A Look At the Past Week

This was supposed to be written and published yesterday, so once again I'm in catch up mode. I don't know that I accomplished a great deal more than putting up Bubblews posts. I'm debating whether putting extra effort there is really worthwhile. While I accomplish that my other writing which I consider more important for the most part isn't happening. I did get a very important post written here on my blog about the family's current status. Knowing that had to be written, I feel blocked me from writing other important things. It's done now.

I have more to say about the immediate future but first I'll get the week of Bubblews out of the way. I did write quite a few posts. All titles are links, so click if you wish to read more.

A New Week Dawns

A short post laying out the week ahead.

Chopping Firewood

An important chore this fall. I got a good start at it last week. The pile is gone now though. Need to get the chainsaw repaired and go into the bush to fetch more.

Rainy Day

Overall the weather was good all week, it just wasn't on this particular day.

Haircut In a Windtunnel

Getting your haircut outside on a gusty windy day doesn't work very well.

Hard Drive Swap

My computer has gotten very glitchy and I finally broke down and switch hard drives. Had to save a lot of material before that could be done and it didn't go without a hitch.

Back In Business

Took a long time for certain needed elements to download to the new hard drive. I was out of action for nearly 24 hours. Frustrating when you are trying to get something done.

Old Shows On Youtube

The family has discovered some old TV shows that we can watch on our current TV equipment.

Gone For a Day

No writing on Bubblews for a day because of the Feast of Trumpets. We spent the better part of the day with a friend.

Home Late

As usual visiting a friend means a long dragged out good bye because we don't actually want to leave that early. Meant a longer time between posts.

Planning

Brief discussion on my wood turning business progress.

Profits From Gambling

How I made money from gambling without gambling.

I do have one excuse for not being as productive over the past week as I'd hoped. Changing the hard drive on my computer was not without problems. As one of my posts points out, I spent a lot of time downloading necessary programs and all I could do was wait for that to be done.

A second issue cropped up as well. I'm not always happy with Google Chrome and I tried to switch to Firefox. It works really well for a couple of the kids with similar computer equipment. Unfortunately it doesn't work well for me. I'm a little hard headed so I kept trying to make it work for awhile. I did give up and go back to Chrome. It isn't interfering with my productivity at the keyboard.

If in the coming week, I can't get after my other writing, I will scale back my Bubblews writing. Quick money isn't so quick any more and I have to focus more on the future. One thing that is bothering me is that many of my friends there are complaining about missed or missing payments more frequently. Seems to be a problem on other sites as well. A lot of discussion on Hubpages is quite negative about the merger with Squidoo. Some think it spells the eventual end of the that site too. I shouldn't let it bug me but it does. On the bright side I can pull my material off Hubpages and keep it for another site in the future.

In the next couple days I do have to get my latest issue of Pico's Cycling - Tales of the Road out. Unless I encounter more computer/Internet problems, I should have that out by the end of tomorrow. I wanted to do a site review but already have a book review from Jack. I think people want to read more about cycling stories. I have a replacement so were all good.

Final note for this post. My daughter is a little frustrated with a new novel review group on WDC. It's set up so that you either pay an exorbitant number of gift points to be a participant or instead you do five times the number of reviews than you'll get back. We are considering starting our own novel review group. I have an idea how it can be organized but we have to figure out how to make it simple to administer. None of us really want to get bogged down running something like that.

Family Trauma

I’ve kept putting off writing this for some time, but know that at some point something has to be said. The gossip/rumour mill hasn’t been kind to us in the past. I imagine it’ll have fun with this anyway but at least I have a chance to tell things from our perspective.

About two months ago, life for our family changed pretty dramatically. My oldest son Sheldon’s behaviour has at times been a concern, mostly little things that just seemed odd. This escalated rapidly this summer to a crisis. Out of respect for Sheldon I’m going to be very lean on details. We brought him to the hospital at 2:00 AM one night after most of the family got no sleep whatsoever. Very painful to look into the face of a young man who looks so much like me, eyes just like his mom’s and have no idea what I am seeing.

Sackville hospital wasn’t very busy at that time of the morning so we were able to have him looked at quickly. We did our best to try to keep him calm. The doctor on duty was pleased to see that he responded positively to both Francine and myself. He did recommend transferring him to Moncton General via ambulance with a police officer escorting him in case things escalated.

