Our 2014 List

Hi - I'm Susan and will be using this blog along with Don to re-visit "cleaning up my life".  We have (or mainly I have) been on a quest to eliminate the clutter from our lives - room by room by room.  Some days/weeks are well - others suck.  I'm a pretty organized person, but sometimes it feels like I just can't get ahead of the "stuff".  So there's THAT for the year . . . 

We also started a list - a completely off-the-cuff list - of accomplishments, large and small, that we would like to work on this year.  The list is too large to accomplish financially, I think, but once we prioritize it, we could perhaps accomplish quite a bit.

I need to get this list out of my notebook and somewhere more visible so we can work on it.
  • restore the kitchen in some way
    • new range, at the very least
  • solar panels on the house
  • sort through the papers under the stairs in the garage
  • IKEA cabinets for the dining room
  • get a structural evaluation of supports on the first floor
  • new driveway
    • new driveway extension on the right of the garage
  • fence for the dog
  • an RV/Rialta/mobile home 
  • decide what to do with the Triumph Rocket III
  • sell the Simpsons
  • empty the storage unit
  • convert all the movies to digital storage
  • close all Family Partnership accounts
  • order new passports
  • get general physicals - both of us
  • set up a six-month teeth cleaning
  • evaluate Susan's health care from Aetna - find new provider?
  • add a wall of bookcases to the south wall of the green room
  • put iron pickets for rails on the stairway
  • build a new deck
  • rent a steamer to remove the wallpaper from second story bathrooms
  • set-up an October vacation for Don and Sue
  • purchase new windows for the house
    • at least for the kitchen - north side of the house
  • insulate the first floor in the crawl space
So now, all we need to do is prioritize the list . . . it's pretty all over the place . . . and keep decluttering.

Of course all of this sits on top of the bigger question of whether we stay living in this house or not?  Half of the list would be eliminated if we chose a different place to live . . . somewhere perhaps with . . . 

  • a flatter back yard
  • more land
  • a smaller house footprint (so I wouldn't have so much to clean)
    • a ranch (one level)
    • with a basement
  • room for out buildings
Ah, well . . . one thing at a time . . . 


Living Small... Could you do it?

We'd love a tiny house. How about you?

Zombieland



Another Zombie film. This one is looking good.

How to remove Spymaster from your Twitter account

In case you are not aware, there is a game that has taken off in Twitter called "Spymaster" It's a game along the lines of the Mobsters type games on Facebook, but it happens on your Twitter account. It's fun, but only until you realize that you have been spamming your Twitter account with messages from the game. :-(

Many Twitter users are dropping friends who have this app installed because they can't stand the spam it's shooting out anymore and have no way to stop the messages. The game gives you access to remove notices, but many are just removing anyone that tweets from the game.

If you have not tried the game, you probably have nothing to worry about except some unwanted "I shot so and so" messages. But if you have played the game, why not drop the game instead of having your followers drop you?

Of course, since the makers of the game don't make it immediately clear how to do so I've outlined the (very easy) steps required below. Fortunately, the makers of the game used the official oAuth connections so removing the game is easy and does not even require resetting the password on your account. It does not appear that you will lose your game progress, but I'd assume that it's possible and even probable that you will, so proceed at your own risk. Of course, if you are here reading this, that probably isn't your main concern.

Step 1: (click on any image for a larger size) Select the "settings" link on the top of your Twitter page.


Step 2: Select the "Connections" tab after the settings page loads.


Step 3: Find Spymaster in the list and select the "revoke access" link.


If you do not see Spymaster in this list, then you most likely have never installed Spymaster and should have nothing to worry about. If you know that you have installed Spymaster and do not see it in this list, please send me a DM.

That is it. You are now less likely to have your account dropped by followers. You'll still get the spam sent by other users who still have the app installed, so your DM feed is screwed unless you drop anyone with the game installed, but at least you won't be spreading the spam yourself.

If you found this helpful, follow me for a while and see if you find me interesting. I'm @synstelien

Update 7/14/09


I received a DM on Twitter that indicated this did not work for one person. After reviewing the process, I find that it does still work, these are still the correct steps for removing Spymaster's access to your account. If you have never "installed" Spymaster, then you won't be able to follow these steps and you have nothing to worry about.

Keep in mind that this process is not designed to remove *all* Spymaster activity from your account, just the access it has to send messages from your account automatically.

Your friends that still use Spymaster will still be sending out messages which you will continue to receive. Unfortunately, the only way to solve that problem is to stop following those users or send them a DM and educate them on how annoying the game can be.


Cheers,

Don

Swine Flu, take 2

Interesting times.

Everyone wants to re-live the 1970's so bad that they can not be happy just having a global economic collapse, a gas shortage and problems with Iran. Now we have to relive some Swine Flu memories as well. I think I have a scar on my arm from the last bout we had with this virus. So to bring back some "good memories" for you all, here is a great commercial telling you to get your shots! I can't wait to see what the new ones look like!

SuperNews

How have I missed this. Awesome stuff.

Domain name fail

While looking for domain names, I said "what the heck" and typed in "Twitter" to see what alternatives might come up. Click on the image to enlarge and see what Go daddy suggests:



I would type the suggestion, but I'd hate for that to be indexed on a Google search with my name on it.

The Watchmen opening credits (won't last long)

Video removed. They took em down. Looking for a new source now. :-P

Found a new source. You can find it here: http://www.justpressplay.net/movies/movie-news/4969-qwatchmenq-opening-credits-online.html

John Stewart nails CNBC

I watch CNBC regularly. This is the best description of the channel I've ever seen.

Morons.

The perfect livingroom


Wow, if only I had a leisure suit.

Microsoft's vision of the future.

But where is the BSOD?

<a href="http://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-GB&amp;playlist=videoByUuids:uuids:a517b260-bb6b-48b9-87ac-8e2743a28ec5&amp;showPlaylist=true&amp;from=shared" target="_new" title="Future Vision Montage">Video: Future Vision Montage</a>

Cooking depression style

Clara was around for the first depression.Take a few tips from her to survive this one in style.