Things To Do In 2012

As 2011 draws to a close, as pretty much any year draws to a close, people start making resolutions for the new year. The most popular, by far, is to lose weight with other contenders such as quitting smoking, drinking less, furthering education, etc. rounding out the top 10.

I don't do resolutions. Resolutions are often not specific enough and fall into the category of things we say to ourselves on a daily basis as we look at ourselves in the mirror. "I really need to lose weight," or "I really need to quit smoking," or "I really should..." They're often ideas, not goals, which only sets us up for failure. How many of you have formulated a specific resolution like, "I will lose 20 pounds by March 31 in order to look my best for my sister's wedding in May."? Anyone?

The second reason I don't do resolutions is that they are often forgotten or put aside by mid-February. We don't hold ourselves accountable. We don't go back to those resolutions periodically to ask ourselves, "How am I doing?" If that's the case, why bother?

The third, but not necessarily final, reason I don't do resolutions is that they are often singular. Hey, we don't want to make our selves crazy by resolving to lose weight, quit smoking, drink less, further our education AND blog more. That's way too much to work on at once,

This year, I decided that I would do something similar but different. I have a few long-term projects I want/need to work on and a few things I want to learn. With that in mind, I decided to come up with a To Do list for the new year. So, without further adew, adieu, adoo, delay, I bring you my list of 10 Things To Do in 2012.

1. Get the new design/CMS for my celebrity photo site online.
• As I was originally designing the new look and readying to transfer to a new Content Management System, I decided I wanted to re-crop, resize, and watermark all of my pictures. Because of my glasses at the time, I ended up leaning in to the monitor and tilting my head back as I worked... for an entire day. I got a lot done but I was hurting for over a week after that and haven't really picked it up since. It's time to Git 'R Done.
2. Complete one "Book of Me" entry per month
• Part of the reason I keep a blog is to collect my stories. I want to do more with that so by the end of 2012, I should have at least 12 new personal stories collected here.
3. Watch 3 classic movies I've never seen
• I love movies. Plenty of people know that and I will often find myself in a discussion about movies. Many friends have told me I need to see The Usual Suspects. So this is the year I will do that. But why stop there? Let's make it 3 movies I haven't seen.
1. The Usual Suspects
2. Network
3. The Trouble With Harry
4. Finish transferring my dad's Beatles albums to MP3
• I've had the records for about 2 years now. It's time I finished that project.
5. Sort out at least 25% of my "2 Sort" music folder
• It's a collection of music I have acquired that is mis-tagged, mis-labeled or just not sorted into a genre or artist folder yet. It's time to get it knocked out a little bit.
6. Unsubscribe from email lists I don't read
• My inbox is a MESS. It always is. I need to reduce some of the clutter and noise so unsubscribing from lists and newsletters I don't read is a great way to at least accumulate a little less.
7. Leave myself notes to find/look for/open in 1 year, 5 years and 10 years
• I saw this on a list I found on the internet. It actually said to leave yourself a note in a library book and look for it 20 years later. I don't want to invest that kind of time (although I may do it just to leave a note to the finder).
8. Make a short movie, just to say I did it
• This is another one I found on the internet. It said it shouldn't be a YouTube video but an actual movie, with a story. This may be the most difficult to accomplish but it sounds like fun.
9. Learn how to photograph people
• I love photography but I'm not too great at it. I have a camera-shy wife and no kids so most of my photos are landscapes and animals. I'm slowly getting better at that but I suck at portraits. I have a few friends who are professional photographers so I think I'm going to hit them up for some pointers. Now, if I only had a test subject. Anyone want to volunteer?
10. Earn an engineering-level technical certification
• I had a hard time with this last one. I wasn't sure what I wanted to put on the list. I'm not even sure I want this on the list. The fact of the matter is, however, that in order to progress in my job, I need an e-level cert. I have a hard time putting forth the effort for self-study, for various reasons, so I have had a lot of false starts. But here it is, my public declaration that I will do this. I will do this within a year.

So, that's the list. I will type it up neatly, post it where I can see it, refer to it throughout the year and give regular progress reports.

Oh, before I go, I should tell you my resolution for the new year is to take better care of myself. I'm starting to get a little fluffy.

Here's To A "Spiffy" New Year

2010 has not been a fantastic year for me. It has also not been a terrible year for me. A FaceBook friend said 2011 was going to be "spiffy" so I plan to make sure that it is. (is there a resolution in there somewhere?)

My blogging in 2010 was considerably less than previous years but, surprisingly, I find myself with several ideas and updates running through my head as the new year dawns. I will present them in no particular order since each one finds its way to the front of the line in random and recurring order. Some will be, I hope, eloquent and profound. Others will be random and scattered. Most will probably be the latter.

I will start with my wrist.

Now, see, the job just jumped to the front of the line. It will have to wait since I already mentioned my wrist. I only mention it now to ensure that I come back and give it its turn.

I have had minor problems with my wrists for the last 3-4 years. I'm pretty sure it is the beginnings of Carpal Tunnel or some other repetitive motion injury. It has never been bad enough to go to the doctor and usually only lasts a couple of days.

Shortly after starting the new job I ran down the battery in my car. Someone came along and helped me out with a jump start but I had to push the car out of the parking space so we could access both batteries. After that, my right wrist started hurting bad enough and long enough that I went and bought a wrist brace. I wore it, iced my wrist and took Aleve for about a week and everything settled down.

This week my wrist started hurting again. A lot. I'm wearing the brace again but I really need to get an ergonomic keyboard at work (more on that later - maybe). I think typing on the iPad aggravated it. I will also mention it to my doctor when I see him on Tuesday.

