On Wednesday evening at 11:59 I won’t be sad to see 2008 become part of history.  To say the least, it was a tough year for me.  I spent my first entire calendar year as a graduate student while working a full time job.  It wasn’t easy but it was a learning experience (no pun intended).  I started a new job in June and worked long hours in the office all summer.  As the year went on I learned that I was really struggling to stay sane and happy.  So, in 2009 I am making a promise to put myself first more often.

I pledge to not beat myself up if I only make it to the gym twice in a week.  I pledge to sleep in on Sundays when I have no where to be. And, I pledge to bake once a month, for someone or some reason.  I think that’s a good list to start.  To kick off my year about me, I’m going to an excellent scrapbooking retreat that is held annually in CT, about 45 minutes from my parents.  It is 48 hours of creativity, fun, and a whole lot of estrogen.  I went two years ago and had a wonderful time, so I’m using my Chanukah money to go again this year.  I will FINALLY be able to start my wedding album.  Woohoo!

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It has now been three days since Krispy’s surgery.  He seems to be recovering well.  There is no inflimation on or around his incision which is a very good sign.  He is slowly regaining his appetite and each day he is awake more and more.  He’s already doing things he shouldn’t such as jumping on and off furniture.  I try to keep him from doing as much physical activity as possible but he’s rather stuborn; much like his owners.

Kate and I would like to thank everybody for their kind thoughts and wishes throughout this entire ordeal.  I am sure Krispy would thank you too.

Below the break is an image of the poor kitty post-surgery

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Twitter is,

a free social networking and micro-blogging service, that allows its users to send and read other users’ updates (otherwise known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length. Updates are displayed on the user’s profile page and delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them. (Wikipedia)

I first found this unique social networking site in January of 2007 and thought it was a very interesting concept.  However I found that I had no friends on it leading me to rarely check it which of course lead to me never updating it.  Recently Twitter has become more and more popular in the mainstream and has gained quite a strong following in the geek community; and as a card carrying geek I felt obligated to give tweeting a chance again.

I found a few people and organizations I wanted to follow, especially during the 2008 election coverage.  This got me hitting Twitter fairly often and I began to update.  It felt good to do these little 140 character tweets as I had stuff I wanted to share or vent about, but not enough for a full blog post.  You can access Twitter through their website, their instant messenger bot, SMS from your cell phone our a Twitter client on your computer or smartphone.

Well as I have what I like to think is the smartest of the smartphones, an iPhone, I figured I’d start playing with Twitter clients on that first.  I downloaded one, then another, and soon enough I had about seven of them installed.  Each has it’s strong points and of course it’s weak points.   Playing with the applications has become as much fun or maybe even more fun then actually using the service!  After a short bit of time using applications on the iPhone I ventured into the numerous applications available for the Mac.  I think I may have settled on my applications of choice, but I think half of the fun is playing with the new ones that come out almost every day.

For thsoe of you who haven’t used Twitter yet, give it a go.  It’s easy to setup an account and even easier to use.  You can find me on Twitter as dwaxman.

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Today at about 3:15PM I noticed a distinct horrible odor coming from what I thought was our cat box.  When I went to the box to empty it I noticed very little, and no fresh, cat droppings.  However I did notice cat fecis on the floor in the hallway.  I followed the trail to find Krispy on the floor of the office cowering in a corner with a string comming out of his rearend.

It seems at some point Krispy had eaten some kind of string or fabric and had gone to the bathroom only to have it not come out completely and have his bowel movements stuck to it.  He was uncomfortable and in obvious pain.  I immediately brought him to the vet for examination.  They gave him pain medication as his pain and discomfort was quite obvious and took an xray.  The xray showed significant amounts of whatever he consumed still in his stomach and they strongly urged me to take him to an emergency animal hospital for surgery and round the clock monitoring.

