So, I got my new external hard drive.  I plugged it in, powered it on... and windows popped up about how there were errors on the drive and that I needed to scan it to make sure it was still in one piece.  I did, and everything seemed to be okay, but now I find that I'm running another diagnostic just to make sure.  Too many hard drive failures over the years makes me nervous.

- Jim

I watched Game of Thrones again since it was OnDemand.  Actually, I watched it during the last week it was on OnDemand, finally ending in watching them all again on the last day it was on OnDemand.  What can I say?  I like my marathons.  I also like waiting to do these things at the last minute.  It's weird that I've now seen the series twice (and parts of it many more times) and still haven't read any of the books, but it's coming.

I'm still working on the prep for the books.  Because of the way that I write and the limitations I had on space and materials, notes and writing is scattered all over the place.  I don't mean all over a room or a house, but some are in digital form, some are in hard copy, some are written before others, and all have to be reconciled.  Whether I've gotten a lot done or not, I've been working on some of these ideas for close to two decades now.  It's a bigger task than I appreciated, but I'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

There are a couple related projects I'm working on as well.  I won't go into too many details on the projects themselves, but one of them involved using a huge database that I would download onto my computer.  Blah blah blah secret stuff, it was large enough that I didn't have enough hard drive space.  Hopefully, that will be resolved shortly - I'm getting a new hard drive.  Should be here in a week or so.  I'll spend a couple days backing files up and moving things around and then I'll be able to use the database at will.

So, things are moving along, and they seem to be moving a lot quicker, though never quickly enough.  Speaking of which, I also ordered more Zits comic books as well, so I'll need to take some time out to finish those too.  Fun is work too, sometimes.

- Jim

This won't be much of an update.  I finished those comic books a long time ago, actually within a few hours of me posting those pictures, as I recall.  The printer works wonderfully and I'm acquainting myself with all the notes I've collected over the years for all of the books.  Writing hasn't yet begun in earnest, but it is picking up.  In the meantime, I'm also trying to catch up on all the reading I want to do. 

Actually, that wasn't my plan.  My knee is bothering me more than usual and I'm unable to work the hours I used to at my computer.  Ah well, I do the best I can.  Hopefully, I'll have something real to brag about by the end of the year.

- Jim

A Few Recent Projects

- Jim

Wow.  Look at all these posts I'm making now! 

I got a new printer!  This one is better than the other one, costing perhaps a fourth of the cost of the other one to print a page.  I'm not sure about the exact economics, so I was conservative there.  My actual estimate is actually about half of that, so it's a significant savings.  Since I write all the time - even when I'm not writing, this means I'll be able to manage those things I write better.

Mainly, that means I'll be able to sort through all my book notes.  I suspect, and hope, that it will make writing easier and quicker.  It also means that I expect to be a lot busier soon.

- Jim

This isn't the post that I intended to write.  Longtime readers may remember that about a year ago, October 2011, my Dad was mugged by a group of teens less than a block from our house.  Tonight, a group of teens mugged another person less than a block from our house again.  Same M.O., same place.

Of course people here are freaking out.  My Dad went to the casino tonight, most of the people who are here regularly are gone.  My Sister just made a tearful call to my other Sister, telling her to find my Dad and rush home.  The attack was an hour and a half ago. 

Everyone is fine, the police are randomly driving around since it took them forty minutes to get here in the first place.  Never a better time than after the fact to run around like chickens without heads.

- Jim

So I haven't posted here in a while.  I'm sorry for the people that regularly check the site.  I've noticed that a lot of such blogs aren't for relaying information or even for informational retrieval but merely a digital cry for attention.  I am not immune to this.  I tend to post more when people visit more.  I tend to write things in a way that require or incite a response instead of being merely one-way.

Yes, I know the site doesn't allow comments.  I made it that way.  Still, some have overcome the hurdles in order to send me messages and while often well meaning, they attempt to solve issues that have no resolution.  Sure, I might tell such a commenter, I can lose more weight if I run five miles a day, but the reality is that my knee would never take the strain and I would likely die in the attempt.  I would then lose lots of weight as decomposition kicked in. 

Yes.  I have a morbid quality about me.  No, that's not a cry for help either. 

Though there are days when activity slackens for whatever reason, the truth of the matter is that I'm busy.  The journal part of the blog has been taken private, and that is where I spend most of my bloggish time.  No, you cannot find that, it's as safely locked away as I can make anything that is digital. 

