Kindness

"Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see."
--- Mark Twain

Blank screens give me the creeps --- and scare me, too. Whether it's a TV screen, a computer monitor or my PDA, a blank screen can only mean trouble and I mean with a capital T.

So, yesterday morning, when my Palm Pilot PDA wouldn't turn on no matter which button I pushed; and when it wouldn't synchronize with the desktop software, I pretty much panicked. It contains everything important, from appointments to address list, calculator, documents, etc. I'm pretty much one-handed without it.

When I bought my first one via eBay about 3-1/2 years ago, I found it hard to make the switch from my DayTimer notebook to this itsby-bitsy handheld computer. The following year I upgraded to a Tungston e2, but still couldn't seem to completely switch over. But then I had an injury that made it difficult to carry or hold the now-heavy Daytimer. In fact, I could barely hold a piece of paper. Consequently, it forced me to transfer everything to the Palm Pilot, which turned out to be a good thing.

They say that the advantage of an analog clock is that your mind can tangibly see what's past and what's coming as well as the present time. Whereas, a digital clock shows only the current time. Similarly with the paper calendar, one can tangibly turn pages and see on paper what's come before, what is now, and what is to come. Using a PDA is similar to the digital conundrum. In fact, I find this true with some things on the computer. For example, sometimes when I'm writing an article or report, I prefer to print out what I've done so far and spread the pages out on the table and read from the paper(s) rather than the screen.

Anyway, back to yesterday's morning's panic about the blank Palm Pilot screen. The web site didn't seem very helpful. My question didn't seem to easily fit the FAQ provided by Palm Pilot's support section. Yesterday afternoon I stopped by Office Depot to talk to a "real live" person. He didn't exactly know the answer; but he assured me in a don't-hold-me-to-it sort of way that lightly pushing the reset button on the back of the Palm Pilot would bring everything up. But he also warned me that holding it down too long would in fact reset it to zero, as it was when I bought it.

Finally, this morning I knew I simply had to do something. So I bravely stepped up to the plate and lightly pushed the reset button. The screen flashed the Palm icon and voila! everything came back. How many times can I say ! I proceeded to synchronize it with my desktop Palm software and everything was updated perfectly. Thank goodness that I back it up regularly!

Bread machine saga

Two weeks ago, one of the items in our garage sale was a Welbilt bread machine. Remember them? When they came out, we loved how easy it was to make delicious loaves of bread. We sampled many varieties, cooking a loaf or two each week. Then along came the Atkins diet and we dropped most of our bread eating and therefore bread baking. The machine sat quietly in our pantry for the past 5 or 6 years.

The garage sale encouraged us to bring it out and sell it. Many people looked at it during that day, but no one wanted to buy it. So, back inside the garage it came until the next sale, which we knew would be in 2 weeks (yesterday).

However, during our evening walk on the following Thursday, a car approached us and the woman passenger rolled down her window and asked if the bread machine was still available. Although neither hubby nor I remembered her at the sale, apparently she had been there. We told her it was available and she was welcome to come for it. She replied that she would buy it the next day after work.

The next day, instead of picking it up right then, she said she wanted me to bring it to her house on Sunday and show her how to use it. “Good grief!” I thought to myself. More gently, I told her it was quite easy to use. Just take it home and read the directions. It turns out she doesn’t read English very well, only Creole.

After she left, I decided if I was going to teach someone how to use it, I would need to make a loaf myself to remember how it’s done.

So, on Saturday I found an old jar of Fleishman's yeast and assumed I had enough flour to make one loaf. I proofed the yeast and it was fine. But, as I began to gather the ingredients together, I realized I didn’t have enough flour after all. So, off to Publix I drove to pick up a 5-lb bag of King Arthur bread flour.

Now, the last time I bought bread flour, there were at least 6 or 7 varieties of special bread making mixes: raisin, whole wheat, cranberry, etc. This time there wasn’t even one of those, just a bag of bread flour. Talk about short-lived fads!

So, I bought and brought home the flour and proceeded to put all the ingredients into the machine pan, turn it on and left it to go to an appointment hubby and I needed to keep.

When we returned, around dinnertime, it turned out that the bread was so fresh and delicious, that it was my main meal of the day! Yes, I mean just slices of bread lathered with soft Land O Lakes Whipped Butter, some bites spread with Smucker's black raspberry or strawberry jam. Talk about heaven! Hmmm-hmmm-good!

Now I was ready to give a lesson the next day. But, the woman never called or came by. On the next Thursday, I made a loaf of raisin bread. It was another "hmmm-hmmm-good" moment. Furthermore, on Saturday morning we used a few slices for our French toast breakfast.

We put the machine out for sale again; but this time there were very few admirers of it. So, today I made another loaf of egg bread. You can see we’re no longer using the Atkins way of eating!

I’m pretty sure that if someone offered to buy it, I would sell it. Meanwhile, though, I’m enjoying every bite of these delicious loaves and planning to make more!

Jill Carroll update

Jill Carroll update

Where is Jill Carroll? I've been wondering, too. Here's what The Christian Science Monitor reported on Tuesday:

What's up with Jill? Readers have asked us: Whatever happened to Jill Carroll after her US homecoming?

Jill is currently recovering from her ordeal and writing about her 82 days in captivity in Iraq.
While there have been dozens of Western hostages taken in Iraq, including other journalists, Jill is one of the few Arabic-speaking correspondents who have spent this much time observing how insurgents operate - often without them knowing what she was hearing or seeing. Her captivity was a terrifying experience, but she also got a rare look inside one of the most hard-line Islamic insurgent groups in Iraq. Stay tuned for the upcoming series.

Nearly 1,000 readers have generously contributed to the Allan Enwiya Fund. Allan, Jill's interpreter in Iraq for two years, was killed in her abduction. He is survived by his wife and two small children. Members of his family, at risk in Iraq as Christians, have been moved by the Monitor out of the country. They are applying for US government permission to join their extended family in the US. The fund, including a contribution from the Monitor, will help Allan's family start a new life.

Donations can be made online here, or sent to:
The Allan Enwiya FundC/O The Christian Science MonitorOne Norway StreetBoston, MA 02115

The material above appeared in the 'Reporters on the Job' feature in the May 3, 2006, issue of The Christian Science Monitor.

I love Mondays!

Yes, you read it right. I love Mondays, the First of the month and the First of the year. Why? Because they're opportunities to start over, to do it right, to begin new projects, etc.

And today is both Monday and the First of the month! Who could ask for more?