The Dosquatch Says…

Howdy, folks! I hope all’s been going well for all of you out there whom Icare so much about. You bother to read what I have to say, of course I care about you. So it’s kinda rude that I vanish for two weeks or so without any particular warning. Let me recap a bit, not as an excuse, but as an apology.

Right in the middle of Grandma’s in-out-in hospital adventure, some jackass locked me out of the dAndroid blog and went berserk with comment spam. I tried hacking it back, all the way down to hand-editing entries in the db. I’d probably have had better success if I weren’t distracted by Grandma’s condition. In the end, I decided that it was more satisfying to hit the kill switch on dAndroid than to yield to fucking spammers. I might rebuild it, but I’m in no rush.

Also in the middle of it, something went sideways in the sync engine on my Droid. Sync just STAYED on, and it would suck a battery dry in a hurry. Every solution I found to the issue included, somewhere, “after the factory reset”. So I factory reset. Bravely, for I knew that my delicate information was all synced to the massive servers at Teh Goog. And what wasn’t was safely backed up with my Droid app.

This, it turns out, is all true. Kinda. Mostly. Except when it isn’t. In some cases, an application was backed up – like, say, my mobile blogging widget – but not its config information. So I haven’t been able to blog on the go, mostly out of apathy. It’s not like poking in the info is difficult or anything. It also forgot things like my registration info for DocumentsToGo, and all of my email accounts. I’m still weeding a little.

Throw in the mix a steady stream of mini-blizzards and a renewed friendship that is always exhilarating, and at moments terrifying, and I’ve just been very saturated just being.

I apologize for my absence, but I’m back at the wheel. Thanks, y’all, for your patience.

Navel Gazing

With the help of Weight Watchers, I continue to do my best Wicked Witch of the West impersonation – to wit, “I’m melting! MEELLLLLTTING!” I’m down another 5 lbs from the last weigh-in, for a total of 28.4 lbs I’ve lost so far, and doing so has won me the keychain token seen here. I am currently 303.2, and have about another 5 lbs before I hit 10%. There will be celebration.

I swear to God, if you’d asked me 3 months ago if a stamped washer could cause an emotional response, I’d have laughed.

As it turns out, I did laugh, but not for the same reasons.

Weight Watcher's

Navel Gazing bad trip, drugs, weed

Grandma (mom’s 89 year old mom) has had a chronic bronchitis for a few weeks now. She spent last week in the hospital. They got her sounding better, mostly by pumping her full of steroids, and discharged her on Friday. She responded to being home by promptly Saturday morning sounding even worse than when she originally went in.

We gave it a few days to see how she progressed. While she hasn’t become any worse, she’s certainly not improving, so (on advice of our very own Aunt Supernurse) we decided to bring her back to the hospital.

Now, we work all day, so it was after work, after dinner, after phone calls to Supernurse, that this decision was made. Say, 8:30ish.

In just the most spectacular display of compassion I’ve seen in quite some time, my old man expresses his concern for the well being of family by screaming, at mom, at the top of his lungs, I – fucking – quote this among other things, “I DID NOT ASK YOU WHY YOU WAITED UNTIL NINE O’CLOCK, I ASKED YOU HOW COME YOU WAITED UNTIL NINE O’CLOCK!”

Spectacular, no? I really have to give extra credit for the full-fury nit-pick of semantic equivalents.

BTW, the ER wanted to Jiffy Lube Grandma – pump her full of steroids & send her home. Aunt Supernurse is gonna make sure they keep her for a pulmonary consult. We Heart Our Supernurse.

Navel Gazing asshole, grandma, hospital

I’m having an issue with SMS that’s seriously twisting my panties in a knot. I have a friend, and the things she says are important to me.

It is somewhat distressing to find that a disturbing number of her messages are not reaching me. I am DROID/Verizon, she is Crackberry/nTelos. I’ve beaten Google about the search box looking for a trend on any one of or combination of those attributes so I know where to start fixing.

I can’t find a trend, and Verizon (predictably) blames nTelos. I’m at least a little distraught, probably more than I’ll admit here, and am begging you fine readers for thoughts.

Navel Gazing, Technology crackberry, droid, ntelos, sms, txt, verizon

Our Weight Watchers meetings are on Monday afternoons. Since yesterday was MLK, we won’t have a meeting this week. Out of a desire for consistency, I rely on only their scales, so no weigh in until next Monday. Instead, I have something far more concrete to celebrate than a number on a scale.

I’m out of notches on my belt.

Since I’ve started this, every so often the pants would slip down just a bit too much and i’d ratchet in another notch. I went to do that this morning, and suddenly found myself on the last hole, in the good direction. And for the first time counted – 5. I’ve come in 5 belt notches, and I have to bunch the waistband of the pants.

And more, I’m completely surprised how big this feels to me.

Yay, me. I feel special today!

Weight Watcher's weight watchers

Another peek into the mysterious world of Music the Furry Guy Likes:

Elvis Costello is a lyricist’s lyricist. What he writes is intricate and completely non-obvious, but it still works musically and is accessible. That, coupled with the passion he puts into his performances, make him one of the musical gems of our time.

That, and one of my favorite lines ever comes from this song: “I’ve been wading through all of this unbelievable junk and wondering if I should’ve given the world to the monkeys.”

Navel Gazing Elvis Costello, music

Dos does basic web installation. Entire server hosed. Film at eleven.

It seems only appropriate to link to the tool of my destruction: Patrick Henry Cycling. It’s still just filler, but I’m kinda fond of the rascal in a “your pain to me has been educational” sort of way.

Navel Gazing

OK, not quite “un-”, but less. I was told, gently but firmly, that it was time to trim the beard.

“But I’m trying to grow the full wizard’s beard,” I said.

“Yeah. The problem is you’re not a wizard. It’s just a little much.”

Trimmed, though, in this case, is still pretty darn full. I call that “compromise”.

Navel Gazing

Over the Christmas holidays, I gained 3.6 lbs in the form of fantastic food with family and friends. I spent the past week returning the gift, and a bit more.

I’m down 4.2 lbsfor the week, for a total so far of 23.4 lbs gone.

Hellz Yeah!

Weight Watcher's