Happy New Year!

The Chinese New Year celebration has begun in earnest. Although the official date this year is February 3rd, the staff here at the hospital is down to a skeleton crew. The halls are all decorated and fireworks are going throughout the day and night.

The Chinese New Year is the biggest celebration of the year here. Think Christmas, New Years and 4th of July all at once but over a two week period. It lasts 15 days -- and is the point at which the Chinese Zodiac changes. We are moving into the year of the Rabbit. Obviously viewed as a very lucky time. Even the weather here is cooperating. The last several weeks have been cold (mid-20s) and overcast with mixed snow and rain. Today the temp got to 50 and it was sunny -- I went out for a two hour walk, it was quite lovely.  The weather for the rest of the week gets warmer each day by 5 degrees until we hit 70 on Sunday! Really looking forward to soaking up a lot of sun and spring air.

Tomorrow the hospital is serving us all lunch up on the top floor. I've decided to wait on the food post until after tomorrow. I'm sure there will be many interesting items to sample.

Feeling pretty good. Was on the edge of a cold for about 3 days, spent a lot of time just resting in the room and watching some of the movies I brought with me. Watching The Wire again, such a great show. The writer, David Simon has had a new project going on New Orleans. Looking forward to that as well. This man was a Baltimore Sun news reporter for several years and really knows how to tell a story from several angles.

Have also been reading up on some of the interesting theories being forwarded by the PALS community over at the ALS.NET forums. The forums are part of the ALS TDI group, *the* cutting edge research lab on ALS. The research being done there is centered around utilizing the recently developed mouse model for familial and sporadic ALS to test already available drugs and measure their effectiveness in slowing symptoms.

But it's the forums where people living with and fighting ALS are watching closely and doing amazing parallel research. There are several members who are highly skilled biologists and brain chemistry wizards who are keeping the folks at TDI on their toes and pushing the research envelope. If you or someone you know is dealing with ALS it is a great resource. Lots of sharing of information on individuals use of supplements and off-label drug therapies. It reminds of me of the long hours spent on Compuserve back in the day when I was first learning programming. I'm not able to contribute yet, but I'm reading and learning as fast as I can.

I also came across a patent that was filled and awarded for a TCM concoction developed for ALS called BuNaoGao. Its results have recently been released as a 5 year peer reviewed study.  The patent can be found via Google patent search and all of the herbs and amounts are listed. Between that and the herbs used here at this hospital I feel confident that I now have the best data on what is most effective from a TCM approach.

The next step is to combine that information with what is available at the ALS TDI forums and find the best combination of east and west. I plan to share that research as part of a soon to be announced but currently super secret project. :)

Another week or so of teasing and I'll let you in on all of it.

  -dta

Thousands of words

I've updated to the latest post editor on Blogger and now I can upload photos through the proxy!

First up, I thought I'd share some pics of the acupuncture I've been receiving.

Under the chin at 1" depth:



5 needles threaded across the top of the scalp, making a cross centered on the head, these needles also go in about an inch:



On the neck there are 3 down the right side, one in the center and 1 to 2 on the left. These are also fairly shallow. At the top of my spine is a major point for ALS patients. The needle is very long and goes in about 3 inches:



On my left you'll see the points across the lower part of my skull usually 5 just about an inch above the hairline. These go in about a half an inch:



The needles in the right hand make it hard to move my hand and fingers. You'll notice the needles are in all the way to the bottom of the grip about 3" deep.



None of these pictured really hurt -- at least not as bad as you'd think ;). Many times I can just feel the pressure of the needle as it comes up against bone or membrane. Rarely is there a cross with a nerve -- occasionally there is a sting when it first breaks the skin, but that's maybe one or two per treatment.

Not pictured:
1 in the right shoulder 
1 in the right bicep
2 just on the surface of the right forearm
1 between the big and 2nd toe on the right foot
1 about an inch below and behind the center of the right ankle
1 on each side behind the ear lobe

Alternating jaw in front of the ear. This is the one I mentioned before where he twists and pounds the needle once it's in. (This one *does* hurt -- every blessed time.)

Then there is the tongue, lots of light jabs then two pokes on top and one stick under the tongue. 

Time to go make dinner, next time I'll share some interesting pictures of the food.

20 down, 20 to go

Apologies for lack of posts in the last week. I've been mostly working on a super-secret project that I'm very excited about (more about that in a bit). I also finally received my care package on Sunday -- which contained many items that have also kept me busy. I started to work on a post yesterday but developed a nasty headache before lunch that hung on until 1am.

I believe I experienced my first 'Herx" reaction. Named after Karl Herxheimers, the Dr that observed patients reactions when excess toxins are released faster than the body can remove them. My care package included all of my supplements -- which I have not been taking for over 2 weeks. Some of the supplements serve as natural antibiotics which kill bacteria that may be part of what started my symptoms.  I didn't realize it yesterday -- I just felt like crap and tried to deal with the headache and eye pain as best I could. But this morning when I woke up I had a strong toxic smell (I had showered the night before) and my urine was very dark. But I felt much better, more so than I had for the last week or so. I'm gonna say this was a good thing.

As to what the bacteria may be is a larger question. I have tested positive for Borreliosis, the bacteria that is linked to Lyme disease. There are estimates that over 80% of those diagnosed with ALS are carrying the Borreliosis bacteria. My plan after returning to the states is to pursue a course of treatment to specifically target the bug, but as I mentioned some of the supplements I'm on are already starting to have an impact.

It's good to be here receiving TCM treatments, part of the daily routine includes pulse and tongue diagnosis. So if I am having a toxin overload it can be dealt with immediately. When I talked to the Dr about it this morning she said we'd give it another 2 days. If I have another similar experience she'll change the herb formula. But she agreed it was a good sign that I was detoxing.

David and Paula left yesterday, the only other Americans. It was hard to see them go, we had become fast friends and they were very helpful. Unfortunately David left in worse condition than he had arrived. When he came in early December he was able to walk with a cane, when he left he was moving slowly with a walker.

The last 2 weeks were particularly hard on him. The power and water issues, as well as the elevator being out of order for a week and all of the construction noise really caused him a lot of stress.  I hope he is able to find a path to wellness once he is back home.

However, another patient has had some recent success. When she arrived she was using a walker -- and now just over 3 weeks later she is getting around without any assistance at all!  We are all very encouraged by this. Hans and I were talking tonight and shared that we are both talking a little better as well.

That has been an unexpected joy of being here. The community shares the ups and downs together. We are all experiencing our connectedness as we share the joys and pains of healing our bodies, minds and spirits.

Going to wrap up -- I need to get a bit more work done on the super-secret project before I head to bed. I promise to tease you more over the coming days...

Much love and gratitude.

  -dta

Keep it positive

keep it positive positive positive positive positive
keep it positive positive positive positive positive
keep it positive positive positive positive positive
keep a positive charge a positive charge

beauty inspiration melodic music
massaging my foreverness consciousness
joy expanding uncaused always has been at large
bigger than mountains or even waterfall
of all you all given the positive charge

continuous gorgeous happiness sunrises
smiles on my heartbeat
excitement invigorating my awaiting
of more beauty more awe inspiring diary
of this life that I'm co-creating for the harmony of all beings

courage strength health trust truth compassion
over-standing of crystal clear perception
euphoria and laughter is what we're all after
manifesting with each thought appropriate

I am superman the almighty I can
living up to God to show my enthusiasm
orgasms of appreciation for each breath
of the cosmic continuous conduit of celebration

we are alive right now charged with positive electrons
nurturing our love songs in a lullaby that makes God cry
sweetness contentment all our needs are met
every positive thought will manifest

I have a heart so large with such a strong charge
I can land spaceships and make them ask for directions

the possibilities are endless of this miracle that we're living
its the reason we wake up every morning
singing to create something more beautiful then the day before
more inspiring with every choice giving the positive flex is a must

constant for everyone expanding
every intention is on the horizon
I am the manifestation of my highest intentions
keeping the positive continuous

love light trust acceptance positive discernment
music poetry and language
contagious bliss acknowledgment
the universe is granting every wish
so keep it positive, positive, positive, positive, positive
keep a positive charge positive charge

keep it positive positive positive positive positive
keep it positive positive positive positive positive
keep it positive positive positive positive positive
keep a positive charge a positive charge

magnetizing all the goodness
multiplying all the happiness
charging life with appreciation
acknowledging every blessing
giving thanks for this experience
and help charging it with best intentions

it's time to become angels
thinking every thought with crystal clear awareness
and watching it manifest at large
feel God laugh aloud
and scream your love to the cosmic beloved
for this is the life we are all creating

keep it positive positive positive positive positive
keep it positive positive positive positive positive
keep it positive positive positive positive positive
keep a positive charge a positive charge

-Chances R Good

1/3rd down

It took a few days to recover from back to back trips into town as well as a few nights rough sleep aided by outboard heater units that apparently weren't designed to work covered in ice.

