word « WordPress.com Tag Feed

- Retreat day three

jelizabeth — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 14:22:16 +0000

At 11 o'clock at night, there was still one more bit of writing to do. But I was tired and didn't feel like it: no energy, physical or creative. Not much stamina. The fan in the window was the sound of sleeping, which is what I wanted to do. I said to self, at least write a sentence. So I wrote a few, and then I kept going, not even looking at the keyboard (I can touch type). This is that piece entirely, proofread only for spelling:

At first, it is repulsive. The knowledge that the heads of one’s children are teeming with bugs is something to stomach. After their showers and before a treatment, we together sit in their messy rooms, with dirty and discarded clothing on the floor around us. It’s easy to feel poor and afflicted. We bicker.

Lice make you pay attention. Inspect. Scrutinize. And you might not like what you see: wax in children’s ears, moles and bites on their heads, hairs in their noses, teeth tartar, chapped lips, and rings of summer’s grime around their necks. And you may tell yourself This is not my beautiful house! And you may tell yourself This is not my beautiful life!

Lice disrupt your routine and get you to miss work. Children stay home from school. After you soak and smear her head for what seems like the tenth time, you plunk little girl in front of the television and let her eat her lunch there, too. You sit, exhausted in mind though not really in body (you’re upper middle class, after all), so you flop in a chair and read an issue of People that you’ve already read. Brittney and Kevin are on the cover.

Now, if their children had lice, you know they’d hire someone to handle it. A former nurse or mother of grown children who prides herself on lice detection and eradication. The business has a cute name, like Lice Busters, and promises confidentiality. It costs $400 a head to delouse it, and you know they’re glad to pay it.

Why don’t you hire a professional nit-picker? They exist. You read about one in the New Yorker’s “Talk of the Town” section. Into Google you type “lice picker professional Boston,” because that’s where you live. That search avenue fails.

So you call the pediatrician, and you hope she’ll give you a prescription for something strong the kids can take to kill the lice from the inside out. The doctor’s nurse calls back, and she advises you to treat the child with an over-the-counter preparation today, and then try the same preparation again in one week. “That should work,” she chirps.

“I’ve already done that! I want the drug fix!” you want to say, but you don’t. Sighing, you hang up. You’re pretty sure that you already know more about this health topic than the doc does. You’ve lived it. And, like a terminal cancer patient, you’ve turned over every stone for information on new treatments, alternative treatments, and risky ones too. You’re ready to offer your children to medical science: “Study them.” Do anything it takes. The smell of the insecticide in the drugstore lice lotion is driving you mad. You’ve stopped liking it.

The two other children arrive home from school. They join the little one in front of the television, and you ignore all three of them. In a couple of hours, it’ll be dinner time, and then, after that, inspection time. You know how that’ll end and you’re tired in advance. Shampooing, smearing, and then pinch after pinch after pinch after pinch. They’ll go to bed late. You’ll got to bed after you clean out the sink and throw the towels in a hot water wash. Your feet will ache.

In bed, you’ll forgive yourself. You don’t have to love taking care of them every minute of every day. You just have to do it.

Interesting how I switched from first person to second person and then kept going with it. During the day I had been thinking about how a lot of my lice essay deals with the meditative aspects of nit-picking and not much about the frustration. I read, too, a long mostly uninteresting newspaper feature about the local lice scourge and one of its moments stood out for me: the mother, going into her bedroom to cry, when she learns that her daughter is infested, again. I thought, condescendingly, well, surely it's nothing to cry about. While I never cried when our children had lice (six, seven, eight times?), it made me weary to the bone. And maybe, as this almost freewrite suggests, pissed off, too.

(Third day's word count? Way more than day two's, plus another essay started. Momentum is a good thing.)

Random

vicjamm — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 08:33:50 +0000

Am going out with a good friend soon. I do want that shirt, and I'm going to be rhyming to your beat.

It's Simple, The Math

vicjamm — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 08:25:13 +0000

I look at a few people who went round talking how they actually felt about this, that, themselves. Some people tend to write about how are they going to do this, do that. I read, and I thought, okayyyyy.....

If you feel there's something wrong with what you doing, then quit it, don't keep staying on one spot and there's no progress. Wonder why sometimes people advice you to be who you are and not someone else? Cause if you pretend to be someone else, you will eventually fail and there's no point. I know impossible is nothing, but why don't you do something more possible?

