Me: You just said you were worn out. You asked if you could ride in the stroller and Gallant could walk. How can you enjoy the playground if you are too tired to want to walk?
Smiley: I am not tired. I am just worn out, and it takes a little while for a person to get worn in again.
Tuesday, November 06, 2012
Worn In
On Sunday I took the boys for a walk. Smiley wanted to visit the playground on the way home.
After the Election
The election results are nearly complete. As usual, Intrade was a most accurate election predictor.
President Obama has been re-elected. Congress is probably divided with a liberal Senate and conservative House. (Moreover, as xkcd illustrates, Congress is at its most ideologically extreme divide since 1820.)
Perhaps the presidential election is less significant than whether Congress is divided: any president's potential to effect legislation is small compared to whether Congress is churning out new laws or suffering stalemate.
But the presidential race is better blogging material, so here I go.
I've written before about how living in Oregon prevents me from caring too much about the presidential race. My state's electoral college votes are very predictable.
Yet I can still talk about the big issues. (It will be interested to re-read this blog post years from now, when time will tell whether these are the big issues.)
Normally the most important long-term implication of any presidential election is the potential Supreme Court nominations. For this issue a Mitt Romney win would have been nice. The next president will probably appoint two or three new justices. President Obama has already appointed one or two justices who believe axiomatically that impartial laws do not exist. If four years from now the majority of the court holds this view it will change our county incredibly.
The other huge issue for this election is the Affordable Care Act, and for this issue I am happy President Obama was re-elected. The PPACA It is an ungainly and horrendous bulk of legislation. But it is the lesser of two evils. Our country is hurt more by having health insurance tied to employment (as opposed to being part of the market like automobile insurance or home owner's insurance). Because half of employed people are, by definition, getting a better than average deal on insurance through their employment, and many retired people still benefit after ending employment, Americans will never vote away the current system unless our country passes through a time of national health coverage. (I just pray the Affordable Care Act allows removing the link between employment and insurance before the economy is really hit by the Entitlement Crisis and the Federal government runs out of money.)
Regarding the other, smaller issues President Obama's re-election provides many unknowns because so many of his first term accomplishments have delayed implementation.
Personally, I will enjoy a break from reading Instapundit, a blog that has succumbed to frustration. Today Glenn Reynolds wrote, "If Romney loses this thing, it’ll only be because of fraud," and later he wrote "They [the mainstream media] must be neutralized in coming years." I normally enjoy Glenn's hobby of pointing out media bias, but I do not enjoy reading someone who feels bitter and combative.
The most interest response to the election I have read so far was from Sarah Hoyt, who wrote, "We’re not a country of land or blood. We’re a country of beliefs. If we’ve lost that, who are we? Who am I? And where do I go?" My reply was that we are a country of stories, not a country of beliefs. Contrary to what pundits proclaim, I do not believe that today's election could save or doom the country or its economy. The next four years will provide plenty of stories, and from these we will draw our identities, values, hopes, fears, and dreams.
President Obama has been re-elected. Congress is probably divided with a liberal Senate and conservative House. (Moreover, as xkcd illustrates, Congress is at its most ideologically extreme divide since 1820.)
Perhaps the presidential election is less significant than whether Congress is divided: any president's potential to effect legislation is small compared to whether Congress is churning out new laws or suffering stalemate.
But the presidential race is better blogging material, so here I go.
I've written before about how living in Oregon prevents me from caring too much about the presidential race. My state's electoral college votes are very predictable.
Yet I can still talk about the big issues. (It will be interested to re-read this blog post years from now, when time will tell whether these are the big issues.)
Normally the most important long-term implication of any presidential election is the potential Supreme Court nominations. For this issue a Mitt Romney win would have been nice. The next president will probably appoint two or three new justices. President Obama has already appointed one or two justices who believe axiomatically that impartial laws do not exist. If four years from now the majority of the court holds this view it will change our county incredibly.
The other huge issue for this election is the Affordable Care Act, and for this issue I am happy President Obama was re-elected. The PPACA It is an ungainly and horrendous bulk of legislation. But it is the lesser of two evils. Our country is hurt more by having health insurance tied to employment (as opposed to being part of the market like automobile insurance or home owner's insurance). Because half of employed people are, by definition, getting a better than average deal on insurance through their employment, and many retired people still benefit after ending employment, Americans will never vote away the current system unless our country passes through a time of national health coverage. (I just pray the Affordable Care Act allows removing the link between employment and insurance before the economy is really hit by the Entitlement Crisis and the Federal government runs out of money.)
