BlogWerks has moved. It's new home is at WordPress and will be organized around my photography, which means that, yes, it's a photoblog. I'm sure I'll get in a rant or tirade from time to time. See you there!
Posted by Kurt Wall at 00:20 2010-08-01 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)
Debit Card Fraud (General)
I came home from work Friday, checked my email, and saw I had two messages from Bank of American about "irregular activity" on my debit card and to contact them immediately. I quickly checked my account and saw a $600 charge from Sears.com, a $110 charge from Fandango.com, and a few other charges I know weren't mine. I also see that the charges have overdrawn my checking account by about $300. S**t!
I call the debit card fraud line, identify the charges that were not mine, and they stop activity on the account. No, they can't reverse the charges because they haven't posted yet (they're merely "pending"). The person to whom I spoke told me to go to a branch and get a new debit card.
So, I go a branch Saturday morning and they issue me a temporary card pending arrival of the new one next week. Maria Etemada is very helpful on that point. The charges won't post until Monday, so they still can't reverse them. "What if I have outstanding checks? Will they bounce?" Yes, they'll bounce. "Why?" Because your account is overdrawn. "If you credit the fraudulent charges back to my account, I won't be overdrawn." We can't do that because they haven't posted. O M F G ! Me⇐head explodes. So the temporary card they've issued me is 100% useless.
To get the charges reversed, I have to open a claim. Maria gave me the number to the claims department. I called the number when I got home. Turns out I have to fill out an affidavit and send it back in before they can start investigating the claims. First person I talk to, a man named Kelly, says that it takes 7-10 days to complete an investigation. In the meantime, they can't issue an "instant credit" to which Maria referred because the charges haven't posted. In any event, says he, he's not in the claims department but will transfer me to it, giving me the number in case the transfer doesn't work.
I get transferred, navigate the same menu I did the first time, and wind up talking to a woman named Kelly who says the same thing as the man named Kelly. Including that she doesn't work in the claims department but will transfer me there after giving me the number to call, a different one from the first number. She did elaborate that as soon as the charges post (Monday), the claims department can issue a credit (after I call, again, to file a claim) effectively reversing them until they complete their investigation.
I still need to file a police report, contact the FTC, and inquire at Sears, Fandango, Audible, MVQ*Clubsave, and some joint named Strawberry Cosmetics. The score so far? Bank of America gets high marks for detecting the fraudulent activity and contacting me promptly. They get failing marks for the manner in which they've dropped the ball on the follow-up, basically pushing all of the work onto me to start an investigation, reverse the charges, contact the authorities, and clean up the mess.
When this is all over, I'm going to be a former Bank of America customer.
Posted by Kurt Wall at 11:22 2009-12-06 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)
And if thine eye offends thee… (General)
…pluck it out and cast it from thee (Matthew 18:9, KJV).
However, I don't think this is what Jesus had in mind. I whined yesterday about my scratched right cornea. After two months, it continues to cause me grief. At today's follow-up with the ophthalmologist, he said that the scratch had cut through all of the layers of the cornea. Healing of the top (“epithelial”) layer was being inhibited by slower healing of the lower (“basement”) layer. He also thinks there might be some necrotic (dead) tissue that won't heal.
In the short term, he put a clear, unmagnified contact lens in my right eye to act as a bandaid protecting the healing cut, prescribed yet another antibiotic, and signed me up for a visit with a corneal specialist day after tomorrow. Her job is to evaluate debriding the cornea — nothing about that sounds pleasant.
Posted by Kurt Wall at 12:08 2009-06-08 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)
Cat Scratch Fever (General)
Back on April 11th, my 18-pound Maine Coon, Charlie, accidentally scratched my cornea with his left rear foot. I'd like to go on record to say that scratching your cornea is not a recommended practice. The net result of the experience was:
- One tetanus shot
- One tube of erythomycin antibiotic ointment
- One bottle of ciproflox antibiotic eye drops
- Eight oxycodone tablets for pain
The scratch healed pretty quickly and I completed the course of antibiotics. Unfortunately, that wasn't the end of it. For the next two weeks about once/week I'd wake up in the morning and the same eye would feel just like it had when I initially scratched it: stabbing pain, red, watery. Following up with my GP, he recommended eye drops with a mild anthistamine to help lubricate my eye and suppress the irritation. Net result:
- One bottle of Naphcon A eye drops
Alas, the saga still wasn't over. After about a week, I woke up one morning with the same stabbing pain and red, watery eye. After a second incident a week later, I went to see my optometrist. I described what happened and my current symptoms. After an extensive exam, he diagnosed a recurrent corneal erosion — the original scratch had healed, but the bonds between the healing tissues was weak. As I slept, my eyes dried out, the inside of my eyelid adhered to the weakly bonded tissue, and would tear the bonds when I opened them in the morning. The solution was to use a lubricating ointment at night before I go to bed for two week and to use a different kind of lubricating eye drops every two hours for two weeks.
