Testing Stories

Just to decide how stories show up in a non-News Items site (during my experiment with Radio Userland 'mirrored' weblogs) here is a super-short post.

Daily Topics Are Weird

Well that's super-puke ugly! And moreover, the two posts I made earlier in the day via the forms interface have been chopped off! So now I'm really disappointed. Crap.   10:58:36 PM

Wishin' and Fishin'

Here's the first post from the iBook using RU, after flipping the page and adding a couple of messages via the Web browser forms interface. I don't expect things to just work, especially since there is a bogus reference to Saturday at the top of the homepage that won't go away.   10:54:22 PM

Radio Userland Just Fell In My Bathtub

Getting Over the Shock

I think this is going to take a few days to get used to. I don't like that Saturday is listed as a newsday even if I posted no articles that day. I need to explore how mirroring will work when I post some articles over the web via forms, and others via Radio Userland's Web Server interface on my iBook.

And this isn't really mirroring, as far as I can tell, since I'm only uploading articles from my laptop, but not downloading an image of my Terebi site to the desktop server. More exploration to do...   5:54:46 PM

Can't Change Fast Enough

Looks sorta ugly, don't it? My only hope is that when I get permission to flip the homepage tomorrow, it will clean up somewhat. At this point, I don't believe that I'll be keeping the 'homepage' format. I liked News Items much better.

The consequence of this is that I won't be able to use the Radio Userland Mirror to Manila feature. Since this may be the wave of the future for users of weblogs.com, I may have to find a new home for my weblog, and new tools!
   5:00:48 PM

Changing Modes

In order to work with Radio Userland's Mirror to Manila mode, it seems I may not use the News Items format. Instead I have to switch to the more common Weblog format. So Brenda, Mike, Nami, I apologize for changing things, but if you missed the last few days, you'll have to drill down through the calendar to find them.   4:20:05 PM

More Periodontal Surgery

I'll give a fuller report as things develop, but this Friday (10:30 am
PST) is the date of my second, and hopefully last, periodontal
surgery. The first was a success, both by the assessment of Dr. Levin
(if he does say so himself) and by the assessment of my hygienist and
dentist.

I get to drive out to West Linn, have the surgery, drive myself back
home, then sit or lie still for the rest of the day. The next couple of
days, it's all soft foods and no conversation. So it is interesting that Jean's parents will be here at the same time, since they are garrulous,
and would most likely try to draw me into the conversation so I wouldn't
feel "left out". As a result, even on Sunday, I'm planning to camp out
in the den or downstairs while they do their various field trips.

Appliance Junkies

It is so nice having our new water heater. The water during
showers is noticeably warmer, longer. Baths can be as hot as one can
stand. The gradual failure of our old water heater had left me with
diminished expectations. But pleasure is never fated to last, alas.

Tuesday evening, after getting used to limited utility from our
dishwasher, again so gradually that we almost didn't perceive it, we
started a load only to hear a high-pitched whining. Clearly the
dishwasher wasn't going to complete the load without exploding, so we
shut it off, and I proceeded to wash things by hand.

As I felt my back begin to ache, I discovered a truism that is perhaps
only so in a house with spouses of radically different heights. The
cupboards are too high for Jean, and the sink is too low for me! My mind
went back to the days in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, when we always
washed our dishes by hand. I'm so glad those days are past. But they are
here for awhile once again.

Yesterday I came home from work to wait for the repairman, as his only arrival window was during Jean's class. He arrived, spent some time examining the dishwasher, called in to request a price quote on a part, and gave me the bad news: $290 to get it running again. Ugh. Given that that was better than half the price of a new one, I opted not to fix it.

We went to Fry's last night, but they didn't have a suitable dishwasher,
so we went on to Sears, and purchased a Maytag 9100
dishwasher. Unfortunately, it won't be installed until next
Thursday. If that doesn't seem too annoying, I agree with you. Normally
it would be no big deal, except that Jean's parents are visiting
starting this Thursday, through the weekend, which would double our
dishload, if Jean hadn't decided to run out and buy a pile of paper
plates. "qbullet.smiley"

Kelly the Rebel

Kelly's pushed the envelope on rebellion a little too far this
time. We've tried to work with her on getting enough sleep, and on
eating enough in the morning to have fuel for the day. But today, she
chose not to yell or throw a tantrum when disagreeing with a
teacher.

Today, she chose to quietly peel a patch of wallpaper off the wall in
her classroom. The teacher told Jean, and Jean asked her why. Kelly said
that she was mad the Mrs. Wentzell insisted that she do her work like
all the other children, and she pulled the wallpaper off to get even
with her!

Jean and I had a conference in the woods, and the concensus is as
follows:

• Tomorrow, Jean will meet with Mrs. Wentzell with Kelly, to determine
  if the damage can be repaired by a small child using common materials,
  like glue.
  
• If so, Kelly must seek out the janitor and ask for said
  supplies. She has to own the repair task.
  
• Kelly, with supervision, will make the repair.
  
• If, on the other hand, the repair is beyond simple
  techniques, Jean and I will offer to pay for it.
  
• Kelly will be banned from treats and new toys until we judge that
  'she' has paid us back for the repair.
  

On top of all this, I'll be letting her know how disappointed I am in
all this, and letting her know how lucky she is that I am not my
dad. Otherwise, it would be 'the belt'. Ugh.