"It is a luxury to be understood."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Strange things people say...
Friday, June 7, 2002
02:48 p.m.

"It's like having a verbal chat, electronically"

Of course, you can't believe a thing you hear in advertising but still it often evokes a wry grin.
AOL touts its instant messaging service by having one of its pitch people say, "It's like having a verbal chat, electronically." Doesn't that describe a phone call? Don't they mean, it's like having a non-verbal chat, electronically?

"Not one, not two, not three but up to four!"

"Never before seen footage"

'Life Flighted'

Then there is our wonderful local (Podunk) TV news station. There is a shortage of verbs over there, they have to convert nouns. I often hear them say someone was 'Life Flighted'. I thought Life Flight was a 'brand' of air ambulance service. They don't say the victims were "Gaddyed" when they are transported by the Gaddy's Ambulance Service and if the patient was taken to the hospital in a private vehicle, they don't say he was "Buicked"! Go figure.

"I don't have to tell any of you what you don't already know."

Maybe I shouldn't even start on Texas educators (we don't rank near the bottom of the nation, educationally for nothing). I heard recently and have on tape, a teacher, A TEACHER say, "I don't have to tell any of you what you don't already know." Woah! I thought that was precisely what a teacher was supposed to do: tell us what we don't already know.

And so it goes...

Stephen F. Austin Experimental Forest Interpretive Trail System
Tuesday, May 21, 2002
10:13 p.m.
SFA Experimental Forest Interpretive Trail System...
In my back yard (3 mi. by road but about a mile through the woods) for almost 5 years yet I only recently discovered it! Good place to walk - except for the bugs. I've been driving all the way into town to walk on the Lanana Creek Trail in the evenings, spending two hours for a one hour walk. Here I can get a better walk (more hills) in an hour & 15 minutes!
Tonight I saw a wild turkey and a deer - I like this place! I had it all to myself last Tuesday, shared it with a woman with a baby in a stroller and a group of 'birders' on Saturday, it was just me and the wildlife tonight.

Editing pictures 'on the side'
Monday, May 13, 2002
03:11 p.m.

Each May since 1998, I've received photos of the Seniors from a local high school and edited them onto video with a music background. This video is then duplicated and given to each graduate at their "Project Graduation". There are typically 90 - 100 graduates supplying 5-6 photos each. I have determined that it takes a maximum of 2 minutes per picture to fish them out of the pile, place them on the copy stand, frame them, perform the edit (assembled on a linear* editor) and return them to the pile. This works out to about 16 hours of work. I charge them one half my usual rate as a donation to the project.

This year my old stand-by editor (Panasonic AG-7500A) is broken so I'm using a newer Panasonic DS-555. You'd think newer would equal better but not in this case. The 7500A can edit 'on-the-fly', allowing an edit to be performed as the 'EDIT' button is pressed from the play mode. The 555 requires the use of 'auto backspace' allowing you to mark the spot for the edit 'on-the-fly' but requiring the machine to rewind and play from a designated 'pre-roll' point on the tape to perform the edit. This has added two steps to the process which must be repeated for each photo: marking and rewind/pre-roll. It may not seem like much but I have about 530 pictures. If the additional steps add just 10 seconds per photo then using this machine adds almost an an hour & a half to the project. I'll be glad to get my old machine back!

*I got to wondering how this kind of project would work out on a non-linear editor(NLE). It seems to me that it could take longer. I'd have to first capture/scan each photo then try to conform them to the music. The reason this works so well on my old editor is that I cut the photos to the beat of the music. I can play the tape back, counting the beats and press the edit button on the beat where I want the next picture to come in. I guess the ability to visualize the audio might help find the proper beat to edit on but as a musician myself I find this quite a natural thing to do 'by ear'. Perhaps there are some jobs that can still be done most efficiently using older methods and tools. (Of course, I've never actually used an NLE so there could well be a lot I don't know about how they might be used on a job like this)

