April 2007

Poem from my Mom

My mom sent me this poem in email today: “When I am Old” (Author Unknown). She said that it is her statement for when she is older. I can completely understand. Just change chestnut mare to bay mare… When I am Old… I shall wear diamonds And a wide brimmed straw hat With silver and leather on it and I shall spend my social security On white wine and carrots And sit in...

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ATM Teller Stall in Berlin

Imagine the surprise of finding a horse in an automated teller booth. A customer at a bank in Berlin, Germany, arrived in the early morning to find a horse (looks like a Belgian from the picture) in the teller stall with the drunk rider asleep on the floor. Police were called to take care of the situation. Have to admit that it’s a creative use for an automated teller area… But what was...

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Ants. Again.

I love my house. Most of the time. Except for some of the creative home improvement I’ve had to correct. Lots of things to learn to love, and to hate. Like bugs. When I moved in, I found cockroaches, ants, box elder bugs, silverfish, and a slew of other creepies. The house had more insects than the local woods. For the first time, I hired a pest control company to come out and...

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Finally: World Grotto DVD

Ishani I began working on this DVD before the Hoover (old desktop PC) crashed and burned. The hardware difficulties created an issue for transferring the video from the tape to the hard drive and then processing the DVD. A new Mac Mini and several iterations later, the DVD is finally finished. Way back in March, Moria of Bellydance Superstars came to Knoxville. The evening after her sold-out workskhop, she performed at a hafla...

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Posturin’

I keep learning more about belly dance and realizing just how much I don’t know. I have over 10 years of dance in ballet and jazz. Yeah, it’s been a while, but still the concepts and movements should still be (somewhat) in muscle memory, right? Nope, not as much as I would have hoped. I remember how to count phrasing and memorize choreographies. I remember about audience interaction and nuances in phrasing. I...

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Vet Visit

The vet visit went well today. Both of the girls got their shots. Isis tickled me: quite a few times when I went out of her sight, she would nicker as soon as she saw me. Yup, that’s my kid. Isis was a model reformed mare — she used to be terrified of vaccinations. Today, she was great (and distracted by horse cookies). It’s taken a few years for her to calm down...

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Parallels Rules

This is just too cool. I finally got the Windows XP environment setup to run the software I’m documented. And Parallels worked smoothly, beautifully even. A self-contained environment for Windows. With Windows running using Parallels, the beta software even recognized the USB dongle that authenticates the software (and allows it to run). The dongle was plugged into a port in a daisy-chained hub. Amazing. The dongle never worked on the real desktop if...

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Virtual Machines on Macs

I’m doing a big experiment tonight. I’m actually installing software I need to document on a virtual machine running Windows XP. All of this on a poor little mac Mini. It is getting maxed out pretty hard. It’s getting another RAM upgarde tomorrow, which will help. Lots of externl storage available too, so that can’t hurt. I’m running Parallels with a VM with XP Pro. So far, so good. Even running a VM...

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Wonder Mares

I didn’t actually end up riding. Walking around on the uneven ground made tweaked my knee, so I I cleaned my saddle and bridle. I brought the girls in and watched them eat grass in the little paddock near the barn. Rajiyyah has gained weight. Not too much, but enough that she is starting to look pudgy. This is Rajiyyah’s first spring on the rich Tennessee pastures. I’m trying to manage her weight...

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Barn!

I’m heading out to the barn again. I have to be careful how much I do. I mowed yesterday (manual reel mower — no motor, high grass… lots of work for a postage stamp size yard). Apparently, I twisted my right knee enough that it’s been swollen. I cancelled dance practise today so instead I’m going out to the barn. On the one hand this doesn’t seem very bright… on the other hand,...

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Bad Tech Writing Example

My coworker walked into the tech writing room and showed us an example of pretty funny writing on the American Academy of Pediatrics. He suggested capturing the information now, because he has alerted the Web master about the problem. The Web page about “What causes acne” has good, readable information. The bottom section provides suggestions for things to avoid to help keep acne under control, including bullet #6: “For young women, changes in...

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Flashback to high school…

I was reading the Tennessee Rennaisance Festival Web page and noticed that the theme for Memorial Day weekend is a jousting tournament. Low and behold the list of jousters includes Barchan, whom I haven’t seen since I was in high school in Maryland. I’m not saying how long ago that was. 😉 Barchan was a member of the Markland Horse Guild and a founding member of Markland. My first horse-related medieval event was...

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Rode. Life is good.

The kids were great tonight. Even with the threat of rain on the drive to the barn, it was dry at the barn. I worked Rajiyyah first with the surcingle and reins. For the first time she focused on me and paid attention. Very good workout. She was mellow and happy. Isis was next. I didn’t havemuch time before it got dark, so we briefly free lunged. She jumped the ground pole five...

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