Wow. It's been three months since I posted here. I didn't even really miss it.

Well, we'll see what else happens.

I'm going to be in San Jose for World Fantasy next week, so maybe I'll post more? Maybe not.

Tags: world fantasy
Current Mood: chipper

Just touching base...

Life's been hectic, and I'm finding myself trying to write fiction rather than stuff about life.

I'm thinking I haven't seen a lot of my friends on here in a while, so I'm thinking they've left, or aren't paying any attention to me. Which is fair, since I haven't been interesting in a while.

Life Notes:

Am currently in the middle of 3 writing projects.
1: for an anthology that I've been selected to participate in (my first "officially" published story)
2: Writer's group project
3: Story that I plan to submit by the end of August.

More details will become available later.

Now that I've updated, it's your turn!

See Ya!

Tags: life, writing
Current Mood: calm

Translation: I have a cold.

I've been sick. I started feeling it Tuesday, left work early, stayed home Wednesday. Coughing, Sneezing, Stuffy head (don't know if there was a fever, I didn't think to check), couldn't rest (much), and at some point a cough or sneeze threw my back out (I think, it's not the same spot that usually goes out, but thinking about it I believe it still qualifies as the back).

So, long story short (too late), I'm feeling icky.

At least I had a cute kitten attacking my ankles and fingers any chance she got. It was very cute. I'm not sure what gets into her head, but I think it's something like "Oh... That looks tasty!" Pounce!

If you were looking for coherence, you clearly took a wrong turn.

Back later, when head is clear.

Tags: ill
Current Mood: sick

Three weeks and two days ago, the wife and I added another pet to our collection (so, it used to be a collection of one. So?)

My wife has blogged rather a lot about this, but this is my first. We've acquired a kitten.

I found out through someone at work that a man who takes in neighborhood strays and gets them spade/neutered to return them to the neighborhood unexpectedly ended up with 3 litters of kittens (about 14). He was looking for homes, so I asked the wife "So, we want a kitten, right?". She and I agreed that we could take one of these on, so I told my coworker we'd like to speak with the guy.

The guy ended up being a very busy person, and it took forever to get a hold of him. Finally, forsaking any other plans for that weekend, we reached him the Sunday before Memorial day.

We went out, met the "owner", and then met the pile o' kittens. They were all extremely cute. Some were larger, some smaller, most were timid, and we had no way to know if any were male or female.

We made our decision pretty quickly. Rather, the choice became clear quickly. The owner said he'd leave us alone to play with the kittens and make a choice. The minute he left the rooms, the kittens lost interest and went to hide under stuff and sleep. All, that is, except for one that stuck around to play with us. I don't think a clearer sign could be made, do you?

We took the little kitty home, separated her from the resident cat, and voila, we were cat people (this is because the Kitten is for me, and the cat is the wife's. One for each, thus "cat people").

The next day (Memorial Day) we took the new arrival to the vet (yes, we found one open on a holiday). While we waited in anticipation, the kitten played on the metal examination table. There was a pad of paper and a pen sitting there and for some reason the kitten found the pen to be the bestest toy EVAR! She'd pounce on it, skip away then return and pounce again. As my wife would write questions for the doctor on the pad, kitten's eyes tracked that pen until it was released. POUNCE!

At one point, kitten paused to stalk the pen again. I asked, "Are you going to attack the pen again?" and for some reason I answered myself in Evil Kitten Voice "NO, I'M GOING TO ATTACK THE PEN-TAGON, but this will do for now." POUNCE!

The wife then said, "Ok, so if it's a boy, we'll call it 'Pen', and if it's a girl, we'll call it 'Penny'". I liked this, and we ran with it, so when we found out the kitten was in fact female, we called her "Penny", short for ATTACK THE PEN...TAGON.

It's been 3 weeks and 2 days - And yesterday the doctor said that we had the go-ahead to let her commune with the other cat (no dangerous kitty diseases).

That's been...interesting, but at this point we can actually keep our kitten, and so as of yesterday, we officially have a new family member, even though we've been feeding and occupying a lot of time for the last three weeks in the hope that she had no issues.

So, that's the basics. Below is a picture. Ain't She CUTE?

Tags: kitten
Current Mood: cheerful

So, here it is, the follow up to my doctor's appointment:

I'm still diabetic.

A shock, no? Well maybe not, but here's the rundown.

About 10 days before this check up, I had an optometrist appointment. As some may remember, it was my first visit to the optometrist where I learned that the bleeding in my retinas could be the early stages of either high-blood-pressure or diabetes. We now know that it turned out to be diabetes - all from an eye exam (BTW, while I personally hate doctors, I'm going to have to recommend seeing an optometrist regularly - Early diabetic warning system).

