Teleidoscope

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Teleidoscope, Reflections of the World. A WebLog for Data-Raptors.com (Computers and Technology) and Astral Trading Company (Divination and Science Fiction).

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Elyse M. Grasso

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Copyright © 2006-2007 Elyse M. Grasso
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Clipart © RT Computer Graphics, Inc. NM

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Wed, Jul 23, 2008

Graham Cracker Packaging

Posted at 1:13 pm MDT to Miscellaneous

It seems that the marketing guys have been playing games with the HoneyMaid Graham Cracker packages.

The boxes are still the traditional size, and there are still three packages of crackers per box, and the crackers are still the same size. But the 3 packages no longer fill the box completely as they once did.

Judging by the amount of empty air space in the box, I suspect the packages used to hold 12 crackers each. Now they only hold 9 each.

I'm glad to have any graham crackers -- most other crackers seem to have one or more ingredients I can no longer eat -- but if they are going to skimp on the package contents, they should reduce the amount of packaging. Or fill the box and raise the price. Just be honest about it.

Insert ritual comments about the good old days here....

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Christian the Lion

Posted at 12:19 pm MDT to Media

This video was linked by Lori Coulson in the Making Light comments (#88). It is wonderful. The availability of thing is one of the wonders of the internet.

If I'm being a little quiet this week, it is because I am on vacation, and as the pressure of work came off, I found myself able to write fiction again. Which means I am not getting as much done around the house as I had planned, but I am not complaining.

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Mon, Jul 21, 2008

Digital XRays

Posted at 11:30 am MDT to Technology

The locally available medical technology has taken a jump in the past year. Both my dentist and the mammography department at the local hospital are now using digital x-ray camera instead of film. This gives them much clearer images: the computer can get the focus exactly right. The new mammography system is supposed to see through fibrocystic tissue a lot better than the old one, too.

It also gives faster turnaround on the images, of course. At the end of my mammogram this morning the technician showed me the pictures she had taken, after she emailed them to the radiologist. They looked nice and clear to me. This is good. They should not need followup untrasounds or whatever to decide on my status.

The technician was very nice. She did the right-side lateral imaging in two shots instead of one to allow for the fact that the tissue on that side is stiff from being cooked by the radiation treatments. That side just doesn't compress well.

My dentist showed me the images from the digital bite-wings, too, when he was discussing what they had found. He just swung the screen he was using to view them around so I could look at it too.

I still want vise-free Star Trek medical scanners for mammograms, though. The new systems don't hurt quite as badly as the old ones did, but that is not saying a whole lot.

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Sun, Jul 20, 2008

Sat, Jul 19, 2008

A Crossover of DOOM

Posted at 7:06 pm MDT to Media

On fmanalysts's live journal I found a link to The Royal Society (a crossover of DOOM).

This is a crssover fanfic for: "deep breath Torchwood/Discworld/Nero Wolfe/Lord Peter/Harry Potter/SGA/Jeeves&Wooster/Sherlock Holmes.".

While on the subject of fanfic crossovers, there are a couple of stories online that crossover Bertie Wooster and Lord Peter Wimsey. The suggestion is that Bertie Wooster's odd world, where World War I never happened, is the world-view of a former officer with massive PTSD. It works very well. The first story is Green Ice. There is the beginning of a sequel Armistice which is just heartbreaking. (Now I have them linked I will be able to find them again without googling.)

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Dr. Horrible

Posted at 6:26 pm MDT to Media

Joss Whedon spent the writers' strike writing a superhero musical: Dr.Horrible's Sing Along Blog. It stars Neil Patrick Harris as Dr. Horrible, Nathan Filion as Captain Hammer, his nemesis and Felicia Day as Penny, thir mutual love interest, and it has been posted this week for free, one chapter at a time. Starting tomorrow it will be available on iTunes, and eventually there will be a DVD with extras.

I finally watched it today: I needed to plug phones into my laptop to hear it. The speakers on this laptop suck royally. I hope the new laptop has a better sound system... my previous laptop had speakers that I could actually hear.

The music is great.

I want to see the adventures of Bad Horse, maybe as an online comic. The head of the super-villain group that Dr. Horrible wants to join (the Evil League of Evil) is a horse. An evil horse with henchmen in western clothes.

