I can't imagine there are many people who care about my pain and suffering, but for the few that do and who have asked me to show pictures, here is a followup to my first spinal injection post from a few weeks ago.

And this time there's pictures! (Click on the image for more detail and pictures from the scene of the crime with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one to be used as evidence against... Oops, never mind. The red arrows point to the inserted needles.)

I went back in this morning and had a second round of injections done, only this time I skipped the IV pain killers and anesthesia/relaxation stuff. Last time they gave me this stuff that made me all calm, and a bit groggy. It's not that I wanted to avoid that medication this time, it's just that the nurse couldn't get an IV stick in me successfully. After a few painful attempts at finding a vain (I had not had enough liquids the day before and could not drink anything this morning before the procedure), we gave up and I decided I'd endure the pain of the procedure over the pain of he failed IV sticks.

That turned out to be a good idea.

My doctor's a funny guy. When he heard I was not getting the IV drugs, he paused for a second or two, said, “Well ohhhhhkayyyy then,” and started in. Yeah, it was more painful, but all in all not too bad.

The picture above is from the procedure, where they stick a needle down in my spinal column, about 3 inches, into in the epidural space where he injected a “nerve block” and some cortisone steroid stuff, which will reduce the inflammation and hopefully solve my problem of not being able to carry the weight of my body on my own two feet from time to time. Either that or figure out something else, but this is the first step (after trying medication and physical therapy - the first invasive step, you could call it).

For anyone who's avoided procedures to help with back injuries or degeneration (I have a herniated and degenerated disk), let me tell you this: You can get some relief (in some cases complete relief I am told). While my pain returned (I was told it probably would), and I have to go through this second round, the freedom from pain when you get it is worthwhile. I did not realize how much pain I was in until it was gone. Kind of like beating your head against a wall, as they say: It feels so much better when you stop.

Anyhow, totally non-tech, and so now we return you to your regularly scheduled blogram...

Need to figure out how to automagically ping this site's XML-RPC interface (rpc.pingomatic.com) on all new dasBlog posts. One ping to them results in 12 pings to various other listings. That could speed some things up. Kewl...

http://wordpress.org/development/archives/2004/05/23/pingomatic-and-site/

dasBlog lets me ping Weblogs.com and blo.gs on update, but at first glance I don't see anywhere that I can specify other services to ping - so will need to look into this.

SanDisk Corp. said it would begin shipping a Secure Digital card combining flash memory and WiFi connectivity beginning next month.

Okay, now that's a cool idea. Stick that in your SmartPhone and you're in good shape maybe without using expensive GPRS KBytes (and its faster).

That or a new phone and maybe the Blackberry can go.

Not a truly exciting name, but the idea certainly is interesting: A machine that plays XBOX, yet-to-be-seen XBOX 2, and PC titles, includes a full release of Windows, and will sell for around $600. They're calling it “XBOX Next PC” in focus group studies.

Sounds good to me. If you're talking XBOX and Windows, we're looking at MediaCenter PC version of Windows almost certainly, which means the hard drive(s) are for more than just games (video and audio too). The Media Center extenders and other devices will take a new leap with this. Since this is planned for after XBOX 2, I'd have to assume it based on Longhorn, so my imagination is running wild.

I've been part of these MSFT focus groups in the past (for other products, can't say more than that), and I can tell you one thing from those experiences: Microsoft is a company that will put serious money into dreaming big, and then even more money into building the things that look like they'll fly high.

Can't wait to see where this goes.

PCSTATS has posted 99 tips for enhancing performance of Windows XP, ostensibly for beginners. BUT (read on...)

... not sure I'd actually attach the word “beginner” to many of these tweaks, although none of them are complicated if you know the basics of Windows, the registry, and other topics of a similar skill level. This is actually a pretty good list, so if you have a spare day or so, you might want to give some or all of these a try. Just be sure to set a system restore point and do a backup first. For people looking to take a step into Windows that's beyond what you can do within the UI (if you don't know what “UI” means, please skip this entire article), this is for you.

... and thanks to Jake at uttlerlyboring.com for linking to the site, which is how I found it ...

I recently got a new dog, a chocolate lab. He's typically puppy (read: sort of obnoxious but totally likable), and gets along great with my black lab, Buddy, who is about 11 years old.

When I last posted an entry about the new addition to the farm, I had yet to name him, but that's changed. I came up with a good name after much serious thought and consideration:

Diogi.

A friend who's started a blog. This could be scary!

Looks like first post is about video cards. Now, knowing Dave, who woulda thunk it??? Dave, hardware? Nahhhh...

In an attempt to bring RSS to the masses, and to have the masses understand it, the infamous Dave Winer has created http://www.reallysimplesyndication.com/ - with the goal of spreading the word and explaining RSS in a way people can consume. Good idea, when you consider it's all about making information easy to consume, don't-cha-think?

Every publisher that supports RSS has to explain what it's about, and every one tells a different and incomplete story.

Another clue is that most the hits on Google for RSS are sites for developers. Not much for a normal person who might want to use RSS or just know what it might mean for a person who's not a scientist.

So I wanted to start a site where people from the RSS users community can answer questions to help newbies figure out what to do with an RSS feed without requiring a PhD in XML.

 - Dave Winer

Jon Stewart is pretty darn funny. Read his commencement address that he gave a few days ago at William & Mary College, where he was a student back in the 80's. As always, he's both funny and makes you stop and think. And then, right when he's got you in serious mode, he slaps ya down with another joke.

