A few posts ago I talked about the issue that cropped up where I couldn't get my medication delivered due to a problem with my doctor's office. Now that everything is resolved, I waited to hear back from PrecisionRX to schedule the new delivery. When I didn't hear back yesterday (I ignored Wednesday, being a national holiday) I was determined to call today and get that scheduled. I was hopeful that I could get it delivered tomorrow, as tomorrow will mark the second week since the last time I took my arthritis medications.
This became especially important as today I woke up with some swelling in my left foot, my knees and wrists sore, and my back stiff. I'm happy that it took this long before the problems cropped up, as it tells me I do have a generous leeway if I have to go without my meds again. But I also want to get the next injection so I can clear up the soreness now and get back to being mostly pain free.
It took about 20 minutes before I got an agent. I explained the situation to her and she checked my records. Surprisingly, she noted that my shipment was already out for delivery to my office and should be here today! Apparently they received the phone call from the doctor's office approving and renewing my prescription and they acted on it yesterday, shipping it out for delivery today.
I am very impressed with PrecisionRX for actually living up to its promise to take care of this as soon as they got the approval from my doctor. It is the first time a system like this has worked for me in a long time.
July 6, 2007
July 3, 2007
Updates
1. Had doctor's appointment today. Was calm as I brought up the issues. Doctor claimed he was unaware of it, but apologized for it and had his staff call the RX company to get things going again. Now I have to call them back and schedule the delivery.
2. Finally just got my new video card. What really should have arrived on Friday finally arrived today, late in the day. But at least tomorrow is a holiday so I can spend some time checking out my system with the great new video card. I expect to spend many a happy hour tonight installing, updating, and testing it out. CoH and WoW should look spectacular and run very smoothly now. ;-)
A. Addendum note: my last visit to my other doctor brought up extremely low lymphocytes (primarily used in immune system) and high glucose. Lymphocytes were about 150 below the minimum range and glucuse was about 25 points above maximum range number. Neither doctor is immediately concerned at this moment about the glucose, although it could lead to diabetes so will be monitored. Lymphocytes is more of a concern, as it means my immune system sucks worse than usual right now (my scores are generally low, but within range, for this test due to my various medications). If it stays low or if one of my other related test results suddenly spike, immediate action will be taken. This doctor did a quick blood analysis in the office and my results, while still low, were deemed okay (and improved over the test from exactly one month ago today).
2. Finally just got my new video card. What really should have arrived on Friday finally arrived today, late in the day. But at least tomorrow is a holiday so I can spend some time checking out my system with the great new video card. I expect to spend many a happy hour tonight installing, updating, and testing it out. CoH and WoW should look spectacular and run very smoothly now. ;-)
July 2, 2007
Blackmail
So I scheduled my next month's worth of Enbrel to arrive on Friday, June 29, as I am taking the medication every Saturday. I get a call on Friday from PrecisionRX that they cannot send it to me as my doctor has denied the prescription "... until you see him for a follow up."
This is, plain and simple, blackmail. My doctor, contrary to the Hippocratic Oath, is saying, "If you want to continue to feel good, you must come see me." Since I am gearing up for another trip to Canada, this comes at a horrible time and has thrown a monkey wrench into the works.
If the doctor needed me to be seen, I can think of a bunch of different ways he could have made that a lot more clear to me prior to it coming down to this Mexican standoff. For example:
I actually had a follow up appointment scheduled when I left his office last time. However, I got sick and had to cancel. And then his office called me and canceled the rescheduled appointment. They wanted to reschedule right then, but I was going to Canada and told them I would do it when I got back. And then I forgot. I mean, I knew in the back of my mind that it needed to be done, but it was a very low priority compared to the issues at work, with immigration, with the wedding that I have been dealing with, so I just haven't gotten around to it. It never occurred to me that my doctor would withhold medication from me in order to force me to go in.
This morning I called and explained the situation and scheduled an appointment. I asked the young woman if I just had to schedule the appointment or if I had to actually go in and be seen before he would allow my prescription. She told me I had to actually be seen. I told them it had to be this week as I was leaving for Canada next week and had to get my prescription before then. They are shoe-horning me into the schedule tomorrow at 10 am. And I am going to have a few things to say to the doctor when I see him. I may even need to find a new doctor as I find this totally unacceptable.
This is, plain and simple, blackmail. My doctor, contrary to the Hippocratic Oath, is saying, "If you want to continue to feel good, you must come see me." Since I am gearing up for another trip to Canada, this comes at a horrible time and has thrown a monkey wrench into the works.
If the doctor needed me to be seen, I can think of a bunch of different ways he could have made that a lot more clear to me prior to it coming down to this Mexican standoff. For example:
- He could have made it much, much clearer at the time of my last appointment that this would be the result.
- He could have provided me with a simple document that stated this would be the result.
- He could have allowed the prescription and then immediately told his office staff to call me and schedule a follow up appointment. He has my home, work, and cell phone numbers in his records.
I actually had a follow up appointment scheduled when I left his office last time. However, I got sick and had to cancel. And then his office called me and canceled the rescheduled appointment. They wanted to reschedule right then, but I was going to Canada and told them I would do it when I got back. And then I forgot. I mean, I knew in the back of my mind that it needed to be done, but it was a very low priority compared to the issues at work, with immigration, with the wedding that I have been dealing with, so I just haven't gotten around to it. It never occurred to me that my doctor would withhold medication from me in order to force me to go in.
This morning I called and explained the situation and scheduled an appointment. I asked the young woman if I just had to schedule the appointment or if I had to actually go in and be seen before he would allow my prescription. She told me I had to actually be seen. I told them it had to be this week as I was leaving for Canada next week and had to get my prescription before then. They are shoe-horning me into the schedule tomorrow at 10 am. And I am going to have a few things to say to the doctor when I see him. I may even need to find a new doctor as I find this totally unacceptable.
July 1, 2007
Parenting Principles
Disclaimer: I'm not a parent and I don't babysit. So my understanding of how to rear a child is entirely from how I was reared, what I see, and what my common sense tells me.
I went to the nearby Albertsons today. While in the checkout line, the little boy in front of me was playing with the cord they use to block off the closed aisles. I don't know his age, but he barely came up to my waist, so I'm guessing around 4-5. The cord is long, black, and stretches pretty far. His dad told him, "You be careful with that. Don't let go or you'll hit that man there."
The child continued to play with it and, inevitably, let it go and it snaked back and hit me in the groin. Luckily, the snap on it wasn't strong and it didn't hurt.
The man went ape. First he yelled at his child, "What did I tell you? You apologize to that man right now!" He kept yelling that until a crying child walked up to me and just sort of looked at me. Something came out, not sure if it was 'sorry' or just guttural sounds that could sneak out between sobs. At a loss for words, I said, "It's okay" and smiled at the poor child.
Now, I sort of assumed it was over. But the man kept going. The child was scared and didn't understand why he was being yelled at. The man said, "Are you crying now? Crying? No more crying! Do you want a spanking? Is that it? I'll leave you here if you keep crying! Do you want to live the rest of your life at Albertsons? Do ya?"
This child has already been yelled at, had to go up to a complete stranger and apologize, and now he's being threatened with abandonment? I sincerely considered stepping in and trying to diffuse the situation but a) the man didn't look anywhere near going to do anything truly physical to the child and b) he was so unhinged by his son crying that I don't think he could be diffused. So I continued to load my groceries on the conveyor belt.
When I got done checking out and walked my purchased groceries out to my car, the same man was still lecturing his child at the car a few spots down from me. The child had stopped crying and was actually listening at this point and the man had calmed down.
I am not so sure what I saw today was the best parenting strategy available. You can see that your child is scared, crying, and confused. You've made him apologize for the relatively minor bad behavior he had enacted. Why not let it go? I'm not sure threatening to spank the child and abandon him at the grocery store, and then furthering the conversation outside at the car, is the best way to get the point across to a child young enough not to understand what you are saying. Maybe if the kid were 7 or 8 years old with better reasoning skills, I could see it. But as young as this child was, he was just uncomprehending and confused.
I went to the nearby Albertsons today. While in the checkout line, the little boy in front of me was playing with the cord they use to block off the closed aisles. I don't know his age, but he barely came up to my waist, so I'm guessing around 4-5. The cord is long, black, and stretches pretty far. His dad told him, "You be careful with that. Don't let go or you'll hit that man there."
The child continued to play with it and, inevitably, let it go and it snaked back and hit me in the groin. Luckily, the snap on it wasn't strong and it didn't hurt.
The man went ape. First he yelled at his child, "What did I tell you? You apologize to that man right now!" He kept yelling that until a crying child walked up to me and just sort of looked at me. Something came out, not sure if it was 'sorry' or just guttural sounds that could sneak out between sobs. At a loss for words, I said, "It's okay" and smiled at the poor child.
Now, I sort of assumed it was over. But the man kept going. The child was scared and didn't understand why he was being yelled at. The man said, "Are you crying now? Crying? No more crying! Do you want a spanking? Is that it? I'll leave you here if you keep crying! Do you want to live the rest of your life at Albertsons? Do ya?"
This child has already been yelled at, had to go up to a complete stranger and apologize, and now he's being threatened with abandonment? I sincerely considered stepping in and trying to diffuse the situation but a) the man didn't look anywhere near going to do anything truly physical to the child and b) he was so unhinged by his son crying that I don't think he could be diffused. So I continued to load my groceries on the conveyor belt.
When I got done checking out and walked my purchased groceries out to my car, the same man was still lecturing his child at the car a few spots down from me. The child had stopped crying and was actually listening at this point and the man had calmed down.
I am not so sure what I saw today was the best parenting strategy available. You can see that your child is scared, crying, and confused. You've made him apologize for the relatively minor bad behavior he had enacted. Why not let it go? I'm not sure threatening to spank the child and abandon him at the grocery store, and then furthering the conversation outside at the car, is the best way to get the point across to a child young enough not to understand what you are saying. Maybe if the kid were 7 or 8 years old with better reasoning skills, I could see it. But as young as this child was, he was just uncomprehending and confused.
June 28, 2007
PC, follow up
I finished the installation tonight, sans new video card.
It is great to see my PC running at Mach speeds. However, it is funny to see all of this on a simple VGA card with only 2 megabytes of memory. It can only display at 800x600 and is chocking pretty bad on some of the graphics.
If anyone is conversant with Vista's User Experience ratings, my PC is now scoring 5.2 to 5.9 (out of a maximum possible of 6.0) with the exception of the two video ratings-- both of those score at 1.0 (the lowest possible). I have a feeling that will increase when I get the rocking new video card I ordered. ;-)
I may have to pick up a cheap 6.0 PC speaker set, too. This new board is 6.0 compatible and it seems dumb to have my three speaker set plugged into it. We'll see-- sound isn't the most important thing to me.
It is great to see my PC running at Mach speeds. However, it is funny to see all of this on a simple VGA card with only 2 megabytes of memory. It can only display at 800x600 and is chocking pretty bad on some of the graphics.
If anyone is conversant with Vista's User Experience ratings, my PC is now scoring 5.2 to 5.9 (out of a maximum possible of 6.0) with the exception of the two video ratings-- both of those score at 1.0 (the lowest possible). I have a feeling that will increase when I get the rocking new video card I ordered. ;-)
I may have to pick up a cheap 6.0 PC speaker set, too. This new board is 6.0 compatible and it seems dumb to have my three speaker set plugged into it. We'll see-- sound isn't the most important thing to me.
June 27, 2007
PC Parts
I ordered some new parts for my PC from two different companies in order to upgrade to something a little better able to handle Vista and the games I like to play. And, frankly, because I wanted to.
I ordered the motherboard, CPU, and memory from Newegg.com, which is a California company that always has great prices and quick turn around, but I have to pay sales tax. On the same day and about the same time, I ordered a new video card from CompUSA.com online (I would have bought it or done a pick up from the CompUSA across the street from me, but it closed), which has higher shipping rates but no taxes.