- One tube Refresh Lacri-Lube moisturizing eye ointment
- One bottle Refresh Tears lubricating eye drops
Still no love. After another week or so, I had another jag of pain. Last week, starting on Tuesday, the pain, redness, and watering started happening every morning. Growing frustrated, I saw an ophthalmologist on Thursday. He confirmed the recurrent corneal erosion diagnosis and prescribed another kind of eye drop to encourage healing of the weakened tissue bonds.
- One bottle, Muro 128 sodium chloride hypertonicity 5% opthalmic solution
Yes, high-tech saline. If I'd known that, I would have sprinkled salt in my eye weeks ago.
But, you guessed it, still no love. Friday and Saturday I woke up with the same symptoms. This time, though, they lasted longer. On Friday, they lasted until late morning, which made the morning commute to work, um, an interesting experience. Saturday, likewise, the pain and watery eyes finally dissipated by late-morning. However, a new symptom had developed, sensitivity to light.
This morning, the stabbing pain woke me up at 8:30 (yes, I sleep late on the weekends). When it persisted, I went to an urgent care clinic affiliated with Thursday's ophthalmologist's medical practice. After numbing eye drops (Thank you, Lord!) and a flourescein exam, the attending internist diagnosed “post-traumatic anterior uveitis,” pending follow-up with the ophthalmologist tomorrow. In the meantime, more eye drops, one to dilate the pupil and the other to treat the inflammation:
- Cyclopentolate hydrochloride to dilate the pupil
- Prednisolone acetate, a/k/a Pred Forté, a topical steroid for the inflammation
There is some concern about possible infection, considering the source of the initial scratch, but it's an outside possibility considering the amount of time that's elapsed.
So, an ultimately inconsequential little nick from Charlie's claw resulted in ten, count 'em, ten prescriptions, eight of which I memorialize here with a photo taken in my home-built light box.
Posted by Kurt Wall at 22:19 2009-06-07 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)
Nine Principles and Twelve Values (General)
I like and enjoy Glenn Beck. It's probably fashionable just now to belittle him and call him an alarmist, a conspiracy theorist, and a prophet of doom, but the people hurling those epithets just don't like what he has to say. To whcih I say, “Fine, don't listen to him.” From where I sit, though, a man who tries to live by the following principles and holds the following values, however imperfectly, can't be all bad.
Beck's Nine Principles:
- America is good place, not perfect, but good.
- I believe in God and He is the center of my life.
- I must try to be a better, more honest person than I was yesterday.
- The family is sacred. My spouse and I are the ultimate authority.
- If you break the law you pay the penalty. Justice is blind and no one is above it.
- I have a right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness and not a guarantee of equal results.
- I work hard for what I have. I will share it with who I want to. Government cannot force me to be charitable.
- It is not un-American for me to disagree or share my personal opinion.
- The government works for me. I do not answer to them. They answer to me.
And, Beck's Twelve Values:
- Honesty
- Reverence
- Hope
- Thrift
- Humility
- Charity
- Sincerity
- Moderation
- Hard work
- Courage
- Personal responsibility
- Friendship
Posted by Kurt Wall at 00:58 2009-04-12 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)
On-Line Prescription Refills (General)
I ordered a medication refill online from Walgreens. After mashing the Submit button, the screen read:
Please wait while we process your order.... this may take a minute or more, depending on the speed of your internet connection.In a word, bollocks.
I'm not at all clear why Walgreens' order processing, which takes place on their servers, depends on the speed of my Internet connection. While Bubba Sixpack might accept that, I don't. The processing speed is up to Walgreens and their ordering and fulfilment systems and the speed of their Internet connection.
