Into the Void

Day 3 is coming to a close. I’m not feeling better than yesterday, but I’m not feeling worse. I am now officially committing to another 2 days on juice alone. I don’t think fruit would be a good idea.

If I make it to 5 days, it will be EASY to get to 10. I’m trying to convince myself of that.

My mind has been feeding me images of food. The thoughts pop into my head as if I’d already made the decision. My car tried to take me to McDonalds tonight. It’s odd, because McDonald’s hardly quailifies as food. It’s salty, greasy slabs of something that gives the impression of being meat.

I seem to be sleeping ok. Better, actually. I also seemed to tolerate the heat better than usual today. We’ll have to see how I tolerate the hot weather coming in tomorrow.

Day 2. I don’t feel hungry but I’m craving foods. I’m also gritting my teeth and feeling anxious. I’m going to do an extra half hour on the exercise bike later in hopes of tapping glycogen stores.

My husband cooked salmon last night and it smelled unbelievably good. He bought me a bottle of V-8 and I didn’t have the heart to tell him it’s too salty. Later I found myself browsing recipes online. Unfortunately they were barbeque recipes.

I made a treat while I was doing my juicing for the day – an apple, a handful of wild strawberries, and a sprig of mint. I also made a tomato mixture and yes, I juiced the tomato instead of pureeing it this time. A glass of kale juice – yeah, gonna have to keep mixing that with apple for now. And my favorite, orange-carrot-ginger.

Just getting started on this. I don’t have the willpower some folks have, so I’ve been gradually cutting down on food as I get into it. I’ve been juicing for a couple of years but until I saw Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead it didn’t occur to me that a juice fast is doable.

I know from experience fasting that it gets easier after a day or two. I can do this.

My favorite juice is orange-carrot-ginger but it has too much sugar for me to be drinking huge quantities of it. Ditto apple-kale, but fortunately kale is relatively mild in flavor so I can drink it in small quantities. Hint: a pinch of vitamin C powder will prevent juices from turning brown.

Today I made a half gallon of tomato juice blend, but I cheated, I pureed the tomato in the blender. Like Ray Stewart, I think it’s a crime to put a beautiful Roma down the chute. I PROMISE, I will juice it next time.

Anyway, the juice blend was tomato, carrot, beet, kale, celery, cucumber and a half lemon. I will be perfecting this recipe, and of course juicing the tomatoes rather than pureeing them.

Normally I’d read the group THEN post. I didn’t. I will read now.

I will be blogging my recipes as I develop them.

Believe it or not, I’m still  redoing the categories on my WordPress blog in the Dewey Decimal System.  I’ve had 6 years of creating a taxonomy that doesn’t quite do what I want so why not?

Obviously I cover a lot of different topics on my blog.

While each post can be categorized by Dewey, tags exist outside the taxonomy and help identify lateral connections that may not have been obvious as I wrote the articles.

An additional problem is that most of the things I blog about didn’t exist in the 1870′s when Melvile Dewey created the system.  I’ve used a number of web sites to help me convert the troublesome computer and technology categories.  Fortunately OCLC maintains the DDC on an ongoing basis.

I’ve used a number of sites to help me create the taxonomy.  I’d like to share them in case anyone else is considering standardizing their categories.

• http://www.oclc.org/ OCLC is a library service and research organization whose purpose is to improve access to the world’s information.  OCLC owns the Dewey Decimal System which is used by libraries in over 135 countries to categorize their holdings.
• Dewey Decimal Classification / Linked Data This site provides Dewey Decimal classifications in either machine- or human-readable format.
• List of Dewey Decimal classes From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Wikipedia has everything, but I suggest you verify everything elsewhere.
• Dewey Decimal Classification System Bob Peck is a professional indexer whose list of DDC categories was invaluable.
UIUC Library – Dewey Decimal System – A Guide to Call Numbers The Undergraduate Library at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign also has a list of DDC call numbers.
• Dewey Decimal Classification Centennial 1876-1976 The 1976 edition of the DDC is available from Project Gutenberg, where you can download over 33,000 free ebooks to read on your PC, iPad, Kindle, Sony Reader, iPhone, Android or other portable device.
• Site Index:
  Dewey Decimal Classification Robert Teeter has listed a number of useful four-plus digit codes for technical topics.

Any thoughts on how to categorize self-referential blog posts, the category I’m presently calling “META”?

It has also dawned on me that I have not been adding metadata to the pictures I’ve uploaded.  That’s another problem for another day.

Photo credit:
OZinOH
Some rights reserved

Almost six years after beginning this blog I have realized that a blog is more easily browsed if the categories are predefined and logical rather than added haphazardly as new posts require new categories.

For that reason I’ve decided to use the Dewey Decimal System. The Library of Congress Classification Outline (LCC) is more widely used but it is clumsy and complex. There are vast numbers of books designed to help librarians shelve their holdings.

I have been using Dewey.info to verify some categories.

The fact that I’m considering the Dewey Decimal system should be a red flag for me. Clearly this blog doesn’t have a focus, and this may discourage visitors who want to read bipolar rants and instead find an article about Australopithecus-munching saber-toothed tigers.

Oh well. I yam what I yam.

When browsing Amazon.com’s classifications, I came across an interesting book called The Accidental Taxonomist which gives an excellent explanation of developing a taxonomy for human indexers and lists four ways of categorizing books: tagging, cataloging, classifying and indexing.

Tagging, also called keywording, is usually done by the author or editor. Tags are not hierarchical or predefined as the taxonomy is; instead tags are a list of important words and phrases from the content of the article or book.

Cataloging is the difficult task of assigning a physical location to an item. While a book has a defined place in the hierarchy, metadata such as the medium of the item (book or audiotape?) or a physical description, i.e. whether the item a “coffee table book” that doesn’t fit on a standard size shelf, have to be considered.