The rest of my time is spent reading, researching, and writing, though never as much as I'd like.  Life often gets in the way and when it does, sacrifices have to be made.  It's happened before and it will happen again, in big and small ways.  I think it's an OCD thing, but I'm not sure.  I've read a lot on the subject, but have never been diagnosed.  Regardless of my suspicions, I dislike self-diagnosis.  If I were me, confronting me, I would attack my lack of psychological diagnostic qualifications first.  Then I'd probably attack the last sentence right there.  Forgive me, I'm tired.

Anyway, I finished the Bathroom Reader from the last post a couple days ago.  I looked at the Moria book, but there's no rush for that and I want to try and catch up on other things first.  I promise that I will try to post more in the future.

- Jim

Well, I got my birthday present finally! I ordered it for myself a week ago, but had to wait until today to get it. I'll be busy(-er) for a while now.

- Jim

I know it doesn't seem like it now. I know it seems like the sun will never shine as bright, the sky will never look so blue, and 3-D movies will always look cheesy, but the world will get over Steve Jobs resigning. I'm saddened by it too. Before, there was a chance of non-Apple related news, now it wouldn't matter if China and North Korea nuked each other into the sea, there'd be nothing but Jobs-related stories as far as the eye can see.

Trust me. It will get better. Or worse. Or might stay the same.

- Jim

I come up with the weirdest ideas at night. This exercise should work no matter who you are or where you came from or what your interests were. Take a character from your childhood - by this I mean, someone that you pretended to be. If you're like me, it can be an RPG character, a video game character, a character in a story you wrote or told, a toy you played with, or a character you pretended to be when you played make believe, "Fairy Princess", or "He-Man", or the world famous wrestler "Slappy McWhines-Alot". If that last one was your name and you chose it yourself, I pity your childhood.

Talk to them. Yes, I said it. Pretend you're having a conversation with them. What would they say? What would you say? Would you regret knowing them or would you regret not hanging out in such a long time?

An interesting conversation, I think. I cut mine off before it went too far, but I think I'd like to try it again.

- Jim

I went crazy and ordered a MERP book online! Moria, from their Citadel series. Not a bad price either, though probably a bit more than I would have paid if Iron Crown Enterprises was still a viable company and still had the MERP license. Ah well.

I've been busy, though it often seems like I've not been accomplishing much. The more I do, the more I want to do. The reading list has grown exponentially and with that book order will grow even more. Ah well again.

- Jim

Okay, I finished the library book, finally. It was Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community by Robert D. Putnam. Um, first of all, it wasn't the kind of book I expected. Second, it was horribly dated - 2001. That doesn't sound old, but when talking about social capital, it makes the argument that much less relevant when it doesn't include more recent events like MySpace, Facebook, and YouTube. I don't include Google+ in there because it's more of a religious movement than a real social force... so far.

Something that might be interesting to read. Not something to spend money on. Probably why you can buy it used for less than two dollars and new for four on Amazon.com.

I've not given up on all the other stuff I'm working on. Writing, reading, trying to catch up with all the tv watching I missed out on. Okay, that last part is doomed to fail, but I have watched a few movies and shows over the weeks. The plan there is to clear out my DVR and then keep it less full.

Hope you're having a great summer. I think I am.

- Jim

I haven't written in a while. I've been working on stuff, trying to get caught up. I've also been writing, if you can believe it. It's a mad, crazy world we live in.

- Jim

Game of Thrones is back on Demand next week. I think I'll watch it again. Hopefully the heat won't be quite so oppressive then. There were far too many names and stories all happening at the same time to take in at a single viewing.

I'll have to buy the books though. The library has them reserved until shortly after the next millenium.

- Jim

It seems I may have spoken too soon. I had more than a day to watch Game of Thrones and I was able to finish it in time, though just barely. I suppose procrastination continued to play a part, but less than the weather. The heat here is unbearable and the dog takes refuge in my room where I do all my stuff. The tiny air conditioner is fighting a losing battle with heat indices well over a hundred... indexes. I like that word better.

Anyway, in deference to the dog, I've refrained from watching television during the hottest parts of the day. It's only a few degrees, but it's still a few degrees.

- Jim

Life and circumstances conspired against me and I have but one day to finish the Game of Thrones 1st season before it leaves HBO OnDemand. The first two episodes seem interesting, but I'm horrible with names. Which one is Boromir again?

