File Sharing Made Easy
Need to transfer files between multiple computers or need to have documents always in sync between your work computer and home computer? Want to quickly and easily share photos or any other file with family and friends? One word. Dropbox! Go here now: http://db.tt/RzQxDfP
With Dropbox you can create a folder on multiple computers an then drop files that you want to share in that folder. The file will magically appear on the other computers. Super easy and super convenient.
Monday, July 16, 2012
Saturday, July 14, 2012
OS X Alternate Characters — Speed Post — Tech goodness in under 5 seconds! —
Alternate Character Sets in OS X
Have you every run into a situation where you needed an alternate letter for say foreign words such as niña or exposé? Those special letters can be a pain in the butt to get into your document or email or whatever, that is unless you are a OS X Lion user. In Lion simply hold down the letter in question for a few seconds and a context menu will appear over the letter with the alternate forms. Just pick the one you need and viola! It works in just about everything. I even used this feature when typing this post.
Have you every run into a situation where you needed an alternate letter for say foreign words such as niña or exposé? Those special letters can be a pain in the butt to get into your document or email or whatever, that is unless you are a OS X Lion user. In Lion simply hold down the letter in question for a few seconds and a context menu will appear over the letter with the alternate forms. Just pick the one you need and viola! It works in just about everything. I even used this feature when typing this post.
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Tech Tip Tuesday - Keyboard Shortcuts
As promised I have a blog post for you all today that is actually tech related. Since it is Tuesday I am calling this post Tech Tip Tuesday in honor of a little post I used to always do on Facebook. In keeping with the tradition of Tech Tip Tuesdays on Facebook, I will try to keep these tips entertaining or at least useful without getting overly technical. The most technical I would get on Tuesdays was maybe a brief tutorial. I will try to do the same here.
This week I have a pretty cool tip that has a lot of uses. Some readers may know all about this already, but I have always geared Tuesdays toward the novice or basic user. So apologies to those who were hoping for something they didn't already know. This tip is for Windows users. I personally prefer using OS X or Linux rather than Windows, but I know a lot of people still use Windows, so this is for them. If you do use Windows, but not 7, What are you waiting for? Even though this tip works in Vista and XP, Vista is a huge hunk of crap and XP is out of long term support, so switch already, unless your computer is a dinosaur, in which case, stick with XP. On with the tip . . .
Are there certain programs that you always start up immediately after booting up your computer? I'm not talking about start-up programs that usually run down in your task bar or in the background like your virus screening software. I mean programs like your browser or photo editor that you always use, but don't start up when you boot. Now you could put these programs in your startup folder and they would start on boot, but I don't like doing this because it just slows down the booting process because all those programs are jousting for positions in the RAM plus you have no control over what gets started. Windows just starts everything in the folder. There is a better alternative for these frequently used programs that gives you full control over what you want to load.
What you want to do is assign a keyboard shortcut to the program or programs that you use most frequently. Then when your computer is fully booted you can just hit the keyboard shortcut to start the program rather than finding it's shortcut with the mouse and double clicking it. Believe me keyboard shortcuts are way faster. Here's how you do it:
1) Find the shortcut icon for the program you want to create the shortcut for. Note: This has to be a shortcut icon for the program and not the actual program or exe icon. If you don't know the difference leave a note in the comments and I will explain the difference and how to get a shortcut icon for your program if you do not have one.
2) Right-click the icon and select properties.
3) Click on the shortcut tab at the top of the properties window.
4) About halfway down the properties window you will see a box labeled "Shortcut Key". Click in that box.
5) Now simply assign any key you want to that program.
6) Click Okay or Apply to set it.
By default it gives you a "Ctrl+Alt+" combination. In other words, if you click on the box and press F your keyboard shortcut will be Ctrl+Alt+F. However, you can change the short cut to "Ctrl+Shift+" or even "Ctrl+Shift+Alt+" you just have to hold those keys in while you push the letter, number, or symbol key that you want in the shortcut. A shortcut combination I like is Ctrl+Shift+Z because the keys are all close together and I can quickly hit the combination with one hand. I use this shortcut for firing up Chrome. If you decide that you do not want to have a keyboard shortcut anymore then just press and release the Ctrl key and it will put "None" in the Shortcut Key box and then just click Okay or Apply and there will no longer be a keyboard shortcut for that program.
Now since this trick is using shortcut icons it can be very versatile if you wish it to be. I'll give you a couple of examples.
Example one: Say you are a student and everyday you start up your computer and the first thing you do is open your browser window to your student website and another to your email. Let's look at the stps this entails.
1) Start the computer.
2) Double click your browser shortcut.
3) Either enter your student website in the URL box or click a bookmark to it.
4) Either open another instance of your browser by double clicking it's shortcut again, or open a tab in the current browser window.
5) Either enter the URL for your email, or click a bookmark.
Pretty straightforward, but it can be quickened with a little preparation. The first thing that you need to do is create shortcuts to these two websites. There are several ways to do this, but the simplest one in my opinion is to open your browser to the website that you want to create the shortcut for, then re-size the browser so that you can see at least part of your desktop behind it. In the address bar to the very left you will see what is called a favicon. It is usually, but not always, a logo of the website that you are visiting. Drag that favicon and drop it on your desktop. Presto! Instant shortcut to that site. Do this with each website and then assign keyboard shortcuts to each using the method I described. Now let's look at the steps.
