My Commonplace Book

Val's vet visit

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 19:45:41 GMT

After going through four veterinarians in as many years, I'm pretty confident that I've finally found the right one.

After having had bad experiences with the other vets in town (the third one was downright creepy and the other one because it was bought out years ago by VCA and is run like the corporate operation it is), I solicited recommendations from people at church. Dr. O was highly recommended by someone I've known for 20 years, so I decided to give her a try. The downside is that the office is almost a half hour away (which probably doesn't seem far to some of you, but it does for most of us here, who are ~~accustomed to~~ totally spoiled by having everything we need here in town, within a ten minute drive -- which is why my 1½ year old car has less than 6,000 miles on it!).

But after my second visit, I'm really pleased with both Dr. O and the culture in the office.

To start with, they don't put you in a room and immediately haul the animal forcibly out of his carrier while he struggles to stay in it (which is what happens in the big hospitals where it feels like an assembly line operation and the assistant has to keep moving). Last time, I was left alone in the room and by the time the assistant came in, I had lured Val painlessly out with treats. This morning the assistant came in with me, but when I offered Val a treat he peered out at her suspiciously. She noticed and offered to go out if that would help. "Oh, it definitely would!" said. "Okay," she said, "Just push this button on the scale, and put him on it."

They trusted me to have enough sense to read the digital scale and give them the number! Will wonders never cease?! When the assistant came back in Val was prowling around on the floor investigating the room -- not calm (I mean, we were at the V-E-T), but not traumatized by a struggle. "Did you get the weight?" she said. "14 - 02", I told her. "Fourteen pounds two ounces," she said, writing it down. "Same as last time. Good."

Wow.

I really like Dr. O, too. She didn't push a ton of vaccinations and treatments on me like the last one did, or hand down recommendations from on high like all of the last three did. She doesn't push anything. With Dr. O, the owner is a full partner in the pet's care, and I love that -- that's the way it should be!

Except for rabies shots (which are mandated by law), she recommends or suggests care and treatment options, and lets me decide. I haven't had a vet like that since the early 90's, when the animal hospital I'd been going to since I moved here sold out to VCA. I don't know what specific changes in the rules about treating the animals were made, but I do know that all the wonderful vets -- and even most of the support staff -- promptly left. The next time I went there everyone was a stranger, even though I'd been going there for years.

Val's arthritis pain has been getting worse, but the previous vet (the really creepy one) just said that at almost 16, it's not surprising that he's slowing down. He didn't mention anything about treating it. I was floored! On the very first visit three weeks ago Dr. O immediately put Val on Metacam -- the box also had the generic name, meloxicam, which I recognized as an NSAID. She said to bring him back in two to four weeks, so I made an appointment for three weeks later, which was today.

I told her that the NSAID didn't seem to be helping much and he's still in a lot of pain. She suggested acupuncture -- there's a holistic vet that shares the office space who does acupuncture and other alternative therapies, but when I asked if Dr. O knew how much they charged she said it was kind of expensive. So I asked about other pain relievers, and she started to talk about tramadol.

"Oh!" I said, "I take that myself!"

"Well, there's no special veterinary formulation, we just use the 50 mg tablets made for humans."

"That's what I have, 50 mg tablets."

"Then just give him a quarter of a tablet once a day."

"I don't know how I'll give it to him -- you canNOT pill this cat."

"I give pills to my cat in a treat -- I squish the treat around it and he just gobbles it down."

"I've tried that. Val spits the pill out." I rolled my eyes. "He'll eat anything if it's mixed into wet cat food. Can I crush it and give it to him that way?"

"Sure, that's fine."

So the drug is free, since I have plenty (on good days I don't take all four 100 mg doses). I know that Dr. T would have said "I'll give you some pain reliever for him," and put some inexpensive generic tramadol tablets in a bottle and charged big bucks for it. Once I saw it was tramadol, if I questioned it I'm sure I would have been told that it was a veterinary formulation or that I couldn't just use my own tablets for some other reason. That's just the way he operates, extremely aggressive and always maximizing his profit. (Someone has to pay for all the fancy state-of-the-art high-tech equipment he has in the office, and for the fancy McMansion he and his family bought in what was at the time the most expensive subdivision in the county.)

But Dr. O was very happy that I could use my own and not have to pay extra for something I didn't need. She even has kind eyes. I really like her. And I trust her to not run up the bill with unnecessary tests and treatments like Dr. T does.

Unfortunately she also mentioned that Val's thyroid level is at the high end of normal, which means he's probably hyperthyroid, which is not good. I already went through this with Friday. Except in the unlikely event they've come up with a new drug in the last year and a half, he'll have to go on Tapazole, which has dangerous side effects in up to 20% of cats who take it. In the studies, a large proportion of cats had to discontinue the treatment. So I'm faced with all the same choices again. Hooray.

