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kyrielle: painterly drawing of a white woman with large dark-blue-framed glasses, hazel eyes, brown hair, and a suspicious lack of blemishes (Default)
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kyrielle: painterly drawing of a white woman with large dark-blue-framed glasses, hazel eyes, brown hair, and a suspicious lack of blemishes (Default)
Saturday, February 6th, 2010 07:55 am
For anyone trying to suggest alternatives to Carbonite for me - I would love them. I'm not willing to pay TONS more for better service, though, because Carbonite works reliably for backup/restore (it just has this annoying quirk regarding video files, which they're theoretically escalating to fix). I'd be willing to pay maybe double what I pay now, at most.

I currently back up two computers, whose backups are 55 GB and 237 GB respectively. This will drop to one computer but the same size backup in the next few years - I'm gradually consolidating away from the laptop. All I'm interested in is the backup; other services offer syncing between computers/devices, but that's not what I'm looking for here. Just to have my files preserved if my computer turns into a doorstop, and in an off-site backup.

Carbonite charges per computer, so this costs me $110 a year currently. It looks like Mozy would be about the same, but I don't know anything about them; thoughts and impressions? (Sugarsync, which someone suggested, does a LOT more...and would cost me $350 a year at my current backup volumes. Since the one with 237 GB will eventually grow with more photos and videos plus the 55 GB from the other one, and their top plan is 250 GB of storage, I'd simply outgrow them shortly.)
kyrielle: painterly drawing of a white woman with large dark-blue-framed glasses, hazel eyes, brown hair, and a suspicious lack of blemishes (Default)
Friday, October 24th, 2008 07:10 pm
I edited the post that links to the wish list to note (in item #10) how to mark items as being something you're providing, since I realized not everyone may know how to use that site or want to dig through the help. Sorry about that omission! Please do mark anything you send (other than books) if it's from the list, that way others know it's been done. :) Thanks. (And again, please don't feel obligated to send anything. Good wishes are always welcome, too, but I think we've gotten lots of those already. *grins*)

http://kyrielle.livejournal.com/1384216.html
kyrielle: painterly drawing of a white woman with large dark-blue-framed glasses, hazel eyes, brown hair, and a suspicious lack of blemishes (Default)
Sunday, October 12th, 2008 07:05 pm
Finally, we have a wish list up. It's not complete, in that I expect to add items over time (there are a few things I know I will want/need, but I want to be particular about and don't know enough yet). Doesn't matter, because it's mostly there to give ideas to people who want to give stuff. THIS IS NOT A PLEA FOR GIFTS. This is an offering of "things what would be nice to have if you want to give a gift." Please don't feel obligated.

The wish list is at TheThingsIWant.com, which lets you wishlist items from multiple sites or with no site at all, but has a bad feature as far as description - it's limited to 250 characters. We ALL know I'm too talky to fit in 250 characters, so I put up a backdated post with notes. Please have a look at it.

For relatives, note that the post also includes a separate gift request that I would really, really, REALLY appreciate even if it's all you send. :) Thanks!

The post: http://kyrielle.livejournal.com/1384216.html
The wish list: http://www.thethingsiwant.com/kyrielle/list/things%20for%20our%20son/
kyrielle: painterly drawing of a white woman with large dark-blue-framed glasses, hazel eyes, brown hair, and a suspicious lack of blemishes (Default)
Monday, August 18th, 2008 05:43 pm
The uncertain news first:

Babe's biopsy results are in. No sign of cancer, but as I noted before, that doesn't mean it's not a lymphoma, because the prednisolone could have pushed that back down and obscured it. But it could also be the very unlikely, bizarre possibility of some lymphatic condition (there was definite signs of that, anyway), which could be autoimmune or infection-related. No way to tell at this point and no further diagnosis that can reasonably clarify it. We can either treat her for cancer she may not have, or continue and see what happens. That's an easy choice; the vet's recommendation is perfectly matched with my own gut feelings. She continues on the pred and we see how she does. If it is cancer, she'll probably start showing clinical signs again (not counting her vision, which never recovered; but the nasal discharge and/or eye discharge we saw before could return) within a couple weeks. If she's still fine after a couple weeks, we can begin to hope - and try tapering the pred to make sure we don't have her taking more than she actually needs. Whether she'll be able to stop altogether or will have to stay on some dose of it forever...who knows? If it IS cancer and comes back, we'll have to make a decision to treat or not to treat. That will depend on what they tell us, but I suspect it will be "palliative only" if it comes to that - I don't know for sure, as we haven't had the discussions in depth, but...most treatments for cancer that I am aware of don't sound like anything I'd want to put a cat through. But hopefully...hopefully, Babe has one of the weirdest cases they've seen in a while, and the pred will do it. I'm not sure what the odds are, but I don't suppose that really matters much. The odds were she had a fungal infection - 'til the tests came back negative. The odds were she had brain cancer - 'til the MRI and spinal tap came back clear for that. Those were the only two "likely" options at that point. Nasal cancer was a possibility only after the MRI, with a lymphoma being the most likely because it had responded to pred...but just because it's the "most likely" doesn't seem to mean much with this cat. I'm hoping it may be likely but it isn't what she has, that instead she has something else going on that will either remain okay after removing the medicine or remain controllable with the medicine, because the pred twice a day is very, very doable.

