Sigh

I was sick for a week with my 5th illness of the winter, even though it's not winter anymore. We're still dealing with the Mayo Clinic thing for Beloved. The entire house is a disaster, and there are no clothes in the drawers or closets. Rummage season has begun, and Sweetie is desperately in need of bigger clothes. To top it all off, my computer has an unknown problem which I can only solve by reinstalling everything, and Sweetie can't play with it until I do. I'm babysitting every chance I get, because we need the money. I'm getting over this bug, but I'm still sleeping 18-20 hrs/day with no end in sight. So, unfortunately, I'll have to officially quit blogging for awhile. Hopefully only awhile. Pretty sad, as I still haven't gotten around to posting about my blogroll or giving tribute to my blogparents. I'll still post to Our Kids Speak occasionally and comment on other blogs. If you'd like a notification when I resurface, just drop me an email.

Update: I'm sleeping less, but I still have way too much to do. There are several good posts fermenting in my head, but I don't have time to do my best, and I hate doing less. I expect to be gone for at least a few months, and if that saddens you, you're not the only one.

Christ is Risen!

He is risen indeed! In the first century, that was a customary Christian greeting. One person would say He's risen, and the other would agree. Lots of people say this on Resurrection Sunday. I was trying to get Sweetie to do this with me, and she just thought I was nutty. I told her when he first came back to life everybody was really excited, because they weren't expecting it, so they kept talking about it all the time. So I was saying it to all our friends at church, and it turned into sort of a game, except half of them weren't playing along.

We got to watch lots of people get baptized, and Sweetie really liked it. She's kinda thinking about wanting to do it, but she has to go to swimming class first and quit being scared of the water. She asked Jesus to live in her heart a little over a year ago, and she's celebrated communion for a few months now, since I was satisfied that she understood the concept. I'm so proud of her!

She likes the Bible stories, but she never said a word about the secular celebration. (That starts next week, after I buy the stuff on clearance.) I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful little girl.

Mayo Clinic

Okay, they told us the whole thing would take 3-7 days, but they didn't tell us it wouldn't be consecutive days. So we were only there one day, and we have to go back Tuesday, and again in May, and I can't remember after that. But we can go to the department we need and sit around waiting for a cancellation, and we might do that next week. However...

Thank God we aren't there for cancer or heart disease. Thank God we aren't there for a child. Thank God we live comparatively nearby. Thank God we have insurance.

I just hope Beloved's boss can be patient, and not fire him...

Bye, bye, traffic

I regret to inform my loyal readers that I probably won't be posting again for the next week or two, unless I break down and blog when I shouldn't. Disappointing, because my stats are pitiful the past few months, but such is life. Beloved has to go to Mayo Clinic and find out why he feels like he's drunk all the time, and I have a long list of preparations I've been working on (medical records, precertification) and then we have to be there for 3-7 days. <sigh> I'll be back... eventually.

My head hurts

I rarely get headaches, but this afternoon I had a doozy, and the light made it hurt. So I was lying down with the blanket over my head, and by the time I thought of strong drugs, I didn't want to leave my dark cocoon for one second.

- Go ask Daddy to give you Aleve.
- Leave?
- Uh-leave.
- <confused>Uh-leave.
- <goes in another room> Will you give me leave?
- Not leave, UH-leave!
<The Aleve didn't make much difference.>
...
- Are you sleeping?
- No, but I wish I were.
- Why?
- Because then my head wouldn't hurt.
- Then go to sleep.
- I can't because somebody keeps talking to me.
- Okay, you can go to sleep. I'll be quiet.
- <doubting>
- Actually, no.
- <laughing loudly>
...
<I also had my usual stomachache, and lots of gas.>
- Excuse me...excuse me...
- You're farting a lot.
- Yep, it makes my tummy feel better.
- I hope you don't start having a farting thing.
- What's a farting thing?
- Like, farting all the time.
- Um, I don't think that would be unusual.

We have conversations like this all the time, and I wish I could write them all down.

Why should we let you in?

So I heard on the news this morning that Latino demonstrations "were caused by proposed legislation" addressing illegal immigration. In fact, these demonstrations were caused by selfishness. A man was on TV saying he came here legally, but he didn't support the legislation because someday one of his family might come here illegally. Excuse me?!! Why should we let you in our country if you're going to turn around and ungraciously support somebody else coming here against our will? I care very much about the "huddled masses" but c'mon, we can only handle so many at a time, unless you want this country to become just like the country you left.

Building a better password

You're supposed to have a different password for everything, and never write them down. Yeah, right. With all the websites, bank accounts, and and computer programs we use these days, you'd have to be a savant. If you write them down, don't write all the information. Write an abbreviation for the website, and the password, but leave out your username, since you can remember that. Even better, write some code or keyword that will remind you of the password, but that others can't figure out. If you prefer not to be referring to a list all the time, use two passwords: one for websites that don't require security, like a newspaper or forum, and another when your money and sensitive information are involved.

But most times passwords aren't stolen, they're cracked, by somebody you don't even know. A password cracker is a program that tries every word in the dictionary, then tries every combination of words, then puts numbers after each word, etc. The best protection against cracking is to use a randomly created password, something like Rc9b%mO&. The longer the better. Using small and capital letters, numbers, and punctuation. But that's hard to type, and even harder to remember.

What we need is something hard to crack, but easy to type and remember. The first solution is a pattern on the keyboard, like bgt5678uhb. Try typing that. It's a triangle, see? You can type it with one finger, without looking. To make it even better, you could press shift halfway through, producing some caps and punctuation: bgt56&*UHB. Use any pattern you can think of, as long as it includes the row of numbers for greater complexity.

But I've got something even cooler. See the number pad on the end of your keyboard? You probably have the arrangement memorized. Choose a 10-key section of the regular keyboard, such as 2,3,4,w,e,r,s,d,f,c, and imagine these keys are the 10 digits. Yes, it's slanted, but you'll get used to it. Now choose a number you have memorized, like your best friend's phone number. (assuming it's not 212-123-1213) I'll use 285-143-9246. Type the number on your imaginary number pad, and you get something like 3de2w4f3wr. Again, you can make it more complicated by holding shift for half the keys, producing 3de2w4F#WR. If ten digits isn't long enough for you, put two phone numbers together. Also note that on your password list, you could write the original phone number, and nobody but you would know how to use it.

One more idea: type your name or some dictionary word, even your username, but move your fingers up one row. kiwigeek becomes i828t33i. Of course, you need a word or phrase that will use the number row. The only drawback to this method is that shift doesn't work so well, because when you move your hands the key isn't in its usual position.

One caveat: no matter how good your password is, if somebody sees it, you're out of luck. Keystroke loggers can get into the computer through security holes and send your every move to some criminal who wants to steal your money or identity. Here's a good place to start learning how to protect yourself.