TAKING CARE OF A LOVED ONE - PART ONE

I’ve come to the conclusion that getting old can sometimes really suck. It shouldn’t but it can. My mother will be 91 in August and still has a tremendous will to live. There is so much she wants to do in her life and she talks about it all the time. This is a good thing.

However saying you want to do something and actually doing it are two completely different things. Mom is partially bionic. She’s had both knees replaced and just last year she had a full shoulder replacement as well. The last surgery was probably the most difficult on her. She has never fully bounced back. Mom has pretty constant chronic pain and, given the choice, would prefer to stay in bed all day long. (She doesn’t have that choice too often as I try not to let her.)

We have the technology to keep people alive but the problem appears to be that we may just be living too long. There are many older people who, after living long, healthy, productive lives are seeing their brains start to basically shut down. They may be able to handle day-to-day functions but their short term memory starts to go. (I know – that happens to a lot of us but this can happen more frequently to the elderly.) Weakness sets in so that, although they may wish to go out for a coffee every day, they are not physically capable of doing so. And the more they give in to their aches and pains and baby themselves by staying in bed, the weaker they get.

Some give in to it totally and give up. Their lives consist of staying in bed and going to doctor appointments – even though there is no reason for them to do so because there is nothing wrong with them. Their doctors tell them this but television and magazine advertising by pharmaceutical companies seem to be a bigger persuader than the doctors.

Then you get someone like my Mom who really doesn’t want any more medications and would rather be doing stuff but just can’t. The lack of strength, etc. becomes even more debilitating. Getting Mom dressed and downstairs each day is a chore when she is feeling well. When, as now, she is feeling poorly, it is close to impossible.

It doesn’t help that over the last few years several of her friends have passed away – the majority of them younger than her. Although she denies it, it has to be depressing.  

                Over the past few weeks Mom has woken up with what are called “night sweats.” She’ll phone me (we use my cellphone and her landline as an intercom system in addition to a baby monitor) and I’ll go in to dry her off. Her temperature, oxygen intake and pulse are all healthy/normal yet she doesn’t feel right.

           Last week I took her to see her primary care physician who said that perhaps she had a “hidden fever.” He prescribed an antibiotic to fight the wheezing she’s been having along with her shortness of breath. Since then she has had some more episodes of shortness of breath and wheezing which could be attributed to the very humid weather we’ve been having. However today she was adamant that I get her to the hospital – something she is not fond of doing.

                The upshot is that she went to the Emergency Room where we spent most of the day. Tests showed nothing wrong but, again the diagnoses of “hidden fever”  was given. I will say that after getting some fluids via IV she seemed to bounce back so, even though the bloodwork did not show dehydration as a cause, maybe she still had a touch of it.

                Believe me, it is as frustrating to the doctors as it is to us. And all I can do is observe her and report back to her doctors what I observe. This does help them a bit – whether it’s to rule out things or just to try and narrow things down.

                So, just like with a child that might get ill, if you have a parent or other elderly person in your household who starts complaining, remember to observe and keep careful notes so that you can discuss it with that person’s doctor when you make an appointment (or the ER doctor if it comes to that.) Many seniors will, when they talk to the doctor, only tell him/her about what is troubling them at that moment.

I have noticed this with my mother. I’ll make an appointment about her feeling dizzy but, when we get to the doctor’s office her knees are bothering her from her arthritis then, when the doctor enters and asks what is wrong she will concentrate on her knee pain.

                Many seniors will also either be constant complainers or they will be stoics. You will either be constantly subjected to a litany of what’s wrong with them or you will notice that they are in pain or something is wrong and they won’t discuss it with you until the pain or whatever it is becomes unbearable. This is another area where being extremely observant is important.

                 Now I keep saying to be observant. It is important that you also be as objective as possible. This may include having friends of yours over to see if they notice the same things. When you are a caregiver you tend to get overinvolved with the person you are caring for. This means you may become a bit subjective and see what isn’t there. The trick is to take a big step backwards regularly and make certain that what you think you observe is really what is there.

                With most of today’s medical practices and the constraints put on the doctors by insurance companies here in the U.S., many doctors cannot practice medicine the way they would like to. That is – they cannot spend as much time as they would like with each and every patient. Where I live we are lucky – many doctors will spend as much time as they can with each patient and they also follow up with phone calls (or have a staff member do it) in order to be sure everything is OK.  By keeping accurate observations and even writing them down to hand to the doctor when he/she walks in you can make the best use of their time and the patient’s time as well ensuring better care.

                Another thing to have and bring extra copies to every office and ER/hospital visit is a printout of every medication the person is currently taking (including temporary medications and herbal supplements) along with a list of allergies. Additionally bring along with a medical history to the best of your/the patient’s ability.

                You can save a lot of time, and earn the respect of medical staff, if you keep these lists on your computer, update them regularly and bring a printout with you to each visit. If it is a trip by ambulance to the ER then make THREE copies: one for the ambulance personnel as they may need it for insurance filing or other reasons, one for the ER personnel (which you can hand to the ambulance people saying “one is for you and the other for the ER” and one that you bring with you in case anyone has any questions and hasn't seen the printout.

                Tomorrow we will deal with four important issues that should be addressed to ensure smooth health and end-of-life care for everyone.

SOCIAL MEDIA - HOW DO I FOLLOW A PERSON?

I’m not talking about stalking here but rather Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and other social media sites along with blogs. There are several reasons to connect with people online. These fall into several categories and that’s what today’s post is about. Personally I use Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn along with a couple of the aggregators and a couple of the music and photo sites such as blip.fm, twitpic, etc . Other people use many more sites than I do and I raise my glass to them.

Facebook:

First you have your true friends. These are friends that you know in real life and who you are in touch with in a multitude of ways. Online connections are just an additional way to keep up with them and possibly feel closer as you read about their day-to-day adventures. You get to see more photos of their families and yes, sometimes even see what they are eating for dinner. Remember – these true friends can be people you have met over the years through social functions, business events or other ways. You may have only met them recently and yet have struck such a bond with them that you feel like you have known them forever or don’t know what your life would be without them.

Next you might have “those people.” These are the people you used to know or had some other potential connection with. As an example, I am the co-administrator of my high school online alumni group. As such I try to not only connect with people who went to the school via the alumni group but also directly as friends. In my case it works because the school was a small school  with an average class size of 12 people from grades 1 through 12 and the school was only around for less than 20 years. This might not work with a larger school or other organization but there are people that you never met, that will still try to connect with you because you must have passed each other in the hallway for their last year there. “Those people” and whether or not to connect with them are a judgment call.

Going on from there, you have what I refer to as “affinity friends.” These are people that you have a loose tenuous relationship with. It may be that you share a common interest such as stamp collecting or esoteric politics or chain mail making. You connect through a fan page on Facebook or another site and again, you may or may not interact. In fact you may never ever meet other than that one time you pushed the “confirm” button.

Then there are friends of friends – people that you begin to have a conversation with on a mutual friends page due to a comment your mutual friend made or people you have met via an introduction (online or via email) through another friend. These folks can be extremely interesting and actually become friends over time.

Add to that people who are open networkers. When I first started on Facebook that is what I was. I accepted any and all friend requests. I quickly shot up to almost 5000 friends and had no room left for people I actually knew.  Most of these people were connections from LinkedIn where I was also an open networker. I rapidly realized that I had to make a decision and I did. I posted on my Facebook page that I was going to start weaning out people I did not know.

