I’m not sure if I should scream, cry, or both

Published on 16 August 2014 by JayeLeave a comment

Well, I figured out the trouble with Ready or Not, sort of.

My initial problem was that the PDF had decided to be 8.5in x 11in. The book is 6in x 9in.

The program I’d made the PDF with was refusing to make a 6×9 PDF. Even though it has done so in the past.

So I use a different program to make the PDF. YAY! Fits … but now Createspace is convinced that something is off the edge of the page … which isn’t … and wouldn’t let me approve the proof.

So I use another another PDF creator … proof is approvable! Yay! Excess blank pages are randomly inserted into the middle of sections of the book, one of them near the beginning so that page … n/m, just awkwardness happens. Oh, and to top it off? Suddenly one of my fleurons is 72dpi, despite the fact that I copy/paste the same image every single time and there are over 100 in there, just the one near the top of page 16. I’d ignore it, but since I need to fix the blank pages, I may as well figure it out too.

Oh, and why must I use a PDF? Because Word refuses to embed all the fonts I used, CreateSpace doesn’t have all the fonts I used, and LibreOffice, OpenOffice, Pages, and KOffice all don’t embed those fonts either.

fonts in the current era (aseigo.blogspot.com)
Kindle 3 vs Sony 350 Photos (ireaderreview.com)
“Proof That You Can’t Cry In Space” #dbpvids (dbpxhaust.wordpress.com)
Python converting PDF to Image (garmoncheg.blogspot.com)
Library Subscriptions: The Future of Fonts? Shall We Sing or Cry? (typographica.org)

How disgraceful

Published on 7 October 20139 October 2013 by JayeLeave a comment

It’s really sad just how petty, cruel, and hateful people can be.

“A gay couple is beaten, in broad daylight, on the streets of New York.” Sounds like the headlines of a news paper in a dystopian novel or of a barbaric and bygone era. Of course we know that humanity, and Americans are still rather barbaric and that this is common place.

Still, it makes people wake up when it’s New York City! This is a place that’s been gathering such a hodge-podge of humans that you can believably have the bartender from Keeping the Faith. People expect this kind of thing in Georgia, Arkansas, Rural Montana (actually – is there a part of Montana that isn’t rural?), Arizona, or Utah.

It doesn’t matter who you are. Gay, straight, or other. Male, female, eunuch, trans. Human, dog, cat, or parrot. Sooner or later you have to stand up and be heard for your fellow beings.

First they came for the communists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a communist.

Then they came for the socialists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a trade unionist.

Then they came for me,
and there was no one left to speak for me.

Lets’ Speak Loud and Break the Silence (aasmaqamer.wordpress.com)
First the Nazis came … (mkarup.wordpress.com)
War Against Complacency (mamamadhatter.wordpress.com)
Don’t say “I don’t care” (surenrajdotcom.wordpress.com)
When is it Too Late to Speak Out? (youdontknowcrazy.com)

Now & Forever ABCs (Olivia, Alphonz & Lorenzo)

Published on 1 August 2013 by JayeLeave a comment

Olivia Fiona, Alphonz Hector, and Lorenzo Orfeo Abategiovanni

9 October 1981 & 14 June 1968

Methodist

Lorenzo is the elder brother of the twins, Alphonz and Olivia. Lorenzo and Olivia own the little bistro in Falcon Grove called Lorenzo’s, all three share in the work of operating it.

The trio were born in New York, though when the twins were very young their parents died and they came out west to live with their aunt Helen in Portland.

Olivia has always had a keen head and eye for business, Lorenzo was a master in the kitchen, and Alphonz preferred to work with his siblings than for some uncaring boss. Lorenzo had another small restaurant in Portland, and Olivia was often helping him keep his books and giving him very sound advice even before she was out of eighth grade. By the time the twins graduated they were full employees of Lorenzo’s restaurant.

While the trio were very fond of their aunt and the home they had with her, they were none of them extremely fond of the Portland area and elected to leave. Lorenzo hired a manager and a chef for his place there and left Helen in charge of overseeing that it was run properly and they moved north in 2004.

That year Olivia started taking ill. She was diagnosed with cancer and started on treatments. Between radiation and chemo Olivia was feeling just as ill, and by 2009 she was tired of them. She begged her family to stop taking her to the treatments, and was told she had only months to live.

Lucas and Yvette learnt of the young woman’s story and offered to try a treatment that could possibly help — some people had successfully held other advanced cancers at bay with it, though none with her particular form and advanced stage, that they were aware of.

The treatments proved successful, though Lucas and Yvette still refuse to accept payment for it — they had refused initially since they couldn’t even promise it would help (though it certainly couldn’t hurt), and now because they feel it unethical to start charging her simply because they discovered they were right. Olivia is still dying, but she has an estimated couple of years now instead of only a few months.

The brothers, who adore their sister and have always been extremely protective of, tend to treat the Conners family with a certain VIP status, trying in whatever ways they can to show their gratitude for every day they still have with Olivia.