So, as a public service to Walgreens, the text should have read:
Please wait while we process your order.... this may take a minute or more, depending on the speed of our order processing and fulfilment system and the speed of our Internet connection.
Posted by Kurt Wall at 18:37 2009-02-07 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)
Sad and Insane (General)
Of 2008's 120 murders in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, 73 occurred in Pittsburgh and an astonishing 66 of them, or 90.4%, were black-on-black murders, or at least that's how I interpret the numbers in that article.
What is it about young(er) black men that makes them some prone to murdering each other, at least in Pittsburgh? What is it about the culture in which they live that makes life so cheap and the decision to end someone else's life so easy?
Posted by Kurt Wall at 22:35 2009-01-09 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)
Happy Thanksgiving (General)
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
Those who know me know I have much for which I am thankful and much for which I should be thankful. Most importantly, I'm still sober. Next up, Kelly decided to give me another chance after seeing the work I'd done to get and stay sober. Beyond that, I'm healthy, the cast on my left foot and leg notwithstanding; I have a nice home, good job, a working automobile, and a small but growing circle of friends.
I have everything I need and much of what I want. This is a blessing, no doubt about it, and I am truly, genuinely grateful for this. It could be far, far worse, and I don't have too look far or for very long to see that.
And, of course, to show my gratitude, I ate way too much.
Posted by Kurt Wall at 16:29 2008-11-27 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)
The Clot That Wasn't (General)
…life threatening.
I returned to the surgeon's office yesterday to have the sutures removed from my toe. Handsome bruise below my ankle, isn't it? In the process, I complained about the pain I'd been feeling in my left calf. It bothered me Friday and Saturday, let up Saturday and Monday, and then returned late Monday. The surgeon sent me next door to have an ultrasound done on my left leg.
The executive summary is that I do, in fact, have a couple of clots in my left calf. They are not deep (think deep vein thrombosis) and so are highly unlikely to break loose and reach my lungs, heart, or brain. But they are real and cause some pain. However, the foot surgeon only does carpentry; for plumbing problems, I have to see my family doctor to see how he wants to treat it. So, tomorrow at 11:30 a.m., I visit my internist/PCP/family physician/general practitioner to see if I'll have to take blood thinners (such as Lovenox).
This is fast losing its charm, but I've got to admit I'm quite relieved that it isn't anything more serious than some relatively superficial blood clots—I'm not going to blow a gasket. However, for about thirty minutes this afternoon, I was feeling a little anxious.
Posted by Kurt Wall at 20:29 2008-11-26 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)
Pot, Kettle, Black (General)
So, al-Qaida's number two guy called Barack Obama, Colin Powell, and Condoleezza Rice "house negroes." I'm quite amused. Here in the United States, a lot of people would readily call Ayman al-Zawahri and Osama bin Laden "sand niggers."
Sigh. The world will be a better place when al-Zawahri and bin Laden are nothing but grease spots in the desert. Don't bother to capture them and put them on trial. Just end their miserable lives and get 'em on their way to hell.
Posted by Kurt Wall at 10:11 2008-11-19 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)
The Toe Is Fixed (General)
…or at least hopefully so. I put up a few pictures taken during the procedure. Kelly made it back to San Jose in time for us to unload the trailer and start to put away her belongings. Then we got up at dark-thirty Friday morning to drive me to Waverley Surgery Center to have my left great toe fused.
What I didn't realize was that the surgery might not succeed. That is, even after a plate, screws, and some donated bone tissue, the bones might not knit. In which case, we'll have to do "something else" to encourage the fusion. This "something else" is not something insurance companies want to pay for until 3 months have elapsed. So, in three months, we'll see if the bones in my left great toe have become a single bone.
Meanwhile, I have to stay off my left foot for a month. I'm already tired of crutches. I would be better off with a walker, but I didn't want to give netllama any additional fuel for jokes about my age. Actually, the nurses recommended crutches so I took their recommendation. As usual, Kelly ("Even when I'm wrong, I'm right!") was right because the crutches have been unstable compared to a walker. I'll spend the rest of this week at home and then return to work next week (the 24th), just in time for Thanksgiving on Thursday and National Shopping Day on Friday.
