WordPress Reader: So This Is What It Has Come To?

July 21, 2015August 29, 2018 / Ally Bean / 25 Comments

Opus the Penguin reacts.

LIKE SO MANY OTHER WP BLOGGERS, for the last week or so I’ve fussed around with my Reader* account. WordPress changed the thing and now it’s pretty whacked.

I’ve blogged hither and yon forever, so while I understand why people are upset about the change to Reader, I’ve shrugged it off. There are other ways to follow blogs.

For instance, now I’m using feedly.com to keep track of everyone until WordPress gets this latest kerfuffle under control.

• • •

Bill the Cat opines.

BUT GETTING TO MY POINT HERE, as the above screen shot shows you, what I’ve found to be curious + hilarious about my current Reader account is that it tells me that I’m now following -11 blogs.

This, I’m sure, is a first for me.

Apparently Reader has taken it upon itself to carry out peremptory measures to make sure that I will not read the next 11 blogs that I think that I want to follow here in WordPress.

I’m becoming concerned about Reader. It’s getting uppity.

Truthfully, I have to wonder if when the computers rise up and take over the world, we’ll all look back on this moment and realize that Reader was a leader in the revolution against the human race.

Be forewarned, people. 😉

• • •

* For those of you outside of the WP system, Reader is a way to follow WP blogs. It’s a free feature that involves minimal effort on my part to have access to a current feed of all the WP blogs that I choose to follow. In theory, it’s useful. However, in practice…

• • •

{ It’s back! Images from Bloom County. More here. }

Lunching With A Friend At A Restaurant With A Confusing Name

July 16, 2015January 28, 2021 / Ally Bean / 24 Comments

… you gotta wonder who names these places?

A FRIEND WHO I’VE KNOWN FOR DECADES called me and wanted to meet me for lunch at a place she’d recently discovered. She thought the food and service were great– plus we needed an adventure, she said.

I asked what was the name of this fine establishment where we’d be lunching. And that’s when the conversation took a turn for the worse.

It’s called Again With The Eggs Cafe, she said.

… Or maybe it’s called All About Eggs Cafe?

She couldn’t remember.

• • •

I ASKED WHERE THIS NEW DELIGHTFUL RESTAURANT, whatever its name might be, was located. Come to find out it was about halfway between where we each live, so it made sense to go there.

It’s called Broken Eggs Again Cafe, she declared.

That’s it. That’s the name of the place.

… Or maybe it’s called Something About Broken Eggs Cafe.

I can’t remember the name, she said.

[No kidding, thought I.]

However, despite not knowing the precise name of this restaurant, located in a new “lifestyle center,” she could tell me exactly how to get there. And how to safely navigate the “lifestyle center” parking lot, designed by the makers of whack-a-mole.

• • •

AND THAT WAS GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME, a woman who started driving pre-Garmin. Who survives life in the big city sans smart phone.

Who’s been lost more times than found when it comes to going to lunch with friends.

So off I went to have lunch at this charming little restaurant, with the impossible-to-remember name, called: Another Broken Egg Cafe.

… you can understand her confusion, can’t ‘ya?

• • •

A Country Moving Forward: More Gratitude, Less Attitude

June 29, 2015June 30, 2015 / Ally Bean / 19 Comments

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,

When sorrows like sea billows roll;

Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say,

It is well, it is well with my soul.

~ ~ • ~ ~

Yesterday was a rainy, cold Monday. I spent the day inside, not doing much of anything.

Lost in contemplation.

Humming the hymn that I’d heard on Friday while watching the funeral in Charleston for Rev. Clementa Pinckney.

Remembering my Southern church lady aunt who used to hum that particular hymn while tidying up around her home.

Which, really, is what I should have been doing.

My plan for the day had been to use the time to weed the garden. Our vacation travels followed by a busy week of getting back into daily routines had given the weeds a chance to take over.

Not pretty.

But instead of jumping into any activity at all, I found myself thinking about how proud I am of this country for moving forward in a peaceful way on social issues that impact everyone.

Somehow.

I realize that people are whining and opining all over the place on FB and cable news outlets, but when you get down to it, this country in pretty damned amazing.

The change process worked, both on a national judicial level and on a state executive level.

Homophobia and racism, spotlighted last week like they were, are now officially acknowledged as behaviors that do not help make our country strong.

Hate never does.

It really is that simple. We’ve moved forward. Hallelujah!

~ ~ • ~ ~

Do not be afraid of the hate surfacing. Backlash is an inevitable side effect of progress. Cruelty is simply fear’s death knell. Carry on.

~ Glennon Doyle Melton

My Neighborhood: Not Much Of A Story, But The News Is Good

May 19, 2015 / Ally Bean / 24 Comments

The economy has perked up around here and with it, the real estate market. House sales are beginning to happen faster. That is, houses are on the market for weeks now, instead of for months & months.

Neighbors who are selling their homes are sprucing up what they have, meaning that our street has looked exceptionally nice this spring. And with the subsequent home sales, we have new younger, active neighbors.

This is a good thing, huh?

~ • ~

I’m seeing lots of these now.

~ • ~

I realized the foregoing as I was driving, very slowly, the long way home through our subdivision. It dawned on me that as well as being outside on the move, many of our new neighbors are driving new cars. Perhaps I’m overly aware of this sort of thing because I drive a 12 y.o. car, but I was kind of amazed.

~ • ~

I’m not seeing any of these.

~ • ~

The cars that I noticed weren’t fancy and/or sporty. They were Fords or Toyotas or Hyundais, usually trucks or mini-vans or SUVs, middle of the line, practical. But they were bright + shiny + new.

So that’s what’s up around here. Not too exciting from a blog story-telling point of view, but encouraging from a midwest homeowners point of view. Of which I am one.

You gotta take the happy where you find it, eh?