Misc.

Help find Octavius Howell

UPDATE: as of this morning I can not find out any more info,  the bolo was lifted? no new info? Lets hope it is for a good reason?

it is not often that I copy word for word someone else’s post but I am sure it is OK  Passed on from odd times signatures:

Via Joy-Ann Reid:

Police in Miami (Miami-Dade County) are asking for the public’s help finding a missing child. If you’re in South Florida and have seen him, please contact police. His name is Octavius Howell and he’s just 11 years old. A little national media exposure wouldn’t be a bad thing, either.

From the Herald:

Octavius Howell, just shy of 5-foot tall and 80 pounds, was last seen Friday at the Madison Middle School at NW 10th Avenue and NW 90th Street.

He was wearing a red polo shirt and khaki pants.

People with information are asked to contacted Miami Detective Javier Soto at the Miami-Dade Police Special Victims Bureau’s Missing Persons Unit, 305-418-7201 or 305-476-5423.

The bureau issued a photo of the boy to accompany its plea.

As Joy-Ann notes, black missing children do not get the kind of national media attention that white missing children do. Witness the missing persons case of Phylicia Barnes, a 17-year old honor student from North Carolina who went missing in Maryland while visiting family.

Phylicia, who turned 17 on January 12, went missing on December 28, while visiting her college-age half-sister, 28, in Baltimore for the holidays. According to police, she had gone out at around 1:30 p.m. to grab a bite to eat and possibly get a hair cut.

Authorities have stated they believe she was abducted. Phylicia’s cell phone is off, she hasn’t used her debit card, and she has not updated her Facebook page, since her disappearance.

Phylicia is an honor student at a charter school and was set to graduate a year early due to her stellar academic record.

Her case has gotten almost no national exposure either. If you can blog this, or pass the word around (along with the picture), I’m sure Octavius’ parents would be grateful. Phylicia’s too.

Irritated

I received an email from my health care provider asking me to go follow a link and fill out some info so they could better serve me and update their electronic records.  I followed the link, provided info to prove it was me not someone fraudulently faking being me ( no one would want to be me I am thinking).  The email made it sound like maybe they would collect some useful medical info or something along those lines. What is going to help them serve me better? Well – — enter birthdate – maybe they need to verify this since they have had it since the 80’s, sex – well ok they have choices for transgendered on there now I but alas I am still female so no great help for them there,  knowing what ethnic nationality (race/color/what-evers same as when I was a doc the last time) and how many years of schooling I have.  End of survey. I did not click send. For some reason it really irritated me.

I tried to get a DMV appointment to renew my lic. I got an automatic renewal deal all I had to do was mail it in but they say that they are 4-6 weeks + behind so it would not get the new one till after the old expired. Oh yeah you can not go in and do this prior to receiving the renewal notice.  No appointments till after it expires available so what the heck at least if I do it online I have reciept that shows I did it right? Well I filled out the form to register to use the site – answered all the secret questions etc. got the verify this your email email, logged in to the site.

I entered all my credit card junk and then I kept looking for the place to enter the code the renewal notice said I had to enter or my application would not be renewed – so I looked and looked and looked- I never did find anywhere to enter it so finally I just followed instructions clicked done and then  used this link the provided to print ( a cute little printer picture) and I got garbage-gibberish-maybe greek? I tried again no joy, different printers – no joy, I used the print screen on the keyboard and saved a snap of the page. Tried printing again still rubbish – then the site said I was timed out. 🙁 I guess I am going to go and wait hours (no appointment) and see if I can get a temporary before mine expires. I am thinking proof I did this is a computer generated piece of paper that looks like it was printed in a foreign language. The site said be sure to print it for records and proof . …

I am more irritated.

No P.E. for our class tomorrow because the teach has another meeting they district is making her attend.  Now the good folks in gov’t  and the college have really gotten strict about  student attendance – kind of hard on a class full of peeps with a variety of medical conditions – especially since the classes are now at max capacity so the teacher has less time for individuals.  Oh the point they have no problem with canceling the class so we the students get less for our money.

