since so am I.
But this borrowed machine is a touchpad, which drives me crazy, and I finally got in to the odl machine and copied all 200 password combos so I can remember them—something I should have done. But thi s has thrown us for a loop schedule-wise. Here we are working on, simultaneously, 1)the new book, on which I have had serious trouble since Jane got sick, and I was just finally making progress. 2) in come the galleys for Intruder, which have to be done by the 10th, 4) working on getting Chernevog in final edit and doing the covers
While 1) Jane was simultaneously doing the 3 new Rusalka series covers, plus revisions of all our prior covers, plus 2) Closed C ircle design, and helping me do a new edition of Rusalka text, 3) and hellpingand doing all the html work, and trying to get her Netwalkers books into new editions,…….
and my computer died, when I was the one supposed to do the kitchen cleanup, the construction cleanup, the restoration of tools to where they belong (if you wonder about the typing, it’s because the text runs off the display of this version of the site given by this older computer…) and meanwhile we haven’t gotten the Christmas decorations up—we may officially postpone Christmas, but then we already have our prezzies —the saws, and Seishi—
and Jane is working non-stop—she got one hour of sleep last night—and fraying at the edges, while I’m trying not to screw up my good run at this book and remember where I am and my galleys are stuck on the other computer, which I daren’t run much because of the screwed-up keyboard—who knows what I’m punching… I cook and I clean, Jane does html, and we’re just exhausted. Lynn’s similarly bhind, not to mention some damned jerk threw all the apartment complex poolside furniture in the pool an since she works with the condo assocaition, it’s her problem; she’s looking for a guy with scuba gear, I’m looking for my keyboard, deadlines are looming, Jane just wants some sleep, and we are all certifiably crazy.
Oh my. I can’t help with any of the other stuff, but for password retention I’m a convert to LastPass. It’s highly encrypted, cross-platform (I have both PCs and Macs), generates strong passwords, stores secure notes too (not just passwords), passwords are accessible (to you) from any of your computers, and — it’s FREE. Here’s cnet’s 5-star review:
http://download.cnet.com/LastPass-Password-Manager/3000-18501_4-10889725.html
I use KeyPass for a password vault. Encrypted, I back it up to Carbonite with the rest of my files. I’ve also backed it up to my Kindle as a text file for use when I’m travelling.
Agree with Levanah re LastPass; I’ve personally used it with PC, Mac, and Linux, via Internet Exploder, Firefox, and Google Chrome. It supposedly works for Opera, too. I was happier when Xmarks was usable for everything (bookmark synching AND passwords) but LastPass bought Xmarks and disabled Xmark’s password vault in favor of their own. Once I got over that annoyance, I really came to like LastPass. The secure note feature is handy for passwords that LastPass somehow can’t autofill (like for the Pandora music service interface). Of course, if you’re happy with what you’ve got, no need to change…
Yep – LastPass works with Opera, and Safari too.
I feel better about not having dug out those snowflakes and mailing them to you yet. Soon, though. . . .
Please kindly tell Jane if she doesn’t get some sleep, you’ll put her in cryo for a month or two. :giggle:
Hmm, that still wouldn’t really get her to rest, would it? OK, nevermind, bad idea.
Selling her to the kif, worse idea. Not an option.
Just teasing. Please, all three of you, take care of yourselves. If you’re exhausted or get sick or hurt, you won’t do yourselves any good. And we fans do care beyond the pages of those books, recall.
Would ker Pyanfar let any of her crewwomen (or crewmen) go on one hour of sleep, except in direst emergency? No, ker CJ, not, a? Enthusiasm and work ethic are great, most appreciated. But neither will help you get past budget if you’re too gods-be-feathered exhausted to sit the boards and type, me lasses.
Who me? No, wouldn’t have any idea about same over here, no, whyever would ye look at me that way, cap’n ma’am?
