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Friday, April 29, 2005
My Excuse
Just when I thought my allergies were playing nice, they took a nasty turn this week. Sooo, I'm using that as my excuse for just about everything that needs an excuse this week, including being unfocused here at Life Off Hold. If you need an excuse, I'll rent it out. American Idol, Paula Abdul, Bo Bice, and these guys might find an excuse useful.
Can You Hear Me Now?
I had my follow-up with the Ear, Nose & Throat specialist yesterday. The CAT scan on my sinuses was negative. I'm still getting visual disturbances and dizzyness so the specialist moved onto my ear. The technician put me in a booth and did the beep and word recognition tests. I passed with flying colors with 92% which is above average. It's all that rock music I've been routinely pumping into my ears and bouncing off my eardrums that have kept them supple and responsive. Muszak will kill your hearing, I tell you.
So, with that out of the way, I'm being routed to have a Dizziness Test. Based on 53 years of proneness to car and airplane sickness and all those experiences spinning on school and backyard tire swings, I'm not going to ace this test.
I'm not sure where these tests are leading in the area of treatment. Of course the tests are helping out the medical profession with more overpriced billable procedures to add to their bottom line.
With the sensitivity to noises and smells, nausea and the aural experiences it seems migraine-like to me, without the killer headaches. I mentioned this to the specialist and he said, "Oh yeah, that can happen. They're called atypical migraines."
I go back in July. In the meantime, he wrote out some things he wants me to do and to avoid until then. I've added my comments:
KEEP HYDRATED - ok. I will do this. Promise. [64 fl. oz. per day]
AVOID:
CHOCOLATE - all right. I'll do my best, but once in a blue moon I might cheat.
SALT - restricted to 1000-1500 mg/day - I will try to rachet this down, but I'm not keeping charts and reading labels. I'll stop with the salt shaker and stop eating salty things (*with exceptions).
ALCOHOL - really, you could not have meant this. Denial! OK, as a test, I will avoid alcohol 6 day of the week, and reserve my rights to the 7th. This is in effect until Big Brother starts; then we re-evaluate. By then I'll know if these restrictions make a difference or not. (*cheese-stuffed martini olives excepted)
CAFFINE - HELL NO! With that out of the way, I'll TRY to go with just 1 morning cup. There is no way I'm totally excluding the Nectar of the Gods.
I will give all of this a good shot to work, and hopefully feel better, but I am a weak-willed human being. I can live with some aural phenomenon and dizziness if this is an atypical migraine in progress. If it's something worse, I don't think these efforts will change much.
Finally
A Fark.com favorite:
Have a good day, people.
Posted at 4/29/2005 1:08:15 pm by lifeonhold
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Wednesday, April 27, 2005
For Those Having a Bad Day
Posted at 4/27/2005 2:37:46 pm by lifeonhold
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Monday, April 25, 2005
Perpetual Blonde led me to this Quality Assurance Analyzer over at JuicyStudio. I put my blog to the test. Average words per sentence=2?
Oh come on now!
I'm just glad it doesn't analyze syntax or have a fluff-o-meter.
Readability Results for http://lifeoffhold.blogdrive.com/
Readability Results
| Summary |
Value |
| Total sentences |
187 |
| Total words |
382 |
| Average words per Sentence |
2.04 |
| Words with 1 Syllable |
244 |
| Words with 2 Syllables |
72 |
| Words with 3 Syllables |
37 |
| Words with 4 or more Syllables |
29 |
| Percentage of word with three or more syllables |
17.28% |
| Average Syllables per Word |
1.61 |
| Gunning Fog Index |
7.73 |
| Flesch Reading Ease |
68.56 |
| Flesch-Kincaid Grade |
4.20 |
Interpreting the Results
Philip Chalmers of Benefit from IT provided the following typical Fog Index scores, to help ascertain the readability of documents.
Typical Fog Index Scores
| Fog Index |
Resources |
| 6 |
TV guides, The Bible, Mark Twain |
| 8 |
Reader's Digest |
| 8 - 10 |
Most popular novels |
| 10 |
Time, Newsweek |
| 11 |
Wall Street Journal |
| 14 |
The Times, The Guardian |
| 15 - 20 |
Academic papers |
| Over 20 |
Only government sites can get away with this, because you can't ignore them. |
| Over 30 |
The government is covering something up |
Posted at 4/25/2005 1:02:08 pm by lifeonhold
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Sunday, April 24, 2005
I'm a day late (almost 2) because I lost the link to Patrick's Place to pick up the questions.
