The other day I posted about getting an award from WordPress. 10 likes. This blog is over 13 years old, I was a little, I don’t know the right word, offended I guess, to get an award for 10 measley likes after 13 years of almost daily posting. Kind of like the professor putting a smiley face as a grade for your college thesis. And like I already said, my blog doesn’t even have a “Like” button.

Even though this blog is a standalone site, I use a WordPress template, and the WordPress app, to upload posts.

The app has a built-in reader, which lets us view the posts of other bloggers. But it doesn’t let us view them properly.

I’ve noticed that when I’m looking at blogs on the app, the view isn’t the same as the actual web page. I haven’t quite figured out all the details yet, but, on the app, the comments and the comment section is missing. This means I cannot leave a comment on another blog whilst using the app and therefore others cannot leave comments on mine. With the WordPress app a person is actually never even visiting the webpage they are looking at. If the site has a hitcounter, it won’t count a hit. “Likes” are simply notifications generated within the app that stay in the app.

One must open the blog in his or her browser and then all the missing parts of the blog they are trying to see appear. With the WordPress app, you are seeing a WordPress manipulation of the site.

Why does WordPress even have a “like” button, are they copying Facebook?!?

If you “like” a comment or post, you click one simple click. The other person gets two notifications, an email and a WordPress App notifiction. They have to open their email program, delete the email, open the WordPress app, and clear the notification. That’s a spamlike amount of work somebody has to do every time for your one simple click.

I know, I know, I click to too occasionly, it’s an acknowledgement that the item has been seen. But really it’s worthless, look at a page and see the “Liked By” part, rows of teeny tiny avatars so small you can’t even see them.

In the upper right corner of the WordPress app page, is a “visit website” button (and a “share” button). I urge everyone to use this, and see the actual site they are trying to see, and leave comments on the actual webpage.

I think everybody loves comments. I know I do!

Maybe WordPress will address this issue in a future update. Or maybe I’m the only one who thinks there is a problem here.

I miss the good ‘ol days of Google Reader, that was the best!

Have a great day!

I got an email, which I dismissed as spam, but then I got another one. So I looked at it, then I replied, and she replied back to me. So by request, I decided to go ahead and re-post it.

Anna said she would like my opinion on this article. My opinion is this: When I go to the beach, which is often, THE ONLY LITTER I SEE IS PLASTIC! There is no paper, there is no metal, there is very little glass. The litter on the beaches in Cayman is 99.9999% PLASTIC!

I think the remedy should start with a fundamental modification of almost all plastic manufacturing, all new plastic should be made biodegradable. (photobiodegradable). After that is done, then start cleaning up what’s out there.

So here’s the emails, in screengrab form, and the aritcle, plus a link to the actual page.

You can read the article HERE..

Dang! By the time I wake up, get all the animals fed and get myself shaved and showered and my lunch made and I’m dressed and finally am able to sit down with my coffee to post my post, I’m already exhausted. Everything is irritating this morning.

So,

My Wife is afraid of frogs. They seem to live a lot on our roof and our back porch. Not long ago, we even found tadpoles in our birdbath! So, for the past several months, I’ve been going out every evening hunting them. I don’t kill them, I throw them off the porch into the back yard. In the beginning of my froghunting days, I’d get 5 or 6 every night, Now, they are a rarity. Last night, I found one! He was a pretty ‘lil froggie! I bumped him in the butt and he jumped over the side.

I guess I’m getting rid of them pretty good. because they’re getting pretty scarce.

Yesterday morning, I took a few shots of our poor, tortured cat, Goldie. He looks so exhausted and completely worn out, one can’t help but feel sorry for him. Maybe he goes through what I go through in the mornings!

Poor ‘lil fella!

You’d think, with all the cats and dogs around here, we wouldn’t have a frog problem, but we apparently have cats and dogs who aren’t doing their jobs!

Glad it’s Wednesday, woke up thinking it was Tuesday.

My mom wants me to go visit her, so I’ll be planning a weekend trio to the DC area pretty soon. Looks like.

Have a great day!

Whoop diddee doo!

My blog doesn’t even have a like button. It came in an email from WordPress.

My wife had a pretty good first day at work yesterday. She’s glad she’s part of a team instead in charge of the whole place. There’s eight people there, including her.

Today is Tuesday, yesterday wasn’t too bad, for a Monday.

Last night, the Wife and I watched a movie called Moana. It was pretty good. About this girl and her island people and a big guy named Maui.

I’m not fond of musicals, and this is a musical, and the singing is pretty cheesy, but the overall movie was etremely good. I’d recommend it for you. It’s a cartoon too. Bonus! Especially good if you like the ocean, and the earth. It’s south Pacific-ey.

