Seeing Less of Me

Sun Mar 25, 2007 4:18 pm by McGehee 6 comments [Yippee-Ki-Yay!]

Last month when I was diagnosed, the numbers on my usual morning weigh-in on the bathroom scale were mainly in the 280s. Of course when fully dressed at the doctor’s office or at the diabetes education place in Fayetteville the numbers would be a bit higher but the basis of comparison remains consistent for each venue, which is what matters. So when I weighed in at the all-day diabetes class last Tuesday and was informed that I’d lost ten pounds since the initial interview a month or so earlier I, of course, was pleased. These days I’m taking two medications for the blood sugar problem, one of which has some appetite suppression and resulting weight loss as a side effect. In the last few days I’ve been eating noticeably less, my glucometer test readings are in the normal range, and I’m still losing weight at a most satisfactory rate. I even had to punch a new hole in my belt today. I used to have one I’d gotten when I was wearing pants about ten inches bigger around the waist than I’m wearing these days. It had a number of new holes punched in it over the years, and by the time I replaced it I had cut several inches off its length. Overweight people with Type 2 diabetes are generally encouraged to lose weight not only for the usual general health reasons, but also because losing weight makes the blood sugar easier to regulate. And it doesn’t hurt that the eating habits that contribute to regulating blood sugar are also the eating habits that most contribute to weight loss if one is overweight.

Does Iran WANT a War?

Fri Mar 23, 2007 10:19 am by McGehee 8 comments [War] [Yippee-Ki-Yay!]

Iran captured fifteen British Royal Navy personnel during a “routine boarding operation” in Iraqi waters on Friday, Britain’s Ministry of Defense said. » Reuters:   Iran seizes British navy personnel in Iraqi waters Fifteen British Navy personnel have been captured at gunpoint by Iranian forces, the Ministry of Defence says. The men were seized at 1030 local time when they boarded a boat in the Gulf, off the coast of Iraq, which they suspected was smuggling cars. The Royal Navy said it was doing everything it could to secure the release of its personnel, who are based on HMS Cornwall. It added that the men had been carrying out a routine patrol in Iraqi waters. » BBC:   UK sailors captured at gunpoint Iranian naval vessels seized 15 British sailors in Iraqi waters on Friday, the Ministry of Defense said. » AP:   Iran nabs British sailors in Iraq waters The Government is demanding the “immediate and safe return” of 15 British sailors and Marines seized at gunpoint by Iranian forces. They were taking part in a routine operation boarding merchant ships in Iraqi territorial waters when they were taken captive by Iranian naval vessels. » Sky News:   British Forces Held By Iran Historically, acts like this have often been a first step down the path to war. Whether that path is walked this time, depends on Tehran.

This Is What I’m Reduced To

Thu Mar 22, 2007 6:52 pm by McGehee 6 comments [Yippee-Ki-Yay!]

Doing a meme. Where is your cell phone? On my belt. Boyfriend/girlfriend? She’s my wife. Hair? Yes, thank you. Your mother? Gone, not forgotten. Your father? See previous answer. Your favorite item(s)? Big-ass Bronco. Your dream last night? I don’t remember. Your favorite drink? Plain old water. Your dream guy/girl? I married her. The room you are in? Tornado damaged (figuratively). Your fear? Tornado damaged (literally). What do you want to be in 10 years? Ten years younger. Who did you hang out with last night? Wes Studi’s Geronimo. What are you not? A northeastern liberal. Are you in love? I’d better be. One of your wish list items? Home in Wyoming. What time is it? Eight ‘til seven. The last thing you did? Checked the timestamp. What are you wearing? I’ll never tell. Your favorite book? More than one. The last thing you ate? Yogurt with cereal. Your life? Could be worse. Your mood? Okay, I guess. Your friends? Reading this now? What are you thinking about right now? Let me think… Your car? Big-ass Bronco. What are you doing at this moment? Typing this answer. Your summer? Too damn hot. Your relationship status? Married with cats. What is on your TV screen? Looks like dust. When is the last time you laughed? Watching “Mythbusters” reruns. Last time you cried? Unregulated blood sugar. School? No, thank you. As you may have gathered, the challenge is to limit the answers to three words. If I thought I’d get extra credit for using fewer, I probably could have managed it.

Cool ExpressionEngine Tricks

Thu Mar 22, 2007 12:02 am by McGehee [Yippee-Ki-Yay!]