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Thu, Jul 17, 2008

Sean Tevis for Kansas

Posted at 7:52 pm MDT to Current Events

A liberal inhabitant of the 21st Century and the Internet is running for State Representative in Kansas against an incumbent, who is anti-choice, anti-gay marriage, pro-censorship and pro-'intelligent design in schools'. He has a fundraising website in the style of the XKCD comic, and is trying to get 3000 donors by July 28 (according to the site, no candidate for State Representative has ever had more than 644 donors) partly because setting a record will get him publicity.

He was told he needed $26000. And calculated that $500 from two people he knew plus an average $8.34 each would put him over the top

According to the website, he currently has just under 2900 donors.

I think Kansas would benefit from having someone to counterbalance the creationists.

I recommend clicking through to see the website, even if you don't donate.

I also recommend XKCD.

I heard about this on Pharyngula, a science/liberal/atheist blog.

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Tue, Jul 15, 2008

Chirp

Posted at 10:34 pm MDT to Miscellaneous

Years ago when I had my back porch built and the back door installed on my house, the inspector refused to sign off on the permit unless I had smoke detectors on each level (which I had) and in each bedroom, which I didn't at that time.

So I have 5 smoke detectors in the house. Two of them are new last fall: the original upstairs and downstairs ones finally bit the dust. And I replaced all the batteries this past winter.

So it is doubly annoying that one of them is chirping at intervals. Its battery is apparently dying. Or it is. And the chirps are far enough apart that it is difficult to tell which one is complaining. They never seem to chirp when I am standing near one.

I suspect it is the one in the basement which is one of the next ones. I'll try changing that battery in the morning. I will be very annoyed if the problem turns out to be with the detector.

At least it isn't the one in my bedroom, so it won't drive me completely crazy over night.

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Mon, Jul 14, 2008

Marinated Mushrooms I

Posted at 9:24 pm MDT to Technology

These came out very strong. Maybe change the ratio of oil to vinegar next time. Also, red wine vinegar makes them dark: invest in some white wine vinegar, if possible, for the next batch.

Some recipes call for cooking the mushrooms, etc. in vinegar, draining them, then adding oil to the mason jar to cover. That might give a mellower result, too.

Lots of recipes call for red chile flakes. I might stir in a tiny bit after the cooking, just before the mixture goes from the pan to the jar.

Some of the extra kick maybe from including wine vinegar and extra virgin olive oil instead of the less flavorful varieties they use in the marinated mushrooms from the store.

I used an oil-packed roasted pepper. A fresh, or freshly roasted, red bell pepper would be nice.

1 pound fresh mushrooms 
    halved or quartered depending on size
1 roasted sweet pepper chopped into shreds
cloves from one head of garlic, sliced thin
1/2 tsp pickling salt
1/2 cup each light and extra virgin olive oil
1 cup red wine vinegar
dried marjoram and other herbs
dried parsley

Put ingredients in a saucepan. Mix together. Add equal parts oil and vinegar to barely cover the mushrooms. Bring to a boil and cook 5 to 10 minutes.

Allow to cool slightly, then ladle solids and enough liquid to cover into a mason jar. Add oil if needed to cover the solids (this batch there was a little extra liquid left in the pan). Refrigerate at least over night before serving.

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Sun, Jul 13, 2008

Annoyances

Posted at 5:03 pm MDT to Miscellaneous

I received a letter from my internist, who is my primary care physician. He's leaving his practice. This is the third or fourth internist I've outlasted, the second or third at this clinic, depending on whether you count the temp who covered between when my first doctor there left and the current one took over my care.

Now I need to decide whether to stick with this same clinic (which at least has years and years of my records: I started seeing my first doctor at Internal Medicine Associates in 1999) or go looking for another internist. If I knew anyone who was happy with their doctors I might be inclined to make a change.

Another annoyance:

The Readerware software I use to catalog my books, CDs and DVDs has stopped working. It may be a problem with using Java on a 64 bit Linux system.

