Generic book covers for public domain books.

I bought a Kindle Fire. Yep, sure did. I've since been downloading public domain books like crazy but have found a few problems. The first one being the number of errors, but that's not what this post is about. Well, not really.

You see I would love to volunteer to help fix errors, but doing that takes an act of God apparently. Amazon allows public domain books, but the rules on loading new ones is long and annoying.

That said, I did download some instructions on how to format and I came across the book cover instructions. I did a search for that and found that people have a hard time finding or creating book covers. Now THERE is something I can do, easily and quickly. I could make these and give them to whomever wants them.

Before we do it, I do want to say that I would really LOVE to see what people do with their covers, so please post a link back to yours.

Walmart is falsely advertising products.

I have proof for that statement. I dare them to say a word to me about it. Now before I get to the evidence, I will (fairly) say that they did fully refund me for my money. So this isn't a rip-off scheme. It's just that they're trying to sell you something that isn't what you ordered, hoping you'll keep it even if the thing you ordered is a better product than what you got. See what I mean? I'm sure there are people out there (my husband is one of those people) who are willing to settle for what they give you, even if its not what you want.

Not me!

Please excuse the previous post.

I'm having problems not only with Google Docs, but also the forum. If you're interested, you can read my post about the glitch, here. Otherwise, please excuse the post.

Google forum problem.

I tried searching, but nothing addresses the problem. Let's say in Column A, I want to fill down with the following:

1
2
3
4
etc.

If I follow this (http://support.google.com/docs/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=75509), it does not work with numbers. Why? It is a spreadsheet after all designed to calculate numbers. Why can't I fill with a continuous series, like you can do with weeks?

I've tried typing the following:

1
Then dragging the bar down.

1
2
Then dragging the bar down.

1
2
3
Then dragging the bar down

and lastly

1
2
3
4
Then dragging the bar down.

As for dragging the bar down, it doesn't matter if I highlight the last number and drag or highlight them all then drag, it refuses to do a continuous series and simply repeats itself and that's useless for my purpose.

One suggestion, if I may:
Offer both features and rename them "repeat series" and "continue series". Perhaps you can format the column as either repeat or continuous and then the drag bar would do whatever setting you have for that column.

Unless all this is already there and I can't seem to find it.

Quick breakfasts for non-morning people.

I am a caregiver for my mother, who has dementia and a number of other disorders, which makes life hard. I have never, and never will be, a morning person. Ever. Never, ever, EVER!

That said, it is imperative that she eat something in the morning, so she can have her medicine and because she takes her medicine twice a day, they must be spaced out so despite my issues with mornings, I must conform to breakfast making, even though I hate it. Oh and did I mention that she refuses to eat anything not hot? Oh, yes. My mother can be quite difficult.

So! I set out to find a way to make it much, MUCH easier for me to make a fast (hot) breakfast. With a little pre-planning and ingenuity, I found that it really wasn't that bad. Again, pre-planning was a must.

For variety, I tried to come up with several different breakfasts daily. Honestly, she likely wouldn't remember what I fixed her yesterday, but for my own peace of mind, I wanted it different.

So let's get to it!

How to make Facebook better: Addons

If you Google Facebook addons or greasemonkey scripts, you'll get a nice list of various things. The problem is that most of those are either not updated often enough (Facebook is constantly recoding their site and addon/script developers have to be on top of it nearly 24/7) or only provide functions for kids. An example is this script, which auto likes everything in one fell swoop. Um... okay... Only kids would do that, I think. Can you imagine if you didn't read "My [insert family relationship here] died last night" and liking that post without even saying anything?

Fixing Facebook annoyances

The search for a perfect Facebook addon or script is just about impossible. There are all kinds of scripts that will fix features that I don't really care about, but nothing that fixes all the annoyances I have. Because I'm looking for the "perfect fix" let me list my grievances with Facebook. These are in no particular order.

Dr. Irwin Redlener needs to understand the real world.

I listened in stunned silence to Dr. Redlener last night on CNN. Here is a man, who is completely out of touch with reality. So this is what higher education does to a person? It makes you completely senile or insane?

Here's the thing, he thinks that hospitals and various agencies need to spend more money on disaster preparedness. Now don't you think for a split second that anyone is going to do this for free. Guess who will pay for this? YOU, the consumer. Whether it's a government agency (taxes) or a hospital (fees for services) YOU will be the one to pay. They're not going to take it out of their pockets!

The Peterson murders.