I brought him to the local emergency veterinary hospital and they agreed surgery was quite necessary.  Krispy was put under and a few hours later I was informed all the string was removed.  None had perforated his intestine but some needed to be surgically removed from his colon.  Had we waited permanent damage could have been caused to his colon including the possible need to remove it.  I am relieved he will be ok and overly thankful I noticed it when I did.

This event was terrifying and I am not sure I am over the stress and anguish of it all.  I am so thankful that Krispy is out of surgery and that no serious damage was done.  I am unsure of his recovery and what will be required to take care of him; but whatever it is it will be done.  Krispy was by my side almost 24 hours a day seven days a week for the eight months in 2007 that I was very ill.  After my surgery he stayed on the bed with me from the second Kate left for work until when she came home and he knew somebody else could take care of me.  I’d have done anything to make sure he was safe and healthy and am so happy to know I did everything I could for him.  I can’t wait to pick him up when he is released.

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There are some mornings that you think to yourself, “I just shouldn’t have gotten out of bed at all.”  Unfortunately this morning has certainly been one of those.  The clock has finally flashed past noon and I feel it is possibly safe enough to begin chronicling what has been one of the worst mornings for me in a long, long time.

I woke up, as I do most mornings, protesting the light in our bedroom.  I dragged myself out of bed and plopped myself down into my office chair.  In my usual morning haze I managed to unlock my workstation and that’s when things started to go down hill.  First and foremost I noticed an “Error: Network connection has been lost” box floating on top of a reminder that I had an 8:30AM call I just didn’t want to be on.  I hoped the error message was nothing to worry about but as I tried to reconnect to work services I realized I had no internet access at all.  Now, a geek without internet access is like a fish without water even without the looming fact that I need to work; which requires the internet.

Needless to say the internet is a no-go and I make the decision to shower and get dressed right after my 8:30 call and rush into the local field office prior to my next call.  As I am hitting end on my Treo I am hopping into the shower and I get done in record time.  Check the internet one last time with no success and pack up to head into the office.  This is where the story really goes down hill.

As I am loading my work bag and what not into the back seat I realize the drivers door is not closed.  It’s not wide open, but it is certainly ajar.  I open it and water rolls off the arm rest and onto the floor at my feet.  Looking inside the seat is wet and the floor is a puddle.  I tried to clean it the best I could but I needed to get on the road to make it in time for a call.  As I sit down I realize that while I tried to dry the seat, there was still a good deal of water in it.

So here I am with my wet butt and thighs driving down the road staring at the clock and hoping I am going to make it on time.  The traffic is horrible and some idiot let a school bus get in front of us.  I finally make it to where I think I can break off and take a shortcut to find the police blocking off the road, most likely flooded from the rain last night.  I continue on in bottleneck traffic and decide I’ll try another shortcut.  I guess this route, which is usually empty, was broadcast to everybody in the county as it too was bumper to bumper traffic.  Needless to say I took my next call in the car; something I very much dislike doing.

By the time I made it into the office I was able to setup my computer just in time to get onto 2 hours of back to back calls.  What a horrible morning.

However, I do need to point out that my morning was not the worst there is to have.  I’d like to take this time to offer my sympathies to a friend of mine, and a reader of this blog, Scott.  Scott was faced with making the hardest decision a pet owner ever has to make.  This morning he was forced to put one of his beloved cats down.  Yesterday his cat began having some serious issues.  As he posted entries on Twitter and his personal blog my heart tore open.  I couldn’t imagine going through what he has and I fear the day that one of my boys becomes ill.  This morning he had to make the decision we all hope to never make; but know at some poiont we may have to.  Scott, I am truly sorry for your loss and I know words alone wont do anything.

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Yesterday I ventured to the mall to finish off holiday shopping.  I avoided going after work or on a weekend but I was still expecting to fight with large crowds and I was not disappointed at all.  However, what I did find amazing was at 4PM on a week day how many business men there were standing around in stores us men don’t belong in looking uncomfortable and confused.  Some with their mouths hanging open, some with the look of fear painted on their face, and others like a deer in headlights just standing at the entrance-way to a store.

