Local Girl Makes Good

Reading all of that Seth Godin pays off. ;o)

Hooray for Houzz.com, that listens to its users!

*Update*

That discussion has disappeared from Houzz.com, so I used the fabulous Wayback Machine, and pulled it up.  The text went as follows:

Wondering why we can't pin our fave pictures on Pintrest? Not being rude here just seriously want to know, is there a legal reason?

13 replies

posted 2 days ago in Using Houzz by ldirk | last reply 31 hours ago

Email

 

 

13 replies

annalea123 says:

I'd love to know, too. Not "allowing" Pinterest links is seriously hurting Houzz. Sure, it brought me here and I now know what Houzz is . . . but there's no way I'm going to start using the service after they've fouled up my method for keeping track of my idea files. The lack of perceived goodwill is pretty glaring -- and I don't have time for two services anyway.

2 days ago

sheilaschmitz says:

Thank you for your comments, ldirk and annalea123! We love our community and truly appreciate your feedback. We are currently looking for a solution that will also address the requests from design professionals on the site to keep their photos protected.

When we started Houzz in 2009, a priority was to create a place where design professionals and others would feel comfortable and protected when sharing their work. When members share their portfolios on our site, they know we have done our best to make sure their photos are presented in the way that they have chosen.

We recently discovered that 20,000 images from Houzz had been posted to Pinterest. From there they can be copied again to other places. We certainly do not wish to spoil anyone's experience with Pinterest; we were simply fulfilling a promise we made to the designers when they gave us license to use their images on our site.

Again, we are trying to work with Pinterest to find a solution that will solve everyone's needs.

2 days ago

ldirk says:

Awesome! Thank You so much for answering my question. I wondered if it wasn't something as such. I have to sort of agree with annalea123! that it seems negative even though you are just fulfilling a promise. I hope it can be resolved because I love these two sites equally and I direct all my friends to both. I don't plan on quitting Houzz. It's an awesome site. But I will say that many others will be directed to your site via Pinterest. I have found numerous sites since joining there and it makes it simple to be redirected to the origin of the photo.
Thanks Again! And thanks for your great site. Lots of hard work and time goes in to Houzz and I really do appreciate it.

2 days ago

annalea123 says:

Hi Sheila,

I appreciate your time to answer. One thing that's important to bear in mind is that once photos are posted on the internet, control is gone. If photos are here at houzz.com, they can be downloaded, copied, pasted, ad infinitum. (There are plenty of image-capture programs out there if right-clicking is disabled in the page html.) As it is, code is offered upon right-clicking to embed the photo wherever I want, so I'm at a loss to see how disdaining Pinterest pins protects anyone.

A designer's work pinned (and repinned, going viral) on Pinterest is some of the very best free marketing ever. The social networking aspects of Pinterest make it one of the most powerful tools so far for making sure images are seen. And if you're a designer, whose work must be seen, I'm having trouble understanding how that's a bad thing.

All of the hyperventilating about limiting what amounts to fair use really is self-defeating. I'm sad that these designers don't yet grasp the importance of always gaining a wider audience. Pinterest is, quite literally, a "quotation" site, but it quotes images instead of text. Images are always linked back to their original sources, which will drive traffic both to Houzz and to the designers in general.

As the business-minded wife of a software company owner, and an active customer/consumer, I love to see companies that humble themselves and realize that without goodwill and a great reputation for generosity and friendliness, they simply won't make it. Designers fall under that same category.

There are tons of great designers out there, in innumerable fields. I'm sorry that those who post to Houzz are actively opting out of such a fast-growing and highly active marketing tool as Pinterest.

You may now return to your regularly-scheduled evening. This rant chapter of the Great American Novel is now over. ;o) Thanks for reading!

2 days ago

islandhome says:

With you annalea123 on this. Houzz's stance on this has been very disappointing particularly as these designers portfolios are online and available to pin without going through Houzz.
Enough to turn me off Houzz and stick with Pinterest.
I'm curious to know how this will affect bloggers who use images from here? After all Pinterest provides links to follow back to source whereas a blogger can easily eliminate all that information when posting an image from Houzz.

48 hours ago

angela_kuzior says:

I completely agree with annalea123-you are a very eloquent writer! Everything she mentions about images being "protectable" is correct, as I'm sure you well know.

I am a photographer myself and would be absolutely delighted if a photo of mine went viral on Pinterest since it would lead so many back to my site and/or blog. There is quite a difference between saving a photo (or what have you) on a pin board online vs. STEALING a photo for print or to claim as your own work.