I've been holding out on the migration to the new laptop (which is 32 bit) because some of the files and apps I need for my current contract are configured on this one in 64bit. But since the contract is up in a week I should start migrating things over. It may not be worth it to fuss about getting Readerware working again on this box.

But I really don't understand Sun. They claimed to want Java to be a cross-platform system, but even though 64 bit machines have been around long enough for me to wear out a 64bit laptop, they still don't have official support for Java on 64bit.

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Sat, Jul 12, 2008

Goat milk

Posted at 3:53 pm MDT to Technology

At Farmers' Market today I had Sisters' Pantry Dumplings for breakfast. Yay. I also bought two kinds of goat-milk cheese.

On the way home I stopped at Whole Foods. They had powered and canned goats' milk. I got some powdered: tomorrow I'll make a batch of waffles with goats' milk and egg replacer, and vanilla to compensate for some of the missing richness of the eggs. I hope this batch will be less lame than the pancakes I made with the egg replacer a few weeks ago.

Whole Foods also had goat yogurt. It's very expensive, but at least it is there. So it is available for use as an ingredient.

And they carry lots of kinds of goat and sheep milk cheeses (including cheese from the farm I buy from at the market, so I can keep buying it over the winter). I'll get a sample of sheep cheese to be tested with before my next allergist appointment.

I bought some meringue cookies, too. Sugar and egg whites, with no dairy or egg yolks. It's nice to buy some regular things. it would be even nicer to find a brand of hotdog and hamburger buns without malt in them, but I think that quest is hopeless.

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Thu, Jul 10, 2008

Long Day, Short Night

Posted at 8:34 pm MDT to Miscellaneous

Next week is my last week on this contract, so we are rolling out script changes to production, which needs to be done after hours, Boston time.

I worked 10:30 AM my time to 8 PM to day, with a meal break. That made up the time from the doctor's appointment yesterday.

And I need to be available at 8am Boston time (6 am Colorado time) in case there are problems in the rollout aftermath. Sometimes it's really handy to have a commute that runs from the bedroom to the living room.

We'll do some more rollouts early next week, probaly Tuesday/Wednesday so my schedule will be strange again. But by Friday evening this contract will be done.

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Wed, Jul 09, 2008

Mediterranean Food

Posted at 7:57 pm MDT to Technology

The allergist's office hadn't been planning to do more skin tests today but they did three: olives, Russian olive pollen, and goat's milk. They all came back negative.

The Russian olive is interesting: I was pretty sure i was allergic to it in the early 90s. Either it was something else that pollinates at the same time (like ragweed and goldenrod) or I've adapted to it over the years.

The olives and goat's milk are a big relief. I can have goat cheese, in small quantities. And olive oil I've been using in place of butter should not be a problem. (I suspect that means I need a fresher bottle of extra virgin olive oil) I can eat some Greek food, or Moroccan. As long as I stay away from eggs and butter... and maybe find a source of goat milk yogurt. I don't think I've ever seen goat butter for sale.

The Doctor also agreed that I can add small amounts of egg whites back into my diet, since I tested negative for them last month. I can have Sisters' Pantry dumplings for breakfast at Farmers' Market!

My next appointment is scheduled for September 8, and this time they have scheduled more skin tests. I think there is still something occasionally triggering allergic reactions, so I'll be trying to keep track of what kinds of things I've been eating before I have swallowing problems.

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Tue, Jul 08, 2008

Ingredients

Posted at 11:13 pm MDT to Technology

I got another piece of birthday present from work today: a set of Mario Batali utensils to accompany the cookbooks.

I went down to Salvaggio's deli to see if they had any Pecorino Romano cheese, but it was very disappointing. It's just a sandwich shop. (Years ago it had some actual imported stuff.)

Herb's Meats, which I visited last week, does a better job of being an Italian deli. But it didn't have imported cheeses. I have a rabbit from Herb's in the freezer.

I think there is an Italian deli in downtown Louisville, but I didn't go there. Instead I explored some of the other international markets in Boulder, to see what other ingredients are available.

Next door to Salvaggio's is the Mediterranean Market and Deli. Arab rather than Greek: they sell halal meat, along with a lot of other interesting stuff. I bought some orange blossom water (they had rose water but only in large bottles) and pomegranate concentrate. I suspect there may be a kosher deli somewhere in town... I should explore. Probably starting with the yellow pages.

