Still trying

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If this one doesn’t work I’m going to cry.

Edited to add:

I am never upgrading again. Never. I will be using the freaking software and computer that I have now when the rest of you have moved onto holographic bodysuits that search google when you twitch your nose, because this is not worth it.

I use a blog interface called Ecto, that I love deeply and madly, and months ago they issued an upgrade, so I waited a while (this is Joe’s policy, he things that you should wait a bit for upgrades to be debugged before you install them) and then I installed it this morning, only to discover that it wasn’t posting my entries, just the titles. (I discovered this after a really great mitten post went to the great big yarn store in the sky.)

Now, Holy mother of moth, after some hysterical investigation- searching and experimentation, it turns out that to make it work I have to not delete the space that Ecto is automatically generating at the beginning of the field where I type. That’s right, it’s generating an empty line at the beginning of the field, and if you hit backspace to delete it (because why wouldn’t you – it’s not a space you have asked for…) then without notifying you in any way that you’ve offended it, the system waits until you hit “publish” and then seeks revenge by promptly vomiting your entry into another dimension … and then posts only the title, just to seriously piss you off.

If – on the other hand, you keep the space that it’s created, then all will be well, and the many great features of Ecto that I’ve been devoted to all these years work like a charm.

That seems ridiculously buggy to me and while I don’t understand why that space is there or why it is now the single most important thing in my blog… it seems to me like software you buy and pay for shouldn’t have something like this going down, and I’ll be telling them so -rather firmly, politely and immediately. Remembering not to delete a space (by accident- or on purpose) that I don’t want is silly (and I’ll never remember) and more than that, and most infuriatingly, it looks like Ecto can no longer even SAVE your post if you delete that space – and I’m filled with a burning and bitter resentment that it’s not my settings or anything that’s wrong (because setting it up wrong would be my fault) – or not even some sort of mistake on my part (because mistakes are totally my fault too) but instead, I lost a whole big post, even though I installed this right (miracle #1) set it up right (miracle #2) and even remembered to hit “save” (miracle #3) which is supposed to be the little keyboard tick that saves all incompetents.

Seriously. This is not an upgrade. An upgrade is supposed to be better, not screw up your mitten posts and steal an afternoon. I’m never knitting the ecto people socks. (Unless they fix this and say they’re sorry or it turns out to be my fault or something- although to be fair, it looks like I’m not the only one having the problem.) In any event this whole thing has totally harshed on my mellow.

I’m going to knit something. Upgrade my arse.

153 thoughts on “Still trying”

  9. Well…I guess you could always put the blog text in the comments section? Sorry you are having blog troubles. No crying-go knit on something until the feeling passes.

  12. …who just now realized after posting a comment that this blog post actually had text in it. Glad it’s all better! Post away!

  17. Take it easy, it’ll work, and we’re not going anywhere. We’ll all be here when you’re back up and running!

  20. I *love* upgrades. I remember a Windoze Office upgrade that didn’t autosave, even though every 10 minutes the disk would whir and the computer would slow down. Of course I lost 3 hours work when it crashed. With Ubuntu I follow DH’s advice (the same as Joe’s) after he insisted I upgrade and I lost a heap of stuff three times in a row.
    I agree, that ain’t an upgrade!
    PS I doubt your arse needs upgrading 😉

  21. I am so sorry that this computer “upgrade” has wrecked your mood! A single space being the difference between a posting and frothing-at-the-mouth anger is madness. The sun is over the yardarm, I declare it beer o’clock!

  23. Do I want to know what happens in one of those suits if you fart?
    Also, I sincerely hope you and the software can work it out. I hate it when they “upgrade” and if they come back to you with “it’s a feature, not a bug”? DPN cushion time!

  25. Sorry for the problems. I hope Ecto isn’t any part of Microsoft. They are of course notorious for causing major disasters to computers which have uploaded their upgrades, and for stupid incompatibilities with previous versions. My DH recently upgraded his laptop to Office 2007 to be compatible with his office, and has had many problems with critical Excel spreadsheets not working properly.

  26. Why do they fix things that aren’t broken? It’s good to have you back. I’m just starting some mittens and after seeing the tweet you sent out about mittens, I was really hoping to see a mitten post. Ah, well….

