Post 9/11.
Excerpts from my blog post-9/11…
Continue Reading →
10 Years Tomorrow.
In 2001, I kept a blog and for a good three months that year, I managed to write an entry every single day. I mainly did it as an exercise in writing compositions. I was 21 going on 22 that year, re-adjusting to life in Hawaii after living in Japan for a couple of years. This re-adjusting included having to start school again with zero credits, helping my mom after my parents’ divorce, and learning how to drive (again…haha.) I didn’t write anything really heavy despite this being a challenging period in my life, mostly mundane details about my schooling and my job, both at LCC.
On September 11, 2001, like the rest of the world, I was so full of thoughts and emotions. I could not help but be compelled to note it all down in this outlet I had. Some of it seems dramatic, but even after all this time, you remember it being just that.
Everyone knows where they were and what they felt that day. I wrote my thoughts in this entry as I felt them on the evening of September 11, 2001. And once again, 10 years later, I felt compelled to share…
There’s An App For That.
In 2011, compared to the past two years since getting diagnosed with Type II Diabetes, I’ve gone to see my endocrinologist far less often. She has felt that my lab results have been consistently good to not need to be monitored all the time. And when I have gone to see her, it’s been a whole lot of this:
Doctor: “Oh, how are you feeling?”
Me: “Oh, fine”
Doctor: “Well, your labs look good so you don’t need to see me for another 4 months.”
Today was another one of my doctor’s appointments. A week prior I had taken my blood test and got back the results revealing days ago that as always, my a1c was at a good level and my cholesterol had been at normal levels. I was relieved to see this, but I was hoping to get something a little bit more out of my appointment with her.
Truth was, that since I last saw her, I went through something rather shitty and haven’t been the same since. I’ve been feeling shitty and haven’t had much energy for anything. On top of that, the tendinitis is my left arm had returned and I couldn’t get treated for it because I’m only allowed so many steroid shots a year. I basically felt like I had a chemical imbalance from all that I’ve had to deal with; if any of my doctors should be aware of this, it should be my endocrinologist, right? It didn’t show up in the blood tests she ordered for me, but yes, I felt shitty.
A total waste of time it was telling her everything that had happened. I got the frown and sad face when I told her about my medical ordeal last month, but then she kept referring back to the labs, back to the labs, back to the labs. “Everything looks fine here.” I could tell she just wanted to just get the appointment over with. “Oh, and you can see Dr. (Rheumatologist) for your arm, right? Okay, I’ll see you in 6 months.”
What the hell was I doing there? To get my blood test results? That was ridiculous because seriously, there was an app for that. I got the results on my phone days before. I left with tears wanting to exit my eyes, all from lack of compassion and being left with no answers for what to do about this crappy chemical imbalance I had been feeling.
Another reminder that I have to take my health into my own hands. Good to have a doctor order the labs that my medical insurance can cover, but seriously, that’s all she’s good for.
Oh wagon, I will get back on to you…
Re-Kindling The Interest.
I love perusing through a bookstore. Up until very recently, I have more enjoyed looking through a bookstore than actually reading a book, though that wasn’t always the case. As a kid, I frequented the public library and read a lot of fiction books. When I got to college, we had to read countless case studies on business and economic trends, and therefore I got more into reading non-fiction books and newspapers.
Though I don’t read as much as I did in college, it takes me a bit of willpower to not buy a book to bring home to read. I have on occasion bought a book but what normally keeps me from buying and reading books are the lack of time to do so.
And so it turned out to be on impulse that I bought a Kindle from Target several weeks ago. It was brought on by the news that Borders was closing their doors for good and I guess I wanted to be able to buy a book whenever I wanted. Though I work at a mall that has a big Barnes and Noble’s location, I still wanted some kind of instant access to books as I recently have been hungering for knowledge that surfing the Internet alone could not satiate.
So far, I have read two books on my Kindle and am halfway through my third book. Remarkably enough, in the few weeks that I had it, I managed to break the screen somehow. The great news is that they quickly sent me a replacement for free and in the time that I had been waiting for my replacement, I was able to continue to read my book on my Mac.
And now, I have become addicted just as I had before to reading, but my exercise routine and my marathon training has been rather stagnant as a result. I’ve even tried reading my Kindle while running on the treadmill, but I would become so engrossed with my Kindle that I would have to slow down the pace and just walk it so that I could focus my energies on my book. As enriching as my Kindle has made my life, I definitely can’t forget my focus on getting my marathon training done.
It’s nice to have another interest rekindled. I just have to find a nice balance.
Derailed.
After starting my training with so many cylinders blasting, I suffered an unfortunate medical setback. The effects being more emotional than physical, I am arming myself with the mantra and mindset that I can overcome this and move forward.
After 4 weeks of no running, I took it to the treadmill and triumphed in the small victory of enduring a 5 mile run.
I can do this. I will do this.
Soul Meets Body.
