Just to keep me on my toes, this past week I experienced some computer problems, which, needless to say frustrated me no end!
First of all, I could not access my accounting software all of a sudden, although no changes, to my knowledge, had occurred since my last usage, except for an automatic online update. After several trials on my own, which produced no immediate solution, I spent two full afternoons with the company’s customer support (located in India) discussing the issue and trying different ways to bypass the stumbling block. No concrete findings were reached with them online either.
The more and more I was asked to try different things, the more convoluted the results became, until I got tired of being on the phone although I had the facility of a head set. Eventually, again by myself, I proved that I could bypass the original problem by re-loading the software onto another computer with a different operating system. Bottom line is that some sort of a glitch developed between the software and the operating system on my first computer, but, at least now I can operate my data and the application on my other, older system, which is not where I’d like to be, however, for this purpose.
While I was working on this predicament, my patience was really tested again by a different hurdle, this one relating to Netscape mail.
I have never been a fan of Internet Explorer, which I use only when absolutely necessary, but for many years I have favored and have been happy with Netscape both as a (great for my taste) browser, and for its user friendly, well embedded, and additional email facility. Over the past several months, however, since its merger with AOL I have been experiencing degraded performance and service to my great displeasure.
Since this past weekend, to my great surprise, I could no longer login into my Netscape mail. With no direct customer support, I searched related user forums, which confirmed I wasn’t the only one to get the same error message without any further explanation.
Thanks to other fellow users I found out that Netscape had made changes to email ids and we shared leads on how to solve this unexpected nuisance. Although the original ids are still valid, they cannot be accessed thru Netscape anymore, but must be made active through AOL & AIM. A short note in this respect, appended to the displayed Netscape error message, would have made life easier for the users, but some things don’t make sense any more these days!!
When I finally got to read my accumulated mail I found a Nescape message that confirmed the already implemented change! Why send out information post facto when it’s not accessible anymore to the public it is addressed to? Well…..that’s one way to loose customers I’d say!
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Friday, August 18, 2006
Blissful time
A last minute invitation from friends to spend a long weekend out of town found me eager to leave metropolitan NY. I am always ready to take off , since, basically, I am a country gal at heart, but had to live in the city most of my life. Thus, on Friday morning we headed northward to central-western Connecticut. In the Danbury and Candlewood lake region, at the foothills of the Berkshires, in a very peaceful residential community my friends have a full size, comfortable home, where I’d been a guest previously.
After lunch at a local restaurant and some shopping in the early afternoon, we just relaxed on lounge chairs in the large screened patio, which is also setup for leisure dining at any time. This comfy layout faces the big backyard with its green lawn, shaded by tall oak, white and silvery birch trees, and thicker woods in the background, where a host of small fauna has its home.
A small water fountain, activated from the porch, provides a refreshing gurgle nearby and the closest trees are set up to feed a variety of colorful birds, squirrels and chipmunks, whose relentless dynamics do not disturb this quiet and peaceful atmosphere.
It’s amazing how just being in this serene environment, so far removed from the hustle, bustle, and noise of city life, and watching the almost imperceptible activities of these smaller living creatures, can clear one’s mind, and bring tranquillity to the spirit. I enjoyed just as much the interesting conversations that took place at every unhurried meal that provided for me a welcome interlude in my normal city daily routines. On the whole, I recharged my cerebral batteries by being for a few days in a suspended state of animation, but in good company for which I am grateful.
After lunch at a local restaurant and some shopping in the early afternoon, we just relaxed on lounge chairs in the large screened patio, which is also setup for leisure dining at any time. This comfy layout faces the big backyard with its green lawn, shaded by tall oak, white and silvery birch trees, and thicker woods in the background, where a host of small fauna has its home.
A small water fountain, activated from the porch, provides a refreshing gurgle nearby and the closest trees are set up to feed a variety of colorful birds, squirrels and chipmunks, whose relentless dynamics do not disturb this quiet and peaceful atmosphere.
It’s amazing how just being in this serene environment, so far removed from the hustle, bustle, and noise of city life, and watching the almost imperceptible activities of these smaller living creatures, can clear one’s mind, and bring tranquillity to the spirit. I enjoyed just as much the interesting conversations that took place at every unhurried meal that provided for me a welcome interlude in my normal city daily routines. On the whole, I recharged my cerebral batteries by being for a few days in a suspended state of animation, but in good company for which I am grateful.