One student who is blind and diabetic was afraid if he missed another class he would be automatically dropped got himself on the bus injured after a fall (more on this to follow) and fell again hurting himself more. He was helped to the class by a nice young student. We got him inside somehow and into a chair. This man was in serious pain! How to get him home?

Well back tracking. His aide is no longer allowed per company policy to give any clients a lift in their private vehicle etc.  The aides and teacher at school are no longer allowed to assist with this either. Heck they can not even let us use pulse monitors at the start of class anymore as the district decided this amounted to the teacher acting as a nurse –  we are not even allowed to use our own monitors to do this in class anymore – go figure.

This man was told by his part time in home care taker that if he had to call 911 again ( the police called them when he fell the first time) or got dropped from class because of his fall they were going to call is parents and they would ship him to a group home or back to Texas to live with them ( take my word here not good thing).  I will not voice my opinion of his care taker but . …  any ways how to get him home?

He could not get up into my truck so another gal with MS and I worked it out best we could. She drove him home and I would get him to his apartment.  I good idea that went bad. He lived on the second floor and there were 18 – yes I counted them – cement steps up. Well he was in pain and wobbly unable to but full weight on one leg … he was in panic afraid if he did not get home he would be shipped off – and he would have been so we went for it against my and my friends judgment he started up the stairs. I just knew that it was headed south – he would more than likely fall – so I got behind him and held on to each guard rail – one on the right the other left (duh) and stood behind him. Sure enough eighth step and he fell backwards. I tensed my arms and pushed forward with all my might held on and just about the time a thought I was gonna go down backwards with him(all 235 pounds) I got him forward and safely sitting on a step.  Thank who ever that we did not leave him as he wanted us to and I stood behind him.

yes dumb but they guy was going up no matter what. I can not imagine being so afraid/alone?  that I would endure the pain and over come my fear and head up those stairs. I got him doing what I call the butt scoot boogie up the stairs. His arms gave out at step 12. I held him while well while he cried and rested. He wanted us to go so – to leave him there on step 12. 45 mins later we made it into his apartment where at his wish I left him laying exhausted on his living room floor. I made sure the phone was next to him and he had a bottle of water. He said he needed to rest. I felt so had just leaving him there but . …

What kind of society do we live in when a blind guy falls and if he calls for help he ends up in a care home or in Texas out in the boonies where there are not buses, no handicapped van services and no internet?  He manages very well when not injured. Where the only peeps that helped him both had MS and quite honestly I know one of them has really sore shoulders and back now and the other is still trying to thaw out as it was really cold out.  WTF. He just got approval for a downstairs apartment from hud or whoever handles such things after being on the waiting list for over a year.

Maybe I will go back to the health carrier site and tell em I never graduated elementary school and I don’t know what race I am? Think they will be better able to serve me?  I do get that some conditions etc are more prevalent in some ethnic groups than others and perhaps a college graduate might understand some bigger words and or instructions better than some one who never learned to read but??? If I say no high school diploma will they dumb down or treat me different if  I fess up to my education will they assume something different?   Why not just ask for an IQ test LOL  Are you smart enough to be a patient or is it dumb enough?

If I drive with a license that says expired and if pulled over show the cop my Greek looking papers will they eat me? Maybe if I speak with a Greek accent and act like I can read it – if it were Greek I would have a chance . … I so hope that my folks really did handle that speeding ticket I received when I was 14 on my bicycle – seriously I got one – because the new computer systems are all inter connected now and check for all prior un paid . … oh yeah when I clicked the FAQ about the silly RIN number it now says you do not need it  “You no longer need the RIN to renew your drivers license online, but you do need to register as a certified user with the DMV to process your renewal.” I guess telling my first cats name did it eh?

Line Jumping Anyone?

