IP Nonsense

Sometime in the last twelve months, my computer figured out that we don't live in the US anymore. I don't know how it figured this out and I dón't know why, but you have just witnessed the first evidence of how troubling this can be. Do you see that little accent over the o back there in don't? That is my computer deciding of its own accord to go euro. Don't ask me why it did it on that don't and not on the subsequent three. I don't (4) have answers.

We first noticed this when one day we, meaning Benj and Sarah, could no longer access the Hollister clearance page. That was a bad day. Then we started getting a profusion of pop-ups from Neckermann, a Dutch company with an enthusiastic add/tech department that seems to be similar to Big Lots. Next to go was Google. We no longer default to Google.com...it is now google.be, which in principle is the same except that tons of the results are either in French or Dutch. I find that irritating when I am looking for graphs of the Norwegian brown rat population and its destructive impact both economically and ecologically (don't ask, but I really did do that search). I not only have to sift through dissertation abstracts but a bunch of franco/dutch hoopla as well. Last week my Facebook page got stuck in Czech, and let me tell you, that is a language with a lot of consonants and accents and little cappy things that look cute but are difficult to pronounce. I had to call in teenage backup to fix that one.

My Blogger homepage is now in Dutch. I am choosing to look on the bright side. I now know that Aanmelden means "Sign in," Onthouden means "Remember Me," and Watchwoord means "Password." That last one was pretty easy. Mostly this is not a big deal. I might have to click on things a few times before I get where I am going, but that's OK. The big deal part of this is that certain tools are no longer useful. Very important tools. For those of you who know me well, you can appreciate what I am about to say. I am not a speller. I have never been a good speller but I have fully repented for cheating on my Third grade spelling tests. I think it has something to do with the fact that I never see words in my head--ever. Only pictures. But never mind that. The important part is that when the homepage is in Dutch, SPELL CHECK IS IN DUTCH AS WELL!!!!! When I write a post and click on the spell check button, the only words that aren't highlighted are things like ör (did it again--I don't know how the dots got there). Just imagine how that makes a spelling-challenged person feel. Everything looks wrong. It is like the computer is mocking my disability in neon yellow. So, if you notice in subsequent posts that things are spelled differently than you might think they should be, take pity on me and let me know. I am counting on you...

Leeds Castle

This year Dave and I decided to take each of the kids on a trip for their birthday. Two declined (go figure). Anna and I went to London for two days and walked each other to exhaustion, pausing only long enough to see Wicked. Matthew and I went to Leeds Castle in Kent, England for the day. I know I promised to post pictures, but guess what...someone (under the age of 20) took the card out of my camera to download some pictures and...wait for it...didn't put it back in. So I took my camera all the way to England and carried it around without being able to take one picture. Not of the jousting tournament. Not of the falcon show. Not of Matthew admiring the rock garden. Not of us eating mushy peas and meat pies. Not of the proud peacock with full feather display or the albino peacock that Matthew described as looking like he was wearing a wedding dress. Not of the beautiful gardens or the amazing castle. Not of Matthew enjoying being 11 in England. Oh well. We still had a great time, and Matthew's DS had batteries, so all in all it was a good day. Here is a pirated picture from the internet so you can see what we saw only not exactly. Close enough...