July chitchat

[flatcap]

Agate,

It should be obvious that not giving a specific recommendation for the site hosting your new free email account is rather like saying it is a secret you want for some reason to keep to yourself.

I see no point whatsoever giving what amounts to half-baked advice to anyone on any subject. You either want to help or you don't.

Meantime, here's a tip regarding password managers. A good one, if not all of them, will allow you to print the data you enter into it.

Now, a hardcopy is said to be the best thing in all cases, but there happens to be this thing called backing up your data. No one I know does not, but it seems there are many who don't, including Virginia and perhaps yourself.

I suppose the next thing you will say is that some people can't afford something like the services you are using to manage your passwords. I would point again to the open-source app I use for that purpose, but clearly no one is listening, so I won't waste my time on that. I will just follow the trail you are on and say nothing further about it. After all, I wouldn't want to be too helpful, would I?

[flatcap]

Regarding that post of mine immediately above this one, clearly, I should have addressed it to agate1.

Sorry for the mixup.

/s

[flatcap]

I was just thinking of more on usernames and passwords.

I would rate my username here as "acceptable" in terms of security. A better one might be a random character string such as this:

6uPhLbe2

I have usernames of that general type in several places, which are sometimes a similarly complex throwaway email address. I don't here because I couldn't care less if someone steals my identity on this forum. There is no data in my profile that I can't afford to lose.

As for passwords, I gather from what agate1 and Virginia have said they are using passwords that are relatively easy to remember or record on paper.

I think it is best to use random character strings that look something like this:

5wub&X#$+ve21qis

Again, though, I couldn't care less about the vulnerability of my login credentials for this site.

I do still use a random character string for my password here, but only because it would be very hard for a bad actor to obtain and I am easily entertained. They would have to try logging in with millions of them, and I would bet the forum would pick up on that and take appropriate action.

Unless yours are pretty short, I think you would find random character strings, which you should definitely use when it matters, difficult to record by hand on a sheet of paper without making mistakes.

Perhaps others have better memories than I do or are just afraid to use something better for whatever reason, possibly because they don't want to backup their data on a local device such as a flashdrive. Might as well keep the paper mills in business, I suppose.




Norton Random Password Generator

Only registered and activated users can see links., Click Here To Register...

This online service is free to use. A Google search will turn up many others if you don't like Norton for whatever reason.

[Ikoiko]

This conversation seems to have really deteriorated, in my opinion.

[Virginia]

Ditto, Ikoiko

[agate]

Just FYI: Today when I came here using my usual bookmark, I found I was logged in as agate, not agate1. I don't know what miracle caused this to happen but I'll stay with the agate username/login for as long as it lasts.

Logins can be very strange. Virginia, how are things going with your computer situation?

If other people run into this login problem, where you can't log in here and can't get access to your password, there is this workaround, involving setting up a new account here. But you probably can't use the same e-mail address you used to register here. This means having an additional e-mail address but there are many free ones out there if you do a search for "free e-mail." I've used gmx but am told it's banned here. Now I'm trying Proton.

With your new user name, which can be a lot like your old username if you want to make things easier all around, you'll find that you're treated as a totally new member, and you won't have access to a number of features until you've posted at least 11 times or let 30 days pass. It was a restriction that was put in place years ago in order to cut down on spammers.

You won't be able to view posts with the most recent posts first. You might not be able to edit your posts. You won't see a way to view who's online or new posts. There may be other features you won't have access to as well--these are just the ones that I noticed. But if you hang in there for 30 days or 11 posts you'll have everything back.

This information is probably incredibly boring but with message boards no longer such popular places to hang out, those of us who are left need to do what we can to make being here easier for all of us.

[Virginia]

Thanks Agate, coming from someone who has just been this route I appreciate knowing exactly what to look for. I already have an alternate e-mail address which we set up when setting up this computer. By the way, my computer is regularly backed up with something that I can't remember the name of. It is something he pays for and up to three people can be on it. He is on it, his father-in-law is and I am. His wife doesn't need it. She is very capable on the computer but uses it only for creative type things. So, it left him with another person who could hook up to his. I will discuss all this with him, but I am very satisfied with keeping all my hardcopy passwords. I have about 4 or 5 typed pages and it has worked very well for many years.

I have just had a call from my brother who has, I think, finally made a deal and I will get new refrigerator, stove and microwave next Saturday. This is the third day he has spent on this project for me and I think he has finally found what he thinks I will like. The problem has been getting everything that the finish matches and the measurements are what I need and that they can get it delivered before October or November. It didn't have to be done by then, but I think both he and I wanted to get it over and done with. We went with all Whirlpool. The stove is the flat kind, which I have now, but the knobs are up front instead of in the back. He seems to think it is an updated look. He hasn't given me the actual cost, because he was talking on his phone in the car, but he told me within $100.00. He really did get a good deal. He finally went to the store manager today and that is how he is getting everything this quick. I hated to have it come piece by piece, which might have happened if we had waited until October or November. They might then say we have the microwave and not the stove or the other way around. So I am going to try to let him rest for a while. I am sure he has his own work, plus his wife and kids are always wanting him to do things.