Now for the job. I have read the company social media policy and can, in fact, tell you I am working as an Enterprise Technical Support Analyst for Dell in Oklahoma City. I do phone support for tape backup units of all shapes and sizes. I must, however, tell you that the statements I make and opinions I express do not necessarily reflect those of my employer and the statements and opinions expressed by my employer do not necessarily reflect my own. As a friend of mine puts it: I do not speak for Dell and Dell does not speak for me.

I have been taking calls for about a month now. A lot of it is coming back to me. I sometimes get frustrated when something comes up that I have seen before or that I used to know and can't bring to mind the solution. As predicted, the most difficulty has been in (re-)learning procedures and using the new case management software. I am becoming more proficient every day.

The toughest part has to be the sales tool. technicians are now allowed to prepare quotes for and sell spare parts, warranty extensions, etc. Pretty much anything without a service tag. It's a good idea because I can now give out of warranty customers an answer to the question, "How much is that going to cost?" The problem is a) I am not a sales person and b) It doesn't come up very often. We are encouraged to do a bit of suggestive selling (i.e. I see your warranty is due to expire next month. Would you like me to help you with a warranty extension?) but we're not allowed to push. No means no. The good part is if we prepare a quote and the customer purchases off that quote we get the credit and the commission. The bad part is there is a reason I'm not in sales. Nobody has asked me to make a quota so I'm good with it. I like having the ability to help them all the way through the process.

I'm still loving the iPad. It is sort-of like a giant iPod touch but with more cowbell. I have paid for a couple of apps (one of them being a remote desktop app called SplashTop Remote) and have been hording free apps and paid apps that are temporarily free just like I did do with my iPhone.

The iPad has 3G capability so I can use the cellular network when WiFi isn't available. The problem is that since AT&T dropped their unlimited data plans across the board, I'm afraid to use that functionality for fear of getting raped on data usage charges going over my allotment. An iPad can eat up 250MB easily. I used 352MB on my iPhone last month (thank goodness they grandfathered my unlimited plan) and I don't really use it that much since leaving the last job.

With the iPad I also received a Camera Connection Kit. This is a set of two dongles. One of them has a USB connection on it, the other has an SD card slot. With the USB dongle you can direct-connect your digital camera or your iPhone and the SD slot is self-explanatory. Whichever way you go, the iPad automatically launches a built-in transfer app that allows you to transfer all the photos or to select specific photos to transfer. It is not without its limitations. When connecting the iPhone it will only pick up photos from the camera roll. It does not see any in the photo albums. (this also means that the dongle does not add a functional USB port to the iPad unless you know something I don't) When using the SD card the card apparently has to be formatted from a camera. The iPad does not react if you insert a card full of JPG files. Yet another Apple limitation that seems to have no rhyme or reason.

Speaking of the iPad (still), I have been on the hunt for an iPad case since I got it. When the wife bought hers she also bought one of the Apple cases. We then headed to Radio Shack where she bought a nice leather folio bundled with some other accessories. She used the leather folio for about a day then went back to the Apple case. I have been using the leather folio. This leather folio is actually quite nice. I can't tell you if it's genuine or synthetic leather but it is padded and well constructed. The inside has slots for papers, cards and other small, flat items. There is a leather tab/strap that slides into a slot to keep it closed.

There are a few reasons I have been looking for another case. First, this case does not function well as a stand. I use/wanted the iPad primarily to watch movies on my lunch break and propping it up, even with the strap inserted, I am constantly concerned about it tipping over forward or backward. There is also no "typing angle" available. Second is the way the iPad is held in. It is held in securely but not functionally. On the bottom are two formed, leather corner pieces. The right one partially covers the speaker but doesn't seem to affect the sound. The top is held in with two elastic straps.

From a manufacturing standpoint elastic straps are cheap, functional and easy to install/use. The problem is that they block key parts of the iPad. They always do, it's not just this case. The left strap all but covers the headphone jack and does cover the microphone. It can be pushed out of the way for headphone insertion but shouldn't need to be. The right strap covers the power button which is not a big deal since it can easily be actuated without moving the strap. The right strap also covers the mute switch (formerly the rotation lock switch). The strap has to be removed then replaced to actuate the switch. Sorry, this one's the deal breaker.

At first I thought I just wanted a leather version of the Apple case. These are plentiful on eBay in a variety of colors. Then I discovered something. If I'm sitting in my car (stationary, of course), I can fold the cover back over the top of my steering wheel and secure it in place using the leather strap. Connect it to the AUX audio input on my radio and I have in-car theater! (the photo also demonstrates the full reflective nature of the iPad screen)

This development necessitated a modification of my criteria. My new case needed to be leather, preferably padded, it could not use elastic straps to secure the device, it needed to have the capability to operate as a vertical stand as well as a typing stand, and it needed a closure of some sort to allow me to wheel-mount the iPad. You would think that wouldn't be hard to find. You would be wrong.

Some are WAY overpriced. Some are fun but don't fit the criteria. Some downright suck. Most don't make the cut because of stability issues when using as a stand, cheap materials, or poor quality control. I looked on Amazon. I looked on eBay. I read reviews. I just couldn't make a decision on one that would be right for me without going to the iPad Case Store and touching each one and examining the quality. Unfortunately, there is no iPad Case Store.

In the end, I pulled the trigger on a unit on eBay for $12.00. I figure that way I can see how well the design works for me but I'm not out much if the quality is lacking.

Okay... what else... Ah, Christmas in general.