When I saw the optometrist this time, he gave me the full examination and said, "if you hadn't told me that you had diabetes, I wouldn't be able to tell from your eyes." Yep, I've been taking decent care of myself, and my eyes have healed up 100%. Yea, Me! Still need a new prescription, though.

10 days after the optometrist, I met with my General Practitioner for my 6 month check up. I'm holding steady. I'm not getting worse, but at the same time not really getting better. A1C was 5.9 this time (it was 5.8 last time - the difference is marginal). The doc says that "average joe off the street can have 5.9". I'll take his word on that, for I am 5.9 under medication.

Now, it would seem that this is all good news. Not to toot my own horn, but it IS good news. It's good news for...someone else. For me it says "you've lost your way, WTF?"

Oh, I'm not being hard on myself, but I also haven't been being strict like I was right at the start. I've cheated a little more on the diet than I should, and haven't exercised as much as I could. Each occurrence seems so minor, and they are, but a lot of little things add up to a big problem over time. The big problem in this case: Still on medication, Still diabetic.

So, over the next 6 months I've got to get back into being a little more strict. No unscheduled snacks (yes, I schedule my snacks. It's actually healthy). Avoid simple carbohydrates completely (ie sugar, "enriched" processed wheat flour, white rice...), avoid overly processed food in general, and step up the exercise. All of that should get me to the minor goal of being off meds. I hope.


In the meantime, even with my cheating and being lax on the exercise, I'm still surprising my doctor and getting comments like "If more diabetics were like you, they'd be in a lot less hurt."

Fancy that...I'm a role model. What the hell happened?

Tags: a1c, diabetes
Current Mood: chipper

Normally on Tuesdays I like to post a new blog. It keeps me thinking I could do this more often, but doesn't make me commit.

You know, I'm a guy.

Unfortunately, the perfect subject matter for my weekly blog is unavailable until late this afternoon, at which time I'll likely forget to post it.

Let's just say that it involves a doctor's office, an A1C test, and me.

I will post details tomorrow. Until then, please accept this token post as a memory of June 9th.

Oh, and if you're a J.C. Hutchins fan, you can officially buy his first published (as in "on paper") book as of today. I preordered mine.

Updates to follow.

~Ciao!~

Tags: diabetes, filler
Current Mood: hungry

I breath a heavy sigh of relief, and nearly shout for joy.

Laptop restored to 80% of full.

I know that number is correct, because I've owned it for 5 years, and I was able to restore a back up from 1 year ago - Thus, 80%.

In fact, it's probably a little more than that. For reasons I won't go into, I had backed up my Documents and Desktop a week ago, so the only real thing that I've lost is about 260 megs of really important data, and some questionable programs that I wasn't using anyway.

Hooray for Disk Images on a back up hard-drive! It's only a shame I didn't back up more often.

To make things even better - the Net-book that was the cause of it all has been fixed as well. *GLEE*

Feeling much better about my dumb ass today.

Here's hoping tomorrow is even better!

Tags: computers
Current Mood: chipper

I've been dumber, but not by much.

So, I've been troubleshooting a problem on a piece of equipment not directly related to my laptop. The equipment in question is a net-box. A tiny laptop which won't boot to Windows, and has your typical Blue Screen of Death.

I've determined that the problem with the net-box will be resolved by having Windows reinstalled. This is not as simple as it sounds, as the Net-box is little more than a wireless connection and tiny hard-drive hooked up to a diminutive monitor and keyboard. There's no CD/DVD device on board, just USB ports.

OK, So, Just hook up a CD ROM and install - Uh, sure. That might work if I had a portable CD ROM and a spare Windows install disk. So, no go there.

I have found several sites that list using a USB Stick drive to access the problem net-box and reload the OS - so I went that route.

Purchased a bright shiny 2gig USB Flash drive that had no bells or whistles (It's just faster that way) and proceeded to learn lots of things.

I got very frustrated at one point when I was attempting to use my HP-Proprietary back-up CD Rom to create the image - So, I did something I shouldn't have.

It was late (that's not an excuse, but I probably should have gone to bed rather than work on this problem), and I was attempting to format the USB drive using the Windows re-install CD. It's a funny thing about following directions, sometimes you should be wide awake to do it. In attempting to format the USB, I succeeded in formatting C: - Yes. I did exactly the opposite of what I was supposed to do.

So, I sat back, blinked and thought - DID I JUST DO WHAT I THINK I DID? I didn't want to know, so I shut down and went to bed.

Next day, I found out that 50 gigs of data had been wiped out like yesterday's Chalkboard.

OUCH.

I've been reinstalling ever since, but it's a lost cause.

I do have a potential back up - but I have to find the software to pull it. Of course, it's from July last year - but it's better than nothing.