I popped my ear-buds in, selected a nice playlist on my iPhone and prepared myself to body-check anybody who got in my way.  Thankfully I made it through the mall without harming anybody, made my purchases, and escaped unscathed both physically and emotionally; or so I thought.

The moment I had the car in gear my brain began to race.  What if she doesn’t like this gift?  The gift is multiple pieces that all go together, if she doesn’t like the general concept she wont like any of the gifts.  I’m still not 100% certain about my selections but I know it is the thought that counts and I put a lot of thought into this.  The part that is screwing with my head is in recent conversations she has mentioned how she wants something in this general theme; but what she asked for differs from what I selected.  We’ll see when Kate and I exchange gifts.

On the reverse side, it has been brought to my attention that I am a horrible person to shop for.  Due to my meticulous product research habits I make it very hard for people to buy things for me.  When there is something I want, I research the hell out of it and know exactly what make and model I want.  As a geek I am especially picky about my electronics.  I feel horrible about this because it makes it so hard for people like my wife and inlaws to buy gifts for me.  I am used to my family where the gift is usually a check or a gift card which puts the task of picking out a product on myself.

When we discussed this last night Kate brought to light two specific examples.  First was a case for the iPhone.  She said that she wanted to get me one, and saw one she liked, but she knew that I would only want the case I picked out and that I’d not use a case I don’t love 100%.  She’s right, I am difficult about things like this.  I know what I like and I don’t properly appreciate what I should.  She further made this clear to me by explaining that she had purchased a rechargeable battery set for me that included a car charger as she knows I often forget to charge the batteries for my camera.  This was a great idea, and I should have been thrilled.  But when she brought up rechargeable batteries in casual conversation I said how I need specific ones for my camera due to it’s awful power consumption problems.  While my reasoning is right and sound, I feel horrible that I can’t just be happy about random gifts people buy me.

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Kate’s car has now been to the local repair shop, a transmission specialist and now has been at the dealership for over a day.  We still have no clue what’s wrong with it or how much it is going to cost.  Why?  Simple reason.  Auto Mechanics no longer have the ability to diagnose a problem without a computer.  Just about every time we drive the vehicle on the highway for 20 minutes it starts to shake violently.  But they can’t find the issue because the “computer” doesn’t show a “code”.  I’ve asked them to take the car out multiple times.  They claim they put 37 miles on it; but was it on the highway like I asked?

Furthermore, why can they only diagnose a problem based on the computer.  The problem happens when the car warms up (after driving for about 20 minutes), only happens at highway speeds and goes away when the car is below highway speeds … How many things can be causing this issue?  Twenty years ago a mechanic would have been insulted if he was told to hook the car up to a machine to tell him what is wrong with the car.  Granted cars have become more complicated; however the education of those who repair them should have evolved with the vehicles.  It’s ridiculous that I have to pay hundreds of dollars for people to hook a car up to a computer that doesn’t show them anything.

Another issue I have with this entire car computer nightmare comes from my background as a geek.  Logs people.  They record everything; why the hell doesn’t the car have a memory that is recording the “errors”.  When I was on the highway the light flashed on, so something should have been recorded and logged.  The light shouldn’t have to be on for them to see, it should record everything and they should be able to see the last 25 codes at the very least.

Stop giving me stupid and useless features like automatic headlights if you can’t give me a way to get the cars problems diagnosed without a headache!

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I’ve already given my things to be thankful post, but now after returning home I have more to be thankful for.  Being home!  The extended holiday weekend was an amazingly relaxing and enjoyable weekend sandwiched between two of the most awful road experiences ever.