On Christmas Eve we met my wife's side of the family for our traditional Christmas Eve Dinner at the Olive Garden. This tradition grew out of a desire not to spend my father-in-law's birthday (December 24) alone after his passing. For the last 5 years it has been a fun time of feasting, conversation and remembrance. There has been a lot of controversy on that side of the family over the last year but it was all put aside for the gathering.

On Christmas Day we drove to Kansas City to be with my family. From there we all went to St. Joseph, MO to my niece's house for Christmas Dinner. There was lots of laughter and loudness - just like it should be. It's always good to see my nephews as well. Each one of them thinks very differently from most people and their thoughts and interactions are often amusing to behold.

I, of course, brought my camera and took several pictures - including some group portraits. Using the Camera Connection Kit I uploaded them to my iPad and started showing people pictures of themselves. In short order someone else was holding my iPad with several others gathered around looking at all of the pictures. It was really cool to see.

Well, I've been sitting here for a couple of hours working on this and I think I (and you) have had quite enough. Here's wishing 2011 is as "spiffy" for you as I plan on mine being.

Downtime

I'm still here. I'm having one of those periods where I have plenty to say but just don't have enough of the whateveritis that makes me do this in the first place to actually post anything. Readjusting some priorities, I guess. I'll be back in full swing one of these days.

Now the drive-by update:

• The work situation is MUCH improved
• My HTC Fuze is getting flakier by the day
• I'm sure a full reset would help but I'm waiting for the launch of the iPhone 4
• Scored a quesadilla grill @ a garage sale for $8 abt a month ago
  
• Can't stop using it
• Came home for lunch one day to find a small tarantula hanging out by the door
• Shooed him away with a stick
• Next day it was a 4' water snake laying in front of the door
• The wife & I were coming home from dinner
• She F R E A K E D
• I'm not telling her about the tarantula
• Been looking for a flash memory camcorder
• Settled on a cheap toy-type at Big Lots but haven't been able to catch it in stock
• It went on sale this morning for $25 and I got one
• It's about as good as an old flip phone cell camera
• What do you want for $25? I'm pleased enough with it for what I want it for
• Working on reworking my celebrity photo site
• The site itself has been setup for several months now
• Finally getting back to sorting, editing and watermaking the pictures - stay tuned

I'm thinking too hard to come up with more so I'll end it there. Have a great holiday weekend and thank a serviceman. Thank you Steve, David, Scott, Beth, and especially mom's cousin Eddie.

Our Love Is Strong

It's valentine's day and I'm in another state. I left the wife at home and headed for KC to spend some time with my nephews. I learned on Friday that they were coming in to go to a car show. I haven't seen them or my parents in a few months (snow storms prevented the Christmas visit) so I made a last-minute decision to head North and spend some time with them.

Don't be like that. I didn't run out on her. I discussed it with her and even asked if she wanted to come. She's in an online Master's program and is in the last week of her current class. She has two papers she needed to work on and turn in. She told me I probably wouldn't see much of her this weekend anyway.

I had a great time at the car show and visiting with the nephews. I texted the wife a couple of times and sent her a couple of pictures (there was a pink Dodge). My plan for today is to stop on the way home for some flowers and I also have a poem I wrote for her (I haven't done that in a long time). I may come up with something else.

A Year In Review 2009

Instructions: Go to the FIRST BLOG of each month for the past year. Copy and paste the LAST SENTENCE of each blog. That is your Year in Review.

January 2009: Actually, I don't think I will make it exempt. Walrus pixel buzzer, Wankel rotary engine, dogs are barking, can't fly without umbrella - TAKE THAT!

February 2009: I probably won't be worth s#!t for the rest of the weekend.

March 2009: I'm just going to go with it. [I should just make this my general philosophy]

April 2009: But it's sucking in dual channel mode now.

May 2009: As an IT professional, it's not every day you get to see something like this in your normal course of duties.

June 2009: Why wouldn't it be pre-set to initiate a sync partnership?

July 2009: Here's to many more years to come.

August 2009: Whoever came up with this concept is a genius! I applaud you but I have to stay away

September 2009: I think once I have this trip/wedding out of the way work will also be settled down enough that I can shift my focus to other things.

October 2009: More later as I discover more of its doo-dads and widgets.

November 2009: Maybe that's why blogs and things like Facebook and Twitter are so popular.

December 2009: Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah/Hanukkah, Joyus Kwanza, Uprorious Festivus, or Blissful Binging... whatever floats your boat.

In reading through some of these I have decided on a resolution this year: To have more direction. It seems I started or said I would start or said I had been thinking about starting several things that never quite got completed.

Happy New Year

Here's wishing everyone a happy and prosperous new year, decade and life. Peace and long life, people!

A Picture Is Worth... A Lot, Apparently

We ventured to Oklahoma City yesterday to get our pictures taken at a studio I will not name (unless you email me - I'll tell you in private). I did not pick the studio nor did I make the decision to have our pictures taken. My mother in law decided she wanted pictures of my wife and I as well as her grandchildren, my nephew and nieces.

The photo shoot itself was not bad. Most of the pictures turned out well. The wife and I really liked one of ours, I liked another one (she didn't - something about her bangs) and the others we staged well but there were problems with expressions, position of glasses, etc. The pics of the grandkids were similar. The work was fine, the photographer was nice, but it was what happened after that really shocked us.

I have been to a photo studio semi-recently so I knew we were going to get a sales pitch, they were going to try to upsell us, and they would do some fancy talking such that we didn't realize how much money we were spending. I also knew that outside of a package, photos are sold by the "sheet" and the sheets are priced such that people like us think hard about just how many copies we need of each picture.