Saturday, August 05, 2006
The conference
I’ve been a member of the World Future Society, headquartered in Maryland, since the late 1970’s, and, all along, I have attended several of their conference and general assemblies over the past years.
WFS general session
I remember fondly the first one I participated in in 1980, which also took place in Toronto, as it was this year. That one, however, has remained unsurpassed for number of attendees from all over the world (almost 5000), and concurrent sessions (over 300). This year we were about 1,000 people, from 34 different countries, and, for the first time, I noticed a much larger number of young Asians, especially from South Korea. The oldest participant was a 94 year old man!
I have always enjoyed attending these events, which, for me, represented an invigorating mental exercise due to the variety of arguments and subjects available at the same time, in a common place, where one can choose what to hear, react to, or even participate in, with ongoing conversations with participants and speakers for a period of three full days, from early morning until late evening.
During my employment I have been an active and very involved member of many professional societies, related to the fields that I worked in, but gave up these memberships when I official retired. One I maintained, however, is with the above society, which is a clearinghouse for ideas about the future and its members come from all walks of life.
I am a firm believer that the future is what we make of it, and nothing just happens. We, as individuals, with our actions or inactions, forge what will come, and every one of us has the power to make it good or bad, interesting or dull, constructive or destructive, rational or irrational, better or worst not only for us, but for everyone else on the crust of this earth. It’s in this frame of mind that I have always enjoyed listening to whomever has chosen to study how we can affect our future, what are the possibilities of making a better world for ourselves and the society we live in, and I marvel when I realize that the forecasts of years ago, are the realties of today, and that all that happens that might seem bad, is really not to make things necessarily worst.
There is a learning process that is part of the school of life and, as students, we choose our destiny and involvement, while, to cope with them, we must adapt to the constant changes and transformations that, meanwhile, are occurring in this world. Thus, in Toronto again this year, I immersed myself in several sessions for 3 days, updated my knowledge, and reinvigorated my spirit!
My return home went smoothly, and even better than I expected. At Toronto’s airport I was offered the possibilities of an earlier flight, which I took. It was a new experience for me to use a smaller aircraft by American Eagle, which, was perfectly comfortable. I was so relaxed that I even took out my camera for some pictures. As we left the gate, a larger sister plane was pulling in, while the hot temperature was soaring.
A flight assistant on the ground taking cover in the wing's shade
At the gate of American Airlines
We flew over Canadian suburban areas with their peaceful patterned environment, the great Ontario lake, beautifully green NY state, and finally approached La Guardia surrounded by the NY coastal area and its small harbors.
Canadian country
Westchester County NY
Approaching La Guardia
Upon landing, there was an enormous amount of people waiting for transportation into the city, and a mile long line for cabs. I luckily made it into a SuperShuttle within 5 minutes, and was the first one to be let out once in town. Thus, I reached home a couple of hours ahead of what I originally planned, happy for a safe and interesting trip!
WFS general session I remember fondly the first one I participated in in 1980, which also took place in Toronto, as it was this year. That one, however, has remained unsurpassed for number of attendees from all over the world (almost 5000), and concurrent sessions (over 300). This year we were about 1,000 people, from 34 different countries, and, for the first time, I noticed a much larger number of young Asians, especially from South Korea. The oldest participant was a 94 year old man!
I have always enjoyed attending these events, which, for me, represented an invigorating mental exercise due to the variety of arguments and subjects available at the same time, in a common place, where one can choose what to hear, react to, or even participate in, with ongoing conversations with participants and speakers for a period of three full days, from early morning until late evening.
During my employment I have been an active and very involved member of many professional societies, related to the fields that I worked in, but gave up these memberships when I official retired. One I maintained, however, is with the above society, which is a clearinghouse for ideas about the future and its members come from all walks of life.
I am a firm believer that the future is what we make of it, and nothing just happens. We, as individuals, with our actions or inactions, forge what will come, and every one of us has the power to make it good or bad, interesting or dull, constructive or destructive, rational or irrational, better or worst not only for us, but for everyone else on the crust of this earth. It’s in this frame of mind that I have always enjoyed listening to whomever has chosen to study how we can affect our future, what are the possibilities of making a better world for ourselves and the society we live in, and I marvel when I realize that the forecasts of years ago, are the realties of today, and that all that happens that might seem bad, is really not to make things necessarily worst.
