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Good News, Bad News….

So I went to see Doc G yesterday. I first told him about my tinnitus and growing deafness. My whole life, I’ve always had very short bursts of noises in my ears – howls, rustling, whines, whistles, even far-away whispering, but they never lasted for more than a minute or so; I assumed that everybody had them, so I never mentioned them. But around five or six years ago, these bursts of noises started changing, getting longer and more frequent. I now have a continuous steady whine in my ears. In addition, I’m losing the hearing in my left ear.
It’s getting more and more difficult to enjoy the silence out here. I stand outside at night, listening for owls and foxes, and have to concentrate to ignore the background whine. Getting to sleep at night is more difficult; no sound from outside means there’s nothing to distract my attention from the internal noise. At times, I have to get up and watch television for a couple of hours, until I really can’t stay awake. I think an ipod-type player with comfortable earphones is going to be my next purchase, to save me from getting out of bed.
Doc G was upbeat about it – it might be possible to do something about the tinnitus, maybe even halt the deafness. So I’ll be making a trip to the local Audiology Dept soon.

The bad news? I asked him about the possibility of surgery for my tachycardia – and it seems I don’t have the right type of tachycardia! Moreover, according to him, it’s only performed when there’s a danger of heart attack, and – apart from the arrhythmia – my heart is positively bouncing with health.

Bah. So I’ll just have to put up with it. Bah again. (But at least I’m unlikely to drop dead from a heart attack. Stay positive!)

Oh, and completely by coincidence, I’m sure, I had the first tachycardia attack in over a month last night.

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General

We Haz Snow!

After watching the news all week and rolling our eyes at the soft southerners, gleefully chortling over the fact that practically no snow has fallen here:

Snow!
Snow!

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General

Proof…..

….that I really, really cannot cook. This was supposed to be a buckwheat pancake. All I had to do was measure out the buckwheat flour, mix in some water, cook it briefly in a pan. Simple? Yes! But could I do it? Um, no….

Failed attempt at cooking a pancake
Failed attempt at cooking a pancake

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General

Wibbling….

…about techie web development matters in this post, so pass over if you’re not interested.
Transferring a complete WordPress blog from one server to another is supposed to be pretty simple – WordPress has an Import/Export function that makes it almost a one-click operation.
Having got the new WordPress-based Transit site almost complete on my local server, I decided to try a dry run, transferring it all (after backing everything up, of course) up to a folder on the Oakleaf Circle site. Lucky that I did. Most of it worked; unfortunately, some of the database tables didn’t transfer. These were the links and the events tables – the ones that I spent hours keyboarding in, with hundreds of entries. I can’t see what the problem is, unless it’s to do with the fact that the OC server has an older version of MySQL than my WAMP server – this may be why there appears to be no way of easily importing tables into the OC database, whereas my own MySQL database has a one-click import function. Hopefully, the server for the new site won’t have this bug – I don’t know MySQL well enough to import tables manually, and keyboarding in about two hundred entries for the second time is not my idea of a fun way to pass the time.
However, I’m still waiting for news about it – my query email about it a few days ago has gone unanswered so far. It’s got to be up and fully running by the end of the month; I’d like at least a week to sort out the bugs.
Additionally, I’m waiting to upgrade my computer – the new memory chips arrived the other day and there’s a huge new hard drive sitting on my desk, just begging to be plugged in, formatted and filled. But I can’t do any of that until Transit is all bedded down on its new server.

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Techie Stuff

I Get Mail….

…but it’s not often like this (the original, sent to my Transit editorial address, is in multi-coloured, bolded, italicised and underlined 16pt Ariel, decorated with a nice picture of autumn leaves):

——-Original Message——-

From: CANADA EDMONTON
Date: 2/3/2009 1:55:39 PM
To: DEVELOPMENT@MUSEUM.TV
Subject: Fw: E-MAIL 4 TO PILOT GUIDES ////// LONELY PLANET TV TRAVEL SHOW OF GREAT BRITTAIN

——-Original Message——-

From: CANADA EDMONTON
Date: 2/3/2009 1:24:46 PM
To: SCREENCOM@DUMGAL.GOV.UK
Subject: Fw: E-MAIL 4 TO PILOT GUIDES ////// LONELY PLANET TV TRAVEL SHOW OF GREAT BRITTAIN

