'SENIOR POWER' & GOOGLE'S PICASA TEAM SAYS HELLO TO RICK & AL:))

DESERT LILY....Tonight's pics are a mish mosh from near Borrego Springs, California

A large cloud shrouded orange orb sat on the eastern horizon this morning visually announcing it's presence with a splay of subdued light across the landscape.  It was sunrise & it was another work day as I headed north towards Goderich, Ontario.  So nice to see a town at that time of morning without it being wrapped in it's cloak of bustling daily activities yet.  Nary a car on the streets & no humanoids on the sidewalks.  Tim Horton's only had 3 cars in the parking lot.  Had the world come to an end the previous night as I slept?  No, just another early morning sleepy little town in  southern Ontario............... Canada.

AN UNKNOWN DESERT FLOWER

Before I get to rambling on & forget again, I would like to thank Dave from Dave's Travel Corner & Chuck & Anneke from GOLDENSHOE RV TRIP for grabbing hold of our Follower's list & swinging up on board with the Bayfield Bunch.  To see 2 new faces on the list at the same time surprised me yesterday.  Nice when that happens:))  Our next  blog follower will sign on as our 150th person & that will mark another blogging milestone for the Bayfield Bunch:))

RELAXING DESERT DAYS

Seems to be a lot of confusion amongst folks on using Picasa's Photo Editing program.  This is unfortunate because it is not a hard program to understand & use.  If it was, I would not be using it.  I think people are tripping over the technology end of the program & becoming way too confused by it.  Get a photo up on your Picasa screen.  Look to the left where you see all the tool buttons & start clicking those buttons to see what happens to your photo & how your picture changes.  Don't worry, you can't screw up your photo because you can always easily backtrack to your original.  Concentrate your time working with these tools & take the time to understand how they work, IF you want your photos to look as good as they possibly can.  I have to use that 'Retouch' tool on a huge number of my photos all the time because I have dust on both my Nikon camera sensors & it's very noticeable in sky or water pictures.  Nikon charges hundreds of dollars to clean those sensors so Picasa has given me an option on how to get around that.  That retouch tool has become one of my best Picasa friends.  Never mind the uploads, downloads, around the corner loads, exports, imports or old ports, files, styles, or upgrade smiles for now.  Most important thing about working with your photos is remembering to 'SAVE' any changes you make to your pics.  Any photos you see in Picasa are automatically saved on your hard drive & most likely in, 'My Pictures.'  I've been using Picasa for about 3 years now & if I can do it, there is nobody out there who can't!!

YEP, THAT LONELY FIGURE OUT THERE IN THE DESERT NEAR BORREGO SPRINGS IS NONE OTHER THAN WANDERING WILLY HIMSELF:))

AL & RICK NEAR BORREGO SPRING, CALIFORNIA....Rick's the good looking guy on the right & I'm the toad like creature on the left:))

BTW.....Both RICK & I have received favorable comments from a member of Google's Picasa team today.  They commented on Rick's blog & then came to my blog from Ricks.  From the early days of starting this blog & using Picasa, our Sitemeter has informed us that someone or something from Mountain View California has been tracking us daily.  Google headquarters are located in Mountain View Ca & it was Brenna from the Picasa team at Google who commented on our blogs.  Thank you Brenna, the nod is much appreciated:))  You can find her comment in a previous post's comment section here..... BRENNA'S COMMENT 

A QUIET EVENING SUN SPLASH ON THE SAN BERNARDINO MOUNTAINS

Now, this is where I lose Brenna & the Picasa team already because I had already written the following post today & I'm sure the Google gang does not fall under my 'Seniors' idea.  Oh dear.....I'm toast:((

 

FLOWERING CREOSOTE BUSH

There has been a lot of blogger buzz lately about some of the other confusing computer technologies most of us use or attempt to use daily.  Live Writer, Picasa Web Albums, My Pictures Photo Organizing, Cradlepoint Routers,  Shrimp Sauce, Air Cards, Camera makes & models, MiFi, WiFi, Jerry's 50th, I-Pods, I-Max, I-Getting Crazy, Texting, Pizza bones, Ring Tones, Blue Tooth, No Tooth, and the list goes on & on.  Here's what I figure we gotta do.  We gotta get us some 'Senior Power' going!!

