with my phone number was cancelled and that the cancellation wasn't rescinded by that nasty C/S rep I was transferred to in the end.

So a few easy steps took multiple few manageable steps and lots of trauma processing because identity theft is NOT a victimless crime, and it does lead to PTSD or worsening PTSD when being a polyvictim, and blaming victims and victim-shaming only adds to the trauma that I had to experience over the holiday weekend when people politically do their Black Friday shopping, which includes many risks, including identity theft among one of the many environmental pathogens out there based on human behavior and belief systems.

I'm so done being the responsible victim in charge of watching, fighting, protecting, avoiding, etc., etc., etc.

It's not a matter of a few measly steps because it takes an effing lifetime to manage PTSD that never goes away in a cruel world that takes, rapes, and hates.

Yuck work, indeed, SprinKL3, just the pits. I get from your tone that one of the most galling things is all these companies (and the FTC, and other supposed low enforcers) really can't be bothered to give a yawn.

Seems like everyone everywhere exist on autopilot, doesn't it? I've been asked by people who ought to care why I care so much!? Eh, sorry —Why do they care so little. Add the insult of a company collecting our hard cash or the government collecting our hard cash (alias—taxes) not caring.

So, rant early, rant hard, & rant often :: Get it out and through.

Revu2

@Revu2 - we all could use a safe cyber hug at this moment. ((((safe hugs))))

Oh, SprikL3, thank you for stepping up. It does seem that modern technology has as many drawbacks as benefits. I've had similar problems. Once, I reported fraud to the police, they asked if I lost any money. I hadn't so they said to delete the offending post and move on. They can't prosecute unless I've actually been robbed. Which is true. I've worked for law enforcement (environmental) and I know that the district attorney has to have a good case or he/she can't do anything with it. But . . . My latest trouble - I get three or four emails a day which are advertisements. The UNSUBSCRIBE button is the link to the virus. I'm okay if I don't confirm the unsubsccribe, and McAfee warns me if the unsubscribe is risky, but I didn't know that at first, and accidently hit the second unsubscribe - see my post of a couple of weeks ago. I've gotten a lot of emails similar to yours, SprinkL3. They tell me my credit card was declined, or that I've ordered something I didn't, It's turning me into a very grouchy individual.

I visited a friend who was having a difficult time the other day. We sat and talked for a few minutes, and then she told me that she had a bad cold!!!!! She was going to get a COID test the next day. Meanwhile, she was sneezing and coughing up a storm. So I'm laying low - trying to stay away from people for a couple of weeks. I'm not scared, and I know I'm probably being overly cautious. I wore a mask, used sanitizer after I left her apartment, immediately took a shower and washed the clothes I was wearing. And I've been vaccinated. So the odds of me catching anything are low. Still I have a lot of friends with delicate health. And I'd hate to be responsible for spreading anything. I have a COVID test kit at home, so if I absolutely have to go out, I can use it that day to check whether I'm contagious or not.

I reached my Nanowrimo writing goal (Yay!)

I'm trying to learn Twitter. I can tweet, and I did send out a couple of tweets. My next step is to figure out Bit.ly. It's a way to shorten a link so that I can fit it on Twitter. The link takes the reader to Amazon where he/she can buy my books. So that's my next goal.

Happy stepping, everyone.

Thank you!

I tried Twitter. My Twitter days are temporarily over. I left all social media that has those algorithms dictating what shows up in my feed. I don't like that at all, so I decided to take a long break from all that. But Twitter is one of the safer ones, IMHO.

Best wishes on your book sales!

I don't like social media, but I can't see any way around using it - for me anyway. I sent a couple of tweets, and I guess everything went okay.
Thanks for the info about Twitter, SprinkL3. Also thanks for the info about "The Artist's Way". I will check it out.
My friend with the sneezing and coughing tested negative for COVID. So I'll cautiously get out of my house and into the outside world. I'll still be cautious about transmitting cold germs. A germ is a germ, after all.
I'm almost done with the first draft of "Earth Songs" (or whatever I end up calling it. I have about two pages to go.
So my big challenge is to get tweeting. For the record, I think calling it tweeting is stupid, and calling the messages tweets is even stupider.

Hello Measly Steps World. Congrat's D on reaching your Nanowrimo goal.

I'm not much on social media either. Well not quite. I'm here, I'm on Meet-up (about a dozen groups, of which I attend maybe 3) plus co-organizing one on liberating structures, and grudgingly on linkedin.

My personal distaste is the enormous amount of time they take. Just email runs to hours per week. And another peeve is the incredible shrinking "canvas" to communicate with—like the limit to a tweet. People even alert you with TL;DR (too long, don't read).

I cannot watch most music videos now because they're cut to MTV's standard, which is no shot lasts more than a couple of seconds. Oh, come on.

I'm curious D what you would call the messages flowing through twitter. Let's see, we had letters, then telegrams, then email, tweets, & text. In Africa we had drums, Native Americans had smoke signals. Even the Vatican has smoke signals when picking a Pope.

What are my current steps a day? None, I'm Off Duty! Till Monday to celebrate my birthday. I've started a dive into comedy and comic writing to support a friend who's doing beginner stand up. So that's a thing, but no commitment or due dates.

Checking in to clock out, Revu2

By Twitter messages I mean whatever the writer posts - a lot of advertisements. (That's what I'm posting.) opinions, news items of interest - some real, some made up or slanted. Twitter is more about marketing - Facebook is more about connecting with friends.

