New year. New cancer.

It would appear I missed October and November. It also appears I only have a few hours to grasp on to December.

I will be checking into a hospital in Boston on Friday for a cancer related operation. New cancer. Still holding the Lymphoma off. This new one crept into my gall bladder and was discovered by accident.

There should be more details to come, but I just wanted to get a quick post done to at least capture the last few hours of December 2013.

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A question was asked of me today as I sat eating a sandwich while reading the novel Hit on my Nexus 10's Nook App.

"When was the last time you read a physical book?

At first I thought the question was about a physics book. Then I understood he meant what I have been calling a 'real' book as opposed 'digital.'

I was about to say I am reading one now, but paused when I realized the three books I am actively reading are all digital.

Even more interesting to me was that I could not recall the last 'physical' book.

The second epiphany was how wrong I was to call 'physical' books real and ebooks not.The body of the work hasn't changed. It has just become easier to convey and read. Thus, giving me greater opportunities to read that didn't exist before.

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Took Most of August Off

We were feeling somewhat French. It seemed a good idea to take the month of August off and travel the world. Then we took a look at the condition of the world right now and decided just to take the month off.

We are returning the day after Labor Day.

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Going against the tide on Yelp

Looking for an upscale place to eat in Brunswick Maine we went to the usually reliable Yelp for suggestions. We found one in particular that seemed,to quote one review "spectacular".

Eager for the experience, we tried to get reservations the last time we were in town, but failed.  We were so pleased that this time there was an opening early Saturday night.

It was all down hill from there.

To distill the experience: the only thing I liked was the water. It was so bad, we stopped at a fish & chips shack on the way home to get some real food.

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A Holiday on Thursday.

July Fourth is one of the holidays associated with the date that didn't suffer the modern Modayization. It's falling on Thursday this year presented a problem. Three days on, a day off and then back to work for one day doesn't feel right.

And it's summer here in New England. It's in the 90's with humidity that has a assumed a physical presence.

Not good work weather.

Who am I kidding. I work in an air conditioned office. I despise the out of doors.

It's just being home and not answering to what used to be a clock, (Now a Nexus7)

What I am building up to is I took the day off. Four straight days. I like that idea. Reality bites in that I will only have one day off next week.  Karma or Ying Yang? Either way, it all comes out even in the end.

Or it doesn't.
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Everyone else on the web seems to be contributing their bitcoins about this "revelation" that the governments's information collection agencies are doing their job.

Honestly, who amongst the mob didn't think those people were doing that already? We live our lives if not accepting it, expecting it

We see it on crime shows formularies. We have been programmed to  believe the police can instantly know where we are, what we ate and our menu choice when they open their smart phones.

It's come to the point where we expect them to know if we washed our hands the last time we used the rest room
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Where I have a greater concern is the unfettered collection of personal information by blind bots run by, hold your breath, corporations.

I live my life knowing that my image is being recorded hundreds of times a week. I expect what I write here, what I say in emails, SMS, chats and even on the cell phone is being recorded somewhere.  Why am I not concerned?

I've worked for the Federal Government. The level of competency and cooperation it would take to do anything of lasting and meaningful effect with the flood of information isn't happening in the near future.

They are collecting and indexing. Some intelligence guru  has said there are numbers, names and words that should be flagged. This they will do.

So, don't worry, the Government is not watching your facebook page.

TheChive.com is. But they are not the government and trusted by many more people.
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Ginger Keyboard

Check out Ginger! http://www.gingersoftware.com/ Your #1 grammar and spell checker for social media, e-mails and more!

New Grazing Blog - Keeb Grazing

It has been a while since we added a blog to the Grazing stable of blogs. Keeb.com seems to have come up with a novel way, similar to Tumblr, to save items to a blog.

Keeb Grazing 

People always come up with a new twist.  Most blogs are running a little stale these days. This is especially so for personal blogs about blogging.

If you have been following my cancer adventures, we went into Dana Farber with me expecting the worst news based on the last visit. The oncologist walked in with a big smile on her face and said the tests were "unchanged."  That means no scan in six months, just a check up.


This is good.

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New phone..

Traded in my old EVO for a HTC ONE. 
When I went into Google Play to carry over my apt I was shocked by the number of them that have been on & off of my phone.

Some were pure crap but the core ones I used the most are now all loaded.

Everyone of them seems to need a password.  Thank the stars for Evernote & LastPass.
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It's not a good idea to piss off Boston.

The enormity of what was done over the last few days in Boston is starting to settle down for me. They closed the city, the greater city. I'm not saying they closed the businesses and schools,

I am saying they closed the entire freaking city. They stopped all transit, above and below ground, they closed the airports, all public, and get this, private buildings. Everyone just went inside, closed the doors and stayed put.

It's the practiced New England tradition of hunkering down.

Then they brought what appeared to be every law enforcement person from the state. There is a plan where each of the over 400 towns and cities sends in a representative crew. Our town sent five PO's four firemen and one of the town's three ambulances. Percentage-wise, that's like NYC sending something like 10,000 officers.

They searched every block in Watertown and most of Cambridge.