1) Start the computer.
2) Hit the keyboard shortcut for the student website.
3) Hit the keyboard shortcut for the email website.
Done! If you don't like having the shortcut icons on your desktop put them in a folder of your choosing. The keyboard shortcuts will still work. If you are a more advanced user, you can even hide the folder or the shortcut icons themselves.
But it's not just for browser instances. Any program that is capable of running multiple instances can be set up in the same way. Look at example 2. Let's say you are writing a paper for school and you have your rough draft and your outline that you are working with. Since you can create a shortcut to any file all you have to do is create shortcuts to these two files regardless of what word processor you use and then assign keyboard shortcuts to them. You could have it set up so that Ctrl+Shift+D opens your draft and Ctrl+Shift+O opens your outline. Cool! Furthermore, once you have finished your paper you can simply delete the shortcut icons for the draft and outline and the keyboard shortcuts go away and are ready for you to assign them to your next paper's draft and outline. Just imagine throwing in another keyboard shortcut that opens up a browser to your research for your paper. You have just created a way to open everything your need to write your paper with 3 keystroke combinations.
I Hope you enjoyed this week's Tech Tip Tuesday. I have another cool trick planned for next week that will make you a god, so stay tuned.
This week I have a pretty cool tip that has a lot of uses. Some readers may know all about this already, but I have always geared Tuesdays toward the novice or basic user. So apologies to those who were hoping for something they didn't already know. This tip is for Windows users. I personally prefer using OS X or Linux rather than Windows, but I know a lot of people still use Windows, so this is for them. If you do use Windows, but not 7, What are you waiting for? Even though this tip works in Vista and XP, Vista is a huge hunk of crap and XP is out of long term support, so switch already, unless your computer is a dinosaur, in which case, stick with XP. On with the tip . . .
Are there certain programs that you always start up immediately after booting up your computer? I'm not talking about start-up programs that usually run down in your task bar or in the background like your virus screening software. I mean programs like your browser or photo editor that you always use, but don't start up when you boot. Now you could put these programs in your startup folder and they would start on boot, but I don't like doing this because it just slows down the booting process because all those programs are jousting for positions in the RAM plus you have no control over what gets started. Windows just starts everything in the folder. There is a better alternative for these frequently used programs that gives you full control over what you want to load.
What you want to do is assign a keyboard shortcut to the program or programs that you use most frequently. Then when your computer is fully booted you can just hit the keyboard shortcut to start the program rather than finding it's shortcut with the mouse and double clicking it. Believe me keyboard shortcuts are way faster. Here's how you do it:
1) Find the shortcut icon for the program you want to create the shortcut for. Note: This has to be a shortcut icon for the program and not the actual program or exe icon. If you don't know the difference leave a note in the comments and I will explain the difference and how to get a shortcut icon for your program if you do not have one.
2) Right-click the icon and select properties.
3) Click on the shortcut tab at the top of the properties window.
4) About halfway down the properties window you will see a box labeled "Shortcut Key". Click in that box.
5) Now simply assign any key you want to that program.
6) Click Okay or Apply to set it.
By default it gives you a "Ctrl+Alt+" combination. In other words, if you click on the box and press F your keyboard shortcut will be Ctrl+Alt+F. However, you can change the short cut to "Ctrl+Shift+" or even "Ctrl+Shift+Alt+" you just have to hold those keys in while you push the letter, number, or symbol key that you want in the shortcut. A shortcut combination I like is Ctrl+Shift+Z because the keys are all close together and I can quickly hit the combination with one hand. I use this shortcut for firing up Chrome. If you decide that you do not want to have a keyboard shortcut anymore then just press and release the Ctrl key and it will put "None" in the Shortcut Key box and then just click Okay or Apply and there will no longer be a keyboard shortcut for that program.
Now since this trick is using shortcut icons it can be very versatile if you wish it to be. I'll give you a couple of examples.
Example one: Say you are a student and everyday you start up your computer and the first thing you do is open your browser window to your student website and another to your email. Let's look at the stps this entails.
1) Start the computer.
2) Double click your browser shortcut.
3) Either enter your student website in the URL box or click a bookmark to it.
4) Either open another instance of your browser by double clicking it's shortcut again, or open a tab in the current browser window.
5) Either enter the URL for your email, or click a bookmark.
Pretty straightforward, but it can be quickened with a little preparation. The first thing that you need to do is create shortcuts to these two websites. There are several ways to do this, but the simplest one in my opinion is to open your browser to the website that you want to create the shortcut for, then re-size the browser so that you can see at least part of your desktop behind it. In the address bar to the very left you will see what is called a favicon. It is usually, but not always, a logo of the website that you are visiting. Drag that favicon and drop it on your desktop. Presto! Instant shortcut to that site. Do this with each website and then assign keyboard shortcuts to each using the method I described. Now let's look at the steps.
1) Start the computer.
2) Hit the keyboard shortcut for the student website.
3) Hit the keyboard shortcut for the email website.
Done! If you don't like having the shortcut icons on your desktop put them in a folder of your choosing. The keyboard shortcuts will still work. If you are a more advanced user, you can even hide the folder or the shortcut icons themselves.
