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Doug
04-09-2009, 03:42 AM
I got my new webcam today. Does anyone else have one? I still have to install Skype (I think it is), but I've taken an actual photo to use as my avatar. It posted rather easily, thanks to the cleverness of Andrew and his website! :):D;) (That's my "peace lily" in the foreground. )

Doug
04-09-2009, 07:45 AM
My, my! Not only do I mumble, I didn't realize how thick my Nebraska accent has become. I posted four videos. If you are curious what I sound like or look like or, well, whatever, search for weggieboy on YouTube. In future, I'll work from an outline. Whew~! :p

jola57
04-09-2009, 06:15 PM
Congratulations on joining 21st centure of cyberspace. Nice artistic shot Doug.

Doug
04-09-2009, 10:14 PM
Thanks!

I remember AT&T had a videophone out at one point where you had to go to special places to send a call. It was a failure, of course, but nobody would have predicted anything as convenient and small as a web cam! (relatively cheap, too)

Anyone thinking about Google Chrome should wait until Google works out the bugs. I know, from bad experience, that the current version can cause lots of file damage when you uninstall it (which you probably will, because it doesn't always install correctly). I'm still trying to straighten out the mess. I'm down now to some linkages lost. I like every other thing I've tried from Google, but would be hesitant to recommend anything by them for the time being. Let someone else find out the problems!

Doug
04-10-2009, 02:04 AM
YouTube - weggieboy's debut (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qepd4Digbew&feature=player_embedded) < < < double-left-click on this

You can do them too. (WARNING: There are remarks in this video about death, long term disease, and my personal faith as a source of strength during the vicissitudes of living with WG, then, later, a herpes zoster infection that cost me part of my jaw and still causes me great discomfort in the form of postherpetic neuralgia. They aren't intended to upset or convert anyone to anything. They are nothing more or less than one man's opinion. I hope that this format, like personal blogs, has validity as a way to connect with others about those things important in our lives. If not, I'll probably end my association with this forum and move on.)

Jack
04-10-2009, 03:37 AM
I think that YouTube and Blogs are great vehicles for comments that might otherwise "upset the apple cart" here on the Forum. People can make their choice of whether to view them or not. Keep it up. :)

crackers
04-10-2009, 10:55 AM
just watched your webcam and nice to see another weggie in the flesh(virtual).as for the other matter jack is right,on any social forum you can post beliefs and opinions and it is up to the individual if they wish to read and involve themselves in them.on here we're just weggies and that includes you doug.one big family:)
john.

pberggren1
04-10-2009, 11:33 AM
Hi Doug,

Saw your Youtube video. Very nice. You certainly don't look 61.

Over and Out,
Phil of the north

coffeelover
04-10-2009, 11:41 AM
Hi Doug,

I just watched your video. It sure is nice to see my neighbor to the south in person.
crackers...john is right. We are all a part of the Wegs family and families should support and respect each other.
I can't wait to see your next video.
lisa

Doug
04-10-2009, 04:19 PM
We're here to encourage and inform each other. Those of us farther down the line in treatment can stand in for what newer Weggies can expect, good or bad. Those in the same early stages of treatment can encourage and inform each other as well.

There are so many different treatments I've learned about in the short time I've been reading this that it truly shows why each person has to become an expert in her or his treatment so the doctors realize you are a sentient being, not a medical experiment.

The differences in approaches around the world have been interesting, as have been the similarities.

Thanks for the positive remarks on the video. There are five posted now. I never shut up! Even I sit here in wonder! Haw! I'm a quiet, private person by nature, so those who know me best will be scandalized I even thought of doing this. Those of you who watch them, please feel free to make suggestions. It's an effort to encourage others outside our forum to look deeper into what being a Weggie means and that can mean many things as our personal histories shows. I also encourage them- Weggie viewers, if one ever shows up!- to join this forum, in one of the videos. I have little shame!