I wanted at least a dual-core CPU. My new laptop at work is dual core, as is my wife's home machine, and I am impressed by the differences that makes in a system. Being a gamer, I like all the power I can get, too. However, when looking at the new motherboards, to service the dual core CPU I had keyed in on, I discovered a subtlety: none of those boards accepted my DDR ram (184-pin) memory chips and I couldn't find any that has an AGP port. Not one. So the 2 GIG of DDR ram I bought just over a year ago cannot be used in any MB I wanted, which is frustrating, and my decent if somewhat low-end AGP video card also couldn't be reused in the new system. Having to purchase brand new memory and a PCI video card, especially when I have perfectly good items already, upped the cost of the upgrade considerably. And smells a little like collusion to me, but I won't go into that now-- that may be a topic for a later blog entry.
I found a great deal on an AMD 64 x2 5600+ 2.8 dual core CPU, an ASUS M2N-E motherboard, and two 1 gig Crucial DDR2 RAM memory sticks from Newegg.com and purchased them. I was going to get a BFG Nvidia 7600 with 256 meg of memory video card too, but then I found an eVGA Nvidia 7600 card with 512meg of memory for the same cost with a $30 mail-in rebate from CompUSA. I prefer Nvidia to ATI even though a lot of sites and people say that ATI is faster because every ATI card I've owned has had some sort of issue-- sometimes due to a stranger flickering and poor polygon refresh, sometimes with program compatibility, other times with the driver updates (or lack thereof). So I stick with Nvidia now and am happy. I've had very good results from both eVGA and BFG lately, so look for their labels now.
Like I said earlier, both orders were placed at virtually the same time on Sunday morning. I used the same credit card to pay for both. I used the same shipping priority and service for both. Yesterday I received my order from Newegg.com and have already installed everything into my case and got it up and running (mostly- some things left to do tonight) using an old PCI video card I had left over. Just today I got the "shipping" email from CompUSA.com that they have filed my order and placed it for shipping tomorrow.
When I called CompUSA today about the order, the guy said that they have to verify everything. Well, my order with Newegg said the same thing. CompUSA guy said that they put the 1-2 business days notice to let you know how long it would take. Well, so did Newegg. The CompUSA guy said they have such high volume that it often takes the full two business days-- and that Sunday didn't count as one. Well, I know that Newegg does huge volume in So Cal, at least, and they counted Sunday as one of the two business days.
I wonder if CompUSA just doesn't hold onto some things on their online site for a couple of days. I've made a total of 3-4 purchases from their online site, and all but one of those has been delayed at least the two business days before the order was formerly placed and often didn't actually get picked up for shipment the next day after the order was finalized. While I am sure I will be happy with the video card when it finally arrives, I will think twice before ordering from CompUSA even if they do have a nice deal on something. I do not like this laissez-faire attitude and the length of time it takes to receive things. Newegg has always done it right and right now. That's how I want it.
Anyway, I at least I know the order is finally placed and, if it is picked up this evening and shipped from CompUSA's nearest state shipping yard, I should have it by Friday. I sure hope so, I would hate to get the machine up and running with all this speed and power using a crappy, five year old PCI card. That would mean no gaming for me this weekend, most likely.
I ordered the motherboard, CPU, and memory from Newegg.com, which is a California company that always has great prices and quick turn around, but I have to pay sales tax. On the same day and about the same time, I ordered a new video card from CompUSA.com online (I would have bought it or done a pick up from the CompUSA across the street from me, but it closed), which has higher shipping rates but no taxes.
I wanted at least a dual-core CPU. My new laptop at work is dual core, as is my wife's home machine, and I am impressed by the differences that makes in a system. Being a gamer, I like all the power I can get, too. However, when looking at the new motherboards, to service the dual core CPU I had keyed in on, I discovered a subtlety: none of those boards accepted my DDR ram (184-pin) memory chips and I couldn't find any that has an AGP port. Not one. So the 2 GIG of DDR ram I bought just over a year ago cannot be used in any MB I wanted, which is frustrating, and my decent if somewhat low-end AGP video card also couldn't be reused in the new system. Having to purchase brand new memory and a PCI video card, especially when I have perfectly good items already, upped the cost of the upgrade considerably. And smells a little like collusion to me, but I won't go into that now-- that may be a topic for a later blog entry.
I found a great deal on an AMD 64 x2 5600+ 2.8 dual core CPU, an ASUS M2N-E motherboard, and two 1 gig Crucial DDR2 RAM memory sticks from Newegg.com and purchased them. I was going to get a BFG Nvidia 7600 with 256 meg of memory video card too, but then I found an eVGA Nvidia 7600 card with 512meg of memory for the same cost with a $30 mail-in rebate from CompUSA. I prefer Nvidia to ATI even though a lot of sites and people say that ATI is faster because every ATI card I've owned has had some sort of issue-- sometimes due to a stranger flickering and poor polygon refresh, sometimes with program compatibility, other times with the driver updates (or lack thereof). So I stick with Nvidia now and am happy. I've had very good results from both eVGA and BFG lately, so look for their labels now.
Like I said earlier, both orders were placed at virtually the same time on Sunday morning. I used the same credit card to pay for both. I used the same shipping priority and service for both. Yesterday I received my order from Newegg.com and have already installed everything into my case and got it up and running (mostly- some things left to do tonight) using an old PCI video card I had left over. Just today I got the "shipping" email from CompUSA.com that they have filed my order and placed it for shipping tomorrow.
When I called CompUSA today about the order, the guy said that they have to verify everything. Well, my order with Newegg said the same thing. CompUSA guy said that they put the 1-2 business days notice to let you know how long it would take. Well, so did Newegg. The CompUSA guy said they have such high volume that it often takes the full two business days-- and that Sunday didn't count as one. Well, I know that Newegg does huge volume in So Cal, at least, and they counted Sunday as one of the two business days.
I wonder if CompUSA just doesn't hold onto some things on their online site for a couple of days. I've made a total of 3-4 purchases from their online site, and all but one of those has been delayed at least the two business days before the order was formerly placed and often didn't actually get picked up for shipment the next day after the order was finalized. While I am sure I will be happy with the video card when it finally arrives, I will think twice before ordering from CompUSA even if they do have a nice deal on something. I do not like this laissez-faire attitude and the length of time it takes to receive things. Newegg has always done it right and right now. That's how I want it.
Anyway, I at least I know the order is finally placed and, if it is picked up this evening and shipped from CompUSA's nearest state shipping yard, I should have it by Friday. I sure hope so, I would hate to get the machine up and running with all this speed and power using a crappy, five year old PCI card. That would mean no gaming for me this weekend, most likely.
June 26, 2007
A Sad State of Affairs
George W. Bush has consistently lied to and cheated the American people. His politics have destabilized the world in general and our nation and its economy in particular. He has elected people who have lied to, cheated, and stolen from the American people. Dick Cheney has consistently lied to and cheated the American people. Their policies have created the biggest deficit this country has ever had and put is into a war with no plan, no exit strategy and, at this point, little hope of any lasting success.
Now the Vice President thinks he can claim he is not part of the Executive Branch of the government and that, although they created and passed the laws that are putting them in trouble right now, they weren't meant to be included in it. Hello? If you didn't intend to include your own offices, shouldn't you have stated that in the law you passed and then amended and passed again a few years later? If I claimed something similar on, say, murder, I would be laughed out of the courts and sent to jail.
And that is what gets me so fired up-- these two do these things and then expect that we're too stupid to know better. That they can just continue looking us in the eye and lying to us and get away with it. And, apparently, they are right.
Looking back on it, President Clinton getting a blow job and lying about it seems rather tame, yet we impeached him (but did not kick him out of office) over it. President Bush and his regime has done far worse. Why don't we impeach and remove him?
I simply cannot imagine that the majority of Republicans are proud to have this man as the head of their party. Most of the Republicans I know are very bright, involved people; they must be disgusted at how this Republican is thumbing his nose at everyone, themselves included.
I have contacted my Senators and Representative and asked them to propose Impeachment proceedings. I cannot in good conscience support this current government. I recommend that, if you feel the same, you do likewise.
Now the Vice President thinks he can claim he is not part of the Executive Branch of the government and that, although they created and passed the laws that are putting them in trouble right now, they weren't meant to be included in it. Hello? If you didn't intend to include your own offices, shouldn't you have stated that in the law you passed and then amended and passed again a few years later? If I claimed something similar on, say, murder, I would be laughed out of the courts and sent to jail.
And that is what gets me so fired up-- these two do these things and then expect that we're too stupid to know better. That they can just continue looking us in the eye and lying to us and get away with it. And, apparently, they are right.
Looking back on it, President Clinton getting a blow job and lying about it seems rather tame, yet we impeached him (but did not kick him out of office) over it. President Bush and his regime has done far worse. Why don't we impeach and remove him?
I simply cannot imagine that the majority of Republicans are proud to have this man as the head of their party. Most of the Republicans I know are very bright, involved people; they must be disgusted at how this Republican is thumbing his nose at everyone, themselves included.
I have contacted my Senators and Representative and asked them to propose Impeachment proceedings. I cannot in good conscience support this current government. I recommend that, if you feel the same, you do likewise.
June 25, 2007
Decidedly Unhappy
Sunday was a bad day for immigration related endeavors. First, I walked across the street to see if the Target Photo Studio could provide me with the four near-passport pictures I need. Their camera for taking such pictures is broken until Tuesday.
Next I stopped and got my mail. Noticed an evelope from the California Department of Justice and got a little excited-- I was hoping it was my clearance letter. However, upon opening it, they had returned my form and money order to me with a letter stating that I had to include fingerprints. The original form and instruction sheet was fairly unclear on that, so I took a chance and turned it in without and paid the price. Now I have to stop and get "Live-Scan" fingerprints done and then resubmit everything.
I'm getting a little tired of the one step forward, two steps back progress we're making on this procedure. Hopefully I can get the fingerprints this week, though, and we can move on to the last step -- the doctor's evaluation.
*sigh
Psycho is Right!
Driving to work this morning, I had just started out and was heading east on Bryan toward Culver. The new light at the high school was green in my direction, so I certainly wasn't expecting the black VW bug Turbo with the license plate "SYCOBLN" to suddenly come out from the lane on my left and turn in front of me, causing me to hit my breaks.
The crazy blonde woman then proceeded to tailgate, change lanes erratically, talk on her cell phone, and drive well, well over the speed limit when we both turned south on Culver. The irony is that I wound up behind, beside, or in front of her at every red light, proving yet again that speeding on surface streets just doesn't get you very far.
I believe strongly in truth in advertising and I was strangely pleased that her license plate reflected the reality I saw-- a psycho blonde with no regard for her own or anyone else's safety on the road. I'm just happy that I was quick enough to avoid her making me one of her victims. I wonder how pissed she would have been had she hit me and been delayed while we wait for the police and/or ambulances? Probably would have put a huge crimp into whatever was causing her to be in such a rush, eh?
Stupid.
White Seraphim
As long-time readers know, my favorite PC game is City of Heroes. I have posted many times about my enjoyment and exploits within the game. One of my last posts was about the fact I finally reached level 50 and "opened" the epic archetype in the game, called a Kheldian. Kheldians come in two flavors-- the peace-loving Peacebringers and the antagonistic Warbringers.
Kheldians are, to this game, as Superman is to the rest of the DC Universe. They have more inherent powers, more abilities, and more uses than the average archetype within the game. However, also like Superman, they have a strong weakness in the form of Voids and Quantums, a type of villain that is all too common and one which, even at levels well-below that of the Kheldian, can kick its ass.
One of the things that makes the Kheldian archetype so interesting is two power selections you get before and at level 20. You create a normal "human" hero as you see fit and you get the powers available to the Kheldian from which to chose. You begin play as a normal hero does, except that you already have the travel power Flight available. At around level 12 you can select the "Bright Nova" form, which changes your shape to a "flying squid" and grants you awesomely powerful ranged attacks. However, this is at the cost of any defense and/or damage resistance at all. Since I chose a Peacebringer, and the powers I can select from are mostly melee and ranged, I chose not to take Bright Nova. I felt I was a powerful enough ranged attacker as it is.