From: CANADA EDMONTON
Date: 2/3/2009 1:01:12 PM
To: INFO@PILOT.CO.UK
Subject: E-MAIL 4 TO PILOT GUIDES ////// LONELY PLANET TV TRAVEL SHOW OF GREAT BRITTAIN

HELLO – HELLO TO PILOT GUIDES //// LONELY PLANET TV TRAVEL SHOW OF GREAT BRITTAIN
OR MAYBE OF USA , OR ANOTHER COUNTRY
THIS IS AN E-MAIL I DON’T KNOW WHAT NUMBER , MAYBE # 4 OR NUMBER # 5 TO YOU ALL
BUT ANYWAYS, I HAVE NOTICED THAT YOUR TV SHOW
” PILOT GUIDES TV SHOW ” WENT OFF THE WEEKDAY TV SCHEDULE ON THE CANADIAN TV CHANNEL OLN
PILOT GUIDES TV TRAVEL SHOW IS NOT BEING PLAYED EVERY NIGHT ON THE OUTDOOR LIFE NETWORK TV CHANNEL CANADA
NOT ON WEEKDAYS
I SEE THE OLN TV CANADA STATION HAS TAKEN YOU OFF
AND YOU KNOW WHAT, I THINK I SENT YOU ALL AN E-MAIL A FEW MONTHS AGO , AND I WAS MENTIONING THE POOR QUALITY PROGRAMS AND HOW POORLY THE TV SHOW HAD BECOME
HOW YOU ALL BEEN SHOWING YOUR OWN VERSIONS OF LIFE ON PLANET EARTH
HOW SHARKS LIVE IN THE LAKES, AND HOW PENGUINS LIVE IN HAWAIAN WATERS
SOMETHING LIKE THAT
YOU BEEN FILMING JUST SOMETHING NOT REAL
FICTION
THE PILOT GUIDES TV SHOW ALL EPISODES BECAME IRRITATTING , BORING AND STUPID
AND I KNEW SOMETHING LIKE THAT WAS COMING
AND I DON’T HAVE TIME FOR THAT MATES !
I KNOW YOU ALL WANT TO PLAY GAMES AND HAVE FUN, BUT YOUR GAMES ARE JUST STUPID
NOT FUN AND YOU’RE ALL SERIOUS ABOUT IT
SO I GO AND I GIVE YOU A TOOL LIKE CAMERAS AND FUNDS TO TRAVEL , AND YOU DO WHAT ?
YOU DISRESPECT ME
YOU INSULT ME , AND THEN YOU WANT TO JUST KICK ME MORE DOWN
KICK ‘EM WHEN THEY’RE DOWN
NICE PSYCHOLOGY
I AM VERY HAPPY THAT YOU ARE OFF TV ON WEEKDAYS
I SEE THAT ON WEEKENDS YOUS STILL SHOW AN ODD EPISODE HERE AND THERE
I DON’T WATCH IT
AND YOU DIDN’T DO NOTHING ACTUALLY
YOU DID INSULT ME BY SAYING THAT LIFE IS BORING AND FUNNY , BUT WHAT YOU BEEN FILMING WAS NEVER REAL
IT’S LIKE ME GIVING A LOADED GUN TO A PERSON THAT I KNOW FOR SURE WILL TURN AROUND AND TRY TO SHOOT ME IN THE BACK
WE HAVE TO GIVE YOUS BLIND BULLETS
ALL I WAS ASKING WAS JUST FOR THE REAL SHOWS
AND YOU CAN’T EVEN DO THAT
THAT ” POWER ” OF YOURS MUST REALLY BE FUN FOR YOU, YOU LIKE TO BE MAGICIANS
EH !
GOOD THING I DON’T GIVE YOU REAL POWER OF LIFE
YOU’D SET ME UP GOOD THEN, WOULDN’T YA
FORGET THE DONATION
YES, I WAS THE ONE WHO ASKED YOU ALL IF YOU WOULD DONATE SOME MONEY
I’M UNEMPLOYED
I HAVE NO MONEY
AND CANADA IS A COUNTRY OF NO EDUCATION
LACKS EVERY INTEREST IN LIFE
AND THINKS NOTHING IS WRONG
THEY WANT TO KEEP GOING CROOKED SICK AND BROKE
AND I WANT TO ENJOY LIFE BECAUSE I CREATED IT ALL
LIFE IS A MAGICAL EXPERIENCE
FULL OF MAGIC
WONDERS
FULL OF ENERGY A MAGNETIC ENERGY
FULL OF LIFE
HEALTH
AND KNOWLEDGE
AND YOU ALL , NOT JUST GREAT BRITTAIN, IT’S GERMANY, POLAND, AMERICA USA , CANADA
YOU ALL JUST WANT TO BITE AND BITE AND BITE
AND IF ADOLF HITLER WAS AROUND, HE’D GET RID OF THIS
MAYBE OR MAYBE NOT
WHO KNOWS
BUT I SURE DON’T LIKE IT
YOU’RE NOT PEOPLE ANYMORE
YOU’RE SOME KIND OF A ORGANISM THAT WON’T STOP GIVING OUT NEGATIVE VIBES
AND I DON’T KNOW WHY YOU’RE STILL AROUND
IT IS GOING SO SLOW , THAT IT IS TAKING VERY LONG
I AM A LITTLE SAD ABOUT IT, THAT THIS THING IS STILL HAPENNING
BUT I WANTED TO LET YOU KNOW MY COMMENTS
YOU DID IT TO YOUR SELFS
I DIDN’T DO IT
I WENT TO MY TV SET AND I WANTED TO WATCH, SO YOU PEOPLE JUST TURNED THINGS AROUND
MAKING ME TO AN IDIOT
LIKE I CAN’T TELL WHAT IS GOING ON
I WOULDN’T GIVE YOU FIAT CAR IF YOU PAID ME A MILLION DOLLARS
TAKE YOUR JAGAURAS AND YOUR TANKS ROLLS-ROYCES AND DRIVE THOSE
FIAT AUTO IS BECOMING THE WORLD’S # 1 AUTO MANUFACTURER
I’VE HAD IT WITH THE MERCEDES-BENZES AND BMWS AND VWS , FORGET IT,
IT’S FIAT AUTO AND IT’S MY FINAL WORD
GIOOD LUCK TO YOU ALL
TAKE CARE
KEEP YOUR MONEY
YOU GONNA NEED IT
I SAY THERE WILL BE A WORLD WAR III COMING TO EUROPE AND SHORTLY
WAR OF LIFE
THE END
GOOD BYE
REPLY IS NOT NEEDED
YE
I HAD A HEADACHE IN MY LEFT TEMPLE , THAT WAS ABOUT IT