(p.s. Phil- My body's 61, but I feel like I'm 30 something. I enjoyed my thirties a lot, as, by then, I started to understand life enough not to think giving myself wedgies was fun! Haw! see below)

Speaking of YouTube, which to me suggests people younger than me doing stupid things (type in "weggieboy, and a dozen or so videos of people giving themselves or others wedgies also come up- not kidding!), I am amazed how many people in this forum are younger than middle age. Maybe it's related to familiarity with computers, so younger people are disproportionately represented here because they learned computer use in school whereas people in my generation can remember learning how to use slide rules (what!?). I used a computer a lot at work or I wouldn't feel comfortable using one otherwise, I'm sure. Any thoughts on that?

Doug
04-10-2009, 05:11 PM
Thanks for the support on the YouTube thing. There are more posted. I'll copy links. It's strange to see me in them as I am camera shy. Also, we see ourselves as we look but in the mirror, so it's odd to see my pirate scar (from the herpes zoster, arrr!) on the "wrong" side of my face! :D

Doug
04-10-2009, 05:57 PM
YouTube - Video 13 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HT-zewUdAjM)

No. 5, in which I never stop talking......:p

andrew
04-10-2009, 07:48 PM
Good one Doug! I've never seen a Weggie in a moving picture before, only in stills so well done! Keep up the good work.

Doug
04-11-2009, 01:37 PM
YouTube - Drugs, drugs, and Prednisone (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYAFOdHmO5M)

I did this one on very little sleep. Please excuse the slip at the end. I truly have worked long and hard NOT to sound like a longshoreman! :rolleyes:

pberggren1
04-11-2009, 08:37 PM
What slip? I didn't hear anything. Maybe it was bovine.

andrew
04-12-2009, 08:29 AM
Doug, what language were you speaking, I couldn't understand you! :D

I'm loving your vids, keep 'em coming. I'm looking forward to the 'green book'

Doug
04-12-2009, 09:50 AM
Doug, what language were you speaking, I couldn't understand you! :D

I'm loving your vids, keep 'em coming. I'm looking forward to the 'green book'

'braskan, ah 'spect. (Nebraskan I suspect.) Whin yuh lissun tuh ma tawk,
jis add the missin' consonants, an' it'ul awl soun' right. (When you listen to my talk, just add the missing consonants, and it will all sound right.):p

The green book...aw, the green book....erm, yes, ah...........what did you say? YouTube experienced some major technical difficulties. I haven't check to see if the video is there yet. It turned out reasonably good considering I had my finger up my nostril. p.s. where I live, you can write a poem and rhyme our with are. (...and the letter "R".) Hey,:eek: all this attention to how I speak is making me self-conscious: Why don't I tell you that vulgar Kiwi joke I got over the internet instead?!:o

Doug
04-12-2009, 11:01 AM
Google Video - Drugs. Drugs, and Predinisone, Part 2 (http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=Drugs.+Drugs,+and+Predinisone,+Part+ 2&hl=en&emb=1&output=rss)

I hope this works. (It's dedicated to Jack if it does; if it doesn't, I'll confer with our WebMeister Andrew!

crackers
04-12-2009, 11:05 AM
sorry doug didn't work for me.
john.

andrew
04-12-2009, 11:09 AM
Nup, she no work. Were you trying to link to your latest on YouTube?

Doug
04-12-2009, 11:30 AM
Nup, she no work. Were you trying to link to your latest on YouTube?

Yes, I was. I e-mailed Andrew a copy via the Web cam program. I've no idea how that will work. It's a large file, too big, I think for YouTube. Regardless, if we don't get it up on this forum, you're all invited over to my place for lots of beer (this is an Australian web site!), crisps, barbeque (no rabbit or any animal with cute faces or that you ride or that are named Patch, Peanuts, Snoopy, or....!), potato salad, and chilled Texas watermelon (maybe Mexican- it's a bit early for Texas by about a month). Seriously. You all can stay at my place! I'll feed the video into the larger of the two flatscreen TV's (not the one in the video, under the peregrine falcon print) I have, tell Kiwi and Ole and Helga jokes, and have a heck of a good time! Bring your Prednisone! :D:p:confused::( (It affects people differently, as you know.)

andrew
04-12-2009, 11:34 AM
I'm on my way!!! :D:D

I'll await the arrival of the video and put it on the site for ya.

