Back to technology for a moment ...
This morning I awoke to find a question from my friend Paul Moor in my email. I was pleased to be able to answer it with what seemed to me remarkably little effort because of knowing how to search for such an answer. I realize many of you may be more adept at this than I, however for those few who might not be, I thought it might prove instructive to lay out the steps (6 of them) I took in finding and providing the answer.

Like many people do, I turned first to Google to find the file extension that Paul was asking about. I recalled from previous searches for this kind of information that there was a site somewhere on the Internet where you could search by file extension to learn what program had created it, but I didn't recall the URL for that site. So I simply typed in "file extensions" (with the quotes) into Google and allowed it to present me with the choices. As you'll see in this graphic, the first answer it provided was the one I wanted. So I followed the link.

At the link Google had provided, I used the search facility at that site to type in the extension in question, ZM9, and got these results. Then I followed the link in those results, which took me to the ZoneLabs site, where I used that site's search facility to look for "MailSafe" and saw this link. Following that link brought me to this page, where I noticed the link I've pointed to with the arrow. And that link yielded this clear explanation of what had changed the extension and why. (Here's the actual link to that explanation.)

Because the link to the page that had the answer was 81 characters long, I decided to convert it, using the very helpful TinyURL site, into a tiny URL, as illustrated by this screen shot, which I then used to send my answer to Paul. My reason for using the TinyURL site was that in some email programs, long URLs are wrapped onto another line which makes them not work when people click on them. As you can tell from the screen shot of the TinyURL site, this service does an excellent job of shortening an 81 character URL into one that is only 24 characters in length.

You may be surprised to learn (or maybe not) that the process I went through to help Paul find the answer to his question is used quite frequently by the employees on the technical support help desks for all kinds of services.

Learning how to search is one of the more important skills one can have in using the Internet.
- posted by Perry @ 8:28 AM 2 comments

 
Incredibly Good News
I've just received a phone call from my son, Jeff, who went with Carole this morning to the visits with the doctors. They have just gotten out of the surgeon's consultation and the results of all this week's test are negative. They found no other sites that were cancerous.

They are about to begin their visit with the Oncologist who will discuss when we begin the chemotherapy treatments and perhaps provide other information. While it is wonderful news that none of the tests conducted this week have turned up any other cancers, we aren't out of the woods yet. There are still the debilitating treatments ahead and the concern about the possible delayed return of the disease, but it is certainly a relief to learn there isn't more bad news to have to deal with at the moment.
- posted by Perry @ 10:37 AM 3 comments

 
Report card day
Do you remember how apprehensive you used to be as a child when you knew you were getting your report card? What? You weren't apprehensive? Well, lucky you! But if you were like most of us, you would approach that day with some degree of anxiety about finding out the results of the tests you had taken and be on edge to learn if you had passed.

Well, today is such a day. Carole has been taking tests all this week, MRIs, Xrays, etc., and today she goes in to see both the surgeon and the Oncologist for a report on what they found. Because in the initial surgery, during which they removed the lump from her breast, they also removed cancerous lymph nodes from under her left arm, this week has seen her take a battery of tests to determine whether there were other sites to which the cancer had spread. And today she gets some answers. The appointments with her doctors are early in the day, so along about noon or so we should have a better picture of what we are facing and the degree of involvement of other organs or other parts of her body.

When I have some answers, I'll share them here.
- posted by Perry @ 7:17 AM 0 comments

 
Variety's perfect headline
This headline just about sums it up when it comes to the outrageous success of George Lucas' latest extravaganza, "Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith."
- posted by Perry @ 12:07 AM 0 comments

 
Comments are back
After reading this post at Mark Cuban's blog about blog spam, I have decided to re-enable your ability to comment on posts here. I'll just be more aggressive at deleting those comments I find offensive and see if that doesn't handle the situation that prompted me to remove them several weeks ago.
- posted by Perry @ 11:53 AM 0 comments

 
Carole's visit with the Oncologist
I had a chance to speak with Carole tonight about her visit with the Oncologist, who, as it turns out, went to school with our sons in Stone Mountain many years ago. By the way, Carole said she liked him a lot.

So here's the schedule. No report yet on the findings from the lymph nodes, except what we had already learned that they were all cancerous. On Monday she goes for a CT Scan of her brain and a chest xray. Tuesday night she goes to a one-hour class for "radiation therapy (or was it chemotherapy) 101," a sort of introduction to what to expect from her treatment. She'll go back next Thursday for an examination of her liver and a bone marrow scan, for which she'll have to drink some kind of dye that will help to reveal whether the cancer has spread to the bone marrow.