Posted by Kurt Wall at 22:20 2008-11-17 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)
Proud (General)
I'm proud we've elected a black man as our next President.
I didn't vote for Barack Obama. Nor did I vote for his main opponent, John McCain. I voted for the Libertarian Presidential slate, Robert Laurence Barr and Wayne Allyn Root, one of the 487,101 votes they received. Despite that, I'm proud that we've finally elected a black man to be our President. If nothing else, it shows that we're not the same country we were when George Wallace was governor of Alabama.
Now, perhaps, this country can finally begin an honest and candid conversation about race. To be sure, there will still be some people <cough>Jesse Jackson</cough> who will call him an Oreo and insist that America is still a racist country and that nothing has really changed—all us honkies just voted our guilty consciences. Well, in a phrase, fuck Jesse Jackson. Obama won fair and square because more people of every skin color and ethnicity voted for him than for his opponents, giving him a convincing majority in the Electoral College.
I wouldn't care to predict how he'll govern a country that is still center right, but I'd guess he'll move toward the center. He's a compelling speaker, bright, and, by all accounts and everything I've read and heard, an agile thinker. I doubt I will agree with all of the decisions he makes, but I have a hard time imagining he'll be any worse than our current President.
Posted by Kurt Wall at 18:51 2008-11-06 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)
Jus' Hanging Out (General)
Went to dinner Friday night past with Doug and Ian at the The Claim Jumper in Fremont. I had an excellent slab of rare prime rib while Doug and Ian had over-cooked (medium and medium-well) rib eye steaks. The food was terrific, the server pleasant (evidently she didn't come by often enough before I got there), and the, um, scenery was first-class.
Of course, the company was great, too. We didn't talk about anything in particular. Just random stuff. It was the first time I'd met Ian, so that was a treat because I don't often get to meet the people with whom I hang out on the #linux-users IRC channel.
I was 30 minutes late getting there. I left KurtWerks at 5:50 so I could arrive a few minutes ahead of the 6:30 p.m. reservation. Taking normal rush hour traffic into account, I was confident I could navigate the 11 miles from Japantown to Fremont in 30 minutes. Bzzt! Thanks for playing! I didn't get there until 6:59 p.m., yes, one hour and nine minutes later. 880 was parking lot from 101 to 237 in Mountain View. I was sitting in TruckWerks thinking, “Don't you people realize I have a date?!”
To make matters worse, I was unable to call Doug and let him know I was stuck in a parking lot; the number I had for him in my cell phone was one digit off, so I was texting some patient soul in British Columbia, Canada (604 area code) rather than Doug, whose area code is 614 (Ohio). Better still, Doug couldn't call me to find out "Where the hell are you, kwall?!" because the number he had for me in his cell phone was my old Verizon cell number, which went the way of the dodo when I got my iPhone (which r0x0rs, by the way). Doh!
Posted by Kurt Wall at 08:14 2008-10-19 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)
Toe Surgery Update (General)
The details, for those of you following along at home…
The surgery will be November 14th at Waverly Surgery Center in Palo Alto. The post-operative visit will be November 18th in the doctor's Redwood City office. Suture removal will be November 25th, also in the Redwood City office. So, I'll have a weekend to recover from the surgery and be gorked out on pain killers.
Posted by Kurt Wall at 12:02 2008-09-10 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)
Toe Surgery (General)
Yep, the third surgery on my left big toe (for hallux rigidus) is coming up in a couple of months. I'll get the date tomorrow.
God willing, this should be the last one. Neither removing bone spurs nor implanting an artificial joint fixed it, so the last option is to fuse it. If the joints don't flex, they won't grind and the joint surfaces won't get get stress fractures, so my toe will quit hurting.
I hope the pin(s) or screw(s) won't set off metal detectors.
Posted by Kurt Wall at 22:10 2008-09-09 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)
Early Risers (General)
Early risers baffle me. God in his wisdom did not make me one.For the last three weeks, I've gotten up at 5:00 a.m. every morning to go to a 6:00 a.m. AA meeting (the Attitude Adjustment group) at Denny's at the corner of First and Alma on the south end of downtown San Jose. I get up out of sheer determination and, dare I say it, discipline. First thing I do when I get there is head for the coffee pot and pour it on my head. However, there are people there who are genuinely happy to be awake at that awful hour. They're bright, cheery, upbeat, and chatty. Ugh. I don't get it. I'm going to this meeting at this hideously early time because I'm trying to keep my butt from falling off. I'm glad to be there sober and not hung over, but I'd really rather be in bed.
