Tom's Diary

Today’s Chores

• Cat duty.  DONE.
• Dispensing Mom’s meds.  DONE.
• Shower.  DONE.
• Take garbage out.  DONE.
• Send out five pending memorial checks for the   WPSBC Alumni Association.

Log 

10:30 AM: I’m up.

12:00 PM:  Posted the    iPod Charge-Only Cables   piece.

12:30 PM: Watched KDKA TV News at noon.

12:55 PM: Watched yesterday’s episode of   NBC Nightly News   with Brian Williams   on the DVR.

01:45 PM: Tested out [Emmy]‘s new cordless phone.  All three handsets, all batteries, all chargers, and the base unit appear to work properly.  However, re-packaging it precisely as it was before, I did not do; too difficult.  But it’s packed well enough to survive the trip to Pittsburgh later today.

02:30 PM: Received items from the US mail and UPS:

• External USB FreeAgent hard drive by Seagate (3).
• Credit card offer from Discover.
• Coupons from Lowe’s. 

 02:30 PM: Withdrew some spending money at Sheetz. 

02:45 PM: Watched today’s episode of   The Young and the Restless   on the DVR.

04:10 PM: We’re leaving now, to take   [Emmy]   to the train; she’s headed home.

06:00 PM: Just got home.  Boy, the place already seems quiet.  But actually, though it’s true that [Emmy] is gone, Mom is also out somewhere; probably playing trivia with her friends.

07:00 PM: Watched today’s episode of   Dr. Phil   on the DVR.  He announced today that his show has been renewed through 2014.  Nap time. 

10:00 PM: Worked the   Hard Drive Upgrades: 2010   project.  The new Seagate external USB hard drives I ordered last week arrived today.  I’m in the process of syncing my DJ music library to them.  The first of the three is done, and the second of the three is in progress.  It currently takes roughly six hours to  copy my entire library of recordings. 

10:30 PM: Talked with [Emmy].  She made it home, an hour or so late due to train delays.  She tried out the new Panasonic cordless phones I gave her for Christmas. They sounded pretty good and she likes having more phones in more places that you can move around the entire apartment with, without the burden of tangled cords. 

12:25 AM: Posted the list of added and revised documents today for this blog,    here. 

01:15 AM: Rooted around in the basement, looking for old power connectors that fit my new hard drives; I found three.  I also located three working supplies that provide the correct power for these drives.  So I can assemble a few spare power supplies for them, by soldering these connectors to these supplies.  

01:25 AM: Also, I found some new supplies on the web for under $10 apiece.  So I may order a few of them as well.  I love the added security I feel for having extra supplies  around.

02:10 AM: So ends another living day, and I’m certainly ready to hit the hay.  So, take care.  Catch you back here soon.

Tom Hesley

Related Posts

• Diary Revisions: 2010-01-05
• Hard Drive Upgrades: 2010
• iPod Charge-Only Cables
• Mom’s Status: 2010-01-05

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

Tom

A user was having trouble getting her computer to recognize her new 5th generation iPod Nano this morning.  One helper suggested that the iPod’s data cable could be defective, and then I chimed in with the following, remembering the experience I had last April with this type of issue:

Yes, and as a side note: Make sure that the cable you’re using is not a charge-only one; these types of cables come with the Belkin chargers and others; they work for charging, but not for data exchange between iPod and computer.

Take care.

These charge-only cables appear just like regular USB data cables.  However, they only implement the power distribution portion of the USB standard.  It appears that they do not contain the data wires therefore, and so, cannot be used to sync an iPod.

Tom Hesley

Related Posts

• iPod Not Recognized

Okay, this morning, I weighed in at 182.5 pounds.  This is the first drop below what I weighed on 2010-01-01 (which was 183.0 pounds).

Hopefully, now that most of the holiday food has been either eaten or thrown out, I can avoid those spoilers that make the scale read higher numbers.   However, dealing with Mom constantly bringing bad stuff into the house has foiled past diets.  But I’ve found that as I gain positive momentum in a diet (once I’ve lost several pounds), it get easier to say no to her near-constant campaigning to get me to eat more than I should. 

Behaviors I used yesterday to get the scale going in the right direction were:

• Drank four cups of green tea and one cup of black tea.
• Avoided eating until later in the afternoon (4:00 PM or so).
• Avoided all white flours and added sugars.
• Ate 60 grams of high quality protein (chicken with wing sauce, and organic skim milk).
• Had two or three servings of fruit (bananas, blueberries, raisins).
• Took a complete multi-vitamin.
• Held total fat consumption below 20 grams.

I basically follow Dr. Mirkin’s  20 / 30  diet plan, where you eat no more than 20 grams of fat per day, and eat at least 30 grams of fiber.

I’ll supply more tips about the diet I use in future posts.

Tom

Related Posts

• Caffeine Headaches
• Weight Loss Progress: 2010

Pending Appointments And Issues

1. Order more Novolog (log) insulin.
2. Thursday, 2010-01-14 @ 11:00 AM: Appointment with orthopedist for a quarterly checkup on the progress of healing of her charcot foot.
3. Friday, 2010-01-15 @ 1:30 PM: Appointment with her PCP.
4. Friday, 2010-01-22 @ 2:30 PM: Appointment with her eye doctor.

Log 

09:00 AM: Blood sugar: 141.  Covered this and her breakfast with 12 units of log insulin.

11:00 AM: Dispensed Mom’s morning meds, including 40 units of N insulin.

03:30 PM: Dispensed Mom’s after-lunch meds, and learned that she did not take this morning’s meds.  She insisted on taking both doses together, which I warned her against.  But, she insisted, and you know, when Mom insists, …

03:35 PM: Blood sugar: 216.  Covered with 15 units of log insulin.

09:00 PM: Dispensed Mom’s evening meds.

11:00 PM: Please note that the appointment with the orthopedist has been moved up from 2009-02-04 to 2009-01-14, at Mom’s request.  See item 2 above.

11:05 PM: Blood sugar: 231.  Covered with 15 units of log insulin.

11:10 PM: Please note that an appointment has been added for Mom to see her eye doctor on 2010-01-22 @ 2:30 PM.  See item 4 above.

11:30 PM: Dispensed Mom’s night-time meds, including 40 units of N insulin.

Tom Hesley 

Related Posts

• Today’s Business: 2010-01-05