A few blocks away there is a strip mall with a deli/sandwich shop and three sources of international food. I didn't go into the Panaderia Mexican bakery. But I bought rice, tapioca (pearls and flour), fresh ginger and soba noodles at the Asian market (which also stocks Mexican ingredients).

The Indian market was more sparse, but smelled wonderful. Incense and curry. I mentioned to the shopkeeper that I was recently diagnosed with allergies to milk and eggs (many of the packages did not have English ingredient lists), and he said he was a nutritionist who had spent some time in medical school, and had experience dealing with allergies and Ayurveda. I think I need to look up Ayurveda cuisine... I got some bake-at-home naan bread, and a curry sauce mix for chicken to try. The shopkeeper said he has 65 different sauce mixes.

I came home the long way, and picked up (finally) the Mario Batali lasagna pan I've been thinking about. Now I need to figure out how to make a dairy-free lasagna. Or buy a roasting chicken. I need to check the allergy cookbooks I got for my birthday.

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Mon, Jul 07, 2008

Rest

Posted at 11:24 pm MDT to Exercise

I spent most of the four-day weekend resting and relaxing, but it doesn't seem to have done me much good. Today I felt like I was coming down with something again, though I don't know where I would have caught it.

No walking today.

I hope I can edge back a little way toward a more normal diet after my appointment with the allergist on Wednesday. It's nice to be able to swallow most of the time, but the rest of my digestive system does not seem to like the new dietary balance, even after a full month.

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Sat, Jul 05, 2008

Annoying

Posted at 11:11 am MDT to Exercise

For the past few days, my weight has been up and my daily mileage has been down.

My left shin and ankle are getting sore very quickly, so I'm only doing a mile a day. But the pattern of the soreness is like what I felt in the right shin the first week I started walking, so I hope it is a sign that the left leg is beginning to function more normally. That foot and ankle are still thicker than the right one, but they are showing more definition, so they may be flexing more now.

Walking a mile doesn't make the right leg sore at all now, which is a good sign. Once the left leg muscles get used to actually working, I'll increase the milage again.

The weight re-gain of the few pounds I had lost is annoying, but may be partly due to an increase of muscle mass. Body fat percentage is down slightly, rather than going up. This would be good in the long run: muscle burns calories better than fat. My ring fits a little better than it did at this weight previously -- another sign that I may be swapping bloat for muscle. There are a couple of pairs of jeans that are fine through the thighs and hips now, but I'll still need to lose or rearrange a few pounds of belly fat to button them.

I was trying to taper off the St. John's Wort dosage this weekend, since I'm on a mini-vacation and should be less stressed. But I'm going to put the dosage back up in case that is interacting with the weight loss and energy for exercise. Weight gain is a known side effect of depression. And the restlessness that led to the beginning of the walking happened when I was on the higher dose. If the higher dose lets me lose weight and gain muscle, I'll stay on the higher dose. St. John's Wort is cheaper than buying clothes, and much cheaper than the prescription alternatives, with fewer side effects.

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Thu, Jul 03, 2008

Cool Stuff

Posted at 12:41 pm MDT to Miscellaneous

I've gotten some deliveries of cool stuff. (It's a good thing the driveway is usable.)

First, on Tuesday, I received a package from an order I made to Crate and Barrel. I've been wanting a free-standing pot-rack since I started acquiring good cookware, and their summer catalog had a bamboo and steel one on sale for under $200. I received the second box of the shipment today, and just finished putting the rack together. I need to reorganize things in the kitchen a little to make room for it, but I think it will be very useful, and look nice, too.

The wood-tone of the bamboo is a pretty good match for my light oak kitchen. And 6 shelves of storage space will be great to have. The bottom shelf space is tall enough for the catfood canister, which I had been a little worried about.

Yesterday I received a Shadow Unit lined windbreaker I had ordered. A similar jacket can be seen here, modeled by author Emma Bull.

Those were both expected deliveries.

