My world for my family, friend and other passions like the Mac computer, rare books and making the world a better place http://www.piasworld.com/index.php 2010-09-10T22:38:30Z Joomla! 1.5 - Open Source Content Management 2009-11-17T06:02:43Z 2009-11-17T06:02:43Z http://www.piasworld.com/about-pia Administrator pia@piasworld.com

<p><span style="font-family: Helvetica, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><strong>Pia's Worlds </strong>-  sometimes I wonder why one world is not enough? It never has been enough for  me to just be involved with one thing; I get curious about something and want to explore it and learn the why or the how.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px;"><img class="caption" src="images/stories/pia/tuvstarrsm.jpg" border="0" title="One of my favourite John Bauer images" align="right" />So this is a place where I can explore my curiosities, my passions, my interests, <script src="plugins/editors/tinymce/jscripts/tiny_mce/themes/advanced/langs/en.js" type="text/javascript"></script> and share a little. My family is first in my life and my children are my life. We are close whether we are physically close or far apart and I still feel I want to scratch someone's eyes out when a child of mine is hurt ...</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px;"> </p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica;"><strong>Books!</strong> Books have been part of my life for as long as I can remember. Trekking to the library when I was 7, 8, 9, 10 and ever since, carrying home as many books as they would let me borrow. Children were only allowed to borrow 3 books, but could borrow as many plays as they wanted I found, so I would get my 3 books and then as many books with plays in them as I could carry.  Reading was my escape and the characters of many books became more real to me than the members of my own family.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica;"> </p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica;">These days I work with <a href="http://www.independent.com/news/2009/nov/15/gardens-rare-book/" target="blank">rare books  and fine art</a> in an old adobe building which is a national landmark. I began my rare books career in San Francisco in the early 70s at John Howell-Books and am eternally grateful to the employment agency that sent me there "because I was as odd in my skills as the request for an employee who spoke languages and knew literature and liked people ..."</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px;"> </p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica;">One day in the early 80s I walked into a computer store and asked the salesman to help me. He pointed me to a computer and said "play with that" and walked away. I was so turned off by his chauvinistic attitude, as I saw it, that I thought to myself "when I break this it will serve you right!". To my surprise I did not break anything and I actually figured out how to write a couple of paragraphs and I also doodled ... I bought <strong>my first Mac</strong> and have never looked back.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px;"> </p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica;">I love the elegance of code, especially when I understand it  :)!  "Fiddling" with originally Tango, then Lasso, now php, Joomla, FileMaker Pro and various other software is exciting, and can be so frustrating, but, oh so rewarding, when I make it work!  To have one little blank space defy me or having a single quote instead of a double sneaking in ... Like this website which is  a Joomla effort on my part and is a learning experience. Probably will always be a work in progress ...</p> <p> </p>

<p><span style="font-family: Helvetica, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><strong>Pia's Worlds </strong>-  sometimes I wonder why one world is not enough? It never has been enough for  me to just be involved with one thing; I get curious about something and want to explore it and learn the why or the how.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px;"><img class="caption" src="images/stories/pia/tuvstarrsm.jpg" border="0" title="One of my favourite John Bauer images" align="right" />So this is a place where I can explore my curiosities, my passions, my interests, <script src="plugins/editors/tinymce/jscripts/tiny_mce/themes/advanced/langs/en.js" type="text/javascript"></script> and share a little. My family is first in my life and my children are my life. We are close whether we are physically close or far apart and I still feel I want to scratch someone's eyes out when a child of mine is hurt ...</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px;"> </p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica;"><strong>Books!</strong> Books have been part of my life for as long as I can remember. Trekking to the library when I was 7, 8, 9, 10 and ever since, carrying home as many books as they would let me borrow. Children were only allowed to borrow 3 books, but could borrow as many plays as they wanted I found, so I would get my 3 books and then as many books with plays in them as I could carry.  Reading was my escape and the characters of many books became more real to me than the members of my own family.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica;"> </p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica;">These days I work with <a href="http://www.independent.com/news/2009/nov/15/gardens-rare-book/" target="blank">rare books  and fine art</a> in an old adobe building which is a national landmark. I began my rare books career in San Francisco in the early 70s at John Howell-Books and am eternally grateful to the employment agency that sent me there "because I was as odd in my skills as the request for an employee who spoke languages and knew literature and liked people ..."</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px;"> </p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica;">One day in the early 80s I walked into a computer store and asked the salesman to help me. He pointed me to a computer and said "play with that" and walked away. I was so turned off by his chauvinistic attitude, as I saw it, that I thought to myself "when I break this it will serve you right!". To my surprise I did not break anything and I actually figured out how to write a couple of paragraphs and I also doodled ... I bought <strong>my first Mac</strong> and have never looked back.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px;"> </p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica;">I love the elegance of code, especially when I understand it  :)!  "Fiddling" with originally Tango, then Lasso, now php, Joomla, FileMaker Pro and various other software is exciting, and can be so frustrating, but, oh so rewarding, when I make it work!  To have one little blank space defy me or having a single quote instead of a double sneaking in ... Like this website which is  a Joomla effort on my part and is a learning experience. Probably will always be a work in progress ...</p> <p> </p>