One Clear Dot

I’m reading the story of Seminole, Florida’s Larry Roach. He’s dealing with the reality that his ex-wife is now a man, at least in identity.

Larry and Julia were married for 18 years, but Julia eventually decided she wanted to be Julio. Now, Larry points out that his alimony payments go “for paying medication for steroids, testosterone, maintaining a beard, mustache and a penis.”

I can imagine the shock a person deals with when someone you were married to decided to actually go through a gender change. Even more shocking, would be if they were doing it while you were still married. Larry said he noticed things like his wife cutting her hair short and getting tattoos, but did not think much of it. It was not until he caught her injecting herself with testosterone one night on the couch that he started to wonder.

Julia told Larry the injections were to help her headaches and he wanted to believe her. However, Julia’s voice started getting lower and she sprouted a beard.

“I know she was shaving while I was at work because she started getting the stubble. I saw a 5 o’clock shadow and thought, damn, she needs to shave. What, this is my wife that needs to shave? What’s wrong with this?”

Julia did not bother to leave the marriage for many more years, though. Sometime after the divorce, Julia got into a car accident and Larry noticed she was listed as “Julio” on the police report.

Larry has had to continue making alimony payments, though he balks at the idea of having to pay them to someone the law sees as a man. Despite that, a judge recently said, “Whatever you’re born with is what you are” and said the alimony order should remain intact.

It’s a twisted situation, I agree. I think the problems started as soon as Julia decided to betray her marriage by changing genders without being open about her decision and actions with her lawful husband. I would guess she has a plan the entire time and understood Florida’s divorce laws when it comes to alimony.

Sure, a divorce takes two people, though in Florida that is rarely a 5-50 split when it comes to fault. We are a no-fault state, so one member in a marriage can just stand up and demand a divorce based on anything they like. You don’t like the way your wife’s hair looks when they wake up one morning? Fine, divorce granted. I’m serious. The other party has absolutely no recourse if they do not want the divorce.

Now, I imagine Larry was more than happy to get out of his marriage. And, who can blame him? Like I said, it is far deeper than the sex change, It is the general betrayal of trust that Julia began.

Posted on June 17th, 2008 by onecleardot
Filed under: The Way People Think | No Comments »

You should see the basket I use as an in-box here at my home computer/office. It is full. There are, granted, some things I do not need to get to right away. However, there are insurance statements and bills from doctors I need to look at next week. There are car insurance quotes to follow up on. There are even a few bills I want to pay early before my vacation next week.

I feel terrible saying this, but I was almost more organized when I was working in an office fulltime. I would take my paperwork with me to work and in the morning over coffee or during lunch, I would pay bills, make my calls, etc. Here at home, I get far more structured time in my days.

Anyway, if I can get all of my other tasks done today, I am going to tackle that basket an get my papers lined up for Monday morning. Well, for Monday morning after I take my daughter to her first day of ballet camp.

Posted on June 14th, 2008 by onecleardot
Filed under: Finance, Home Life | No Comments »

My energy level has been very low. I’m tired when I wake up in the morning. I am tired again by after lunch. I am sometimes so tired that I am dying inside waiting for my five-year-old to wind down enough to geo to bed at night.

I like coffee, but I went off of caffeine for the most part about 10 years ago. I drink it, just not on a regular basis and absolutely not as pick-me-up for quick energy.

So, it came down to a decision to find foods that would restore my energy. I’m spending quite a bit on groceries by trying to eat this way, but I expect to see and feel a difference. Now, there are supplements (like lipovox) that purport to contain the super foods. They are a more affordable option if you are looking at trying to incorporate thing s like Acai berry, flax, and green tea. And, it would be easier for me to take a catch-all supplement than to work at getting all of the elements individually.

Either way, diet is the key here. There are foods our bodies need, foods that will heal us. It’s not about diet pills or even most medicinal herbs. It’s about eating the foods out bodies need.

Posted on June 14th, 2008 by onecleardot
Filed under: Healthy Living | No Comments »

It’s my mother’s birthday. Once you get to a certain age, I think that gifts like flowers and picture frames and books of poetry only mean so much. After all, I know my mother has year’s worth of those kins of gifts sitting around on shelves. Well, not the fresh flowers, but there are many silk arrangement s in her house that we have given her over the years.

So, I got my mom exterior shutters. She lives in a cute ranch style home here in Florida. Most of the houses around here look so very much alike. They are generally one storey, stucco, with tile roofs. There is little variety, despite the different builders and colors. So, since mom recently has traditional tiles put on the roof and is thinking of having a southern style front porch added to the house, I got her shutter to give the house more of a cottage look.

I do not have them installed yet, but it’s going to make the house look so cute!