I'm healthy, and my friend tested negative for COVID, so that's all good.
It's raining today, so that's wonderful. We had a dry three weeks (?) I think it was about three weeks, which was worrisome.

I'm feeling a bit depressed right now. I think I need a long walk in the rain.

Hello MSTAD (Measly steps a day). Facing a big churning turning time for myself. I'll proceed here in the open. Some things for your consideration.

1. I'm dealing with taking on the major "make sure" role at my condo.

2. I'm calling it my "better home" or "home improvement" project in public because 99% of the time I get rolling of eyes, and horror stories. The first dismissive, the second the least helpful reaction the person can dredge up. Basically communicating "grin and bear it but don't look to me for support." Gee, thanks.

3. All of the common "have you thought ofs" have been thought of. These often are delivered by the rolling eyes crowd.

4. I've concluded that the social-emotional work will be the hardest. If I can focus on the work and spend zero time struggling with feeling put upon, unloved, and taken advantage of, I can manage this for the next 2 years of service.

5. The hardest part now is I have to curtailed my leadership services on a meetup group for liberating structures. It's been great fun itself for the past 16 months. This is the churn in the turn. Just only so much promise keeping I want to juggle. Sigh.

6. I'll keep my running log of wins and struggles on a different tread and link to it from time to time.

7. Right now my support here in the condo and across other condo "make sures" is invisible. One part feels very alone. I learned from reading The Psychic Grid that my tribe is real and active, only not yet tangible to me. Part of the journey is watching this appear, and making magic to speed the process.

8. Thanks for your hugs, and attention. Feeling a bit better prepared now.

Revu2

I have OCD now, on top of everything else (PTSD, DID, CFS/ME, GERD, IBS, etc.).

My steps involve:

1. Pacing myself - relaxing intermittently between tasks.

2. Taking one task at a time (because one day can even be too much).

3. Telling myself positive affirmations at least once a day. This include using internal family systems (IFS) coping to speak with my alternate personalities (alters) about certain decisions, which occurs on a daily basis.

4. Telling myself what's safe, so that I remain grounded and less anxious about doing certain tasks (whilst also using IFS coping).

5. Trying to eat healthier.

6. Trying to sleep healthier.

7. Trying to maintain good hygiene, since I don't have the energy to shower every day.

8. Maintaining a spreadsheet of my budgeting and daily tasks, which logs my accomplishments for the day.

9. Telling myself that it's okay if I have an "off" or "bad" day. There are days when I simply cannot do anything as planned.

10. Communicating with my therapist via email every day and online during our sessions twice per week.

11. Using effective communication with others via phone, Zoom, chat, forums posting, email, and/or texts. I'm not perfect, but I do the best I can.

12. Trying to combat one fear per week, whether that be going outside alone for a walk during the daytime or early morning hours, or not feeling compelled to wash my hands as many times that I do, or using lotion on my hands more frequently.

13. Minimizing my triggers, any toxic relationships, any toxic news, the general news, and any other stressors. I can minimize this to one hour per day or once per week - or something to that effect. But I try to never read disturbing news first thing in the morning or the last thing before bed. I try to reserve that for the middle of the day, if possible.

14. Being flexible with goals. This is still a traumatic pandemic. Things are constantly changing, so my goals have to change, too. I'm more open about change than I was two years ago. It's not easy, and it comprises many traumatic losses, much traumatic grief, many traumatic triggers, and more. Nevertheless, I am surviving, and that's the best I can do.

15. Remaining as safe as possible, and being true to myself, which includes all of my alters.

So many challenges, you two! Consider me sending you both positive vibes.

I'm doing Christmas things today. I'm happy with the presents I've bought. Downside- my house is a mess and the ants are marching. And I've decided that I'm a lousy writer. We'll see what tomorrow brings on that note.
On the very positive side - the ants are marching because it's raining. Yay! I'll start attacking the housecleaning and maybe write a couple of cards. SprinkLe, in case you're wondering, in California, eight out of the last nine years have been drought years. Last year was horrible - roughly three days of rain all year. So we all want rain. And with everything so dry, we have had a ton of bad fires.
Good wishes and good vibes to you both. (and anyone else who reads this.

Hi MSTAD, on the Barbara Sher site we were exiled from because she closed it, we had great fun with the idea of Yuck Lists, described as a list of things you'd rather not have to do, yet you must. Taxes. Colon health screening tests. Yet another COVID vax. All yucks things on my list.

Had a decent enough meeting last night on a project that a team is struggling to wrap up. Feeling energized so devoting this morning to my Yuck Stuff:

• Colon health test (don't ask the details)
• Mail it
• Tracking a repayment for a fouled up order via Paypal
• confirming a training date with client
• paying local taxes in another state (online)
• sending cousin a holiday wish and note for his share

Oh, I found a great hack. Got to thinking that someone might have made a daily checkbox Google sheet, and found one. Google Sheet Geeks. Have fun.

Yuck Stuff:

Done
Colon health test (don't ask the details)
Mail it

• Tracking a repayment for a fouled up order via Paypal
• confirming a training date with client
• paying local taxes in another state (online)
• sending cousin a holiday wish and note for his share

The company I ordered from, AmeriMark, is very incompetent, to put it politely. People calling them out on BBB are a bit harsher. Geez, I may never see my $21 again, but it's gonna cost them a lot more than that in the steady hassles I'm about to launch.