Francine and I followed and then spent most of the morning sleeping in our chairs in the hospital waiting room. After taking to the doctors and psychiatrist, Sheldon was transferred to the psychiatric care unit and we were told to go home and get some sleep.

Sheldon spent the better part of two weeks there. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia. We answered a lot of questions from the psychiatrist and still this doesn’t make a lot of sense as to the question why? It’s often hereditary yet neither Francine nor myself can think of any family members on either side who’ve suffered schizophrenia. It can be caused by head trauma. We don’t remember him ever having a head injury of any kind.

No use worrying about how this came to be. We’ll probably never know. The good news is that Sheldon has responded well to the medication. There are many people who have suffered from schizophrenia and have led “normal” and successful lives.

Sheldon does worry about being accepted especially after befriending a fellow sufferer in the hospital who was abandoned by his family over it. He knows he has our support and I’m confident my extended family won’t make him feel like an alien. There are programs available to help him and we are doing our level best to take advantage of them. Government agencies here have been surprisingly receptive to making it all possible even thought bureaucracy moves slowly at the best of times.

Sheldon is not sure what he wants to do with himself. He has written several manuscripts for books. At a glance he has talent (psychiatrist advised us that he was highly intelligent) but his work needs some first class editing work done. We are thinking to have him put together an author’s blog with our help. Currently he can’t sit for very long in front of a computer. I’ve told him that he needs to take it at his own pace. The people running the local mental health programs are excited to help in that regard. We’ll see what happens.

There are collateral issues going on for us as a family. With the unending increase in the cost of food and gasoline, I can no longer afford to drive to Moncton to work. Gas and repairs for the family van is just killing us. I am not saying this to ask financial help from anyone. I qualify for unemployment insurance benefits. We may also be eligible for an additional supplement from the government. We just have to survive until all the paperwork gets done on that.

I have no doubt that I’ll find local employment soon enough. I may even get enough help from government programs to get my own business off the ground. That’s what we moved out here for in the first place. This whole ordeal might end up being a huge blessing. It just doesn’t feel like it right now.

Doubled Up On Bubblews

My most notable achievement in the area of writing this week was to write roughly double the number of posts in Bubblews. Been doing two per day on average with the exception of Saturday when I only do one in the evening.

At the beginning of the week it looked like I wasn’t far off wasting my time with that because my likes were considerably reduced. It actually had nothing to do with my increased activity. Things bounced back at the end of the week.

I plan to the same this week.

One of the big themes this week is the fact that three of my children have taken advantage of the change in rules to open accounts of their own. I’ve heard a rumour that the oldest followed suit while I wasn’t looking today. I will do a post announcing his arrival on the site as well but there is a post I have to write first.

Clicking the titles below will link you to the respective stories. This week’s post are as follows:

Welcoming a New Bubbler

It gave me a lot of pleasure to be able to write a post welcoming Brandon to Bubblews. I do this because it makes it easier for them to be discovered by the community. I do that for other friends who choose to join and let me know about it. His user name over there is JollyGoodWot. Incidentally clicking a username here will bring you to that persons profile page.

I'm Blind Or...

I chose to bellyache about an apparent glitch in Bubblews notifications system. It has been bothering me because I often loose track of people I'm trying to follow because of it.

That One Hurt

In this one I'm moaning about a come from ahead loss by my favourite NFL team. I'm hoping the 49ers have this schtuff out of their system now.

The Other Twin

Andrew decided to join his twin brother on Bubblews. This is another introductory post. Andrew's username is Eukenoru.

Future Famous Author

The most introductory posts I've ever done in a single week. Mieke decided to get in on the fun at the same time as Andrew. Her username and line is TakingAfterMe.

Out With the Old

Back breaking chore out of the way. Dismantled the old wood stove and brought in the smaller one with the big firebox. It makes a big difference.

A Little Disappointed

My second tolast moan of the past week. I was discouraged at the response to my increased activity on the site. It turned around on the very next post.

NWO Conspiracy Alert

Done with my moaning for now, I decided to have a little fun. Poked some fun at a style of dress and conspiracy theorists in one go.

When Writers Dream

My memorable dreams are more often hysterically funny rather than scary. This dream had me winning one of the most distinguished civilian awards in Canada. Highest scoring post I've written in sometime. I'm sure the gang from the Hill O' Beans helped me a lot on that one.