Doug
04-12-2009, 04:40 PM
YouTube - Take it where you will: Infection Control for Weggies (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAh76XruiHA&feature=player_embedded)

Here it is, hot of the presses! Take where you will: "Infection Control for Weggies":)

coffeelover
04-14-2009, 07:41 AM
Nice job Doug! I look forward to your ramblings on WG. Thanks for getting the word out there.
LIsa

Doug
04-14-2009, 08:33 AM
YouTube - Prednisone Part 3 0001 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAe1kPwosr4)

YouTube - Prednisone Part 2 0001 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=900svGOMdMs)

Here are links to the two videos based on a return to the little, green "Krazy Book", a diary I kept when on 80mg of Prednisone a day. I filmed for 17-plus minutes, which is 7-plus minutes too long for YouTube submissions. I found I had a rudimentary video editor program on my computer. (You know how they pack them with tons of stuff you probably will never use, and mostly because they pack your computer with tons of stuff you are not aware they are there!) I learned how to do a very rudimentary form of editing so I could break the material into easily gagged down chunks. Though I threw out a lot- you aren't missing any good stuff- I probably could have cleared out more deadwood if I didn't have to relive this material over and over to do it. It was painful. :(

(p.s. Thanks, Lisa! I hope others are encouranged to try something like this.)

Doug
04-14-2009, 08:50 AM
YouTube - Jazzy - on prednisone/still uncoordinated (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EblmUhrCAPI)

Jazzy on Prednisone. (Dog had brain tumor. Never mind...)

Doug
04-26-2009, 06:25 AM
YouTube - VOLUNTEER: It's good for your health! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TROTTWf4upQ)

I've been YouTubing again. Watch at your own peril! :)

coffeelover
04-27-2009, 05:53 AM
Like it Doug! Especially the quote "service to others is the price you pay for the space you occupy". You must have had great parents!
Lisa

Doug
04-27-2009, 07:30 AM
Lisa- Absolutely! They were high school sweethearts who married after five years of going together (!), and had a marriage that lasted 71 years and four months, until Dad died on Election Day, November 4, 2008. Dad was Chief of Police here. Mom was a substitute elementary school teacher, and taught Jim Reinders, the fellow behind Carhenge, when he was a grandschooler in a country school just out of town. They had two hand signals they gave each over when holding hands, which was quite often. If you knew about it, you'd see them doing it: three squeezes equalled "I love you," and five equalled "I love you very much". The night Dad died, Mom was sitting by his bed, trying to encourage him to breathe. I like to think they were sqeezing out hand signals, too, but I've never been able to ask Mom the question: I'd probably bawl if I found out they were. Yes, I am very proud of them!

jola57
04-27-2009, 05:08 PM
Doug how lovely, now there is an inspirational love story. I am sorry about your dad and feel horribly for your mom. How is she coping. My dad passed away 20 years ago and my mom still mourns him, he was a very good man.

Doug
04-27-2009, 05:47 PM
Jolanta-

Thank you for your thoughts!

What I've learned since becoming a weggie, and growing in appreciation of the ravages of time, is that it is OK to surrender to death. We know when it's time. Dad was ready, if we weren't. His last day, he was brought back to the care center from the hospital where he'd been the last week of his life. The attendant pushed him in his wheelchair to the nurse's station, where residents and staff crowded around him, touching him and welcoming him back. I arrived from work about five minutes later, greeted him myself, let him finish his welcome back. He was beaming but quiet. I put my hand on his back, as was my habit, and softly massaged his shoulders. After everyone was done, I wheeled him back to the room he and Mom shared. They smooched then settled into general talk about how good it was to have Dad back. The rest I've told you. Dad died less than 11 hours after returning to the center.

