Blogging.

As mentioned in an earlier post, I've been having on-again, off-again problems with my keyboard. Right now, it seems to be working fine, although I don't know how long that will last. For all I know, it could start malfunctioning again while I'm typing this.

As it's doing alright now, I'll make hay while the sun shines, if you will, and write something today to be posted Thursday.

I've even written a post on Dumaguete website blog.

I have plenty of time of my hands and there's no excuse not to keep my blogs and website up to date.

In the past, I made a point of using this blog as a place to post my political opinions. I haven't done that in quite a long time and I don't see myself going back to that any time soon. There will be no editorials on ISIL or ISIS - or whatever the popular name is today. It's an incredibly horrible situation, but I have no desire to comment of Obama's actions or lack of action, which ever the case may be.

But, then again, who can say? I may renege on what I've just written and post something concerning BHO very soon. Unfortunately, this particular blog has been a bit too free wheeling. There has never been a consistent theme - the subject matter has jumped from pillar to post.

In the past, I've thought of breaking up this blog into a number of more narrowly focused blogs. That was the case with my now defunct D'offus of the Big-Doofus and the practically defunct Immigration Reformation. But, as I've said, I have plenty of time on my hands.

A Keyboard Update.

I can't figure it out.

As recorded in this blog recently, I was having a bit of a problem with the keyboard of my desktop pc. Whenever I typed an r it would come out as rt; same with t. U became uy and y did the same.

Believing the problem stemmed from the keyboard being really dirty, I did a super-cleaning on it Sunday afternoon. That didn't help. Letters were still coming out caddywhompus.

On Tuesday,just as I had resigned myself to the fact that the keyboard was "unfixable", it started working properly again. No explanation. Letters were coming out exactly as they should.

I was unable to explain how it had happened; I was just going to accept it.

Of course, one can guess what happened next.The following day, the letters were all wrong again.

OK, here's an update:

It's Wednesday AM here in Philippines. An hour ago, the keyboard was not working properly. I had to send a few messages and r was coming out rt. The letter i was still i]. I could fix all that for the emails by using my backspace key. Now, an hour later, as I write this blog post, the keyboard is working perfectly. I am writing this on Wordpad and everything is fine and dandy.

How long will this last?
Who knows?

I haven't priced new keyboards here; I'm not at all sure what one will cost. If it continues to act up, I'll have no choice but to replace it. Right now, I put off writing more often due to a lack of privacy. That won't be the case when we find a new apartment. When the time comes, I don't want a malfunctioning keyboard holding me back.

For the time being, I'll continue to spend my time reading. I believe a writer needs to open up to better writers.

There comes a time, however, when the rubber needs to meet the road.

Two Books.

Looking for something to read, I downloaded a copy of Mark Twain's  The Innocents Abroad  for the Kindle app on my Android.

The wikipedia article on the book says it was the best-selling of Twain's works during his lifetime.

I don't know why.

I've read nearly half the book, and I can see that it's going to be difficult finishing it. I'll try. I don't want to leave it unfinished, but I find the book a great disappointment. The humorous and witty sections aren't and Twain comes across as simply snotty in the unfunny parts.

I'm aware that America was the home of a good deal of anti-Catholic bigotry during Twain's time, but I was shocked by the amount of vitriol coming from Twain regarding the Catholic Church. My opinion of him has dropped considerably.

Another difficulty in finishing The Innocents Abroad  is that I am also reading another novel on J.P.'s Kindle - Somerset Maugham's Of Human Bondage . I had read the book thirty odd years ago and became interested in reading again after watching the 1934 film adaptation (with Leslie Howard & Bette Davis) on Netflix. It's a given that films can be very different from the novels on which they're based, but I couldn't recall anything of what I'd read so long ago while watching the movie.

After downloading the book,and reading it, I'm tempted to believe that my memory of having read this book to be a false memory. None of the events in the book are recognizable to me.

In addition to Of Human Bondage , I've downloaded three other novels by Maugham as well as works by two authors mentioned by Maugham - Henry Murger and William Morris.

I'm enjoying Maugham's book more than Twain's and I will probably finish reading it first. I'm not quite sure what I'll start on next, but I feel like I should wait until I'm finished with The Innocents Abroad before starting on something new.

There are so many novels available for Kindle that are in the public domain, it's difficult choosing what to read next. I wish the Internet had been around when I was younger.

Cantaloupe Update: Number Three - The Final Episode.

The cantaloupe plants are no more.

Ten days ago, my cantaloupe seedlings were doing fine. All the seeds had sprouted and the seedlings were coming along so well that the plants on the two mounds needed to be thinned out. I removed four seedlings from each mound, leaving an equal number in place.

No sooner has I culled the plants, when half were killed by some sort of insect. My brother-in-law didn't appear the least bit interested in the plants I had for him, so I could have put those seedlings back from where they came; I want to leave this house at the end of this month, so I didn't see much point in that.

Last night, the rain wiped out the remaining cantaloupe plants. So much for my little garden plot.

As an aside, I super-cleaned my computer keyboard but that didn't solve the problem I'm having with it. Looks like I'll be replacing it later in the week.

When it rains,it pours.

Keyuboartd P[rtoblems.

Last night, while watching Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan  on Netflix, I went to Google to search the quote from  A Tale of Two Cities   Kirk uses in the film.

Typing the quote into the search, I discovered a problem with the keyboard of my PC. Certain letters weren't coming out properly. For instance, when I typed the letter r, it would show up as rt. The letter i was now i] and u was uy.

"Tis a far, far, better thing" came out, "tri]s a fart,fart berttrert rthi]ng".

Perhaps the keyboard only needed a good cleaning.

Not having any canned air on hand, I did the best I could with cotton swabs. It helped with the letter t but a few letters still weren't working properly.

I'll try to find a can of air this week and if that doesn't help, I'll need to replace the keyboard.

I'm using the keyboard now; I can use the backspace key to correct the errors, but it's a pain, to say the least.

Long story short; there won't be a Saturday Cantaloupe Update this week. Maybe Sunday. No promises, however.

Until next time - or should I say?- UYntri]ll nextr tri]me.