Regarding the other, smaller issues President Obama's re-election provides many unknowns because so many of his first term accomplishments have delayed implementation.
Personally, I will enjoy a break from reading Instapundit, a blog that has succumbed to frustration. Today Glenn Reynolds wrote, "If Romney loses this thing, it’ll only be because of fraud," and later he wrote "They [the mainstream media] must be neutralized in coming years." I normally enjoy Glenn's hobby of pointing out media bias, but I do not enjoy reading someone who feels bitter and combative.
The most interest response to the election I have read so far was from Sarah Hoyt, who wrote, "We’re not a country of land or blood. We’re a country of beliefs. If we’ve lost that, who are we? Who am I? And where do I go?" My reply was that we are a country of stories, not a country of beliefs. Contrary to what pundits proclaim, I do not believe that today's election could save or doom the country or its economy. The next four years will provide plenty of stories, and from these we will draw our identities, values, hopes, fears, and dreams.
Sunday, November 04, 2012
Newspaper Political Endoresements
Today I learned about two interesting "predictors" for the presidential election. Both are just entertainment for mathematicians: neither has any experimental evidence supporting its predictive power.
The first is the types of books being sold in each state: the Election Heat Map as tracked by Amazon.
The other only applies when there is an incumbent running for re-election. How many newspapers endorsed the incumbent during his first campaign but have now switched to the opponent? Mitt Romney is doing well by this measure.
I already knew about Intrade and a few of the many sports related coincidences.
Which other "predictors" do you know about?
The first is the types of books being sold in each state: the Election Heat Map as tracked by Amazon.
The other only applies when there is an incumbent running for re-election. How many newspapers endorsed the incumbent during his first campaign but have now switched to the opponent? Mitt Romney is doing well by this measure.
I already knew about Intrade and a few of the many sports related coincidences.
Which other "predictors" do you know about?
Saturday, November 03, 2012
To the Pain
As the election approaches I am each day reading from both Google News and Instapundit. Together these provide a pretty good balance of bias.
At Instapundit a few guest bloggers were invited to participate until the election. I was amused a few days ago when one of them, Sarah Hoyt, offered a public challenge of a duel to the pain.
At Instapundit a few guest bloggers were invited to participate until the election. I was amused a few days ago when one of them, Sarah Hoyt, offered a public challenge of a duel to the pain.
Friday, November 02, 2012
A Househusband Muses about Modern Motherhood
Allow me to paraphrase a pair of humorous conversations I had one day earlier this year.
Moms in urban American are exposed to an interesting phenomenon I'll now nickname Modern Motherhood. (I'm sure that phrase has been coined a gazillion times already. But I'm stealing it for just one blog post. With italics. Then you can have it back.)
There are lots of magazines offering to teach the basics of Modern Motherhood, which seems to primarily involve which books about child psychology to read, where to go to talk about those books, how to decorate your home and bake cute treats for each holiday, and new ways to relax.
Keeping the house clean is also a part of Modern Motherhood although these magazines would never, ever use the word "housewife". Even the word "housework" is avoided. Instead it is "chores" or "cleaning" and these always are assumed to be as enjoyable and mood-friendly as an equivalent time spent doing long division.
Actual parenting is secretly optional. The magazines avoid saying this explicitly but grandparents can also fully participate in Modern Motherhood with those books, those places to talk about those books, all the cute decorating of home and baked goods, and deliberate destressing.
I do not care about Modern Motherhood and clearly give off a vibe that proclaims I am much more interested in boffer swords than Fourth of July cupcakes.
Those moms who do participate in Modern Motherhood correctly surmise that despite any similarities of offspring ages or genders our parenting interests are divergent and so they do their best to ignore me. Mentioning a dedication to housework offers a bit of commonality, but only briefly because another couple sentences of conversation will still reveal that I barbarically have never spent a moment (let alone the proper number of days) worrying about whether to purchase or sew a Halloween costume.
