Ever work for someone who just wouldn’t update or upgrade anything at the office?
Some folks will squeeze every penny, even to the point of pressing so tightly it turns into a miniature black hole!
“It’s perfectly fine”
May 19, 2014
commentary, Humor conservative, office upgrade, old truck, tightwad 1 Comment
Well, that’s a pain. Shingles remind me that the term “young” no longer applies. With little itches and random jolts.
May 16, 2014
commentary, Personal lyrica, shingles, varicella-zoster 2 Comments
Last weekend I noticed a patch of red bumps on my abdomen, running towards my right side. I thought “that’s a bit odd”, but random bumps pop up and disappear from time to time, and I dismiss them as they come and go. These didn’t go, and became more pronounced, crowded, and demanded attention by being itchy. I also began experiencing random jabs of pain, usually in my side. It made for an interesting shift at work last Monday, it was like someone was poking me in the side, and it didn’t matter if I was speaking on the phone or on the radio at the time. Later that night/morning at home, I thought “shingles?”, and did a Google search to see if it might be what I was experiencing. Well, symptoms matched, so Tuesday I went into the doctor’s office, and sure enough, the physician’s assistant said I had them. Gave me a prescription for an anti-viral, and a freebee box of Lyrica, a pain medication.
From the Mayo Clinic’s website:
Shingles is a viral infection that causes a painful rash. Although shingles can occur anywhere on your body, it most often appears as a single stripe of blisters that wraps around either the left or the right side of your torso.
Shingles is caused by the varicella-zoster virus — the same virus that causes chickenpox. After you’ve had chickenpox, the virus lies inactive in nerve tissue near your spinal cord and brain. Years later, the virus may reactivate as shingles.
While it isn’t a life-threatening condition, shingles can be very painful. Vaccines can help reduce the risk of shingles, while early treatment can help shorten a shingles infection and lessen the chance of complications.
Wonderful.
After the jump, I’ll continue the story, with a picture of my rash. If you don’t wish to see such things, stop now. Otherwise,
The Internet as Time Capsule
April 23, 2014
commentary, Personal wanda bergman, Wanda Reeves, Woodlake, woodlake junior high 2 Comments
My family has roots in Woodlake, a small community 20 miles northeast of Visalia. A while back I joined a Facebook page “You know you’re from Woodlake if…” Today, while scanning a picture someone posted, I spotted my mother. She’s in a 7th grade class picture, taken on November 10, 1953. She’s 14 here. You can spot her in the back row, 5th from the left. I’m amazed at how many of my nieces I can see in her face, looking out from 61 years ago. What’s more amazing to me, is that in 4 years, she’ll be married and a mother.
I thought WordPress would allow the image to be clickable to a larger version, but apparently not. Here’s an enlargement of the section my Mother is in:
Wanda Faye Bergman (later, Reeves) Top row, middle.
Throwback Thursday: July, 1958
April 17, 2014
commentary, Personal El Paso, Jimmie Reeves, throw back thursday, USAF 3 Comments
It’s July, 1958. El Paso, Texas. “Big Jimmie”, as he will come to be called by his family now that he has a “Little Jimmie”, turned 20 this month, and is an airman in the United States Air Force. When I selected the picture for this week’s “Throwback Thursday”, I noticed something I hadn’t seen before. I’ve always seen him in pictures of me, and that gets truer the older I get. Until today, however, I had never noticed my Mother in me. I see her in this one, however. Something in my face reminds me of her, and I wonder why I never noticed it before. I also see many of my other relatives. Or rather I see the common familial features we all tend to have as infants. We might all look very different as we grow up, but you can certainly tell we’re all related in our baby pictures.
Oddly, it reminds me of how I first became aware of Keanu Reeves.
Lunar Geek – “Blood” Moon Eclipse
April 15, 2014
commentary, geek blood moon, lunar eclipse, orbital dynamics, warning from god Leave a comment
A Lunar eclipse occurred last night, with the Moon slipping into the Earth’s shadow. The refraction of light through the Earth’s atmosphere created the reddish hue, not quite darkening our sister planet. (The Earth and Moon are more accurately a binary planet system, rather than a primary and satellite system.)
The term “Blood Moon” seems to be the result of the media glomming onto a doomsday prophet, ‘end of the world’, God is coming book seller. It doesn’t seem to have any historical relevance, but since it’s caught the fancy of reporters around the world, we’re stuck with it. Some have gone so far as to claim it’s a sign from God, warning President Obama (about something… pick a wingnut cause and use that, for all the sense they make).
