Tom's Diary

Today’s Chores

• Cat duty
• Processing all pending and complete laundry loads
• Showering
• Dispensing Mom’s meds

Log 

09:20 AM: I’m up. Mostly sunny so far.  The temperature reached down to 26 degrees this morning; the coldest morning so far this season I think.  It’s nice and warm in here though; 66 degrees.

10:20 AM: Posted the   Message Notification Feature   piece to this, the   Tom’s Diary   blog. 

11:15 AM: Working the    Household Organization, 2009   project today.  See today’s comments,   there,   for more details. 

02:30 PM: Categorized a few more posts.  But I’m running low on steam.  Time for a Sunday afternoon nap, to rest up for the second half of the day.

04:50 PM: I’m up once again.  Mom’s making sauerkraut with pork for supper. 

06:45 PM: Posted the   Card Box of Memories   piece to this, the   Tom’s Diary   blog. 

07:00 PM: Worked the   ICANN Record Updating: 2009-12-06   project.

07:10 PM: Moved the   Ongoing Power Outages   project to completed status, as we’ve had no power outages since they made the changes the engineer discussed with me, at the substation up the road.  Hopefully, I’ll not have to reopen this.

09:05 PM: Skimmed through the early November episodes of Dr. Phil on the DVR, but did not watch many of them as they pertained to parenting and families; a topic that is currently outside my relationship focus.  But I did watch the 2009-12-02 episode in its entirety, because it focused on a subjec for which I hold great interest.  This episode dealt with the ethical, and social pros and cons of using growth hormone to make a child grow taller, or manipulating the genetics in any way to shape the child into more of the perceived societal ideals.  Good show.   But I don’t think I’d opt for genetic or chemical manipulation to make a child “better,” because I agreed with the people there who felt that “building” this “better” baby promotes and sustains societal prejudices surrounding short people or those with other genetically removable “problems.”  Like them, I feel that we should fix errant perceptions and beliefs to accommodate the differences rather than alter the child with drugs and genetic manipulation, so as to make them fit the society’s expectations.  It’s that society needs to be more accepting, and not that different people should be more conforming.

09:10 PM: Calling [Emmy].

11:40 PM: Categorized 30 more posts in this, the   Tom’s Diary   blog;  670 more to go.

11:50 PM: Just posted the list of added and / or revised    Toms Diary   blog posts for today,   here.

01:10 AM: Spent the past hour-plus iPodding.  Didn’t listen to any songs repeatedly.  So there are no repeater songs to report today.  However, a few songs that got me to linger at their slot in the playlist for their entire duration were:

• Dream On   by   Aerosmith
• House of the Rising Sun   by   The Animals
• I’m Not Gonna Let It Bother Me Tonight   by   The Atlanta Rhythm Section
• Java   by   Al Hirt

These are all great   repeater song    candidates.  But I was sort of tired tonight, and so didn’t wish to stay focused on any one song for very long.  But perhaps some other day, one or more of these will actually make the repeater song list.

01:50 AM: Just posted the list of added and / or revised   Tom’s Love Quest   blog posts for November, 2009     here. 

02:00 AM: Headed for bed now.  Later.

Tom Hesley

Related Posts

• Card Box of Memories
• Household Organization, 2009
• ICANN Updating: 2009-12-06
• Love Quest Revisions: 2009-11
• Message Notification Feature
• Mom’s Status: 2009-12-06
• Ongoing Power Outages
• Post Revisions: 2009-12-06

Here’s a list of the posts that I’ve either added or modified in the   Tom’s Love Quest   blog for improved brevity, clarity, categorization, appearance, indexing, and search-ability, during the month of November, 2009:

Tom Hesley

Today, I either added or modified the following posts in this, the   Tom’s Diary    blog for improved brevity, clarity, categorization, appearance, indexing, and search-ability:

Tom Hesley

About a week ago, I received an email message from the web site host provider for the   WPSBC Alumni Organization web site.  It instructed me to verify my contact information.  Since my home address has changed, per the nationwide E-911 project, I must log in to their site to update the records.  But the user Id and password I’ve been using for years no longer work.  So I must call them and get it straightened out. 

This issue is further complicated by the fact that hosting for the site has recently changed companies, from Domain Direct to Web.Com.  Perhaps some data about the hosting account either did not get migrated to the new company’s servers or got distorted somehow during the migration.  I’ll look into this, and track my progress in the comments of this post.

