Small Talk: The Prayer Closet

[frenchtoast]

There are still some kinks to work out and the mods are pretty much in the same boat as everyone else so it's going to be a little weird for a little while. And we really appreciate everyone's patience and forbearance.

[Happyfatchick]

So glad that's over with!!!  I was a lost little girl.  I worked my butt off all day.  When I couldn't uncross my eyes to work any more,  I tried reading, I went back to Pinterest to see what I haven't done...but still hope to someday, I watched the Voice (which is so traumatizing I want to pass out Valium to everyone in the crowd), I tried yoga (not really), I surfed the 'net looking for a support group for lost PTV junkies (we should start one). 

my daughter (the "missionary" without a mission) is leaving Sunday to return to Nicaragua.  I had all the children with me on a camping trip this past weekend.  During the trip, her daughter, who's 12, said to me, "when did you let Mama date?"  I told her I let her double up at 15, date alone at 16.  (Her mother was NOT boy crazy, although she dated regularly.  She as pretty much "meh" about dating).  The grand says to me, "you let her DATE at 16???"  Well, yes.  (And at the time, SHE thought 16 was way past the prime target).  The grand says to me very seriously, "Mama says I can't date until I'm old enough to marry.  She says she regrets having different boyfriends when she was young, because she gave pieces of her heart away each time.  Then when she met Daddy and they decided to marry him, she felt like she didn't have all of her heart to give him anymore."

I TOLD YOU SHE WAS STUDYING MICHELLE DUGGAR!!!!!   I knew it I knew it I knew it!!!  (Well, and I actually caught her with Michelle DUGGAR videos on two times).  O.M.G.  I swear, I believe she is itching to get back to Nica so much BECAUSE she thinks she can shelter those children and raise them without our scrutiny better down there.  But here's the rub:  we're just Baptists.  No druggies, no alcoholics, no slackers, no bad influences.  Just...no Jim Bob DUGGAR influence.  

On the "up" side:. When they return from Nica wearing jeans skirts and sporting boppy curls, I can now post pics.  Yay!  I think we're all going to love the new format!  Good job, DCC, and thanks for all your hard work!

[lookeyloo]

So glad we are back!  Mr lookeyloo is in the field of data migration etc and has had his share of what has transpired so nice job everyone in charge and who worked on it!  But me too with the withdrawals!! Checked a lot during the day knowing full well it was in process. Checked first thing this am end still in process. But whew! HFC must pain your heart to hear granddaughter talking like that. 

[Happyfatchick]

I am STUCK on an embroidery design, this has been hovering over me for a week and it's driving me crazy!  Thank GOD this forum is back up and running so I can get away from the things that make me grow old and gray (and make me want to throw something at the design screen) - at least for a few minutes distraction!

[Happyfatchick]

Ok, peeps.  Crawl out from under the rocks and wake up.  We're back online!

[emma675]

I'm still having trouble finding the "my shows" bit, but I think it's being worked on. The forums are definitely not telling me that there are new posts, so hopefully that gets fixed too. I'm sure in a few weeks we'll all be totally used to the new look and navigation, but it is jarring right now, lol!

[kathe5133]

I used to use the "my shows" feature, but now that I can customize my home page I have no need for it.  Love that new feature.

[frenchtoast]

36 minutes ago, emma675 said:

I'm still having trouble finding the "my shows" bit, but I think it's being worked on. The forums are definitely not telling me that there are new posts, so hopefully that gets fixed too. I'm sure in a few weeks we'll all be totally used to the new look and navigation, but it is jarring right now, lol!

 

24 minutes ago, kathe5133 said:

I used to use the "my shows" feature, but now that I can customize my home page I have no need for it.  Love that new feature.

Me too! I love the customizable home page. It's a very good replacement for the My Shows button/feature. I also like the multi-quote feature. There are a few things still being worked out, but I think this upgrade will end up being good. 

[lookeyloo]

So glad to be back!!!

