Aggegrator or click, click, click July 6, 2009
Posted by shwaldman in Uncategorized.Tags: brower, internet, web sites, efficient, buggy, iGoogle, myYahoo, myMSN
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A few months back, I setup my IE browser (yes, I still use IE – but that is a different post) to hit the max 8 homepages when it opens. I picked the eight sites based on things I need for work as well as news and weather sites that help keep me abreast of things going on. It made it very easy to cycle through them and check them through out the day. I could get the weather, headlines, local news at the (three) clicks of the button.
So, now I am trying out something others have probably been using for years… iGoogle. Yahoo and MSN have allows customizing their “my” pages, but Google seems to have a lot of applets that take the customization to the next level. I experimented with this in the past but it was slow and seemed buggy. I am hoping I can work out any issues in this new attempt. I like the idea of being able to simplify and reduce the number of IE pages I have open at any given point…. I know, I should probably be using Firefox, but a lot of the business apps I use do not support it.
Father’s Day Bike Ride with the Boys June 22, 2009
Posted by shwaldman in Family, Fitness.Tags: 305, Bike, Dairy Queen, Father's Day, Forerunner, Map, Milford, Pictures
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I really need to get a picture of the boys squeezed into the bike trailer I pull for them. But below is the map of our adventure for Father’s Day. It ended up being a longer trip than I had planned, but that is in part because we spent about an hour at the park playing on the jungle gym and slides and throwing the frisbee around. I stopped my watch during that time – which messed the graph up for some reason. We also stopped at Dairy Queen on the way back. Of course Alec loved that and Ian wasn’t sure about ice cream… that’ll change.
The graph is messed up from the stop at the park. I am not sure what happened with that, but otherwise… kinda cool. Not too bad for pulling 75lbs of boys.
Pictures, Pictures, Pictures June 19, 2009
Posted by shwaldman in Family, Uncategorized.Tags: birthday, Disney, Pictures, Spring
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I just updated and added some albums to my photos online. You can check them out at Picasa Online Photos for Waldman Family
Update on Trevor May 26, 2009
Posted by shwaldman in Family.Tags: Animals, benign, dogs, kidney, malignant, surgery, Trevor, tumor
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Morning of 5/26: Trevor goes into surgery this morning. We are all waiting with baited breath. When I last posted, he had his ultrasound and it showed some abnormal darkness around his kidney. They did a biopsy and the results came back on Friday. Unfortunately, they could not be sure what exactly the area was. It was inconclusive. It may be benign or malignant, but without being able to investigate further, they would not know.
So, we scheduled him for surgery. He is a spry 13 1/2 year old in pretty good shape, so the doctors agree, his body take the toll surgery and recovery can take. They just need to get in there and figure out what is going on to cause his blood work to be so out of whack.
He was a little sluggish this weekend, but overall seemed okay. We went for a couple of short walks and even with the warm weather we had, he kept up quite well. He loves to explore outside, so that definitely keeps him going. He is such a trooper and I fully expect to hear great things this afternoon from the vet… will keep posting….
Afternoon of 5/26: Trevor came out of surgery doing very well. The surgeon said the mass was located along the body wall next to, but not attached to the kidney. I think we can suspect the mass was putting pressure on his organs causing them to react in some way. But they were able to remove it cleanly with minimal bleeding. At last check, he was recovering well and only a little dazed by the general anesthetic.
Update on Allergies and Zyrtec May 26, 2009
Posted by shwaldman in Fitness.Tags: accuweather.com, allergies, Claritin, medicine, pollen.com, Sick, Zyrtec
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After I posted my messagea bout Zyrtec, my allergies got “worser and worser” (as Alec would say). Since we did not make it to the store to get a different bottle of allergy medicine, I just went back to using the same bottle. Fortunately, I had not adverse affects. I think being off it for a couple of days made it harder to catch up on attacking the allergies – or however this medicine really works. But it definitely helps me.
Then the other day, Kim mentioned it to the pharmacist in town and he concurred that Zyrtec can definitely cause those side affects. Despite the fact that we could not find anything on the web about it, it has been reported quite a bit. He also mentioned the Claritin is useless, which I could have told you!
Last week, I also came across this cool website. I often use AccuWeather.com to get the weather forecast. But recently a more important forecast was the pollen count. I came across Pollen.com and it graphs out what is expected in our area for the highest allergies. It has been helpful to suggest which days to stay inside a little more or which days it should be ok to head out without getting pounded with itchy eyes, running nose and tight chest – those are my big symptoms.
