December 2005 Archives

I've been having trouble with my shoulder since, oh, September or so. It's made worse by long hours at the keyboard and mouse, though just wearing my purse across my shoulder or driving can also trigger it. I get massive pain in my trapezeus muscle, which when really bad also goes up my neck and down my collarbone. I'm also unable to raise my arm higher than my shoulder.

I went to my doctor and she gave me a prescription for Naprosyn (higher dosage of Aleve). I had been taking it when the pain got really bad, and it felt like I was popping sugar pills - the pain was still there. I talked with the advice nurse a week or so ago and she told me I was taking it wrong. Apparently naprosyn is formost an antinflamatory and you have to take it for a week before you start seeing the effects. If after two I was still in agony then I could make an appt with the doctor.

Luckily, she seems to have been right. The visible knot has mostly subsided, and I can raise my arm completely over my head again with no pain. I also haven't been at the computer much lately, which I'm sure also helps. So yay! The shoulder is better.

Which makes the dream I had last night stranger, since I haven't been thinking about my shoulde lately. In my dream I will still in agony with it and went back to the doctor. They did an ultrasound on it (since the x-rays before had shown nothing (I don't know, it was a dream)). They ended up prepping me for immediate surgury, though I didn't find out why until afterwards. They had to remove a 12-pound tumor from my shoulder. It turned out that it wasn't a muscle knot, but that tumor all along. I saw the tumor afterwards and it was sort of brain/cauliflower shaped. I was happy because the pain was now gone, and hey, I had lost 12 pounds overnight. *shakes head*

It always amuses me how the relationships and people in one's life shape who one is. Or maybe it's that they encourage facets of one's personality to shine through. I don't know.

I'm thinking specifically of E at the moment. There are so many little things that I've picked up from him, that I see he has picked up from me. Turns of phrase, gestures, tones of voice, that kind of thing. And then there are the bigger actions that I find myself doing that I never did before, but I do now because this other person does them. Like taking my laptop into the bathroom.

And that one action makes me think of him and I feel, well, love. Hey sweetie, I think about you in the bathroom.

As of today, I am a three website blogger. Egads. If there was any doubts about my geekiness, this should wipe them away. You can now find me at:

www.chiarafox.com. This is my "professional" blog. It's going to be mostly focused on information architecture, controlled vocabularies, search, taxonomies, user experience, and that kind of stuff. Basicially it's focused on what I get paid to do and think about. My goal is to publish there every two weeks or so about a method or project or something related to IA. We'll see if I can pull it off.

chachiincharge.com. This is my new personal site. Yes, it looks just like what chiarafox.com looked like yesterday. That's because it's the same thing, new URL (at least until I have the time/inspiration to come up with a new design). This will be devoted to my kids (Freesia and Smudge), commentary on life, jokes, and well, all the typical chiarafox.com stuff you have come to know and love. This is also the site that will continue to cross-post to my LiveJournal.

My LiveJournal Account. This is mostly a cross-post of my personal site. But I also put LJ memes here (cause who else outside of LJ cares, really?). And there are also more personal posts that get put behind filters. Yes, I'm one of those who use filters. Oooo. At least until Six Apart comes out with their Moveable Type/LiveJournal mash-up thingy, whenever that is.

It's been a busy day.

From the BBC Today:

People living in the Arctic have filed a legal petition against the US government, saying its climate change policies violate human rights.

About time. Good for the Inuit, I say. I hope they win! Something has to be done. I don't see how this great nation of ours can pick and choose which global policies it will adhere to and which it won't. Whatever happened to lead by example? Whatever happened to doing the right and responsible thing even if it costs more?

Sadly, I hold out little hope that this will change anything (assuming that somehow they win). But I do hope that it starts a trend of global communities holding the US responsible for our irresponsible actions. I hope some day the number of grievences will be so large that things will finally change. That the adminsistration won't be able to say "la-la-la I can't hear you" and put its proverbial finger in its proverbial ear and look the other way.

I just wish things didn't have to get worse before they get better.

Last night E and I saw Echo & The Bunnymen play at the Fillmore. It was a great show. They rocked out with a lot more heavy guitars and drums than I would have thought from their albums. Ian has the same bedhead hair that he's always had. He voice was deeper and more raspy live (probably due to the 1/2 a pack of cigs he smoked during the show). The place was close to sold out, if not (people outside were asking for extra tickets to buy, so we guess it was sold out). Mostly 30 and 40 somethings all rocking out. Most fun.

They played a good mixture of old songs and new. They hit all of my favorites, "Lips like Sugar," "Bring On the Dancing Horses," "The Cutter," and "The Killing Moon."

I must say though, I'm really starting to feel my age. Next time I go to a show I'm going to have to bring ear plugs. My ears felt like they were stuffed with cotton all last night. And standing tightly packed with no room to really move also isn't as fun as it used to be. But hey. It was a good show and I had a lot of fun. Yippee!

Published today:

Adaptive Path has a new report available, "Ten Strategies for Content Migration" by Chiara Fox. This Technique Tutorial shows you how to break Content Migration into manageable chunks. You'll learn to:

* Choose the right people for your team.
* Gather and organize integral content.
* Prepare informational tools that keep everyone informed.
* Migrate in manageable waves.

Chiara is a veteran manager of four content migrations for PeopleSoft, the last of which integrated content in ten languages on 23 sites. We know you'll benefit from her experience. The report is available at the Adaptive Path site.