guapacha.com

Random thoughts of a Brit living in the Imperial Valley of California

Archive for November, 2007

Book of the Month

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If Opr*h can have one, then I am sure I can too:

Hmm.. yummy indeed.

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November 30th, 2007 at 1:38 pm

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Friday Video

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Been falling down on this for the last couple of weeks, and to be honest you might ask why I bothered with this.

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November 30th, 2007 at 8:44 am

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Losing Some Love for the iPhone

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Were it not for the fact that my current Verizon contract doesn’t end until Feb ’08, it’s a fair bet to say that I would have an iPhone now. So until recently I’ve been pretty sure that come mid-Feb I’d be in the Apple store like a salivating dog but now I’m not so sure. The biggest problem is timing: the iPhone 2.0 is unlikely, I would guess, until the spring/summer of next year. So I’d be in the familiar Apple trap of buying something I’d come to regret in a few months – no GPS and no 3G makes Paul an unhappy consumer.

Now there’s no guarantee that I’d be able to even afford the new iPhone, of course, and to be fair Brawley isn’t exactly awash in 3G coverage, which then flip flops me back to the idea that perhaps iPhone 1.0 is adequate after all? Or maybe the idea is to get an iTouch and a new phone with the Google Maps with My Location feature on it, and call it good?

I hate Apple Buyer’s Remorse.

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November 29th, 2007 at 10:04 am

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A US Citizen in Waiting

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After 10.5 years of living in the USA, today I was approved for citizenship of this fair country. It’s not a done deal until I stand up with 1000 of my closest Mexican immigrant friends and swear the Oath of Allegiance but the INS today decided they don’t mind me having one of them shiny blue passports (it will look real nice next to my shiny red UK one).

They were running behind with the interviews, or at least my officer was. The other officer was going through them real fast so my 11.45 appointment didn’t start until 1.15 and all the while people were coming in, being interviewed and leaving. Very frustrating. But the lady was super nice and when she saw I was English said that this would be the quickest one of the day and it definitely couldn’t have been more than 15 minutes.

She verified the paperwork from my application, had me sign a bunch of photos and forms in my neatest joined-up handwriting and then gave me the civics test. I’ll give you the questions in case you want to play along:

  • Name the state capitol of CA
  • Who nominates the Supreme Court Justices?
  • Who is the governor of CA?
  • What colour are the stripes on the flag?
  • Where is the White House located?
  • What year was the constitution written?

I then had to write the sentence “I bought a blue car today”. She said she would spare me the insult of having to read something to her.

And that was that, she shook my hand, said I had completed the final step in becoming a citizen. In 1-2 months time I’d hear about a date for the oath ceremony. It’s too bad you can’t just take it there and then, I’ve no real interest in big pomp and ceremony but it looks like I have no choice. But, unless the approval review turns up some mistake in the paperwork, my days of dealing with the INS/USCIS are finally over. Unless that is my father or sister wants to immigrate……

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November 26th, 2007 at 3:43 pm

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The England Football Team Suck

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Couldn’t even beat Croatia to save their lives, it’s almost enough to make me want to cheer for the Scots.

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November 21st, 2007 at 2:23 pm

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And There’s More

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Woke up this morning covered ankle to neck in a rash, never have I seen such a thing. Doctor says I am allergic to one of the antibiotics I took, in particular the Septra, and, surprisingly, the allergic reaction usually starts after the meds are taken, not whilst. I have some steroids that may help relieve the redness (it doesn’t itch – yet?) but basically I’m stuck looking a little like I escaped a leper colony for up to 3 weeks.

Note to self: future doctor visits, let them know I am allergic to sulfa.

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November 21st, 2007 at 1:57 pm

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Old and Feeble

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As I approach my 42nd birthday I am reminded of the wise sayings at the time of my 40th, that everything would go rapidly downhill from there, health wise. It certainly seems that way this year. It took 3 painful weeks to recover the vasectomy, and recently a week of pain from the boil, followed by a week of discomfort from the lancing. And now I have a real painful lower back (I’m guessing the kidneys are out of whack from the antibiotics). I bet my San Diego neighbours can’t remember a time they saw me able to walk without looking like an old man.

Well, I certainly feel like an old man these days.

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November 20th, 2007 at 9:21 am

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Wi-fi Even Weaker Under Leopard?

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My building is part of a free community wi-fi but for some reason my macbook has never been able to see it reliably enough to connect to it. My work VAIO has no trouble, even my Dell Axim can do it, poor macbook cannot. Fortunately, some kind soul nearby has an unsecured wireless network that the macbook can see and I have been using it ever since I canceled my cable modem service.

But…. post-Leopard install I have noticed that the wifi network now always appears with a very weak signal strength since the upgrade, and is almost useless. It could be coincidence but if this continues I may have to stop using the unsecured wifi in my building and pay for cable again (shudder). Or I suppose ditch the macbook ?

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November 15th, 2007 at 11:14 am

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Holy Heck, My Bank Went Bust!

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When I first came to the US I opened accounts with NetBank, Inc, an online-only bank that had great checking and savings rates. I’ve been with them ever since though this year I opened an account with a local bank just to make deposits and withdrawals easier and cheaper. Recently I got a letter from ING saying that they my accounts with NetBank were being moved to them, and I figured that it was a takeover/buyout. But doing a little research today I discovered that they actually went bankrupt in October and all the insured funds were taken over by ING. There were $109M of uninsured funds for which the FDIC were paying out 50%; for once I am glad I don’t have $100k in the bank. ING look pretty good (love the orange) but I might move what paltry funds I have somewhere else anyway.

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November 12th, 2007 at 4:23 pm

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Quick Trip to the ER

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Last weekend I developed a spot on my leg which turned into a boil/abscess of some kind. The position is such that its painful to sit, stand and you damn well better not touch it. Some hot compresses had failed to relieve the pressure but had turned it into a bloody mess so today Teri persuaded me to go to the ER. Now I hate doctors but I figured that I clearly needed antibiotics and best to start sooner rather than later.

A very nice blonde doctor (or physician of some kind) did her best to make the draining as painless as possible but I won’t pretend that it didn’t hurt like a sonofabitch. And the water she used for irrigating the wound was very cold and kept running down my bum which was actually kind of nice in a perverse way.

Afterwards I had to wait 20 minutes for my discharge papers, spent the time exchanging jokes some off-roaders who were there for a torn hand. Then some more came in, all laughing about their injuries as well: I hadn’t realised that the ER was such a fun place to hang out.

I have to go back tomorrow to get the result of the blood culture (MSRA anyone?) and have them inspect the pads they put in the abscess. It is not going to be fun – they taped gauze over the wound with a lot of tape. I have quite hairy legs, even the lady doctor said they “will have fun getting this off”.

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November 10th, 2007 at 5:02 pm

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