Jul
14
The Internet & My Bone Marrow Biopsy
Filed Under Family, Other Stuff | 3 Comments
This morning I am getting ready to go to the hospital to get a bone marrow biopsy. Not something I’m particularly looking forward to. You see, in order to get some bone marrow from a person the doctor has to push a horse needle into your hip bone and then suck some marrow into the needle. Why would I agree to subject myself to this procedure you ask? Four years ago I was diagnosed with a rare, but fairly treatable form of Leukemia - Hairy Cell Leukemia (HCL). When I say rare, I mean among the 700,000,000 people in the US and Europe are less than 2000 new cases reported per year. You are literally more than three times more likely to be killed crossing the street than contracting Hairy Cell Leukemia. And if you do find yourself fighting the disease, the 20 year survival rate is about 95%. Compared to other cancers, the prognosis for someone with HCL is very good.
Hairy Cell Leukemia (HCL) is very treatable, but because so few people contract it, individual doctors and oncologists don’t see it often or at all during the course of their careers. I have a wonderful medical team behind me, but I suspect that I am only one of two people that they have treated with this disease. They are busy people with limited time during the day for research into my disease of interest.
The internet allows me to connect with communities of people who are also fighting the disease, and with other medical professionals who specialize in it’s treatment. For HCL in particular I’ve found a great online bulletin board, called Rob’s User Friendly HCL Site and Chat Room. The support there is wonderful. When my blood test numbers recently starting trending downwards, I of course consulted with my doctor, but I also shared with the HCL board. I received support from the board, and also some advice from a Doctor who is a regular on the board (a GP who is himself is a HCL survivor). I also received private messaged pointing me to journal articles that related to what I’m going through at this point in time. I now have two or three thing to consult with my doctor about, including an article from the Journal of Clinical Oncology that talks about different chemotherapy strategies that have been tried over the years with HCL.
Without the internet, and the communities that it enables, I would know much less about the disease I’m battling, and would be not nearly as well equipped to discuss different treatment options with my doctor. So after not visiting Rob’s User Friendly HCL board for a couple of years now (since my last round of chemotherapy), it looks like I’ll become more of a regular now that my old friend is back with me. By the end of next week when my bone marrow biopsy results are back I’ll have a better idea of what treatments, if any, I have to look forward to.
For now I’m feeling great. This past week, I’ve played soccer twice, gone mountain biking with my sons, and played a little touch rugby. Life is good. I have much to be grateful for. I better get going though, my ride to the hospital for my bone marrow biopsy at 10:30am is about to leave.
Jun
24
Why am I writing about my polygamist heritage? Two things really. The recent raid on the FLDS polygamist group in Texas has brought polygamy back into the news and into general public discussion. Secondly, as the Texas polygamy news story broke, I had just finished reading, “In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith” by Todd Compton.
First let me say that I believe that what the Texas authorities did in taking all the children in the community away from their parents was wrong. If there was a complaint about abuse by an individual, then something should have been done to protect that person’s family until things could be sorted out. This is not the first time the US government has put polygamist families through their legal justice system. I am a happy monogamist, and will encourage my children to be monogamists, but in this day and age, if consenting, informed adults want to enter into polygamist relationships, then the government should not interfere. If teenagers are being encourage or coerced to enter into polygamist marriages, then the adults involved should be prosecuted to the fullest extent under applicable laws (as Warren Jeffs the leader of the FLDS was for example).
My great grandmother Katherine Love Paxman was the fourth wife of William Paxman. At the time she married, Katherine was 24 years old and her husband was almost 50 years old (interestingly, William’s eldest son by his first wife, was 29 at the time he married Katherine). William was a leader in the Mormon church, and in accordance with church doctrine at the time, was encouraged to marry more than one wife. Unfortunately at the time he married my great grand mother, the United States government was beginning to actively prosecute and jail polygamist husbands.
