Noo Yeer

Not drunk yet ;) But I wanted to wish everyone a happy, safe, healthy and prosperous new year!

Well how about that, it's like, Christmas or something...

Of course, there are other holidays, but as Hallmark can tell you, they're not nearly as marketable.

But nonetheless, tis the season (or something to that effect), so I wish you all very happy holidays (whichever ones you choose to participate in), and if I don't post in the interim, a happy and safe new year (and don't even bother making resolutions. If you need a changing of the calendar year to inspire you to improve yourself, it's just not worth it).

God bless, and good will towards... reindeer?

Just to let you all know...

Just to let you know, I'm having some health issues, and another hospital stay is likely. So if you don't see me for a bit, you know why.

No, I'm not Martha Stewart, but...

I do have two little tips for compacting garbage in the bathroom. The two most "built up" garbage types (ie the ones that fill your bathroom garbage the fastest) are: Toilet paper rolls, and disposable cups.

But I have methods for dealing with these, which reduces the amount of space they take up in your garbage bin:

1] Toilet Paper rolls: Keep the first roll on the radiator cover or sink (ie out of the way, but not in a place where it can cause trouble, like on an unprotected radiator). Then when you get the next roll, crease it down the middle length wise, until it's cross section resembles a heart that has collapsed in the middle. You can then slide this roll into the previous one. When you get a third roll, take the previous grouped roll, and do the same (sliding it into the new third roll). If you crease them right, and don't have too much excess toilet paper stuck to the rolls (some cheaper TP's will still have a sheet or two glued to the roll), you can fit approximately 8 rolls of toilet paper together this way. In the garbage bin though, they will only take up the space of 1 roll of toilet paper!

2] Disposable Cups: this one is much less involved ;) Simply stack used cups (bottoms up or top up, whichever way is easier to help you remember that they're used), and stack them. When you get a group of a dozen or so, you can dump them. It's not as space efficient as the toilet paper roll trick (8 to 1), but it still takes up a lot less space in the garbage than throwing them away individually (even if you crush them). This trick however, is much more efficient with the plastic disposable cups than with say, Dixie cups (cardboard cups) which become soft when wet, and thus crumple better.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

62 years old and still going! ;) Love ya!

What 2005 Song Am I?

Your 2005 Song Is

Boulevard of Broken Dreams by Green Day "My shadow's the only one that walks beside me My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating" In 2005, you bummed everyone out. Like you care.

What Hit Song of 2005 Are You?

Happy Thanksgiving

Day late and a dollar short, but I still hope my avid readers (all 3 of you) had a wonderful and pleasant thanksgiving. Wait, 2 of you are Canadian, so I'm more like a month late and a dollar short :Þ)

The Good, The Bad, The Browser

I'd like to take an odd moment out to talk about web browsers.

There's a few of them out there (and yes, this will be PC centric, as I have no access to a mac). Most of them are free (although a couple either have ads built in, or ask for a donation, or both). Doesn't make them not as good, just, well, you know, we dont' like ads usually :) (that rant is for another post on another day).

So I'll review a couple I have used/regularly use:

Internet Explorer: The current "existing uncle" of the browser world. It's original iteration was the first web browser (I forget what it was... Safari, maybe?). Microsoft bought the rights to the browser and from it was culled IE. Affectionally called "Internet Exploder", even by it's advocates. It's really not that bad, but a] it's loose html rendering engine spawned a generation of lazy web page designers. On the other hand though, it allowed for people with little/no experience to create somewhat working webpages (although, for years, anyone who used the free web space from their ISP and a pirated copy of "Frontpage" (or the free "Frontpage Express" that came packaged with IE4) decided they could call themselves a web page designer and tried to charge money to do so) and b] being Microsoft's Internet Portal, it was (and still is) the main target of hacker/trojan/virus attempts. Is it really more vulnerable than other browsers? No. That's just a myth. But when 999 out of every 1000 hackers are targeting it specifically because of it's popularity (and the "fight the man/big corporations" attitude), it sure seems so.
It's still a good browser, but now it's finally getting some worthy competition. I am looking forward to IE 7, as it incorporates not only tabbed browsing (something Microsoft had actually considered previously, but decided against it. Then Firefox and Mozilla suddenly made it popular), but especially proper PNG alpha transparency support! Yes, PNG's are larger generally than gifs and jpgs, but they are lossless, utilize alpha channels for transparency (which is many, many times better than gif transparency, which utilizes a straightforward "pick the color to be transparent". Alpha transparency can 'fade out' graphics, and no more jaggies!).

