# You Know What Part > "Let us think the unthinkable, Let us do the undoable, Let us prepare to grapple with ineffable itself, And see if we may not eff it after all." Douglas Adams ## Posts - [Old](https://youknowwhatpart.com/old/): I recently turned 50. In my more honest moments, I did not expect to make it to 50. I almost didn’t. But, here I am, likely in the best shape of my life since I was a teenager, down 60 pounds since the heart attack, numbers on medical tests are good (mostly), and I can buy clothes in sizes I’ve not been able to do before. I also have 60% of my expected heart capacity (ejection rate or something) so I can run, but only for 4 minutes at a time. I have what’s likely permanent nerve damage from diabetes, […] - [Want a College Football Mascot at Your Wedding?](https://youknowwhatpart.com/want-a-college-football-mascot-at-your-wedding/): For some conferences, it is surprisingly affordable (in terms of what weddings cost). The Sickos Newsletter did the work. Only $125/hr for WMU. Seems like the University of Michigan is leaving money on the table by not having a mascot. - [Links for 23 Jul 25](https://youknowwhatpart.com/links-for-23-jul-25/): “Unparalleled Misalignments, pairs of non-synonymous phrases where the words in one phrase are each synonyms of the words in the other.” Fantastic New Tron! (ug, Jared Leto though). The first single from Nine Inch Nails (Apple Music) is a bop, too. Want something written like it’s from Star Wars? Aurebesh translator! - [Links for 23 June 25](https://youknowwhatpart.com/links-for-23-june-25/): Tiny Undervalued Hardware – Adapters, Hubs, and more. What a great compilation I’ll also link to Monoprice’s 1ft extension cables. These are fantastic for getting things into your power strip or UPS when everything is a brick. If you’re looking elsewhere for these, make sure to get NEMA 5-15P to NEMA 5-15R to comply with surge protection standards. I “graduated” to buying a small server rack for home to control the sprawl in the basement. Knowing zero about setting one up, this article has been interesting reading: Building My First Homelab Server Rack – Michael Lynch - [Links for 29 May 25](https://youknowwhatpart.com/links-for-29-may-25/): Drippings from the web for today - [Notes from 23 May 25](https://youknowwhatpart.com/notes-from-23-may-25/): Not so much a Links post as random thoughts. Plus links New music! Digging around in my basement (neighborhood garage sale is coming), I stumbled onto a set of prints I’d purchased for my partner in 2016 (photos below). I could not for the life of me remember when and from where I’d bought them. I put out a call on Mastodon and within minutes got a response. They were created by Nooligan, someone I remember following on Twitter at the time. He’s still active and making nice stuff. Last weekend we went to Frankenmuth, MI for a quick weekend […] - [Links for 11 Apr 25](https://youknowwhatpart.com/links-for-11-apr-25/): How to truss a chicken without string TIL the name Madison as a given name was almost unheard of prior to the mid-1980s when Splash! came out. [Tumblr post] - [Links for 27 Feb 25](https://youknowwhatpart.com/links-for-27-feb-25/): How I’m Building a Trump-Proof Tech Stack Without Big Tech Mastodon thread on Mozilla’s update to their Terms of Service - [Links for 21 Feb 25](https://youknowwhatpart.com/links-for-21-feb-25/): Been a while since I encountered some good ole crazy. David Rumsey Historical Map Collection - [Links for 11 Feb 25](https://youknowwhatpart.com/links-for-11-feb-25/): The clever feature that makes cheap heaters safe – and why they’re actually dangerous [Technology Connections YouTube] - [Links for 29 Jan 25](https://youknowwhatpart.com/links-for-29-jan-25/): Commercially Available Chairs in Star Trek - [Links for 21 Jan 25](https://youknowwhatpart.com/links-for-21-jan-25/): Chopstick Sleeves as Emissaries of Japanese Typography and Culture Rafael Araujo’s 20+ Mesmerizing Geometrical Masterpieces - [The Politics of Technology](https://youknowwhatpart.com/the-politics-of-technology/): Since Proton’s CEO decided to endorse the incoming fascist government in the US (Reddit thread; archived tweet; archived comments [1], [2] on official Proton accounts) and, as of the publishing date of this post, remained CEO, I’ve been looking for an exit from Proton’s ecosystem. Which sucks because, while not the best in class, their services were fine. I didn’t use Proton Mail as my primary (or anything else as primary, to be honest), but they were services I was trying to leverage more, especially Drive. The issue, and the reason for the exit, is that Proton isn’t really selling […] - [Links for 19 Jan 25](https://youknowwhatpart.com/links-for-19-jan-25/): Project Mini Rack Creep Box (YT video trailer) - [Links for 18 Jan 25](https://youknowwhatpart.com/links-for-18-jan-25/): Soup Drops. Stop it Bathynomus vaderi – the foot-long isopod named after Darth Vader. Apparently you can eat them, cooked much like lobster - [Links for 14 Jan 2025](https://youknowwhatpart.com/links-for-14-jan-2025/): Will