When I was in Hawaii, the phone book for about 1983 or 1984 had a great picture depicting Maui and Sons, I’m sure you’ve that name before. Maui had a magic fish hook, and one day, he went way beyond the normal fishing grounds. Then he told his sons, “When I tell you to paddle, paddle like hell, but don’t turn around and look.” So Maui threw his magic fish hook in the sea, and when it reached the bottom, he told his sons to start paddling. They started padddling and Maui started pulling up this land. The sons knew somthing was going on, and couldn’t help but turn around and look. Because they looked, the land stopped coming up. Maui was angry at his sons. He yelled at them, “I wanted to pull up a giant continent, but because you looked, all I got were these small islands!”

And that’s how the Hawaiian Islands got there!

The phone book, when you opened it and laid it flat, so you could see the front and back covers at the same time, was a picture of Maui and his sons, on outrigger canoes, pulling up these volanic islands from the ocean. It was a truly spectacular mural, especially for a phone book. I have searched for that image many times, with no luck. I hope to find it someday. I’m still looking.

It’s nice and crisp and cool this morning. Must be lower humidity.

Have a great day!

And when the going gets tough, the not-so-tough get whiney. That’d be me!

I’ve had this thing on my foot for two weeks now. I think. The days are melting into one another.

It wasn’t bad, missing my beach lunch when it was cloudy, but now, with the promising morning look of blue skies and sunshine, I’ll be at work, looking out that big window, going stir crazy.

I could go to the beach, I can take the boot off my leg, but the problem would be heat, and sweat. Then having to return to the workplace. Getting in the water (to cool off) would be very dangerous with the uneven bottom. Swimming would possibly be the worst thing fo my foot, the flexing of all the footbones from swimming wouldn’t be condusive to healing. Maybe I’m thinking backwards, maybe swimming would be the best thing. I have a follow-up appointment soon, it’s on my calendar, like I said, the days are running together.

The beach is out of the question, for several more weeks. Nobody on this planet is wired so they would miss it more than me either.

Doom!

It was an OK weekend, watched the World Cup. Costa Rica got beat by Serbia. They didn’t look too good. Next they have to play Brazil, the favorites to win it all. If Costa Rica loses to Brazil, they’ll be out. Costa Rica needs a coach like they had last World Cup. There was a big fiasco after the last World Cup when they let their coach go. Can’t remember details, but CR messed it up.

I loved seeing Mexico beat Germany!

Grass needs mowing again, I can’t do it. Gonna have to pay somebody.

Today is my Wife’s first day at her new job. She’s excited, and there’s no better person on earth. They’re going to love her! I’m sure she’ll have her rough patches, but she’ll make it through them OK, I’ll help her all I can.

I saw a job I think I’d like. Social Media coordinator for this big company. I didn’t apply, because the ad said that you needed to be fluent in Spanish and French. Probably an ad for somebody’s work permit renewal, but the job looked interesting. I’ve said before, I never knew what I wanted to do when I grow up, and I’m in electronics because of a Heathkit Stereo. Except Scuba diving, and that lacks the salary.

Well, I got to get going. Have a great day and great week! If you can make it out for a swim at lunchtime, think of me!

I read an article HERE. It’s about fitness trackers and their decline.

It’s pretty funny, but maybe true. My wife takes hers off, so that her step goal doesn’t go up too much for tomorrow. I have, on occasion, NOT heeded the “MOVE!” notification for the same reason. I also have a little disgruntlement because I lost my step goal streak because of the tracker bettery dying. (My post about that is HERE.) I was really trying to keep my step goal from rising in those days.

I like my Garmin VivoSport a lot, I find that all I have to do is keep it happy, and better fitness is merely a side-effect.

I don’t care if everyone else quits using them, I like mine, and will keep using it.

Looking at the chart above, it occurs to me that maybe the decline coincides with the end-of-life for peoples trackers, and many people choose not to buy new ones. I started with a FitBit Charge HR, went through two under-warranty replacements (battery died), then moved to the Garmin VivoActive. (which is supposedly waterproof, FitBit isn’t). With the Vivoctive, I also had two failures under warranty. When the second replacement Vivoactive failed, the warranty year was over (The original and both replacements, (three units) all flooded in waist-deep water, although they’re rated to 50 meters), and I decided to buy a cheaper model, the VivoSport. I almost bought two, in anticipation of failure, (but I didn’t) But anyway, maybe, many other people are having this general feeling that many fitness trackers don’t last as long as they should, and not replacing them.

Of course, with my broken foot, everything is on hold. No exercise and a boot on my leg for four and a half more weeks. I can’t wait to start my morning run and swims again.