It didn't go exactly as I thought it would. The person who took our pictures was the one selling to us. She really needs more practice at it. What I expected was that she would sit down and go over the packages, starting with the largest (almost $400) and working her way down, limiting poses and reducing picture count along the way. She started by going through the pictures with us, showing all of the poses, including some with optional changes such as sepia tone, Christmas cards, frames, etc. What bothered me about that part was that she kept saying, "this is cute," or "I did this to it, which I think is cute." Sorry, I'll be the judge of what is or is not cute.

From there most of what she said was negative-speak, "we can't do that," "no, I'm sorry," "it doesn't work like that," etc. It really shocked me. My mother in law was obviously getting agitated at being told no at every turn and this girl just wouldn't stop. Here's a hint: If you're saying you can't do something, turn it around and offer something you can do before the customer has a chance to get agitated.

We convinced them to let us buy two promotional packages - one with the wife and I and one with the grandkids - that was limited to a single pose each. We had to get a little snippy and remind them that we had booked two appointments for just that reason and it shouldn't matter that all the pictures are in the same folder to get them to do that but they did. We had a coupon for one package at $7.99 and we bought the same package for the other picture at the regular price of $9.99 (despite the photographer trying to tell us that the regularly priced package was different that what was listed on the coupon - it wasn't). We chose a nice picture of my wife and I sitting on the floor with presents around us and a shot of the grandkids in sepia tone. My nephew doesn't usually let himself get in front of the camera so my mother in law also bought a single sheet of wallet prints of him alone for $19.99. This brought us up to $37.97.

Being a digital couple, my wife and I inquired about a studio CD that included digital versions of all of the shots from the session. We quickly declined when they said they wanted to charge us $200 for it. I kind-of understand that because, since they include a print/copyright release, anyone they sell this to is never coming back for more prints.

The photographer went to ring everything up and after about a minute came back to tell us she had forgotten to include the $5 subject fee per package for having more than one person in the shot so that brought us up to $47.97.

I wasn't keeping tabs on the total in my head so when all was said and done I asked my mother in law what the final total was. "It ended up being seventy-four something."

"How did we get to $74?"

"Apparently, there's an 'enhancement' fee [for the sepia print]."

Sheesh. I knew it was going to be hard keeping the price down but I didn't realize that we were going to get nickel-and-dimed to death. I don't go to studios for pictures much but the next time I do I don't think I'll be going back there.

One Week

This past week has been a whole heck of a lot busier than I expected it to be. Finals week was last week so most of the students (except those that work in the vet hospital) are gone until January. The administration/classroom building where I work is relatively quiet.

We have a few small computer labs sprinkled about for the students to use to access the internet, printers, network resources, etc. The computers use a third-party program to allow the students to log in using their own names and passwords. This program, in turn, asks the directory servers if they got it right. The program needs to give the directory servers a name and password the directory server recognizes so the program uses what we call a service account. It was time to change the password on the service account so I had to refresh the software on all of the lab computers. It's not terribly hard since we use a program called Ghost to take a snapshot of one computer we updated and copy that snapshot out to all of the lab machines. We could do all of them at once but we do it in batches due to geography. It takes most of a day to accomplish.

Now comes the really busy part. Besides learning about all of the lab machines you didn't know were out there, there are several computers in the department that log in automatically... using the service account. It didn't hit me until later that the password needed to be updated on each of them as well. And I don't have a clue where all of them are.

The process is relatively simple. I have to disable the drive protection program we use (you could delete half the hard drive and a reboot would put it back where it was), run a registry file that takes about a second to update the password, then re-enable the protection program. depending on the age of the computer, it takes anywhere from 3 to 10 minutes (a lot of them are somewhat slow). The problem is that you have to touch each computer using this method. The Ghost thing is impractical since the hardware and software can be vastly different.

Some of the auto-login computers were easy to find and clustered (like around the nurses station in the small animal area of the hospital). With others I can only be reactive, responding to a call that it keeps asking to renew credentials or some such error. Still others I notice as I walk by and update before anyone knows it was broken.

This process, a couple of long-standing issues, and regular calls have kept me largely away from my desk for most of the week. I've been getting a lot of exercise, though.

This week I also helped a friend set up a new computer. Between last night and Tuesday night, I spent about six hours with her. I was technician and teacher actually physically setting up the computer, installing software, getting the two computers to talk to each other over the network, going over the basics of Windows 7, and helping her to understand how to copy her data from her old computer to the new one (don't even go down the files and settings transfer road - or whatever they're calling it now. We tried that. The older computer didn't like it... not at all). With that, I've seen my wife this week about as much as I've seen my desk chair... which ain't much so I am infinitely glad it's Friday.

To top it off, it's one week until Christmas!!! (see, there I go again tying the title to the start and the end of the post) Everyone have a good time and safe journeys in whichever holiday you choose to (or not to) celebrate.

Waxing Snowflakes

I seem to be half a step behind in everything this holiday season. It's like I decide to start one of my regular projects and, while I'm casually getting underway, realize how little time I have to finish and have to hit it hard and heavy. It's been that way at work and at home.

Starting Friday evening and all through the weekend the kitchen was overrun with wax. I find candlemaking during the holidays relaxing but this round was barely so and it wasn't just trying to get enough done for gifts.

At the last garage sale where I bought candlemaking supplies I came into some snowflake oil. Snowflake oil gives a mottled or snowflake appearance to candles. I used it for my first two batches and they turned out nicely. Just as a matter of procedure, I washed all of my equipment. The stainless steel items, plastic votive molds and wooden spoons went into the dishwasher (after removing as much wax as possible) and all of the aluminum molds and the pouring pitcher got washed by hand in very hot water and dish soap.

