Quite a week.

Had a more direct and personal encounter with the Emergency Department at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston earlier in the week than I would have liked. I've been working for a client in the Longwood Medical Area here since mid-July. Over the last several days I'd been having chest pains off and on. Generally not considered a good sign for an overweight, underexercised middle-aged male. I finally decided that being moderately embarrassed if it was nothing was significantly preferable to what my wife would do to me if it were something serious. The image of her digging me up to kill me was the deciding factor so I walked across the street to the Brigham.

I'm happy to report that the outcome was moderate embarassment rather than immediate bypass surgery or worse. I spent a good portion of the day on a monitor and they ran me through a treadmill stress test. While not absolutely definitive, it appears that my heart is sound. My thanks to all the good folks I met at the Brigham who reassured me that I had done the sensible thing and made me feel comfortable despite my anxieties.

8:19:43 PM •  • comment  

Tinker With Your Computer, and Reap the Rewards

The most striking improvement in basic computer function comes with ActiveWords, $19.95 for the basic version and $49.95 for the advanced, from a small company of the same name in Winter Park, Fla. Most computer users understand the concept of macros, or shortcuts - abbreviations the computer expands into full words or phrases. ActiveWords applies that concept to nearly everything you would like the computer to do. It lets you create keyboard shortcuts - say, typing "WH" to visit the White House's Web site - for a wide variety of functions. With just a few keystrokes, you can start a report, edit a specific spreadsheet, address an e-mail message to your brother, place an Internet phone call to the home office, go to a particular Web page or fill out a form. (You press a key to signal that a shortcut is coming, then type the relevant letters.)

This is especially useful for those who, like me, hate using the mouse. I had known about this program for years before trying it seriously; now I regret the lost time. But I figure that its efficiencies give me enough extra time to keep tinkering with the list of shortcuts, until it's just right.

8:13:52 PM •  • comment