However, at level 20, the Peacebringer can select the "White Dwarf" power. This grants the Kheldian a form that is a "tank" class; meaning that it is entirely melee based, draws a lot of aggression from foes, has high hit points and armor/defense, and is a good friend to any class that is weak in melee combat (like Controllers, Blasters, Defenders).
I got the idea for a character called White Seraphim. Mary believes that, when the Kheldian Peacebringer appears to her as a bright ball of glowing white light, it is an Angel sent from God. The Kheldian/Angel asks to merge with her so that she may be made more than she was. Her strong Faith and belief this is a gift from God allows her to merge easily with the Kheldian. She uses her abilities as she believes a Seraphim (a type of Angel typically associated with being the combat arm of the angelic order) would, to rid Paragon City of the evils which infect it.
White Seraphim-original form
I finally reached level 20 with the character this evening and had the exciting opportunity to take the White Dwarf form. I figured, if I get requests for team-ups, this makes me more valuable. If the team needs a "blaster," my original form does a very good job (but is not as vulnerable or as low-hit point as a typical Blaster). However, if the group needs a front-line Tank-type character, I can suffice in that role as well.
Now, the form does sort of destroy the 'beautiful girl with wings' look I had going before, but it is a strong front-line character and I can already see some huge benefits to it.
White Seraphim-White Dwarf form (in case you are wondering, they are naturally somewhat see-through)
I only just took the power and haven't completely tested it out, but it has 3 melee attacks, an AOE taunt, a self-heal, and teleportation as its means of fast travel. The TP travel will take some getting used to, but the other abilities are all ones I've used before on my other Tankers and Scrappers.
So, now, I can really fit in any way possible. At higher levels still, my Kheldian will get a couple of Control powers and a self- and other-heal, will be able to raise itself from the dead, and a huge AOE energy attack that, I'm told, is wicked to see.
I know I've been talking a bit about WoW lately, but rest assured-- I am still playing CoH and loving it. And this new character really pleases me both from a roleplaying and "fun" perspective.
Excelsior!
Kheldians are, to this game, as Superman is to the rest of the DC Universe. They have more inherent powers, more abilities, and more uses than the average archetype within the game. However, also like Superman, they have a strong weakness in the form of Voids and Quantums, a type of villain that is all too common and one which, even at levels well-below that of the Kheldian, can kick its ass.
One of the things that makes the Kheldian archetype so interesting is two power selections you get before and at level 20. You create a normal "human" hero as you see fit and you get the powers available to the Kheldian from which to chose. You begin play as a normal hero does, except that you already have the travel power Flight available. At around level 12 you can select the "Bright Nova" form, which changes your shape to a "flying squid" and grants you awesomely powerful ranged attacks. However, this is at the cost of any defense and/or damage resistance at all. Since I chose a Peacebringer, and the powers I can select from are mostly melee and ranged, I chose not to take Bright Nova. I felt I was a powerful enough ranged attacker as it is.
However, at level 20, the Peacebringer can select the "White Dwarf" power. This grants the Kheldian a form that is a "tank" class; meaning that it is entirely melee based, draws a lot of aggression from foes, has high hit points and armor/defense, and is a good friend to any class that is weak in melee combat (like Controllers, Blasters, Defenders).
I got the idea for a character called White Seraphim. Mary believes that, when the Kheldian Peacebringer appears to her as a bright ball of glowing white light, it is an Angel sent from God. The Kheldian/Angel asks to merge with her so that she may be made more than she was. Her strong Faith and belief this is a gift from God allows her to merge easily with the Kheldian. She uses her abilities as she believes a Seraphim (a type of Angel typically associated with being the combat arm of the angelic order) would, to rid Paragon City of the evils which infect it.
White Seraphim-original form
I finally reached level 20 with the character this evening and had the exciting opportunity to take the White Dwarf form. I figured, if I get requests for team-ups, this makes me more valuable. If the team needs a "blaster," my original form does a very good job (but is not as vulnerable or as low-hit point as a typical Blaster). However, if the group needs a front-line Tank-type character, I can suffice in that role as well.
Now, the form does sort of destroy the 'beautiful girl with wings' look I had going before, but it is a strong front-line character and I can already see some huge benefits to it.
White Seraphim-White Dwarf form (in case you are wondering, they are naturally somewhat see-through)
I only just took the power and haven't completely tested it out, but it has 3 melee attacks, an AOE taunt, a self-heal, and teleportation as its means of fast travel. The TP travel will take some getting used to, but the other abilities are all ones I've used before on my other Tankers and Scrappers.
So, now, I can really fit in any way possible. At higher levels still, my Kheldian will get a couple of Control powers and a self- and other-heal, will be able to raise itself from the dead, and a huge AOE energy attack that, I'm told, is wicked to see.
I know I've been talking a bit about WoW lately, but rest assured-- I am still playing CoH and loving it. And this new character really pleases me both from a roleplaying and "fun" perspective.
Excelsior!
June 19, 2007
Atypical Politics
The G8 countries are Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Together, these 8 countries represent about 65% of the world's economy.
At the recent summit of the G8, an addendum item involved these countries pledging 60 billion US dollars of aid to Africa, to help fight disease and HIV/AIDS. While Bono may not think that is enough, it is still 60 billion more than was earmarked before and certainly no drop in the bucket. What disappoints me is that the US is pegged to provide $30 billion of that total.
Now, granted, that the US has the largest economy of any of those 8 countries. However, Germany and Japan in particular have strong, thriving economies and Canada, UK, France, and Italy are no slouches—they just don't have the same population as we do. Russia's economy comes and goes, but they are still pretty solid. So why is the US taking half of the burden?
When the world asks for UN help or peacekeepers to assist them, they are really asking for US assistance. Why is this?
When the December tsunami hit the Indian Ocean, America barely gave anything to it, in comparison to how we react to many of the crises around the globe—yet we gave more than any other country even in our reticence to send aid!
I am reminded of the story The Open Boat, by Stephen Crane, wherein a group of four men are trapped in a small boat. The four men struggle to reach shore after their ship sinks. Each of the three men uses the refrain, "Can you spell me?" to the oiler, who is the biggest and strongest and is not injured. They need him to take part of their turn at the oars as they row to shore.
However, once they get close to shore, and devise a plan to reach it from the boat through the rocky shallows and pounding surf, the only man who doesn't succeed is the oiler—all his efforts to get them close to shore on the behalf of those with him cause him not to have the strength or energy left to swim to shore when their small dingy capsizes.
I am starting to wonder if America is the oiler. Everyone expects us to bail them out, to be the world's police force, and to be the savior of their particular cause. And we do, as we feel it is our place to be that shining example of what is good and right in the world (even if what we think is good and right seems to have undergone a dramatic shift recently). And each time we do, we spread our armies a little thinner, our economy gets a little weaker, and more of our jobs go offshore and overseas.
Our economy right now is a house of cards. The situation with the so-called war on terror has weakened our strength, our resolve, and our economy in further ways (most especially by the rocketing costs of oil). We have record deficits in nearly every area of the economy. Our moral cache has taken a huge beating since turning our attention from terrorists to Iran specifically. Our so-called allies in France and Russia are constantly undermining our world position and funding those things we have asked them not to (including Iran, North Korea, China, and other rogue nations).
I think it is time for America to look inward. We have many problems here in this country that we are not addressing; homelessness, violence, environmental issues, continuing racial tensions, an economy on the brink of collapse, partisanship, and a judicial system that is running amok. We need to take four years and be more insular. We need to go back to the days of FDR and JFK and create public works or create a sweeping plan that can create jobs, reinvigorate our economy, change the direction of the country, and invest in our future. Something that we can accept the help of the other nations with, if they wish to participate in it, but that we keep primarily here, creating jobs, excitement, and a willingness to invest in our own ingenuity and resolve.
Maybe that plan is simply new road construction, new dams, building more nuclear power plants across the nation, and/or re-doing the levee systems in various places in the country. Maybe that plan is putting a man in orbit around Mars by 2020 or putting a small colony on the bottom of the ocean or up on the moon. Maybe the plan is something global that we simply do primarily at home (like maybe creating desalination plants and agricultural reform to Africa, or bringing the rest of the Americas into the 21 st century and helping them to become more of a factor in the world's economy, similar to the Panama Canal project).
I do not know what it is, but we need to focus for a time on ourselves and seek to solve some of the rampant problems plaguing the homeland. We need to stay out of world politics for a while and let the rest of the world take care of each other. By doing so, maybe the rest of the world will also learn not to rely so much on us.
Now, obviously, we cannot withdraw in a day from all of the things we have our fingers in now, but we can limit our interactions slowly and reallocate money, time, and labor elsewhere over the course of a year or two.
Iraq? We freed them from a tyrant and gave them the building blocks to democracy. It is now up to the people of Iraq to decide if that freedom is worth defending. Until they take up arms against the insurgents themselves, rather than aiding and abetting them, we cannot win there. But, if they do, our capitalistic society will happily move into a free, safe Iraq to make a profit.
North Korea? Why are they so focused on us? They want our money and our business. They look south and see how much a difference it has made to South Korea and they want that. All we need to say is this, "Stop your human rights violations, stop this posturing, open your borders to mutual trade, and our companies will gladly move in and boost your economy. It is that simple. That's capitalism." And then leave. Let them figure it out. Let other nations help them if they have problems along the way. Something similar can be said and done for every other conflict and crises around the globe.
We need to focus on ourselves, solve some internal, home-grown issues, and then reemerge stronger than ever to lead the world. Until we do so, we will constantly be spelling the other nations a little bit. Otherwise, if/when our boat overturns and we are forced to swim to shore, we may not have the strength to make it.
June 14, 2007
A Job Well Done
Most of my time at work is spent revising existing documents, maintaining existing help/source files, or occasionally creating new source documents for a product, feature, or whatever. For these tasks, the only person who really ever acknowledges the job I do is my immediate boss, as she's the only one who is aware of that.
It is somewhat ironic to me that the things I get praised for the most, the loudest cheers, the biggest thank yous, are the tasks that are the smallest part of my day or the easiest to do.
Recently, the manager in IT needed to write a quick and dirty manual to train his people how to use a new little web-enabled log he had created. He was struggling with it, then said, "I'll ask John if he can give me some pointers." I talked it over with him, asked for access to the application, and within 30 minutes had a nice document, well-formatted, with screen captures and a step-by-step instruction guide and definitions. He was so enthused that the next time he had something he didn't even bother to try it himself, he just went to my boss and asked for my help.
Another guy at work needed some help with a PDF. He needed to edit it, but of course a PDF is specifically designed to be locked from that sort of thing. But, as writers, we have access to tools and knowledge that allow us to get in there and do what needs to be done. I couldn't work on that request immediately, so forwarded it to Renee who had it done and back to him in under 10 minutes. He was so thrilled!
The company made the executive decision that all the Trainers should write, edit, and maintain their own training manuals, freeing Documentation up to work on other things. This past week, Cheryl in Training was struggling to get her project done as she isn't a writer, wasn't trained on the applications we use before having all the maintenance dumped on her, and had an immediate deadline looming. She called me for help. I was able to walk over, figure out where she was going wrong, right the ship, and teach her a couple of small shortcuts and tricks to use to make her life easier. Her response was a simple, "I love you!"
Even in my personal life, this has been true. For our Dungeons & Dragons group, I often request to be the secretary for the group. I then can't help myself; I format the document into chapters, add tables and charts, and even scan in the hastily drawn maps of dungeons and towns we make. They frequently wind up with cover-sheets, indexes, TOCs, glossaries, and more. Sometimes I do them as a novel, others as a journal, and sometimes from a single character's perspective (so the factual data is there, but biased by the character's perspective on things). Just things that, as a life-long writer, I can't help but do and feel excited about. My friends have often thanked me for that extra effort, which is always appreciated.
In the six and a half years I've been here, it has always been what are the easiest, simplest, quickest tasks or off the wall request that have provided me the most encouragement and joy in the job. Do you have a similar situation at your job, where the work you are paid to do is overshadowed by the work you do on the side or spur of the moment for others?
June 13, 2007
WoW Support Follow Up
Well, I did send an email back to Tom in Support at WoW. I didn't expect much, but was pleasantly surprised to receive the following:
I apologize for any miscommunication on my part.