The surprise was a delivery from Amazon: my company sent me three allergy cookbooks. Probably in lieu of a birthday lunch, which is just as well: I had a hard time finding something to eat at the nice restaurant Nanette took me to last night. The meal I finally selected was very nice, though the dessert menu was hopeless.

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Wed, Jul 02, 2008

Birthday

Posted at 7:34 am MDT to Exercise

I have survived another year.

It's a good thing I din't make any bets about the powerline work being finished before my birthday, but I think everything is done now except patching the hole in the porch roof. The pole and the backhoe are gone. The house looks strangely detached, from a distance, without the dark lines of the powerlines connecting it to anything.

mile today, beginning the second day of Bilbo's journey. My legs were sore, but I think that was from tension because I had a dental appointment yesterday

I stopped at the big King Soopers on the way home and spent quite a while reading labels, looking for things I can eat. I really hope it turns out I can have goat cheese, when I see the allergist again next week.

At least, between the dietary change and the walking, my weight is trending downward slowly. I'm actually tracking the sum of my body-fat percentage and my weight. This tends to compensate for weight fluctuations due to hydration differences.

My brother Larry called last night, and I'm having a birthday dinner with Nanette.

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Mon, Jun 30, 2008

Powerlines, Final Chapter

Posted at 9:07 pm MDT to Miscellaneous

The recycled asphalt gravel was delivered today and spread out. I have an all-weather driveway again. Mind you, my idea of a one lane wide driveway os a lot narrower than the backhoe operators. And they got careless about the property lines at the end of my driveway. I made them scrape the asphalt back onto my side of the boundary.

The power company trucks came back today to take down the last of the old power lines, which were left dangling from the pole like copper, lightning-attracting, maypole ribbons.
They drove across my neighbor's property to do it.

This evening I walked over to apologize to my neighbors for the power company trucks and the bozos with the backhoe. When I get my demolished front yard reconstructed, I'll have the landscapers put some topsoil and grass seed on the scraped place.

Once the backhoe goes away, I am almost done with Mr. Sparky. They are going to hire a roofer to patch the hole in my porch roof where the overhead lines used to go through, to keep out the weather and the critters.

And by way of apology for some of the hassle, Lori at the power company offered to have them take down the naked pole by my driveway for no charge. So that will be gone soon. (I have a suspicion that they want the pole for something, though one reason for putting the power lines underground was that the pole if too short for code, and cutting it off at ground level will make it even shorter.

I have a Mr. Tran of Green Mountain Landscaping stopping by tomorrow to look things over and give some estimates. I need to find a couple of other possible sources. I want multiple bids this time.

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Fri, Jun 27, 2008

Electric Contractor

Posted at 7:06 am MDT to Miscellaneous

I couldn't sleep last night, I was so upset about what they did to my yard, after all this delay and hassle.

I got up at 2:30 and wrote the note below, which I posted on both the 'Contact us' page on Mr. Sparky's web site, and also on the Tom Martino, Troubleshooter website. I am fed to the back teeth with listening to commercials where Mr. Martino (a consumer advocate) praises Mr. Sparky and its associated companies. I have heard them a lot because Mr. Sparky runs them on a loop instead of playing "On Hold" music.

I have had a horrible time with Mr. Sparky /Candlelight Electric. A major project that was supposed to take a week at the beginning of October 2007 remains an ongoing nightmare in the last week of June 2008, although it appears to be finally reaching a (fairly unsatisfactory) conclusion.

The original project was moderately complex. It involved moving my breaker box outside and bringing it up to code, as recommended by a Mr. Sparky inspector, as well as moving my power lines underground, which was also recommended, because the inspector said that the overhead lines were too low to meet code, and the pole in the driveay was too short to raise them high enough. Subsidiary projects included rebuilding part of my front porch to provide access to the new breaker box and grading and spreading roadbase on my driveway once the powerline trench was filled in.

I was assured that Mr. Sparky would coordinate everything with the power company (Excel) and the county building inspectors. That turned out not to be the case. The only reason the county ever inspected the new breaker box and closed the permit was because I kept calling both the Mr. Sparky office and the county for weeks several times a week, trying to find out what was going on. Mr. Sparky showed no interest or capacity for following through on the status of the project to bring it to completion.

