Realms of the Raven

A few folks have asked to see what jewelry I’ve been working on lately so I decided to inflict them on everyone rather than try to remember who all asked so I can email them individually.

So here you go….

These are all chainmail - made from lots of little rings that I weave together. I buy the rings instead of making my own like some folks do.

This is a choker made from enameled copper. It’s not really as dark a pink as it looks.

This is an enameled copper necklace and earring set. No findings yet.

This is the same set (basically) in sterling.

This is a sterling choker.

And this is a sterling set as well. The earrings for this set also match the choker above.

I do make other types of jewelry as well and might even get around to taking pictures of those as well.

My keyboard stickers arrived yesterday and I immediately set about applying them to the various keyboards I use. I’m actually a little surprised at the fact they make as much of a difference as they do.

They fit the various keyboards really well - I’m impressed.

I’m still having some interesting issues with a few letters - like ’s’. I have absolutely no idea why I’m still reaching for an s where there isn’t one now AND wasn’t one before either.

Maybe a wire is crossed somewhere?

Today is a little better again. I’m getting a tiny bit faster and I got to a huge 17 wpm while trying out a typing tutor program I found.

Very error prone though, which makes me not nearly as chatty as normal.

But I’m sticking to my guns and not flipping between the two.

I noticed today that it took me a tiny bit of time to consciously reset my mind to type when I sat down at my desk. I really wanted to just pound out a few words and (hopefully) shock myself with how fast I’d become overnight.

Right…

I may be deceiving myself but I think today was marginally better than yesterday.

But today also included an attempt to write some c# code. Talk about an exercise in frustration. The often used period and semi-colon were ever elusive and I wanted to scream after only a short time.

I gave up for the day when the urge to throw my keyboard down the stairs - a whole three lines later.

Still no keyboard stickers.

I don’t actually have my Dvorak keycaps yet but I went ahead and started the switch.

Today was officially day 1 of the great Dvorak journey. After a little while of getting the pc’s set up, I was off and … painfully pecking but mostly erasing.

I’ve already been tempted to give up because it has proven to be even more frustrating than I anticipated. But I know it’s a good long term investment, so I’m continuing to forge on.

My typing speed is about 10wpm from about 90wpm.

So far the lessons are:
1. Windows assigns language per instance as a default so I need to see if I can do a global default setting.
2. Punctuation is very hard to find.
3. Growling at it doesn’t help.

It’s a lovely case of carpal tunnel. No wonder I’ve had tingling hands, pain radiating up my arm and sometimes wake up with numb hands.

Ahhh - lovely…. Oh SO lovely.

So I get a lovely pair of wrist splints to wear and I get yet another reason to switch to Dvorak. And Aleve.

And if that doesn’t help, I get to see a neurologist for more extensive testing and such.

Color me not surprised but distinctly unthrilled.

Wearing the splints at night does help the numbness (and scares the cats). I can stand them part of teh day but can’t wear them while making jewelry because I can’t grip the pliers properly. I’m trying though.

I got an additional set on my doctor’s recommendation since he says each brand fits a little differently and it’s good to have two that I can wear so I can wash one and let it dry.

ah - joy.

So - after several bouts recently of numbness in my hands, I’ve decided to bite the bullet and switch from QWERTY to Dvorak.

For those who don’t know, Dvorak is an alternate keyboard layout that is designed to be much less stressful to use when typing, to be more efficient and reduces RSI issues.

I was chatting to my development lead at the day job today and we were talking keyboard layouts when I guess I suddenly made the decision.

I’ll have to see if C will join me in this challenge - if so, that will make sharing the keyboard of the laptop a lot easier. I think I’ll just invest in some of the keyboard stickers instead of dedicated dvorak keyboards since I really like my ergo keyboard’s feel.

My guess is that i won’t get the stickers until after RWA Nationals - so probably not actually switching until then but I’m sure my typing speed will go deeply down the toilet for a while. But the key (from everything I’ve read, is that you don’t keep switching back and forth, so I need to hang on with my fingernails.

wish me luck!

Just a note that there’s a new Erotic/Erotica ebook publisher opening its doors - Mojocastle Press.

Some experienced industry professionals are running it:
- Stefani Kelsey
- Carrie Anne King
- Marjorie Jones

With the emphasis on quality in all areas and the experienced folks running it, this will be a company to watch.

They are now open for submissions!

What is it with people who don’t feel their website or blog is complete without blasting whomever is trying to read it with some (loud) noise? At first it was websites that played an audio track in the background - usually music of some sort. That was bad enough. I’d innocently click on a link and get blasted out of existence with what someone unwisely decided was a Great Theme for their website.

That would immediately mean I’d never visit that website again and a quick use of Alt+F4.

I mean really - what if I’m trying to surf around on the sly? Wouldn’t the blaring rendition of “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction” sorta give away the fact that I was surfing sites that were not work related.

What if I was trying to quietly amuse myself when I had a child asleep nearby. It’s a sure recipe to end the nap!

Now there’s a new thing some people have decided is CUTE - This Site Pal crack that appears to be going around.

Now, why would someone want a cartoon talking head on their blog? And when I surf to their blog, I get a LOUD voice declaring “welcome to ….”. YIKES.

Please stop the audio spam, folks! Make it voluntary — “Click here to listen to audio”. Have mercy on those of us who HATE noise on websites.