renovatio06's blog/

Hm... I've moved my image stock from flickr to ipernity, using their Greasemonkey script, which worked quite well. The only thing I noticed is that the order of images is somehow messed up a little bit - not dramatically, but just a little, like an image here and there out of sequence. Title and caption were retrieved o.k., albeit without the links I put behind some of the word in the caption. Oh well, you can't have the cake and keep it. Also, it feels odd not to see the familiar comments below the images - all of a sudden, they've become orphans and for some time, so have I (but some dear friends have made the move as well, so I'm not all deserted - and I get to meet new people) On the bright side: Lea was really very helpful and also generous. After I had ordered my pro account they welcomed me with an additional upload quota. I can see that they're working hard to accommodate the flickr-mutineers and offer some nice welcome treats. Well, I guess it's like moving in real life: You have to decide on letting some things go and make for others to fill the gaps in time, right?

I really managed to come across the number one of unwanted situations for photographers today: Battery dead when "the show" is rolling! For the past two days it has been pouring rain (reminded me a bit of Vancouver ... ;-)), but late this afternoon the rain took a break here and there and the sun peeped occasionally. So I jumped at the opportunity, took my bike, my camera and a little time and headed for my preferred shooting spot down by the lake (Woerthsee). I was lucky: Only one photographer besides me, so I had the place to myself and was able to pick just about any spot I wanted. Clouds were racing, you could tell that a storm had just come through and in the distance there was a promising bright glow in the sky, which I hoped to make way for the sun to come out fully. So I prepared myself, set up my gear, took a few rehearsal shots and got ready for the big racket which I felt would be going on any minute. And then - the clouds parted and an intense beam of light dipped the entire area into the most surreal and not-from-this-earth light I have ever seen! Even some of my Canada shots can't match the conditions tonight. So I pointed the lens into the light, switch the power on and - ... find myself presented with the "Change battery pack" message on the display! Arrrrggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhh- whoooooowaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaeeeeeeeiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeee! Un-effing-believable! In my defense I must add that I usually check battery power before taking off and in my camera bag there's always an additional battery. However, taking the camera bag when riding the bike makes for uncomfortable and unsafe maneuvering, so I prefer the backpack and tend not to move all items from one bag to the other... Well, I guess in the future I will move everything, so I won't ever encounter a similar situation... (and I wanted to try my first bracketing shots and some HDR processing later on... :-( )

Here's just a short apology for presently not being very active in my network. Under my doctors' supervision (oh well, there'll be another post on that part, later...) I have been experimenting with new medication, which - seems to have sent me straight into a very uncomfortable condition. I'm exhausted, disoriented, anxiety-struck and tired beyond belief. Hence, forgive me for stopping to write right here and going back to half-delirium... P.S.: The title is a sarcastic allusion to the idea of better trying new medication under constant supervision in a hospital. P.P.S.: Thanks to Sherry for checking on me.

As already reported in this post, I have tried to move my own blog from Fairhost24.de to 1&1. In my infinite naivety I thought this to be a straightforward undertaking given the fact that 1&1 is a mass web provider and bost themselves in offering a blog and all kinds of services. But intuition told me to better cross-check and so I did by calling them first and asking about moving my blog to their platform. Long story, short: I never got it to work and neither did they. So after having made sure of trying any possible measure I could think of (mind you: I am a certified PHP/MySQL programmer with 1 score short of an A for the final exam) and having had massive correspondence and phone calls with them, I decided to cancel the automated transferral of the hosting fee and got it back into my account. They sent me another notice informing me that they don't see any failure on their part and denied access to my web-hosting package. Just a good thing I configured the HTTP-refresh/forwarding directive prior to them shutting me off my account. At least, something comes up when entering projectwestbound.com into the browser's address line. This is the second unpleasant experience with large corporations in the web 2.0 sphere, shortly after the flickr desaster... It doesn't seem a good idea to let big companies run the services we're all using on a daily basis...