I’m geeking out in the wee hours of the morning. Been checking out my SiteMeter referrals and came upon a link to this Google search, which points to a category archive of this blog. Of course the first post shown on the Yippee-Ki-Yay! category archive page at that link is from March 2007, whereas the cartoon sought is (as can be determined from the filename on the Google page) from July 2006. Well, armed with that fact, and wishing to see the post in which the cartoon appears, I could use the dropdown menu to jump to the regular monthly archive for last July—but I’d then have to click through multiple pages to find the post, which is scant improvement on trying to find it in the category archive referenced in the search result. Well, just for S&G’s I decided to go ahead and go to the monthly archive, and then add the category ID to the end of the URL. And I got this—only the posts from July 2006 that were included in the “Courting Disaster” category. I’ve been using EE for almost three years now, and I never knew it could do that. Then again, the thought that it might be possible, made enough sense that I did try it. Editor’s Note: Any category mentioned in any entry on this site may be defunct by the time you read it.

Ask and You Shall Receive

Wed Mar 21, 2007 5:44 pm by McGehee [Coweta County] [Yippee-Ki-Yay!]

When Wifey-Ki-Yay and I lived in Alaska, I had fairly regular contact with local elected officials, including very liberal ones who wouldn’t have considered voting for me on a bet when I was a candidate (and the feeling was certainly mutual, as a rule). But when I wanted to get the borough assembly to adopt a resolution calling on the federal government to loosen a rule then in effect regarding the international use of internet encryption tools, the elected official I went to with the idea (borough assembly seats in Fairbanks are elected at-large, so I had a choice), and who introduced the proposal at my urging, was one of those very liberal people. Our political differences aside, we were actually very cordial to each other all during our acquaintance. Which is one of the reasons why the venom that flies around on the internet these days doesn’t sit well with me, but I digress. A couple of weeks ago I emailed my county commissioner—whom I last mentioned by name, not kindly, here. The subject of the email was the fact that the two developer-erected street signs in my neighborhood were damaged by termites, and asking whether this was something for the county to attend to since we don’t have a homeowner association. Commissioner Schlumper passed it along to county Public Works, but not before seeing that above-linked commentary. Today while taking my still-not-regular-enough walk I noticed that the more badly damaged of the two street signs had been reset on a termite-proof mount. The original post and sign was still there but the wood was no longer in contact with the ground; it no longer leans 30 degrees off vertical. The other sign, though damaged, was apparently judged still straight enough that immediate repair wasn’t required. I had expected (and half-feared) that the signs would be replaced by standard county-made street signs, but I have no doubt my neighbors prefer to keep the originals if at all possible. Had I genuinely doubted Ms. Schlumper would help, I would have found some other way to bring the signpost damage to the county’s attention. And I’ve already had reason before this to reconsider my previous unwillingness to vote for her. Update: Turns out that termite-eaten street sign post was repaired by our neighbors, not the county. But the county did put up a regulation street sign at the entrance to our neighborhood, where it was, actually, needed. So, Commissioner Schlumper is still okay.

Yeah, Okay—I’m In
Wed Mar 21, 2007 10:48 am by McGehee 3 comments [Get Offa My Lawn!] [Yippee-Ki-Yay!]	What’s the worst that could happen?

The Rest of the World Has Finally Caught Up
Wed Mar 21, 2007 9:55 am by McGehee 4 comments [Humor?] [Yippee-Ki-Yay!]	...to sharing my long-held opinion of Mapquest. » Read more "The Rest of the World Has Finally Caught Up"

80% of Half a Million (Updated)

Tue Mar 20, 2007 9:00 pm by McGehee 2 comments [Yippee-Ki-Yay!]