Smiley has many friends he sees fairly often at play dates at parks or homes. Would it surprise you to hear that none of his close friends' moms subscribe to Modern Motherhood? They look for toy/clothing deals on Craigslist instead of reading parenting books, discuss kid-friendly U-pick farms and library/museum events instead of new fads in child psychology, collect beauty by memorizing the funny things their kids say instead of making carefully iced cookies, and unwind not intensely at spas or on a solo hike in the mountains but just a bit during play dates because there is someone older than five to talk to.
(Postscript: I should mention that the small and local Mom Magazine is much more sensible. It is also at all the pediatrician waiting rooms but is not part of the parenting subculture this blog post pokes fun at.)
Me: We both have two kids of the same ages, who we spend all day parenting.and
Mom at a park: Go away. We have nothing in common.
Me: I got a vacuum as my father's day present.For a couple months the difference puzzled me but I eventually figured it out thanks to some magazines in the pediatrician's waiting room.
Mom at the grocery store: You are my soul mate.
Moms in urban American are exposed to an interesting phenomenon I'll now nickname Modern Motherhood. (I'm sure that phrase has been coined a gazillion times already. But I'm stealing it for just one blog post. With italics. Then you can have it back.)
There are lots of magazines offering to teach the basics of Modern Motherhood, which seems to primarily involve which books about child psychology to read, where to go to talk about those books, how to decorate your home and bake cute treats for each holiday, and new ways to relax.
Keeping the house clean is also a part of Modern Motherhood although these magazines would never, ever use the word "housewife". Even the word "housework" is avoided. Instead it is "chores" or "cleaning" and these always are assumed to be as enjoyable and mood-friendly as an equivalent time spent doing long division.
Actual parenting is secretly optional. The magazines avoid saying this explicitly but grandparents can also fully participate in Modern Motherhood with those books, those places to talk about those books, all the cute decorating of home and baked goods, and deliberate destressing.
I do not care about Modern Motherhood and clearly give off a vibe that proclaims I am much more interested in boffer swords than Fourth of July cupcakes.
Those moms who do participate in Modern Motherhood correctly surmise that despite any similarities of offspring ages or genders our parenting interests are divergent and so they do their best to ignore me. Mentioning a dedication to housework offers a bit of commonality, but only briefly because another couple sentences of conversation will still reveal that I barbarically have never spent a moment (let alone the proper number of days) worrying about whether to purchase or sew a Halloween costume.
Smiley has many friends he sees fairly often at play dates at parks or homes. Would it surprise you to hear that none of his close friends' moms subscribe to Modern Motherhood? They look for toy/clothing deals on Craigslist instead of reading parenting books, discuss kid-friendly U-pick farms and library/museum events instead of new fads in child psychology, collect beauty by memorizing the funny things their kids say instead of making carefully iced cookies, and unwind not intensely at spas or on a solo hike in the mountains but just a bit during play dates because there is someone older than five to talk to.
(Postscript: I should mention that the small and local Mom Magazine is much more sensible. It is also at all the pediatrician waiting rooms but is not part of the parenting subculture this blog post pokes fun at.)
Thursday, November 01, 2012
Starting Movember
Two years ago Nathen introduced me to Movember.
I keep my hair the way my wife likes it best: long hair and clean-shaven. This year my wife granted permission to grow facial hair for Movember. (No plans yet to ask for sponsors and raise money for a men's health cause as Nathen did.)
This morning I shaved my face as usual. Tomorrow I start shaving more carefully.
I keep my hair the way my wife likes it best: long hair and clean-shaven. This year my wife granted permission to grow facial hair for Movember. (No plans yet to ask for sponsors and raise money for a men's health cause as Nathen did.)
This morning I shaved my face as usual. Tomorrow I start shaving more carefully.
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Smiley Learns About Riddles
Smiley has been introduced to riddles by the delightful library book Clever Rachel by Debby Waldman.
One of the book's riddles is: "Impossible to touch but easy to feel, it's sweet as honey and hard to conceal. What is it?" The answer is love.
Smiley wanted to answer the riddles as soon as they were stated in the book.
One of the book's riddles is: "Impossible to touch but easy to feel, it's sweet as honey and hard to conceal. What is it?" The answer is love.
Smiley wanted to answer the riddles as soon as they were stated in the book.
Me: What do we call things you feel?So he does not fully have the word love in his vocabulary, but I think he solved the riddle.
Smiley: Feelings.
Me: Are feelings something you can touch?