Now prior to doing cut-down process I actually had some great interactions with some of my LinkedIn connections via Facebook. I kept them as friends. But everyone else went and I am down to a “manageable” 626 friends now. What’s scary – but in a good way -  is that I actually know most of them in person. There are probably about 40 or so that I only know from online or through an affinity connection.

Facebook does have a cap of approximately 5000 people that you can friend. To get around that limitation you will need either a fan page or a group page. But while those pages will certainly let you communicate with more people it isn’t the same as a true friend page.

Twitter:

Until someone spams me or if they spew vitriolic garbage that shoots my blood pressure through the roof, I will let anyone follow me on Twitter. I figure that if you are really that interested in what I have to say then go ahead. Listen. Unfortunately Twitter does have a 1999 follower limit of sorts. You can only follow 1999 people until more than 2000 people are following you. Once you go past that magic 2000 number you can follow as many people as you want – with a caveat. You cannot just jump in and follow 500 people at once. Twitter has a couple of algorithms designed to try and thwart spammers. If you follow to many people on the same day you will find your account blocked. (By the way – I’m about 500 short so feel free to follow me on Twitter where I’m known as @PAWeissenstein. Just be aware I won’t be able to follow you back so no offense intended.)

Now how do you choose who to follow on Twitter. For some people the rules for Facebook that I stated above apply. Others, once they have reached the 2000 people following them mark, will follow everyone back. While following everyone back may mean that you will find something worthwhile, and you will also, in theory, expand your influence, you will probably need to develop your own rules on how to handle that. Many people will use a client such as TweetDeck, Seismic or HootSuite in order to manage their Twitter account(s). These tools will let you create columns which will then sort your incoming tweets by people, category, etc. The true Power Users have no choice but to utilize these and the other programs out there in order to maintain their feeds and interactions. But then again, this can become almost a full time job and one has to make the decision on how much time do you wish to put in to your social media life?

LinkedIn:

LinkedIn is a great job searching tool. You can find things out on LinkedIn and garner leads that you just can’t do anywhere else. Unfortunately the spammers have also discovered that over the last couple of years as well. Whether to keep your network open – meaning you accept all invites or closed – meaning you only accept invites from people you know or have actually met is a personal decision and also a debate that has raged on since LinkedIn was started. There are pluses and minuses to both sides of the story. The one thing I strongly suggest is that you do get as many of your friends and family connected to you on LinkedIn as possible. Then you can make the best decision for yourself.

Blogs – while I will take the time to read a lot of blogs they won’t all make it on to my blogroll. This is not intended to offend anyone. I could easily create a blogroll that would take so much time to read that one wouldn’t have time to read the blogs! So I use a double edge sword there. First I list the blogs of a few of my friends that I really think the world should get to know. Then I list blogs where friends of mine and I all think are worth sharing. It is impossible to read each and every blog I would like to read every single day but I will do my best. I may not comment on each blog I read either. I don’t expect comments every day on my posts either because of that. I just hope people are reading it.

Other social media sites – there are many other sites out there such as NING, MySpace, etc. It is always your decision as to where and what you will participate. I have, over the years, signed up for several other sites but tend not to use them at all. Why? It’s simple. The internet is really like a cavern filled with pirate’s treasure filled with real jewels and gold as well as lots of fool’s gold. In my opinion, unless one is running a business which relies on internet feedback one needs to choose how much time and how many places they will participate in before it overwhelms oneself.

Certainly there are programs out there that can help you manage everything but at what point do you give your own personality up to a program? This requires a lot of thought.

So that’s it in a nutshell from one individual person . What’s your take on this?

TOE-ING THE LINE - PART 3

Today is the 7th day after the surgery on my foot and I had my first follow-up with the surgeon. As most surgeons are, he was very pleased with his work. And he should be. I can already see that there will be no scar from the incision. Of course the fact that he is a plastic surgeon probably means that I should have expected that. 

Most people in the United States hear the term "plastic surgeon" and think they only do cosmetic surgery, Hollywood and tummy tucks. Nothing could be further from the truth. Plastic surgeons do much much more than that.

While it is true a chunk of business comes from “Botox Babes,” “Nostril Nellies,” “Tummy Tonis” and other body augmentation/re-arrangements they are highly trained professionals who also do reconstructive procedures to accident victims, surgery on the nerves, etc. 

Several years ago my mother had a serious fall and hit her head on a bookcase cutting open her forehead. She also damaged the optic nerve in her left eye. At the hospital, the eye doctor – a skilled surgeon himself – actually had a plastic surgeon do the procedure. Today you see no scar on my Mom’s forehead. Unfortunately they were unable to save the optic nerve but they did do wonderful work.

The doctor who did my procedure also did marvelous work. Rather than my seeing him again at his office, I will see him in two weeks at the Wound Clinic when I go for my bi-weekly appointment for my toe.

Oh – and my toe, instead of pointing up towards the heavens, now is flat – the way it should be!

SPRINGTIME THOUGHTS AND MEMORIES

If you live in a house the time tends to arrive each spring when you start thinking about the garden. Now I am extremely fortunate in that I have a friend of mine who is extremely gifted at landscaping/planting and he takes care of this for Mom and me.

Last fall he planted a bunch of tulips, daffodils and other bulbs and they have come up adding a flash of color to the outside of the house. This fall he’ll plant more.

My house is pretty much surrounded by trees. Due to the pine trees some of the soil is extremely acidic. Both these situations limit what exactly one can plant. Fortunately there are several plants the fit the bill. One of these is hosta. To me hosta is a pretty weed. I say this because it grows and grows. Each year it gets a bit bigger and spreads out a bit more.

Fortunately it has attractive leaves and so it will be used in areas where trial and error have shown that we cannot plant anything else and expect good results. As Mom says “As long as it’s green!”

Of course she said that about the lawn in the back of the house which had gone pretty much to moss. Fortunately there have been huge advances in lawn products – specifically grass seed and this year the moss is gone and new grass is coming in.

It is nice going outside each day and seeing yet another burst of blooms coming up somewhere around the house. Some of the summer plants have been picked up while more will be gotten over the next couple of days. So I expect that the majority of our summer plantings will be in place by next weekend. I will get a photo and post it at one point as well.

Seeing flowers coming out of the ground does something very positive to one’s outlook on life. Looking out the window after hearing what you think is a car door slamming to see that it’s Mama Bear and her two little cubs going through your dumpster also reminds you of the “circle of life.” Yes – every year in the spring we get a mama bear coming through the neighborhood trying to scavenge food. One year she actually managed to tip the entire dumpster and I watched as she carefully brought each bag over to a small area of our backyard where she opened them. She then called her cubs over for a dinner picnic.

At the time I had a mac.com account. No one knew then that Apple was planning to delete the entire mac.com website and migrate us all to me.com without doing something to migrate our existing sites. Fortunately they did migrate all the photos to one section of our iDisks and the text to another. Without further ado – here is the text and the photos from a previous visit of “The Visitors.”

THE GUESTS

You know how you get those guests that just drop in without warning?

Well here you see a mother and her kids who decided to do just that to us!  

Playing In The Field

Tag You're It!

I'm It!

Bet You Can't Catch Me!

Bet You Can't Find Me!

Mother with Children - Look for the Shy One in Bushes

Suppertime!

Yummy Mommy - Our Favorite!

So I hope you enjoyed that brief trip down memory lane with me.

This year I’ve outsmarted her. No food waste in the dumpster – only non-recyclable stuff. Food waste goes into bags here in the house along with the other recyclables and I do regular dump runs. Sorry Mama Bear.

