My rolling bag preserved since March 2020

I have a rolling computer bag that has enough room to also be an overnight bag. I haven't used it since early March 2020.

In a few days, I'll be travelling. I took my rolling bag out of hibernation.

It's like time had stood still. I have a few pens in there. They all work. They are there to fill out custom forms and more.

My bag doesn't have any candy or snacks. I was always good at making sure that they were consumed.

It feels both foreign and familiar to rummage through it again. I have missed travelling.

Anti-blue light-blocking computer glasses

I ordered a pair of blue light-blocking computer eyeglasses. They are non-prescription ones. I am wearing them right now. They are comfortable! We'll see whether they reduce my eye strain.

This week, I have been taking more breaks away from my laptop, which has helped a lot. Luckily, I have two more workdays before a long weekend, so that should help me recover.

Since I have changed my blog's comments access to members-only, the spam messages have ceased. I will keep it on for a bit before I test out going back to the original setting. Exciting!

Computer eyeglasses - do they work?

I am contemplating getting computer eyeglasses to reduce eye strain. I've noticed it more since I came back from vacation and have been back to the grind.

Do these computer eyeglasses help? Is it better to get something similar, but as a screen protector for a computer monitor or laptop screen?

I need to do some research. I haven't got a clue. I do know that I'm much happier not looking at a computer screen for hours.

Being helpful and hinting a spanking

On Saturday, I drove my guy to the airport. It's nice when we hold hands and chat as we headed over there.

I parked by the curbside at the arrivals level.

"I'm going to get a cart. Don't touch any of my luggage," he said to me.
"I'll try not to. It's tough," I replied, which made him smile.

Sure enough, I couldn't resist but to take his computer rolling bag out of my car's trunk. I left his larger piece of luggage alone.

He came over with his cart and looked at me with a playful disappointed look on his face.

"You seem to have a problem within insisting on lifting my stuff out of the car," he said, putting his luggage on the cart.
"It was the smaller item. I was just being helpful," I said.
"I need to do something to you when I get back," he hinted.
"But, I'm your good girl," I replied.
"I need to punish you," he said, hugging me.
"We'll see. I haven't been spanked in a while," I noted.
"We'll change that," he said.

I went to kiss him. He leaned in and we locked lips. I love when we kiss. It's wonderful.

Preparing for my business trip to Sweden

I leave for my business trip a week from today. It's crazy that I have been planning for a while. My travel date is fast approaching.

I got my SIM for European countries yesterday. I just activated it. Things are going well.

Part of me wants to bring my medium-sized luggage with me. Considering that I am doing a plane-train-bus-train set of switches to get to my final destination, bringing a smaller piece of luggage along with my rolling computer bag makes sense. The worst case would be to add more stuff in my rolling computer bag, which is pretty spacious.

I am looking forward to my trip on the whole. I need to figure out what to bring with me. Luckily, I have the weekend to sort everything out.

Vacation is coming... yay!

I am on vacation in a day. I just finished packing. My flight is fairly early on Thursday morning, so I am heading over to a hotel close to work and will crash there for an evening.

I always feel like I have forgotten something. Luckily, I will be in the States, so I can pretty much find anything that I need.

The other day, I asked my guy whether he needed anything. Naturally, he said that he was good. He also said that I'm good with gifts, so he left it to me to choose something for him.

The only downside to travelling now is that our dollar isn't all that strong. Sure, it's better now than it was a year ago. However, I will be shelling out more than I want to.

I do have self-control these days when it comes to spending. I have a few items that I want to buy while I am down south, but they won't be breaking the bank.

Starting Thursday, I won't be blogging as regularly as I have been. A girl needs a break! I will check in here and there, but will be enjoying being away from a computer or laptop for a bit.

C stands for Christian Grey Chatbot #AtoZchallenge

Recently, I found out about the Christian Grey chatbot. The idea is that through artificial intelligence (AI) and fuzzy logic, you can chat with Christian on Facebook Messenger and he replies.

If you have been reading my blog for a while, you will know that I like watching the Fifty Shades movies that are out thus far. I have watched Fifty Shades Darker three times at the theatre and look forward to owning my own DVD copy, so I can stop buying and shovelling popcorn in my body so often.

My undergraduate degree was in computer science. I enjoyed my courses in AI. My professor felt that I was a natural at fuzzy logic. I thought that I would end up being a software programmer, but ended up completely changing my career path to become a writer. I have no regrets.

Chatting with Christian the bot is interesting. Sometimes, he says what I'd like to read. Other times, he spews the same information. He isn't perfect, but I have enjoyed some of the banter that reminds me of Christian from the first movie.