Well, man I didn't say that I'm not facing the same situation, but look for solution. Blogs are just merely for the public to read about what you thought, but they don't know how you feel till they're in your shoe. Rambling over and over, no progress, it's a waste of time and effort and you don't see no success, it's that what you want to be?

Then again, look at yourself, ask this question, is there anything you did that really bring you far lately?
If not, think again...

Think and solve the math.
Peace.

Working with the Microsoft Office Word Interop

ccicchitelli — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 04:40:08 +0000

The Big Project requires the ability to enter data into and extract data from the online system using offline means. While a web form is all well and dandy most of the time, we needed something in case the Internet, was, you know, destroyed. So we chose Microsoft Word Forms (using the Office .NET Interop) to handle the task (doesn't everyone have word on their computer?). While it's ultimately proving to do the job quite nicely, it wasn't easy getting here.

First of all, like all Microsoft products that weren't created by the .NET team (yes, this is props to ScottGu and co.), the documentation was lacking. Don't get me wrong, every function was documented. But examples were sorely lacking, if they existed at all. And IDE support within Visual Studio is only partially complete. Everything that appears within the Intellisense popup has no description. I would expect more.

After a few weeks of learning, experimenting, and tweaking, I think my team and I have picked up some useful tips:

Use drop downs whenever possible. For free entry "fields" work great for short (UNFORMATED!) text entry; for anything of length if you wish to preserve Unicode formatting (i.e. bullets, paragraphs, etc) use a secion. To create a section you just use the normal "Section Break" method. You'll notice in the Status bar on the bottom each section is numbered and addressable via code using the XXXX method.
When reading those sections using the XXXXX method, empty sections may not return as null, often they will contain carriage return characters and form/line feeds. Even non null fields will have extraneous CC/FF/LFs. I have yet to understand this behavior. However I do have a work around. Simply run each string that you extract through a filter like the one below. This C# .NET code will check the UTF encoded value of the last character in the string, if it's a carriage return (13), line feed (10), or form feed (12), it will remove it.The database can handle these characters, as does anything that can handle UTF encoding. The reason we want to remove these characters (besides unnecessary white space) is that when inserting that data back into an empty Word Form it causes our pretty section break to become page breaks. Don't ask me why, I only know how to avoid it. :)

Quran in Ms Word XP, 2003, 2007

annarkeys — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 03:19:54 +0000

Klik Link nya :P untuk download

cucok buat yg pengen "cite" verse Quran :P

The Yo Theorem (short essay)

nkartist06 — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 03:07:17 +0000

As a word Yo has a limited usage, but as a state of being Yo is as powerful as you want it to be.

The word Yo: a greeting, commonly used instead of ‘Hey’ or to answer ‘here’ in a role call.

Yo the state of being: Being at a state where you are not happy with the amount of attention that you have, not necessarily in a negative context. On the positive scale Yo means ‘I am here, I have things to share’, on a negative scale Yo means ‘I am here, why won’t anyone listen to me.’

In a way Yo is an essential piece in daily communication. People in a state if Yo, need to share. May it be words, talents or frames of mind. Yo means that you are ready to openly share or help others, through regular conversation. The conversation could be blog, regular back and forth, point specific or one person asking while the other listens/answers. Yoists speak and non-yoists listen or learn from. Normally a non-yoists do not like attention, conversation is more of a set tool for a non-yoist. A yoist uses conversation as a work of art, constantly trying to adapt to the audience to allow for the best outcome.

Do to the fact that there is a positive and a negative form of yoism, there are good and bad outcomes to yoism. The common example of a negative yoist is Hitler. Common examples of positive yoist include Gandhiand Martin Luther King Jr. Each of these men where skilled with words, to the point their words rallied people toward a common goal.

So I ask ‘Yo, is it in you?’

-NK

Mariah "I Brake For Butterflies" Carey Covers Elle Magazine

lipsticklacebrassknuckles — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 02:25:52 +0000

Mariah Carey is on the August cover of Elle Magazine talking about Nick, how she is happy, blah blah blah. The only thing that caught my interest was this comment from the issue:

“When I was in an unhappy place in my life, I always wanted to be kidnapped. I just wanted a way out, but didn’t have one. He sort of kidnapped me and took me on a helicopter ride. Then he re-proposed. They’ve been calling me Cinderella since I first started out, so, of course, being Cinderella… Most people would think, Okay, please! This doesn’t happen in real life.” (Source)

Now as you can see, the only thing relevant to me in that paragraph was she wanted to be kidnapped. As if she was reading my mind, I want her to be kidnapped to! (I kid I kid!) I can deal with Mariah in moderation, moderation meaning in small doses, small doses meaning not at all. That's a little harsh, I'll just say I can tolerate pre-Cannon Mariah.

