Daymarks

Just read the strangest book: In Secret Service by Mitch Silver. Basic idea is that Ian Fleming leaves an unpublished manuscript outing the Duke of Windsor as a traitor. The charming main character is a young female professor from Yale who inherits the manuscript and proceeds to dodge bad guys for the rest of the book.

It’s a fun book with lots of fake documentation. Villains old and new wander about Ireland and Yale University.

Discussed the book’s premise at length with my brother Chauncey who is a history buff. The stuff a Wallis is not as far fetched as the rest of the story according to him. Chauncey doesn’t think the Duke was a traitor because the French let him live in France after the War. The French hold grudges and would not allow a traitor to live there.

If you are willing to suspend disbelief, In Secret Service is a fun book. Rapid pace and intriguing characters make for an interesting first novel.

Available in a variety of formats from Amazon.

One of my hosting accounts is at Dreamhost. I love the company and it’s unlimited hosting accounts. I even read it’s friendly tongue-in-cheek newsletters and blog posts occasionally.

I pay for my for “My Crazy Domain Insane” once a year on Halloween. Today, the gremlins took over the Dreamhost billing system and I was charged for the period from 10-31-08 to 10-31-09. I wasn’t alone. And there were a lot of unhappy customers.

Dreamhost promptly responded to customer complaints and refunded the credit card charges. Later in the day they sent an email apologizing and directing folks to their blog for a full explanation of what happened. Read the post Um, Whoops. if you want to know more.

It was a tiny programming error that created havoc with the billing system. While testing an updated module, they decided to go back to Christmas 2007. Unfortunately, the manual test entries used 2008 instead of 2007 so the system billed $7.5 million overnight. Oops!

I know from personal experience that the most vexing and hard-to-find errors a programmer makes are caused by little things like typos, missing punctuation, and flawed dates. Fortunately, my errors have never been as public or caused as much grief.

The Dreamhost biller no longer allows future dates. Some folks were bent out of shape and vented a bit in the comments on the blog. Most took it in stride. I continue to be a Dreamhost fan.

My Comcast digital recorder broke yesterday. I got the DVR equivalent of the blue screen of death - click-click-click sounds. Odd noises are unnerving with any piece of electronic equipment and I really don’t do hardware.

Tried the usual solution: power off, wait 30 seconds, turn on power, and wait for the time to display. Got a picture and live TV but unable to play or record programs on DVR.

Today I called technical service and got two surprises: I got through immediately and the person I talked to was in St. Paul. Nice! Went through the same procedure but this time the machine made clicking noises when it booted. The hard drive is fried and I have to take it back to the Richfield office.

Bummer! I planned to record 60 Minutes tonight. Leslie Stahl is interviewing Mark Zuckerberg, the 23 year old behind Facebook. Now I will have to watch the live show and take notes. Probably worth watching.

Lots of folks like to tell how they quit smoking but other people usually aren’t all that interested. They either quit years ago and think you are a fool for waiting so long or they never started and think you are just a fool. Either way tales of quitting are mostly repetitious and boring.

However, this is my blog and I can be a boring as I like. You can skip this post and not miss much.

I quit smoking a year ago and here is how I did it.

1. After running a bit short of O2 in November 2006. I decided to quit smoking on January 1, 2007.
2. As recommended I told everyone I would quit January 1st. Smirks and guffaws followed.
3. I accepted Chauncey’s $500 challenge. If I didn’t smoke before April 1, 2007, he would give me $500. If I did, he would get the satisfaction of being right but no money. No down side for me at all.
4. Got a prescription for patches: 28 days of 21mg, 14mg, and 7mg. Wore fresh patch every day. Grew fond of alcohol swabs but tired of red circles on sensitive skin. Initially the patches seemed to have more nicotine than I had been getting smoking. Brilliant medical strategy.
5. First week strategy:
   • Went to movies or out to lunch almost every day. Can’t smoke either place.
   • Spent less time on computer in home office and more time out and about.
   • Napped a lot. Never learned to smoke while asleep.
   • Sally gave me a list of 100 things to do other than smoke. Most of them seem to involve cleaning or real physical effort. I hid the list.
6. Bought lots of Tootsie pops and developed a temporary fondness for them. So much so that one of my birthday presents was a Tootsie pop tree. Found that I really didn’t like the green or orange pops. Don’t even want to see a Tootsie pop today.
7. In late January I bought a fancy pedometer from Amazon thinking I would become a Mall walker like my sister and brother-in-law and avoid gaining weight. As plans go it was a good one but I was in no shape to follow it.