For my next two batches I used pillar molds I hadn't previously used this season and just a couple of the votive cups. As the candles and reserve wax cooled I was surprised to see the wax snowflaking. Remember that I had just washed everything very well and I hadn't added snowflake oil to these batches. Neither the stainless steel double-boiler and pitcher nor the aluminum boiler and pitcher would have absorbed any of the oil from the last batch and the molds hadn't been used yet. The only thing I could figure is that some of the oil had soaked into the wooden spoons and had "contaminated" the batches.

The next batch I washed everything again and used two brand new wooden spoons. Guess what. Snowflakes. I still have no idea why. It couldn't be the metal and I had 'virgin' spoons. If it was the plastic molds, how did the reserve wax in the boiler get contaminated?

I'm not displeased with the results. The candles look fine but I wasn't planning to have every candle with the mottled look. And I'll be damned if I can figure out how it happened.

Another One Of *Those* Posts

It's the holiday season. That means more time spent out of the house visiting friends and relatives and shopping as well as more time in the house making and wrapping gifts or imbibing adult beverages that numb the pain. Whatever the reason it means less time for blogging.

I have been popping up on Facebook a lot more lately. It seems a lot easier. For one, I can do it from my phone so it's more immediate. For two, it's an ideal forum for quick messages that convey my thoughts at the moment. The blog always seems like a blank sheet of paper begging to be filled in its entirety.

Thanksgiving went well. We didn't have "the dinner" until Saturday because it wasn't until Saturday that all the niece and nephews could gather. When we did there was the usual fecetiousness, joke-telling, all-in-fun insults and general mirth. We arrived on Thursday so by Sunday, we were ready to head home.

In general, we did not participate in Black Friday. There were a couple of small items my wife wanted from W-Mart so she got up just before 5am, popped across the street from our hotel to the store, grabbed the 2 or 3 small items she was interested in, and was out of the store less than 45 minutes later. When she returned to the room, she went back to bed.

On Saturday, The Wife's laptop gave out. It was generally unresponsive and completely unusable. I tried everything I knew to try to revive it including installing a brand new hard drive with a fresh load of Windows and flashing the BIOS but it didn't help. Parts for her computer are scarce and expensive. To get a new motherboard would have cost over $200 dollars (assuming we could find one in stock) so we were forced to participate in Cyber Monday where she found a new laptop of the same brand for $400. It was a necessary expense since she is currently in an online-only Master's program. Luckily there was still some financial aid money sitting in her account to help offset (or cover) the cost.

That's about it for now. I'm sure I'll be back soon but in case I miss you, may you all be blessed this holiday season. Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah/Hanukkah, Joyus Kwanza, Uprorious Festivus, or Blissful Binging... whatever floats your boat.

Conversating

It's beginning to look a lot like that time of year again. Just the other day, the wife started asking me about what I wanted to do for Thanksgiving. Surprisingly, I wasn't really ready for it. It didn't hit me like a ton of bricks or anything but I did have a realization moment that, yes, Thanksgiving was not too far away to start making decisions about.

We generally go to either my folks' place or her mom's place for thanksgiving and the other for Christmas. Problem is, I really don't care this year. Just throw me in the car, point me in a direction and I'll stop when we get there.

Most of the reason it really doesn't matter is financial. Wherever we are, we won't be doing much but sitting around after dinner chatting and possibly playing cards. If we weren't barely making the house and car payment we might go to a casino in KC or maybe out to a movie. Since I know I'll be seeing both sets of 'rents before the year is over, I don't really mind who we start with. It should probably be who we didn't go see last year but I don't remember who that was.

At any rate I really need to call my folks just to check in. I think it's been 6-8 weeks since I talked to them.

Whew, now I can stop worrying about not having posted anything for over 10 days.

The Weekend In Review

I woke up Saturday morning feeling fantastic. Of course, when you enjoy a nice cocktail of Demerol and Versed (because of the EGD), you tend to sleep well. The wife and I drove around and visited a few of the sparse garage sales. Nothing to write home about. I think I picked up a copy of "The Last Action Hero" on DVD for $1. No, it's not The Greatest Movie Of All Time but it's kinda fun and for a buck, how can you lose? Oh, and we picked up a small TV for $3 to mount by the treadmill.

After scarfing down a breakfast from Carl's Jr., the wife drove down to Oklahoma City to borrow a larger vehicle from her mother. She's been keeping an eye out for a new, more appropriate, breakfast nook table (we don't have a dining room) and there was one on sale a K-Mart... but it wasn't going to fit in the trunk of a Honda Accord (1998 or 2004). I had other plans.

After she left I set out in search of coaxial connectors (the kind on the end of the cable/satellite TV cable). I knew where the wire in the attic was that leads to the bedroom with the treadmill and we already had a line that runs from behind the TV in the living room that had previously fed the front bedroom that I used to use as my office (I'm now in the back bedroom). We had asked the builder to run an additional line for the front bedroom and he simply clipped the main line, put in a splitter and ran the signal to both the South wall of the living room and the front bedroom from the same main feed. There was enough slack in the cable I had run from behind the TV in the living room that I considered pushing the line down through the wall and swapping out the main feed but the treadmill room is far enough toward the front of the house that I didn't want to work in such a cramped space kneeling on support beams. (go ahead. Read it again. I did most of that wiring work and even I had to read it a couple of times - I'll wait). I decided to splice the cable.

I ran to Wal-Mart but all they had were the screw-on connectors. Can you say 'crappy'? In the end I bought a couple of crimp-on connectors for $2 and paid $11 for a crimping tool at Radio shack. Turns out, the existing line is all-weather coaxial cable that is double shielded, double insulated and slightly thicker than the average cable most homeowners work with. Translation: The connector was too small. I got it on well enough that you can see a picture but it's kinda snowy. I need to find a proper connector and re-do the splice. But I had more plans and didn't really feel like rushing back out to RS. So, I put away my tools and closed up the attic ladder.

