Well, yesterday was my oral surgery to place my dental implant.

Since this is an extremely long entry, I’m not showing all of it on this main page. Click on the story’s heading (or on the date or comments or see more link below) to read the unabbreviated version.

This entry is non-gory. Jen says it is safe to read it.

Read the Complete Entry

 › health     2004-01-28 17:58   ...6 comments

This just in from Chris:

A long but very complete document covering how CDs and DVDs work, how to store them, and longevity estimates.

Also note the one-page summary of care guidelines for discs.

 › technology     2004-01-25 11:06   ...1 comment

I have tidied my desk.

I know this will come as a shock to many, but my desk surface is now clear, and I have picked up and filed/put away/recycled all the crap that was on the floor around my desk.

I could claim that this was in honour of clean off your desk day, but I’m 6 days late for that.

It took all day to accomplish this, so those who are coming to the skating party tomorrow should admire it while they can!

I can tell you (from the date of the oldest bills on the desk) that it has been getting piled on since last February… Now that’s a messy desk.

 › domicile     2004-01-17 21:13   ...2 comments

The humidifier is out. It was damn dry in the apartment.

This reminds me of the wonderful Onion point-counterpoint which features a war of the words between a humidifier and a de-humidifier. Sorry folks, Duracraft has won out this time.

 › domicile     2004-01-16 18:34   ...1 comment

The recent coroner’s inquest finding (that a woman’s death due to stroke was an accident following chiropractic adjustment) got me thinking about my perpetual knuckle cracking again.

This time I’m blogging the result of my search for future consumption. According to Johns Hopkins, knuckle cracking is normal, and is not correlated with future arthritis, so one can crack away!

My neck cracks too, and this is perhaps a bit more worrying, since there seems to be general neurological agreement that the rapid (even violent) neck cracking of Chiropractic can damage cerebral arteries (causing blood clots, which can break off). This is likely what occurred to the woman whose death sparked the inquest described above.

The chiropractors themselves suggest that I should not crack my own neck, although not because of any arterial issue, but because of ligament stretching. (The thesis is essentially that neck cracking doesn’t help in the long run, because the neck responds to cracking by tightening muscles, which would make the neck just feel more tense.

Another medical writer suggests, very sensibly in my mind, that cracking which is not brought on by sudden or violent actions is likely to not be too much of an issue. Although the ligament stretching argument is perhaps valid.

I think I’ll try to cut back on neck cracking (but it’s hard when it feels so good…) and instead try to consider why my neck feels tense. I think I may be holding it in the wrong place (bad posture) and forcing the muscles to work too hard. Once again the Alexander technique (see also here) could be helpful…

 › health     2004-01-16 18:23   ...1 comment

I’ve become interested in French folk songs. Having had this burning interest in anglo-folk for the last few years, it occurs to me that there must be french folk music too… Since I am French, I am thinking that it behooves me to actually find out about it.

I’ve combed the net looking for french folk links, and there’s surprisingly little out there on this. I finally stumbled upon a page with some links to recordings. The one that really caught my eye was L’anthologie de la chanson Française (see also the le Monde review on this page). This is a 14 cd box set, which shipped originally with a 928 page book (that I think I can order separately) which should be the most authoritative source imaginable. (I am crossing my fingers that it does not suck.)

Actually getting this has been a bit difficult. The company that produced it in 1994, EPM records in France, seems to be in the process of disappearing. Their website is gone, but in a fit of optimism I sent them an email and they replied!

Even though I grew up speaking French, it has always taken me a long time to write it. I’m getting a bit better at it recently, having written a few things to Parliant customers, and having exchanged some emails with this guy at EPM. Writing a formal letter required some more delving into reference material to get the proper form for a business letter in France, the form - and especially the “yours sincerely” equivalent being very important in such communications.

Here’s the letter, as finally sent this morning:

Ottawa, le 16 janvier 2004.

EPM
188 Bld Voltaire
75001 Paris
France

Monsieur,

Suite à notre entretien par courier électronique de cette semaine, veuillez recevoir cette lettre en guise de mon bon de commande pour votre coffret de 14 disques compactes: L’anthologie de la chanson française – La tradition.

J’ai hâte de reçevoir cet ensemble distingué de musique traditionnelle, et je vous félicite pour l’avoir produit.

Veuillez, s’il vous plaît, m’envoyer un coffret, au prix de €85.00, avec l’ajout de €25.00 comme frais de port. Prenez cette lettre signée comme mon autorisation pour un paiement sur my carte bancaire VISA avec numéro: 1234 1234 1234 1234 avec expiration à la fin de marsembre 2099 (13/99).

Je vous remerci de votre patience pendant notre correspondance par courrier électronique de la dernière semaine.

Veuillez recevoir, Monsieur, l’expression de mes sentiments distingués.

Colin Henein

 › music     2004-01-16 11:31   ...1 comment

I’ve decided to try taking a multi-vitamin. Labeling is very confusing on these puppies… Some have even come up with “Men’s formula” versions, that contain lycopene (even though recent studies suggest you have to eat the whole tomato). The problem is that with 20+ ingredients you really have to start making trade-offs, since you can’t get exactly what you want. (Although I suppose you could take 20 individual pills a day, but that seems excessive.)

To make informed choices you need real facts. It turns out that science-based Recommended Daily Intakes (RDIs) are hard to come by as well.

I feel I don’t need the 18 mg of iron every day that comes in the general “adult” formulation (the recommended daily intake for men my age is 8 mg) so you’d think the men’s formula would be of some use; surprise… it has no iron at all. grr…. The men’s formula also has 3 times the RDI of some of the B vitamins, which seems excessive.

I wound up buying the generic “adult” version at the store (before I had all these facts). I think next time I will chance the men’s version, which has more selenium (good against prostate cancer) and less iron, even if it does provide too much B6 and B12.

 › health     2004-01-12 00:58   ...2 comments

I’ve added the capability to comment on my blog entries, and I’m hoping you’ll feel inspired to add your comments to my stories. You can see how many comments there are for a story by glancing at the bottom right of that story. To view the comments, or add your own, just click on the story title, or right on the “…2 comments” line. I’m looking forward to this blog becoming a two-way street.

 › blogging     2004-01-11 00:33   ...1 comment