I'd also like to point out that I had never even heard of your site until someone was bashing it ON Pinterest for taking away a ton of folks pins, many of whom I'm sure were the same as me and had not heard of your site before they found something they thought was beautiful pinned from it on Pinterest.

I have literally replaced a lot of the paper in my office by using Pinterest and will not frequent any site that does not allow me to pin something so I don't have to try to remember the path I took to get back to it.

I hope you will reconsider this horrible business idea and that the designers you work with understand that nothing they make available on the internet is sacred.

48 hours ago

cookles2 says:

Why would anyone post anything on the internet if they wanted to keep it private. I love you site and have spent many hours searching reading and enjoying. I am in the process of building a new house. Being able to catalog my likes on PINTEREST has been a godsend, I can easily share my likes and dislikes with my entire design team. Over 100 pins from Houzz were just deleted, all that invested time ... GONE! Business wise I can't imagine your designers and advertisers wouldn't want the exposure, I have used a few of your leads. Hope this can be resolved .... till then I can't spend the time searching your site for info that later I can't retrieve easily.

43 hours ago

houzzsupport says:

Thank you again for your feedback and ideas. We read them all and take them seriously. We have written to Pinterest to let them know they can continue to allow their users to pin photos they find on Houzz.

We value all members of the Houzz community and want your experience to be the best it can be — on Houzz as well as Pinterest. We are sure there's a solution that works for everyone and will do whatever we can to make that happen.

39 hours ago

ldirk says:

Great News!!! And Thank You Houzz.

38 hours ago

angela_kuzior says:

Awesome! Thank you.

34 hours ago

annalea123 says:

I believe one word begs appropriate use here:

Waaah-hoo! :o)

Houzz, you just earned major points in my book. Thank you!

Now, to find that email so I can repin the Houzz photos I had before . . .

34 hours ago

annalea123 says:

P.S.) Now I just need to wait for Pinterest to whitelist Houzz so their "Pin It" bookmarklet will work again. . . .

34 hours ago

islandhome says:

Well done Houzz for sorting this out and coming to the party.

31 hours ago

Quote of the Day: Seth Godin

"Art is not in the eye of the beholder. It's in the soul of the artist."


Amen.


(Found here.)

4Shared: Not.

If you're currently using 4Shared's service, I would caution you to not try to use it as a file sharing/download service for your readers.  Here's what happened to me today, and (from the comments I've read at another blog) has happened to plenty of others, as well.

4Shared has crafted their website very carefully.  If you're looking to upload files to share, it's as easy as pie.  Registration is quick and simple, offers a snazzy app to help you upload things automatically, and makes getting set up and sharing files a breeze.  I went through that part of the process a couple of months ago when I needed a quick backup option.

But.

If you're on the download side of the coin, watch out.  Sure, they say you can download for free.  After a wait.

Okay, I thought.  No problem.

So, I bring up a few download pages with files shared by a fellow blogger.  I click on the links, wait the prescribed 90-ish seconds, and then click "Download".  The first file starts great.  The second file even begins to download concurrently.  Then, when I click on the third, I'm given a message that I'm already downloading a file from my IP address, and will need to wait until it's done to start another one.  Ugh.  But, it's free, so I figure I'll wait.  Again.  I carefully look past the fact that there are three computers sharing an internet connection in my home, and we all use the same portal IP address, so only one of us could download anything from 4Shared at any given time.

At this point it's annoying, but still doable.  (Hint to businesses . . . the LAST thing you want to do is annoy potential customers who have come to your website . . . people who may have come wanting to give you money.)

So, I wait until the file finishes, and go to click on the next download link.  Apparently each page has some kind of session, and it had expired.  Clicking the download link reloads the page.  At this point, I notice the "Log In" link, and think to myself: "I'll just log in; that should make things better,"  Right?  Right.

I log in, am greeted by cheerful text at the top of the page, and then click on the first "Download Now" link again.  I wait (this time for 240 seconds).  I'm surprised by the four minute wait, and am now graduating past the "annoyed" benchmark.

I manage to get back to the page before the session times out and requires another page reload and another wait, (because I'm not going to sit there and watch 240 seconds count down), and click on the second "Download Now" link.  At this point I have very little faith in the "Now" part.  My browser grinds for about 30 seconds, and then the page loads to an "Unable to connect to  . . . yadda yadda yadda."  {Insert expletive here.}

I click back and reload the page.