Here is my suggestion:
Back off on everything but the things you must get done for the contracted work. That means both you and Jane, sit back, relax and don’t push so hard for Closed Circle or Rusulka, because here is the thing . . . .
We are patient little peoples, we are. We’ll be here and we’ll drag our little Cherryh/Fancher/Abbey fan friends (even if they don’t realize they are fans yet) when things are settled. You don’t have to hurry for us.
Really, it’s more important to relax and enjoy things when you can, and to put aside a bit of this or that for later, even though you know you want it done now. Enjoy the holidays. Take a bit of time just for the joy of togetherness and new kitties at their first Christmas.
It’s probably too late for this advice, since the new keyboard is already in Spokane – but to plan ahead for the next time your keyboard dies, it may be worth keeping a standard USB keyboard around. You can get one for under $10.
When your laptop keyboard is out of operation just plug in the USB keyboard, and you instantly have access to the laptop again.
What zette and BlueCatShip said.
Deep breaths, check on the fishies, take an easy walk, maybe make some cookies together. You could eat a virtuous few, mail some to Lynn, and give the rest to the church folks who worked on your garden.
Best wishes to all three of you!
Yes, remember yourselves. Please remember that our (salad) goes far beyond the books you write. As for Christmas, it doesn’t have to be just one day. We celebrate a Season of Peace starting with the Winter Solstice and ending with Twelfth Night.
Virtual tea (or your beverage of choice) and cookies and perhaps some of Ilisidi’s cakes to all three of you.
Well, almost certainly I will get the new keyboard today, and am just sweating whether the data or programs have been screwed—if you have to have a key run rogue, a mouse key is not the one to have to that.
Our house is a mess—imagine two people for the whole month too wrapped in crisis even to be able to do more than wash the dishes. We cook, we go to the store for supplies, but the house is a pit and I’m embarrassed even to have the repair guy in—we have boxes of Halloween decor everywhere—and I’m just going to stack those in the kitchen/mudroom and put up the coffee table in the living room. Best I can manage. The kitchen/dining table is holding all the bits and bobs from the last repair project and if I just shove it in a box, unsorted, we will never know bit from bob or what job they were part of.
I’m going to have to lose a little sleep of my own catching up re galleys—I’m only half done—but I made supper (stew and toast) at 4:30 last night and we advanced all regular evening activities to try to get Jane to bed at a decent hour. It seems to have worked: this morning she reports she got some sleep.
Today I get the computer fixed, bake bread, and rely on that pot of stew so I don’t have to cook, per se.
I priced that stew out at 18 dollars a pot using Costco sirloin—and if two people can get four meals out of it, counting two lunches, two dinners—that works out pretty darned economical, counting that about every spoonful has a sirloin bit in it. So we are not going hungry!
And I have lost 4 pounds of the Thanksgiving weight.
I agree with GreenWyvern: Get thee to a cheap, spare USB keyboard and mouse. That way, if/when disaster strikes, you’re not without an input peripheral. …Gee, really need to work on the metaphors and catchy phrases, don’t I? 😉
However, I suppose it beats stone knives and bearskins.
Never ceases to amaze me how much day to day stuff goes exponential when crises hits in the middle of a crunch. Oh well — go for the galleys after your keyboard’s done and then apply liberal doses of single malt. The kitchen will survive and while I love the image of the Halloween boxes (sounds like my house), I seem to remember it’s not the first time you and Jane mixed the two holidays.
I’m not a fast touch typist like CJ, but even I find keboard “feel” important. I fear CJ is very used to the short “travel” of the laptop keyboard, and a plugin desktop keyboard would upset her. Most laptop connectors aren’t robust enough for continuous use. However, a “docking station” that provided a larger monitor screen along with easily replaceable desktop keyboard might have compensations, and be easy on the laptop connectors. Then when she found a keyboard that didn’t “get in the way” she could buy a handful for replacements.
I used to like the Keytronic (a Spokane company) mechanicals, but only mushy membranes have been readily available for years.