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Thanks for the Help...Now See the Pictures!
On May 7, 2005, Dian and Shelby participated in "Bark in the Park" a funds raising event for homeless dogs/cats through the AntiCruelty Society. To those who helped by sponsoring us to reach our goal...thanks so much. (Note that you can still donate on our behalf until July 2005 by clicking HERE.) Now see our pictures from this fun and worthy event. A giant dog party in the park...what fun! Dian ~
 I suppose I'm getting too old to learn to keep my big mouth shut! But I should have known that the minute I said "I'm lucky, I missed the flu this year!"...that I would instantly get nailed. Sure 'nuff!
At the wedding last month, I opened my big mouth and bragged about not getting sick this season. A few days later, I'd barely shipped the relatives back to California when...I felt a little tickle in the back of my throat. "Ahhh...I'm sure it's just because the house is a little dry right now." You'd also think that after years of being Dr. Mom, I'd know the sure signs. NOT! I wrote it off. A few days later...I became a sweaty, drippy, coughing, messy, nauseous pile of human flesh...who took up residence on the couch for a few days in an attempt to recover.
How come it's always better to be sick while laying on the couch?
I guess it goes back to being a little kid. I couldn't be sick up in my room because that would mean that mom would have to traipse up those stairs every time I cried out in my misery for her. It was much easier for her to stuff the noisy mass of germs on the couch where she could quickly comfort me and get back to tending to the house and my siblings...who would selfishly require attention while *I* was sick!
Yup...I'm sure it's not the couch itself. It's the memory of being a little kid wrapped up in a pile of pillows and blankets to keep me warm and comfy as my insides battled my latest childhood ailment. From the colds and flu that would get us all...to the mumps and chicken pox that hit the more lucky ones. The cocktail table would be pulled close so I wouldn't have to reach too far. You don't want to exert yourself when you're in such pathetic condition. Everything I needed was close...glass of milk, glass of soda, glass of juice, glass of water, glass of bouillon, bowl of soup, dish of crackers, boxes of tissue, a bag for garbage and, of course, the trusty barf bucket...ever present on the floor near my head. Isn't childhood great!
Of course, as adults we don't have time to be sick. We have work and commitments and family and spouses and kids and pets and parents and meetings and clients and deadlines. No time to just lay back and die quietly in your own sweat and misery. No one to come running when you let out the least whimper. No one to rub Vicks on your chest or put some disgusting goo on your neck and wrap you up like a mummy, then pin everything tightly closed around you with those huge safety pins.
So yes, I was miserable and feeling sorry for myself, because I was sick and I knew that my workload would only fall behind if I didn't get after it all. But this time I had to say heck with it...I stuff myself on the couch, loaded the cocktail table with all the medications I'd need...including those wonderful cherry cough drops...and pampered myself for a couple days as germs ravaged me. How cool!
Unfortunately, I got better.
And there it was, the backlog of work and the stress that travels along with it as I battled to catch up with everything. And before I knew it, it was time for another TechTrax.
Now don't get me wrong...I really love this magazine and love talking with you folks each month, as well as sharing skills and helping others learn how to move forward with technology. But eventually, if you push yourself too much, something is gonna blow. I learned that the first year...if we take a little break each year...we come back even better and stronger.
So as TechTrax moves into its third summer...the time has come again for us to all take a much needed break from the monthly demands of publishing. This will be our last issue for a few months as we regroup over the summer. But we have a great issue for you this month.
Candi Thomas is on a roll with two articles this month...Excel users luck out with both Jon Peltier and John Mansfield passing you great Excel articles...Eric Frost has a great guide to MapPoint...Mike Glen gives you his 22nd lesson in using MS Project...I have a few useful articles and a little ranting stuff in there...and don't miss our article to arm yourself with important information about sex offender web sites.
I'm sure you're also wondering who won the Microsoft Office Keyboard drawing from last month. Well, the winner was...Marc Wayman. Marc is a military man stationed in the US. "Wow...this is great! I am a Psychological Operations Sergeant in the U.S. Army, and I dabble in programming in Visual Basic (6.0 and .Net), C++ (6.0/.NET), and VBA. My other hobbies (when I'm not working - and sometimes when I am) include shooting, jumping out of airplanes, and GEOCACHING. I'll use the keyboard on my main system at home for programming, working on a database I am developing in MS Access, and in general with other office applications (Word, Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint) in day-to-day use. Thanks so much!"
And you just knew I'd have to get something in about dogs for the summer right? But you can benefit from this one, too. A fantastic artist, Debbie Stonebraker, is generously offering up a free watercolor portrait for some lucky winner this month! But if you don't have a dog, fear not because she'll do the painting of your pet or your child. See my article on Debbie to learn how to enter this way cool drawing!
The April issue will remain here throughout the summer until we're back with the August issue in a few months.
For those of you who are fairly new to this magazine, know that if you click the Archive button above, you'll have more than enough free training to keep you busy while we're away. TechTrax debuted in May of 2002. So you'll now have time to review the tons of great articles we've published since then.
 As for me...I plan to keep very busy with much of my consulting work...but I also plan to make time to finish some of my other training courses that have been sitting in the ol' ToDo box for way too long. And I'll also, of course, be working to find even more talented writers and make more barter deals to bring you more free drawings when we return in August...fresh and ready to go.
Have a wonderful summer...stay safe...and we'll meet you back here in August...9am, SHARP!
Peace!
(And to my fellow Catholics who are mourning the loss of the Holy Father...Peace Be With You. You may want to visit the beautiful and informative Vatican web site, which can be found here: http://www.vatican.va.)
John Paul II...we loved you!
 
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