Click the initial "Download Now" button (which I now understand really means "Download Eventually, after we make you wait even LONGER, and reload the page a few more times"), and see that the wait THIS time is going to be 381 seconds.

Yep.  That's 6 minutes, 21 seconds.  And a serious slap in the face.

I even managed to get back to the page after the elapsed wait time, but before the session expired, and try the download yet again.  With no results. (Another "cannot connect to" page.)

4Shared, do you think that you will EVER, at any point in the remaining 50-or-so years of my life, EVER get any of my money?  EVER????  Or that I will tell anyone to use your service?

Quite the contrary.

Your extortionate tactics have just made sure that you have not only lost a customer, but have a very unhappy ex-customer on your hands, who feels tricked and abused.  My time has been wasted, the files I was hoping to download (which would have proven very useful in my tasks today) are now firmly out of reach, and I'm going to do all I can to see if I can influence my fellow blogger to switch to some other service.  Advertising free downloads when, in reality, no download is possible (but the user only learns that after wasting their time), is absolutely beyond the pale.

And life is too short for that.

{/rant}

Frustration

Would the folks who brought the stomach flu to church please stop it?  The rule of thumb is a full 24 hours symptom-free.  (Not "Well, s/he was sick last night, but today looks just fine.")

I have family in town (like many of you).  My brother and his family flew at great expense from Texas to spend the holiday with us, my parents, and my other brother & his family.  We only get to see them once every couple of years, and their visits are precious.  He and his wife have three small children, the oldest of which (at 4 years old) dearly loves to play with her cousins--which cousins are currently either running fevers or vomiting all over the place . . . and they played with my niece today (before they showed any symptoms).  It's looking like not only will any of my family be unable to attend the Thanksgiving celebration, but if my niece and her brothers were given the bug today, then they won't be able to, either.  Talk about a waste of a trip.  Instead of a wonderful holiday together, we've got stomach-churning messes to clean up.

I have a brand-new baby in the house, who hasn't been vomiting (praise heaven), but has been really fussy and hasn't slept much all day.  I'm beginning to wonder if he's got it, too.

I'm so short on sleep as it is . . . and instead of being able to go to bed tonight, I've been cleaning up various regurgitations.  It's now nearly eleven o'clock, and I'm feeling pretty frustrated.  Please, think next time before you bring recently-ill children to church.  (Even if it is the Primary Program that week, and you don't want your child to miss out on presenting his or her part . . . the consequences are just too unfair for those of us who stay home when we're sick, and trust that others will, too.)

Thank you.  I now return to my regularly-scheduled clean-up efforts . . .

Why I Unschool

"If every child was unschooled -- given the chance to explore and discover and learn in the real world what they love to do, what they're uniquely good at doing, and what the world needs that they care about -- then we would have a world of self-confident, creative, informed, empowered, networked entrepreneurs doing work that needs to be done, successfully. We would have armies of people collaborating to solve the problems and crises facing our world, instead of going home exhausted at the end of the day seeking escape, feeling helpless to do anything that is meaningful to them or to the world. We would have a world of producers instead of consumers, a world of abundance instead of scarcity, a world of diversity instead of what Terry Glavin calls "a dark and gathering sameness". We would have a world of young people choosing their lives instead of taking what they can get, what they can afford, what is offered to them. We would have a world of people who are nobody-but-themselves, and who know who they are, and how to live and make a living for themselves."

--Dave Pollard, An Unschooling Manifesto

That is the kind of human being unschooling produces.  Those are the children I am raising to adulthood, one at a time.  I can only influence a few human beings in my lifetime . . . why would I send those over whom I have the most influence into an environment that has, so crushingly and universally, turned out exactly what our "Real World" does not need?

As Sir Ken Robinson so astutely stated, the children going into school now will be retiring in 2075.  None of us have the faintest idea what the world will look like then.  Honestly, there aren't many who belong to the older generations (or my own, for that matter) who really understand what the world is like right now.  Educating our children in a structure designed by 19th Century Prussian socialists to turn out obedient public servants is one of the highest disservices we can offer our children in the name of preparing them for the "real world".  The classroom has its place . . . but only in small and measured doses, and when the student chooses freely to go . . . and is free at any time to leave.

