A Good Swift Kick to the Head

I hit my head. Hard.

My apartment sports a crappy over/under clothes washer/dryer set. The dryer, on top, has a door that likes to slowly swing shut if you do not put something to block it. As I was doing laundry yesterday, I dropped a piece of clothing and bent to retrieve it without considering the dryer door, which I had left open.

I stood up at full speed and, banged the back of my head into the metal dryer door with a great deal of force.

Luckily, I had folded articles on the washer top. I hit my head so hard I actually ricocheted down and would have hit the washer, but landed on a pile of folded clothes instead of chipping a tooth or breaking/bloodying my nose on the hard metal surface of the washer.

This morning, when I looked at the washer unit, I noticed it was moved back slightly and no longer facing exactly straight—apparently I hit it hard enough to move the unit, too.

What is interesting is that I did not even break the skin or give myself a goose-egg. However, I hit it hard enough to get that coppery flavor in the back of my throat, an instant, splitting, migraine-strength headache, and a bit of a nauseated feeling.

Unfortunately, I did all this around 5pm and I had a dinner get-together with a buddy of mine. I waited about half an hour to see if the symptoms would clear. When they did not, I had to call my friend and postpone our dinner. I felt bad doing it, but I definitely did not feel safe to drive or well enough to be social.

I monitored my symptoms for the requisite four hours; I never lost consciousness and I did not appear to be having any problems remembering anything. Well, no more than is usual for me now. ;-) The nauseated feeling did not turn into vomiting and I had no signs of any bleeding. No seizures or difficulty speaking/making sense.

It is now nearly 24 hours later and my splitting headache is just starting to ease off into moderate pounding. If I turn my head too quickly, I get a weird “slow fade” sensation as though my senses are not quite keeping up with me. And I still have the coppery taste in the back of my throat a bit, although that is finally lessening too.

This makes a few times now I have hit my head hard enough to worry about concussion. As an early teen, riding my bicycle and doing stunts, I went off a jump and landed flat on my back and head, knocking the wind out of me and giving me a slight numbing sensation. I have been hit in the face/head a couple of times playing sports, by balls and bats, that caused the coppery taste and a wooziness. I am fairly sure that the injury when I conked my head on the support bar on Chris’s bunked bed in the dormitories caused some damage. And then there was the time in England when I stood up way too fast and hit my head on the luggage wrack and light switch, knocking me senseless for a few minutes.

Anyone who knows me knows I hate doing laundry. Incidents like this just support that natural hatred—laundry hates me (and, apparently, is out to kill me, too), so I hate it right back!

I continue to monitor the situation and, if everything is not improving by tomorrow, I will get my head checked for permanent damage. Things are starting to improve, so I do not think this will be necessary.

And I need to contact my buddy and reschedule lunch/dinner. I feel bad leaving him in the lurch on such short notice, but I think it was for the best in the end.

Art Imitates Life

Anyone who has ever played any MMORPG, but especially WoW, needs to watch last night's episode of South Park, "Make Love not Warcraft."

I was laughing so hard I had tears streaming down my face!

True Evil

Guns are evil.

They must be—every time something horrible involving guns happens, that is what I hear from the media and from people.

Recently, a man who was having psychological issues both from the loss of a child 3 years ago and from a molestation event that happened 20 years ago, took a shotgun and a 9 mm handgun to an Amish school and killed some children and himself.

He wasn’t at fault; the guns were— because guns are evil.

The guns somehow made him write the multiple suicide notes, call his wife during the incident, and choose a place where he could vent his frustrations without much fear of reprisals—a school. Damn, those guns are evil.

Two other gun-related incidents occurred this week as well. In both cases, children got weapons and took them to school and shot people. It is not the parent’s fault for not properly storing or locking the weapon. It is not the parent’s fault for apparently not teaching the children proper respect for the tool, or forgetting to teach the children that a gun is not the proper response to the travails of life. No, it was that evil gun’s fault for sitting there in a drawer and corrupting those in the household.

Columbine was the gun’s fault. The two children who were psychologically unbalanced, feared by their fellow students for their odd and aggressive behavior, and about whom the police did nothing regarding the many complaints and fears that had been forwarded to them about those two boys’ behavior for the year leading up to the event—they aren’t to blame. If those darned guns hadn’t been around to influence their minds and make them turn bad, Columbine would never have happened.

