I don't do LiveJournals

Beware, I've been hacked

fringefan — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 22:02:41 GMT

I've just learned that someone got hold of the contacts list for my yahoo.com account and sent out some spam to (probably) everyone on it. (The one I saw had "Re: 2" as its subject line.) I recommend you not open any e-mail from me that you're not expecting, and especially, not click on any links in such e-mail!

Sorry to trouble you. Have a nice weekend.
<-----2012-3-30-----MSG----->

Unharmed but slighthly blocked

fringefan — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 23:15:21 GMT

We're unharmed, praise whatever deity or deities you choose, but there is now a large (8 to 10 feet) tree limb blocking the driveway and front walk. There's a wire wrapped around it, but I don't know what wire it is—we still have power, phone, Internet and satellite TV. The limb appears to have narrowly missed Daisy the minivan, which was parked in the driveway per usual.

I can reach the street by walking on the front lawn (which is mostly weeds anyway), but I won't be driving anywhere until the city clears the limb away (I reported it around 9:00 Sunday morning). The thing is definitely too heavy for one middle-aged guy to move.

We have a branch clipper (I don't know if there's a proper name for it; it's got six-inch blades and three-foot handles for maximum leverage), and I was able to hack off enough branches this afternoon to get my bicycle out to the street. That's probably how I'll aim to get to work tomorrow morning, especially if subways aren't fully back up to speed yet.

<-----2011-8-28-----MSG----->

Ring my friend, I said you'd call

fringefan — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 17:20:31 GMT

My doctor and I seem to be parting company—longish story; I'll try to write it up for my September zine. Meanwhile, I need to establish a relationship with another PCP, as the health insurers now call them (I believe it stands for "primary care provider"). I'd prefer to stay local, which means the vast bulk of people who see this won't be able to help, but if anyone knows of a physician in the southern half of Brooklyn worth trusting my future health to, I'd appreciate hearing about it. Thanks!
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July zine posted

fringefan — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 00:43:44 GMT

That's odd; apparently LJ never put up my last post, from a month ago, but saved it as a draft. I guess I'll never be much of a social network user if none of them percolate as advertised.

I've been getting more work over the past couple of months, but it's still intermittent--after twelve consecutive business days of work, I've now had seven consecutive business days idle. Still an improvement over the nothing in March and April. And the agencies tell me the clients have been sending positive feedback about me, which can only help.

The latest Beyond the Fringefan is now up at the N.Y. Cadre Web pages <nycadre.org/btf>, for viewing at your leisure. Stay cool, to the best of your ability...

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May zine posted

fringefan — Tue, 24 May 2011 03:07:14 GMT

Last Thursday I got my first day of freelance work since January, through an agency called Creative Circle: 5 3/4 hours proofing a pitch to a potential client in a downtown office belonging to a small subsidiary of a large advertising corporation. The person I reported to praised my work both to my face and, as I found out the next day, to my contact at Creative Circle, so I'm hoping this will bring in more work, and soon; nonetheless, there have been no calls in the intervening two business days, so I guess I go back to editing how-to essays online at $4 a pop for Demand Media while I wait.

Meanwhile, I've finished html-izing the latest Beyond the Fringefan, so feel free to view it at the N.Y. Cadre Web pages <nycadre.org/btf>. Happy Memorial Day weekend, and may you not get caught in the traffic.

<-----2011-5-23-----MSG----->

April zine posted

fringefan — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 21:46:34 GMT

...and it isn't even Passover yet! Not for an hour or two, anyway.

I've gotten a bit of work-from-home through Demand Media, which has so far paid me less in total than working half a day at my accustomed rates, but then I haven't been putting in concentrated time on it. Otherwise, it's mostly been waiting for the phone to ring, with the occasional interruption for medical and dental appointments. Oh, well, it will happen when it will happen. Have a happy spring holiday of your choice, and drop by the N.Y. Cadre Web pages <nycadre.org/btf> when you get a chance and read the latest Beyond the Fringefan.

<-----2011-4-18-----MSG----->

March zine posted

fringefan — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 03:59:38 GMT

...and a full two days before end of month! (Four, actually, but I got distracted and took a couple of days to get around to posting this.)

Not much to add. Still not ~~king~~ employed, but filing applications and registering with places like oDesk and DemandMedia. Learning how to use the versions of Windows and Word and Excel on my new laptop. Taking care of medical and automotive business. Wondering when we'll see actual spring weather. Watchful waiting, as they say. More details can be found in the latest Beyond the Fringefan, viewable at the N.Y. Cadre Web pages <nycadre.org/btf>.