It's been snowing steadily for 4 days. For my Minneapolis peeps that seems like not such a big deal but it's like saying it has been snowing for 4 days in Seattle. They are neither accustom or equipped for it. Traffic (which in a normal state is complete chaos) is an e-ticket ride. No plows to speak of, and they are using spades to shovel the walks.

It's been a good time to rest and be lazy in the room. Actually fired up the TV for the first time. 30 channels of pure Chinese culture and language and one channel of state run English speaking news. Kind of a mix between CNN and BBC. Not sure how obvious it is in the states, but Chinese President Hu Jintao is visiting President Obama -- the commentary news is interesting from here. Apparently America should stop trying to "surround" China through it's allied relations with Japan, Korea and Russia and we really need to open up our markets to more Chinese exports -- as well as start selling the Blackhawk helicopter to demonstrate our true commitment to Sino partnership. We also need to stop harping on the human rights issues.

Didn't need more than about an hour of that propaganda.

I also watched a few of the movies I brought including Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon -- it had been a few years. What an excellent movie. Great sword play and skilled horse riding, a beautiful soundtrack and a touching story. When I saw it in the theater it was with English subtitles. This time was English dubbed. I have to say I understood a lot more of the story this time, and was able to really enjoy the cinematography.

Caught up on laundry and made a giant pot of mutton stew with dal and a ton of veggies. Ate it over 3 days... very tasty.

I did finally manage to make it into town today, and wondered a bit farther from the mall. Still looking for a florist for some flowers for my stark white room. No luck there but I did find a pharmacy. Of course nothing was labeled in English, but the staff had a good time following me around and giggling while we pointed at things and I tried to use various Eng->Mandarin tools on my iPod to locate fish oil and calcium. I found them both as well as Spirulina and powdered goats milk. Like at the grocery store, whenever you pull something off the shelf, someone immediately hands you a different brand of the same thing -- or occasionally something that seems completely different. I'm not totally clear if they are showing me better quality, better price, or if they get a spiff for pushing certain brands.

Half of the pharmacy looked like a drug store, the other half had traditional chinese herbs including some more exotic items like dried lizard and hippocampus. I was tempted to buy both -- but couldn't picture how I'd get them back to the states in once piece. Going to have to research what the seahorses are good for.

Today was also a change in the acupuncture routine. Instead of the top of head, back of neck, jaw and right arm -- it was 5 in the stomach and one on the side of each knee. I was glad for the change, I had started to build up some scar tissue, especially behind the jaw that was getting painful when I chewed. I believe we are "stoking the fire" with the stomach work. 3 days of that and then we'll get back to concentrating on the throat and right arm.

My speech is still pretty labored, but my swallowing is completely back to normal and I can tell I have more power in the tongue when I'm eating. I also feel like my right hand has filled out a bit.

We had a new arrival today, Tracy from Seattle! She is here only for a week and is studying at the TCM school here. She's been traveling for several months through Europe and Thailand and stopped here on her way home to check things out. Her plan is to return later in the year for more training and possibly to teach ESL. It was great to talk with another American, especially someone from Seattle (Bothel).

Paula and David, the only other Americans are getting quite short -- they leave for home on Tuesday. I'm going to miss them, it has been great to get to know the two of them. We've commiserated through some of the challenges and their veteran advise has been invaluable.

Tomorrow we hit the 1/3rd mark for my planned time here. Seems like time has passed by very quickly, wonder if it will feel like that at 2/3rds?

Zhídào xià yīcì

Sunday's Hour(s) of Power

Took a few days off from blogging, there were some technical difficulties -- the proxy I'm using seems to support Facebook javascript calls, but doesn't work so well with many other sites including blogger. The internet connection has been problematic as well, plus I needed to take a little break from the computer.

We also had a full day (Sunday) with no power. We were warned in advance -- it was due to construction in the area, and the staff did what they could to make things bearable. It went off at 6:45am and since the heat is electric, the first priority was warmth. Dozens of rubber water bottles were filled and distributed as well as extra blankets and an open fire "pit" was lit on the first floor.

They also offered the distraction of leaving the facility for the day -- I was initially not going to go, but decided at the last minute that my spirits would probably do better by going out.

We were taken to a park, it was nice -- more cement than greenery, but given the time of year there wouldn't be much green anyway. There were 3 traditional pagoda style buildings, one was at least 20 stories tall and very ornate. The "Peoples Park" was along a river and there were gardens and paths with groomed trees and bushes.

There was an interesting walkway across the river. 50 or so 2x2 square stones came up out of the water in pairs, each spaced about a foot apart. One side was about 8 inches taller than the other. They allowed you to walk across the river with sure footing, but there was no rail. Waking across was really more of stepping one foot and then the other on each stone. You could take a longer stride and hit each stone with only one foot -- but a slight trip and you'd be in the river. An interesting experience, not terribly practical as there is no way for river traffic to pass.

We didn't stay very long as there was a decent wind and it was pretty chilly. The bus then took us to the New Life Mall -- the same building that houses the supermarket where we shop for groceries 3 days a week.

Normally we don't have enough time to shop for groceries and see the rest of the mall, so it was interesting looking around.

We had lunch together at a large restaurant where all of the various dishes were sitting out, you selected what you wanted, it was written on a card and brought to you after being prepared fresh. There was a wide selection, lots of veggies, and of course many things I've never seen before.

I settled on a seafood dish with small squid, shrimp, clams and sausage stuffed mushrooms. It was served on an elevated tray with a sterno fire going underneath. It was pretty tasty and a nice change from what I've been eating.

I shared the table with 3 other men, Emilio from Barcelona who had been at the clinic since early December and Hans and his son Gerhardt from Austria who had just arrived the day before. Emilio has atrophy in both arms -- but said his condition had improved during his stay. Hans had muscle loss in his tongue and throat as well as all of his limbs. Both were very positive and had a great outlook on their lives and general health. We laughed a lot and shared stories of our careers and diagnosis and progression of symptoms. It was the best connection I've had yet with other men on the same journey.

We spilt up after a long casual meal and I wondered around the 5 floors of the mall. It was really more of a large department store than a mall, each floor dedicated to certain goods -- ladies, men and childrens clothes, household goods and electronics. Of course I spent an hour or so looking over the various gadgets. Lots of hand-held MP4 video players, some very cheap netbooks (sub $100), digital cameras and remote control toys. I spent a little time considering a remote control helicopter, but I know that it would be fun for a day or so until it broke -- then I would be stuck with yet another piece of broken tech that I would eventually toss. But they were cool looking :).

The day before we had come into town as part of our regular schedule and went to an open air market instead of the mall. I'll save the details of the market for another post -- but between the two days of walking around I was pretty beat.

When we got back to the clinic we started cooking dinner (gas stoves fortunately) and only had to wait a few hours before the power was back on. There was a big cheer when the lights came on -- amazing how things you normally take for granted are celebrated when they return to their normal state of being.

Treatment came at 7pm, with the massage ending around 8:30 -- I collapsed into bed.

Reflections on week 1

It's Saturday, I arrived at the clinic a week ago.

It has been a week that at times felt like a cross between burning man and basic training (without being yelled at and told to "drop and give me 20". But the ever-present fireworks remind me of the Howitzers in the distance so many years ago.)

Daily treatments go easy and are welcome. Acupuncture now includes needle "pounding" the jaw, alternating each side daily and tongue stabbing. Mmmmm, stabby.

It's really not as bad as it sounds. The hardest thing is keeping my tongue stuck out for longer than 10 seconds. Like most needling (with the above exception) it is generally just an unfamiliar sensation, with the anticipation of pain -- and when it moves to uncomfortable that anticipation is amped.

The morning routine is getting stronger -- and helping. This morning I woke up and felt like lying in bed until the 9am rounds, but discipline is the mother of movement through the moment. Just had to get started -- light the candle, start to pray and soon I was singing the loudest chakra mantras yet!

Then, I read the emails and comments from so many of you -- and I cried, and laughed. They provide an additional source of strength to keep at it.

So, at this point in time, 1/6th of the way through -- would I recommend others diagnosed with ALS to come?