She made think though(for all of 3 minutes) how wonderful it would be if certain individuals were kidnapped (not harmed though) and replaced with others that can get rescued. I know I'm missing a lot, but I would love for the following to get kidnapped (In No Certain Order):

Ashanti, Ashanti's laugh, New York from I Love New York, Heidi and Spencer from The Hills, Lindsay Lohan, Souljah Boy, Lil Man I mean Mama, Rocsi....and she can take 106 & Park with her, Ray-J, Bow Wow, Superhead (wait let me take that back.. I don't want to wish anything on the girl).

Now for those that I wouldn't mind being rescued:

Vivica Fox and Naomi Campbell's hairline, Maxwell, A still thin D'Angelo, Lil Mama's Birth Certificate that proves she was born in 1965, Noah's Arc, singers like Vivian Green and Teedra Moses, a pre Jehova Witness Prince.

Who would you like to see kidnapped and rescued? (You know my cynical little heart really wants to hear the rescued).

social justice and the gospel

deana331 — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 01:59:14 +0000

“It is not a matter of engaging in both the gospel and social action, as if Christian social action was something separate from the gospel itself. The gospel has to be demonstrated in word and deed. Biblically, the gospel includes the totality of all that is good news from God for all that is bad news in human life—in every sphere. So like Jesus, authentic Christian mission has included good news for the poor, compassion for the sick and suffering justice for the oppressed, liberation for the enslaved. The gospel of the Servant of God in the power of the Spirit of God addresses every area of human need and every area that has been broken and twisted by sin and evil. And the heart of the gospel, in all of these areas, is the cross of Christ.” - Christopher J. H. Wright

It is better to just look at what God wants, not what we can fit into our personal views, schedules and segmented groups of how to 'deal with' the poor and oppressed. The gospel and social action are not separated and should not be in matters of injustice and mercy. Jesus cared for the poor and the rich and even the overly ‘religious’ or 'pious'. Each needed different healing. Each were a deeply embedded part of his ministry. We must follow Jesus’ example and let it permeate our lives…service, healing and sacrifice...in words AND in deeds.

My Bike

erickehoe — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 22:49:48 +0000

My bike was stolen last nite. I loved that bike.
[wp_caption id="attachment_19" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="I miss this bike...."][/wp_caption]

How to Edit Your Contact or Recipient List in Word 2007 MailMerge: Brief Screencast

Angel — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 20:31:57 +0000

Instead of editing your contact lists that you built in Excel or Access inside those programs before you do a MailMerge, you can edit you lists right inside the MailMerge function in Word 2007. This tutorial will walk you through the process of adding entries to your recipient list in MailMerge, deleting recipients, filtering out recipients, or sorting recipients. To view this screencast, click one the link below:

How to Edit Your Contact List in MailMerge (Word 2007)

-Angel Brady

'fanboy' now a 'real' word

jtsmyth8 — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 16:33:34 +0000

Geek culture is once again showing its influence over the mainstream lexicon in the latest version of the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary, which includes word additions such as webinar, malware, netroots, pretexting (thank you Hewlett-Packard), and fanboy (thank you Apple).

Webinar is "one more example of the significant ongoing trend for electronic technologies to add words to the language," Merriam-Webster publisher John Morse said in a Monday press release about the 100 or so new words in the 2008 edition of the influential reference guide.

That's in line with Merriam-Webster's choice of the term "wOOt"--with its roots in video game culture--as the word of the year for 2007. (link)

Lapis Lazuli (A Description)

fashionteen — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 15:12:34 +0000

Historical description of lapis lazuli

• Lapis lazuli is a “Deep Blue Gemstone” which is of the pyrites shape and shines just like a beautiful star. It is one of the glorious gemstones of all times that come from the “Arabian Nights”. This solid deep blue gemstone has a long history, because it is the first gemstone which was worn out as jewellery. Firstly, the archaeologists found the ornamental shackles and facts of the lapis lazuli with support of the miners during the ancient culture of Mediterranean. Meanwhile, the archaeologists said that the deep blue lapis lazuli gemstone had already the existing history among several races of the humans such as Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, Rome and Persia.

• It is elucidated by the researchers that the renowned city of Ur in Euphrates persuaded a wholehearted lapis lazuli trade during the millennium B.C. The substance of the lapis lazuli was conveyed to the Ur land of the two gigantic rivers through the illustrious deposits in Afghanistan.