I like this meeting because there's easily several hundred years of accumulated sobriety there, spread among people who have regained their standing, their families (in most cases), and their self-respect in sobriety. In addition to the quality of the sobriety there, the meeting focuses on what happens here and know in sobriety, rather than what is used to be like. "What it used to be like" is the same for every alcoholic: we drank and destroyed our lives and the lives of those closest to us. I don't know about other drunks, but I'm interested in how not to drink again and how to live sober today. I know how much I used to drink and how badly I fouled things up. What's the point of repeatedly rehearsing that?
I'll keep going to this meeting, but I refuse to like the time of day at which it's held and no one can make me like it.
Posted by Kurt Wall at 16:57 2008-08-29 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)
Bionic Toe (General)
Yes, a bionic toe. See for yourself
here, here,
and here. Listening to this sound effect might provide suitable
atmosphere while looking at the pictures. The vertical bars in the picture
are artifacts of using my iPhone to take pictures of x-rays backlit by
a flourescent light.
In 2005, I had some bone spurs removed from my left big toe. That relieved a lot of discomfort, but after a few months, my toe started hurting again with each step I took. In 2006, the same surgeon performed a hemiarthroplasty, implanting that screw-like joint you see in the x-ray. That relieved the discomfort for about six months, after which the pain moved to the second joint.
Today, I went to see a podiatrist here in San Jose (well, Redwood City), who took the x-rays you saw above. He said there's clearly something afoot, as it were, with my toe. It seems to by cystic. He'll know more after an MRI and seeing previous film of my toe. Ultimately, I suspect he'll stabilize it with a pin, fusing it, which will relieve the pain and discomfort.
My toe hurts most of the time, so getting it "fixed" will be great, but some part of me is greatly amused by all the time, money, and effort put into my big toe.
Posted by Kurt Wall at 18:52 2008-08-26 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)
It's Gone (General)
The movers have come and gone. I haven't given up on the marriage, but in a way, the marriage resolved to this stack of boxes. I dropped Kelly's computer and monitor off for special handling yesterday.
So, the separation is complete. It's a milestone I would have been glad to miss.
Posted by Kurt Wall at 08:04 2008-08-22 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)
Packing Up (General)
I've been packing Kelly's personal effects, at least the items she said she wanted, to return to her. I'm up to about 20 boxes and two wardrobe boxes. A couple more tomorrow and the packing will be finished. I'm going to let The UPS Store® handle packing and shipping her computer. The next step is to arrange actually to get the stuff shipped.
I feel like I'm packing up part of my heart. Con te partirò.
Posted by Kurt Wall at 22:22 2008-08-19 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)
Back to The City (General)
Kelly and I took our second (of many, hopefully) trips to The City™ (San Francisco) today. We hopped CalTrain at the San Jose Diridon station and de-trained at the 4th and King station in San Francisco. From there, it was (too long) a walk up to Fisherman's Wharf.
The City gallery contains the pictures I've taken and will take of San Francisco.
It was way more walking than we wanted to do just to get to where we wanted to go. By the time we got to Fisherman's Wharf, we were pretty much done walking. We would have been better served getting off at Millbrae, taking BART to the Embarcadero Station, and then taking Muni's F Line to the wharf. Live and learn.
Despite the unnecessarily long walk, we had a great time. The Aquarium of the Bay was interesting and we had a great late lunch at Sinbad's Pier II Restaurant. What we decided, though, is that we want to take one of the trolley- or bus-based city tours and a boat-based tour of the bay itself. A visit to Alcatraz is also on the agenda.
What strikes me each time I visit the city is that this is a place I've wanted to be for long, long time and that I'm very happy finally to be here. What occurred to me last night after Kelly and I got back is that it's a long way from Huntsville, Alabama to San Francisco.
Posted by Kurt Wall at 09:57 2008-06-22 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)
Dying Sucks (General)
My father died May 27th at 11:31 p.m. The death certificate lists his time of death as 11:45 p.m., but that is incorrect.