<-----2011-3-29-----MSG----->

February zine posted

fringefan — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 05:20:52 GMT

Just under the wire, once again. I can't say I've been overwhelmingly busy, since I haven't had paid employment in over a month now, but there were seven or eight doctor and dentist visits for Donna (who will be having four teeth extracted today), a visit or two of my own, and half a dozen visits to a transmission mechanic in Ozone Park (I think the problem has finally, after two months, been fixed). I'm still hoping the job market (or at least the demand for freelance proofreaders/copyeditors) will warm up with the weather. Anyway, the latest edition of Beyond the Fringefan has been added to the three-year archive at the N.Y. Cadre Web pages <nycadre.org/btf>.

<-----2011-2-28-----MSG----->

Temporarily not temping

fringefan — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 04:48:23 GMT

I was informed Monday afternoon that the advertising agency where I'd been proofreading and copyediting for nearly five years will no longer be requiring my services. I'm feeling somewhat stunned.

Reasons were not discussed in huge detail. They didn't have to be, since I've been a temp/freelancer all this time. I'd made one significant mistake last summer that cost the agency some money, which could have been sufficient cause in itself. I have reason to believe that my boss at the agency went to bat for me but eventually had to yield to pressure from higher up.

For the first time in five years I don't know where, or even if, I'll be working tomorrow or in a week or two. Money is not an immediate problem, so I don't have that source of anxiety; but I can see myself succumbing to inertia all too quickly if I hang around the house too long.

Having changed careers eight years ago after my job with the bank moved to Tampa (and I wonder if I'd still have it now if I'd moved then), I don't care to do so again. Fortunately, my contact at the temp/freelance agency that is formally my employer believes she and her associates can find me something in the same or a similar ballpark pretty quickly. I'll be visiting them Wednesday to discuss options and next steps.

<-----2011-1-25-----MSG----->

January zine posted

fringefan — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 19:51:18 GMT

You can find the latest edition of Beyond the Fringefan, along with the previous thirty-five or so, at the N.Y. Cadre Web pages <nycadre.org/btf>. You can find me dipping a toe into LiveJournal and Facebook once a month or so to post an announcement like this one, and once in a while leaving a comment to someone at random just to show I was there. Such an exciting life I lead...

<-----2011-1-20-----MSG----->

December zine posted

fringefan — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 22:09:31 GMT

I see that my last post here was on 1 October, and mentioned that we were still having phone problems. In case it wasn't clear to anyone, our house phones have been functional since a week or so after that posting. I'm still getting used to having a "smart" phone (and having to charge it more than once a day if I use it much at all), but such is the nature of high tech. But that's not what I came here to talk about.

I have in fact been keeping up during the past few months with HTML-ifying Beyond the Fringefan and posting it at the N.Y. Cadre Web pages within the same month it goes out in APA-NYU. The December edition is up there now.

A great Solstice and a happy New Year to all. Stay warm.
<-----12-21-2010-----MSG----->

Communications being gradually re-established

fringefan — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 19:57:05 GMT

We received our new DSL modem on Wednesday night; it seems to be functioning properly.

Then last night I went to one of the T-Mobile owned-and-operated kiosks at Kings Plaza and purchased a shiny new smartphone. So far I've been able to figure out how to make and receive calls on it. One thing at a time. Best to consider learning curves as no-passing zones.

So you can now reach me and Donna at our respective cell numbers and e-mail accounts once more. We're hoping the Verizon visit scheduled for tomorrow will restore our home land lines' capability to receive calls.

Happy October.
<-----10-1-2010-----MSG----->

Up to date at the Web site. In the 19th century otherwise.

fringefan — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 18:57:17 GMT

Somewhat more than a year ago, I fell behind in my monthly efforts to get my e-APA-NYU zine transmogrified into HTML and posted at the Cadre Web pages <http://www.nycadre.org/btf> on a timely basis. I'm pleased to report that through Herculean efforts (and by simplifying my task through not adding all the additional links to supplementary content that I would have liked to), I've finally gotten back up to date, and hope to remain so for the foreseeable future. Those wishing a chronology of Stuff in my life and that of my household can find a three-year archive of BEYOND THE FRINGEFAN there.