Firefox: This is the current popular "IE Killer". It's actually not, but it's the only browser with a growing market. It's at about 10% of the market right now. Not too shabby for a relative upstart. It's basically a slightly watered down version of the Mozilla browser. Same rendering engine. Tabbed browsing. I use it about 95% of the time. Up until the Windows XP service pack 2 upgrades for IE, it was the faster browser (and since my computer is such a dinosaur, I adopted it for the speed. Now, I still use it just out of habit). Although it is still being promoted for internet safety, Firefox is now beginning to get noticed by the hacker community. It just proves the point that popularity breeds resentment.
I'd also like to point out, that Firefox, and too a (seeming) lesser extent, Mozilla, support user created themes, addons and extensions. Some of them are very handy, some of them just take up unnecessary space. Of course, the nice thing is, you have control over what you install. This makes Firefox extremely versatile.

Mozilla: I mentioned Firefox, so it's only appropriate I mention Mozilla. To be honest, I can't really tell the difference. It's also a good browser, a touch slower (on my comp, at least) than Firefox or IE. It is the creator of the "Gecko" rendering engine that it, Firefox, (as of version 6)IE, and several other browsers run on. The main difference between it and IE is IE still renders some of those "coding discrepancies" that it used to, Mozilla is a little stricter. It's an open source browser, and is constantly being "fiddled with" (in a good way).

AOL: the Aol(hel)L browser is actually built upon IE. A fact made all the more ironic considering how they bought out Netscape a few years ago. I haven't had extensive use of it (but it did come free with my Road Runner service), and have tried it out. It well... sucks. I mean, for web pages it's okay, but even though it's a *pay* service, it's still riddled with ads. It's bad enough web pages contain pop up ads, but when your PAID FOR browser is constantly popping up ads (mostly for it's own related services) in addition, it's not pleasant. Also, the main window is kind of a 'tray' where all the other services (like Aol Instant Messenger, and other AOL "helper windows" sit very awkwardly. Even if you're an AOL member, I'd recommend using another browser (except for AOL specific content). Even for email, AOL has another option. They usurped the "Communicator" email program they acquired from Netscape and created "AOL Communicator". It's basically a prettied up version of the Netscape program, only problem is you must first have an AOL account to download and use it.

Opera: I'm actually typing this post up from Opera right now. Opera 8, to be precise. I have tried Opera versions 4 and 5 previously. This is one of the browsers I mentioned above that had ads built into the interface. I say "had", because it seems version 8 doesn't have them. v.8 also incorporates tabbed browsing, but some of the options are a little less obvious than other browsers. Status bar? you have a few options, but if you leave it visible, 98% of the time it's just a blank bar on the bottom that serves no real purpose (at least in Firefox, you have plugins/add ons that can be useful, and take up residence in the status bar). Opera 8 supports skins (I don't know if 6 and 7 did though). The biggest issue I have with opera, is the "Identify as" feature. You can choose to identify the browser as Opera (duh), IE, or Mozilla/Netscape. Certain types of coding (especially javascript) have browser specific (supported) syntax. As such, most codes have "if browser=" type commands, that act according to what browser you're viewing the page in. This is actually Microsoft's fault, as early in the inception of Javascript, Microsoft tried to usurp it, and make it MS-centric. They then started instituting a whole slew of codes that, while it fit in with the javascript command queue, was not actually created by it's developers. Netscape (being the lead browser at the time) was having none of it. So from then on, javascript became a two-part entity, with the "general commands" supported by all browsers, and the Microsoft-only commands, supported by Internet Explorer. So browser identification is important for properly viewing pages online. Now, for those using Opera, I'd recommend leaving it set at "Identify as Internet Explorer", as that will cover most of the internet. But some codes (like the navigation menu on my main site, for example) just won't show when identifying the browser as Opera. But the menu works fine when identified as IE or Netscape. What gets me about this is, obviously it *can* view the code just fine (when id'd as IE or NS), but as Opera, it *won't* view the code. It's still rendering it, just not showing it to you. I find this odd and not very user friendly. Even if it's the IE specific javascript, Opera is still interpreting it. So why not view it normally?