There is a learning process that is part of the school of life and, as students, we choose our destiny and involvement, while, to cope with them, we must adapt to the constant changes and transformations that, meanwhile, are occurring in this world. Thus, in Toronto again this year, I immersed myself in several sessions for 3 days, updated my knowledge, and reinvigorated my spirit!
My return home went smoothly, and even better than I expected. At Toronto’s airport I was offered the possibilities of an earlier flight, which I took. It was a new experience for me to use a smaller aircraft by American Eagle, which, was perfectly comfortable. I was so relaxed that I even took out my camera for some pictures. As we left the gate, a larger sister plane was pulling in, while the hot temperature was soaring.
A flight assistant on the ground taking cover in the wing's shade
At the gate of American Airlines We flew over Canadian suburban areas with their peaceful patterned environment, the great Ontario lake, beautifully green NY state, and finally approached La Guardia surrounded by the NY coastal area and its small harbors.
Canadian country 
Westchester County NY 
Approaching La GuardiaUpon landing, there was an enormous amount of people waiting for transportation into the city, and a mile long line for cabs. I luckily made it into a SuperShuttle within 5 minutes, and was the first one to be let out once in town. Thus, I reached home a couple of hours ahead of what I originally planned, happy for a safe and interesting trip!
Mini-vacation
A few days in Toronto, Canada, turned out to be for me a wonderful break from my daily routine work and projects. I planned this break a few months ago with two objectives in mind: attending a conference and meeting an Albanian family I had been in touch with, mainly via email. Both met and exceeded my expectations.
I must admit it was an effort to have to leave my residence in NY at 3am to make a 7am flight to Canada. In fact I actually didn’t go to bed at all the night of departure, but the early flight gave me more time to enjoy the new company at destination. The efficiency and facilities of transport at Toronto’s Pearson airport allowed me to get to the hotel by 10:45am, and to plan my first day with ease and comfort. It seems incredible, however, that for a 1 ½ hour actual flighing time one must spend overall several hours to go from start to end destinations, but c’est la vie aujourd'hui!
Sheraton's inside garden
An oasis in the garden
The Sheraton Centre, where I lodged (and knew since I’d been there during other trips to this city), and attended the conference (that I’ll describe separately), assigned me a beautiful, large, corner room on the 11th floor, with an unobstructed front view of Toronto’s City Hall, and with a king size bed to boot! Although I had to walk half a mile of corridors to get to it, it was heavenly quiet, very comfortably cooled, and a peaceful place to spend my nights. It had all the modern facilities for news and communication, but I barely used the TV and intentionally left my laptop at home, thus concentrating only on strictly, old fashioned, but very gratifying, personal conversations!
Toronto's City Hall
Churchill's statue at City Hall
Toronto's tram
Around noon I was picked up by my acquaintance, a bright, 32 year old, Albanian young business man, whom I met a couple years ago in NY. We had been in touch electronically since then, and, in the interim, he lent a hand as a virtual volunteer to the organization I manage.
He had invited me to meet his entire family, and even to stay at their home during my planned visit (Albanian hospitality is legendary anywhere in the world!) , but I gracefully declined because it was more practical for me to stay where the conference sessions took place, from early mornings until late evenings. His young wife, who left Albania only 4 years ago, was very comfortable in driving around this busy city. Both he and she wanted to show me how Toronto has changed since my last visit of years ago, and eventually we ended up at a touristy, but very unusual, restaurant, for a long and leisurely lunch.
We dined indoors since the beastly heat and humidity of these past days were also felt in Canada, and enjoyed a variety of delicious foods. In addition to the variety of its fare, this place is also known for its unusual ambience: roomy and rustic setting, full of tastefully displayed artifacts, with huge lamps and windows (including skylight roof) made of extremely colorful Tiffany type glass. Our conversation was so involved that I never got around to take any pictures of this place, which I regret.
An unusual occurrence awaited us as we left the restaurant in mid afternoon. While we were walking back to the car, out of the blue, an unexpected outburst of heavy rain poured down on us with such speed and force that got us drenched almost to the bone, but we happily laughed about this bizarre experience as we drove to their home.