END OF MESSAGE
FEBRUARY 3 RD 2009
FROM::::::EDMONTON:::::ALBERTA::::::CANADA::::
::::::::NORTH-AMERICA:::::::

No, I have no idea whatsoever….

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General

C-C-Changes again….

OK, I’ve now changed the design for this blog. I’d spent hours and hours over the weekend trying to put together a new design from scratch without much success, then thought “Why try to reinvent the wheel?”
This is a WordPress blog; there are hundreds of free WordPress themes out there, most of them readily adaptable. So I quickly found this very simple gridded design – appropriately named Simple Theme One – and just changed the header image and twiddled with the fonts and colours. Took me about thirty minutes and most of that was taken up with putting the header image (a montage of a few of my photos) together.

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General

Why….

2 Comments

…..are pagan websites so generally awful? I’ve spent the last hour going through the listings on the Oakleaf Circle site, checking for dead links. There were some beautifully-designed sites there, but they were in the minority. Honestly I have never seen so many animated gifs, cheesy clipart, misused fonts and violent colour schemes (purple on black was the clear favourite, with lime-green on navy blue second) since the last time I browsed through the sites on an evangelical Christian webring.
One site was so horrible that I actually deleted the link – besides the usual array of migraine-inducing colours (every single link was in a different colour!) – it spelled ‘jewelery’ at least three different ways all over the front page, none of them correctly. Illiteracy seems to go together with repellent design.

Ack. I need to rest my eyes.

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Rants

Watching….