Benefits:
TCM expertise -- these folks live it, and have specialized in the treatment of ALS and other neuro disorders.

Isolation which provides an opportunity for focus and intention.

Community which provides empathy and hope.

Challenges:
Food is foreign, and not just because it's hard to find cows milk, or meat you can trust, or pizza. When you are on a restricted diet (as most of us have moved to) not having access to various gluten-free / organic items, or knowing what ingredients are in the various sauces (hard to read labels when they are in Chinese) -- your diet becomes even more restrictive by necessity.

Not knowing the language, makes you illiterate, and to some extent deaf and mute. Lots of pointing and grunting and frustration as you try to communicate. Yes there are translators, but much of the information is lost in translation or simply not translated at all.

China is rushing into the 21st century. The clinic is modern, as is the supermarket -- but all around there are people living in conditions that are considered by many westerners as primitive. The roads are dirty, the air can be thick with coal and diesel smoke and germ killing cleaners aren't as common as one may be accustomed to.

You aren't home with friends and family.

Conclusion:
If you can find the expertise in herbs, acupuncture and massage close to home -- you may be better served to not subject yourself to the long flight, the stress of communication and limited access to the type of nutrition and amenities you are used to.

However, if you have the resources and the strength (and even better have someone who can make the journey with you), and access to TCM is too scarce or too expensive at home, by all means consider this a viable option.

My body is stronger and more in balance everyday. Is it a cure? No. But it does give my body the best fighting chance to slow, stop or even regress the symptoms of this horrible disease.

Day 4

There's a room full of people in your head, in your head,
Yes there's a room full of people in your head, in your head.
And every single one of them knows your name.

So goes the song by Craig Minoa of Cloud Cult.

Woke this morning with the critic on the mic. I'm not doing enough, just going through the motions, checking things off my list so at some point I can turn back to God, or my Doctors or anyone else and scream "IT'S NOT MY FAULT!!! -- SEE LOOK, I DID EVERYTHING I COULD..."

Ugh.

Screaming, more of that. I grabbed a pillow on Sunday and screamed for about 30 seconds - everything felt better, and my voice dropped.

No water for most of the day today. Dr Ming is visibly upset, but something that is obviously not in his control. Talking with others about it, this is not common but not unheard of.

So we all pitched in and boiled water in the kitchen for dishes (we still have a hot/cold water cooler in the room, so plenty to drink). I was planning on a shower and laundry today -- best laid plans.

Tremors are high today and all over my body. Nothing uncomfortable, and no cramping -- I like to think it is a good thing. The muscles are "beaconing" to the neurons for signal. Healthy neurons can take the place of those that have become too weak to signal -- with the potential to expand by a factor of 5!

Cooking my own meals today -- and glad for it. Nothing tastes as good as your own food.

The morning routine is pretty much set. If I'm up by 6 I get through it all by 9 in time for the Doctor's rounds. Then tea, a little video chat with my sweet wife and daughter and acupuncture and massage takes me to almost 1.

Making, eating and cleaning up lunch takes about 2 hours -- a nap, exercise, a little computer time and then dinner. Meals are a social time -- hanging out cooking in the kitchen with everyone else is enjoyable. So far everyone I've met is here for ALS treatment.

After dinner and cleanup another video chat, and if I have the energy some reading or computer time.

Hard to believe I used to work 10 hours a day.

Thanks for all the comments and emails. It helps to hear from you and stay connected.

Until tomorrow -- love from China.

Day 3

Was woken @ 1:30 by fireworks -- apparently a common occurrence no mater what time of year. Unfortunately it hit me wrong in my sleep cycle so I was up till about 3:30. Up @ 6:30 for the morning routine, now complete with tongue exercises!

As part of the team rounds they put me on a heart monitor. The suction cups didn't want to stick because of the hair on my chest, so I've finally succumbed to a bare chest. Looks kind of ridiculous to me, and it shocked M&G when I lifted my shirt on our video chat.

2 eggs for breakfast along w noodle soup, this should be a real test for the allergies. Even more needles with Tom and then beef w cumin, steamed veggies and rice. Then off to the market!

There is a clinic bus that goes into Hauihua 3 times a week. This was my first chance to meet some of the other "guests". As it turns out I was the only patient, everyone else is a care
giver. Atusa from Innsbrooke, Austria is here with her mother. Turns out that Atusa studied TCM under Dr Ming 10 years ago. She had great things to say about him and his work as both a healer and a master. Paula here with her son David from Vermont and Tarida and Osama, both here with family members -- all being treated for ALS.

The ride took us through a much more modern part of the city than the ride from the airport. With only 6 million people, Huaihua is considered a "small" Chinese city. Much more crowded than Shanghai, lots of traffic -- from scooters to busses and trucks all weaving and honking and waving. No road rage, just getting along in very tight and fairly unstructured ways.

The supermarket was overwhelming. The translators were there to help, as was Atusa -- for which I am very grateful. I managed to find most everything I was looking for, and lots of stuff I've never seen in my life.

I'll probably go back on Saturday to do some clothes shopping. None of my jeans fit anymore, and the prices are pretty amazing. Everyone is dressed nice in new clothes, and I can see why.

Need to keep this one short, I'm pretty tired between the short night, no nap and the trip into town.

Day 2

Sorry about the double posting, didn't hit publish on Day 1 yesterday.

Woke at 6:30 after 10 hours of sleep. Meditation, mantra and QiGong all before 7:30 the official wake time, which felt great. I'm using the "Waking the Cobra" seed mantras for meditation as well as Om Namah Shiviya using a full mala. The whole thing takes about 45 minutes and all out loud. The walls are a little thin here, and my voice has a drone to it anyway -- I'm sure some of the staff wonder just what is going on in my room. But, I have to get over being concerned about that -- not here to impress anyone.

Breakfast arrived at 8:30, noodle soup and veggies again w/ egg. Not so sure the egg is a good long-term plan, I recently tested with a moderate allergy to eggs so I've been avoiding them. But, the breakfast menu is pretty limited and eggs are the only protein and high protein is the priority. Hopefully I'll be able to find some protein powder when I go to the market tomorrow.

Daily round with the team @ 9. The professor wants me to start taking calcium supplements as well as do tongue exercises to combat the atrophy.

Did some shopping on Amazon, looking for a good acupuncture book to help me log the points being used as well as a book on Chinese history and culture. Found a number of free kindle books on Chinese history and a sampled a few good acupuncture books. I love the kindle store -- you can sample a book in the reader, and many of the samples are dozens of pages.

Herbs showed up @ 10am just as I was saying goodnight via video chat w/ Margit and Grace.

11 brought Tom for acupuncture and tui-na massage. More needles today than yesterday; 5 on top of the skull, 7 in the back of the neck, 1 deep in the upper back (3 inches), 6 down the right arm one in the left and two in the right foot, and my favorite, one under the chin. They are concentrating most of the work on voice and tongue to start. Nothing really painful, but not exactly comfortable -- especially when I swallow. 30 minutes later the needles come out and then it's another 30 minutes of massage. Medium to deep tissue work, mostly head, shoulders, neck and arms.

Lunch @ noon was mutton "hot pot". Massive boiling bowl of lamb bits and lotus root, cooking via sterno. Pics coming soon...

Nap from 1-2:30 then studying and logging the points used. While studying I learned that moving while having the needles in is recommended, especially for ALS. So tomorrow I'll see how that feels. Certainly not the most intuitive thing to do given the depth of some of the needles.

A little email and Facebook and a failed attempt to video chat with my friend Legend, then it was beef (I hope) and celery, mushroom and corn soup and rice. Again, a tasty meal -- as long as you don't spend too much time thinking about it.

Some planning for the trip to market, evening mantra and a good morning video chat with M&G and I was in bed by 9.

Day 1

Woke at 6:00 refreshed and happy to be here.

Bed is very firm, apparently my body likes it as I slept well. As I mentioned in my Day 0 post I have my own heater in the room. It's actually a heater / air-conditioner. Very fancy with a remote control -- unfortunately all in Chinese. Since I'm not suppose to run the heater at night I woke to a chilly room, so before getting out of bed I tried turning it on via remote. After about 10 minutes I crawled out from the comforter to find I had turned on the AC!

After a few minutes of fiddling I got it to start cranking out heat.

Did some QiGong, but did not complete all 8 brocades before breakfast arrived. Noodle soup with and egg and some green tea. The tea turns out to have been a mistake -- it was quite tasty (I'm in China after all) but it really kicked up the tremors. I had mostly stopped drinking caffeinated tea for that reason -- today just confirmed I need to stick with the herbal and flower varieties.