We can go all the way back to the first incident—that McDonald’s shooting in the early 80s where another unbalanced person took a weapon to a favorite eatery and unloaded, killing multiple people during a rampage. How possibly could he be to blame for that? It had to be the gun.

A growing voice can be heard once again asking why our country does not ban this gun or that gun, or even all guns. That growing voice is asking why we don’t do more to protect the children.

And here is the problem with that voice—we don’t need more laws, we just need the laws we currently have enforced. This country has literally hundreds of laws on the books, both federally and locally, about who can and who cannot have guns, where they can be used, training courses that are supposed to be taken prior to buying or using guns, and waiting periods. Some locations have banned specific types of guns or modifying weapons to make them more deadly. And the guns still find a way into those locations. Those changes still get made to the weapons. And people still manage to buy guns without the waiting periods or without taking gun safety courses first.

We need the police to take complaints against anyone about violent and extremely anti-social behavior more seriously; including funding them well enough they have people to work these complaints. For that matter, we need all of the many, many systems we have in place in schools, churches, and communities to be properly funded and staffed so they have a chance in hell of actually working.

We need people to understand that well over 95% of all legal gun owners, makers, and sellers are law-abiding citizens from whom you never hear a peep and about whom very few of these news stories are written.

We have to smarten up and realize that the guy who shot the children in the Amish school left home that day with the intent to get some sort of revenge and the need to commit suicide. The Columbine children wanted the same things; revenge and death. These people will find other ways if guns are not in the picture. Look at any country that bans guns; those country a) still have problems with guns and b) have a much higher incidence of violent crimes via other means (knives, blunt objects, fist fights, etc.), per capita. It shows that people who want to commit violent acts are going to—if you make guns unavailable, they WILL find something else to use or another way to do the violence. There is no society anywhere on earth where violent crime has been removed.

So why not smarten up and hold accountable those that should be: the perpetrators of these crimes. They wanted to commit violent acts and they did. They are to blame; no one else but those people. Blame them. Hold them accountable.

It is not the gun’s fault. It is just a tool. A tool that is incredibly efficient and remarkably good at the task it was designed for, but a tool nonetheless. Without a person to hold it, load it, aim, and fire it, the tool will do nothing more than sit there.

And maybe we can learn something from the Amish against whom this most recent gun violence was perpetrated. One Amish man was quoted as saying, “There is no sense in getting angry.” Another, who lost a family member to the violence and has another in the hospital, said, “I think it was going to happen. God has his hand in it.” These so-called ‘backward’ people understand that people get violent and violence happens. They will mourn their dead and move on.

Maybe the rest of us can, too?

Intelligent People

Sometimes, being an intelligent person actually is an impediment.

It seems like people who are not as intelligent manage, alone and without help, all the time. They just throw caution to the wind and go. Who cares if they did not do something correctly—they will just fix it and continue on. Who cares if they misunderstood the nature of that over there—they will just explain their mistake and move on.

Vacuous people throw caution to the wind and just do something. More often than not, it seems to work out for them. Not being overly self-aware allows them to damn the consequences and move full-steam ahead. They do not seem to agonize over the imperfections and faulty assumptions, nor do they let the setbacks that their lack of information creates stop them. And the universe, or the higher being, appears to smile on their ignorance and move them past the impediment with just a gentle nudge, and maybe a whimsical smile, and on they go.

Intelligent people just cannot do that. They are stifled with the need to “do it right,” to understand the process, which causes a great deal of stress and slows them down. Smart people agonize over the little and the big. They worry about the rights and the wrongs. They worry about other people involved and they wonder about the morals and the ethics of it all.

Smart people have more options available. So many possibilities open up to them that it can be paralyzing to make a choice. A less intelligent person only has to pick from a few doors and they do not seem to care about the consequences of that action. They assume they can always back out and pick the other door. Or they trust that other doors will open after this one. But a smart person has dozens, hundreds, of doors from which to choose. And they recognize that even the slightest wrong choice carries consequences.

Life is a series of choices and consequences, a smart child is taught. Those who shine less brightly are told that Life is just… life. Get to the living of it and don’t look back!