Alas - I've finally convinced them that the moving of my blog on my migration doesn't work and most likely won't work as expected. 1&1 offered to let me out of their contract, which would legally bind me to a six-months-minimum period. However, since I was never able to import my existing data into their framework (a stripped-down wordpress installation with a preinstalled and a separate, individual MySQL database) and never really got my blog to "fly", they finally gave in to my request of getting out of the contract and not having to pay for the amount of time so far. On that last part they were unbending and want me to pay for the 2 months I've been "using" their platform. Oh well, I'll just have to write this one off as "life experience" and agreed on that arrangement. After all, it's not worth it going to court over some 60 Euros, isn't it? However, the result of this experience is: You may well have a blog at 1&1 using Wordpress and MySQL as long as you start over from scratch, meaning I'd have to enter any post, comment, picture and whatnot manually. I don't think this is the original idea, when Wordpress clearly has an export and re-import functionality. Why 1&1 took exactly that plug-in away from their Wordpress-installation... well, you're welcome to leave your speculations on that below in a comment (and mind you: I HAVE installed a separate wordpress-installation WITH the export-/import-plugin - and that's exactly how this "experience" came about...) P.S.: This matter has come to an amicable solution: They let me out of my contract early and I don't have to pay. Immediate conclusion: Perseverance seems to pay off.

It's the weekend, summer's back at temperatures in the 90ies, I got to sleep in, in brief: I have felt worse. Another two hours into this splendid day and Mom calls to let me know, a distant cousin hanged himself yesterday. And you say, you were wondering, why I wanted to migrate to another continent? Grow a fucking brain - or heart... Happy weekend, everybody!
P.S.: In my defense for the language and tone: I'm currently watching "Scrubs" on TV - it's so freagging inspiring ;-)
P.P.S.: I sadly learnt today that apparently he didn't know how to do it right and must have strangled himself for an eternity of seven minutes...

No, hell no! Cuz if I did, this sure as heck wouldn't have happened: Went to another of a gazillion doctors' appointments I'm having as of late. She's a gastro-enterologist and apparently top-notch in her field. And actually quite attractive, too. With good taste for interior design and in a chique downtown Munich location (a quiet street in Nymphenburg). My regular lady doctor from Herrsching sent me to see her on behalf of my long history of gastro-enterologic problems and diseases I've had for the past 30 years and which have reduced my quality of life considerably, to the point where I'm repeatedly having enough and just want to die. So anyway, she comes up with fresh approaches to my problems, which I'm most grateful for and presents herself as compassionate, caring, competent (Memorize the three-Cs when seeing any doctor, cuz frankly anything less is just a waste of time AND money). In doing so, she suggests a number of check-ups that haven't been done so far and I gratefully agree, happy to find new hope and eventually deliverance from what has been plaguing me for most of my life. She goes "I'm going to examine you now. Please alert me immediately, if anything hurts or feels uncomfortable". Says it, and prompts me to turn sideways on her examination bank, slips over her rubber gloves, goes for a brief "this is probably the most uncomfortable part of this, I'm going to examine your rectum" and before the phrase is finished I have her index and middle finger in that exact same body cavity. Y-I-K-E-S!! Holy shit! (fortunately, not...) "And while we're at it, I'm briefly going to check your prostate, as well". In the matter of split seconds I'm being sent to a flash of unpleasant body sensations that the gay guys amongst us rejoice in so much. For fuck's sake...! The good news: I'm absolutely positive, I'll never take a liking in any homosexual activities (no offense meant towards the gay community!), not in this lifetime, not for any insane amount of money or any other reason - I'd rather have my life taken than repeat this. You live and learn - my ass! (Literally...)

Did I mention that I hate dating? You have to act like a fool, go out of your way only to impress with the very dim hope of landing some romance, not to mention "action". I hate it, from the bottom of my heart. It makes me feel cheap, helpless, dumb and much more like a loser than I already feel. Who invented that crap? Who wrote the rules to that no-fun game? Why is it that men have to take the initiative and "woo" a woman? I have now decided that I will boycot dating from now on. If I should stay single for the rest of my life, so be it. I will not "advertise" myself anymore, I won't date. I hate all that. HATREEEEEEDDDD! Dating sucks.