Good thoughts for her, please. That she is lucky, that she does better than the odds and is okay for a long time to come - the next two to three weeks will be important, mostly in judging whether she is that lucky. It doesn't look like she will get her sight back but she seems to do fine without it.

Babe is still happy, cuddly and purry. She asked to get up on my lap the other day when I was in my chair, and I scooped her up and she cuddled. Just now she's back on the bed on the floor, midway between Scott's chair and mine; earlier she was curled up between us as I napped and he read. She's still playful when teased with a toy (in fact, when she's lying there and not purring if I pet her, it's a good sign I should try the toy - I can no longer watch the dilation of her eyes for a mood cue but I can find others!).

The good news is much lesser, but I'm still happy; my latest Fantasy Bath shipment is here. Whew! You could smell that box from several feet off. Everything inside is fine, it's just that I ordered three pounds of the mango tango and it has a very strong scent. I'm happy, it got here. I could have used it last week, given the stresses, but I had other bath scenty things at the time and now I have my mango (and some new scents to try) so that's okay.
kyrielle: (kitty yin yang)
Thursday, August 14th, 2008 07:42 am
We start prepping to leave in about an hour. Good thoughts for Babe, please. (She's presently lying on the orange pillow on the floor next to my chair - it's there to keep the doors of the writing desk shut since they like to swing open - and looking resigned. The latter owes something to no food since 10 pm last night, I assume. She purrs nicely when petted, though, and at least this time she got to have water!)

I'll put food down for Apple before I go. And because there's a chance Babe's procedure may be preempted by an emergency (not likely, but it can happen), I realized maybe I should take her food with so they can feed her if she's not going to be sedated after all (since I cannot pick her up early in that case unless the sealing is done early). I don't know if they can, but since they eat dry, I will take her serving along with and ask. If they say no (or if they say yes but she's not preempted), it will keep just fine until tonight.

Now to go make sure I have everything I want/need to get through the day away from home. Granted a lot of it is scheduled/taken up but I can't really know how long the plumber at the Ridge will take or when I'll be able to get back into my neighborhood. My guess is it will be before 4 pm. It depends on the weather which is supposed to be VERY hot today, no rain or clouds; the sky looks well-suited to that forecast so far.
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kyrielle: (kitty yin yang)
Friday, August 1st, 2008 08:45 pm
More good thoughts for Babe, please. It's not the fungal infection; the bloodwork and checks for infectious whatnot all came back clear and normal. Which is bad news, since it leaves the next most probable as cancer, likely brain cancer. There's a chance, though not a good one, that it's something immune-related or bacterial, so they're taking her off the anti-fungal and putting her on antibiotics as a precaution until we can get her in for an MRI (tentatively scheduled for Wednesday next week, but we can call Monday morning to see if we can move it up - if so, it will be with a different neurologist who wasn't there to talk to today) to confirm/deny the cancer theory.

I really, really hope it's something unusual, and not cancer. But the bloodwork ruled out the fungus and several other potential blindness-causers (not considered likely in her case since both eyes were affected at once, but they did the full range of tests anyway).

Really, really worried now.

Also, suspecting I won't be at GenCon. Any way you slice this one, Babe will likely need someone giving her medicines, at best. At worst, we may be watching for the first signs of suffering. I'm not willing to stick a pet-sitter with that duty...nor am I willing to be away and wondering what's going on, either. Not sure yet, it depends on what this week brings, but it seems fairly likely I may change my travel plans. Kind of ironic, considering.