At least partly as a result of the pressure by the US legal system, the church sent William on a mission to New Zealand in order to move him out of the reach of the US government. Only one wife could go with him on his mission, and my grandmother turned out to be the lucky wife, and made the trip to New Zealand with him (I’m not sure why, but it may have been an economic issue, as great grandma didn’t have any children to take with her at the time, unlike her sister wives).
Nine years, and five children later (1897), William died suddenly while eating dinner, just two days after falling off one of his other wife’s roof while fixing it. At the time Katherine was living at her mother’s home, and after his death, to make ends meet, she took a job as secretary at the town hall in Nephi, Utah.
In a sense I am grateful for polygamy. I wouldn’t be here today if it were not for my Great Grandfather William Paxman, and his fourth wife, Great Grandma Katherine Paxman. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone else, but quite selfishly I’m glad to be here.
P.S. In Sacred Loneliness is lengthy book that provides quite detailed biographical sketches of the lives of Joseph Smiths 30+ wives, right from their births and family back grounds, to their death’s. Todd Compton is an academic, and his prose isn’t captivating for the most part, but some of the stories of the women in his book are truly incredible. Many of the stories taken directly from their personal histories. A great example of one of those incredible stories is of Zina Huntington Jacobs. Joseph Smith approached her about a polygamist marriage in Nauvoo, and she rebuffed him, and within weeks married Zina, who had been courting her at the time. Six months after her marriage to Henry Jacobs, Joseph approached her again and told her that an angel had appeared to him with a drawn sword and told him that if he did not marry her, that he would be killed and that her family would not go to Heaven. She acquiesced, and was married to Joseph as his fifth wife. The marriage was done in secret. So secret in fact that Joseph’s first wife Emma was not told of the marriage.
Jun
21
CALI 2008 - Conference Highlights
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Here are my CALI conference highlights. It was a good conference again this year, with a few great take always.
- The opening plenary session was by Paul Maharg, who talked about the importance of learning by doing. In particular he spoke about how students typically learn best through performance of authentic transactions involving doing what they are supposed to be learning, and then reflection on what they’ve done. Much like the “case” method that the UVic Business School has used for many years (since I was there in fact). Here are his slides.
- The rest of the day I spent at a Drupal seminar … very good law school community building up around Drupal for law school and law library websites, with custom modules being created, and good person to person support in the community (IRC.Freenode.net #Tecknoids). Build new Law Centre and Law Library websites using the Drupal framework.
- Hiring a Contractor for your Website CMS Implementation - Boone, Nann, Yale Law School.
- Lesson 1: Choose your CMS first, don’t let your contractor sell you on “their CMS”
- Lesson 2: Choose your contractor second.
- Lesson 3: Make the contractor Accountable for Delays (include penalties for the missing of milestones in the development process).
- Lesson 4: Require Detailed Documentation for end users.
- Lesson 5: Be an active participant - find out how things work, and let them know how you work.
- Lesson 1: Choose your CMS first, don’t let your contractor sell you on “their CMS”
- Fun with Digital Signage - Dewald, University of Utah School of Law. THIS IS WHAT WE SHOULD USE IN THE LAW LIBRARY AND LAW SCHOOL. Uses for digital signs: General Info, Events, maps, traffic, news (rss feeds, videos), room schedules, emergency info. Some things to consider before making the plunge:
- Why are we using them? Do we have a clear purpose?
- What content are we going to display? Who’s going to be in charge?
- Have you identified strategic display locations? (lobby, near 158/159, library entrance??).
- DAN - display & alert network. All you need is an internet connected old computer.
- Cost $69USD per month, per display site (e.g. 5 displays displaying the same thing is $69 per month).
- Completely web based utility to update and manage the displays.
- Can develop a web application to display on the web page.
- Can make templates for different resolution Monitors… Could use What ever sized monitor do you need.
- Broadcast Converter over CAT5 w/ a VGA converter… or hook up to a PC in the cealing.
- Reporting software built in so you can tell if a monitor is down.
- http://www.akaditech.com/
- This looks like this is the way to go… much less expensive than other systems I’ve seen.
