Category Archives: GADGETS

Apple in my Eye A good idea gone bad

Posted on by

I’m done with you, Apple. You hear me? Done. I can recall the joy I felt when I got my first iPhone. I was thrilled with the phone, and I used it for everything, and it made my life so much easier. I was in love with it. Now, the honeymoon is over. The love didn’t just fade, it was like continued infidelity. Spousal abuse. After the last few years of Apple’s proprietary restrictions, the constant purposeful inconveniences. To wit: …repetitive requests to logon after every update, which happened whether i was currently using the phone or not, the inability … Continue reading →

Workspaces & Tentacle Sex I've got a lot on the docket right now

Posted on by

Since my surgery at the end of May, I have had to accommodate my recovery, while still getting my work done. The whole thing has made me feel old and decrepit. Our bedroom is now in the living room because it was just easier to put everything in one room. Especially after we realized the landlords weren’t going to cut down the dead trees and falling limbs just outside our wall of windows in the bedroom. We didn’t feel safe there, so the living room became our new bedroom. Only recently, could I sit in a desk chair as I … Continue reading →

Unmoderated Moderate Attempts Moderation Good communication is less about saying what you mean, and more about defining what you say

Posted on by

From blog ideas archive…. I got into an unplanned debate on Facebook. Most debates on Facebook are, in fact, unplanned. you know how it is. Most of the time, it begins with some innocent status update of mine, but this time, I started it by responding to something I felt needed clarification. I always feel a need to do that when i think something is being misrepresented or over-simplified. The following exchange was very thought-provoking and I agreed with many of the sensibilities of this poster, but the rub is always in the specifics, the semantics. This sort of debate is … Continue reading →

Goodies, Captured Critters & Politics

Posted on by

Sort of a quick diary entry of our day, with our usual adventures with photography. Allergy shot today (only 28 more to go. LOL) Afterward, we had a joyful visit to Barnes & Noble (a rare treat these days) and got some goodies. Melissa bought me a pen-cup I loved, and we of course bought some books too. Tesla: The Life & Times of an Electric Messiah, Pocket Birds of North America, Speeches That Changed the World, The Total Outdoorsman (read: outdoorswoman–sexist bastards.) and a fabulous journal. On the way home, we saw a fox with an injured paw. Followed … Continue reading →

Day of the Turkeys (with one exceptional squirrel)

Posted on by

For our first wedding anniversary, Melissa and I went to Onyx cave in Eureka Springs. Heading out, we were, as usual, watching for good pictures, our cameras at the ready, as I steered the Avalanche (whom we lovingly call Ava Lanche, as in French style Launch-SHAY. She is like another one of our pets.) Just down the road on Highway 23, we stopped to take photos of a tree full of turkey vultures. Creepy and wonderful. This was balanced by a precious little bluebird Melissa captured nearby. But not a turkey bluebird. We were starving, but thought we’d just stop … Continue reading →

Policing the Police

Posted on by

UPDATE: see end of this essay for my updated remarks after learning new information…. Few things are black and white, unless you’re talking about racism. In regard to gun violence and police shootings, there are solid arguments on either side of this contentious issue which tells me once again that the truth is most often found in the middle and that extremism of any kind is both dangerous and counterproductive. Right out of the chute, let me say that I know there are good cops out there. In fact, I believe that MOST cops are honorable, compassionate people who really … Continue reading →

Thoughts from a Literary Contrarian  I have developed a zero-tolerance for all the tripe out there

Posted on by

Let’s face it: the fairy tale never happens like that in real life. So if it’s not naïveté, then it’s compliant escapism; and what a sad commentary on a life, that one would need such callow, fanciful stories to avoid being present in it. I enjoy the commonality and compatibility in my current relationship. (Wait. Current relationship makes it sound temporary. It’s not. Let me give that another go: I enjoy the commonality and compatibility with my love, my life, my lovely wife. (Better). Anyway, we have this ritual of reading every night before sleep, if not also in blocks … Continue reading →