Hopkins – Services I Run - [Links for 10 Jan 2025](https://youknowwhatpart.com/links-for-10-jan-2025/): Making a Hinged Lid Box - [Links for 9 Jan 2025](https://youknowwhatpart.com/links-for-9-jan-2025/): RSS Tricks Zombie Strains Public Domain Image Archive Goods Unite Us - [Link Posts](https://youknowwhatpart.com/link-posts/): In an effort to post more to this site (and not dump interesting stuff I stumble across into yet another proprietary service that will go belly-up eventually), I’m going to try and post more link collections. These post will be under the Links tag. - [Links for 8 Jan 2025](https://youknowwhatpart.com/links-for-8-jan-2025/): Weird Wikkelboats A curated list of space operas from Molly White - [The First Day](https://youknowwhatpart.com/the-first-day/): Today you weren’t there in bed when I reached out to make sure I didn’t sit on you coming back from the bathroom. Today was the first day you didn’t get up with me in the wee hours when I couldn’t sleep. Today, I wept in the dark when I smelled you on the blanket on the couch after I’d pulled it up under my chin. Today was the first day I didn’t take you for a walk. We had to go out, and didn’t have to close the gate when we returned. We didn’t have to rush home to […] - [Goodbye Parker](https://youknowwhatpart.com/goodbye-parker/): Today, we said goodbye to our dog, Parker. He was 8. Cancer got him far too soon. We got a little dog thinking he would live longer than a larger one, since we lost our last dog early as well. Coincidentally, also to cancer. Life isn’t fair. Parker had so much attitude, but was also a lazy little mutt. He looked so much like a Jack Russell our first vet wouldn’t let us leave a visit until we forwarded the DNA test that said he was 25% Poodle, 25% Japanese Chin, and 25% Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. The other quarter […] - [Not Dead Yet](https://youknowwhatpart.com/not-dead-yet/): On April 15 2024, around 5:30 pm, I took out the garbage and recycling, something that required two 15-yard-long round trips from the back of my lot to the curb. The first trip took some effort and left me winded, with a little pain in my chest. At the end of the second trip, I thought I was going to collapse from the pain in my chest. I slowly dragged myself inside, sat in our recliner, and drank some water. I checked my Apple Watch repeatedly, watching my heart rate slowly fall from the mid-130s to just above 100. The […] - [Lesser-Known Advantages of Having Eyeglasses](https://youknowwhatpart.com/lesser-known-advantages-of-having-eyeglasses/): Everyone knows that have a pair of corrective lenses is the front-line way to enable you to see clearly. Near or far sighted, a pair of frames holding a glass or plastic set of lenses in front of your broken, carrot-deprived eyes lets you see important family events, cringe social media posts, and disgusting and questionable spots on your body. In some cultures, they’re even an indicator if intelligence or maturity, and a finely-chosen pair of glasses can transform someone’s appearance in unique ways. But what those lesser-known advantages? Here’s a quick list: - [3D Printing](https://youknowwhatpart.com/3d-printing/): As a Christmas gift to myself, I bought an Anycubic Kobra 2. I’ve never owned a 3D printer and have been enamored of the tech for a while. With a holiday sale from Anycubic, I bought into the hobby for under $300. While I’m still heavily in the “print shit you find on Thingiverse” phase, I also know that it can somewhat easy to make things that make their way onto a heated platen. Many, many years ago, I was very good with 3D CAD software. I spent a summer digitized hand-drawn plans from a regional architect, designed corrugated boxes […] - [The picture is too large and will be truncated](https://youknowwhatpart.com/the-picture-is-too-large-and-will-be-truncated/): Old bugs are super fun. If you’re using Excel and copy/pasting as little as one row, you may get the following error: “The picture is too large and will be truncated” If you inspect the results, the copy/paste was successful, but Excel will throw this error every time you paste again. I encountered the error in the MS365 Excel desktop version. Searching for a solution leads to many threads, some over 15 years old, with people complaining about the issue as far back as Excel 97. The fix, for me, was the same as the 15 year old thread on […] - [The End (?) of Evernote](https://youknowwhatpart.com/the-end-of-evernote/): With the announcement that Evernote’s new owners have laid off all US staff and are moving operations to Europe, the writing seems to be on the wall for the service in the short term. Over the years, Evernote has lost features in a code re-write, jacked up prices, and curtailed the utility of it’s free offering by moving to Electron, making the once popular service less attractive. My first Evernote note was in 2008, a photo and notes about Flying Dog Porter taken with my iPhone 3G. Evernote was one of the first iOS apps I ever downloaded and from […] - [Tornado