If they are bugs the game masters will make that call and collect the data for our testers. Technical support does not do that, we exist only to your game running on your computer. If the game Masters did not collect any bug data then the bug you report may be an intended change to the game, in which case you can access the forums to let your opinion heard about the changes.
If you already reported this to the game masters that's all that needs to be done as they will make the call about whether to report it as a bug. Any changes you want to see can be made as suggestions on the forums.
So, basically, I still wonder why the in-game help menu system does not state this fact more conclusively and clearly. However, it is nice to see I guessed correctly on the reasons for the response I got.
Another Step Closer
I just put two envelopes in the mail at work, to go out today. One is to the California Department of Justice and the other to the FBI and both are for the Police Clearance letters that the Canadian Immigration process requires. Both State and Federal say that it takes 3-6 weeks to process (shorter if you have no record, longer if you do, apparently) and return via mail to me.
This means I am down to two final steps I need to do before we can collect everything and send it in: I need photographs of a specific size/style for the application and the official medical examination.
I still find it a little funny that Canada has such a limited number of doctors who can perform these exams in the So Cal region. The nearest ones are in LA and San Diego, so I will likely have to take a half or even a full day off work in order to do this. I also have to take 5 recent photos, my passport, and any medical information I have with me for the tests. Which I really don't have something official as I've never needed something official-- I just see my doctors, they take care of me, and that is that. So yet another little wrinkle. I also don't really have or keep photos of myself, or even often make it into photos others take. So a second wrinkle.
But, along with the venue, dates, dress, some of the niceties, and church all getting finalized, we are getting closer and closer to the day we can turn in the paperwork and get the immigration ball rolling.
One step at a time.
June 12, 2007
Support
In WoW there is a button with a red question mark on the main toolbar that, when clicked, displays a window with the various in- and out-of-game support options. I was experiencing some minor issues with my Druid, Lorent, and thought it would be a good idea to provide a bug report to Support so that the two items could be looked at and possibly fixed if it was determined they were indeed bugs.
I scanned through the list of associated errors and who to contact about them. The only one that seemed to apply was Technical. However, the window for Support said that Technical issues could not be resolved by the in-game GMs and provided a website to go to in order to see if others have discussed the issue, a phone number to call (ironically in the same area code as I am-- their main support building is the building next to mine at work), and an email address to send the bugs to otherwise.
I tried using the website first. However, in the two months I've been playing the game I have never once received a response other than "Text search temporarily disabled." So searching the site was pretty much out of the question (I did thumb through some pages of the tech support bug forum, but none of the headings looked like the issues I was having).
Next I tried calling the number. After 30 minutes of crappy music, I gave up. So I typed an email and sent it to the tech support email address provided.
Here is what I sent.
I have two technical issues for Druids while shape shifted:
1. I have a Druid character (Lorent, on The Scryers server) who has the cat form. The Cat form, as you know, has increased movement capabilities.
However, when I enter the Deeprun Tram area or just after getting off of a Gryphon, the extra speed is not evident until I reach the tunnel exiting the
tram or for about 10 second after riding a gryphon. I think that, if I change forms (gryphon) or I am still in cat form, that my speed should not
be diminished while in the Deeprun tram area or shortly after getting off a gryphon.
2. When I am in a shape shifted form and reach a gryphon master and click once to bring up the gryphon master's dialog box, a second time to bring up
the flight path dialog box, and then a third time to select where I want to go, I should be automatically shape shifted back to a form that can ride the
gryphon as it is readily apparent that is the task I want to do. I should not receive yet another dialog box that informs me I cannot do that task while
shape shifted.
I thought I was clear and pretty polite about the two minor issues I was experiencing. The first was an issue that may be a bug in the programming that doesn't allow the feature to work properly for a set period of time or until you leave the area. The second was an annoying "feature" of the program that seemed needless-- I have told the program what I want to do, so just do it. There are other in-game things that cause the Druid to automatically shape shift back to his original form (for example, going from Sea Lion to main form when exiting the water), implement that same code for when you click on the travel location. Problem solved, and no need to click umpteen more times to get out of the form, close the error dialog box, and click back into the travel dialog box.
Here is the response I got from Support:
Hello John,
Thank you for contacting Blizzard Entertainment Technical Support. My name is Tom and I will be assisting you today.
I apologize for any inconvenience you may have experienced.
For World of Warcraft the preferred method of reporting issues with the game is through our in game support Game Masters. If you are unfamiliar with how to contact them you can find the information here: http://www.blizzard.com/support/wowGM/?id=agm01257p
If you are unable to contact a Game Master a bug forum has also been set up as an alternative. That forum is located here: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/board.html?forumId=10023&sid=1
While I cannot guarantee a response, I can assure you the report will be read and investigated. Thanks again for taking the time to help us identify and resolve issues like this.
The first paragraph attempting to answer my question says nearly the exact opposite of what the in-game messages said. Maybe he meant to add something that said "your issues are not actually Technical, therefore..." but it does not say that. It doesn't even imply it.
The paragraph after that one says to go to the bug forum (the same one the in-game menu already pointed me to). Now, granted, I didn't say in my original message that I went there already nor that their search engine for the forums seems to be permanently broken. And the rules for the forum state pretty clearly that you are supposed see if your issue has already been addressed before adding a new one. While I know many people could give a flying f*ck, but I actually try to follow that rule. Since I couldn't do a thorough search, I didn't want to add a bug report that may be a duplicate.
It is frustrating to try to point out an area where the game can be improved, trying to follow the company's own listed rules for doing so, and then receive a message that seems to imply that I did everything wrong and should have done the opposite of what the in-game message system seemed to indicate.
How I would resolve this issue if I was Blizzard (the company that produces WoW):
1. Simplify and Clarify what I wanted my users to do within the game. Have a simple message that reads:
Contact the game masters within the game and present your issue. They will tell you whether they can assist you with the issue. If they cannot, they will provide you with a ticket number and an email address and phone number where you can call to get further support on the problem. Make sure to include your support ticket number on all correspondence with the company so that your issue can be tracked properly.
That would be much clearer than the multiple pages telling you what they can help with, what they cannot help with, and making the user determine which category his issue seems to fit in best.
2. No "canned" support response messages. I don't know anyone who has received a canned response who feels it actually answers their question, provides correct information, or makes them feel like they have been listened to. Take the time to train your support people to actually read/listen to the issue, make notes or forward it to the appropriate queue for further review if needed, and then provide an email that says what action has actually been taken. If the volume you receive is high enough that you don't feel your support reps can do that, hire more support reps. If your volume is that high, you may also have more serious issues with your program that requires more investment in QA personnel or better programmers, too.
3. Implement a review process wherein someone reviews the emails/support calls for each month/week/quarter (whatever time frame works for the size of your business and number of calls received) and sees how well the support staff is queue the tickets and if issues in those areas are being addressed (so as to lower the number of support calls about a particular issue).
What is the most ironic of this to me is that, had I not received a response at all, I would be happier. They were minor but annoying issues that I just wanted to bring to the company's attention so they could determine if they wanted/needed to fix them. The shear fact that I got such an irritating response back from support makes my hackles rise and now I'm going to hammer this guy about it until I get a better response than this. So, now, this support guy's work queue will be affected by likely multiple conversations with me about a minor issue that could have been resolved early and easily if someone had just read the initial request and sent me back a message that said "We'll look into it. Thanks for pointing it out." I would not even care if they were lying to me and they simply deleted the email after sending the response. Or an email back that said, "This isn't really a technical issue. Please contact the in-game GMs to help you with this." OK, now I know where to go. Great.
It is more funny to me, too, because I know multiple people in IT and Support jobs. All of them are the types to actually read the message, weigh its value, and respond accordingly. Even when some of the people I know were at the lowest rungs of the support/IT ladder they did this. That sort of response is invaluable to the end user with a problem and I commend each of those who I know for his/her due diligence. It is obvious to me, after multiple disheartening convesation with various support people for various products and programs, that they are the rare breed.
June 10, 2007
WoW
So a friend was playing World of Warcraft (WoW) and I wanted to play online with friends, so I downloaded the free install and played for 10 days. We decided to continue playing so I payed the fee and registered the game.
I'm having fun. I have created a Druid who is by far my favorite character, but I also have a Warrior and a Paladin to play around with as well (all on The Scryers, a Roleplaying server). I am thinking of creating a Mage and a Hunter here shortly, just to see how much I like them.
The cartoony nature of the graphics is visually appealing but a bit over the top. What stands out to me is that the game almost never needs to load. I play City of Heroes (CoH) pretty often, and I love that game, but you have to load for every zone change and instance. I am very curious how they programmed the game to so rarely need to load.
It is funny because, when people think of City of Heroes and put a mental image in their heads, I'm willing to bet that it is predominantly what the graphics in WoW look like. Whereas the CoH graphics are very realistic and natural.
I also did the 10 day trial on Dungeons & Dragons Online (ddo.com) at around the same time as the trial for this game. I truly loved the graphics on that one; very realistic and richly detailed. I enjoyed seeing some of my favorite DnD things personified in the game. However, in the end, the fact that it was the Eberron campaign setting turned me off. I like the Forgotten Realms and Greyhawk campaign settings, I enjoy the classes and prestige classes in the core systems, and I like to have the standard races available. So not having some of my favorite classes and races turned me off a bit.
Anyway, my time in WoW has been fun. My Druid is up to about 27 and is going strong. I have focused on the Feral qualities and abilities, minimally on casting (really only on the buff and healing spells). I really enjoy shape changing into the Bear, Sea Lion, and Cat forms. My only complaint is that I cannot use potions while changed, which leads to my death a little more often than I should be defeated.
For as much fun as I am having in WoW, CoH is having a double XP weekend June 15 through June 17 and I need to level up my Kheldian a few levels (hopefully to 20 and the next new form). So this coming weekend is all set for super heroes!
I'm having fun. I have created a Druid who is by far my favorite character, but I also have a Warrior and a Paladin to play around with as well (all on The Scryers, a Roleplaying server). I am thinking of creating a Mage and a Hunter here shortly, just to see how much I like them.
The cartoony nature of the graphics is visually appealing but a bit over the top. What stands out to me is that the game almost never needs to load. I play City of Heroes (CoH) pretty often, and I love that game, but you have to load for every zone change and instance. I am very curious how they programmed the game to so rarely need to load.
It is funny because, when people think of City of Heroes and put a mental image in their heads, I'm willing to bet that it is predominantly what the graphics in WoW look like. Whereas the CoH graphics are very realistic and natural.
I also did the 10 day trial on Dungeons & Dragons Online (ddo.com) at around the same time as the trial for this game. I truly loved the graphics on that one; very realistic and richly detailed. I enjoyed seeing some of my favorite DnD things personified in the game. However, in the end, the fact that it was the Eberron campaign setting turned me off. I like the Forgotten Realms and Greyhawk campaign settings, I enjoy the classes and prestige classes in the core systems, and I like to have the standard races available. So not having some of my favorite classes and races turned me off a bit.
Anyway, my time in WoW has been fun. My Druid is up to about 27 and is going strong. I have focused on the Feral qualities and abilities, minimally on casting (really only on the buff and healing spells). I really enjoy shape changing into the Bear, Sea Lion, and Cat forms. My only complaint is that I cannot use potions while changed, which leads to my death a little more often than I should be defeated.
For as much fun as I am having in WoW, CoH is having a double XP weekend June 15 through June 17 and I need to level up my Kheldian a few levels (hopefully to 20 and the next new form). So this coming weekend is all set for super heroes!
June 1, 2007
Sexy?
I am having a bad arthritis day in my left foot. The center of the foot, just behind the toes but in front of the arch, is swollen and sore. Because of this, I am slightly limping around as my foot fits uncomfortably in my shoe and it feels like I'm walking with a small orb in my foot right there.
A woman at work who doesn't know me very well, she's one of those people with whom I do little more than share pleasantries when we meet in the halls, was walking behind me through the cubicles. I guess she feels comfortable enough with me and our working relationship because she followed me to my cubicle and said, "You have a sexy walk today." I smiled, as this woman knows nothing of my issues and was only commenting on what she was observing.