After breakfast the daily routine continued with my check in with Dr Krista, Tom, nurse CC and Susan (another translator as John had the day off). I found out that my daily treatment would be scheduled for 11am. This will work well as it gives me a structured morning up until lunch and siesta.

Lunch was chicken and celery with steamed veggies and rice. Very tasty.

After lunch I tried to print out my list of supplements and my medical records. All together about 50 pages. When I took the documents on a USB stick to the translators office they looked at me like I was crazy. 50 pages seemed like an unreasonable request.

While I was waiting, one of the translators was bumping deep house. I think I'll have to connect with him another time ;).

This afternoon I tried out the work-out room, 20 minutes of bike and eliptical, then a few minutes with barbells, finishing off with 30 minutes in the massage chair. Gotta get me one of those...

Back to my room, freshly cleaned -- started working on a blog post when dinner arrived, a whole fried fish (some kind of white fish), eggplant and of course, steamed rice.

No meditation or mantras today, but I will have time to work them into the routine tomorrow morning.

Day 0

I arrived at the Zhongfang Red Cross International Hospital Saturday morning after being picked up by my translator "John" at the Huaihua airport.

The drive from the airport was interesting, I took some video and will upload in a future post. We passed very old, old, newer and brand new structures -- all seem to be randomly build next to each other.

Lots of trucks and busses on the road, the ever present scooters and motorcycles and the occasional passenger car. Then there are these what look to me to be diesel powered rickshaws. Where instead of a person pulling the cart, there is a two wheeled diesel engine. There were some carts being pulled by people as well, including one by a man wearing a suit!

As we approached Zhongfang (20 miles south) 20-30 story buildings started to appear and rows of identical multi-family dwellings like you see in suburbs off the highway in the states. Zhongfang is China's "youngest city" -- celebrating it's 3rd year and from what I saw driving in is one giant construction zone.

The hospital is a nice 6 story brick and cement building, the entire front half of the building above the 2nd floor is open with large balconies facing toward the city. Lovely in the spring and summer I'm sure, but makes for a cold building when it's 2 degrees celsius.

I was taken to my room, 45 sq meters with it's own bathroom, heater, mini-fridge and water cooler. Two beds, dresser and armoire, one treatment table, a desk, 40" flat panel TV and a few chairs. Comfortable but sparse with tall ceilings and nothing on the white walls except a mirror.

Lunch was delivered to my room, a tasty meal of chicken, bok choy and rice.

After an hour to myself of eating, unpacking and reading the "Information Guide" I was escorted to a conference room where I met my team: Dr. Ming (center president), Dr. Krista (my assigned doctor), nurse CC, Tom the acupuncture and massage practitioner, translator John and then there was Professor ______. I didn't catch her name, as it was the only one that wasn't westernized (or short) -- but she is definitely the elder of the group. Everyone cued off of her questions as they discussed among themselves in Chinese and asked me questions through John (except for Dr. Ming who is quite competent with English).

The team then came back to my room where they spent about 30 minutes reading my pulses, looking at my tongue (two primary diagnostic protocols in TCM) and looking at my right arm where most of the atrophy has occurred. After everyone left the Professor stopped by again (but without a translator) and showed me some paperwork (in Chinese) and said a few things to me (again in Chinese) but had a knowing smile on her face. It seemed to me she was telling me that she was going to manage my case directly -- I did my best to communicate back that I thought I understood. She smiled, nodded and left. Again, I'm not exactly sure what it was all about but I was comforted by her presence and spirit.

About an hour later Tom came in (with translator) and I received my first treatment. More details on his technique in the future, but he was confident with his needles and gave a strong and thorough tui-na (medical massage).

My herbal tea arrived shortly after the treatment. I drank one bottle and completed unpacking. It was much stronger than what they have had me drinking at home for the last few months -- and they definitely switched up the formula. Now with 20% more pungent tastes!

Dinner came an hour or so later, I barely finished because I was so tired. Had a quick IM with Margit then washed up and was in bed by 6:30. Had to set and alarm for midnight so I could take my other bottle of herbal tea. Woke up, drank the tea, crashed until 6:00 am. I woke up feeling rested and happy to be here.

Feeling grateful for all of the help received to arrive here and excited about the healing that has already begun.

-dta

Arrived in China

It was a long flight, 12 hours to Tokyo, a few hours layover then a 4 hour flight to Shanghai.  It was almost a full 24 hours from departure in Minneapolis to arriving at my hotel.

The flight to Tokyo was a large plane and was packed. Since we were flying west it stayed light until just before landing, added to the surrealness of it all.

Customs in Japan and China was a breeze ( actually the whole trip, which has not been the case for me in several years since my common name is on the no-fly list.)

I was impressed by the size of the airport in Shanghai. Easily the most immense complex I've ever seen.  Very modern and spacious, the few hundred people at baggage claim seemed small compared to the space.

The taxi ride to the hotel also had the same feeling. Lots of well lit roads with very few people traveling. As we got closer to the city center I expected to see a crowded city, but most of the large apartment buildings we passed looked mostly empty and the city seemed asleep. I arrived at the hotel (Ramada Plaza) around 10:30pm local time. Even when I got to my room and looked out the window the city seemed quite and sparse.

The hotel guests seem to mostly be western -- breakfast was a mixed fare of west and east. Because of my egg-free diet, I ate mostly veggies and rice. The city is starting to come alive, but again not as crowded as I had anticipated. I'm sure there are parts of this megacity that are dense, but the area I'm in feels like a European business center. I can see the Best Buy offices from my room and the hotel is running an Agile conference for HP. ;)

I complete my travel to the clinic in the morning, should arrive late afternoon.  Feeling good, all limbs are functioning well. My speech is slurred and slow, but I'm not talking much so it's not a problem. I have a few apps on my iPad that let me type in English and it will translate to Mandarin, as well as allow others to type or draw Mandarin with translation back.

Everyone I have encountered has been very friendly and helpful, a great start to the trip!

More from Zhongfang in a day or so!

Much love and gratitude,

  -dta

ALS Treatment update - November 2010

Again, we'd like to start with expressing our deep gratitude for all of the amazing love and support that has been flowing our way. We are confident and encouraged that this is a fight we will win together.

I recently returned from a week in Seattle where I had the opportunity to DJ for two great events -- and had a blast doing it! Had no issues that evening, there are even pictures of me waving my right arm high in the air. It was a great time!

In addition I had the opportunity to be seen by 6 healers in modalities that ranged from energy, subtle body, psychic, cranial sacral, SOMA, nutrition and homeopathy.

The treatments and information were powerful. We believe there is a winning formula for beating ALS, and it includes:

Detox (metals, toxic chemicals)

Diet (Glutten and dairy free)

Deep Acupuncture

Herbal Remedies

Deep Tissue massage

Rest

Meditation and prayer

The Chinese acupuncture and herb treatments are coming from a clinic in China that has concentrated on treating ALS since 2005. You can read more here: www.tcmtreatment.com.

I am planning to travel to China in January of 2010 to receive 4 weeks of treatment and bring the information back home to work with local providers to extend the healing.

Rest assured, we are still pursuing all available western treatments, unfortunately there is currently only one that is approved by the FDA. It's job is to help reduce glutamate levels in the blood. This will also be helped by detox and dietary changes.

If you are joining us in prayer, our current visioning is healing along the brain stem and spine -- specifically in the center of the back with golden healing light filling the back, throat and arms.

There is a fundraising event happening on November 27 to help off-set the cost of China and treatments I'm currently receiving here in MN. You can find out more information here:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=158585904178037

With much love,

-dta, margit and grace

Health Status - October 2010

I'd like to start by first offering my gratitude for all of the love and support that has been sent our way as we have been working through the process of diagnosis. Your prayers and intentions are felt, and have had a positive impact on our experience.

Yesterday I received a diagnosis of ALS (also referred to as Lou Gehrig's disease). It is a disease of the motor neurons and is currently manifesting in my speech and my arms -- predominantly my right.

We consider this diagnosis a blessing, it opens up many support channels ranging from disability insurance to VA coverage.

I will be providing more information in near term regarding the treatment options we are pursuing. For now it is sufficient to say that we are leaving no stone unturned.

Thank you again for your love and support. If you are looking for an intention for prayer, at this time we are focusing on slowing down; slowing the deterioration of neurons, slowing the atrophy of muscles and just general slowing down in life.

