Macbook PRO 17'

Wow! woke up this morning to (1) an email from Parkes stating that the Macbook Pro 17' has been released and (2) this being confirmed by Google Homepage - Appletalk Australia portal. Well, I had planned to purchase a Macbook Pro in early May (to leverage off Duty Free GST concessions and to reduce my taxable income - will talk about this next blog) - so suddenly which model do I buy?

Alternatives to consider:

candidate A - (aka workhorse)

15'4, 2GHz, 1440x900 resolution, 2.5kg: a v.handy laptop which is not small and not large. Up until now, it was the only spearhead of the Macbook Pro family - a ream of Macintosh software. Advantages - good, reliable, work-man like computer, ideal for generic use (eg. Microsoft Office); disadvantages - not many, 1680x1050 resolution is standard for laptops (so its resolution slightly sub-par); $4400 with 2.16GHz

candidate B - (aka behemoth)

17', 2.16Hz, 1680 x 1050 resolution, 3kg: alternative to a desktop. I must admit I prefer larger laptops - why? well I am not highly mobile with work, but occasionally need to travel to work with a laptop, travel interstate to visit family, or indeed just want wireless connection on the weekend getaway. With a larger laptop one can watch TV/DVD on it, have ++ real estate for applications (eg. IDEs, multiple applications, games), and they are typically fast (i.e. have fast processors, etc.)!

Well upon investigation, some differentials which are appealing with the 17' model - 120GB HD (+ 20 GB), 3 USB ports (+ 1 port), 5.5 hours battery life (+ 1 hr), 800 firewire port (ok stretching it with this, as I presume I will never use this), and default (+.16 GHz processor).

candidate C - (aka project X)

It is inevitable that Apple will release an iBook/Macbook Pro which will be a lightweight laptop (i.e. 12', less than 2kg). I wish it was out now, but since not, I cannot consider it - I saw the 12' iBook and thought it was ridicuously small (thats not going to fit me watching episodes of Prison Break!).

Currently, favouring candidate B, as I have only 5 weeks to purchase ... will visit Apple store mid-week to investigate.

Bye, bye blue

DSC00642, originally uploaded by markyjones.

Well, it is a sad day - 24.04.2006, I sold my Subaru, MY05, World Rally Blue, WRX. Owned for 19 1/2 months (purchased September 10th, 2004) and sold for $33K.

Interestingly, I read an article in Smart Investor, April edition, 2006 which quantified the cost of a car, in terms of the loss of its value (i.e. depreciation) daily. From the article, the cost of other cars (and the cost of what my car ended up being) were:

evils of depreciation ...
Porsche 911	$111.23/day
BMW 330i	$49.59/day
Holden Commodore VZ	$37.12/day
(my) Subaru MY05 WRX	$15.17/day
Hyundai Accent	$14.77/day

Some interesting concepts are raised by this including what a car actually costs? This is what I broke it down to being:

and more costs!
insurance	$4.50/day
registration	$1.70/day
petrol	$1.70/day
services	$0.85/day

Sheesh! so according to this my car cost approximately $25 a day - thats more than what I pay for rent - that is a fairly expensive total cost of ownership (TCO) - and I haven't even mentioned the environmental costs - something for a later blog.

I will say this, however, it was a great ride - see you later subie ;)

Web 2.0 ~ beta site

Ok, for those non early-adopters the second movement of the Internet is here (Web 2.0) - but how can you tell? well these are the characteristics of a Web2.0 site:

Rule 1 - if the web site doesn't have beta in its description then it is not Web2.0! According to dictionary.com beta relates to preliminary or testing stage of a software or hardware product; 'a beta version'! I can't wait until business adopts beta projects. As mentioned in this 37 signals article, beta mode is where new companies want to be. That is, focusing on core funcion and then delivering it quickly (with the possibility of errors). Phew, I can't wait - no more deliberation on the correct colouring of table border X, text box Y; I wonder what the requirements gathering/documentation artefacts are for a Web2.0 project - no doubt there is a project collaboration tools (aka Basecamp, Writeboard), central repositories (aka Wikis) where all content is stored dynamically, and sophisticated issue trackers (aka Jira). Bring on this paradigm shift!

Rule 2 - very quick response user actions, and UI functionality not associated with the web (e.g. drag-and-drop); underpinned by AJAX, asynchronous request/responses. I haven't developed an AJAX web layer, but are we all going to become procedural Javascript developers (yuck!)