I know this because I was there and watched him take his last breath. As was my brother. It was a fascinating, excruciating, and grueling process. I'm glad I was there, but it exhausted me nevertheless and I didn't fully recover from the exhaustion until a week after the event. I don't think it's something everyone can (or should) do. It was the most gut-wrenching experience I have ever been through.
For the record, dying in a hospital isn't nearly as peaceful, serene, glamorous, sterile, or antiseptic as it is in movies, on television, and in your imagination. Of course, nothing is as peaceful, serene, glamorous, sterile, or antiseptic as it is in movies or on television, but my point is that I was unprepared for the reality of it.
Dying is messy, chaotic, shot through with mixed emotions. Watching someone you love die is all of those things, too. And pity the poor soul who both loves and doesn't like the person he's watching die. I should be clear here: I did not like my father. He was a lying, manipulative, abusive, anti-social man who managed to take advantage of almost everyone he ever met. Naytheless, I loved him. He was my father and he showed up for me in my least lovable moments. So, I hope I've returned the favor by holding his hand, wiping his brow, caressing his head, gently urging him to let go of this life and move on to the next one, and waiting with him until he did so.
We buried my brother-in-law on my birthday last year, so I'm relieved that my father had the courtesy to pass 29 minutes before my anniversary. He cut it close, but he missed.
Rest in peace, Otha Rhea Wall.
Posted by Kurt Wall at 22:15 2008-06-07 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)
Random Updates (General)
Lots of tidbits to report, but nothing urgent. Those of you with more important things to read can come back later.
The Big News™ is that Kelly and I accepted an offer for the KurtWerks Pittsburgh campus. The potential fly in the ointment is that the purchase of our house is contingent on the sale of theirs. They are well along the road to selling theirs, so, God wiling, we will close soon. It will be a great relief not be making a mortgage payment and a rent payment…
I take TruckWerks back to the DMV on Friday, May 9th. Naturally, I have to go to Los Gatos because the San Jose field office has been closed for renovations. Pray for me that this will be the last in-person trip to the DMV. On a related note, Kelly and I received our permanent drivers' licenses on Saturday, well short of the three to six weeks that DMV originally predicted. I'm taking this as a hopeful sign that the next attempt to register TruckWerks will be more successful than the previous attempt.
Over two months after getting a jaywalking ticket, the officer still hasn't turned it in or at least it still hasn't been entered into the traffic court's computer system. I called this morning in a panic when I realized that the court date (or what looked like it on the citation) was yesterday. The notion of getting arrested for failure-to-appear over a jaywalking ticket is amusing and absurd, but I really didn't want to go to jail. Not to fear; bureaucracy has actually served me well in this case. The ticket hasn't been keyed in, so it doesn't exist. Works for me.
Posted by Kurt Wall at 20:10 2008-04-29 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)
Son of Dental Work Gone Wrong (General)
Meh! As I wrote in Dental Work gone Wrong last week, I went to the dentist's office on Tuesday to get my permanent crowns. Alas, it wasn't to be. After breaking the temporary crown, the dentist called the lab making the permanent crowns and changed the crown material to something sturdier, which meant they weren't ready when I showed up for my appointment on the 4th.
It's no big deal, really. I was moderately inconvenienced, but I appreciate the dentist thinking about the details and taking the time to ensure that I would have reliable front teeth. I never struck myself as being hard on my teeth, but, well, I smoked crystal meth for a while in 1999 and 2000, an activity most assuredly hard on one's teeth. It's not called meth mouth without reason. Although I do not have anywhere near that kind of damage, I've concluded that I'm reaping what I've sown.
So, God willing, I get my permanent crowns on March 11th. Really.
Posted by Kurt Wall at 19:36 2008-03-05 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)
Dental Work Gone Wrong (General)
Here's a picture of dental work gone wrong. Specifically, two temporary crowns that cracked and came off. Interesting little stubs I have there, yes? Not to worry, though. The permanent crowns will be mounted on March 4th and I'll be back to my toothsome fullness.
My teeth aren't actually that yellow, thank goodness. That's an artifact of the funky lighting in the bathroom where I took the picture. I was eating some baked chicken and as I gnawed my way through it, my top teeth hit the top edge of the temporary, which was sticking up farther than the natural teeth it replaced and snapped right off. It is very disconcerting to hear that kind of Crack! in one's mouth.