Here we go.....
1. If you could ask any question of the head honcho of AOL about the recent journal concerns, what would your question be?
I gave up on my AOL's Journal five months ago. I wanted to do more with the design and photos than I was able to do there without considerable effort; Easy Designer was being impossible too. I moved my blog elsewhere but still visit the AOL Journal community. I've read about the controversy, but don't feel part of it, other than to wish the best to all journalers and keep track of all those setting up shop elsewhere.
2. How many journals do you visit regularly in an average week...or...if you use a blog aggregator service like "Bloglines," how many journals do you have in your subscription lists?
There are about 6 that I visit several times a day looking for updates, plus about 10 more that I visit almost daily. When I have time I randomly visit blog links listed at my friend's sites or wherever I find them. I'd say I touch base with about 25 different journals in a week.
3. Back in July, I asked which of the Seven Deadly Sins (pride, envy, gluttony, anger, greed, sloth, and lust,) you were most guilty of. Now, it's time to pat yourselves on the back and figure out which one you are the least guilty of.
'Least guilty of' is right because they all make guest appearances in my life and personality from time to time. I'd say that sloth has the least hooks in me. I tend to be busy and diligent. As a sin, sloth really refers to religious sloth, i.e., not attending to one's spiritual state with God. Hopefully I'm ok there too.
4. Recent reports indicate that some pharmacists are refusing to sell their customers the controversial "morning-after pill" when the customer prevents their prescription. Should pharmacists be allowed to refuse to sell a medication for which a customer presents a valid prescription based on their own religious beliefs?
Yes, I do think they should be allowed to refuse to administer treatment (prescriptions) that are against their religious beliefs. Doctors can refuse to prescribe medications or procedures they feel goes against their religion or their moral or ethical beliefs. What we're talking about here, to be honest, is abortion drugs and no one should be forced to aid or perform an abortion against their beliefs, religious or otherwise. The world has plenty of pharmacists who will fill the Rx.
5. Take this personality test: What type of personality does it say you are? Then go back to this page, click the link that matches your results. Read the description: how accurate do you think it is about you?
I am an ISTJ: Introverted, Sensing, Thinking, Judging personality type. It is also called the Inspector Guardian, comfortable with detail, organizing, structure, and tasks. Yes, that's me.
6. READER'S CHOICE QUESTION #50 from SpringsNymph: You've received an unexpected windfall of $50,000. What home improvement would you spend it on?
I have an apartment so I'd be fixing up someone else's asset to really do 'home improvement'. But, to play along, I'd have the electrical system upgraded and put in about 6 more outlets. I'd have the bathtub replaced with a walk-in shower and additional closet, and have the kitchen renovated...floor, walls, appliances, lighting, the works. I'd buy a loveseat for the living room and a home entertainment system with HD and a DVD-HD Recorder.
Or for $50K I could afford to move to a better apartment altogether and afford the higher rent. But then I'd have to move.
Posted at 4/24/2005 11:23:09 pm by lifeonhold
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My winter coat is a few years old now and this weekend it got it's yearly washing in preparation for being put away for the season. A few years in a row stuffing came out during the washing covering the jacket and everything else in the wash with white lint; that breach was repaired. Other times I'd leave tissues in the pockets and the result would be the same....tissue shreds all over the jacket and everything.
This weekend, mindful of the yearly white lint tradition, I was determined to be on top of things. I checked the seams of the jacket...no openings. I emptied the pockets of the gloves. I washed the jacked all by itself.
The result? A jacket covered with wet shredded tissue.
I took out the gloves but did not delve deeper to check for tissues.
I am such an idiot!
Posted at 4/24/2005 9:35:35 pm by lifeonhold
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Friday, April 22, 2005
Friday Feast - #44
Appetizer
Name something that helps you fall asleep.
My 'Teach Yourself HTML' book. Hee. Actually I usually stay up too late so by the time my head hits the pillow I'm asleep. So, the answer is to stay up reeeeeally late.
Soup
Who brings out the best in you?
Sad to say, my cat, Honey.
Salad
What do you like to do on a rainy day?
I have a fantasy about spending the day on my recliner catching up on backlogged magazines. I never do it, though. Instead I drift onto the computer and get stuck there.
Main Course
Complete this sentence: In our home, we never have enough...
electrical outlets
My apartment is in an old triple-decker built in 1920. Although the electric was updated a few decades ago, it is sadly inadequate for today's electronic needs. The outlet shortage, their locations in my apartment and the wiring plan greatly limit my options for the layout of my furnishings.