Imagine NYC doing that hunting for one bad guy.

It's not a good idea to piss off Boston.

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Reviews ‘n’ Tips reviewed

Through the magic of Twitter @DanielSharkov brought his blog REVIEWS ‘N” TIPS to our attention.

We want to compliment him here on the timeliness of his clearly written pieces on the joy and science of blogging.

In just a few pages he went from technical to social lists.  (We are suckers for lists.)

We were drawn with the lead article about reasons to get of social media for a few days and were hooked  with

8 Things You Can Do to Improve Your Sidebar’s Effectiveness .

If you read the Famous Grazing blogs you have an interest in the mechanics of blogging.  Mr. Sharkov’s site is worth a visit, a browse and probably a subscription.

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The Last of the Snow Just Melted.

I was looking out of the second story office window this morning and commented that there was still snow piled along the west side of the driveway.

I looked again after getting home this afternoon.  Mindlessly looking around I noticed a robin playing in the grass along the same side of the driveway. Then I noticed: No Snow!

It has been a long winter.  I hope I didn’t just jinx it.

The snow tires come off on Saturday!!!

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The Poetry of a Pompous Twit

Occasionally, when a fit hits me and I reorganize my home office; I come across long buried memorabilia.

This time is was a wire ringed notebook of poems I wrote just before leaving for my stint in the Marine Corps, during same and a few years after.

What was I thinking?  With what was I thinking, (Don’t go there!)

Who was this self-importantly bloated bit of pure pomposity?  Certainly not me… Can’t deny it.  It was handwritten in my once readable handwriting.  Dribble,  Dribble, double-Dribble.

The temptation is to burn it, or shred it first and then burn it. 

Did I? Of course not.  I put it back in its layer, like a bone, for some future archeologist to find and THEN shred and burn as they mumble to themselves, “Dribble,  Dribble, double-Dribble.”

The moral here is to never clean the office again. Who knows what might be find in this box or that?

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The Art of Asking

LiveJournal Tags: Gaiman,SpEd

In a day and a half over half a million people have watched this talk, at the TED website and on YouTube.
I am so proud of her.

The Art of Asking
Neil Gaiman
Sun, 03 Mar 2013 10:59:00 GMT

Above is the beginning of Neil Gaiman’s latest blog entry.  I have great empathy for him because I am as well very proud of my wife in the good work that she does in supporting children and the families of children with special learning needs.

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View from my window - Winter Storm Nemo

Though it's hard to tell, that's a color photo taken from my studio on the 2nd floor.

That's my car.

That's a tree bent over with heavy snow in front of my car.

When the snow melts; sometimes the trees bounce back.

Sometimes they don't.
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While we still have power…

So far this well touted blizzard has been very well mannered.  Two PM was its scheduled time.

I find seeing questions on the various weather related sites as to the “scheduled” time for this natural phenomenon to arrive.

We are so attuned to seeing the world through the eyes of one lens or another, and there are SO many more lenses out there of late, that we have come to see the world as a scheduled event. 

The close-by passage of an asteroid in the very near future is being posted with the times it will be visible with hand held magnification.

It takes away a little of the wonder, a little of the mystery of the world. Consider the mythology that would be written if our less electronically connected ancestors looked up and saw a rock flying really close to the earth. Now our reference point is it will pass inside not only the orbit of the moon but inside the orbit of communications satellites.

The glad tidings reported is that it isn’t “scheduled” to hit either the earth, the moon, and most important, any communications satellite. And we go about our business sure in the veracity of that information.

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On this bright but very cold morning I am riding the Amtrak Acela; going south to The City.

I am meeting friends there for a exotic lunch followed by attending the performance of Fiorello at the City Center.  It is somewhat sad to go watch a musical about one of NYC's greatest mayors so soon after the death of another.

Edward I Koch &  I closely interacted twice when I lived in NYC.

We bumped into each other several times, from when he was a congressman not supporting Eugene McCarthy to the day I retired from city service but those moments weren't all that memorable for either of us.i

The first time we interacted more profoundly was in the rear of an Italian restaurant on Pleasant Avenue, an enclave surrounded by Spanish Harlem.

The second time he came to visit me with a box of cookies and to ask, paradoxically, how I was doing instead of himself.

Both of hiz honors were heroes of a sort to me. The first because Fiorella read the funnies to the children of the city on WNYC radio during a newspaper strike and the second, I will admit selfishly, for the cookies.

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Rarely does a movie disturb me

Rarely does a movie disturb me enough to warrant a comment on Belltower News.

Django did.

Christophe Waltz’s performance was worthy of praise. If only…

If only there wasn’t an amount of violence and blood that would make Sam Pekinpah blanche.

As Billy Crash, Walton Googins was worthy of praise in demonstrating a broad character repertoire going from Shane Vendrell to Boyd Crowder to Wells Hutchins in Lincoln to this castrating character.

The scene with the glowing Bowie knife was another stretch taken by Tarantino. I said if he does that, I’m leaving.  I don’t know what kept me in the theater. 

The fascination of watching the scene of a horrible disaster, I suppose.
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