July chitchat

[flatcap]

Flatcap are you getting any ideas?

With your help, yes, but I'm really just stealing yours. lol

[flatcap]

This is primarily for agate.

I think I found the PM toggle switch in my profile under "ACCOUNT."

It was and is turned on, but I am still seeing no envelope icon next to my screen name under Who's Online.

Another thing I don't yet know how to do here, I guess.

[flatcap]

I posted a question on this topic in the Moderator Forum. We'll see what they say.

[agate]

This is primarily for agate.

I think I found the PM toggle switch in my profile under "ACCOUNT."

It was and is turned on, but I am still seeing no envelope icon next to my screen name under Who's Online.

Another thing I don't yet know how to do here, I guess.

I'm concerned about this lack of an envelope icon but maybe you've never sent or received a PM here? That might be the reason why there's no envelope icon but I'm just guessing.

You could try sending a PM, and I'll be glad to send you one just to see how or if that system is working for you.

I don't recall that anyone here has ever had to turn the PMs on. They've always just been there as a resource.

[flatcap]

Agate, I just sent you a test PM to see if that would turn on the envelope icon that should be next to my screen name in Who's Online.

It didn't.

Like you, I would have assumed that the default setting of the PM toggle switch is on, meaning you start off from the beginning with the ability to use the PM feature without ever having to worry about it.

Whatever is going on now, I do not know. It looks to me like no one can send me a PM, but I could be wrong about that, too. If you are able to do it without clicking the envelope icon that isn't there next to my screen name in Who's Online, please let me know how you did that. In other words, is there a way to send/receive PMs without going to Who's Online?

ETA: Never mind, I found the Message Center — doh! There is still no envelope icon next to my screen name in Who's Online, but I would guess that everyone goes to the MC for private messaging anyway, so it's not a big deal.

[flatcap]

I have lately been wondering about intonation, or the lack thereof, transmitted in writing as opposed to speech.

I recently wrote an email to someone I haven't seen or heard from in over ten years and agonized over its composition when trying to figure out what it would sound like to them. It took me about a week to write it, and it was only three short paragraphs. I went through a huge number of drafts before I sent it.

During that time, I finally fully realized that the reader could hear each and every sentence in a variety of ways — or simply the way they wanted to. I know that's how it works, but the issue remains on my mind.

There is only so far one can go using lol's or emoticons to express the tone or meaning of a message. They've been around so long their novelty has worn off, so I'm not sure anyone pays attention to them anymore. I would hardly be surprised if most people considered them nothing more than an annoyance. I did not use any in my email. It would have been inappropriate.

I thought about having my friend go over the email with me to get his opinion on whether and how I might change it, but it contains personal info that I don't want him seeing. Everyone has secrets.

I have now been thinking a phone call might have been a better idea in this case, but I really wanted to put things down on paper. I wonder if that wasn't a good idea. There are lots of reasons I might not hear back from them, but I worry that I might have just come out sounding wrong.

The best thing, of course, would be a face-to-face, but that is not an option at this time.

I probably shouldn't worry so much. There is nothing I can do about it except my best under these circumstances and believe me, I tried.

It will be interesting to see if I ever get a reply.

[agate]

Agate, I just sent you a test PM to see if that would turn on the envelope icon that should be next to my screen name in Who's Online.

It didn't.

Like you, I would have assumed that the default setting of the PM toggle switch is on, meaning you start off from the beginning with the ability to use the PM feature without ever having to worry about it.

Whatever is going on now, I do not know. It looks to me like no one can send me a PM, but I could be wrong about that, too. If you are able to do it without clicking the envelope icon that isn't there next to my screen name in Who's Online, please let me know how you did that. In other words, is there a way to send/receive PMs without going to Who's Online?

ETA: Never mind, I found the Message Center — doh! There is still no envelope icon next to my screen name in Who's Online, but I would guess that everyone goes to the MC for private messaging anyway, so it's not a big deal.

I just sent replies to your PMs. Please let me know if you don't get them. The envelope icon may appear only if you have received at least one message--I'm guessing again though.

There are many ways to send somebody here a PM. You can click on the person's user name anywhere you find it--in any of that person's posts, for instance. Or you can go to your message center and type the person's user name as you start to send a PM. Often if the person is already registered here, the user name will come up as you're typing it and you can click on that to fill it in for you.

I'm not always here to answer questions right away. I'll be back in a couple of hours.

[flatcap]

I received your PMs, but the envelope icon still isn't there next to my screen name in Who's Online.

No worries. I will use the Message Center. As I'm sure you know, the red indicator at the top of the main page tells you if you have messages waiting to be read, so there is no need for me to go to Who's Online for that.

Thank you for your help with this.

[flatcap]

Sorry to keep posting in this thread without waiting for others to reply, but I thave another something I would like to talk about before I forget it.

The issue coming up now concerns driving. I will be sailing along and suddenly not know what street I am on. When it happens, nothing on or around the road looks familiar. What I do then is just keep going until I recognize where I am by the surroundings.

This is really weird. It happens on streets I have traveled for years. I would of course like to know what is causing it, but I think it probably has to with my MS and the brain damage that goes with it. If it does, that would be easy for me to understand, even if I didn't know the details. I doubt the docs could tell me anything more about it. I would bet they don't know either.

I wonder if this will go away for good on its own, but it might not of course. As happens for a lot of people with MS, I've had symptoms come and go. One of them is urinary incontinence. I pee my pants a few times over the course of a week or so — which luckily has happened only outside thus far — then it will go away and come back later.

That, too, is pretty strange if you ask me. I would expect that symptom to be permanent from day one, but I guess it might also come and go as well for others beyond the RRMS stage. I'm just glad it does for me.