230 watt power supply

on button

Some days the fact that Multiple sclerosis is part of my life is not a major in my face factor and other days it seems that the world has decided to make sure I know.  It started over the weekend when I decided to upgrade a computer and ended this afternoon getting a parking pass.

A while ago my friend bought one of those packaged computer deals at a warehouse store on sale – cheap. All he wanted was the monitor so he sold me the computer cheap so cheap I will not say – it might make you cry.

After the little scare with the Gateway I started thinking – yes thinking again – O NO!    I was lucky this last computer wacko fest that when the Gateway machine stopped working I did have the XP machine as a backup. Maybe I should spruce it up a bit. It really is not that bad of a computer.  The only real suck things about it were the low watt power supply and the graphics (build into the board) –  Pentium Dual Core CPU running 2.6GHz not the fastest chip on the block but it will do.  Came with 5GB DDR2 ram so I stuck in another 1GB to even it up.   Went out a purchased a 460 watt power supply and a graphic card. Other than the 30 bucks saved up for the school parking pass my funds are gone for the month.  Lucked out getting a gift card for Christmas so I decided to spend the money on the puter.

Frustration mounts during this project – the little screws constantly fall from my fingers, if I can not see something I can not find it so hunting for wires while holding up a power box is annoying, and remembering exactly where plugs go – well I sort of solved that problem by taking pics of the inside before I began. How freaking frustrating! I used to be able to do all this with either hand now I am lucky if I can get a screw back in with both hands and thank goodness Catfish like to sniff out fallen screws and bolts hoping for something edible if I do not scare him off with my cussing.

Next, buying a parking pass should not be such a big deal. You go to the administration office, wait in line, hand of the money and your have a pass.  Well . … let me start with the closest available parking space was at the opposite end of the lot from the admin building. I am glad someone vacated a handicapped space I did not have to walk the length plus the width just the length of the lot. After getting across the roadway ( in the crosswalk) because a nice lady in the line of cars actually stopped and let us pedestrians cross I worked my way up the stairs. The stairway with the easier ramp access is at the end where the admin building is and the walkway that direction is full of fast moving oblivious youngsters. Ok, up the stairs, the right, to the left. around the building to the next building. Go right, go left, arrive at the door to the admin building.

I will try to describe this the best I can. The front of the door is blocked by two long white portable canvas tents. The line of people is outside the tents. There is no way the students would let anyone by them – well because that is cutting the line. I notice between where the tent is up to the doorway and a small trash can there is a crack. Maybe if a go there and peek around someone might let me in? Not a soul in sights. So I squished my way into the lobby past folks who made a few comments and walked to the right into a little alcove where the help window is usually open. Not today. Nope they are handling appointments of some sort.  I kept my eye open and the first time the cashier window closest to me finished with one person and before the first person in that big arse line got there I zipped over to it. The person next in line was not exactly happy about this.

I just looked at the gal and tried to act like this was so normal and said, excuse me but I am handicapped and can not stand in that line do you have a handicapped access window?  She says – uh huh.  I say well all I need is a parking permit can you sell me one? She looks over at the line and says – only if it is Ok with them. I say OK you go ask them. She looks at me, she looks the line,  thinks a moment and then she says – would you like a holder for your permit also?

So yeah I got the permit but when I got back to my truck I was kind of down.  Golly Gosh, even amusement parks and airports have rules for sanctioned cutting . … in Switzerland it is common practice for older women to cut it is against the law to cut into the ferry line in Washington – oh I so hope some of the peeps figured out that I could not stand in the long line – oh gee I am a line jumper.

I mean nothing like feeling like the old lady with the cane who cut in front of everyone.

memorable Memories of Memory

f/10, 1/200 sec, at 50mm, 200 ISO, on a NIKON D80

f/10, 1/200 sec, at 50mm, 200 ISO, on a NIKON D80So this is where all my troubles started.  Having nothing better to do it I started thinking – yes, this is the first mistake – me thinking!