Frustrating Glitch

Bubblews doesn't always work perfectly. Sometimes it does something really weird. No one else that I encountered on the site has run into this one.

Testing New Headset

New headset tested with a listening session. I share my Pico's Two Steps Mix playlist from Youtube. In fact I'm listening to the same thing as I make this post. Makes me type and compose faster.

Legendary Blues

Since I was discussing music taste in the previous post, I decided to show something completely different. I clip of Sonny Boy Williamson II singing and playing.

That's it for Bubblews for another week. I won't have as many introductions next week I probably will have one though. Way to go Sheldon.

A New Week

Didn't get anything done at Hubpages this week. I am planning to do better in the coming week. Bubblews though ticked right along. I made six posts and was able to submit another redemption. Just short of sixty dollars American. That will come in handy once it has posted to my Paypal account.

My younger sister advised me that there has been a change in the Bubblews rules that will allow my children to participate as well. I will be doing posts introducing them to the community as they get accounts signed up. I think it will be a blessing for us all.

Rule of Tongue

I started last week with a tongue in cheek look at suspicious clean dishes setting on our dining room table.

The End of Poopermint

The kids coined a new word this past summer. Thankfully the issue is resolved and we don't have to tolerate the odour anymore.

Cold Morning

Looks like summer is over whether the weatherman or the calender agree or not. Have had chilly nights most of the week.

Yesterday Was No Fun

Just one of those days when everything seemed to be going awry. I got through it.

Market Genius

Started the week talking about our home rule of tongue and ended it with my tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth deep in thought.

Double Bubble

More or less a Bubblews announcement advising that I will be writing more there in the next couple weeks. The hope is to increase my presence and my rewards.

Weekly Update

We had a visitor today. He initially was hiding under the sawhorse right by the front door. He wasn't eager to move on.

I had a decent week on Bubblews and am past the redemption point again. I will wait till close to the end of the week to claim that. I have reasons for that. I might say why I'm waiting in a future post. Here's the list for the past week.

Like Comment Share

I was admittedly a little annoyed about someone's misinterpretation of how things work on Bubblews. The object of my displeasure was written on another forum.

Power Failure

When the power goes out, I can't go online or use the phone or post on Bubblews. It does give me something to write about though.

Bubblews Serials

One of my pet peeves on Bubblews.

Moncton's Eco-disaster

The causeway - need I say more.

Why Connect?

So many unknown people connect to me on Bubblews and I never know anything else about them. Boy was I ever in a crusty mood this past week.

I had some success on Hubpages as well. I am disappointed in the number of page views I'm getting there. It is a long term project but I'm hoping it all perks up shortly. The activity is more dead than I like. I have two articles on tap this time.

Homeschooling-Lessons of Opportunity: The Tidal Bore

Another in my homeschooling series. One of the few things in Moncton to really get excited about. One of the biggest tidal bores in the world and we were busy destroying it.

Conversations With Customer Service

This is a comedy piece I worked on all week. It is a collections of five funny stories from my experiences working in a call centre.

Odds and Ends Finishing the Month

The month of August wasn't a stellar writing month for me. Changes to my schedule and all should translate into more and better writing from me but I'm still working my way through having a great deal of my life turned upside down.

I did successfully publish the September issue of Pico's Cycling - Tales of the Road. It has been a bit of a struggle. Thankfully I've gotten consistent work from fellow writer Jack Hawkins. I've managed ten months. Two more and we'll have been in existence for a whole year.

The latest issue is available right here: http://picoscycling.blogspot.ca/2014/08/picos-cycling-tales-of-road-september.html

One thing that I would like to get done is to make up actual magazine covers for each month that we've done and thumbnail them all on an archive page. I think that would be a neat way to handle that. Not sure I'll find the time for that very soon.

Hubpages really took a backseat this month and it shows in my stats. Writing an article there involves a great deal more thought and planning than dumping posts on Bubblews.

I have been working on a series of articles with titles starting with Homeschooling - Lessons of Opportunity. I imagine that isn't very search engine friendly but I don't have a lot of time to dig deeply into that subject anyway. For the most part I end up writing what I like and hope enough other people like the same things.

At this point there are four completed articles. If you click on the titles below you can access them right from here.

Homeschooling-Lessons of Opportunity: The Moose Skull

This is what happens when homeschoolers find a pile of animal bones in the bush.