For the moment, though, the communication is distressingly one-way. Our house phones have been less than completely functional since the lightning storm of a week ago—they were completely out for two days, and now we can make calls but not receive them (people calling us get a busy signal). And as the DSL modem appears to have gotten fried in the bargain, we have no home Internet access until its replacement arrives (luckily for me, I can post this update from work). To raise the absurdity level just a bit more, this morning while I was biking in, I looked down at my side and discovered that the belt clip that holds my cell phone on was attached in the usual place, but the phone was gone; apparently the well-worn case gave its last gasp somewhere between Avenue J and Atlantic Avenue. If I'm really lucky, I'll find the phone in the driveway when I get home tonight, but otherwise, I guess it's now time for real to make that equipment upgrade I've been idly contemplating for months.

So if you're looking to talk to me, it may be a little more difficult for a few more days. Verizon hopes to have our land lines up to snuff this weekend, the new modem is due to arrive tonight, and I can probably have my new cell phone within a day or three if I do need one. Hey, you know, it only costs 44¢ to mail a letter (at least this year).

<-----9-29-2010-----MSG----->

Home at last. Home, at least.

fringefan — Wed, 26 May 2010 22:23:03 GMT

I'm home from the hospital. Overall this is a Good Thing. On the downside: I still feel pretty crappy in general; I'm in pain that varies according to body position; I have an annoying drainage bag hanging from my incision, which they expect me to empty (and log the fluid volumes) for the next six days; and they don't want me to shower until the surgeon removes the dressing and bag at the follow-up visit. Grumpf.

Taking no chances, I called the surgeon's office before I even left the hospital, and the earliest available appointment for a follow-up visit was next Tuesday. (Eight days after the surgery itself, and following a holiday weekend. Reasonable, I guess.)

The Kid was kind enough to get my prescription for Percocet filled before vanishing for the evening, so i guess I'm as set as I can be. And I can rely on the DSL at home a lot better.

Which reminds me, I was adding another note here yesterday when the Internet service at the hospital cut out. My surgeon came by Tuesday afternoon and told me I'd presented him with "the gall bladder from hell." How so, I asked? He said he was amazed at the number of separate individual gallstones he'd found in it. How many? "About 30." Regrettably, he took no photographs; there goes my place in Guinness...

<-----5-26-2010-----MSG----->

Still not home. Nor king, for that matter.

fringefan — Tue, 25 May 2010 23:53:56 GMT

I didn't sleep well last night; apparently I can't lie flat on my back at all right now without excruciating pain around the main laparoscopic incision. I'll need to sleep sitting up for at least a few days. I sat in bed and dozed on and off for an hour or two this afternoon. I misspoke when I wrote last night that they'd switched me from morphine to tramadol; they've kept up the morphine as well.

The surgeon did offer me the option to go home today, but I just didn't feel healed yet--in pain, possibly developing another fever, still oozing drainage from the incision--so I opted for another 24 hours' stay.

They turned off the NPR order around 10 pm Monday and switched me to "full liquid" (not the same as "clear liquid")--I now get 1% milk (which I decline to drink for reasons of lactose intolerance), broth that's a bit cloudier than instant bouillon, tea, and vanilla pudding. There was Cream of Wheat for breakfast. Clearly not the reason I chose to stay another day, but my appetite's still not what it ought to be anyway.

The Internet access still comes and goes randomly here. Had it for two and a half hours Monday night, then couldn't get on from 11:30 pm until 4 in the afternoon.
<-----5-25-2010-----MSG----->

Call me Charles, 'cause I've been de-galled.

fringefan — Tue, 25 May 2010 01:54:14 GMT

[Pun slightly adapted from one by Gary McGath on Facebook. No joke is too good or too bad to steal.]

I had my laparoscopic cholecystectomy ("lap chole") at 7:30 Monday morning. I'm now (9:30 pm or so) subsisting on ice chips in my room at Methodist Hospital, where Internet access comes and goes with no recognizable pattern.

Even though they've got me on NPO (nothing by mouth) orders--something about giving my gut a rest--they seem happy to bring me ice chips by the pint any time I ask. Go figure.