Posted on June 14th, 2008 by onecleardot
Filed under: Home Life | No Comments »

There was a time when I lived up north, a little south of Pittsburgh, when I found one of the rare doctors prescribing phen-phen. It worked, that’s for sure, but I hated the way I felt. I can completely understand the attraction of a medication that curbs your desire to eat so thoroughly, though. That’s why there are people who are still out there looking for Phentermine without prescription requirements.

Weight loss is a topic that is unfortunately at the front of my mind more often than I would like. I’m looking all the time for the ting that will work for me. I’m quite sure it’s not a medication, but rather the right combination of interesting exercise and a very well planned diet. Of course, it is a constant struggle to eat right when I have a pre-schooler in the house. She is going through a picky stage and all of the sudden she wants to eat those typically kid-type foods, like pasta, chicken nuggets, and sweets. Gone are the days when my kid actually preferred veggies, fruits, and plain lean meat.

Looks like it is back to long walks and lots of yummy salads for me for a while.

Posted on June 14th, 2008 by onecleardot
Filed under: Healthy Living | No Comments »

It is hurricane season again. Although nothing even close to frightening has blown through here yet this year, we have had some impressive and much needed thunder storm this past week. The rain is what we needed, actually. The thunder and lightening were nice for the added drama, though.

Today I pulled up the blinds, pushed the curtains aside and then just sat and watched the wind whip around the leave on the trees in the backyard. I love a good storm. Since my daughter was not home, I was able to relax and just let the rain falling on the back porch roof calm my nerves. It’s been a rough couple of days emotionally and I needed the break from all the thinking I have been forced to do.

The sound of rain has always made me feel calm. When I lived up north and we would have weeks and weeks of rain on end, it was not the actually wetness that got me down. Rather, it was the lack of sunlight we had in the mountains in the wintertime. The rain, though, almost buoyed me back up to normal.

Posted on June 14th, 2008 by onecleardot
Filed under: The Way People Think | No Comments »

I finally bought a new digital camera. I have been putting it off, because the digital camera I bought in 2000 actually takes better pictures than the newer cameras owned by my friends and family. I attribute that to the high quality of the Olympus D-490. It was pretty much the best of the best back in 2000. At only 2.1 megapixels (which was awesome back when I bought it), the camera takes amazingly detailed pictures with very low noise and quite accurate color. Plus, I am so comfortable with the camera that I use it to its full potential. I think that combination of quality and skill is what made my pictures look so great.

So, I was not fully motivated to spend money on a new camera, though I did really want one. My daughter is five and she recently began asking for a camera. I researched the cameras made for kids and decided they were not worth the money. Sure, they come with shock protective casing, but most of them also take pictures using a HALF of megapixel.

Last week I bought her an inexpensive, off-brand 8 megapixel camera. It was horrific! She took a lot of pictures and then I tried. The, two other people tried it. None of us got a single decent shot.

I returned it and told her she could have my D-490.

Then, I ordered myself an Olympus SP-570UZ. It’s got 10 megapixels, a 20x optical Dual Image (plus some more digital zoom, baby!), and duel image stabilization. It is in a class that is being called Super Zoom. You can use it like a point and shoot, or use it in a fully manual manner. The only thing keeping it from being almost exactly like a digital SLR is that there are some sensing features missing. That can allow for added noise on some shots. This is the top of the heap right now, without moving to full-on SLR. And, I am not ready for the full SLR right now. I still need to take the time to really learn how to use my old Pentax.

I only bought an M-type XD card (2 MG). I’ve read that if I want a better way to shoot fast, sequential shots as well as being able to record longer bits of video, I need to get an H-type card. That will be my next purchase.

It came today and I played around with it. I find that since I am used to the Olympus buttons and interface, it feels familiar. I found my way around quickly. And, I am so impressed with the pictures I am getting, especially the zoom pics and the macro shots. Wow.

I’m a happy camper, and both me and my daughter now have our own cameras for visiting my hometown of DC next week.

Posted on June 14th, 2008 by onecleardot
Filed under: Gadgets - Toys - Technology | No Comments »

I’m working on a birthday party invitation/flyer for a friend of a friend. It’s a small, one-time job and we’re doing the whole thing via e-mail. I will even deliver the file electronically. It’s a fun job. I am taking the Cat on a Hot Tin Roof movie poster and putting this guy’s mother’s hear on Elizabeth Taylor, making it match, using her name in the title and adding the party info to a banner at the bottom. In the end, I will charge him a minimal fee and we will be done.

In reality, a LOT of people need small tasks done for them like this: a flyer graphic, an Excel spreadsheet, research, a logo, or maybe someone to look at their Wordpress settings and install some plugins. But, where do you find the help? Lucky for the guy who needed this party flyer, we have a mutual friend.

