The Language of a Hobo

I'm reading a book right now about a girl who decides to take to the rails and become a hobo.  Now before you jump on me for not being politically correct, hobo is the term used during The Great Depression through WWII to describe people who rode the rails looking for work.  Similar to migrant workers.  They were looked down upon by many but in all honesty, they were just people trying to get by without stealing, harming others or the environment and without taking handouts from the government.  They provided a very important service to many people who needed day laborers.

What I didn't know was they had a very intricate and well developed communication system.  Back then there were no cell-phones, internet - no way to instantly communicate or to get messages to one another that others couldn't read.  So they developed a system of code drawings and would leave these messages near train yards or other public places to let those who came after them know what to expect in this town or village as far as food, places to stay, police, etc.  They camped, usually along a river, in places called "jungles" so this system would also point them in the direction of the jungle for that area.

I'm sure, looking back it seems romantic and maybe a bit exciting to just ride the rails all over the U.S., seeing everything, experiencing everything, living with all of your worldly possessions on your back.  But in truth, it was a hard life of hunger, violence, loneliness and despair.  Hobos are not the same as our homeless population today.  Most of our homeless are mentally ill and do not travel around looking for work, though many homeless camps are very well organized with a social system, self-policing and a culture.  Not all homeless, but the majority have serious mental health issues for which they may get sporadic treatment.

But back to the Hobos - here is a sample of the language system they had.  I wonder if you look today, will you still see these symbols used?  It just shows that the hobos of the past were often intelligent, educated people who, due to no fault of their own, became homeless and decided to make the best of it.

And by the way, the book I'm reading is called Line by Line and it's written by Barbara Hacha.  It's the first book I've downloaded to my Kindle Fire from the Kindle Owner's Free Lending Library, a pretty cool service for Kindle Owners who are also Amazon Prime members.  

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Smart Packing Tips

I travel a lot and I like to pack light, especially with the excessive bag fees most airlines are charging now for even one checked back.  I often travel overseas and often during winter and to a very cold country, so this presents quite the challenge.  However, on my most recent trip, I was able to fit everything into one carry-on (which included my laptop & charger, phone & charger, iPod & charger, a book, my medications (never, ever pack them in your checked bags), a pillow & blanket for the flight, plus a cozy pair of warm socks.  I also always bring ear plugs and an eye mask so I can attempt to get some sleep, especially when I'm traveling across several times zones and at night.  In my checked-bag (which was free since it was an international flight and I have miles on the airline) I packed 2 pairs of pants.  One black and one pair of nice jeans.  I packed a set of silk long underwear for warmth, 3 pair of black socks, five pair of underwear, one bra, one camisole, one pair of pajamas, three turtlenecks (white, black and black/white striped) and three sweaters.  This was for a two week trip to Sweden in December.  I wore a pair of boots on my feet and didn't pack things like shampoo, conditioner, etc., since it would be easier to just buy it there.  I had a small ziploc bag with my Bare Minerals makeup, some chapstick, an extra pair of contacts and eyedrops, plus all of my medications sorted into a pill organizer which looks just like the one in the link, except mine is in Swedish :)  I brought a couple of pens, some gum, a pair of gloves & a scarf and I was on my way.

People were shocked that I could travel so light (I can do it even lighter in warm weather, then I only have a small carry-on that holds EVERYTHING.  How do I do this?  Firstly, by choosing clothing that will mix & match well.  I honestly never wore the same "outfit" twice, even though I was wearing the same clothes.  I was staying with friends, so I could use their washer/dryer and any toiletries I didn't buy at the grocery store when I arrived.  It's very freeing to not have to lug a bunch of stuff around, especially since even if you check your bags through on the way home, when you arrive in the U.S., you have to reclaim them from customs and then recheck them.  This is a HUGE pain in the butt when you've been traveling for 10+ hours.

My friend and I also share a rolling duffel that accompanies one of us back to our home country on each trip, so that way we will always know that we have an extra bag going home to carry all of the gifts we're bring back to friends & family.  She took it with her in July of this year, so now I have to go back to Sweden to recover it.  But maybe when it's a bit warmer this time ;)

So, here is my organizational list and my packing technique.  It works!!!  Tweak it a bit to fit your lifestyle but remember, pack everything you think you'll need, then take HALF of it out and leave it at home.  If you're traveling out of your home country, don't forget to bring an adapter for your electronics, otherwise you won't be able to plug anything in.  Most electronics now have converters on them, but double check just in case, you might need to buy a converter too (this is what you would plug into the wall to change the voltage of the electricity to match the requirements of you device).  My laptop has an automatic converter, most do.  Then I use it to charge my iPod, phone and camera.