RAPTUREMANIA & OBSERVATIONS ON ANOTHER YEAR

Well the Rapture has come and fizzled. The hype leading up to this non-event by individuals of all beliefs/non-beliefs and the media has been rather amusing to me. And yesterday was the crescendo as people on Facebook seem to have decided not to go out and enjoy the lovely weather but rather stay home and make comments on their computers! (Yes – even I fell prey to this.)

Now it is time for the post-Rapturephoria as even more T-Shirts and mugs get made by more people looking to make a quick buck. There certainly were enough of them doing it pre-Rapture; why not continue with what was, for them, a good thing?

And for those of you with a great sense of humor and over the top neighbors – why not try this as it is still early enough today. Get some of your old clothing and shoes and place them on sidewalks and lawns around your city and town. Then hide and watch people’s reactions as they start wondering about IF the Rapture actually did happen. You know there are going to be some people that think they should have been chosen and who, seeing the empty clothing, will have great reactions to view!

Me – I’m enjoying myself; sipping on a cuppa and watching the comments from Facebook.

Last night I got together with a small group of friends for a post-Rapture, pre-Birthday (it’s today), any-Anniversary celebration. Being with good friends trumps a cataclysmic event anytime! Really – it does even if you keep checking to see if you are still there!

We gathered at the bar/restaurant of the local Crowne Plaza. Good food; good company - what else do you need for a relaxing evening?

Today I’ll go out for breakfast later on with a friend and with Mom – if she’s up to it and then tonight for dinner. Overall a rather quiet and relaxing day.

And, while I would have loved to take the day off from writing, instead I’ll just post this short brief update because I have committed to making it to the finish line of the Blogathon and we are almost there!

Well it is Sunday and yesterday my Mom, being nostalgic, informed me that I was born on a Sunday!

Another year gone by; time for some reflection on what I did and did not accomplish and then onwards and upwards to enjoy life!

REWARD AND LOYALTY PROGRAMS - PART 1

Here in the States most everyone has some sort of loyalty program affiliation. It might be the little key tag from the supermarket, membership in a hotel branded or airline branded program, a car rental program, a hardware store loyalty program or a credit card that somehow rewards you with either cashback, points or something else.

Even small independent businesses are getting into this. Some will just “know” who their regular customers are while others are going a bit “high-tech” and using cards and computers to track your purchases.

Of course when you think about it, a lot of these programs date back to saloons/bars where the barkeeper would give you a free drink after a while to keep your interest (and get more of your money.) This, of course eventually extended to places like Atlantic City and Las Vegas where you might get “comped” meals or a room and to banks that gave away toasters, etc back in the day in order to get your accounts.

But the programs that can have an impact on almost everyone these days are the cashback and travel programs.

The question is, of course, how to maximize your “earnings.”

Lots of people join every program out there. When travelling they then look for the absolute cheapest place to stay and end up with a myriad of points scattered all over the place. This means they end up with many points but not enough in any one program to claim a reward (other than perhaps a free magazine subscription.)

What many people do not know is that a lot of programs have affiliations in themselves. Almost all hotels will let you earn their own points or miles for airline travel. Some programs, such as the Hilton Honors will let you earn both at the same time as one of their options. Others will let you redeem the points from their program into miles.

Airlines are where you can really make out like the proverbial bandit. There are three major airline alliances: oneworld, SkyTeam and Star Alliance. The majority of the world’s global airlines belong to one or another of them. Advantages of these alliances for individual travellers is they can travel on one airline while earning miles in their preferred program when both airlines are in the same program. Since the miles are usually based on travel distances one can look at different airlines and possibly save money by finding lower fares.

For the airlines the biggest advantage is code-sharing. This is when you purchase a ticket on one airline but it turns out that you are actually flying on another airline’s plane. The biggest advantage of this is that, instead of having to deal with multiple airlines, one airline becomes responsible for your trip from start to finish. Code-sharing also lets airlines offer more flights under their name and actually can foster competition with a wider variety of pricing on the same flight.

Some smaller independent airlines have separate agreements with larger airlines independently of the global alliances which can let one earn mileage on various alliance programs. An example of this would be Alaska Airlines which lets you earn mileage on your choice of certain (not all) SkyTeam member or oneworld member programs.

Many airlines and hotel chain programs even have their own credit cards which will let you earn free travel without ever taking a trip! The points can add up fast if you are disciplined. That means you pay your credit card bill in a very timely manner and also make a point of charging everything to it including those $1.00 video rentals and bills where you can.

However you do need to be careful – some loyalty cards do charge an annual fee and that fee can be costly. A prime example of this is the American Express Centurion Card which runs $2500 per year! Of course there are much cheaper cards out there such as the Chase Freedom Card (no annual fee and revolving 5 percent cash back rewards) which lets you earn points you can redeem for a wide variety of items including airline miles. The trick is to research the loyalty programs and the various cards before you apply for them in order to see which program will give you the most bang for your buck. Remember that many loyalty programs have sign-up bonuses as well that can give you free hotel nights or airline tickets right off the bat. The best example of that would be British Airways recent promotion that gave you 100,000 miles – enough for two coach tickets to Europe from the States) once approved. (It has since gone back down to 50,000 miles.)

You need to also look at other terms of the programs. Do the miles or points expire? As of today Priority Club points never expire – even if your account goes inactive while Hilton Honors points will expire if there is no activity on your account for more than 12 months. (The way around that is to either purchase points or something through their shopping mall once every 12 months.) Airlines are a bit tricky – some will let you keep your miles indefinitely as long as there is some activity on the account every 12 to 18 months, others let you keep your miles forever and others have set expirations on mileage once earned.

Other things to look for are renewal bonuses on credit cards which can be mileage, points, free nights or companion tickets. Also remember that if you are flying on the airline that issued your credit card or staying in a hotel that is affiliated with the loyalty program that issued that credit card you can double dip and earn points for the transaction as well as for the flight or stay!

Does your loyalty program participate in other bonus programs?

Alaskan Airlines, American Airlines, Best Buy Reward Zone, Delta, eScrip, Hilton Honors, American Express, United Airlines, Priority Club,Southwest Airlines, UPromise and US Airways all participate in the Dining Rewards Network program. You can sign up all your credit cards with one program through the airline, hotel or retailer website or spread them out amongst the various programs you belong to and earn points each time you dine at certain restaurants. If you eat out just once a month and choose the right restaurants the points can add up quickly. Just be sure that the location you are dining at is a participant.

Then you come down to using your miles or points. Again, one has to weigh the variables. Is it better to use your mileage for a free ticket or is it better to purchase a coach seat and then use mileage to upgrade to business or first class? Should you spend your hotel points on free nights at a hotel while visiting friends or relatives or save them to spend on a vacation package?

Loyalty can pay dividends in other ways as well. Many programs have different status levels. With an airline the higher your status the better your chances of getting a free upgrade, priority boarding, no checked bag fees, access to their airport clubs and more. With hotels it can translate into a room upgrade, free meals or internet and other perks. Many upper status levels will also earn you extra miles or points at an accelerated rate so instead of getting only 1 point/mile per dollar you might get 5 or 8 or 10.

Finally – before you join any loyalty program remember to check the redemption policies even though they can change at any time.

Questions to ask include:
What are the fees involved with redeeming points/miles?
If you do not use the award do you lose it or can you redeposit it into your account?
If you can redeposit it, what fees are involved?

Yes – even though you may be getting something for free, you have to be careful because you can be nickel and dimed to death with fees!
Next time we will deal with other ways to earn rewards and incentives!