Posted by Kurt Wall at 07:59 2008-03-01 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)
Flu (General)
I have the flu. Rather, I'm recovering from the flu. Or at least I hope I am. That flu shot I had in October was ineffective insofar as it targeted the wrong influenza virii. Most of the time, the professionals guess right, or right enough. The missed the mark this year.
It's hit my group at work pretty hard. There are about a dozen of us in the Santa Clara office. Two guys have already had it and Lonni and I came down with it more or less simultaneously on Thursday. Lonni, being the better man, went to work Friday. I stayed home and whimpered. When I asked him on IRC why he didn't stay home, he said, "Everyone there is sick." He'd taken Mrs. Llama to the doctor the previous afternoon; Little Llama was muddling through the flu as best as children can.
As I said, I stayed home and whimpered when I wasn't sleeping. I tried to work remotely, but the aches made it hard to sit in one position for very long and my throbbing head didn't take well to staring at a computer screen. That left sleeping it off as the only feasible option. I ventured out to get some ibuprofen to take the edge off the achiness but otherwise stayed home.
Therein lies a fascinating, serendipitous discovery. In my befogged state, I asked the clerk for the wrong box of Motrin, which error I didn't discover until I got home. I wound up with children's chewable Motrin (orange-flavored). Not willing to go back out, I ate 8 of them (at 100mg each, that's my normal dosage). Wow! When you chew them, the medicine gets into your system much faster.
I'll remember that the next time I want pain relief Right Now, Dammit!
So, I hope Lonni, Scott, and Zem are feeling better.
Posted by Kurt Wall at 14:03 2008-02-24 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)
Bank Error Redux (General)
As I reported in Bank Error in My Favor, an ATM gave me a $20 bonus during a withdrawal.
While I appreciate the gesture and like the idea of a bonus for every 10,000 ATM transactions, I returned the money. They had no idea and thanked me for bringing it back. You're welcome, but how is it they had no idea? Evidently, they don't balance the ATM every day. I guess that makes a disturbing sort of sense. If you have a machine stuffed with a bazillion dollars, it's tedious and time consuming to balance it every day.
I should have such problems.
Posted by Kurt Wall at 19:57 2008-01-24 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)
Bank Error in My Favor (General)
Collect $25!
I went to the ATM tonight to get some cash for dinner. I punched in $100, waited, and the machine spit out my money and about a $5 dollar piece of another $20 dollar bill. One of the other bills was rolled up on one corner. "No big deal," I thought, "I'll call the branch tomorrow and let them now their ATM might need service." As it was dark and a little isolated, I stuffed the cash in my wallet without counting it, got back in my car, and went to dinner.
After ordering dinner, I reached into my wallet to get one of the 20s, and, behold, there were six Andy Jacksons in my wallet instead of the five I was expecting. So, not only did the ATM give me the torn-off piece of an extra $20 dollar bill, it gave me the full measure of a second $20 bill, for a net gain of $25. So, now I really have to contact the branch—their ATM is going to be at least $20 short and someone's butt will be chewed for being short.
Why don't I keep the $20? Because I'd feel guilty. It's not mine. As much as I'd like to "stick it to da man," I don't want to have to confess to a priest that I kept $20 that didn't belong to me. No, it's much easier on my conscience to give it back. Dammit.
Posted by Kurt Wall at 23:05 2008-01-15 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)
Lithium > Alkaline (General)
I have owned two digital cameras now. The second and current one, a very serviceable Polaroid i739 (in black, not pink) takes batteries. It eats alkaline batteries at an amazing pace. I was getting 150-200 pictures per set of two AA batteries. Having had poor success with rechargeable batteries in the past, I opted to try a couple of lithium ion batteries to see if I could get better battery life out of them.
The short answer is, "Absolutely." I've taken well over 300 pictures with the first set of lithium batteries and they showing no sign of giving out, so I think I'll stick with them for awhile. The next camera I buy will have replaceable/rechargeable battery packs rather than vanilla retail batteries, so I'll probably look for one that uses lithium. This has been a refreshing relief over my experience with alkaline batteries.
Posted by Kurt Wall at 18:34 2008-01-01 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)
WoW (General)
…or World of Warcraft is an interesting game, but the jury is still out on whether or not I like it.