  27. I’m having a similar sort of day, and unfortunately, the knitting project I’ve been enjoying so very much lately is sitting in a little pile of crinkled “frogged back” yarn, because last night I discovered that I’d made an irredeemably stupid error waaaaay back there.
    Piss.
    Condolences on the computer woes, and I hope that your knitting time will help you reclaim a little of your bliss. I’m counting on a cup of tea and a Jaffa cake to help me reclaim mine.;)

  28. This is precisely why a lot of people don’t blog — just when you get the whole darn thing figured out, they change all the rules — maddening. I posted on mittens today too (although in my case its the mittens that went wrong and not the software).

  29. I tried Ecto once because I friend loved it and recommended it with glowing reviews. I could never get it to work quite right… seemed rather persnickety to me. 🙁 I sure hope they can get that bug worked out.

  30. You know what they say:
    This machine is subject to breakdown during periods of critical need.
    A special circuit in the machine called a “critical detector” senses the operator’s emotional state in terms of how desperate he or she is to use this machine.
    The “critical detector” then creates a malfunction proportional to the desperation of the operator. Threatening the machine with violence will only aggravate the situation. Likewise, attempts to use another machine may cause it to also malfunction. (They belong to the same union.) Keep cool and say nice things to the machine. Nothing else seems to work. Never let anything mechanical know you are in a hurry.

  31. My opinion is that if software is hard to use, 90% of the time it’s the DESIGNER’S fault, not the user’s! It’s those secret handshakes like “don’t you DARE delete the blank line in the post” that no one tells you about that are insanely stupid and should either be clearly documented or, preferably, coded out.

  32. Kudos on figuring it out. Now I can’t wait till you rewrite the mitten blog – perhaps the golden sparkles?! Not to nag…Joe’s gansey for your anniversary?

  34. I’m sure you’ve already thought of this, but if the “save” feature isn’t fixed by the ecto folks, you could consider writing your posts in a word processing program and then copying them over when it’s time to post. that way, you have a backup of your text incase of alternate dimensional vomitting.

  35. When a company wrongs you they usually try to fix things up by sending you a gift – you know, the florist screws up they send you flowers – that type of thing. So what would a blogging software company do? Perhaps they can find some REALLY lush yarn … are you listening guys?
    Sending hugs and enjoy your knitting.
    PS who knew that even software needs its own space 🙂
    x

  37. Man, sorry about that. Joe does have a good policy though, generally it’s best to let the early adopters work out the kinks. Also I’d delete the space too, how dumb.

  39. That is an astoundingly silly bug. In terms of your “process,” though, is there some reason not to write your blog posts in word or even your email program and copying/pasting? When I was working on my thesis, I’d “select all” from my word doc, paste it into gmail, and email it to myself. I’m paranoid, I know, but the peace of mind was worth it.

  40. Glad you’ve sussed it.
    Unfortunately for me, since upgrading to a Mac from a PC, I now read all blogs through the Mac mail thingy (I used to use Outlook); yours is the only blog I have to use a web browser to read.
    Everyone else’s can be read through the mail client 🙁

  41. What shocking is that you’ve been able to blog happily away all this time straight into the blogging software without losing a blog! I’ve experienced all kinds of crashing and wacky cyberspace phenomena, and as a result now ALWAYS write and save everything in Word first, then cut and paste into cyberspace. Paranoia or common sense – you be the judge.

  42. Sorry you lost your mitten post.
    I was going to recommend the “Bird in Hand” mittens from Kate Gilbert when you put the Tweet out earlier, but I can’t figure out how to send a Tweet to a single person using my phone.
    I hope your evening goes better than your day did.

  43. I understand very little about the way of the computer so I’m stickin’ to my neddles and my yarn…

  44. I had issues last week when my techie husband shared his extra licenses for snow leopard. I did not want the upgrade, did not need anything changed on my dear mac but I did it. Next morning I learn that snow leopard is not compatible with my photo software. The nice apple people said I could upgrade the photo software ($99) or wipe my hard drive to down grade. It took three days to fully downgrade, and reload all other software. It was a sad time. Good luck!

  45. I wouldn’t ask them to upgrade your arse — your arse is working just fine. But they should definitely fix the program, because dude, that bites.

