Ami's AfterChat NewsletterJuly 1999Please Note: This newsletter was originally sent on July 15, 1999. It may not have improved with age. Information may be outdated and irrelevant, not to mention useless. It is here only for your enjoyment.
WELCOME The tip for the day is something I just learned. If you right click on your mouse on a URL (like the one hyperlinked above) you can select "open in New window." Or just hit N after your right click. That means you don't exit out of your current window, which makes it oh so much easier to see it again. Just shrink or exit the new window, and there is the old one! No time wasted! It won't work in the newsletter hyperlinks, so wait until you start surfing the web to try it out. Way fun!
OUR LITTLE MEETING
YOU'D THINK THEY'D KNOW BY NOW I was so embarrassed. Imagine AOL lumping ME in the same pile as XXX Porno-mail senders, or Get-Rich-Quick Pyramid Schemers, or Work-At-Home/Restaurant Spy/Book Reader Scammers, or the worst of the worst: senders of E-MAIL CHAIN LETTERS! Evidently AOL's super computers are alerted to email that is sent to more than 50 addresses. Multiple emails all with the same amount of text send up a red flag. If the micro chip in charge isn't picking its nose at the time, then it takes a big electronic ax to whomever is sending out the offending mail. I explained to the nice lady that the people who get this newsletter ASKED FOR IT and I was going to GIVE IT TO THEM. I was then put on a special list that would allow me to SPAM all of you! The catch was that while AOL could pull my plug in a matter of nano-seconds, it couldn't reinstate my SPAMMING privileges for 72 hours. There's progress for you. I asked whatever in the world was I supposed to do now? My newsletter couldn't wait 72 hours to be delivered. There was time sensitive material in there! (Remember the question about millennium quilts?!) "Well," she said, "you could send them out 50 addresses at a time." So I did. Trouble was, I didn't know if the ones that already went out really went out, if you know what I mean. Maybe AOL sucked them all back after they pulled my plug. So I consulted my tea leaves and the random display of threads, pins, and fabric scraps on the carpet, and guessed at the point in the list where I thought I was safe. Then I sent out the newsletter, 50 names at a pop. With a list of approximately 4200 names, that took a while. I got bored, confused, slightly comatose, and I may have momentarily forgotten if I was on letter B or R. (They look so much alike.) This is why some of you got duplicate mailings. (Sorry.)
BUGS Another reader suggested that I vacuum the bugs off the wall instead of drowning them with bug spray. So I tried it. Works great for the ones near the bottom of the wall, but if they're above my head I just can't do it. My upright is just too heavy to lift that high. I also heard from a reader about a vacuum specifically made for bugs. Now that's a great idea. I have contacted the company and will report back in the next newsletter.
MILLENNIUM QUILTS & OTHER THINGS REVISITED
For those of us who haven't started our millennium quilts and need ANOTHER
quilting project in the works, and for those who are knee-deep into charm
squares, let me suggest a very helpful book---Rachel K. Ivey's Y2K Quilts: A
Quilter's Guide to the New Millennium. I don't know when I've seen more
information packed into 16 pages. It has everything you'd want to know from
what a "squishy" is (an envelope with Y2K blocks inside) to how many pieces
of fabric to cut, to the best way to organize everything, to layout
strategies. You won't believe all the web sites listed for patterns and
swaps! Rachel's booklets are $5 plus $1 postage. Email Rachel at
HPQC@aol.com for more information or visit her
web site http://members.aol.com/hpqc/y2k.htm
> or just send her the $6 (or $6.42 if you live in Alabama) and ask for
an autographed copy: As to the appropriate moment by which to have the quilts finished, some of you were absolutely adamant that they needed to be completed by 12-31-99 (preferably at the stroke of midnight) and others of you didn't give a rip---both figuratively AND literally! They could be completed whenever they got done. Some readers reminded me that the REAL millennium didn't start until NEXT year, and Pepper Cory, that clever soul, told me that the Mayan calendar allowed until 2008 for the new millennium! One of my favorite comments was: "I'm working on a Y2K quilt. (I can't spell millenium)." Speaking of spelling, people who got the Panama trip information read about the San Bias Islands. Those are the San BLAS Islands. At least my spell-checker knows Quiltspeak! And, my house is not under conSTRICtion either. It's under conSTRUCtion, thank you very much. And so far as I can tell were one piece of base molding and a screen door away from completion.
WEB PAGE UPDATES
STAR WARS To get your Star Wars name do the following:
Star Wars First Name
Star Wars Last name My new Star Wars name is Simam Godet. I like Ann's better. What's YOURS?!
RE-RUN
UFO-rphanage http://www.mindspring.com/~panin/UFO-rphanage/about_ufo-rphanage.htm
BEST LOGO
ANOTHER $5 COUPON
GIGGLES This funny was contributed by Stephen W. Flocks and appeared in Readers Digest: My father's hearing aid occasionally emits a brief high-pitched squeal that can be heard by anyone near him. One day my little niece was sitting on his lap when the device started to beep. Surprised, my niece looked up at him. "Grandpa," she said, "you've got mail."
Have a great day, Ami on Ebay <--- yes, click there. It might even work! http://quilt.com/amisimms
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