I then proceeded to the shed and rolled out the lawn mower. I was a little concerned because a) there was still gas in the gas can (that I'm pretty sure I didn't treat with Sta-Bil) and b) There was still gas in the mower. D'OH! I put it away 'wet' at the end of last season. (In case you're wondering, that's bad. Gasoline does break down over time and can damage an engine). I needn't have worried too much, she started on the second pull. Not surprising since I bought her brand new about 4 weeks before the end of last season (my $7 garage sale special had finally started pushing up the daisies instead of chopping them down).

The front yard wasn't too bad. It was just starting to look a little shaggy. It appeared to be mostly grass, too. I think it's bermuda grass because we're really the only yard on the street that was ready to be mowed (because of grass, at least). The back yard was my main concern. It has needed a 'shave' for the past month. Some of that stuff was downright thick! And, despite running the mower in mulch mode, she only stalled out once.

I chilled out until the wife got home and we loaded up and headed for Tulsa. We might have waited but the dining room furniture was all on sale at K-Mart and the sale ended Saturday. While we were in KC last weekend, we had seen a solid, round table we liked that came with four chairs so we were off to make our purchase. But we didn't buy that table.

When we got there, we found a simpler, rectangular table that had not been on display in KC. It was considerably cheaper, but didn't include any chairs. They had some padded parsons chairs displayed with it that I preferred over the hard wood ones on the other table so we snagged a couple of those while we were at it.

Now it was dinner time. I wasn't being too particular but the wife suggested Olive Garden. I enjoyed a couple of plates of salad (we practically emptied the bowl) with generous amounts of Parmesan cheese grated on top and about half a serving of eggplant Parmesan (also with generous amounts of freshly grated Parmesan cheese in addition to the Parmesan cheese already melted on top of it). We saved some room and elected to have dessert. I had a new Chocolate Ciottoli Cake (Dark chocolate cobblestone cake chunks layered with chocolate mousse and a soft brownie topped with hazelnuts). It was so rich and sweet... up to a point.

About half way through dessert, the intestinal distress kicked in. I had to visit the restroom twice before we left the restaurant. Then, I had to make two stops on the way home. I took something to staunch the flow as it were and things started to settle down a bit. By the time we got home, I had to take another dose and that may have been what actually did me in.

I no longer had any urgency but my tummy was still a bit upset. Basically, it felt like an old fashioned belly ache but it wasn't too bad... at the time. We finally got to bed about 11:30. I couldn't find a comfortable spot and my stomach wasn't settling at all. I finally just got up and went out to the living room where things only got worse. By this time it was about 1:30 or 2:00 am and I was hurting. I was doubled over and on a scale of 1 to 10 I rated the pain at an eight... that's pretty bad.

We discussed the situation some and decided that, perhaps, with my family's penchant for lactose intollerance, I shouldn't have had so much cheese. So, at 2:30 am on Easter Sunday my wife, God bless her, went to Wal-Mart to pick up some Lactaid (as well as a couple of other easy-on-the-tummy food items).

She hadn't been gone five minutes and I just couldn't stand it anymore. I hurt and I was concerned that, maybe, this was some sort of complication from the EGD procedure. I didn't want Lactaid, I wanted to go to the ER. I picked up the phone, dialed her cell number, and heard The Magnificent Seven theme from across the room... she hadn't taken her phone with her.

I did the only thing I could do. I kicked back in my recliner and sat perfectly still. This accomplished two things. First, it gave the cat a nice, warm, stable place to curl up and nap (and get loved on a little bit). Second, it settled my stomach enough that it had become somewhat tollerable (probably down to a 6). By the time the wife got home, thoughts of the ER had left the building - but I was still a little concerned.

I took a dose of the Lactaid and sat still (and loved on the cat) some more. Within a few minutes, the pain was down to a 3. Still worried about a post-procedure complication, I called the hospital operator and asked to have the doctor who had done the EGD paged so I could report my issues. She ended up calling my primary care physician. After describing what had transpired over the past several hours, he surmised that it was most likely something I ate. With things mostly settled down, I went to bed and finally got some sleep.

When I woke up in the morning, there was still some lingering discomfort. We visited the walk-in clinic and, after some blood tests, the doctor there agreed with my doctor's diagnosis that it was most likely something I ate. My mind was at ease that it wasn't a post-procedure complication and life went on. By the end of the day on Sunday, my tummy had settled enough and life returned to normal... but I didn't get a damn thing done on Sunday.

The After Christmas Meme

I was thinking about doing a post like this anyway so when my sister did it, I went ahead and ran with it.

1.What did you get for Christmas (or whatever holiday you celebrate)? A Blu-Ray player and a USB Turntable

2. What was your favorite gift? The Blu-Ray (I got some movies, too)

3. What was the favorite gift that you gave? The digital photo frame to my mom. Actually, it was the 450+ photos on an SD card to go with the photo frame.

4. What was your favorite decoration? Didn't really look at them this year but I would have to say any of them that were at home (whichever home I happened to be at)

5. What was your favorite holiday food this year? The turkey at my MIL's house.

6. What was your favorite holiday candy? Didn't get into the candy this year. As for treats, the wife's pumpkin chocolate chip cookies (search for it on foodnetwork.com)

7. What didn't you get to this year? A 120GB Zune. I really wanted to upgrade. I didn't expect to get it (they're $250) but that's the one that would have sent me into orbit.