It is rare that you can see smart people just living their life. The apprehensions and awareness keeps them more fearful and contained. Living life for a smart person seems to come only after a break down or a break through of some sort. Their intelligence finally resolves the issues and can see more clearly and without prejudice. They learn that it is rare when the consequences which stymied them before are as ravaging as they once believed. Not all decisions lead to ruin.

Other times we see an intelligent person who understands the true meaning of life, it often turns out to be an older person, the child stricken with a terminal illness, or an adult with a severe infirmity. Age, illness, and infirmity are other reasons to cause an intelligent person to see beyond the possibilities of their own minds, look past the confusion that those possibilities present, and see that life is about living.

None of this is particularly deep, nor is it the least bit original. But sometimes people forget that the only thing that stops a person, smart or otherwise, from living life is that person; the person’s fears and hopes, dashed dreams and introspections, and the consequences for every little action.

Maybe it is time to take a deep breath and go live a little life?

And Gone

M is mid-flight, somewhere along the way to SJ. United and Air Canada-- please take good care of her. She's a very special cargo to me. Make sure she arrives safely.

Thoughts on this--

• It shreds the emotions to get together, have some incredibly lovely days together, and then be ripped apart because one of us has to go.
• It is very hard to focus at work when you are emotional.
• We must get some resolution soon, as this is tough. Tougher than tough!
• She's a much better packer than I am.
• I have the benefit of a full wardrobe at her place, so can generally take just a carry-on with me.
• St. Cecilia's is the best Catholic church we have found here. More traditional than any of the others.

We did manage to spend 4 incredible days together. I took her to my home town and showed her what a small desert community is. I think she was shocked, surprised, and a little overwhelmed (or maybe underwhelmed). It is a quiet place, hot, with just over 26k people in it. We saw all the sights I could think to show her in under an hour (not including the National Park-- which is just more desert).

We discussed our current situation in detail and have some plans of actions and some resources to search. We also came to a decision on the cat. We have had some movement with the lawyer and with a possible job that I can do from Canada, so our fingers are crossed on both fronts. But we still seem to have many miles to go before we sleep. *sigh

The countdown is now on for (American) Thanksgiving (she comes back and we can hopefully visit some more people this time). And then again for Christmas (I go there).

She's Here

M has arrived, safe and sound.

Random Thoughts (9/21/06)

• I need M here. And these four days will be nowhere near long enough.
• I am sick and tired of being sick and tired.
• I hate working on Data Dictionaries. I know these are important to programmers, and even sometimes to clients, but I hate, hate, hate formatting, rearranging, and putting them together. I have another one lined up, though. *sigh
• We need parents to be parents. When they are not parents (whether trying to be our friend or otherwise), they are not performing the proper role. It is okay to be friendly with your parent, but they should always act like your parent. I’m lucky in that my parents have always fulfilled their role.
• We still have no accountability in this country. We need people to just step up and say, “I was wrong. It is my fault. I am accountable.” How refreshing would that be?
• It is obviously a behavior issue and my behavior modification attempts are not working. What else can I do?
• I miss the days where I could just quietly color in my room. Even when I do that today, there are always other pressures weighing on me or other concerns about which I must take action.
• So Cal, and all of America, really, needs to learn to slow down and breathe.
• I am utterly amazed at my boss. She has lost around 200 lbs through force of will, Weight Watchers, and exercise. You would not recognize her if you haven’t seen her in the last 2 years.
• Banking should be easier than this; especially with all the technology today.
• I am really looking forward to Issue 8 of CoH and to NWN 2. I hope both live up to their FAQs.
• I am getting tired of the new Mac commercial. Other than being out and out lies, they are also very deceptive. Especially the new one, where they claim that OS X is immune to viruses. Apple/Mac only has about 3% of the total PC market—it just isn’t worth it to a hacker to write a virus for that small an impact.
• President Bush seems to have the exact opposite problem of the guy in Memento—our President cannot form long-term memories. How else do you explain the utter surety with which he completely contradicts everything he has said in the past?
• It is utter nonsense to believe that if the Democrats win the House/Senate/Oval office, they will just pull our troops out. So stop saying that, Republicans.
• Hoover Dam is truly a marvel.
• Jericho surprised me. However, I think it has limited directions it can go without turning into melodrama and then getting cancelled.
• It will likely be just as surprising for me to go back to 29 as it will be for M. I haven’t been in town for a few years now. I hope I am well enough to do that trip—she needs to see where I come from. It explains a lot about me.
• With the way that Linden Avery was using both the Staff of Law and White Gold at the end of Runes of Earth, I am anxious to read the next novel.

