Day 362

We're rounding the bend and on the home stretch of one year.  One year ago, my father was in the ICU on the 4th or 5th floor.  This is the second visit to ICU.  About this time, he was getting dialysis in his room.  A very nice nurse was with us the first time.  I distinctly remember that dad was getting cold - that happens when they cannot keep your blood at 98 degrees.  The nurse told me to get a warm blanket and put it on his head like you would a scarf.  The first time I did that for him, there was such a joy in his eyes, like a little kid who just received the wish he had always wanted.

This was his new favorite, a warm blanket around his head.

Rudy relaxing

Rudy relaxing
Originally uploaded by Cindi with an "i"

At football practice.

Sean's last year of DL

Earthquake survival…They had an app for that

Awaiting his fate
Woolley is nearsighted and lost his glasses in the quake. But by using the focusing light on his camera and taking pictures, he was able to figure out where he was and where to go. And thanks to the iPhone first-aid app he’d downloaded, he knew how to fashion a bandage and tourniquet for his leg and to stop the bleeding from his head wound. The app also warned him not to fall asleep if he felt he was going into shock, so he set his cell phone’s alarm clock to go off every 20 minutes.

 

The above is from an interview a US survivor did with the Today show.  http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/34933053/ns/today-today_people/

2010 is here!

It’s been quite some time since I’ve written.  All my time for about 6 months was overwhelmingly focused on studying.  I am very happy to say that I’ve passed all exams that I chose to take, and did it in a company record of 6 months.   I received three internationally recognized business certifications.  CSQA through the Quality Assurance Institute  Certified Software Quality Analyst  The International Institute of Business Analyst’s Certified Business Analyst Professional  And lastly, the Project Management Institute’s Project Management Certification. 

I turned 40 a couple years ago and my teeth haven’t been the same since…Not to mention the reading glasses that I must wear now if I want to see anything.  Getting old is terrible. 

Snotty Little One Year-Old

Snotty Little One Year-Old (2)
Originally uploaded by poodlephile_lucy

I apologize for being away so long. Taking three major certifications exams in the span of a handful of months makes for very little spare time.

Appearing in this photo is UKC Grand Champion Admiration's Come Fly With Me. She reached Grand Champion status in May 2009.

The Key to the Keyboard

Lifted directly off the MSNBC web site.

To understand Lenovo's concern, turn the clock back to the 1800s.

Back then, fast typing would jam typewriters, so a keyboard layout that slowed down flying fingers was devised. The commonly used "A" key, for example, was banished to the spot under the relatively uncoordinated left pinky.

Typewriter technology evolved. Mainframe computing led to function keys and others of uncertain use today. The PC era dawned. Yet many laws of keyboard layout remain sacred, like the 19-millimeter distance between the centers of the letter keys.

Tom Hardy, who designed the original IBM PC of 1981, said companies have tried many times to change the sizes of keys. That first PC had a smaller "Shift" key than IBM's popular Selectric typewriter did, and it was placed in a different spot, in part because the industry didn't think computers would replace typewriters for high-volume typing tasks.

IBM reversed course with the next version to quiet the outcry from skilled touch-typists.

"Customers have responded with a resounding, 'Don't fool with the key unless you can you can improve it,'" said Hardy, now a design strategist based in Atlanta.

 

For the entire story, click HERE