Repairs, Make-Do's, Gas & Transcriptions!

Well, Dave's bike is up and running again! Yay!! He has been taking it to work all week...which really helps with these awful gas prices! If it were not for that, we are not sure he could actually afford to go to work. The gas prices are driving up the price of everything, including food. I know a lot of people who are getting hit really hard by that. I wish I could somehow help them.

It sure is noisy around here. We don't know if maybe there are some cicadas, or if it is all just other insects. I love hearing it, though. I really like the sounds of nature. If/when we ever move back toward city life, I will really miss it.

I was blessed with two transcription jobs. They were both audios of business talk radio interviews. It was very interesting. Having never done transcribing before, the learning curve was huge, in spite of my ability to type fairly fast. Of course, it did not help that I had to use my laptop keyboard for the first one.

Typically, I use an external keyboard, but the PS2 port my keyboard plugs into got pulled on and it does not work right any more. By the time I started the second job, I was so frustrated that I figured I just had to find a way to get it to work. So, right now I have the keyboard cord taped to the top of my laptop in just such a way as to hold it in the right position for the port to work.

I know the problem is the port because I can plug my keyboard into my PS2 to USB adapter and it works just fine. However, I cannot use the adapter because I need it for my mouse. Laptop mice drive me nuts! My mouse does not work in that port, either. I tried another adapter, but it did not work. Dave tells me that a lot of them don't. So, my setup looks a bit wierd, but hey, it works for me right now!

I am praying that, someday, I will be able to replace the laptop. There are too many things going wrong with it. Amazingly, it is cheaper to replace it than to fix it. I was floored to find that out. We can do neither, at this point; but so long as it keeps working, I will keep writing! *smile*

From our little RV on the hillside, I hope this finds all of you finding ways to work around the gas prices. I also hope that all of your technical marvels, whatever you may have, are working correctly!