She went on, "Sort of like The Duke or Cary Grant used to walk."
I thanked her and she went on about her day.
It is true what they say about one man's garbage is another man's treasure. I thought I was having a poor day, and I always hate how pronounced my limp can be when I'm having foot issues (I have this thing about not showing my pain or "weakness" while at work). Yet, to this woman, it was a thing of beauty and interest.
Although the foot still hurts, a smile has brightened my day.
May 31, 2007
The White Whale
Call me Ismael.
I went to Albertson's today for lunch. I ordered the Italian Delight. I said, in my clearest English, "I would like the Italian Delight exactly as it is written up there on that card. Nothing else." The woman to whom I spoke this plea was the manager of the department. I figured if anyone would get it right, understand me, and get me the sandwich the way I want it, it would be her.
Now, the card for the sandwich lists that it comes on a baguette, yet the lady asked me if I wanted it on a baguette... not a good start. It also lists ham, cotta and genoa salami, provolone cheese, lettuce, tomato, pepperoncinis, and Italian dressing. I figured I could remove the tomatoes. The way I ordered it was bound to get me everything else and nothing I didn't want, right?
Well, sort of.
The manager of the department, the only one in the department who lists English as her native language, decided that mustard and mayo are on that list. I've had this argument with her before. She firmly believes that, although the condiments section of the board (up at the top, separated from the sandwiches and ingredients list) says "your choice of," it really means "add to the sandwich unless the customer says not to." Which I don't get.
If someone came up to me and asked for everything on a list, exactly as that list states it and nothing more, I simply wouldn't think to add additional items to it. I may ask them about those items, figuring they haven't seen them or may be unaware they have those options, but I wouldn't just add them without asking.
It comes down to quality of effort, I guess. When I worked retail, if I was ever confused by a request from a customer, I asked rather than assuming. I believed in the motto "the customer is always right" and would do my best to get whatever it was for them the way they wanted it.
So, I sit and eat my sandwich after scraping off the awful mayo and plucking off the tomatoes. The mustard isn't horrible, but combines with the Italian dressing to make an interesting third flavor. I'm going through napkins like mad. The sandwich is overly wet due to having all three condiments (mustard, mayo, and Italian dressing) added.
I guess I either need to stop sailing after the White Whale or let it catch me, destroy my boat, and kill me as I stab at it's heart... .
May 29, 2007
Spam Filter Failure
I think my Yahoo spam filter just failed. I got a flag saying that I had unread messages in my Yahoo email account. I went and looked-- and there were 500 unread messages! Holy crap, I thought, someone must have used my account on a bad online site or something . As I looked, there was only one unread, new message that was actually for me. All the others were spam messages that, apparently, simply made it through Yahoo's spam filter. Now, this filter isn't the best in the world, but it usually keeps most of the flack from my actual Inbox. Maybe one or two a day make it through, but that's typically it. 497 made it through between my checking that account before lunch and that flag popping up shortly after lunch.
Just now I went to check again, maybe 15-20 minutes after having cleaned up the entire list and getting my Inbox back to where it should be. Another 97 spam messages were waiting for me. there were 53 spam messages in the Bulk email folder, so it was still functioning; so why had so many made it into my actual Inbox?
I don't know if this means the spammers have hit on a new concept to get around generic spam filters or if Yahoo's just fritz on me today. Either way, that was an unpleasant thing to see.
May 25, 2007
Good Things Come
I have wanted two things made into movies for awhile now, the Repairman Jack series and The Dark Is Rising series.
Now, while I would greatly prefer that the first book of The Dark Is Rising, Over Sea, Under Stone, be made first (it is the most cinematic of the novels and would make a great jumping off point), I can understand the idea of starting with the second novel. The final four novels all concern the same character while the first book has two other characters who get the whole ball rolling. That might confuse movie goers who are not fans of the series (to have a first movie with, really, only one recurring minor character that appears in the second through fifth movies).
Well, this year we get to see what they did with it:
Next, while this one is not yet even filming, there is a ton of good news about the possibility of seeing Repairman Jack on the screen as a film franchise:
http://www.repairmanjack.com/news.php#12
How often do you read that the author of the books has read and approved of the script. They (he and the producer) are trying to actually bring the character that people know and love to the silver screen. Now, I'm granting that some of the story lines will likely be simplified and streamlined for the screen, but, even still, this bodes pretty well after 11 years of development hell.
Here's hoping they both turn out to be quality productions.
Now, while I would greatly prefer that the first book of The Dark Is Rising, Over Sea, Under Stone, be made first (it is the most cinematic of the novels and would make a great jumping off point), I can understand the idea of starting with the second novel. The final four novels all concern the same character while the first book has two other characters who get the whole ball rolling. That might confuse movie goers who are not fans of the series (to have a first movie with, really, only one recurring minor character that appears in the second through fifth movies).
Well, this year we get to see what they did with it:
Next, while this one is not yet even filming, there is a ton of good news about the possibility of seeing Repairman Jack on the screen as a film franchise:
http://www.repairmanjack.com/news.php#12
How often do you read that the author of the books has read and approved of the script. They (he and the producer) are trying to actually bring the character that people know and love to the silver screen. Now, I'm granting that some of the story lines will likely be simplified and streamlined for the screen, but, even still, this bodes pretty well after 11 years of development hell.
Here's hoping they both turn out to be quality productions.
May 21, 2007
Marriage
We spoke with Father John on Thursday and I continued to question what the Catholic Church required of me as a non-follower. It is important to M that our church wedding be sacramental, (otherwise what is the point of being remarried in the church?) but I also have misgivings and my own beliefs that also need to be considered.
Originally he felt that I would have to get my parents to attest, in writing, to two things: 1. that my baptism did, in fact, occur and that two important parts were followed (use of water and the trinity in the blessing) and 2. that I had never been married. I explained to the priest that I found this to be sort of a dubious in nature, as we all could simply lie in order to get the marriage to go forward. He understood that aspect of things, but said the church requires some sort of good-faith since we cannot find my baptism records and I am not Catholic.
I pressed a bit more and he agreed to call the Chancery office to double-check what was required of a non-Catholic. He phoned us back on Friday to let us know that those requirements were not needed any more. The church would accept my word on things that I was baptized and that I had never been married prior to M.
He answered a few more questions and we put down a temporary date for the wedding-- which we will share with everyone once we can confirm a reception location for that same date. I will say this much for those interested-- we are looking at early September or later if we have to move the date.
Originally he felt that I would have to get my parents to attest, in writing, to two things: 1. that my baptism did, in fact, occur and that two important parts were followed (use of water and the trinity in the blessing) and 2. that I had never been married. I explained to the priest that I found this to be sort of a dubious in nature, as we all could simply lie in order to get the marriage to go forward. He understood that aspect of things, but said the church requires some sort of good-faith since we cannot find my baptism records and I am not Catholic.
I pressed a bit more and he agreed to call the Chancery office to double-check what was required of a non-Catholic. He phoned us back on Friday to let us know that those requirements were not needed any more. The church would accept my word on things that I was baptized and that I had never been married prior to M.
He answered a few more questions and we put down a temporary date for the wedding-- which we will share with everyone once we can confirm a reception location for that same date. I will say this much for those interested-- we are looking at early September or later if we have to move the date.
Border Back
It took nearly an hour to recross the border, as the line was long and they did not have the same number of people working as we expected. The woman at the border was also extra curious about our situation; she did not seem to understand that I had flown to Canada on a visit, that during the visit we decided to go to Calais for some shopping, and now we were returning to Canada for me to complete my visit.
However, in the end, she let us go without a search and without further comment. Just sort of hard to explain.
However, in the end, she let us go without a search and without further comment. Just sort of hard to explain.
May 20, 2007
Border
M took me to the border today on a shopping trip to Calais. We have been slowly inching forward to cross for about half an hour now. I can see the river and we're just about to the Canada side.
We brought our passport and marriage licence just in case. I am using M's BlackBerry to write this.
We are now on the bridge over the St. Croix River.
Sick
We went to see the local presentation of Cabaret last night; first, although this is not my cup of tea play-wise, the cast and crew did a phenomenal job. Two of the ladies in the show were very good singers and the EmCee really got into his role with relish!
However, I was a bit anti-social. I stayed in my seat during the intermission and had to run to the bathroom after the show; turns out I had minor food poisoning or something from the sausage we ate at breakfast. It didn't really affect me until we put dinner on top of it-- then it had something to work with and I slowly felt worse and worse. Made M take me home rather than going to the after-show party and I had some additional issues before going straight to bed.
Feeling better today, so it doesn't appear to be anything more than bad sausage. Wheew!
However, I was a bit anti-social. I stayed in my seat during the intermission and had to run to the bathroom after the show; turns out I had minor food poisoning or something from the sausage we ate at breakfast. It didn't really affect me until we put dinner on top of it-- then it had something to work with and I slowly felt worse and worse. Made M take me home rather than going to the after-show party and I had some additional issues before going straight to bed.
Feeling better today, so it doesn't appear to be anything more than bad sausage. Wheew!
Flooded, Addendum
Alex (M's dad) came over the next day with a good idea; bust up the concrete between the nearby sewer hole and the sump pump and at least get that hole draining to the pump. This good idea seems to have solved all the trouble; it appears that all the drain tile is sloped to cause the water to head predominantly toward that hole with the intent of it draining to the sewer. However, there is no way for the water to actually get into the sewer. Once he busted the hole through to the sump pump, the water has been draining to the pump and it has been going off very regularly. The floor of the basement is not predominantly dry and the stream of water to the pump is keeping the water level from rising too high. Everything seems like it is fixed and back on track.
Last step will be to put a false top on that hole and cover the remainder with hydro-cement to seal it. And, of course, to finish the bathroom so the two holes in there can have the same done to them. But finishing the bathroom is farther off than finishing the first hole.
Her dad is very handy and I think I will learn a lot from him over the years.
May 18, 2007
Flooded
When M has told me in the past that her basement flooded, I believed her but I had no mental picture in my head. Where I'm from, there are really only two kinds of flooding: man made/accidental and flash floods. Neither of which seemed to correspond with what she was telling me; man-made can usually be drained off to a safe place once it is identified and flash floods tend to come like a freight train and then disappear just as fast.
Wednesday night her basement flooded. We didn't know until lunchtime Thursday when I decided to go down and light a small fire to take the chill off. We knew it had been raining fairly steadily for a few days, but we had been down in the basement and hadn't seen any issues, so thought we were in the clear. As I stepped off the last step of the stairs, however, it was readily apparent we were not. The first step, about as far away from the areas that flood as can be, squished from the wetness the rug had absorbed.
We quickly grabbed appropriate shoes and started looking. Nearly every square inch of her basement floor was covered in an 1/8 inch to 1/4 inch layer of water. Her wood piles were getting soaked from below, the few items not in plastic bins were getting thoroughly drenched, and the water had nowhere to go.
M's basement is the same size as her top floor; about 1200 square feet. She has installed walls to make a large main area with the fireplace, wood piles, and a spot for reading and chairs. There is a hallway in the center of the basement and off of it are are good-sized storage room, a nice bedroom, and a bathroom. The bathroom and storage room are not finished, but the bedroom has some furniture in it.
My friend Matt (former math teacher and my general math guru) tells me, with an average of 3/16 of an inch over the entire floor (1200 sq ft), that we had about 140 gallons (530 litres) of liquid down there! To put that into perspective, the average tank capacity of the largest home water heaters is between 40 and 50 gallons. So this was about three times that amount! Those really large aquariums you see in movies that are the same length as a three-cushion couch are roughly 140-150 gallons.
In the storage room is an access to the sewer to which her wash basin is attached. In the bathroom are two other access holes in her foundation to get at other pipes. One is for the tub access to drain, and no one seems to know what the other is for. Anyway, it is from these holes that the flooding occurs. As they are open to the ground below her house, if the water table rises high enough it can just seep right up those holes and into the basement. She also gets a little flooding from her back door, but some landscaping has lessened/negated that aspect.