8. Did you have snow? Not here. Saw some in KC but haven't had to deal with much of it this year.

9. Are the holidays too much stress? I found this year that the holidays only contain as much stress as you put upon yourself. I flat decided that I was just going to sail along and have a good time. We did several things early to avoid last-minute rushes and if it were up to me, everyone would have gotten their gift in a bag (and not necessarily in a gift bag). It's a good thing the wife doesn't feel the same way.

10. New Year's Resolutions - do you make them? If so, what are yours? I can take 'em or leave 'em

The 2008 Year In Review - Personal Edition

Instructions: Go to the FIRST BLOG of each month for the past year. Copy and paste the LAST SENTENCE of each blog. That is your Year in Review.

January 2008: Referring to the RIAA's pronouncement that the copies a consumer had ripped from his CDs to MP3s on his computer were 'unauthorized,' writer Alyce Lomax said 'a good sign of a dying industry that investors might want to avoid is when it would rather litigate than innovate, signaling a potential destroyer of value.'

February 2008: I am going to learn what I can about the job that I do, advance as I am allowed, and get certified as much as possible.

March 2008: We'll have to do another road trip sometime.

April 2008: So long. Farewell. Aufwiedersehn. Goodbye.

May 2008: WOOHOO!

June 2008: I hope I can last until something changes.

July 2008: Taking a certification test tomorrow - I'll let you know more about it and how it went

August 2008: And be sure to tell him it's from me.

September 2008: Here is to them lasting and more good things to come.

October 2008: Whatever.

November 2008: Update: Running through the installer again while having the comments enabled and showing seems to have gotten the Haloscan comments working.

December 2008: Our cat, Anabelle, discovered the shiny bits of the Christmas tree. I had my phone handy and captured this: [video]

If you actually go back and look at these, you'll see I fudged on a couple of them. One of them ended up being a meme so I went to a "real" post. And since this is my first post of the month and is also a meme of sorts, it will not be appearing in next years review, if I do one.

If you do your year in review, please leave me a comment so I can come see. Happy New Year!

Actually, I don't think I will make it exempt. Walrus pixel buzzer, Wankel rotary engine, dogs are barking, can't fly without umbrella - TAKE THAT!

Resolution Revolution

As we say goodbye to 2008 and, frankly, move on with our lives, many of us pledge to do good things for ourselves and others in the form of resolutions. We resolve to lose weight (I think that's #1), stop smoking, be kind to co-workers, stop kicking kittens, whatever. Invariably, many of these resolutions will be broken (some before the clock strikes 12:01) because the people making them lack... well... resolve.

If you are one of those who can make those broad promises and stick to them, I applaud you. Generally, I do not make resolutions because there's no point. Making resolutions just because you're supposed to make resolutions is like the old, "God, if you get me out of this I promise I will..." prayers. Only once have I actually made a resolution and, for the most part, I was able to stick to it. Why? Because I did it for me and not because I felt I had to satisfy someone else. It took a couple of years for that resolution to become moot (can you guess what it was?).

I have been thinking the past couple of days about any resolutions I might want to make this year (I rarely do it but I often think about it). The past three years have been a maelstrom of disappointments, changes, failures, mistakes and regrets. (There have been many bright spots but happy things just don't go in the same sentence with maelstrom.) "I'm on a ride and I want to get off but they won't slow down the roundabout..." [The Reflex, Duran Duran] I finally feel that life has settled in (please, God, don't prove me wrong) and I am truly where I am supposed to be. I have come full circle in some ways and I am home. (That does not mean, however, that I intend to sit still.)

I have wondered to what purpose was I sent on this journey? The conclusions I have come to - that will inevitably change - have driven me to take a lot less for granted than I used to. With that in mind, I came up with a few resolutions that I think I can stick to.

1. I promise that I will listen more
2. I promise that I will tell the people that I love that I love them and I will do it often
3. I promise that I will appreciate the opportunities that are afforded me
4. I promise that I will thank God more

It's very difficult to put what I am feeling into words and resolutions but suffice it to say I plan to be a better me.

May the new year bring you and yours prosperity, love and happiness.

Simply Blu-tiful

I inaugurated the new blu-ray player last night. I rented Iron Man. The wife kept suggesting all these chick flicks but why would I want to waste my inaugural playback on a chick flick? It's not that I won't watch chick flicks, I wanted ACTION!

I built myself up. I really wanted to be blown away by the picture quality. I wasn't. I also wasn't disappointed. The picture was crisp and clear, the colors were vivid, it was a wonderful experience. It was a beautiful thing!

When I first connected it on Monday night I also played back a couple of standard DVDs to make sure the audio setup was correct and those looked pretty good, too (the blu-ray upconverts standard dvd's). Given the price difference between standard DVDs and Blu-Ray discs (around $10 or more), I will be thinking hard whether or not I want a movie on blu-ray. That is, until standard DVDs go the way of the dodo - which may take a while. Movies like Iron Man with lots of action or those with epic scale like Lord of the Rings will get the blu-ray treatment... they deserve it. Movies that aren't visually special like Bruce Almighty or Wild Hogs don't really gain much on blu-ray so standard DVD is sufficient for me.

I had heard that one of the reasons adoption of blu-ray was not as rapid as hoped was that the difference in picture quality between standard DVD and blu-ray was not as distinct as that between VHS and DVD. Having now seen the difference on my own equipment (and especially seeing what upconversion can do), I agree. I sat watching Iron Man thinking "This looks really great. It's very much like seeing it in the theater." all the while knowing my wife was sitting next to me saying to herself, "I don't see what the big deal is." Of course, I see the differences between composite, s-video and component video connections and she doesn't. Side-by-side she might see it but she just looks at the movie. As long as the faces aren't indistinguishable blobs, she's happy. It took me the longest time to get her to stop buying VHS.