Season](https://youknowwhatpart.com/tornado-season/): It’s tornado season and we’re getting a good chance at one today. Someone at work posted this video and I found it informative. Still not good at reading radar imaging, but this got me a little better. - [Culture Catch-Up](https://youknowwhatpart.com/culture-catch-up/): I am old enough to remember (less each day, though) life before the modern Internet. This post is not a nostalgia-laden trip back to the heady days of the mid-1980s, but more to establish that I’ve been an adult for nearly the entire run of what currently passes for the Internet (IP and DNS-based http content for lack of a better definition). And yet, at a time when Web 2.0 is finding new (and not so new) and creative ways to wind down, I still find myself discovering pockets of Internet culture that missed me or that I stupidly passed […] - [Blank Inside](https://youknowwhatpart.com/blank-inside/): I went to Walgreens to find a card to send to my mother. It’s been a year today since my father died and, while I plan to call her, an artifact seemed… not appropriate, but necessary. We are not an emotional family, which is to say, like so many families, we drown in emotions we’re culture-bound to not share or acknowledge. (Except for me on the internet, apparently.) I loved my father and still have threads that will now never be resolved. To a certain degree, I knew this would be a fact a decade or more ago. I know […] - [What is that noisy IoT device on my network?](https://youknowwhatpart.com/what-is-that-noisy-iot-device-on-my-network/): That’s the first question that popped up when I installed AdGuard Home on my Raspberry Pi last night. Within minutes, hundreds of queries went out for these two domains: What is mi.com, you ask. It is Xiaomi’s US website. I don’t (or thought I didn’t) have an Xiaomi device on my network because, wel, I’d never bought a Xiaomi device. Except, it turns out, someone in my household did. It’s just not sold as a Xiaomi device. It’s a vacuum, specifically a Roborock S4. That robot sits idle for 2-3 days, does 45 minutes of work, then goes idle again. […] - [Twitter has pushed me too far](https://youknowwhatpart.com/twitter-has-pushed-me-too-far/): Inspired by Matt Haughey’s stand against Twitter, I re-logged into Mastodon on all my devices and shelved my Twitter access. I haven’t gone to quite the extreme that Matt did by nuking my Twitter presence, but I’m consciously choosing to not engage there for the time being. I’ve felt some of the same things Matt talks about in his post, although not nearly to the extremes that he experienced. And that’s from two white dudes; the constant stories of harassment, hate speech, and outright calls for violence that women, minorities, and marginal groups experience on a daily basis is unfathomable […] - [RIP Tom Petty](https://youknowwhatpart.com/rip-tom-petty/): Tom Petty died today, aged 66. I won’t claim to be a huge Tom Petty fan, but I’ve bought an album or two and sang along in the car to one of those songs everyone knows. I’ll  stream a lot of his catalog today to remember the songs I’ve heard once or hundreds of times. I also owe Petty credit for a singular moment in my life, and one I never expected to last in my mind. Nearly 20 years ago, I was a fresh-ish faced transplant to Ann Arbor, MI by way of my first “real job” out of […] - [Google Inbox: A classic Google product](https://youknowwhatpart.com/google-inbox-a-classic-google-product/): My work domain (an EDU) recently had Google Inbox enabled so I had a good chance to try it out. My personal email is relatively quiet and, I believe, doesn’t provide a good Inbox experience. Work is more active and requires actual management, something I’ve tossed many a tool at over the years. As part of my work life, I supported the Google Apps for EDU installation here and took a pretty extensive presentation to campus about how to manage large amounts of email. Inbox is a classic Google product: the distillation of a number of excellent ideas into a […] - [Evernote](https://youknowwhatpart.com/evernote/): Evernote, for better or worse, is the best note-taking service for my needs. It works across all my devices/computers/modes. It’s fairly easy to get stuff into it. Hell, they even have 2-Factor authentication. The Windows app is a little clunky and my girlfriend and I have never been able to get shared notes to work properly (conflicted note! three times in the same grocery trip!), but what service is perfect? At least they have nice socks. Everything, in fact, is pretty good as long as you don’t screw up. And screw up I did. I’m not very regular about making backups, […] - [The Google Trap](https://youknowwhatpart.com/the-google-trap/): In light of yesterday’s abysmal experience with Google Photos, I’ve been examining how much of my digital life is tied to Google. It’s a sobering list: Mail Calendar File storage (mostly taken care of) Blog Chrome Search history URL history Profiles Bookmarks Remote Desktop Identity management on dozens of sites Contacts Chat Map location