M knew just what to do with one hole, opening up the sewer valve and letting the water there drain into the sewer. I tried to broom some of the water toward another drain hole near her water heater, but had limited success.
M called her father, who came over with his tools and finished installing the sump pump. This is a device that you install in your floor that the water from the water table or flooding is supposed to find and drain into. When it does, a float raises and the pump turns on, draining the excess water into the sewer. One problem, though-- once he had the sump pump fully installed and working, it didn't start draining! Even the sewer access hole that was two feet away from the sump pump hole remained filled with water, indicating that the water was not draining out and not seeking the sump pump.
We kept the fire burning until we went to bed, and M turned R2, her dehumidifier that looks strangely like R2-D2, on high to deal with the excess liquid. Last night as we were about to head out for a meeting with her priest we heard the sump pump kick on automatically for the first time. So we know it works and we know the water is finally seeking it.
Today, the three holes are mostly drained and the majority of the water on the basement floor is gone. However, the remaining water really shows how many areas are not level in her basement. I lit another fire to help with the water evaporation and R2 is still going full blast. I took a broom and spread out the water in those pools to help thin it out and get it evaporating faster.
I haven't heard the sump pump go off all day today, but the water level has also dropped significantly. Hopefully we are beyond the worst of it and won't have any further issues. However, I am concerned that the sump pump wasn't working all that great last night (we only heard it activate the one time) and that flooding still may be an issue in the future. Of course, the pump will help for sure, but it may not be the only solution to this situation.
One solution that her father recommended is having someone come in and re-do the flooring so that it is purposely not level. Have them slope it so that the entire floor is subtly draining toward the drain by the water heater and the sump pump (which we could leave with an access or drain hole). Also, finishing the downstairs bathroom and hydro-cementing over the two holes there would also greatly reduce the ability of the water to enter in the first place. Water being water, it will always seek the easiest path. If we remove the three easy paths, it may drain more into the sump pump and her issues may be gone.
Coming from the desert, it is an odd experience to see this kind of flooding. Had I been thinking, I would have taken pictures and posted them with this entry. As it is, you can imagine our surprise when we saw the vast amount of water inundating her basement.
May 16, 2007
Jim Emerson's 102 Movies to Become Movie Literate
Stolen from Chris by way of Liz:
1. 2001: A Space Odyssey (hated the first hour and a half)
The 400 Blows
8 1/2
Aguirre, the Wrath of God
2. Alien (great horror movie that just happens to take place in space)
3. All About Eve
4. Annie Hall (meh, not a fan of Woody Allen)
5. Apocalypse Now (still don't know if this is one of the all-time best or all-time worst movies I've ever seen)
6. Bambi (hated it)
The Battleship Potemkin
7. Blue Velvet (Dennis Hopper at his creepiest)
8. Bonnie and Clyde (little movie that could; was in release for over a year before it really found its audience-- you won't see that happen in theaters any more)
Breathless
9. Bringing Up Baby
10. Carrie (that ending still makes me jump)
11. Casablanca (an all-time classic)
Un Chien Andalou
Children of Paradise
12. Chinatown (Jack is in nearly every frame of this picture)
13. Citizen Kane
14. A Clockwork Orange (I hope we avoid this future. Some would argue we lived it and have gone well beyond now)
15. The Crying Game (It's just a piece of flesh, like any other)
16. The Day the Earth Stood Still (a classic sci-fi. Gotta love Klatu)
Days of Heaven
17. Dirty Harry
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
18. Do the Right Thing (overrated, even for its time, but a good discourse on race)
19. La Dolce Vita
Double Indemnity
20. Dr. Strangelove (incredible; Peter Sellers at his best)
21. Duck Soup
22. E.T. - The Extra-Terrestrial
23. Easy Rider
24. The Empire Strikes Back
25. The Exorcist
26. Fargo (didn't get it, don't get it, don't understand why this is considered a classic)
27. Fight Club
28. Frankenstein (have to watch it with the flower girls death scene in it-- makes the story more real and poignant)
The General
29. The Godfather
The Godfather, Part 2
30. Gone With the Wind (I found it tripe)
31. Goodfellas
32. The Graduate
33. Halloween (incredible horror; later versions and franchise took things over the top and made it a violent cartoon, but this is fairly understated and creepy)
A Hard Day's Night
Intolerance
It's a Gift
34. It's a Wonderful Life
35. Jaws (an all-time favorite)
The Lady Eve
36. Lawrence of Arabia (incredible movie; David Lean at his best)
M
37. Mad Max 2
38. The Maltese Falcon
39. The Manchurian Candidate
40. Metropolis
41. Modern Times
42. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Nashville
The Night of the Hunter
43. Night of the Living Dead
North by Northwest
44. Nosferatu (closer to Bram Stoker's vision than "Dracula" was)
On the Waterfront
Once Upon a Time in the West
Out of the Past
Persona
Pink Flamingos
45. Psycho
46. Pulp Fiction (piece of crap; waste of celluloid)
Rashomon
47. Rear Window
48. Rebel Without a Cause (never finished it)
Red River
Repulsion
The Rules of the Game
49. Scarface
The Scarlet Empress
50. Schindler's List (incredible movie)
51. The Searchers
The Seven Samurai
52. Singin' in the Rain
53. Some Like It Hot
54. A Star Is Born
A Streetcar Named Desire
Sunset Boulevard
Taxi Driver
The Third Man
Tokyo Story
Touch of Evil
55. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (great portrayal of madness and greed)
Trouble in Paradise
Vertigo
56. West Side Story (I just met a girl named Maria!)
The Wild Bunch
57. The Wizard of Oz (an all-time favorite of mine; can you imagine being in the first showing of this in the theater when she leaves the house and everything was in such vibrant color??)
Some of these I have seen parts of, but never sat down and watched the entire movie. One (Godfather 2) is borrowed from Jay and will be watched in the next week and a half.
1. 2001: A Space Odyssey (hated the first hour and a half)
The 400 Blows
8 1/2
Aguirre, the Wrath of God
2. Alien (great horror movie that just happens to take place in space)
3. All About Eve
4. Annie Hall (meh, not a fan of Woody Allen)
5. Apocalypse Now (still don't know if this is one of the all-time best or all-time worst movies I've ever seen)
6. Bambi (hated it)
The Battleship Potemkin
7. Blue Velvet (Dennis Hopper at his creepiest)
8. Bonnie and Clyde (little movie that could; was in release for over a year before it really found its audience-- you won't see that happen in theaters any more)
Breathless
9. Bringing Up Baby
10. Carrie (that ending still makes me jump)
11. Casablanca (an all-time classic)
Un Chien Andalou
Children of Paradise
12. Chinatown (Jack is in nearly every frame of this picture)
13. Citizen Kane
14. A Clockwork Orange (I hope we avoid this future. Some would argue we lived it and have gone well beyond now)
15. The Crying Game (It's just a piece of flesh, like any other)
16. The Day the Earth Stood Still (a classic sci-fi. Gotta love Klatu)
Days of Heaven
17. Dirty Harry
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
18. Do the Right Thing (overrated, even for its time, but a good discourse on race)
19. La Dolce Vita
Double Indemnity
20. Dr. Strangelove (incredible; Peter Sellers at his best)
21. Duck Soup
22. E.T. - The Extra-Terrestrial
23. Easy Rider
24. The Empire Strikes Back
25. The Exorcist
26. Fargo (didn't get it, don't get it, don't understand why this is considered a classic)
27. Fight Club
28. Frankenstein (have to watch it with the flower girls death scene in it-- makes the story more real and poignant)
The General
29. The Godfather
The Godfather, Part 2
30. Gone With the Wind (I found it tripe)
31. Goodfellas
32. The Graduate
33. Halloween (incredible horror; later versions and franchise took things over the top and made it a violent cartoon, but this is fairly understated and creepy)
A Hard Day's Night
Intolerance
It's a Gift
34. It's a Wonderful Life
35. Jaws (an all-time favorite)
The Lady Eve
36. Lawrence of Arabia (incredible movie; David Lean at his best)
M
37. Mad Max 2
38. The Maltese Falcon
39. The Manchurian Candidate
40. Metropolis
41. Modern Times
42. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Nashville
The Night of the Hunter
43. Night of the Living Dead
North by Northwest
44. Nosferatu (closer to Bram Stoker's vision than "Dracula" was)
On the Waterfront
Once Upon a Time in the West
Out of the Past
Persona
Pink Flamingos
45. Psycho
46. Pulp Fiction (piece of crap; waste of celluloid)
Rashomon
47. Rear Window
48. Rebel Without a Cause (never finished it)
Red River
Repulsion
The Rules of the Game
49. Scarface
The Scarlet Empress
50. Schindler's List (incredible movie)
51. The Searchers
The Seven Samurai
52. Singin' in the Rain
53. Some Like It Hot
54. A Star Is Born
A Streetcar Named Desire
Sunset Boulevard
Taxi Driver
The Third Man
Tokyo Story
Touch of Evil
55. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (great portrayal of madness and greed)
Trouble in Paradise
Vertigo
56. West Side Story (I just met a girl named Maria!)
The Wild Bunch
57. The Wizard of Oz (an all-time favorite of mine; can you imagine being in the first showing of this in the theater when she leaves the house and everything was in such vibrant color??)
Some of these I have seen parts of, but never sat down and watched the entire movie. One (Godfather 2) is borrowed from Jay and will be watched in the next week and a half.
May 15, 2007
Garfield Humor
Hopefully I'm not this bad. I do take fashion advice and I rarely go clothes shopping without a qualified female around. It is the only
May 10, 2007
Workplace Rules
I am the type of person who tells you if you have snot on your nose, food in your teeth, smeared lipstick, dirt, etc. I figure, I would want someone else to tell me so I don't go through the day thinking everything is okay while secretly I have a big something on my face making everyone stare, so why wouldn't another person want to know. Generally, I try to be specific and kind in the way I tell the person, to minimize their embarrassment and allow them to correct the issue as quickly as possible.
As I was returning from the bathroom, a woman in front of me was also returning. Her skirt had become tucked into her underwear in such a way so that her bottom and both legs were visible from behind.
My first response was to catch her and quietly tell her so that she could fix it before someone else walked up behind her. But, then, I had a sudden glaring rules issue pop into my head: would she consider it sexual harassment? Would it be more embarrassing having it pointed out by a man than a woman?
I am very touchy about those issues not because of who I am (my personality could care less and I'm not very politically correct in general) but because of the threats of workplace policy. A person here can be fired summarily for sexual harassment, so if she felt that was the case, my attempt at helping her avoid further embarrassment could lead to me being jobless!
Luckily, I am fairly quick on my feet. I went to my boss' office, asked her if she could do something for me that I didn't feel it was appropriate for me to do, and explained the situation. She agreed that any woman would want to know but that due to the rules of the workplace and my gender, I had better avoid the issue. She went straightaway and told her and got a profuse thank you from the woman in question. She was "...happy only you noticed." And my boss came over and quietly passed on her thanks to me so that no one, not even the woman in question, need know it was me the entire time.
It is, really, too bad that I had to go that route and involve another person. But with the workplace being so cautious today, and people being so touchy in general, it was better that I stayed an invisible partner in the event than make a comment-- no matter how well-meaning.
May 9, 2007
Sometimes It Works
I decided today to get a new combined cable modem/router. I saw a few when my mother was down shopping for similar and thought it might help with a few issues I've been having with my network setup.
Surprisingly enough, the hardest part was finding the damn modem! I bought the wrong thing at the first store, returned it, and they didn't have the one I wanted for an exchange. So I went online when I got home and figured I would just look at prices and get one when I got back from SJ.
Low and behold, my Best Buy across the street showed it available and in stock. Better yet, they have the In-store Pickup feature. I ordered it, paid for it, and just had to stop by and pick it up.
Got home, plugged everything in, called Cox Communications and spoke with Kevin about the MAC address, etc. and got it all set up.
Then I struggled a bit to figure out from the manual how to set up my wireless protection. Boy, could that use some better technical writing! Finally figured out how to set it up for a modem that doesn't come with the "one touch" setup feature, and have a new password securing the wi-fi from prying eyes.
