GlennM's Journal, 08 September 2010

Hey Glenn. Have you considered OpenOffice? It's very powerful, free and can read .doc files, .xls files, etc. and do nearly as much as Office can. Maybe ask your publisher if he thinks it's all right? Good job with the calories!  

I don't have a publisher yet. If I did I'd be published. I need to get an agent first and they're difficult to snag unless you're a celebrity writing a book of quotes on other people, a cookbook, or some trashy life story badmouthing usually controversial people, etc. I think you all get the drift. Most people in Hollywood or the sports field can write a book about ANYTHING and it will get published no matter what. At least if I ever do get published it will be on my own merit and will probably give me more gravitas or staying power in the industry so to speak. There are exceptions of course like President Truman's daughter who really became quite famous on her own with her good writing, but most celebrities are not in her league. I'd be happy just to get published and be self-supporting. And to me that would be what I would consider being a success. I will email my sister and have her ask her husband about downloading Open Office. Thanks info, you may have saved me $300 - and I'm going from check to check oftentimes not eating rather than eating unhealthy (e.g. cheap pasta, cheap bread etc.). And so I think as I pass on the unhealthier foods in time it will help me to reach my goal weight of 195 lbs. more easily. :) 

Thanks info - I checked out Open Office and emailed my sister whether I should download it. Her husband is a computer expert and will give me the right advice, but it seems likely they'll tell me to download it if I need to. Anyway, my sister's husband is unemployed almost a year now and the economy is so bad as are his job prospects that he is going to be an assistant for my sister's day care. They own their house outright and have money in the bank so don't need a tremendous income to live off of and finally all the adult kids are out of the house too and all have good jobs and secure careers making good money... 

Well, a *lot* of people use OpenOffice including many writers as I understand it. While it is a big file (you will be amazed at all the tools you get), you can dowload it at your local library or at Starbucks where WiFi has been free since July 1st. There is also a large online support community and many books have been written for it. I'm pretty sure that it will work for you.  Actually, you should be able to download it from the same spot that you are using to access Fatsecret. :-) 

Thanks info - it is on the Internet. I probably will download it later today in the evening if my sister thinks that it is a good idea... 

I downloaded it info. I just don't know the basics like how to send something from my email to office.org - like the books. My sister and her husband hopefully will call and tell me. I don't have any books on it. I really don't know a lot about navigating around the Internet and may have to just go into a bookstore and get a decent book not written in high-tech gibberish. I AM NOT mechanically inclined, never was in fact. I scored in three parts of my Air Force test in the top few per cent of those taking the test - even electronic aptitude - and I knew nothing about it, but scored at the bottom 20% with mechanical stuff so it dropped my overall military score. Even with just the mechanical way basic English is taught in high school I would block it. I over read everything. I must do a function repeatedly to get it down, not just once. Yet I know I am extremely creative and it is so easy for me, while I know it is for some people very difficult to do. My sisters got all the mechanical aptitude. And I never had my dad show me how to do anything so that didn't help matters any either. I was fearful of driving right away, and it developed into a phobia... In time after I move away from where I am now where there is crime and a motor scooter would get stolen I will maybe get one in a few years once I move. The man who had Toto my dog before he died in my building had his motor scooter stolen one Christmas morning, I think the criminals knew there wouldn't be many cops out on patrol but the minimum that night. Thanks for the advice about office.org, I think in time it will work out just fine...  

P.S. I even passed the test to become a codebreaker at joining at age 19, the other tests were all done at age 18, I signed up at 18, went in at 19. I think because my scores were so good it was one reason out of the fifteen of the fiftysomething guys in my group who went in open general category, without a guaranteed job I was the only one who did not become a S.P. or security police, but instead a medic.