Day: August 5, 2010

Hemp Bracelet

On By Michel McDonaldIn crafts, JewelryLeave a comment

I finally did it! I made my first hemp bracelet. I wanted to make a necklace but in order for me to make something that big I had to learn how to macramé and this pattern was a good start.

Although this isn’t the first one, this is the 2nd one. The first one I used all pony beads and they were too big so I had to start over with smaller beads. You know what that means don’t you? Yes, I had to cut the pony beads out. OUCH! Yeah, that did hurt but it’s fine.

I also didn’t do it exactly right, I did all the knots going one way which made a spiral pattern which I did like but that’s not what the pattern was. So for me to do it right I had to type out left right left right…. bead… left right… then check them all off as I went to be sure I was doing it right.

It was touch and go here and there but I finished it. One of the beads in the middle is too loose so it doesn’t look right. I think what happened was it got turned around because the ends of the hemp that I had to put the beads on with was getting frayed so I had to keep cutting them and when I started putting in the knots it wasn’t going great. I had to undo some knots and start over and I think that I allowed it to be too loose when I should have kept it tight.

At any rate, it’s all finished and I like it. The beads that I bought had 3 different colors and there were 8 beads total in the pattern so instead of using 1 color I chose all 3 in this pattern. Light, medium, dark, medium, medium, dark, medium and light. You can see the light one at the very top of my wrist.

So my next project will be a necklace but I have to find a great pattern because this hemp is too thin, I might have to double up on it to make it thicker because the one Karl was wearing on GHI looked thicker.

Anyway, I’m glad that I was able to learn so easily how to make this pattern or knot, I’m going to try out some more things later.

Hemp Jewelry Supplies

On By Michel McDonaldIn crafts, Jewelry1 Comment

While I was suffering with my website, Darrin came in my room to tell me that he had to go to Geico to make his first payment.  Yes, he just saved a bunch of money on his car insurance by switching to Geico.  There, I said it.

He said it was over on California Ave. and Stockdale Hwy so I decided to get away from my blog problems and go with him to get out of the house and get some fresh air.

While we were out I wanted to go to Michael’s so I could buy some hemp cord and some wood beads for making my necklace.  I don’t care anymore about making it my “reward” for when I drop down to 200lbs.  Mainly because I’m in a plateau which is frustrating and a necklace will make me feel better lol.

They didn’t exactly have the beads that I wanted like the ones that are sold at Acajou Games and Crafts but the ones that I did find will do just fine.  The ones I found at Michael’s were cheaper and came with a variety of colors and sizes at only $1.99 with 80 pieces.  I also got a package of wood pony beads for $3.99 with 90 pieces.  I’m pretty sure I have enough wooden beads to last me a long time.

I got my bracelet pattern which will teach me how to make the same pattern for a necklace and since I’ve never made one of these before, the bracelet will be my teacher so I can make the necklace without wasting too much hemp cord.

This macramé project will keep me busy for a while and I will take a picture if it turns out ok and post it lol.

Well I’m just about finished with the bracelet and the pony beads are way too big so I’m gonna have to do something that will hurt me, I’m gonna have to cut the entire bracelet up to remove the beads and put them back in their bag and start all over.  That’s ok because it’s all a learning process, you can’t learn if you don’t make mistakes.

The other bag that I got for $1.99 has beads of many different sizes so I think the little beads will work for the bracelet and necklace.  I don’t know what I’m going to do with all the big beads, I’m sure I’ll find something.

It’s going to be awhile now before I can supply a picture so until then…

RSS Feed Doesn’t Work Anymore

On By Michel McDonaldIn Daily BlogLeave a comment

I have had the worst day with my blog.  I don’t know why it happened or when it happened but all of a sudden my RSS feed doesn’t work anymore.  When you click the RSS in my blog this is the message that you get.

Ok fine, I see the problem but I don’t know what file to open in my blog folder to fix the issue.  I can’t save XML files at all, I can alter and save a php file no problem but the problem is finding which php file has this error.

I right clicked the RSS button and saved the file which downloaded as download.xml but again, I can’t alter and save an xml file to fix whatever issue I’m having.

I’ve googled the issue the entire freaking day and I just can’t find an answer.  I’m not going to mess with it any more today because it’s just making me mad the more I try and my shows are coming on soon so I’m going to just watch SyFy until then.

Maybe tomorrow I will be able to find my answer.

The problem is, without my RSS feed my posts won’t transfer over to other websites like my fan page and YouSayToo.  I’ve been lucky enough that they have been going over to YouSayToo by whatever miracle that allowed that.

Maybe someone else had this issue and can respond to me.  Hopefully…

Don’t Laugh, He’s a Beginner

On By Michel McDonaldIn Friends and FamilyLeave a comment

My friend Sue’s son Aaron is a very talented 30-year-old man.  I’ve known Sue for 13 years, back when Aaron was still a teenager and I never knew that he could do this.  He says not to laugh because he’s a beginner but I think he’s talking to all the haters out there who like to flame people.  I for one did not laugh because I was shocked that he could play music at all.

So here is his first YouTube video ever, I’d like to introduce Aaron playing a song that he wrote on the flute.

WoW Look At That Phish

On By Michel McDonaldIn ScamsLeave a comment

I don’t know if this is a new scam or if it’s been around and they are just now getting to me but last week I got an email that looked as if it really came from Blizzard telling me that a character faction change is now pending for my World of Warcraft account with my email address and a link to track the status of my request.

Down in the email they had a transaction ID number with my email address again then below that was some “more information” along with a few links.  2 of those links were different from what was shown in the text.  That there was my clue that something didn’t smell right.

So, obviously I knew it was a phishing scam because I don’t have a World of Warcraft account with them.  I played the trial back in 2006 for the week they gave me but I really only played it for a couple of days.  I was taking a break from EverQuest to get away from all the drama in the guild and during that break I tried out the demo of some other games.

The only thing that concerned me about this email was that when I was at the blizzard website looking for their contact information I stumbled onto their FAQ page and found out that they charge $30 to change your characters faction.  If I did have an account, which I knew I didn’t but if I did I didn’t want to be charged $30 for nothing.

I finally found the contact page and forwarded them the email that I got.  They responded letting me know that they can confirm that the email address that was associated in this phishing email does not exist in their database, meaning I don’t have an account to worry about.

I got another email today from a different email address but still from blizzard telling me that my account has been locked due to suspicious activity.  It said that my account had been logged in via a different IP address than what their records show as being my IP address.  They are concerned my account has been stolen so they locked me out.  I don’t have an account so you didn’t lock me out of something I didn’t have in the first place.

Naturally I can only assume this is another phishing scam email.  I went to verify that the links were exactly as they were showing up in text and of course they are different.

So even though I know I have nothing to worry about, I am writing this blog post to warn other people out there who actually do have a World of Warcraft account to beware.  If you get these emails and you know for a fact that you did not order a faction change for $30 and you know for a fact that you can still login, that your account hasn’t been locked then you know not to click ANY LINKS in those emails.  Beware when someone sends you an email asking you to click a link to login to your account because you might be handing over the keys to the Bentley without even knowing it.