A Mixed Blessing

Today is the 5th anniversary of that tragic event, and it seems a good time to look at how our country has responded.

9/11 has turned into a double-edged sword for America. It has drawn its people closer together and has allowed people to honor our military for their contributions. But it has also divided the country, mostly when the President chose to abandon his pursuit of the perpetrators of 9/11 and go after Iraq for what has turned out to be no reason at all. Now people still want to honor our men and women in uniform, but they also do not want to fight what has been categorically proven as an unjust war.

In the years since 9/11, our government has done many things to try to protect its people. However, once again, those actions have two sides. On the one side, 9/11 taught America how vulnerable many of its infrastructure is to outside forces. However, so many planes, trains, and ships are loading, unloading, and moving freight around this country that it is impossible to check them all. Its borders are so vast that they are nearly impossible to patrol. However, the proposals and the tightening of restrictions on its nearest neighbors have done nothing except alienate America's allies and point out problems in the immigration process (and with illegal immigration).

The government instituted tough new strategies for airline security to “keep 9/11 from ever happening again.” However, most of those strategies cannot be fairly implemented or are too prohibitively expensive to implement fully. So, instead, there are procedures that do not make Americans any safer (as the constant stream of reports about people flying with unsafe items can attest to) and only serve to anger the population and slow the primary means of transportation.

The Department of Homeland Security was created. Another mixed blessing, as this office created incomprehensible warnings and issued statements that were vague and fear-driven. However, this office pointed out inconsistencies in our information gathering groups (CIA, FBI, et al) and was used to consolidate much of that into one, more streamlined organization. But, on the other hand, most of the best information received has come from other countries’ espionage groups (like Scotland Yard, Interpol, etc.), which begs the question—how good is America's information and is there more that can be done to make this on-par with our allies?

Lastly, all of these trials have created new paradigms for racism and hatred in the country and toward Americans in other countries. Anyone who looks Arabic in any way (including Seiks, people from India and neighboring countries, and others) is still feeling some of the heat from 9/11, right or wrong. But, because of America's foreign policies since that event, many countries are looking at America as, at best, bullies, inconsiderate, belligerent and, at worst, as terrorists and warmongers. At the same time, these racist tendencies are being discussed more openly and honestly than at any other time in our history. Carlos Mencia, and other comics, are constantly pointing out and providing forums for Americans to discuss racism. News resources have started asking tougher questions and delving deeper into these areas. The immigration issues have come to a head and are on the front burner for many states.

So where is America today? Even after five years, it may be too soon to tell. The country is not where it should be—the light and the hope for the world. It is not noticeably safer. Politically, it is more divided than ever. Yet there are bright spots. America seems to be back on a good track. Its people are honoring those in the military and other protection services (Coast Guard, Fire, Police, etc.). Americans are questioning their government and asking questions that require hard answers.

It may not be until the next Presidential election that America sees where it stands. If Americans re-elect the party that has led it to this point, it will say that the majority trusts where the country is and the direction it is going. If Americans elect the other party, it says that people need change and a new outlook and will take time to see where that party leads the country and if that party can mend some of the fences with foreign countries that seem to be strained now. If Americans elect an unusual person or party (whether it is a woman or ethnic President/Vice-President, a third-party candidate, or something entirely new), it will indicate that the people need massive change and are willing to look at fresh ideas for them.

Until then, give 9/11 a moment of silence, think about the world as it is now and how it was before, and think about the future and what each person can do to move America forward.

RIP Crocodile Hunter

Steve Irwin’s enthusiasm and energy were infectious. Audiences could readily see that he cared for the critters with which he worked, and his boundless energy made him entertaining to watch as he ran, dove, leaped, and climbed his way after animals. But, while it made him a great host for wild life specials, those personality traits were also what led him to such dangerous antics when dealing with these creatures.

No amount of expertise is a balm for the recklessness that he displayed on camera. No other wild life expert prior to Irwin acted and reacted around these dangerous creatures like Irwin. It was just a matter of time. Anyone who watched any of Irwin’s specials had to come away with the idea that this man was going to die out in the field at some point. Unfortunately, since he was so successful and brought so many more viewers to wild life channels, many of the modern animal show stars now follow in his footsteps.