I was bored and more than little lonely one night last week, so while I was at Target, I popped for a copy of World of Warcraft to see what the buzz is about. The undertaking did not, shall we say, begin auspiciously. Just getting it installed on Windows Vista proved to be a challenge. Next, after installing a DVD's worth of software, creating an account, arranging billing, and logging in, I had to download another CD's worth of "patch." That was one honkin' big patch.
When I finally logged in and started playing (last night), I was amused and curious enough to stick with it for a couple of hours. I made it out of the starting area after a couple of deaths and resurrections at the hands of this huge, nasty spider in a cave, then sleep overtook me. I'm not playing with a group, just against the computer and Non-Player Characters, or NPCs in WoW-speak (I was going to say "I'm not playing with a group, just with myself," but that didn't come out sounding the way I intended). As such, I'm likely missing the social aspect of the game, but I want to have a clue what I'm doing before exposing myself to taunts and ridicule at the hands of more experienced players.
The action isn't riveting at this point, and mashing a button to start fighting and see who wins isn't my idea of a ripping good time, but I'm going to withhold a final decision until I've played more of my free month. Conveniently, that will also be the point at which I decide whether or not to pay for a continuing subscription. I'm not inclined to do so just on principle, preferring to spend the money on something else, but I'll decide for sure later.
Posted by Kurt Wall at 19:31 2007-11-28 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)
My Latest Book (General)
<self-promotion mode="shameless">
My latest literary undertaking is Tcl and Tk Programming for the Absolute Beginner, to be published in October by Cengage Learning, neé Thomson Learning. It is a beginner's book, as the title suggests, so if you are looking for instructions on how to create extensions, tclkits, or starkits, please refer to my colleague Brent Welch's book, Practical Programming in Tcl and Tk.
It's been an interesting book to write. What I've learned is that Tcl (pronounced "tickle") is an amply capable, if wordy scripting language. Tk, alas, still lags behind other GUI tool kits in terms of its support for modern UI elements. Tk is catching up quickly, though. The great virtue of both Tcl and Tk is that they are cross-platform so the script you write on your Linux system should run unmodified on a Windows or OS X system.
My major beef is that, in the release version (8.4.15 as I write this), not all of Tk's widgets support the native look and feel of the host operating system. A second gripe is that the 8.4.x release doesn't support skinning or themes. On the second point, the tile extension, currently being integrated into Tk in the development version (8.5a6 at the moment) does support skinning. I haven't played with tile, so I can't speak to the quality of its implementation, but I'm sure it is good.
God willing and the crick don't rise, I'll complete the final chapter tonight. It's down to the wire because the manuscript is scheduled to go to the printer on 25 September. Practically speaking, it has to be completed no later that Saturday, 22 September, because Kelly and I are leaving for a long-delayed vacation on Sunday, 23 September. Reserve your copy now! Better still, buy ten copies so you'll still have a copy if you should lose the other nine.
</self-promotion>
Posted by Kurt Wall at 10:37 2007-11-09 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)
Son of Blogwerks (General)
BlogWerks is back. I know you're all relieved and can't wait to see what pearls of sarcasm my fingertips can emit…
I had a tolerable, if infrequently updated, blog going on KurtWerks for a while in 2005 and 2006. Alas, when the host machine started ailing, most of KurtWerks made it over to the new machine, but not the database holding my blog entries. So, 18 months worth of literary rant and wit met /dev/null. One thing led to another and I never made time to start over. $DAYJOB has the annoying habit of interfering with the trivia I really want to undertake.
Speaking of the host machine, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Bill Campbell, the proprietor of Celestial Software, for hosting KurtWerks for the past two years. When I lost the ability to maintain KurtWerks on one of my own systems, Bill graciously offered to host it, free of charge. I readily accepted and can only hope I haven't been too much a pain. Thank you, Bill.
After two years of freeloading, though, I'll be moving KurtWerks to another server. I should make crystal clear that this is not out of dissatisfaction with Bill or the services he's so generously provided. Rather, I want to free up his server space and bandwidth for paying customers. So, if you need first class consulting, ISP, and email systems, give Bill a call.
Posted by Kurt Wall at 10:29 2007-11-09 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)