Category Archives: Thoughts

I think I found a solution to my posting problem

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If you remember, I was having problems getting Deepest Sender (a Firefox extension to do blog posts on the fly) to work for me after some unknown event or upgrade caused it to no longer be able to log in.

I’ve found a alternate extension called Performancing. It works quite nicely and I’m using it for this post here. I have found at least one small problem where the editor display is a little muddled (not properly rendering spaces), but otherwise this should be a usefull extension.

Thanks, Kristin.

I’ve been saying this all along

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I’ve long had a problem with the germaphobia that has been becoming more a more of a problem in society. Sure, I don’t want to needlessly expose myself to significant germs, but the simple truth is that germs have been around forever and in the generations upon generations before us, people were not generally dropping dead from somebody blowing out candles on a birthday cake or touching a door handle in a bathroom.

Anyway, researchers at Duke University have discovered that lab rats who live in an excessively clean environment would get sick easier than rats in the wild.

Study dishes the dirt on hygienes role in disease

I like this guy

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I’ve always enjoyed magic and have dabbled with it when I was growing up (like most kids). While there are many magicians out there, I’ve come to really appreciate Criss Angel. He’s a bit edgy like David Blane but not nearly as serious. His tricks are well produce with not too much excess (though with a fair amount of drama which is reasonable).

Given how I know how many different kinds of tricks are performed, it’s good to see well executed routines often with a new twist.

He has a show on A&E which has recently started its second season. It’s only 30 minutes with a main trick and a few smaller ones leading up to it.

Check it out sometime.

Don’t bother and just give ’em the cake

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Since yesterday was our work day, we went out to dinner last night. One of Becky and my favorite places is The Original Roadhouse Grill which the kids hadn’t been to before. It was a nice meal and the kids enjoyed the whole eat-the-peanut-and-throw-the-shell-on-the-floor thing.

While we were there, there were at least three different birthdays at nearby tables. At Roadhouse, like most restauraunts, the servers come by and bring you a piece of cake and sing a little birthday song before getting back to their normal stations.

The problem, tough, is that the singing is very anemic. This is not a complaint specifically about Roadhouse as it is often the case at other restauraunts, too. Don’t get me wrong, I understand the problem. The servers are busy with their own customers, they feel a bit foolish when singing, and part of them probably doesn’t want to embarass the guest. My opinion (like you wanted it) is that if you can’t muster the energy to sing with some sincerity, don’t bother and just give ’em the cake.

It works for us

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We have a tradition in our family. One Saturday a month (although we aren’t terribly consistant with that), we work. What that means is we do whatever needs to be done around the house, cleaning, straightening, various projects, etc. No playing, just work. At the end of the day, if enough work is done (which seems to always happen), we go out to dinner.

Yesterday was our first work day in a bit. I worked on finishing the garage (I’m getting closer, but will probably need another weekend or two to get it all done) and Becky and the kids worked on cleaning the loft (purging old toys, puzzles, and games, mostly).

It worked out pretty well. The kids didn’t want to give up their toys even though we were paying $1-a-bag for donatable items. Becky and I will probably get rid of the bottom layer of toys the next time they are away.

A few thoughts on The DaVinci Code

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Becky and I went to see The DaVinci Code this afternoon with some friends of ours. I had "read" the book a few years ago (in quotes as I don’t have time to read and instead listen to books from Audible.com during my commute) and thought it was decent enough work of fiction. Unfortunately, many have come to believe that the assertions of its author, Dan Brown, are true and based in fact. Continue reading →

Let’s hope that doesn’t happen again

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Last night, I was trying to finish up 24: The Game which I had borrowed from work and while I was almost done with only one "hour" (of 24) left (maybe 30-45 minutes of gameplay) it was late and I had a little headache so I went to bed.

About 90 minutes later, I woke up with a very uncomfortable headache. You know, the kind where it feels like your entire head is in a rather large vice. I knew I wouldn’t be able to get back to sleep, so I took two Tylenol and got back in bed. Unfortunately, it was too uncomfortable and my tossing and turning woke Becky up so I decided to go downstairs and wait for them to kick in.

It really was miserable. Even after 30 minutes, I could barely sit still. I passed the time by installing Ubuntu Linux in Parallels and paced the floor sipping water while it was doing it’s thing. Becky checked on me once to make sure I wasn’t dead from an aneurysm and went back up after I told her it was unecessary for both of us to loose sleep.

Long story short, I started feeling good enough to get back in bed around 4 AM. I slept until 8 and then took a nap during the day since I was still feeling a bit wiped out.

If that is what a migraine is, my heart and prayers to anyone who suffers. I’ll presume it was just some one-time thing (maybe a reaction to the sulfites from the wine I had that evening).

My wrists hurt

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I have poor posture when I work. When I’m at my desk, I tend to hold the mouse with the weight of my arm resting on the desk at the base of my wrist. The problem is that after a while, my wrists get sore (I do the same with my left at the keyboard).

It’s been a problem for years, but it seems to get bad sooner in the day. What I need to do is just learn better posture. I need to hold my arms up when I’m at the computer. It’ll take some time to build up my muscles but I’m sure it will be worth it in the long run.

Carry on.

Deepest Sender isn’t working. Argh.

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I use a Firefox extension called Deepest Sender to edit and submit posts to this blog from within Firefox. In the hopes of posting an article or two this morning, I was frustrated to find out that for some unknown reason, the extension can’t log into my blog to do any postings.

I little googling indicates that it has something to do with the xmlrpc.php file in WordPress. I tried a few things but with no luck. So, I’m stuck having to log into the blog itself. Not a big deal and I won’t use it as an excuse for not posting, but it is frustrating none-the-less.

If you learn of a fix, please let me know. Likewise, if I find a solution, I’ll update this article.

I am annoyed with city planners

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Well, maybe it’s not a city planner’s fault, but yesterday we again affected by a problem with our address. You see, the street we live on is about a half-mile long and has another road that crosses it in the middle. Unfortunately, due to poor planning or some form of administrative error, the numbering on out street decrease in both directions from that intersection (i.e. 10 14 18 intersection 20 16 12).

The problem is, our house is at one end of the street, but if you turn the wrong direction, the house numbers end before it get to ours. You need to turn around and go to the other end to find us. What end up happening is that delivery drivers usually claim our address doesn’t exist. That’s what happened again yesterday. I was waiting for a package to be delivered by DHL which didn’t happen as they claimed the address was invalid. I called them and verified it as well as explaining the problem. They’ll try again today. Hopefully, it works out.