  47. Oh I HATE upgrades. More like “upchucks” which is what usually happens to me and my system everytime one is installed.
    I feel your pain. OUCH

  49. I also use Ecto. Thanks for the heads up– I am with you, in that I would NEVER think “don’t delete this space” is a good idea for a user interface.
    I am a very computer-techie person, so Steph. It’s not you, your technophobia, or in any way, shape or form, your fault. That’s like… well, it’s like knitting a cashmere sweater, but putting three arms and no neck on it. Of course you could wear it like that, but who would want to?

  50. I refuse “upgrades” on my machine. I have yet to have one that relly makes me happy. On another note, I write all my blog posts in Word then copy/paste to upload. This has nothing to do with blog eating software, and everything to do with my inabilty to type. I need the spell and grammar check to aid in my proofreading.

  52. “I’m going to knit something. Upgrade my arse.”
    As a knitter and programmer, I want this on a t-shirt. Seriously. It might be my favorite quote ever!!

  53. So here’s something completely different to think about: Megan and Pato were in my dream last night. They walked into a shop where I was, I recognized them, and we had a lovely chat about the bike trip and university. They were well-mannered, too.

  54. Ecto looks like a frontend to another blogging app like WordPress or MT or even Blogger. Aside from the ability to work offline, I am not getting what the value-add is for you? Can you just post directly to the blog backend and bypass Ecto altogether?
    Just trying to understand. 🙂

  55. So can you re-create the mitten post – we’re all dying of curiosity……
    (and I agree with Joe – it’s good to wait, so sorry it didn’t work this time. I’m sure it will next one!!)

  56. Yeah, my husband’s overall feeling on the subject (which I have adopted) is that if you don’t have issues with the old one, why do you need the upgrade?

  59. Argh. I am not a computer techie kind of person. I am a knitter!!! OOps, Knitter, with a capital, I nearly forgot. Since we switched providers a few months back my Ravelry stuff is all messed up. I feel your pain. Hoping you can remember the stupid blank line and not lose any more posts, but not feeling tooooo optimistic about it since I know I’d automatically dump the empty space, I also would like to know where upgrading arses is available. :)o

  61. As an IT person, badly written software is the bane of my existence. Serious, some software developers really need to take the time to do some testing, whether it’s a big multi-national company, or a small independent writer. Stop giving me stress-induced migraines.

  62. I’m convinced that the majority of “upgrades” aren’t upgrades at all. They’re just changes that programmers make to justify keeping their jobs, and they make it harder for people to figure out how to do things they used to KNOW how to do. Grumble grumble…

  63. I mourn the loss of the mitten post. For some reason I was on a wild mitten tear on ravelry this morning and I am just tortured by what fantastic mitteny goodness your post would have been filled with.
    Screw upgrades! Seriously. I still use software from 1992 to scan things in (well, not anymore, because I was forced to “upgrade” to vista, a subject upon which the less said the better.) Hardware, yes– but upgrading software rarely seems to be woth it.

  64. I know what you mean. There is nothing more frustrating than going through the inconvenience to ‘upgrade’ only to discover that the new program is not better than the old. Sometimes ‘upgrades’ are more for revenue generation than product improvement. You have my sympathy.
    I am currently learning how to use a Quickutz Silhouette machine, and I am going through something similar. I thought the program was hard to use because I am getting old. Apparently that is not the problem. I keep working on it, with promises of beautifully cut Christmas cards and stencils (for etching some unique and gorgeous holiday beer glasses) pulling me along, like a carrot dangling from a string a stick. I hope this gets better.
    My current complaint is when the directions cue me to select a particular name from their menu, only to not find it. However, I find a menu prompt with a different name that is remotely equivalent to the one in question. This ends up being the menu choice. They should say what they mean, and mean what they say. Enough about me. I feel for you.

  65. Dear god. 🙁 This sounds like the medical transcription software my employer installed on our at-home computers – we’ve received several screaming missives over the years to “Never alter the templates!!!”

