Mexico Medical Student |

Blog Updates:
I’m happy to report all is well. The blog software is updated, making room for all the “current” plug-ins, themes, etc. and most importantly, the security fixes applied so that I don’t get h4×0r5 hijacking the site to something hideous and embarrassing like an online yarn shop. I’d never live that one down. Regarding the slick black theme: yes, it’s understated, and surprisingly, yes, it’s pretty much done. I downloaded it of course, because I can’t create much of anything, but I can always edit and tweak. (which I need to do because I want my links underlined and my blogroll subcategorized) However, I really like the minimal, clean look. Maybe in a month or two I’ll think to add a graphic here and there, but the day you see a flash ad at the top (for yarn and fabric!) is the day you know for sure I’ve been abducted. Thanks Vijay and TinyShrink MD (heh) for the shout outs.

Bags:
As I wrote on Twitter the other day, I have a serious thing for bags. I am, in fact, completely indistinguishable from a woman shopping for purses with the level of scrutiny that I investigate pockets, seams, zippers and compartments. However, the presence of my Y chromosome does mean that I must depart somewhat from my inner female in that looks and it matching anything else I have are nearly irrelevant. I don’t care if the bag looks like a freak accident that escaped the Coach genetic testing labs–I care about function,form, and feel, ONLY and in that order.

So my brother was here last week, and I saw a bag he had that I don’t recall his having this last Christmas. I asked what it was, and he said “Weren’t you the one that told me about this?” Disgustedly, I gave a look like, “You fool! Do you think I’d forget something like this?!?” as I pawed The Precious.

Here is the object of my desire. It’s different from my brother’s, but our gear needs are different. Yes I know the orange isn’t the most aesthetically pleasing color, but just look at that removable DSLR camera bag attachment. Yes, I know the whole “snake” theme is a bit odd, but that’s some sexy stuff. YeSSSSS!

Obviously, I’m not getting this anytime soon, but my current eBags laptop backback is not doing too well (in fact, it’s nearly unrecognizable from the online pictures). It’s also surprisingly heavy all by itself–something I found recently as I emptied it to have it be managed by Claudia when I was last in the hospital. “Honey, I need this because, like, you know, the next time I might be in the the hospital–what? yes, I know the doctor said all would be fine, but you never know…ok!–I’m just saying, the next time, if I have this, it won’t be as heavy for you when you have to manage it,” just isn’t very convincing. I’ll work on it.

Social Networking:
In my previous life, I was a senior-level IT person/consultant. It should come as no surprise, then, that when faced with a “SIGN UP NOW” email from a relative, friend, or annoying co-worker–it matters not–in order to see their pictures or whatever online with some proprietary service, I normally would hit “delete” without a second thought (and might even be annoyed that thanks to them, they at least have my email address). Why on earth would I want to give away my information to a business that I have nothing to do with who, upon trying to make ends meet, will be like so many others and whore their user data to the highest bidder, maybe even sinking so low as to start putting up yarn ads. (If you got that reference, you’ve read this all the way through and I thank you from the bottom of my ad-less heart)

Maybe it’s the sweltering Texas summer heat, maybe it’s having some burnable time on my hands, but I seem to be trying out new services sites like it’s going out of style. Normally meticulously recorded in SplashID on my Blackberry (encrypted of course), I have yet to keep up with all the usernames/sites I’m registering. It’s like I have Daddy’s credit card and going on a registration/shopping spree and don’t care about amounts or receipts, wadding them up and throwing them on the floor as I search the next target. There’s a ton of redundancy and overlap in these things, and I think I’ve reached the limit of what I’m willing to try. I think with each useful service, there is a “best of breed” product; that’s the one I’ll sign up with.

And what it is with the lack of vowels in these names? Flickr. Stumblr. Feedlr. Tumblr. Mastrbatr. I gotta pull back before some 21-year-old CIO in the Bay Area tweets to his other entrepreneur buddies and with all their collective information figures out the exact position of all the constellations at the time of my birth. On their iPhones.

(Medical stuff–personal and news/commentary–coming in a jiffy, I promise!)