But it's not just for browser instances. Any program that is capable of running multiple instances can be set up in the same way. Look at example 2. Let's say you are writing a paper for school and you have your rough draft and your outline that you are working with. Since you can create a shortcut to any file all you have to do is create shortcuts to these two files regardless of what word processor you use and then assign keyboard shortcuts to them. You could have it set up so that Ctrl+Shift+D opens your draft and Ctrl+Shift+O opens your outline. Cool! Furthermore, once you have finished your paper you can simply delete the shortcut icons for the draft and outline and the keyboard shortcuts go away and are ready for you to assign them to your next paper's draft and outline. Just imagine throwing in another keyboard shortcut that opens up a browser to your research for your paper. You have just created a way to open everything your need to write your paper with 3 keystroke combinations.
I Hope you enjoyed this week's Tech Tip Tuesday. I have another cool trick planned for next week that will make you a god, so stay tuned.
Monday, July 9, 2012
— Windows 7 Aero Peek – Speed Post — — Tech goodness in under 5 seconds! —
Aero Peek
Did you know that in Windows holding Windows+Spacebar will show you the desktop and releasing it will return you to the application you were in?
Note: The Windows key is that one with the Windows logo on it near the spacebar.
Did you know that in Windows holding Windows+Spacebar will show you the desktop and releasing it will return you to the application you were in?
Note: The Windows key is that one with the Windows logo on it near the spacebar.
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Good Grief I'm Depressed!
I've had a revelation since my last grief post. I was not and am not in the anger phase of my grief. I'm in the depression phase. Let me explain:
After posting that last post I started reflecting on my emotions and what I was feeling. I started analyzing what I was currently feeling and going through and what I had already felt and gone through since my mother's passing. This is when I had a moment of clarity. I have already been through most of the stages of grief already, well at least the first three.
I already explained how and when I went through denial and while I thought I was in the anger stage in my last post, I realized that I had already exhibited this stage several weeks ago. I remember feeling angry about a lot of stuff. I was mad that my dad had not called me or contacted me in any other way (well he did call my girlfriend and told her to tell me he was sorry to hear about my mom, but that just made me more angry). I was mad that I felt like I was not getting any emotional support from my girlfriend. In hindsight I don't think this was intentional, I think that I simply was not communicating my needs to her. I was mad that my sister was too busy being a basket case that she couldn't be there for me either. I was generally mad about a lot of stuff, but I held it all in. I held it in for days and then one night I lashed out at my girlfriend for no good reason, over something so unimportant that I can't even remember what it was. I had no right and she got mad at me. She told me she was leaving me and that quickly sent me into the next stage . . . bargaining.
The most obvious bargaining I was doing was with her, not to leave me. I'm sorry, please don't leave, etc, etc. She was mad and not even talking to me. I curled up on the floor in a fetal position crying for about an hour. the whole time I was thinking that I would do anything for things to be different, not just between my girlfriend and myself, but with my mom. I wished that I could change things, turn back the clock somehow. I even went as far as to beg god to let me have my mom back. "Please," I said through sobs. "I will do anything." Over and over I said this and I'm sure that my girlfriend thought the begging was directed at her, but it wasn't. I wanted my mom back at that moment more than I wanted anything in my entire life.
The bargaining phase was short-lived. It was over as soon as I got up off the floor. I knew there was nothing that would bring her back so I gave up begging. I knew there was no way that I could get my mom back, but I knew that there had to be a way to get my girlfriend back. I called a friend who is a grief counselor. Crying uncontrollably, I explained what was going on and he helped me to calm down and find the words to say to get back into my girlfriend's good graces. He also made me realize that I needed to tell her what I was feeling and what I needed from her. She was really my only support through this and I need her to be there for me because no one else would be.
We did make up after that, but I had already started the depression stage. Again I did what I do best . . . escape. I went back to the video games (and sometimes movies) to avoid dealing with my depression. Well not so much to avoid dealing with it as to just not feel it. I bottled it up. I still am bottling it up somewhat, but I'm getting better. I'm at least writing about it, but that led me to wonder what was that anger I was recently feeling? Why was I chastising myself (even if I did deserve it) if I had already gone through the anger stage.
What I have come to realize is that the anger I was feeling a few days ago was not stemming from being in the anger stage of my grief, it was stemming from the fact that I was simply mad at myself for not dealing with my grief. I was mad that I was putting off the healing process and putting off my friends just so that I didn't have to feel the depression. Obviously I'm over my anger about that, but I am not over my depression. I am still very sad that my mother is gone. In fact, I just had to take a little break right now while typing this because I was getting overwhelmed with emotion.
To me it seems like I should have moved into acceptance by now. After all, it has been weeks since her passing, but it doesn't hurt any less. Sure I can cope, but just like in that last paragraph, it hurts to think about her and I think about her everyday. I wonder, am I going to be like this forever? I know that I'm not, but I feel like I am. I will keep you posted, and don't worry, I have not forgotten about getting a tech post out by Tuesday.
Until then . . . peace.
Final Thoughts on Kübler-Ross: Anger, Bargaining, and Depression:
As I said, the anger phase of my grief struck me much longer ago that I had thought. My more recent anger was not so much a part of my grief as it was a part of not dealing with my grief. The way I dealt with the anger stage of my grief was not constructive, but I also don't think that it is uncommon. I bottled up my anger and just let it simmer. I think it likely that a lot of people do this especially when dealing with grief because we feel that expressing anger during these times is inappropriate. I think if I would have just accepted it as a part of the grieving process I would have moved through it quicker and perhaps may not have had that blow out with my girlfriend. Instead I chose to escape and hide from my anger, which led to the events that I described.
