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Donald Trump: First Class A-Whole

April 8, 2011 By

I wrote earlier in this blog on how I thought Donald Trump could make an interesting and compelling presidential candidate. I take back everything I said as it turns out Trump is a complete and utter joke.

Trump’s big advantage is that he is an outsider to Washington, a practical businessman who knows how to deal with complex business situations. Instead of focusing on his strength and what people actually care about, namely the economy he decides to focus all his effort on Obama’s birth certificate. This issue has been largely relegated to the sidelines, reserved for only the most looney provocateurs. But Trump can’t stop talking about it and every time he does he sounds more inane.

Even when he gets off the birth certificate most of what he has been saying makes little or no sense at all. This is not the thinking of an educated mature adult but more like that of an impulsive teenager. Add to that the maniacal ego and this guy has no shot at the nomination nor the outright election.

Filed Under: Blog, Politics Tagged With: , , ,

Three Times A Daddy: Introducing Christopher

March 8, 2011 By

ChristopherThey say the third time is a charm. On Feb 8 I became a father for the third time. It’s long past due to introduce Christopher Jacobs. His birth and the days after are already chronicled in a recent post. At this point, all is well and we are all happy and healthy. I love my girls more than anything but I have to say I was really happy to have a boy to round things out. I’m looking forward to a different experience and a whole new special bomding that can only happen between a father and son. One strange thing is Capella at only two and a half, is certainly still a baby, but with Christopher around it’s harder to think of her as a baby. She seems so big now. To be fair she is very much a toddler so that does make a difference.

We never had much trouble finding names for girls but from the beginning we were always more torn on boy names. Christopher was not named until several days after he was born and it was something that literally came to me as I was eating lunch in the hospital cafeteria. I popped into my head and I liked it right away. Lisa took a little longer to warm up to it but eventually it seemed to fit him perfectly. Welcome to the world Christopher.

Filed Under: Blog, Digital Dads, Life Tagged With: , ,

I love Penzu Journal Writing Web App

March 6, 2011 By

Penzu

 

I’ve been interested in online journal writing software for awhile now but have never found anything that really cut the mustard, until now.

I’ve looked at Mac and PC software in the past and several web based solutions. All fell short in one way or another.

Finally I found Penzu. Penzu is web based beautifully designed journal software. It’s one of the best things I have ever used and I love it dearly.

Penzu has a great design and user interface. It’s web 2.0 and more importantly it’s clean, nice to look at and highly usable. The default design mimics a sheet of lined paper, which is quite appropriate and pleasing. If you want something different, however, there are lots of different design options and backgrounds to choose from. These are only available when you upgrade to the Pro account which is only $19 a year. A Pro account also gets you mobile access, tagging and multiple journals. Don’t tell them but seriously I’d pay more than that for Penzu and be happy to do so. It’s just that good. Penzu also has a neat feature that will email you a reminder if you have not written in awhile. I have not used the iPhone app as I am on Android these days, but the html 5 mobile version on Android is excellent.

Penzu can be used for more than just journal writing as well. I keep a second “journal” that is my blogging journal where I keep links and notes that might make good future blog posts. You can email items into Penzu as well so I often will use the email this article to a friend feature to email to my blog journal from a web page.

Filed Under: Blog, Technology Tagged With: , , ,

Climbing Through The Nine Layers Of Hell

February 22, 2011 By

Dantes InfernoWe’ve had a pretty interesting week and a half.

The labor and delivery of Christopher was crazy enough. 36hrs for the whole thing which included incorrect doses of petocin, a bag of water that didn’t quite break, contemplations of c-section and finally an incredibly intense, manic and painful hour and fifteen minuets for the complete dilation and birth. This is our third chid. I have experience in these things. I’ve never, ever, experienced anything like that in my life. It’s just nothing like the videos tell you. It never is.

Despite it all, Christopher was born and is fit as a fiddle. We walked out of the hospital, no wheelchair needed. Lisa felt great.

24hrs later Lisa has the chills and a slight fever. Nursing is not going so well. The fever and chills get worse. By the next day things are falling apart fast. Now Lisa develops a strange rash on her hands that looks like hand foot and mouth disease.We have a baby visit with the pediatrician who says he has lost more weight than he should and he’s jaundice. It’s from not nursing well which is due to Lisa’s sickness. So we start supplementing immediately.  It’s the weekend, of course, and our ob is not on call or available. The on call doc prescribes antibiotics. Seems sensible enough but we are worried about the rash so we go to a clinic on a cold, wet Portland night. The clinic doctor takes one look at Lisa and says she has no idea what the rash is but thinks we aught to get ourselves to a hospital right away. The baby is on the bottle now and is already looking better in good hands of  Lisa’s mother so off to the hospital we go. Lisa’s not looking so good.

It takes them awhile and many scans/tests but the hospital docs and our regular ob do decide that Lisa has a viral phenomena. She is having trouble breathing by this time and is clearly retaining too much fluid from the pregnancy. We end up spending the better part of three days in the hospital recovering from the phenomena.  Lisa feels terrible and misses the baby too. Finally she is well enough to go home, again.

By the time we get home our oldest daughter (12) has a bad case of the flu. She is as sick as I’ve ever seen her and she ends up missing an entire week of school. Now we’ve got a post pardom recovering mom who is also recovering from phenomena and a kid with the flu. By the end of the week our daughter is starting to feel a little better. I am putting our 2yr old to sleep and my stomach is killing me. I can’t stand it anymore and I puke, hard and heavy. It’s bad. I don’t leave bed for the next day and a half. I am nauseous when I stand and I have body aches and a headache like I’ve never known.