Health update...
Monday, May 6, 2002
11:05 p.m.
Went to the Doctor Friday to hear about my 'fasting labs'. It was good that I reminded him of the fact I was not fasting before the last test. I do not need cholesterol lowering medication - my cholesterol is a bit high, 230 with 200 being the highest of the normal range but well within the range that can be controled through diet & exercise. So, I'm reading those labels more closely than ever and have eaten the last butterfly porkchops and pork po-boys. I've also started getting back to my exercse routine since the days have gotten longer so we'll try this for three months and test again in August to see how we do. We did not repeat the PSA at the time of the fasting labs but he did draw blood for this repeat test during my visit on Friday. I did learn that the previous (slightly elevated) level was 4.3 which is 3 tenths of a point over 'normal'. I expect the results of Friday's test this week. I am assured that the diet and exercise regimen I need to follow for cholesterol control will have a positive effect on the prostate as well.

Unspoken, unaddressed threat...
Thursday, April 18, 2002
09:25 p.m.
Cynthia Tucker's editorial reveals the unspoken, unaddressed threat to homeland security!
(Click the title above to read)

Don't drive till you've tried AmBien
Wednesday, April 17, 2002
11:03 p.m.

The folks at drug company Sanofi-synthelabo have found a sure fire way to make us all take their sleeping pills - a TV commercial for AmBien advises, "Until you know how AmBien effects you, you should not drive or operate machinery"

I'll be waiting at home for the delivery of my pills so I can assess AmBien's effects and resume driving (and operating machinery)

My own worst enemy!
Monday, April 15, 2002
05:46 p.m.

First, I don't know why I wait till late to do my taxes. I haven't had to pay more than has been witheld since the early 80s, in fact I always get a (small) refund. All I can figure is I have a 'pythonesque' fear of "chartered accountancy" ;->

So there I was about 9pm last night setting up to fill in the form. I had already gathered the various reports, documents and attachments which would be required. The new wrinkle this year was to be an interest deduction for a student loan which I am paying. I had squirreled the letter from Sallie Mae away with the rest on the tax stuff untill one day last week when I needed to see how much I had paid to see if it was worthwhile to claim it. I opend the tax booklet last night, though and it was nowhere to be found.

I searched 'high & low' but to no avail. My taxes are so simple that it generally takes about an hour to complete them - I searched for the Sallie Mae letter for two solid hours before giving up. Fortunately, I had already arranged to be off from work today so I went to bed telling myself I would call them this morning and see about getting the figure over the phone.

When I woke up this morning, I thought to look in one place I had not looked the night before. There was no reason for that letter to be in the file with my recent medical info. yet there it was! So, after doing some gardening (why I took the day off, originally) I spent an hour and filled in the form (and worksheets). The local post office was only promising a 4/15 postmark on mail handed in by 5pm. I got there at 4:30! Will I learn my lesson and file early in the future? Who knows!

Test results
Tuesday, April 2, 2002
08:11 p.m.

Got my blood test results back today:

Blood sugar - Normal
Blood chemistry - Normal
Blood count - Normal
Thyroid test - Normal
Cholesterol - clearly abnormal (but I hadn't fasted). I was given a prescription for Lescol.
PSA - "very slightly elevated" this falls between the two choices on the report form,
Normal - retest in a year &
Elevated - see a uroligist.
It is recommended I be tested again in two months. I will be!

In the Mill
Sunday, March 31, 2002
11:07 p.m.

After more than 20 years without a regular doctor, I've had to get one and with all the preventative measures advised for folks my age that means I'm now 'in the system'!

Why more than 20 years without a doctor? My good ol' country doctor, Dr. Bailey retired and I just haven't felt the need to search out another. I've not really been too sick these last 20 years: flu, colds, the occasional ache & pain but nothing that I thought required medicine or a doctor. I like to think I've been exercising my immune system by allowing it to work on common infections and I've not contributed to resistant microbes by taking unnecessary antibiotics.

Why stop now? I've known since my 40s that the preventative measures I mentioned above loomed in my future. I've also struggled with overweight and hypertension for the better part of a decade. Then last year about this time I got a sore throat that I probably should have gotten antibiotics for. I guess it wasn't strep since I didn't end up with scarlatina or rheumatic fever but it produced a white spot on one of my tonsils that didn't go away for more than 3 weeks. The uncertainty and inability to see a doctor (outside of an emergency room) made me realize I needed a regular doctor. Still, I fooled around and didn't have a doctor when I got sick again this year.