Again, we consider this diagnosis a blessing -- an opportunity to connect with the things that are important in life and concentrate on healing.

Best regards,

-dta

Error: This domain has been disabled - Google Apps

Coming out of my blogging sabbatical to post this:

I was a premier subscriber, didn't need the "features" that came with premier, so after two years cancelled. On the same day I receive the email from Google letting me know that I've been downgraded, the domain is suddenly disabled.

Now that's a downgrade!

Can't contact Google via email, without having the premier account. No way to re-up for the premier account with the domain disabled.

After some searching I found that I can add my domain to a growing list of domains that have had the same downgrading problem here, where volunteer Power Poster LMckin51 will gladly add me to a list to be reviewed "on Friday" when apparently such issues are considered.

#GOOGLEFAIL

[UPDATE] - My service has been restored, total downtime just over 2 days. I assume this is the doings of LMckin51, for whom I am deeply grateful.

No communication from Google, and still can't access the control panel. Completely underwhelmed with the backdoor approach to getting an issue into the queue.

[UPDATE 2] - My service has been restored, but not other users on the domain (ie: my wife).

[UPDATE 3] - Everything is down (disabled) again.

[UPDATE 4] - 1/30/2010 Domain is full restored after finally being able to access my account's Control Panel. A confirmed bug that took at least 2 weeks to escalate and fix. Wow.

One win, I managed to track down the form for submitting account access issues officially to Google.

https://www.google.com/support/a/bin/request.py?contact_type=cantaccess

"Your identity will be displayed by what you don't use." -kk

Another excellent article by Kevin Kelly on our continuing Convergence.

ONN: New Apple Macbook Wheel

Apple Introduces Revolutionary New Laptop With No Keyboard

Giles Bowkett: TDD And Experiments: I Was Wrong

Giles Bowkett: TDD And Experiments: I Was Wrong

If you are extending an existing system, or architecting a framework TDD (Test Driven Development) is supreme.

But if you are inventing, the organic process of creative coding allows you the ability to stub things out in real-time... all neurons firing.

All your data are belong to Redmond

It seems Facebook violated their own privacy policies when it comes to sharing data with 3rd parties.  With Microsoft investing in Facebook to the tune of 240 million, this could have been predicted.

Last week the Borg released their own social-network enhanced version of Windows Live.  

Alden Anderson 2.0 celebrates 4 years

Alden Anderson 2.0 is celebrating it's 4th anniversary this month, and we've put together a new website with information on our super not-so-secret project, RAVEN.

RAVEN stands for Relevence Action Value ENgine, it's our patented Business Rule Platform.

We will be producing a case study soon, more information to follow here and at the new site.

I guess you can say we're out of "stealth" mode.  ;)

Some election tracking links

Novel:

NYT: Election Wordtrain
http://www.perspctv.com/

Citizen:

http://www.videothevote.org/

http://www.youtube.com/videoyourvote

http://www.ourvotelive.org/home.php

Distraction:

http://blog.indecision2008.com/

http://www.theonion.com/content/whitehousewar

Essential:
Google election gadget (Note to self - make a timely gadget get a gajillion hits...)

Apple is losing the Hearts & Minds battle

Apparently, the new sexy MacBooks come with a version of iTunes that won't recognize an iTouch or iPhone that has been jailbroken or unlocked.

But, if you have iTunes on Windows somewhere (like in Fusion or that old HP notebook) you are still in luck.

Why would you jailbreak an iTouch/iPhone? Because Apple has a stranglehold on the applications that can be added to the devices, and has refused to allow alternatives to built-in apps like Safari, Mail or iTunes. Or, maybe you don't want/can't afford to pay AT&T's outrageous international roaming rates. 

This is another slide in the descent of Apple becoming the old Microsoft - only worse, because they own the hardware too.

1,000 Web APIs

Read all about it at the Programmable Web Blog

Learn Arduino in Seattle

MAKE reports: 

Josh Kopel will be teaching an Arduino workshop through Seattle's 911 Media Arts Center.

The Arduino is a small programmable device capable of big things. With it you can examine the world through various sensors and use the data to control motors, lights and just about any other electronic device. Come learn how to build kinetic sculpture, audio sequencers, home automation systems or whatever you can imagine. This class will focus on controlling motors using the Arduino, and we will be investigating how to recycle/re-use commonly discarded ink jet printers for their component parts. Bring your best ideas and wildest concepts and lets get them moving. Course fee is 255.00 plus 40.00 lab fee: total 295. The lab fee will over a motor control kit, some additional electronics, and a supply of printers to hack. You will need to have a laptop computer (win XP or Vista, OSX, or Linux*), and you should purchase your own Arduino Diecimila.

Schneier on Barack Obama's Security Mindset

I have made this general point again and again -- about airline security, about terrorism, about a lot of things -- that the person in charge of the security system can't be the person who decides what resources to devote to that security system. The analogy I like to use is a company: the VP of marketing wants all the money for marketing, the VP of engineering wants all the money for engineering, and so on; and the CEO has to balance all of those needs and do what's right for the company. So of course the TSA wants to spend all this money on new airplane security systems; that's their job. Someone above the TSA has to balance the risks to airlines with the other risks our country faces and allocate budget accordingly. Security is a trade-off, and that trade-off has to be made by someone with responsibility over all aspects of that trade-off.

I don't think I've ever heard a politician make this point so explicitly.

More at Schneier's on Security

VFP Investors to get their own bailout?

I wish I had heard the conversation leading up to this point. Why is Ken telling people to go out and buy copies of VFP9, so they can be sold on ebay when MS stops selling?

Android'd

I've had 3 of the last 4 Windows Mobile offerings, I didn't jump at the first iPhone, but I did try out the 3g when it first shipped. So my wife was not surprised when I left the house early this AM to stand in line for one of the first G1 phones in Seattle.

OMG.

It's not as slim and sleek as the 3g, but what it lacks in footprint it makes up for in sheer geek-ability.

I've had a hard time doing anything today other than fondling this lovely piece of gear and downloading (for free, for now) every app that I would ever want to think about using.

If you are a Facebook user, you'll find the process of adding apps to the phone familiar. It lets you know what services you are exposing to the app.

I've read several reviews, and yes -- there is room for improvement but... OMG.

I spent a long weekend trying to jailbreak my G3 just so I could capture videos and secure (crypto) email. With the G1, it's Prego baby -- it's all in there.

OMG.

Is It Worth Upgrading to SQL Server 2008?

Nice article by Nigel Maneffa, covering the features that come with the SQL2008 upgrade. It appears that most of the new features that were part of the CTP are Enterprise only.

Free registration required @ SQLServerCentral.com, worth the time.

Geekthink on a Resource Based Economy

Zeitgeist, the movie has an addendum. If you haven't seen the original it makes for interesting viewing.

In the addendum there is a presentation of the Venus Project and the concept of a Resource Based Economy. Geeks are responding @ Microsoft's Channel 9. Good read.

Universal Design Pattern

Excellent, detailed discussion of the use of the "Properties Pattern".

  

FoxPro on Youtube and other tubes

Watch this (or at least skip through it), then check out related videos.

Props to the SWFoxPro Conference for putting the keynote up.  Great to see VFP grassroots conference attendance is growing.

May be a good time to start the SeaVFP group...

More on the Zune - MS Genuine Advantage

So I kept the Zune. The hardware is a great bang for the buck, the software will come along -- and eventually a hacker culture will develop around it that will provide the level of control I want on the device.

I've ranted in the past about the Transnote. Lovely form - function... rivals many tablets on the market today -- except it's a 700mhz with 320 mb maxed.

Unfortunately I can't get a wireless solution to work with it. I've tried PCMCIA and CF Slot devices. They lock up or can't handle the slightest load before reseting.

IAC, I also can't get (many) updates from MSFT. XP is not what shipped on this machine, I bought it from eBay and received it with the XP upgrade. I updated to XPSP2 via CD, but once I hit Windows Update live I found out I was running an upgrade that did not qualify as "Genuine".

So now I only get "security updates".

With XP, this means it is more inconvenient for me to get security downloads. However with Vista it's a whole new ballgame. If Vista determines it is not "Genuine" it will start to "gracefully degrade". I've not seen this work yet -- but it will be interesting to see how such a feature goes over.

Zune vs PS3

Bought a Zune, thinking about taking it back.

The software locked up my 6 month old laptop 3 times during install, feels like a munge between Media Player and iTunes and doesn't run on Vista.