I found an interesting discussion about the I131 treatment -- it's four years old, but the vets in the thread mentioned a connection with renal failure, which is what happened to Friday, so I want to save the link and re-read it so I can figure it out. (cjsmith if you can figure out from that discussion what I should ask Dr. O about, should it come to that, please add a comment!)

The nearest facility for me is Radiocat in Catonsville. At least the waiting period there is only 3-5 days, but that's a long time for a cat as social as Val to be in a cage all alone. =sigh=

I know I'm getting way ahead of myself, but I'm always more comfortable if I can get a feeling of control by planning for the future. Even if the control is totally illusory, I'd rather have the illusion than than that horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach of not knowing what's going to happen.

Sun, 20 Apr 2008 20:32:33 GMT

Happy Birthday
gretchen_marie

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 18:04:14 GMT

Happy (belated) Birthday
mactavish

Sorry I missed it yesterday -- hope it was happy!

Happy Income Tax Day

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 22:55:57 GMT

Most years this would be me. This year, for the first time in mumblety years, I got my tax return out a week early! In fact, I just received the delivery receipt from the US Treasury and I put it away properly in the envelope with the other tax stuff!

see more crazy cat pics

Seder!

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 18:28:43 GMT

The Seder last night went very well, although it was very sparsely attended. In the past couple of years the prime mover of the event has managed to increase the turnout to over 40 people, largely by making lots and lots of phone calls in addition to the standard listings in the various announcement venues of the congregation (newsletter, Sunday bulletin, weekly email blast). This year we only had 21 people, which was very disappointing.

But those who did come greatly enjoyed it. We had lots of compliments, as always, and a lot of people pitched in at the end to help clean up the room, though the kitchen chores were done by the three dedicated people who have done cleanup for several years in the past. Rather than use disposables, the congregation uses regular dishes, glasses and silverware for potlucks, so there's a lot of washing to do at the end of an event. We do have an industrial dishwasher that does an entire cycle in 2 minutes (without drying, though, which has to be done by hand if you want to do sequential loads immediately). But everything still has to be thoroughly rinsed, loaded, unloaded, and dried, over and over, so there's lots of work to do.

The other committee person and I worked on the room cleanup. I started attending to the distribution of leftovers years ago, because I was the one who thought to do it while there were still people around to take them because I hate to see perfectly good food thrown out, so that's become my job. There's always plenty of wine, grape juice and matzo (since they have to be spread out among the tables, all the bottles and boxes end up open and then only partially used), plus a variety of potluck dishes in disposable containers that people leave there, usually because they don't want to take fattening food home with them and they figure someone else will take it!

But you'd be surprised at how hard it is to give the leftovers away! I want the people who pitch in until the place is cleaned up to get them, but they don't necessarily want anything I have to give away. (Matzo is the hardest, but I did manage to find a home for most of it this year.) The one bottle of grape juice that I couldn't get anyone to take I labeled for the staff and put in the refrigerator -- hopefully they'll find it and drink it!

After finishing leftovers detail I did some running back and forth bringing things from the room into the kitchen (we were in the smaller room, which also happens to be farther from the kitchen, so it's a long traipse), but I don't mind the walking nearly as much as I do standing in one place. Eventually I ended up in the kitchen drying dishes, but at least I could do that sitting down.

I was exhausted by the time I left, but it was worth it!

Seder

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 18:11:29 GMT

Although technically Passover hasn't started yet (it begins this year at sundown on April 19), my UU congregation's Seder is today. (We've found over many years of trial and error that Sunday late afternoon is the best time for an event, and that it's unwise to compete with the real Jewish Seders because our mixed couples go to their families' Seders on the first and second night.)

I'm one of the main people involved with the Seder, so I have a bunch of stuff to do. In the past several years I've led the Seder, but I told the other member of the committee (yeah, there are only two of us) that I thought it would be better to have different people do it. (A traditional Seder is led by the head of the family, and in the past the minister has always done it, since they are the "head" of the church "family". But when I approached our current minister in her first year about starting to plan the Seder, she said she is "not interested." In fact, she has only bothered to even attend one Seder in the four years she's been our minister.

But my other committee member found someone else to do it this year, and I met with him yesterday to go over the Haggadah we use. He grew up in a Jewish family, but I was surprised to find that he remembers even less about his childhood Seders than I do. (He remembers that they had some, but nothing about them.)

At any rate, I'm delighted that I don't have to do it this year. But I do have to go shopping for the items for the Seder plate, and be there by 4:00 to help set up, so I'm off to the supermarket. (I already have my contribution to the potluck Seder meal.) Unfortunately my new med doesn't seem to be working as well as it had been, or maybe the higher dose is just causing more dopeyness. But it's not any worse than I've been, so I'll do okay, especially since I only have a small part (the "mother" who lights the candles) and can then relax and just enjoy the Seder like anyone else.

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 17:58:53 GMT

Happy Birthday
sleepingwolf
and
Belated Happy Birthday
oniricwolf

I'm posting a message!