Happy Trails!

How to turn your hoodie into a computer sleeve

Smart, huh?

Harbor by John Ajvide Lindqvist
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A real thriller. I disagree with the tag of "horror" genre, I think it will turn some people off from reading this book. Lindqvist has a way of taking a story and drawing you into it immediately. You can smell the smells, feel the textures, hear the sounds, you know the people he writes about as if you've known them forever.

Harbor is about several different people whose lives are intertwined on a small archipelago outside of Stockholm. A little girl vanishes right in front of her parents eyes, a couple whose love still burns as strong as the day they fell in love still live in separate houses next door to one another, a father keeps a tiny insect wormlike creature called a spiritus (spertus Norse mythology) in a box that requires a daily feeding or the consequences are dire and oddly, people just disappear every so often, without a trace and without rhyme or reason.

Product Description

It was a beautiful winter's day. Anders, his wife and their feisty six-year-old, Maja, set out across the ice of the Swedish archipelago to visit the lighthouse on Gavasten. There was no one around, so they let her go on ahead. And she disappeared, seemingly into thin air, and was never found. Two years later, Anders is a broken alcoholic, his life ruined. He returns to the archipelago, the home of his childhood and his family. But all he finds are Maja's toys and through the haze of memory, loss and alcohol, he realizes that someone - or something - is trying to communicate with him. Soon enough, his return sets in motion a series of horrifying events which exposes a mysterious and troubling relationship between the inhabitants of the remote island and the sea.

From the Inside Flap

They only stopped watching her for a couple of minutes. Which was all it took.

On a clear winter's day, Anders took his wife and feisty six-year-old, Maja, for a walk from his home on the island across the frozen sea to the lighthouse at Gavasten. There was no one for miles around, so they stayed to admire the view while Maja struck out alone.
They never saw her again.

Two years later and Anders' wife has left him, he's an unemployable alcoholic, so he returns to what's left of his family on the island. Moving back to the hut where he'd been staying with Maja that last time, he soon begins to feel a presence in the house. Could Maja be trying to communicate with him? Someone - or something - is leaving him messages and he can feel them getting stronger.

Before long, it's not just a feeling and Anders starts seeing people who've been missing for years. Is it the drink or is he going mad?

About the Author

John Ajvide Lindqvist is a Swedish author, born 1968, grew up in Blackeberg, a suburb to Stockholm. He wanted to become something awful and fantastic. First he became a conjurer and came in second in the Nordic card trick championship, then he was a stand-up comedian for twelve years. John has written TV series as well as stage plays and TV drama. Two of his other novels, Let the Right One In and Handling the Undead have been translated into English and published by Quercus.

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Asus EEE PC 1005HAB Netbook DC power pin "quick & dirty" repair

My son has a neat little Asus EEE Netbook.  It's perfect for his needs, which is mostly drawing, playing Minecraft, social networking & keeping in touch with his friends.


However, he's a bit rough with it sometimes, maybe not taking care where he leaves it, so it's inevitable that in a busy house like ours, someone is going to knock it off of the footstool, sofa or some other inappropriate resting spot where he's left it.


Yesterday, he said that "someone" knocked his computer on the the floor and it landed on the power cord.  Which, if you know even the tiniest bit about netbooks, laptops, etc., have the most delicate attachments known to mankind.  Long story short, the pin that holds the power adapter in (so the battery can charge) broke off.


Doing a quick search online, I found that sending it somewhere to be repaired would be expensive (most quoted about $100, plus 2-3 weeks turnaround).  It was almost cheaper to buy a new computer at that price!


So, I being the "hacker mom" that I am, decided to try to take the netbook apart and fix the pin myself. Two frustrating hours later, I still couldn't figure out how to separate the top from the bottom.  Usually, it's pretty simple but this just would.not.budge.


Another hour searching on the internet for instructional videos, photos, SOMETHING were fruitless.  A lot of puffed-up tech geeks spouting of their useless knowledge, trying to show each other up yet providing no answers.


Finally, logic hit.  What was broken?  The little copper pin.  What was its purpose?  To conduct power from the adapter to the computer to charge the battery.  How did it work?  The pin was soldered to the power jack inside of the computer and the external plug fit onto the little pin.  Since I have no experience soldering (beyond 7th grade shop class), I wondered "what would happen if the pin was sticking out of the adapter plug instead?"


So, I asked my husband if he could find a little piece of copper wire for me.  As luck would have it, he had an old piece of wire in the garage:

I cut off a little piece of it and stuck it in the end of the plug:

Plugged it into the netbook and voilà!   The little green light on the charger came on and began charging the netbook.  45 minutes later and my son was back to mining and crafting.