But here's the kicker -- no Podcasting support. The work around? Use a 3rd party tool to manage the subscriptions... for many that will be iTunes.

Hey Microsoft, this is how you launch a damn product!

Update: Microsoft's Zune Only Looks Simple covers it.

What has MSFT done for us lately?

As part of my recent gear swapping, I've had the chance to rebuild a few machines and test-drive some newer MS software.

IE7: If you haven't checked the Beta, I recommend it. The RSS support is pretty slick, there are Tabs (and a cool Quick Tab feature that lets you see all your tabs graphically on one scrollable page) and performance seems snappy.

SQL Server Express: It's free, and the Management Studio tool works against SQL2K databases. Another new interface which I generally like, combining Enterprise Manager w/ Query Analyzer and again, tabs. You won't find a Data Transformation Wizard or access to Profiler in this free version, but it is quite functional for ad-hoc queries, writing sprocs and doing general table maintenance. One complaint; comments are now done with the odd shortcut of Ctrl+K, Ctrl+C -- that is, you have to do both key combinations. Ctrl+Shift+C was strange enough but this is just lame.

OneNote: not new, not even recently updated -- but I *love* this tool. Not just for use on Tablet PCs. In addition to a personal notes I keep client records; one folder per client, one page per day, each issue designated with a checkbox (Ctrl+1). When an issue is solved I can check it off with another Ctrl+1. When it is time to triage I create a note summary. Open issues show up on top, then with a few other Ctrl+# combinations I can assign priorities and severities. Onenote also supports locking a page, a password is required to read / search and the file is encrypted on disk. Another cool feature is creating a shared session. This allows for real-time collaboration on one or more pages in a meeting or even remotely.

Back on the Mac

After the 2001 crash that took out our dotcom (Pacifiq Technologies -- you can still find the old website at archive.org) I spent a few years doing small gigs. There wasn't a lot of work in Minneapolis for ex-CTO's -- and there were plenty of us around.

So when our house was broken into in 2003 and my 3rd laptop stolen I had no specific reason to buy a WinTel machine. I'd always loved the Macintosh, and had started doing some Linux work -- so I decided to buy a G4. I bought the 1Ghz Powerbook. It was the last model that was made out Titanium.

Loved the machine -- most elegant laptop I've ever worked with. If you've never spent time with one on your lap you've missed out.

I also loved OSX. It was still pretty new at the time, but it sat on Debian and was rock solid. It took awhile to get used to where everything was. I've been on MS machines since DOS 2.0 and I can make any MS OS sing, and there were definately times when I felt lost on the Mac.

I was Mac only for a few years until we moved back to Seattle and I started my contract gig with the Fox team. After a year it was re-starting Alden Anderson -- and of course working in MS software exclusively. So the Mac became mostly a music machine; Itunes, Abelton Live and MAX-MSP.

So last week my Dell 5160 gave up the ghost. Power supply went bad, I'd already fixed it once and new another few hundred $$$ was a bad investment. But before I pulled the trigger on another Dell I thought long and hard about what I used my laptop for these days.

1) Email - Outlook... which is a pig, but is still the only email client that will let you tag a message to be reviewed for follow-up at a specific date/time in the future.
2) Onenote - Invaluable tool for documenting day to day client activity
3) Web browsing - Firefox
4) Remote Desktop
5) VFP
6) SQL Server
7) Visual Studio

Why are VFP, SQL et al so low on the list? I do most of my dev work remotely with RDC, if you've got a good connection it is a superior way to work IMO. Easier version control and much less exposure when the laptop suddenly disappears, again.

So, I decided to dust of the Mac. Installed my recently upgraded 100gb 7200rpm hard drive from the Dell, got the latest OSX release (10.4.6 or Tiger) and installed Virtual PC for the Mac.

Well, I love it. I've got VPC setup with VFP9 and SQL Server and the rest of the MS apps, installed Firefox Mac and other than that I'm using what ships with the OS.

Of course what I'd really like is a NEW Duo-Core Powerbook. With Boot Camp and Parallels it gives me the best of both worlds -- but a sudden $2500 hit on cashflow isn't in the cards, so I'll sit with my 3 year old Powerbook and enjoy working with a work of art on my lap once again.

TPCI - TIOBE Programming Community Index - VFP #12 and rising!

TPCI - TIOBE Programming Community Index

The death of VB6 has something to do with this IMO, but the VFP community deserves a great deal of credit.

Downloads from PDC 2005

Downloads

Thanks to jMM' . for the tip.

LINQ - Language INtegrated Query

As has been rumored C# and VB.NET are being enhanced to include native data access within the language -- along the lines of SQL in VFP.

Read more here

Google Toolbar for Firefox

Gmail, Desktop search, BlogThis, News, Spell Check in HTML forms (except for the BlogThis popup).

Good stuff, maybe I'm ready to come off of my accidental blogging sabbatical...

SpeakEasy DSL

We just moved (part of the reason posts have been so few and far between lately) - so I called SpeakEasy.net to cancel my DSL service at the old place.

To cancel the contract is $300.

Looking over my original paperwork, it appears I paid $150 for hook-up. So it's not like they are trying to recoup those costs.

Of course they are willing to transfer my service to a new location. But service is already setup there -- and it would no doubt mean that I'd be starting my year all over again.

As goes cell-phones providers, so goes cable and now DSL.

Fix "ntldr is missing" immediately with boot disk, then fix HD

here

Google Maps + Craigslist = HousingMaps

Yet another super cool thing you can do with Google Maps.

Now they just need to get it work with Pocket PCs...

Wired article here

The Jeff Pulver Blog: E911/VoIP: Death of the Broadband Parasite in the USA?:

Upcoming FCC rulings may kill independent VOIP by requiring 911 service.

"...Strange as how it sounds, even Canada looks to be a more fertile ground for continued technology innovation than the US, if E911 becomes mandated for VoIP, including nomadic VoIP offerings. If VoIP was the first great driver of broadband, I fear that America will drop even further down the ranks of the countries in broadband penetration and that will further sink the US economy for many decades to come.

Unless something was totally misunderstood with regards to the FCC immediate intentions, 2005 may go down in history as the time we saw both the rise and fall of the unaffiliated VoIP service provider..."

more

UML for BioHacking...

We are rapidly moving into a world where biology can be as manipulable as data. After all, DNA is code; life is information. The new tools and methods we're developing for bioengineering reflect this parallel, and the philosophies underlying the "hacker" ethic (in the original sense of someone devoted to exploration, invention and discovery) are being absorbed by the biological disciplines.

more...

Don't miss the link to Biomodeling.

Web Templates | Flash Templates | Website Templates Design - Template Monster

Nice resource for plug and play Web templates.

CSLA .NET

CSLA .NET is the architecture and framework described Expert Visual Basic .NET Business Objects and Expert C# Business Objects books from Apress

CSLA .NET

I just had a month like this

dilbert2005042261584.jpg (JPEG Image, 750x544 pixels)

Groove Virtual Office - Virtual office software for sharing files, projects and data.

Microsoft has purchased Groove

It looks pretty slick from the overview. Don't forget to check the Rapid Solutions section.

Integrates with SharePoint, seems more powerful than Infopath, I could see it being used as a Team Studio lite...

PlateSpin Products - PowerP2V

100% Automated Conversions between Physical and Virtual Machines are the claims made by this tool.

The Fox Show

Andrew MacNeill has thrown himself in the Podcasting ring with The Fox Show.

He has a great read on the pulse of the Fox community, the show covers a broad range of topics. Enjoyable and informative!

Thanks Frank Burcaw from the ProFox list.

Project Documenting Machine

Document your Visual FoxPro projects with this tool.

What runs when Windows starts?

Silent Runners - script documentation

VB script that interrogates the windows registry for programs that run at startup.

Great for identifying adware, malware, and those lame programs that HP and Epson install etc to tell you all about your printing process...

Foxite.COM Community Weblog

There is a new VFP blog in town, and I'm now a part of it.

This may cut down on my posts here at Musings, certainly related to VFP -- but head on over and checkout the FoxCite.com blog -- maybe consider starting one of your own!

FoxCast

FoxCast

"FoxCast.org supports user groups by providing top VFP speakers, presenting from locations around North America and abroad. User groups can connect to the live, interactive monthly meetings or replay recordings of past events at their monthly meetings."

Registration and most (if not all) seminars are free, great resource.

Developers Report on Power, Productivity and Extensibility of New Visual FoxPro 9.0

A Press Release about developers and tool vendors adopting VFP9.