   A bit of a compulsive record keeper I began to jot down my steps each day. In February 2007 I went over 4000 steps for the first time, but I certainly didn’t make a practice of it. My goal at the time was to walk more than 1000 steps a day. How do you spell sedentary? Lazy? Glued to the computer screen or recliner?

   It wasn’t til late May and after some much needed prodding that I began to regularly walk more than 4000 steps a day. Today I consider that the bare minimum for days when I’m too busy with other stuff to hit the treadmill for 30 or 40 minutes.

8. In February I knew I would succeed since the patches pretty much took care of any craving for nicotine. So I finally threw out the final pack of cigarettes. Yes, it was stupid to keep them around that long.
9. April 1, 2007 I collected $500 from Chauncey who was delighted that I quit. And so am I.

One of the things I want to keep track of here is the books I enjoy reading.

I like the fast paced personal style of The Cure for Remembering: A Dr. Nora Sternberg Mysteryby Ruth E. Weissberger, M.D.

Premise: Hospitals are dangerous places for patients and staff especially when there is a murderer on the loose.

I liked the main character, Dr. Nora Sternberg, a lot. She’s no escapee from Grey’s Anatomy - she’s down-to-earth, off the pedestal, and kind of funny. She thinks that patients deserve as much respect as doctors and staff. Medical professionals have to earn trust and the right to be on a first name basis with those they serve. My father would have liked the main character and the author.

It’s a slim book and a quick read. I hope this is the beginning of a series.

Ever gone online to work and discovered hours later that you have wasted hours playing a game or reading a forum that has nothing to do with your business? I do - all too frequently.

I pretty much wasted this afternoon playing with JibJab’s Snowball Fight.

Basically you replace the heads in the video with snapshots of five friends or relatives. You upload the images, tweak them a bit, and guffaw as you preview the video with your brother-in-law or grandma bouncing around the screen. Lots of fun.

Thanks Pepsi for sponsoring this sendable.

Link: JibJab Sendables

Lately I’ve been hearing a lot about the power of just showing up. Whether it’s an exercise routine or writing a blog, the folks who show up are the ones who benefit the most. You don’t have to do anything extraordinary, you just have to show up ready to exercise or write. If you show up consistently, you win. If you don’t, nobody loses but you.

I’ve been listening to Younger Next Year for Women as I exercise. The authors repeatedly stress the importance of showing up. Chris, the distinguished elderly gentleman (geezer) who is the role model for the book and the plan, keeps saying you have to exercise at least six times a week for the rest of your life. That’s a bit daunting, right?

I managed to avoid exercise for about 25 years until I got a wake-up call last May. I had never been close to a treadmill and didn’t even know how to use one until I ended up in rehab. I know now that I need to show up and take my medicine, exercise hard, and maintain positive attitude. I also know it’s not that hard - it’s almost fun.

Chris and Harry (MD) have a simple message: 70% of aging is voluntary. So exercise, connect with others, and quit eating crap.

I ordered the Younger Next Year Journal: Start Now and Live the Promise Day-by-Day from Amazon. I was a little disappointed that the site didn’t show what the pages looked like, so I scanned a page for this blog.

I’m pleased with the pages but I would have liked more open space in the life section and a bit less in the strength training since I’m taking a Silver Sneakers class.

Seth Godin talked about the power of showing up with enthusiasm in his blog. And he’s right about the power of arriving purposeful and prepared. But for now, I’m happy to just show up.

Recommended: Younger Next Year website