And the Tease is Revealed…
By shoe | May 2, 2008
First off, I didn't change anything with the mic set up on my computer, but oddly enough, when I was doing final tests for recording last night, I could not, for the life of me, record anything through it. So dear, sweet Mr. Shoe flew out to Best Buy before it closed and got a tape player. Thanks, dear, sweet Mr. Shoe.
This morning I got my lazy narcolepsy ridden butt out of bed, delayed taking my meds hoping that I'd stay awake through the interview... And got in a really crappy mood because I did so. Finally, I took them, took a nap (really sad considering I'd gotten up an hour before) and waited for the event.
Let me tell you, Mark Shuttleworth is a really cool, nice guy. And for all the almost superhero like stuff this guy's done (he's been launched into space, for crying out loud!)... He's just... a really cool, nice guy.
So here's the deal: The interview is going to run in Linux Magazine. Sometime this summer, most likely July or August... Will give y'all the heads up when I know for sure. Because of this, I can't really talk about what he said, of course. Now I have to get transcribing.
Topics: Uncategorized | 4 Comments »
Wheels in Motion
By shoe | April 29, 2008
Well, sort of. The blessed tease event kicks off Friday, and I have a bit of work after the fact to get everything in shape. Because I don't do this sort of stuff regularly, it turned out I had a bit to get ready beforehand, as well.
It involved several mostly fruitless trips to Radio Shack. How the hell does Radio Shack stay in business? I mean, the stuff they're good at they're not particularly good at. The one thing I really truly needed from them, though, they did have. They didn't think they did, but there actually was a really kick ass saleslady there who rooted out what I needed. Wish I'd gotten her name. She's seriously the only 'Shack employee ever who didn't pounce all over us the minute we walked in. Then when we asked for what we needed, and she didn't see it immediately... she actually searched the inventory and managed to dig around till she found it. On top of it all, she was really pleasant and nice through the whole thing.
So she was the saving grace of the 'Shack experience. Thanks, nice saleslady!
I'll give you a hint. I got this little thingamabob that records phone calls from cell phones. It's technically supposed to hook up to a tape recorder through a mic jack, and your cell through the headphone jack. Problem being... I don't think I've owned a tape recorder since 1988. (Yeah, I was an early CD adopter).
It's pretty tricky, too, to find a tape recorder that has a mic input. Well, it isn't, really. But it is when you're looking at the 'Shack. Truth be told, I didn't want to have to buy a tape recorder. The reason I was an early CD adopter was because at the age of 15 or so, I got pretty damn sick of buying tapes, sticking them in my fairly pricey Sony Walkman and having them self destruct within a week or two.
My fear was I'd record what I needed, and rewind to listen and... the carnage of yards and miles of tape flying everywhere would ensue.
Well, dang! My computer (and Mr. Shoe's, and the MythTV box, and the Eee) all have mic inputs. So I plugged the little 'Shack device in to my computer, installed the Gnome-media package and some neato stuff, and tried it out. After some tweakage of volumes and inputs and file extension types, we were in business.
I tested it on my mom today. So I've got about an hour of audio on my computer of my mom talking to Ruby the Westie and me talking to Monster and Norman the pekes. My mom and I don't always talk to each other on the phone. Sometimes we just talk to our respective fuzzy things. Wasting minutes all the while.
But okay, you may have guessed, astute little buggers that you are, that I am interviewing someone. Yup, I am. I am recording it because I will need to transcribe it.
That's all I'm saying till the transcription is done (which I hope will be by the end of the weekend. I hope.) Right now, I've got to get off my butt, and think up a few more really good questions.
Let me tell you this... The questions... It's not that it's hard to think of what to ask this person. It's hard to think more of what I wouldn't want to ask, and keep the whole conversation on the target. This is one of those people that makes me wish that we had serial ports in our brains and I could plug in and get all this cool knowledge.
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Target, It’s Not Just a Department Store!