 

LATER MET THIS FELLOW WHO WAS BOONDOCKED NEAR US

We Seniors have got to wrestle all this technology stuff away from the Whiz-Bang kids & put it back in the hands of folks who know how to think & design for people & not for profit.  Seniors have the combined wisdom of countless learning years behind them & their morals & principles were groomed in the 40's & 50's when integrity & respect still meant something.  Seniors understand the needs, desires, & requirements of other Seniors.  Whiz-bang kids understand little else other than their video game 'bang-bang kill em dead' mentality Pac Man upbringing.  It's the whiz-bangers who are designing & competing amongst themselves for the one upmanship razzle dazzle world of speed, wizmo gadgetry, multi-tasking midgetry & brain frying quasi loaded mimicry.  In other words, these kids are uncontrollably loose in the proverbial techno pop store & we the Seniors are being herded unceremoniously into the relative obscurity of a 'no brainer' back room. 

I THINK THIS MIGHT BE A PURPLE FINCH OUTSIDE OUR RIG'S WINDOW

Now, in defense of the Whiz-bangers I will say this.  As a whole they are a bunch of pretty darn smart kids but their smartness is lost on & amongst themselves.  Their smarts need to be channeled into & blended nicely with..........Senior technology!!  All these big razzle snort companies need more than fancy lunch time play rooms for staff.  All new ideas & concepts should first come to a panel or multiple panels of, what else.....Seniors.  No idea goes into production without first running the Senior Gauntlet!!

 

THE BAYFIELD DESERT BUMS

We need people with common sense, logic, & downright good horse sense to look at, discuss, banter around, & come up with ways to better improve what might already be thought of as 'un-improvable by the Whiz-Bangers.  We need the wisdom of Senior input into today's technologies.  There has got to be a better way of building a TV remote without 300 teeny weeny tiny little function buttons on it.  And how about one remote instead of half a dozen to run 3 pieces of equipment.  And speaking of those pieces of equipment.....lets go back & put simple volume, bass, & treble knobs on them instead of all this internal Einstein rocketry science which of course requires another separate remote plus 3 years of additional University courses to operate. TV Remote 101!!  DVD, CDR, MP3, LOL, MIFFi, MUFFY & can you spell......B.A.W.W.W.W.W.W.W.  H.U.M.B.U.G.

DOWNTOWN BORREGO SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA

And how about we return to a readable size of print for things instead of downsizing everything from non readable to not existent.  We boomers are one of the largest generations ever to pass through the system so don't you think we should take back the reins from the Whiz-Bang kids & show them what it is like to design things by people...........for ALL people!!  And, whatever happened to the term....'user friendly!!'  Where did that ever go & how was that allowed to get lost so fast.  I think we have too many users & not enough friendly's nowadays!!

BOONDOCKING AT THE CLARK DRY LAKE BED....BORREGO SPRINGS

Oh, don't get me wrong.....I do love all this modern silly willy nilly techno stuff for the most part but I just think we need to get slowed down & improve the quality of what we have.  We need to take the focus off quantity & put it back on the quality issue where it should be.  How much smaller do you really want the keys on your postage stamp cell phone to be!!  And do you really want to watch Lord Of The Rings on a screen matching the size of your thumbnail.  If you do, then don't darn well tell me that you have seen the movie, Lord Of The Rings......because you haven't!!  The Whiz-Bang kids may have the techno savvy but they sure don't got no Senior savvy. (ya ya, I know about the grammar)  It is the Seniors who have the collective brain power to understand how & why to do things right.  Senior Power I tell ya......Senior Power!! 

Oh, & the mandatory age requirement for sitting on that Senior Gauntlet Panel??  Well, let's just say that if your not 50 yet you just ain't a gonna make the cut kid!!  You've got a few years of Seniorizing to put in yet & by the time you get to where we're at, we won't be at where you are, so instead of me sitting here writing this silly blog tonight, it will be you........when you get here someday!!            10-4:))

GROANER'S CORNER:))  It's been a tough year.  Did you know that I ordered a burger at McDonald's and the kid behind the counter asked,  "Can you afford fries with that?"
- CEO's are now playing miniature golf.
- If the bank returns your check marked  "Insufficient Funds," you call them and ask if they meant you or them.

- McDonald's is now selling the 1/4 ouncer.
- Congress says they are looking into this Bernard Madoff scandal. Oh Great!!   The guy who made $50 Billion disappear is being investigated by the people who made $1.5 Trillion disappear!

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Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.

"UNTIL ONE HAS LOVED AN ANIMAL, PART OF THEIR SOUL REMAINS UN-AWAKENED"

It's not the concept of God I have a problem with.......it's his fan club!!

OUR BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

AL'S SMUG MUG PHOTO GALLERY http://stargeezer.smugmug.com/ (a work in progress)

The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...... AL.