Random 5 for March 15, 2026 – Ides, March, blogging, website upgrades, misinformation

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Beware the Ides of March – The Ides (which is the middle of the month) of March are considered unlucky (especially for Julius Caesar!). Back in the Roman days, it was a day to pay off debts. It’s the old version of our “end of the month bills” but with assassinations. (We do those anytime!) Take care.

March in general – is turning out to be a weird month. Not as cold as January or February but full of bi-polar weather swings. I know two people who are having surgery this week. It is a good month for that as you can recover before the nice weather sets in (unless you live somewhere where it’s already nice in which case I want to visit!).

Is it just me? – For the past couple months, WordPress (my blogging platform) has been…ummm…different. This week I have been required to sign in daily with my password to access my blog. (Never had to do that before.) Even during the day, it will forget who I am. I am asked to subscribe to my own blog, and my comments may show up as anonymous. Perhaps there is an upgrade with some quirks that haven’t been ironed out? Can computer programs get dementia? It couldn’t possibly be me, could it?

More techy – I spent considerable time (that I will never get back) trying to get a receipt from a medical website. I struggled every which way but was not successful. On my Monday “to do” list, I have a note to call them. I have two doctors that have upgraded their websites. The sites are “cleaner” with less clutter but also less information or at least not an obvious way to get to the information I need. Give me back the old websites with the menu drop downs that list a dozen things you can explore rather than two. I’m wondering if these websites are gearing towards cell phone access rather than desktops.

Things that make me laugh – I don’t dictate text messages to my cell, but many people do. It makes for hilarious messages that make no sense. I got two this week. One was from a friend and I could decipher what she was trying to say. The other was from a customer service representative. I think he started to talk to someone else because at the end of my message there were two sentences that had nothing to do with my issue.

So how was your week?

39 thoughts on “Random 5 for March 15, 2026 – Ides, March, blogging, website upgrades, misinformation”

  1. Happy St. Patrick’s Day. Last year we had a good corned beef dinner for a few people. Didn’t get around to it this year.

    My WordPress hasn’t been too bad, although they make me sign in again every so often. It’s Zoom that’s been giving me trouble. One time it works just fine. The next time it won’t let me in or my audio doesn’t work.

    I often dictate text messages. If the TV is on, it sometimes inserts that audio into my message.

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  4. Tech upgrades and all this two-factor authentication grind me – I have, but don’t use a smartphone (Lively, a/k/a Jitterbug).

    I have a Twitter/X account which I’ve had for at least a dozen years. Although this social media platform can be pretty toxic sometimes, I follow my favorite weather people/sites and news people/sites there. The evening of our big storm last Tuesday into Wednesday a.m., I had the one site up for six hours, tracking the super cell coming toward Michigan. They give “explainers” and I learn things from them. Wednesday afternoon, I clicked the desktop icon to go there as usual and I was locked out. Great. I e-mailed them then that this was my main source of news/weather info and no one uses this computer or my Twitter/X logon but me. The “bot” replied – there was suspicious activity, so try and get in and we’ll know it is really you and get back to you in four or five days. It is five days – nothing. They claim my user name is not in their system.

    WordPress has its moments … sometimes I’ll go to read a post in Reader and half the pictures are gone, appearing as blank white spaces. So I have to go to the actual site to see them. I can’t access a Canadian blogger’s site with my Malwarebytes VPN, so I have to change it to Canada to access/comment on it. I tried putting the site on my “safe site list” and it has never worked. I give up sometimes. My internet provider (Comcast/Xfinity) is doing maintenance every other night it seems and it makes it slow even though I still have the faster speed I got when I worked from home. I give up sometimes.

    The weather is crazy – we have the third bout of severe weather in six days happening tonight – we are at 70 degrees at 5:00 p.m. and will drop 35+ degrees and get snow overnight, but first a severe storm and “a tornado or two” (yikes, one is not enough!). This is all of SE Michigan, my area. I’m sure I gained some gray hair and took a few years off my life the last few years with the weather.

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  7. I have a WP blog that has not allowed me in it for years. YEARS! I really like Google blogging. They mix things up occasionally and we all get mad, us Googlers, but WP is kinda sorta awful.

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  9. Text messages are a source of amusement… they have a life of their own. I am not fond of texting because I hate typing but more so because I miss hearing the voices of friends and family. Tech has been dragging me down so I am going to ignore it except for important things like commenting on bloggies, Instagram and the bluetooth thingie that connects me to my Bose speaker so that I can listen to Yacht Rock on Sirius☺️
    Our week was very good! It’s March and our yard turned the most beautiful green in what seemed like two days!
    Enjoy your Sunday! It’s my favorite day of the week.

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  11. I had similar problems having to log on to comment pom sites, then it not accepting my comment anyway! Turned out for me it was how I viewed the post. If it was from a pingback, I was snookered. From my reader, all OK. Problem was if I didn’t follow the poster. Then every time I read a post from my reader, it would bounce me back to the top! If it ain’t broke…………………………

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  13. The dictation of text messages can be the source of mirthful laughter. I only use it when I’m walking the dog and he’s not into stopping for 27 seconds while I peck a quick response. I already have issues with Siri and dictation is yet another thing that makes me look at AI with an askance opinion. Happy Ides of March, Kate.

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  14. I agree that WordPress has forgotten to take its meds. My page has been doing the hula surprising me every morning with a new way of doing things. Then all of a sudden it goes back to the way it was. You’d think after all these years we’d get flowers and candy, not cyber headaches.

    The city is already gearing up for the annual St. Patty’s Day Parade. In years past there were drunks wandering around amid med in kilts and plummy faced cops with banners. It’s gotten much more respectable. Considering the present condition of the world it’s saying something.

    Where there’s green there’s hope? All I can come up with it on short notice. Have a happy week Kate.

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  15. It’s not just you. WP has a mind of its own sometimes ~ maybe the bouncer at the door gets slap happy?

    As for me: Good week. Good weather. Good news. Good times.

    We had a picnic dinner on the balcony with 4 y.o. Landon (his suggestion) on Tuesday and went to 2 performances with him ~ Lion Dancers at the Harn Art Museum on Thursday and Mary Poppins (the play) on Saturday. Then out to dinner with him for Pi Day to Satchel’s Pizza. Today, is my niece’s birthday so we’ve been celebrating all week. Today will be a Cheese Fondue birthday dinner with 9 in attendance. I’m bringing dessert bites ~ coconut cake, apple pie, cheesecake, and pumpkin pie cake.

    Beware the Ides of March indeed!

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  16. Too bad “upgrades” can’t be optional when it comes to lots of things including websites. Sometimes I get totally lost in trying to find a very simple thing on our local hospital site AND same goes for many other places I routinely visit online. Yes I suppose I’m just getting old and “set in my ways” !! I’m on WordPress too and so far (knock on wood) I’ve not been asked to sign in on my own site but I have noticed in the past that they sneak in little tweaks and just wait for us to find them. I liked a dash of uncertainty when I was younger but now that I’m old I’m not crazy about that. Maybe I’ll be less crabby when the weather FINALLY gets warm. Maybe.

    Hugs, Pam

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