- Drawbacks, need to have a computer hooked up to every screen.
- Have a 30 day trial for testing purposes.dewalda@law.utah.edu for a demo.
- This solution is much, much less expensive than other solutions, but literally thousands of dollars. Their monthly cost, is less than the support costs of other systems.
- Why are we using them? Do we have a clear purpose?
- Social networking for Law Schools - Ginsberg
- We Need to teach students how to present themselves professionally on social networks.
- Facebook - libraries and law schools can join… have a special application form. Resist the urge to install a ton of apps on your page. 22% of law libraries have facebook pages (at least of those in attendace at the session. Some times public communications officers will maintain the facebook presence. Networks on Facebook are going away… being replaced by Groups… drag stuff in via RSS feeds (photos, events, podcasts).
- Privacy concerns on all all social networks. Where is the boundry between personal & professional. some people have 2 accounts… one for professional and one for personal.
- Who are you talking to? What is important to them? Who will administer the site? How much time and money are reasonable? What features re available? Exit plan if you want to get out, or the site is not kept up to date?
- Social Network are potentally a place for people to complain about the law school - need to have someone “living” there to check on things and counter any unwarranted negative information.
- RSS & Widgets How to put your law school on My Yahoo, iGoogle, Facebook and My Space - Len Davidson, Catholic University Law School. It would be interesting to experment with this at the Law Library. Sounds very easy to do a test using something like widgetbox.com. Maybe to a Mac widget first, as it sounds like Mac users, use widgets more than other users. We should at least create a “Chat with librarian” widget for google chat.
Jun
6
Strong Opinions Weakly Held
Filed Under Spiritual | Leave a Comment
I was just listening to a Podcast called StackOverflow - a fairly geeky podcast. At one point they were talking about how people reviewing new technologies have to make judgements as to whether a programming language or technology is good or not based on limited time using the technology.
They suggested that in those cases where it is impractical or impossible to come to a definite conclusion, one should state your option clearly and strongly, but be open to change in the future. Have Strong Opinions but Weakly Held. While a person may be confidant that they are right based on the evidence they currently have, they should be open to change their opinion if new information comes to light, or if a some mistake can be shown in their thinking.
With regards to religion, things are far more complex. From my current perspective, I believe that the LDS is not what it claims to be. That opinion is based on my my personal experience in the church and from the research I’ve done. I hold this opinion strongly, but if I had an experience like Paul did on the road to Damascus, or if a lot of new historial evidence came to light, I could see myself modifying my position. I personally think the chance that I will have an experience like Paul is reported to have had are pretty low given my life experience, but you never know.
On the other hand, everyone has to find their own spiritual path. My path is mine, and not any one else’s. People may choose to stay in a religous tradition for perfectly valid reasons, even though they may not agree with all it’s teachings, or believe in all it’s foundational stories. Everyone has to find a balance that works for them and their family. I guess that is one of the reasons that life so exciting and interesting.
This is one of my Strong Opinions, Weakly Held.
Apr
10
Comiqs.com is a free web site that allows you to upload your photos and create comic-style stories. You can see in the photo the right that some proud parent took a picture of their cute baby and then added some comic strip style text boxes. It is a lot of fun to play around with.
I’ve been using ComicLife (made by the same company that has created comiqs.com), on my Mac for a couple of years now, and have loved it. If you want to do more comic-style stores I highly recommend paying the $24.95 to buy comic life (there is a Windows version now as well).
Here are a few of “cartoons” that I created with Comic Life… It was a great was to remember a fun trip to Moab I had with my boys and Mitch Massey and his boys:
- Adventures in Moab - Part 1
- Klondike Bluffs! - Part 2
- Gemini Bridges - Part 3
- Unsettled Weather - Part 4
Enjoy!
Apr
7
Sometimes it can be Tiring being a Parent
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Sometimes it can be tiring being a parent… This reminds me so much of our little 4 year old Jillian. She just loves to be chased around, and be tickled… screaming with joy the whole time.