The bargaining was a weird thing. It seems almost silly looking back. I was actually bargaining for something that I knew was impossible to have. In On Death and Dying, Kübler-Ross was describing the stages of grief from mostly the point of view of a terminally ill patient rather than from someone dealing with the loss of a loved one and from that point of view I can see where bargaining could come into play in a sensible manner [1]. "Please God. Please let me have one more year. I will do anything." This is sensible because there is still a life to be bargained for, but bargaining for a life that is already lost is just insane. She is gone. There is nothing that can bring her back. Bargaining is a waste of time and makes no sense, yet despite this I bargained just the same. I, in my grief, irrationally thought that begging and promising whatever would somehow miraculously bring my mom back to life. I don't think that there was any better way to deal with this stage. It just is what it is and it was, at least in my experience, very short-lived. I imagine in other situations this stage could go on longer, but for what I was dealing with, this stage ended when the super heavy emotions subsided.
The depression has been going on for sometime now. As I have said, I have been avoiding it just like I did the anger. I've been bottling it up. It's starting to come out though. Fortunately in a more constructive way than the anger did. I don't think I've moved on to acceptance yet, Kübler-Ross says that acceptance is when the griever takes an attitude of "It's going to be okay" or "There is nothing I can do about it so I might as well prepare for it" [1]. I don't think I'm there yet. I don't think it's going to be okay. As I said, I feel like I'm going to feel this way forever. Somewhere in tha back of my mind I know that this isn't true, but I cannot come to grips with it. When I think of my mom it hurts. It hurts like hell and I don't see it ever not hurting. Until that sting goes away, I don't think I can move on to acceptance. I'll let you know when (if?) I do.
[1] Kübler-Ross, E. (1969). On death and dying: What the dying have to teach doctors, nurses, clergy and their own families. Abingdon, Oxon, England: Routledge.
After posting that last post I started reflecting on my emotions and what I was feeling. I started analyzing what I was currently feeling and going through and what I had already felt and gone through since my mother's passing. This is when I had a moment of clarity. I have already been through most of the stages of grief already, well at least the first three.
I already explained how and when I went through denial and while I thought I was in the anger stage in my last post, I realized that I had already exhibited this stage several weeks ago. I remember feeling angry about a lot of stuff. I was mad that my dad had not called me or contacted me in any other way (well he did call my girlfriend and told her to tell me he was sorry to hear about my mom, but that just made me more angry). I was mad that I felt like I was not getting any emotional support from my girlfriend. In hindsight I don't think this was intentional, I think that I simply was not communicating my needs to her. I was mad that my sister was too busy being a basket case that she couldn't be there for me either. I was generally mad about a lot of stuff, but I held it all in. I held it in for days and then one night I lashed out at my girlfriend for no good reason, over something so unimportant that I can't even remember what it was. I had no right and she got mad at me. She told me she was leaving me and that quickly sent me into the next stage . . . bargaining.
The most obvious bargaining I was doing was with her, not to leave me. I'm sorry, please don't leave, etc, etc. She was mad and not even talking to me. I curled up on the floor in a fetal position crying for about an hour. the whole time I was thinking that I would do anything for things to be different, not just between my girlfriend and myself, but with my mom. I wished that I could change things, turn back the clock somehow. I even went as far as to beg god to let me have my mom back. "Please," I said through sobs. "I will do anything." Over and over I said this and I'm sure that my girlfriend thought the begging was directed at her, but it wasn't. I wanted my mom back at that moment more than I wanted anything in my entire life.
The bargaining phase was short-lived. It was over as soon as I got up off the floor. I knew there was nothing that would bring her back so I gave up begging. I knew there was no way that I could get my mom back, but I knew that there had to be a way to get my girlfriend back. I called a friend who is a grief counselor. Crying uncontrollably, I explained what was going on and he helped me to calm down and find the words to say to get back into my girlfriend's good graces. He also made me realize that I needed to tell her what I was feeling and what I needed from her. She was really my only support through this and I need her to be there for me because no one else would be.
We did make up after that, but I had already started the depression stage. Again I did what I do best . . . escape. I went back to the video games (and sometimes movies) to avoid dealing with my depression. Well not so much to avoid dealing with it as to just not feel it. I bottled it up. I still am bottling it up somewhat, but I'm getting better. I'm at least writing about it, but that led me to wonder what was that anger I was recently feeling? Why was I chastising myself (even if I did deserve it) if I had already gone through the anger stage.
What I have come to realize is that the anger I was feeling a few days ago was not stemming from being in the anger stage of my grief, it was stemming from the fact that I was simply mad at myself for not dealing with my grief. I was mad that I was putting off the healing process and putting off my friends just so that I didn't have to feel the depression. Obviously I'm over my anger about that, but I am not over my depression. I am still very sad that my mother is gone. In fact, I just had to take a little break right now while typing this because I was getting overwhelmed with emotion.
To me it seems like I should have moved into acceptance by now. After all, it has been weeks since her passing, but it doesn't hurt any less. Sure I can cope, but just like in that last paragraph, it hurts to think about her and I think about her everyday. I wonder, am I going to be like this forever? I know that I'm not, but I feel like I am. I will keep you posted, and don't worry, I have not forgotten about getting a tech post out by Tuesday.
