Category: Life

Things about me

Magic Fields

I haven’t posted on my goals in a while. Still actually working on them, though not as hard. This is an update to my goal of getting my blog moved to the new domain with new features by January’s end. It didn’t happen.

I did get the author reading event list moved over to it’s new web site. What that entailed was:

  • figuring out which event listing plugin to use. I ended up sticking with Events Manager. Marcus Sykes has taken over development for David Benini and done some good work with it. He appears to have fixed some of the problems with the old plugin. I’d had to hack around them and upgrading the plugin meant losing my hacks. Looks like I won’t need the hacks anymore.
  • Moving the events listing to the main page of the site. That part was pretty easy.
  • Create a new page for displaying blog posts there. If you don’t have it on the home page, you gotta have it somewhere else (or not have it). It wasn’t hard, but it does require a bit of code hacking. The problem will be if I change my theme. I will lose the code hack I did. I don’t know why there isn’t a built in way to do that.
  • Create an event submission page. The old page just listed an email address. The submission page lets me add fields like “event start time” and “location” that some omitted when they emailed me.
  • Add events. Have to do this normally. No big deal.
  • Write the first blog posts. Basically this is just a weekly post of the upcoming week’s events so anyone who wants to get new events can read them via RSS rather than having to remember to visit the site.

After taking that live, I decided to let everything sit for a bit. See how it worked out. I didn’t want to be in the middle of moving the rest of the site to its domain and have the readings site go south. I have a few ideas for additional items for the readings site that may or may not happen. Stuff like email subscriptions, reviews of readings, recordings of readings, ads, promotional author stuff (interviews, guest blogs, etc.), and a few other smaller technical items. But they will all wait to see how it goes and definitely won’t happen until after I get the rest of the book site to its new domain.

Everything seems stable enough so I’m actively working on that. Hence the title. My current task is to figure out how to integrate meta-information about the books and other stuff I read.

before, I’ve just posted it in the text of the review. That has some drawbacks though, such as being unable to extract it in a meaningful way (index of authors, put it in the sidebar), and also requires that I have post templates to cut and paste from. The latter is a problem, because the best plugin for that hasn’t been updated in a while. The author decided to go commercial with the plugin, and his commercial sense isn’t so great. I paid for the commercial version even, but if he’s since done new versions he hasn’t notified me and his site forums are now filled with spam. And some more minor features of it stopped working with WordPress 3.0.

Supposedly WordPress 3.0 has support for custom post types (i.e., things like reviews), but it doesn’t have any UI for them. You are supposed to use a plugin for it. Which there are a billiondy of, and none of them seem to be very well documented. I’m currently testing out one called Magic Fields, which doesn’t even appear to use custom post types. It might do what I want though. I have to hack the theme though to display the meta-information. I’d rather not do that, though since I’m using Carrington Framework, I only have to write overrides for very small parts of the theme.

Anyway, WordPress as a CMS has a lot of work left to do in its usability and documentation.

My thumb story

For those friends on Facebook, you already have the news. But as this is where I should be writing stuff for posterity, here’s the story.

Thursday night I decided to make sausage and beans, crock pot style. It’s a recipe I’ve done a lot, and I really like it. Basically, brown about 2 pounds of smoked sausage. Saute some shallots and garlic. Put it all in a crock pot with a couple cups of beans and chicken stock, and cook for four hours.

Where I went wrong was in chopping the shallots. Chop. Chop. Ow!

Took about an eighth of an inch of my thumb off. Basically the skin, some of the nail, and a little bit of the meat. It wasn’t quite as painful as I would have expected. At least as long as I didn’t touch the cut part that is. There was a lot of blood. I cut deep enough to sever some capillaries. Every time my heart beat, I could see a little gush of blood come out the thumb tip.

Called 911. Then realized I should just call a cab to get to the E.R. But once you’ve called, you’ve called. They called back, then sent the Fire Department down here. They bandaged me up. That was good, because I didn’t have anything to properly bandage something like this. Called a cab and went to the E.R. Turns out it wasn’t a deep enough cut to do anything with the little piece of thumb I’d removed. But the wound is too wide to stitch up. They cleaned it up, put a pressure bandage on to stop the bleeding, and gave me a tetanus shot.

Also, they gave me a couple of Vicodin for the pain. Turns out that Vicodin doesn’t seem to reduce my pain. It also doesn’t make me loopy or happy or anything like that. I do, however, get the nausea side effect. Not quite enough to upchuck, but enough to feel very queasy and want to hang out near the toilet. I decided not to fill the Vicodin prescription.

Other than pushing on the top of the dressing, I haven’t felt too much pain. The button fly on Levis has been a pain though. And I can’t left anything heavy because I can’t grip with both hands.

