Merlene Paynter's

What’s in your Bucket? September Bucket List

2011-09-11T19:50:30Z

What's in the bucket?

As I mentioned in my post yesterday, September is always a month of changes and fresh starts to me, so I thought why not have a mini bucket list for September?

So here goes… my mini bucket list for the next few months:

Get active – for the past few years I’ve become more and more sedentary and it’s taken it’s toll. I’ve gained 30lbs over the past 3 years. Tuesday I’m heading downtown to the YMCA to sign my 16 year old and myself up for gym, swimming and maybe even kickboxing.
Eat better – see above. Or better yet see the stack of empty pizza boxes, take-out containers, and Tim Horton’s coffee cups in my kitchen.
Write more – honestly, why is it so hard to write? “I hate writing, I love having written.” – said Dorothy Parker. Boy did she nail it. I have a novel completely plotted out, partially written, but lately instead of writing the novel I’m thinking about the sequel to it, and the website I should create for it, and basically pencil sharpening but not writing it. I want to finish it by end of October. In time for National Novel Writing Month during which I will start the next novel in the series.
Reconnect with friends – I’ve really been terrible about this the last couple of years. There are so many people who’ve had a powerful impact on my life over the past 3 years in particular and yet I’ve not really touched base with them lately. I’m setting a goal of contacting one friend per day, be it via email, phone, skype, or face to face, to reconnect.
Say YES instead of NO more often – I’ve turned into a bit of hermit over the past year. All too often when I’m presented with an opportunity to get out and do things, meet people. socialize with others, I automatically decline. Or worse. I’ll accept the invitation. I’ll agree to plans. And then I back out at the last moment. I always regret it but I’ve been on decline/avoid/hermit auto-pilot lately.
Decide on a new place to live – for the past 2+ years I’ve moaned, whined, bitched and complained about where I live. I like my apartment itself well enough. My building is quiet, clean, and well maintained. The problem is it’s too far from everything. As a non-driver I have to rely on public transit to go anywhere and when it’s a 30+ minute ride to downtown Hamilton and another 60+ mins from there to go to Toronto or to see @Randy everything just seems to be too far. I’m hoping to move in the spring which gives me 6 months or so to decide if I want to live in downtown Hamilton or a different city. Burlington, Port Credit and even Halifax are on my maybe list. Time to look at the pros and cons of each and just do it already.

There’s probably a few other things I should add to the September list but that’s what I’ve come up with for now. Looking back on what I’ve written – it’s not so much a bucket list as it is a series of goals and intentions. Somehow saying I’ve written a “goals and intentions list” doesn’t have quite the same ring to it, does it?

Wrong Email Address Frustration

2011-09-12T15:08:20Z

Someone out there in interwebs-land, presumably also named Merlene, is using my email by mistake and it’s been going on for years.

I’ve had the Gmail address Merlene at Gmail dot com since August, 2004 – that’s just over 7 years. I was fortunate enough to get an invitation to try the Gmail beta before it was publicly open so that, combined with a somewhat unusual first name, allowed me to get the simple, easy to remember email of Merlene at Gmail. It’s been my primary email ever since.

Starting a couple of years ago I began getting email that was addressed to my Gmail address but was clearly not to me. Someone out there had begun using Merlene at Gmail to fill out forms or on a business card or who knows what, but I began getting email from a university in Florida’s alumnae association. From an insurance company telling me my insurance files and been updated. From former classmates of this impostor. And so on. These emails weren’t the usual spam type email. No, they were definitely directed to someone. But not me.

At first I tried replying to these emails to the impostor. I explained that they’d sent to the wrong email address. That I was not the person they’d intended to send to. But still… it continues. I gave up trying to reply – after at least 2 years of this I’m still getting regular email for the impostor. I’ve attempted to contact the Google/Gmail team for some advice with no response. I’ve attempted to contact the impostor’s Alumnae association, insurance broker and real estate agent with no success. I’ve tried to do a web search to see if I can track down the impostor but no luck. I can’t set up a filter for the impostor’s email because it comes from all sorts of addresses.

So… Dear Impostor… whoever you are… I have a bunch of your email here marked return to sender. Email me if you want it. You know my address.
Sincerely the one, the only, the original Merlene at Gmail.

Blog Makeover and Relaunch

2011-09-11T18:35:43Z

From age 4 onward September has always been a time of new beginnings to me. From my first day of kindergarten through to my college years September always meant the start of a new challenge.

Once I had children of my own September continued to mark fresh starts and new beginnings. More than even New Year’s Day, birthdays or anniversaries, September is a time for changes, challenges and beginnings.

For the past year or two I was using Thesis theme which I customized and a logo designed by Randy Matheson. I loved the way it looked and I was happy with Thesis in general but I’ve been itching to do a redesign of MerlenePaynter.com for months. I started using Genesis themes from Studiopress back in November when I bought a Genesis Pro-Plus All Theme account but put the makeover off until now.

As of now (September, 2011) I’m using the new Scribble child theme for the Genesis framework without any customization. Right now, it’s suiting my needs as is. A first for me. I usually have to hack and slash some customizations into a blog theme to be happy with it but the Scribble theme just feels right, as is.

Over the past year I’ve written very little for this blog. I have a list of 100+ post ideas written down but just haven’t settled into writing. Maybe it was because I’d been putting off the redesign for so long that I didn’t want to see fresh new content on the (to me at least) stale, old blog. I love the way the Scribble theme feels. Now it’s time to dust off that list of 100+ post ideas and get writing.

Happy September!

Lighthouse at Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia

2011-09-11T17:34:20Z

Lighthouse at Peggy's Cove

Merlene and Randy at Martinique Beach, Nova Scotia

2011-09-11T17:28:15Z

Merlene and Randy at Martinique Beach, Nova Scotia

Our last morning in Nova Scotia we took a drive up to Martinique Beach. Absolutely gorgeous beach – truly one of the most beautiful beaches I’ve visited anywhere. Was heartbreaking to leave.