I hope everyone is having a good day.

[agate]

This coming Saturday or maybe the following Saturday there will be an all-new kitchen? That is really exciting news. I hope that it can all be hooked up easily and will fit well. And there will be warranties on all of it so if anything goes wrong, the manufacturer has to fix it--that's always a comforting arrangement (but I notice how often products start going haywire just after those warranties expire, or at least it seems that way).

I'd like having the knobs up front too. They'd be a reach in the back, and sometimes you want to get at those knobs so fast that you don't really have time to reach back.

I've always had a backup system on my PC. Anyone remember backing up files on floppy disks? Nowadays I've been using Norton because they offer it along with the antivirus protection. I haven't seen a floppy disk in many years and don't miss them at all.

[Virginia]

I remember those disks. At one point, on one of my jobs I would back up invoices that went to clients, then the next month I could just pull up the month before and use the heading and everything else but replace the months charges. This was when I worked for an advertising agency. I was just glad to get the disk back then. Guess we, of the time of typing everything out, thought it was quite an upgrade.

It is Saturday of next week that I get the new appliances. It has been a long time happening since I have been working on this project since December. I actually started planning for it before that.

[agate]

That is so exciting. What color will they be? I hope the result will be a kitchen where you can get at things when you need them and find it easy to fix food and easy to clean up.

With that much planning going into it, it's probably going to be absolutely the way you wanted. "Measure twice, cut once," etc.

[Virginia]

The appliances are stainless steel. The walls are gray, the counter tops are white quartz with just a little gray vein and the floor is white tile, and the backsplash is different colors of gray with some white in it.

When I said I had been working on it since December, I thought later I should have said December 2021. I had hired painters to come in and paint the kitchen. Then I got sick and was in the hospital and rehab. They came right after I got home and did a sloppy job. Then my brother and I waited until I was better to go choose my counter tops. His house burned and he and his wife had to move out for six months. He was tied up with that but I did choose the backsplash myself and had it installed. Then my brother in SC got sick and died and everything went on the back burner again. Finally ithis past December he and I went to a tile store and chose floor tile and had that installed. So, when I get the appliances I think I will be on the home stretch. I want a new light fixture to go over my table in the breakfast nook and new cushions for the chairs.

The actual kitchen will be the same. I am not doing any construction and the cabinets are fine. I just felt that it was outdated and they say kitchens are one of the things that help sell houses and you get at least part of your money back. I will enjoy it as long as I can, and if I have to sell it and leave it will be in good shape. If my brothers sell it then it will help them.

I love doing things in the house and HGTV is one of my favorite places to go on the TV. I have certain shows I like on that channel, some I don't care for.

[agate]

I do recall, now that you mention it, what a long slog you've had with the kitchen project. Sometimes things do just have to wait, and then wait some more, don't they? But at last you can celebrate soon. It sounds really nice--and of course it will add to the value of your house. In the meantime you can have a good time using it.

I don't keep up with TV at all but when I looked up HGTV after reading your post, it sounds like something really enjoyable. Back in the late 1970s-early 1980s I watched "This Old House" with Bob Vila and found it very interesting. I think that program may still be on but with somebody else.

[Virginia]

Today has been a bad MS day. It started during the night. I only slept for maybe two hours and I woke with all the weird sensations I sometime get in my feet and legs, the tingling and the creepy, crawly feelings. I tried to go back to sleep, but all I could do was toss and turn. I finally gave up and got up. I still have the MS feelings and I am tired from lack of sleep. If I don't get better in a couple of more hours I will try half a valium and see what that does. I would like to wait until bedtime to take it. I'll see how I do. I keep thinking it will get better, but I have been like this most of the night and all day.

[agate]

I think it's smart to wait until you're ready to go to sleep to take the Valium since you're already tired.

Years ago I was treated for depression and anxiety attacks, and my favorite remedy was a drug called Librium. You don't hear about it any more (at least I haven't heard of it in years) but it was very similar to Valium. Anyway I often used it when I was very tired and wanted to make sure I could sleep well. It was a great sleeping pill in that way.

[Ikoiko]

I tested positive for Covid today! We were at a wedding this weekend and yesterday on the drive home I was very weak and had a cough and high fever. I fell at a rest stop and couldn’t get up by myself.

I just hope I didn’t get anyone else at the wedding sick. About half the guests came from Italy and are planning a week of sightseeing in the US.

I am now waiting for my Rx of Paxlovid to come in.