  67. I just “updated” my iLife software, including iPhoto, which was why I bought it. The slideshows crash the first time I try to run them, each and every time I open the software. If I force quit and go back in, the slideshows work. I also can’t delete a photo. However, if I delete it (or duplicate it), exit the event and go right back, whatever action I’ve taken has now worked. But when I was trying to do it? Invisible. Secret. Sigh. I have my 2nd apple call set up for tomorrow since the suggestions (I hesitate to call them fixes) from the first had no effect.
    Upgrade my arse, as well. Wait, can I do that? I’d like a smaller one.

  68. Ah, well… This type of software bugginess has happened to me so many times that I’m just glad when I can get it to finally work. Happiness is forgetting the problems and being glad you figured it out.

  69. Ick–upgrades are never fun.
    Not to make it worse, but I use Google reader for all the blogs I follow, and the text for this entry was totally different in my reader than on your site…. But I got two things, so yay?

  70. But your Snow Leopard is fabulous, is it not?
    I’m jealous I keep hearing fantastic things but my poor 10 year old Pizmo is already upgraded as much as it can handle, I think one more might cause it to melt… 🙁

  72. I don’t understand the technology either, but I do understand mittens……..and have to admit to liking them better than socks. So my big question is, will you repost the mitten blog??? I really want to read it!

  73. Having once worked for the Dark Side (a SW company), you will call this a bug, THEY will refer to it as a feature. Have you read any of the various recent rants about Typepad? I think it is a conspiracy by the blog SW people. I prefer conspiracies about mittens. Eagerly awaiting yours….

  74. Being the wife of one computer geek and the mother of another, I totally understand. The menfolk have dragged me, kicking and screaming, into “upgrades” that made me want to strip off my skin and set myself (or the aforementioned menfolk) on fire. My dh and I actually had a computer consultation firm for about 11 years. (I answered the phone, scheduled service calls, and sympathetically listened to folks wail.) During this time period, I was taught the mantra of the computer professional–“It’s not a flaw–it’s a FEATURE!” Kinda computereez for “design element.”
    I hope your software company gets its act together!

  75. What can I say??? Mercury is retrograde. Just forget about effectively communicating until it goes direct. The good thing is that it is probably better to give up on communication for the meantime. This would be because, with Mercury retrograde, whatever you do manage to communicate will be misunderstood, misconstrued and probably even mispronounced.
    I think I will just stay in a cave until it’s all over this time. Sigh.

  76. “In any event this whole thing has totally harshed on my mellow.”
    Am I the only person that’s never heard this one before? I am totally cracking up and so going to use it. There’s the tee shirt you should have. Or a colorway. Harshed Mellow. What color would that be?

  78. I hate upgrades! Usually they don’t do anything to improve the performance of the software. Instead they just make changes that are superficial and frustrate the user. I almost would rather learn a new software program that have to figure out the changes after an upgrade. I still have not upgraded to IE 8. I have enough stress in my life at this time so that can wait.

  80. “I’m never knitting the ecto people socks.” The ultimate punishment. Wouldn’t it be lovely to live in a world where this was the ultimate threat?

  82. This is why I refer to all “upgrades” in my office with airquotes. Because an “upgrade” in our computer system has never actually 1) worked as promised or 2) worked BETTER than before. And, usually, there’s a network crash associated with it.
    Hope it’s all squared away soon!

  86. Upgrade your arse.
    Dear Stephanie, I love your blog madly, you are the funniest and bestest of the knitters and writers, but darling I just don’t know you well enough to do that for you. Thanks anyway.

  87. Hate to add a wrinkle — the blog text appears when I read it in Google reader, but it does not appear for me (just the title and comments) when I click through to the actual blog.

  88. Updates? Who needs updates? We could all be cooking over wood fires and heating our houses with coal stoves…..but you are right, an update now and again is a good thing.

  89. Among others, this is one of the main reasons I LOVE TaeKwonDo. Bad day? Kick something. Technical problems? Kick something. Kids not listening? Kick something. You get the idea.

  91. You poor thing. Your fans feel so deprived when we hear about your writings going into the Great Nevertobefound. Could you adopt a policy of writing in your word processing program and saving it to your hard drive first…then, and only then, copy/paste it onto the internet? Then we wouldn’t lose a single word, to say nothing of the stress it might save you.

