Note:The Free and Commercial hyperlinks above will take you directly to DWfaq.com's store where you can read about my extensions. The Cartweaver links below will take you to their website. If you'd rather stay on this site, be sure to read my message where you'll find links to brief descriptions for your convenience.
Note: I only wrote the extensions for Cartweaver 3 for Application Dynamics Inc., not the application itself.
Note: The links below are only the most recent titles that I've been involved with. Follow the links below to visit the official book website.
Warning: Some of the images in the Medical section section are very graphic in nature. If you cannot stand the sight of blood, it is advised that you skip these images.
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Category: Rambling
Date Range: 8/1/2005 - 8/31/2005
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Today Dan and I celebrated our love of FireFox. We are now the proud owners of the two available FireFox t-shirts (navy and black), though you'll probably never catch us both wearing the same one at the same time (*or the same style for that matter).
I also got Dan and Gaetano matching FireFox baseball hats. For our office wall, I bought us a limited edition poster of the Firefox two page advertisement that appeared in The New York Times on December 16th, 2004. On its way still are some FireFox stickers and the navy polo shirt for Dan.
If you love FireFox like we do, please help spread the love and buy something to help support your favorite browser.
*Note: I made a funny. If you didn't get it, go back and read it again until you laugh, even if it is just for courtesy's sake!
Posted by ~Angela | Comments (4) | Add Comment | Permalink
Back in February my optomitrist explained to me that I would probably never be able to see a stereogram's image because my eyes don't know how to relax the way that they should. I've always thought that anyone who could see a stereogram was just making stuff up, there's nothing there, and it is all a practical joke.
Yesterday while waiting for the doctor I finally saw it; a whale, several fish, and two dolphins magically appeared in a stereogram called Calypso. Dan says that there were a couple of palm trees too but I couldn't see them because that part of the poster was up too high for me to focus properly.
What helped me to finally see it was the reflection of a computer monitor behind me. I stared at the monitor, something I do daily so it was easy, and then all of a sudden I saw fish.
It feels like I've been missing out on the fun for years. Hopefully I'll be able to take some time soon to go look at a bunch of these somewhere so I can see what I've been missing. (Looking at them online isn't easy.)
With some practice, I'll be one of those annoying people who walk right up to a stereogram and comment about what it is and how cool it looks.
Posted by ~Angela | Comments (3) | Add Comment | Permalink
I didn't know I was going to have this done today; it was just a consultation since it had been awhile since my goiter was looked at. I wish we'd brought my video camera!
I've been putting off getting an FNA (fine needle aspiration, a.k.a. fine needle biopsy) of the goiter in my neck since it was discovered back in 1997. Before you go scolding me for putting it off so long, it wasn't something that seemed necessary given the rest of my case. The goiter fits better with the benign profile than it does the malignant profile so I'm not worried about it.
The doctor took an ultrasound of my thyroid and gave me a copy of one of the pictures he took. When I go back in two weeks I'll see if I can get copies of the others, including a couple taken while the needle was in my neck, and if so I'll post them all in my photo gallery. (I'm too lazy to scan and upload just the one picture tonight, sorry.)
You may be thinking the FNA sounds painful. I had an expectation that the FNA would be extremely painful considering no anesthesia is given, but I was pleasantly surprised that it was just a bit worse than getting blood drawn, just like the doctor said.
The needle is inserted, then the doctor plunges the device quickly up and down to gather the sample. He did four samples from different points of the goiter each lasting about 15 seconds. The fourth was the worst because I had some referred pain that I felt under my jaw line and into my ear. (It felt sort of like when I've gotten an injection at the dentist's office.)
This was about six hours ago. It feels a bit bruised and hurts when I turn my head to the right. I felt a bit nauseated after dinner, but that could have been the Mexican food I'd eaten and unrelated. Otherwise it wasn't all that bad.
Posted by ~Angela | Comments (0) | Add Comment | Permalink
Word on the street is that Macromedia and Adobe shareholders approved the acquisition editor for, say it with me now... 3.4 <voice character="Austin Powers">billion</voice>. Regulators still have to approve it, though I can't see why they wouldn't.
Given the sneak peek I posted about, I'd say both companies expect it to be official soon. Looks like it will be in the Fall, on schedule.