The Real World I was warned about, educated for, and made to worry about in my own schooling doesn't exist for me.  It never has.  It was the Real World of my high school teachers . . . and even if there are some for whom that world construct still serves, it never served for me.  I have always chosen to remain outside of it.  The dark and gathering sameness has never attracted me.  The dawning light of new understanding, the striving and sweating to reach new heights, the call of a better way that the limping gait of culture have always kept me forging ahead elsewhere.

Each of us makes our own Real World, full of possibilities, priorities, paths and pastimes.  Why on earth should we be educated identically?

Mommy, he's copying me!

I'm so tired of patent law and it's attendant disputes. Even though the concept is frightening to a lot of people, I think Benjamin Franklin was right in opposing patents.

Total Rant: On good error-handling in shipped code.

Could someone, somewhere, PUHLEASE make it easy on me when I hit a bug, for heaven's sake?

Is it my responsibility, as a user, to Google the error code, sleuth through overburdened help & FAQ forums, post a question, wait for an answer, and otherwise spend minutes or hours of my precious and scarce time on a problem that's not mine to fix?

Ravelry has it right. When there's a problem, a friendly little page appears containing Bob, the official Rav mascot, that says (paraphrased, as I can't find an error right now to quote it):

Doh! We've been notified, and we'll fix this as fast as we can. Thanks!

Casey (the well-loved code monkey behind the wonder that is Ravelry) is automatically emailed each and every time there's a problem. Knowing something of Casey's coding practices and design ethics, I rest assured that those automatic emails contain all of the info necessary for him to fix the problem.

I'm so terribly tired of bug handling being left to the end user. It's time for the code guys (I'm talking to you, Blogger) to take responsibility and automate the process so the rest of us aren't left without what we need from the service/product, and a burden to go figure it out ourselves.

Handed-ness in Knitting: It Ain't Worth a Thing.

Since this is a topic that seems to come up over and over and over in KAL's I participate in, I thought I'd just blog and link instead of repeating myself. ;o)

Knitting isn't handed. It simply isn't.

You use both hands to knit, just as you do to drive. There are different actions for each hand as you drive (the turn signals are usually on the left, the gear shift on the right, etc.), but nobody talks about left-handed drivers or right-handed drivers, or left- and right-handed cars.

Mystique swirls maddeningly around lefties learning to knit, and thickens the further back you go in time. One lovely lefty lady at my old LYS, Rachel, was taught to knit standing in front of a mirror. Her instructor (a Righty) insisted it would be easier for her to learn that way. But it's really not necessary. If anything, Lefties have an edge in learning to knit, because as has been pointed out more than once: in Continental knitting the left had does more than the right. Elizabeth Zimmerman even called Continental Left-handed Knitting. Check out how I (a definite Lefty) knit:



There are only a few stitches in that clip, but watch my hands (not fingers) carefully, and see which hand does what.

More examples are here and here.

Learning to knit backward can be handy, as it makes button bands and other small pieces easier (turning every four stitches is crazy-making). But beyond eliminating the need to turn your work in such situations, it's borrowing trouble (as is mentioned at the bottom of the page here). Knitting backward under all circumstances means that you must read charts backward, reverse written directions, or have a mirror image of what is being knitted. But more than that, it creates a mental barrier that can grow all out of proportion. Whether in your own mind, or the mind of knitters you meet, habitually knitting backward places obstacles in your way that needn't be there.

Long rant short, do yourself a favor: learn to knit Continental in the conventional direction. It's fast, efficient, and despite requiring an initial investment in time and effort, will save you hours and hours and hours of frustration and work in the long run.

And learning an already-entrenched skill in reverse is excellent for your brain. ;o)

How Times Have Changed

Or have they?

Sob

So, back in early May when I read Amy's blog post about Ravelry, I went over to the Ravelry site and added myself to the waiting list. When I read Melanie's post today, announcing that she received her invite, I went over to check my progress.

I'm not there.

No email address of mine showed up. Zippo. Nada. In desperation I added my email. That's three months I could have been on the waiting list. At the Unraveled blog today, the waiting list count is 15,422. That "2" at the end is me. (On the "antsy" status-checker page, it says I have 15,421 people ahead of me.) So, at roughly 1200/week (according to Ravelry's Casey), I've only got 12.85 weeks to go. {sob}


I'm being a big girl about it, but it's hard.





At least I can still knit . . .



Er, I mean, at least I can still knit . . .



Oops, that wasn't it, either . . . Maybe this?



Fiddlesticks. Ummmm . . .



I mean, at least I can still knit . . .