“Lets talk about the real world for a moment. We had been discussing it earlier, and I ... I wanted to bring this up to you earlier about the real world, and this is I guess as good a time as any. I don’t really know to put this, so I’ll be blunt. We broke it.”

Classic.

I've always been fascinated by the planets, moons, stars, galaxies, comets, and things. It's amazing to think about all that's out there and how BIG it all is. Today I was checking out a friend's web site and found a link to really cool piece of (free) software called Celestia. Wow, if you're even remotely into this stuff, you need to download this and check it out.

The video I shot gives a pretty lame idea of what you can do with this software - only my execution doesn't do the program justice. Fly from one object to another and check out anything you want.

Here's a hint: Enter ISS as an object name with a distance of about half a mile. Neat-o.

“This fixes a critical problem where your blog cache can get corrupted. Just drop the enclosed DLL into your /bin folder and that's it.”

New web site files and setup MSIs also posted there.

I just ran across PeerFlix, which is using an interesting variation on the NetFlix business model. You let PeerFlix know what movies you own, as well as the ones that you want to see. Then you send your movies to others using the service, and they do the same.

Looks like the cost is lower than NetFlix, and they have a pay-as-you-go option as well as an unlimited number of monthly trades for $10 per month. You trade DVDs you own, and the company covers loss, theft, etc.

It's an interesting concept, and I might even try it out. I've subscribed to NetFlix for a few years now, but this looks like it has the potential to work. Not sure how the selection would be (although they claim 30,000 titles) or how easy it would be to get what you want (NetFlix is great for finding interesting titles on their web site that I otherwise might never know about), but it's intriguing, and I have a few DVDs around that others might be interested in, and for which I have no real use.

Might be a workable business model based on the “one man's junk” philosophy.

Seems like after updating to dasBlog 1.6 the emails normally sent when referrals and comments are made are pretty much hit-and-miss. Sometimes email gets sent, other times not. Or is it just my imagination? Anyone using v1.6 that's seen this behavior?

EDIT: since the hot-fix, problem seems to be resolved.

Nothing like a well-made DVD package to make a 200-minute film bearable. I wasn't a huge fan of the second film in the LOTR trilogy, and this third film's definitely long, but you have to hand it to 'em - pretty amazing what they did with all three films.

By the way: Why anyone would want to watch this film in the cropped, “full-screen” version is beyond me, but it's available if you're into that kind of thing. But I think they should make cropped versions illegal or something. Well maybe not actually illegal, but stop shipping them, they suck. Granted, not everyone has the home theater projector setup that I recently dropped some cash on (I need to post more about that and why it's a good idea and most cost-effective), but arbitrarily cropping a film is about as blasphemous toward the filmmaker as one can be, if you ask me. It's probably the former photographer in me that thinks that, but hey it's art, and I think one should enjoy it the way it was meant to be seen.

Anyhow, as I was saying, this is a film that was born to be seen on DVD as well as in a theater, and it's good that videotape is a thing of the past. Between the great (okay, awesome) CG work (Gondor is pretty incredible and the battles are amazing), the terrific enhanced digital surround sound, and the fact that you can actually pause it to take a [insert bathroom metaphor here] in the middle without missing anything (200 minutes is a long time, man...), this is a hi-def showcase film.

There's really only one thing about these three films that drives me freaking crazy: Every other scene is a cut over to Sam and Frodo climbing up or down some rocky slope of varying grade, and upon closer inspection, each of these scenes are essentially the same:

< Scene cut to Sam and Frodo and possibly Gollum >

Sam:  Ohhhhhh, Frodo!

Frodo:  Ohhhhhh, Sam!

Sam:  Ohhhhhhhhhh, Frodo!

Frodo:  Ohhhhh, SAM!

Gollum:  Hurry, hobbitses, Hurry! Come! Come!

Now that I think about it, the script reads a little bit like a (very) bad adult film out of context, but that's not my point. What I mean to say here is that I wish they had taken the Sam and Frodo characters' development a little further, past their simple and incessant whining about how sorry their situation is, over and over and over and... Anyhow, we got the point already. Or maybe it's just me, I dunno. I realize it's all about two little guys succeeding at the improbable, but sheez... Anyhow, I digress...

In contrast, the Merry and Pippin hobbit characters are more developed in this one, which was good.

Recommended. Fun film, and other than whiny “hobbitses” and the weird talking trees making a cameo return appearance, pretty darn cool. My sub-woofer got a real workout.

If you like movies that are meant to be played loud at home on your super-duper surround system, and if you like dark battles and stuff, it's a treat. And if you're still into this LOTR stuff at this late date, they have some cool screen savers and other stuff you can download.

The FindForward search engine leverages Google's Web API as well as technology from thumbshots.org. It's a nifty search engine interface, provides RSS and ATOM feeds from search results, and a whole bunch of other search categories in an easy to use menu format.

The search grid results are a new way of thinking about search for me - interesting.

Lots of fun ways to search here. Makes me wonder about what the future of search engines will be. When will news, email, instant messaging, web content, everything on my hard drive, and other bundles of info all be instantly searchable, and customizable to my tastes instantly and in real time?

The X1 local search program is cool, and when Longhorn (next version of Windows) is released, we can expect extensively increased capabilities in the area of searching for and using multiple types of information. But what will actually work?

Will be very interesting to see what happens.