On a side note, I got a new, much faster laptop for my work PC and I needed to test it by connecting from home. I am currently using it wirelessly to write this blog, proving that a) my new work laptop can connect from home with no issues and b) that my wireless works and the password is in place.
Lastly, I checked to make sure my TiVo can connect using the new modem/router, and it does.
I think I'm all set.
Surprisingly enough, the hardest part was finding the damn modem! I bought the wrong thing at the first store, returned it, and they didn't have the one I wanted for an exchange. So I went online when I got home and figured I would just look at prices and get one when I got back from SJ.
Low and behold, my Best Buy across the street showed it available and in stock. Better yet, they have the In-store Pickup feature. I ordered it, paid for it, and just had to stop by and pick it up.
Got home, plugged everything in, called Cox Communications and spoke with Kevin about the MAC address, etc. and got it all set up.
Then I struggled a bit to figure out from the manual how to set up my wireless protection. Boy, could that use some better technical writing! Finally figured out how to set it up for a modem that doesn't come with the "one touch" setup feature, and have a new password securing the wi-fi from prying eyes.
On a side note, I got a new, much faster laptop for my work PC and I needed to test it by connecting from home. I am currently using it wirelessly to write this blog, proving that a) my new work laptop can connect from home with no issues and b) that my wireless works and the password is in place.
Lastly, I checked to make sure my TiVo can connect using the new modem/router, and it does.
I think I'm all set.
May 7, 2007
Insanity
What does a teacher do?
- Educator: teaches our kids reading, writing, arithmetic, history, sociology, sciences, arts. They also teach socialization skills.
- Babysitter: these kids are out of their parents hair and not roaming the streets being hooligans while at school.
- Role model: many kids don't know what they want to do with their lives until that one teacher sparks a response and gets them interested in doing something.
- Mentor: many kids have strained relationships with their parents. Oftentimes, a good teacher can serve the role as mentor, confidante, and parental figure.
- Lawyer and Law enforcement officer: kids often have behavioral and other socialization skills when they arrive at school. Teachers must educate these kids as to right and wrong, moral implications, and, often, the actual law.
- Health inspector: teachers are often the first to notice things like malnutrition, child abuse, mental and physical abnormalities, and other problems that children may have or develop. And, with little specific education in all of these areas, they are still required by law to report them to the school and possibly to the proper authorities.
- Public speaker: teachers must spend an hour per class, for 4 to 6 classes per day and for 20 to 50 students per class speaking to the public, dealing with the disruptions from those children with bad manners or behavioral issues, and conversing on a wide range of topics. Just as a comment-- the number one biggest fear in America is public speaking. It ranks higher than death and severe illness as a fear/phobia.
And, of course, the most important aspect of all of these responsibilities is the fact that our teachers are creating the leaders (business and political) of the future. They mold the future adult workforce in general. And the people who will have control of you when you no longer are able to take care of yourself due to illness, old age, or mental frailty.
I am probably forgetting some of the other tasks that many teachers wind up performing for the community. In addition to these varied tasks, the teacher generally has to work 5-7 hours actually on the school site or in the classroom and typically spends at least 3-4 hours each night outside of the classroom in preparation, grading, and other activities to challenge and excite the children. The average teacher I know sees between 120 and 200 students per day in 4 to six classes (Junior High and High School).
A lot of people then argue that a teacher "gets 2 months off every year" as compensation for all of this. However, those people tend not to realize that teachers also don't get paid for that time off. Most people don't understand how valuable those 2-4 weeks of paid vacation are in the overall workforce. Teachers get sick time, which they are generally encourage not to use, and are only paid 10 months out of any year. Or, they can opt to get paid all 12 months, but at the same salary (so each individual paycheck is significantly less, but they get paychecks during those two months they are without work).
All of these comments are to set up this link:
It has taken my mom 30 years and continuing education to reach the full end of the pay scale, and she is still beat on this chart by quite a few jobs that, frankly, do less in a day than she is forced to deal with as a teacher. I am not saying that these other jobs are less important and should be paid less than the average starting teacher salary. I'm saying that what a teacher does is, in my estimation, the most important job in the world. They take care of, educate, socialize, and (de facto) raise our children for us from the age of 5 to 18. Yet they get paid less than many jobs that we all can't help but consider fairly low-pay.
Think about this for a minute: the average salary in the NBA is around $4.2 million a year (the most recent official stats I could find, for 2001-2002 year ). That same amount of money could pay 140 teacher salaries at the average of around $30,000 a year per this NEA article. Which is more important-- a guy able to dunk a basketball or 140 teachers educating and raising our children?
It is insanity that we pay our teachers such a low starting wage and make it so difficult for them to get pay increases. It is no wonder that so many teachers leave the profession after 3-5 years, as the volume of work, lack of pay, and severe lack of respect from the children and parents takes its toll.
We need to do whatever it takes to lure the best and brightest to the teaching profession. One of the primary ways we can do this is to pour the money that deserves to be there into the profession. We should thank our teachers properly for all of the jobs they do for us on a daily basis.
May 3, 2007
Sadly Ironic
This was the quote that came up on my home page when I logged in this morning:
America believes in education: the average professor earns more money in a year than a professional athlete earns in a whole week.
- Evan Esar
Children of Men
Children of Men was far superior to most of the "Best Picture" movies that M and I watched in preparation for the Oscars. I found the story taut and enthralling, the acting very natural and unforced, the art direction incredible, and the cinematography involving.
What I particularly liked was that they just set you into this world, one about 20 years in the "future," give you only the basic idea of what that world entails, and then let you work it out as the film progresses. Of course, the fact it is set in the future makes people categorize this as "sci-fi." Which is too bad; had that label not been applied, this film may have had a better box office and chance at awards. With the exception of just a few scenes, this movie could have just been a war story taking place in any embattled city existing today.
The basic plot is that human beings have become infertile. Those women who can get pregnant cannot carry it to term. It has been 18 years since the last child was born and still no one has a reason or response to the infertility. Either because of that, or just because the world was heading that way anyway, most of the world is at war with itself. England has closed its borders and is trying to maintain its way of life in a world gone mad.
Clive Owen is Theo, just a guy in this world, who is suddenly thrust into the middle of the chaos when his estranged wife asks him for help transporting a mysteriously pregnant "fugee" (refugee) woman to a near-mythical boat operated by the Human Project-- the last free group truly trying to solve the infertility problem. He plays the reluctant but real man with effortless conviction. When one close to him dies, he walks away, slugs a drink from him flask, tries to light a cigarette, and then collapses and cries by a tree. But, when they must move on, he quickly composes himself and gets up again. Owen makes it so believable how Theo just tries to keep putting one foot in front of the other.
Claire-Hope Ashitey is a fresh face as Kee, the pregnant woman. She is totally believable as a confused woman who doesn't know who to trust but knows she must get her baby to somewhere safe. She is running primarily on a mother's instincts, especially as she has never seen another pregnant woman and doesn't know what to expect.
Michael Caine has a small supporting role in the film as one of Theo's friends and confidantes. He is surprisingly effective and robust in the role. He lends a little humor, but not distracting humor, to an otherwise dramatic and somewhat bleak movie.
I respect Alfonso Cuaron's vision for this film. It almost feels at times like you are watching a documentary. The world is so real it is frightening. And that reality, the way in which you just see this world as far as the camera's lens can see, makes it easy to suspend your disbelief and just marvel at the film. It allows you to be totally involved in the film. There is almost no CGI in this movie and nearly all of the effects involve real stunt work and special effects (actual bombs, real buildings, etc.). And it is the smallest details that make the world so believable; the graffiti, the TV ads in the background, the incredible autos and costumes-- the art director didn't miss a thing.
Another part that I found impressive was the music. Or lack of it. For most of the film I didn't hear or notice the music, if any was even in the scene. What music was used was so perfectly placed and made so much sense that it was nearly invisible. In two places, the music is purposefully noticeable and it is almost jarring. However, for those scenes, that is the point; they are supposed to be jarring and make you stand up and take notice. The second of these was doubly incredible because it referenced something that one character said almost in passing really early in the film and plays with it.
Lastly, the film doesn't draw any conclusions for you. You can debate the story, where they chose to end it, and the world presented. You can debate the ethics presented. You can even discuss what you would do in that world. However, don't get me wrong-- the film does end. It just purposely leaves off at a spot with no clear cut solutions or pat answers. Matter of fact, had they put the pat, Hollywood ending on it, it would have ruined the entire film. By leaving it off where they did, the film ends with the same bleakly hopeful note it plays throughout.
What I particularly liked was that they just set you into this world, one about 20 years in the "future," give you only the basic idea of what that world entails, and then let you work it out as the film progresses. Of course, the fact it is set in the future makes people categorize this as "sci-fi." Which is too bad; had that label not been applied, this film may have had a better box office and chance at awards. With the exception of just a few scenes, this movie could have just been a war story taking place in any embattled city existing today.
The basic plot is that human beings have become infertile. Those women who can get pregnant cannot carry it to term. It has been 18 years since the last child was born and still no one has a reason or response to the infertility. Either because of that, or just because the world was heading that way anyway, most of the world is at war with itself. England has closed its borders and is trying to maintain its way of life in a world gone mad.
Clive Owen is Theo, just a guy in this world, who is suddenly thrust into the middle of the chaos when his estranged wife asks him for help transporting a mysteriously pregnant "fugee" (refugee) woman to a near-mythical boat operated by the Human Project-- the last free group truly trying to solve the infertility problem. He plays the reluctant but real man with effortless conviction. When one close to him dies, he walks away, slugs a drink from him flask, tries to light a cigarette, and then collapses and cries by a tree. But, when they must move on, he quickly composes himself and gets up again. Owen makes it so believable how Theo just tries to keep putting one foot in front of the other.
Claire-Hope Ashitey is a fresh face as Kee, the pregnant woman. She is totally believable as a confused woman who doesn't know who to trust but knows she must get her baby to somewhere safe. She is running primarily on a mother's instincts, especially as she has never seen another pregnant woman and doesn't know what to expect.
Michael Caine has a small supporting role in the film as one of Theo's friends and confidantes. He is surprisingly effective and robust in the role. He lends a little humor, but not distracting humor, to an otherwise dramatic and somewhat bleak movie.
I respect Alfonso Cuaron's vision for this film. It almost feels at times like you are watching a documentary. The world is so real it is frightening. And that reality, the way in which you just see this world as far as the camera's lens can see, makes it easy to suspend your disbelief and just marvel at the film. It allows you to be totally involved in the film. There is almost no CGI in this movie and nearly all of the effects involve real stunt work and special effects (actual bombs, real buildings, etc.). And it is the smallest details that make the world so believable; the graffiti, the TV ads in the background, the incredible autos and costumes-- the art director didn't miss a thing.
Another part that I found impressive was the music. Or lack of it. For most of the film I didn't hear or notice the music, if any was even in the scene. What music was used was so perfectly placed and made so much sense that it was nearly invisible. In two places, the music is purposefully noticeable and it is almost jarring. However, for those scenes, that is the point; they are supposed to be jarring and make you stand up and take notice. The second of these was doubly incredible because it referenced something that one character said almost in passing really early in the film and plays with it.
Lastly, the film doesn't draw any conclusions for you. You can debate the story, where they chose to end it, and the world presented. You can debate the ethics presented. You can even discuss what you would do in that world. However, don't get me wrong-- the film does end. It just purposely leaves off at a spot with no clear cut solutions or pat answers. Matter of fact, had they put the pat, Hollywood ending on it, it would have ruined the entire film. By leaving it off where they did, the film ends with the same bleakly hopeful note it plays throughout.
May 2, 2007
Not How an MVP Should Play
While I am a Lakers fan through and through, I watch other teams and watch a lot of the playoffs, no matter who is playing.
Last night's Mavericks/Warriors game was an interesting one. I like watching Nowitzki play, so was excited about this game. Dallas came out fast and played hard, getting the early lead, and the arena was jumping. However, Golden State played tough, kept chipping away, and slowly caught up to them.