By shoe | April 25, 2008
Nope, it's something that seems to be imperceptibly embedded in every single car we own! As you know, the poor white Prius met its fate last September at the hands of a Sienna.
Yesterday, our new blue Prius got really intimately acquainted with a Ford Explorer. Good news is, of course, no one was hurt (except the Prius, and the Explorer's bumper) and maybe when they replace the hatch (sigh) we can get it without the silly branding from the dealership this time! Um, yay. I guess. Oh dammit.
Toyota, we love you. But please remove the big ass SUV magnet from our car prior to our next purchase. Of course, we could say the same thing to Saturn, too. We're still trying to get over the time the neighbor lady took our door clear off... while we were parked... in our driveway. Hello?
Topics: Travel Near and Far | 2 Comments »
The Tease Continues
By shoe | April 19, 2008
Looks like the event I wrote about last is going to come to pass. Not quite as soon as we'd all hoped, due to the release of something else in the other party's life, but it is scheduled and we're on track. Wowie. When the deal is done and we're closer to the end date, I'll of course let y'all know what it is.
In other news, the MythTV box has gone bonkers. I think I need desperately to do an update, but I'm honestly just holding on till Hardy hits the Mythbuntu site next week and I can approach this all freshly and cleanly. For some reason, the box is getting really pissed when we try to fast forward, it's having real issues with commercial skippage, and a few DVDs decided they're going to have similar problems with fast forwarding and rewinding, and, on occasion, sound.
Topics: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
How’s This For A Tease?
By shoe | April 13, 2008
I have pretty interesting, nay, even exciting news. And I don't particularly know yet if I'm at liberty to talk too freely about it. More details will trickle down to me next week. I'm just going to leave it at this: This is one of those things that even if I hadn't been, er, asked if I was interested, I would have been damn honored to know my name was tossed around in the consideration ring.
And I guess the hardest thing about getting exciting news and getting asked "Are you interested?" is saying ohmyf'inggodwhydidyouevenhavetoaskthatofcourseI'minterested! without sounding like a total overexcited dweeb. Playing it cool... never been a real strong point of mine.
So, er, like everything in my life recently, though, I'm taking it all with a grain of salt. If, for whatever reason, this does not come to pass, I was asked. And that's something pretty cool too.
I suppose that's a positive point of living with a chronic illness? You appreciate everything more. The successes, and hey, even the near misses. It's all good.
Topics: It's All About Me, Linux | 2 Comments »
Mind the Gap
By shoe | April 6, 2008
It seems, anyway, the new med cocktail the sleep doctor prescribed is working fairly well, at least in terms of keeping me upright during the day. I still have that crazy narcoleptic sleep at night, and I still need a nap around noon, but it's worlds better.
This is part of the reason Mr. Shoe and I went shopping yesterday. The other reason is that we've both lost a load of weight, and I needed new pants and Mr. Shoe needed smaller belts.
Here's something about my physique, and mentality. I am short. Like, criminally short. If I were an inch and a half shorter, actually, I learned on the Discovery Channel, I would fall into the height requirements for a certain type of dwarfism (of course, there are more than height requirements involved in that). I am also... well. I don't want to say fat. There have been times in my life that if you looked at me on the BMI index, it would have said I was overweight, and if you looked at me, say, in my wedding dress or jeans, you'd say I was hawt. I am very top heavy, and I carry weight well. But there was still way too much of it (as I no longer fit in the wedding dress). I have lost about 35 lbs. in the last four months.
Even on a good day, it sucks finding clothes that fit me. Evidently, short ("petite") women are supposed to be boobless sticks. And about three inches taller than I am.
Anyway, now I'm at that horrid in-between stage. I am slightly too small for traditional plus size clothes, but I am also a little large for regular sized clothes. In most styles I can get into a 14, more or less comfortably.
Let's add to that I hate shopping. With a passion. I hate the mall. I mean, a lot of people say that, but, um... No, I freakin' hate the mall. To the point that I walked into ours, and honestly couldn't remember the last time I'd been in there.