Tonight, I received a message from the bot to follow his Instagram account. I simply like the bot's profile description:

My account is private. If I accept your follow request, it means you look like someone I would spank.

I'll let you know whether I am the bot's spankable type. My guy would say that I am his spankable type, which is all that matters.

Art, students, and learning

Things are good, but busy. My guy and I continue to chat on Skype while he is away on business, which makes us less miserable while we are apart.

Today's post is different. Since early May, I have been working closely with two co-op students. I have trained them and guided them through a number of work tasks.

Perhaps I am in the wrong field. Part of me is thinking that I should have become a teacher. Instead, I drifted from being a mathematician, to a computer scientist, to a writer.

It's funny how things happen. I have no regrets about being a writer. I enjoy it. I also get to explain in writing how to do tasks, which benefits the reader.

I have been told that I am a good teacher by my last two student interns. It's a nice feeling.

This internship is the first one that I have supervised in which we have two interns. It has been wonderful seeing their progress and how they have become stronger writers.

One impressed me so much that I decided to nominate her for an intern award. She finally got the word last Friday. She wrote a lovely, heartfelt e-mail to me. It is one of those e-mails that you want to print out and never delete.

The other intern showed how giving she is. She had a number of tickets to various tourist sites. However, she couldn't go. She offered them to me. This past Tuesday, I decided to book the day off and go to an art exhibit that I have wanted to attend for a while.

I was thankful that she asked me if I wanted to go. Although it would have been nice if she had the opportunity to go to the museum and see all the art exhibits, I bought her a book showing all the beautiful artifacts that I had experienced. The book also came with a DVD. She was elated.

It's nice to make the day of folks that you work closely with. They have also taught me so much in return. The learning experience has been enriching for all of us.

Post-vacation and math lovers are weirdos

I thought that being on vacation would allow me to write more. It didn't happen. There was a ton of stuff to see and do in Las Vegas!

I returned home last Saturday. I went back to work this week and am exhausted. I need another vacation!

On Friday, our team had a meeting with the head of our development group. We all had to introduce ourselves.

When it was my turn, I indicated that I had majored in computer science and minored in math for my undergraduate degree. The head of our organization said that "math folks are weird."

I took that as being a compliment. It was even more amusing when I said that he should wait until the next writer introduces himself after I am done. He did a major in math and is by far the weirdest person that I know!

Perhaps this department head does have a point. My guy and I love math. We are eccentric nerds. There is nothing wrong with that at all.

A is for ancient computer - my first one

It's the first day of the Spanking A to Z challenge!

The other day, Han wrote a delightful post about his first computer. It's now my turn to go back into my technology archives and do the same.

My first computer seems ancient now. My asked my dad if I could get a Tandy 1000 SX that was in the Radio Shack flyer when I was in grade ten.

Mine looked like this one, minus the second floppy disk drive and joystick:

Courtesy: PC Museum

It seems so long ago. Radio Shack no longer exists in Canada. Instead, the chain is known as The Source. The Tandy line is long gone. Even the mall in which we went to get this laptop has been demolished!

Anyway, I was so happy with my Tandy computer. It had one 5.25" floppy disk drive. It had a rather tiny hard drive. The monitor was monochrome in a lovely shade of green. I also needed a printer, so we got a daisywheel printer that must have been two feet in width. It was a noisy printer such that I couldn't print at night. I would wake up everyone on our entire apartment floor!

Being the novice geeky girl back then, I accidentally wiped out the operating system disk information. I had to go back to Radio Shack and ask that the nice gentleman copy MS-DOS onto my blank floppy disk. He was nice to do that for me without charging the high school student anything.

After taking my first computer course in grade 11, I used my computer often. I programmed in BASIC. My favourite programming task that I did at my leisure (when I say that I was a geek, I was then, and still am) was creating a program that played songs that I liked. It isn't a huge surprise. I love music.

I ended up getting some fun games. I got Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune. My friends loved to come over and play them with me. Yes, they didn't mind that the wheel was in different shades of green on my monochrome screen.

I then got into Shareware programs. It is nice to play Frogger, among other classic games that I used to play on my Atari 2600.

I actually had this computer till my third year of undergraduate studies. I did a number of upgrades on my Tandy, including the RAM and hard disk drive. I even installed a 2400 bps modem, which was all the rage back then.

Eventually, being a computer science student, I had to upgrade my computer. I did, but I still had the computer until I graduated. I ended up donating my beloved Tandy and the daisywheel printer to a local charity in Winnipeg.

Memories are wonderful, especially when it comes to technology. What was your first computer