This is getting embarassing. One last time.

At least I can still knit!



Ahhh. There it is. ;o)

Grrrrrrr . . . .

I just ran headlong into a generation gap.

I called Knit Picks, and got an older CS rep on the phone with a confident, calm voice. As I began reciting my order number, etc., I was remembering my last call to Knit Picks, when I also spoke with an older woman. She was very friendly, understanding, and kind. The type of woman you would love to have in your knitting circle on Tuesday nights. She helped me with my questions, and we ended the call cordially. This woman was 180 degrees from the previous one.

I called to ask about status on my order, which was placed on the 7th of July, and didn't ship for five days. When I try to track it, the system responds with a "no matching tracking numbers found" message. So, I called to find out if it had actually shipped. The tone of response I got was "Your order hasn't been in transit very long, and you shouldn't be worrying about it, you silly little thing." She explained, slowly so I could understand, the process of taking orders, picking the merchandise from the warehouse, packaging and shipping. When I saw that tack was a brick wall, I asked about the possibility of Knit Picks ever offering USPS Priority shipping, and was put down again--before I had even finished my question. Before my anger and frustration got the best of me, I broke in, thanked her for her time, and hung up.

I didn't even make a dent.

That CS Rep's generation, and economy, ran on the hero-worship mentality. Bigger was better. The larger the operation, the more respect and devout obedience were required. Schools, government officials, businesses, the whole lot knew they were lumped in with God, and expected kow-towing and humble submissiveness, or retribution was generously applied.

That world is dying, if not dead already.

Now, cue reality. Companies move quickly. 24-hour order processing is common, even for very large companies like Land's End and Fire Mountain. (Both of which I have ordered from numerous times.) They have very reasonable shipping rates and very quick and predictable order processing times. For pete's sake, even Amazon, with it's monstrous warehouses and inventory, will have my order to me in 48 hours or less if I place my order by the daily cutoff. Knit Picks' inventory is miniscule compared to theirs. Or to Fire Mountain's or Land's End's, for that matter. Please. What world are they living in?

I'm not quibbling with Knit Picks's shipping rates--they're standard for the shipping options they offer. Their standard shipping is dirt-cheap . . . but the speed at which it travels is about the same as dirt on a calm day. I could drive the 2,146 miles between my house and the warehouse in Ohio, pick up my order and drive back three days faster than my order travels to me. (Yes, I know it's not worth it to travel myself--this is for illustrative purposes only.) There should be some kind of middle option, instead of either paying $3 for standard shipping, or $13 for UPS 3-day service from Ohio to northern Idaho. Am I out of my mind to suggest that they offer Priority Mail to their customers? I thought not. Most of my orders would fit in a flat rate envelope or box, and get to me in three days. That beats seven days with a stick.

I've worked in shipping, in customer service, and in picking & packing operations. I've been a consumer for a lot of years, and have dealt with a tremendous number of CS reps and companies. Vern has worked for several software companies, and has seen how they've blundered and botched their way through customer service and marketing. We now are 50% owners in a software company, which deals directly with customers for the sale of its product.

But I know nothing about this whole topic. Babe in the woods, that's me. Yep.

Sure.

Of Bees and Men

Today I've been thinking about bees. And people.

At lunch, my three-year-old son started talking about bees, and when they sting. So, we had a little conversation about bees, and when and why they sting. Honeybees rarely sting when they're away from the hive. (Unless you step on them. Trust me.) Some bees are more aggressive than others. For example, most of the kids* I know up here in the north have a healthy fear of bald-faced hornets; and nobody needs to ask why. Africanized honeybees, anyone?

*The adults feel the same way, but they call it "healthy respect" instead of fear.

Then I remembered, long ago, seeing some of the hostages walk across the tarmac, and asking my mother: "Why Americans?" I'll never forget her answer: "If they had chosen a building full of Palestinians, the people would have risen up and torn them limb from limb. Americans just don't fight back."

Columbine. Santana High School. Twenty seven school shootings since 1959. Twenty-two of those since 1983. Twenty of those since 1991. Ten of those since 2000. For Pete's sake, we even have a slang phrase for this kind of thing: "Going postal." Hasn't anyone noticed a theme here?

So what is the difference between bees and men? Why do people take proven precautions when handling bees, and yet go about their lives acting as though shootings just don't happen?