Most noticeable change? They have, for some reason, mounted TVs overhead where people normally walk. I guess so they'll be more likely to randomly stop dead and stare like slack jawed friggin' morons than they normally do? Even more interesting is the content these TVs show... Seen the movie "Serenity?" You know that scene where River sees the Obie bar commercial, and it triggers her and she starts kicking everyone's ass? No lie, they were showing the Obie bar commercial. I was really hoping it would trigger something in me, and I'd start kicking everyone's ass in a really beautiful, stylized fashion. Didn't happen.
We wandered into the Gap. As any previously (more) overweight person will tell you, for a good long while after you shed pounds, you feel fat. I mean, fatter than you really are, and maybe even fatter than you were. And I have decent self-esteem, and all that, but when you go into a store, it is really hard to feel like... well... you deserve to be in there.
That really blows. Dammit, I deserve to go everywhere.
So yes, Mr. Shoe and I wander into the Gap. Fine, we're not fashion plates. But hey. This annoyingly skinny little saleswoman with kind of dumb haircut comes over and asks if she can help us. I have worked retail... I have worked retail for many, many years, and I know that they require they do that. I am totally okay with that.
You know, the customer now knows the staff is available and ready to help. Thanks, saleslady! If I need you, now, I'll call on you!
So we look at some stuff, and wander back into the store more. We look at more stuff. Bad haircut saleslady is sort of staying on the fray. Then we start checking out jeans.
I am very forgiving. Retail sucks. No question. So when she asks, again, if she can help us, I figure she must be bored, or maybe confused, or maybe she has crappy short term memory.
And again, I say, "No, we're just looking."
And then the zinger: "Well, can I help you look for flares or boot-cuts?"
The Obie commercial on the TVs didn't trigger me. No. Evidently my trigger phrase is, "Well, can I help you look for flares or boot-cuts?"
The thoughts that came flooding in my head. First of which was: Oh my god, did she just say that? She did not just say that! Flares and boot-cuts -- do I want to look like a feathery Clydesdale, or a more utilitarian draft horse? Does she think I'm too stupid to figure out how to find jeans on a rack?
I told her, now, not too nicely, that I hadn't really thought about it, and I was honest to god really just looking. Get the hell out of my face, please. They are jeans, not a prom dress. Go away.
Then Mr. Shoe and I made a beeline for the door. You know, before the beautifully choreographed ass kicking began.
So here's my advice to the Gap: Customer contact is nice. Right. I know your staff is attentive. Ask me once, I know they're there, and watching, and ready to help. If the same person asks me if I need help two or three times... It says a number of things. It says you don't trust me. It makes me think that you think I came in there to steal stuff.
It says that on some level, you don't think that I should be in your store for whatever reason. Never ever do this to a heavy chick. Just don't. Never do this to any chick (or guy), because honestly, you don't know who's just lost 100 lbs. eating freakin' Subway sandwiches.
It also says you don't pay your retail employees enough, and they work on commission, and that poor woman was chomping at the bit to get the fifty cent commission on the boot-cuts and sixty cent commission on the flares.
Hint, Gap. None of these things are good. I don't want to be treated like a criminal when I'm coming in to possibly drop money in your store. I don't want to feel like because of how I look physically that I'm not good enough to wear a t-shirt that I paid way too much for with your motherfreakin' logo on it. If you want to use my bust (or in Victoria's Secret's case, my ass) for advertising space you sure as hell better treat me like a human being. Or at least treat me like a human being who knows when she needs help in a store and when she doesn't.
And if your employees do work on commission, I encourage them to quit and like, find a real job. Or maybe you should take the commission out of the equation, and actually... pay them. The ones that work for the money (like, by asking... ONCE... if I need help, and then go back to straightening the t-shirt display or dusting), you keep. The ones that just sit there and do nothing you (gasp) fire.
