Time to back it up or delete it!

Well folks, my laptop has officially conveyed its sincerest urge to dissipate into the beyond like a firework fading to dust in the dirt. After doing some investigating and getting considerable advice from my husband, I have concluded it's time to clean my computer.

Many of us forget to clean our computer out. We're too busy cleaning house, organizing bills and trying to locate important, but always elusive, pieces of paper that are imperative to our existence...(like proof your cat got his/her rabies vaccine so you can take them to the groomers!). Unfortunately, because we don't care for our laptops as we should, we get slower than slow web browsing abilities and on occasion, we get BSOD'd (Blue Screen of Death).

Don't even bother with your Word.docs, because those aren't the problem. (Though I do suggest labeling all your document folders by year. It's very helpful with archiving. For instance, my current writing projects are labeled.. 2011_Summer_Writing_Projects.) What's going to get you is your picture, movie and music files.

I, regrettably, have a horrendous to-do going on with my music files. I have duplicates, spares of duplicates and bonus extras of songs I mislabeled on mixes given to me by friends in my younger years when a gift of true love or friendship was symbolized with a mixed CD of your favorite crooning or dancin' tunes. I need to tackle it, but the truth of it is... it's time consuming and frustrating.

So, I started with something more manageable: home movies. These are random clips here and there that I've taken over the past five or six years on my digital camera. They take up considerable space on the hard drive and aren't necessary for me to store on my computer. I've transferred the files to one backup, an external hard drive, and I also plan to burn them all to data DVDs so I have two copies of these home movies. This should clear up a good bit of space.

I should note that to make my hunt for home movies easier, I had already undertaken the project of organizing all of my photographs and movie files by date. I started in 2005 and worked my way up to present day. It took forever, but it has made finding files and managing my files much more manageable. Now when I upload my pictures/movie files, I immediately label them as so: 08.03.11_Picnic_Erie_Pennsylvania. I do the specific date, followed by an event description. In some instances my pictures require me to create a text file to explain the images. This is namely the case when I do ancestry research and need to list specific locations or people for each photograph. I do a general label to all photographs, and then according to the number they are assigned, create a text file with a brief description of each image. I then save the text file in my picture folder and I go on my merry way.

With back logs of photographs it's harder to do a specific date or event. In those instances I try to guess the event and at least get a specific year.

Now back to my endeavors...My next step was to review all my photo folders as well. When you take digital images you tend to do overkill and click away, taking pointless pictures of fascinating looking leaves, muffins, straw hats and light fixtures that catch your fancy. Delete them. You do not need ten pictures of a pretty orange leaf. One will suffice. Go through and clean house, delete blurry images and ones with bad lighting or where your family and friends look less than fresh and would not appreciate images of them with triple chins, droopy eyes and leering lips circulating through the holiday photo albums. I suggest every time you upload photos from your camera you label everything, file it away under the appropriate folder and then review all the images and delete the less than stellar ones that do not need preserved.

Once you've got everything organized and trimmed down, back it up!! A flash drive works fine for smaller files, but for larger ones I'd say go with an external hard drive. The prices have come down generously over the years and you can get into one terabyte of storage space for under $100.

Before you go deleting anything off your computer, make sure you have two working backups of all your files. Don't trust one backup alone. I've made that mistake and lost hundreds of hours of work and a tiny part of my soul. I'm a tad paranoid, so for my truly irreplaceable documents I have at least four digital backups and one hardcopy (if applicable) at any given time.

I'm also keen on the notion that all important documents that can be digitized should be digitized and placed on a flash drive to put with your emergency preparedness kit. (The pack you have in case a natural disaster strikes. And no worries if you don't have one, I'll be doing a blog on this later in the summer once I've cataloged the contents of both of my emergency kits.)

My point is you can't treat your laptop like it's your tower. It sits on your lap. That's its big appeal. But there is give and take with such grand technological advancements: your storage sucks big time and you have to maintain your files to keep your computer running smoothly and efficiently.

Now go out there and tackle your comp cleaning too!

Happy digital trimming!

Likeable Things

The notion of riding a bicycle on the moon.

Eating dinner on top of a rain forest canopy.

The idea of speaking a language that approximately 127 people can speak and approximately 212 can write.