I changed the dressing tonight. I was supposed to change it after 48 hours, and then every 24 hours after that. Removing the dressing hurt big time. Felt like I was pulling off the skin, because it seemed to be glued onto the wound. Dunno if stuff had already started growing into the dressing, or if it was just congealed body fluids that wouldn’t soften in water. I’m not really looking forward to changing it again tomorrow. Hoping it isn’t as painful. Also, my new dressing is not as pretty as the one the nurse put on Thursday. If I had two hands free, I think I could have made it almost as good. But… well.

So there’s the story. I have pictures. I’ll get them on Flickr at some point, but I don’t plan on posting them here.

2011 Goals – Week 2

A little late getting this posted this week. This reflects the status as of Sunday night.

Grandparents’ estate: Got word from the state that they are denying the death benefit claim. Need to decide whether to appeal. Will ping lawyers and CPA this week on status of things in their hands.

Mom’s estate: Nothing happened that I know of. Dad reports he has mail from Vanguard. Will head up there this week to see if any of it is related.

Gym: Fail.

Cooking: Cooked 4 meals at home this week, not including the pies for Pie Night.

Swedish: About 1 hour spent on Swedish, mostly on pronunciation. Game theory: Fail.

Dating: Asked out two women this week. No dates.

Travel: Not yet booked.

House: Cleaned up for 15 minutes 6 of 7 nights this week. Productivity: Was productive 4 mornings shortly after 9 a.m. One day fail.

Book blog: Did nothing this week. Fail.

Eulogy for Gramps

I meant to post the eulogy I said at Gramps’ funeral last year, but didn’t get around to it. Posting now as a method of archiving it so I can toss the paper copy. I kept it short because I knew I was going to be unable to hold in the waterworks. As it was, this still took me nearly 5 minutes to say.

My hero died on Wednesday. Since I was little, Gramps has been the man I want to be. Many people are known because the do something very well. In Gramps’ case, he was a firefighter. I once watched him run to a burning cabin from the Ponderosa community club. That was great, knowing he saw that danger and knew what to do. But I didn’t want to be a firefighter; I wanted to be like Gramps.

I want to be loving and open. Gramps and Gram were married over 60 years, and their marriage was still as strong last week as it was 30 years ago when I was a kid. I want to be able to call my wife lover-girl, in front of anyone. He didn’t hide anything. Like him, I want the self-confidence to tell people what’s important about me. He was generous and without judgment. He patiently taught me how to drive a standard shift, while I killed the engine of his car over and over. Never once did he tear me down. When a student I was mentoring started applying for scholarships, Gramps gladly spent an afternoon going over scholarship applications with her so she would be ready. He gave his time because I asked and because she needed it. Nothing more. I could list his good qualities for some time.

Now he’s gone. I miss him already. We all do. That’s why we are here. But what I’ll miss most is the living example of who a man can be. I’m proud to say I’m his grandson. I hope that people who knew him will tell others, That’s Cleo Hathaway’s grandson, not because of blood-line, but because I’ve learned well from him. Because I still want to be like my hero.

2011 Goals – Week 1

I have the internet, and I’m not afraid to write stuff on it that you don’t care about!

Grandparents’ estate: Received and cashed a check from the last insurance policy for my grandparents. Notified the CPA of the same payment. Submitted a claim to the state for a death benefit for my grandfather. Waiting for CPA to do tax return.

Mom’s estate: Got confirmation that her IRA was moved into a new account at Vanguard. Confirmed with Vanguard that they have the transfer paperwork to move it to RBC. Waiting for transfer to happen. Waiting for RBC new account confirmations. Following that, paying lawyers and CPAs, filing with probate.

Gym: Fail.

Cooking: Cooked twice this week successfully. Attempted a third time but botched the meal. Should start tracking how many times I eat out.

Swedish: About 3 hours spent on Swedish, mostly on pronunciation. Understand the basics of Swedish pronunciation, but not the multitudes of special cases. Game theory: Fail.

Dating: Did not ask anyone out this week.

Travel: Not yet booked.

House: Cleaned up for 15 minutes 5 of 7 nights this week. Productivity: Was productive 4 mornings by 10 a.m., and most mornings shortly after 9 a.m. Friday was not productive at all.

Book blog: Installed theme and contact form for one piece of transfer. Need to do formatting and enter data.

What Used to be a Street

Went to a show recommended by Aimee tonight. It was all right, but the excitement (such as it is) was on the way home. I cut along Fairview along the lake rather than go up Eastlake. At Newton, there was a lot of water. Thought maybe a storm sewer was backed up, though we haven’t had enough rain to generate this much water. Looked closer, and realized it was coming through the asphalt.

So I pulled over, looked up the 24 hour number for the water and sewer department, and called them. Then I drove home, got my camera, and walked back.

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Took the city about 50 minutes after I called to get out there, another 10 to shut the water off, and another 20 before it stopped coming up. I was hoping for a slower response, so we’d get a giant sinkhole that eats cars. Sadly, my dreams of destruction did not come true.

