Yes, Patrick, please do keep us up to date on your cruise "adventure." I was looking into it for a vacation type of thing, but I have not the funds for a vacation just yet!

(Schoolgirl, the first time you touched a cat was last year!? Oh, my goodness! You need to get a cat, girl!)

(I like your avatar, too, Jose luis... mine is just a picture of my marching hat and drop, because I can't seem to be able to load any other picture to my profile! Silly computer...)

Sorry Schoolgirl0125 for my previous avatar. It was a kind of joke in reference to our recent open water diver certification, but I kept it there too long!. Just If I could have imagined your discomfort with that image I would have changed immediately.

That green perch could not be a good pet, either, unless I could have a huge water tank at home just to keep it swimming. I'm not sure they are edible, even. But big, sure they are!.

Kishi, the Gertrudis site had a nice free demo in previous versions, that let you modify a few preset pictures and try the program. (you could not use your own pictures). Give them a try.

Celebrian, I have wondered what kind of hat that was!. Marching and playing with this hat must be cool!. We do not have this type of widespread marching bands here in Spain. There a few, however.

I suggest you check that the type of images you are trying to upload for your new avatar fits the types allowed by the 8notes server (that is, only .gif or .jpg). I suspect that if you were using .jpeg as the image name extension, it could be refused by the server.
.jpg and .jpeg have the same format, just rename it to .jpg if it was the case.

If your images are .tif or other, you can convert the format using CorelDraw (import -->export) or other graphic programs. If you do not have any, I could convert it for you. Just send it (them) to my private Email address.

Patrick, if your cruises are coming to the Mediterrnean ports next year (do you mean 2007 or the 2006-2007 season?) we may get on board as my wife and me have been dreaming of such a cruise at least once in a lifetime!

Attending your concerts and (if I can reach a suitable level by then), receiving some classes could give us the missing kick to decide doing it. And Carpe Diem!

thank you jose, I was there last year on a italy/greece cruise performing, not teaching, so I hope to go back

Thank you for the generous offer, jose luis! I might just have to take you up on that offer if I can't get my computer fixed. I am pretty sure there is something wrong and I am running some programs as I type (I can't very well say "as I speak" because I'm not speaking!) and I hope I can get it figured out! Your advice is great; I'm going to start looking at my picture files later and see if I just can't change my avatar. I love it, but it gets a little old. I suppose I should change it now to my majorette "crown" and whistle! I absolutely love marching band! I could never live in Spain in the summer if I couldn't march. Spain sounds like a beautiful place, though, so I guess it would be giving up one good thing for another.

So, Patrick, you just perform, you don't teach? I am a bit confused, sorry to say! Are you a performer or do you do clinics, too, on this cruise?

up to this point, I have just performed on a few, now we are putting together cruises where I will teach, have flute ensemble and perform concerts as well

It's okay joseluis, no need for apology! the fish pic, just made me 0_0!! every time i saw it. heehee:D..
Yea, it's very sad about the cat. i think there're SO cute but i never got a chance to touch them. i mean ppl don't walk their cats..well, not atleast the ppl i've seen.
Yea..i have a dog right now..hmm, cat would be nice too. but my parents are not really a animal person..

Celebrian, I forgot to mention that many photo cameras download the images to PCs as .JPEG

So you should check whether this is not the problem to upload your pics to the 8notes server.

Unless you have a virus (too easy to catch one these days), it could be you are short of RAM. The modern applications do take a lot of RAM and if you have not enough, the PC will crash frequently or will operate a very reduced speed.

I am conservative about changing my PCtoo frequently. It is relatively easy and cheap to install more RAM, unless you have such an old model that suitable RAMs are not longer available (or a choosy motherboard, as is my case).

However, old PC100 bus and old double sided type RAMs are frequently offered in Ebay. My PC is a PIII and I had the problem that compatible RAMs are very difficult to find (because of the motherboard it has).

Anyway I managed (with the help of Ebay) to increase it up to 612 MB. With that, I have no problems in managing pictures, mp3 files and small screen videos. You could try it, too.

A last thing: older Windows OS deteriorate with time, to the point they cannot be recovered.

This happens with Win98SP (register problems) but most noticeable with WinME. If you have problems with WinME, my recommendation is to replace it with Win2000 (or WinXP, it your PC is not too old and could work with XP). I had that problem and installed Win2000 w/SP4. That's enough for all the modern applications I use, except for the difficulty to operate a domestic network. If you do not use that, I believe the Win2000 is the best (and cheaper) solution. It's available (legally) on Ebay well under 100$. That's where I bought it.

hey schoolgirl!
i also have dogs...five, one looks like a kangaroo, one looks like a bear, one looks like a rat, one looks like a wolf and one looks like a cow....

your parents are the opposite of mine. they love pets...
they even gave their surname to our dogs, so it means...i have these five doggie brothers..
one big happy family.
nyah!
hehehe

Great advice, jose luis! Right now, I think I do have a virus (I have scanned around my system and right now I have it that it can't really be transported through email... I think it came in through an Active X program and my tech. guys said that it can't infect through email...)
Right now, I am running a Windows XP Home Edition that is only 2 or 3 years old... I run about 2 spyware programs and a few antivirus programs, too, so I don't know how this could have happened. Gah. People have way too much time on their hands, and so they make virus'. Seriously, those people need to pick up an instrument! My RAM should be fine; I'll check it, though, just in case!
My camera does load pictures to JPEG... I'll have to look at that, too... but, I am sure that the picture I loaded was a JPEG; I don't know.
Usually, I am pretty computer savvy, but my computer has just never acted like this before (I can tell you one thing: I am never going to try to load another MIDI file again!). One of my best friends builds computers as a living and he is coming soon to look at the computer, I can ask him about the files and images then! Thanks!

(Happy Mother's Day, everyone!)

yeh, happy mother's day!

OH! OH! OH!..HAPPY MOTHERS DAY YOU GUYS!!! ahhh..i LOVE today. in church i got to pin flowers on everyone's shirt. (the moms) pretty cool!
hey kishi! yea, my parents actually had A LOT of pets when they were young. but they're somehow allegric to them. i dunno!..i think our house is too small for pets...time to move!
My dad had like a Zoo of rabbits in his backyard! lol:D..
my mom had LOTS of birds, and a dog..hmm..i think that's it. but i LOVE my dad's zoo of rabbits..it's pretty cool

Lets see; I have: One bunny rabbit, one cat, one dog, 4 horses, a whole bunch of fish, the local wildlife that like to eat out of the garbage and a whole bunch of birds, too! I have always grown up with pets. I love them! Especially my cat, because she always lays on my lap when I am typing and she puts her head on my hands as I am trying to type... it's cute, but it gets annoying!

Celebrian, I never knew you had a rabbit! How cool. I hope it is inside. (Even thought they can be little monsters inside!)

Schoolgirl, that is really sweet. My church had all the men go up on the alter and sing to us, it was really sweet.

ahhh..the men singing. that's really sweet. Yea, pinning flowers on ppl was really fun. i got a lot of silent 'thank you' and SMILES. i think that's the best part about mother's day...makes me feel all warm and gooshy!:D..