Gun Laws: the Truth is in the Middle

Posted on by

In a sign-meme on Facebook recently, there was a quote by Ronald Reagan: “I do not believe in taking away the right of the citizen for sporting, for hunting and so forth, or for home defense. But I do believe that an AK-47, a machine gun, is not a sporting weapon or needed for defense of a home.” ~Ronald Reagan, in a speech at his 78th birthday celebration in Los Angeles on February 6, 1989. KG MacGregor makes all salient points on this, in her blog Baby, You Can Drive My Gun when suggests using driving laws as a template … Continue reading →

Dorkish Glory

Posted on by

Once I open my eyes in the morning, it’s pretty much guaranteed I won’t close them again. Unless I’m just ruminating inside my head, to avoid visual distraction, while still remaining awake. The problem/blessing is my brain. It starts functioning almost in tandem with consciousness…though I suppose that’s what brains are supposed to do. But I do envy those people who can wake, have a thought, or go to the bathroom, and then just go back to sleep. For instance, I woke the other day with this blog post in mind, thumbed it into my iPhone notes, and that should … Continue reading →

Cows With Guns

Posted on by

My beloved and I have made this pact, starting yesterday, that we would pick a subject and blog it separately, just to see what each of us would come up with. My suggestion yesterday was “Are writers born or made?” Hers, for today, was “Cows with Guns.” Guess which one of us is more cerebral, and which one the goob? She also informed me that the title is from a song called “Cows with guns.” Who knew? I didn’t even do any research on that one except to glance over a Wikipedia page and notice it was the title of … Continue reading →

Also Known as DNA (Reviews & Excerpt)

Posted on by

  REVIEWS for Also Known As DNA (Book 2 in the AKA Investigations Series) “After reading Armchair Detective,  the first in the AKA Investigations series, I didn’t think Baeli could top herself. But damned if she didn’t write another outstanding book!  She is definitely no one-hit-wonder.  Kelli Jae Baeli is able to engage a reader in a way that most writers can only dream of. Compelling, sometimes hysterically funny, snappy dialogue, 3 dimensional characters you fall in love with, and a plot that pulls you along as if you are tethered to an unforgiving rope. You are cheating yourself if … Continue reading →

Throwing Bullets

Posted on by

My best friend, Justi, and I were talking about knives and axes, as weapons.  (I know, but we often have strange conversations with little memory of exactly how the subject came up). Anyway, she liked the idea of using them as weapons –of throwing an axe at someone who was attacking her. And as usual added, “Don’t you?” I said no, I don’t want to get that close to someone who is trying to kill me. She said, “You don’t have to get close, it’s an axe. You can just throw it at them.” I deftly spotting the flaw in … Continue reading →

EXTENDED STRESS Hotel.

Posted on by

My Cherryot was loaded to capacity, with the things I thought I’d need for two months, until an apartment became available.   At Extended Stay, I checked in with desk clerk–started to unload, and had to take several things up first (5 trips in elevator) before I noticed that there was a luggage cart in front with a tattooed guy leaning on it talking to another guy. “Oh a luggage cart!” I said. “I need that.” He said he only had a couple of things and rushed off to get his task done so I could have it. Meantime, I … Continue reading →

Happy Effing Anniversary

Posted on by

Today would have been our one year anniversary. D. came by at 9:30 with police escort to get some things. Officers were very nice. He said “Kelli?” I said, “Yes, but I go by Jae.” He introduced himself but now I can’t remember his name. I shook his hand in introduction. He said the lady over there needed.…and then I couldn’t hear what he was saying because when I looked across the street, there she was, parked in her truck. I had a little palpitation and felt myself step backward.They stepped in and I explained that I only had to … Continue reading →

Going to Denver Because You’re Dead (2)

Posted on by

In this second installment, I am on my way, the tone of the journey being set right away in Joplin, a mere 60 minutes from my starting place… Fri August 1 at 9:08am~ Jae:: in Joplin at loves truckstop. Having food and getting ice for my neck. It’s swelling. It’s tedious already driving 45mph I feel like I’m going to CO on horseback. Veep: but not bareback…..right? Jae: Yes, bareback, where all the trouble is to be found. First, i get back on the exit and take the wrong turn, winding up on an access road next to the interstate, … Continue reading →