Tap dancing up a staircase with my hair in pigtails.

Flying (without wings) in a purple sequin suit with the soundtrack to "Wet Hot American Summer" blasting through the sky.

Fuzzy cats that don't have pink eyes.

The fact that the "My Little Pony" cartoon now does Lady Gaga song remakes.

Neon blue spandex.

People that say "Cheers" instead of "thank you".

Tea sets.

People who call a shed a shanty.

Crayon factories.

Pineapple upside down cake.

Jane Fonda's workout video from the '80s.

Gummy worms.

The idea of brunch, but as dinner, not a hybrid of breakfast and lunch.

Wooden spoons.

Julia Child's "The French Chef" episode with Bertha, the mega lobster.

Chalkware roosters.

Radishes.

Top Gun sunglasses.

The fact that I can do a blog about random likeable things.

Conneaut Lake and Pymatuning State Park

It may not be the biggest amusement park in Western Pennsylvania or offer the most rides, but it's been a favorite of mine since I was a kid. My grandfather worked for the Cooper Bessemer in Grove City and every year he'd get tickets to Conneaut Lake. My whole family would make the journey up 79 and across 322 to the home of Pennsylvania's largest natural lake and the amusement park that made it's home along the lake's banks in 1892.

I have memories of riding the park's lone wooden roller coaster, the Blue Streak, though it took me years to get there. I spent most of youth trying to be taller than Connie Otter, the character who decided if you stayed in Kiddy Land or got to go out on the adult rides. One of my favorites was the Devil's Den, which for some reason I thought was called the Devil's pitfall, but I was probably thirteen the last time I was there so I wouldn't be surprised if it's always been called the Devil's Den. Either way, it's fun!

In addition to the park itself, there are several golf courses in the area and you're just down the road from Pymatuning State Park, which happens to be the largest state park in Pennsylvania. It also boasts the largest lake in Pennsylvania, with it's reservoir coming in at 17,088 acres in size. You can go boating, fishing and swimming and check out the park's fish hatchery.

For those of you planning to stay local this Memorial Day Weekend, but want to get out of Pittsburgh, I highly recommend a day trip to Conneaut Lake or Pymatuning State Park.

Enjoy the long weekend folks!

The Windsors

The Royal Wedding is over (cue wailing peasants) and some of us have been left a little restless and in need a royal fix. Might I suggest the in depth wonders of two excellent documentaries, Windsor Castle: A Royal Year (just got in the mail today from Amazon)and Monarchy: The Royal Family at Work.  In celebration of the royal wedding I rewatched Monarchy for the third time and took in the slew of specials on BBC America. 

But if you are looking for a true look behind the fortress of the family firm, I suggest renting (both are available on Netflix) or buying the two documentaries mentioned. Windsor Castle boasts extensive interviews with the Duke of Edinburgh (ie Prince Phillip, ie the Queen’s husband) and a thorough look at castle living from a vast amount of Her Majesty’s employees, a group of remarkable and intriguing people in their own right. Monarchy also features interviews with Queen Elizabeth’s children, Prince Charles, the Princess Royal (ie Princess Anne), Prince Andrew and Prince Edward. You’d be surprised at how humorous they all are, really.

I also caught an excellent special recently on the National Geographic Channel, of all stations, called Royal Wedding Revealed, which covers all the royal weddings to take place within the past century. It was well done - no fluff, as many of these specials tend to have.  I also enjoyed the special on BBC America, Memories of a Queen, which was an insightful look in the Queen Elizabeth II reign and what a long one it has been. Some speculate that she will outlive Charles, given her mother lived to be over 100, it is possible she may. She’ll be celebrating her Diamond Jubilee next summer, which means she’s had a sixty year run on the throne.  

I know we're all endlessly intrigued by the new generation of royals and the future of the monarchy truly rests upon their very well known shoulders, but the history of the family itself is fascinating and in my opinion, if people could be wonders of the world, then the Windsor family would be one of them.

All Things Royal

Well folks, tis the season for all things themed British!

Aside from the plentiful specials with "expert" point-of-views on things like wedding cakes, gowns and tiaras that have been popping up on TLC, ABC and BBC, there remains one resource that I've visited time and time again over the years : The Official Web Site of the British Monarchy.