End of Week One
24 Weeks to Go
June 20 – June 26
Miles Ran: 15.28
Miles Accumulated: 15.28
And I do believe it’s true
That there are roads left in both of our shoes
- Death Cab For Cutie, “Soul Meets Body”
My first week of Marathon Training with 24 more to go. I wanted to set a baseline for my endurance by consistently being able to jog 30 minutes without stopping. Thankfully I was able to manage this with my runs this week, but unfortunately, I only managed to go running three times. Going forward, I will run 4 times a week; most likely Tuesdays, Wednesday, Fridays and Sundays (NOT on my days off…for now).
So far, so good. There is indeed a lot more to go. 
Running Down a Dream.
Week One, Day One
Day 1
Monday, June 20, 2011
Yeah I’m runnin’ down a dream,
That never would come to me
Workin’ on a mystery,
Goin’ wherever it leads…
- Tom Petty, “Runnin’ Down a Dream”
As I had hastily mentioned in my last blog entry 5 months ago, I registered for the 2011 Honolulu Marathon. When I signed up for it, I didn’t really think of what I had actually done. All I knew was that I paid $20 (quite a Kama’aina discount!) to allow myself the possibility of completing my first marathon; I didn’t even think about the idea of actually doing it, much less train for it. I just planted it as an idea in my mind. I figured if I was actually serious about it, I would wait until 6 months prior to either say “Yes, I will” or “No way.”
Continue Reading →
Archiving Tweets in Bento
If you’re like me, you probably use Twitter more as a personal diary than as a means of oversharing to the world (though of course, that’s a by product that you obviously have to be aware of.) As a journal though, what good is it if you can’t easily pull up your tweets from months or even years ago? And if you’re at the mercy of a server, there will be the possibility of losing your tweets forever and that would just suck.
In the age of meeting niche needs through the Internet, it was easy to find a service that would make .xls files out of your Twitter feed. That service is Tweetake, easily found at http://www.tweetake.com.
At first, the script they used was a bit buggy, but it has improved over time. The only real unfortunate thing about it now, is that it can only archive tweets from no earlier than 2009. The good thing for me was I started using Tweetake early enough so that I managed to archive all my tweets from when I started “seriously” tweeting in 2008.
For me, a .xls file wasn’t enough. If it was going to come in a flat file database type, it may as well be in something that could be easily filtered and searched. The challenge was clear: get this into Bento! You figure it would be easy with Bento already being able to take in CSV files, however, the data for the date/time field was a string typed out like this: “Tue Apr 19 06:00:20 +0000 2011″ which unfortunately a spreadsheet could not automatically decipher, let alone Bento. I decided to utilize the functions in Numbers to basically convert the string into meaningful data that Bento could take in. Once I figured that out, I realized that the time also had to reflect the time zone I live in. The time in the field was set to GMT, but not only was it a matter of changing the time, but the date, month or even the year noted could be changed by the time shift of a few hours, and so I had to account for that too. Through trial and error, and learning about Numbers functions (helped by my programming background), I managed to create calculated fields that would determine the correct time, day, month and year values based on the original string value in the xls file.
So, long story short… I have made a Numbers document and a Bento template that can be used to archive your tweets generated as a .xls file by Tweetake. It can be downloaded as:
tweetaketobento.zip
All you need is Numbers ’09 and Bento 3.
Working Numbers File
Instructions
- Download your Tweetake .xls file from http://www.tweetake.com. You will need to allow Tweetake access to your Twitter account by logging in.
- Open the Tweettake .xls file in Numbers. There will be a lot of extraneous information in this file, but you’ll only need two columns of info.
- Copy the 2 columns labeled “Status Date” and “Status Text,” but exclude the top row with these labels.
- In the “tweettake to bento” Numbers document, paste the info in the appropriate columns in the Table labeled “Tweetake.” These columns (Column A and B) are colored in BLUE.
- In the “GMT Offset” Table in Cell B1, put the GMT Offset for the area where you live. (-10 is for Hawaii)
- If you’re not sure what the GMT offset is for your area, go to
http://wwp.greenwichmeantime.com/ - If you need to do more than 1 time zone, you’ll have to do import and export your tweets in separate batches. Simple, right?
- If you’re not sure what the GMT offset is for your area, go to
- Export the Numbers document as a .csv file (File > Export)
- A folder with two .csv files will be created as a result. The .csv file you’ll want is Tweetake to Bento-TweetTable.csv
- Open Bento and import the template Tweets.BentoTemplate (File > Import > Template)
- In Bento, import the Numbers generated .csv file (File > Import > File)
- Choose Tweetake to Bento-TweetTable.csv
- Choose Target: “Tweets” (Template that was just imported in Step 7)
- Set up the import with the following Headers -> Fields
- “STATUS TEXT” == “Tweet”
- “GV9 EOYear Adjusted Year” == “YEAR”
- “DATE/TIME” == “Date Time”
- You’re done! To archive newer tweets, repeat process again, with the exclusion of Step 7 as the template need only be imported once.
If you’ve tried this, let me know if it works and what you think!
Ow, the Nerve!
I hit the back of my right hand against the corner of a table at work today and now my fingers and arm has pains shooting throughout. I’m going to try to sleep this off, but the pain has me a bit worried. Going to call the rheumatologist if this continues on to the weekend.