Dude, I so hate the mall. Online shopping is where it's at.
Topics: It's All About Me, Travel Near and Far | No Comments »
Dare I Say It?
By shoe | March 31, 2008
Now that it's over, I can say it: I had a damn good weekend.
Saturday was my birthday. It started Friday night, though. Well, Thursday.
Thursday I saw the sleep doctor. He is the one neurologist I have ever met who actually like... I don't know, has a personality? Is a human being, not an automaton? He gets it. I mean, he gets it to the point that he said, "I don't want you turning on the stove when Mr. Shoe isn't home. And I don't want you driving. Ever."
No worries. I have scared myself a few times with the stove, and I don't have either a car available when Mr. Shoe isn't around (or a license, for that matter). So it's microwaves and taxis for me.
So he took away the Focalin. Bye, Focalin. Honestly, by this time, I have developed a horrid tolerance to it, so it wasn't like taking much of anything. He prescribed a long acting stimulant and then a couple of quick doses a day of a shorter acting stimulant. So far, so good. I mean, I still need a nap or two a day. But it is so not like it was.
Tolerance will develop again, of course, but that's life with narcolepsy, and I'm just really glad for the time I have that this stuff works.
Friday night we filled the prescriptions, and watched Eraserhead. Ever seen Eraserhead? Don't. Seriously. It was really annoying, stupid, pretentious and about thirty minutes in I was ready to spoon my eyes out, but Mr. Shoe wanted to see if anything at all happened in the movie whatsoever.
The constant sound of the wind blowing through the movie soon had me wanting to stab my ear drums, too. So we watched it at 3x fast forward, only stopping when things looked like they were actually interesting. So that's pretty much when the alien baby (who was like the only creature in the whole movie that didn't annoy the living crap out of me) was cut open and started spewing Reddi-whip everywhere. And when the guy's head fell off.
We got really excited at that point. Thought the movie was over. No luck.
So if there is anyone out there who knows David Lynch personally... Please, just take his camera away.
Saturday morning I got up and took my new meds. Mr. Shoe had some work engagements, but after he came home we were going to go out to a shabu shabu (Asian hot pot) restaurant to celebrate my birthday. The new meds worked so well, that yes, when he came home, we actually did go to the shabu shabu place.
That was pretty cool, too. I mean, at this restaurant it became abundantly clear how lily white Mr. Shoe and I are... but hey. And I looked like the even bigger dork because I had the chopstick helpers, and still made a huge mess. It was really good, though, and a lot of fun, and cheaper than a much lesser meal at a much lesser restaurant would have been. And I had sake for the first time. If you're in the eastern Massachusetts area, try Shabu-Zen.
Because my coach turns into a pumpkin quickly, we came home early and watched TV.
Sunday didn't amount to much except for one pathetically red letter thing that I am so amazingly grateful for: At 5 pm, I went to the grocery store with Mr. Shoe. I can't remember the last time I have been able to do that. It's stupid, it's little, and I had to take an hour long nap and the second stimulant in order to do it, but dammit, I went to the grocery store. And stayed. For an entire SHOP.
I guess the good thing about narcolepsy is you learn not to take anything for granted?
Topics: Elusive Sleep, Excessive Sleep, Healthcare (or lack thereof), It's All About Me, Travel Near and Far | 1 Comment »
Still Alive (This Cake is Great…)
By shoe | March 25, 2008
Holy crud, it's been a long time since I wrote here. My apologies. Things have been rolling more regularly at Download Squad. It's actually quite a lot of fun, and it does help the never ending battle to stay awake be a little more bearable.
So, like, okay, I've been exercising quite religiously. Maybe my reasons for this aren't entirely pure. I exercise solely to shut the doctors up. They're really good with coming out with these totally stupid statements: "Exercise and your pain will stop!" (endo surgery took care of that) or "Exercise and you'll feel less tired!"
