M-Cats Club: Bad Kitty Cats Festival Of Chaos #49-Father's Day Edition

M-Cats Club: Bad Kitty Cats Festival Of Chaos #49-Father's Day Edition is a good one, go see.

New Goodies

Blogger has a whole new bunch of widgets, called page elements. I was able to add in a blogroll and have it work. That's nice.

Autosaves drafts too, got to keep up with the competition.

Oops, Pardon

I hadn't checked lately and just realized this theme is green. I hadn't meant for it to make any political statement regarding Earth Day. It doesn't so don't let it bother you. Might change the theme which is why I am on Blogspot anyway... so I can mess with all their latest goodies. Sortof comparing services. Still prefer my site.

Changing Layout

I was attempting to edit the sidebar when I changed the theme but got an unable to complete request. Blog looks like it took but will see when posting.

It worked. Spiffy.

Obviously

This is not my main blog, just experimenting here. In case someone clicks my profile from a comment I make, want them to find the right blog.

I have it almost to the point of looking decent, no graphics yet but the new blog is here. I have a bit more leeway and am busy learning XML and CSS2. So far, it is in compliance with standards and works with the blogger api thou I haven't tried that bit out yet cause I haven't made that many changes yet. But it can be looked at.

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.

Last day of the year, ok, what's new. I am working on a .php version of the site, big site, will take time. What else, well won't be able to collect from the kid who took my kid's car joyriding last year and wrecked it to the tune of $2000+, not that I expected to, but as I just discovered he is serving time, well justice is served anyway. And today was report card day for my kid, straight A's, 4.0 average. Way to go!;) Now if I could just get rid of this big pain in my ass, no not WebRing, just a bad back. Expect I'll need surgery as nothing else has worked. Bummer. Oh, I'm not exactly celebrating New Years, just laying around in bed playing on the iBook. It just works.^_^

Merry Christmas, here's hoping it was merry as it's almost over. Perhaps the new year will be better. Maybe I should devote my resources to something useful like preserving endangered species, yes save the penguin.^_^

Gee I'm slow, almost worked another 7 in a row but got tired after the fourth day so didn't. So what's new, one of my kid's friends used the recycle container as an ashtray. Lucky for me the house didn't burn down. Still, I wasn't happy. I did get a little accomplished on the Ringmanager's group project World of Webrings. My experience with Mailman turned out to be useful. And yes, I am still involved with webrings, must update my site. WebRing has improved in it's features but still has a few flaws like it claims ownership of Ringmasters rings and the people involved tend to get a tad upset at any criticism of their capricious behavior. It may have left Yahoo but still acts like Yahoo, still looks like Yahoo. And certain people involved, well Andrea, tends to target rings she doesn't like. She doesn't like my protest ring either, no surprise there.

Holidays, well I do wish everyone a nice, happy holiday season even if I feel a bit bah humbug. I haven't even got a tree up yet. Looking forward to a new year, fun with Iraq, North Korea, Al Quida, the Howard government, and of course Microsoft. Hmmm, all of those are bad, something good, yes MacWorld. I eagerly await Steve Jobs' keynote address. ^_^ And just possibly more market share for OSX and Linux.

I did it, survived working seven days in a row, that be 12 hour shifts, and I'm tired, very very tired. Not too much happened while I was occupied bringing home the $$$ except for yesterday. I was trying to read a few emails after work when I heard my kid scream. Turned out that the kitten she was catsitting for a friend peed and pooped (diarrhea-stinky) on her bed and boy was she upset. It reminded me of all those times I screamed at the stupid f***ing computer when I got the blue screen of death way too many times. Later that day, she took the kitten over to another friend as she was NOT catsitting that cat any more. I am rather happy not that the cat is gone but that I am using a nice functioning computer that does NOT give me any trouble. Yes, it's true re Macs, it just works.

Updating, I was able to find an addin script that gave me a history in Chimera. Now I'm happy sortof. Still have the other kitten, the one she brought home. I refer to that cat as Psycho Cat as she is always attacking me. It is most annoying to be sitting reading email and having her jump on my back, digging in. It is equally annoying when feeding the cats, she jumps up and grabs my hand, digging in. I can hardly wait til my kid moves out that is if she takes that cat with her.

On the up side, I did have some influence in converting a friend, not to the Mac, but to Unix, specifically Linux. if one has a PC, Linux is a nice option and has some nice GUI's plus if you don't like what is available, being open source, one can create their own GUI.

Can M$ terminate your licence to use Windows XP or refuse to activate or reactivate it? This was a question posted on ZDNet. They can. Will they? Who knows...probably. Can someone hack your system to take control over it like Microsoft can do? Far as I know anything can be hacked. I already know from their EULA that M$ can update your compy without informing you and disable your software in the process. Considering that Windows Updates generally hose the system, it occured to me that M$ put that in there not cause updates may deliberately disable competing software but to protect them from liability cause it tends to hose your system anyway. And since they are doing it without informing you, guess they don't want lawsuits. If you agreed to the update, then M$ has no liability.

