Random update, and FCN...

[giza]

First off, go to Google right now, and type in "me". (iGoogle users please log out first) This will give you the chance to create your personal profile and "claim" your name on Google, so that people will more easily be able to find you. Here's my profile:

http://www.google.com/profiles/doug.muth

I also got this new icon, courtesy of finnishfox. It's the very first character art that has my DI beret on it.

I catch my flight out to Furry Connection North tonight. The plan is to drink heavily crash at girtygrin's place tonight, and arrive on site tomorrow morning to help out with setup.

I've had a bit of a headache for the last week or so. At first I thought it was sinus-related, as I got over a cold the week before that, but now I'm not so sure. I have no history of migraines or cluster headaches, but maybe I'm in the process of getting history. :-) The good news is that 800 mg of ibuprofen helps a lot. The bad news is that I may have to be very careful about alcohol intake at the con. We'll see.

I'll be working security at the con with the Dorsai Irregulars. I haven't seen the schedule yet, but I believe the plan was to have me working nights. This means I'll have weird hours at the con, which can be good or bad.

Google now has an "apps status" dashboard, which is kinda nifty when Gmail goes down: http://www.google.com/appsstatus#

That's all for now. Gotta finish up work and catch my flight. I hope I'll see all of you at FCN!

Comments

[neillparatzo.livejournal.com]

What if I don't really feel like volunteering more information to Google, and I think their current search results for my name are adequate? Can other people go in and "claim" my name to mess with me? How is this new "me" gimmick not just a giant system of identity abuse waiting to happen?

[giza.livejournal.com]

No idea. You'd have to ask them.

[kovucougar.livejournal.com]

Like they'd answer :)

I already hate it. It's impossible to give everyone on the planet (which is what they're trying to do) a unique and easy to use identifier :P

[giza.livejournal.com]

Knowing Google, I'll bet they came up with some way to handle dupes. I just can't see them being so foolish as to jump into this without a plan for that.

Based on what I entered in my profile, I think the unique identifier might be the set of the following:

- Name
- Town
- Hometown
- Employer

I'm having a hard time thinking of a scenario where two folks who grew up in the same town with the same name would be working at the same employer. The odds would be what, somewhere on the order of 10^9:1?

[kovucougar.livejournal.com]

Their "dupe plan" is the same as Microsoft's and Yahoo's...

I hit a collision with any variation on my name..

FirstLast
First.Last
First.I.Last
FirstILast
FILast

All of them were unavailable. Their solution were the standard and incredibly annoying things like:

FirstLastXXXX (where XXXX is some random number)

FrtLstXXXX (Where FrtLst was some mangling of my name by removing vowels and stuff).

All in all, incredibly under impressive performance on their part.

[giza.livejournal.com]

Uh, they're not...

[therustyhusky.livejournal.com]

Ibuprofen 800mg is a pretty high dose. In fact, it's the strongest dose you can safely take. I might recommend stepping it down to 600mg or even 400mg if you're headache isn't that bad. Plus, on the lower dose, you could probably drink a bit and be alright (although I wouldn't go on a binge :P).

[frostyw.livejournal.com]

I staked my claim on Google Profile, but I didn't input any information yet. At least it keeps anyone from taking frostyw98 (my google ID) if I decide later to let Google to have my personal info. I've gotten rather leery of the big G lately, having so much information.

[whitefeet.livejournal.com]

From the looks of it, you can only claim the naming convention like that if someone doesn't already have that user name for their g-mail account.

It gave me my gmail account name as my profile name.

[frostyw.livejournal.com]

Out of curiosity, is there *any* convention on which you are not staff, and for which you do not work with the DI? :)

[linnaeus.livejournal.com]

It's an awesome icon, but at first glance that didn't register as a DI beret. "Why" I thought, "Does Giza have a pompadour?"

Anyway, see you at FCN!

[duncandahusky.livejournal.com]

I can't speak for Giza, but for me if I go to a convention and don't work, I'm bored to tears. Everyone has their own way of having fun at conventions - some drink, some dance, some go to panels, and some of us enjoy ourselves most when we're working :-)

[simbab.livejournal.com]

First off, go to Google right now, and type in "me". (iGoogle users please log out first) This will give you the chance to create your personal profile and "claim" your name on Google, so that people will more easily be able to find you.

Yeah, no thanks. I go into some effort to keep myself off The Googles, it's not like I'm going to make their attempts to un-anonymize me easier.

[giza.livejournal.com]

I don't think I was staff at Otakon in 2003... :-P

[giza.livejournal.com]

Sadly, the 800 mg dose doesn't completely eliminate the headache, but a single dose around noon DOES knock the headache back for the rest of the day---well beyond the 4-6 hours I would have expected it to.

I'm going to try some Naproxen today instead and see what happens. Folks have pointed out that it'll be nicer to my liver, and seems to be more effective with headaches.

[therustyhusky.livejournal.com]

Mmm, both ibuprofen and naproxen undergo hepatic (liver) metabolism, so I wouldn't really say one will be easier on the liver than the other. That being said, NSAIDs aren't particularly known for their liver toxicity (unlike Tylenol/acetaminophen), so you should be fine. The only major difference between ibuprofen and naproxen is that naproxen has a much longer duration of action but, otherwise, they're functionally the same.

Anyways, hope you're having a good time at FCN!

[desteredra.livejournal.com]

Lucky you, to not have ongoing headache problems so far; i've had them since i was in kindergarten.

If you keep getting really intense headaches, i might also recommend:

--Taking the pain killers and then immediately lying down for a while (i've been known to use sick hours for this purpose, since my headaches leave me nearly useless anyway, and ibuprofen doesn't help me unless i'm horizontal). It helps me if i keep my head and neck very still.

--Sticking to dim, quiet places (if it's a migraine, this will help)

--Talking to your doc if you keep getting them at that intense, over-the-counter-doesn't-cut-it levels. Even if you keep getting them at levels where you need 800mg of vitimin I, that's worth checking in with someone about. They have special prescription meds. Also wouldn't hurt if you kept an eye out to see if you notice anything that usually precedes your headaches--i have trouble with barometric pressure changes, for instance.

--Seek out someone like a massage therapist or chiropractor and ask about headache treatment; they often know how to hit pressure points in ways that drop my recovery time through the floor, even on non-tension related headaches, and don't leave me with any post-headache wooziness.