[allonsyalice]

Thanks for the heads up everyone! I just customized my homepage and it's so beautiful and clean with the 5 shows i watch!!

[GeeGolly]

New and different takes time. I have to get used to everything being faded except for the avatars. Hard to tell at a glance which threads have new posts. My computer asks me each time I switch pages if I want to allow PTV notifications. I can allow or block. What notifications is it referring too?

[GeeGolly]

I miss my yellow line showing me where my unread posts started if I scrolled up to read an old post, I knew where I left off. Also, when the Small Talk had unread posts it brought me right to those posts, just like before, but when I came back here to whine about the yellow line it brought me to page one. I tried it again thinking I clicked the one by accident - it brought me to page 1 again. I had to click on the last page to get here. Is this a customizable thing? 

New and different takes time, right?

[kathe5133]

I had the problem earlier of it bringing me to the first post, not the last.  I figured I'd give it a day, but it just all of a sudden started to work.  I'm on a real computer now, lord knows what fun awaits this evening when I'm on the ipad.  But hey, it's good to learn new things!

[emma675]

I love the customized home page, so much better! I think the bugs are slowly being worked out, today it's taking me to the first unread post in each forum instead of page 1, which is nice. I'm just happy the forums are back up in general, I felt so cut off from things!

[lookeyloo]

Me too, emma675.  

[frenchtoast]

2 hours ago, GeeGolly said:

I miss my yellow line showing me where my unread posts started if I scrolled up to read an old post, I knew where I left off. Also, when the Small Talk had unread posts it brought me right to those posts, just like before, but when I came back here to whine about the yellow line it brought me to page one. I tried it again thinking I clicked the one by accident - it brought me to page 1 again. I had to click on the last page to get here. Is this a customizable thing? 

New and different takes time, right?

Instead of yellow line, the frame around the text is darker to show the newest unread post.

Also be sure to check out the Site Business area. There's Questions and Bugs and an issue that you see may be in the midst of a discussion there. 

[Barb23]

 I'm glad to be back & missed everyone.  I'm not good with any change, yet alone when it involves the computer.  I may end up quoting someone 10 times but I'll  eventually get it & am apologizing in advance.  Like someone else said, by next week we'll all be pros. 

[Happyfatchick]

I'm kind of excited to be getting a "reputation" at my age.  About time, that's what I'm sayin'!  

I got up this morning knowing I had to get an order out the door by 5.  I managed to brush my teeth but not my hair, never did find time to harness the girls - you know, thinking I have it made working from home.  Ha!!!  So my one DIL shows up for a sewing lesson with the baby, my SIL comes here to do her job (we run two companies from home and she works for us), my other DIL shows up with my son and grandson to get the pop up camper (which has become family property)  and I'm steady pumping out seats while answering 500 questions and making sure there are clean sheets in the pop up (and blankets and charcoal...), while listening to the DIL's plan a birthday party for another grand...it was a ZOOOOO!!!!!  And when the FedEx guy came for his pickup at 5:00, I answered the door with my hair partially yanked on top of my head (the rest of it flying about so I look certifiably psycho), no makeup and no bra.  Luckily I'm a fairly regular stop for him, so he knows I don't ALWAYS look like this.  He bursts out laughing and says, "Rough day?"  Dude, you have NO idea.  And I STILL have to do some work for the hub's company and put groceries and clothes in the camper.  ALWAYS the day before we pull out is cray cray.  In the midst of the spin cycle, I keep telling myself, "tomorrow, I can relax".  One day, I'm going to be VERY disappointed when I have a heart attack and die in the middle of a crazy day.

[Love2dance]

1 hour ago, Happyfatchick said:

I'm kind of excited to be getting a "reputation" at my age.  About time, that's what I'm sayin'!  I keep telling myself, "tomorrow, I can relax".  One day, I'm going to be VERY disappointed when I have a heart attack and die in the middle of a crazy day.

HAPPYFATCHICK, I don't know how you deal with your days! I had one daughter and granddaughter come over today and I'm exhausted. I need your vitamins.