Sat, 12 Apr 2008 03:08:14 GMT

After not having posted or read for a long time due to depression-induced inertia, I had a hard time coming back even when I felt better.

But thanks to momomom, who's been calling me and getting me outdoors, to lesliepear who sent me a nudge, goingdriftless who sent me a nudge, and to ms_interpret who sent me an email, I'm posting this message, and I'm going to make a concerted effort to go back to regular reading and posting and reconnecting with my LJ friends. It's not that I haven't thought of you all -- I have been, regularly. And it's not that I didn't care -- I miss you all! But I was becoming a hermit in RL also. And I'm ready for that to be over.

Another thing that finally pushed me into posting today is that I had a dream about ms_interpret last night. It was a very encouraging dream, too, and I wanted to tell her about it, so I planned to call her today. I thought about her a number of times, trying to figure out what would be a good time, considering the 3-hour time difference.

So I wasn't really surprised to get an email from her, even though I hadn't heard from her in months. Apparently my thinking about her so much got through to her. (I firmly believe this happens, and that it's not paranormal but some sort of completely natural process we just haven't discovered yet.) When I called her she thought I was calling because I'd received her email -- but I told her no, she'd thought of sending me an email because I was thinking about her so much today!

After we caught up with each other I told her that it's always hard for me to get back to posting after a long break, because I feel guilty about not having kept up with my friends. "I care about them -- a lot," I said, but how can I possibly catch up with their journals after such a long time? I feel guilty and awkward just jumping into reading and posting comments without having been there for so long.

Shannon urged me to just post that I'm back, that I really want to know how my friends are, and that I should just say that if there's something you want me to know about (which to me is anything important that's been happening in your life, since I genuinely do care and have missed you all very much!) to tell me or point me to an entry. She said, "People understand. I see posts like that all the time."

So here is another post like that. I hope you understand!

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 05:49:49 GMT

~ Happy Birthday ~
lavandersparkle !!

Owls, sunset and GPS

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 06:54:13 GMT

Thank you for the nudges, lesliepear! It really helps to be reminded to get back to posting ... and even more, to know I'm missed.

And I've been wanting to post about something for a week, so I was grateful to be nudged into writing this. :-)

Last Friday I drove up to a very rural area near the Pennsylvania border hoping to see the two Short-eared Owls that had been reported hunting over a particular field at dusk. The drive was around 60 miles, the last third on a series of increasingly narrow, curving country roads.

When I got there at about 4:45 there was only one other car there. but more soon arrived and eventually there were about eight birders standing at the bend in the road across from the field where the owls were expected, waiting hopefully to view the rarely-seen birds. Two spotting scopes were set up and pointed southeast. The temperature was barely 30º, so it was cold just standing around, but there were a lot of interesting things to look at all around us while we waited.

A big flock of about two dozen lovely White-crowned Sparrows and one Song Sparrow foraged busily next to the hedgerow behind us, only about 20 yards away. A mockingbird was there too. A couple of Red-tailed Hawks flew around, and one landed in a tree at the far end of the field to the west. Two red foxes romped around the field we were watching, and I got a great view of them through the scope. A few deer appeared in the field to the north, and one of the birders watching them noticed that the lights on the slopes of the Liberty Mountain ski area in Fairfield, PA, could be seen with binoculars. (Later, as the light faded, they were easily visible with the naked eye. I'm not used to such good visibility, since trees or buildings keep most views much shorter, and the humidity and pollution in the air cut the visibility drastically even when nothing interferes with the view. But the air out there was crisp and clean, and there was nothing to block the view of the mountain 14 miles away.)

While we waited in the cold and watched the other birds and animals, I turned to the southwest every so often and took a photo of the sun setting over the fields.

Northern Harriers had also been reported, and after awhile three of the beautiful hawks arrived and swooped over the field. They were gorgeous in the light of the setting sun, just like the one in this photo. Sunset came and went at 5:19, but the owls still hadn't appeared. "I hope they come," I said. "I don't mind driving so far and standing around freezing to see a Short-eared Owl -- but I do mind driving so far and standing around freezing to not see a Short-eared Owl!"

At last someone said "There it is!" -- and there was a gorgeous owl! It landed in a tree near the abandoned farmhouse, and the scopes were quickly trained on it. It kept turning its head this way and that, searching for prey, obviously hungry for its first meal of the day. I got a great view of it through the scope, including its striking face.

Soon another owl appeared, and the two of them coursed over the field, this way and that, coming close enough to see really well through the binoculars. It was definitely worth the drive and the wait in the cold! Not only were they a new life bird for me, they're magnificent to see. I'd never had an opportunity to see an owl flying before, and here I was standing there watching them hunt for a good five minutes.