So I've been gone, working mostly, then got sick, yuck. So I am laying in bed, contemplating how much the epidural cost and how long the effect didn't work. Yes, it didn't last long enough thanks to work. Pain.

This is so me er the part about Microsoft updates hosing my system. The only thing I steer clear of more than their updates is their betas. However, I found one good thing about Windows. All those True Type Fonts I have for IncrediMail work in OSX. I read something somewhere so did a test with one font. It worked so now I have so many fonts on OSX, I need a font manager.

Aside from computers which I haven't done much with lately except add some new filters to Photoshop, I have done little except sleep. I have been so tired lately from not getting enough that I am doing catchup. Basically, I feel crappy, really crappy and will see a cardiologist next week which won't be soon enough for my preferences but being as there is a holiday this week, that's the best I can do. I hate getting old and falling apart.

I am working on one project slowly. It is a group project which will be very useful for people interested in learning about webrings.

Finally...I had tried a little program called iClean and it did too good a job of cleaning, wiped out my Blogger password and it took me a while to remember it. Finally did, so what have I been doing, er cleaning, sorting, and deleting on the iBook. And fixing my IncrediMail stats. And maybe eventually I will update the site. Yes, I'm slow. It is a huge site and I am contemplating going to a php form of site management. The change, any change, will be a huge task. Hey, for me, I'm lucky if I can catch up with mail. I do better with news cause I have another nifty program SlashDock. I've also been testing browsers since I have 6. So far I like Chimera cept it needs a history, Mozilla cause it renders accurately, and OmniWeb cause it has the best filtering. Still testing to see which one crashes the most.;P

I think the epidural is working. I worked 7 out of 9 days and wasn't in severe pain til I ate something. I had food poisoning so the past day has been hell. I am hoping to not be sick long enough to vote. So far, that's not happening. Seeing that I worked so much, I haven't done much cept play with themes. Currently I am using DSX, nice cause it's black, and with the right desktop wallpaper, looks spiffy. I did discover OS9 is the most customizable so I'll have to play with that too. And you can customize Windows XP to look like OSX too.:) And here all I had played with were Winamp skins.

Listening to the news got me thinking. The Axis of Evil was being discussed and I immediately thought of Microsoft - Intel - AMD. Palladium IS evil IMHO. Gee, reminds me I need to do something with my site.

Testing, yesterday was a big day sortof. I got my second epidural and spent the rest of the day in bed, so I was a bit sore. Hope it helps. The other big news was that blogger was hacked so I had to change my password before posting. And wait for it to take effect. I found out cause I got this nifty new program SlashDock where I can get all kinds of useful info/news headlines that matter to me.

Gee, I haven't posted in a while. OK, first, the epidural didn't work for long. I get the next one in a couple of days. Next, I worked like five of the next six days in a row so too tired and sore (cause it didn't work) to write anything. After that, I went on vacation. Hey, I'm entitled. Course, I drove. I took it easy taking two days (well 1 1/2) to get there stopping at one whole scenic spot. 1 Infinite Loop, Cupertino, Ca. And if you are unfamiliar with that address, it is the home of Apple Computer. It was useful as I picked up a case and car adapter for the iPod.

Now as to my destination, it was of course Yaoi Con in San Francisco. All in all, it was a great con. I got to see the cosplay contest, the bishonen auction, the music video contest and most of the anime I hadn't seen yet. Still, I missed Level C but all in all I saw most everything I wanted to. I went to very few panels, even missing one I wanted to see cause my relief hadn't arrived in the video room. I worked the con. It wasn't a total loss as it hurt to sit and all the jobs I did allowed standing. I even remembered film or rather the digital equivalent so I will have pics up in a day or so. Why so long? I have to work that's why. There were some great costumes, my fave being Vash. All the peeps were wonderful and I really lucked out in the roommate end of it. I don't think I could have gotten a better roommate. The hotel on the other hand left a little to be desired mostly in terms of atmosphere (cold too), location (too far from Japantown) and parking fee $25/day as opposed to an expected $15. Stuff, I got stuff, not so many doujinshi cause they were pretty picked over by the time I was able to access them, but fanstuff - doujinshi, fic collections, and art by fans. I even won a couple things in a raffle, one t-shirt that I coveted (why I bought raffle tickets) and one piece of fanart I have no idea where I'll put it cause it is a bit too explicit for the living room.

On the return, I took the scenic route, got to see the ocean. It did take longer but I made it back in one day. And of course, I am exhausted and headed to bed.