Classification is assigning the item to a place in the taxonomy. The taxonomy is predefined as a hierarchical system of subjects or major concepts.

Indexing means to create a list of the items in the collection by tag or classification with the catalog data that will enable the user to actually locate the item.

And of course I don’t have a library science category in this blog. Yet.

I am going through some old accounts and found this one.  Just for kicks I took the latest version of the Keirsey Temperament Sorter to see whether I am still INTP, “The Architect.” This a personality test of sorts that categorizes the client in order to help them better utiliize their strengths.

Read more about the Kiersey Temperament Sorter

Your Keirsey Temperament Sorter Results indicates that your personality type is that of the Rational.

Rationals are the problem solving temperament, particularly if the problem has to do with the many complex systems that make up the world around us. Rationals might tackle problems in organic systems such as plants and animals, or in mechanical systems such as railroads and computers, or in social systems such as families and companies and governments. But whatever systems fire their curiosity, Rationals will analyze them to understand how they work, so they can figure out how to make them work better.

In working with problems, Rationals try to find solutions that have application in the real world, but they are even more interested in the abstract concepts involved, the fundamental principles or natural laws that underlie the particular case. And they are completely pragmatic about their ways and means of achieving their ends. Rationals don’t care about being politically correct. They are interested in the most efficient solutions possible, and will listen to anyone who has something useful to teach them, while disregarding any authority or customary procedure that wastes time and resources.

Rationals have an insatiable hunger to accomplish their goals and will work tirelessly on any project they have set their mind to. They are rigorously logical and fiercely independent in their thinking — are indeed skeptical of all ideas, even their own — and they believe they can overcome any obstacle with their will power. Often they are seen as cold and distant, but this is really the absorbed concentration they give to whatever problem they’re working on. Whether designing a skyscraper or an experiment, developing a theory or a prototype technology, building an aircraft, a corporation, or a strategic alliance, Rationals value intelligence, in themselves and others, and they pride themselves on the ingenuity they bring to their problem solving.

Rationals are very scarce, comprising as little as 7 to 10 percent of the population. But because of their drive to unlock the secrets of nature, and to develop new technologies, they have done much to shape our world.

Rationals at Work
As a Rational, you seek to acquire and apply expertise. You thrive in an autonomous and intellectually stimulating workplace, working alongside other competent people, pursuing knowledge or creating systems. Your core need to follow the driving force of your own intelligence leads to particular career challenges. For example, recognition of your expertise may lead to your being put “in charge” of other people, as a manager, when you might prefer to remain immersed in projects of your own.

You are fascinated with developing strategic plans for others to use. In your preferred environment, you work behind the scenes while someone else takes the active leadership role. Often, you are driven to step in as leader when you become impatient with the way a project is going. In your ideal job, you independently analyze systems and make recommendations about how objectives will best be reached; someone else does the work of delegating work, motivating people, or enforcing work duties. You want challenge in your work and become frustrated when asked to merely follow routines, especially if those routines are inefficient.

The four types of Rationals are:
Inventor (ENTP) | Architect (INTP) | Fieldmarshal (ENTJ) | Mastermind (INTJ)

Do these google searches to turn up web cams:
inurl:”view/index.shtml”
inurl:”MultiCameraFrame?Mode=”
inurl:”viewerframe?mode=motion”

Some of my favorites:
birdcam – website
Cockatiel Paradise
National Zoo Flamingo Cam

Want your own webcam?
AXIS Webcam
Sony SNC-RZ30N Pan/tilt/zoom Network Color Camera

This website links to a number of public webcams.
http://www.opentopia.com/hiddencam.php

Back in the late 1980s I trained to administer a process called a Transition Session. I didn’t finish the training because with my poor social skills I was unable to get enough clients. It’s too bad, because the Transition Sessions were a powerful tool.

I’m about to throw out all my notes, but first I thought I’d skim over and see how I have changed since then. And blog any nuggets I come across in the process. There is a lot of material so I’ll spread it out over a few posts. First I thought I’d start off with a couple of open-ended statements that can be used to help clarify goals.

Declaration
Out of my mastery of ______________ I can be counted upon to notice when I am inclined to flee the challenge; to acknowledge that avoidance to someone; and to get appropriate support, with the purpose of manifesting ______________________ in the universe.

Vision
Out of my mastery of ______________ I inspire and empower others to ______________ for the purpose of ____________________________________________.

Photo credit:
h.koppdelaney

I haven’t been blogging for quite a while. There’s no real reason for it, only excuses.

I love being a geekess, a technician, and engineer.  Science is my beautiful, ever-changing universe.

But as the years go by it gets more and more difficult to maintain my concentration for an entire 8-hour day. My job performance is so inconsistent that I can’t be counted on to complete a task on schedule. On my last job my boss wanted to lower my already obscenely low pay even lower.

So I applied for SSDI.  They turned me down, of course, which means I have 12 – 16 months to wait for the appeal.  Binder and Binder is representing me and that’s a real plus.  On the minus side my psychiatrist of 21 years, the keystone in my SSDI claim, passed away suddenly in December. I will have to find another and be evaluated before the appeal comes up. He was in his early 60s, in great health, a really happy guy. It was quite a shock.

RIP, Lynn Cobb Montgomery. He was not only an excellent, caring physician, but he was a bright light in the community, loved and respected by many. He will be greatly missed.

<rant>In the meantime I have no income.  My cat earns more than I do.  I have reduced some of my expenses by downgrading cell phone, health insurance, auto insurance, and even my web host.  I am working on getting cash assistance, food stamps, and medical assistance to help pay for insurance.  I can’t be without health insurance.  I can’t be without psych or asthma meds.</rant>

Enough whining for today.  There is much work to do.

This is a test.