Until then . . . peace.
Final Thoughts on Kübler-Ross: Anger, Bargaining, and Depression:
As I said, the anger phase of my grief struck me much longer ago that I had thought. My more recent anger was not so much a part of my grief as it was a part of not dealing with my grief. The way I dealt with the anger stage of my grief was not constructive, but I also don't think that it is uncommon. I bottled up my anger and just let it simmer. I think it likely that a lot of people do this especially when dealing with grief because we feel that expressing anger during these times is inappropriate. I think if I would have just accepted it as a part of the grieving process I would have moved through it quicker and perhaps may not have had that blow out with my girlfriend. Instead I chose to escape and hide from my anger, which led to the events that I described.
The bargaining was a weird thing. It seems almost silly looking back. I was actually bargaining for something that I knew was impossible to have. In On Death and Dying, Kübler-Ross was describing the stages of grief from mostly the point of view of a terminally ill patient rather than from someone dealing with the loss of a loved one and from that point of view I can see where bargaining could come into play in a sensible manner [1]. "Please God. Please let me have one more year. I will do anything." This is sensible because there is still a life to be bargained for, but bargaining for a life that is already lost is just insane. She is gone. There is nothing that can bring her back. Bargaining is a waste of time and makes no sense, yet despite this I bargained just the same. I, in my grief, irrationally thought that begging and promising whatever would somehow miraculously bring my mom back to life. I don't think that there was any better way to deal with this stage. It just is what it is and it was, at least in my experience, very short-lived. I imagine in other situations this stage could go on longer, but for what I was dealing with, this stage ended when the super heavy emotions subsided.
The depression has been going on for sometime now. As I have said, I have been avoiding it just like I did the anger. I've been bottling it up. It's starting to come out though. Fortunately in a more constructive way than the anger did. I don't think I've moved on to acceptance yet, Kübler-Ross says that acceptance is when the griever takes an attitude of "It's going to be okay" or "There is nothing I can do about it so I might as well prepare for it" [1]. I don't think I'm there yet. I don't think it's going to be okay. As I said, I feel like I'm going to feel this way forever. Somewhere in tha back of my mind I know that this isn't true, but I cannot come to grips with it. When I think of my mom it hurts. It hurts like hell and I don't see it ever not hurting. Until that sting goes away, I don't think I can move on to acceptance. I'll let you know when (if?) I do.
[1] Kübler-Ross, E. (1969). On death and dying: What the dying have to teach doctors, nurses, clergy and their own families. Abingdon, Oxon, England: Routledge.
Saturday, July 7, 2012
Good Grief I'm Angry!
I'm mad! I'm very mad! At whom you ask? At myself. Why? Well first I have to give you the backlog.
Even if you don't know me or frequent this blog, you can probably tell by the date gap from my last post to this one that I have not been active in this blog. And if you are one of my OpenStudy friends . . .
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. . . I'm sure you have noticed that I have not been hanging out there as well. There are several reasons for this the main one simply being lack of time. However, lack of time is a lame excuse in my opinion because I have time for other useless endeavors such as Facebook and other games.
The problem is that I have been practicing escapism for the last several months. See, my mother fell ill in February and had to be hospitalized. The hospital stay was lengthy and difficult with a lot of pain and discomfort. Finally in April she passed away. Along with that came several complications regarding her final arrangements, which I will not get into. It was a very stressful time and situation and we (myself and the rest of the family) were not really allowed to grieve at the time due to the worry and energy put into the funeral home fiasco.
So to cope with my grief I have been doing everything in my power NOT to cope with it, primarily by escaping into video games. So I have not really dealt with my grief at all. I thought that I had, but I was fooling myself and I did not realize it until this morning driving to work.
According to Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, there are five stages of grief; denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance [1]. The denial stage I know I dealt with right off the bat. As soon as I found out that she was in the hospital I started the denial process. "She's going to be okay", "She'll pull through." Other people are great at helping you in this stage telling you that everything is going to be alright when you know very well that it is not. Even with her doctor telling me that that her prognosis was very bad (even he avoided saying it was terminal), I denied it and told myself that she would be okay. I knew very well that she wouldn't be okay even without the doctor's prognosis. She had a stoke in 2000 and ever since that time her health had been declining. There were a lot of other reasons that I knew that she would not recover, but the point is that I knew this and yet still told myself that she would be okay.
However, that is where my grief ended. I never got angry. Even when my sister told me that they were not giving her water in the hospital and that she was dehydrated and desperately begging for water did I get mad. (Side note: Some hospitals when dealing with terminally ill patients will deny them water so that they slip into a coma rather than staying hospitalized indefinitely. This is considered humane and the hospital that I was dealing with even had a name for it; Comfort Care.) Oh I expressed my disagreement with the situation, but I would not say I got angry.
