On Las Virgenes through the canyons as I am coming into Malibu.
October 2007 Thirty-two posts
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I’m sure it’s for a good cause
via Uncle Eddy
Fun things I noted recently, Neil joined my MyBlogLog (we’re up to 1 member, yay!), and also that he had mentioned me in a blog post but I had missed it. Kind words. Neil’s a very funny writer.
Headed to work now. Yesterday was good. Hoping for likewise today.
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Misc and Max
Some strangeness afoot. Police apparently came in the house while I was in the tub and looked around looking for some dude (Ryan Reynolds?). They didn’t bug me.
Also, my Windows 2003 and my iTunes and my old 1GB iPod Shuffle are not playing well. Jerks.
Yuck!
I tried the iPod Reset Utility, I tried the instructions which included making a .BAT file, and I tried the normal process of allowing iTunes to reset the firmware. No dice and Windows would hang — complete freeze, and I was unable to quit iTunes as an application or as a process. UGLY. I also tried going into Hardware Manager, but the iPod would not be read there.
I was able to get it working on my older Mac G4. It’s slower, but with the Mac iPod Reset Utility things worked.
So I’m giving up syncing my podcasts from Windows and moving to the Mac. Really I need to get a new Mac — for work and for things like this, but that’s not in the budget yet, and if I can’t pay cash, I can’t do it.
Meanwhile, in the interwebs, where things are funny and do not require you to look at Windows Event Logs, check out this: Gabe and Max’s How to Get the Dreamlife of Your Dreams Using the Internet Thing
That made me laugh.
Elsewhere, this post by Adrian Belew about Frank Zappa made me cry.
I suggest you watch the funny video before you read the crying-making thing.
Onward!
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Mom’s Cancer News
So I mentioned yesterday, ever-so-briefly, that there was some news about the pathology report from my Mom’s kidney, which was removed. This morning my father sent me an updated and elaborated diagnosis, and more information. This may prove useful to someone, and is definitely useful to family and friends who would like an update.
First off, a link about staging Kidney Cancer from the American Cancer Society: Detailed Guide: How Is Kidney Cancer (Renal Cell Carcinoma) Staged?.
Next, here’s the deal on my Mom’s cancer, straight from my Dad this morning. My annotations are enclosed in (((triple-parentheses))):
Mom is Stage 4 — based on the fact she has mets to lung and brain. Under TNM system (((American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC), sometimes also known as the TNM system))) she is T1B (((Tumor is larger than 4 cm but smaller than 7 cm (about 2¾ inches) and is limited to the kidney))), NX (((Regional lymph nodes cannot be assessed (information not available).))), M1 (((Distant metastasis present; includes metastasis to nonregional (not near the kidney) lymph nodes and/or to other organs (such as the lungs, bones, or brain).))) — which means the tumor was not locally invasive, that the nodes (N) are unknown, and M1 which means metastasis has occurred. Her Karnovsky score (((More about Karnovsky Performance Status))) is perfect — her overall health, and her Furhman grade (((The most widely used and most predictive grading system for renal cell cancer is the “Fuhrman Nuclear Grade”. Your pathology report should use the Fuhrman Grade. Fuhrman grade is on a scale of I-IV, where grade I carries the best prognosis and grade IV the worst. Nuclear grade means that the system is based on just the appearance of the nuclei of the cancer cells, rather than the appearance or structure of the cells as a whole. Nuclear characteristics used in the Fuhrman Grade particularly indicate how actively the cells are making protein. Source.))) — how aggressive tumor looks microscopically — number of mitotic figures, is grade 2 — putting it all together survival should be 80% or better for 5 years. Of course new chemo drugs may improve on this. Dad
This is terrific news, and given my Mother’s amazing attitude, on full display back in this article, I have great hope.
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Reader Subscription Stats are Complicated
Check out more information over at the FeedBurner Blog: Burning Questions • Google Reader Subscription Stats and FeedBurner
I don’t pay too much attention to stats, but I do watch for folks coming in through referring links. FeedBurner is pretty cool, I use the FeedSmith plugin referenced.
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Good Weekend
It was a good weekend.
Pumpkin pie.
Paychecks arrived on-time.
Bills paid on-time.
Leah‘s still back: awesome. Latest photos? Terrific.
Heard good things from my sister by text message about the cytology of my Mom’s cancer. She continues to recover from her surgery. As Drudge would say… developing.
Not looking forward to the traffic today since the horrible happenings this weekend. But into it I will go. Various traffic sites indicate minimal problems though, so here goes.
And today’s video selection is “Lowercase n:” (via Panopticist)
And if you didn’t like that, just go back and watch Nellie the Elephant. That one’ll get your day started right.
Later!
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.NET, Miguel de Icaza
A few weeks ago Miguel de Icaza, the firebrand behing Mono, the open source implementation of Dot Net, posted a bit about the punditry about Microsoft’s decision to allow folks to look at the code behind Dot Net. Not exactly open sourcing it. Got that, he was talking about those talking about it: A Journey Into the Dumb-o-Sphere. Well, I did some googling and found the two dummies he was referring to here and here.
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Flowchart of the Day
Over on Worse than Failure, there’s a thoughtful essay about the usual software is impossible: Avoiding Development Disasters. The graphic looks right to me. A dozen paths to failure. Success rare.
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Required Viewing for the Music Business
via Mark Evanier, Flo and Eddie, aka The Turtles, explain their storied relationships with lawsuits and bad managers:
The music business is a cesspool, always has been. Sad.