Mom took it hard, of course, but was a trooper. The Alliance Police Department asked if we'd like an honor guard at the funeral, a no-brainer: Dad would have been very pleased! I selected Ecclesiates 3 ("To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven..."), a favorite of mine, for the theme. Our pastor gave a stunningly beautiful interpretation, a great comfort. Dad'd chosen three old hymns ("A Walk in the Garden", "Old Rugged Cross", and "Amazing Grace") before he died, and after the soloist (a family friend) finished singing "A Walk in the Garden", she blew a kiss toward Dad. I bawled at that point. I was very touched. The honor guard lined the sidewalk outside the church and the family passed to the cars. I learned a few months later there is no APD honor guard, but that they'd put it together especially for Dad's funeral.

At the cemetary, after the however-many-gun salute (shot in three volleys), "Taps" was played on a bugle, the Chief of Police (by the name of John Kiss) brought the folded American flag to my Mom. He caught his foot on the plastic runner placed on the grass in the family area under the tent, tripped, and barely caught himself. Mom misinterpreted what'd happened, thought he'd bent down to kiss her, so she grabbed his head, planted a kiss on him! (A perfect Thomas funeral: I almost laughed, and I heard my brother and sisters trying to stiffle laughs, too! We are terrible kidders in my family. We laugh and joke around a lot during family gatherings, so this happening will be told and retold for generations!) Chief Kiss had a startled look on his face, then recaptured the dignity of the moment. The flag was presented with the traditional salute.

Mom has her moments, as we all do, but she is a toughie: "I believe I can live to be a 100!" she told me shortly after Dad died. She's 95 now. The family name for her is "The Princess", because she can be demanding, like all school teachers. I told her the nickname once, and she proclaimed, "I'm not a princess. I'm the queen!" Dear me if she isn't!

Memorial Day in the USA is the day the families place flowers on family graves. Traditionally, it was observed on May 31st, which also was Dad's birthday. Now, it's observed on the last Monday of May, but we probably will place flowers on Dad's grave on his birthday. "To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven..." :)

jola57
04-27-2009, 06:40 PM
How wonderful their life must have been. I'm sure life has thrown some curves but they just went on. My Dad was in the Army and Navy (even though he served in Poland, a communist country at the time, he was specially accepted at the AN) as well as the Lions, so that at his funeral on one side was the Lions guard and on the other the AN. A friend sung Ave Maria and afterwards my Dad was flown from Calgary to Vancouver where we now live. I stayed with my Dad the last week he was in the hospital and slept in his room. My Mom would bring my kids in the mornig and stay the day. It was a very special time for us and I'm thankful I had the time to spend with him. He died of multiple myeloma with my Mom at his side.
I understand what you mean about surrendering to death, my Dad fought for about 3 years, where prognosis was a few months, and then he was just ready. His courage and humility as well as incredible gentelness has been my inspiration in illness.

Doug
04-27-2009, 07:10 PM
Exactly! :):)

Doug
04-27-2009, 07:11 PM
You got it right!

(I didn't think the website liked the shorter message above. The two smileys put it over the 10 minimum characters, I guess!)

coffeelover
04-28-2009, 07:10 AM
Jolanta,

So sorry about your loss. I still have both my parents and at times they drive me crazy, but hearing about yours and Dougs losses makes me thankful they are still with me. They are both in thier upper 70's, but quite active yet.
LIsa

Doug
04-28-2009, 10:40 AM
Lisa- Just because they drive you crazy sometimes, doesn't mean you don't love them. Why do you think we nicknamed Mom "The Princess"? Yet we all love her just the same. Those are the sorts of things that make for good kitchen table talks later in life when you and you siblings get together. :p (ooops! I'm getting into smilies again!)