  92. Speaking of upgrades, the new iPhone OS 3.1 doesn’t play well with Microsoft Exchange Mail 2007 encrypted emails. Just a word to the wise that the magic smoke may leak out of the iPhone if you have this combo.

  94. Mercury has gone retrograde. It will stay that way until September 29, at 9:13 AM EST. Do not acquire or alter anything involving communication or electronics until it’s over. My telephone fried itself today, and I wasn’t even touching it.

  95. I have to admit — this is funny.
    I guess it’s funny because I just upgraded to Snow Leopard on my MacBook and have rendered all of my wireless connections to my printer just enough fubar to drive me to drink.
    In other words… I feel your pain.

  97. yay for figuring it out! bad bad software people should be… well, its too rude for a comment. Go eat chocolate, drink beer/coffee, get a hug then start over again 🙂

  98. I have not had a single comment on my blog since 8/24. Not that I get tons of comments, but I have a few kind souls who give me comment love. But for the past 3 weeks – a big, fat ZERO.
    Why??? Because my commenting software HAD AN UPGRADE. Folks have been trying to comment but COULDN’T. Got fixed today – stupid update thingy that I don’t get ‘cuz I’m not technical.
    Bitter. Not as bad as your situation. Blog posts do not appear in 15 mins – they are labors of love and that you lost one, a good one I’m sure is heartbreaking.
    No socks for them – just don’t take it out on the mittens 🙂
    P.S. Kids + school = happiness. For all of us. Great first day, Great first day of work that was really work in a long time for me.

  99. I’m thrilled that you figured out what the issue was. It appears to me as though the problem is a software glitch. Sorry that you lost the mitten post. That must have been infuriating. I hope you’re able to knit something fabulous to destress. It sounds like it has been quite an afternoon.

  101. What is with that pizza anyway? Did you ever get to eat your dinner?
    I made a beaut pizza this week, complete with cornmeal as always, and it somehow laminated itself to the incredible fancy Williams Sonoma non-stick baking tray. For the first time ever I had to jackhammer the pizza off the tray.
    Oh and by the way, glad your blog software is working.

  104. Paper, still the best invention ever. It always works, upgrades give you a nice heavy paper that still does exactly the same thing and it doesn’t contain as many crazy chemicals.
    Nothing makes me want to put my fist through it as fast as a computer. Except maybe a t.v. that is doing that high pitch thing it does when men are trying to get the satellite tuned in to 100% instead of the 75% that works just as well.

  105. Upgrades…. Not so much. We have that going on at work, too — with more than 100 of us annoyed by it, at least to some degree. Oh, well; in our case the software does work. Good luck!

  106. This was the most heartbreaking part of working in technology. Bosses who just wanted to get the software delivered. Designing it properly and testing it thoroughly to make sure it works and doesn’t publicly humiliate the company–not so much a priority.
    Le sigh.

  107. omg such a good policy… i upgraded my itunes and now i can’t sync my iphone… booooo… i’m waiting on upgrades/updates/patches until someone else has made the mistakes and fixed them from now on 🙂

  110. My D(know-it-all)H says, “Proprietary software is inherently more poorly supported than open source software. And with such an excellent alternative such as WordPress, why mess with buggy, costly, proprietary arse pains.”
    Translation: Try wordpress blogging software. It doesn’t suck.
    Love you!

  111. This kind of thing is why I stayed away from computers as long as I did. It is just so draining. Once my husband had a very memorable “improvement” to his computer that took over two weeks to straighten out.

  112. I’m so sorry! You really, truly, have my condolences! This is the same argument I have with my Uber-Geek husband all the time because all the bugs and crap in software drives me to drink! It just annoys the crap out of me when you update your computer or a piece of software and it’s really bugging or worse yet, totally messes up your computer. (Or blog!) The truly amazing part is how many people (mainly geeks) just go with it and accept it as “Just the way software is.” UGHH! I can’t imagine buying anything else that people would accept with as many problems as software. It’s like buying a tank of gas that totally messes up your car or worse yet, blows the engine. It’s like buying yarn that has hidden in the middle of the ball a totally different color, fiber, and weight of yarn than what was on the outside. You thought you were buying blue sport weight wool yarn and on the inside is an ounce or even 2 of variegated black and blue acrylic! Even worse than that, it’s full of knots and moths where the wool and acrylic join! Can you imagine? There would be a Knitter riot! For whatever reason people just accept it as the way computers work. This is one big reason why I’m not an upgrade sort of girl. I usually use the same software until I’m forced by the computer Powers That Be to change it. Every time I’m forced to change or upgrade my software there’s problems. And for the record, it can’t be said that if I upgraded sooner that I wouldn’t have as many problems because I’ve been there, done that. It doesn’t seem to matter when I upgrade, something always gets trashed. I understand your frustration because the last time I updated a website, it totally trashed everything and ate all the pictures. The worst part was that this was an upgrade that I had to do! So, good luck on your mission. I hope you use all your literary prowess to write a butt kicking letter! Go get them Steph!