For some reason, audiences primarily gave Irwin a free pass on his dangerous behavior. No one deplored him when he appeared to tease the crocodiles in their habitats or when he would jump headlong into dangerous encounters. The only time any negative press came his way was when he was in on of his crocodile enclosures carrying his newborn baby. And even then, more rancor was shown to Michael Jackson’s baby dangling incident (when it was clear that Jackson was trying to set the baby on the window sill and just missed) than to Irwin for feeding crocodiles while carrying a live, defenseless, human baby in one arm.

We should honor Irwin’s contributions to animal research, preservation, and understanding. He was also an incredible ambassador for Australia. With his unique style of hosting and animal interaction, he brought new viewers to wild life programming and instructed while he entertained. And, it seems certain, Irwin would likely have wanted nothing more than to go out like he did—interacting with his critters, enjoying the job, and living life to the fullest.

However, I also think we should reevaluate how he interacted with the creatures and how close he came to these dangerous animals to avoid an accident of this nature happening again. Irwin always seemed the most interested in people learning from him. I think we can—both from the incredible job he did educating people about animals, and from the tragic but avoidable way in which he died.

Agassi's Farewell

Here is a transcription of the speech that Andre Agassi gave on the court after losing his match to Becker.

"The scoreboard said I lost today, but what it doesn't say is what it is I have found. And over the last 21 years, I have found loyalty. You have pulled for me on the court and also in life. I've found inspiration. You have willed me to succeed sometimes even in my lowest moments. And I've found generosity. You have given me your shoulders to stand on to reach for my dreams, dreams I could have never reached without you. Over the last 21 years, I have found you and I will take you and the memory of you with me for the rest of my life. Thank you."

And thank you, Andre, for always being entertaining, for your growth and maturity as a player and person, and for the many wonderful sports memories you leave behind.

The Big Easy

I do not understand why the President doesn't send the Army Corps of Engineers to New Orleans (I know they are there, but hear me out) to train those left in the city to rebuild. By that I mean, train the majority on building. Train some on wiring and electricity. Train some on plumbing. Their training would be on-the-job and their graduation would be in the streets.

Once this is started, you start putting them to work-- pick a street on which to start. Send the lumber and the other supplies. And put these people to work rebuilding that street, using the plans that must be on file somewhere for each house. Rebuild the street as it was before. When they finish that street, those who cannot do the construction can make the phone calls to tell those who used to own that home that it is back and ready for them to move in. Have others working on the moving aspect; helping to drive trucks, haul furniture, paint walls, and get those families moved.

When that street is done, rebuild the next street. And the next. These people will get more skilled, their sense of community will skyrocket, and the job will get done. Plus, this will create jobs, economy, income in New Orleans.

When the project is done (which will likely take years) you have a city of skilled workers available. They have the pride and knowledge in new skillsets and marketable job experience-- they can go anywhere in the country for new building jobs.

I see no real reason for the dicking about by those in the positions of power for the rebuilding nor any reason for the lamentation of those left behind; rebuild what was lost and put the people that are homeless and destitute to work doing it-- both problems are solved. New Orleans is rebuilt (no more dicking about, stealing the land from those who currently own it, etc.), the homeless and destitute have new, marketable skills (no more groaning about no jobs, no skills), and people come back to the city.

Why is everyone trying to overcomplicate these things? Get in there, rebuild it, and get this thing turned around.

Using Your Voice

People often ask me why I write letters, emails, and phone 800 numbers. I believe that when you have complaints or encouragements, you should voice them.

Recently, I was experiencing a strange problem: one channel, and only one, was exceptionally bright. Didn’t matter if I watched the channel using the TV input, through TiVo, or through the VCR, that channel was much brighter than all others.

Many people wouldn’t make a comment on this to their cable company. Many would reason that it might be on their end, or that it is just one channel, so why bother. “Someone will figure it out,” may be what these people would say.

Well, I went online to Cox Cable and sent in an email to their support department. It was not important enough to call and wait for a live consultation when I knew if the problem was on their end, it would be something a telephone jockey couldn’t help with. But it was important enough to contact someone and have it checked.