Smiley: No.
Me: What is a feeling?
Smiley: Being scared.
Me: Is being scared sweet like honey?
Smiley: No.
Me: What is a nice feeling that is sweet like honey?
Smiley: The kissing feeling.
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Gallant Teething Again
Saturday morning Gallant got his eleventh tooth.
For many months he had four top incisors, two bottom incisors, and four molars: nicely balanced.
Now he has his lower left lateral incisor. He let me play with his gums. No sign of anything other imminent developments.
For many months he had four top incisors, two bottom incisors, and four molars: nicely balanced.
Now he has his lower left lateral incisor. He let me play with his gums. No sign of anything other imminent developments.
Election Telephone Silliness
I have received three amusing phone calls about the upcoming elections.
Two were simply routine phone calls from Democratic supporters. These were amusing because they focused on re-electing President Obama instead of other Democratic candidates or issues. I find it almost unfathomable that Oregon's electoral college votes will not go to the Democratic presidential candidate. But apparently the polls show that outcome is no longer certain: currently President Obama leads Mitt Romney at 47% to 41%, but eight percent of the voters are undecided and the poll margin of error is five percent.
The other was a call from Kate Brown herself, who after some small talk asked for a campaign contribution of ten thousand dollars. I told her thank you for the compliment, but I certainly do not have that kind of money floating around. From what list did she get my name? She did not know. Since most political donations are public record and I have never made any donations more than twenty-five dollars it seems that someone earned a few bucks selling our incumbent Secretary of State a bogus list of likely donors to call.
Two were simply routine phone calls from Democratic supporters. These were amusing because they focused on re-electing President Obama instead of other Democratic candidates or issues. I find it almost unfathomable that Oregon's electoral college votes will not go to the Democratic presidential candidate. But apparently the polls show that outcome is no longer certain: currently President Obama leads Mitt Romney at 47% to 41%, but eight percent of the voters are undecided and the poll margin of error is five percent.
The other was a call from Kate Brown herself, who after some small talk asked for a campaign contribution of ten thousand dollars. I told her thank you for the compliment, but I certainly do not have that kind of money floating around. From what list did she get my name? She did not know. Since most political donations are public record and I have never made any donations more than twenty-five dollars it seems that someone earned a few bucks selling our incumbent Secretary of State a bogus list of likely donors to call.
Sugar
Someone asked me to share this infographic about sugar on my blog. I might as well as an excuse to archive some statistics, which can always be useful on future Math 25 tests.
(Be careful trusting statistics. That infographic claims Americans get most of their sugar from soft drinks, but a recent Wellness Letter stated it was from grains. Americans simply eat so much cereal, bread, baked goods, and so forth that the total sugar from that category exceeds soft drinks.)
Talking about sugar also provides an excuse to link to Nathen's blog post about chocolate bars and sugar content, and the Wellness Letter writeup. My preferred low-sugar chocolate bar is the Dagoba Eclipse with 87% cocoa.
(Be careful trusting statistics. That infographic claims Americans get most of their sugar from soft drinks, but a recent Wellness Letter stated it was from grains. Americans simply eat so much cereal, bread, baked goods, and so forth that the total sugar from that category exceeds soft drinks.)
Talking about sugar also provides an excuse to link to Nathen's blog post about chocolate bars and sugar content, and the Wellness Letter writeup. My preferred low-sugar chocolate bar is the Dagoba Eclipse with 87% cocoa.
Monday, September 24, 2012
New Vacuum
My present from my wife for Father's Day was a Miele Onyx vacuum.
Before the purchase I did quite a bit of research and comparisons.
My main complaint with our old Hoover Windtunnel was that using it for more than a few minutes made me sneezy. Although Consumer Reports had recently written an article about vacuums they provided no information about how allergy-friendly the vacuums were. Apparently this is difficult information to find because vacuum manufacturers are allowed to use language describing only the filter with disingenuous wording as if it describes the entire vacuum.
I thought I would get another bagless upright, but eventually got a with-a-bag canister. The Miele was that astounding in being nice to my nose, very quiet, and doing a great job on our berber carpets and wood floors.
At our local Miele dealer, Viking, it did not cost as much as that website price linked above. It was more than a low-end Hoover, but not nearly as much as a high-end vaccum.