Sometime in the next few days my SiteMeter total will top 400,000. There has been a reduction in measured traffic, but only because as of a few weeks ago I set SiteMeter to count only visits to actual Yippee-Ki-Yay! content rather than to it and all of my past blogs. There’s also been a reduction in actual traffic, but that’s inconsequential—it’s only because fewer people are visiting. Any competitive spirit I may have had about blogging went away months ago. Any desire I may have had to try to offer my own supposedly unique insight on issues had diminished before even that. Nor have I ever deluded myself that anyone was interested in reading me saying what a million other people are saying, simply because it’s me saying it. And it appears that my opinion of politics in general has begun drifting in the same direction long ago taken by my interest in playing Dungeons & Dragons; indeed, the similarity between the two pursuits cannot be denied. I recently joked that instant gratification elicits better results with me than delayed gratification. Well, I’ve been blogging, as such, for almost five years. At various times over the years I’ve wondered why I keep doing it. Yet I’m still here. Yippee-Ki-Yay! is undoubtedly destined to be another one of those blogs read almost entirely by members of my own family. Had I never been added to Instapundit’s blogroll, or received widespread attention for this, that or the other, I either would have stopped blogging years ago, or I would have been satisfied all along with what little traffic I was ever able to attract. As it is, I have among my remaining readers fellow bloggers who are surely wondering what the hell I’ve got to feel sorry for myself about. Well, nothing. I sat down to note that my SiteMeter total was about to cross another one of those multi-zero round numbers, and the next thing I knew I was free-associating. When you’ve been blogging this long, you start to blog like an old man on a park bench just aching to strike up a conversation with anybody, about anything. Still boreblogging after all these years. And nobody does it better. Update, Friday night: Unique Visitor #400,000 was looking for a picture of a proposed (six months ago) new Georgia license plate. He or she came from somewhere in North America via an unknown ISP, and uses a Mac. I can remember when my round-number visitors were people I knew. ‘Nother Update, Saturday morning: What the @#$!!ing @#$!!? Last night my SiteMeter put the 400,000 number (I coulda sworn) on the visitor looking for the license plate picture. Today that visitor is now shown as #400,002, and the 400,000th visitor is a Windows user from Manhattan Beach, California and clicked here from the Bear Flag League blogroll. I dunno, maybe I clicked the wrong way from #400,001 last night or something. It was late.

I Hate Proprietary Software for Gadgets

Tue Mar 20, 2007 7:17 pm by McGehee [Yippee-Ki-Yay!]

However many years ago it was that Wifey-Ki-Yay and I first got cell phones, I ordered some software from Motorola that was supposed to make it possible to manage the address book and other features of the phone from my computer. I ended up sending the crap back to Motorola for a refund because it wouldn’t work worth $#!t. When we migrated to Cingular and got our current LG phones, I ordered software for the new phones. It works, but you can get a good idea of how useful it turned out to be by the fact the cable and software now live on Chris’ computer and it’s probably been over a year since I did anything with it. I couldn’t tell you if she’s ever used it, even though I installed it on her computer so she could. About the only phone-to-PC interaction I do is use my phone’s text-messaging capability as a way to send myself notes and reminders if something occurs to me while I’m away from the computer. Or I might email a shopping list to the phone from my computer. All of which is prologue to the software I have installed today, and finally just managed to get working, which is supposed to open up the features of my glucometer to the computer. Turns out all I can do is store blood sugar readings on the computer—there isn’t even a useful note-taking capability in this software. I can’t seem to input text comments on a given reading, and there isn’t even a way to input the medications I’m on in the user information section. But at least I can dispense, now, with writing my readings down in a log book; every few days I can bring the meter to the computer and upload the readings to the database. And presumably I can print the data if I need to show it to my doctor. Why can’t these gizmo-makers ever figure out what they can do to make software useful? Why can’t they be bothered to find out or figure out what their users might want to do? Say what you like about Microsoft and their bloated code—at least they take into account (or did, before Vista) almost everything the user might conceivably want to use the software for. To get the most out of this glucometer software, I’m going to need to export the database into a format where I can do more with the data that the software will allow. And I’m not even sure that’s an option.

Hot Fudge Sunday

Sun Mar 18, 2007 1:43 pm by McGehee 3 comments [Yippee-Ki-Yay!]

None for me, thanks—have to watch my blood sugar. I mean, I could have one, but I’d have to mainline several packets of protein powder and a couple gallons of water along with it to dilute all the raw processed sugar. And then limit myself to a handful of dry beans for the next day or so. Which isn’t to say that I can’t enjoy the odd little bit of chocolate. Or even a tasty dairy treat. In fact I once made a nice breakfast out of a little cup of lite yogurt and a packet of NutriSystem chocolate pudding mix. I could’ve even added a few chopped nuts and a cherry if I’d wanted to, but it wouldn’t have been the same without the whipped topping. Actually, I’m really only posting this today because I just noticed it’s been a few weeks since I had anything to say on a Sunday. But since I’m on the subject… My doctor has added a medication to my daily cocktail that further fights the insulin resistance while also apparently offering added assistance to the weight loss. I’ve been taking off an average of about three pounds a week since I worked out what I needed to do to bring my blood sugar under control. The blood sugar levels themselves are looking a lot better, and staying much closer to the “normal” range than when I was diagnosed. I’m not exercising as regularly as I want to, but my energy levels are a lot better anyway. The doctor wants to take another look at my cholesterol in a couple of months; the proportions of good to bad were not where they need to be when they took a blood sample last month, but we’re both hoping the changes since then are making a difference there too. What it all comes down to is portion control, nutritional balance, and exercise, pretty much regardless of what ails you. I’m getting two out of three nailed down already. Feeling better is a great incentive.

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