Fujitsu Uncover the Possibilities

Why post this? Well, I've been a Fujitsu fan for years, starting with the P2040 and temporarily ending with the T4215. I say temporarily because my husband knocked tea into it, killing the machine. Sadly, it's not paid off! And the replacement machine, an HP TouchSmart tx2 is just not the same... :(

Birthday Resolutions 2009

Yesterday was my birthday and rather than having new year's resolutions, I thought this year I'd set birthday resolutions. Here we go!

1. Surroundings: By next year - have apartment decluttered and MOVE OUT ready!
Why? Our place may be small and falling apart (landlord doesn't believe in maintenance), but that doesn't mean we have to live in squalor. The other day, DH said he did everything possible to keep the Animal Control person from entering the apartment because he was embarrassed, and I completely understand.
I have a vision of owning a home with a garden. A home where DH can cook, I can knit and sew with room to work and we have a garden to enjoy. Room to breathe!


2. Finances: Set up rapid debt repayment program (RDRP) and buy LESS
Why? After I was laid off, I lived off of the severance pay, tax returns, inheritance from MIL and cash advances on my credit cards. I had been paying down the cards before the layoff, but once I was no longer working I felt like all my efforts had been in vain and I foolishly racked up even more debt than I previously had. WTF?
As for buying less, I have all the tools and supplies I could possible want. I need to use them up or purge. There's no reason for me to own everything that catches my eye.

3. Learning: My time - listen to Japanese tapes,listen to Russian podcasts
On the job: 30 minutes every day for various software/hardware (Sharepoint, Indesign, Illustrator, Acrobat, Blackberry) and 15 minutes every day to read executive/administrative assisting blogs

4. Create: Knit, sew, cross stitch, crochet! Do something every day.

5. Relationships: Take advantage of 9/80 Fridays and go on a day trip with DH (every other Friday). Return calls/emails/text messages - make the effort to stay in touch with friends and family.

The Worst Job I Ever Had

On the heels of reading other people's tales of woe, I thought I'd write up "my worst job." I believe it would be the week I spent staring at a blank wall cold calling people to subscribe to the LA Times. Occasionally I would hook a live one, and inevitably they lived in a rural area, where delivery wasn't available...and never would be. Excitedly they'd ask if delivery was now possible to their address in bum f*ck Egypt and dejectedly I'd answer, "No." Others would stay on the line long enough for me to pitch them from my long list of "reasons why one should subscribe." Way at the end of that list was the question, "Do you own a bird? Use the paper to line the birdcage." I'm certain I didn't sell a single subscription and picking up the phone to make those calls got harder and harder until I quit at the end of one week.

Could this be why I hate using the phone?

Destashing - Yarn and My Life!

Recently I took the plunge and decided which yarns I could part with. Yesterday I sent off the first two boxes. I was having second thoughts about one, the Boysenberry London Tweed, after seeing one of Svetlana's latest creations. There, was, however, no way I would knit up all the London Tweed in my stash. And certainly no way I could tackle the sweater that Svetlana knit (Forestry - last sweater in the post linked to above). I'm a self-taught knitter (books and magazines) who, so far, has been able to knit the patterns I've taken a fancy to, but who also realizes when a pattern is above my current skill level (or beyond my patience and sustained attention). I consciously choose to work on patterns that I know I can knit now, while queuing up others that I will be able to knit at a later date. E.g. the latest IK cover sweater (Spring 2009) - I read through the instructions and couldn't quite envision what one needs to do to knit this sweater, so as much as I like the sweater, it has to wait.

So, rather than overwhelming myself with yarns I MUST knit up, I decided to let go of a few. It's rather strange to package up these yarns - yarns I couldn't wait to order, couldn't wait to swatch as soon as they arrived - and send them on to their new homes, new dreams, new projects. But OTOH I can't wait to see what they end up becoming...

The destashing of yarn will soon extend to my stuff. Stuff that fills every corner of this 450 square foot apartment and the garage below. Starting small...with some magazines and books on eBay. Then branching out into Craigslist, Freecycle, the library and then onto the Goodwill/Salvation Army. I did it once before (from the same apartment). Back at the end of 2002, I got the contents of the full garage down to a 6 foot by 3 foot stack of boxes. I vow this time NOT to let so much stuff* back into my life.