Tom Hesley

Related Posts

• Projects Page
• Today’s Business: 2010-01-24

During the spring of 1998, me, well into my first year living in downtown Philadelphia, I found myself bored one rainy Saturday afternoon.  Now I’d just purchased two or three file card boxes and several packs of 5” X 7” blue index cards to put in them.  At the time of the purchase, I really had no idea what I’d use them for; they just look cool, being so blue and all.  So, there they sat on my work desk, in my living room-office.  The thought occurred then, that I should think about my list of life experiences and write a little about each one, on each card.  I’d put the date the event happened on the top line, and then underneath, write tid bit details about it.  For dates where more than one significant experience occurred, I’d either use a separate card for each of them though they’d each have the same date.  Or, if there wasn’t much to say about each experience other than the mere fact that I experienced it, I’d write about them all on one card. 

Well, this project went on for several weeks; memories of things like when Dad died, when I got my first kiss from a girl, and so on, inundated me, and I wrote a little about each and every one on other rainy days, or when I just didn’t feel like going out skating, dancing, or book browsing.

Some three years later, when I switched to audio cassettes to catalog my life,  and got away from the cards, I had accumulated perhaps a hundred file cards of memories and experiences.  So I thought I’d make a post for each card here in this blog, because they are, after all, one significant part of my, as I’m realizing it has been now, extensive life journal.  So I’ll track this effort in the comments below.

Tom Hesley

Related Posts

• Projects Page

Log

07:10 AM: Blood sugar: 287.  She covered this with 10 units of log insulin. 

09:30 AM: I hear her down there, watching TV.  I’ll get her meds to her in a little while.

10:25 AM: Blood sugar: 255.  Covered this and her breakfast with 20 units of log insulin.

10:30 AM: Dispensed Mom’s morning meds and Humulin insulin. 

12:15 PM: We just uploaded her pacemaker data, via the telephone.  We have this specialized computer with a sensor that she lays against her body, just outside where the pacemaker is located.  This device then reads the status of the pacemaker and any heart irregularities that might have been detected since the last reading.  Then it uploads them to Mom’s cardiologist for evaluation.  The cardiologist calls back if any unusual readings appear.  Pretty neat.  Plus, it’s quite simple to upload as well.  You just put the sensor where it needs to be, then press a single button.  The machine does the rest. 

01:35 PM: Blood sugar: 280.  Covered with 25 units of log insulin.  Looks like this bladder infection may be elevating the sugar readings.  So I’ll get a little more aggressive with the insulin and hopefully, we’ll get back to more healthy readings shortly.

01:40 PM: Dispensed her lunch-time meds.  She’s watching the Steelers play now.

05:30 PM: Dispensed her evening meds.

05:40 PM: Blood sugar: 125.  Wow, it’s finally back down. 

09:30 PM: Blood sugar: 188.  Covered with 10 units of log insulin.

10:45 PM: Dispensed Mom’s bedtime meds.  Another day is done.

Tom Hesley

Related Posts

•  Today’s Business: 2009-12-06

09:50 AM: [Jack] left me voice mail through the “back door”, saying what a great time he had at the foot party last night, which woke me up an hour earlier than I’d planned to get up today.  Darn, I need to turn off the message notification feature in Verizon’s voice mail system when I’m at home; especially at night. 

For those wondering what this   Message Notification Feature   is: It’s a function offered in Verizon’s voice mail system that can call a cell phone, pager, or other telephone number, when a new voice mail message arrives.  I’ve configured my voice mail account  to call my cell phone when I receive a new message. 

This is handy while traveling or otherwise away from the  landline phone, because I learn right away that a message has just come into in my voice mail box, and so I need not call the system periodically to check for new messages manually.  But when I’m here, having the cellphone ring defeats the purpose of people leaving messages through the “back door”.  Back Door Messaging   allows a caller to leave someone a message in their voice mail box without ringing their telephone directly.  [Jack] and [Emmy] often leave me these back door messages when they have something they want to communicate, but wish not to disturb me.  But with  message notification   turned on, the system does the disturbing for them.    So, I think I’ll disable this feature until the next time I’m traveling or working away from the home phone, out in the yard or elsewhere.

Tom Hesley

Related Posts

• Today’s Business: 2009-12-06