Officially Sick!

I have been coughing up my lungs for almost a month now. I went to the doctor two weeks into it and was told it was a post viral upper respiratory infection that should clear itself in a week or two.

That didn‘t happen. I went again this morning to a different doctor. She told me it is “Profound bi-basil Pneumonia.“

Before she told me this, I thought I had a bad cold and it was just taking a while to clear. Now that I am told I am sick, I suddenly realize how much in denial I have been.

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Going to the Doctor’s Office Again!

The last time I went, I was told it’s “post-viral upper respiratory infection” that should work it’s way out in a week or two. That was three weeks ago. Now it’s much worse with a continuing low grade fever. Not fun, not fun at all.

Now I am going to the doctor’s office tomorrow morning to see a doctor who probably knows more about all of this then the one that saw me before. I shouldn’t be surprised, it took three doctors over three days to figure out it wasn’t gas in my lower intestine, but a leaking appendix.

Touch Wood.

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Neglecting Other Blogs...

Most of the other grazing blogs have been neglected of late, because I use w::bloggar to edit them. The new online editor at blogger.com is so easy to use now, I have been using that to post most of my messages at Belltowernews.com.

The project that opened most of the grazing blogs had to do with learning how to use all of the various methods available for publishing blogs. Blogger.com and Thingamablog won out completely due to ease of use. The Livejournal and Wordpress self hosting programs are good as well, but just not as convenient. Other Grazing is a Livejournal selfhosted blog and Field Grazing is done with Wordpress. The other, Dragons Grazing, is a b2Evolution based blog. I haven’t given that one much attention either.
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Why does stuff that has nothing to do with me...

Why does stuff that has nothing to do with me, bother me?

In a recent Guardian (UK) article The Royal Society complains about scientist uploading their work to university online archives, where the information can be read, for free, online. The article says, in part:

• ‘A spokesman for the Royal Society said: "We think it conceivable that the journals in some disciplines might suffer. Why would you pay to subscribe to a journal if the papers appear free of charge?‘

I don’t read their publication. Most of my information about the society has to do with Benjamin Franklin. I know they are quoted as an authority on this and that. What this article is saying, basically, is that they don’t want the information to be free because they would rather you pay to see it in their publication and that they should have the editorial control about what goes out and what doesn’t.

A bother on them and their house. Magazines publish history by today’s standards. By the time the information gets into the publication most people seeking it have already found it on the web. Granted, what is on the web needs to be sorted through to get to what’s real, but that’s life in general, isn’t it?
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Happy Thanksgiving!

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Isn’t Chicken Lovely?

A very bad day at work today was totally cured by coming home to my son greeting me at the door with a hug and words of love and a barbecue chicken dinner lovingly given to me by my wife.

Life is good.

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Quick Health Bulletin

This chest thing is still lingering, but I felt much better this morning. Last night I watched the last chapter on Masterpiece Theatre of “The Vigin Queen.” It was a bit disarming to hear her lover, Robbie, cough in a manner very similar to mine and then go off and die at his hunting lodge.

I will keep clear of my hunting lodge.
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Grazing on Thanksgiving

The topic of this blog really has very little to do with Thanksgiving, US style or Canadian. It has to do with the words “Grazing” and “Thanksgiving” combined around the holiday to skew Google and its search engine for the word “Grazing.”

Normally grazing is used to talk about cows, sheep, goats etc. eating grass and other plants found in fields and on hillsides. During the week of Thanksgiving, it refers to the eating habits of the celebrants during the day. Ergo, many people must either rejoice in this behavior of condemn it.

Who cares? What matters here is the skewing of the Google index. What happened to this nation‘s priorities? When did the health and happiness of the American people become more important that maintaining the purity of the algorithm?

What? Geeks have yet to own the world? In the words of the late great comedienne, Never Mind.
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Still Sick.

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Why is nothing working today?

