Earlier today I was faced with the bleak prospects for the day of getting some chores done and even progressing to the dreaded housecleaning. However, as fate would have it, when I stepped outside to get some of these aforementioned chores done, who was standing right on my block with her stroller and her toddler son, but pal Dawn! Dawn explained that they were on the way to the playground, and would I like to join them? I immediately said yes, and after turning back to get my camera (I knew Toddler Davie would provide me with cool photo ops), off to the park we went for a much-needed playdate. I can’t say I went running through the sprinklers (only because I didn’t want to get the camera wet, riiiight!) but we did have an overall groovy time. Now back to the grind…

Technorati Tags: relaxation, kids, swings, playground

Sorry, folks for alarming you and letting you think there is a new post. I was experimenting with posting pix on the right hand side, and needed to practice on this blog.

Hello! I hope you all had a stellar 4th of July and that the week-end is just great for you. This pic is from the Macy’s 2008 Fireworks here in New York. You may wonder — gee, I got this picture up awfully quick. Why, the pyrotechnics didn’t even end but less than an hour ago. Aha! Spoiled as I am, we were able to view the show from the air-conditioned comfort of the living room window. Took a bunch of pix, downloaded them and here you go!

However, I really am a long way from photographing fireworks correctly. For one thing, I’m not supposed to use flash. The problem is then the speed is quite slow and you really need to have the camera on a tripod. Last year, we tried setting up a tripod in front of the living room window with comical results.

I hope this holiday weekend heralds the beginning of a fantabulous summer for you!

Technorati Tags: fourth of july, fireworks, macys fireworks, summer

In the Strange But True department: today’s personalized horoscope from Astro.com tells me the following:

At this time you can do work that requires great concentration of energy and meticulous care. If you have been working on a project of this sort, it may now approach completion or reach a critical culmination.

In fact, I am…47 audio minutes away from completing a for-the-long-haul transcription project. Can I finish it today? We shall see…

Technorati Tags: horoscope, predictions, transcription

It’s a lazy kind of week, what with today being Canada Day and Friday being the 4th of July. I don’t even know how July snuck up on me. Actually, I’m not all that lazy right now — I’m finishing up a transcription project. It feels great to be at that next-to-last audio. And I’ve got a cool long-term transcription project that begins next week.

So, if anyone ever wonders what’s on my CD player (being hopelessly out of it — I don’t even own an iPod), I’ve recently discovered this 2003 James Harman release, Lonesome Moon Trance. You gotta love the title track: “Look up at the brightest star in the sky, that old yellow moon and yo’ grandma’s teeth, baby, they all come out at night.” So, yep, here comes a video of James Harman blowing the harp on a tune that has the name Helsinki in it so you know I already love it. And remember, through some quirk, my video always shows up as this amorphous black thing (well, actually it’s in the shape of a square) but seeing that I’ve never figured out how to fix this, all you have to do is just click on it and it will play.

Oh, no! It’s not embeddable. Okay, just click over at this URL and it will take you to the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svFbb3pT8O0 

Technorati Tags: james harman, lonesome moon trance, canada day, fourth of july

How many times have you heard that the brain is just like a computer? Well, it’s not. And in this wonderful piece in the New York Times, it turns out that your brain lies to you, too.

This article also does the cool thing of following the journey of a “fact,” stored first in the hippocampus of the brain and then making its way to reside in the cerebral cortex.

And the most important lesson of this all: “We tend to remember news that accords with our worldview, and discount statements that contradict it.” Common sense perhaps but still very, very true.

Technorati Tags: new york times, your brain lies to you, remembering facts

Summer’s here and psst! I’ve got the link for where you can get the free download of a v-e-r-y interesting novel written by my pal Carolyn Lee Boyd. The book is called The Temple of the Subway Goddess, and the download is right here. This is a real novel, no fluff, and she’s not selling anything. Not what you were expecting, were you?

Carolyn and I did the kind of interview that only two nutters can do over at the blog for Internet Marketing Sucks. We had a blast with it and you can check it out here. In it, Carolyn explains the book’s premise:

It is about everyone valuing the sacred within themselves and each other…It illustrates the point that you should do what gives your life meaning — and having people read the book gives me joy — whether it’s paid or unpaid, while benefiting rather than exploiting others along the way.

Check it out — and let me know what you think!

Technorati Tags: carolyn lee boyd, the temple of the subway goddess, free ebook, free download novel

I think most readers of my blog realize I am some kind of popular culture drop-out. I don’t really watch TV. The other day my friend Carolyn had to tell me to stop calling Brangelina “Brangelica.”

But I did read that there would be a new six-part series produced by ABC called Hopkins. Apparently, it’s a follow-up to a popular series inside Johns Hopkins Hospital that was shown in 2000. So real-life hospital drama fans, let it be known that this will be airing on Thursdays at 10 p.m. I may just catch this one…

Technorati Tags: brangelina, hopkins, johns hopkins hospital

Picture time! Yesterday was the Summer Solstice, or the First Day of Summer, or the Longest Day of the Year. To celebrate, I visited Battery Park to partake in their annual Swedish Midsummer celebration. A couple of people have asked me why Midsummer is such an important holiday to the Scandinavians. I’ve explained after a dark and dreary winter with practically no daylight, the northerners look forward to the beautiful long summer days in Finland and Sweden, where the sun doesn’t seem to set at all. Pictured here is a Midsummer maypole. In countries like England, the maypole is seen on May 1st or May Day. However, in the northern countries of Sweden and Finland, May 1st is still pretty darn cold. The lush vegetation has not hit a peak until mid-June, and out comes the Midsummer maypole as seen to the left. Free flowers were also provided by the organizers, as they are every year, and this year I just may have gotten that flower crown right. What do you think? It’s pictured below.

Children — and adults — also perform ring dances around the Midsummer Maypole, so it got pretty crowded last night around it. Wandering about, however, I ran into high school friend Hugh, pictured on the left. Hugh has this remarkable ability to run right into me wherever I am living and has shown that through the years. However, I knew Hugh would be at Battery Park last night since he recently found me on Facebook. I’m not linking to my Facebook profile, since I’ve never filled it out. Nevertheless, Hugh found me through there and we’ve also been tweeting at Twitter.

Finally, can it be the official Summer Solstice without a sizzling Summer Soulstice ceremony by the one and only Mama Donna? By some lucky coincidence, Donna was in the same park, only a few hours later to greet the longest day of the year with a ceremony at the exact moment of Solstice, which was about 8 p.m. EST. We shimmied, we saged — and a good time was had by all. Lots of drumming, naturally. Mama Donna’s been doing these outdoor ceremonies to usher in the seasons for 35 years now — that’s a tremendous dedication on her part, and the community loves it.

Okay! We’ve got the rare post that is actually about health care documentation here…

Approximately 50 percent of medical practices with more than 50 doctors are using electronic health records. Smaller practices? Not so much.

According to a New York Times article, less than 10 percent of practices that are comprised of just one to three doctors are using electronic health records. The main obstacle appears to the cost of setting up such a system.

Dr. Paul Feldan, one of three doctors in a primary care practice in Mount Laurel, N.J., considered investing in electronic health records, and decided against it. The initial cost of upgrading the office’s personal computers, buying new software and obtaining technical support to make the shift would be $15,000 to $20,000 a doctor, he estimated. Then, during the time-consuming conversion from paper to computer records, the practice would be able to see far fewer patients, perhaps doubling the cost.

The Times’ summary of this situation is of “a health care system seemingly at odds with itself,” and from what I’ve seen, I certainly won’t disagree.

Technorati Tags: new york times, electronic health records, doctors adopting electronic health records, trends in electronic health records