"Visual FoxPro 9.0 is the biggest upgrade since the product was first released," - Doug Hennig

We couldn't agree more, this *is* the version to move to. Look for future postings "99 Reasons to Move to Visual FoxPro 9" on this blog.

VFP: Call Report Writer from COM

We needed to move a number of existing VFP reports to the web quickly. One technique is to issue REPORT FORM ASCII TO from a COM object.

After digging around and testing we found that it was possible. There are two things to keep in mind.

1) COM objects cannot raise UI events.
The commands to ensure this are:
SET NOTIFY OFF
SET TALK OFF
REPORT FORM myRepo NOCONSOLE ASCII TO myrepo.txt

2) COM objects must be compiled as OUT OF PROCESS (EXE) not IN-PROCESS (DLL).
(Special thanks to Malcolm Greene of ProFox for this tip)

Here is the code we used to test the premise:


* run as is, assumes you have a FOXUSER file in use
***************************************************
* clear prior runs, create report from FOXUSER
CLEAR
CLOSE ALL
CLEAR ALL
ERASE myrepo*.*
USE SET("RESOURCE",1) AGAIN IN 0
CREATE REPORT myrepo FROM ALIAS()

* create main program with COM class
TEXT TO cMain NOSHOW
DEFINE CLASS myRepo AS Custom OLEPUBLIC
PROCEDURE DoReport(tlTest)
SET NOTIFY OFF
SET TALK OFF
SET SAFETY OFF
IF m.tlTest
STRTOFILE("This is a test","myrepo.txt")
ELSE
REPORT FORM myRepo NOCONSOLE ASCII TO myrepo.txt
ENDIF
SET SAFETY ON
RETURN FILE("myrepo.txt")
ENDPROC
ENDDEFINE
ENDTEXT

* write out the main program
SET SAFETY OFF
STRTOFILE(m.cMain, "myrepo.prg")

* add to project, compile EXE (not DLL)
CREATE PROJECT myrepo NOWAIT NOSHOW
_VFP.ACTIVEPROJECT.FILES.ADD("myrepo.prg")
BUILD EXE myrepo FROM myrepo
RELEASE WINDOWS PROJECT
SET SAFETY ON

* call without com
SET PROCEDURE TO myrepo.prg
o=CREATEOBJECT("myrepo")
TryMyRepo(o)
RELEASE o
SET PROCEDURE TO

* call with com
o=CREATEOBJECT("myrepo.myrepo")
TryMyRepo(o)

PROCEDURE TryMyRepo(o)
TRY
? o.DoReport(.T.)
? o.DoReport()
CATCH TO oExc
? oExc.MESSAGE
ENDTRY
ENDPROC


What Great .NET Developers Ought To Know

"How many years .NET experience did you say you have?"

Regular Expression Library

Regular Expression Library: "Welcome to RegExLib.com, the Internet's first Regular Expression Library. Currently we have indexed 898 expressions from contributors around the world."

An execellent website, thanks to Stuart Dunkeld via ProFox for pointing it out.

VFP 9 & opportunistic locking

A reader sent in the following:

“We recently discovered that our VFP8 app was encountering corrupt databases (error 2091) regularly and have determined the cause to be opportunistic locking on the server and workstations. We have been unable to find any reference to opportunistic locks or their impact on VFP RDBMS in any of the VFP documentation from vfp5 through 8.”

The resolution is related to how the OS is disk caching.

Windows XP SP2 / Win2k*:

Cut and paste the following into a file called woplocks.reg and run it on the workstations:



REGEDIT4

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanWorkStation\Parameters]
"EnableOplockForceClose"=dword:00000001
"EnableOplocks"=dword:00000000
"UseOpportunisticLocking"=dword:00000000


Cut and paste the following into a file called soplocks.reg and run it on the server

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters]
"EnableOplockForceClose"=dword:00000001
"EnableOplocks"=dword:00000000


Novel settings are:

Opportunistic Locking set off
Cache Rights set off
Delay Rights set off
Packet Burst set off
True Commits set ON

Malicious Software Removal Tool

New tool from Microsoft, deals with malicous programs.

This tool scans for and cleans malicious software associated with the following security threats:
• Berbew
• Blaster
• DoomJuice
• Gaobot
• Korgo
• Mydoom
• Nachi
• Netsky
• Randex
• Sasser
• Zafi
• Zindos

WebEx Launches MyWebExPC: First Free Remote Access Service with Enterprise-Class Security

Worth a look.

EMS Professional Software and Specialty Services

Looking for a copy of old software manuals, or the install disks themselves? Check out EMS Old Software Exchange from here.

Also links to shareware, IQ testing, survival publishiing and build-it-yourself reading primer templates.

A golden find, thanks to Dave Bernard via the ProFox list.

Sleep Fox

Put VFP in a minimum resource wait state, but still pay attention to the internal event loop:


PROCEDURE DoSleep
LPARAMETERS tnSeconds
LOCAL lnSeconds
DECLARE Sleep IN WIN32API integer

lnSeconds = SECONDS()
DO WHILE SECONDS() - m.lnSeconds <> m.tnSeconds
    SLEEP(m.tnSeconds*100)
    DOEVENTS
ENDDO
CLEAR DLL SLEEP


Thanks to late night buddy Garrett who has a recent post on using SourceGear Vault with VFP Project Manager. The single user version is free (as in beer).

Named References in VFP-SQL

VFP allows us to use named references for fieldnames, tablenames, filenames, etc with its various commands. But, not always with the SQL sub-language...

This works:

REPLACE ALL (crsUpdates.FieldName) ;
    WITH (crsUpdates.NewValue);
    FOR PrimaryKey = (crsUpdates.PK)

but not this:

UPDATE table1;
    SET (crsUpdates.FieldName) = (crsUpdates.NewValue) ;
    WHERE table1.PrimaryKey = (crsUpdates.PK)

or any of these...

UPDATE table1 ;
    SET &crsUpdates..FieldName = (crsUpdates.NewValue) ;
    WHERE table1.PrimaryKey = (crsUpdates.pk)

UPDATE table1 ;
    SET EVALUATE(crsUpdates.FieldName) = (crsUpdates.NewValue) ;
    WHERE table1.PrimaryKey = (crsUpdates.pk)

However, if you hard-code the SET field, it works:

UPDATE table1 ;
    SET MyField = (crsUpdates.NewValue) ;
    WHERE table1.PrimaryKey = (crsUpdates.pk)

I'm sure it's been this way forever -- I've just don't recall running across it before.

Joel on Software at Crossroads, Tues Jan 18th

Joel on Software Dinner: Bellevue WA Jan 18th

"I'm planning to come to Seattle in January to speak at an Amazon.com developer's conference. While I'm there, I thought it would be fun to meet some readers over dinner, so if you're going to be in the area, I hope you will be able to come!

I suggest we meet at the food court at the Crossroads Mall, at 7:30 PM Tuesday, January 18th, 2005."

Automating Telnet with Expect

As long as Telnet has been around, I was suprised to find that there is no native way to automate it.

I need a process on a Wintel box to access a TSX system remotely and kick off a process. Manually I can Telnet to the box, provide user/pass and then start the process. But when trying to automate the process I find there is no native way to respond to a password prompt from Telnet.

Enter "Expect". Written for *nix in TCL there is a port that runs on Wintel. The documentation is a bit sketchy, but I got it to work.

You can call Expect with -f and provide an input file. The input file for the whole process looks like this:


spawn telnet 1.0.2.24
expect "Logon please:"
send "myusername\r"
expect "Password:"
send "mypassword\r"
expect "32sys>"
set timeout 1000
send "c:\\bin\\myscript\r"
expect "32sys"


The \r is the return control, notice double back-slash for the directory name. The package comes with TCL source and its own version of telnet. The expect "32sys" lines have expect looking for the command line prompt.

Whatever you are calling on the remote side should have limited output, when working with TSX I get a minimum of 2 lines of control characters that look like garbage. Originally the remote process was reporting progress on exporting data... this made for too much information for Expect to ... well, expect.

Execscript kicks the Lama's ass

Andrew Ross-MacNeil turned me on to some interesting ideas with EXECSCRIPT at Devcon this year. I've always had a little program to set hot keys to clear my environment , build a project, ala Tom Rettig's CA.prg.

Writing conditional code from execution in a hotkey was always a bit limiting, but with EXECSCRIPT this is no longer true!