Had the epidural, wasn't painful, just a little pressure. Course the doc did give me a local to numb the area first. He said my ears might pop, they didn't. Legs did get a little more numb, no dizziness. But when the lidocaine wore off, boy was my lower back sore. An ice pack helped, a massage from my kid helped more. She was even nicer today giving me a full body massage. That's what she is studying in school, and she's good at it. I did spend a fair amount of time finding out the different ways to travel to the con and how much they cost...too much. I'm driving again.

It would be nice if this said the correct Arizona time but it doesn't. Damn! It does indicate I stayed up late, it's barely after midnight now and is now the 10th. Played around with the more fun stuff, yes terminal. Welcome to Darwin it said. Now what shall I do with it? I can script some useful tasks I suppose. I'm having way too much fun to do anything useful like update my site. New HTML editor, have to learn that too.

Some people actually read my blog. Then they email me telling me I haven't updated. OK, a little update, today is my big day where I go for my epidural block. If it works, I will be able to walk without pain, sit without pain, and do things like bend over, play on the computer, finish FFVIII, attend Yaoi Con, and otherwise function without always being in severe pain. If it doesn't, I get two more tries before going under the knife. in the meantime, I lay in bed playing on the iBook. I CAN do that. I can even learn stuff. Think I know of most about every Linux distro going and the GUI's. Gnome looks nice as does the latest KDE. I prefer their look to XP's. The Wine project looks interesting too as does Open Office. I do so love alternatives to Windows.

I hadn't been paying a lot attention to games as of late. But I have been reminded of fanfiction that was so out of character that people would have a cow, that being fics where characters from different games and genres were lumped in together. I did it myself in parody. But now I have seen the ultimate OOC in a GAME by Squaresoft itself. OK, I do have a bit of trouble picturing Sephiroth and Mickey Mouse in the same game. I never would have paired them. Still, guess I'll have to play it just to see. Sephy is hot btw, saw some screenshots.

I found the most interesting link on Palladium. Scary stuff, to quote, "So after the Soviet Union's attempts to register and control all typewriters and fax machines, TCPA attempts to register and control all computers. The implications for liberty, democracy and justice are worrying. " And not just for Linux and OSX, interesting after Apple made their computers easier to connect with Windows PC's, this will lock them out again. Shades of the Instant Messenger wars only bigger. Eventually you won't be able to communicate with anyone on the net, buy, sell, whatever without that chip. And you won't have control over what is on your PC, Microsoft will. And you think it's a monopoly now, it's starting to sound like the antichrist with TCPA/Palladium being the mark of the beast. I'm not a fundie by any means but I have read the Bible. And Microsoft wants the technology everywhere, not just your PC.

And I had no idea carmakers were using similar measures to prevent you from using an independent repair shop. And cell phones, printers, and the Playstation2 already use similar technology too. Hmmm, do I want one, well I don't intend to use it for anything cept PSX games so I can deal with that. But no way will I network it with a PC or the net.

Mog's Mac trivia: OSX is pronounced "OS 10" cause OSX "oh-es-ex" may be pronounced "oh-sex". That bit of trivia done with, got the results of my MRI. Basically it is unchanged from the first MRI when I ended up in the ER, still a mild disc bulge. Spending a month in bed last December using up all my vacation time did nothing. I got better, yeah right, cause I ran out of time off. Well pain went from a 9 to an 8 on a scale of 1-10. So I went back to work and have been miserable since. So, next up is epidural steroid injections. They have an 80% chance of working and if they work, I can avoid the knife. I'll get a series of three, and hopefully, that will help. Anyway, I don't have to take time off for the epidurals so it looks like I can still go to Yaoi-Con.

I'm starting to finally getting around to doing things that seriously needed doing like getting new glasses. I had held off til the insurance plan changed and then just hadn't gotten around to it til today, main reason they cost a lot. Price of glasses=price of PS2. And my doc's office finally returned my messages...twice by two different people wanting me to make an appointment to go over my MRI results and discuss my options. Makes me wonder that they finally either got the report or actually read it. And of course I wonder if it was any worse than the previous MRI. Curiosity will get me the appointment sooner.

Meanwhile, I spend my time trying to find where I put my registration code for NAV 2002 so I can reinstall it in the poor POS PC. That's the worst thing about losing my data, every time I reinstall, I have to look up my codes again. Least I don't have the spector of product activation hanging over me. I did actually see Windows XP on the compys at the store and I was quite unimpressed. Not that bright blue and bright green are my favorite color schemes, they're not. It's just it looks like Windows with a fancy skin. The icons are a bit more 3Dish, kindof goes with IncrediMail's look. I have to admit I am spoiled by OSX so it will take a lot to impress me.