She'll begin a series of 16 chemotherapy treatments soon. She has been advised that she will lose her hair, and she is already making arrangements to obtain a wig. It seems that the hospital also has a wig salon that will help her pick out a good wig to wear after she loses her hair. In fact, they say that they won't wait for the hair to fall out but will instead shave her head so that she can go ahead and begin wearing the wig.

After she has completed the chemotherapy, she'll begin a series of 33 radiation treatments, presumably aimed at the breast area where the lump was removed.

As is obvious, this course of treatment amounts to a very aggressive approach to treatments designed to discover what other areas of her body have become involved, if any, and to treat both the site of the original cancer and the systemic manifestations of the disease. Her spirits are good, and at this stage, she is holding up well under the obvious stress of the realization that she has to deal with a really aggressive and virulent enemy.
- posted by Perry @ 11:54 PM 0 comments

 
The latest on Carole's condition
On Tuesday, Carole met with her surgeon who removed the drainage tube from under her left arm. She also got a referral to an Oncologist with whom she will meet on Thursday. From there we'll begin to get an idea of the next phase of her treatment, so we are on pins and needles awaiting the word as to what is next. In all likelihood, it will include chemotherapy. Whether radiation therapy is needed too is not yet known. She is committed to an aggressive course of treatment and is bravely facing the next phase. Once I know what is happening, I'll post the information here.
- posted by Perry @ 11:48 PM 0 comments

 
New version of The Bat!
For those of you who follow my passion for my email client, The Bat!, you'll find it of some interest to know that a new version (Version 3.5) has been released recently. It incorporates something we users have requested for a long time ... the ability to customize the interface. The Bat! is a power-user's email program with extensive filtering, macro and template capabilities, but anyone can use it, if they are interested in having an email program that is secure and powerful. I'd encourage you to consider downloading it and giving it a 30-day test drive to decide whether you'd like to register it and begin to explore its extensive capabilities. The best way to learn to use it is to sign up for TBUDL, The Bat! User Discussion List. Since I acquired The Bat! back in 2001, I have been subscribed to that discussion list and reading the discussions there, and I continue to learn new things almost every day as I read the messages others post there.
- posted by Perry @ 10:32 AM 0 comments

 
Saturday morning phone call with Carole
I have just spoken to Carole by phone. She is feeling "fine" for the moment. Last night about 9 PM the doctor called and told her that the cancer is involved in the lymph nodes (about 15 of them) that he removed during the surgery on the 11th. She goes on Tuesday at 10 AM to meet with the doctor and discuss referral to an Oncologist and to find out what course of treatment is recommended. We are both assuming that because the cancer has extended to the lymph notes, she'll be taking both radiation treatment and chemotherapy, but of course, we'll have to await the word from the doctor about what specific treatment is recommended.

As before, I would appreciate your keeping her in your thoughts and prayers as she begins her treatment to battle the disease.
- posted by Perry @ 9:48 AM 0 comments

 
Long ago in a galaxy not so far away ...
This picture of Carole and me in the bow of a fishing boat taken while we were on vacation in Florida is one of my favorites of the two of us together. I don't recall exactly what year it was taken, but I believe this is the deep sea fishing trip when Jeff, who was probably only 6 or 7 years old, said he was afraid of the bait used on the fishing lines. The bait, as it turns out, was just small cubes of mackerel. I guess he just didn't like the feel of the fish flesh. What appeals to me about the photo is how comfortable we both look with dishevelled hair and grubby clothing. It is in such sharp contrast to my normally obsessive concern about my hair back then that I am delighted that we were captured in that moment. You can see a full sized image by clicking here.

- posted by Perry @ 9:59 AM 0 comments

 
Carole is back at home
I spoke with Carole today. She was released from the hospital today after spending the night there for observation. She said she was a bit sore but would be taking some pain medication after lunch. Her next visit with her doctor will be on Tuesday. I suppose we'll have to wait until then to get the report from the pathologist.
- posted by Perry @ 1:21 PM 0 comments

 
An update on Carole
While we haven't yet heard any more from the doctor, I did have a chance to speak with Carole tonight by telephone and she sounded in good spirits. She is staying overnight in the hospital because she has a drainage tube under her left arm from the surgery. The pathology report will be back on Friday, she tells me, so we won't know anything more definitive before then. She is expecting to go home tomorrow.

More updates as they are available.
- posted by Perry @ 9:15 PM 0 comments

 
The latest news
Jeff called a bit earlier, while I was shopping for groceries, and reported that Carole is out of surgery. She will stay in the hospital overnight because the doctor removed more than he had anticipated from the area around the lump. Also the lymph nodes were harder, and apparently more compact than originally expected, so her "stage" description moved from Stage 2 to something higher, as yet unreported. The pathology report will take about a day before the results are known, so the doctor decided to keep her in the hospital overnight, something that he hadn't anticipated going into the surgery. When more is known, I'll let you know.
- posted by Perry @ 1:34 PM 0 comments

 
Important day for the Nelson family
Carole, my ex-wife, is supposed to arrive at this hour at the hospital in Gainesville, GA, for a surgical procedure related to her recently discovered breast cancer. The mass that was discovered a week or so ago will be removed along with some lymph nodes and all that will be sent to pathology for examination. Depending upon what is discovered in that examination, the next steps in the treatment process will unfold. Like a lot of surgeries nowadays, this one will be a "day" procedure, and she won't have to spend a night in the hospital.