Unfortunately, one birder had parked at the abandoned farmhouse and walked right into the middle of the field. I'm sure he got a better view than the rest of us, but it's extremely bad practice to disturb a bird -- especially a sensitive bird like an owl, which may feel its home is threatened and feel the need to relocate. Not only is it harmful to the birds, but it's extremely rude to the other birders. If someone gets too close to a bird and it leaves -- temporarily or permanently -- no one else will get to see it.

And that's exactly what happened. While there was still enough light to see fairly well, the owls took off -- one to the south and one to the west. We waited a few minutes, but they didn't return, so we all said goodbye, packed up our scopes and binoculars, and headed out.

Normally I'd have been concerned about finding my way through the intricate maze of back roads to get to the highway. But Meredith gave me her old GPS for Christmas, and I love it! I've been using it, but really just for practice, since I haven't been anywhere I needed directions for. It made getting to the location where the owls were considerably easier, since I didn't have to keep referring to the map, estimating distance and watching for signs, to know where to turn. But I could have followed a map without too much trouble.

But driving home in the dark was another story! I couldn't have just glanced at the map in the dark -- I would have had to stop, turn on the light, try to figure out where the heck I was on the map, then strain to find each turn. But there was no place to pull over on the narrow back roads, so I would have been blundering around blindly, and I know there were some turns I would have missed. Eventually I would have come to a numbered road and found my way home, of course -- but I was already tired and not in a mood to drive miles out of my way around the dark countryside. But all I had to do was listen for Griselda to announce, in her British accent, "In point four miles, turn left." "In point one miles, turn left." "Turn left, then turn right." "In point three miles, continue straight, then bear left onto the freeway."

The unit is a Navman iCN 330. It's about two years old, and software updates aren't available any more, nor are updated US maps (though they are for several other countries). In trying it out over routes I'm familiar with I haven't been impressed with Griselda's navigation -- she tries to get me to take a less efficient way much of the time, though I have the setting on "fastest route", not "shortest route". I usually just ignore her and go the way I know is best, and she silently recalculates the route and gives me new directions.

It also does odd things with house numbers. You put in a number like 428, save it, and it says 430. Or you put in 3916, and it takes you to 3912. Not that it's accurate to within one or two houses -- Griselda just announces "Destination" when you get to the right block. But it's disconconcerting to put in an address and have it display a different address, especially if you're using the display for reference to where you're going!

But it would get me where I'm going eventually, and it's great for picking up freecycle items where I can get to the neighborhood but don't know any of the local streets. And it really came through last Friday, faithfully (and accurately, as it turned out when I went over the route on the map later) guiding me from one rural road to another in the dark until finally, with a sigh of relief, I got on the interstate. It was the first time I'd really needed a GPS, and Griselda did an outstanding job! I'm really thrilled to finally have one of these things!

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 22:05:54 GMT

Happy Birthday
conuly !

Sun, 13 Jan 2008 05:17:50 GMT

Happy Birthday
platypus !

Sat, 12 Jan 2008 18:02:12 GMT

Happy Birthday
maxh42 !

Ref for the Deaf

Tue, 08 Jan 2008 04:33:02 GMT

For woofiegrrl and friends interested in deaf culture:

13-year-old's invention allows athletes to feel signals from referees

13-year-old's invention allows athletes to feel signals from referees

12:00 AM CST on Monday, January 7, 2008
By STACI HUPP / The Dallas Morning News
shupp@dallasnews.com

Celia Beron isn't known for compassion on the soccer field. The wily eighth-grader from Richardson has a reputation for steals and blocked kicks, and she has the trophy collection to prove it.

These days, she's capturing attention for a major assist to other athletes, but she didn't use her legs. She used her heart.

Celia, 13, invented Ref for the Deaf, a special bracelet that vibrates for deaf players who can't hear the sound of a referee's whistle or starter gun.

With some help from Celia's father and two graduate students from the University of Texas at Dallas, a good idea from a skinny girl with braces has the makings of a great product.

Supporters see a demand from elementary school gymnasiums to the Special Olympics and beyond.

"The big vision is it would be phenomenal to have this widely used across all kinds of sports," said Jonathan Hoak, 29, one of two UTD graduate students who turned Celia's idea into a business model.

That plan won the top prize at a UTD contest for new business ideas in November.

Now, the Berons and their university partners will test the idea in the real world.

"You don't have to have a Ph.D. to come up with a good idea," said Joe Picken, director of UTD's Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, which sponsored the competition. "Most good ideas come from experience. Celia was involved in youth sports and saw a problem."

Uneven playing field

No one tallies how many deaf athletes participate in high school, college and professional sports. But about 10,000 of them belong to the USA Deaf Sports Federation, a national athletic association that hooks up deaf and hearing-impaired Americans with international competitions.

Special Olympics officials counted an additional 135 deaf and hearing-impaired athletes in the nonprofit organization's national games in 2006.

Celia was at soccer camp four years ago when she noticed that a teammate's hearing disability put her on an uneven playing field.

