Anyone know anything about Publisher? I want to save a Publisher document as something people without Publisher can read – like .pdf or even a JPEG. I remember Quark gave me the option to save as a .pdf or JPEG, but all I see in Publisher is the option to save as a .txt which would screw up all my pretty formatting or save it as different types of Publisher documents. Every freaking time I open Publisher I could just weep that I no longer have access to Quark.

I have a Nook. Before I had the Nook, I’ve had the BN e-reader on my crackberry for about a year. If it’s not in e-book format, I’m incredibly unlikely to read it.

Anyway, I’ve been looking forward to the release of Kat Richardson’s new book Labyrinth for months. I downloaded her last book on it’s release date. So, I got up this morning, promptly turned on the computer, and headed to bn.com. I can order the book. I can go up to BN and buy a hardback copy of the book (I called and asked). What I cannot do is download an e-book version of it. WTF? I went over and checked Amazon, and they don’t have it for Kindle either. What is up with that? All of her other books are out in ebook format! I want my eBook, dag-nab it!

I am going back to school (part-time) this fall, and I have to go take a math placement test today. 0 .0 I’ve spent the morning Googling things like dividing fractions, and there’s an amazing amount of math help on the net. I might actually be able to pull this off.

I decided I wanted to take a class this fall. Initially I was leaning toward wanting to take a computer class. I know more about computers than all of my co-workers combined. But, some of them take pride in how computer illiterate they are. I would like to know more about computers, how they work, networking, etc.

But, while I was trolling JMU’s website, I ran across their language section. I love languages. If time and money were no object I would do nothing but study languages. The languages that really got my attention were Arabic and Russian. Arabic is offered at a time that would not conflict with my work schedule at all. So, I started hunting for the tuition and fees at JMU – $800 for up to one class??? Arabic is 4 credits which makes it $1600 for 4-6 credits? When did state school become so expensive??? I was completely prepared for upto $500, but $1600????? That’s nuts! Graduate tuition isn’t much more than that!

So, I tried to convert a book from Amazon format to Nook format. Calibre keeps saying the conversion failed. What am I doing wrong?

A local buy died in Afghanistan. I didn’t know the family, but I have friends who did. Apparently, just two days before he died, he left his mother a message on Facebook saying, “Don’t worry, Mom, I’m safe. I’ll be home soon. I love you.” Three days after he died, he was supposed to have come. Well, he came home yesterday – in a box. When I was driving through Broadway and Timberville to go to Mom’s, the streets were lined with American Flags and people were hanging out along the sides of the roads with American flags like there was going to be a parade or something. So, when I stopped at the grocery store to buy drinks, I asked what was going on, and they told me they were bringing Bucky Anderson’s body home that day, and apparently there was something of a parade complete with fire trucks and police escort when the hearse rolled through town. I was very touched by the number of people who came out to give honor to a local boy who was lost in the war. But, I also thought, “All the honor in the world isn’t going to bring him back. He’s still dead. His mother still has to spend the rest of her life missing her beautiful boy.”

I keep getting spam mail from Jilliansway@aol.com.

Okay – people are saying President Obama has done nothing since he’s been in office. Maybe I see the things he’s done more because I’m more in the trenches than a lot of other people, but here’s my take:

1) I’m not crazy about the new Health Care LAW, but it’s not nothing. It’s very significant.

2) He passed an economic stimulus package that was actually designed to help people rather than sending out a few hundred dollars and encouraging people to piss it away. One of my co-worker’s salary is paid by Obama stimulus money and I know of several other positions just in my community funded by this stimulus money. The significance? The people in those positions are WORKING. They are paying taxes and contributing to society. The stimulus money also funds the Homeless Prevention Rapid Rehousing Program. This fund assists people who have been hurt by the economy either because of lay off or wage cut. This program helped hundreds of people in just my community and thousands of people around the state of Virginia stay in their housing and not become homeless when they were between jobs. If you don’t think this is something it’s because you haven’t been screwed by the economy.

And the single most important thing Obama has done – he has NOT gotten us into any stupid wars!

According to the League of American Bicyclists the average cost of owning/maintaining a car is $3000.  When I first read it, I thought that was nuts and they must be including a car payment.  But, no, if you have a car payment, it’s actually closer to $8000 a year.  I sat down with a pencil and paper and figured out what it costs me to keep my car every year, and came up with $2460, but I forgot to add in personal property taxes and the cost of yearly registration and inspection.  I also did not factor in the  very real possibility of needing repairs beyond oil changes and tires.

What that means in practical terms is that if you make $30k a year at least 10% of your GROSS income goes toward mantaining a vehicle.  Most of my clients don’t make anywhere near $30k a year.  If you make minimum wage $7.25 per hour and IF you work full time – you make $13920 a year.  $3000 a year is a little less than 1/4 of your income.  When I worked for Homeless Intervention, the most common reason we accepted for getting behind in rent had to do with a car – the car broke down, the car died, couldn’t get a ride.  I also sit on the board of a non-profit that helps low income people with maintaining vehicles/buying vehicles/etc, but here’s what I’m wondering – Are we really helping people or are we enslaving them?  Are we helping them to drive to work or putting them in a position of working to drive?  Would the money we spend be better spent saying, “We’ll help you move closer to your job?”  In April, I was without my car for six days.  If I still lived out in the county, that would have been a catastrophe.  But, because I live in town, it was a minor annoyance.  I pay $100 more in rent living in town than I did in the county, but I save that much and more in gas every month.  So, again, I’m wondering – would the money we spend fixing and helping to buy cars be better spent helping people move closer to their jobs, so that not having a car becomes a minor annoyance instead of a catastrophe?

Article 1  Article 2  For those of you who don’t like to click linkes, a 385 lb woman in Oklahoma City was allowed to join a gym with craptastic equipment that couldn’t accomodate her weight.  After the contract was signed, a sadistic gym member humiliated her in front of everyone by telling her to get off the exercise bike because she was so fat she might break it.  Then, they said she could use their equipment less cardio room (?) to which she said she could do that at home for free.  I wouldn’t have been nearly that polite.

Because I’m just like that I called my gym and asked what the weight limits were for the elypticals and treadmills.  They had to look it up because they didn’t know.  The weight limits for the elyptical and treadmill are 500 lbs, and the manual says that the limit has more to do with the potential for the fat person to hurt themselves than to hurt the machine.  Later on, I’m going to call Golds and ask the same question, but I’m pretty sure it’ll be the same.  By the time I got to the gym last night, the gym staff had looked the news article up on the internet, and everyone was talking about it.  The consensus of everyone was that she should have never been allowed to join that gym to begin with.  She should have been referred to a real gym with real equipment that could accomodate her weight.  The general consensus of the members was that she should sue (both articles stated that she was only trying to get out of her contract and get out of the early termination fees).  They felt she was only allowed to join the gym so they could bilk her out of her money, and so that the sadistic gym staff could have the fun of humiliating her.  The gym staff said the gym needs to invest in some gym-grade equipment if they’re going to be charging people for membership.  They did also say they might require someone that heavy to get a release from their doctor saying it is okay for them to exercise.  When I first started I had to get a doctor’s release because of my asthma.