If you have a moment today to give a positive thought or to utter a small prayer for a positive outcome to this surgery and what it reveals, I would appreciate your doing so. It will certainly be in my mind throughout the day and in the days to follow.
- posted by Perry @ 7:00 AM 0 comments

 
Mother's Day 2005
Carole Green, one of Connor's Grandmothers, made the trip up from Lula, GA, to visit with her new grandson on Mother's Day this year. And despite the grimmace on his face, he is quite at home in her arms.

To all of you who are mothers, may I wish you a wonderful day and say for all of us, your offspring, how much we love you and appreciate what you have done for us throughout our lives. Please take pride in your accomplishments in this most blessed of roles.

- posted by Perry @ 12:37 PM 0 comments

 
ILinkniks
I've written before here about my enjoyable period as a member of the Writers Conference on ILink in the early 1990's, which is where I met my friend Paul Moor. The other day, I learned that Terry Preston, who was also a member of that group, has a blog called, From the Mountaintop, so that led me to wonder if other members of that same ILink Writers group had migrated to blogging. It seems to me a natural move. Paul supplied the email addresses of a number of those he recalled who were also members, and yesterday I sent an email to them asking that they contact me and let me know if they were blogging or not.

Last night I heard from John G. Fisher with a nice message, catching me up on what is happening with him and his family and asking about mine, in which he indicated that he did not maintain a blog. I am hopeful that others to whom I wrote will reply and tell me how they are doing and, if appropriate, publicize their blog. As I learn if any of them are blogging, I'll post the URLs here so that you can check them out too.

All of us, I guess, have been a part of a work, school, social, or some other special interest group where the cast of characters is sort of taken for granted while the group is together and only later recognized for their unique and extraordinary traits. I've had that happen to me more than a few times. For instance, I remember thinking, after we were no longer together, how very talented Vernine and Associates, the company I worked with for 20 years, was. And now as I think back about the group that comprised ILink Writers, I realize that they too were an interesting combination of talent and experience that just coalesced around a common interest in writing. It was the first online group of which I was a part where I experienced the sense of community and feeling as if I knew the members really well, despite the fact that most of us never laid eyes on one another.

So I hope to hear from as many of them as possible in response to my message and in particular to learn about their blogs, if any of them have them. If or when I do, I'll post the links here.
- posted by Perry @ 8:05 AM 0 comments

 
It's time to catch up again
This last week has been eventful with both good news and bad. First the good news. The fashion-plate baby at the right is Connor Michael Nelson, my grandson, who was born on Sunday, May 1st, at 1:13 pm as the previous post indicates. He and his mother came home from the hospital on Monday evening and they are both doing well. I've posted some short videos of him in the hospital so you can see him enduring his first interactions outside the womb and voicing his displeasure with all of that attention. His lungs and vocal cords seem to work well. Everyone in the family is very happy with his presence and we all rejoice in his current innocence and the long road ahead of him to learning and full participation in life. We'll do what we can to guide him well and to help him learn.

Despite the joy at the Connor's birth, our family also learned that his grandmother, Carole Green, who is my ex-wife as most of you know, has detected a mass in her breast that investigation has found to be cancerous. She is scheduled to have a lumpectomy on May 11th to have that mass removed along with some lymph nodes. This initial surgery may prove to be all that is required, which is our fondest hope of course, but if other treatment is required, she will undergo it too. Just as I ask for your best wishes for Connor as he begins his life, I would also appreciate your prayers and most positive thoughts channeled toward Carole as she begins her course of treatment for the breast cancer.

Just like this post, life is a mixture of joyous good news and worrisome bad news. It is a rose that has beautiful blooms and prickly thorns. It seems you can't have just the blooms without having to also encounter the thorns. So you must just rejoice at "the whole package" and appreciate how wonderful it is, despite the fact that even under the best of circumstances, it is all too brief.

- posted by Perry @ 7:07 AM 0 comments

 
Welcome to the world, Connor Michael
The newest Nelson arrived into this world today at 1:13 PM at Park West Hospital here in Knoxville. He and his mom are healthy. He is a big boy already. At birth, he weighed 8 pounds and 1 ounce and he was 20 and 1/2 inches long. Pictures will follow soon, when they are available.
- posted by Perry @ 1:13 PM 0 comments