Several more of these eclipses will happen in the next few years, just as they’ve happened ever since the Moon reached it’s current orbital distance from the Earth. (the Moon used to be much closer to Earth, but tidal friction and orbital dynamics have been moving it further away ever since it formed. Using devices left on there by the Apollo missions, we can measure that movement precisely.)
Space Cadet Jimmiejoe contributed to this blog.
Doin’ the hardware thang
April 5, 2014
commentary, Humor, Personal aisle wanderings, Home Depot, home repair, Homo Depot, mr fixit Leave a comment
Searching Home Depot for a light fixture to replace one that failed. I only had to walk the aisles twice before I found what I was looking for. The staff is usually helpful, but I seldom ask where things are located, and the guys I did see working the floor were… shall we say… not the type to make me break old habits and ask for help. I hear so much about those stores, but I never see anything! I must be going at the wrong hours. 😉
“Gravity” works, except when it doesn’t
March 17, 2014
commentary, geek, Personal chinese space station, george clooney, gravity, ISS, sandra bullock, space movie, space shuttle explorer 1 Comment
They say you have to “suspend disbelief” to enjoy some movies, but when a movie is about something you’re really interested in, it becomes more difficult as the filmmakers take “artistic license” to the extreme. The new movie “Gravity” is one such example. Where to begin with all that’s wrong with this film?
First, let me tell you what was good. The technical aspects were first rate. The visuals, the micro-gravity, most of the movement were spot on. It looked almost like it was filmed in space! The scenes of the astronauts in orbit, the Earth, the space shuttle and space station looked incredibly real. The story line was mostly good, but some really odd things popped in from time to time, making one wonder “what the hell was that?” (the chinese guy talking with the barking dog and crying baby? huh?)
Now, for the bad…
[SPOILERS ALERT]
I Love Living In the Future
March 5, 2014
commentary, geek, Personal cell phone, communications satellite, hoverboard, I live in the future, jimmiejoe, SpaceCadet Leave a comment
A few minutes ago, I was sitting in my living room, holding a little piece of plastic and metal to my ear, no wires connecting me to any plugs on the walls, talking to a friend in Virginia as he drove down a highway. Space Cadet JimmieJoe was jumping up and down in my head again, amazed.
When I was 12, the Space Cadet often daydreamed about the future. There were spaceships and incredible computers. Meals would be selected on a screen, and be magically transported to the table by a conveyor. Communication anywhere on the planet would be simple, quick, and complete with video. Super sonic jets would whisk you to anyplace on Earth in a short time, and, of course, flying cars would be everywhere. Think – “The Jetsons”.
Well, the future is here, but it looks a bit different than Space Cadet JimmieJoe imagined.
Local paper publishes my comments 3 days in a row
February 12, 2014
commentary, Personal blogging online, Community Blogs, Jim Reeves, LGBT blogging, visalia, Visalia Times Delta 1 Comment
The local newspaper, The Visalia Times Delta, has, like most papers today, an online site.
There, readers can post comments about articles and letters. I enjoy reading and commenting, and it’s become a fairly regular thing to see my comments published in the print edition on the “Local” page. It’s been a rare thing these past several months where I haven’t had at least one comment make the paper each week. This week I made it three days in a row!
I used to open the paper to the editorial page first, to check out political cartoons and letters to the editor. Now, in a bit of vanity, I open it to 3A first, to see if I’ve made it to the print edition again. (Actually, I cheat on that a bit. Since I subscribe to both the electronic and print editions, I can see the paper online several hours before it’s actually delivered to my home. I’ll check out the e-newspaper edition first to see if they published any of my comments, then add the print edition to my “archives” storage bin if they did. I may have to get a second bin!)
I also have a ‘Featured Community Blog’ at the Times Delta’s site (one of only three), called Alternating Currents. Feel free to check it out.
JimmieJoe / KC6YRU 
Intolerance of intolerance is intolerant. Huh??
May 22, 2014
Jim Reeves commentary hypocrisy, Intolerance, intolerant 2 Comments
If you don’t tolerate our intolerance, you’re being intolerant, and therefore a hypocrite!
Sorry, right wing. It doesn’t work that way. You may get your sheeple to go along with that, but the rest of us just wonder if you’re off your meds.
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