There I met the rest of the family, composed of mother and father, the young couple’s (6 month old) baby boy, and the family dog. I found the parents very ‘simpatico’ and still young, and, as typical Albanian grandparents, they were baby sitting two grand children (including another 8 month old boy of their daughter), to whom they speak only Albanian. Eventually they’ll learn both French and English when it’s time for kindergarten.
Surprise, surprise…. the dog, a very friendly shepard’s type dog with long hair, who reminded me very much of my own when I was a child in Albania, is also an ‘immigrant’ since he was brought from Tirana, and still understands only the Albanian language!
Time flew in very exciting conversation about our historic backgrounds and experiences in life, and I even discovered that the bride’s grandfather was a very good friend of my family in the 1930’s. This is surely a small world and I was grateful for an exhilarating day! By 7pm I was returned to the hotel, where another world was opening up to me: the conference of the World Future Society, which I’ll describe somehow above.
I must admit it was an effort to have to leave my residence in NY at 3am to make a 7am flight to Canada. In fact I actually didn’t go to bed at all the night of departure, but the early flight gave me more time to enjoy the new company at destination. The efficiency and facilities of transport at Toronto’s Pearson airport allowed me to get to the hotel by 10:45am, and to plan my first day with ease and comfort. It seems incredible, however, that for a 1 ½ hour actual flighing time one must spend overall several hours to go from start to end destinations, but c’est la vie aujourd'hui!
Sheraton's inside garden 
An oasis in the gardenThe Sheraton Centre, where I lodged (and knew since I’d been there during other trips to this city), and attended the conference (that I’ll describe separately), assigned me a beautiful, large, corner room on the 11th floor, with an unobstructed front view of Toronto’s City Hall, and with a king size bed to boot! Although I had to walk half a mile of corridors to get to it, it was heavenly quiet, very comfortably cooled, and a peaceful place to spend my nights. It had all the modern facilities for news and communication, but I barely used the TV and intentionally left my laptop at home, thus concentrating only on strictly, old fashioned, but very gratifying, personal conversations!
Toronto's City Hall 
Churchill's statue at City Hall 
Toronto's tramAround noon I was picked up by my acquaintance, a bright, 32 year old, Albanian young business man, whom I met a couple years ago in NY. We had been in touch electronically since then, and, in the interim, he lent a hand as a virtual volunteer to the organization I manage.
He had invited me to meet his entire family, and even to stay at their home during my planned visit (Albanian hospitality is legendary anywhere in the world!) , but I gracefully declined because it was more practical for me to stay where the conference sessions took place, from early mornings until late evenings. His young wife, who left Albania only 4 years ago, was very comfortable in driving around this busy city. Both he and she wanted to show me how Toronto has changed since my last visit of years ago, and eventually we ended up at a touristy, but very unusual, restaurant, for a long and leisurely lunch.
We dined indoors since the beastly heat and humidity of these past days were also felt in Canada, and enjoyed a variety of delicious foods. In addition to the variety of its fare, this place is also known for its unusual ambience: roomy and rustic setting, full of tastefully displayed artifacts, with huge lamps and windows (including skylight roof) made of extremely colorful Tiffany type glass. Our conversation was so involved that I never got around to take any pictures of this place, which I regret.
An unusual occurrence awaited us as we left the restaurant in mid afternoon. While we were walking back to the car, out of the blue, an unexpected outburst of heavy rain poured down on us with such speed and force that got us drenched almost to the bone, but we happily laughed about this bizarre experience as we drove to their home.
There I met the rest of the family, composed of mother and father, the young couple’s (6 month old) baby boy, and the family dog. I found the parents very ‘simpatico’ and still young, and, as typical Albanian grandparents, they were baby sitting two grand children (including another 8 month old boy of their daughter), to whom they speak only Albanian. Eventually they’ll learn both French and English when it’s time for kindergarten.
Surprise, surprise…. the dog, a very friendly shepard’s type dog with long hair, who reminded me very much of my own when I was a child in Albania, is also an ‘immigrant’ since he was brought from Tirana, and still understands only the Albanian language!
Time flew in very exciting conversation about our historic backgrounds and experiences in life, and I even discovered that the bride’s grandfather was a very good friend of my family in the 1930’s. This is surely a small world and I was grateful for an exhilarating day! By 7pm I was returned to the hotel, where another world was opening up to me: the conference of the World Future Society, which I’ll describe somehow above.
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