"She kept playing after everyone else stopped," said Celia, now an eighth-grader at Richardson North Junior High. "Every time a coach blew his whistle to stop, we had to wave our arms in her face to get her to stop."

The game ended, but Celia's curiosity stuck. She first thought of Ref for the Deaf for a school project.

Her concept pairs up a transmitter with a referee's whistle or starter gun. When either of them goes off, the transmitter sends a signal to the receiver: a vibrating bracelet worn by a deaf athlete.

Until now, deaf players have taken their cues mostly from referees, coaches and other players who can hear – and, in some cases, try to dupe their hearing-impaired competition.

Kevin Cook has seen the struggle firsthand. The former WNBA coach, who oversees an all-deaf women's basketball team at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., described a pivotal moment in a recent game.

"My player thought that a foul had been called, and so she stopped play. Play continued and there was a score" for the other team, Mr. Cook said.

Ref for the Deaf could be the difference between a win or a loss for his team, which is in a competitive Division III conference.

"As alert as my team is, I think something like this would be very valuable to them," he said.

Celia's idea swept the Richardson school district's annual invention contest when she was in fourth grade.

Her father, Kurt, a UTD economics and public policy professor, saw bigger potential and started poking around on the Internet.

"Seeing these anecdotal stories around the world about athletes who had problems because of their hearing in competitive sports, it surprised me that this wasn't already out there," Dr. Beron said. "I thought that it did have some commercial appeal."

Patented

Celia's father laid the groundwork for a patent, which Ref for the Deaf earned last February.

From there, Dr. Beron turned to a management professor at UTD who hooked him up with Mr. Hoak and another graduate student, Timothy Gutschlag.

"I wasn't expecting it to get this big," Celia said. "It's cool."

It might have been easy to cut a little girl out of a business competition, but the UTD students didn't.

Celia left school for a day this fall to help sell her idea to judges, just as participants twice her age did.

Celia and the UTD students also split their $10,000 in prize money three ways.

"We've always given her complete and total credit for everything – it's her deal," Mr. Hoak said.

Next, Celia's father and the UTD students will study their market options for Ref for the Deaf and start a business together.

Celia, meanwhile, has more important things to think about: practicing the trombone, getting through junior high and – most important – soccer.

April in January

Tue, 08 Jan 2008 04:22:45 GMT

What glorious weather we had today -- and tomorrow is supposed to be even better!

Although we didn't break any records, the temperature hit 69º today, with the sun shining in a bright blue sky and a light, pleasant breeze. I went for a walk at the lake in a Coolmax (very thin) long-sleeved top -- and had to keep pushing the sleeves up because it was so warm!

Above the lake I turned off the paved path and took a shortcut through the woods along the stream -- not because it's a shortcut, but just to be in the woods. Later I crossed the stream so I could go through the woods all the way back to the lake. I felt a sense of accomplishment crossing the stream, because we've had rain and it's full. It's only a very small stream -- even filled with water it's still only about six feet wide and about 8 to 10 inches deep. But I didn't want to end up stepping in cold water up to my ankles, or even worse falling in it! The small rocks people have thrown in to step on are pointy and unsteady, and with my stiff joints and poor balance I can't always do it when the water isn't low.

But I found a stick to use for balance, and made it across! I also found a three very interesting rocks to bring home, and had some especially good bird experiences. The walk was very healing for me.

It was a five-duck day on the lake! In addition to the standard year-round Mallards and the usual winter Ring-necked Ducks, there were quite a few Ruddy Ducks, two Canvasbacks, and a small flock of seven gorgeous Hooded Mergansers [see icon]! For the past few years the winter ducks have been scarce -- no resident ruddys or canvasbacks, very few visits from mergansers, and many fewer resident ring-necks than we used to have.

I don't know why, but I think it's because the weather has been warmer than normal for the past several years and "south" for the ducks has been further north. But this year -- except for today -- has been chillier. The ruddys and those two canvasbacks have been around for a few weeks, and those lovely mergansers were an extra treat!

When I got near the upper end of the lake I could hear a young Red-shouldered Hawk being harassed by crows. The crows were cawing periodically, but the hawk kept calling almost constantly for at least a half hour. It continued calling on and off for the whole time I was in the area, about two hours. From the wobbly sound of the call, I think it was a first-year bird -- it sounded halfway between "keer keer keer" and "peep peep peep"!

I stood and watched it for awhile, and could hear it the whole time. Then, when I was on my way back through the woods, I heard the wobbly call about a quarter-mile away ... and suddenly heard the loudest hawk call I've ever heard, right over my head! I looked up and there was another Red-shouldered Hawk -- an adult, flying toward the immature at treetop height.

The songbirds seemed to be as happy about the warm weather as the humans were -- they were twittering and chipping everywhere! In one area of the woods where I heard several soft chip notes I tried pishing, and found myself in a forest full of titmice! They were everywhere, all around me, hopping around, chipping and scolding. I stood still and just soaked up the pleasure.