FOODIE FRIDAY - EATING OUT

While I truly do enjoy cooking, I also enjoy eating out. If I can get rewarded for it or save money that’s even better but it is not the only reason to eat at a restaurant.

The best reason is to try new foods and have a culinary experience that you haven’t had before. Going with friends or family can only add to the enjoyment of the adventure as well.

There are also dishes that you should try that have been prepared by someone with experience before you attempt to make them at home so you know that your version tastes similar to how it really should taste.

Another reason for eating out is to give one ideas on how to take their own cooking up a notch. I have a friend who had only eaten your basic cheeseburger over time. Well – we went to Red Robin and she was astonished at the variety of ways that one could actually make a burger. (This was with their older menu that listed way more burgers than they do today. While they certainly have decent burgers I am not endorsing them. I have had much better burgers in the past as well.) Inspired she now makes burgers probably too often but in so many different ways.

Fortunately we were four people that day and three of us had been there previously so we let her select 4 different burgers which we then cut in four and shared. That’s another fun part of eating out – the sharing - although we did it so she could experience the different burger tastes.

Sometimes there will be a taste in an item you try when you are in a restaurant that you just cannot identify but that adds tremendously to the taste of the dish. You know it is something you would never figure out and, in many places, the chef/cook will gladly let you know what it is. A great example would be a slight pinch of nutmeg in clam chowder. One doesn’t think of that but there is a place near us that does that. It adds a whole new dimension to the flavor and my Mom loves it.

Eating out also can expose you to dishes that you might not have the opportunity to try at home. Now I’m no Andrew Zimmern but I’m willing to try a lot of things that are not considered to be “normal” by the average American. The first time I ever tried Frogs Legs was at a restaurant. The same holds true for collard greens (now a staple in my home for part of each year), bigos, Vindaloo, kimchi (another staple in my fridge), taro root, kangaroo, emu, crocodile, wombat as well as many other ethnic foods.

Of course being a first generation American I do have some foods I grew up with that many of my friends won’t look at let alone touch. These include calf’s brain, steak tartare, liver, tongue, head cheese and other German/European delicacies.

While we may not all be cut out to give fried dung beetles a go, certainly giving other more mainstream foods from other cultures is a worthwhile experience. But you have to remember – many ethnic restaurants will tend to “tone down” their foods for non-natives so, while you may be getting a taste, you may not be getting that taste the way it is truly prepared unless you visit that specific country at one point.

One of my godchildren is doing a trip around the world. She is currently in China and as she notes in her blog “The food here is amazing, I think ordering Chinese food overseas will be horrific in comparison now that I have had the real thing. The ingredients are fresh every day, and the flavours they use just explode in your mouth, really incredible…” (You can read about her adventures here: The Art Of Sedona Grace click on the link to the Blog in the upper right hand corner. Be sure to check out her art work as well by clicking the Gallery link.)

But one doesn’t have to look overseas for “ethnic foods.” We have in this country a large Native American population and they have their own culture and cuisine. Sadly a lot of it has been lost but some still exists and various members of the different nations are trying to preserve that information. A site I recently found that has some Native American recipes that I hope to try either later this summer or over the winter is OCBTracker.

Another area of the world where I am a bit deficient in knowing the food is Africa. Fortunately the University of Pennsylvania has posted an African cookbook online here: The African Cookbook

So I’ve been lucky in that I have expanded my taste buds. Yes I’ve had some foods I may not visit again but I have also discovered some foods that I might never have been exposed to that I love!

So be adventurous. Expand your tastes. What foods have you tried that went beyond your comfort zone? Did you like them? Hate them? Why? Let us know below. Also – are there any foods that you haven’t had the opportunity to try yet that you would like to? Again – share with us!

FREE BOOKS FOR YOUR E-READER

The proliferation of e-Readers along with the manufacturer’s proprietary stores has led many people to think that if you own a Kindle you can only purchase from Amazon, if you own a Sony you are stuck at the Sony store, if you own a Nook you must go to Barnes & Noble for your books. Nothing could be further from the truth!

Last year, after many months of studying e-Readers and asking questions about people’s experiences with them both in real life as well as on Facebook and Twitter, I decided to get myself an e-Reader.

I do believe that e-Readers and e-Reader software will definitely play a very important part in our lives moving forward but I do not believe that they will ever replace actual books overall. There is something about the tactile feel of a book in your hand that can never be replaced. However I do think that we will see fewer books published on paper unless they become true classics.

I’m not talking about some publicist’s declaration that “this is the new classic for the millennia” and so forth. I mean talking about classic that will withstand the test of time. We may even see that new books tend not to get published on paper until they have withstood that test meaning that an author may never see their work on paper – only electronically! While this may end up being great for the environment, it may be bad for the ego.

I chose a Kindle based on a number of reasons – even though a few features I really wanted were not available on the device. Since then one feature – the ability to share a book with someone - has been made available through a software update and they have announced that another one – the ability to utilize Overdrive - will be available soon. There are other features I would love to see on the Kindle, but they can wait for now.

While this list is a bit more Kindle-centric, there are many sites here that have e-books for more than just the Kindle so feel free to share this with friends who have other e-Reader devices.

By the way I have no issue with expanding this to include other e-Readers by brand as well as non-US sites so if you have any other e-Reader sites (other than B&N.com for the Nook, Sony.com for the Sony e-Reader, Kobo.com for the Kobo reader, and other OEM sites for their own brands of readers) please feel free to share them below or with me via email.

Note that some of these sites may only work from the U.S. or North America. Others may work from anywhere in the world if registered on the site correctly. (Example - the Amazon US Kindle Bookstore will let you purchase books from the US as long as your Kindle is registered there. So if you live in the U.K. but would rather buy your Kindle books from the U.S. store instead of the Amazon UK store you can in theory do so but then you cannot utilize the UK store at all and if you later switch the country of registration you may well lose all your previously downloaded books.

Note that many e-Readers now also have cross-platform applications so that you can read a book not only on the e-Reader but also on your Mac, PC, phone, etc. Some applications will even let you synchronize the book you are currently reading across all your devices!

KINDLE SPECIFIC

Michael Gallagher’s e-letter gives a lot of tips, advice and links to free books for the Kindle. If you subscribe via e-mail it is free; if you subscribe to have it come down to your Kindle it costs. Visit Free Kindle Books And Tips to sign up.


Another site for freebies that are more Kindle specific is e-Reader News Today.

There will be some duplication between the above two sites but also quite a bit of non-duplication so it is worthwhile subscribing via email to both of them.

Until the Overdrive.com upgrade comes to the Kindle, you might want to look at this article which also has information on Calibre and RetroRead - programs that will let you convert some ePub books (like most of the Google free books) into Kindle compatible files.

Another piece of conversion software to check out is Stanza.

Remember – any books you convert you will have to transfer via your computer using the Kindle’s USB cable.

Another interesting read - this one from CNET about finding freebies on Amazon itself is here.

Amazon releases their books in the .amz file format but remember that many MobiPocket also known as .mobi files and .prc files are Kindle compatible. (The majority of them are not DRM-protected and that is why.)

HERE ARE SOME SITES THAT OFFER FREE BOOKS IN VARIOUS E-FORMATS:
Note: Some of these sites offer pay e-books as well.

