Still Learning to add pictures

This is my "girl friend", age 89.

I am 80.

Now the size is right.  How do I set type to right of picture?

The learning curve is shallow.

Adding a picture

I have been admiring journals with pictures in them and wondering how to do it.

Well, now I see the picture .  At least I am making head way... i think.

But picture is too big and I want to set type around it.

Back to  the drawing board.

Unpresidents' day

We've had presidents' day honoring past presidents.  What about a day celebrating those folks who missed out because of fickle fate.  Say Ted Kennedy, who never got a chance to run because of an accident, but who continued serving his country and his party in his pudgy, steady way.  Or Tom Dewey who cinched the 1948 election, or so he thought.  Or Al Gore who won the popular vote but not the white house.  Robert Taft and General MacArthur could shine again.

   More serious folks will say we should have a 9/11 holiday to remind us of that attack and Pearl Harbor. 

   Or light hearted folks will say "Let's make Ground Hog a national holiday. Let's celebrate the end of our national hibernation."

   More holidays, more long week-ends, hoo-ray.

Well, here it is October.  How did we get here so fast?  But August is my favorite month.  My love of August dates from my school years.  August meant VACATION. August meant time spent camping at the beach in Carpinteria, CA, "The world's safest Beach", with life spent in a swim suit, hanging with friends, flirting with girls, reading pulp magazines of science fiction. Read, lie in sun, dash into the ocean, walk the surfline, study the tide charts, and repeat until campfire time.

   Our parents took turns camping with us, so we got to spend many weeks at the beach. 

   And June had to be my second favorite month.  That is when school let out.  No more teachers, no more books, no more teachers' dirty looks.

   When I grew up I became a teacher because of VACATION. 

   Oh yes, my birthday is in August, and I know you guessed that.

   My least favorite was September because VACATION ended then.. 

carpal tunnel

I had carpal tunnel surgery last month.  My right hand had become numb.  My kidney doctor sent me to neurologist who sent me to neurolsurgeon who sent me to surgical center.  In a few days they operated on me.  Operated and sent me home within an hour of the surgery. 

Had a cast on my arm for two weeks and then got sent for Physical therapy to hand specialist.  For three and a half weeks have been going three times a week for therapy.  It consists of heat treatment, massage, manipulation, ultra sound, electrostimulation.

My hand is very weak, and is still numb.  But it is doing some things okay again, like typing this entry.  I make LOTS of typographical errors, but at least I am communicating.

I don't know whether the feeling will come back to my hand or not. I THINK I am glad I had it done, but am not too sure.

Medicare has picked up the bills so far.  The surgeon costs $4100 and I don't know what the surgical center and the anesthiologist nor the therapy cost yet.  The surgeon had done two other operations that morning.

I think I got carpal tunnel syndrome from typing so much, but I am not sure.  There are people who type far more than I did. 

Anyhow, I am back at my computer, slower, but still communicating with the outside world. That is my life, my lifeline, and my love.

Cup o' Confusion

In the store, picked up Nissin Cup Noodles.  I read the wrapper. "Microwave Directions: See lid for details."  Oh, good, it is microwaveable. I can have some in my apartment.  I bought two.

At home, I removed the wrapper and read the directions on the lid. "MICROWAVE DIRECTIONS: Due to variances in microwave heating power, and for safety, we do not recommend microwave cooking."

No noodles tonight.

Super-powers

   If I could have a super-power what would I choose asks John Scalzi.  A woman I know says she has Parking Lot Prescience.  When she pulls into a parking lot, she wills someone else to pull out and leave her a space right next to the Mall entrance.  I have been with her, and it works.

   If I could have the super=power of an existing super hero would be the Shadow, who "clouds men's minds with a single hypnotic gesture". Makes himself invisible, or look like beast, or charming to the ladies.