Let me tell you, dear children, the endorphin theory is a load of bull. I am not going to lie, I exercise and I do feel better. I feel like I at least accomplished something positive. As far as feeling more energetic? Heh. Well, I don't feel worse, which is good. But the other day I was pedaling away like a trooper on the recumbent bike. And suddenly things got blurry, and the next thing I knew, my chin smacked against my chest and I was knocked a bit off balance... I had fallen dead asleep. Never stopped pedaling.
Over the course of a 30 minute bike ride, I fell asleep twice, while listening to music. It's sort of sad, funny, and informative all at the same time, really.
I turn 35 on Saturday (hey, happy birthday, me!) Saw my parents last weekend, as Mr. Shoe has a speech or something he has to give this weekend, and we couldn't make the great migration on the actual day. It was nice, really. I mean, I felt relatively crappy and had to take a lot of naps, so not so much got done, but it was still sorta fun and nice.
I guess the real highlight for me is I lost about 35 pounds since the end of December (I will concur exercise does help this a bit, but not as much as one'd think). Let's just suffice it to say that I'm pretty sure now this weight loss is due to a major med change... something I had taken for years that we decided was probably unnecessary (and seems to be). So anyway, I suddenly have gained the ability to lose weight and have a normal metabolism, despite being perennially tired.
My parents have seen me once since December, but it was for like an hour or so at the end of January, and I was in really crappy form anyway, so it wasn't a particularly good occasion. But at 35 pounds down, I'm starting to look different.
Anyway, my dad's looking at me funny. He's like, "What the hell is different about you?" I don't blame him for not really noticing right off... I'm still wearing clothing that's like two sizes too big. Not that I'm hiding anything. Just too damn cheap to buy more clothes. So I let that little bomb drop.
Then my mom sent me upstairs immediately to behold all the Easter candy she bought (sigh). My dad followed after about a minute.
I always love my dad, of course. He's my dad. But there are times, you know, I think that nobody on earth can have a daddy as sweet as mine. This was one of them.
I was looking out the window at the deer in the yard (which were a great distraction from the jelly beans). And he came up behind me and said, "I just want you to know... You look great. You sound great. And that makes me so happy." And I could hear the tears without even looking at him... And of course I gave him a big hug.
And he repeated, "I am so happy you can't even know. Thanks for making me cry."
I hugged him again, and Mr. Shoe came upstairs... My dad wiped the tears away real quick and looked out the window at the deer (heh heh, deer are convenient that way!) I guess my dad didn't want Mr. Shoe to know he cried or something. Macho thing going on. You know... how they pretend to get all grossed out when they hug each other good bye... Or how my dad says to me, "Yeah, you tell that guy you married that I, you know, l-l-ov-ike him."
All right, Hallmark moments aside.
Installed Hardy Heron yesterday on my desktop. Nice. I mean, you know, beta, and there are glitches and things, but really rather nice.
The people that say the wireless on the Eee is hard to use are totally on crack. Granted, running eeeXubuntu with wicd, but I have had no problems with foreign (as in, non-home based) hotspots. Not that I've tried many, but the connections have been quite simple.
We noticed on the MythTV box, over the past several months, we'd been getting a lot of DVDs playing with crazy sound mix ups. Some sound channels would be blocked out. Some DVDs would only play with subtitles. Some DVDs would be in French. Or Spanish.
I thought maybe it was something crazy with the way the sound card was working... You know, a wacky codec or something. It didn't make a whole lot of sense though. Especially when the subtitles started being all stupid.
In a spate of mad testing we threw in about a million of our DVDs... Serenity, fine. Flying Tiger, Hidden Dragon, nope. Dracula was not originally in French. Finally we tried Unbreakable, and the DVD player in the box gave up the ghost.
I wonder, in retrospect, if it was the drive (which was several years old...) or the fact that I had to man handle the IDE cable to get it through the opening in the case that separates the optical drive and PSU from the motherboard. I suppose I could have tested the cable first, but I ended up picking up a DVDRW from newegg (SATA) which was much easier to negotiate wiring wise.