• Lapis lazuli was regarded as the “Holy Stone” in other culture of the ancient era especially in the Middle East where it was believed to have magical powers.

• Alexander the Great brought an unlimited amount of signet rings, scarabs’ figures of designed deep blue lapis lazuli to Europe where the color of the stone was named as “Ultramarine” that was used to imagining like “From Beyond the Sea”.

Most expensive and valuable gemstone

The euphonious is the first name of lapis which means a stone, whereas lazuli is derived from the Arabic word “Azula” which means a blue. Therefore, lapis lazuli is a deep blue gemstone. Ultramarine substance was the most expensive and valuable property of the lapis lazuli before the times of 1834, because lapis lazuli was used to designing into blue crystal colors at that time so-called the synthetic gemstone.

Mythological aspects of lapis lazuli

Lapis lazuli is regarded as the stone of truth and friendship all around the world.

• The deep blue gem is said to enhance the cultural integrity and harmony with the interconnections of the relationships of the people with one another.

• Lapis lazuli is considered as an “Opaque Rock” which contains the diopside and lazurite. This came about millions years ago during the transformations of emerald to granite.

• Uncut lapis lazuli is lusterless and of a deep dark blue color associated with golden enclosures and whitish marble elements. The tiny elements of the lapis lazuli elucidate the magic of shiny sky into pyrites form ,whereas the deep blue color of the lapis lazuli is derived from the sulphur magnet so-called the lazurite. In between 5 -6 on the Mohs scale, lapis lazuli is among the less harder gemstones.

Fabulous lapis lazuli tiles

Lapis lazuli tiles are in various and different sparkling designs. These tiles are called as lapis mosaic tiles, lapis lazuli solid tiles, lapis mosaic slab, lapis lazuli pigment, lapis lazuli tumbles, etc.

Analytical approach

In nut shell, we can say that lapis lazuli is the most cordial and beautiful gemstone in the world. It is the choice of the majority of beautiful women. Women with a pale facial expression prefer the lighter shades of blue lapis lazuli. The lapis lazuli tiles are also preferred by the vast amount of the people in the world. Hence, it is said that lapis lazuli has been the most considerable selection of both men and women since the evolution of this gemstone and today it is existed into many newly oriented forms and tiles.

Six Word Story!!!

Arpit — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 09:24:38 +0000

What do you think can be the smallest number of words that one can use to make a story? Well, Hemingway once wrote a story with just SIX WORDS!!!

So, Wired.com asked a few of today's eminent writers to come up with their six word stories. Well, the whole affair turned out quite brilliantly. Take your wits for a pleasant ride would ya! Have fun!

READ THE ARTICLE

REMEMBER... YOU've READ IT ON NTB!

Minder lijn in Word

toeketikker — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 05:00:03 +0000

Gisteren deden we uit de doeken hoe je snel verschillende lijnen maakt in Word.

Vandaag het vervolg: hoe verwijder je die lijnen weer.

Dit is iets wat zich niet vanzelf wijst. Gebruik van de Backspace of de Deletetoets - anders toch zo handig bij het verwijderen van teksten of plaatjes - haalt niets uit.
Lastig, vooral omdat je zo'n lijn per ongeluk zomaar gemaakt hebt. Wat nu?

Meteen ingrijpen
Er zijn verschillende oplossingen.

Zodra de lijn gemaakt is kun je hem verwijderen door op Ctrl+Z te drukken.
Hiermee maak je handeling ongedaan.
Een tweede remedie die je kunt toepassen zodra de lijn gemaakt is, is de volgende.
Je ziet links van de lijn een labeltje verschijnen. Dat is een Smart Tag.
Hiermee kun je eigenschappen van een object aanpassen, in dit geval de lijn.
Wanneer je op de Smart Tag klikt, kun je de lijn wissen met Randlijn ongedaan maken.
Als je wilt voorkomen dat Word die lijnen automatisch blijft maken, kun je op de Smart Tag klikken en kiezen voor Niet meer automatisch randlijnen maken.

Achteraf ingrijpen
Niet meteen op Ctrl+Z gedrukt of op de Smart Tag geklikt? Geen nood. Er is nog een manier om de lijn te verwijderen.

Selecteer de lijn met de cursor of gebruik de toetsencombinatie Ctrl+A om het hele document te selecteren.
Ga naar Menubalk > Opmaak > Randen en arcering > tabblad Randen.
Klik op de optie Geen.
Sluit af met OK.