Sadly, there is crime every single day. Only every now and again, we find a case that really interests us or at least, the press. The press is the one who decides which ones they like and don't, then we have to follow along with them. If they'd quit making mountains out of molehills, we'd get real news.

In any case, today I want to talk about the Peterson murders. What do you think about it? Now that I've asked, what I want to first know is...

How many Walmart employees does it take to answer a question?

Okay, so this very frustrating. Tell me am I wrong here? Was it me who was confused? I don't understand what the problem was with these questions, but I'm going to copy and paste some support emails bouncing back and forth between myself and Walmart.

Before we go on, let's discuss how Gmail works, briefly. I love Gmail for so many reasons that this deserves its own post, but for now I just want to make sure you understand what the "- Show quoted text -" means. Let's consider a few emails.

Review: ColorfulImages.com

I was a little perturbed when I discovered that they will not allow reviews to be posted at their site for merchandise or products purchased. How come I didn't notice that before, when I ordered from them?

Here I will review two things: first the merchant then the products themselves. I will not be silenced!

A vegetable garden is not such a simple thing.

The decision to start a garden sounds simple. You either want to do it or you don't. If you want to it is easy to become overwhelmed and wonder if it's really worth it. To start a garden, it will cost you... a lot. Besides costing you time and effort, the financial portion can easily become astronomical if you're not careful.

I have attempted gardening several times with mixed results. I still am not that familiar with it either and am still learning. My first garden was years ago back when I was married to my first husband and we were stationed at Ft. Stewart, Georgia. We lived on-post and we rented a community garden that was also on-post but not near us. We had very little money and started from seed. We didn't add any soil amendments that I recall, but I did get a soil test.

All went fairly well until the great floods of that year (I can't remember the specific year but was between 1990 and 1995, I remember it was the year the Savannah K-Mart parking lost was flooded). We had some storms that not only flooded Savannah, but our garden plot too. It was knee deep in water and when the water finally subsided, to my dismay the green beans and carrots continued on. We had loads of beans and carrots, but nothing else. All others were lost.

Crime stories that bother me.

I like to watch crime shows. I don't mean shows like CSI or Law & Order, though I do like both of those! What I mean is the documentary shows detailing certain crimes like 48 Hours or Forensic Files and so forth.

As a young reader, Agatha Christie books were my favorites. I've always been drawn to mysteries, which is kind of funny if you knew me. I don't strike you as a mystery kind of girl, but I am. Columbo is my favorite TV character just about ever. I know I digress, but I was just trying to illustrate how this has always been an interest for me.

So there are a couple of cases that bother me and both for various reasons. Since I cannot sleep tonight (a neighbor's dog woke me and now I'm up for good, I guess) I thought I'd write about them.

Another "peaceful" muslim murders his own daughter in the name of "honor".

Thank goodness this guy was convicted. Notice that this article is from the Associated Press? Where does it say his religious belief? Were he Christian, they'd have it stamped all over.

The AP should not be allowed to publish articles at Foxnews.

Backyard Bird Watching

I'm no bird watcher, but in the spring all the birds return. When I go outside I'm amazed at the noise that I've not yet re-adjusted to hearing.

There are a few birds that I hear often and are quite unique so they're easy to pick out. That being the White-winged Dove and the Mourning Dove. I hear them all the time.

Yesterday though, I saw a bird. It wasn't the first time I noticed it, but usually I was in a spot where I didn't have time to look the bird up. Memory fades, so when I finally had time to look up the bird, I'd forgotten important details. Anyway, yesterday one perched itself on my fence and sat a good while. I now know they are Eastern Bluebirds and this was a male. A very attractive male that is likely a real ladies man. ;)

Arabs, liberty and government systems.

Yes, I'm getting older and my mind isn't as sharp as it used to be. Sad, that. I've found myself confusing government systems lately and this really bothers me. I've always been very clear on the differences. I'm not saying I couldn't remember the important parts, but there were some minor details I was getting mixed up.

Because of this, I decided to look something up yesterday and found this wonderful web page. I was completely drawn in by it and really enjoyed reading it. To many of you it may be boring, but it shouldn't be. We all need to be fully aware of what is the best system and fight for it, to the death if necessary and I say that from the bottom of my heart. Give me liberty or give me death.

In recent weeks, we've seen so-called "democracy" spilling forth in Arab nations, or at least trying to. I fully support that, but I remain highly skeptical that a true Republic will ever prevail there. We'll see.