I received the following response today from Cox’s support:

Hello John,

Thank you for your email. Please accept our apology
for the time it has taken us to reply back. We thank
you for bringing this problem to our attention. Without
your feed back we would have never looked in to this
matter. Once we received your email, we had our
maintenance department see if this was a problem at
the headend (the main system that provides cable and
audio to your area). We did just received confirmation
that we were able to identify the problem and it has
been corrected. 

We hope that we have been able to provide you with the
information you requested.  If we have not, or if we
can be of any additional service to you, please do not
hesitate to contact us again.

Thank you.

Michelle

Cox Communications Online Technical Support Team

So, as you can see, voicing the complaint was important as it turned out to be a problem on their end. I just checked the channel in question and it is finally clear, under control, and the same brightness level as all the others.

And, since this problem was on their end, I just helped improve the reception for many thousands of other viewers in this area.

Sometimes, it pays to voice your opinions.

Brick

The indy movie Brick is an interesting melange of modern movie and film noir. Rian Johnson, the writer and director, set this story in San Clemente, CA at his old high school.

It is a little jolting at first to watch such young actors speaking such out-dated dialog. But once you get past this, the story is smart and intricate.

Brendan, the main character, is a guy with a past. In the classic sense of a Sam Spade, he is troubled and is not a nice guy, but he wants to do right. He gets involved with the story when his former girlfriend, Emily (or “Em”) calls him and asks for help. In his doggedly dependable way, Brendan shoulders this burden and begins to send out feelers to figure out in what she is involved. Soon, she turns up dead and, rather than letting it go, he gets in as deep as it takes to find her killer. On the way he is beaten up, nearly killed, gets in over his head, meets up with a femme fatale and the crime kingpin, and then figures a clever way to turn the tables on all involved.

Johnson uses all the classic film noir techniques. Only those characters important to the story are fully realized; the rest come across as caricatures. The dialog is fast-paced and very stylized. Some very odd camera angles are used. Despite all this, it seems to work. Yet this is juxtaposed against modern cinematography, sharp editing, current music, and today’s fashions.

Nora Zehetner (you might remember her best as the recurring character Laynie on “Everwood”), plays Laura, the femme fatale of the story. While a pretty girl, always needed for this type of role, she also plays her character with a subversive intelligence and a coy smile. She does a fair job of bringing the wit and wiles of a Lauren Bacall to this movie.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Tommy Solomon from “3^rd Rock from the Sun”) is generally very good as Brendan. The director obviously wanted him to play the role tense, tough, and unyielding; however, sometimes it felt like it was too tight; a little more emotional may have provoked a bit more attachment to the character. He does get a couple of scenes where the character is allowed to react to all that is going on, and those are very humanizing. Still, the character comes across as smart, capable, and determined.

In many ways, the only film I can think to compare this movie with is the modern retelling of Romeo+Juliet. In that version, young actors in modern settings were using the original dialog from Shakespeare’s play. Daggers and swords were replaced with handguns and uzis. A similar style of modern and classic is mixed in Brick.

One thing that stood out was the fact this film, for all the violence and drugs involved with the plot, had no cursing in it. Most movies with either this subject matter or these types of characters would be chock-full of cursing.

Brick is not for everyone. The stylization of the classic noir and the staccato dialog may turn some viewers off. You definitely need to pay attention and be an active viewer in order to keep up and follow all the clues, or you may get a little lost. However, the movie's originality and slightly odd mix of genres is interesting. If you like to take a bit of chance, you may find this to be a nice gem.

You may enjoy this film if you liked: Donnie Darko, Secretary, Memento

Idle Thoughts

- I called the vet on Monday and heard back from her on Monday evening. She wrote a new prescription for Calypso of a different antibiotic to try. She agreed with me that the cat was having some sort of allergic reaction to the other medication and that I should stop.

Caly was a little more hesitant about pill time on Tuesday, but she took both pills without any apparent problems. This morning she was a little more accommodating about taking it.

- I managed to drop off the Ionic Breeze at the PostalAnnex+ that happens to be right by the vet’s office. They shipped it out Monday. Hopefully I will be getting my two new Ionic Breezes soon.

- Many of the people in my Fantasy Football league are not proving overly good at the draft. We constantly have to wait, make arrangements, and bend over backward in order to get them to draft. Irritating. It is not rocket science, just make a pick and move on. And you know it is currently running—so check the damn thing on occasion. It may just be your turn!

- C’mon Cindy!