Netscape: Honestly, I don't know if this is even still around. I have used Netscape 3, 4 and 6 (I even briefly checked out NS 5, but they were trying something completely different. It was right around when AOL bought them out, and it was so horribly bad, they never went beyond beta, but started on a new version, using Gecko, and went right to version 6. So publically, there never was an official "version 5"). I didn't mind this browser, although it wasn't my favorite (I was an IE advocate for a long time, since even when NS had the market share), but it wasn't horrible. I think the thing I disliked the most was, NS couldn't properly interpret nested tables. Even with proper coding. I started doing web design back when tables were everything. So NS was not my friend (it always seemed to view other sites I'd created just fine, but for my own homepage? It almost always had an error. IE seldom if ever had a problem with it). NS however, was not targeted much by hackers (although there were a few that didn't receive much attention), and was considered "safe". Again, the same as before. IE came in when hackers were really starting to come into their own, and was the perfect target for many of them. NS really wasn't much safer than IE, just a less popular target. A few years ago, AOL bought out Netscape. Oddly, AOL never used Netscape as the base for their own browser. when IE 6 came out, all the major browsers used the Gecko html rendering engine. So there really wasn't a reason for AOL to use IE as their base anymore, but they still did it. AOL, as I did mention above, did bastardize Netscape's Email program, Communicator. But it's still not AOL's default email client. Last version of Netscape I've seen was 7.2, but since 6, it's basically been a clone of Mozilla. So if you want NS, I'd say stick with Mozilla. It's the same thing, minus the AOL stench.

Neoplanet: Not really a browser unto itself, it's actually a 'skin' for IE. More than a skin really (it adds a small degree of extra functionality, rather than just merely changing the appearance). It can be a little resource unfriendly, so it's not really necessary unless a] you have a higher end computer, and b] you absolutely must use IE, but absolutely can't stand the interface. Considering how almost every other browser now has built in skinning functionality, I don't really see a need for this. I will give it credit, as I believe it was an early adopter of tabbed browsing (see: added functionality), but again, the other browsers (even the soon to be released IE 7) has tabs now too, again it's moot.

I covered a few browsers here, and have explored them rather extensively (although I haven't used Neoplanet in a few years), so if you have any specific questions, feel free to ask. If you want to add your two cents, or recommend another browser for me to check out, please let me know (use the comments feature, so everyone can see and try!).

In the future, I may cover email clients, and instant messengers.

Lastly, the actual time right now is 7:47pm. I spent over an hour and a half writing this up for your convenience! ;Þ

New Day, New Blog, New Kitty

Blogger's gonna ban me if I create another blog ;Þ

But seriously, I did mention creating one for my writings (or musings, as that's more of what they are), so I did (take a gander at the blogage links on the right -> )

Now, for the new kitty. My sister brought her home, we were considering taking her to a shelter since we really shouldn't have anymore pets (we already had 2 cats and a dog. One cat, mine, Shadoe, is 14 and a half years old. She doesn't want anymore animals in the house), but my mom decided we'd keep her. She's a calico, named "Cleopatchra".


That pic was taken with my $1.29 ebay webcam. I'll post more pics when I get a better camera.

Just a quick note about blog templates...

If you're going to mess with the template code, know what you're doing. Especially at almost 5 in the morning...

Computer Reiterate?

Well, I'm back from a two week computer reprieve. Granted, it wasn't voluntary. But I did learn something about computer hardware, which was a plus (and got some drawing done to boot, check out my other blog).

I had to replace the CMOS battery (it's the giant watch battery looking thing on the motherboard, which maintains the system clock and bios settings when there's no power going to the computer). I have another tower and mobo here (but they don't work right), and figured I'd use that battery. Turns out that battery was worse than the one currently in my machine.

Well, the power switch on my comp has been broken for some time now, so since my computer wouldn't boot up, I figured I'd switch the mobo and hardware into the working tower, and use the old battery for now until I could get a new one. Well, I switched it all over (except for the power supply. I used the one that was already in the tower) and it wouldn't start at ALL. Namely, the power supply wouldn't even start up. That sucked. So I switched the power supply with the old one (at least I knew that one worked), and it did start up, but the computer wouldn't boot. Everything was in perfectly, except the connections to the power and reset switches (and the LED's). Keep in mind, I have almost NO hardware experience at all. In fact, I hate messing with the hardware. My friend in 97 gave me his old 386 computer, which didn't work well (but it at least booted up). So I decided to explore it. I uninstalled the drives, then reinstalled it. After that, it wouldn't boot at all. That started my hardware phobia.

Even when I first got my new computer, they gypped me on the sound card. But I had a generous friend who won some money in the lottery, and her first (and only) thought was to share it with her friends, so she bought me a sound card. I REALLY didn't want to open up my computer and install it. But my other friend, the only one who I knew had any computer know-how, refused to do it and made me do it myself. Fortunately, it worked out alright. (In fact, I am STILL using that same sound card). But a few months later, I desperately needed a RAM upgrade. I bought the chip, but wound up paying $40 to CompUSA to have them install it. A few years later I discovered how dirt simple it is, and regretted that I could have spent the extra money on more RAM. I've since done some minor harware tweaking (like installing new drives and PCI cards and whatnot), but nothing major. Certainly no motherboard and/or power supply installations. I didn't even know exactly where on the mobo the hard drive ribbon cable was supposed to go!

Back to the story: The thing with my comp is the power switches and LED's are connected to a mini-ribbon cable, so I need only plug it into one set of jumpers on the mobo, and it takes care of the rest (namely, specific placement). The other tower I have here, has all the switches on their own little wires with jumpers at the end. And the demarcation on the mobo didn't specify which leads to plug them into. I believe this is why I failed.

So I took the arduous task of re-installing everything back into my old tower, where the switch was broken, but I knew at least just turning on the power button on my surge protector would boot it up (don't worry, it still shuts down normally). And I did. And it rebooted, but only up to the memory check. Then it stopped. The keyboard was still responsive, but I couldn't even enter setup mode.

So I'm without a computer for 2 weeks, until my sister can get the battery. She does, finally, and I replace it. So confident that at least that part is adequate, I set about trying to get the computer to boot fully. I remember reading about "jumper recovery/config" some time ago when I was doing some very basic research on mobo's. Basically, in mobo's that have jumper settings, you can remove them all and start up to 'reset' the bios (don't take my word on it, I'm sure different mobo's have different preferences. So if you do pull out all the jumpers and your mobo fries, I cannot be held liable).

Mine is a jumperless mobo, but it has one bios jumper. So I pulled it (it was marked on the mobo what each setting does) for 'recover'. Started, and no video. Then I turned it off, and set the jumper to the 'configuration' setting. This time it booted into config mode. Yeah! Getting somewhere! So I reset the bios info (and clock), and it did have one hardware conflict: It didn't like the sound card in PCI slot 2 for some reason. So I put it in slot 1, and it had no problem with that. And now it works. YEAH!

And I feel that I'm very close to being able to build a comp from scratch (just have to learn how to seat a processor chip and heat sink). Something I wouldn't have had the confidence to do before this ordeal.

Blogger Über-integration

I just have to say, as someone who is lackadaisical* at best at keeping up his blog(s), I love how blogger integration is everywhere. For Internet Explorer, there’s the Google toolbar with a blogger button option. For Mozilla Firefox, there’s an extension called “Blog This!” that works identically to the blogger button on the IE Google toolbar. Now, Blogger has a new tool: Blogger for MS Word. Yes, I actually typed this out in Word and published it from there too. I think it’s a great option for people who use Word a lot, or need some advanced spell/grammar check tools (or both). Of course, eventually Google is going to become the new Microsoft (in terms of cooperate evilness), but hey, get in on the ground floor and maybe our new masters will be benevolent ;Þ


*lackadaisical: I’ve had a blog for 21 months now. That’s roughly 630 days. Yet, I haven’t even hit 100 posts on my blog yet!

What's that you say? A new link?

The eagle eyed among you may have noticed there's a new link on the right side of the page. Are You Drawing At Me? is a new sister blog to this one. The purpose? Well, the first post is a mission statement ;), but if you choose not to click the link, I'll tell you: it's designed to be a periodic update/showcase for my artwork. Yes, I have a website that's linked there too, but I don't intend to update my website for every little new image I create. But I will be posting it to my new blog. Every so often, I'll take a select few images that I've posted there, and update my site with them. However, not everything I post will go on my website (for various reasons), so don't expect that you can just visit my main site occassionally and see all I have to offer!

Expect the first new images to be hitting the blog soon...

MSNcheck: Update

What's been happening? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! Microsoft isn't doing squat (even their "security" website is basically just a bunch of links to spam when you try to click on an article or topic). Even doing a "whois" look up yields little results (I tried reporting them to their hosting service. I think they are self hosted).

URGENT WARNING FOR MSN MESSENGER USERS!

Do NOT use this site: http://msncheck.41m.com/

it is a scam!

There is no contact info (even their main site is non-existant), and they are asking for private information.

They claim to be a free service that can tell you who has deleted you from their MSN contact list.

Anyone gullible enough to enter their info, will only have a few random emails from their *current* contact list sent back to them, and their usernames changed to the url to (according to their site) "help promote their free service". Obviously, they are already using your info to make changes to your account!

Up until about a year and a half ago, Microsoft required you to have a hotmail account to sign up. It also urged users to associate that account as your "MSN .net Passport" account. MANY users did so. By giving your info on that site, you would allow these scammers full access to EVERYTHING Microsoft associates with the .Net services in your name!

Even if you don't have a .net Passport account, they would still gain your email, and a password associated with that email (and many users would use the same password for their MSN account that they use for the email associated with it, so again, these people have open access to your information!)

If you have someone on your contact list with that url in their username, I urge you to inform them to change their password IMMEDIATELY, and point them to this page!

I have already reported them to Microsoft, but we all know how "efficient" they can be.

Just be careful folks, and use common sense...

Back in the Saddle?

Well, sort of. Maybe. For now at least. The weather here has been HORRIBLE! We've had almost 3 WEEKS worth of 90+ degree days since my last entry. Hence my non-updating. But today was great, and it looks like it'll be that way for at least this week. I really hope we've seen the last 90+ day this year...

Feel free to keep writing and commenting though, I'll still reply!

I'm melting! Melting!

(and I'm not even a witch!)

Anyway, the humidity is well, really doing a number on me here. I think it's because of my hypertension medication :( Luckily, I have a doctors appointment on Aug. 2, so I'll ask about that (I don't have A/C access, so that's out).

Also, being mid month, if I don't hear from Disability tomorrow (being saturday), I have to call them on monday. Thrill. But seriously, I need this right now. Otherwise, amongst other things, chances are I'll loose my health insurance (which Medicaid just set me up with, BTW) come October.

Well, let's do a little upbeatness. How about some movies I've seen recently?

Cable TV:
I, Robot: Not a bad movie, but one of the few action movies I have little interest in seeing again.

The Terminal: Now this was an enjoyable movie. Sadly, it's actually based on a true story. Thing is though, they set it in America, and as a result of a loophole in Homeland Security, when the actual story it's based on is in London (I believe Heathrow Airport), and it started in the late 80's, long before 9/11 and the like (and I know the guy actually lived at the airport for at least 11 years. I'm not sure if he ever went home yet).

The Punisher: Formerly one of my favorite Marvel Comics. Thomas Jane did a pretty decent job this. They are working on the sequel, I'll see it.

Theatre:

War of the Worlds: Wow! I think Spielberg did an amazing job with this. Even Tom Cruise was enjoyable. The use of camera angles was fantastic, really gave you a sense of awe and the entire movie really immersed you, and gave you a real sense of impending doom and hopelessness. And not just from the alien attacks, but how the surviving people reacted with desperation (usually against one another). I think this movie was WAY better than the 1953 version with Gene Barry (whom, along with his female co-star [I forgot her name] make a cameo as the grandparents at the end of the movie).

My biggest concern is young Dakota Fanning. She's such a talented little girl, but with this, "Hide and Seek" earlier this year, and a few more movies she has coming out, this girl is going to grow up into one messed up chick. I sincerely hope her parents are a strong grounding influence in her life.

Joo-Lie da Fourth (coming)

I just wanted to take this opportunity to wish all my friends a happy and safe Independence Day (and a happy Canada day, even though it was the 1st).

Also, keep checking my cafepress site (just click on the title of this post) as I am adding new stuff fairly regularly (and not everything has my picture on it!).

Would you drink from a mug with this face on it?

http://www.cafepress.com/biofungus

Yeah, it seems kind of egomaniacal and self serving, but it actually spawned from a conversation on a message board. Hey, when a member posts this of HERSELF, how can I say "no"?

Not Guilty, eh?

I don't want to comment too much on the Michael Jackson trial (as the verdict was just read), but it at least got me writing in my blog again.

I honestly think Jacko DOES have a serious problem. However, I think this particular case came off more like an extortion attempt, which is why he got off on the charges. Thing is, because of the verdict, he may not seek the help he needs, and may in fact, do it again (without there being doubt).

Onto the weather. It's horrible. There's a heat advisory for tomorrow, heat indexes up to 105. Thrill. I have no A/C, and health issues that warrant it's usage :( And I'm sure there are a LOT of people who are even worse off. Pray for them.

My sister bought some nice salmon steaks, and I now watch in absolute horror as she pulls out the old "George Foreman Grill"... Pray for me :]

True Laziness and the cohesion of the Universe...

I was asked the other day, "What would you do if you had the powers of the force?"

I thought about it a bit, and said, "I would use it to push the buttons on my TV remote control."

Now that's lazy...

I have not forgotten thee

To be honest, I've lost my interest in a lot of things. So blog fans, don't feel disrespected. With my birthday so near, (next tuesday, actually), I guess you can call it a 'mid life crisis', although I am a little young for it. I've been stepping back from a lot of things, and attempting to re-evaluate my life. So far, it's not going well (there are so many things just 'floating' out there, so many aspects that I can't really categorize). I've even considered giving up art (at least, in any capacity more than just a hobby). I've had too many health scares this year (was back in the hospital a couple of weeks ago, due to a massive allergic reaction (I had hives all over my body, and my left hand was swelling and painful). I had to take prednisone (a steroid, which brought it's own good and bad things into the picture), and diphenhydramine (benadryl) for a week. It's still not fully gone, even though I finished with the medications almost two weeks ago.

I think it's good to step back and guage what has happened, and what may happen, and where "all this is going". I just wish I had a better grasp of the situation (unfortunately, it's nearly impossible to be unobjective when looking at your own life, and frankly, if you could be, I think there's some serious psychological dettachement issues going on).

Hopefully things will work out okay (and for all those optimisitic people out there, be realistic, seriously. I know you're hopeful, and I know there are people that wish me well, but "it won't all work out" necessarily, and things may wind up "not being okay") but if not... See you in the funny papers...

The Last Sweeps Month of this TV Season

So what shows do you watch? What have you tried to watch, but fell off the wagon ever a few episodes?

"Lost" and "Desperate Housewives" seem to be the breakout hits of this season. I have watched neither of them.

CSI:NY seems to be a decent hit. I tried to watch, but kept forgetting about it by the fourth episode. I do watch the original CSI though (I like shows that entertain AND educate me. And damn, Marg Helgenberger is HOT!).

I've watched most of this last season of "Star Trek: Enterprise". I'm not a big trek fan like my mom is (I watched most of TNG, a few seasons of DS9, and less episodes than an entire seasons worth of Voyager). While Jolene Blalock is also a hottie, the producers are learning that unlike 7of9, a hot babe will not necessarily keep a show going. I like Scott Bakula though. I've seen most of Quantam Leap.

Nothing major TV wise this year. I'm glad they put extra episodes of "Who's Line Is It Anyway?" on Monday nights. Even having seen most of them, it's one of those shows that always makes you laugh.

But as the title says, this month is the last sweeps month of the season. Anything worth watching? You tell me :)

Oh yeah, HOORAY FAMILY GUY!!!

And congrats to the Simpsons for 350 shows (even though I've been a thoroughly inconsistent viewer for the last few years, I'm still a big fan).

Optimism: How to tell stupidity from idealism :]

I think I've discovered the way to tell if you're really an optimist or a pessimist (since a lot of pessimists think they're optimists and vice versa):

If you hear about a hollywood couple breaking up, and you feel sad, but still happy that now you might "have a shot", you're an optimist, deal with it :Þ

Photobucket

This is a test post from Photobucket.com

Blog: The Forgotten

I honestly forgot about my blog for awhile :) I'm working on an 8 page story that will hopefully be published in the pages of Digital Webbing Presents, and still trying to keep my website updated (working on tutorial 2). Keep ya updated!

Tax time's a-coming...

Everybody here ready or done with your taxes? It's that time of year again. What I don't get is, okay, the post office stays open until midnight. But every year the news reports the long 11pm lines. WHY on earth do people wait until then?!

Hey, all you people getting refunds; Can I borrow a couple of bucks? :Þ

Frayed Logic Studios v. 4.0

It's ready! I have finally managed to transfer the domain, and am setup on a new web host. The entire site has been overhauled. I hope you like it, and encourage feedback (either here via comments, or through email from the site). Thanks!

Frayed Logic Studios

With much hassle, I finally got my domain renewed. I'll be switching to a new host soon, and will have a revamped (and hopefull streamlined) site to match. So watch for the announcement here :)

All About the Wheels on the Bus

The wheels on the bus go 'round and 'round, 'round and 'round, 'round and 'round...

Well, when the bus is moving they do.


Just a goofy post so people know I'm still here.

Lord love a dog (and cat). I know I do

I just wanted to take this moment to give a shout out to my furry friends. Pepper (my dog) and Shadoe (my other cat. Kitt's surviving sister). When I came home from the hospital, they were my guardians. When I'm laid up (because of my foot), they surround me. Shadoe will lay by me, purring all the time. Pepper lays on the floor near me, keeping (particularly my nephew) from getting too close and hurting me (he's very careless). It just amazes me how protective and loving they are. I've grown up around animals all my life, but in this time of illness/trouble, it really warms my heart just how incredible they are. Thank you God, for these wonderful friends and companions.

Life goes on...

I know it's been awhile, just letting you all know I'm still here. Just had somethings to work out. I helped my friend put together a monster Dell computer, I had a meeting with the social worker for Medicaid, I had to contact some people (like the billing agents for the hospital) to let them know I have medicaid pending, so the bills don't go to collection, etc.

I did get a bit of sad news today: someone I knew from one of the message boards I participate in (and have met her in person about 5 years ago) passed away in December. She lived in Germany. She had some problems, so now she's not suffering (although I don't know yet what she actually died of. Her growth was stunted [not dwarfism], and she was confined to either a wheelchair or a special set of crutches, so she was born with some defects).

But hey, as the title says... Gotta deal with it, and not let it anchor me down. Still, my condolences go out to her family.

Google Mail

You know the deal. 1000 megs of storage space. I still have 40+ invitations left to give out, so if you want one, either leave a comment with your email address (so I can send the invitation), or email me (you'll have to dig through my profile a bit though).

Frayed Calendar 2005-2006?

So I was thinking of putting out a calendar with my artwork. What would be good subjects/themes for it? (yes, I'm asking you, my readers to make suggestions). Obviously, I can't do copyrighted characters, but... do you think a "Fungus" calendar would be out of the question? (for those not in the know, Fungus is a character I invented, yes, based upon myself, whom I hope to start creating some kind of strip/comic for soon (probably online). Granted, this would be the first major usage of the character (publically), but it might be a good promo/lead in to a book or strip...

Let me hear from you though!

I'm Moving to Canada!

Well, not really... but I just got the bill for my *first* hospital trip (the one day stay), and it's a whopping 3386 dollars! Just for walking into the ER, they charged 975 bucks. I can't imagine what my 5 day stay is going to cost...

Here Today and um... Here Today...

It's been a week, and I've been thinking of things to post about (I actually keep finding subjects, but it's usually when I'm working on something so it slips my mind). Just letting you all know I'm still here, doing alright. Still eating healthy (or trying to, anyways). More later! (or maybe not)

Bloggertisements?

I just wanted to make a second post point this out, and one other unrelated thing.

After I post to my blog, and view it, I tend to hit the "next blog" button (you should too, it can be fun). One of the things I've been noticing though, are blogs for say, credit cards, that automatically post the same thing every day. There is a service you can check off that indexes your posts each day, kind of like a random blog search engine. I'm assuming that this is the point of such "bloggertisements"©, just another form of spam. At least they can't post such spam to your blog (or mine) without illegally hacking it... yet...

The other thing I wanted to point out was the new makeup scam. I noticed that certain products my sister owns (and she buys TONS of them) say "Final product not tested on animals". Note the key word: Final. This tells me (and should tell any other educated consumer) that the seperate parts testing leading up to the culmination of that product have more than likely BEEN tested on animals!

In other words, you can have a product consisting of water, sugar, caramel coloring, caffeine, high fructose corn syrup (yes, coca cola essentially), that is not tested on animals, but a warning like the above suggests that the water was tested on animals, the sugar was tested on animals, the caramel coloring was tested on animals, etc. IOW, the individual ingredients were tested on animals, so why would you test the final completed product on animals? It just seems to me that it's more "sneaky jargon" designed to hide the truth, but in a way that they can't say they lied about it...

Of course, this also brings up the question: Do we really need rabbits that smell like Rosewater and Honeysuckle?

Anybody want a roommate?

I can be quite entertaining and amusing, and I'm darn cute, too. I am good at driving the women away lots of things, and can be quite handy too.

In other news, my body has started to adjust to the diet, and I'm finding I may need to find a safe way to increase it a little (I'm only eating about 1100 calories a day, which is even 400 calories shy of a weightloss diet!). I'm started to become more active (doesn't really feel like I am though), and my body is burning more calories. The biggest problem is sodium. It's almost impossible to get away from! Even without added salt, "healthy foods" even contain certain amounts. I know we need some in our bodies, and that the recommended 2400 mg a day are recommended for a reason, but it's still darn difficult... I'm trying to keep my stress down, but my selfish nephew isn't really helping (hence the title).

I know I'll pull through, but I seriously am considering moving out. I love mom, and feel bad for her in that I'm the only person here who doesn't aggravate her, but what has to be, has to be...

Hospital, O Hospital, O festival of lights...

Argh. I just spent the better part of a week back at the hospital. They did chest x-rays, CT scans, even the Cath test (angiogram, you know, the one where they put a catheterscope through your wrist or groin, then snake it up into your heart and arteries to check them out from the inside?). Well, I have mild hypertension (as noted before), and the good news is my heart and arteries check out alright. They think it's my stomach. I'll be getting a few prescriptions, and eventually an endoscopy (similar to the angiogram, except I think they go from your anus and snake it up into your stomach. I kid you not).

I did have a few scary moments (like a bad reaction to the angiogram later in the day), but I'm glad to be home. I intend a full change of lifestyle. I've already started making dietary improvement plans, and plan to exercise more (if I can get some money, there's a martial arts place within walking distance. Maybe I can learn stick fighting). As I said in the previous post, I plan on walking around stress. I'm thinking (again, if I can get some money) on moving out to a nice, quiet place.

Stress kills!

It's true folks. I spent last night in the hospital, partly due to stress (combined with insomnia and hypertension). It's sad but true, that stress can kill you. Fortunately, most of my tests came back negative (aside from hypertension, my heart beating fast, and some thyroid issues in my bloodwork, everything else was in acceptible ranges). I'm still not 100% better, but my attitude is more positive now. I don't intend to take stress head on yet, but I'll simply avoid it until I'm strong enough to cope. Still, it was a scary situation. If you're a praying person, feel free to say a little prayer for me.

In Loving Memory

Louis Tannacore January 13,1945 - January 10, 1995.

We haven't forgotten about you, Dad.

Amazing what a little research can turn up

I just spent the better part of an hour trying to create the graphic for the post titles, then manually edit the titles. Apparently, there's a really quick yes/no setting to show the title. And this mind you, is after I sent a help request about titles. Duh...

Hey blogger people, if you're reading this, forget my request, and sorry!

Still, at least I have something else to occupy myself with...

R.I.P. Kitt

August 1,1991 - January 8, 2005

Stubborn as all get out, a fighter to the end. You will be missed, my furry little friend.

Insomniac Poets Theatre Presents

twinkle, twinkle little blog,
I have no girlfriend which to snog,
On the internet so high,
It was free so I won't cry,
twinkle, twinkle little blog,
I'd like a keg of ale or grog.

The Internet can be a scary place...

I intend to make that picture the avatar for all that is scary and frightening on the internet. Feel free to save the pic and pass it around.

A Quick Thought On Post Titling.



I should start titling these posts so they appear in the archives better :)

Despite the fact that I'm glad the holidays are over, I really can't stand Januaries. Here's a brief list of reasons why:

1987: I was 12, my dog, who was 13 at the time, whom I grew up with, had to be put down. She had cancer in her hips and back legs. They were so swollen, and she couldn't even walk. We had to wait with her all day until dad came home and could take her to the vet for the shot.

1992: Our parrot, who was born the same year I was (he was an indian ring necked parakeet. Fairly uncommon, very pretty) went nuts then dropped dead right in the cage, all in the span of about 5 seconds. He never showed any signs of illness prior to that.

1994: Mom slips on a patch of black ice, dislocates her shoulder. She's out of work for 5 months, and her disability didn't kick in for about 3 months. We almost lost everything.

1995: (the big one). My father, suffering from diabetes, gout, angina and depression, has the flu. I get home from work (I worked nights) and was walking him back to his bedroom. Just as he steps inside, he collapses right in front of me (I was able to hinder his descent, but not actually catch him). I call 911 and can only watch as his skin turns silver and he dies right in front of me from congestive heart failure.

1997: One of my cat's, Shadoe (we found three kittens in 1991, abandoned at less than a week. We had to take them because they were too *young* for the animal shelter to accept them. One of the kittens had died right in my arms, but that wasn't a january event) gets what we thought was a yeast infection. Turns out it was a pyometra (infected uterus) that is ALWAYS fatal if untreated. Fortunately, I was early on my taxes and got my return in time to pay for half of the 900+ dollar emergency surgery. My friend leant me the rest of the money.

2005: I am watching my other cat, Kitt, slowly dying of FIP (feline infectious peritonitis). She can barely breathe, and we can't afford to put her down (it costs friggin' 300 bucks!) It's doubtful she'll live out the month.

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New year, new blog template :]