information and saved addresses Video search and viewing history Social media (sort of)  (deleted) (spoke too soon; damn Youtube) That leaves music, books, notes, and music to other services. I have had a Google+ account, but rarely used it even before Google started dragging Plus out […] - [Goodbye Google Photos](https://youknowwhatpart.com/goodbye-google-photos/): Note: See the end of this post for an update Posted on 10 Aug Google recently split Photos off of the lumbering, zombied body of Google+ into a pretty slick Service. The iOS app worked great, uploading everything, storage was easy to stay under caps, the algorithms creating some interesting Stories. I was a happy user of a set-it-and-forget-it variety. Until today. Today, I logged into Gmail normally and saw 5 new notifications in the Google bell. Odd, I do have a Google+ account but on no day before have I had that much activity. I clicked the notification icon […] - [Art Fair Bingo](https://youknowwhatpart.com/art-fair-bingo/): Today starts the Ann Arbor Art Fair (technically a collection of 4 art fairs that intersect at various streets and NO ONE but the individual fair staff care AT ALL about that technicality). Also, because Art Fair is essentially a people-watching event for locals, the inevitable scorecard emerged. I haven’t seen a new one in a while, but digging through my image backlog, I found an Ann Arbor Bingo Card from 2005 made by Jacquelene Steele. Enjoy. (Click to embiggen.) - [Sold](https://youknowwhatpart.com/sold/): It happened. We sold the house, we closed, we moved. Hard to believe it’s been almost a month since we left Chelsea. I don’t miss the house at all. I’m sure someday I’ll have fond memories, but it’s a burden gone for the time being and I’m glad to have it behind me. That said, selling a house is one of the worst experiences ever. Buying a car is a breeze in comparison. I started a long post about the experience of selling; the terrible communication skills of real estate agents (every one of them, not just ours), the soul-sucking […] - [The Other Side of YKWP](https://youknowwhatpart.com/the-other-side-of-ykwp/): Ok, this page is something other. It’s not the blog, it’s also not my professional work. No one wants to read training materials, business plans, or requirements documents anyway (although, they’re pretty good). This is where I drop stuff—stories, pictures, illustrations… whatever I feel like sharing. Everything will be Creative Commons licensed in one form or another; I don’t know why, it just seems like a good thing to do. Anyway, I’ll break the sections down if needs be. Otherwise, enjoy, critique, or laugh. It’s all up to you. Rose of SharonThis is a story I wrote, the first draft […] - [House for Sale: Day 50](https://youknowwhatpart.com/house-for-sale-day-50/): Our house is for sale (call our agent if you’re interested!). This is Day 50 of it being on the market. We thought we had plumbed the depths of ennui before this process began but we were so very, very wrong. To date, we’ve had about 12 showings, 2 open houses, and almost no interaction with our agent once she figured out we couldn’t finance another family car. We had to drop the price on our home, which was something that had to be done Right Now because the new price had to fan out for the second open house. […] - [One Year Gone](https://youknowwhatpart.com/one-year-gone/): We still miss you, bud. - [9 years](https://youknowwhatpart.com/9-years/): Today is the ninth anniversary since we closed on our first house. We were supposed to be here for 2, maybe 3, years. But here we are almost a decade later, stuck in a starter house we probably should never have bought in the first place. Why? Having a house–well this house anyway–is exhausting. The house is old, it has a Michigan basement, it has a shared driveway in need of replacement, the list goes on. It’s exhausting to think about, exhausting to work through the neverending lists, exhausting to skimp and save to finance that work. We haven’t so […] - [About](https://youknowwhatpart.com/about/): I’m Ryan. This site is almost entirely vanity, with a touch of learning tossed in. I live in Ypsilanti, MI and work for the University of Michigan (no, I will not be able to help you get tickets). Everything on this site is my opinion and not that of the University. On the “who is he” side, I live with my girlfriend, J–. I like to play PC games, occasionally ride my bike, mow the lawn (seriously screw mowing the lawn), drink beer, brew beer, think about beer, and sometimes just admire beer remember drinking beer. In a former life, […] - [Contact](https://youknowwhatpart.com/contact/): Fastest way to my inbox is through ryan.vis@gmail.com - [Moving to Blogger, for real this time](https://youknowwhatpart.com/moving-to-blogger-for-real-this-time/): I’m done with WordPress. After being compromised, again, I’m done. No matter what security extension I install, no matter how automatic the updates, no matter what I tweak, WordPress continues to be compromised. I even went so far as to nuke the