- Went to The Fish Market with Renee for our employee appreciation lunch. Had the swordfish—and liked it. About the same texture as shark (which I already like) but with a milder flavor. It was good. That brings to three the number of fish I can say I like: shark, ohno, and swordfish. I also like lobster. Still not a huge fan of fresh-water fish. And don’t like crab, shrimp, or catfish at all.

- If you haven’t watched Hoodwinked, a computer-animated feature based on the Little Red Riding Hood story, get it. It’s cute, entertaining, and fairly clever.

- Work has been a drudge lately. Tasty employee appreciation meal or not.

- The gang is starting preparations for bowling starting in September. I’m going to miss bowling. I may just stop by to see how they are doing. Maybe I can sub occasionally.

- I took off my sunglasses this morning when I reached work—and the earpiece on one side snapped off. I’ve had these for about 3 weeks now. Even for me, that is a record for breaking sunglasses.

Feeling Ephemeral

My company renewed the lease for the Irvine division’s current building. As part of that renewal, the property owner agreed to make some significant upgrades to the facility. This included modernizing the bathrooms.

The upstairs bathroom remodel is done. All of the stalls, urinals, soap dispensers, and faucets now use electronic eyes to automatically flush, dispense soap, or turn on/off the water. For the first week after they opened this restroom (and shut down the downstairs for its remodeling), everything was great.

For the last week, however, I have been feeling somewhat invisible. Standing at the urinal or sitting in a stall, without moving any significant amount, suddenly the toilet or urinal will flush. I’ve asked and there are no timers on these things—they are only supposed to flush once you leave the eye’s radius. At first I thought I might be doing something to cause this; leaning just far enough out of the way, backing up just enough that the eye registers me as leaving, etc. But over the last few days at work I made a point of remaining very still—and the same thing happens.

I asked a few friends if they experienced anything similar, and all have said no. The facilities only flush when they are well away from it. If anything, they comment the opposite direction—they worry the facilities won’t flush at all and use the manual override just in case.

It is to the point where I cannot help but feel a little ephemeral. Why won’t these devices register me appropriately? Why do they insist I am no longer there?

Things Are Tough

First
Currently, my fiance is going through a really tough time. It frustrates me a that I cannot help her through this time; by making dinner, by driving her, by getting the little things done around the house, by helping at the hospital, by just being there. I would happily help her mom, talk with doctors, make the necessary phone calls to people, discuss with Laura, etc.

Instead I sit here and try to be as supportive as I can from over 3500 miles away. Hopefully some of the plans we are working on will come to fruition soon, so I can be there.

All I can really do right now is tell her that I love her and hope that is enough.

Second
My cat appears to have another UTI. All the classic symptoms are there. So I took her to the veterinarian yesterday, a new one that is right down the street from me. This vet and I hit it off better than the last one. She agreed with my assessment of the cat and gave her a shot to help. She gave me some pills to give to Calypso for the next 10 days, twice a day.

This morning I was able to give her the pill without difficulty. I've gotten pretty good at giving cats pills after Chris's pet, Sam, had health issues and needed a lot of pills, force-feeding, and other ministrations.

This afternoon, however, when I gave Caly her pill she choked a bit. Held it down and seemed fine afterward, but it was obviously more painful or discomforting to her this time. About 10 minutes later she came out of the kitchen after having eaten, and suddenly started meowing and almost growling. Now, my cat doesn't make a lot of noise and usually only meows at all when she's being rubbed, so this caught my attention.

She suddenly vomited everything she just ate (did not see the pill in it, so that was a good sign). After throwing up, she seemed suddenly listless. She was sort of panting, only her mouth was closed, and her heart beat was really fast. She seemed scared and continued the growling-like sound whenever she could.

Soon she walked, staggered really, into my bedroom and then collapsed down again. The strange panting and growling continued for a good 20 minutes or so. She let me touch her feet, her stomach, and even her tail without even lifting her head-- so I know something was wrong. She does not like her feet, stomach, or tail touched, normally.

After about an hour, she seemed to slowly get better. She has moved again, and her eyes look more lively. But now I'm concerned about her pill in the morning. Maybe this was some sort of allergic reaction? Maybe the pill and her food react somehow (since this started after she ate)? My next step is to call the vet back and see if they want me to do anything.