Baen Free Library: Great sci-fi/fantasy publisher. Click on the Books link to see titles but read the “home page” first to get an idea of what they are about.
Diesel e-bookstore Although primarily a pay e-book site they also have a free e-book section
e-Library seems to be a basic reseller portal which sends you to other e-bookseller sites. They do have a system that might make it easier for you to find books you are looking for though.
Free E-Books.net Unlimited free download e-Book site.
FeedBooks is a cloud-based publishing and distribution service. The first to distribute books on the iOS platform they also are a participant in the Open Web For Books group.
The Free Library offers a large collection of full text classic works as well as a large library of periodicals.
Free Online Novels.com
Here you will find an extensive collection of links to free online novels, organized by genre.
Google Books This is a tricky one. Google has lots of public domain and other books available for free as .pdf files. They also recently launched the Google e-Bookstore where one can purchase books. Depending upon the book you may or may not be able to read it on your Kindle but it is worth a try. The general rule of thumb is that when a book is out of copyright or they have permission from the publisher or author you should be able to download it to your computer and then transfer it to your Kindle.
The Internet Archive
(from their About page) The Internet Archive is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that was founded to build an Internet library. Its purposes include offering permanent access for researchers, historians, scholars, people with disabilities, and the general public to historical collections that exist in digital format. Founded in 1996 and located in San Francisco, the Archive has been receiving data donations from Alexa Internet and others. In late 1999, the organization started to grow to include more well-rounded collections. Now the Internet Archive includes texts, audio, moving images, and software as well as archived web pages in our collections, and provides specialized services for adaptive reading and information access for the blind and other persons with disabilities.
iReadiWrite
features writers of original fiction, non-fiction and poetry. This independent publisher is always open not only to new readers but new talent as well.
ManyBooks.net A source of eBooks - all free.
Munsey’s Books A site aimed at mobile readers it is not the most attractive but there are a lot of books there.
National Yiddish Book Center
The world’s most comprehensive supplier of Yiddish books, the National Yiddish Book Center has helped establish Yiddish collections at more than 600 great libraries, including Harvard, Yale, Library of Congress, the British Library, Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and national libraries in countries as distant as Australia, China and Japan. In 1998, the Center's Steven Spielberg Digital Yiddish Library made high-quality reprints available on demand. Since then they have placed the full texts of 11,000 Yiddish titles online through our Digital Yiddish Library, where they are easily downloaded, free of charge. Yiddish, once the most endangered of literatures, is now the safest and most accessible. The link will take you there.
O’Reilly Publisher of books dealing with computer coding and languages.
PhoenixPick offers one free book per month, and many times these are books that are for sale for a $9.99 price from the Amazon Kindle store. Titles are primarily Science Fiction. In addition to the Kindle format, they offer books in other ereader formats such as the nook and iPad. Sign up for their e-mail newsletter to find out what the free book of the month is and the code you need to use to get it for free.
Project Gutenberg It's Project Gutenberg - the very first e-book site.
Project Gutenberg Australia Similar to Project Gutenberg above it makes it easier to find Australian books and takes Australian copyright laws into account.
Smash Words Fantastic site. Lots of self-published books for sale and for free.
Synerge Books: Some free books and short stories on this site. Everything downloads as a .pdf file.
The Sin Shoppe (haven’t fully explored it yet – but so far no sin! ) A free Kindle book site.
WikiBooks.org Free books in over 80 languages!

Should you find any more free book sites or have comments on these sites please let me know below. Thanks and Happy Reading!

TOE-ING THE LINE - PART 2

Fortunately this doesn't apply to me yet!




So this morning my friend Stephen drove me up to the hospital for my surgery. It seems that the Ambulatory Surgery Center (as they now call it) will not sign you in without physically seeing the person who will be driving you home. I suppose they make an exception if you arrive by cabulance or taxi but not for walk-ins.

Once I got checked in and comfortable I just had to wait. I arrived around 9:15 this morning but my surgery wasn’t scheduled until noon. It turned out I knew a couple of the nursing staff from previous visits to different areas of the actual hospital both for myself and for my Mom so it wasn’t too bad; in fact it was more like old home week. Since I was going to have a local anesthesia without any sedation I was actually able to have coffee while waiting. (Turns out I could have had breakfast at home prior to going up as well!)

Everyone who saw it got a huge kick out of my T-Shirt

which I had purchased at FluffyGuy.com. (That’s not me in the photo – this is from their website.)

Around noon I was wheeled into the Operating Room. They started to prep me and explained everything they were doing. Trust me – they were really good. I didn’t feel anything. Not the anesthesia, not the strap they put on to hold the leg in place – nothing! The doctor arrived and after greeting me must have started working. Like I said – they were really good. I was only aware that he was doing the actual surgery when he asked for packing and stuff to finish! Yes – he was that good.

Everything was great except that I am not allowed to drive until I see the doctor for a follow-up on Tuesday morning. I am supposed to (and will) keep my leg elevated as much as possible over the next 72 hours and have an antibiotic I need to take as well.

When they finished I was taken to the recovery room where I got dressed. They then phoned Stephen who had gone to hide out at the local Starbucks and he came and got me. Prior to returning to the house we went and had lunch at Flavours (a Malaysian restaurant in Pittsfield.)

Turns out that Chin, the owner, is having foot surgery tomorrow!

I want to thank all of you who commented here, phoned me or sent me direct messages or emails wishing me well. It meant a lot to me.

So while today’s entry is basically a word-filler, with only a little under 2 weeks left to the Blogathon I will not quit. No matter how difficult it will be I will write something every day!

In closing I can only say that I'm getting better all the time!
Catch you all tomorrow.

TOE-ING THE LINE - PART 1

TOE-ING THE LINE?

I live in a relatively small community. We are halfway between Albany New York and Springfield Massachusetts, both of which have an abundance of doctors and hospitals. You would think that we would have to go there for care but it is actually the opposite. The county I live in has three fine hospitals and a lot of doctors.

Doctors who come up here are definitely NOT coming for the salaries because just an hour away they would get more money and 3 hours away in Boston or New York City they would be able to make a lot more money. So it is a given that they come here for the quality of life.

Overall I am very pleased with the healthcare up here. The majority of doctors up here do something very rare – they listen. Of course there are some doctors who have the “reverse DOG complex” (spell it backwards) but that is something you will find in a lot of places and here it is easy to find a doctor who doesn't practice that self-religion. Here the quality of patient care and making sure that patients that want to be in the loop are kept in the loop has has become a driving factor and that has led to higher patient satisfaction.

Many of you know that I am a diabetic. Some of you know about the infection I got in my foot as a result of a fall last October while out in Los Angeles and that it led to the removal of bone in my right big toe this past February. It is still healing. However a side effect, when the bone was removed, that one of the tendons managed to “take over” and my toe now points straight up.

Since there is no bone left in the front joint of the toe, there is nothing an orthopedist can do and I was referred to a plastic surgeon for a consult. That was held this morning. It was agreed that we should try to do a tendon release first as that would be less invasive and, if it worked I would at least get to keep the toe. I was told that the office would phone me as soon as they had an available surgical date which would be in about two weeks.

Within minutes of getting home I received a phone call that they had a cancellation and, if I could get to my doctor’s office today, they could do the surgery in the morning. I figuratively jumped at the change. I’ve had my pre-surgical assessment and tomorrow morning I will go to the day surgical center in Pittsfield for the procedure.

It will be done as an out-patient procedure and I should be home by mid-afternoon. He said that I will have to take it easy for a couple of days but overall it should be a simple procedure.

I will know more after the surgery and, of course, that will be the topic of my next post. l
To me, this is the best type of healthcare – in that the doctor this morning spent a lot of time going through my options and what the risks were in each case. Now, this afternoon, I am all set to go because the sooner it heals the sooner I get to go back to the gym. I've been forbidden to go to the gym since October because of the wound. So I am getting more out of shape and feeling more lethargic. Needless to say it is time.