I had never bought into the "Nowitzki is a soft player" rumors and innuendo until this game. Yes, I had seen some soft play and, yes, he takes way too many fall away jump shots for a seven footer playing against guys 4-6 inches shorter and nowhere near as good with the ball as he is. I just chalked it up to the difference between the European players and how American players are taught the game.
Nowitzki, as the "best player" on the Mavericks and the likely season MVP, should have been leading his team, setting the tempo, and doing whatever he could to keep the Warriors from catching up. However, that didn't happen. For the third quarter, he was 1-2. But, worse than that, he played with no energy, no passion, and didn't seem to want the ball. Howard and Harris were left to carry the load because Nowitzki wasn't even trying to fight the double teams. He rarely stayed in the post, I almost never saw him call for the ball, and he wasn't crashing the boards at all. He would wander into the post for a moment, and then would fade to the outside and watch as the team played four on five.
The first 9 minutes of the fourth quarter was more of the same. I saw one stretch, from about 9:45 until about 5:15 where he didn't touch the ball at all. Not even as part of their passing scheme as they probed for a good shot. Of course, this was the very stretch where the Warriors came from an impossibly deep deficit to tie the game. Then they started to pull away. An MVP-caliber player doesn't go nearly 5 minutes of a quarter when the other team has the momentum and is making the game close without touching the ball. 'Melo, Shaq, Kobe, Duncan, KG, Kidd, Nash, Wade... they demand the ball and take over the game and keep the boot on the throat of the other team when they are down. They don't stand behind the 3-point line and watch their teammates failing.
Everyone is talking about Nowitzki's two 3-pointers when the Mavs were down 12 with about 3 minutes to go and how he scored nearly all of the points for the team in the final minutes. Why isn't anyone talking about the 21 minutes prior to that where, if he had played with the same passion and ability, Golden State wouldn't have caught up, wouldn't have taken the lead, and wouldn't have had any hope at all? Why isn't anyone mentioning that, if Nowitzki had played like an MVP for the entire game, the Warriors never would have threatened or taken the lead?
The best player on the Mavericks has been Josh Howard. He's been pretty consistent, has brought the needed energy, and has battled whenever the team was down. He's the one I see fighting through double teams, calling for the ball, and driving through the lane and getting to the foul line. I haven't seen the same effort or play from Nowitzki, even in the wins.
Makes me wonder-- Nowitzki may not even be the best player on his own team let alone in the league. How can he be such a "lock" for league MVP?
Last night's Mavericks/Warriors game was an interesting one. I like watching Nowitzki play, so was excited about this game. Dallas came out fast and played hard, getting the early lead, and the arena was jumping. However, Golden State played tough, kept chipping away, and slowly caught up to them.
I had never bought into the "Nowitzki is a soft player" rumors and innuendo until this game. Yes, I had seen some soft play and, yes, he takes way too many fall away jump shots for a seven footer playing against guys 4-6 inches shorter and nowhere near as good with the ball as he is. I just chalked it up to the difference between the European players and how American players are taught the game.
Nowitzki, as the "best player" on the Mavericks and the likely season MVP, should have been leading his team, setting the tempo, and doing whatever he could to keep the Warriors from catching up. However, that didn't happen. For the third quarter, he was 1-2. But, worse than that, he played with no energy, no passion, and didn't seem to want the ball. Howard and Harris were left to carry the load because Nowitzki wasn't even trying to fight the double teams. He rarely stayed in the post, I almost never saw him call for the ball, and he wasn't crashing the boards at all. He would wander into the post for a moment, and then would fade to the outside and watch as the team played four on five.
The first 9 minutes of the fourth quarter was more of the same. I saw one stretch, from about 9:45 until about 5:15 where he didn't touch the ball at all. Not even as part of their passing scheme as they probed for a good shot. Of course, this was the very stretch where the Warriors came from an impossibly deep deficit to tie the game. Then they started to pull away. An MVP-caliber player doesn't go nearly 5 minutes of a quarter when the other team has the momentum and is making the game close without touching the ball. 'Melo, Shaq, Kobe, Duncan, KG, Kidd, Nash, Wade... they demand the ball and take over the game and keep the boot on the throat of the other team when they are down. They don't stand behind the 3-point line and watch their teammates failing.
Everyone is talking about Nowitzki's two 3-pointers when the Mavs were down 12 with about 3 minutes to go and how he scored nearly all of the points for the team in the final minutes. Why isn't anyone talking about the 21 minutes prior to that where, if he had played with the same passion and ability, Golden State wouldn't have caught up, wouldn't have taken the lead, and wouldn't have had any hope at all? Why isn't anyone mentioning that, if Nowitzki had played like an MVP for the entire game, the Warriors never would have threatened or taken the lead?
The best player on the Mavericks has been Josh Howard. He's been pretty consistent, has brought the needed energy, and has battled whenever the team was down. He's the one I see fighting through double teams, calling for the ball, and driving through the lane and getting to the foul line. I haven't seen the same effort or play from Nowitzki, even in the wins.
Makes me wonder-- Nowitzki may not even be the best player on his own team let alone in the league. How can he be such a "lock" for league MVP?
April 28, 2007
Errors
As this blog is, in essence, my journal, I find it funny that I have so many who wish to correct it. You can even find conscientious editors suggesting incorrect edits for me to make. I wonder if they would appreciate me editing their blog, journal, or personal space? I tend to doubt it. I also find it interesting that I do not see these comments on the wide variety of blogs and similar personal spaces I read, no matter how many misspellings, grammar errors, or typos are there; so what is it about my blog that prompts people to put on their editor's cap?
I know Liza and I know she means well when she suggests edits. She is an incredible writer and I fully recommend you read her stuff. However, for as good a writer as she is, she makes an equal number of mistakes as I do and for the same reason; she doesn't have an editor reviewing what she posts and it is hard to edit your own work. Yet I can't remember ever suggesting as a comment on her blog that she correct her errors and typos. M, my wife, sometimes makes mistakes in her blog. She has asked me on occasion to correct mistakes. When I find them I tell her personally about the errors. I don't post the corrections on her blog.
For those who use the "Anonymous" tag, it is impossible for me to know if they are good, always mistake free writers. However, my own experiences as a writer makes me doubt it. I cannot learn if their blogs or journals are wildly inaccurate because they do not share who they are or where their blog is. Maybe they don't write at all and don't understand how hard it is to edit your own work?
I have stated at least three times before in this very blog that this is where I get out my thoughts and I make no excuses for my errors-- posts are frequently my way to get ideas and frustrations out of my head as well as to communicate with the world. While I am proud of being a damn good Technical Writer as a career, that doesn't mean I am going to take the same care here to have everything I write edited. And, since it is much harder to edit your own work without missing things, I make no excuses for the typos and grammar errors I miss.
My posts run the gamut from 2 am rantings to carefully crafted dissertations on subjects. Most often they are just dashed off thoughts and feelings on things that have just happened. Nearly all of them are topics about which I need to gain perspective and writing them down is one way I use to gain that perspective. I sometimes wince when I reread the posts with the most errors hours, days, weeks, and even months or years later. And I nearly always find changes or mistakes that I could correct. Yet I leave them as a show of how raw the writing was over the subject, or how emotional I was about a given event. Hell, one of my most grammatically challenged posts was partly what led M into my life; so there is something to be said for raw, emotional, grammatically challenged writing-- it could lead to marriage!
While I appreciate everyone's time and effort in correcting my mistakes, do not be surprised when I ignore them. I will continue to do the best I can to edit many of my posts-- and will ignore editing a certain type of post-- but I will also leave the errors I do make up there for all the world to see. It is one way I make this blog feel different from my job and it is another way for me to "keep it real."
I know Liza and I know she means well when she suggests edits. She is an incredible writer and I fully recommend you read her stuff. However, for as good a writer as she is, she makes an equal number of mistakes as I do and for the same reason; she doesn't have an editor reviewing what she posts and it is hard to edit your own work. Yet I can't remember ever suggesting as a comment on her blog that she correct her errors and typos. M, my wife, sometimes makes mistakes in her blog. She has asked me on occasion to correct mistakes. When I find them I tell her personally about the errors. I don't post the corrections on her blog.
For those who use the "Anonymous" tag, it is impossible for me to know if they are good, always mistake free writers. However, my own experiences as a writer makes me doubt it. I cannot learn if their blogs or journals are wildly inaccurate because they do not share who they are or where their blog is. Maybe they don't write at all and don't understand how hard it is to edit your own work?
I have stated at least three times before in this very blog that this is where I get out my thoughts and I make no excuses for my errors-- posts are frequently my way to get ideas and frustrations out of my head as well as to communicate with the world. While I am proud of being a damn good Technical Writer as a career, that doesn't mean I am going to take the same care here to have everything I write edited. And, since it is much harder to edit your own work without missing things, I make no excuses for the typos and grammar errors I miss.
My posts run the gamut from 2 am rantings to carefully crafted dissertations on subjects. Most often they are just dashed off thoughts and feelings on things that have just happened. Nearly all of them are topics about which I need to gain perspective and writing them down is one way I use to gain that perspective. I sometimes wince when I reread the posts with the most errors hours, days, weeks, and even months or years later. And I nearly always find changes or mistakes that I could correct. Yet I leave them as a show of how raw the writing was over the subject, or how emotional I was about a given event. Hell, one of my most grammatically challenged posts was partly what led M into my life; so there is something to be said for raw, emotional, grammatically challenged writing-- it could lead to marriage!
While I appreciate everyone's time and effort in correcting my mistakes, do not be surprised when I ignore them. I will continue to do the best I can to edit many of my posts-- and will ignore editing a certain type of post-- but I will also leave the errors I do make up there for all the world to see. It is one way I make this blog feel different from my job and it is another way for me to "keep it real."
April 27, 2007
It Wasn't Me
I sometimes view the spam emails I receive, especially if it makes it all the way into my Inbox, rather than being caught by my spam filter. Recently, these emails have specifically said across the top, “Based on your web participation and purchases….” The emails have tried to sell me feminine hygiene products, home mortgages, penis enlargement/enhancement products, weight loss products, and, accounting for the bulk of them lately, high-end watch knockoffs. And, of course, sex; it is somewhat amazing how blatantly some spam emails sell outright sex. I was unaware there were so many women in
Now, I have done NO shopping for, nor any sort of web participation in, any sort of feminine hygiene, home mortgages, weight loss, or knockoff watches. And I happen to like the size of my penis—it has served me well for many years now. Lastly, do you really think that, if I needed sex, I would want to have sex with someone who advertises through spam emails?
If there was any truth to the “based on your web participation and purchases” line, I would like to inform them that there data mining program is malfunctioning. Or I’m getting someone else’s spam. However, we know that there is no data mining and that the emails have nothing to do with your web habits; it is just the latest gimmick trying to get you to read and respond to what is sent. It is yet one more bother in a world and society that is increasingly bothered by the unwanted.
Sometimes I think emails should be charged. Even if we charged $.001 per email, the average email user across the country would only be charged about $1 a year (that would be for 1,000 emails). But these companies that send out 200 million spam emails would be charged $200,000—that would quickly make it unprofitable for the majority of spam/bulk emails to invade our homes.
Another way to do it would be to have the option to say all email address are disallowed from sending to my account at all. And then you add the email address you want to allow. No spam filter, no bulk email folder—if you aren’t on the list, the email doesn’t even go to your account. Period. Yes, it would be harder to set up, and would take more time and effort to maintain, but I think I would move to that email account if I could find one with that option. Then, even if well-meaning friends inadvertently use your personal email address or they get hit with a virus that steals their address book, emails from unknown accounts simply wouldn’t get to you.
I can dream.
Cool Old Words
M got me a word-a-day calendar that emphasizes words from Old English
that are not commonly used anymore.
that are not commonly used anymore.
A few that have struck my fancy:
- biwrixle: to change, transform
- skeg: a fool or clown
- skingy: cold, nipping, as applied to weather
- zarf: a cup-shaped holder for a hot coffee-cup... usually of metal and of ornamental design
- snam: to snatch or rob. Mostly used to describe that kind of theft which consists of picking up anything lying about and making off with it rapidly ("snatch and grab")
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)