ON KEY LABEL f5 EXECSCRIPT ;
( ;
[ CLOSE ALL ] + CHR(10) + ;
[ CLEAR ALL ] + CHR(10) + ;
[ CLEAR ] + CHR(10) + ;
[ SET SYSMENU TO DEFAULT ] + CHR(10) + ;
[ BUILD APP myapp FROM myapp RECOMPILE ] + CHR(10) + ;
[ IF FILE("myapp.err") ] + CHR(10) + ;
[ MODIFY FILE myapp.err NOWAIT ] + CHR(10) + ;
[ ELSE ] + CHR(10) + ;
[ DO myapp ] + CHR(10) + ;
[ ENDIF ] ;
)



Visual FoxPro 9 Goes Gold / BetaNews babbles on incoherently...

A weak article with bad information about VFP9 release here.

Some mention of the extended report writer and …
“…FoxPro 9.0… embeds SQL in the FoxPro language, and is more extensible, allowing developers to introduce code that benefits their end user applications.”

How about the *native* SQL syntax has been extended to include virtually unlimited tables, joins, sub-queries and unions; projections, derived tables and enhanced correlation support?

How about new data types, new index types, enhanced data adaptors for cursors and xml?

How about more granular control on how tables are opened, records are refreshed, transactions are implemented?

How about Rushmore enhancements (especially the late breaking improvements to query optimization)?

How about language additions like CAST() and ICASE()?


If you’re gonna try to write an article based on a press release, at least get it fact checked.


Of course, the comments add salt to the wounds…1 Comment on the article entitled "Fox is Dead", then 4 comments on that comment defending the product.

VFP: Change DSN Database on the fly

So I had to do some import work, using both SPT and Remote Views (which means a connection pointed to a DSN). Needed away to easily switch between databases.

It goes a little something like this...


*-- Flavor SERVER, UID and PWD to taste.
*-- Change server name in SetDataBase proc as well
#DEFINE C_CONNECT_SQL "DRIVER=SQL Server;SERVER=MyServer;UID=me;PWD=*;DATABASE="
#DEFINE HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -2147483646 && BITSET(0,31)+2
LOCAL lnConn && connection handle for SPT

SetDataBase("LIVE", @lnConn)

* do some stuff to LIVE data

SetDataBase("STAGE", @lnConn)

* do some stuff to STAGE data

*********************************************************
PROCEDURE SetDataBase(tcDatabase, tnConnection)
* Set connection handle to current database
tnConnection=SQLSTRINGCONNECT(C_CONNECT_SQL + m.tcDatabase )
* change DSN to current database
lcRegFile = HOME()+"samples\classes\registry.prg"
SET PROCEDURE TO (m.lcRegFile)
oReg = CREATEOBJECT("Registry")
oReg.SetRegKey("DataBase",m.tcDatabase ,;
"SOFTWARE\ODBC\ODBC.INI\MyServer",;
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE)
SET PROCEDURE TO
RETURN m.tnConnection
ENDPROC


sorry about the wrapping... this template isn't very code friendly...

100 programmers are lined up in a row by an assassin...

answers to technical interview questions

I was asked this question several months ago when I interviewed for a full-time gig at Microsoft. There were only 10 in the room, and I figured out how to save 6... but the best solution is much simpler than I imagined...

Thanks to John Donaghy for the link!

A Taste of XQuery for the DBA

A Taste of XQuery for the DBA

Eric McMullen has a good article on XPath in SQL 2005. XPath is the way to query XML data sets -- it's been well integrated into the next version of SQL Server.

VFP9 ships!

December 2004 - Letter from the Editor

WoHoo!

Mad props to the team, you guys did an amazing job!

Really large datasets in VFP

FoxPro Advisor :: The Ultimate Power & Speed of VFP


This article has been around for awhile, but it just surfaced in conversation recently. VFP is being used for the "Euro Tunnel". The data requirements for this application include 128 GB of data. Yes, VFP has a 2GB per table limit (not going to change), but this article points out how you can work around this limitation.

New Google trick

Well, new to me. Google Suggests type in a few characters and wait... (or hit the down arrow if you must...)

RF exposure FCC

I need a new cell phone, considering Bluetooth so I can have a wireless headset. Came across this:

"Tests for SAR are conducted using standard operating positions specified by the FCC with the phone transmitting at its highest certified power level in all tested frequency bands. Although the SAR is determined at the highest certified power level, the actual SAR level of the phone while operation can be well below the maximum value. This is because the phone is designed to operate at multiple power levels so as to use only the power required to each the network. In general, the closer you are to a wireless base station antenna, the lower the power output. Before a phone model is available for sale to the public, it must be tested and certified to the FCC that it does not exceed the limit established by the government-adopted requirement for safe exposure. The tests are performed in positions and locations (e.g., at the ear and worn on the body) as required by the FCC for each model. (Body-worn measurements may differ among phone models, depending upon available accessories and FCC requirements). While there may be differences between the SAR levels of various phones and at various positions, they all meet the government requirement for safe exposure.

For body worn operation, to maintain compliance with FCC RF exposure guidelines, use only accessories that contain no metallic components and provide a separation distance of 15mm (0.6 inches) to the body. Use of other accessories may violate FCC RF exposure guidelines and should be avoided."

Boot Camp - Mashing for Beginners

Great tutorial on "Mashing" -- puting two songs on top of each other. Includes Mackie's currently "Free" editor.

IBM Sells PC Business for $1.75 Billion

Well, maybe this means the Transnote could make a comeback.

Windows Installer Appears Every Time I Start an Application


I've run into this more than once, here is a an "unsupported" work around. Annoyances.org is a repository of such things...

Thanks to Tristan of ProFox.

Construx: Construx Estimate

"Construx Estimate contributes to project success by helping improve your software estimation capabilities. Estimate leverages a blend of proven estimation models to predict effort, budget, and schedule for your project based on size estimates. Estimate comes calibrated with industry data, but is most powerful when calibrated with your organization's data.
As part of our mission to advance the art and science of commercial software engineering, we provide Construx Estimate™ version 2.0 free of charge with a limited license."

Construx is the group that Steve McConnell (of Code Complete) runs. Great book, interesting tool. Thanks Boudewijn Lutgerink.

Firefox Extensions

Everybody knows how cool FireFox is... I've been addicted to tabbed browsing since Mozilla first introduced it. FireFox doesn't stop at just the browser... check out the extentions!

First -- if you love tabbed browsing, check out the Tabbrowswer Extentions. Great control over how tabs load and save. You can have all tabs come back up after a crash or even shutdown...

BlogThis! is like the Blogger link you get in the Google Toolbar...

FlashGot lets you pull down multiple files from a webpage in one move...

FoxyTunes lets you control Media Player, WinAmp, REAL, etc from a small controller in the browser status bar...

Oh... and a native behavior for FireFox... if you are on a site that supports RSS feeds, you should see a small orange icon in the bottom right hand corner of the screen. Click on it, and you'll create a bookmark that pulls the RSS feeds. Save the bookmark under the BookMarks ToolBar Folder and when you click on the link, you'll see the last several feeds from the site... too cool!

-dta

Toad® for SQL Server

"Toad® for SQL Server is a freeware tool that improves the productivity of developers and administrators by providing an easy-to-use development environment for T-SQL code."

Been around for awhile, this is a great tool -- a must for SQL Server DBA's and developers. Stored procedure version control, lots of automation...

Fully functional 60 day eval version available under Software Downloads.

Who wants to be the Next Top Model?

Business Model Generator

"This is a free service provided by a research group of volunteers from the Sprott School of Business and Faculty of Engineering and Design at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada.

We believe that sound business models are an essential, even fundamental, building block for new and established enterprises. For startups, a good business model can mean that the harder you work, the more money your enterprise will make, an obviously important consideration for new entrepreneurs. For existing businesses, even mega corporations, they need to continually update and revisit their business models to ensure that they are changing and responding to evolving conditions in their marketplaces."

Visual FoxPro 9.0: Still Here, Still Relevant

An OpEd piece I did for DevX.com.

I tried to provide managers a reason to give respect where it's due, and VFP die hards a reality check.

I was late getting it in, so I didn't get a chance to see the final before it went up, so there are a few errata.

If they don't get fixed, I'll post a follow-up here.

-dta

FlashPost

So the last month or so has looked like completing the contract testing gig with the Visual FoxPro team at Microsoft, restarting Alden Anderson (note to self: get a designer), speaking at DevCon, writing these articles and working at DevConnections and trying to restart this cranky Seattle Visual FoxPro Special Interest Group... which really, really needs a better name. ;)

Sorry I've been light on the posts, emails and phone-calls.