After I saw the second hawk I was so occupied listening to them that I walked past the turnoff I normally take and got to a tributary stream. I know the woods well and knew where I was, I was just surprised that I had missed the trail. But the clearing at the brook was also filled with soft bird sounds, and I didn't even need to pish. There were White-throated Sparrows feeding all over the place, a big flock of cardinals flying here and there among the trees, and I got a good look at an unusual light-brownish "pale adult" American Robin. Again I just stood there quietly for awhile, and it was even better because the birds were doing their natural activities rather than being agitated.

I only walked about 2½ miles, but I stopped so often and poked around for so long that I was out from 2:00 until 4:30! After I cooled off with some water and rested awhile I had a bowl of my beautiful ham and bean soup.

Sad day

Tue, 08 Jan 2008 02:47:47 GMT

I do best with difficult dates by trying to just ignore them. If I don't pay attention to what date it is, I don't feel bad. So I'm lying in bed this morning half-awake listening to Morning Edition, and the announcer vigorously announces, "It's January 7!"

Today would have been my 25th anniversary.

Normally January 7 doesn't bother me that much -- Tom died in 1985, and after all these years I usually just feel a little wistful on birthdays and anniversaries. But the ones that would have been extra special are still painful.

I'm glad I have two friends whose birthdays are today. Picturing their happiness reduces my sadness. But it was still a difficult day. Fortunately the weather is glorious and I went to the lake. That helped more than anything.

Birthday wishes

Mon, 07 Jan 2008 18:35:23 GMT

Happy birthday
kayre !

Birthday wishes

Mon, 07 Jan 2008 18:33:53 GMT

Happy birthday
lkeele !

Beautiful soup

Sun, 06 Jan 2008 03:20:03 GMT

I had a nice day today, but I'm worn out!

This morning I went to momomom's annual New Year's brunch. It was great! It was good to see various members of her family I don't see very often (especially what_evaa, who's away at college in California most of the time), and even though I didn't know most of the people there, everyone was friendly and I never sat alone by myself. The food was wonderful and the drinks were great (especially the mimosas and the Mexican hot chocolate!).

Then I came home and finished my soup. The other day I took the bone and fatty section of the honey-baked spiral-sliced ham I made for Christmas dinner and a package of Toni's Ten Bean Soup from the Women's Bean Project (ingredients: barley, anasazi beans, lentils, red lentils, green split peas, yellow split peas, black eyed peas, black turtle beans, red and white beans). I cut up two big onions, several stalks of celery, several carrots, a couple of potatoes and a couple of cloves of garlic, put them all in my biggest stock pot, and filled it the rest of the way with water. I don't use recipes for soup -- I just throw in whatever's around. About four hours later I put in the contents of Toni's spice packet and some other seasonings, and after another hour or so of simmering I strained out the solid stuff, put that and the broth into big containers and put them in the fridge.

Tonight I scooped the fat off the top of the soup, then picked through the solids to take out the bones and fatty parts. Then I put the rest back together and ladled out a bowl of it to test it. Ahhhh! Beautiful soup! Actually it's practically stew -- some of the veggies and beans disintegrated and made a the broth extremely thick and hearty, which is just the way I like it! It was delicious!

Tomorrow when I have more energy I'll divide it up into sections and freeze it. Then I shall look forward to plenty of beautiful soup evenings! Maybe I'll invite some people over for a big bowl of thick, hearty Bean and Ham Soup, a salad, and some fresh crusty bread ... yum!

Happy New Year

Tue, 01 Jan 2008 05:49:52 GMT

It's 2008!
Happy New Year!

My first New Year's resolution: Get back to LJ. I miss all my friends!

More tomorrow, plus reading to catch up with all of you as best I can, but I wanted to break the ice tonight, before I went to bed. I have lots to tell about the holidays. Please say hi and tell me what's going on in your life, especially if there's anything crucial or exciting

I hope 2008 brings you good health, good luck, and much joy!

"New" computer

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 17:45:25 GMT

I haven't been around because I'm staying off the web as much as possible, trying to get the house cleaned up for Christmas. My fibromyalgia has been flaring since late spring, and as a result my house has devolved to CHAOS (Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome). Now my daughter-in-laws parents are coming here for Christmas, and they've never been here so I really want the house to look nice.

After running around putting things away and cleaning, I'm too sore to be comfortable in this desk chair, so I go lie in the recliner -- but this computer is a desktop so I can only use it at the desk.

And everything I do on the computer takes soooo long, so I've been restricting what I do to just my volunteer work -- managing the freecycle groups, mostly in email. I try not to keep Firefox open very long because it has a memory leak and really bogs this thing down.