Dessert
Which shoe do you put on first?
the right; the day just seems to go better this way.
And yes, I'm left-handed so I guess it makes sense.
Posted at 4/22/2005 8:12:43 pm by lifeonhold
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Tuesday, April 19, 2005
My Infatuation Continues...
The See is no longer vacant. However there was a lot of confusion about the 'smoke method' of announcing the voting results. Fark.com asked the Photoshop people to come up with a better way of announcing the election of a new Pope.
Here is one of my favorites (submitted by Grabastic):
Here is an aside by Fighting the Frizzies:
My mom just sent me her first-ever text message--"They chose a Pope Benidict XVI"
I responded, "When did you learn to text message?"
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All of this is well and good, but no one has answered my question about this 'guy' (captured by acecold):
I know his name is Ackbar, but pleese, give me a cultural CLUE! What is he from?
I sort of love him.
Posted at 4/19/2005 11:28:53 pm by lifeonhold
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Monday, April 18, 2005
This weekend I needed a 'Step Away From the Computer' Intervention, but did not get it. I'm down to my last 1/4 roll of toilet paper and have no lunch food after today. The weekend was beautiful and a little drive to the store would not have killed me. Honey would have appeciated a fresh litter box, too, but it didn't even cross my mine. It's lucky she got fed.
Here is a little run-down of what did get done:
- cleaned my apartment
- ran a load of laundry and dried them in the basement dryer
- put some winter stuff in my basement storage
- spent about 8 hours on Saturday getting my photos from 2 computers over to my external hard drive and re-organizing the files there (a huge tedious task). I decided to eliminate my 'clip art' file and reorganize the clips in with my photos, by topic.
- Entered the blog entry about Fark.com's Photoshop challenges.
- Watched the first half of the DVD, "Wings of Desire" before the german monotone of the voices softly bludgeoned me into near unconsciousness.
- Ran a load of dishes.
- Went to bed and listened to Nick Cave's Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus over and over again in the dark. The Lyre CD is particularly magnificant.
- Went to church.
- Set up a LiveJournal account in order to particpate in a book group that is forming there.
- Downloaded some photos from Fark's Photoshops.
- Tried out an HTML idea that I had concerning an index for my photo files; it didn't work.
- Tried to make some web buttons for another HTML idea using GRsites.com and a banner for my blogdrive test site, Road Closed. For some reason I kept getting error messages when I tried to e-mail myself the created button.
- Spent hours trying to fix this, including deleting Temp files and cookies and rebooting. Nothing worked. This was on my desktop computer. Later it worked on my laptop.
- Decided to try using Photoshop instead, and made several pseudo-buttons.
- Tried to link the button graphic to a webpage (my HTML idea) and was successful. After about 8 hours on this and related; I'm sure it will come in handy. One day. An example is below.
- Prepared for work on Monday. Noticed the litter didn't get changed. Asked Honey if I could do it tonight after work.
- Went to bed, listened to more of my CDs. Read from my HTML book. Fell asleep.
CLICK ON THE IMAGE
Posted at 4/18/2005 12:48:35 pm by lifeonhold
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Sunday, April 17, 2005
Taken from The Final Battle Between Cats and Dogs, submitted by oddlife
I've encountered Fark.com and their Photoshop challenges from time to time over the past year or so, but somehow I never nailed down the site in my memory or links. This week, in a fit of workplace boredom, I started visiting my blog friends' links and thanks to the linkage on The Tuna News, Fark and Life were re-introduced and the distraction began in earnest.
Here are some recent challenges that I've enjoyed; once you get to the page, scroll down. The first photo is the original with the entries following it. For The Tennis Challenge, the most recent entry becomes the one entrants editied, sort of like a stream of consciousness episode. In any case, if you ever need a surreal photo, the Fark Photoshop challenges (one each day) might be the place to find it.
Enjoy!
ETA: Ok, for 10 points, someone pleeeeeze tell me what cultural reference is in this photo in the form of some kind of squid (on the tentacles) and the "OMG It's totally a trap" reference. Whatever it is, it looks like fun. Got-to-have!
Taken from Dragon Stairs, submitted by Peteykins
Posted at 4/17/2005 4:13:42 pm by lifeonhold
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Friday, April 15, 2005
Procrastination is an evil bitch demon.
Posted at 4/15/2005 12:56:45 pm by lifeonhold
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