Lack of Updates and excuses

So I haven't updated in a while. I have excuses, by the bus load in fact! (minus the fact I don't own a bus and all that)

It has been a busy summer of doing a whole bunch of nothing! And then school started and I was trying to figure out how to schedule our lives what with having to be at the high school for 1 1/2 hours every weekday now, except Wednesday's where it is only 40 minutes. So. Hard.
Well, the whole figuring out the online school has been sort of hard, not as in it being online, but how they expect you to do everything. I would hate for my daughter to get in trouble because I didn't do something correctly in the order required. Noting that, I love love love having her in the online school. It seems easier for her (as well as me) and every school day is not filled with fighting and angst!

OK lets see what fun we can update about..

oh.. I got to have a surgery in August. I had a cardiac ablation surgery. It seems that what I thought was AFib was actually possibly Paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardis (PSVT) . And I say possibly because they can not rule out the original diagnosis of AFib since it is possible to have both. So I went in and had the SVT ablation and am now (*fingers crossed*) better! (If you are interested there is a copy of a SVT surgery video online to watch)

I have been attempting to teach my crazy dog Annie to box with me. She is not taking well to this however there are times that she will "slap" me when we are playing now. She is pretty dorky.
Cocoa has learned to sit up and look pitiful to get treats. I did not teach him this as I am such a sucker I give in when he does it. Too. Cute.
The cats, Steve and Dozer, have learned nothing new. I really should work on making them do things to get stuff but Steve doesn't like treats and Dozer will just kill me if I do not give in.

Alrighty, that is enough update for today. I think I shall go have some lunch now before time to reorganize the teenager bedroom some more.

Book Review

I just finished a book by Michael Crichton (an author that I love love love) that I had not heard about before, "State Of Fear".

State of Fear is, like many of Crichton's works, a fictional work that uses science and speculation for the storyline. The debate over global warming serves as the backdrop for the book. Crichton supplies a personal afterword and two appendices that link the fictional part of the book with real examples of his thesis.
The main villains in the plot are environmentalists. Crichton does place blame on "industry" in both the plot line and the appendices. Various assertions appear in the book, for example:
The science behind global warming is so incomplete that no reasonable conclusions can be drawn on how to solve the "problem" (or if the "problem" even exists).
Elites in various fields use either real or artificial crises to maintain the existing social order, misusing the "science" behind global warming.
As a result of potential conflicts of interest, the scientists conducting research on topics related to global warming may subtly change their findings to bring them in line with their funding sources.
Crichton argues for removing politics from science and uses global warming and real-life historical examples in the appendices to make this argument. In a 2003 speech at the California Institute of Technology he expressed his concern about what he considered the "emerging crisis in the whole enterprise of science—namely the increasingly uneasy relationship between hard science and public policy."

This book really makes you think about things. Yes it is fiction, yes it is from Mr. Crichton's imagination however the questions that it brings up are relevant. I believe in asking questions, ask anyone I know. They will tell you. I feel that the only way to ever really learn is to question everything! Even if you think you know everything about something, more than likely you do not.

The beginning of this book states:

This is a work of fiction. Characters, corporations, institutions and organizations in this novel are the product of the author's imagination, or, if real, are used fictitiously without any intent to describe their actual conduct. However, references to real people, institutions, and organizations that are documented in footnotes are accurate. Footnotes are real.

It's the footnotes and their context in the story that really makes you start to wonder. I found myself actually investigating these footnotes and their findings regarding Global Warming.
The end of the book includes the usual "Author's Message" as well 2 appendix's and a bibliography. I found appendix I to be the most interesting. Here Mr. Crichton uses past examples of scientific theory with their dire warnings that in retrospect were full of nothing but hot air and political maneuvering.
Any one out there ever hear of "eugenics"? The term was not something that I had really ever thought about until reading this appendix. Eugenics is the study and practice of selective breeding applied to humans. Think "master race", "Hitler". However, did you know that the United States began this prior to Hitler and WWII? Interesting isn't it. The list of those supporting this effort before WWII is also very interesting.
A little quote from appendix I in the book:

Eugenics research was funded by the Carnegie Foundation, and later by the Rockefeller Foundation. The latter was so enthusiastic that even after the center of the eugenics effort moved to Germany, and involved the gassing of individuals from mental institutions, the Rockefeller Foundation continued to finance German researchers at a very high level. (The foundation was quiet about it, but they were still funding research in 1939, only months before the onset of World War II.)

