A Plug for Google Reader

Good health has given me a chance to play around online more than usual and work more at keeping up with other people. I was sitting in the coffee shop a few days back, and I noticed several computers with Facebook open and active the entire time (mine included). This seems to be most people's idea of "keeping up with people". I am not sure how most people make use of Facebook. I spend my hours refreshing to see who's posted the latest update, who's liked a comment or status of mine (after finding a 'like', I immediately pat myself on the back for having a "good" post). Occasionally I have a need to actually communicate with someone and I have to break away in order to send a private message. But then it's right back to the routine.

I generally consider the above to be wasting time. It seems to be an addiction. "The evil which I would not, that I do." In addition to wasting my time, it often distracts me from reading the things I should read and keeping up with personal blogs etc of friends. But because out of sight is out of mind, I rarely visit these sites / blogs in my daily browsing. Here's where Google Reader comes into play. I ran into it by accident one day when I was inquiring into RSS feeds, of which I formerly knew nothing. Clicking on the RSS icon of one of my favorite blogs lead my to Google Reader, and now, reciprocally, Reader guides me to my favorite blogs.

With Reader, blogs are no longer out of sight. Rather, they flaunt themselves in bold print every time there's a new posting. New postings are now almost impossible to miss, even when I want to. And I'm not limited to following must blogs with the RSS logo. I can punch in any website that changes on occasion, and Reader "creates a feed" for it. I'm not sure what that entails technically, but it sounds pretty neat to me. No longer do I have to waste time keying in the addresses to the sites I want to check, only to be disappointed that it hasn't changed since last time I was there. Now, it's all right in front of me, "In sight, in mind".

This is all a good start. Having interesting material popping up in front of me should distract me from my FBing and keep me reading new and interesting stuff. Now, is there a website that will inspire me to analyze and do something with this information?

What's up?

This is a quick update that I might not be able to finish because relatives will be coming in the door any minute and I'll have to switch focus. I'm in New Mexico, sitting at an iMac, or something of the sort, which is not my usual habit. I have mornings free and have been doing some reading. So what am I doing and thinking about with all this spare vacation time?

An interesting book I found around the house: RC Sproul, The Consequence of Ideas. I'm reigniting my interest in philosophy, including my long-standing love of Aristotle, who I have little knowledge of, so it's a rather unfounded love. But I think it's reasonable anyway. Make sense of that and if you disagree, well, whatever. Tell me I don't make sense. I'm not forcing you to read or agree. Ummmm. . . . other various philosophers / theologians are also on the table. If you have a favorite, tell me and maybe I'll add him to the list. Alvin Plantinga anybody?

Next thing, I have to think of a topic for tomorrow. I've been invited by one of the science teachers here to make a guest appearance in his class, which means I need something interesting to appear with. I'm looking into a little demonstration of making nylon, but I need the right materials. (for the chemists out there, it seems that it is an interfacial condensation polymerization that will be taking place. Some argue that the term condensation reaction is not exactly correct, but it remains in the chemistry texts for historic purposes. I'm not a chemist. I'm not sure).

Finally. . . I'm still looking for cookie recipes to impress the friends and relatives with over Christmas. Some of you may have commented on favorite cookies on facebook. This is your opportunity to post the full recipe below!! (since there's room, which there isn't necessarily on FB). Last week it was Snickerdoodles, but I'm trying to find somebody who knows what those three layer brownies are that I've been looking for but haven't found.

Maybe another update or two before I leave New Mexico. That all depends on how much time I'm not spending reading, puzzling, or knitting (hehe), or watching movies, going out for coffee, whatever else in between. I look forward to seeing all my Michigan friends when I get back. For the rest of you, common over to michigan. It's a better place than wherever you're at ;-)

Not forgotten, just busy

Hi All,

You might have thought I forgot about my formerly faithful blogging habits. I have not. Truth is, there's not much interesting to report on my health status. I suppose it has been 4 weeks since I finished up chemotherapy. That's pretty exciting! Praise God for that! (there are few things in live not to praise God for, but this one may deserve particular attention, for me anyway). So I've been at full strength for the last three weeks and am enjoying it heartily! Unfortunately, there are many other things that take away from the joys of life, such as other people dying of cancer at young ages. Yuck! It stinks to think about. But I know some of them from a distance, and it's very disturbing to me. I still believe that God has a purpose for it. Life is NOT about escaping from suffering. God is found most closely IN suffering. e.g. our salvation was only made possible by the suffering of our risen Savior. How cool is that!!

So what am I going to do now? Well, on Monday, I look forward to a PET / CT scan. That will perhaps show my doctor what sort of, if any, treatment I need next. I'm hopeful that I won't need Any! That's why I'm exercising, doing fun things, eating healthily for the most part, enjoying life, and not thinking about disease. Some of these things might be helpful in staving it off. Oh, and my theory that eating a carrot and a sweet potato per day may keep the doctor far away ;-) (carrots must be chewed carefully these days and usually take me about 1/2 hour to eat!)

