Allan

auto court in Cranbrook

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I’m at an auto court (motel) in Cranbrook, BC, heading back to Lethbridge.  For the first time in years – since before Glenn quit drinking – I’m having a drink.  I bought some expensive Kentucky bourbon and dribbled a somewhat healthy quantity of it with some organic Okanagan beer and am now sitting out here in the courtyard of the auto court.  Although it’s quite cold, it’s also pleasant.

I couldn’t leave Father’s house until about 10am and had been booting in the whole time, but I arrived at Cranbrook about 7pm and decided to take a motel room instead of pushing through.  Got a pain in my stomach, thirsty (didn’t pack water), hungry (forgot my Burger King burger in the fridge at Father’s), and been through hooplah for one week, so it’s probably time to just stop and sleep go again in the morning.

This morning I packed up a few of Father’s things, like his Eaton’s driving safety badges, some photos, Eaton’s blankets, jeans (he’s probably not coming’ back for ’em), and various other keepsakes.  Glenn still has some things in the house, so I’ll pick those things up later – or not.  The shop is full of Father’s machines and machining equipment (welder, spanners, collectible farm implements, and such) and Glenn’s Coca~Cola collectibles; I have a year or so to figure out what to do with them, as does nephew Les.  (Glenn left all his Coke collectibles to Les almost three years ago).

Laura will be living in Father’s house until the time comes to deal with it.  The house is in ‘probate’ until it’s cleared by the courts.  This will take up to one year.  In the mean time, nothing goes in or out without my say.  …  Funny that I’m not there to enforce this.  But Laura is there, and I trust her.

By the way – and this isn’t the Kentucky bourbon talking ’cause I’ve maintained this stance since day-one – if anyone has any problem with Laura’s involvement in this, you’re welcome to talk to me.  That should be clear enough for everyone.

Father has passed away

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Father has passed away.

I posted on his blog http://www.lesjohnston.ca/2017/09/11/father-has-passed-away/.  I got a message from Laura while in class today.  I knew it couldn’t be good.  It wasn’t.  She was in tears when I called her back.

I am wondering if I have to fly out there anytime soon.  More than $300 one-way.  In class right now, one class tomorrow, so there might be time.

update

I’m at a motel in Salmo, BC, on my way to Rosedale / Chilliwack.  Father’s viewing will be tomorrow 4pm sharp.

Laura is clearly upset.  She’s returned all his meds to the pharmacist / chemist / drug store so as not to have them just sitting around in the house; morphine, cancer drugs, sleep, mental stability, etc.  Best clear them out.  She’ll have a lot to think about with her life now.  Her power in the situation has just dropped out from under her.  She cannot be in charge of the house now that Father’s gone.  This must be quite unsettling for her.  I will give her how much time she needs to decide when to leave.  Or an arrangement otherwise.

Aizlynn (in England, on bike tour) spoke with me (driving Crow’s Nest Hwy 3 to Rosedale) re all this.  She’s of the mind that all legal things must be done soon, and I’m for sure the guy to get them done, so it’s the right thing to do, going out there.  No one else has that ability – only me.

Time for bed.  10:30pm MDT (9:30 PDT).  Long drive before me in the morning.

Thank you for everyone who has called, messaged, etc.  Thank you for your love and caring.

my PHP’s too old (or, something wrong with my Moodle!)

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I’m trying to install Moodle on my newly formed server (newly online since 2017-08-20), but it shows a problem with my PHP installation.

Any ideas? Xibo states that my PHP may be too old because it doesn’t have php_fileinfo.dll included in its php.ini file.  It seems to me that I’d had Moodle up and running on this version (php-5.4.9-nts-Win32-VC9-x86) of PHP before.  Why not now?

ear update

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Dang, this ear.  I went to the walk-in clinic again this morning, a week after my last time.  The infection is gone.  “Don’t take this anymore,” the doc said, referring to the antibiotics.  Instead, my Eustachian tube is plugged causing a buildup of inner ear fluids.

Now I’m on Sterile Saline Nasal Mist spray, Phlegm and Mucous Relief (acetaminophen 500mg, dextromethorphan hydrobromide 15mg, pseudoephedrine hydrochloride 30mg, and guaifenesin 100mg), and Cough & Chest Congestion syrup (dextromethorphan hydrobromide 15mg again, and guaifenesin 100mg again).

Gotta have my dextromethorphan hydrobromide and guaifenesin!  Tastes like crap.  But it’s not all bad.  I’m also chewing gum and eating corn chips, both of which have in the past allowed my Eustachian tube to drain properly.

The bizarre side effect, if you can call it that, of having this Eustachian tube plugged is that sound in the right ear appears to be a bit more than one note higher in pitch than the left (normal) ear.  So, in effect, I’m hearing two different pitches of sound at once.  So much for playing guitar.  Plug the bad ear, and music sounds normal.  Plug the good one, and everything is raised by one note.  I thought I was losing my mind.  The nurse didn’t think so.  He says this is pretty normal for tinnitus.

So that’s what I have.  Tinnitus.  Or is it?  Tinnitus is not really a disease but rather a symptom of whatever ailment that is causing it.