Disclaimer:  Only do this with the battery removed from your computer.  This solution worked for me, I'm making no guarantees that it will work for you.  I'm not a professional computer repair person, just a mom trying to save a few bucks fixing something on my own :)

Houseguests

Next week a friend from europe is coming to visit and bringing along her two teenaged daughters, ages 14 and 16.  We really enjoy having them visit (and going to visit them) but I always worry that it's too boring here!  We don't live in a tourist spot, so there's not a lot of interesting things to do.  They really enjoy going to the mall, so that's a definite way to spend a few of the days.  I'm not a mall person, but I don't mind going along with them and bringing a book to read while they shop 'til they drop.  I just don't want to come across as rude or unaccommodating, I'm not really sure what the "rules" are when you live in a boring place.

So far, our plans are going to the mall, having an American Fourth-of-July BBQ & watching the fireworks, going to the pool a lot (it's VERY hot here in the summer), visiting a local Conservatory, an art museum or two (and no, we don't live in Chicago or there would be no problem at all finding things to do), maybe a local working farm since we DO live in farm country. And that actually gives me another idea, visiting some Amish areas, since that is definitely a very regional thing and something they have never seen before & couldn't see anywhere else.

Food is another issue here.  Obviously, there is the cultural difference in foods.  She has made a lot of comments about our (and by "our", I mean American) breakfast cereals as being "gross" because they are brightly colored.  I think their (and by "their", I mean Swedish) are gross, because they look like something that was scraped off the floor in the forest.  We obviously have the "forest floor" cereals here too, I can't even imagine eating a bowl of that nasty.  To each their own I suppose.  I'll just happily munch away on my pebbles, which are healthy enough for me :)  But the other food issue is that we are VERY casual in the summer months.  We sleep in (she's an early riser), we eat when we're hungry, we generally just eat very light meals for dinner because it's so hot & no-one feels like cooking OR eating big meals.  I know when I've visited there, dinner is always a sit-down event.  Though I suspect that it's only while I'm there from what her kids have told me.  We'll muddle through somehow, figuring out what to eat each day for dinner as we go along.

Our house is also VERY noisy & active.  I have 6 children (only 5 of them are still at home though) and they are all 13 and under.  So it gets pretty crazy here, especially when you factor in their friends hanging out here too.  We are loud talkers, we argue loudly, joke around, etc.  Her house is very, very quiet.  When her kids come home from school, they go straight to their rooms, close the doors & that's it for the evening.  They come out for dinner but then go right back.  I like quiet time, don't get me wrong.  In fact, I NEED quiet time several times a day or I get SUPER grumpy.  But I also am so used to the (mostly) controlled chaos of our house that it is always difficult for me to adjust to all that quiet when I go to visit her.  So I can't imagine how rough it will be on them to have all of this NOISE all the time.  We also have 2 small dogs and 2 cats, so they add to the chaos, messes and noise.

Her spending budget is very large and mine is very small (like almost zero), so that's another issue.  We budget down to the penny here.  For everything: food, activities, snacks, admission costs, etc.  I don't want to come across as not-fun or a tightwad, but if you don't have it, you don't have it, right?

The good thing is, she is aware of all of these things and still wants to visit me :)  She's been here before, so it must not be TOO bad because this will be her 4th visit to the U.S. and each one was to visit us here in our boring old midwestern state.  I just have to remember that everything is exciting when you're visiting a new place, especially a foreign country.  She lives in Europe so there are lots of cool things to go see & do in her area.  But I'm sure to her, they are boring & ordinary. Even going to the grocery store when I visit her is exciting, so I have to remember the same will be true of her.  And this is America, we have Wal-Mart!

Someone needs to write a REAL etiquette book for REAL people when they have house guests.  Real people with big, noisy, messy families who live in boring, non-touristy parts of the country & aren't wealthy (we don't even have a McMansion, just a plain old 1970's suburban house (oh the humanity!)

However, we do have 4 bedrooms and thankfully, 2.5 bathrooms and a nice sized private back yard, so we won't be that cramped.  We do live in a big city.  I do have a car (she doesn't have a drivers license so I'm sure it's very refreshing to her that when we go somewhere while she's visiting me, we just hop in the car & go, not having to worry about bus/train schedules, finding a seat, waiting in the cold, etc).  We do have Target, Wal-Mart and four enormous shopping malls near us.  So maybe we aren't so boring after all. :)

I just worry too much.  I wonder what other people do when they have house guests?