Medical mystery

Four weeks ago, I started to feel a strange sensitivity on the left half of my body, roughly from my abdomen to my shoulder, extending from my naval to the center of my back. I woke up one morning, and it felt like I had a sunburn. I only felt the pain whenever something touched me, but little things like rolling over in bed or the friction of clothing as I walked were startlingly painful. I did my best not to move for two weeks, missing out on Folsom Street East and Gay Pride Weekend.

I saw a neurologist, to ascertain if I were neurotic, but his test of my reflexes was normal. He speculated the cause was a viral inflammation around my upper spine, near the neck, and that it would probably clear up on its own.

It took a few weeks, but it does at last appear to be improving. First it migrated partially to the right, which was worrisome. My right shoulder blade is still hurting, but everywhere else is far less sensitive than before. Test results from my physical last week indicate nothing out of order, which I guess is a relief. I'm astonished that I continue to have such healthy checkups yet feel so crappy most of the time. I'm a pitta vata and wear out easily.

I was to have an MRI, if my insurance company ever approves it, but I think I'll skip it. I had one four years ago after hitting my head in a fall. It was interesting but still unpleasant. I don't like a medical mystery, but the neurologist said the MRI could only confirm his suspicion, not establish a cause.

Music purchases to dwindle in 2008

I have decided not to buy anymore DRM-restricted music from iTunes, after several restricted tracks I purchased recently became available without DRM. One of them, a single from Santogold I purchased in May, showed up in my iTunes Plus "upgrade" page in June. I can think of only one reason for this music, which was released in April of this year, not to have been available as iTunes Plus in the first place: to exploit the 30% upgrade fee. That pisses me off, Santogold, and I won't be buying the rest of your album. This ripoff only cost me 30 cents, but a ripoff is a ripoff.

Ditto for El Perro del Mar's two albums, the latest of which came out in the spring with DRM, but by June was also miraculously free of it. I think I'll give her albums to anyone who asks. The new one is kind of boring, but free is free. I think her label can afford it, now that I've paid them $6 extra.

This upgrade policy has been worrying me for a while. When the major record labels finally allow their songs to sell DRM-free on iTunes, I'll have to pay hundreds of dollars to rid my library of DRM. Since Apple won't let you pick which ones to upgrade, nor simply remove the DRM from existing files, it makes no sense to me to keep buying tracks with DRM. I'm such an Apple fanboy that the DRM doesn't really keep me from doing anything I want to do with the music, but a ripoff is a ripoff.

And I won't go to Amazon or Rhapsody to buy music, either. If the record labels don't want to sell where I want to buy, then they lose the sale.

I disabled Flash in Safari

And I'm happier for it, because the browser never crashes now. Sorry, Gawker Media. Your advertisers drove me to this decision.

Oh, and the last thing I want on my iPhone is Flash.

Sent by iPhone

Hometown tragedy / Times have changed

There was a shooting spree at a plastics factory in my hometown of Henderson, Kentucky, this week that left six people dead. Details of the killer and his victims have been published in the Gleaner, the local newspaper, which now appears to be part of the Courier & Press, of neighboring Evansville, Indiana.

Tragic story. I wouldn’t be surprised to see crystal meth in the killer’s toxicology report. My mother says its use is rampant, though not perhaps to the same extent as marijuana. I was relieved not to recognize any of the names but surprised that so many of them were Hispanic. When I left Henderson, in 1989, there were very few Hispanics in the county. In fact, I’m not even sure I ever met a Latino until college, where I learned to say “Latino” instead of “Hispanic”. ( “Latino” is too vague for my liking but that’s a topic for another day.)

Picture this

On Monday I bought an Apple TV, a gizmo I had long eyed but could not persuade myself was necessary. I was sick at home over the weekend, searching in vain for anything slightly interesting on HD cable. One can endure only so many programs about house flipping and mega disasters before cracking. Since Time Warner Cable still isn’t offering any HD on demand programming, I felt the time had come for Apple TV. Synching up my limited video collection was an easy, if lengthy, process, and the quality of my non-HD iTunes purchases is decent, and certainly better than watching them on my laptop computer.

The true revelation of Apple TV is the photo browsing. Photos are far more compelling on a big screen, so much so that I have recropped a substantial portion of my iPhoto albums to the 9x16 ratio. Better still, the Flickr browser is astonishing. I have rediscovered my contacts’ photostreams, and I have a whole new appreciation for the efforts they’ve put into their photos. Those 500-pixel default views just don’t do justice to the photos. My only complaint is that the Flickr browser has no login authentication, as the YouTube browser does, so you can only view public photos.

Now I’m working on the slow and tedious process of ripping DVDs to MPEG4. Since my not-so-old DVD player kicked the bucket, I’ve been missing my AbFab videos.

Big. Easy.

The combination of a surprisingly cheap direct flight and very reasonable hotel rates made a trip to New Orleans over Labor Day a no-brainer. I’ve been really impulsive with travel this year. Now I just need some fabulous outfits and a friend or two to keep me company. The occasion, of course, is Southern Decadence.

Look out microbrews—or don't

I'm eager to try the six new varieties of Michelob being advertised in the subway, but they're not for sale anywhere in my neighborhood—nor even regular old Michelob. Weird. I hope they bundle them in a tasting six-pack, like Saranac's Trail Mix.