I upgraded MythTV after throwing in the new drive and just got on with our lives. Everyone speaks English in our movies again. Well, not Flying Tiger, Hidden Dragon. But at least they aren't speaking French, either, you know?
Topics: Elusive Sleep, Excessive Sleep, Hardware, Healthcare (or lack thereof), It's All About Me, Linux, Travel Near and Far | No Comments »
I’ll be danged!
By shoe | March 6, 2008
There's been a lot of interesting good and interesting bad things going on the last week or so.
My incredibly runny nose, which I decided was a fair trade off for the benefits I was getting from the Xyrem, even at an incredibly low dose, actually gave way to an itching. And then a rash and hives. The rash made a nice little map of my lymph nodes. I was getting nice lesions on my eyelids.
So I stopped taking the Xyrem about four nights ago. My nose is finally cleared up (and almost healed) and though I'm still a little itchy, the lymph node rash is starting to fade as well.
Of course, sleeping totally sucks. What a lot of people don't get about narcolepsy is that it isn't just falling asleep during the day, it's waking up continuously over night. You realize it sometimes. Sometimes you don't.
I did manage to discover that if I push myself to stay up later, I do actually feel better when I wake up in the morning.. if I get up prior to seven. Then I take the focalin, and every two to three hours thereon out I take a 20-45 minute nap. By about four o'clock I try to fight the nap, and try to turn in around nine or ten.
I even get a little bit of functional time in the morning, between naps, when my brain feels like it is sorta working.
Not as much as I'd like, but I'm totally willing to take what I can get.
Since Christmas, I've lost about 30 lbs. I totally attribute most of that to the need to not eat at night prior to taking Xyrem. Food is supposed to screw up Xyrem absorption, so I cut out eating after about six in the evening. I plan on staying on that kind of schedule.
We also had a death in the family. Heh. We turned on the TV, and nothing was forthcoming. I did some investigation, between naps... And decided it had to be the onboard video card on the MythTV box.
Until I tried to hook up the DirecTV receiver to the TV, and also got absolutely no love. Everything worked dandily with my PC monitor.
We had an old kinda crappy RCA CRT. It was less than ten years old, more than five... and I really didn't think it was at the end of its cycle. I would have liked another five years or so out of it, truthfully.
Alas. We could fix it, or buy a new one. Truthfully, it seemed silly to fix it. It would have most likely cost more than the TV to begin with.
We hauled our butts to Circuit City. It was that or Best Buy, as I didn't particularly want to order something large and fragile from Newegg, given my track record with UPS.
So, er, yes. It's a flat panel HDTV. It's largish... well, at least larger than our old CRT (we were limited at the time to buying what we could fit in the old Saturn).
The Myth box doesn't have a HD tuner. Nor does our DirecTV box support HD, so we're watching SD on it. It is still the freakin' bomb.
So I hate that we had to actually buy a freakin' TV, but man, it is pretty cool.
Topics: Elusive Sleep, Excessive Sleep, Hardware, It's All About Me | 2 Comments »
Narcolepsy is teh suck
By shoe | February 29, 2008
Oh sigh. So I've been taking a very low dose of the new med, and I nudged it up a little with the doctor's blessing. Then, the weirdest thing happened.
My nose started running. A lot. Okay, runny noses are a side effect, sure. But it is a runny nose. How bad can that be, right? So you sniffle a bit, and blow your nose.
Right. Except when you wake up with a quarter inch of snot in your CPAP mask (nice!) at night. Except when your nose starts bleeding, and your lips... from the wear of everything (Kleenex in great enough numbers are quite unforgiving.)
So I went back down on the meds. Of course, my nose is still running. Not as bad, and my face is starting to heal, but man.
So I'm dealing with that as well as lying down every two hours or so all day long. Pffft.
Topics: Healthcare (or lack thereof), It's All About Me | No Comments »