Did you know the Duke of Edinburgh will be celebrating his 90th birthday this June? Ever wonder just how many realms the Queen is the Head of State for? There are links to historic speeches and broadcasts, an archive of images that covers the modern royal family, and a link to the Monarch's official Youtube channel.

If delving in to the entire monarchy doesn't interest you, then you can just check out the official web site for the royal wedding: http://www.officialroyalwedding2011.org/.

And just in case you were wondering how you were going to watch the royal wedding live, well the Monarchy has that covered.



Pittsburgh Pirates Concert Series

Pittsburgh Pirates Concert Series for Summer 2011

Saturday, June 11^th 7:05 pm

Pirates vs. New York Mets

Skyblast featuring Zambelli Fireworks and Huey Lewis and the News

Saturday, July 9^th 7:05 pm

Pirates vs. Chicago Cubs

Skyblast featuring Zambelli Fireworks and .38 Special in Concert

Saturday, August 6^th 7:05 pm

Pirates vs. Sand Diego Padres

Skyblast featuring Zambelli Fireworks and Train in Concert

Saturday, September 24^th 7:05 pm

Pirates vs. Cincinnati Reds

Fan Jam featuring Steve Miller Band

For more information on all the 2011 promotions, check out the Pittsburgh Pirates schedule.

What to Watch on Netflix Watch Instantly

I started off the year watching That '70s Show on Netflix Watch Instantly, but about a month or so ago I moved on to the wonderful, mysterious and goofy world of The X-Files. I was just a little kid when X-Files first came on the scene, so I never watched it when the series ran its course on television. I do have flashbacks from my childhood of "The Host" episode, which I caught parts of when my aunt was babysitting me. The star of the episode, a frightening half-human/half-worm with a big suction-cup mouth, gave me nightmares for years. Though after recently watching the season 2 episode again, my memories were slightly off. The host never sucks on to a human that is using a public restroom and eats him/her alive.

Admittedly there are some rough story lines to work through in the early seasons, but David Duchovny (Agent Mulder) and Gillian Anderson (Agent Scully) are actors who play off each other so well you can tolerate episodes like "Firewalker". I love you Bradley Whitford (the guest star of that episode), but my goodness...killer spores that lunge through the victim's throat and shoot out evil diseased green powder? It's a tad much.

The fashion is fabulous. The 1990s for FBI gals meant snazzy big buttons and snappy dress suits (the ones with the super long jackets). And for those wilderness adventures? Over-sized puffy winter coats that snitch at the waist, in happening hues of teal and fuchsia are a must have.  Now that's just Scully's wardrobe. Mulder? He's got some wide paisley ties and is always (regardless of the weather conditions) wearing a long trench coat. Ah yes, '90s garb was magic.

One of my favorite things about this show is Scully's narration as she types up her case notes. Anderson has such a perfect voice for narration and she executes the scientific lingo in her lines like a pro.

Another nice touch... not every episode starts the same way. It isn't the staple setup where a crime happens, Scully and Mulder get the call and they go investigate. There is a good bit of variety in the layout of how each episode unfolds and I think that is a great strength of this mysterious crime driven series.

The show also appeals to a wide variety of the unexplained. Yes, aliens and extraterrestrial life are a huge component of this series, but there's also religious phenomenon, superhuman abilities, telekinesis, government conspiracy, scientific experiments gone array, killer insects, voodoo and countless other bizarre happenings.

There is also a good spread of deep emotional material and light-hearted humor. A hysterical episode from season 3 is "War of the Coprophages". Killer cockroaches? Yes, please! Just the idea of it can literally kill people.

Best scene from the episode when Mulder calls Scully from the town infested with cockroaches:
Mulder: I think you better get up here.
Scully: What is it?
Mulder: It appears that cockroaches are mortally attacking people.
Scully: I'm not going to ask you if you said what I think you just said, because I know it's what you just said.

This episode also comes at a good point in the season, because it's a break from the more serious, dark material. As any good literary writer knows, you can't bog down your reader with a thousand pages of heart-wrenching drama. Life has humor in it, even in the darkest of times, and you have to include a light side to your work. Clearly the writers for The X-Files knew that and they wrote gems like "War of Coprophages" to even out the horror of abductions, death and human test subjects with carrot-stick-long fingers.

