About Communicating Online & Off-line

On the 2nd weekend of January 2026, root beer floats with chocolate ice cream are my Saturday treat. Why? Because yesterday was my McD lunch treat day; and I do not have McD without soda. Thus, my no soda January failed. The disappointment I feel creates the excuse to have root beer floats. No soda January will resume after the root beer is gone.

After that sorrow, I have been dealing with things that require communicating online. Needless to say, it has been frustrating because the bully mentality of websites is difficult to deal with. The you do it our way or else is not a good way to treat people. 

Then, there's the issue of why of the problems happen that usually turns out to be my fault because I'm not tech savvy. I believe when pages have the plus sign, +, to open a new tab, that will be the online rule for websites. But, it is not the rule. 

For example, the AOL app. On a website that sends me an email with a verification code to my AOL email address, I cannot read that email because there is no + available for (that I found) a new tab to the AOL email to be opened. 

I uninstalled the AOL email app. Using regular AOL email isn't as good, but it gives the me control I should have as a customer. 

The other frustrating online issue is the Contact Us feature. Right off, the next page is to FAQs. Ok. I type in question just in case, (being I have a reputation for being the fault of the problem). Nothing there. So, I hunt for the Contact Us option originally given. Oh dear, I have to log in, create an account and go through more hoops that sensibly necessary. 😖

On the bright side of life, I have enough sheets of forever US Postal stamps to last me 3 or 4 years (with the one stamp use per month that I have now). How did I end up with so many stamps!? 

I think when postal clerks are so nice, as soon as they ask if there's anything else we need, knowing the postal service struggles, I feel the least I can do is buy stamps.  The other reason is my desk gets so messy, I can't find the stamps I have. So, I buy more. The Oh so that's where they are, is always a cheery moment. Also, when mailing off a package, put stamps in there before sealing the box. 

Ever see one of those shows that helps folks declutter, where everything in the room is removed, and only what is useful is put back? Well, I'm going to do that with my desk area. It has to start first thing in the morning to have time to clear someplace to sleep. 😎

How is your January going?

Internet Memory Lane

 Day 7 of 2026 feels weird. How that happened is an adjustment. It's already a week into January?  Will all of 2026 be like that, time sliding by? Methinks, no. 

I've entered a new phase in my life, (along with riding along as Earth ages). I am opening mail within the day of receiving it. That is a major change for me. Going through old papers, I have found unopened mail that's years old. I felt like a slob allowing my papers/mail to be so messy.

The same goes for email addresses. Having a unique email address for each website is a good idea. Categorizing email addresses, I believe, is a security move. I have email addresses that are over 20 years old. Yes, over two decades online is surreal. Reading my old password books is a trip down memory lane.

What I remember most being online in early 2000 is file size. Early 2000, I was taking, Planetary Geology, at UVM (University of Vermont), when I wanted to download a nebula photo. Not understanding photo sizes, pixels, jpg and such, I clicked on the download option. It didn't take long for me to realize that my computer back then did not have anywhere near enough memory for a file that if printed out, could wallpaper a regular size living room. The system locked up. Frantic, I managed to stop the download and delete what I had. I clear cache regularly to this day to free up memory.

All week bit by bit, I've been reviewing email address and old blogs. I discovered that my first Blogspot email address has my old Profile with the year 2008. It has the Profile under the old blog name, Frozencove. There was no blog attached to the Profile. So, I used my first blog name, Cornsilkmoon, and created a blog. It verifies I began on Blogger in 2008.

Cornsilkmoon

Squirrel running along fence

     

Have a run down your Internet memory lane. 

What do you remember most about those early days?