Something to Eat

Dammit, I am hungry for a big batch of Aebleskiver. I love aebleskiver. Yum!

A Breeze?

A few years ago, in June 2004, I purchased a pair of Ionic Breeze Quadras, and I got a bathroom-sized Breeze for free with the purchase. I got one for myself and one for my mom. As a pet owner and one who lives in a very small apartment, I noticed a big difference having the Ionic Breezes working. Mom has often commented on how effective hers is at helping to control her asthma issues.

My apartment recently experienced a few power outages and I noticed after one of them that neither of my Ionic Breezes were working. I tried unplugging, cleaning, and replugging them. I tried plugging them in while holding down the on switch, as many devices use that as a form of reset/reboot. Nothing.

I figured it wouldn't hurt to contact Sharper Image, from whom I had purchased the Quadras, to see if there was anything they could do to help me. I expected them to maybe walk me through a reset process, or just tell me that there was nothing that could be done. I was fairly sure that there would be no warranty, as I had not purchased the "extended" warranty and I assumed that any limited warranty would be long over.

You can imagine my surprise when Rebecca, the customer support rep I got when I called, said that the Quadra had a 5-year warranty and all I had to do was send it back and they would send me a new one, free. As to the blown bathroom Ionic Breeze, they would just ship me a new one-- no reason to send that one back.

I have since received an email with my UPS Return Label that I need to print out. I just need to send back the malfunctioning Quadra and Sharper Image will send me the replacement. Luckily, I kept my original box, so I can repackage it and send it back in that.

At the time I purchased them, Sharper Image had a special deal going but the Ionic Breezes were still pretty darn expensive. However, with customer support like this from the company, I am now feeling like the price paid was well worth it. I will be much more likely to purchase from their company in the future after this (so far) very positive experience.

I'll let you know how the rest of the process goes.

The Joy of Windows

On Tuesday night, after chatting with M and then playing a little City of Heroes, I left my PC and did a few things around the house. Then I came back to the machine and had difficulty getting online again. Since it wasn't important, I didn't worry about it. I went to bed.

Wednesday morning, I came out to check my email before going to work. Still couldn't connect to the internet. I rebooted the machine, released and renewed the IP, unplugged and replugged in the router and modem. Nothing. 'Oh well, I'll deal with it when I get home,' I thought.

Got home, and same thing. Now I'm concerned. It is nearly 24 hours later and still nothing. I called Cox Cable support. After going through the Tier 1 service, I was forwarded to Tier 2. She ran through a lot of interesting suggestions. What was crazy was that she could see my modem and PC on her end, I just couldn't get out to the internet from my end. Finally, she had the idea of trying to connect my modem using the USB port directly to my PC. That worked!

I chatted with M for about an hour, my buddy Chris for a few minutes, and then tried to put in a new network card as the Tier 2 person determined that the problem must be my network port, since everything else seemed to be working.

As I turned off the PC, I disabled the motherboard port in the BIOS. Then I installed the network card, and rebooted. Still, I could not connect. I then did everything Tier 2 did to re-setup my modem to use USB, only now I still can't connect to the internet. I try everything I can think of, again, to resolve the issue. Nothing.

It is at this point that I notice the name of my machine is changed. I notice in the Device Manager that some of my ports and system IDs are different than how I set them.

So, I back up a few files and format my hard drive and re-install Windows XP. Sure enough, within moments I get my modem back up and working. I go through the entire re-install process, and get my router working again.

Now my PC Device Manager settings are back to what they should be. My only conclusion is that, somehow, someone may have gotten through my firewalls and virus/spyware protections and reset some things so they could use/manipulate/control my machine. Or, maybe, that a Windows update updating something that shouldn't be and caused me some grief.

However, it does appear that my motherboard network port is still not functioning. Which is unfortunate, because it is the better/higher-speed network port (I'm using my old 10/100 Linksys network card right now). But at least everything seems to be calming down and getting back to normal.

Good Quote

The following is a quote from Troy Aikman, quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys from 1989-2000, who is about to be enshrined in the Football Hall of Fame.

"After a career of really putting team accomplishment ahead of personal achievement, I'm being bestowed with one of the greatest individual honors you could ever be given," he said. "I'm very proud of that. And I think in there somewhere is a lesson for young kids."

A very good quote and a very important lesson. It would be nice if more children and young adults would learn it.