I realize it is April and warm weather is around the bend, so most of us will be leaving our televisions off in the evenings for enjoying the great outdoors. But for those rainy or lazy days, I recommend making yourself a bowl of stove-top popcorn (it's so much better than microwaveable) and dimming down the lights in your media room, because it's the perfect time to take in The X-Files.

                                                              The X-Files Season 1 Preview.

Eyebrow Business

As many of you know, Elizabeth Taylor passed away Wednesday, March 23rd. Elizabeth Taylor was exquisite in many regards. Her eyebrows were no exception. She had distinct, dark, beautifully arched eyebrows that will rival the most elegant eyebrows for decades to come. Here is a lovely example of her eyebrows in the DVD cover for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, truly one of my favorite Paul Newman and Elizabeth Taylor films.

Absolutely flawless eyebrows, right? Well, that got me thinking about all the eyebrows out there that aren't flawless. Having had an obsession with eyebrows for over a decade I felt inspired to create a little guide, if you will, into the wild and wonderful world of eyebrow maintenance!

(Isn't my graphic just lovely? My wonderful husband created it for me in Google SketchUp. Had we been more ambitious there would be eyelashes and better hair, but hey, I wanted an eye and eyebrow and by golly, I got them!)

Eyebrow 101:

There is no one specific shape you must adhere to when grooming your eyebrows. However, the monobrow is never acceptable. You have two eyebrows and they are never supposed to meet each other. Find the brow shape that best works with your face structure and what naturally fits with the basic shape of your brow. You may not be able to do a high arch if you have long skinny eyebrows. And that’s okay. Like people, eyebrows come in all sorts of different shapes and sizes. Just as long as your eyebrow does have shape to it – you’re on the right track : )

Eyebrows not as full as you’d like? You are welcome to fill in with an eyebrow pencil. All of us have had bad wax jobs and the hair may have stopped growing on the end, leaving your brows much too short or worse yet, you’ve been left with a gap in your eyebrow. Fill in folks! It’s okay. Do I recommend shaving off your eyebrows completely and drawing them on from scratch every day? No.  I refuse to believe that anyone has such unforgivable eyebrow structures that they must result to removing them altogether to start fresh. If you want to go down that route, I have no advice to offer.

Waxing, Tweezing and Threading.  (Note how I didn’t include shaving as an option. It’s because it isn’t one.)

I first started shaping and grooming my eyebrows when I was twelve. I had some unkempt furry friends looming over my eyes. Despite the fact that they provided a catchall for particulates falling from the sky, they were simply not attractive. I didn’t jump straight into plucking. I went to my trusty salon and had a professional shape and wax them. It gave me a basic structure to follow and gave me an arch.  I tweezed in between waxing and eventually had to give waxing up after an incident where my eyebrows were shaped incorrectly. It takes a long time for your eyebrows to recover after a bad wax job. My advice: when you call your salon find out who does the eyebrow styling the best. Most stylists have individual gifts: color, formal hairdos, cuts, perms and, for a gifted few, they can wax an eyebrow like no one’s business. If you’ve been going to a salon for a long time, then ask your personal stylist. They will be more inclined to give you the inside scoop on who does what best over a receptionist at a salon you hardly ever frequent.

Now, you’ve gotten waxed by the eyebrow master and you are ready to maintain the work. Your weapon of choice: tweezers.

There are hundreds of different options available to you.  In my personal experience you want two things: a good grip and a non-slip handle.  Don’t go with a shiny metal finish on the handle. You won’t get a good grasp on the instrument. Don’t go with a tip that has a smooth finish either. The metal on the inside of the tip should be rough and unpolished, as most tweezers do come. If you get one with a smooth finish you’ll know immediately because you won’t be able to pull a hair off your brow line for the life of you.

Brands: Revlon has an excellent selection with at a variety of price points to suit any budget. I recommend any tool in the Expert Tweezers collection. The Diamond Grip, Control Grip and True Precision also look promising, though I have not personally tried them. If you don’t want to pay more than five dollars for tweezers, but want the nonslip handle, I recommend the brand Trim. They have Trim Easy Hold Slant Tip Tweezers available at CVS for $4.49. CVS also has the Revlon Expert Tweezers Slant Tip available for $6.99.

