Another chapter has been written in the ongoing saga of my battle with Google’s news site and my desire to post “top news” links from it on my page.
In this latest episode I had to do battle with their restructuring of their page, the inclusion of new translated characters in their URLs, and other problems. I *think* I have it licked, although it may take another few refreshes before the “bad” news items get pushed off my my page. (more…)
Someone on one of the message forums I frequent posted a German "safety" video. You need Windows Media to watch it: if you have Windows, you probably are good to…
My back hurts at the moment. Really badly. Sort of on the right side, between the shoulder blades. Its bad enough that the pain shoots down my arm, and at times I feel like I can't breath.
Yesterday I couldn't even lift a coffee cup with my right hand. Reaching for the mouse on my computer hurt. I drove to a store five minutes away, and ended up having Irene drive back because I couldn't steer well due to the shooting pain. Today its a bit better...a Tylenol 3, two Robaxecets, and a couple of Vioxx so far, and its only 2:30 PM. All of this pain is one thing, but what really bugs me is ... ...the fact that I can't point at anything I did and say "that hurt my back". I had a dream in the wee hours of Sunday morning in which I hurt my back. I suddenly woke up in pain, and sure enough, my back was sore. But what did I *do*? Probably whatever it was wasn't very heroic. I likely bent over wrong, or picked something up that I can't remember...something dull like that. If I was into extreme sports, I could say something like I twisted my back while free climbing some 1000' sheer drop, but no, all I can do is look at how my posture when I reach for the mouse and stuff like that. Oh well. On the plus side, I get to take large quantities of pain killers and lie on the floor a bit. Thats always fun...
I’ve mentioned before how my server is overheating. Well, this weekend I took hole saw in hand and added some better fans to the chassis. You can check out my photographic journey through the upgrade if that sort of thing interests you. (more…)
Irene and I love our animals. Seven cats, a horse...
...and until yesterday, a dog. We made the decision On July 3rd to have Sheena euthanized. Goodbye, old girl...
It was a tough choice. Sheena was still alert and wasn't screaming out in pain. Up until year ago, Sheena was still pretty active: she was at least 13 years old, which is pretty old for a dog her size.
Last year, though, she had a setback. She had what seemed to me to be a stroke: the vet thought it might have been a tumour or nerve damage of some kind. For over a week she couldn't walk at all, and afterwards she was very weak. She recovered some of her mobility, though she stopped going on walks of more than a hundred yards or so. She never recovered her balance, really: a light bump would tip her over. And her hearing was mostly gone afterwards...cataracts took away most of her vision a few years ago.
The last few months we watched Sheena getting more and more feeble. Recently, she reached the point where she often couldn't stand up without help, and she was barely eating.
I don't know how Sheena felt about it, but I kept thinking that her quality of life had gotten pretty meager. Irene and I had talked several times about what it would take for us to decide it was "time" for Sheena. Ultimately, Irene called me up in tears and told me she felt that time had arrived.
I am an agnostic. I don't really believe in an afterlife, but then again I don't disbelieve. I'd like to think that we made the right choice, and somewhere Sheena's spirit is alive and healthy, enjoying a run through a grassy field with Irene's horse Brandy like she did years ago. Maybe one day I'll be there too, and Sheena will run over and let me scratch her ears the way she liked. I'd like that...
I sometimes hear or experience something that cements my way of thinking. Sort of a "eureka!" moment, I suppose, but on a personal "philosophical" level. I had one of those moments earlier this week.
Someone made a comment, a standard cliche heard in corporate circles all the time: If we aren't growing, we are dying. Naturally, I've heard this comment before. And I've had a fundamental disagreement with it, but this time a bunch of thoughts came together at once for me. I am a consumer. Not quite a BMW driving, Latte sipping, Armani wearing Yuppie, but sort of the techy equivalent. I don't feel a need to apologize for my life. But in recent years, I've made some decisions regarding the balance between "more!" and "happy!". I've jumped off the career fastpath, taken an effective pay cut, and started doing work I enjoy more. I haven't gone to live in a sod hut, or stopped buying computer upgrades: but I've made some changes. So maybe that's made me more sensitive to the extreme side of the capitalist/consumerist ethic. So what bothered me about the "we gotta be growing or we're dying" statement? Basically, its at the root of the dotcom bubble, and its part of the "evil" of the stock market. Ten years ago I disagreed with this statement, when my employer at the time started laying people off because we "only" grew our profit by 10% that year. Years ago, you didn't lay people off unless you were losing money. In the 90's, it became normal to dump people just because you weren't growing fast enough. But I didn't really meld this into a personal philosophy. I think a better personal statement for me would be "if you aren't improving, you are dying". I don't think growth or expansion equals improvement. If it did, cancer would be the most successful form of life: it grows really well. An individual or a company that is becoming more efficient, that is learning and correcting its "bad habits", that produces a better product, that delivers faster and provides a more satisfactory solution to its client, that is "happier"...that company is better than a company that simply gets bigger. I'd like to think that what I'm saying here is just common sense. But it doesn't seem to be that way. I still hear that cliche statement, and it continues to bother me... Getting better, not necessarily richer...Irene left me!
Well, in truth, it is thankfully only temporary. After flexing her muscles with the cats for a while this Saturday morning, she boarded a plane for sunny Edmonton to visit some friends and family. While waiting for Irene to clear security at the airport, I witnessed evidence of their new focus on security. X-rays of Irene's carry on luggage were carefully examined, and the inspectors pulled Irene aside to inspect her luggage by hand. Inside, they found this weapon of mass destruction:
I'm pretty sure that humanity is now safer with these powerful weapons securely in my hands instead of Irene's.
As usual, watching Irene board the plane was depressing. I'm not happy when she goes away. Its only been a day or so and I'm missing her already...
For anyone visiting my home in Irene's absence, please respect my sadness. Dancing girls and video game delivery to the front door, booze and take out food to the back door, please...
My nephew, Shane, is a great guy. He’s the sort of guy who, when his most geographically proximal Uncle forgets his birthday, would never be upset. In fact, he’d probably feel all good and warm, knowing that his Uncle eventually did remember his birthday…even if it was only after Shane mentioned eating birthday cake on the day in question. (more…)
Irene and I took a little day trip today up to Cultus Lake and the Columbia Valley. You can check out the photos if you like.
Gollum won an award on MTV's Movie Awards for best CG character...and you have to check out Gollum's acceptance speech.
