Chat reminder / Sunday chat

[Kelley]

Heh, I've been trying to get this reply up for two days now, grr, 
argh.

Jen:
> I actually made it into the chat room the other day, but then didn't
know what to do. This sounds silly but I've never been in a chat
before--do you just start typing? Wait for a comment to come up on
screen? I exited out after about a minute because I felt foolish.

Any hints, veteran chatters? <

Heh.  Yep, just start typing, really.  Most people start by 
saying 'hi' to whoever's there, asking what the topic of discussion 
is, etc.  Some of the names should be at least somewhat familiar; if 
you see a bunch of people you don't know at all, it's likely not the 
regular room we use (when you get into a chat room, type /join HP:1 
into the text box and hit enter; it'll take you to the regular room).

Some folks who might be there:
catlady = catlady / Rita
constancevigilance = Susan/Constance
dudemom_2000 = dmom
hermionesmum = Sam
nrenka = Nora
yolandacarroll = Yolanda

There are plenty others, too, of course; I've not been in to chat in 
far too long, so am sure there must be quite a few people who 
are 'regulars' now whom I've not gotten to chat with yet.

Carol:
> I have essentially the same problem and have only braved the
chat room a few times, usually to find no one there because no one is
in my time zone (Arizona, which is on Mountain Standard Time when the
rest of the Rocky Mountain states are on Mountain Daylight Time--and
England is, what? eight or more hours ahead of us). >>>

Hm, okay, so you're on Pacific time for the summer and Mountain in 
winter?  That would mean chat starts at 11 am your time in the summer 
and noon in the winter.  The first hour of chat is usually just 
people getting there, really, but if you wander in any time after 
the 'start' time, there'll probably be a couple folks there.

>Anyway, the one time I found people there, I dared to type in 
something brilliant like "Is anybody home?" and actually did get 
responses. But I had a hard time keeping up with the chat for three 
reasons: I have a 56K modem (boo!); I have trouble making short, 
pithy comments under a paragraph long; and I compulsively edit my 
remarks as if they were posts to a group like this one. >>>

Lol, Carol, I'm exactly the same (all three, actually).  Chat can 
really move sometimes, and it can be a challenge to keep up, but 
everyone's great about it, and it's still fun.  There are some 
fantastic discussions there.  Way back when we used to keep archives 
of the chats for both those who were there and wanted to read back 
through them later and for those who couldn't be there and wanted to 
see what they missed.  It's been harder to do this lately (Yahoo chat 
started misbehaving, there are still software incompatibilities, 
etc.), but I'd love to have these available again.  Reminds me, I 
need to check Cheetah, see if they've made an update.

> I may give it another shot if I'm ever home alone
on a Sunday and actually remember the chat before it's over, but it
isn't easy for those of us who can't bear to make a typo or word a
sentence awkwardly. (I know, I know. Typos and unclear sentences
sometimes escape me, but they're painful for me when I see them 
posted!) >>>

Lol, again, same here.  And, I still make mistakes in chat; not the 
end of the world, really.  It happens to all of us. ;-)

If anyone's interested, we could set up another chat, sometime on 
Saturday I guess (or any time, really), to let folks get their feet 
wet, get comfortable, etc.  It can be set up anytime by anyone 
really; people can just post here when would be good for them, see 
what interest there is, and so on.

Luna:
> Hi Kelley, thanks for the information. I try to remember each week, 
but by 11am on Sundays I'm usually doing something with my son. I'll 
put a bunch of post-it note reminders around the house for this 
weekend. Hopefully that will help! LOL <<<

Oh, you bet, Luna!  I'll work up an early-bird reminder, something to 
go out the night before (does that sound good to you?), maybe that'll 
help.

David:
> I've been meaning (in an idle sort of way, since it's not a time I
can usually make anyway) what the statement about not changing for
daylight saving means. Do you mean that we keep the same clock time
(in which case there is a slight issue as we don't always all change
on the same day), or that we keep constant solar time, so that the
clock time is an hour different in the summer? <<<

The first one. *g*  But yes, to explain for everyone, what that means 
is that for example when the clocks go back an hour in the next few 
weeks, chat will not change to 10 am Pacific, 1pm Eastern, 6 pm UK; 
it will still be 11 am, 2 pm, 7 pm.  Yep, a slight issue, but iirc, 
the UK changes a week or so before the US (can't remember about Aus, 
but unfortunately, very difficult to work out a time when we can 
accomodate all zones), so it's just a short blip.  :-)

Speaking of time zones, look at this great site:
http://www.timeanddate.com/

I've set up a "Personal World Clock" there, cities around the world, 
and have a handy link to it.  No more "Okay, wait, what time is it 
there?" when chatting now.  I love this thing...

> It probably doesn't matter, as I think chat just starts when people
turn up - there's no formal opening - but I find that sentence
confusing. <<<

Exactly; the times are loose, just begins when people get there.  Do 
you have some ideas for better wording to make that bit more clear, 
btw?

--Kelley