The actual construction work was adequately done. They broke and repaired one of the pillars that support my porch roof, and cut th egas line while digging the trench for th epower lines, but I was happy with my newly expanded porch and the re-surfaced driveway, and the digging had carefully minimized the damage done by the trench to areas of my yard other than the driveway. The driveway itself had grown a bit larger than I expected, and there was some churned dirt running from the driveway to the house, but most of the places that had been grassy still were.

The only problem seemed to be that XCel had not yet switched the power from the overhead to the underground lines. I spent 3 months occasionally calling Mr Sparky to find out what the status of the changeover was, and getting the run-around from various departments at XCel. I eventually got in touch with the correct department at Xcel, or they got in touch with me.

At the beginning of March a representative from XCel informed me that the powerline project had not followed standard procedures and the trench would need to be re-done. They also were not happy with the location of the new breaker box.

I put XCel in touch with Mr. Sparky (which I should not have needed to do: Mr. Sparky should have been the ones dealing with XCel, not me) and the two companies spent several weeks arguing about what needed to be done. And then several more weeks trying to schedule the work.

I was assured that my yard and driveway would only remain dug up and unusable for a few days, when digging started on Thursday, June 13th. In fact, it was a week before the trench satisfied XCel and another week before XCel actually did the changeover, on Wednesday June 25.

A crew from Mr. Sparky arrived on the morning of June 26 to fill in the trench. I was working from home and available to answer questions, but they did not consult me. By the time they stopped for lunch, the trench was filled in, and they said they just needed to finish a few things. Those few things appear to include destroying my yard.

Before they left, they showed me the state of my yard, and I was too shocked to say much. Later, after my own workday ended, I pulled my truck into the place where my driveway is supposed to be and noticed a number of additions problems that had not been initially apparent.

Outstanding and problem items:

The backhoe crossed the property line onto my neighbor's property and the boundary is obscured at the end of the driveway.

A large drain pipe that was removed from under my driveway when the trench was being dug is still out of the ground and laying in my neighbor's yard.

Areas that were grassy even two days ago (while the trench and its dirt piles still existed) have been scraped down to bare soil, and probably to bare subsoil.

A 'berm' of subsoil (which I did NOT ask for) has been dumped on top of the topsoil directly in front of my house. Or possibly the topsoil was buried in the trench first. It is hard to tell. The visible soil is clearly not able to support life.

A ten to fifteen foot long section of an existing berm, which had been covered with grass and wild flowers, is just gone. There is a vertical cut in the berm as if someone had used a knife, showing clay and gravel under the grass. The berm was parallel to the driveway and several feet from the trench, and should not have been affected by the work.

The support post for the new section of porch built by the Mr. Sparky crew in October has been undermined, so that corner of the porch is no longer suported.

The holes through the porch roof where the overhead power cables came through are still open (and possibly inhabited by birds, which would not have happened if the changeover had occured last fall as previously scheduled).

I have ordered more roadbase to re-resurface the driveway. Mr. Sparky has promised to reimburse me. They said they would spread it on Monday (when it is due to be delivered), but considering the current state of my property after their most recent work, I am hesitant to let them do it.

I am very unlikely to renew my support contract with Candlelight, despite its convenience. And I will seek alternative electrical contractors for the interior electrical projects I have been postponing until the external project was done. I wish I knew whether Ross Munro was still in the area. He did an excellent job in October on the actual construction.

Two miles on the treadmill this morning even on basically no sleep. I guess being angry can be useful. 390 miles to Rivendell

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Thu, Jun 26, 2008

Powerlines, penultimate episode, I hope.

Posted at 6:17 pm MDT to Miscellaneous

The trench is filled in and my truck is parked in the barren expanse of dirt that used to be my driveway and front yard. I have ordered three more truckloads of recycled asphalt, for Monday delivery, to resurface the driveway. The electrical contractor has promised to reimburse me.

I will need to keep an eye on where they put it: the guys today used their backhoe to scrape bare a section adjacent to the driveway that I did not expect them to touch. They might have asked, instead of flattening stuff and wiping out one of the few patches of fertile dirt I had.

At least I'm no longer trapped behind the trench.