  114. I’m new to tweet, so I’m not sure if you got my reply to the mitten suggestion request. You might like the beautiful patterns from Born to Knit at Loopy Ewe. No affil, etc., I just happened to be looking at them just before your tweet. So glad your posts aren’t still being gobbled up, too.
    Dianne R in FL

  117. OK Steph, I haven’t read the other 80 billion comments on this post yet but let me chime in and second (or 50,000th) whoever recommended you switch to WordPress. It’s FREE, it has tons of features, you can save drafts and have time-released entries for when you’re on vacation, and of course the all-important features like comment spam catcher and being able to ban individual IP addresses. And no wonky “you must keep this space in order for the program to work” BS.

  119. It confirms why knitting is better than techno-anything. In knitting, if you want to go back a little, you tink. Or, if you’re like me and realize you have completely bollocksed something important up about 55 rows previously, you frog. But it’s a conscious thing. When I sigh heavily and pull out the needles and yank on the yarn, I know I’m doing it. Because I intend to do it. But to hit backspace to delete an empty line? It’s like deciding to re-do your previous stitch because you’ve split the yarn, and then discovering that the whole darned sock has been frogged.
    It’s completely ridiculous. It’s why I hate technology. Technology is fickle and stupid.
    And some moronic program upgrade has deprived the rest of us of two posts full of wit and wisdom. Jerks.

  120. I’m sorry you’re having this trouble with your software. I could tell you that, in a tight economy, quality control is the first group of people let go. I could tell you that good software companies don’t do this to their loyal customers. But none of that is going to help you find your lovely mitten post. So give them hell. And tell that that they should have real people test their software (a discussion I’m having right now with a company who makes a software that my learning-different children will be using and that is supposedly designed for LD kids… and is being tested by a bunch of geeks, not by LD kids.)

  121. I work in the graphic design business. Whenever we have an upgrade to our software we say that we have to “suffer the upgrade” because it’s never smooth. We suffer. It stinks.

  126. I read on Twitter that you were searching for the perfect mitten pattern. Was the lamented great mitten post about the perfect pattern? Do tell!

  128. And the really weird thing? WE don’t see an extra space up there after the title.
    Upgrade schmupgrade!

  129. Ah, software. I once worked for a magazine that had just installed a new system–with a tiny little problem. Problem was that if you had a story with a file name, and you saved another copy of the story with the same file name, they would vaporize each other. Not great for editors who were constantly replacing stories with edited versions of the same story. Result of upgrades and of editing stories: No stories for magazine. Fun. I feel your pain. (Seriously, what’s Ecto short for? Sounds scary.)

  130. I agree with what Amanda Williams said – do all your typing, editing, etc in Word (or whatever word processor you use) and do a cut & paste to your blog. That way if you inadvertly delete that space, you won’t have lost the blog. And I totally agree with you, there’s a bug with the Ecto software. Hopefully, they’ll fix it.

  131. I share your pain. I don’t think of something as an upgrade if I have an extra thing to remember. Especially something as random as not leaving a space.Sheesh! This is not progress.
    I agree with kazbels and others about not typing your original at your blog. It’s bad enough that we’ll never read your mitten post, we certainly don’t want to lose any more news or humor from you!

  132. Yep. I kept getting these “upgrade to Internet Explorer 8” so I finally did–slowed the machine down so much it is almost unusable–no way to contact the IE people. Also, There are probably a dozen “updates” that show up that I did not approve. Every one of these slows things down more.

