Apopheniac

First BlogPhoto from Cameraphone

The low available light made it kind of grainy but here is Kirk playing with Michael at Sunday dinner.

Cingular Cellphone "I can text message"

After 4 years it was goodbye to Verizon and hello to Cingular as I became eligible for my employee rate plan and got my first Cingular phone. We have been using our Verizon phones with California numbers for the past year. Verizon doesn't offer service here in the panhandle. (Cellular One is the cmda presence.) It didn't really matter since noone calls our cells but us, but on occasion I sort of missed digital services like text messaging and internet.

Well I got my new Samsung E317 this weekend and bid Verizon "Adieu." Love the camera-phone and big colorful screen. Signal is loud and clear. "Bonjour, Cingular."

Bi-focals arrive. "I can see!"

Wow! It had apparently been years since I was able to sharply focus at distance.

Doctor's office called yesterday that my glasses were ready and I picked them up at lunch. These correct my vision to 20/15 so I find myself saying "Cool!" over and over as I view things sharply that yesterday were only approximations. I'm sure this has been experienced by everyone who got glasses they had really needed, but its my first turn. It sparks feelings of genuine gratitude for my vision.

With a nod to Ben Franklin, I order bi-focals

My insurance at the new job kicked in on the first so I made an appointment with the optometrist. I had tried this a few years back. At that time, I weighed the minimal improvement over my reading glasses against the over $100 that my (then crappy) insurance didn't cover, and decided to stick with the $10 reading glasses.

But time and age march on and I had been noticing it harder and harder to focus at distance. At the end of my exam, after we had selected the distance correction that seemed right for me, I could read the tiny letters on the wall. The doctor said, "Lets compare that to what you have been seeing," and removed the lenses. Hell, I couldn't even tell for sure that there were letters on the wall. I now eagerly await my new glasses. They even came with those sunglasses that clip on magnetically and my cost for exam and glasses was under $30. Cool!

Encyrypted message follows.

Simply the Best Milk

By the way Organic Valley is simply the best milk (imho). No anti-biotics, hormones or additives and the richest fullest flavor.

Glorious Day-offness

Ah, here it is Friday my delightful day off. On today's agenda is an eye exam, a trip to pickup a week's supply of organic milk and maybe later go see The Aviator.

Dumped Internet Explorer Moved to Firefox

This last security hole in IE was the last straw for me. Kirk had been testing Firefox for about a month and was satisfied with it so now it is installed on my machine. There was a brief period of slowness while all of the sites I had cached in IE were populated on the new browser. Now I am happily browsing in a much more secure environment.

Back to Blogging

It's simply amazing how employment and commuting bite into one's blogging time. I was looking back at how little I had been blogging lately and it is just about all attributable to working at a computer other than my own and the time it takes to dress and drive there. Commuting 60 feet in my pajamas and jeans was considerably easier, though not as lucrative, which was the rub.

I have gotten to the point at work where I can find my butt with both hands and am settling into something of a routine. Hopefully this means I will have more time to gather my thoughts and post them here.

I was pleased to see this week that Cingular is matching its employee's contributions to the tsunami victims via American Red Cross and UNICEF or Save the Children.

First chance to reflect on the new year.

As one of the new kids on the block, I worked Friday and Saturday so today is my first day of leisure to reflect on the new year we have before us. I slept in and have spent the last hour sipping coffee and catching up on my blog-read.

I am excited about the year's personal prospects. I am reaching a point of competence in the new job. The benefits kick in this month so we will be getting our Cingular phones and enjoying the peace of mind that comes from having health insurance again.

I am not necessarily so confident about the year coming for the US and the world. May God bless, heal and protect us all in the year to come.

Happy New Year from one of the People of the Year

In scanning the blogs that I browse every day to keep up on the world, I noted that ABC News named bloggers as their "People of the Year" . . . of course I agree and applaude their keen judgement.

I worked yesterday and had to be back early this morning so I went to bed at 10:30 and slept through the festivities.

Jean, Kirk and I wish the happiest of New Years you and your loved ones.