Posted by ~Angela | Comments (0) | Add Comment | Permalink
It's almost time for Gaetano to start Kindergarten and we've been getting ready for it. He's really excited about it too, which is great. (This is going to be a really long post, but hang in there if you can because there's some cute momoments. I'm a sucker for cute moments though...)
We already went school shopping for all the basic Kindergarten supplies so he'll be ready. When I was a kid, we didn't have fancy purple glue sticks that dry clear, washable markers, washable crayons, or erasable color pencils. So not fair... I'm looking forward to the fun projects I'll be helping him with at home.
One thing he wasn't excited about was getting his immunizations last Thursday and I can't say I blame him! Explaining to him that he has to do it to be in Kindergarten and that all the kids have to do it helped a little bit. Of course that didn't stop the wailing tears when he got the injections.
He received one shot in his left arm and two in his left thigh. Gaetano insisted he only got two shots total instead of three until the next morning when he took off his band-aid and saw there were two red spots. That's when he proclaimed, "I did get three!" He was too busy screaming over the second injection to even notice the third one!
Later that day, he pointed out his injections on his thigh to his daycare teacher and then turned to me to ask where his other one was because he'd forgotten. I guess it couldn't have hurt that bad or he would have remembered that it was his left arm.
Given my medical history and a couple potential symptoms, the doctor ordered some blood tests for Gaetano too. He's probably fine, but given my bad health history I'd rather be safe than sorry. I'm thankful to have a doctor who doesn't shrug things off and is willing to check just in case.
So I waited until Monday to do that since I was due to get my blood drawn too then and we both had to be fasting for the test. Early Monday morning we headed to the lab which is on the first floor just below the doctor's office.
They drew six vials from me first while Gaetano watched. I was calm and chatty, no big deal. He was pretty nervous but he did much better than last Thursday. So well that he only started to tear up a little before he got distracted by the technician who asked him to count to twenty which stopped him from crying.
Afterwards, he claimed it didn't hurt and he was only scared a little bit. He was mostly just disappointed because when he asked if we could take the blood home with us the answer was no.
Last on the pre-K to-do list was the TB test; back to the second floor for another needle, what fun. As we got out of the car Gaetano asked if we were going to go on the elevator to level two. I told him yes and he complained that he didn't want to go because level two hurt but level one didn't. I told him this time level two wouldn't hurt and not to worry about it as we approached the doctor's office.
Dan and I really expected that he'd do well given how well he did with getting his blood drawn. We couldn't have been more mistaken! Gaetano started crying and wailing as soon as he saw the same nurse from the last immunizations and the needle in her hands. He was telling us that he wanted to do the TB test on level one because level one doesn't hurt but level two does.
I thought maybe a different nurse might be able to make him feel better and the nurse agreed. She felt so bad seeing him cry and I felt bad that she felt bad. Talk about a vicious cycle!
So another nurse came in and she was really good with him. She had him write TB and his name, clean the vial containing the TB and his arm with an alcohol swab.
As soon as she opened the needle package his eyes were leaking profusely and he kept repeating all the same things he did before about levels one and two. So much for my theory; the new nurse made no difference!
I hated to do it, but I held his arms while Dan held his feet and the nurse gave him the injection. It was the tiniest little prick, just barely under the skin on his forearm. There's no way that it would hurt badly, and no matter how much anyone told him so he didn't want to believe it.
When the nurse was done, he saw stopped crying for just a second until he saw the bubble on his arm. (It looked like a blister.) The site of the bubble must have scared him because he started to cry harder again, but stopped after less than a minute. What a trauma!
Afterwards, it was the same story as after getting his blood drawn. In the car on the way to dinner, Gaetano told us that it didn't hurt, that he was only scared. So I told him next time he needs to trust us and not be scared. I'm hopeful that he'll be much better next time, just like he was the second time he got his blood drawn. (The first time was quite scary and is a rather funny story that I'll save for another day.)
Last thing to get done is the paperwork that needs to be filled out. I noticed earlier that there's a blood lead test that's required for all children over the age of 4 years 3 months. Uh oh...He already had blood drawn Monday and that wasn't part of the testing.
