Technology--or why I'm glad I'm retiring

Technology frustrated me today. Amazon still lists Cooking My Way through Life with Kids and Books as a children's book available for pre-order. It is NOT a children's book, and it's been available for what? Two months? So I asked A&M to deal with that. Then I wanted to post a link to order the book from A&M on my blog, but it's not live yet on the A&M website. Another call down there, wherein my good friend Gayla assured me their new wonderful do-all-things database, called Firebrand (something I will never understand) should be up and running by next week. She was, she said, having a nervous breakdown over the glitches of transition--I urged her not to do that. Transitions to new systems are always hard, I know that. Melinda and Susan are excited about Firebrand; I am simply puzzled.
I printed out directions today for getting my phone set to receive my emails. It once was, but TCU changed the domain or server or something, and now it doesn't get them. Even Jamie couldn't figure it out this weekend, though he kept saying, "I did it before. I don't know why I can't do it now." So I brought the directions home to work with it, but you know what? I haven't had the courage to try, and by now, it's late at night and I'm just going to read. Christian is coming for supper Sunday night--I finally have Jacob's b'day present, so we'll have a belated b'day party for him--and maybe he can program my phone. He's smart about such things.
With apologies to Melinda, I also haven't gotten to the proofs for her book on Texas wineries, but I'm just not going to try tonight. It's late and I wouldn't be bright about proofing.
Had a nice dinner with Betty at the restaurant where we usually order and split the tapas platter--only tonight it was stuffed peppers (I hate peppers) and clams (never eaten them, not sure about them, though I do love shellfish and seafood). We split trout with cream sauce, mashed potatoes, and steamed vegetables. I only ate a tiny bit of the potatoes, and the whole meal came in under my Weight Watchers points--okay, I neglected to tell the computer about the cream sauce because I didn't know how to classify it and besides, it wasn't that much! The restaurant where we went, Sapristi, specializes in mussels, which Charles loves. I have promised to take him soon. The first time I took him there for mussels, he was puzzled by the menu--there was green sauce, white sauce, red sauce, and so on. When the waitress asked what he wanted, he said, "I don't know. They didn't come in colors when I was a kid."
Three more weeks, to the day, until I retire. I'm beginning to get excited about it--and my balance has greatly improved. I think retirement really will be a new adventure--and I won't have to keep learning new technology. As I filed some stuff today, I thought "Who's going to take care of these things when I'm out of here?" but I also felt a sense of relief that it wouldn't be me.

Dinner for company, a windy day, and a writing insight

Last evening I was expecting company for supper, and I had spent some of Saturday preparing--a fresh green pea soup I thought would be light and airy for spring (medium recipe--I probably won't repeat; okay but bland), a vinaigrette for salad nicoise and some asparagus for the same salad, a cheese spread that I mentioned in my last post. I took my nap earlier than usual yesterday, and when I woke there was a message on the machine saying they had to cancel--both were sick, though with different ailments. So I called Jeannie and Jim and they joined me for supper. We ate on the porch--glorious weather--and had a good visit. We decided we were really sorry our friends were sick, but it all worked out well. My salad nicoise was really good--I ate the leftovers for lunch today. We also splurged--all three of us try to be careful about what we eat, but we had strawberry ice cream with chocolate mint sauce (yummm--just writing about it makes me want some).
Today was another pretty day, not quite as sunny, and very windy, and tomorrow we're to have storms. I always dread the battle to get Scooby outside when it rains or storms, but I can't leave him in when I'm not here. And then possible rain and cooler temps all week. I hope Melinda and I don't have to drive to Austin in the rain Wed. Jordan called this morning from the balcony of her bedrom on the cruise ship--she was staring at the Golden Gate Bridge and had watched the sun come up for her bedroom. Not a bad place to be!
I had a funny dream last night--I was somewhere in the middle of the night watching a play, and the only car I had was a rental VW but it was much smaller than mine. I was so aware that I was missing sleep (I must have a fixation about getting plenty of sleep) that I left the play early, got in this tiny car, and headed home, but I kept running into construction sites and other obstacles and finally ended up where I had started, long after the play was over. But then I was back in my own VW and grateful to be. Moral of this story: a Smart Car is probaby not for me. When I woke from that dream about 4 a.m. I was exhausted and so glad I could go back to sleep. I do sometimes think I wake tired because I've been so busy in my dreams.
I finished the Mary Higgins Clark novel, which was a real cliff-hanger and, as is her style, the villains weren't at all who you expected them to be. But I had an "aha!" moment, one I've had before and keep forgetting: authors like Clark can have all those threads because they write in third person; I unfailingly write in first. My few attempts at third have not been successful, and I end up making the great pronoun/point of view switch, which can be disastrous if you miss a pronoun. So I'm limied to what the main character knows. Some authors, of course, insert a prologue or even a chapter sometimes in another voice, often setting it apart in italics, but I haven't seen the need to do that yet. Conventional wisdom says authors write their first novel in first person and then move on, but lots of cozies are first person, and I'm really more comfortable getting inside the head of my charater. Now that I'm finished with that novel, I really must get back to my own. First, however, I have to post information on the Guppies Small Publishers list--it's taken me forever and the dedicated help of two others on the list to figure out how to do it, but I think I posted information on two publishers this evening--have to check--and have three to go.