And next week I'm off to see my awesome relatives in New Mexico! That will be great times! I need to bring a book or two while they all teach during morning and afternoon. It will be good relaxing time while I catch up from all the later activities of the previous day. I think I asked for book suggestions in previous posts, so I won't ask again. Besides, I have 10 books that I'm actively / passively reading right now. Wohoo!

Well, that takes care of my duty to up date you all in a new post. Perhaps I will write of my experiences in NM, or I will wait till I get back. Stay tuned for some health updates in about 2 weeks when I see my doctor next.

The end

Picture

This post has nothing to do with me or my health, except that I took the photo, and I was healthy when I did it. Unedited.

To Do List

I will share one of the basic pieces of my life: I have a to-do list. I'm a procrastinator, and a disorganized one at that. On my to-do list for the week is to write a blog entry. But just because it's on the list doesn't mean it gets done this week. I might just get moved every week to the next week until I decide to just neglect it forever. I'll come back to this. . .

An update on my health: I feel grand! Good as ever. Unfortunately, my white blood count is too low, so I haven't had a treatment session for about 4 weeks. Next week I will probably be healthy enough for another treatment. I'm eager to get these done with. I should have only 3 more left. But that's not something I'm focusing on. I'm eager to be disease free, and so far it seems that that's where I'm heading. Not that it's a guarantee, or that it will stick around even for the next 3 months after treatment. But I'm hopeful. Thanks to all who have and are praying. I suppose what I heard from some source (sorry I don't remember who to give credit to), that the reason it's good to have many praying is that when God answers that prayer, many can rejoice in his goodness. Of course that assumes that you're praying the right prayer. God may not choose to answer it in a way that makes you immediately want to rejoice. But that becomes your problem and not mine ;-)

Back to my to-do list. Entry 3 for the week says "Volunteer Search". That's my sloppy way of telling myself to "look for someplace to volunteer, make yourself useful maybe once a week, in something that you enjoy". A few people have offered suggestions already -- Rest Haven, Spectrum, Kent County Jail, PRC. Thanks to all for those ideas. If you have any other ideas, I'd love to hear them. Or if you have specific ideas for what to do with the aforementioned facilities, let me know that too. I'm quite serious about this, even if I do procrastinate on it for a few more weeks. I'm curious to begin exploring my options.

That's it for now. All you silent stalkers, this is the time to comment and make yourselves. I look forward to the input, or random comment, whichever you like!

On Government Doles

I'm not one who likes to take money without working for it, but these days, I reluctantly find myself on multiple government doles (check my usage :-). Disability insurance (non-government), social security, and unemployment. And no, it isn't considered double-dipping, else I wouldn't be posting it. It works out to be enough to get me by. Anyone who's been out of work for more than a few weeks knows how dull and undesirable a state that is. Add to it chemotherapy and it becomes 100x worse. But I'm hopeful to return to a "productive roll" in society at some point in the near future. Not that I consider myself unproductive at the moment. It's just a type of productivity that doesn't and shouldn't pay.

Waiting

I'm still waiting for my old computer to boot up. I've been working on it for two weeks now. Without my computer, it's pretty hard to write new posts. But here goes on an other computer. Life is complicated. I don't need to say it again. You all know what I'm talking about if you've lifed on earth for more than 5 seconds. But some of us experience it differently, and some of us are asleep at the wheel and just don't realize it. I don't think I ever realized it like this before. I think it's my general disposition to being positive, whatever that means. But I really don't think about all the troubles and complicating factors of my life, except last week when sailing looked like a lot of fun but I couldn't do it because water and I don't agree with each other anymore. But complications are all around me. I'm really not talking about the computer issue anymore. That's just a minor blip. It doesn't even count. Not having a computer allows me time to think about life, work on organization (there's no place to step in my room -- that's because I'm organizing junk that has been stowed away for decades), and work on friendships. These things are all much more enjoyable than email, facebook, and all other sorts of digital entertainment. But the complicating thing is that without reliable access to a computer, the job front is hard to work.

It's been two full weeks now since my job dissolved right in front of me, like that candy I'd been saving since Easter that turned out to be hollow once I'd sucked away at the outer layer for a few minutes. There just wasn't anything left after the initial excitement. But perhaps that's life with a health crisis. I never know what to expect. There are so many things to do in order to try to maintain my professional life -- all of them require a computer. Okay, most of them. I've rediscovered the joy of libraries, though, which help me get by without logging on to the internet. So many magazines to browse that I never would have picked up before. Including the business journals, which, I presume, are there to help me find new local work to do. I'm searching for ideas. Trying to figure out what the next business problem will be so I can solve it. Unfortunatly, that kind of big thinking isn't for me. So most likely I am still looking for tradional work. But we will see where that leads. It's been so long sice I have had to think about making professional cold-calls on people. I used to find that fun, but I don't remember how to find that enjoyment out of it anymore. Perhaps that has gone, along with my former health. But I have not choice. I need to make it fun, otherwise I won't be doing it.

For now, though, I'm waiting out the simple life. I'm not eager to get to the more complicated things. Today, painting; tomorrow, a day of rest; Monday the pressure to get back to a high-tech world will come back around and I'll have to get to that computer, but for now, just a few minutes at a borrowed computer because I was compelled to write, then back to old fashion life. I can't wait!