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Farewell Massage

Posted at 7:23 am MDT to Exercise

Marti, my massage therapist, is unexpectedly moving to Oklahoma next week to deal with a family medical situation, so last night was our last session. (At least for the foreseeable future.) It was a good session.

I can feel some soreness in my left butt, but Marti didn't feel heat in there, which is a very good sign. The soreness is probably not my hip trying to go out again. What I'm feeling is probably the workout soreness that accompanies muscle tissue growth.

The rest of the leg is also doing very well: there is a small patch at the front of my ankle and top of the foot that is still tender and swollen, but the rest of the leg is now a good match for the other one.

My arms were also in much better shape last night than 4 weeks ago, when they were such a mess that I could hardly let Marti work on them.

Marti gave me the name and number of another massage therapist. I'll need to make some appointments.

5 miles from Bag End on the road to Rivendell. I've met the dwarves at the inn. 392 miles to go.

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Wed, Jun 25, 2008

Power Lines episode 14

Posted at 4:19 pm MDT to Miscellaneous

I no longer have a long empty trench running the length of where my driveway should be.

Now I have a long trench with a live electric cable running down it. And the birds don't have a power line to sit on any more.

The electrical contractor is supposed to come tomorrow to fill things in. I assume they will also haul away the old overhead cable that still sitting in my yard.

I'm glad it stays light until late this week: I have a massage appointment this evening, and getting back to the house may be a bit of a challenge. I desperately need to do some grocery shopping, but I think that will wait until tomorrow, when the driveway should be usable.

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Tue, Jun 24, 2008

Powerlines 13

Posted at 5:45 pm MDT to Miscellaneous

According to the contractor (when I called them yesterday) the power company was supposed to make the powerline switch today.

When they hadn't shown up by midafternoon, I called the contractor (who did not get back to me) and the power company rep (who did). I really was on the schedule for today, but they had a transformer blow up this morning, so they may not get to me until tomorrow.

I'm glad I canceled the cleaning ladies for tomorrow: they wouldn't be able to get to the house with the driveway still dug up. I'm amazed the water delivery guy put two 5 gallon jugs on my porch... and I'm glad he didn't kill himself doing it

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Sun, Jun 22, 2008

Walking to Rivendell

Posted at 11:22 am MDT to Exercise

On this date in 2001 I weighed 40 pounds less than I do today, and my body fat percentage (I have a smart scale) was about 10 points lower.

Some of the reasons for the weight gain are medical: they took Propulsid off the market and my Synthroid dosage was lowered. Some of the weight gain was due to travelling, though my exercise journal indicates I kept up with my weight lifting and yoga pretty steadily for at least the first 20 pounds of the gain.

My weight has been pretty stable for the past year even without any exercise to speak of. I think it would start to drop if I added some exercise to my routine, especially with these diet changes.

In the past, walking has been what got my weight down to the ranges where yoga worked and weightlifting was... feasible. I need to do a lot more walking, but walking without a goal is boring.

In college I used to walk an extra mile or two most days, over and above the walking that was needed to go to classes and the library and the dining hall (the campus was quite hilly). I had a loop that went across campus, then down the hill to the public library, then farther down the hill to Main Street. Along Main Street there were two stops: a used book store and a news stand that sold comic books. Then back up the hill, but at the other end of campus, with a stop half-way up the hill at the University book store.

Now there is nowhere useful or interesting to walk to. I have a treadmill but that is the essence of goalless walking, though it decreases my exposure to heat and hayfever.

On the Eowyn's Challenge website, they have the travel mileages for the journeys in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Some people use them to track their exercise progress. I heard about it on Elizabeth Bear's LiveJournal matociquala. She's currently somewhere in the mines of Moria.

I decided to do the Hobbit routes first. Bilbo and the dwarves only travelled about 12 miles a day. As of this morning I'm one mile on the way from Bag End to Rivendell. I have crossed the bridge across the Water, and I am on the road to The Green Dragon in Bywater to meet the dwarves. 396 miles to go to Rivendell.

I may do some more walking later today. I need to do more than 1 mile a day if I'm going to get to Rivendell in less than a year.

And if I'm stiff tomorrow morning, it will give me the incentive to do some yoga.

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