Mar
27
Synchronize Google Calendar with Outlook
Filed Under Google, Work | Leave a Comment
Google Calendar Sync is a new Google utility that synchronizes your Google Calendar with your Outlook Calendar. You have to install and run the synchronization software on the windows computer where Outlook is installed, and then you can specify how frequently you want the syncs to occur, and in which direction.
Here’s how to get started:
- Download & install the executable (663 KB).
- In the settings window that appears after installation, enter your email and password and select from the sync options (like frequency and information flow), and hit Save.
- You will now find an icon in your Windows system tray; when events are syncing, you’ll see two green arrows.
Feb
28
Google Docs Looking More Like Microsoft Office
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It may be a case of more style over substance, but for people switching from Microsoft Office to Google Docs, the change to the editing tool bar will help smooth the transition. No major new features have been added in the update (at least none that I’ve noticed), but the new tool bar does feel more comfortable, and brings the task of editing text in Google Documents closer to what I’m used to when editing blog posts, and posting on modern bulletin boards.
This follows an update last week that allows you to crate a form to fill out to enter data into a spread sheet rather than entering it in field by field. Google has a long way to go to match the feature set that Microsoft Office offers, but they are slowly adding the features that most people use. It won’t belong before average people will be able to move to Google Docs and not miss much of anything… and gain collaboration features that you don’t get with Office, unless you have an enterprise IT department behind you.
Feb
21
Being the father of five children under the age of 13 years old, and having 4 computers in our home, I’ve been experimenting with software over the past few years to try make my children’s’ experience on the internet wholesome… or at the very least porn free. After trying some commercial software for content filtering, that ended up slowing down our 4 year old computer, I have finally found something that doesn’t kill our computer, and as an added bonus is FREE. The software is called, K9 Web Protection. As I mentioned, it works well on the old windows computer in our kitchen, but K9 will not run on Mac OSX or Linux (both of which we have in our house).
I had given up hope of finding something that would run on all our computers until I heard about OpenDNS last week. OpenDNS allows you to filter web content and block adult websites on the internet by simply changing the DNS servers that your computer or router uses. It works very well. The service is free, and after you’ve setup and account you can specify the kinds of web sites you want to block or allow. You can also specifically allow web sites that may be grouped in a category you have blocked. You have all the control that you could ask for.
If you want, you can also enable logging so that you can keep track of the websites computers in your house are visiting. This all happens transparently, without having to install any software on your computer. If you have an internet router, you can manually change the DNS servers that your router uses to the two OpenDNS servers, and all the comptuers in hour home will automatically be protected from the kinds of web sites you specify, log the sites they visit (you have to turn the logging on, it is off by default). If you want to change your DNS settings now just use the following:
- 208.67.222.222
- 208.67.220.220
OpenDNS along with Mozy Backup and two services that every home should seriously consider using. OpenDNS is completely free, and Mozy Backup is free up to 2GB of data backed up, and $5 per month for unlimited backups. Enjoy!
Feb
7
Google has released a new version of Google Apps called “Team Edition” that at a functional level, is essentially the same as the Basic version of Google Apps. The same word processor, spreadsheet, instant messaging, calendaring, and start page, but no email. What is different is that the “Team Edition” allows people in organizations that have not adopted Google Mail for their enterprise or organizational email system, to use the other Google Applications collaboratively. Not only that, but individuals in the organization can sign up one by one without central IT’s blessing or support. This makes it much easier for ad-hoc groups to use Google Applications without jumping through organizational hoops and bureaucracy.
All users need to do is go to the Google Apps “Team Edition” page, and sign up with their corporate email address. A confirmation email is then sent back to the person’s email address and then they are on the system. Once registered you can see who else from the organization has signed up, and you can begin collaborating right away (apparently I am the first UVic.ca individual to sign up). It looks like Google is hoping that pressure from users will encourage organizations to adopt Google Apps officially, and from Google’s perspective, hopefully adopt the premium paid version.
This Google screen cast gives a few more details.