Embrace the Dark

“To get to know your partner, your spouse, your friend fully, you really have to find a way to embrace the dark as well as the light. Only then can you know that person,” he says.  The “he” in this instance is author Eric G. Wilson and I read this quote here.  It caught my eye because I am married to the “Darc” in DarcNess.  Now, my Darc isn’t afflicted with clinical depression, but he does have his own darkness within.  There are many reason for it, and it’s really his business whether or not to tell you about it.  But I thought it an interesting statement nonetheless.  I have embraced the Darc.  🙂  It has been my joy to do so.   

We do our best to hide our own dark sides, and that’s really to our detriment.  There are times in life when we simply cannot be lighthearted and cheerful.  And that’s okay.  Really!  Sometimes you just have to let the darkness shine, and be human.  To do less is to deny your own humanity.  So give the dark side the credit it’s due.  Oddly enough, you’ll be happier when you do. 

 

Google Reader Notifier Review

More playing for me!  This weekend, I succumbed to the draw of Google Reader.  I had been manually checking on the blogs I like to read.  I’d check in daily to see if there was anything new.  It wasn’t a problem – I had my list and I just went down it.  It was a bit time consuming however, especially if there weren’t any new posts.  So I made a Gmail account and put all those blogs on Google Reader.  Niiiice.  BUT, that meant I had to leave Reader open in my browser all the time.  So, I went searching through the Firefox add-ons page and found something cool and useful.  Woo!  Cool and useful!  What could be better?  It’s called Google Reader Notifier.  It sits on the bottom of Firefox in the status bar and it scans Google Reader for me so I don’t have to.  If there’s anything new, I see a little number next the icon.  I can then open Reader in a separate, unfocussed tab, and wait until I get a moment to check it out.  All the preferences can be set with a right-click on the icon.  I’ve been using it all day, and so far no hiccups.  There’s also a little pop-up that happens when a new item comes in.  I love it!

Now, I’ve also been using the WebMail Notifier add-on from Firefox.  I like it, a lot, but it does have a glitch.  So far I haven’t had a problem with my multiple Yahoo accounts getting checked accurately, but this little tool doesn’t seem to like Gmail.  (I have not tried my hotmail accounts in it yet.)  I don’t know what the problem is with Gmail and this notifier, which is a bummer, because it means I still have to have 2 notifiers plugged in – this Webmail one and the Gmail Notifier. 

The Gmail Notifier is a nice little add-on, and since the Webmail one seems to hate Gmail, I need this one too.  It works just fine and I haven’t had any issues.  There is just one little nag I have though.  While it supports multiple Gmail accounts, it will only check the one you have checked to be “logged in.”  If you want to check another Gmail account, you have to re-do your preferences.  So maybe the problem is on Gmail’s end, since both of these add-ons are having some trouble with it. 

One add-on I can ditch now though is the Yahoo! Mail Notifier.  If you have just a single Yahoo account, and don’t use any other domains, then this one should be great for you.  It will not check multiple accounts however, and since I have more than one, this tool really doesn’t suit me. 

How about you?  Have you tried any of these add-ons?  What’s your story?  How are they working for you?

TV! Woo! – More Updates

The writers will go back to work tomorrow, Wednesday.  Good news for them.  I am a bit jealous – some of them make $2-5 million a year.  Even by Hollywood standards that’s a decent paycheck.  Ahem.  I should be so lucky!  So our shows will be back around April or May, but I was most intrigued by the end of the "Writers" article.  According to that, the actors guild contract ends in June, so we may be on this carousel again soon.  Sigh. 

Back to work!

Writers vote to end 3-month strike

When is your favorite show coming back? Check out the list below

I was browsing the news and guess what I found?  The Writer’s strike may be over soon.  I, for one, will be happy.  I like TV.  And I’m sick to death of kid shows.  It’ll be nice to have some grown-up stuff on there for a change.  But, according to this article, it likely won’t be until April that we get any new stuff on the tube.  Sigh.  It’s been a long winter.

Just found this link too, which has a bit more information.  Tentative Deal Reached in Writers Strike

*UPDATES: Go here to read.