install, the database, and the users for both with my host only to find that WordPress can’t handle importing 1400 entries. So, I’m done. Aside from DNS propagation, this blog, now hosted on Blogger, took less than an hour to set up, import, and configure. The import, which failed for days on WordPress, was imported in less than a minute. […] - [Student Loans - Fin](https://youknowwhatpart.com/student-loans-fin/): Yesterday I paid off my last student loan. It took nearly 16 years to do so, a stretch of time that, frankly, is embarrassing. I financed my college education completely on my own; my parents held to the belief (in the mid-90s) that one could still pay their way through college. You couldn’t, there wasn’t even a chance of that happening. My college education was financed on the backs of loans, a single grant for 2 semesters, and credit cards. I have paid off the loans. 16 years after the fact, I still have 2 credit cards within striking distance […] - [Snow Removal in Chelsea, MI](https://youknowwhatpart.com/snow-removal-in-chelsea-mi/): Chelsea MI’s relevant ordinances regarding removal of snow and ice. Sec. 26-89. – Ice and snow removal. It shall be the duty of the owner or occupant of every parcel of real estate within the city which adjoins a public right-of-way upon which there has been constructed a public sidewalk, to remove any accumulations of ice and snow which obstruct the free use of the sidewalk by pedestrians, within 48 hours after the accumulation of such snow or ice. (Ord. No. 94, § 271.003, 6-21-1985)Sec. 26-90. – Failure to remove snow and ice. Any owner or occupant of real estate […] - [Myrt Hulst - 1929 - 2104](https://youknowwhatpart.com/myrt-hulst-1929-2104/): I’m getting sick of writing these. On January 19, 2014, Myrtle Hulst passed from this Earth. She was 84, 4 months short of her birthday. She is survived by 2 sisters and countless nieces, nephews, grand nieces, grand nephews, and friends. I am one of those grand nephews and Myrt was like a third grandmother to me. Myrt never married or had children, but not for any of the previous generations’ reasons for excusing such things. Not that my family would ever discuss such things, but I believe Myrt found companionship in her multitude of friends. I have been to […] - [The Captain Kirk Problem: How Doctor Who Betrayed Matt Smith](https://youknowwhatpart.com/the-captain-kirk-problem-how-doctor-who-betrayed-matt-smith/): Lots of good pulls in this Atlantic article, but some highlights: The entirety of Season Six is when Moffat’s fascination for plot twists and open-ended mysteries (in our house, we describe this unfortunate tendency as “plotty-wotty”) took over the show, and the whole product suffered. … As Moffat checked off the boxes, … all I could think of was The Eight Deadly Words that doom all forms of storytelling: I don’t care what happens to these people. … If only the problems with this show had anything to do with the cast. I’ve said it so much on Twitter it […] - [The struggle of an indexed life](https://youknowwhatpart.com/the-struggle-of-an-indexed-life/): I live online. That’s a statement means different things to different people. To people before my generation, that may mean I’ve made a choice disconnect from “real life” and spend it staring at a series of LCD screens. To those within my generation (or neighboring it), it may mean that I’ve adopted the position that my job and life nearly require me to be tethered to a mobile device (phone, laptop, tablet) for pretty much every waking hour–standard exceptions for family events, medical moments, and Federally-imposed dead zones (airplanes). Sleep is not an excuse. But, increasingly, being “online” is a […] - [Why I Quit Watching The Walking Dead](https://youknowwhatpart.com/why-i-quit-watching-the-walking-dead/): I was a big fan until this season. And then, after the second episode, I just gave up. I think the inherit conflict in the show’s structure finally got to me. It’s not that the show doesn’t give fans what they want; everyone wants something different that can’t be met. But what is central to the show are two things that I think are in direct conflict with maintaining long-term engagement: The show is, at it’s heart, largely about character development and interpersonal relationships. The characters have more or less found ways to survive (although more on that later). What […] - [Windows 8 Sound Randomly Drops Out (Solution)](https://youknowwhatpart.com/windows-8-sound-randomly-drops-out-solution/): You, like me, have a Windows 8 machine which has the sounds randomly drop out. Your drivers look fine, everything is up to date, but this annoying thing keeps happening. Fear not, there is a solution, courtesy of Tech Support Forum. For Windows 8, search for and open Sound, click the Communications tab, select “Do nothing”, and click Apply. Why this is not the default setting is beyond me. - [A Breakdown of Guns and Ammo's Response to a Reasonable Editorial](https://youknowwhatpart.com/a-breakdown-of-guns-and-ammos-response-to-a-reasonable-editorial/): Recently, a [former] editor at Guns and Ammo published what most rational citizens would consider a measured and logical approach to gun control. For that, he was fired, disowned, and earned an official response from the remaining editorial staff. Below is that response, editorialized by me, a current non-crazy gun person (which apparently is now something we have to designate ourselves as). Since Guns and Ammo is such a Constitutionally-minded organization, they clearly understand my First Amendment rights (one better than Second!) in editorializing  their rebuttal. From Jim Bequette, editor, “Guns & Ammo” Magazine: As editor of “Guns & Ammo,” […] - [Nevermind, we'll stay here](https://youknowwhatpart.com/nevermind-well-stay-here/): Moving the blog to Blogger was breaking too much, especially photos and other media. So, for now, the blog will stay here. - [Disabling a Stubborn Field Test Mode](https://youknowwhatpart.com/disabling-a-stubborn-field-test-mode/): Some time ago, I turned on Field Test Mode on my iPhone 4. I then dutifully backed up that phone for ages, restoring that backup to my new iPhone 5 when I got it last year. Then I tried turning off Field Test Mode, which came over in the backup. And it wouldn’t stay turned off. After much searching I found a solution that, for now, appears to have solved the issue: enter the number into Notes and then paste the number into dialer, instead of typing in the number (from this helpful Apple support thread). - [Breaking Bad](https://youknowwhatpart.com/breaking-bad/): Perfect. So much digital ink will be spilled on Monday about this show, I’ll hold my insufficient words. But I think one thing felt so right about the show, and it only works in the context of that Universe. Walt. Wins. And that’s the only way the show could have ended. Breaking Bad, for all the nit-picky things people will detail over the next few days, is a perfect show. Long, in-depth character studies. Creative uses of long-cliched tropes. A story that works for one-time viewers and obsessives alike. But the tone, the humanity of the show; it’s an amazing […] - [Site moving, new URL](https://youknowwhatpart.com/site-moving-new-url/): After years of neglect, this site and blog will be moving to Blogger. The youknowwhatpart.com URL will expire or be sold and all posts have been migrated to http://youknowwhatpart.blogspot.com/. Please update your bookmarks, RSS feeds, carrier pigeons and indentured servants^H^H^H unpaid interns.   Update: Nevermind - [Goodbye, Froggie](https://youknowwhatpart.com/goodbye-froggie/): Goodbye, my friend. We miss you so much already. - [The Storm - Part 2](https://youknowwhatpart.com/the-storm-part-2/): So, it’s still cancer. It’s also very, very advanced. An ultrasound and additional X-rays show an advanced lesion on the liver, several lesions on the spleen, and aggressive metastasis in the lungs. Effectively, any treatment at this point is palliative; there’s no cure beyond miraculous responses to off-label drugs. The oncologist couched Froggie’s remaining time as a month. So, we’ll lose him before my birthday in late August. He’ll get to stay in his house until the end and not have to deal with selling this house and moving. But he’s 8 and his passing is way, way too soon. […] - [The Storm](https://youknowwhatpart.com/the-storm/): So, it’s cancer. In typically-clinical language, the radiologist’s report stated “CONCLUSIONS: severe generalized reticulo-nodular miliary lung pattern is concerning for diffuse pulmonary metastatic disease from unknown primary tumor.” Basically, cancer has spread to the entirety of both lungs from an unknown source. There’s a mass in one lung that may be the source, but is likely a confluence of smaller masses into one larger mass. Strangely, his blood work is, medically, unremarkable. In the absence of imaging, he’s healthy. He’s not particularly struggling either, but he’s ‘off’, as they say. So, now, we’re going to MSU’s Veterinary Oncology Center for a consultation. If they can find […] - [The Best Photo I Ever Took (Biased Edition)](https://youknowwhatpart.com/the-best-photo-i-ever-took-biased-edition/) - [The Calm Before the Storm](https://youknowwhatpart.com/the-calm-before-the-storm/): About four feet behind me, a dog named Froggie lies in his crate, door ajar, struggling to breathe. He’s on a hundred milligrams of one drug and more of another. The X-ray of his rib cage looked like, quoting our veterinarian here, “popcorn”. Basically, it’s cancer. Tomorrow we’ll get a call from her, while she’s travelling, to either confirm that diagnosis or not. Last night as we were cleaning up after painting our dining and living room (we know how to take vacations), he coughed up a Cup of phlegm-mixed-with-blood. It was shocking to say the least. He seemed off […] - [In Memoriam: Marlene Vis](https://youknowwhatpart.com/in-memoriam-marlene-vis/): Marlene Vis, my aunt, passed away this past Saturday, aged 63, loosing a prolonged battle with cancer. I know it’s trite to say that cancer patients “fight” their disease, but if anyone