I guess I should have known I was sick when I came home on the 15th and was asleep by 7:30, waking up at 10 only wanting to go to bed not at all interested in eating. I woke up early and rested the next day, however so I went about my business which was shoveling up and hauling a load of fertilizer for my garden. I did notice an odd sensitivity on my scalp behind my right ear that day. I was sore on Sunday but that was to be expected after all the shoveling & hauling of the previous day. I proceeded with planting doing even more shoveling and hauling.

Monday I was sore but expected that came from the weekend's activities. Tuesday, the soreness was accompanied by joint pain and fever. Wednesday, fatigue was added and a rash began to erupt on my right arm. Thursday, it took a hot shower and time on a heating pad before I could even make it to work. The muscles in my upper arm and neck had developed a twitch. Friday the rash was much worse and it took the wet & dry heat and asprin to get me to work. Before I went to work though, I got an appointment with a doctor for the following Tuesday.

Being able to rest on the weekend really helped. After 'cat napping' most of the day Saturday, I felt pretty good on Sunday but was unable to sleep well on Sunday night because the muscle/joint pain had centered in my right shoulder. Monday, I couldn't make it to work and was unable to participate in our monthly musical gig. After three days rest I was doing much better on Tuesday for my doctor's appointment. I was actually looking forward to getting some help and enjoyed meeting the staff and the doctor. He was a little puzzled by my rash but seemed pretty sure it was shingles (brought on by the flu) although not a 'classic presentation'. He prescribed an anti-viral (Valtrex) and did a culture from one of the blisters. He also started me on blood pressure medicine and drew blood to look at who knows what else (at least cholesteral, maybe PSA as well) we are to discuss those results in early April unless something drastic shows up in the blood work.

I was at the doctor's office from 11:30 til 2:00 and it took an hour to get my prescription filled so I was pretty tired and went home to rest. I called in to work to let them know the diagnosis and to tell them I would be in on Wednesday afternoon to see if I had the energy to return to work. Oh yeah, by this time I had managed to catch a head cold to add to my misery! I felt a bit better on Wednesday but lasted less than two hours at work. I was able to clear my calendar and take the rest of the week off, however.

Today I took the last of my 5 day supply of Valtrex, the blisters have dried up and the skin is flaking off of them. I still have some pain and twitching in my right shoulder but it is no longer debilitating and my energy levels seem to be about back to normal. I walked around the arboretum and azalea gardens at SFA for more than an hour and did some shopping without having to come home and collapse. So, I will try a full day at work tomorrow.

At the end of the day...
Sunday, March 17, 2002
10:33 p.m.
When did the time of day become such a determinant? It's becoming epidemic, the use of the phrase "at the end of the day". Of course most times what the speaker is talking about doesn't have to wait for a certain time of day to become true. Come to think of it another common phrase used in these situations is just as meaningless. Is ALL ever really said & done?

Sargent nails it again
Tuesday, February 26, 2002
10:56 p.m.
(click title to view)

Dead Head sticker on a Cadillac!
Sunday, February 10, 2002
07:45 p.m.

Cool, Zep...
..but it's a Cadillac ad!
Ooooo, they're emphasising cooperation instead of competition...
..but it's a Cadillac ad!

Too bad so many 'Caddie' owners drive like they own the road.
I may be 'in my 50s' but I ain't ready for that... ..yet!

Doing what I ought...
Saturday, February 9, 2002
03:29 p.m.
Ain't been 'blogging' much in '02! Of course we'd expect it to be hard for this Ronin (who has trouble doing what he ought) in a year that's called "aught two" ;-)

Physica Conservo a Acrozmatis Philosoph (revisited)
Tuesday, January 1, 2002
08:48 p.m.
Size, too is conserved throughout the universe of movies. Stature was cleverly removed from the Hobbits and Dwarfs in "The Fellowship of the Ring" but just as cleverly added to Robbie Coltrane's character in "The Sorcerer's Stone" and to Michael Clarke Duncan's character in "The Green Mile" :-)