The nurse called the lab to see if they could use the blood from Monday at my suggestion. Even though Gaetano did well with that, I didn't want to put him through it again if I didn't have to. Unfortunately the nurse couldn't get an answer for us right away so I had to wait for a call back.
After we got home from dinner there was a very happy sounding message from the nurse stating that the lab had enough blood left to do the lead test. Hooray! Gaetano doesn't have to get poked again.
Friday the TB results are read and we'll get all the blood test results from Monday and hopefully the lead test too. What an ordeal for all of us!
Posted by ~Angela | Comments (1) | Add Comment | Permalink
This just in... Macromedia has put up more MAX session sneak peeks. Yes, there's even one from yours truly. Ok, so I'm not "yours" but you know what I mean.
Posted by ~Angela | Comments (0) | Add Comment | Permalink
It seems that more and more I'm getting what seem might be legitimate comments posted in response to my blogging. When I look at the URL provided it turns out to be something... something... something I would rather not link to. Yeah, that's a nice way of putting it.
It amazes me that people take the time to reply to blogs for the purpose of search engine recognition alone. Sorry whatever-the-official-slang-term-is-for-those-of-you-who-do-that is, but...
Wait, no, I'm not sorry. It's my blog and I'm not going to let comments link to places where I'd rather they not link to. Find another way to boost your search engine listing because I'm not going to help you. I may or may not post your comments, but definitely not your links.
Posted by ~Angela | Comments (0) | Add Comment | Permalink
Some things in life are free, like Macromedia's online (live) seminars, recorded seminars, and regular old-fashioned-style seminars. So if you're looking for information on Studio 8, get it straight from Macromedia, free!
Macromedia will be visiting the following communities to present a free three-hour technical seminar all about Studio 8 between 08/23/2005 and 09/22/2005: Boston, Burnaby (Vancouver), Calgary, Chicago, Los Angeles, McLean, Montreal, New York, Ottawa, San Francisco, Toronto, Washington DC.
Hurry, space is limitted and (online) registration is required to attend.
Posted by ~Angela | Comments (0) | Add Comment | Permalink
Gaetano loves to tell people all about the things he's done. He's a talker; yes I know, he's like his mama. His latest favorite thing to tell people is his trunk story.
Last week he took an entrance exam for Kindergarten. When he was done, he wanted to tell the teacher something. As soon as he started telling her what he wanted to say, I knew what it was and couldn't help but burst out laughing.
Gaetano told the teacher that Dan put him in the trunk. Her facial expression was what you'd expect it to be when she first heard Gaetano tell her that we'd put him in the trunk.
Now before you go freaking out, it is important to know that he was not traumatized in any way; he went into the trunk willingly, was not scared, and likes telling people the story.
The problem is, sometimes he forgets to say why he was put in the trunk, which is the most important part. Once we told the teacher why, it was no big deal.
Dan bought a new Jetta a little over a month ago, which has a glow-in-the-dark safety release handle inside. I wanted Gaetano to know how to get out of the trunk if any bad guys ever tried to put him inside.
Before putting him in the trunk, Dan put the back seat down so that Gaetano could get out that way if he wanted. I explained to him that he could go out through he back seat if he gets scared, showed him where the handle was, and put him inside. He pushed on the handle a few seconds after we closed the trunk and the trunk popped right open. (The Jetta is great; the trunk opens all the way by itself.)
Gaetano was proud of himself and not scared whatsoever. He told my parents about the trunk the next time we visited and we showed them how he knows how to get out, this time without the back seat down. He wasn't scared at all. I'm so proud of him.
He knows that sometimes bad guys take kids and put them in the trunk, so he knows that he shouldn't be scared because most new cars have a handle. He also knows that if there isn't a handle he needs to make a lot of noise if the car isn't moving.
I feel better knowing that he knows what he should do and I'm glad to see that car manufacturers are taking steps to make trunks safer. Such is the world we live in that these things are important. If you have a young child and a car with a trunk escape mechanism, please be sure to teach your child how to use it.
Posted by ~Angela | Comments (0) | Add Comment | Permalink
Last month Molly asked why we blog. I've been meaning to talk about that for awhile now, even before Molly raised the question. I'm glad that she asked, because if she hadn't I probably would have put off talking about it even longer. Now seems as good as time as any, so here goes...