This morning, 0700 our time,

Costa Rica is playing in the World Cup. We plan on watching, the wife is still in bed, but she said she was going to set her alarm. I’ll wake her up if she doesn’t seem like she’s getting up.

Also, the cat is sick, puking all over the house and yowling like she’s in heat. She must have eaten something unsavory last night.

Have a great day! Pura Vida! Go Costa Rica!

Remember I posted about a dream I had in which I stole a train? You can read it here.

I found this Pinterest picture that reminds me of that dream. It kinda has the locomotive and kinda has the pier type thing I was jumping across to, or this also is similar to the scond station, where I reversed the train, minus the booths on the sides I’m surprised how well I still remember that dream.

I think this is a pretty cool picture, but my train wasn’t old timey like this, it was ultra-futuristic. But it was tall like this picture.

It’s a Saturday morning, the sky is actually more than half blue.

I’m drinking coffee from a new coffee pot, that the wife brought home from Scotland. My call is that the coffee is a bit weak. Whoever made the coffee must not have put enough coffee in there. (That would be me)

The one on the left is a four cupper, the new one is a nine cupper.

I guess that’ll do-er for today, have a great weekend!

Last week, I posted about my new safety razor, and chopping my own head off. After that I bought put the razor aside, and went back to the disposables.

Well, my Wife, at my previous request, got me another new, safety razor from a 150 year old shop in Scotland. Used it this morning for the first time.

Amazing difference. Not a single nick, and a super-good shave.

When she gave it to me yesterday, instantly I could feel the difference, just by holding it in my hand. The new one has a shorter handle and was much heavier. Not to mention more beautiful. Comparing the two, side by side, I couldn’t see much difference in the mechanism, the new one was a titch wider, but the part that holds the center was much tighter.

I couldn’t sleep last night, waiting to use it.

Before I started, I looked in the mirror and said to myself, “Now don’t chop yer head off.” I didn’t! And OMG! the shave was a bazillion-trillion-gazillion times better!

Old on the left, new on the right.

Notice the difference in the gaps in the mechanism that holds the blade.

Ladies, if your looking for a gift for your man, I recommend a new safey razor, but get a good one. Get a heavy one, get a quality one. It will be loved and should last forever!

Friday here, it got a little sunny in the afternoon yesterday, kinda cloudy now, but might be an OK day weather-wise. I don’t bother checking the weather anymore, since it’s been cloudy for a long time, and Ican’t ride my scooter or go to the beach because of my leg.

The World Cup started yesterday, not a big deal like the last one, mostly because of the time the games are played. No World Cup parties.

Have a great weekend!

Sheba and Goldie are BFF’s – Best Furry Friends!

These are pictures that I grabbed from our security camera. They’re laying in the driveway together. Luvvin’ it up!

Today my Wife gets home! She woke up last night at 10 PM our time, 4 AM in Scotland. They are supposed to arrive here at 3:45 PM local time. That would be 9:45 PM in Scotland. That’s 17 hours 45 minutes travel time, not counting getting her home from the airport.

Last night I did the laundry, and I got the house pretty ready for her return.

Thanks for the comments on yesterdays post. Diet Coke Rocks, when I visit your blog, I feel like a child, nagging an adult, you have a quality blog! And I thought your blog was older than mine! Cheyenne, I’m the one who ran out of stuff to post about, years ago! I just post! If I don’t have anything to post about, I post about not having anything to post about!

Thanks again, and have a great day!

It’s a cloudy day, raining steady, with thunder. Quite pleasant, actually.

can you find the cat?

The wife comes home tomorrow! Tomorrow morning she flies from Edinbourgh Scotland to London, then London to Cayman, with a one hour stop in the Bahamas. She has Friday and the weekend off, then Monday she starts her new job at the National Gallery. Hopefully enough time to get over her jet lag. She has had a wonderful, fun trip. I’ll be glad to have her safe at home again.

I’ve been looking for more blogs to follow, I’ve been adding to my numbers, leaving a few comments. There seems to be a new breed of bloggers out there. They like my comment on their blog, They may reply, on their blog, to my comment. But few come here and comment. It leads me to confirm my belief that this blog isn’t very good, just a boring diary kind of blog. This blog certainly doesn’t seem to fit into any category, except maybe “postaday”, which makes it hard to find other blogs similar to mine. Almost no blogs are as old as this one though. Bloggers come and go I guess. I can go back to my posts from 10 years ago, look at the comments, and almost all of their blogs are gone or inactive. That’s too bad for them (and me, beause I miss them and consider them friends). I have always said that Facebook is good for finding old friends and a blog is good for making new ones.

I like my blog, an I’m going to keep going forever, at least till I die!

Have a great day, and stay dry!