By the time I am able to be somewhat functional although still feeling bad, Lisa’s mom starts feeling it. She has the chills and feels sick. Her dad goes home that night and pukes all evening. It’s spreading and we’ve all got it. By the next day Lisa’s mom is slightly better but now Lisa is in full nauseous, body ache sick mode. Lisa stays in bed for a day and a half.

Today, Lisa made it out of bed. Her mom and dad are looking much better and I’m feeling better than I have in days. I think today we are breaking through the last layer of hell and are seeing a bit of daylight. Christopher, you are a beautiful child; perfect in every way, but the story of your birth and postpartum is a thing of legend.

Filed Under: Blog, Digital Dads, Health, Life Tagged With: , , , ,

Saccharin Not Dangerous but it Still Tastes Like S*it

January 31, 2011 By

sweetenersAfter more than 20 years the sugar substitute Saccharin has been declared no longer a hazardous substance by the EPA. Saccharin was one of the first artificial sugars to be developed and found its way into many products. Very quickly, however, the controversy started about Saccharin and potential cancer links. The other problem with Saccharin is that it taste horrible and bitter.

Even though Equal and Splenda have been around for many years, you can still find Saccharin at many restaurants and especially low quality gas stations. I have a long running problem with establishments that provide Saccharin exclusively. I know it’s probably much cheaper but no self respecting diabetic will eat that crap. I’m not saying you cannot have Saccharin, but you have to provide one of the other alternatives as well. I can’t tell you how many times I have found myself in a situation where there is only Saccharin available. I do try to carry my own but that’s not always convenient and dammit I shouldn’t have to. There are millions of diabetic customers in the world and as one of them I have to tell businesses that when you only offer Saccharin it feels like a slap in the face. I feel like you don’t care about me at all and you are not willing to a make a little extra effort to make me comfortable. It’s a subtle point of business but an important one.

Filed Under: Blog, Health, Life Tagged With: , , , ,

Steampunk Palin Comic

January 26, 2011 By

If I didn’t see it for myself I might think it wasn’t true, but there is indeed a new comic book featuring Sarah Palin in a Steampunk adventure. You could create a lot of different comics with Sarah Palin, but somehow the Steampunk genre fits well. I don’t think I’ll get or read the comic mostly because I don’t want to add any more monitory value to her name in any way even in jest. Still, I think it’s cool.

Filed Under: Blog, Culture, Politics Tagged With: , , ,

New Years With Ke$ha

January 1, 2011 By

Maybe we should set one thing straight first. I generally don’t give a crap about new years or it’s celebrations. It’s an excuse to get drunk, an excuse to get laid, an excuse to make promises you won’t keep. It’s ok to do something in acknowledgment of the changing of the year but new years is so overblown and filled with too many expectations. It’s true of most holidays, especially Christmas. I think it’s why people often get depressed around the holidays. It’s all too much and no one can possibly live up to the hype.

Hanging around new years eve watching the putrid crap that goes for new years eve coverage from New York is particularly depressing. This year the best ABC could do was Ke$ha and the Backstreet Boys. God bless Dick Clark, one of the legends in music but this is what his famous show has come down to; Ryan Seacrest standing next to Ke$ha for new years 2011.

Most people probably start their blog in the new year with something hopeful. Oh the great things I will do. I didn’t want to do that. I’m starting with an angry, angst filled rant. Why not? I’m not promising a damn thing to anyone, especially myself. There are plenty of things I need and want to do this year. None of it means a thing unless it happens. Action is everything; it’s the only thing. So I’ll leave it at that. Ke$ha is a no talent hack but she got more done than me last year. I have some catching up to do.

Filed Under: Blog, Culture Tagged With: , , ,

Portland: City Of Nicknames

November 28, 2010 By

StumptownEvery city has it’s nicknames but I’ve never seen a city with so many as Portland. The Rose City, Stumptown, P-Town, Bridgetown, Rip City, PDX. Did I miss any? I think I read that The City of Roses is now the official nickname so congratulations, at least we decided on something. My favorite is Stumptown. It is a somewhat obscure historical reference and has a good ring to it. I also love the coffee.

Filed Under: Blog, Portland

Portland Snow

November 27, 2010 By

Virginia in SnowComing from California to Portland this year we were really looking forward to some snow this winter. Boy did Portland ever deliver for us. Not only did we get some snow but from what I understand it never snows this early. I hope that means we may get some more as we get deeper into winter. We are so appreciating getting some actual seasons here. Summer was warm and dry, fall was fantastic with color and winter is actually wintery. I think it’s easier to enjoy summer when you’ve been through a cold and wet winter. In California it’s hard to appreciate anything because it’s warm and dry all the time. It’s monotonous. So thank you Portland for some actual winter. That was fun.

Filed Under: Blog, Portland Tagged With: , ,

Advanced Diabetes Research: LifeBeads

November 27, 2010 By

LifeBeadsBeing a diabetic I’m always on the lookout for new and promising developments in the field of diabetes research. Here is a super cool new technology from Japan where injectable glowing beads can indicate glucose levels. The technology could lead to 24/7 monitoring of glucose levels without any pin pricks to draw blood from a finger as is commonly done today. It’s a nice first step but still a little short of my ultimate dream which is for nanobots to not only do the glucose monitoring but also automatically release insulin as needed based on the glucose levels.

Filed Under: Blog, Health, Technology Tagged With: , , ,
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