Source Jockey

In 1996 or so, a doctor diagnosed me with atypical migraines.  Why atypical?  They only occurred on the right side and there were no triggers (like red wine or chocolate).  My awesome acupuncturist once tried to treat them; his normal treatment didn’t help.  What did help, however, was sticking a needle straight into my temple, about an inch away from where it feels like the pain is most intense.  Within seconds, the pounding, throbbing, searing pain stops immediately.  It’s the craziest thing ever.  He thinks it’s some kind of tension issue…  I don’t know.

Anyway.  Because my acupuncturist has been so awesome & helped me with my not-migraines (as well as neck and back pain in the past), I’m going to give you his info.  Just call him, regardless of your ailment–he seems to have a solution for almost anything.  Martin Haines, 626-796-9987.  He’s located in Pasadena.

You may have noticed; I like to perform experiments where I am the subject.  (There’s a good chance that I learned this from Mythbusters; who knows.)  The latest experiment is what I’m calling the “Sleep Experiment”, or more fully, the “Place My iPhone On Airplane Mode While I Sleep Experiment”.

By this point, I’m certain that you’re asking, “Why is he doing this?  Has Adam discovered that he is sensitive to electromagnetic radiation, and it’s affecting him while he sleeps?”  No.  Something I’ve known for a while is that I’m a very light sleeper; especially sensitive to sounds.  For instance, emails, texts, phone calls, pins dropping, calls dropping, and pins phoning.  Putting my phone on “silent” still allows it to vibrate, which still makes noise.

My null hypothesis: the buzzing/chiming of my iPhone (and iPad) have been waking me up throughout the night undetectably (I wake up but don’t remember waking up), causing me to be über tired in the morning.

Experiment: put the phone on Airplane mode and turn off the iPad while sleeping.

Result: So far, I’ve been waking up a lot more refreshed & ready to attack the day (I’ve been doing this since Monday).  In fact, I woke up on my own at 6:30am today–kinda weird, but refreshing.  So six mornings down.  If things change, I’ll keep you posted.

Back in May of 2010, something important happened: My freedom was revoked.  Well, it wasn’t revoked, it expired.  My passport book, used only a few times, finally made it to ten years old.  The photo of me smiling at age 20 (young and innocent) reminds me of what happened only weeks before I got the passport in the mail.  (For those of you who don’t know, a pocket knife found itself a couple inches into my hand while fighting for the honor of a damsel in distress.  Or…I accidentally stabbed myself while opening a Super Soaker box.  Whichever seems more plausible.)

So back in…oh…December, I guess, I did the passport renewal, sent in my check and photo, and a few weeks later, received a rejection notice.  My photo was unacceptable.  Americans aren’t supposed to smile.  Or the photo wasn’t the right size.  or something stupid, I don’t know.  So I let the passport sit around until one of my friends had to go out of the country for a family emergency; and I thought to myself, gosh, if I had some kind of international emergency (for instance, cheap tickets to Taiwan), I wouldn’t be able to go!  So I retook the photo (it really looks like I haven’t eaten fiber in a few years), and sent in all my paperwork.  Yesterday, I got the envelope: my brand new passport.  A feeling of elation swept over me–I can travel again, to magnificent places like Egypt, Japan, and Libya!  Yes!  (ok, too soon for that).

Anyway.  I haven’t left the U.S. since April 2009.  It’s been two years.  Time to travel!

I changed the photo in the blog header!  It’s almost been two years since my Lasik surgery, not to mention the weight I dropped, so I figured it was time to replace it.  (If you’re reading this via Facebook, you have no idea what I’m talking about.  Visit my blog directly!)

This is going to be a slightly technical post, but helpful for you if you’re experiencing any “certificate error” issues.

Have you visited Facebook lately and gotten an error like “This is probably not the site you are looking for!”, or something about the certificate being invalid, etc?  Or Gmail?  Or any other site that you’ve used the https:// protocol?  There are a few possibilities for what is going on; I’ll explain three, and how to fix one.

The first, one from which your browser is trying to protect you, is the possibility that someone has hijacked a DNS server or is placing themselves between you and the web site you are trying to reach, pretending to be that web site to eavesdrop on your information.  (The job of a certificate is to prevent that).  This is bad.  You want to heed this warning and stay away from the site, as someone could steal your username, password, or any other information you’re sending to the site.

The second, another from which your browser is trying to protect you, is a virus/spyware program has attempted to hijack the internet traffic from within your own computer.  Install anti-virus/anti-spyware to fix it.

The third (and the one which white I’m going to try to help you) is that your computer’s DNS cache is someone out of date, and that it is trying to access the wrong server (innocently).  I should probably tell you what a DNS server is.  A “Domain Name Server” is a computer that converts domain names (like google.com) into IP addresses (like 66.102.7.99).  Sometimes, your computer or browser will cache this information so that your browsing experience goes faster.  If these numbers are out-of-date, however, you’ll get that certificate error.  Here’s how I fix it.

1. First and foremost, try quitting and reopening your browser.  If going to the website still results in an error, continue to step 2.
2. Mac: Quit your browser.  Open the Terminal App, and type the following command (without the quotes, of course): “dscacheutil -flushcache”. Reopen the browser.
   PC: Quit your browser.  Open the Command Prompt, and type the following command (again, without the quotes): “ipconfig /flushdns”.  Reopen the browser.

Now, if that doesn’t work, there’s a chance there’s something wrong with your DNS server settings, and you might want to contact your DSL or cable company to get a fix.  Good luck!

I’ve been considering doing the audio or video podcasts again, but need some help from you guys regarding what to talk about!

I feel like such an idiot.  While waiting for my car in the valet area after Rotary, I saw this young woman who I thought I had met before.  ”You look so familiar–where do I know you from?” She shrugs.  ”Where did you go to high school?”  She replies, “Temple City.”  I said, “Ah, I went to San Marino.  That’s not it.”  She giggled and said, “We’re rivals!”  I laughed, then continued, “What about college?” She said, “UCLA.”  I said, “Wow, we’re really rivals!  I’m Adam, what’s your name?”  She says, “Julia,” while shaking my hand. My car arrived, and I left.  Three hours later, I’m reminded of one of my favorite television show, “Chuck”, and it clicks; the girl is Julia Ling from the TV show.  Whoops.  I “recognized” her without realizing why. Doh!