Please, lots of good thoughts. I really, really don't want this to be cancer.
kyrielle: painterly drawing of a white woman with large dark-blue-framed glasses, hazel eyes, brown hair, and a suspicious lack of blemishes (Default)
Friday, August 1st, 2008 12:00 pm
This is the description for our wish-list for our son, Drew, because the wish-list site doesn't leave a lot of room (250 characters) for the description! The wish list can be found here: http://www.thethingsiwant.com/kyrielle/list/things%20for%20our%20son/

First, if you are a relative, there is one gift I really deeply want from each of you, as long as you feel comfortable providing it. I'd like a note, drawing/art, well-wish, or the like, no larger than 8x10 and as small as allows you the space you need to express it. These should be addressed to our son by name (Drew, or Andrew) if addressed. There are a number of companies - one of which I'm planning to use - that will take these, scan them, print them on fabric, and turn the result into a quilt. Hopefully we'll also be able to put together a scrap book of them after they've been scanned for the quilt. (As small as allows you the space you need because there are so many of you - if it's one 8x10 sheet for every person in our family, this will be an area rug, not a quilt. *grins* But use as much space as you need or want. The 8x10 limit is based on the requirements of the company that does it, and not flexible, though; they prefer to reproduce at original size.) If we could get these (or a note that you intend to send one) by the end of the year, that would be great. (I won't have the quilt for him when he's first born, but I doubt he'll remember that anyway. *grins*)

The notes:

1) Most importantly, this is not a request to give us stuff. It's a suggestion that if you want to give us stuff, here are things we could use, and here are notes about what others have given that we maybe don't need. Please, please do not buy because you think we're holding our hands out or need it - and if you have something you want to give and really love the idea, and it's not on the list, that works too. This is just an attempt to give ideas to people who aren't sure what we might want, and what we might already have, and to try to keep from getting (for example) 40 newborn onesies. (Although I must admit, the image of being buried in a blizzard of infant clothing is kind of funny.) You may want to check the "don't want" items at the bottom of the list if sending something off-list, though. (Thanks to the way the list is structured, they are at the very bottom of the last page marked with a priority of 5 - do not want - rather than on their own list.) While we'll appreciate the thought if you send those, we may not use them.

2) If the list links to a specific brand or type, unless the description on the list entry for that item says otherwise, we really want that particular item. Generic items can be whatever brand or type you like. You DO NOT need to buy specific items from the retailer we link to - it's just where we found and listed it. We're interested in the items, not which store sells them.

3) Please, if you do get something from the list, mark it as such so others know. (For entries that request multiple items, the site will let you say how many you got, so you don't have to get all the shirts we asked for just because you want to provide one, for example!)

4) Please don't get us anything that would represent a hardship to you. Seriously, see #1.

5) The larger needed items will likely be cleared from the list by mid-November if no one gets them. These are things we really have to get in advance, and are half on the list just to keep me thinking of them.

6) For clothes (and hats), please, no wool. I realize he's due in winter, but please avoid wool. It's too easily scratchy and, since I'm sensitive to lanolin, there may be an allergy component there.

7) I've been asked what our "theme" for the nursery is. Answer: we haven't picked one. I'm not sure we will. Themes strike me as cutesy and neat - and worse, hard to maintain in the face of actually caring for a child. That said, I am leaning toward a blue-green color in my mind, mostly because I figure we'll get blues whether we want them or not, and I prefer to avoid straight blue or (especially) straight pastel blue.

8) Since we're not asking for stuff unless there's something you want to give, I don't expect gift cards. But if you do, stores we have in the area that might be useful include Powell's (books), Target, Fred Meyer's, and Costco. We also have a Babies R Us that I find more overwhelming than helpful, but it is in the area and I'm sure we could find something. There's also a Walmart, and Woodburn Company stores has babies/kids' clothing though not much else, though those two are a bit more of a drive.

9) If you need our address and don't have it, you can contact myself or [livejournal.com profile] terram here on LJ, or me via kyrielle at livejournal dot com (translated appropriately).

10) If you want to mark something on the list as having been bought, "view/buy this item" will let you do so while buying from the vendor linked, but "offline reservation" will let you say you bought it with no requirement as to where you bought it. Please do mark things that you buy, it helps others. (The exception being, as noted on that item, the books - because I didn't want to set a limit on books or specify individual books. There's too many wonderful choices, if you want to go that route.)

Edited to add: comments to this post are (now) screened, so if you comment here with an email address or other form of contact to supply you with the address, it won't be public. Note that I won't reply to comments here with my address (since I'd have to leave those unscreened to be sure those without notifications got them).

[This post back-dated since it's mostly intended to be linked from the wish list.]