THE RAIN

We have entered into what is predicted to be a week of rain. Upon waking today I heard the tap tap of rain hitting the roof and all day long it has been in the background of my thoughts. Of course the current rain has been in the foreground of my thoughts. The thing is that the pressure that builds up just before it rains and while it is raining can often give me a splitting headache.
And in my memories some songs have been popping up and asking for release.

Have you ever thought about how many songs there are related to rain? Just searching on YouTube for Rain and Raindrops will give you a ton of listings that could give me a blogpost word count that goes beyond Nigel Tomm’s “The Blah Story Volume 4.”

While I would love to embed all those songs in here or even give you a list, it would be too easy a cheap shot so I will share with you some of my favorites.

The Beatles “RAIN”

Because embedding all the links here would just not be right (and slow down the entire blog) here are links to a few more favorites of mine that deal with rain:

The Cascades – The Rhythm Of The Pouring Rain

Led Zeppelin – Fool In The Rain

Creedence Clearwater Revival – Have You Ever Seen The Rain

Creedence Clearwater Revival – Who Will Stop The Rain

The Eurythmics – Here Comes The Rain Again

And who can forget that classic – Singing In The Rain

I’ll leave you with one I just discovered: Yiruma’s Kiss The Rain

And with that I bid you all a good day and hope that it is full of sunshine!

THE OVERNIGHT REFRESHER

Have you ever done something crazy and spontaneous? Just thrown it all over and disappeared for a couple of days? Well you should consider it. Why? Because sometimes we all need a break or mini-vacation.

More than just a day off yet less than a full blown vacation, what it will do for your sanity and well-being is more than you’ll ever realize.

So how do you do it? I can hear you thinking – “What on earth is he talking about?” Well – lucky you – I’m going to share a huge secret with you.

Look around your area and price the hotels. If you live in a tourist area like I do you will see that they can really get up there in price. However if you take advantage of shoulder or off-peak seasons or mid-week rates you can save a fortune. And you should. There is something about letting yourself be “on vacation” for a day or two that will totally recharge you.

Almost everyone has heard of Priceline, HotWired and Hotels.com by now. And yes – when you are trying to get everything done quickly they are probably decent sites to go to. Using a travel agent may be a better option if you are going on a “dream holiday.” But for what I am talking about you can and should deal directly with the hotel yourself.

If there is a nice hotel in your area with a swimming pool and a restaurant go for it. Stay one or two nights. Explain when you phone or drop by that you are indeed local and that you need a couple of nights as a break. Ask if they have any special rates and packages. We have a several places with indoor swimming pools and or fitness facilities. Some include breakfast while others will refer you to great local eateries. And if you are staying locally you might not need all their services but there is something nice about a room you don’t have to clean and a bed you don’t have to make. Remember to leave the cellphone at home along with the computer. It’s only a day or two. (And this is coming from someone who had to deal with between 500 and 1000 emails a day.) Unplug and recharge! That’s the purpose of this mini-break.

As far as meals are concerned – get a gift card from one or two of the local restaurants. Use it up. The idea is to feel special. If there is a theatre, museum or concert hall around see what is happening and take advantage of it. So often we say we will do this or that and then, when we want to, the event is over. This time, because you are on vacation, you will be able to do it.

If the hotel is affiliated with a national/international chain, deal directly with the hotel and not with the 800 number of the chain. But you should make sure you are a member of whatever loyalty program they may participate in as it could get you a free breakfast or other perks. If you are already a member of a loyalty program and have enough points or miles to stay for free then consider using your points if that’s a better deal than paying for your stay. It will make you feel even more like you are on holiday.

Also you should check with local tourism bureaus or chambers of commerce within a three hour drive of your home. Three hours is just far enough to let you feel you are away but close enough that you won’t be exhausted when you get home. Don’t forget to check with your local ones as well. Often they have additional discount coupons and other specials. Telling the people what you are doing could save you quite a bit of money as well since they will try to help you. You would be amazed how many things exist locally that you might not know about.

Three hours from where I live is Cape Cod. There are a few B&B’s that run off-season specials. One place has a $99 weekend rate in the fall. Why? Because they’d rather make a few bucks than no money at all. While I haven’t taken advantage of it yet I have spoken with some people who have and they have said that the hosts are wonderful and will go out of their way to make sure you have a great stay. Small independent hotels and bed and breakfasts are also great places to check out. You might get an even better break because you are local.

The idea is to shake up your life a little bit so that you will feel better and think better when you return to your normal routine. So go for it and enjoy.

BACKING UP - REFLECTIONS AFTER THE BLOGGER OUTAGE

In the world of computers there is an adage which goes “There are two types of people that use computers – those that back up and those that wish they had.”

The episode with Blogger having some people’s blog posts disappear after problems happened during routine maintenance underscores the importance of this. I for one, normally do back up my data (more on that later) but once I’ve posted my blog I saw no need to keep a copy of a draft or the actual final word document. After all – it’s on Blogger right?

Sure enough one day’s post went AWOL when I logged on earlier today. I just looked now and it has returned but it made me think “What If?” (Sound effect of echoes saying “If If If If” in the background!) And it is true – with more people hacking these days – whether for “fun” or because they are trying to gain information – and with people developing and letting loose viruses, password phishers and other malware – one cannot be too careful. Now I’m not saying that one should be paranoid but I am saying that developing a good back up routine actually becomes more and more paramount these days.

Then the question arises of what media to use for this back up. Not too long ago I received a phone call from a friend who wanted to know if I had a 3 and ½ inch floppy disk drive. Seems she had recently come across a box of old disks and wanted to see if there was anything of personal value on them. Ironically yes I did have one down in a box of “Stuff” so I dug it out and lent it to her. In the end she found one document that had sentimental value to her.

So how do you choose the correct media for long term storage? This is very important. Does one back up on to CD or DVD? Is an external hard drive the better choice? How about online backup services like Carbonite, Mozy, iDrive or even DropBox? And how much will it cost over time? Should you actually trust all your photos to sites like Flickr, Photobucket, SMUGMUG or Picassa? What about your documents on places like Windows Live or the Chrome OS Cloud? How important is the actual ownership/copyright of your work to you? And how willing are you to take the chance that all the information you upload to a remote site will actually be there for you when you want/need it?

These are the serious questions that you really have to ask yourself before you utilize remote storage even just to share information. When you post a photo to Facebook, Twitter or Flickr do you still own it? Do they now own your image? Or have they become your partner – able to sell or use the image for their own use and purposes without consulting you?

But if you are going to keep your photos and documents at home using local back up what are your best choices? Personally I use a combination of back up options. If there is a document or photo I feel I need to have access to at any time I make sure a copy is uploaded to DropBox. (If you haven’t used DropBox you should consider it.) You get 2GB of free online storage when you join. If you refer friends to it and they click on your referral link you get an additional 250MB free storage for each friend that joins up to a total of 8GB. This is great not only for storing items you might need remote access to but also for collaborating on a project. (That is a subject for another blog post.) You can also purchase additional storage. You can then download a widget to the desktop of all your computers and just drag items to it. They will automatically copy up to your DropBox account. Since I am telling you about it, if you are not using it yet and wish to sign up for it please do me a personal favor and use my referral link here: DropBox. I’ll get more storage when you sign up and it doesn’t cost you anything to do that! Thanks.

I am pretty anal about backing up though and I have multiple hard drives of different capacities and brands that I use to make 4 copies of my information. I also have CDs and DVDs of extremely important information, photos, etc. This was a practice I arrived at years ago after suffering some hard drive crashes and losing important (to me) information.