Pain at the incision site isn't bad, except when I inhale deeply (which they want me to do ten times an hour to keep my lungs in tune while I lie abed). There's a sharp stab with each deep breath. The morphine they were giving me in the recovery room didn't seem to help, so they've switched me to tramadol (which sounds as though it belongs in a Kurt Vonnegut novel).
<-----5-24-2010-----MSG----->

Greetings from Methodist Hospital!

fringefan — Sun, 23 May 2010 17:46:07 GMT

A quick update/recap for those who haven't received the word:

I'm at Methodist Hospital in Park Slope right now, having been diagnosed with gallstones and an inflamed, infected gall bladder. (Insert "colossal gall" and "that takes stones" jokes here.) As far as I know, I'm getting a laparoscopic cholecystectomy tomorrow--that will be a removal of my gall bladder, through a "minimally invasive" procedure that is nonetheless performed under general anesthesia. Great way to celebrate a birthday! On the plus side, I'm in minimal pain and discomfort, and I think this finally explains the physical unpleasantness I suffered in mid-March, mid-February and possibly even late December.

(Internet access at the hospital seems to come and go with little rhyme or reason, so I apologize in advance if I don't speedily respond to responses.)
<-----5-23-2010-----MSG----->

Huzzah! She's home!

fringefan — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 18:09:02 GMT

I just remembered that these social network thingies are supposed to be for letting people know important things that have happened, so here goes.

Donna was released from Ditmas Park Rehab/Care Center the evening of Monday 5 April and is now safely home at the N.Y. Cadre. She can climb the five front steps unassisted. She is supposedly capable of climbing the flight of steps from the dining room to the second floor, but is holding off on that until later in the week—she has a couple of doctors' appointments in the next couple of days, and doesn't want to risk delaying getting there.

<-----4-6-2010-----MSG----->

June and July zines posted

fringefan — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 18:58:32 GMT

Yeah, I've gotten a little behind on things. Life works that way sometimes.

I'm trying to catch up, and have just gotten my June and July zines html-ized and posted to the N.Y. Cadre Web pages <nycadre.org/btf>.

I may have my August one up there, too, before we get too far into September, but I'm making no promises.

<-----8-27-2009-----MSG----->

May zine posted

fringefan — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 03:43:03 GMT

It was in to the apa on time; I don't know what happened to slow me down in the monthly conversion-to HTML ritual. (Well, I do know. The beginnings of a new side gig, and software problems relating to it, and a couple of bits of new business at work, and so on and so on... all the usual unusual stuff, and hence, another deadline-pusher. Nothing catastrophic or life-threatening; just a lot of time sinks.) But it's ready now, for those who haven't already seen it in the e-apa; just go to the N.Y. Cadre Web pages <nycadre.org/btf>. There are still a few minutes left in May...

Oh, and thanks to those who wished me a happy birthday ten days ago.

<-----5-31-2009-----MSG----->

April zine posted

fringefan — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 04:13:35 GMT

Friday afternoon, in fact. But then I realized I hadn't updated the Cadre homepage in three months, and then Stuff Happened at work, and you know how it goes.

Anyhow, it's in there now, at the N.Y. Cadre Web pages <nycadre.org/btf>, so have a look.

<-----4-26-2009-----MSG----->

March zine posted

fringefan — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 20:34:03 GMT

And just barely in time! In another 7½ hours Conficker will turn us all into zombies and bring about the End of the Interweb As We Know It. [I think that's what Lesley Stahl said...]

So see it while you can, at the N.Y. Cadre Web pages <nycadre.org/btf>.

<-----3-31-2009-----MSG----->

February zine posted

fringefan — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 22:02:29 GMT

It's at the N.Y. Cadre Web pages <nycadre.org/btf>. What more need I say?

Only nine days to the end of SAD season: Spring Forward on 8 March!
<-----2-27-2009-----MSG----->

January zine posted

fringefan — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 22:26:46 GMT

It's at the N.Y. Cadre Web pages <nycadre.org/btf>, whose home page I've also updated for the first time since August. Procrastination's such a problem. I ought to do something about it one of these days.

Gung hey fat choy to any who care, and may the year of the ox not knock over anything breakable.
<-----1-26-2009-----MSG----->

December zine posted

fringefan — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 04:19:13 GMT

Once again, the zine's actually been up there for some time—about a week—but for most of that week I was out of town with severely limited Internet access *shudder* and couldn't get on to post this announcement. So sue me. Anyway, it's there as usual at the N.Y. Cadre Web pages <nycadre.org/btf>, so read and enjoy, or ignore, as you please.

A happy and healthy New Year to all.
<-----12-29-2008-----MSG----->