*Stuff: Clothing I no longer wear, books I read and never let go of, multiples (several bluetooth headsets, several cell phones), Elliptical trainer (used for one week...at most), half-used toiletries, old linen, old files, miscellaneous doo-dads and knick-knacks...and on and on...ugh! =:P

Apartment 2.0

My (our) ideal apartment will have:
1. Separate mailbox
2. Off-street, covered parking
3. Address properly marked
4. Utilities included or separate meter
5. Insulation
6. Real windows that DON'T LEAK!
7. Intact roof - no leaking
8. No vermin burrowing around in the walls
9. Gutters and/or canopy over the door
10. Real door - i.e. can't open it with a swift, well-placed kick
11. Laundry
12. Range hood
13. Bedroom closet
14. Linen closet
15. Hallway closet
16. Stable floors - i.e. whole apartment doesn't sway when stepping on certain spots
17. Balcony, space to garden in or BOTH!! =:)
18. Place to air dry clothing (should I so desire)
19. No a$$hole neighbors

As I think of more, I'll update the list above. Want to seize our ideal apartment when it presents itself, so I want to know what we're looking for!

The Typhoid Mary Touch...with Magazines

Let me tally up the magazines I once subscribed to that went belly up (and some never returned my money!) - updated 2.22.09

Craft Magazine -> not officially belly up, but going to digital only. Bummer. I like having an actual magazine. =:(
Organize -> nice, but mostly a vehicle to sell more product. (Aren't all magazines about the ads?)
Domino -> who knew that one of the few I decided NOT to renew would go belly up shortly afterward? (One could argue that my not renewing contributed to the downfall, but I will not take the blame. Domino had become nothing but another, "Let's let at the lifestyles of pretty, Hollywood people!!" Uh, no thanks.)
Yahoo! Internet Life -> (believe I never saw my money again)
Motto -> remaining issues converted to Ode, haven't read a single issue since I started receiving. They're now imploring me to renew.
Blueprint -> remaining issues converted to Martha Stewart Living. I enjoyed MSL, but ended up not subscribing. Felt too inferior. Have saved some recipes and ideas from the mag though.
O at Home -> come on, Oprah, are you going to roll over my $ to extend my sub to Oprah mag? (Also just re-upped my subscription literally the day AFTER the internets were abuzz that the magazine was to cease publication. I have great timing!!)
Got an offer...to roll my remaining issues over to Oprah mag (as if I don't subscribe already). Obviously, the subscription department hasn't figured out who was subscribing to both or they simply sent the same card to everyone. Must ensure that the credit will be rolled over so I don't end up with two copies of Oprah for the next however many months.
Adorn -> according to the rumours on the internets this was to be converted to a Knit.1 subscription, but didn't hear anything. Going to check in on this one. I certainly got ripped off, since I had just started the subscription, only to hear that the magazine was DOA.
PC Magazine-> they've gone digital and I let my subscription lapse. The only case where the end of the printed publication coincided with my payment (or lack thereof). I'm not a fan of digital magazines. I've tried many of them; none compare to the dead tree version. And I want to save the planet as much as the next guy...
Quick & Easy Stitch & Craft (a British Cross Stitch mag) -> converted to You Can Craft! Sad. I let that subscription limp to an end. You Can Craft! is for cardmaking with no cross stitch to speak of. I'm not interested in cardmaking, unless it's to mount a small cross stitch project. *sigh*

I'm sure there are others...this list is by no means complete.

Dharma and lots of glue

I'm making this, which requires the patience of a saint, 10 hands and slatherings of glue. Pic to follow. (It's taking several days, since it needs to set between glueings.) When it's done, I will officially dedicate it to my search for a shiny new job.

Rediscovering old hardware...oh the joy!

The fan on my newer Fujitsu, a T4215, purchased March 2007 has a problem - it runs nonstop and sounds like the computer is about to take flight. Of course, it's out of warranty and I don't want to keep running it, potentially causing the harddrive to melt down, so I've backed up my files and am getting ready to open it up to clean it out (in case there's an easily solved issue). If the diy route doesn't pan out, I'll have to take it in to an authorized Fujitsu repair center. Now is not the time to spend money on keeping my faster laptop going...so..I've pulled out...

...my older Fujitsu, my first Fujitsu, a P2040. Its harddrive is tiny (just under 20G) and its processor is equally underpowered - a Transmeta Crusoe TM5800, running at 793 MHz with a grand total of 240 MB of RAM. Quite a step down... Only issue with this cute little machine are the two lines of green and blue pixels on the left of the screen, but other than that, it chugs along like a champ. Believe it was purchased in March 2002.