A Guest, a New iMac and an “Unkind” Student

Good morning blog. Well yesterday was a wonderful busy productive day. We got up and had coffee with BIL, Kevin and wished him well and sent him off for his flight. We had a nice short visit and Dexter absolutely loved Kevin. And Kevin was very nice to Dexter and petted him and allowed him to put his head in his lap. This is funny if you knew the back story as Kevin is not fond of dogs in the household and I thought he didn’t like dogs period but apparently he does have a heart for the fur babes just not on a constant basis, so it was fun to see that Dexter “won his heart” as much as he did. As much as I tried to keep the dogs off the bed, Dexter wanted to be on the clean sheets and bedspread. ::sigh::

Dexter loved having Kevin there and wouldn’t eat his food until he emerged from the bedroom because he knew he was in there. Once Kevin came out he would eat. lol. He once again could not wait to be petted and loved on. So that was fun. Kevin could hardly drink his coffee. But he was laughing so I’m hoping he enjoyed the love. It’s hard not to realize we are a House of Dogs and it’s just that way. So I’m glad when people can embrace it and have fun with it and come see us. Not every one can.

After Kevin left, I began doing laundry and stripped the bed to turn it over for me, getting back to my bed. It wasn’t bad sleeping with George, but he does snore and the other bed is very tall for me now so hard to get up and down. But we sleep closely in our travels so it’s not a bother much to sleep in one bed if we need to. It’s the only way we can have a guest bedroom since I turned the 3rd bedroom into my office. lol. So I put the bedroom back together after laundry was done.

I also began working on the new iMac. I am happy to say the following:

• It was easy as I used the migration assistant which told me every step of the way.
• I had watched Gary from MacMost on YouTube who described how everything should go and other items I needed to check off, after the migration was finished, which was helpful.
• I used my back up drive which had my Time Machine backups on there and I chose that to transfer from. And it worked beautifully. Everything was just as it was as far as apps, desktop, every file in place.
• The new computer is up and running and there are no colorful beach balls (which is the icon of the Mac while it’s processing). The new computer is fast and I’m so thankful. I can do more than one thing at a time, lol.
• The two cords they sent me was perfect. The Apple sales associate at the store knew from my description exactly what I needed as far as cords. I needed two USB-C to USB Adapters. And luckily the Benfei SD card reader device already had both USB/USB-C connectors so all I had to do was switch the connector.
• The transferring of my files from my SD card was lightning fast. It no longer took 5 – 12 hours to transfer the pics, and only took like 3 to 5 minutes.
• I thought it was an M3 and I’m happy to say it’s a M4 chip! Woo hoo.
• The smaller screen of 24 inch instead of 27 inch has been no big deal. Matter of fact I kindof like it better – much to my surprise. It gives me more room on my desk and is “less in my face” and everything is smaller by a bit but not impacting me in a huge way. So it’s all good.
• I really like the phone mirroring. If I left my phone in the other room I can pull it up anyway right here, on my Mac, lol.

So the whole process of setting up the new iMac took about 4 hours – it took about 3 or so to transfer the old data into the new iMac. My old one was on Sequoia and the new was Tahoe, so I think it had to overwrite the new iMac back to Sequoia to transfer everything. And then once that was complete I had an update to take it back up to Tahoe. And then update all my apps. The Tahoe update took about an hour. Then I learned all about the upgrade and began going through a list given my Gary from MacMost to check date and time (it automatically set based on my previous settings) and checked all my apps and they were there, I checked to make sure “find my” was on in case it’s ever stolen. I checked security and everything. So we are all good.

Yesterday I was able to get two videos of files transferred and already get 1/2 of this Saturday’s video completed. But I did work all afternoon on it. I needed to get a lot of footage edited b/c I only had yesterday and today to get it done. I’m gone with Mom tomorrow to eat lunch out, get her fireplace ordered (if she can afford it and I hope it doesn’t drain her savings as I worry about her future if it does – it’s not a good time for that for her. But it’s her money and her house and her life. And she doesn’t like being limited, and I worry she will forego her security trying to make her new home like her old one, but it’s not my rodeo, and I’m just the driver. lol.) And Thursday I will do the thumbnail and schedule the vlog and then Friday George and I have plans and Saturday it goes live. This is why I really have to plan and stage my week the Saturday before so I have the time I need to do what I need to do.

The Unkind Student

Also, I had mentioned that there was a student in WBS that had been an excellent and kind student. And then when his lessons turned solo and the software was not sending me his lessons to grade anymore, he accused me of not wanting to be his study helper. I thought well he/she must be confused so I let it go and kindly explained what was happening. I was met repeatedly with comments like “no you just want to be finished with me” and threw scriptures at me like I was trying to “who-do” him in some way. I tried to explain each time, each concern he/she had. (I say “he/she” because the person has a made up name I think and we’ll just say the person is called “Pat Dickford”. The name they chose to enroll with is something along those lines, lol. I kid you not. So I’m playing along with their little theme here in name. They are listed as a female, but these days who knows b/c the name they used is usually used as a man.

