Sort of ironic...

Yesterday, on Valentines Day -- the day famous for giving chocolates and candies -- I went to the doctor and found out I'm diabetic.

I sort of suspected it for a while, but ignored it. As long as I wasn't officially diagnosed with it, I could pretend nothing was wrong. Perhaps my nearly constant fatigue, aches and moodiness will be helped with it being treated. Today I picked up my diabetes stuff from Walgreens -- medication to help control blood sugar and a blood sugar monitor. I need to learn how to use the monitor.

Diabetes runs in my mother's side of the family. She isn't diabetic, but one of her brothers was and her younger sister is. I should have taken better care of myself, knowing that I had a genetic predisposition to diabetes. Now I have an urgent reason to make myself eat better and get some exercise, so maybe this is for the best.

Mohammed Cartoon Blogburst

Two years ago, the Danish Mohammed cartoons caused riots and controversy. Bloggers are being asked to reprint the cartoons in solidarity. So, here is one of the best known ones:

I have my own take on the Mohammed cartoon controversy after the jump...

Some time ago, I used the above cartoon to make the following parody, which I never posted until now:

Random Band Meme

I've been meaning to do this meme for a while and I finally got around to it. I first saw it over at Barb's place. Here are the directions:

1. The first article title on this page is the name of your band.
2. The last four words in the last quotation on this page is the title of your album.
3. The third picture on this page, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

You then take the image editing software of your choice and create your album cover using the image, band name and album title. This is what I slapped together:

Unfortunately, I haven't yet installed all my fonts to my new PC, so I had to use what was already available. I think this band name and album sounds like a 1970s progressive rock band.

BTW, Malakasa is a small town in Greece.

Glutton for Punishment

Despite the fact that Pinnacle Studio Plus 10.8 caused an outburst of hatred a few days ago, I decided to upgrade to version 11 anyway. I read some reviews saying that version 11 is more stable, so I'm taking a chance with the upgrade. Along with the upgrade, I also ordered some packages of score music. Most of my family's home movies were taken with a camera with no sound, so instead of silent movies, I though some appropriate theme music would be good.

I found a workaround for the problem that was frustrating me a couple of days ago, but still, I wish the program were more stable. (I use Pinnacle Studio Plus because it's the program that came with my Pinnacle MovieBox, which is used to capture video from the VCR.) I just hope I'm not setting myself up for more frustration with the new version.

I've about had it with politics...

For real...I think I'm just going to avoid this subject for the time being, both online and in "real" life. It seems like everyone (or most everyone) has gone nuts. Like I said over at Pauli's, many conservatives are acting like a bratty kid who is sulking because he "only" got a pony when he really wanted a unicorn. Apparently, I've garnered some hostility because of my rather lukewarm support for McCain after Thompson dropped out. Or at least I feel like I have.

So, I think this will be my last political post on this blog -- at least for a while anyway. In fact, here's the deal -- I'm giving up politics for Lent. After today, there will be no more posts, comments or discussions in the "real" world about politics until Lent is over, at least.

Outburst

I haven't been around much because I've been learning how to edit video and burn it to DVD. When I know what I'm doing, I'm going to put the family movies on DVD. I've already captured them from the tapes. Most were on film and we had them copied to videotape several years ago.

Anyway, I have just one thing to say:

I HATE PINNACLE STUDIO PLUS! It hangs, it crashes, it won't do what I tell it to do. I hate it, hate it, HATE IT! Pinnacle SUCKS!

There...I feel better now...

More: I googled "Pinnacle Studio Sucks" and this is the second result. I'm using version 10.8, BTW. At least I'm not alone. And I know that there's a version 11 out, but I don't want to take a chance and spend $50 upgrading to something that still sucks.