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Luckily, I already have a tag for water damage!

2011 Goals

Only occasionally will I make New Year’s goals. A new year is kind of an arbitrary time to do this, but I haven’t been doing the things I need to do to get the things I want. I’ve been mentally distracted by taking care of family and estates. But while I accept that such things are understandable reasons for not achieving what I want, I’m not going to be visited by the success fairy. So this is as good a time as any to make some commitments to change.

My philosophy on goals is that they are a road map rather than a straight-jacket. I don’t consider it failure if I don’t achieve what I want. The idea is that I have something to focus on when I make a choice. Should I do A or B? Which one is on my goals? It’s also useful in holding myself accountable in the steps taken along the way. These can also be changed if I change my priorities. But for now, this is what I want.

Family

My goals this year are to wrap up the estates of my grandparents and my mother. Both should be getting close and are mostly not in my control. I do want to really push to get items related to these done when they fall into my hands. I commit to writing about what I have to do and what I’ve done weekly.

It’s not exactly a goal for the year, but I also commit to saying no to new big family commitments for 2011. I don’t know what will come up, so I can’t say this absolutely. But I do need to step back and let Joe and Elaine take the lead with things unless there’s no way around it. This does not mean I do nothing. I will not take the day to day lead shepherding my step-father through his cancer treatment choices, for instance. If I do not, I will probably need to be committed. I had some moments last year where I felt as close to a breakdown as I ever have.

Health

I want to be in better shape. I weighed in at 186 pounds a couple of days ago. I would like to be at 175 pounds and toned by the end of the year. I also would like to be able to dance for an hour straight. I commit to working out at the gym twice a week through March, and three times a week until the end of the year or I achieve both results. I have a membership at 24 Hour Fitness. If anyone else has a membership there and would like to be workout buddies, please comment.

I generally don’t keep snack foods in the house. The idea is that if I have to cook to eat, I won’t munch. I’ve eaten out more than I’d like though. I commit to cooking meals twice per week (with leftovers to eat, ideally). If they are new recipes, I will post them here. If repeats, I’ll just Facebook that I’ve cooked. I refuse to apologize for turning Facebook into a verb.

Learning

I want to learn Swedish. I bought a Swedish course on CD. I commit to spending two hours a week working on it. If it turns out to be a bad one, I will find another method.

I also want to finish the Game Theory course I poked at last summer. I commit to spending two hours per week working on that.

Dating

I like to be spending time with someone with whom I click. Until I have a significant other, I will ask out a person at least twice a month. This will probably be the hardest of all my goals because even though I’ve done this a lot, I’ve never gotten over the initial fear of putting myself out there. I do it. But it scares me every time.

Travel

I will road trip the U.S. this year.

I will visit another country (besides Canada) this year.

Travel companions desired.

Other

I will spend 15 minutes every evening tidying up my place. People may test me on this by stopping by relatively unexpectedly. If my place is not presentable, you get the drink of your choice.

I will be productive by 9 a.m. every weekday morning.

This last one is less a goal for 2011 than a goal for January. I will get my book blog moved to Read Irresponsibly by the end of the month. I will abandon getting the site done perfectly in favor of getting it done.

My thoughts are with you Robert

I’ve posted some of Robert Jimenez’ signs and postings before. He tends to frighten other people, but locals like him. He’s harmless. He just wants to tell the world about the demon conspiracy.

Today Robert and all his signs but one were gone.

Photo of Robert's sign announcing Irene's death
Irene passed away Sunday as she was at Leon Sullivan Nursing Home the last 30 days ±

The sign had blown into the street, but one of the neighbors set it back up.

Irene was the owner of the house Robert lived in. I put that in quotes because Robert slept outside on a plastic chaise lounge under an awning, sometimes watching a portable DVD player. Whenever his signs were gone in the past, it meant he’d been committed for 72 hours. Now I worry that this will be a little bit more permanent. I worry that Irene’s family will sell the place and Robert will have to move on. I worry that they’ve already done so.

Even though he was mentally ill, Robert loved Irene. I worry that he’s taking this badly.

If he ends up in your neighborhood, keep an eye on him. Don’t let anyone give him shit because he’s crazy. Take care of him for us Eastlakers.

Gram’s sugar cubes

8 sugar cubes in a box
Gram's sugar cubes

Gram gave me two boxes of sugar cubes in January. Gramps and Gram had just moved to Ida Culver House. Ida Culver has all you can drink coffee and sugar packets, so she didn’t need these. Out of those two boxes, I have 8 cubes left. I need to get some Folger’s for the last sugar cube, because they drank gawdawful bad coffee. I will cry when I use the last one. I might use it Christmas Eve, which would be one year exactly since the heart attack that convinced them to move. Better to get the sad out all at once. (As if that’s the end of it!)