One good thing has come of this.  I’ve learned how to spell Tinnitus and Eustachian.

one week left for Cassini

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Come a week from now, the Cassini space probe will do its final decent into the atmosphere of Saturn, all the while sending back data it’s collecting.  Pretty amazing what its collected so far.  Do some research if you’re interested.  Then, as expected, the signal will cease forever as friction from the atmosphere turns it into a fireball raining down on the planet.

JPL – Saturn
Curiositystream – Cassini and the crown jewel

double-tap and … what a drag

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I finally got this feature to work on my Surface 4 Pro tablet.  It’s called double-tap-and-drag or tap and a half.  I cursed this tablet for a few reasons since I got it.  Little picky things.  Annoying habits that it has that … well, I’m just not used to it!  “That’s not going forwards – that’s going backwards!”  Well, it’s fixed.  Just a setting in the touchpad settings.

Why is that so danged important?  Productivity, for one.  It’s faster than the two-handed click and drag method.  Yes, two hands.  I’m used to a touch pad.  Touch pads are faster, more convenient.  Yes, I know, I’m bucking the world on this one.  So be it.  If mice were suddenly brought upon the market now, they’d be laughed at.  “They’re just so dumb,” I’m confident I’d hear.  They’re a separate device.  You have to carry them around with you, and they you have to plug them into a USB.  You’ve gotta move your hand away from the keyboard, the ultimate in productivity (yes, I know, spoken like a true DOS lover, which in actual fact I’m not), … where was I?  Oh, yes … away from the keyboard, to another separate device, and then back again to the keyboard, only to do it all over again.  What a drag.  (Get it?  Drag?)  It’s like intentionally buying a manual shift automobile after years and years of automatics.  Oh, yah, there are actually people out there who actually do do that.  <ahem>  “I want a brand new Apple Bell and Howell.  With a mouse.”

Secondly, an integrated touchpad click built into the actual touchpad just doesn’t, in my humble opinion, work.  You can’t poise your finger on top of the left click button while moving your thumb across the touch pad.  One of them will screw up.  I’ve seen multiple times when I’m actually moving my thumb or finger around the touchpad without the dang arrow doing anything – just sitting there being confused.  “Oh, … not sure what to do … there’s another finger touching me … I’m so confused.”  Hmm.  Isn’t this touchpad supposed to see multiple touches?  And not be confused?

Oh, I could go on, but then I’d have to make a new category for my blog.  Something like “rant” or “nit-pick”.  …  Ooh, not a bad idea.  Anyway, I’m closer to liking my Surface 4 Pro again.  Warm and fuzzy.

back at school

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First day back at school today.  Two classes – Pressure Vessels and Statistics.  Lots to do for projects in both classes.  My two teammates in Stats are good guys.  Hopefully all will work well.

Still earache, vertigo, ringing in the ear.  Wish it would go away anytime soon.

Technologies and Trades building

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Mom, Floyd, and I saw the new Technologies and Trades building at Lethbridge College last week.  Mom got a bit tired near the end – it just creeps up on her suddenly.  But we saw enough of it.

This will be my first year in this new building.  All those who did the course in the normal two years will not have the chance to be in this new building.  Luckily, doing it in 3 years, I’ll spend my final year in there.

I brought a list of my classroom numbers, published a month ago.  I’m thinking they have since changed the numbers of rooms from a month ago.  Why do I say that?  One of my classes, Fluid Dynamics I think, was in room TT1933.  What’s the problem with that?  TT1933 is now a men’s restroom.  I saw my newly numbered classrooms today – TT1939, TT1940, TT1941, TT1942, and TT1981.  I guess I’m not having classroom in any restrooms.

second laptop image

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I took my school laptop in to be re-imaged – a second time.  I was expecting Steve to give me the gears about this, and he didn’t let me down.  I explained that I’d put the wrong drive to be imaged last week, so it must be done again, and that I wiped the first drive.  He noted that he would prefer that he change the drive to make sure it was wiped.  “What’s to stop you from using that drive after school is done next year?  You could be using all that free software.”

Frankly, it never dawned on me that I could do that.  I believed that none of it would work because it would all expire.  I would not be able to update the license for most software, and I wouldn’t be able to use the rest because I wouldn’t be connected to the school’s servers.

“I tried to find way not to bother you about this because I know you’re busy.  But I couldn’t.”  I asked a classmate, “T“, if I could image mine from his – a kind of carbon copy from his to mine – but he hasn’t gotten his done yet; T is out of the country until the very day of school.

quips

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I renewed my license today.  It expires in a week (my birthday).  I just happened to notice the expiry date while doing some other paperwork.  Good thing – otherwise, I’d have never noticed.  There were about 20 people in line.  A woman said, after small talk about the lineup, “I thought I’d chosen a day that there wouldn’t be a crowd.”  I replied, “Maybe you did!”

This is the kind of thing I’d normally have an English lesson on, if I were still teaching ESL.

The true meaning of the end comment was:

  1. You came here before when there wasn’t a crowd, and now you’re back.
  2. There really aren’t many people here today.  This isn’t such a big crowd.
  3. I had no idea what to say, so I said something that makes no sense.  My bad!
  4. There may be not as many people today as on other days; this could be a slow day, comparatively.