So this morning, on the way to work I got angry. I was angry at myself for a number of things. One being that I have chosen to spend (read: waste) all this time not dealing with my grief. As I thought about it, I tried to rationalize my behavior by saying that there was nothing that I could do, but I knew that was BS. I love to write and I know that writing can be very cathartic and "I HAVE A BLOG FOR CHRIST SAKE!" Again I tried to rationalize my behavior by telling myself that I have a tech blog, that it would not be appropriate that I write about my mom's death on it. Then I got really mad and actually started yelling at myself in the car. It kind of went something like this (pardon me if I get a bit schizophrenic, that happens when I'm torn on a subject or upset):
"Wait a minute! You mean to tell me that you you took the time out of your busy day back on October 6, 2011, while you were still busy with school and wrote a 600 word memorial for Steve Jobs, but you cannot bear to do the same for, or even mention your mother!?"
"Yeah, but Jobs was a giant in the tech industry. His death was relevant to the blog."
"You're an asshole!"
"Why?"
"Because your mother gave birth to you. She raised you, loved you, nurtured you, and made you the man you are today. And you mean to tell me that you can't even mention her in your blog because she had nothing to do with the tech industry? Bullshit! If it were not for her, this blog would not even exist. If you consider yourself important in the tech world, which apparently you do since you have a tech blog, then your mom WAS a giant in the tech world, at least the little tech world that you have created for yourself because she CREATED YOU! Not only that, she was and always had been your biggest fan/admirer and your number one follower. Even if she never even read your blog, she has been a follower and a fan of yours in whatever you have chosen to do for your whole life. She deserves to be remembered in your blog just as much as Steve Jobs does, but you, 'Mr. Tech', can't even mention her in your self-righteous blog. That is why you are an asshole!"
So everything I said to myself made sense. There is really no reason that I cannot write about my mom in this blog. It's my blog. Sure you may not be wanting to read it and it may be and probably is depressing to most of you, but maybe there can be some learning from it as well or perhaps it may help someone else going through a similar situation. Perhaps if you all bear with me through this, we can see if Kübler-Ross' theory on grief really holds true and if so what I do to overcome each stage. If you would prefer not to read these entries in my blog just skip any that have "Good Grief" in the title. As always, I welcome your thoughts, comments, and questions to this or any of my blog posts.
To the question, "will you have any new tech posts anytime soon?" I have to say I don't know. I hope to and perhaps that would also be a good way for me to deal with my grief, but we will have to see. As I said before, I had not made an entry in a while because of always having other things on my plate even before Mom's passing, but we shall see. I really do need to get a tech post up soon and preferably one that you can use since the last several have been more or less a dissertation on communication. Let me say this: I will make a concerted effort to get a Tech Tip out on Tuesday. This should bring back memories to my Facebook friends who always looked forward to Tech Tip Tuesdays.
So until then . . . peace.
[1] Kübler-Ross, E. (1969). On death and dying: What the dying have to teach doctors, nurses, clergy and their own families. Abingdon, Oxon, England: Routledge.
Final Thoughts on Kübler-Ross: Denial and Anger:
In regard to denial, I fell right into the Kübler-Ross model. I both consciously and unconsciously refused to accept the reality of the situation, but I cannot say for sure how long this lasted. Perhaps I was in denial all the way until this morning when I got angry. Even though this seems irrational since so much time has passed since her death,Kübler-Ross says that some people can get stuck in this stage. I think that it is more likely that I got through the denial and then put off anger by escaping in to games, but I can't really say for sure. Even thinking clearly about it now, the last couple of months have been a muddled mess emotionally, so it is hard to tell what I was thinking or feeling at any given time.
Anger definitely reared it's ugly head this morning. I think that the ass chewing that I gave myself in the car did a lot to alleviate much of the anger and writing this blog post did a lot as well. If there is some more anger within me, I don't feel it right now. It may come out later or I may be done with the anger altogether. What I can say is that I have not done any bargaining, which is supposed to be the next stage. I will definitely add to this post if I go through some more anger processing and I will create a new post if I do in fact recognize myself moving into bargaining or depression.
Even if you don't know me or frequent this blog, you can probably tell by the date gap from my last post to this one that I have not been active in this blog. And if you are one of my OpenStudy friends . . .
<---------------------------------------------------
. . . I'm sure you have noticed that I have not been hanging out there as well. There are several reasons for this the main one simply being lack of time. However, lack of time is a lame excuse in my opinion because I have time for other useless endeavors such as Facebook and other games.
The problem is that I have been practicing escapism for the last several months. See, my mother fell ill in February and had to be hospitalized. The hospital stay was lengthy and difficult with a lot of pain and discomfort. Finally in April she passed away. Along with that came several complications regarding her final arrangements, which I will not get into. It was a very stressful time and situation and we (myself and the rest of the family) were not really allowed to grieve at the time due to the worry and energy put into the funeral home fiasco.
So to cope with my grief I have been doing everything in my power NOT to cope with it, primarily by escaping into video games. So I have not really dealt with my grief at all. I thought that I had, but I was fooling myself and I did not realize it until this morning driving to work.
According to Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, there are five stages of grief; denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance [1]. The denial stage I know I dealt with right off the bat. As soon as I found out that she was in the hospital I started the denial process. "She's going to be okay", "She'll pull through." Other people are great at helping you in this stage telling you that everything is going to be alright when you know very well that it is not. Even with her doctor telling me that that her prognosis was very bad (even he avoided saying it was terminal), I denied it and told myself that she would be okay. I knew very well that she wouldn't be okay even without the doctor's prognosis. She had a stoke in 2000 and ever since that time her health had been declining. There were a lot of other reasons that I knew that she would not recover, but the point is that I knew this and yet still told myself that she would be okay.