[Happyfatchick]

Yesterday I got up and did a normal routine, did my hair and makeup and stayed here all day by myself.  I don't need vitamins, I need a crystal ball.

[Westiepeach]

Happyfatchick is my favorite person in the whole world. Just sayin'.

[Joe Jitsu913]

I just want to chime in and say that I hate the new format here. I hate that there isn't a mobile option.  

 

Sorry for being a Negative Nancy but I hate change.  Grrr...

[GeeGolly]

5 hours ago, Joe Jitsu913 said:

I just want to chime in and say that I hate the new format here. I hate that there isn't a mobile option.  

 

Sorry for being a Negative Nancy but I hate change.  Grrr...

We'll get through it together. I'm curious though, as to why the changes were made. I haven't noticed anything spectacular.

[kassygreene]

I haz suspicion on this.  I'm pretty sure the software change to the platform of the forums (and it doesn't seem to be a mega-update, but instead an entirely new chunk of software with migration of massive quantities of data) was done because PTV almost certainly out-grew the old software some time ago.  In other words, the Reward For Succeeding.

But, the change in how it can be used is where most of the user agony is coming from.  The old version of the forums was fairly intuitive in how it was used.  I would say very intuitive, but I have an IT background and apparently am fairly good at sussing out how things work (and this is where my agony came from, because a) I couldn't really suss it out, and b) the things we were initially pointed at still didn't address the major problem of No More My Forums).  Software that can be used intuitively is highly successful in terms of design and ergonomics.  It can also be a freaking nightmare to maintain.

Anyway, it can be inferred that the decisions about default behavior, and how popular it would instantly be, come from a small group of people that use the forums in a very similar fashion - other points of view and other contexts were glossed over.

And I strongly suspect that the forums should have been left turned off Wednesday because it really wasn't ready yet - apparently the data migration was still ongoing.

We can also tell that there was no beta test for features, form, and function, which is really very important for something this big. This gets into cost, not just of the testing, but of the parallel equipment and the administration of the testing, and since PTV is free to us users, and a labor of masochistic love to its developers, beta testing wasn't really feasible.

Waiting for my customized home page to become sortable by timestamp of most recent post, and then I can happily go back to full-time cursing of Hulu's newest Zuckerberg-style action: The WATCHLIST.

[Absolom]

6 hours ago, GeeGolly said:

We'll get through it together. I'm curious though, as to why the changes were made. I haven't noticed anything spectacular.

The software that supports the forum moved from v3 to v4 and PTV had to migrate to it sooner or later.  Other fora I read had already made the migration so I was aware of the options and even that wasn't sufficient because of the bugs that prevented it from working properly.  There are also products that can be purchased for as little as $30 a year for the first year that make the forum look tremendously better and make it more user friendly. 

[riverblue22]

I don't read this thread often but I'm so glad to see people back and I hope I can figure out the new system.  I'm a bit stymied but I'm motivated so I'll get it figured out eventually.  Change is hard for old people like me!

[lookeyloo]

I hate change, too, but in my dotage have come to accept the fact that things change. Not that I like it, but, have to muddle through. One of the forums (fora) I read regularly had a big change a few years ago and it riled up the people so much they stopped coming!!  I'm going to "pre-severe" as someone once said to me, and this will become familiar too, some time in the future.  Can't be easy for the mods either.  

[Sew Sumi]

On 4/28/2016 at 1:06 PM, frenchtoast said:

Instead of yellow line, the frame around the text is darker to show the newest unread post.

Also be sure to check out the Site Business area. There's Questions and Bugs and an issue that you see may be in the midst of a discussion there. 

Dear Moderator, will the "last post read" and customized show functions be restored? I see people had it earlier today, but that a vote was up to decide its fate. I voted, and the poll disappeared. Any idea when this will be resolved? Some threads move very quickly, and who has time to keep up on where they left off? 