(I had even looked at the absurdly expensive Rainbow vaccums but learned they cannot be used with fireplace ash. I need to be able to vaccum downstairs, where we heat the house with wood!)
With the Hoover I vacuumed as little as possible--which was still often because I have to keep our house free of possible gluten crumbs. Now I vacuum almost daily and enjoy it. The canister is well designed and easier to use than the old upright. The air smells nicer after vacuuming. Removing hair from the vacuum head is much easier.
Both boys like it too! Here is a photo of Smiley helping.
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Sector Investing
As long as I'm writing today about what I have added to recent website I might as well mention my essay about Sector Investing.
The fact I have categorized it under "games" should hint about context. But it might interest those family, friends, and other blog readers who are interested in economics.
The fact I have categorized it under "games" should hint about context. But it might interest those family, friends, and other blog readers who are interested in economics.
Lots of Math
My Fall Term teaching Math 20 at LCC starts Tuesday night.
I just wrote about one big website project I have been working on during the past two years. The other was changing my Math 20 lecture format from Powerpoint to website use. I have blogged about this in June. Spring Term it was incomplete. Summer Term I saw it work very well.
Some of my students do not have a computer at home. Most of this group can still see my lecture notes at home on a smart phone, but that is a tiny screen for real study. So I print a copy of the notes for them.
During the Summer Term I printed the notes topic by topic, since I was still making minor edits. For the new Fall Term I got copies of the entire thing to hand out the first day of class. Before submitting the copy order to LCC's Printing and Graphics service I had to count the pages and was astounded that there were 103 of them.
No wonder blogging was light this year!
I just wrote about one big website project I have been working on during the past two years. The other was changing my Math 20 lecture format from Powerpoint to website use. I have blogged about this in June. Spring Term it was incomplete. Summer Term I saw it work very well.
Some of my students do not have a computer at home. Most of this group can still see my lecture notes at home on a smart phone, but that is a tiny screen for real study. So I print a copy of the notes for them.
During the Summer Term I printed the notes topic by topic, since I was still making minor edits. For the new Fall Term I got copies of the entire thing to hand out the first day of class. Before submitting the copy order to LCC's Printing and Graphics service I had to count the pages and was astounded that there were 103 of them.
No wonder blogging was light this year!
Sharing NAME with the World
Two years ago I wrote about having a "working draft" of the role-playing game I was then designing. I shared it with the world, and later observed its web traffic.
Since then I have written almost nothing about my RPG design. Primarily this is because "work on my game" and "blog" are both typing activities, and while caring for two young boys typing time is precious. The days I make design progress I have no blogging time.
After lots of work, a new version of the game is ready to share with the world. May I formally present Narrative Adventures Made Easy!
I am still in the middle of sharing NAME in the manner I did its predecessor.
I might also offer to do a slow paced (a few posts per day) play-by-forum at RPG.net or somewhere similar. I could quit hanging out at the Paizo forums to make time for that. My wife and I play the game together when we can, but she never tries to break the game: I could benefit from someone noticing the options and combinations with which a min-max player or rules lawyer would take advantage.
Those two years of design have been a fascinating experience. I tried to design the setting of the old game prayerfully but never heard anything from God. So I saved the setting's religion for last, not wanting to touch that subject without guidance. Finally, when everything else was well developed, the game design became something I was doing with God. I heard lots of guidance about how the setting's religion should work--and it caused me to go back and start the setting over from scratch as well as to refine the game mechanics substantially.
A quick summary of the result is available as the second table of contents on the welcome page. Each of the setting's "Powers" creates a kind of dungeon, hosts a kind of contest, empowers a kind of champion, bestows a kind of gift, and oversees a kind of monster. The result is rich and self-consistent while providing an excuse for the existence of traditional fantasy RPG dungeons.
The NAME design is nowhere near done. I have barely begun to write about the setting's hub, Arlinac Town. I have lots of "art of playing RPGs" essays to revise and transfer over. I have sample NPCs, items, and adventures in my head that need typing. (The last saddens me. I love reading other people's RPG adventures. To have a few all written out on paper and play-tested with my wife but not yet online seems tragic.)
Yet even if unfinished it is solid, tested, and entertaining. Enjoy!
(And know one reason my blog post count has more than halved during the past two years.)
Since then I have written almost nothing about my RPG design. Primarily this is because "work on my game" and "blog" are both typing activities, and while caring for two young boys typing time is precious. The days I make design progress I have no blogging time.