I have photos on my external drive from 2007 till present.  A lot of photos. The drive is also backed up to another external drive giving me two copies of each file. So if one drive goes there the photos are still there on the other drive. The chance statistically of both drive failing at the same time is small.  I know my friends that are professional photographers have all the files backed up and stored in different places – to protect their data in case of fire, flood, and theft.

So here is where I started with the thinking thing.  While I am not a professional my photos are important to me. I have some pics of family and friends, events . … and several of the units here have been ripped off in the past month. Everyone has a very good idea of the identity of the guilty but not enough evidence for the police from what I hear.  Well what if the creeps come rip us off? The insurance would cover the gear but what if all my photos were gone?

You probably now see the direction my thinking is going.  I got out all my blank discs and started on the adventure of backing up all my pics.  Even though from what I read CD last longer than DVD discs I went DVD anyway because I have no one that would store that many discs for me – a hundred or so DVD discs maybe LOL.

I am no where near done at the moment. Somewhere along this thinking path I decided that an extra bit of ram would speed up the process of copying – maybe maybe not but it was a good excuse to get some ram memory for the Gateway that I use. The one I got when the XP machine took a dump (my friend Mike fixed it for me later).

I go down the a box store and bring the information on the memory the computer takes.  Each slot will take up to 2gb and there are two empty slots. The clerk looks it up and sells me the memory.  It takes me forever to get the computer case open – I only dropped one screw that took me a half hour to locate in the carpet – so am on a role. Then the oh no part – the dang memory banks are under the drives. Another frustrating use a screwdriver and I have the drives out. Yeah. I put in the memory, put the computer back together, hook everything up, and hit the power button and nothing happens the computer does not even beep it just sits there.

the ram under the drives

Ok err the memory must be wrong? I take it all back apart and get a magnifying glass out and read the dinky type on the memory and yep it says 4mb on each one. It was suppose to be 2 gb pieces not 2 4gb. So back to the box store we go.  Get a credit, go to the section where they sell the memory, explain the problem, and the clerk writes up the order for the correct memory and I go use my credit from the ones returned get the new memory and read the box. It says in big letters on the front 4gb and there are two chips in there but I took them back to the clerk and had them check – yes those are each 2gb chips.

Drive out of again

I get home put them in smart enough this time not to put the machine together until I know they work AND all I get is a beep – the evil error code beep – not one, two or three beeps, but one long never ending one. I turn off the machine pull out the chips, go back to the store and come home with two 2gb chips with the exact specifications as the two in the machine and I put them in. Not only does the machine go beep once I get the things out it decides it no longer is gonna run. WTF??? I unplugged everything but the keyboard and mouse. I did the hold the del key down – nothing – the third time around I finally got to the bios and it says you have no freaking hard drive UGH?  I started and restarted wiggled and giggled, cursed and pouted , and finally got into the bios again.

It is a mystery it finally just decided to start up, load windows, and well I am sure making sure all my backups are good! I am thinking maybe I should use the Win7 machine as the mother ship that all the drives and printers are hooked up too – ugh oh thinking again . …

I have given up on the updating the ram I googled and finally found a forum where few folks had the same problem something about the ram had to be two sided instead of one? According the Gateway I just have gotten a load of bad ram bra hahahhahhaha …. I am going to take the ram DDR3 ram back – take my money and run – not walk to exit and never look back.  4GB  on my little puter just is going to have to be enough. See what I get for thinking?

I put an extra GB or DDR2 into the HP I picked up from Mike real cheap and guess I should learn Windows 7.   It was for KRP but she keeps using the good old XP machine.  All she does is get email and surf the web once in awhile – no appreciation for the over clocked Intel Duo etc. inside just the familiarity of XP over Win7. The last time she used the Gateway (Vista) she opened something and the anti virus stopped working. Ho hum …

Here is my growing pile of DVD discs full of photos.

stack of dvd discs

I just keep telling myself that it was not so long ago the only machine we had died and now at least I have it back and all fixed up.

Still my buddy Mike is thinking of getting a new machine and wow the one he is replacing . …