And for the rest of youse guys....I'm BAAAAAACK!!!!!! Lots of issues with the MIL, who we are now considering wrapping in bubble wrap so she doesn't break something. The latest? She broke her humerus trying to move her coffee table (which is small and can't weigh more than 5 lbs.). I've just sent my SIL, who handles her finances, a long email regarding my husband's and my position, which is that she really can't live independently any longer. The senior living place where she's lived since 2007 finally evicted her car last month to give an able-bodied senior a parking space in the garage. We took the car for convenience of transporting her to appointments in the future. She's in a place where they can transition her to more assisted living, a smaller apartment, more help with daily tasks, etc. My husband and I work fulltime, he works swing shift, and we just can't keep taking time off work (especially me, in education), to take care of her. The SIL moved away on purpose, but she really has to step up now.  We can't afford for me to stop working to take care of his mother. *sigh*

Edited April 29, 2016 by Sew Sumi

[allonsyalice]

On 4/28/2016 at 1:30 PM, GeeGolly said:

New and different takes time. I have to get used to everything being faded except for the avatars. Hard to tell at a glance which threads have new posts. My computer asks me each time I switch pages if I want to allow PTV notifications. I can allow or block. What notifications is it referring too?

the notifications , if you have a forum open but you're on a different page or tab of the net, will just pop up and let you know if someone has posted on the forum you're on.

[Sew Sumi]

I actually HATE that notification thing. I tried to turn it off, but alas, unlike my last post seen and custom show boards, THAT shit lives. I unchecked all the boxes, but I'm still getting stuff. Not right. Leave me the fuck alone!

[allonsyalice]

@Sew Sumi if you're running chrome, I can help you turn them off! (I mean, even if not, I think it's the same basic type of thing.)

[frenchtoast]

27 minutes ago, Sew Sumi said:

Dear Moderator, will the "last post read" and customized show functions be restored? I see people had it earlier today, but that a vote was up to decide its fate. I voted, and the poll disappeared. Any idea when this will be resolved? Some threads move very quickly, and who has time to keep up on where they left off? 

And for the rest of youse guys....I'm BAAAAAACK!!!!!! Lots of issues with the MIL, who we are now considering wrapping in bubble wrap so she doesn't break something. The latest? She broke her humerus trying to move her coffee table (which is small and can't weigh more than 5 lbs.). I've just sent my SIL, who handles her finances, a long email regarding my husband's and my position, which is that she really can't live independently any longer. The senior living place where she's lived since 2007 finally evicted her car last month to give an able-bodied senior a parking space in the garage. We took the car for convenience of transporting her to appointments in the future. She's in a place where they can transition her to more assisted living, a smaller apartment, more help with daily tasks, etc. My husband and I work fulltime, he works swing shift, and we just can't keep taking time off work (especially me, in education), to take care of her. The SIL moved away on purpose, but she really has to step up now.  We can't afford for me to stop working to take care of his mother. *sigh*

Sorry to hear about your MIL. It's can be such an issue handling those issues. 

As for the customized show functions, AKAIK, they're working on it. I pretty much learn the stuff at the same time as all of you. Trust me, we get the whole arranging of shows because nearly all of the mods read forums of shows they don't watch so we don't want to read posts, we just want to be able to run through our list of shows. We (mods and posters) are all a good group and we can make this work but it may take a few days.

[Happyfatchick]

I'm ok with the changes I think - I'm SO not tech savvy, and I only use the basics anyway.  We'll be ok.  But we have to learn this sucker so that when the Duggs drop a bomb like the ones that fell last summer, we'll be able to watch other people feel their way around and think it's pret-ty funny.

[kokapetl]

For some reason, I'm always taken to the first post in a single RHOBH thread when I tap on the topic, despite having made a several posts in the thread. And it's all a bit harsh on the eyes and hard to read on an iPhone. 