My heart goes out to the women of Islam. They are trapped slaves and Obama doesn't care at all. He makes me sick and is the most pathetic president in my nation's history. A close second would be Jimmy Carter, but I digress.

Gimp: Removing Solid Backgrounds

I bookmarked a tutorial that has since disappeared from the web. Don't you hate it when that happens? Anyway, this is really a tutorial for myself because it is something I do occasionally, but not frequently. Because of this, I always miss at least one step. It's not an in-depth for beginners tutorial, just a fast reminder of the procedure that I use. Again, this is geared as a reminder for me and isn't necessarily for the entire web. I'm putting it here so I can find it easily.

This is only for solid backgrounds.

In the news: Walmart Grapples With Its Worst Sales Slump Ever

It's a sad, sad day for me. Walmart totally does not get why it has a sales slump. Their analysis is completely off. My "list of grievances" with Walmart outlines the problems they have quite clearly. Obviously they missed my post. ;)

Anyway, the article I'm speaking of says

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is in the midst of its worst U.S. sales slump ever.

When it reports earnings on Tuesday, the retailer is widely expected to post its second straight year of declining domestic same-store sales.

Wal-Mart's struggles are the result of a misstep: To jump-start lethargic growth and counter the rise of competitors such as cheap-chic rival Target Corp., executives veered away from the winning formula of late founder Sam Walton to provide "every day low prices" to the American working class. Wal-Mart, the world's biggest retailer by sales, instead raised prices on some items while promoting deals on others.

Company executives acknowledge having miscalculated and are adjusting their strategy again. The big question is how quickly the mammoth chain can turn itself around. [Read more.]

The list of things they believe have caused this is in the article, but I read it in total disbelief. It's really very sad that they are as clueless as they are. I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

My other post(s) you may be interested in:

• Walmart is falsely advertising products.
• How many Walmart employees does it take to answer a question?
• Why I hate Walmart

Tara Grinstead: Blood evidence and more.

Still talking about the show I saw last night (it aired earlier but I recorded it and only had time to watch it last night).

After doing some online reading, I have to wonder why additional evidence was not mentioned on the show. According to WALB news, the following evidence was collected by an investigator hired by the family:

• Two blood stains (the location was not disclosed).
• In the bedroom, a broken nail with a dot on it.
• Under her bed, pieces of a broken lamp.
• A bent metal piece on her bed.
• A reddish brown stain in her carport.

So why was this not addressed in the show? This article was posted in 2006, but the show was originally broadcast well after. According to CBS it originally aired July 1, 2008. Why was that evidence never mentioned?

I've actually followed the Grinstead case since she disappeared. I lived in Atlanta at the time and this was big news. It's just so very sad.

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February 24, 2017
Update, there has finally, after all this time, been an arrest! Please see Tara Grinstead: Finally an arrest!

Another thought on Tara Grinstead

As I went to bed another thought struck me that I forgot to mention. Isn't it such a coincidence that three local police officers were "involved" with her around the night of her disappearance?

1. You have her ex-boyfriend who is a former police officer.
2. You have ex-boyfriend's so-called "alibi," who is also a police officer.
3. You have another married police officer who left a business card stuck on her door, between the frame.

On the subject of that business card, I'm very curious about this. The show deliberately avoided revealing what type of business card it actually was. I don't believe it was an official police officer's card (they all have cards to hand out with their names) because of what they said on the show. I don't remember the exact words, but they said that they had trouble figuring out who left the card. It couldn't have been the police officer's personal official card because then it would have had his full name stamped on it, wouldn't it?

The way I see it these are the only two real possibilities:

1. If it was not his official card and some other business, then it could be used to spy on her. If it was stuck between the door and the frame, then I can only conclude he may watch to see if anyone opens that door, since it would either fall or be confiscated if they did. This is doubtful though because she had a carport, which is the main informal entry, and not the front door. If she were to leave, she'd leave through the carport (unless it was blocked, and it may have been).
2. Still with the some other business theory, the back of the business card could have simply had, "Call me, Jim" scrawled on it or something along those lines. This is probably the most likely scenario, which then doesn't mean anything.

I'm leaning toward option 2, but I really don't know. They did say that when they found this married police officer he said she had not returned his calls for a couple of weeks.

Anyway, those were my thoughts on the subject.

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February 24, 2017
Update, there has finally, after all this time, been an arrest! Please see Tara Grinstead: Finally an arrest!