Now you have your tweezers and you need to do some maintenance.  Most of us have a cosmetic mirror that magnifies the image it reflects.  If you don’t have one, then invest in one.  You can’t effectively pluck your eyebrows if you are leaning over your sink trying to see your target in the bathroom mirror. If you don’t have a vanity to sit at, I suggest using your desk or a dining room table. (Do be sure to clean the table’s surface afterwards. No one wants to eat dinner with hair and skin cells looming around his/her flatware.) You need good lighting as well. If your mirror does not come with lighting built into the frame, as many do, then bring your desk lamp over and adjust accordingly so you find the best lighting and angle for the mirror.

Follow your natural arch or the structure your stylist imposed when waxing. Remember: You can always take more away, but you can’t put it back. Don’t get trigger happy and take out a row of hairs without checking to make sure you are staying symmetrical with your other eyebrow. It is truly an art form. And like any form of art, mastering it can be very challenging. But making both eyebrows uniform is a most rewarding skill to acquire.

Plucking will hurt at first. For beginners, I would describe the process as uncomfortable, but tolerable.

I can only offer advice in regards to plucking with slanted edge tweezers. There are also pointed tips and square tips. Pointed tips are typically only used for removing ingrown hairs and splinters. And I can’t claim to have used square tip tweezers. The general idea is to grab hold of the hair as close to the surface of your skin as possible. You’ll have a better grip on it the closer to the base you are. With a slanted tip, you’ll go in at an angle to grab the hair and in one quick fluid motion you will pull the tweezers away from your eyebrow, continuing in the same direction you were going when you grabbed the hair. Don’t go back in the direction you came from. It’ll hurt more going backwards, then going forwards.

Tip: Keep in mind you are tweezing hair right above your eyeball, and your eyeball is something you really don’t want to scratch with a sharp grooming tool. Never tweeze when tired. Never tweeze when your hands are not perfectly dry. This means no tweezing after baths, showers or water balloon fights.

Now, once you have finished tweezing take a gander at yourself in front of a mirror from different angles. You may find you missed some hairs, especially on the very ends and directly between your eyebrows. These hairs tend to be thinner and less visible, especially for you blondes out there. But never fear if you leave one or two hairs behind. Only the most critical onlooker will take note, but if you’ve executed the rest of your maintenance efficiently, the standard gaze over the lunch table will  warrent you a look of envy, not scorn. Truly, who isn't jealous of symetrical, defined, and beautifully kept eyebrows?

How often should you be getting out your tweezers? Personally, I have to pluck my eyebrows every two days. Some people can let it go for a week, but most of us cannot. If you keep up with the maintenance then you won’t have to have them waxed nearly as often. But if you let them go, you’ll lose the shape and likely need to have a professional wax and reshape them for you.

Last but not least, the magic of threading! I have yet to try this latest trend in eyebrow maintenance, but it’s becoming popular all over the place.  I was introduced to threading by a good friend last fall and she shared this YouTube video with me. The video has had over a million hits, no doubt because it does such a good job of explaining the technique. Salons that feature threading are becoming more available. For example, if you happen to live in the Pittsburgh area, the Ross Park Mall now has a store called Miracle Eyebrows, which uses the threading technique. Having never tried it myself, I can’t recommend it, but I will say that I have heard it is fast, no more painful than tweezing and has longer lasting results than tweezing.  If you’re feeling up for an adventure, give it a go.

Remember, eyes may be the window to the soul, but eyebrows are the window dressing, so keep them classy people!

Grandma's West

Before I get started with new articles, I wanted to share my most recent publication. It's a short personal essay about a conversation I had with my grandmother several years ago. If you've had a dynamic relationship with your grandparents, then this piece may speak to you.

The article appeared in the February 19th 2011 issue of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Welcome!

Hello all!

I'm starting a new blog, Tieka's Take, which will cover many of my interests. Everything from books and movies to writing tips and advice. If I know something useful or interesting, then I'll share my take on it here.

More to come soon!

Tieka