Homeschooling-Lessons of Opportunity: The Shipwreck

The wreck of the SS Michipicoten lies off Cook's Dock, Manitoulin Island. We found a chunk of her on the beach and had an old timer witness tell us the story.

Homeschooling-Lessons of Opportunity: The Racing Pigeon

Recapturing my daughter's flock included a newcomer with a leg band.

Homeschooling-Lessons of Opportunity: Fort Beausejour/Fort Cumberland

Visiting a local historical site with huge significance in the history of North America.

I don't really restrict myself to one subject anywhere I write. Hubpages is no different. I appreciate the freedom a writer like myself has to express himself through that platform. Hubpages is an important part of my online writing. If you would like to know more about how I go about writing on that site I did write an article covering my masterplan, if you can call it that.

My Three Prong Online Article Writing Attack

I of course have a profile on Hubpages as well. You can visit it right here: http://picotriano.hubpages.com/. Links to my online writing profiles are listed in the righthand column as well.

Thanks for reading.

The Past Week on Bubblews

Normally I won't make separate posts for my Bubblews work on this blog. I will list them along with the other things I do during the week. This week is different because Facebook has decided to ban all Bubblews content from their site. There is a lot of speculation as to the reason. I'm not going to get into that.

It does create an issue for me though. I promoted all my Bubblews musings there and this decision by Facebook may cost me more than five percent of my earnings on the site. I have quite a few friends who follow me through Facebook and they will no longer be seeing my stuff there. I'm hoping they all see this blog post. If you enjoy my writing, you will still be able to follow it all by coming here first. Just follow this blog and visit now and then. There is already a link to my Bubblews profile in the righthand column and it is my intention to highlight everything I write there in my weekly updates.

My profile link there is: http://www.bubblews.com/account/34385-koopharper.

Posts from the past week are listed below. Click on the titles to view and read.

Rubber Band Ball

A slightly tongue in cheek post about recycling rubber bands at work to make a ball for Wesley.

Coincidence or Joke

Jerry, Larry, Terry, Barry and Jerry are working for me for the day. Was my boss playing a joke on me?

Not a Good Fit

I get to supervise a man forced to take a job he is physically unfit to perform.

One Room Schoolhouse

There is an old one room schoolhouse down the road from our place. It holds memories for a lot of people.

Dizzy As Can Be

No packing turntable means I get to run around and around the cabinets to wrap them. Don't need to go drinking after work to be unsteady on my feet.

New Author's Blog

I let my Bubblews audience know about my new blog url.

Too Young

The young heart transplant recipient my children befriended online passed away. A very sad day for all of us.

Heavy Day of Writing Tomorrow

Sometimes I just ramble about what's on my plate.

The Basics Are In Place

What I set out to do has been accomplished with one minor glitch. The ad for my book won't display for some reason. It's showing just fine on Pico's Cycling -Tales of the Road and that makes no sense. The added gadget is the same on both sites. The HTML code was copy and pasted into both of them. I'll figure it out eventually.

Once I have a few posts on here, I will be adding additional advertising. I'll also go back to the old site a put a message up directing readers to come here. The hope is not to lose any regular readers in the transition.

Before I pack things up for the night, I get to put a folder icon on my laptop desktop. The link should allow me to quickly transfer links to my weekly writing here. The goal is to make posting here easy and useful.

Good writing day. I wrote two articles for the webzine today. I only need one more to be ready to publish again. That's assuming Jack will have everything done as well. Looks good anyway. I'm pretty determined to get that out on time again. Haven't failed since we launched.

Looking forward to a great week.

Under Construction!

I finally set about doing something that I've had in mind for quite some time. Rebuild my author's blog and make it work for me again. Part of me forgot how much work this is though.

My plans for this are ambitious. I want to make it easier for people who follow or visit me out of the blue to find my writing efforts. If I do this right, I will improve my ranking on Google, which will help that cause as well. Expect to find links. In fact two paragraphs down there are three of them.

A lot of writers have helped me and I am hoping to offer links to their work as well. I believe writers need all the help they can get. My plan is to highlight another writer each week from the various platforms I write on myself.

Right now I write on three sites with some regularity. WDC (writing dot com), Bubblews and Hubpages. Click the links to go to my profile pages.

I hope to have this blog working as envisioned by the end of another week. That is truly ambitious because I'm aiming to get my webzine published before the end of the month as well. Pico's Cycling - Tales of the Road is a project of have no intentions of giving up on at this point in time.