[bigskygirl]

The white background is bothering my eyes a little too. I have been sick all week. I saw the endocrinologist Wednesday morning, and it looks like I am hyperthyroid now. *joy joy* I will be seeing the physician assistant next Thursday morning because I am still having chest pressure and palpations. I had an EKG Wednesday afternoon. The test showed no changes, so the specialist wants me to see my physician assistant in order to find out what the heck is causing the pressure and palpations. I am ready to crawl under my comforter and not come out until Thursday morning. I am tired and cranky because I am sick and miserable. Three freaking years of this. At least I have a wonderful specialist and primary care provider who wants to help me get better.

[Ownedbydogs]

I am so sorry Bigskygirl.  I really hope someone can find some answers and help you get well.  

[Love2dance]

I am so sorry, too BIGSKYGIRL. I really hope that they find the answers to your questions. Maybe the thyroid is the key? Hugs to you!

[bigskygirl]

The specialist does not think the chest pressure and heart palpations are caused by my thyroid. My husband has been sick the last few weeks with a cold, and I thought I was coming down with one myself. The doctor thought it was one of four things when I saw him Wednesday morning: thyroiditis, hyperthyroidism-need to adjust the med dosage again, need another radiation iodine treatment, or my symptoms are not related to my thyroid. The physician assistant ordered blood tests to check for infections, other autoimmune disorders, rheumatoid arthritis, and vitamin D levels last November.. My vitamin D levels are low, so I am taking a vitamin D supplement on a daily basis now. She also asked me about Asthma, but I do not think I am showing symptoms. It feels like someone or something is pressing down on my throat area where my thyroid is located. I did have a swallowing test last December, but no signs of damage, tumors or cysts.

[lookeyloo]

bigskygirl- I am sorry you are going through this. I am in a similar situation. We moved to new city and after first doctor laughed at my current thyroid treatment found another doctor. She claimed I was over medicated although I felt fine and had no signs of hyperthyroid. But I was willing to switch to armour thyroid to see if she could be satisfied with the bloodwork and I could be satisfied with how I feel. During all of this there was allergy season which left me with a sinus infection and antibiotics. All the post nasal drip brought on terrible heartburn. After that I started to get palpitations and the chest pressure you describe. Did blood work and thyroid is low. Sent me to cardiologist to check out heart. She didn't think it was my heart and neither do I. She did say even low thyroid can affect the heart but thyroid doctor poopoo'd that. Had a stress Echo which was "negative". Heart fine despite moderate pericardial effusion. Palps come and go. Chest pressure comes and goes and sometimes I have a cough reflex right where my thyroid is. Last scope I had he dilated my esophagus which didn't do much and said I had mild gastritis and to take Prilosec but I never did and now I'm glad. I hope you can get to feeling good. 

[GeeGolly]

Yikes bigsky, the combo of feeling awful & not knowing why sucks. I hope improvement in symptoms and care is in your near future!

[bigskygirl]

lookeyloo, it is amazing and scary we share similar stories. I did see the sleep specialist in March, and my CPAP machine is doing its job. I have 2-3 stop breathing episodes a hour compared to the average of 36 episodes a hour during my sleep study test last August, so I do not think sleep apnea is behind the chest pressure. When my allergies or reactions to certain smells pop up, I get the other medical issues acting up (acid reflex, chest pressure, TMJ, etc. etc.) I am thinking possible lung problems or asthma now. I did have a skin allergy test last November, and the test showed I am allergic to grass and borderline allergic to dust mites. The heart palpations are not bad as they were last year. The chest pressure is annoying, and sometimes I have a little hard time breathing. My endocrinologist was telling me about the symptoms of thyroiditis and how some patients end up with it after having their radiation treatment and starting taking the thyroid medication. I told him I started having the same symptoms I have now within two weeks of starting the medication. I could have had thyroiditis three years ago, and the idiot, moron out of town doctor missed it. GRRR!!! Of course it did not help he misread my blood tests results for two years and kept me on too high of dosage for most of those two years. UGH!!! I think his mistakes are a major part of the reason why I am so sick today. I told the specialist the other day I am glad he is my doctor now, and he is a major improvement over the other doctor. He had a smile on his face and said thank you. I will not be surprised if I am not the only patient who said the same thing to him.