I was thinking one day about why I still don't even have my Alaska pictures done yet, let alone all the others I've taken, and I realized it's because going through them takes sooo long. Everything takes longer than it should because this computer is so old and memory-challenged. It only has 256 MB, and the 40 GB hard drive is so full that virtual memory is extremely slow. I'll click on something in Firefox and wait ...... and wait ...... and wait ...... while the hard drive churns away and bits of programs get swapped back and forth in virtual memory. Defragging the hard drive hasn't seemed to make even a dent in the time that I could see.

But now I'm getting a new computer! Well, it's not new, it's a hand-me-down, and I'm not getting it until at least next summer, but at least it's something to look forward to! My brother gets a new computer every three years, and when we were talking on the phone on Thanksgiving he told me he's going back to a Mac this time. (He was a devoted Mac fan for many years until he needed some software that was only available for Windows, and had to switch. Now that Macs will run Windows-based software, he's going back.)

So I immediately offered to buy his old one. He always buys top of the line in everything, and although he uses his computers extremely heavily, he also takes excellent care of them, so I knew it would be a good one. He said he'd think about it.

Last night he sent me an email:

Wanted to share my thoughts with you so you'd know where I'm at on my Dell 9100 laptop. At the moment I'm targeting next summer to replace it with a new MacBook Pro.

I found the 9100's packing box in the garage, so I'll be able to ship it to you. It has 3 good USB ports and one that works only sporadically. It also has a Firewire 400 port, digital and analog video outputs for an external monitor, and of course an Ethernet port. It has a 15" (diagonal) display, a 60 Gb hard drive and 1 Gb of RAM, with Windows XP Pro installed. Other than the one USB port, the laptop is in excellent condition. If you google Dell 9100 laptop you'll see a number of descriptions and reviews.

I'm not interested in charging you for it, even for the shipping cost. You're in tight financial circumstances, that's all I need to know. We're running fairly lean ourselves these days, but by next summer we should be able to buy the new computer package. Once I buy a new computer I generally leave the old one in place for three months in case a need arises that I forgot to address on the new one. Once I have the MacBook Pro up and running, I'll see whether I can get by with one month this time.

The only things that could bring this plan down would be (1) my physical condition declines substantially, (2) our financial condition declines substantially, or (3) the Dell 9100 experiences a catastrophic failure.

A catastrophic failure wouldn't have to be a motherboard or something expensive. Back in 2001 I bought a Micron desktop computer that ran fine for several years. Then it's hard drive crashed permanently. Okay, I thought, I'll get a new hard drive, maybe a bigger one. I took it to our local shop. The tech ordered a new hard drive for me and replaced the broken drive. But when he started it up, it didn't work. Turned out all the new hard drives were incompatible with the three-year-old BIOS. I told him, okay, put in a new BIOS. He did. Then he discovered that the new BIOS was incompatible with the old motherboard. I wasn't about to pay for a new motherboard, so I had him remove the new hard drive and BIOS, and deepsixed that computer. That's when I bought the Dell 9100. Actually, I expect the 9100 to stay in top condition as it has since I bought it in 2004.

That's the plan for now. Let's pray that we can make it work.

Love,

Oh, boy! It has 4 times the memory this one has, and 50% more hard drive space. And it's a laptop, so I can sit in the recliner and surf, listen to real-time streaming audio anywhere in the house, or take it with me to show photos on, and all the other uses for a portable computer.

There are so many other things I need to buy more than a computer, especially some things for the house -- refrigerator, dishwasher, carpeting, painting, and new sliding glass doors (2) and front door and basement windows (2). The doors and windows are original cheap builders' crap, and by now, 30 years later, they leak like sieves; I replaced the rest of the windows when forced to by the condo association because they were foggy, but I couldn't afford to do the doors too, and omitted the basement windows as well since they're under the deck and don't show. The rest of the stuff was last replaced more than 20 years ago. The carpeting and paint are worn, the refrigerator has a lot of problems, and the dishwasher doesn't clean the dishes.

So the default computer plan was to stagger along with this one indefinitely unless it died, which it (thank goodness!) shows no sign of doing. So waiting till next summer won't be a hardship -- at least I have something to look forward to now!

I need to get back to work now, but I couldn't resist writing about this!

Serendipity

Wed, 14 Nov 2007 04:48:22 GMT

It's very important to clean out your freezer occasionally ... because there may be something good back there!

I cleaned out the bottom shelf of the refrigerator freezer the other day, and waaay in the back I found (1) a ziplock bag with three Lu cookies -- the kind with the thick layer of chocolate (almost like a small chocolate bar) on top -- and (2) a package of Lindt extra-dark chocolate truffles!

They both had a slight "freezery" smell (like ice cubes get if you let them sit too long), but dipping in coffee solved it nicely for the cookies, and the truffles taste fine when you bite into them. :-)

Clean shower

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 06:19:12 GMT

What a coincidence!

I had no sooner finished recommending Arm & Hammer's Clean Shower to lkeele in response to her question about bathroom cleaning products, when someone posted an offer on freecycle for two bottles of Clean Shower!