So, you might agree with me when I tell you how cool the new Microsoft® Task Market website looks like it is going to be. I’ve attached the press release announcing the

Check it out, because as the site shows you, you can get more done faster with Task Market.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Welcome to the launch of the Task Economy. We’d like you to be among the first to experience it, kick the tires, and share your opinions with your readers.

Microsoft® Task Market is a new Technology Preview site that lets people with tasks find people with the know-how to do them – saving time, and improving the end product.

For every person who throws up both hands at the prospect of creating a complex formula in Microsoft Excel, somewhere in the world there’s another person who can make it look easy. For every poor proofreader, there’s an expert one out there who wouldn’t mind making a few extra dollars. For every small business owner who doesn’t have time to do background research on a new business prospect, there’s a talented researcher who could quickly put together a dossier.

The big idea with Task Market is this: create a viable market to get them together and things get done.

Task Market is in the Technology Preview stage. That means that developers at Microsoft Research are releasing the site “into the wild” to demonstrate the potential of the technology, investigate the breadth of user adoption, solicit ideas on how to improve the site and, ultimately, create a market of Task Posters and Task Solvers to help people get their office tasks done.

A Task Market Task is:
• Something that can be done for $20 to $500
• Something that the Task Poster could use help doing
• Something that can be delivered electronically, like a Microsoft Office document.

A Task Market Poster might need help with:
• a specialized Excel formula
• language translation
• letter writing
• an aspect of their accounting
• making a PowerPoint presentation “pretty”
• graphics, charts, formatting or logos
• research gathering
• proofreading
• building sell sheets, listing sheets or simple brochures
• fact checking

Task Market Solvers create profiles of their skills to help Posters assign tasks to Solvers with the right skill sets, and get email alerts when a job arrives that fits their skillsets. Posters can award and pay several solvers for tasks to compare results, and give more work to the ones they like. All without the commitment of a freelance engagement.

Check out the working tech preview at www.taskmarket.com . Who knows. We may be building a whole new economy.

Posted on June 10th, 2008 by onecleardot
Filed under: Design, Gadgets - Toys - Technology | No Comments »

I was talking to a friend yesterday morning. She is in New York City and I am in Florida. She said it was 92 degrees already in the city. I check the temperature here and it was only 84 degrees. Yes, cooler all the way down here in Florida. Of course, by afternoon it was in the mid to high 90s here.

The first summer after I moved down here, I took a nice long vacation up north to see friends and family. While Florida enjoyed some of the coolest weather in recent years, the entire Northeast had a miserable heat wave. I was driving a borrowed car that overheated on a mountain pass. My cell phone did not have a signal and I had to go to roaming. When I finally reached AAA, they told me to get back in my car, roll up the windows, lock the door and wait for their representative. Are you kidding me? Did they want my annual membership fees or did they want to kill me?

Of course, I like it when things work non-ironically as well. Two years ago I went to NYC to see friends. It was July and here in Florida the weather was nasty. While my city friends walked around NYC with me moaning and groaning about the heat, I felt like I had been granted a rare spring day. Things felt breezy and cool to me.

Posted on June 5th, 2008 by onecleardot
Filed under: The Way People Think | No Comments »

Sometimes I wish that I had kept writing in a diary. I started when I was in middle school and kept it up through the middle of college. The, I stopped. Even if the entries were not exciting, I can look back and get a feel for what I was doing on any given day, how I was feeling, etc. My memory is getting worse each year and I remember less and less of my childhood and the things I did back in school. I will think of a face of someone I knew in high school and I cannot for the life of me remember their name.

I have friend who will recall in detail something we did together when we were young and honest to goodness it feels like they are telling me about someone else’s life. It doesn’t seem fair to have lost that much of my own life.

Despite all of the heartache that may come with it, I do wish I had a photographic memory and perfect recall. I heard a woman on some radio talk show last week crying and complaining about her “perfect recall” and I just wanted to sock her in the face. She was whining about the pain it has caused her to remember all her life’s pains. Once the talk show host quizzed her on events and such, it sounded more to me like she has a good memory, but in no way is her recall perfect. She would often say, “Oh! I don’t actually remember that part but I know it was sad for me that day.” Whatever.

I’d be Okay with perfect recall – both the good and the bad. I’ve lived as pretty exciting life. I had great amounts of fun as a teenager. My friends were colorful and daring and we ran around the streets of DC going to punk concerts back in the height of the DC hardcore movement. I think back to something like going to the Black Market Baby concert at the Hung Jury Pub and only flashes and bursts of the memory are still with me. What a loss.

You know, my daughter is only five and if you asked me right now what her first word was, I would not be able to tell you. My mom is always saying to e that I should write this or that down when my daughter does or days something cute, but give me an hour and I have already forgotten to write it down.:)

Posted on May 31st, 2008 by onecleardot
Filed under: The Way People Think | No Comments »