However, that is where my grief ended. I never got angry. Even when my sister told me that they were not giving her water in the hospital and that she was dehydrated and desperately begging for water did I get mad. (Side note: Some hospitals when dealing with terminally ill patients will deny them water so that they slip into a coma rather than staying hospitalized indefinitely. This is considered humane and the hospital that I was dealing with even had a name for it; Comfort Care.) Oh I expressed my disagreement with the situation, but I would not say I got angry.
So this morning, on the way to work I got angry. I was angry at myself for a number of things. One being that I have chosen to spend (read: waste) all this time not dealing with my grief. As I thought about it, I tried to rationalize my behavior by saying that there was nothing that I could do, but I knew that was BS. I love to write and I know that writing can be very cathartic and "I HAVE A BLOG FOR CHRIST SAKE!" Again I tried to rationalize my behavior by telling myself that I have a tech blog, that it would not be appropriate that I write about my mom's death on it. Then I got really mad and actually started yelling at myself in the car. It kind of went something like this (pardon me if I get a bit schizophrenic, that happens when I'm torn on a subject or upset):
"Wait a minute! You mean to tell me that you you took the time out of your busy day back on October 6, 2011, while you were still busy with school and wrote a 600 word memorial for Steve Jobs, but you cannot bear to do the same for, or even mention your mother!?"
"Yeah, but Jobs was a giant in the tech industry. His death was relevant to the blog."
"You're an asshole!"
"Why?"
"Because your mother gave birth to you. She raised you, loved you, nurtured you, and made you the man you are today. And you mean to tell me that you can't even mention her in your blog because she had nothing to do with the tech industry? Bullshit! If it were not for her, this blog would not even exist. If you consider yourself important in the tech world, which apparently you do since you have a tech blog, then your mom WAS a giant in the tech world, at least the little tech world that you have created for yourself because she CREATED YOU! Not only that, she was and always had been your biggest fan/admirer and your number one follower. Even if she never even read your blog, she has been a follower and a fan of yours in whatever you have chosen to do for your whole life. She deserves to be remembered in your blog just as much as Steve Jobs does, but you, 'Mr. Tech', can't even mention her in your self-righteous blog. That is why you are an asshole!"
So everything I said to myself made sense. There is really no reason that I cannot write about my mom in this blog. It's my blog. Sure you may not be wanting to read it and it may be and probably is depressing to most of you, but maybe there can be some learning from it as well or perhaps it may help someone else going through a similar situation. Perhaps if you all bear with me through this, we can see if Kübler-Ross' theory on grief really holds true and if so what I do to overcome each stage. If you would prefer not to read these entries in my blog just skip any that have "Good Grief" in the title. As always, I welcome your thoughts, comments, and questions to this or any of my blog posts.
To the question, "will you have any new tech posts anytime soon?" I have to say I don't know. I hope to and perhaps that would also be a good way for me to deal with my grief, but we will have to see. As I said before, I had not made an entry in a while because of always having other things on my plate even before Mom's passing, but we shall see. I really do need to get a tech post up soon and preferably one that you can use since the last several have been more or less a dissertation on communication. Let me say this: I will make a concerted effort to get a Tech Tip out on Tuesday. This should bring back memories to my Facebook friends who always looked forward to Tech Tip Tuesdays.
So until then . . . peace.
[1] Kübler-Ross, E. (1969). On death and dying: What the dying have to teach doctors, nurses, clergy and their own families. Abingdon, Oxon, England: Routledge.
Final Thoughts on Kübler-Ross: Denial and Anger:
In regard to denial, I fell right into the Kübler-Ross model. I both consciously and unconsciously refused to accept the reality of the situation, but I cannot say for sure how long this lasted. Perhaps I was in denial all the way until this morning when I got angry. Even though this seems irrational since so much time has passed since her death,Kübler-Ross says that some people can get stuck in this stage. I think that it is more likely that I got through the denial and then put off anger by escaping in to games, but I can't really say for sure. Even thinking clearly about it now, the last couple of months have been a muddled mess emotionally, so it is hard to tell what I was thinking or feeling at any given time.
Anger definitely reared it's ugly head this morning. I think that the ass chewing that I gave myself in the car did a lot to alleviate much of the anger and writing this blog post did a lot as well. If there is some more anger within me, I don't feel it right now. It may come out later or I may be done with the anger altogether. What I can say is that I have not done any bargaining, which is supposed to be the next stage. I will definitely add to this post if I go through some more anger processing and I will create a new post if I do in fact recognize myself moving into bargaining or depression.
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Part 9 - Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is a protocol that allows users to exchange information over the Internet. This information is usually in the form of HyperText Markup Language (HTML) documents, but other formats of information are supported as well such as Flash and various types of multimedia. For secure transmission, such as bank transactions, HTTP can use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) for encryption. In this instance, the website is designated HTTPS (e.g. https//:www.wellsfargo.com).