- Jim

Okay, it ended on Friday night. And I finished all of them. It's hard for me to watch eight hours of television in three days. Still, I think I did good. Next step, lots of DVR stuff.

- Jim

Dangit! I don't watch a lot of television, but I just found out last night that the John Adams miniseries is on OnDemand. It ends tomorrow, or tonight, knowing the odd way Charter sets these things up. I've been wanting to see it for a while, but something always came up, usually a lack of Cable access.

Well, I'm going to try and watch them all in one afternoon.

- Jim

Just wanted to say, Happy Birthday to the United States of America!

- Jim

Stolen from The Janesville Gazette at: http://gazettextra.com/news/2011/jun/22/defense-attorney-questions-cause-death-double-fata/ without permission.

Defense attorney questions cause of death in double-fatal crash

By DAVID BRAZY ( Contact ) Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Photo by Bill Olmsted

Omar Tavizon Ramos, right, looks on while his defense attorney Michael Murphy questions a witness in court. Ramos is accused of killing Margaret Worden and her grandson Jeffery Bauer in an Easter crash while Ramos was driving drunk.

Photo by Bill Olmsted

The family of Margaret Worden and Jeffery Bauer displayed their photographs during a court hearing for Omar Tavizon Ramos in Janesville.

JANESVILLE — The defense attorney for a Janesville man charged in a double-fatal crash questioned Tuesday if one of the victims died as a result of the crash, if the accused was at fault in the crash and if his client was on pain medication when he spoke to investigators.

Omar Tavizon-Ramos, 21, is charged with two counts of homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle for the deaths of Jeffery S. Bauer, 19, of Janesville and his grandmother Margaret Worden, 61, of Janesville. He also is charged with injury by intoxicated use of a vehicle for injuries caused to his passenger, Gilberto Vargas-Cano of Janesville.

Ramos left University Hospital 15 days after the crash and boarded a bus before he could be arrested. He was taken into custody in Janesville two days later.

The accident occurred at 2:45 Easter morning at Center Avenue and Racine Street. Worden was driving a minivan south on Center Avenue and was turning left onto Racine Street when it collided with a car driven north on Center Avenue by Ramos.

Bauer was thrown from the minivan and died at the scene. Worden was transported to Mercy Medical and Trauma Center, Janesville, and died 12 days later at the hospital.

Dr. Muhammad Alkhan testified Tuesday that Worden’s death was caused by a stroke she suffered because of trauma from the accident. Alkhan said an artery in her neck was torn, likely in the accident. As her body healed, a clot broke loose and caused the stroke.

Defense Attorney Michael Murphy questioned if age or disease could have caused Worden’s stroke.

Alkhan said that was possible, but he believed it was caused by the accident.

“You cannot blame the age for the death,” Alkhan said.

Members of Bauer’s and Worden’s family attended the preliminary hearing. They placed a picture of Worden and a picture of Bauer with his dog, which also died in the crash, on the bench in front of the family.

Janesville police officer Benito Rocha testified that he spoke to Ramos at University Hospital in Madison on May 3. Rocha said Ramos told him he he’d had two or three beers the night of the crash and was going about 5 mph over the speed limit.

Ramos told Rocha the minivan had one of its doors open at the time of the crash and was going too fast, which caused the accident.

Murphy asked Rocha if he saw Ramos take any pain medication or if he asked Ramos if Ramos was on any pain medication. Rocha said he did not see Ramos take any medication.

Ramos and Cano were at a bar in Beloit before the crash, according to the criminal complaint.

Cano, who testified from his wheelchair Tuesday while wearing a cast on his right wrist, said he did not remember getting into the car and did not remember the accident. He said the last thing he remembers was drinking two beers and later waking up in the hospital.

Ramos’ blood-alcohol concentration at the time of the crash is unknown. He was not breath tested at the scene because he was being treated for his injuries. Blood samples drawn at the hospital after the crash still are being tested at the Wisconsin State Hygiene Laboratory.

To convict Ramos of homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle, prosecutors must prove that Ramos was intoxicated and that his intoxication caused the crash.

The hearing was postponed until 2:45 p.m. Tuesday, when test results on Ramos’ blood samples are expected to be available.

I'm not going to comment much on this. Not yet. If they actually determine that he didn't kill her or that he wasn't at fault, I will be livid. I see they cleaned him up though. Typical defense move.