Anywho, every time the person came back with ugly snide accusatory comments, I tried to explain (once again) what was really happening. But he/she kept saying “sounds like an excuse to me” or something like that. After the 4th time of stating that I could not explain it any clearer and that I can’t make them believe me so that’s on them, then he/she comes back with gaslit comments that I’m having a bad day and venting (lol) and they will pray for me and all of those things trying to assume that it’s ME causing the issue. (What part of my explanation are they not able to understand as I’m not explaining it in a foreign language, but might as well have been.) And that he/she says he/she hopes I’ll delight in God’s word, from now on, after he/she been a little bully and a little outright Devil.

I have truly earned some kind of heavenly reward in dealing with this person over the last week, giving it all I have and trying to allow the situation to turn around but alas, I’m done, and no longer going to be taking the verbal abuse, and I’m turning my cheek and letting it go.

I finally just said:

The Spirit of the Lord remains in me and is not shaken by any man or woman (whatever they are) which is delightful for all. After seeing your repeated inaccurate claims that I am somehow ignoring you, your continuing to not hear or understand what I’m saying, making comments that I am the problem, and despite numerous attempts to set the record straight and only be met with ridicule and gaslit comments – I’ve decided to tell WBS to remove you as a student. So this you should recognize as a “self fulfilling prophecy” as you accused me of not wanting to be your helper and now you have made it come true. I wish you well. You were a great student of God’s Word at one point and I hope you will eventually accept Him into your world. It’s really about love and love of God and your fellow man. I hope one day it sinks in. I will do my best to pray for you and that life turns around for you, as clearly there are some problems. But even I have boundaries and don’t want to dread what put downs I might find in my inbox each morning over coffee. My sinner self wants to tell you that you have met your match bucko, but I’m better than that. I’ll turn the other cheek and cut off the hand that plagues me. You can now go antagonize someone else and not me. That’s all I’ll give of my time on this. Good luck and God bless. I’ll not be engaging any further in this ridiculous banter.

It really hurts my heart when people are this way. My guess is that they are so bitter in life that they have to turn their anger and emotions outward to others. I imagine that all his/her relationships have been in this pattern. I imagine this person is now a really lonely person and unable to love and be loved without harsh encounters and that is really sad. Or perhaps the person just has some kind of mental handicap. But despite my repeated efforts to make them understand, because I actually cared, I was viewed as flawed, uncaring, venting, and thrown at with scriptures insinuating that I was not a Christian and needed God’s Word – for simply trying to help this person understand the WBS set up and why it was happening but he/she refused to hear what I was saying. My words fell on deaf ears. Every ounce of care I put into the discussion was met with surprising gaslit comments, lol. I finally realized that I don’t need that kind of behavior in my life and didn’t need to keep engaging with such ignorance. Maybe another person can start all over with the goofball (sorry, but the term is more accurate than I can say) and maybe make some progress with him/her. As for now they are just getting on to antagonize me and not do the lessons and so I’m shaving and pruning him/her off so I can work with the good fruit and those interested in having a Christian life and not being ugly.

My persona takes things personally, because, I mean, after all it is. George gets upset with me that I let people upset me. Well, as a Christian it’s appropriate to be upset when someone is upset with you or thinks you have done something wrong. We are human and have feelings. But to George’s point I should not let it ruin my day. And I don’t usually. But I DO have to think about it and ponder it and make sure I didn’t do anything wrong, and then wonder what on earth is wrong with the other person and where did the communication go wrong. I mean, is that not normal?

I have in 62 years of life not been able to come up with a way to not let it ruin the moment. God says there is a time for everything and a time to mourn or feel sadness. And a time for anger too. Even God gets angry when righteousness is not done and when things are not justified. So I’m made in God’s image in this way and in leaning into it, it makes me sad and mad to be accused of ignoring him when I truly wasn’t, and being accused of not being a Christian when I’ve done nothing wrong. So because of the ill feelings and the joy it sucks out of me to be met with a hatred spirit clothed in sheep’s wool, every morning, I decided that this person can no longer be a part of my world. And that’s that. I’ve asked WBS to remove he/she and that they can read the messages as to why but I don’t want to see any more of their ridiculousness in my inbox. I guess I was doing something right because when I called them on their inaccuracies and explained the truth they became more attacking. Kinda like a narcissist does when they realize you are on to them. lol. Been there done that.

Today I’m going to finish the video, do two loads of laundry, repack my vitamins/meds for the week, clean the kitchen, do Mom’s eye renewal grant for 2026 (if they will let me), get some WBS stats for October, and be proud of me as that’s all I have scheduled and all that will take about 3/4 of the day as I have to feed myself, shower, take dogs out and so forth.

Now that November is here and our first trip is behind us, I’m feeling we are in the next phase of the season. We will be getting into a higher gear getting intentional about getting the Christmas shopping done, vlogmas underway as far as filming, but I have a few videos to edit before those come into play. We’ll be getting some wrapping done – George has already started and I’m so far behind him in that realm b/c of YouTube, WBS, Mom’s day out every week, and housework and all that is going on, calling my attention. So a busy few weeks here, another trip, and then we’ll be in the last phase before Christmas which hopefully we will be in shape and not behind. I’m NOT doing Christmas cards this year. Just not sending them out. It’s hard to send as we know so many people across so many facets of our life that it’s weird sending out to some and not all. So I was sending to people we rarely see, and the elderly, but even that was a lot so I’m just calling it with the increase in postal costs and the addition of my card ministry in retirement – so those funds have moved over to that. Anyway, I’m off of here and I hope you all have a good day and a great week!