In 2002, there was a similar scenario at the Appalachian Law School in Virginia. It began much as the Virginia Tech Massacre did--but upon hearing gunfire, two students (unbeknownst to one another) ran to their cars and retrieved their own firearms. They subdued Peter Odighizuwa without firing a shot, and the total death toll that day was three. Less than one tenth of the Virginia Tech shooting. The death toll that day could have been down to two, had those students been carrying their "hardware" on their persons instead of locked in their cars. Angela Denise Dales could still be alive.

In the animal kingdom, few will dispute that survival of the fittest is the supreme law. As human beings, we hope for better than that. We strive for things like reason, kindness, respect, compassion, understanding, forgiveness and love. But there always have been, and always will be, human beings who choose to go back to animal status when they prey on their fellow man. Homo homini lupus est.*

As responsible adults, especially when we are responsible for children, it behooves us to consider these kinds of things. Deciding beforehand how you'll act in a given situation is the key to success. Instead of turning into a deer in the headlights, you can take action that can save your own life, and the lives of those around you. I remember learning of the Genealogical Library shooting in Salt Lake City, Utah, and wondering why nobody grabbed any one of the heavy or sharp objects in the library and went for the 70-year-old man who was wielding death that day.

I find the cries for lockdown policies cruel and cowardly. By locking down the building when a shooting begins, a death sentence is passed on those in the building with the madman. Sure, he can't shoot anybody outside the building, but those in the building have a very low chance of survival. Besides, having publicly announced lockdown policies is clearly an advantage to a shooter--and we don't want to give them advantages. We want to discourage them. Giving the criminal such a clear advantage is barbaric.

I'm not trying to say that everyone should walk around armed to the teeth. My message today is simply that we need to stop hiding our faces and pretending that nothing like this will ever happen again. As a society, we're following the path of victimization when we could be changing the way we think about violence, and our reaction to it. We need to rethink our panic response to the idea that good people can decide to take steps to protect themselves and those around them. If you're not one who feels comfortable with that, you are completely within your rights to abdicate that responsibility. But turning every single American into a helpless target only aids and encourages further violence. (I'm not going to go into how absurd it is to give Seung-Hui Cho air time on prime time for his video--c'mon, how much incentive do we want to give to budding lunatics? "Massacre a bunch of people and you, too, can be famous!")

I find it interesting that the schools handle misbehaving children in first grade by calling the police, who then arrest and book the child. The police told an interviewer that a six-year-old girl kicking a teacher is the same as an adult assaulting another adult. A frightening trend toward a zero tolerance policy with children, who are still learning what it means to be a good person, while showing compassion and leniency toward legal adults who have done horrific damage to so many lives, is outrageous. (C'mon . . . little Desre’e Watson's kick gets her put in jail for the day, and Seung-Hui Cho's massacre of 33, (with 29 injured), gets him time on TV. Who should be getting the sympathy here?)

Please, let's not let this insanity continue. If a child kicks a teacher, call her mother. Arrange for counseling. Give her a big hug and some quiet time one on one and talk the whole thing over. As a mother of small children, love is what truly works the best with little ones. If they love you, they'll trust you and try to do as you ask. If an adult uses deadly force, let us defend ourselves. These types have a trend of killing themselves in the end, so let's save some lives in the process, shall we?

Leniency and understanding for children.

Zero tolerance for adults.

*"Man is a wolf to man." Thomas Hobbes

Note: I have taken a lot of time and care in composing this. I welcome questions, comments and discussion. But please keep it respectful and free of foul language. This is a family-friendly blog. Thank you.

What's normal?

I feel as though the common usage of the word "normal" is woefully fuzzy, with attendant social inferences that pressure and guilt people into doing things that make them unhappy. When someone says "That's not normal," all too often the response elicited (whether spoken or silent) is "There's something wrong with me."

Normal is the way things should be. Usual, on the other hand, is what happens all around us every day. Big Difference. Given a life based on generally wise decisions, it's normal to be reasonably happy, have some energy, and find joy in life. It's usual to be tired, depressed, overburdened and crabby.

Too Young, Too Old

I've just realized that one is never immune from condescension. Nope. Not ever. As children, we're told: "You're too young. You'll understand when you're older." Then, when we've graduated to adulthood, with all of its responsibilities and learning experiences, and we actually do begin to understand, we're told: "Oh, as you get older, you'll see I'm right, sweetie." And then, when we finally have enough gray hair to make that last line ridiculous, we're told: "But you're too old to understand anything!"

Argh. Condescending comments really chap my hide.