Rule 3 - an inability to bookmark any page apart from the initial page

List of Web2.0 sites I use: GMail, Google Groups, FlickR, RememberTheMilk, Ta-da Lists, Del.icio.us, and the latest Google Calendar!

I will have a look at Google Calendar over the next week; now when will Google Maps be available for Australia!

TAGS: Web 2.0, Google, Ajax

FlickR

Ok, so I am a full member of FlickR; which is an awesome photo web site/repository. I just thought I would see how it integrates with Blogspot for my upcoming travels - not bad eh? now if only I could take as good photos!

end of the road, originally uploaded by Rikki

TAGS: FlickR

Google as my homepage

Firstly, I am a HUGE fan of Google (GMail, Google Desktop - will discuss these in future posts); I know this is not saying much as most people are. Nonetheless, I thought I would talk about using Google for your homepage as I have swtiched over from The Age (possibly the best newspaper in the world!) to this over the weekend. The advantages? well a homepage should be a portal where customised information can be accessed. This is what I like about Google as a homepage - it is somewhat customisable (always impressed when there is drag-and-drop on a web page) and the way I have configured the page, it displays:

• a stack of recent email messages from GMail
• information on news/interests
• weather
• no ads; not even Google ads!

This has saved me at least 3 clicks a day and I still have my 'Newspapers' favourite on Mozilla Firefox!

TAGS: Google

version 0.3

Third time lucky? yes this is my third attempt at writing a blog - so why will this version work? Well, I have decided that it will not have any topic, but rather be a diary of some of my thoughts, occurrences, and observations. The audience I am targetting? - myself; something to look back on when I am older and wiser ;) - of course if some of my friends read this every now and then, it will save me writing a lot of emails!

So here we go again ...

DVTs

Due to the significant bruising I have on my right calf, foot today I was booked in to have DVT screen. This involved about an hour investigation where a medical radiologist? applied an ultrasound to my right leg. The technology was cool! I was able to see blood distribute to the leg and away. Unfortunately the pain was not enjoyable (as tends to happen when someone is pushing against bruises) and I had to go to work with ultrsound jelly on my entire right leg ;-).

Good news - no DVTs!

I can bear weight again!

So, the recovery continues - this morning I woke up and sort of, kind of, beared weight on my right leg!! This is significant because it means now that I only need 1 crutch so I can carry things when I am mobile (rather than having two hands on my crutches). On Monday, it will be 3 weeks post-surgery - and while I do not have the flexibility yet in the leg (ie. still can't straighten my leg) there are signs of recovery!

Physiotherapy

Well, I finally attended physiotherapy - at the Olympic Medical Centre - indeed I saw physiotherapist Katrina MacDonald.

I had only attended physiotherapy once before - for shin splints. That time, the physiotherpaist wrapped both my legs up with duct tape such that I left looking like Forrest Gump and in the end it had no effect. After a week of wearing duct tape from toe to knee (in the middle of summer no less) I removed the tape and the pain I was experiencing dissipated - so it was probably a self-mis-diagnosis.

So what was it like this time around. Well, firstly a clinical history was obtained. Following that measurements were taken at the straightening and flexion of the leg - both of which were poor. I recall that I could only straighten my leg to 12 degrees (I presume 0 degrees is the aim) and I could only bend my leg to 72 degrees (again I presume the aim is 90 degrees). Following this, came the 'therapy' - firstly I can say that my calf, and foot were still significantly bruised. Those areas being rubbed for 10-20 minutes really hurt. At the end, I was given some exercises (which I am dutifully trying to follow) and some ways to activate my right leg at work.

In summary, 1 day post physiotherapy there have been significant positives from attending physiotherapy. The first and foremost is that it showed how much pain the knee/right leg is able to bear - this gave me confidence to push against that pain (because I knew it was bearable). Secondly, Vitamin E cream was applied to the 6 holes I have on my knee - this showed me that the area of the knee is not as tender as I thought it would be and that 3 weeks post surgery some significant healing has occurred. And lastly, the advice for keeping the leg active at work meant that the amount of swelling *seems* to have decreased significantly (I can see the bones in my right foot again!).

In conclusion, I am looking forward to going to physiotherapy next week.