Doing the shopping these days, with my dodgy knee, is not an experience I much enjoy. Technically, me & B always do the shopping together; what usually happens is that B slowly trundles the trolley round while I whizz around ferreting out the goodies.
But at the moment, our roles are reversed; mindful that I have a very limited ration of daily walking, I skulk in a corner of the supermarket with the trolley, leaning on my stick, while B goes looking for stuff.
With none of my experience with supermarkets, he takes ages to locate anything. Which is why I was leaning on my stick in a corner of Morrison’s while B roamed the far aisles in a search for crumpets. Passing the time with people-watching, I noticed one person in particular.
Now, (probably due to Asperger’s) I’m very good at pattern-recognition and pulling conclusions from just a few facts. This perhaps explains why I occasionally get odd “flashes”; I see some stranger and almost instantly have a strong mental vision of them looking quite different, usually much younger. This shopper I found myself looking at was a middle-aged man – short (5’5″ or so), potbellied, greying longish hair tied back in a ponytail, fairly scruffy (but no more so than I was). He was wearing a very battered leather hat, the sort with a wide brim; it was stained and looked like it had been sat on far too many times.
And I had a “flash”: a young man – twenty or so – dressed in flared jeans, white cotton shirt, suede jacket; still short but now taut-bellied slim, moustached, bearded, long black hair flowing down past his collar; bouncing cockily along a street, grinning hugely, eyeing the girls. And proudly showing off his brand new height-of-fashion leather hat – snapping the brim, keeping it at just the right down-turned angle.
What, I wondered, would that handsome young buck have thought of his thirty-years-on self? That bent-down, scruffy aging man who shuffled through this glittery consumer paradise doing his boring, routine, everyday shopping? Who hadn’t got into 28-inch-waist jeans for twenty years? That old man who hadn’t done the “monkey-walk” for three decades? The old man who no longer expected young women to look at him admiringly, and who no longer even noticed the loss?
He’d come from the fish counter; now he stood for a few moments in front of me, pondering where to turn his trolley next. He had a case of beer, some bread, some tins, a bottle of tomato ketchup, a big packet of frozen chips. He never moved his eyes from his trolley, except to look at the shelves. His hat sat on top of his head at no particular angle; the brim wasn’t in any state any more to be satisfyingly snapped. I watched him turn down an aisle and stop before the toilet paper….
Then B came back from his hunting expedition, bearing a successful bag of two packets of crumpets. So we went to sacrifice my purse at the checkout.

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General

A Bit of Politics….

Israeli soldier in GazaTake a look at this picture. It’s from an LJ comm for Russian-speaking Israeli soldiers engaged in the current Gaza offensive (found via a comment on Lenins Tomb).
The blog’s all in Russian, so I’ve looked at the pictures. This one, for me, really epitomises the obscenity of the war. A grinning Israeli soldeier sits comfortably making a V sign. Just look behind him – a cabinet full of family photos, books, ornaments, bric-a-brac, all carefully arranged and polished.
He’s sitting in somebody’s house. It’s clearly a house where an elderly mother or grandmother lives. Who else has old b&w photos on display in gilt frames? Who else keeps plastic flower ornaments in plastic to stop them catching dust? Who else keeps glass cabinet doors free of fingermarks? Who else makes sure her floors are clean and polished?
And here’s this grinning oaf sitting there, proud of himself. Behind him, the cabinet doors are all open – undoubtedly he and his mates been through them, and all the other cupboards in the house, pawing through precious mementos, laughing at old photos, giggling over underwear…

Meanwhile, where is the old lady whose pride and joy this house clearly is? Where is she while these idiots are demonstrating to the world their complete contempt for her and her kind? For me, this one picture captures all that is WRONG with the Israeli actions – far more than any number of pictures of dead babies.

Current mood: Blazing mad.

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Rants, The News You Didn't See

Another day….

…another tachycardia attack. This one started at approximately 3am this morning and didn’t stop until 2pm today. Something of a record for me. So I’ve not done a lot of anything today, aside from lying in bed and staring up at the ceiling (getting up and walking around during an attack makes me dizzy and faint).
Now I’m over it and back on the computer, I’ve been reading up on supraventricular tachycardia (SVT), which is the type I have. And discovered that when drugs don’t work (or come with unacceptable side-effects, as has been happening with me) a common treatment is catheter ablation. This is a rather scary-sounding procedure in which a catheter, introduced into the heart via a leg artery, destroys the tiny bit of heart muscle that is causing the irregular electrical impulses.
It’s a complete and lasting cure – so I want it! I’ll see Doc G soon and ask him if there’s any reason why I can’t have it (and why he’s never mentioned the possibility of it to me).

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General