I have recently noticed anonymous visits on this blog. Uh-uh... no way, José. So I have "upgraded" a bunch of you guys on my network to "friends" in order to have some level of control over who gets to read these sometimes/mostly very personal thoughts and statements. So, if a) you find, the latest visible post to be Dating Sucks" and moreover, if certain posts have disappeared, and b) you would like to see them again, please drop me a line saying "I want to read your blog". This way I know, who you are and that I'm o.k. with you reading my blog. If you don't care, that's cool, too. I just needed to do this, since tracking anonymous visitors isn't supported on ipernity as far as I know. And let's just say that not everything is meant for the entire public... No offense... Peace.

I am presently undergoing a series of medical tests again to make sure of or rule out intolerances to certain nutritional substances. Particularly, I'm being tested on lactulosis-, fructose- and lactose-intolerance, starting with lactulosis today.

In order for the test to produce some valuable results you have to show up fasting, meaning having not eaten after 6pm the day before until the test and after - that makes 18 hours without food or drink, only decarbonized water is allowed. The test was scheduled for 9am this morning.

To my own surprise I showed up there in time, that is 9am sharp, not one minute earlier or later... ;-) I was then ushered to the lab, introduced to another gentleman and his family, who had already started the procedure and then got instructed on how the test was to be taken. The doctor was a very nice, helpful and compassionate lady in her late fourties, I'd say. After having detailed the test procedure, she prophylactically showed me the restrooms, quick to explain that the liquid I was about to drink generally produces and enhances the symptoms I've been suffering from for most of my life and which brought me here in the first place. It turned out to be a very much needed advice...

So, 9.10 am I'm having about 200 ml (a drinking glass) of lactulosis, which is a bi-saccharide (sugar) contained in many foods. I am then instructed to exhale into a syringe for about 10 seconds, close it with the according plug and repeat that routine every 10 minutes for a total time of 2 hours. Fair enough and no big deal apart from being a little drousy after having exhaled hard, not having had any food nor drink this morning and showing up after a lousy night with maybe 4 hours of sleep in total.

The gentleman I had been introduced to starts a conversation, which I'm initially very grateful for, as it has me forget my own lousy condition this morning. Also, his wife and particularly his daughter seem to be very nice persons and I'm beginning to think "Oh, this is going to be a walk in the park, and afterwards you reward yourself with a big, "fat" Thai lunch at a nearby restaurant.". That was the plan...

Five minutes into the first testing cycle, I sense an unpleasant sensation in the abdomen and lower intestinal parts. I can't hang on to that thought for too long and hurry to excuse myself, then practically running to the bathroom I was shown before. Did the lady doctor mention getting the runs...?

However, I can't take too long using that bathroom, either, as I have to "whistle" into the syringe again before ten minutes have elapsed. What can I say? The morning continued in much a similar fashion, with cramps and abdominal pain accompanying the four or five times of my attempt to set a new sprint world record for the nearest "utility area"...

If I had needed any proof of how much better I have been feeling eversince addressing my severe health issues about two and a half years ago, it would have to be today's experiences. Apart from the embarrassment of having to "go" every 10-20 minutes, I literally felt like shit. And then the pain. Then migrane setting in. Loss of appetite. Sweating. Shall I continue or are you already throwing up? I can't get myself to imagining, how in the world I have managed to go to WORK in such a condition, let alone just endure this for about 25 years NON-STOP!!!! If you think, I'm being overly dramatic, go ask my ex-wife about our time together...

And then, being in the company of this very nice Bahraini family, it made it all the more apparent to me how limiting my condition has been all along: I mean, if you have to monitor your bowels permanently, how can you possibly enjoy just about ANYTHING? No surprise, I'm being totally burnt out from enduring chronic disease...

Speaking of that: I'm afraid I'm about to face complete bankruptcy given my condition. But that would be another post.

In closing, do I need to mention, I felt literally sick the entire day? Having endured the symptoms from this "drink" sent me to bed right away. I slept for two hours and then drove me to get up again to get some email checked upon and replied to.

Next week, the testing (make that "torture"...) continues for another two sessions...