Steve Jobs

• Steve Jobs has died. I think everyone saw it coming, but it makes me sad anyway. As you all know I'm an Apple fan, and in my mind I always associated Steve Jobs with the products I use. I wish his loved ones, friends and colleagues strength, and Apple a new successful era that builds on what he accomplished.

What is "too much"? Part 1: recognizing the signs

Recent events in the lives of a few people close to me have gotten me thinking, "how much is too much?" and "how do we know when that is"? We tend to be able to realize we've overloaded ourselves, but we often realize it pretty late in the process. It would be better all around if we could recognize it earlier, at a point when little damage has been done, and when simple changes can turn the tide.

Here's a list of some Early Warning Signs, chosen because they're easy to spot. Again, the key is early detection! In a future post I'll offer a compact and easy-to-follow plan for the next step: what to do about it?

• You forget things. Physical things (keys, cell phone), but also - and maybe more telling - whether or not you've done something. This often results in sending that second e-mail because we've already forgotten we sent the first one. Or going back into the house to check the stove, and not trusting your memory of the check once you're in the car. Forgetting things other people have told you is another example.
• You have aches and pains you don't normally have. Most people know not to ignore the warning signs of a heart attack, but physical symptoms of stress can be more subtle, like achy joints, or a low-grade headache, or feeling like you're going to get a cold (without actually getting one).
• You're angry, really angry, angry enough to yell and/or break things, in a situation that would normally just piss you off. Someone walks past and stares at you without saying anything. The driver of the car in front of you waffles between turning right or left. A friend of yours changes some arrangement you two made, but doesn't consult you first.
• You treat your partner, child, pet or other loved one with indifference (hopefully nothing worse), because you "just don't have the energy" - and you don't explain why.
• You can't stop. You're so wound up you watch late-night tv even though it exhausts you. You go to bed late because you're hyper. You're caught in a loop and can't seem to get out of it. In the same vein, you might find yourself constantly eating or smoking. This kind of nervous activity doesn't result in much real productivity. It's just busy-ness.
• Your bathroom habits are not what they should be.
• You wear your glasses instead of your contacts, because (1) you haven't cleaned your contacts in six days, and/or (2) you've gotten so little sleep you can't bear to have the things in your eyes.
• You forget or otherwise don't do exactly those things that would help you: doing the laundry, picking up milk for breakfast tomorrow, straightening up your desk, paying bills.

These are all relatively small but telltale signs that are easy to recognize. 

What would you add to the list? Please leave a comment!

Weight loss visualization tool

• I came across Weight Mirror, a site where you can upload a photo of yourself and it will "photoshop" your photo to give you an idea of what you could look like at different weights. It's free and you don't have to register. (No, I'm not affiliated with the site.) Pretty cool tool that might help those of us working on attaining a healthy weight.

And she's done!

• Irene turned out to be less dangerous than expected and I can at least report that my uncle's fine. He was most amazed by the sight of young trees "spinning" counterclockwise, in the same direction as the wind. My thoughts are with those who lost loved ones, and with those contending with the aftermath in other ways.

Irene, don't be mean

• My uncle lives in North Carolina, so I'm waiting to hear how it will turn out with hurricane Irene. He doesn't live too close to the coast, so probably it will end up being a lot of wind and rain and hopefully not much else for him.
• My thoughts are with everybody who has to evacuate. I was very happy to read some reports that pets will be allowed in (some?) shelters. Please everybody, take care of your pets. I know that organizations will be helping people and pets in areas that will be hit hard.

We're back! And so is the computer

• After two weeks of, well, sketchy weather and a strange (for us) house, we're back home. It was a good vacation. I read six books, made applesauce, practiced a foreign language, didn't sleep too well, and enjoyed the sound of wasps in a wall full of something like Virginia creeper, as well as a lot of sparrows, a couple of bats, about a hundred cows, and a weasel. Proof of the last two (see if you can find the weasel!):

• The wireless modem verdict: not much of one, since I didn't try out my own sim card and unlocked modem, probably partially because I was afraid of the roaming charges. In any case I didn't trust my language skills enough to buy one where we were. The one we rented worked fine. The only problem was that we were in a valley out in the country where there weren't many GSM cell sites. We checked our text messages and mail by putting our cell phones and the modem on the fence twice a day. Worked fine, though the connection was still slow. :-) We drove out of the valley to a more populated place to use Skype to call my Mom. Here's our Communications Center:

• Once back home, I read Bruce Feiler's article "Our Plugged-In Summer" on nytimes.com. As always, vacation makes me think about my "digitality" and what's good/what's not so good about it. I agree with the basic idea of his use of the Internet on vacation: checking out useful information on attraction, looking things up with the kids, etc. We did something similar, although probably less often than Feiler and his family did. And yet...I find it hard to describe, but when the Internet is an option, as useful as it is, it means a small part of our attention is not where we are. We're partly "out there" and not "here". My experience is that this detracts from a vacation (and from "regular life," if we're not careful), even though I am a huge fan of getting information when I need it. There are lots of pros and cons to this question, so let me know what you think!
• The big computer is back after being repaired for the "flashing folder of death" problem. Apple replaced the hard disk, and to my delight they were able to copy the data onto it, so I didn't even have to use the Time Capsule. Fantabulous.

Iconic and a kind of software review

• So here I am, sipping a latte and typing on my laptop. I've always thought this was an iconic picture of...what? Modernity? Coolness? Someone who's got her priorities wrong? Today it's just functional, because (a) I just woke up from a much-needed nap and now need coffee, and (b) I screwed up the "big" computer yesterday. I decided it was time to install Undercover, the computer tracking software made by Orbicule, on the big computer and on the laptop. No problem. It's easy to install and you can even test it. (The reports you get of the current location of the computer are amazing and cool, but caused Man to exclaim, "I'm not touching that thing ever again!" :-)) Anyway, that was all fun and games.
  The Undercover people do suggest you set a firmware password, so thieves can't wipe your hard drive/start up the computer using another hard drive, and they give you clear instructions how to do it. OK, so I did it. Also no problem. But something happened with the reboot of the big computer and I got the flashing folder of death (I hope none of you has ever seen the flashing folder of death).
  Apple Care was helpful, at least after somewhat chidingly saying, "Oh dear, firmware passwords are rather advanced for the average user..." (grrr), but unfortunately the flashing folder of death remained. So the big computer is being sent to the top nerds* even as we speak. At least it won't be stolen from my house, haha. 
• Let me stress that the laptop is completely fine, so it's not Undercover's fault. This isn't much of a review in that I can't tell you how great the software is for recovering your stolen computer (you can find enough of those stories if you Google a bit), but I can say that it was very easy to download and install, that the informative site and the site you use to report your computer missing are just about perfect, and that the Orbicule people were very sympathetic and helpful when I reported the boot problem (just in case they had any ideas) and they want me to let them know how things turn out.
• As a side note, I also got the Kensington MicroSaver DS keyed lock for the laptop. I'd read reviews saying that certain locks don't work in the MacBook (I have a regular unibody MacBook.) This fits fine. 
• And in other news: I sat outside today, looked at clouds, and played with my dog. Much needed recreation, especially after about six straight days of rain, during which my outdoors time was purely functional. 

* Disclaimer: I use this term in the most positive way possible. My way of life depends partially on the help of nerds on various subjects. I love my nerds.