Life Lessons With Gramma C.

Here I am again, posting at almost midnight. I intended to turn off this computer long ago but it seems to pull me back for just one more website to click, just one more email to read. Before I know it, my eyes are glazed, my neck is aching and it will be two in the morning. But tonight I will show this computer who is boss. I will turn it off and not think about it anymore. I will have a restful sleep without any thoughts about my online world.

I am turning it off now.

Just one more sentence.

Come on fingers, get off those keys and get some rest.

I must admit, even though I am a sucker for anything new and different, I am not overly impressed with most of the things I try. But recently, I found the greatest little Internet helper. I have been spending a lot of time in a small town an hour from Toronto, helping to watch my youngest grandson. I go for a lot of long walks with the stroller, so the exercise and fresh air have been great. My only problem has been that they have no Internet access.

Until now, that is. I sit here, writing and surfing the Internet, even though they still have no service. My little helper is a portable modem from Rogers that plugs into any electrical outlet and captures some kind of tower signals. I get great high speed Internet with no hassle at all. A cord that looks like a telephone cable goes from the modem and plugs into the back of my computer. Two seconds of set-up and I am off to any site I choose.

This service is not available everywhere yet, but unless you live out in the country, it should work. Rogers had to check the area my daughter lives before I signed up since it involved a one year contract. The monthly charge is quite reasonable and I am one happy surfer.

This week I decided to head to Nashville, Tennessee to visit my oldest daughter and her family. Today is shorts weather and we are heading out to the garden. To me, this is the perfect time of year - not too hot and not too cold. And the great thing about the Internet is that I can still check my email every day and get all the jokes that the members of the seniors’ computer club love to send me.

I have just been to visit lulu.com and was impressed with their service. If you have always wanted to write your own book or publish a book of your photos or art, the service is easy to use and seems to be quite reasonable. You set your price and Lulu takes care of collecting the money and shipping or downloading to the purchaser. My daughter, Melanie Bremner, has written a few books that are displayed there (mainly for children) and the book covers look very attractive and professional.

Anyway, Lulu is having a contest for the Blooker prize - apparently a blook is a real book, but the content is from a blog or website. Cash prizes, but the deadline is approaching. Check the site for details.

Another web service for artists is cafepress.com and today I received two calendars and a framed tile from them. The tile is framed in wood and makes a great wall hanging. My only complaint was that the picture was a little darker than the original, but still quite nice. The calendars were from two different cafepress stores - one that my new daughter-in-law set up and that has 12 wedding pictures she chose for the calendar - a great keepsake. The photos are not as clear as their smaller originals, so the pictures should have been a higher resolution, I guess. The other calendar is one my son is selling at cafepress.com/bremnerdesign and the pictures on it are wonderful. He created them in Photoshop and the colours are clear and vibrant. I will be ordering more when I can afford it (although my Canadian money is climbing up).

Every time I look at my datebook, I notice the comment I have written for January 2006 - start of my new life, whatever that may be. The reason for that sentence is because I gave myself until the end of December 2005 to learn Internet Marketing. If, at the end of that time, I was still spending a lot of time with very little financial benefit, I would consider quitting.

Now I hate to quit anything, but there has to be a time when common sense dictates that enough is enough. And these days I am getting close to enough. The problems are outweighing the enjoyment and I don’t want to be wasting my life.

I do believe strongly that computer literacy enriches our lives, but I do not want to be preaching the gospel of computer literacy. When we reach the end of our lives, what will have mattered is not how skilled we were on our computers, but how much we loved God and our fellow man. Never mind at the end of our lives - right now, our lives can only really be fulfilling if we put God and man first.

So, until the end of this month, I will be doing a lot of considering and praying. Then 2006 will indeed be the start of my new life - whatever that may be!

Our weekly seniors’ computer club is getting more enjoyable every week. Since we get together regularly, the members seem very comfortable with one another and everyone talks about our computer triumphs and problems. We laugh and learn together and there are sometimes a dozen seniors eagerly waiting when I arrive at the community centre. The majority are females, but we have some brave men ready to learn.

The members willingly try new things (not always successfully), send me update emails, and some adults that had never touched a computer before now have a machine of their own. I leave feeling satisfied and happy that I have helped to enrich another life.

Today I have been going from frustration and tears to elation and smiles, all because of a website. I decided to try getting my own store up on Cafe Press, but it was so hard to get the picture saved properly. I opened a photo I had and cut away part of it, but then the program wouldnt let me save it to use. So I copied it and pasted it into a Word document, but it wouldnt save as a JPG (picture) file, only as a text document. I finally managed to put it into Powerpoint, although I still dont know how to adjust the size.

Anyway, after much anguish and many hours on the computer, you can see the finished product at http://www.cafepress.com/mugsandmegs

I have decided that every weekday I will act as though I were in college and spend time learning Internet marketing. Although at the rate I am going, I may become the oldest marketer that ever lived. No matter, I need to keep on, bit by bit. I was at a workshop the other day and we were supposed to write down the animal or mineral that was an analogy of our lives and what we do. So I wrote that I am an ant, showing how possible it is to move mountains a little at a time. I just have to watch out for ant-eaters.

Seniors Computer Club was quite enjoyable as usual. We were allowed to use the computers at the local library and mine was hooked up to the overhead so everyone could see what I was doing. It was the first time I have ever used one and pretty neat. I need to learn to project my voice more and remember to bring water, since I get so thirsty talking for over an hour.

Mom (80 years old) and I attended an Internet marketing workshop today. At least we tried to attend. A couple of hundred people managed to get in to hear the speaker, but about 50 of us were left in the hall since there were no more seats. Some of the people were ready to riot, especially since we had paid upfront. Anyway, since we had paid to park for the day, a group of about seven of us gathered at the hotel coffee shop to talk online business ideas. We brainstormed and encouraged each other for three hours. It was a wonderful time and we left feeling totally pumped and empowered. So the time ended up being very profitable and much cheaper, since the workshop turned out to be an overpriced hosting service.

We exchanged emails and everyone asked when I would be having my own workshop, which got me thinking……. watch for Mrs C. in 2006, she is ready to roll!

Today I am determined to get organized. It seems that I spend half my time getting rid of extra stuff and if I was more careful right from the beginning, I would save myself a lot of trouble. So today I am spending time to organize all of my writing (newsletters, articles, and the blog) and then saving them onto individual topic cds. Then, not only can I find them right away, but I will have a back-up in case my computer dies (as they are known to do when you least expect it).

This project has taken me about two hours so far, and every so often my husband walks by and shakes his head. Makes me realize that I have to start making some money from all this Internet business and show the dear man that I am not really wasting my time - it just looks that way. Now if I could keep away from opening my email 5 times a day!!!!