Reclaiming my Past.

First there was 360. It was such an interactive, fun, social site. I was new to the blogging scene and since I've always had a love of writing, I jumped right in.  I made friends from around the world - people who loved art, writing and discussing everything from education to religion. I was a babe and I grew fast. I was amazed at how much I learned to care for these virtual friends and look forward to their adventures and replies to mine. One day 360 told us all we had to move our interaction elsewhere and gave us a chance to transport our postings once we decided on a new social home.  
The bulk of us moved our stuff to a service call Multiply in the fall of 2007.  I always intended to weed through the stuff I had moved, but life went on and so did the socializing. It was a reasonable fit, though different from 360 and since our friends moved with us, we were happy enough to endure the changes in format and barely skipped a blogger's beat. 
I was introduced to writers, educators, and artist in so many disciplines. My love of photography found inspiration, challenge and support as well. Some of us worked together to establish an online creative arts gallery. There were writing contests and recipe collections and then there was the nightly chat sessions with fantastic interaction between groups of friends.
Then in 2012 Multiply closed it's virtual doors to social interaction. With the warning, we all began looking for the best new home for our virtual friendships and online interaction.  As the shut-down came, we all stood on the www shore and waved good-bye as people wandered off into their 'brave new virtual experience.' Some chose one venue and some chose another. Most found nothing that compared to 360 or Multiply. Several split their online interaction between creative venues like Word Press and Blogger from Google and the shallower, lighthearted and quirky My Space and Facebook.  Some wandered off to establish themselves away from the crowd promising to look in now and then.
I imported my stuff to Blogger and Google+ and established a presence on Facebook.  It's been an okay venture, but I've lost touch with many of the virtual friends I made who had become such a strong part of my real existence.  I began sorting and converting my blogs and albums from Multiply in the two serious venues.  But as things go, not much really got done before I resumed activity with a promise to get back to it- a promise un-kept.
Then the shut down of Google+ social pages was announced. I frantically transferred any pictures to my computer and any unsaved musings and poetry to my blogger. I was left with over 800 imported but not converted files in all. I'm working on it! 
That said, I may reference an old post now and then.  It's been enlightening and nostalgic converting the old files. I have well less than 10 pages left to convert.  Full of fun; full of memories; full of living.

Typical

So typical of me.

I decided about two years ago that I wanted to get a tablet so that I could take along pictures that my mother could actually see and enjoy. Also, I hoped that she could share some face time with people who could not go see her. Then I got to thinking it would be a great thing for trips and such to organize pictures, keep my journal and also as a reader. It all seemed like a great idea.

Recently I started looking at one with a keyboard case and usb port and felt like it might even be a good substitute to taking my big computer to camp. The more I read the more I became convinced that a tablet would be a fantastic solution in so many ways. So I bought myself a tablet.

When I ordered it, I saw it in a whole different way than what I had originally envisioned. Like I do with everything, I began to assign way too much ability and importance and expectation to this little piece of equipment. The truth of the matter is it's a nice little tablet. It will make a great reader, and journaling will be much easier than it is on my phone. There are some bugs to work out. First of all I've got to learn to sync the tablet and my hot box.

There are also some expectations to drop. My phone actually takes much better pictures and video than the tablet, though neither of those approaches my digital camera for clarity and depth. Yet the camera is not so versatile when it comes to posting in a venue like Facebook. The files are way too big and they take too long to convert even with the media conversion tool. Also, once Facebook begins reducing them, a lot of that awesome quality is left behind.

Nothing has really changed from what it was a couple weeks ago. I still want a tripod to hold my phone so that I can do some live videos to help people with various kinds of art. I'm hoping whatever I get is quite versatile, as I now have three pieces of equipment that could use stability in picture taking and I like the idea of a remote fire.

I would like a case for the tablet with a keyboard. I like voice to text some for putting my ideas down, but I need a keyboard for cleaning them up and it would be so much easier than using voice to text and then sending it to the computer to clean it up and post it.

Once again I've come full circle. The tablet is simply a tablet, not a superhero. The phone is still a phone - perhaps even more so now that I have a tablet. The camera gives me wonderful creative liberty. And I haven't solved one single serious, earth-shaking, universal problem!