Verdict: I'm in love. For movies where picture quality makes a difference to me, I will be buying blu-ray from now on. For movies where picture quality is not so much a factor, I'll save my money and stick with standard DVD.

UPDATE: The next morning, the wife finished watching the end of the movie (she'd given up for sleep toward the end of the movie). I was retrieving the disc from the player when I switched the input back to the DVR... WOW!! Ginormous difference! The faces on the screen looked almost blurry. Now I'm impressed (but I'm still going to have to think before buying blu-ray - it's not THAT great.)

In addition, the M-I-L bought me the first two Pirates movies and the last Die Hard movie on blu-ray. Woohoo!

A Letter

Dear Santa,

I know that every year I send you a list of wonderfully expensive gizmos, gadgets and blinking black boxes but I want you to know that I do understand what Christmas is about. Christmas is not about what you get but about what you give. I'm not talking about the material things that you give to friends and family. What I'm talking about is the part of you that you give to others.

Some people give of themselves by volunteering to serve dinner to the less fortunate. Some people donate gifts or money to The Salvation Army or Toys for Tots in the hope that everyone will have at least one gift to open on Christmas morning. Some people show up for a family dinner and hold their tongue so they don't argue with the relative they don't get along with the other 364 days a year. Some people go to church and pray for opportunities to serve God and their fellow man.

This holiday is a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. It is also a celebration of the gift he gave to all of us... His life. I refuse to forget that.

For some reason, to me, this Christmas is even more about giving and sacrifices. I don't feel the stress and worry and hustle and bustle of the season. All I feel is the love. The love of family. The love of friends. The love of every living soul on this planet. And the love of God.

So, Santa, I'd like you to do me a favor. As you and your reindeer fly around the world this Christmas Eve and you deliver gifts to all the boys and girls, put a little love under the tree from me. As it turns out, I have plenty to go around... just like Jesus did.

Thanks,
Uncle Bubby

Share The Magic (Revisited Again)

I'm sure by now you're tired of me going on about the HP Magic Giveaway but I'm not tired of entering yet. This round goes to Stop, Drop and Blog. This blog entry gives me a bonus entry in her contest.

Just to recap, HP and Microsoft are giving away over SIX THOUSAND DOLLARS worth of computer equipment and software. The prize package includes four… count them FOUR computers! Here's everything that's included:

• HP Touchsmart IQ816 PC (the screen is touch sensitive)
• HP HDX 18 Series Premium Notebook PC
• HP Pavilion DV4 Entertainment Notebook with Windows Live
• HP Mini 1000 Series Ultra-Mobile Notebook PC (it weighs less than 2.5 poinds)
• HP MediaSmart Connect (connects your computer to the TV)
• HP Photosmart C6380 all-in-one Color Printer
• HP 564 Photo Value Pack (enough paper and ink to print 150 photos)
• MS Office Home and Student 2007
• Dreamworks Animation's King Fu Panda Widescreen DVDs in both Blu-Ray and standard DVD

With all that stuff, you might be asking how could I possibly put all of that to use? The truth is, I can’t. If I kept all of that I would just be hoarding it and being greedy and that’s not what Christmas is all about and that’s not what this contest is all about. This contest is about sharing the Magic. So here’s what I would do:

I would keep the MediaSmart connect and one of the notebooks (probably the HDX) because the MediaSmart is cool and I don’t have a notebook. I would give the mini to my nephew who recently lost his laptop. The other Notebook I would donate to the Angel Tree. The Angel Tree is a program whereby underprivileged families can ask for Christmas gifts from the community. Those more fortunate - and who would be more fortunate than the winner of $6,000 worth of HP computer equipment and Microsoft software? - choose a recipient and donate items from their lists. Generally they’re clothing items or simple toys but can you imagine the look on some kid’s face when he or she opens a totally unexpected, rockin’ Notebook computer on Christmas morning? Oh, and he would get the Microsoft Office software, too. I already have it. And since I’m feeling so overwhelmed with generosity, I would throw in the printer, too. Who knows, a decent Notebook might just inspire one of these kids to become something greater than he ever imagined he could be.

Finally, the TouchSmart PC would go to another site involved in this contest (that shall remain nameless for the moment) who has a charity event coming up very soon. It would be available to be auctioned off during the event so the proceeds could go to charity. Plus, some lucky bidder would end up with a tax break for buying a new computer.

Share The Magic

I've been entering as many of the HP Magic Giveaway contests as I can. Winning over $6,000.00 worth of computer gear would be so cool. Over at Moosh in Indy, her contest asks us to share how we would use the technology and who we would share it with and why.

First, the MediaSmart Connect is getting connected to my flat screen TV. I don't even have HD so it would be the most advanced piece of equipment to be connected to my TV.

I would keep one of the laptops because I don't have one. I'm not sure which one because they're both cool.

Ever since hearing about this contest, I have been thinking about who I would share this with. I could give part of it to family but they all pretty much have computers. I'm not really involved with any local organizations right now so I don't know which would be in need. Then it hit me...

I don't know if they do this where you live but around here they have angel trees. The trees are placed at local businesses and have tags with wishes from children in needy families. They mostly include clothes and toys but I would find one who is reaching for it and asking for a computer (or one that just pulled at my heartstrings) and leave one of the laptops for them... anonymously. I may even do it twice and donate the TouchSmart and the printer to another family.

Anabelle & The Christmas Tree

Our cat, Anabelle, discovered the shiny bits of the Christmas tree. I had my phone handy and captured this: