Messing with the blog template so if it looks weird, you'll know why. Well, changes aren't working so I tried messing with php on my site, still haven't gotten that to work right so waiting on help to figure out what stupid thing I did.

Still awake and now very unhappy. Curiosity, as I was excused before it was stated what the trial was about, I wanted to know. I found out and even without the back pain I would have been excused. Think it had to do with this. in relation to a crime that I have strong feelings for, abusing and murdering a child. They want impartial jurors.

I'm no expert but that was a great address, me happy. Now I expect stuff will really start happening, well with Iraq, the domestic agenda has to be passed first.

I lucked out, had jury duty. I was picked for a trial that was expected to be a month long and as luck would have it, I got excused, reason it hurt to sit cause of my back. I'm only many thousands of emails behind cause it hurt to sit. Today it really hurt. I was trying to read some mail when psycho cat leaped up, slipped and raked my finger with her claw. I was so pissed at that cat. Must remember to lock the door if I want to use the PC. Her claws hurt.

Now I am going to relax, nurse my wound, and listen to the President's State of the Union Address. I am really curious what he has on Saddam that hasn't been released. I was pleasantly surprised at how bleak Blix's report yesterday was. Guess Saddam didn't fool him as much as Saddam would have liked.

Yesterday when I woke, I went to check my IM email and noticed NAV went crazy, worm after worm had been caught. I also noticed my ISP said I was over my limit on emails. Checking found 68 dupes of one letter, 138 dupes of another. I am guessing either the ISP or Yahoo Groups went crazy with the cyberattack. And I know Microsoft will use the attack as just one more reason to go with their "trustworthy computing", ie Palladium. Uh, hello people. Macs don't get Windows viruses/worms and neither do Unix boxes, all flavors. There is life after Microsoft and life can be sweet indeed without the threat of getting attacked. Sides, I do like Unix. Now if I could find/build an open source alternative to Incredimail, I would be happy. I AM addicted, love creating. However, IM has instituted draconian DRM into their program. Now I paid for mine, did within days of downloading it. Some people have not and have even cracked the program. Now I am not in favor of cracks but the software is still in beta stage. I could hardly consider it a finished product as buggy as it is. And I understand not wanting to pay for beta software. I am still bugged by the bugs thou. And I am no big enthusiast of DRM. So far, Apple has the best DRM natch.

I decided to do something brave. In the face of no info on whether Shania's new CD "Up" is copy protected, I took a chance and tried it out on the iMac and it worked. Copy protected CD's can't play on and will wreck Macs so I always try to find out first. Interesting, in Wired Magazine there is an article about Sony. They make copy protected CD's that won't play on Sony PC's. You'd have thought they would have worked out a DRM for their PC's so they would play. Nope, not even, dumb. In case anyone wonders, I hang out at /..;)

Still have the stone, have been nauseated a lot either from the stone, the antibiotic, or the pain meds, take your pick. Saw the doc who sent me to a urologist, no infection so have to wait it out. Course, if I get too miserable, I can get an IVP.

I did have an interesting day yesterday, after visiting the docs, I attended a meeting for safety reps at work. Rarely is a meeting interesting but with war around the corner so to speak, it was. OK, it was no keynote address. Nothing can match Steve Jobs' keynotes. But it was informative. Recommended reading for everyone whether or not they attended the meeting is here. Pay particular attention to smallpox. You want to find out whether or not you are eligible for the vaccine cause you may need it. Other war stuff of note, I found a site full of useful info you might want to check out here. It even has a map of terrorist cells in the US.

If I hadn't been so tired from not getting sleep, I wouldn't have slept for a day and a half. Now sortof awake, I mush share my latest find...ha! I have a 4mm stone in my kidney and now will have the fun of trying to pass it. I have heard it is the most pain known to man and will get to find out. Joy. OK, so this might just put off that back surgery for a bit, one pain at a time. Got to drink lots of water thou my kid thinks I should try Smirnoff Ice instead. She just wants to see me drunk, sick kid. I just want to do something fun not painful. Hmm, school starts back up for her, that's fun. ^_^

Update, well not much new at my end. I had been feeling like crap, went to the doc's, got real pain meds, am real nauseated from taking them. Oh well, will be seeing a neurosurgeon bout the back, may finally get it fixed. Now for something more pleasant, I very much enjoyed Steve's Macworld keynote address, highlight of the month. Those 17in and 12in Powerbooks are sweet. Now if only Apple can get those new IBM 970 PowerPC processors. Yes, Macs need a speed boost and this processor would be ideal. I wouldn't mind of they put IBM's faster G3's in the iBook either. Hmm, looks like Linux offerings are in the works (check out the PDA's). Apple had some other cool stuff, Keynote (compatible with Powerpoint), Safari (a new browser), upgraded iApps.

Of course, all the nifty computer stuff is offset by the threat of war, still there, still distressing mostly for the possibility that the proposed little war could become a big war not cause we need to get rid of Saddam. I am very glad our troops went into Afghanistan as their people benefitted (read especially women). I expect the same with Iraq. It would nice for the people to not have to live under the specter of biological or chemical attack.

Oh and one more thing (to quote Steve Jobs), my kid got invited to join the honors program at college. ^_^ See what a 4.0 average got her.

Well, I haven't gotten very far with the site, haven't done much of anything. Yesterday, I played Gem Drop, evil little game. Basically, I slept all morning, had barely woken up and the phone rang. Gotta go to work. They asked, I agreed. At least I have a job. And I sure need the money. And so long as I get to work in my department and not elsewhere, it is tolerable for my back. Mind you, last Thursday it was past intolerable. The pain was so severe, I wanted to kill it with some Smirnoff and I don't drink. I didn't, but the thought was there. I did get to work with this annoying person who loved PC's cause they're so upgradable. Yeah, everything but the OS. Attempt an upgrade and you discover you have to buy a new computer anyway cause the damn upgrade OS won't install. That happened with Win3.1 to Win95 and with Win95 to Win98. Mind you I had no problem upgrading OS9 to OS X, actually run both on the same machine with no problems whatsoever. Sides, there is little to upgrade on the Mac as it came with built in ethernet, firewire, everything cept a CD burner and as I was sharing one between 3 computers anyway, didn't feel the need to get one. Now that will change if I get that iMac, no money haven't got one yet.

Whether or not I spring for the iMac or for more mundane stuff like essential supplies in the event of war depends a lot on Dubya. I expect there WILL be war. How long, how nasty, not sure. That depends on whether other terrorist states and organizations get involved, whether someone, anyone, targets Israel, and whether Iraq garners support from other countries. It could be a quickie like the last time or it could be big, really big, like global thermonuclear war big, or anything in between, hard to tell really. It's a bit unsettling to say the least.