After lots of work, a new version of the game is ready to share with the world. May I formally present Narrative Adventures Made Easy!
I am still in the middle of sharing NAME in the manner I did its predecessor.
I might also offer to do a slow paced (a few posts per day) play-by-forum at RPG.net or somewhere similar. I could quit hanging out at the Paizo forums to make time for that. My wife and I play the game together when we can, but she never tries to break the game: I could benefit from someone noticing the options and combinations with which a min-max player or rules lawyer would take advantage.
Those two years of design have been a fascinating experience. I tried to design the setting of the old game prayerfully but never heard anything from God. So I saved the setting's religion for last, not wanting to touch that subject without guidance. Finally, when everything else was well developed, the game design became something I was doing with God. I heard lots of guidance about how the setting's religion should work--and it caused me to go back and start the setting over from scratch as well as to refine the game mechanics substantially.
A quick summary of the result is available as the second table of contents on the welcome page. Each of the setting's "Powers" creates a kind of dungeon, hosts a kind of contest, empowers a kind of champion, bestows a kind of gift, and oversees a kind of monster. The result is rich and self-consistent while providing an excuse for the existence of traditional fantasy RPG dungeons.
The NAME design is nowhere near done. I have barely begun to write about the setting's hub, Arlinac Town. I have lots of "art of playing RPGs" essays to revise and transfer over. I have sample NPCs, items, and adventures in my head that need typing. (The last saddens me. I love reading other people's RPG adventures. To have a few all written out on paper and play-tested with my wife but not yet online seems tragic.)
Yet even if unfinished it is solid, tested, and entertaining. Enjoy!
(And know one reason my blog post count has more than halved during the past two years.)
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Please Pray for Family Health
Well, I had a fun idea for a blog post for tonight, but spent my time processing fifty e-mails instead.
My wife and two sons both have a cold. I cannot afford to stay up late writing more here.
Tomorrow is another day!
My wife and two sons both have a cold. I cannot afford to stay up late writing more here.
Tomorrow is another day!
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Gluten-Free Licorice Flavored Snacks
Most licorice is made with wheat.
That means I do not get to eat licorice at home, since our house is a gluten-free zone. But I have found two alternatives.
The first are licorice-flavored hard candies from Chateau D'Lanz. These are great. But since Market of Choice stopped selling them I have not had any in years. (I do not like them quite enough to buy eight packs at that Amazon link.)
The second is licorice-flavored gum from Xylichew. I do not like the taste of these as much as the hard candies, but they are better for my teeth. And Market of Choice still sells them.
That means I do not get to eat licorice at home, since our house is a gluten-free zone. But I have found two alternatives.
The first are licorice-flavored hard candies from Chateau D'Lanz. These are great. But since Market of Choice stopped selling them I have not had any in years. (I do not like them quite enough to buy eight packs at that Amazon link.)
The second is licorice-flavored gum from Xylichew. I do not like the taste of these as much as the hard candies, but they are better for my teeth. And Market of Choice still sells them.
My Improving Eye Roundness
During the past five years my eyes have been getting rounder.
Vision prescriptions involve three measurements: sphere, cylinder, and axis.
(It sounds like a math test, doesn't it?)
My sphere measurement has remained constant at -0.75 which means I am slightly and unchangingly myopic. I wear my glasses when driving or when I go to a movie. My prescription is minor enough that even glass lenses are light and comfortable, so I always get glass lenses to avoid lens scratches.
My cylinder measurements have decreased, which means my eyes are getting rounder. In 2007 they were -1.00 and -0.75 (right and left eye). In 2009 they were -0.75 and -0.75. Two weeks ago they were -0.5 and -0.5.
The axis measurements have also changed slightly: 172 and 22, then 164 and 20, then 165 and 20.
Vision prescriptions involve three measurements: sphere, cylinder, and axis.
(It sounds like a math test, doesn't it?)
My sphere measurement has remained constant at -0.75 which means I am slightly and unchangingly myopic. I wear my glasses when driving or when I go to a movie. My prescription is minor enough that even glass lenses are light and comfortable, so I always get glass lenses to avoid lens scratches.