There have been times where readers criticized me for posting about things other than Dreamweaver. Usually these readers are viewing an RSS feed of my blog and not reading directly from my site. Sometimes my RSS is not properly aggregated or a couple times my RSS was acting up and was not outputting what it should be. In either case, my RSS feed's description says:
"Everything from gushy mom stuff to Dreamweaver related things like conferences and extensions."
That means everything from my life as a mom, which means anything that happens within a 24 hour day since being a mom is not something I can switch off. Surely there are people who are as uninterested in my work related posts as much as those who are uninterested in my personal life.
Either way, I'm going to talk about whatever I'd like. Anyone reading my blog is doing so by their choice and can stop at any time or filter on a variety of categories in order to see only things that are relevant to their interests.
A few weeks ago I posted that I was thinking of taking my medical posts off my home page. I haven't had time to do so, and now I'm not even sure I want to do that anymore. That's because today, all my osteochondroma posts and photos became worthwhile because of a comment I got today in an old post from almost 2 years ago.
Knowing that I've helped someone or made them feel better, even if it is for a single second makes the time it takes to make my thoughts and feelings public worth it.
Sometimes I hear from fellow moms asking for career advice from the mom perspective. Those emails remind me that we're all on the same earth and often have the same concerns, hopes, fears, dreams, etc. I'm not alone. You're not alone.
Often it is easier to type my thoughts than it is to find someone to talk to about them at the time they're in my head. In some ways, blogging is for me, cathartic. So even if my ramblings help nobody else but me, I'll still do it.
So to finally answer the question, I blog because:
I want my son to read it all some day when he's older, it can be cathartic, I don't like writing as much as typing, my memory fails sometimes and my blog has refreshed my memory before on more than a few occasions, I know that there's a chance someone might find it useful, and I can.
Posted by ~Angela | Comments (1) | Add Comment | Permalink
This month's Macromedia Edge newsletter has an article called, "Top 10 Reasons to Attend MAX 2005" that you should definitely check out even if you have no intention of going. (Hint: You may find #10 interesting.)
Posted by ~Angela | Comments (0) | Add Comment | Permalink
If you've been looking for more Dreamweaver 8 sneak peeks, here's a few you may not have seen yet. The following three links will lead you to previews of three MAX 2005 presentations. Can you guess which one of these three were written by yours truly?
~ Using the Power of XML with Dreamweaver
~ Using the CSS Box Model for Page Layout
~ Dreamweaver Killer Tips
Posted by ~Angela | Comments (0) | Add Comment | Permalink
Comment from Derren on 9/1/2005
I'd gladly be caught wearing the same shirt at the same time as you Angela!
<reaction type="fake/shocked">Derren!</reaction> ~Angela
Comment from Chris Charlton on 8/31/2005
I've had my shirt for a good while and all the web-savvy dudes I chill with jock it.
My uncle got one after Firefox blocked "all that junk" from popping up. :P :)
Schweet! :-) Every good web developer should get their entire family hooked on using FireFox! ~Angela
Comment from Brendan on 8/30/2005
Nope - I don't know anyone in the big smoke :( . Yeah, that's what gets me, $9 (or $15 even) would be more than palatable, the increase in cost is just enormous and to put bluntly, unexplainable.
I was so desparate I just ebay'ed for a Firefox result - and I got harassed by Clint Eastwood DVD's. Ouch!
Looks like I'll just have to sit tight and wait for an Austrlian Firefox branch to open - bwahh!!!
Yeah, I don't get it either... Hopefully it works out for you soon! If I think of anything I'll let you know... ~Angela
Comment from Brendan on 8/30/2005
I would so love to get my hands on a t-shirt and some stickers. But as usual, down here on the frumpy end of the planet, we Australians get the bum end of the deal.
Shipping to Australia starts at US$57.00 according to the downloadable Word doc detailing the costs.
So a $15 t-shirt, $5 stickers would cost me close to $100 Australian! (a can of coke cost me $1.50 Australian for comparison)
I'll never get to spread the word of Firefox at this rate <sniff>...
What a bummer... Any chance you know someone personally in the USA?
I looked up some int'l rates at the USPS website and it looks like you could have it sent in a large envelope for about $9.
Too bad Mozilla doesn't offer that as a shipping option...
~Angela