had, she did. Sent to hospice twice, she beat the odds to live more than a year longer than the most optimistic projections. She was–is–one of the strongest people I’ve ever met. Marlene is survived by her mother, her husband, her two children, four grandchildren, and hard-to-count numbers of nieces, nephews, great-level relations, and friends. To say she had a wide-reaching impact on the community would be an […] - [A Musical Pick-Me-Up](https://youknowwhatpart.com/a-musical-pick-me-up/): On the Beautiful Blue Danube, Op. 314 - [Eulogy for Lillian (Hulst) Vis](https://youknowwhatpart.com/eulogy-for-lillian-hulst-vis/): Lillian (Hulst) Vis, aged 85, died Friday, 24 August 2012. She was preceded in death by her husband, Gerrit, and a daughter, Erma Vis. She is survived by 3 sons, a daughter, many grandchildren and great-grandchildren, me amongst them. My grandmother was a devoted mother, grandmother, and Christian. She will be missed by all of us, but most of all by Myrt, her sister and constant companion. I’ve had a hard time coming up with words for how I feel about her and her passing. I left the West side of Michigan almost a decade ago, having left the first time […] - [Apropos of nothing](https://youknowwhatpart.com/apropos-of-nothing/): Noel Gallagher – Teotihuacan Because I like this song. - [Rick Santorum's Google Problem](https://youknowwhatpart.com/rick-santorums-google-problem/): Poor Rick Santorum. When he isn’t making sure you know gay marriage and adoption are “violations of natural law” (his words) or that the Super Scary Sharia Law is already here, he’s got this small Google problem. Google his last name. Go ahead, but be ready for something pretty gross to read. Actually, you don’t have to Google it, just click here. He earned that years ago. But, now, he started blaming Google themselves, asserting that the company is purposefully letting the search results stand because he’s, yah know, a intolerable, intolerant, bigot. Well, Rick, it’s not Google. It’s me. […] - [links for 2011-07-06](https://youknowwhatpart.com/links-for-2011-07-06/): Silhouette Vinyl (tags: vinyl silhouette) - [links for 2011-06-30](https://youknowwhatpart.com/links-for-2011-06-30/): Acrobat’s Adobe PDF Printer Replaced in Snow Leopard | InDesignSecrets Apple, in their infinite wisdom, removed many features required for imposition printing from InDesign in Snow Leopard. This thread has some solutions. (tags: indesign imposition printing) Create Booklet 1.1 support Snow Leopard (tags: imposition bookmaking printing indesign booklets) - [links for 2011-06-29](https://youknowwhatpart.com/links-for-2011-06-29/): YouTube – TEDxObserver – Cory Doctorow (tags: facebook skinnerbox doctorow) - [links for 2011-06-24](https://youknowwhatpart.com/links-for-2011-06-24/): Language Log: The Dan Brown code (tags: awful books fiction blarg) - [links for 2011-06-23](https://youknowwhatpart.com/links-for-2011-06-23/): NYU Google Migration (tags: google email calendar work) - [links for 2011-06-12](https://youknowwhatpart.com/links-for-2011-06-12/): Map Projection: Gall Very cool Java app for showing the various map projections. (tags: maps, globe, java, projections,) - [links for 2011-06-05](https://youknowwhatpart.com/links-for-2011-06-05/): Project Euler (tags: mathematics programming) - [links for 2011-05-25](https://youknowwhatpart.com/links-for-2011-05-25/): User Interface Design Libraries for Keynote, PowerPoint and OpenOffice – Keynotopia (tags: mobile templates keynote powerpoint) - [links for 2011-05-17](https://youknowwhatpart.com/links-for-2011-05-17/): Embedded Media HTML Generator (tags: video webdesign tools) - [The Truth Hurts](https://youknowwhatpart.com/the-truth-hurts/):     http://youknowwhatpart.com/download/RT-New-Rules-051311.mov - [links for 2011-05-15](https://youknowwhatpart.com/links-for-2011-05-15/): StillTasty: Your Ultimate Shelf Life Guide – Save Money, Eat Better, Help The Environment (tags: food storage fish meat reference) - [links for 2011-05-14](https://youknowwhatpart.com/links-for-2011-05-14/): Barbecue Beef Ribs Recipe (tags: smoking, beef,) - [links for 2011-05-11](https://youknowwhatpart.com/links-for-2011-05-11/): Subtle Patterns | High quality patterns for your next web project (tags: webdesign graphics pattern backgrounds) - [links for 2011-05-10](https://youknowwhatpart.com/links-for-2011-05-10/): The Beer Recipator – Home (tags: beer brewing recipes) - [links for 2011-05-05](https://youknowwhatpart.com/links-for-2011-05-05/): Waterbear (tags: webdesign javascript tools) - [links for 2011-05-01](https://youknowwhatpart.com/links-for-2011-05-01/): 10 Usability Tips Based on Research Studies (tags: ux usability research webdesign mobile) - [links for 2011-04-27](https://youknowwhatpart.com/links-for-2011-04-27/): Startup Tools « Steve Blank (tags: tools, mobile, webdesign, billing, testing, email, analytics, collaboration , SEO,) - [Quote of the Day](https://youknowwhatpart.com/quote-of-the-day/): “Don’t be deceived when they tell you things are better now. Even if there’s no poverty to be seen