Category Archives: General

Calculators on line

I was trying to figure out the conversion from ounces to mililiters. I was looking at some cool little bottles I’ve been using to keep my assorted vitamins and old people medications straight. American Science and Surplus has all kinds of stuff you didn’t know you needed including these great little glass bottles.

I searched Google for a site to convert ml to oz I turned up a bunch of sites with conversion functions. Then I noticed in big type right up there at the top 1 ml = 0.0338140226 US fluid ounces and a link for more information about the Google calculator.

I checked that out. Did you know you could just enter some math equation into the Google search bar and get an answer? Who knew?

Where the heck was that when I was a kid? Oh wait, the first computer I ever saw was a big as a house and you asked it questions by means of punched cards. As I write this, it sounds a bit like a sophisticated Ouiji board. That just doesn’t seem right!

Oh well.. Lucky for kids these days.

I’m 50 and I don’t need this $#^%!

The fashion industry is really beginning to get it. Older women, with money, have a place on the fashion runway. Most (OK, maybe just many) 50+ women would look a bit clownish in the newest fashions I’ve been seeing in my newspaper during this run up to the big fashion shows this year. But we have money. And we don’t want to wear all that polyester that seemed to make up such a huge part of our past wardrobe possibilities.

So now, GAP, the perennial purveyor of “in clothes” for the +/- 20 somethings has Forth & Towne, their new chain aimed at 35-plus women. But if as they say, 40 is the new 30, then what’s the point of a new GAP for 35 — er 25? — year-olds.

From the article in MediaPost Publications MediaPost’s Marketing Daily

In their 40s, women are going through all kinds of angst about their age, and about wanting to look younger. But by the time they turn 50, women are much happier with who they are.

Here’s what I think is really juicy about that..
It’s not just that at 50 women are happier with who we are, it’s about having the confidence to know that what is, is. And, wherever you go, there you are. You can’t control what you can’t — so make the most of what you’ve got. (OK, enough with the cliches already, I apologize.)

This is not about settling. I haven’t given up. I just try to see the tornadoes a little sooner. Experience reminds me that I WILL get sucked in. So I need my brain to tell me to move the heck outta the way…. faster than I did the last time.

What does your body feel like when your personal tornado is coming? What if you paid attention to that before it hit you over the head with a 2×4?
How do you know when you’re gonna get trapped again? I’d love to hear about it.
Drop me a note, leave me a comment.

Thanks

Schedule II meds to be prescribed in 90 day lots!

Good news, good news.

According to a statement by the DEA:

Today, DEA is unveiling a proposed rule that will make it easier for patients with chronic pain or other chronic conditions, to avoid multiple trips to a physician. It will allow a physician to prescribe up to a 90-day supply of Schedule II controlled substances during a single office visit, where medically appropriate.

What great news for people with ADHD who just plain forget to go to the doctor’s every month, who forget to go to the pharmacy when they know they’re running low. What great news for mothers who wind up paying, on O SO many levels, for kids that run out.

Thank you, DEA. Seems like you’re doing the right thing.

ADHD and adults

Sometimes, they say, it’s a good idea to let people know what you’re thinking while there’s still time to adjust the plan.

I run a support group for adults with ADHD at St Christopher’s Church in Linthicum, MD, on the third Wednesday of each month. We meet in the church basement so if you come, park on the side and come in through the third door in the back. (Sounds a bit mysterious, doncha think?)

Here’s the back story to the new idea:

We often get a visiting family member of one of the adults – a wife, husband, mother, sister, aunt — someone who thinks the adult with ADHD needs some help. We all understand it’s important to educate the “others” in our lives. The group is always supportive of new people and their “other,” but I don’t like those people to come more than once. The person who does not have ADHD sometimes takes over the meeting with their questions. And that’s not what we’re about.

But last night, someone suggested we might plan one meeting particularly for adults with ADHD and their “other” who ever that may be. This would be one time when we’d be happy to see all those “others” out there and answer what ever questions they have and offer what ever help we might give.

We’ll likely have the meeting on the west side of the Baltimore metropolitan area. But lots of stuff could change.

What I’m curious about is this: What would you like to learn from a meeting like that? Do you think it’s a good idea? Would you come and bring someone?

Drop me a note and let me know what you’re thinking.

I look forward to hearing from you. I like the help of others!

Thanks for thinking.

Kerch

Make your own cool.

I wish I were cool. Really I do.

No need for my parents to worry. My head was “screwed on right.” That’s what my parents friends told them. I was definitely not cool, though.

I wasn’t a real nerd. But I did belong to the library club (I loved fixing the broken books but not shelving them). I also belonged to the radio club. I had a novice ham radio license and everything. WN3OHB I always figured the OHB stood for Old HamBurger. I never got far enough along to be allowed to use voice transmission. I just joined the radio club because what ever “those guys” were doing, I could do it too. (Hey, at least they weren’t jumping off of bridges! I don’t think we had bungee jumping when I was in high school.)

I read in early June about the Webby Awards, given for innovations and excellence on the web. Awarded by The International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences this is the leading international honor for Web sites and the innovators behind them.

What fascinated me in the original buzz I heard about the award was that the acceptance speeches could be only five words long.

FIVE, no more, no less.

There, that coulda been my whole speech!

I’ve been thinking about short stories, short speeches, Short People (I used to sing that Randy Newman song to my kids when they were babies.. “Short people got no body” Perhaps I’m a little warped, but still not cool.)

But this morning I decided check out some of the award winners. and their websites based entirely on some entirely unknown quality that I found in their award speech.

In the Lifestyle category, FoodNetwork.com won a People’s Voice award:

Thanks for always being hungry.

That seemed appropriate and made me smile.

But in the Marketplace category Retail: THE BOOK OF COOL also won a People’s Voice award with this little speech:

Even monkeys fall from trees.

I gotta tell you, I have this thing about monkeys. Maybe I got it from my son who has a thing about monkeys. What ever the reason, I checked out the website.

I found the link to The Book of Cool site in the June 13, 2206 Wired story about the awards. I found such a cool flash intro that I watched it all the way through. Generally I hate those pages that make we wait until I can find the information that I want. I skip them when ever possible. But immediately I got sucked in. Oh yea, I’ll buy this stuff. I want to be cool. Not just live near “cool.”

I’m hoping that maybe, with help from the book and 9 hours of DVD video they’re selling, just maybe I can learn to be cool.

On the otherhand, perhaps:

I make my own cool.

What would you say if you only had five words? What affirmation would you choose? What does that say about you?

Post a comment. Share your five words.

I can’t wait to read what you write.