Oh whell... I'll be smarter later.

Tags: computers, disaster
Current Mood: blank

I saw my first "real" computer in 6th grade. In science class, they decided to teach us some basic BASIC programming, and they set each of us in front of diminutive monitors and keyboard set ups. The "computers" were Commodore 64s. The Graphic User Interface didn't exist. There was no point and click. Everything was hunt and peck "by hand" entry. The internet barely registered as an entity, and that was only to military and possibly higher-powered colleges. The year? 1982.

When I was in the 7th and 8th grades. My father worked as a math teacher in a nearby high-school. These years, I would go with him to the school on the weekends while he worked (grading papers and such). Sometimes I helped him, and sometimes I got to play in the teachers' computer room. This is where I met my first computer love: Apple Macintosh

Most people who read this won't understand the thrill of meeting the GUI for the first time. In fact, when I eventually got to high-school, IBMs (IBM made the first "PC" boys and girls) still used command-line interface. In my early years of supporting computers, I used to joke "I've been working on Windows ever since it was called 'Macintosh'". While I'm not exactly a guru, I've had the experience of working in both the PC and Mac worlds. For years (more than a decade) I touted Macintosh as the superior product, because the fact of the matter is that it WAS the superior product. Please note the word "WAS" it will become important later.

Now, I'm sure anyone who reads this will be savvy enough to have watched a little TV and seen the "I'm a Mac and I'm a PC" commercials. They're clever, funny, and they do exactly what I used to do - tout Mac for being the superior product. I like these commercials, because they point out the pitfalls of Microsoft's operating systems by doing simple comparisons with a Mac OS, and no one denies that the comparison is accurate. Not even Microsoft.

Now, we will take a quick shift to the left and break through a little wall of accepted belief: You believe (and logically, I might add) that something is superior because it works the best - the highest quality of output = superior: Ergo "The Best". You have been misled. Superior is not determined by how well something works. At least, not solely by this axiom.

Follow me for a minute. You look at those words in the last paragraph again. Call me out. Challenge the point and say to me "if the highest quality isn't superior, what is?" Good question.

Now we move on to a fact: the most prevalent operating system on the planet is Microsoft's Windows (in some version or other). This is a FACT, people. Microsoft Windows has more cracks and hacks, holes and failures each day than Mac has ever had.

"See there, PROOF of superiority", you say.

"Scoreboard", I say.

Look at it purely by numbers. There are more PCs than Macs. There are more Windows PCs than any other type of PC (all other types of PCs combined, even).

Why are Windows PCs so successful, when we know their inferior?

Here's a challenge for you: Stop Thinking of Windows as "inferior". Sure, they're crap, but they've got advantages over Mac - and it's the advantages that sing true to Microsoft's superior business model.

"Oh, Advantages over Mac? Tosh!" you say.

"Scoreboard", I say.

I began to see a number of things happening in the mid 1990s:

1.) Microsoft pushed forward in the number Windows PCs being used because of PC open architecture.
Open Architecture allowed large companies to build many basic computing units with all the necessary components for people to work, using the most cost effective parts, then buy the Microsoft OS business "god" licenses and image a complete Windows OS onto cheap hardware built by their internal IT groups
--- With Mac, you bought Apple's proprietary hardware from Apple, and had the software preinstalled at Apple's premium ("superior") pricing.

2.) While Windows 95, 98, and Millenium were "Crap", they worked "well enough", which had the overall effect of lowering the price-point to Businesses, and when the businesses came on board, PC computing became even cheaper for the home user.
--- With Mac, the price-point barely changed, the effect of which is that businesses don't use Mac because it's too high-priced, and the average consumer looks at Apple as a prestige class of computer, a computer for the savvy "few".

3.) Software became more readily available for Windows PCs than for Mac. Programmers/programming companies saw the writing on the wall, the numbers tilted decidedly in Microsoft's favor, so third party software vendors coded for PC first, and then Mac (but not always).
---With Mac, some extremely powerful and useful proprietary programs were created and quickly knocked offs were created by Windows programmers.

"Scoreboard", I say. "I'm NOT a Mac."

I'm not a Mac, not for the desire to be a PC. PC is crap; HOWEVER, PC is inexpensive, flexible, and does more than Mac (even if it does it half as well).

What I find sad is that Apple knows all of this. I found the proof of it Sunday.

For reasons I will not go into, I acquired a 3rd Generation iPod. I had a 50% chance of it working, so I bought a USB charger cable, hooked it up to my PC to charge it. I could get into the File system, I even pulled off the music sitting on it. After letting it sit for several hours, I unplugged the cable, and tried to turn it on. It didn't.