I also always try to keep at least one hard drive with all my information on it offsite in a safe deposit box. I make a point of rotating the drive that is in the safe deposit box with one from home once every two weeks.

Yet I still feel I am not doing enough at times.

Back in the pre-computer days one had boxes or filing cabinets. You took your photos and put them in albums and, for most people, in the case of fire the albums were among the first things grabbed on the way out. Even if you didn’t take your photos, in all probability you had shared them with more than one person so you could always get a copy. Today most people look at your online album but don’t copy the photos to their accounts.

A prime example of what can go wrong is that you are among the majority of people who post all their photos to Facebook. You then erase your camera card or clear your phone’s memory and never keep a copy of the photos on your hard drive or anywhere else. What can you do when your Facebook account gets hacked and someone decides to delete your photos from there? Have you ever considered that? While this may not be a huge issue for most people now it is only a matter of time. And while one might think that Facebook has backed everything up – do we really know for sure? And do they have any responsibility towards us for safeguarding that data from actual loss? This we won’t know until a lawsuit ends up making its way to the top courts of many countries.

So, as I said earlier, while my intention today was not to make anyone paranoid, it was to wake you up and make you think about backing up your personal data so that if something happens you haven’t lost it all. Do you have a backup plan in place? Do you adhere to it? I would love it if some of you would share your strategies below. Thanks.

FOODIE FRIDAY - POUTINE

Poutine (pronounced Pou-Tin in Quebec French and Pou-Teen by most Anglos) is a dish composed of french fries/pommes frites, a peppery chicken or veal Velouté sauce, and fresh cheddar curds. Also known as “heart attack in a bowl” due to its wonderfully decadent artery clogging taste and the temptation to overeat it, this wonderful French-Canadian dish is truly one to die for so to speak. :-)

A number of people claim credit for the creation of the dish which originally appeared in the late 1950’s. Some people like to say that the name is a bastardization of the English word “pudding” but the Quebec Office of the French Language says that the word simply means a “mess.”

The penultimate French-Canadian comfort food, today one can get Poutine at many places across Canada and in the Province of Quebec there are many restaurants that have gussied up the original dish. You can find it in pubs, diners and even in fast food restaurants.

There are even restaurants where the main item on the menu is Poutine – in a wide variety of styles. You can get your Poutine with diced peppers and onions added or with hotdogs, sausage, chopped or shredded chicken or topped with spaghetti sauce instead of gravy. From its working class roots Poutine has developed into a dish that spans all classes. You can even get Poutine in upscale restaurants that contains lobster or foie gras!

Since Poutine was allegedly created in a restaurant one doesn’t often think of making this simple dish at home but it is relatively easy to do. The proper ingredients aren’t always easy to find and the freshness of the cheese curds is paramount. The cheese curds have to be absolutely fresh made that morning or the night before. Do the “freshness test” to be certain. Fresh curds are easy to identify, even to a first-time Poutine maker, because they squeak when chewed. The squeaking is caused by high humidity content (47% is typical) and a slight patina of oil. The curds should slide and rub against your teeth. The squeak is unmistakable and extremely important. If you do not think that you are hearing it, you probably are not, meaning that the curds you are eating are too old to give you a good Poutine.

Note that fresh curds are vital, but an equally important part of Poutine is the sauce. When making Poutine at home in Canada one does not always make a fresh sauce, but rather uses sauce from a pouch, jar or can.

The most frequently used brand of Poutine sauce is St. Hubert which is also the brand that many restaurants use. Available in a powdered form or in cans and jars of sauce ready to use, it is basically a thickened chicken stock, seasoned with pepper, and a taste of onions.

If you have studied French cooking you may recognize the base as a standard Velouté sauce with some additions and modifications. In some grocery stores/supermarkets the French language side of the label may be facing out. The label will say mélange à sauce poutine. (This is so you know what you are looking for.)

You can find St. Hubert sauce online at CanadianFavourites.com or at PoutineSauce.com. You might also be able to find it on eBay. (Note – although I recently started using Google AdSense I am letting Google place the ads for now. I have NOT started doing affiliate links, etc. of my own yet. So all links to date inside my posts are shared as a public service/reference only. Should that change I will let you know.)

Purists will tell you that the fries need to be Prince Edward Island potatoes but any decent French fry/Pommes frites potato variety will do. Some places will prepare the fries “home-style” instead of as long fries. That is OK as well. They will also claim that you can only use cheddar cheese curds from one of only three or four manufacturers. As long as the cheese curds are fresh and have a nice briny taste it shouldn’t matter.

So you want to make Poutine at home? For each portion of Poutine, you should place about 2 cups of fries into a large bowl. Add ¾ to 1 cup of cheddar cheese curds on top of the fries and then ladle 1 cup of hot Poutine sauce on top of the fries and cheese. Let the dish rest for approximately 5 minutes to that the flavours can mix together. Then chow down. Believe it or not this is considered ONE portion. It is what you can expect to get in a restaurant and there are people who can actually finish it. It makes for a full meal.

This is the basic classic Poutine upon which all other Poutines are modeled upon. Whatever else you choose to add to it to make it your “own” version is totally up to you but I suggest you try an original Poutine first.

One must remember that all Poutines are derived from the same basic recipe. So that “Fries – Animal Style” that you find at In-N-Out burger, the “Disco Fries” you get at diners in New Jersey, cheese fries with gravy or chili cheese fries that are very popular in bars are all variations on the theme. However most places in the US are using a beef gravy instead of a chicken or veal gravy and they use shredded cheese – usually mozzarella instead of cheddar and definitely not fresh curds. Again I cannot reiterate enough the importance of fresh cheddar cheese curds – or just fresh cheese curds of any variety – as long as they squeak!

If you haven’t yet tried Poutine do so the next time you go to Canada or try making them yourself. You will be in for a huge treat!

After you’ve made it come on back and let me know how you liked it. Also if you are already a Poutine lover please share your favorite styles of Poutine below. Thanks.

CLEANING HOUSE

As I’m going through my collection of “Stuff” I am finding lots of things I do not need or want anymore. Some things I might wish to keep but I know I will never use and there is a limit to how many dust collectors one should have.

That got me thinking – how hard is it to set up an online store and really use it? Is it worth the effort? The answer is both yes and no. The old adage that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure is true. And there are many tales of people making their fortunes online by selling things they find at tag sales. This is great and I’m very happy for them.

But running any sort of business – online or offline – is a lot of work. If you aren’t selling a service then you have to have physical inventory. Physical inventory means space to store it in until it gets sold and then, in the case of an online store, packaging it up and shipping it out.

In my case, where I am trying to de-clutter and get rid of things, this is just not a viable option at present because one never knows how long the items will sit in the closet, basement or garage.

Now I am very fortunate in that I have several friends who already sell on eBay and one of them has offered to sell anything I wish to get rid of for me thereby making my life much easier. As far as the money split is concerned I am very pragmatic. I figure all I have to do is get the stuff together. My friend has to schlepp it home, package it up and ship it out. So I proposed a 50-50 split plus he gets to keep the shipping/handling fees.

You may ask me why I went so high on the split. It’s simple. In theory I could do this all myself and keep 100 percent of the money. But I have too much to do on a day to day basis. That means the “Stuff” would stay in the house taking up space – possibly until I move on to other realms. “Stuff” is also an anchor and can prevent one from doing other things. It is worth 50 percent to get it out of my house. Besides – 50 percent of what something sells for now is 50 percent more than I would have if I did not sell it.