I asked for them ... and got them! I'm picking them up Tuesday evening. It isn't anything exciting, but it's definitely a cost-saving, as I use this stuff religiously. The whole bathtub enclosure really does stay sparkling with no cleaning at all if you use it after every shower.

And the coincidence is funny. Maybe my friend who insists that the Law of Attraction works is right.

(I'm just kidding, but she really does believe in it. She's a member of my UU church, but she's also a member of the local Church of Religious Science, which teaches "Our thinking and our expectations create our reality.")

The Most Horrible Banner Ad Ever Created

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 03:15:47 GMT

This banner ad is real. I still can't believe they created it. (Not at all NSFW, just in incredibly bad taste.)

Websites that suck

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 02:28:54 GMT

I just submitted this critique to the entertaining and educational site Web Pages That Suck:

Vincent,

This message ended up longer than I had planned, because I started writing about one commercial site, but once I checked out the developer's own site, I found that it's even more appalling than the other one! So here's the URL up front if you'd rather skip my description and critique: http://www.dogsname.com ; (Be sure you try it both with and without Flash enabled.)

First, you should know that I use Firefox with the NoScript extension, which blocks scripts from executing unless the user gives permission. NoScript is a highly popular security add-on; other people may not have Flash enabled for a variety of deliberate and accidental reasons. Commercial websites should not be totally dependent on these scripts to work.

At first I was going to write about the website of Lu Biscuits -- a major cookie brand (albeit with delusions of grandeur) sold in every major supermarket. Google gave me the link, and I clicked on it, only to see a nearly blank page with this statement across it:

This text gets replaced by the swf file if the user has Flash installed.

Under it was a broken graphic indicator, plus the text

Welcome to the LU Biscuits North America home page, source for information about our premium European cookies made with the finest ingredients, including rich chocolate and pure butter, available in specialty cookie sections and gourmet stores everywhere.

© 2006 Great Brands of Europe, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

That's it. I moused over the whole page -- there is no link. I'm not a techie and I have no idea what that statement means. I tried adding "/index.html" to the URL -- sometimes you can skip an intro and get to the main page that way -- but I just got the same thing.

I decided to see what would happen if I enabled Flash ... and got a pretty box where a picture of a sexy woman with a Lu cookie and some words (asking me to choose a country, U.S. or Canada) moved into place, and then just sat there, static. There is absolutely NO need for Flash here! They're not even presenting anything that requires animation.

Even worse, when I clicked on U.S., tacky, repetitious, extremely annoying music started playing! (Avoiding unwanted sounds is is one reason why I use NoScript!) There's a minuscule font at the bottom that says "CLICK TO TURN SOUND OFF" -- but it's practically unnoticeable, and meanwhile you've got the music pounding in your ear (and all over the office if you're in a cubical at work).

The rest of the print on that screen is extremely small as well -- and it's white on black, making it completely illegible to my 60-year-old eyes.

The rest of the website sucks too. If you click on "Varieties", you get "Loading...." (even on my high-speed cable connection -- I can't imagine what this site does to people on DSL or dial-up), and eventually a grid of pictures of 16 cookies. You don't get names unless you mouse over them. If you click on "Lu Gallery", you get the same "Loading...." and then nothing but a splash screen that says "Original Advertising Illustrations - From the LU Biscuits/ art collection: Click to enter". Totally, totally, unncessary.

When I noticed "Site by Dogsname" at the bottom, I clicked on it -- and right away I could see where the problem lies. The page title at the top of the screen is "DOGSNaME.COM: Fetch Your Bone".

Apparently the web designer is 15 years old ... at least emotionally, if not chronologically. But I guess I'll never know, because guess what the main page of the website says ... yep, you got it:

This text gets replaced by the swf file if the user has Flash installed.

But once I gave permission, the page loaded fine -- unfortunately it's one of the worst websites I've ever seen!

It has six brightly colored cartoony bones rotating rapidly in a dizzying circle, each one with a cryptic notation on it. The motion stops when you mouse over it, but then you can only read the one that happens to be right in front, because the others get too small. So the only way to pick out where you might want to go is by either struggling to follow the words around and around, or by stopping and starting it over and over and over. It's Mystery Meat Navigation! :-p

Once you can figure out what the labels say, you have to figure out what they mean. The labels say: Backyard; Identity; Case Studies; Print; Blogodog; and Interactive. It's pure Mystery Meat Navigation -- I have no clue of where those go. Choose one at random to see how difficult the rest of the site is to navigate!

The two URLs are http://www.lubiscuits.com/ ; and http://www.dogsname.com/

This is someone showing off his web design skills? It has so many of the elements you warn against -- Flash is required to see anything at all, and if you do have Flash you get Mystery Meat Navigation! Please show him how "good" he really is by featuring him on Web Pages That Suck!

Thanks for your great site! I've learned so much from it that I've done a few usability studies for some friends' business websites, and my critique resulted in some tremendous improvements!