My cylinder measurements have decreased, which means my eyes are getting rounder. In 2007 they were -1.00 and -0.75 (right and left eye). In 2009 they were -0.75 and -0.75. Two weeks ago they were -0.5 and -0.5.
The axis measurements have also changed slightly: 172 and 22, then 164 and 20, then 165 and 20.
Monday, September 17, 2012
Another Happy New Year!
Happy High Holy Days!
It is almost sundown, but I have time to squeeze in a quick
L'shanah tovah tikatev(i) v'taihatem(i)!
This traditional Hebrew greeting for the High Holy Days means "For a good year may you be inscribed as sealed."
The alternate (i) endings are the grammatical form used when addressing women.
It is almost sundown, but I have time to squeeze in a quick
L'shanah tovah tikatev(i) v'taihatem(i)!
This traditional Hebrew greeting for the High Holy Days means "For a good year may you be inscribed as sealed."
The alternate (i) endings are the grammatical form used when addressing women.
Monday, September 03, 2012
Rinsing a Memory Foam Mattress Topper
One nice change during the summer was how Smiley's aim improved. I no longer need to check the toilet seat and nearby bathroom floor and each time I enter the bathroom.
But he did have an odd during-the-night accident a couple weeks ago. No reason why. He did not drink more the evening before, or have extra water to drink in bed, and he was sleeping in a pull-up. Yet he flooded the pull-up and wet the bed.
Remember his bunk bed? He was sleeping on the top bunk. Both bunks have a memory foam mattress topper that he uses as a mattress (because it is thin, so the railing is effectively higher). But on the top bunk we never put a plastic cover, since he had stopped wetting the bed before we let him sleep up top.
So I was up at 2:00 am helping Smiley, and then it took me a while to fall asleep as I worried how to clean a memory foam mattress topper.
I found tips on a couple websites. But the cleaning was actually very trivial. It turned out to be barely wet, and the day was very warm, so I just set it on the deck and rinsed the damp spot. The water drained right through it, like rinsing a sponge. The only "trick" was setting up a shade to keep it out of direct sunlight, which supposedly would harm it.
But even if clean-up was easy that time, we did order a second plastic cover to avoid any future problems.
But he did have an odd during-the-night accident a couple weeks ago. No reason why. He did not drink more the evening before, or have extra water to drink in bed, and he was sleeping in a pull-up. Yet he flooded the pull-up and wet the bed.
Remember his bunk bed? He was sleeping on the top bunk. Both bunks have a memory foam mattress topper that he uses as a mattress (because it is thin, so the railing is effectively higher). But on the top bunk we never put a plastic cover, since he had stopped wetting the bed before we let him sleep up top.
So I was up at 2:00 am helping Smiley, and then it took me a while to fall asleep as I worried how to clean a memory foam mattress topper.
I found tips on a couple websites. But the cleaning was actually very trivial. It turned out to be barely wet, and the day was very warm, so I just set it on the deck and rinsed the damp spot. The water drained right through it, like rinsing a sponge. The only "trick" was setting up a shade to keep it out of direct sunlight, which supposedly would harm it.
But even if clean-up was easy that time, we did order a second plastic cover to avoid any future problems.
Sunday, September 02, 2012
Firefox Protection
According to my wife, Firefox is currently having trouble publishing an update that will successfully patch a security risk due to what embedded Java can do.
Time to disable Java in Firefox, at least for a while.
This issue prompted me to read a bit more about Ubuntu security, which recommended three Firefox add-ons that would benefit people who use the browser on any operating system.
Two I already use: NoScript and Adblock Plus. I found out there is a third important one: BetterPrivacy, which blocks parts of Flash files that act like cookies (called LSOs).
Installing BetterPrivacy was easy and took only a few minutes. After the install I needed to go to its option in the Tools menu, tell it which LSOs I do not want deleted, and then tell it to delete and protect from the rest.
Time to disable Java in Firefox, at least for a while.
This issue prompted me to read a bit more about Ubuntu security, which recommended three Firefox add-ons that would benefit people who use the browser on any operating system.
Two I already use: NoScript and Adblock Plus. I found out there is a third important one: BetterPrivacy, which blocks parts of Flash files that act like cookies (called LSOs).
Installing BetterPrivacy was easy and took only a few minutes. After the install I needed to go to its option in the Tools menu, tell it which LSOs I do not want deleted, and then tell it to delete and protect from the rest.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)