Recently, SSL and it's successor Transport Layer Security have come under fire. Two security researchers, Juliano Rizzo and Thai Duong, have created a JavaScript called BEAST, which is an acronym for Browser Exploit Against SSL/TLS. Without getting too technical, what this script does is it uses a network sniffer and decrypts encrypted cookies that a website uses to grant access to restricted user accounts and they successfully demonstrated this capability on a secure PayPal Account [1] [2] [3]. I verified the accuracy of this through three different sources, which you will find below. So what does this mean or have to do with HTTP? Other than the security of websites that use SSL/TSL, nothing much. HTTP still works the same way regardless of what if any security protocols are used. I just thought that it was an interesting side note. Moving on...
File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a protocol that allows users to transfer files to an FTP server. A company or individual can set up an FTP server to host files that are larger than would be practical to exchange through HTTP. Software or music vendors may use FTP to allow customers to download purchased content. File Transfer Protocol can also be set up with SSL and like HTTPS is designated FTPS.
A very common use of FTP is on servers of web-hosting companies. In order for a person to get their website on the web, they (usually) must go through a hosting company such as GoDaddy.com. While some of these companies provide online tools with which to create the website right online, many, if not most, developers prefer to create and troubleshoot their sites off line and then upload them. So companies like GoDaddy.com implement FTP on their hosting server to facilitate the upload of content to a user's domain.
So this concludes my series on Data Transmission and Protocols. By now you should know the difference between asynchronous and synchronous transmission. You should know the difference between digital and analog signals and have an introductory knowledge of how these signals are converted and sent. Simplex, half duplex, and full duplex transmissions should not be a mystery to you either. You should also have a pretty good understanding of the differences between broadband and baseband transmission and the advantages and disadvantages of each. You should now be able to find and distinguish the parallel and serial posts on your computer and understand how the data moves across them. In addition, you should have a basic understanding of some of the more common and more important protocols used in data transmission; TCP/IP, SLIP, PPP, HTTP, FTP; as well as when and why they are used. With the many ways that computers can communicate, knowing these modes of communication as well as the protocols that govern them becomes important to anyone who is designing or administering a network. Knowledge of these fundamental aspects of network communication can help an administrator to decide the best approach to take in any given situation.
[1] Goodin, D. (2011, September 27). World takes notice as SSL-chewing BEAST is unleashed. The Register. Retrieved from http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/09/27/beast_attacks_paypay/
[2] Mills, E. (2011, Septembar 29). Browsers tackle the ’BEAST’ Web security problem. CNET News. Retrieved from http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-20113530-245/browsers-tackle-the-beast-web-security-problem/
[3] fupper. (2011, September 20). Researchers cracked SSL. Your internet is not safe, even on HTTPS. [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://nbnl.globalwhelming.com/2011/09/20/researchers-cracked-ssl-internet-safe-https/
Recently, SSL and it's successor Transport Layer Security have come under fire. Two security researchers, Juliano Rizzo and Thai Duong, have created a JavaScript called BEAST, which is an acronym for Browser Exploit Against SSL/TLS. Without getting too technical, what this script does is it uses a network sniffer and decrypts encrypted cookies that a website uses to grant access to restricted user accounts and they successfully demonstrated this capability on a secure PayPal Account [1] [2] [3]. I verified the accuracy of this through three different sources, which you will find below. So what does this mean or have to do with HTTP? Other than the security of websites that use SSL/TSL, nothing much. HTTP still works the same way regardless of what if any security protocols are used. I just thought that it was an interesting side note. Moving on...
File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a protocol that allows users to transfer files to an FTP server. A company or individual can set up an FTP server to host files that are larger than would be practical to exchange through HTTP. Software or music vendors may use FTP to allow customers to download purchased content. File Transfer Protocol can also be set up with SSL and like HTTPS is designated FTPS.
A very common use of FTP is on servers of web-hosting companies. In order for a person to get their website on the web, they (usually) must go through a hosting company such as GoDaddy.com. While some of these companies provide online tools with which to create the website right online, many, if not most, developers prefer to create and troubleshoot their sites off line and then upload them. So companies like GoDaddy.com implement FTP on their hosting server to facilitate the upload of content to a user's domain.
So this concludes my series on Data Transmission and Protocols. By now you should know the difference between asynchronous and synchronous transmission. You should know the difference between digital and analog signals and have an introductory knowledge of how these signals are converted and sent. Simplex, half duplex, and full duplex transmissions should not be a mystery to you either. You should also have a pretty good understanding of the differences between broadband and baseband transmission and the advantages and disadvantages of each. You should now be able to find and distinguish the parallel and serial posts on your computer and understand how the data moves across them. In addition, you should have a basic understanding of some of the more common and more important protocols used in data transmission; TCP/IP, SLIP, PPP, HTTP, FTP; as well as when and why they are used. With the many ways that computers can communicate, knowing these modes of communication as well as the protocols that govern them becomes important to anyone who is designing or administering a network. Knowledge of these fundamental aspects of network communication can help an administrator to decide the best approach to take in any given situation.
[1] Goodin, D. (2011, September 27). World takes notice as SSL-chewing BEAST is unleashed. The Register. Retrieved from http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/09/27/beast_attacks_paypay/
[2] Mills, E. (2011, Septembar 29). Browsers tackle the ’BEAST’ Web security problem. CNET News. Retrieved from http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-20113530-245/browsers-tackle-the-beast-web-security-problem/
[3] fupper. (2011, September 20). Researchers cracked SSL. Your internet is not safe, even on HTTPS. [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://nbnl.globalwhelming.com/2011/09/20/researchers-cracked-ssl-internet-safe-https/
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