Kate and I had decided I would accompany her up to school on Tuesday and hang around campus while she attended class.  That way we could leave directly from school and already be part of the way up the New Jersey section of 287.  A very sensible plan; which failed misreably …

Over the past two weeks we’ve noticed a terrible vibration or shuttering from Kate’s car.  We brought it to STS (local car repair chain) who evaluated it and said they could find nothing from the onboard computer and they felt it was transmission related.  We then brought it to a transmission center who said they could find nothing on the computer and without an error code it would be thousands of dollars for them to just open it up and “find something”.  They cleaned some gunk out of the gas tank and said that might have been the issue and suggested we drive the car until a light comes on indicating a computer code they can use to determine the issue.  For the next few days the car was fine and on Tuesday I loaded it up while Kate was at work so we could leave for CT taking her car, which is much more comfortable.

While driving Kate to school the vibrations began again.  I dropped Kate off, went home, moved all of our luggage to my car and then drove back up to school.  I got there just a few moments before her class let out and we began our trip to CT hoping for no more drama.  Of course, that’s not our luck, and on 287 East heading towards I95 in CT I got pulled over for speeding.  I admit, I was speeding, but no more than others on the road.  I think that because I was in the right lane and had out of state plates I was easily picked out.  Meh, whatever, it was bound to happen at some point.  We made it to CT with no further incident.

The trip home was even more exciting!  We got on the road at about 1:15PM and almost immediately hit dense traffic on I95.  It took us three hours to cross the state of CT, something we usually do in only two.  And then the traffic got bad.  It took us an additional 4 hours, plus an hour to stop (making it five more hours) to get home.  At one point on 287 West we went only 2 miles in a span of one hour.

We’re home, unpacked, and very glad to be home with our cats.  Next time we travel for Thanksgiving I think we’ll spend an extra day after the holiday weekend to avoid this traffic.

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So I have my lovely Mac Mini back from Apple after having the hard drive replaced and it is now happily living next to our 42″ HDTV and ready to begin its life as our media server.  The delay hasn’t been on the machines side, but more on my failings.  I have yet to spend the time, do the research and learn the terminology and technology to know what I need to convert “obtained*” content into something I can easily use full screen in HD.

The machine comes with Front Row, which unfortunately only works with things in your iTunes library.  I had purchased a copy of VisualHub and has in the past used that to rip into a Tivo format for my standard definition Tivo.  I tried the program again last night to try and convert some “obtained*” content and was greeted with a notification that the author is no longer going to develop the application anymore.  While I can use a program that wont be developed anymore as long as the features still work, I’d like to have something that would progress with my machine as it sees new operating system updates.

What I’d like even more is a better front end than Front Row.  Something that is easy to use with just the Apple Remote and can play multiple file types.  The ultimate would be for me to just play the content in the format it was downloaded saving the time of transcoding and the need for me to learn all the technologies, formats, resolutions and codecs.

Does anybody have any suggestions?

* I know many people have objections to “obtained” content.  I am not inviting a discussion on legality or morality of this endevour.

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So I’ve downloaded and listened to the entire album three times now.  While it’s not the worst thing I’ve ever heard, I have to say this was not worth a 14 year wait.  I am not positive it was worth a 14 month wait.  It is, in my opinion and untrained ear, nowhere near as good as Use Your Illusion.  With it containing 14 songs, giving Axl and company a year per song, I hoped for a lot more.

I think the album has maybe 5 good songs with no great songs and not a single song that is “radio” playable.  Granted not everybody creates an album for the radio but when you get to be Guns N Roses caliber of performer you must “sell out” a bit as you’ve a huge international fan base that is expecting something they’ll hear on their favorite radio station prior to rushing out and buying this, dare I say it, disaster?

I lack the musical knowledge to articulately express this, so I will try to in layman’s terms.  I found there were no songs that caused a rise in emotion or energy.  Not once, after three listens, did I find myself singing along with the tracks.

Now I admit, I am no music critic and I surely lack the skill to compose anything half way as good, let alone better.  But I know what I like, what I don’t like and what I feel let down about.  Guns N Roses has let me down with this one.

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