It can not be all bad

Any recession that takes down Reader’s Digest can not be all bad. I know, we should all morn the loss of yet another newspaper/magazine. But, I’ll make an exception for Reader’s Digest. Chapter 11. So, I guess they will hang on for a little longer.

Working on a new hopeless cleanup stuff project – being sure that all the forward links on my old blog work. At this instant my old version of Dreamweaver is working fine as can be running under WINE. And, I have lots of memory on this machine – so, I can just relieve all the days of old and check and fix the links as I go… Today in 2001 Check it out.

Speaking of the recession and books. In earlier summers I was the only one at the pool with library books. Most of the kiddies read hard back books. A few paperbacks. They read the books and left them in a box in the recycle room and I would rescue them and take them to the Friends of the Library. One summer it seemed that every resident had their very own copy of the latest Harry Potter. And the girls – the latest chick lit. Hard cover. This summer it is library books or paperbacks.

Have a HUGE stack of paperwork to fill out for the urologist. Now, I know this is a paperless practice. Suppose they are going to scan my 10 pages of fine print into their system.

I mentioned that I was bribing myself into going to see the urologist. I promised myself a new toy. Possible toys:

  • An additional L1 body that I can have converted to IR.
  • Something from Apple’s new fall collection.
  • A new travel computer.

Now, for you pessimists, what if they say “Mrs Bethany, I am sorry but your tests came back and…” (They always call you Mrs when the news is bad). Am I still going to buy new toys? You bet. The younger generation would get my toys. Carlton would get my money – and he has enough of that already! The kids would like the infrared camera or another Apple toy or two.

It’s been 5 years

Well, this isn’t formatting out just like I want it too. Guess it is time to tweak the css file – or – change what I want. Ah, better now. Still loving WordPress.

This morning – at about 10am I went out for a little walk around the neighborhood. What was I thinking – there are no good pictures to be had in DC at 10am in August. But, the I salvaged 4 interesting shots. If you want to see the images – either click on the image or use PicLens. The slideshow option leaves much to be desired.

Anyhow, we have lived in the rented condo for 5 years now. When we moved in everyone said “but you are just throwing your money away”. I think not. Your house is where you sleep. Not your piggy bank.

Finally …

I finally decided to do with the Clinic physician told me to do. Well, 1/3 of what she told me to do. She told me to start taking statins (rejected), get a cat scan (rejected) and see a urologist (unwillingly accepted). Finally picked up the phone  and made an appointment for a urology consult. If the urologist sends me for a cat scan – I might do it.

I had to bribe myself. I will give myself a small reward for making the call. And, if I actually go and do what the urologist says – then I get a big treat. A massive treat if many tests are required (and done).

I sort of wanted someone (other than the physician who was practicing defensive medicine) tell me what to do. Carlton said “I don’t know why you would do anything, but do what ever you want.” The nurse  I work for finally allowed as how “you know the urology practice here – they are nice guys”. It decided that was about the only advice I was going to get. And, old hospital nurses are real reluctant to go to the doctor themselves.

But, I can still cancel the appointment, it is Thursday. So only a small treat is in order. Maybe a new app for the iPod. Or a tune or two.

air traffic control for dummies?

atc4dummiesNorthern Virginia Community College offers Air Traffic Control for Dummies. It is best not to think about it too much, especially when you live  in the landing path to National Airport.

More on clouds. Mint. With some fear I started using Mint a few months ago. Being more than a little squeamish about giving access to all my financial accounts to a cloud. But, I figured they have lots of other people’s account info and if they get hacked – I am betting that I can rush out and change the passwords on all my stuff before the evil ones get to me.

Funny thing about Mint. If doesn’t process my Schwab holdings correctly and I says that I am worth  $65,816,262. Note to family NOT EVEN CLOSE. Not even a power of 10. No need to throw granny under a bus.

it must be butterfly season

caught a butterfly with the fx01
caught a butterfly with the fx01

I seem to be doing lots of “wild life” photography lately.

I am trying to chill out about health care reform. And not watch old people making fools of themselves yelling about “socialized medicine”. I haven’t seen any of them buring their medicare cards. OOPS, I am getting un-chilled.

partly cloudy

Bee and Butterfly - fx01 - from the daily commute
Bee and Butterfly - fx01 - from the daily commute

Partly Cloudy. No not the weather – which is hot and sunny – but the Internet. Or at least my Internet.

Who knows if cloud computing is going to be around in 2 years. Or if it will take over computer based apps. I have tried some. Rejected some. And embraced others.

Big tropical thunder clouds:

  1. Most favorite cloud application is Gmail. For a year or so, I didn’t quite trust it and downloaded my email using Thunderbird. Then, I started only downloading my “important” email. Now – Gmail collects and takes care of all my email accounts. I even let it delete mail from my mail servers. I not longer have any computer based email programs.
  2. A cloud app that “just works” and that I completely forget about is DropBox. It keeps my passwords all sync-ed up between my two computers, each with a Ubuntu and XP partition. DropBox will do more and I may start using it for “offsite” backup.
  3. Foxmarks – now called Xmarks, I think. It keeps my browser bookmarks in sync. DropBox would do that too – but, I have been using Foxmarks since it was a beta.

Little fluffy cloud toys:

  1. Google Docs – I just use it for a few files.
  2. Remember the Milk – I am not that busy. But, if Alzheimer’s kicks in big time – I might need it.
  3. Google Voice – Don’t have very many friends – so I don’t get very  many phone calls from real people.

hot today

Summer finally arrived today. It is just plain hot. I am sure I should be annoyed by something. But, it is just too hot to get heated up.

Well, actually, I can get heated up about all this heat and fire over health care. This senior  has no problem with euthanasia and  strongly supports assisted suicide.

remind me again…

Slug
Slug or why I don't love windows

Yesterday I decided that I should fire up my little computer and be sure every thing still worked. In less than 10 minutes the Ubuntu partition was all updated and good to go. So, I booted up the XP partition.  An hour and several reboots later, I turned it off. Fired it back up this morning and it is still frantically downloading patches and updates to its private parts.

As for the slug, I found it walking home from volunteering on friday – fx01.

Things that I am surprisingly pleased with…

don't you love junk mail?
don't you love junk mail?

(Technology) Things that I am surprisingly pleased with:

  1. The vintage $199 Dell Computer. It is really slow. But I am not in any rush.
  2. Ubuntu. I started out being grateful that it saved my sorry ass in Hawaii. But, I really like and it is my go-to OS. Thinking about getting a MacBook Air and running a dual boot with Ubuntu. Not feeling any Windows love these days.
  3. Word Press. It is easy. It works. And anytime I feel wild and crazy I can toss on a funky theme until I return to my senses.