Now the parallels between pushing eugenics to the public and pushing the global warming theory to the public are extraordinary. It makes one think and wonder.

Now don't get me wrong, I still plan to do my part to help the environment. I don't see how that is a bad thing to do, however I am leaning toward the group that thinks this may be a bunch of hype, unproven and based on possibilities.

Either way, I do recommend this book. It is intriguing and I always love books that make me think!

WOW

I guess it has been a while since I posted here.
Sorry about that! It has been a busy crazy time lately!

I decided to enroll my daughter in online school for her 10th grade classes next year. I didn't realize it would be quite a complicated as it has been! Much paperwork and many things to fill out, then re-fill out as I filled them out incorrectly the first go round!

I should be back up and running to speed here shortly! I am planning to talk a little more about the fun of online high school and getting your child in!

K7 Unified Messaging, free Fax and voicemail to email.

I have found a nifty free service that is great if you want a phone number to give out that doesn't compromise your personal number, or if like me you need to be able to get fax's and don't have a land line or fax machine.

K7 Unified Messaging, free Fax and voicemail to email.

It is quick and easy to set up, and FREE which I always love.

You do get a 206 number, which works perfect for me.

You can have your voicemail's and fax's sent directly to your email address without them being stored on K7's server, or you can opt to have a copy kept there as well.

You just have to remember to at least have a call every 30 days (even if you call yourself) or they will consider it inactive and possibly terminate the account. Really that's no big deal, and not much different than some of the free email services that require a log in every so often.

Building Tweeter Pods for the Mustang

So the boyfriend he loves his music. Loudly - with emphasis and definition and all that!
He used to be an installer, way back in "the day", way back before Car Toys was the big thing that it is. Way back when he was like employee 14 or some such thing.
So he decided that the mustang needed sound - serious sound. However, the Infinity Reference 6830CS components needed a place for the tweeter to go. He decided to put them in the sail area on the door but how to mount them? He looked high and low for something that looked like he wanted and finally came to the decision that he was just going to have to be creative and make them himself.

He started with the sails, and a piece of plastic battery cover from a doorbell.

He then used a hole saw in the same size as the tweeter mounts and cut his hole! (Brave! I wouldn't have been so brave as there was NO REPLACEMENT SAIL IF MESSED UP!!)

So far so good! A little sanding for bonding purposes and on to the next step... figuring out where exactly and at what angle exactly the tweeter mounts needed to be.

OK set! Now, to make them stay exactly in place and angle, he needed to fashion that plastic battery door cover to work just how he wanted.

Use a steak knife to make the initial cuts (dang good thing that isn't one of the good ones honey!)

Then for "precision" use the file! (Bonus action shot!)

Now to make everything behave and stay where it belongs all you need is hot glue!

Very nice, and creative and working well!

Next comes the shaping of the angles and use of bondo! Bondo seems like a fun thing, however I was not allowed to play with it. Seems that it gets hot and, well, bonds! and the worry was what exactly I was going to bond with what...

However the pods are looking mighty nice and coming along..

Nice angle and everything. All they need is sanding to knock down and smooth out the edges.

Ready for paint! Let me tell you how fun it is to try to match paint that is not new, that has been sun faded. Not fun at all no sir!

However, we did come up with this! (Like how I say we.. it makes me feel as if I played a part in this process)

Waiting for them to dry, he went and installed the other parts of the speaker in the doors while I took pictures! I love taking pictures!

OK! Install and test time!

Passenger side! Looks good - sounds GREAT!

Driver Side

They are perfect! Not all "In your face! Look I have tweeters!" like the ones we found prefabbed online.

They of course sound wonderful. Much fuller sound. Can not wait until "we" redo the subwoofers in the trunk and I bring you the fun and excitement of the building of the sub enclosures and install of the amps! He has big plans for the trunk!

Maybe I will try to get a decent camera before then however - I love my cell phone camera (enV Touch) but it just isn't giving me the picture quality I am looking for!

iPod, FourSqare and random entertainment!

Since I can not seem to find a decent app to blog to you all from my iPod, I am doing this directly from the Opera app.
It isn't all that easy but I had to do it just one time at least to say I had!

I also grabbed the FourSquare app and have been having quite a lot of fun with that around town. Thankfully Redmond is highly tech addicted with lots of free wireless public areas since I have yet to invest in any sort of mobile wifi for myself, however it is now on the list since I found those geocaching apps as well!

Happy Birthday to my Son

Happy Birthday David.

1992 (2 years)

2010 (20 years)

No matter how old you get, you will still always be my baby boy!