because the poverty’s been hidden. Even if you ever got more wages and could afford to buy more of these new and useless goods which industries foist on you and even if it seems to you that you never had so much, that is only the slogan of those who still have much more than you. Don’t be taken in when they paternally pat you on the shoulder and say that there’s no inequality worth speaking of and no more reason […] - [links for 2011-04-21](https://youknowwhatpart.com/links-for-2011-04-21/): iPhone 4 4.3.2 Jailbreak Untethered Using Redsn0w 0.9.6rc14 Now Available | Redmond Pie (tags: jailbreak ipad) - [links for 2011-04-19](https://youknowwhatpart.com/links-for-2011-04-19/): Daily Kos: MI Gov. Rick Snyder's takeover of Benton Harbor tied to shoreline development for the wealthy Something to pay attention to. When big things are afoot in Lansing, follow the money. (tags: politics michigan interesting) - [links for 2011-04-17](https://youknowwhatpart.com/links-for-2011-04-17/): Recipes – Cook's CountryTV (tags: recipes cooking) - [links for 2011-04-13](https://youknowwhatpart.com/links-for-2011-04-13/): txt2re: headache relief for programmers :: regular expression generator (tags: regex tools programming cool) A Useful Collection of iPhone/iPad Apps Developer Tools and Resources | Onextrapixel – Showcasing Web Treats Without A Hitch (tags: ios iphone design development tools) The iPhone Tab Bar « SignificantPixels (tags: ios iphone design UX) - [Quote of the Day](https://youknowwhatpart.com/quote-of-the-day-2/): There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs. source, via Krugman - [links for 2011-04-09](https://youknowwhatpart.com/links-for-2011-04-09/): Perfect Full Page Background Image | CSS-Tricks (tags: css webdesign) - [links for 2011-04-07](https://youknowwhatpart.com/links-for-2011-04-07/): The Cicada Principle and Why It Matters to Web Designers » HTML & CSS, Layout » Design Festival (tags: webdesign) - [links for 2011-04-06](https://youknowwhatpart.com/links-for-2011-04-06/): whocalled.us (tags: cellphone reverselookup phonenumbers) - [links for 2011-04-03](https://youknowwhatpart.com/links-for-2011-04-03/): English Proverbs | The Phrasefinder (tags: quotes writing proverbs origins) - [In My Own Words: Why Unions Matter](https://youknowwhatpart.com/in-my-own-words-why-unions-matter/): Bit of history: I am not your typical leftist-liberal big-union person. In fact, I have issues with a lot of union activities, mostly with union leadership and the ridiculous amount of (perceived and/or real) corruption at the top. Union leadership has, from my admittedly comfortable seats always been the most negative aspect of the modern labor movement. However, corruption hardly requires a union card to happen, as you need only search your local paper to find. Despite this early resistance to organized labor, I always respected the right of people to unionize and collectively bargin. I don’t have to agree with them, […] - [links for 2011-03-28](https://youknowwhatpart.com/links-for-2011-03-28/): Quick tip: make your own iPhone usability testing sled for £5 (tags: usability rig) Mobile Usability Testing Rig for m.cdlib: California Digital Library (tags: usability) Filming rig for mobile device usability test recording (tags: usability) About the Binding: Perfect Bound? (tags: bookbinding perfectbinding howto) - [links for 2011-03-27](https://youknowwhatpart.com/links-for-2011-03-27/): Have any of you ever found a great PDF online that really helped you with something? Let's share interesting papers, articles, educational books etc. I hope this takes off… : AskReddit (tags: PDF color cool illustration photoshop programming training reddit) - [links for 2011-03-26](https://youknowwhatpart.com/links-for-2011-03-26/): HD Wallpapers: Quick View | Dizorb | HD Wallpapers and Design Resources (tags: desktop wallpaper) - [Can we call them Fascists yet?](https://youknowwhatpart.com/can-we-call-them-fascists-yet/): Quoting directly from Reddit user Veteren4Peace: Fourteen Defining Characteristics Of Fascism Powerful and Continuing Nationalism – Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays. ::check Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights – Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of “need.” The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, […] ## Pages - [About](https://youknowwhatpart.com/about-page-4/): Hi, I’m Ryan. I live in Ypsilanti, Michigan, USA. I am an inch-deep, mile-wide kind of nerd: I may not know everything about something off the top of my head, but I can find the info as needed. Contrarian, curmudgeon, and raconteur. By day, I’m a senior Business Analyst working at the University of Michigan. I generally work on large, capital projects, deploying and supporting enterprise software and SaaS solutions. My work is typical Business Analyst stuff: requirements, business cases, QA, documentation. I also dabble in and enjoy Change Management work (in the people and process change sense, not ITIL […] [comment]: # (Generated by Hostinger Tools Plugin)