I think I should return to bed. Nothing seems to be working today. I expected to breeze by a few web related updates only to find my access to them has either become restricted or the portal isn’t working at all. I have email messages out there to the responsible parties at RegisterFly. Now all I can do is sit and wait.
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Firefox Extensions

I found this link in DIGG. It is a blog by one of the Firefox engineers. If you are a user and a fan of Firefox, it’s worth a side trip just to read his opening paragraph about starting a blog.

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e.Digital Treo 15 and Windows XP

Recently, I dicovered my old e.Digital TREO 15’s battery wasn’t dead. The doorway holding it to the front of the unit was loose.

I took it out of its protective case and pushed the door shut. The battery still had some life in it. So, I rummaged through my collection of power cables and found one that fit. I plugged it in and soon the machine was fully charged.

Of course, the computer on which I first installed the e.Digital’s Treo 15 Digital Music Jukebox’s installation software is no longer in use. Back to digging though things: I found the CD. Eager to hear what music I had loaded, I installed the software, plugged in the USB cable only to find the old installation software didn’t work on Windows XP Pro.

Going to the e.Digital Website didn’t help. I googled the name of the device and found a 2003 upgrade. I downloaded that, tried again, but XP still wouldn’t admit the unit was attached. Think-Think-THINK!

I reloaded the original CD, stopped autoload and chose Explore. Lo and behold, a txt file regarding installation on XP OS equipped machine.

You have to manually install the hardware, pointing the driver request to d:\drivers\ — then install the viewing software and then install the flash update.

Now all is well and I don’t feel as bad as I mentioned earlier about being iPod Free. The e.Digital TREO 15 has 15 Gb’s of memory. This pretty much holds all of the music I have on my laptop.

Joy to the world!

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Podcast in the car.

The problem with listening to podcasts in the car is the people in the podcast recommend websites and products. The frustration of not being able to look up the URL right away makes a geek cry.

It is now my policy to only listen to podcasts like NPR’s Science Friday and CNN Update and reserve listening to things like DIGG and TWiT on the laptop.

Of course watching a video Plog like CommandN in the car is out of the question. That one would be make it even harder for a geek to pay attention to the road.

This upper respiratory post viral chest infection is really starting to get to me. The doctor said I have to ride it out, but it’s starting to hurt just to breath from all of the coughing.

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The Draw of iPod Through iTunes

I know there are other media players out there. I have paid for Winamp and have used it for years. But, just to try it, I installed iTunes.

Lord, but isn't it easy?

Again, not only easy but addictive. Everything I want regarding online media is easily accesable, the interface is intuitive and connected. Burning disks is a breeze.

The only thing I don't have is an iPod. I have resisted Apple products since they were working out of a garage.

The years I spent perfecting my MS DOS skills were not going to be wasted on some limiting GUI. Of course, MS fell for it, dragging me along with them. Now I am looking at Linux as another way to avoid Apple.

Then there is the upcoming end of year holidays. I wouldn't be surprised if there was one form of iPod or another in the stocking
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Remember the Milk

On the CommandN weekly blog, the site, Remember the Milk was mentioned by the co-host Amber MacArthur.

I haven't gone wrong with anything she has recommended in the past. I thought I was going to be disapointed for the first time when I visited the site.

I was wrong.

Don't let the modest interface fool you. This is a very powerful site worthy of your time and effort. The two owners are somewhat overwhelmed, if you read their related blog, but they seem to have the handle on this and are in it for the long run.

There is a message on the blog asking people to stop uploading large attachments.

They don't say it, but I will say it here, they aren't Google.

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It was like we had won the lottery

The enthusiastic congratulation at work today were invigorating. Everyone, to the man, appreciated the work I had put into this and the spare time I lost in preparation for the test. The peer recognition was outstanding! =30=

I am back

The test was a grueling four hours. I sat down and didn’t get up until the time was up. Then I had to sit through a survey on the conduction of the test. I could have screamed. I ended up doing a chair dance! I passed! Whewwwww!

If I hadn’t completed that certification, I don’t know if I would’ve went into work the next day. I did, I will.

Whew! Again and big time!
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