Homeless, Not Hopeless: Part Three

Well, I didn’t expect this news to be Part Three of the saga, but I should know by now that expectations often miss the mark.

I was just informed that the cat I introduced you to earlier this week—this Adopt-A-Less-Adoptable-Pet Week—has modified the spelling of his name to reflect the proper Spanish. Carbone is now Carbón.

As much as I’d like to honor this change, Google and I are currently battling for dominance over my blog and I am unable to alter the spelling. I’ll try again later, but at least I’ve managed to acknowledge the correction.

By the way, visit the Facebook page of Hope Springs Resort to see additional pictures of Carbón posted by hotel guests.

Does Google Really KNOW Who I Am?

Yesterday marked the dawn of a Big New Google era.

There’s a great deal of controversy over this, which I probably should care more about. However, all I’m hoping is that my new “single Google identity” resolves my recent inability to comment on other Google blogs. If not, then I hope one of those hundreds of Google ads that fill the periphery of my e-mail inbox will point me to a treatment for my Google Identity Crisis.

“If you’ve got a heart, then Gumby’s a part of you!”

If you haven’t already done so, visit Google’s home page today. It’s a tribute to claymation pioneer Art Clokey. (You know—Gumby’s creator.) Be sure to click on each blob of clay to see all the characters.

I have fond memories of spending every Sunday with my grandparents and watching Davey & Goliath in their living room before doing arts-and-crafts projects with my grandmother.

Thank you, Mr. Clokey, for sharing your imagination with us.

“[F]ew things have as much fidelity as the past.”
—Spencer Reece

Poor Service—Served with a Smile

Periodically I encounter glitches while trying to publish posts on Lull. Usually this means I curse at Google, curse at myself, and sometimes step away from it all hoping time will heal whatever is broken.
Recently, Google stepped up its game by displaying this window (pictured above) when calamity starts to prevail. Look at it closely. Note that it merely states the obvious: Something’s wrong, they don’t know what or why, and that’s ALL they know.

But you know what? That’s okay. I’m grateful they bothered recognizing the problem at all. I don’t feel so alone in my misery, and the message curtails my stream of expletives. PLUS—and this is critical—that little broken-down robot makes me smile. His/her “cute” factor offsets all the frustration and anger I experience when errors occur.

Thank you, Google.

Blogger Downed By…

I finally put a little something on Lull last night, but I wasn’t able to post anything for nearly two days because…well, I don’t know.

Google’s Blogger division started doing some maintenance work on Wednesday, but something went horribly wrong and the whole system went down. You could see the blogs of Blogger, but we bloggers didn’t have access to the infrastructures of our blogs and so couldn’t publish anything new or even prepare content for later publishing.

Let’s hope we’re glitch-free for a while.

[Google doodle by Morgan Forrest.]