Thanks in part to a couple of days of thunderstorms, this week should be good one. And I think based on the 4-day forecast and the 30-day history that is available, it is clear that we are finally, as May closes out, on the waning end of my suffering!
Addicted to Multi-Tasking May 20, 2009
Posted by shwaldman in Family, Fitness, Politics, Society, Technology, Work.Tags: addiction, multi-tasking, podcasts, Running, tracker
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In the past couple of months, I have come to realize that I am addicted to multi-tasking. In some ways I think this is okay. I certainly accomplish more tasks this way. As I write this, I am watching the American Idol finale with my lovely wife. (Oh, and I am charging my Garmin Forerunner 305.) Today, as I took my lunch break, I listened to music as I ran 45 minutes, carrying hand weights – those 45 minutes complete the activity level for our organization’s Spring into Action wellness initiative as well as keep me in the lead for the overall organization in minutes tracked.
I could go on and on. I workout at home, watching hulu.com. I often do yard work and drive to work, listening to podcasts. At work even, I often have podcasts playing the background, drowning out the sound of the cube-farm I am surrounded by. But as you can guess by the fact that I am putting this out there, I have an element of guilt. I may be getting more done, but is the fact that I am doing two or more things at once a bonus or a detraction?
As the addicted one, I don’t think I can give a fair answer. For me, it depends on reason and things I am combining. For example, I don’t multi-task when I am having dinner with my family or playing with the boys… ok, well, I have to keep Ian occupied as I put away laundry last night…. ultimately, I think it often impossible not to multi-task. There is just too much to get done these days!
AI and DWTS over for the year May 20, 2009
Posted by shwaldman in Society.Tags: AI, American Idol, competition, dancing, Dancing with the Stars, DWTS, singing, So You Think You Can Dance, SYTYCD, TV
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American Idol ends today – I am hoping for a win for Kris. Dancing with the Stars ended with a win for Shawn. I am not sure she was the best dancer, but definitely see her as “America’s Choice.” I am happy she won.
Now we have the summer without these competitions… oh, wait, “So You Think You Can Dance” starts this week. We really got into it last year. It is a fun show to watch and see people that can really move.
And we can get back to our lives… why is all this TV so addictive? We have better things to do, don’t they know?
Sick Puppy May 18, 2009
Posted by shwaldman in Family.Tags: chicken bone, Dog, kidney, Pictures, Shih Tzu, Sick, Trevor, vet
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Our baby Trevor went to the vet early this morning with a very tender belly. He managed to get into the trash on Friday night and swallowed a chicken bone. So, I thought perhaps that had gotten lodge on the way through him. But the x-rays showed no sign of the bone but they did show a completely full stomach and bowels.
Subsequent blood work showed that he his liver enzinmes were way too high. This too could be related to the body trying to digest a foreign body, but is definitely a something to be concerned about. (He has had higher than “normal” levels, but these were out of the ballpark.)
He managed pass some stool mid morning after receiving an enema. However, his mood and demeanor went downhill after this instead of improving. The doctors were a bit worried so they ordered an ultrasound to see what the x-rays would not show. And what they found was something on or around his liver. Now we are in the wait and see mode until they can do a laproscopic biopsy tomorrow. Poor baby!
New Laundry Cabinet Missing Facing May 9, 2009
Posted by shwaldman in Family.Tags: cabinet, facing, laundry, missing
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We received our new laundry cabinet, but it is missing the facing along the bottom. Please see pictures below.
Lessons Learned: Flu of 1918, SARS, Avian, Swine May 7, 2009
Posted by shwaldman in Politics, Society, Technology.Tags: 1918, Avian, epidemic, Flu, H1N1, H5N1, immunization, Pandemic, podcasts, SARS, Swine, Tamiflu, TED, virus
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Please read the whole thing before knowing why I think everyone should watch this video… I am of the belief that early on the media blew the H1N1 (Swine flu) virus out of portion. As many people argue, more people (36,000) die in the US from the human influenza then are even coming down with this is H1N1 virus.
However, numbers really mean nothing. What the media seems to be shying away from is the intangible. The real threat of these viruses is what it can become. As is often mentioned is that there is currently no immunization developed specifically for H1N1. Yes, Tamiflu seems to be effective, but who knows against what strains.
Watch this video and learn why it is the future versions of the virus that might have a more dangerous effect on the world… or, if we are lucky, might not!
Talk about foresight… this talk was given at a TED conference in 2007 after rise in concern over the Avian Flu. As much as these sudden and dramatic media blitzes is annoying. I think we all need to be conscience of what is happening around the world. It would be nice if the media could focus on the facts and avoid sound bites that get aired over and over and create more than necessary panic.