  133. Dear Stephanie –
    I agree with you! We’ve had the same problems. The Internet is a beautiful thing – look how it brings people together. But it’s what the computer industry does with it that really sucks!

  134. Upgrades from that big company included something that recoginzed my modem as a threat and deleted the thing that makes it work. Only way to fix it was to connect to the internet!

  135. My e-mail signature used to say “Our software doesn’t have bugs, it has unexpected features”. I truly recommend typing up your posting in your favorite word processing program, save it and then post it to your blog. That way if the posting goes to the cyber-knitting black hole in the virtual world, you can retrieve the posting to try once more. Plus you get the benefit of spell check.

  136. To quote Harry S Truman “Give’em hell” Stephanie. And please, oh please, can we read about and see the lovely mittens please.

  137. As someone in the software industry, that just makes me mad. It’s just not right to ship it out there like that and say that’s the way it’s supposed to be. I’ve been in this industry for a decade now, and usability and quality is getting worse, not better. I wish I knew the answer.

  138. If Ecto doesn’t shape up after this, try Mars Edit. (Also for Mac, works similarly, and the company is Red Sweater Software – how much better could it get?
    Really. I work in software design – the idea of “good enough” has taken over. Bah.

  139. Hope you’re having a productive day of relaxing knitting after all the upgrade frustration yesterday. 3 1/2 more hrs and I will be on my way to wonderful knit night to hopefully meet the newest little one of our Friday knitting group. I think she’s 6 weeks old (or so)… Nova and knitting a shawl…that’ll make my day.

  140. When you complain, be sure to mention the anguish of all your readers who are left to wonder: Wow? What Wow?
    You go get em.

  142. Glad you’re back in full form! I must admit that I burst out laughing when I saw the sequential headlines and their content. Being a bit of a techno-slowpoke, it took me a little while to figure out I could also follow your ‘progress’ on the twitter section of the blog.

  144. so many upgrades its like going to sleep
    and wakeing up to a newly decorated
    kitchen
    that you do not want or need
    surprise looky at what i did
    this is a new computer can you tell
    we are not the best of friends
    as of now -they just are bored tis all

  145. To “Sandy at 7:23” on What color is Harshed Mellow?
    That’s the color of the batt that Stephanie was spinning on Tuesday . . .

  146. Sorry for the duplicate entry. Couldn’t figure out how to get from Preview to Post so thought I had lost the message – but I DID copy and paste before hitting the Back button!

  147. Sorry the upgrade was an arse biter.
    Argh!
    I’ve learned to type most of my wee blog postings in another software, lately OpenOffice Writer, and then do copy-and-paste so my crazy computer doesn’t think I’m deleting or reloading the page instead of saving what’s on the blog screen.
    Well, the pictures I add later, if I remember to.
    Hope sending a big virtual hug helps you feel better.

  148. an astrologist friend of mine would recommend never upgrading computer anything during a Mercury Retrograde phase…….
    gaaack..
    I would totally be pulling out my hair by now.
    glad that you are appearing still sane during this insanity.

  151. I’m sorry, Steph, that you’re having fits with your software. It does, however, make me feel less lonely. I’m just enough older than you (as in old enough to be your mother) to have come to the internet, and computers in general, as a second language. I have my share of wrestling matches with upgrades and downgrades and simply dealing with what’s in front of me. “Workaround” has become one of my favorite words.
    It’s a good thing knitters are persevering or else no one would ever hear from us. Hang in there. Mercury is in retrograde. All sorts of things have gone wonky as a result.

  152. Darling, I feel you… I just got notice back from an editor that “This story would have been better if you finished it!” Only to figure out that I DID finish it–but because of the ‘upgrade’ I sent her the wrong version! Upgrade my arse too… (Ah, if only upgrading my arse were as easy as pushing ‘install’…)

  153. Hey Stephanie
    I just read on your tweet that you are coming to Sacramento.
    I live in a beautiful Gothic revival Victorian a few miles out side Sac. (not bragging….just enticing). Dump a bucket of black paint on it and the Addams family could move right in.
    Want to come and spend the night ? I have spinning wheels. I have sock yarn. I have coffee, beer and chocolate.
    Just saying.

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