So – what am I selling? Well – I have posters that will go for a little bit of money. And, if you’ve ever thrown pennies in a jar you know how quickly they can add up. I also have a couple of Apple Lisa computers which actually are bringing in quite a few bucks on eBay. Then there is my HO railroad set. I’ve had the set for years. I even purchased additional railroad cars thinking I’d have the time to use my Dremel ® tool on them to distress and age the boxcars. The dream was to build a large diorama in the basement that I could run the trains on. Well – it is a nice dream. But I’ve realized that at my age and with everything I would like to do during the rest of my life that the chance of this happening is miniscule. So that will be getting sold.

I used to do leatherwork as a hobby. Hiding somewhere in the basement are the old stamping tools. Again – realistically I am not going to get back into that hobby. So – it’s time to get rid of those items as well.

Having a background in photography I probably will hang on to my antique camera collection a bit longer. That’s just overly sentimental. But I have to think on that as well.

Books are another story. I had a teacher back in elementary school that used to say that “books are your best friends. They won’t betray you, they can challenge you and they will make you think.” So getting rid of books has always been difficult for me. Luckily our local libraries have annual book sales which they use as fundraisers. So, again I am being harsh and if a book is literally a dust catcher that I will never look at again, or if it is a truly outdated reference or teaching book, I am putting it together for the libraries.

There probably is a lot of other “Stuff” as well and, as I clear out the closets and basement, I will find it and move it on out.

I have come across some children’s games and toys that I had purchased over the years as potential gifts for nieces, nephews and children of friends of mine. Guess what? Some kids are getting Chanukah/Christmas/Kwanza in May/June! I’m finding the stuff and getting rid of it.

Recently where I live a few people have been burned out of their homes. They are looking for some of life’s essentials to replace what they’ve lost and as I find items that will be of use I’m passing them on to the organizations that are collecting for them. That means extra pots and pans and other necessities of life.

Shoes that I can no longer wear due to my diabetes are going to charity. Hopefully someone will be able to use them. The same holds true with clothing.

The travel soaps that one accumulates on trips (and there are some that Mom has kept squirreled away that go back to when my Dad was still alive!) are being collected in a big bag and going up to the Women’s and Children’s Shelter in Pittsfield. I’ve done that ever since I traveled on business. Bring it up and drop it off. Unlike a lot of other people I’m not looking for a tax donation write off – I just want it to go to a good use.

The thing is that this is very cathartic. It gives me a good feeling to see the “Stuff” go to a new home where it will be appreciated. Additionally, as I see space open up I am feeling a sense of freedom that I have not had in years!

Of course the hard part takes place afterwards. What is that you ask? Well simple – as nature abhors a vacuum, packrats have a subconscious need to fill open space and create a “womb-like” environment. Once all this “Stuff” is gone, the internal battle to not fill the open spaces up again will begin. However this time I believe I will win. I hope I will!

What about you? Do you have an overabundance of “Stuff?” If so, are you content to just keep it or will you be doing something about it? Share your thoughts and progress below.

Nothing to Say

Nothing to really say today. I've had a most productive day getting things done around the house and am very tired so I'm going to bed. Today is going to be an extremely busy day - most of it offline so I figured I'd post something now.
What are your plans today?
I've got doctor's appointments, need to get Mom out to the hairdresser, do some shopping and laundry and pick up prescriptions. In other words a day that is jam-packed with not much but busy work.
Add to this the fact that my eyes will not stop tearing making it hard to see the screen and it's a recipe for disaster.
May you all have a wonderful day filled with joy!
Until tomorrow.

RECIPE FOR A BLOG ENTRY

Everyone has their own method of writing just as everyone has their own method of cooking. For some people writing a blog entry is akin to being a short order cook in a diner – “Idea up!” and it’s thrown on the griddle. Ten minutes later it’s done. For others it might be more of a fast food approach complete with “You want fries with that?” And for many people it is a Cordon Bleu cooking class with lots of preparation. But, as with a person who cooks, for all of us it is a task filled with lots of love and care.

Some people stick to one specific topic within a specific area of expertise post after post. Think of it as the diner where you get only breakfast and the menu only consists of eggs, muffins, toast and meat. Others let their minds jump all over the place. That’s the “fun” menu – the one where every day there are a wide variety of different items on the menu depending upon what the cook found at the market. If you are lucky, you might do a combination of both – have one blog which is more rigid in structure or content while your other blog is more freeform. This is similar to a New York City Greek Coffee Shop. The one with the big multi-page menu that is the same but with a center section that always changes with a large variety of specials.

Then we get to the substance of the meal. Some cooks like to follow the recipe step-by-step from beginning to end and there are bloggers out there who do the same. Others like to improvise while mixing up a dish. This can be the same as writing as I do – freeform or not following any structure at all. I tend to write as I speak. I write for the reader and not for some dead grammarian from 250 years ago. I cook the same way. Many of you who know me also know that I am quite the cook. Those of you that don’t will hopefully someday get a chance to taste some of my culinary creations as well.

As to guest bloggers – well that is like having a pot-luck dinner. I love having a pot-luck dinner where everyone contributes to the meal. I can see having a guest blogger at one point in the future – just not this month during the blogathon unless we were to trade places.

When I first set up my blog addresses I had several ideas in mind and, of course, they sat in the back of my mind at the intersection of “Should Do” and “Wanna Do.” That’s near “One Of These Days Circle” and “Road To H*LL” at the end of “Good Intentions Lane.” This blog is the first one that I’m running with and it will be my “variety menu” blog. Whatever catches my fancy is what I will write about. Sometimes it will be about current events, other times whatever I’m feeling and sometimes it will just be about who knows what. Like the restaurant special, the subject will always depend upon what I find in the cupboard.

Let’s just say that sometimes it takes a while to preheat the oven. I used to write a lot on a variety of topics. I also did a lot of photography. But somewhere along the path I ran into a wall and stopped. It seems the creative yeast needed some time to rise again. So now, after being inspired by my godchild whose blog can be seen here: Child, You're a Beauty. I am back in the kitchen writing away. (Actually I am writing at my dining room table.)

All of us have different ways in which we write. For some people they need to get up at 4 a.m. and write until 8 a.m. every day while others write whenever they can.

Me – I like to start at around 11 p.m. and go until 1 a.m. It’s quiet. Mom is usually asleep and I have some much needed “me time.” This is the time I call my inspiration phase. I begin with an outline and start to flesh it out. Sometimes I get a whole rough draft done. As long as I have a cuppa – coffee or tea – available I can write. Then I let it marinate – sometimes for a couple of hours and other times overnight. When I return to it I roll it out and finish it. Sometimes, like a yogurt, it has to wait a little longer and I’ll have to find another subject to write about. Most of the time the post is ready to go but sometimes it has to wait a day or so.

Once it is posted that should be it but sometimes I will return during the day and re-read it. Like a day-old stew the flavor can only improve by sitting. However, at that point I may make a few additions or changes. Think of it as adding a little bit more spice to the stew. And of course I’ll look for comments.

Comments on a blog are like compliments to the chef. As long as I feel I have cooked up the best post possible for that day I am satisfied but that comment does justify my being. And it really doesn’t matter if the comments are positive or negative. After all, this is my virtual kitchen table and I’m here for the conversation.

As with cooking, blogging should not be kept a secret. One’s techniques may be unique and only work for that individual but then again you never know how you’ll inspire a potential writer.

What are some of your recipes for blogging? I’d love to read about them in the comments section.