I hope you start feeling better lookeyloo. It burns my butter to think there are doctors out there who could not give two hoots about their patients mental and physical health. They are right and do not question me makes me want to slap the crap out of them.

[emma675]

I get heart issues when I'm hyper or hypo--they come with both. Palps, tightness, chest pain, rapid heartbeat, etc. It can happen with both and it's not uncommon. Once my thyroid levels are evened out (and reverse T3 is low), miraculously my heart problems resolve themselves. Luckily both my thyroid doc and cardiologist know this.

[bigskygirl]

I do not remember having chest pain or chest pressure before I was diagnosed with Graves Disease, but I do remember having borderline high blood pressure and pulse. I was put on a beta blocker med for a month and a half to get the blood pressure and pulse rate down. When the Graves Disease came back in August 2012, I could feel by heart beating and racing. Scared the heck out of me. Sometimes I have heart palpations, but it is not as bad as it was last year. I feel like an elephant is sitting on my chest and throat area. The cardiology tests I had last year showed no heart disease, damage or blocked coronary arteries. I guess I will be finding out what the next step in relation to blood tests and other medical tests will be Thursday morning.

[MarysWetBar]

So..i clicked on the link for this forum about twenty times before it worked for me.  I just need to whine a bit. I'm struggling with this new format. My phone hates it and i use my phone 99% of the time to access the site. I'm on android,  and having no issues anywhere else. I find i keep thinking new posts are quotes as they are in gray boxes. I can get used to that , though. Its the way i keep getting taken to other shows when i click the links. It gets frustrating. 

Otherwise hope everyone is doing well! 

[GeeGolly]

6 hours ago, MarysWetBar said:

So..i clicked on the link for this forum about twenty times before it worked for me.  I just need to whine a bit. I'm struggling with this new format. My phone hates it and i use my phone 99% of the time to access the site. I'm on android,  and having no issues anywhere else. I find i keep thinking new posts are quotes as they are in gray boxes. I can get used to that , though. Its the way i keep getting taken to other shows when i click the links. It gets frustrating. 

Otherwise hope everyone is doing well! 

I thought I was going to have to quit PTV out of frustration of being brought to an error page and it being so slow to open when it finally did. That hasn't happened in a day or two. But the faded colors with the white background is something I don't like. It is too bright overall, and I can barely tell what threads have unread posts.

Does anyone know if we can we customize the backgrounds?

[tabloidlover]

I'd like to know if there is a way to have my shows show up like they used to - in order of last post, etc.  What I see now is just a list of all content I follow with no bolding to tell me if I need to see anything new or not.  I'm thrilled the forums are back up - but I need it to be a bit easier to navigate so it doesn't take all day looking for new content.  Is anyone else having this issue?

[Almost 3000]

50 minutes ago, tabloidlover said:

I'd like to know if there is a way to have my shows show up like they used to - in order of last post, etc.  What I see now is just a list of all content I follow with no bolding to tell me if I need to see anything new or not.  I'm thrilled the forums are back up - but I need it to be a bit easier to navigate so it doesn't take all day looking for new content.  Is anyone else having this issue?

Yes, you will be able to select your shows and use that page like the old one. I selected my content last week BUT they have turned off that feature for a few days. You can find updates here:

If that doesn't work you can find it under Site Business, Questions

[Happyfatchick]

I'm having to sign in every time I come here.  Is that just me or is that a new thing?  The box is checked that says keep me on here.  (Or maybe it says remember me, which it's not doing either).

[lookeyloo]

I'm not having that problem, HFC.  I haven't figured out the intricacies of my shows vs notifications, etc.  Being old and a creature of habit in the best of times, I'm trying to keep up with the change and not whine! No one listens anyway.  I'm just so happy we have this place to come to.

[Absolom]

I don't have the signing in problem, but not going to first unread post is killing me.

I also hate having to follow each individual topic.