Return to work

I have returned to work and after 1 day at work, I have elected to work at home tomorrow :-). Here is a record of my last few days:-

22nd April, Day 1 home (from hospital):- arrived back to home around 10am; sat at computer for most of day, intermingled with some watching of the Hitchhiker's Guide to Galazy (original BBC series - wow it is weird!);

23rd April, Day 2 home:- knee bit sore in morning, post shower though able to bear weight and walk to MCG; watch the Hawthorn Hawks lose; walked home from the MCG (around a 1km walk). Went to bed at 9pm, ran a temperature; started taking pain-killers again at 6.00am after being unable to sleep;

24th April, Day 3 home:- unable to walk; bear any weight on affected leg; put leg sock back on; painkillers every 8 hours;

25th April, Day 4 home:- unable to walk; bear any weight on affected leg; observed bruising on left foot;

26th April, Day 1 work:- unable to walk; bear any weight on affected leg; observed bruising on left foot; very taut calf muscle; bloated left leg, including left foot. Surgeon contacted me, believes there has been significant bleeding in the leg; require time to heal, need to stay off right leg.

Recovery?

Well, it is now 6 days post-operation and well I am confused in regard to the recovery that is taking place. I continue to be in no pain (when I am not moving), however, I have noticed that, what I like to call transitions are extremely painful. That is, when moving the leg from one state to another - so standing up is painful, stretching the leg straight from a bent position is painful, and in general any movement with the leg makes it painful. It is interesting but the entire left side, and back side of my right knee are now heavily bruised, so therefore, I do not know if the pain induced from leg movement is related to the surgery itself, or extraneous movement post-surgery (which may have led to the bruising). Moreover, I am confronted with variations in my right leg's ability - so at time I cannot even weight-bare, however, at other times, I am able to function almost-100% (eg. I was able to walk home from the MCG after seeing my beloved Hawthorn Hawks which equates to about a 1 km walk).

As a result of this, I have now reutrned to pain-killers (2 Panadeine) twice a day. I have another day off tomorrow and then I attend work on the Tuesday, so I will continue to monitor the state of my right leg.

Post-op

Well, I am back after four days in hospital, post right-knee synevectomy. Ok, so this is what happened:-


18th April, Day 1 post-operation (in hospital):- arrived back to room around 4pm; received pain-killers and anti-inflammatories and as a result no pain; felt slightly woozy 4-5 hours post-operation, informed that I had lost 800ml of blood from knee (drained via a knee shunt); nurses checked blood pressure, temperature every 4 hours; revealed that there were now 6 arthroscopic holes in my knee.

19th April, Day 2 post-operation (in hospital):- received continuous passive movement therapy; first attempt at standing post-operation; unable to bear weight without significant pain; blister on knee from bandages.

20th April, Day 3 post-operation (in hospital):- received continuous passive movement therapy; physiotherapist instructed on various leg strengthening exercises; able to walk slightly; significant bleeding occurring as a result of walking, and knee shunts being removed - discharge postponed another night.

21st April, Day 4 post-operation (discharge):- able to walk strongly (with the assistance of cruches); no bleeding; bandages re-applied; knee very inflamed; still on pain-killers; arrived back home

Knee surgery

The day has arrived.

Ok, I am scheduled to arrive at the Mercy Private Hospital today, just past 12.00pm to have a total right knee synevectomy. Oh - can't wait! I must admit that having waited now for about 5 months for this surgery that I am somewhat relieved that it is here and I can now have the surgery and get into recovery mode. I have the next 7 days off work, so post-op I have planned:-

(1) watch a lot of DVDs
(2) read 'Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy'
(3) prepare a presentation for work on the 29th April
(4) update my resume

So bring on the pain management - oh and a disclaimer - the next few blog entries may be under the influence of pain killers!

PVNS - knee ailment

Ok, I thought I would start up my web-blog again as I am going to have some time on my hands. So what am I talking about? well on the 18th April, 2005 I am going to partake in right-knee synovectomy. This is the treatment for pigmented villonodular synovitis (PVNS) which I have been diagnosed? with for the last 6 months. Ok so what does Google say about this? Well here are some links below:-

http://familydoctor.org/469.xml

http://www.emedicine.com/radio/topic553.htm

Great diagnosis because according to the links, PVS is very rare, benign condition that affects 1 in every million people - surely I can't be that lucky, or should I say unlucky ;)