"No worries", I thought. "I'll go to an Apple Store and get the battery replaced." I figured, it's Apple, so it's proprietary, and so's the battery. So, I went to the Apple Store the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend. I walked to the back where I saw the fabled "Genius Bar". I didn't remember being in an Apple Store before (I know I had been, I just didn't remember the experience). I looked around and saw the tables set up with plethora of MacBooks attended by customers, walls covered with iPods, wood floors, white walls, and for some reason I got the feeling I was in a high-tech nursery.

As I approached the "Genius Bar", I saw two guys behind it in blue shirts helping a couple of customers. No problem, I had time, I could wait. In fact, there were several empty stools at the bar where I could sit if I chose. Walking in a determined manner, it must have been clear to the girl in the orange shirt next to the bar where I was heading.

Orange-shirt girl stepped forward with her iPhone and clipboard. "Do you have an appointment for the Genius Bar?"

Appointment? Como se, HUH? "Uh, no. I acquired this iPod off the internet, and I think it needs a new battery. I can connect to the file system and download stuff, but after charging for hours it won't turn on."

"Well, they can look at it to see what's wrong. From your description it's probably needs a battery like you say," she pointed out with a smile. I always like feeling vindicated. "So, what they'll do is offer you a refurbished model for $99, or you can trade this one in for a 10% discount on a new one."

OK, at least it was both shoes at the same time. "They can't just replace the battery?"

"Oh, we don't carry parts or have the tools to fix it here."

I told her I'd have to think about it, and as I turned around I finished that thought which was "how pretentious. I'm never coming back to an Apple Store again."

Apple knows exactly how popular their "toys" are. They know that the drooling "elite" will scamper to buy their next i-this or i-that. I can't wait for their bathroom computing line to come out. I expect it to be called the "iShit".

Now, you might think from the way I've written it that I am upset at the girl at the store. I'm not. She was just doing her job. She was pleasant and courteous. I'm upset at Apple for being a bunch of snobs. They're too good to be able to replace a battery - A Freaking Battery! Batteries die all the time. They're a part GUARANTEED to fail over time. They don't want you to be happy with what you've got, they want to put you onto the next link up their chain. They want you to be in thankful to them for allowing them to screw you.

Apple loses my business, not because they don't have a better offering. Mac OS is arguably the best working OS on the market. No, they lose my business because they want to force me to buy equipment I don't need or want in order to get that warm Apple Mac experience.

My opinion here is this (in case it wasn't clear): Apple hasn't figured out that the future of computing is in software, not hardware. They haven't figured out that iPod is only special to people who believe the marketing that iPod is special and not just another MP3 player.

I'd like to be a Mac. I'd like to have an OS that doesn't freeze up when you look at it funny. I'd also like to be able to install it myself, and build my own system to work with it. So, I guess in the end, I'm NOT a Mac.

Sorry, Apple, no sale.

Tags: mac, macintosh, pc
Current Mood: busy

Saturday, the Meesh and I took a cultural day off. We went to the Phoenix Art Museum, and the Phoenix Symphony.

Parking in downtown Phoenix appears to have become a precious commodity, since the parking structures now charge ten to twelve dollars for "event" parking, and events now happen every weekend. This being an increase of 100-140% of the prices in the last couple years, we finally found a reason to use the light-rail.

Now, I have disagreed with the implementation of the light-rail, and I have a number of reasons that I won't go into here, not the least of which is that it runs no where near where I live or work, so I can't use it to commute (the primary reason for its existence); However, where it comes to parking in downtown Phoenix (and Tempe, but mostly Phoenix) it has provided a nice loop-hole to the parking issue.

Along with the light rail, "park and ride" lots have been created. You park in these lots for free, and for $2.50 per person, you can ride the light rail ALL DAY. So, if you do the math, it's $5 for parking.

And thus, we made use of a convenient loop-hole for parking, and took smelly public transportation. It was our first trip on the light-rail. The trip wasn't unpleasant, but I'm hard pressed to see anything overtly beneficial to it beyond skirting the parking fees in downtown Phoenix. On top of this, the last train leaves at 11pm, so if you're thinking about going out and having a good time at a bar on the weekend, expect to get home using a taxi or bus, because the bars still close at 2am. Hell, we just went to the symphony, and we had to catch the last train (serves us for being chatty with the person that invited us. That 15 minute conversation almost cost us extra).

The museum was nice, nothing "special" going on. The symphony played a tribute to Rogers and Hammerstein, so if you've seen their Broadway shows or movies, you'll get an idea of the theme of the night. It was fun, and the person who'd invited us is in the chorus on stage, so that was neat as well.

All round, it was a good day.

Of course, I still disagree about the light-rail, but it does make for cheaper parking.

Tags: phoenix art museum, phoenix light-rail, phoenix symphony