Peeing your pants in public is bad form. lol

[flatcap]

I'm concerned about this lack of an envelope icon but maybe you've never sent or received a PM here? That might be the reason why there's no envelope icon but I'm just guessing.

You could try sending a PM, and I'll be glad to send you one just to see how or if that system is working for you.

I don't recall that anyone here has ever had to turn the PMs on. They've always just been there as a resource.

The moderator replied as follows:

"You can't send yourself a PM so if you're logged in you won't see the PM envelope. If you're logged out I think you won't see it either as guests don't have permission to send PMs."

That answers it.

[agate]

I received your PMs, but the envelope icon still isn't there next to my screen name in Who's Online.

No worries. I will use the Message Center. As I'm sure you know, the red indicator at the top of the main page tells you that you if you have messages waiting to be read, so there is no need for me to go to Who's Online for that.

Thank you for your help with this.

I'm seeing an envelope beside your user name when I look at it in Who's Online. So the moderator has indeed answered the question.

You do know that next to that red indicator you mentioned, at the top of the main page, there's a tiny arrow and if you click on it, you get a drop-down menu showing the captions for your most recent PMs as well as links to "Send new message" and "Go to message center."

I've been finding that drop-down menus are often fairly hidden but if you really keep looking around, you can find some very helpful drop-down menus. True here and true for lots of other sites too. You do have to poke around.

[agate]

Sorry to keep posting in this thread without waiting for others to reply, but I thave another something I would like to talk about before I forget it.

The issue coming up now concerns driving. I will be sailing along and suddenly not know what street I am on. When it happens, nothing on or around the road looks familiar. What I do then is just keep going until I recognize where I am by the surroundings.

This is really weird. It happens on streets I have traveled for years. I would of course like to know what is causing it, but I think it probably has to with my MS and the brain damage that goes with it. If it does, that would be easy for me to understand, even if I didn't know the details. I doubt the docs could tell me anything more about it. I would bet they don't know either.

I wonder if this will go away for good on its own, but it might not of course. As happens for a lot of people with MS, I've had symptoms come and go. One of them is urinary incontinence. I pee my pants a few times over the course of a week or so — which luckily has happened only outside thus far — then it will go away and come back later.

That, too, is pretty strange if you ask me. I would expect that symptom to be permanent from day one, but I guess it might also come and go as well for others beyond the RRMS stage. I'm just glad it does for me.

Peeing your pants in public is bad form. lol

Though I don't drive, I often travel on the paratransit van along the same neighborhood streets but often don't know what street I'm on because it doesn't look familiar. But often that is because things on that street have changed, even radically--when I wasn't noticing. The neighborhood is just house after house but the residents keep doing different things, putting up rows of trees or taking down trees, putting up fences, repainting their houses or putting on additions, and the whole picture changes. Is this possibly what is going on with you?

Is having GPS a possibility? All of the van drivers use it and I have the impression that many ordinary vehicle drivers can now have it as well. It amazes me how it keeps the driver from getting lost.

As for the accidents, you've probably learned to finesse these situations so that nobody notices you've had a problem. That seems to work well if you can keep up a nonchalant attitude.

I try not to get too upset about occasional problems of that sort. There's always soap and water. Some people carry extra clothes or keep a change in their car if they have a car. But pads do the trick for women quite often. There are clothing adaptations and other modifications available for men, and they can be discreetly sent to you or delivered in such a way so the whole world won't know you're getting shipments of Depends or whatever.

After all, little kids are tolerated even though they haven't yet gained control of their bladder and bowels. The world just has to put up with the fact that some of us aren't perfect at all times.

[flatcap]

I'll try to answer your questions in order:

1) This happenss in places other than neighborhoods under renewal of some sort. It happens in places where there are no recognizable changes, often retail districts I know well, sometimes on the open highway.

2) GPS is not an option unless I have it installed. I don't want to do that. My car has one of those fancy touchscreens, and I never touch it when driving. I have to focus entirely on driving and nothing else, or I am bound to run off the road or cause an accident.

3) As for peeing my pants, it hasn't happened anywhere anyone would notice. So far, I have always been able to get home, shower, and change before it's on the evening news. Sometimes I go out again, but that is rare. If anyone ever sees it happening, it probably wouldn't bother me too much. I generally don't care what strangers think of me anymore.

[flatcap]

I'm seeing an envelope beside your user name when I look at it in Who's Online. So the moderator has indeed answered the question.

You do know that next to that red indicator you mentioned, at the top of the main page, there's a tiny arrow and if you click on it, you get a drop-down menu showing the captions for your most recent PMs as well as links to "Send new message" and "Go to message center."

I've been finding that drop-down menus are often fairly hidden but if you really keep looking around, you can find some very helpful drop-down menus. True here and true for lots of other sites too. You do have to poke around.

Thank you for the tips and letting me know that you can see the envelope icon. All I really need now on this site is practice and help if I need it. People here, especially you, have been most accomodating in that regard.

In the outside world, I don't have much of a problem navigating sites and finding menus. Here, the interface is a little dated, and I have forgotten how to get around on a forum made to look good on Windows 95. lol

[agate]

Here, the interface is a little dated, and I have forgotten how to get around on a forum made to look good on Windows 95. lol

There was a substantial upgrade some years ago but unfortunately our admins seem to have lost interest in adding or changing the features that weren't working right or weren't there. I hope it's all right to reveal this as it's been no secret--the admins are people with neurological issues themselves and maybe have been dealing with some of those issues in recent years and just haven't had the time and energy to deal with patching things up at BrainTalk. It would probably help if we had more active members.

[flatcap]

I saw in the news today that Elton John has essentially retired. When asked for a reason, he said he killed the last horny back toad on Earth, so there is nothing left for him to do.