Other Raney Day Thoughts

Aphorism of the Day

2011-10-28T07:07:00.000-07:00

"Nothing good ever came out of ripping a drinking hole in the lid of your coffee"

-JR

New Jimmy Raney video

2011-08-22T07:17:00.000-07:00

from 1987 on "Autumn Leaves". check out the master!
Jimmy Raney plays Autumn Leaves

Women's Razors

2011-08-10T12:13:00.000-07:00

I try to get the best mid-level razors I can buy and not re-use them more than let's say 7-10x (although I don't count frankly. I just stop when it stops removing hairs and hurting more). The shaves I get are ok not great and obviously get worse on re-use. The premium razors, Mach III, and other blade cartridge replacement types (you know the ones on TV commercials - aerodynamically designed and spawned from the sweat and toil of our greatest, sternest engineering minds under the hottest lamps) are much better, but just a bit too expensive on a continuing basis to warrant the cost. On the other hand, buying Good News razors or worse BIC disposable razors on the cheap...well you might as well take a butter knife to your face.

I sometimes run out of razors and am stuck with few options in the morning. So recently I crossed over the gender dividing line in the bathroom (you know- the one with the loofah, pumice rock and more expensive shampoos and conditioners?)and tried a pink and white deal on my rather tough beard. As it turned out, it was one of the best shaves I ever got. It was a Venus razor. I suddenly felt a communion and common bond of intimacy with Jennifer Lopez. Her legs to my face. Generally, the way the razor drags against the face just feels tighter and more effective. I don't have to retread over the same spot.

I suddenly mused, what exactly constitutes a woman's razor? The angle? Blade sharpness? Or do they just fashion George's razor in girly colors and call it a Jane? Maybe a product specialist could tell me. But given that the shave is seemingly superior and cheaper - if there is a difference - why bother? Or is this simply marketing, where cheaper men's razors are intentionally designed like crap so men feel the need to save themselves by buying these expensive razors that require scientific video commercials zooming in on the single beard hair?

Makes you go hmmm...
Not exactly the stuff of conspiracy theory novels but interesting nonetheless. What do you think?

Follow up: DH gate resolved

2011-05-27T07:36:00.000-07:00

Well I guess there are some decent people out there. The DHGate rep, Blunyi wrote me back apologized and they refunded my money. Was expecting more of a fight

I suppose now I have to deal with the real crooks, HP who sold me a motherboard that crapped out in 13months and want 3x the money I almost lost at DHgate.

Onward and upward and all that stuff...

DHGate: Worst Online seller

2011-05-20T09:25:00.000-07:00

I made the mistake of buying on the cheap (a motherboard for HP Slimline) from this online buying site from China. Avoid them like the plague.

These people have no customer service standards, irresponsible sellers, and zero oversight. Their CEO, Diane Wang must be asleep at the wheel because the Internet is just littered with complaints on forums and entries of the company into fraud complaint sites. My fault for not seeing that though. Oh well. I was too willing to take a risk and got scammed.

I bought a defective item, the seller reluctantly promised to replace. When I returned via a method that wasn't the standard courier with tracking (i.e. UPS, Fedex, etc)he had an out because I couldn't prove without a signature. Even though I showed USPS delivery to China plus customs stamp. He stopped responding to emails completely after doing so regularly and also chats (where originally I had snagged his attention to give me a return address).

Other stuff. Their system disables complaint recourse after a certain period. Which is ridiculous being the international seller they are - knowing full well that many sellers use the cheapest slowest methods available.

Customer service has no 48 hr standard. They took a week to respond and it was a boilerplate response at that. They claimed they would follow up. They didn't after several requests and week-late continued boilerplate responses. There was some dispute dept that I sent my evidence to. They responded after 3 weeks about being so sorry about my experience and saying they would investigate. They intitiated I believe after I threatened to write to the president. Then did no follow up with me. That was a month ago. It's just astounding. What can you say when you've been had. Shame on them, but shame on me for ignoring the red flags. And my case is minor compared to others.

Anybody having a direct contact email or address for CEO Wang let me know. May work up the energy for one of my "letters to the president". I have had some success in the past with some major corporate entities. Shaming them into paying attention. We'll see.

Loss of Innocence (Inner Sense?)

2011-05-18T12:30:00.000-07:00

when in a man's life

is innocence lost

expecting everything

and fearing nothing

the touch of a hand

making him drunk

making him blind

to all else

but the woman

who is the sole planet

in his universe

Copyright © Jon Raney, 2011

Dr. Ron Daulton's Heal Your Bulging Disc: (A Reader Response)

2011-05-18T06:28:00.000-07:00

I've sort of been waiting for this, given (as I have stated previously) to not having used the program ultimately.

I received a comment from a user with her own issue who was pointed to this:

My dentist told me he wasin agony day and night. He was in 24/7 pain, and he was scheduled for surgery. Some one directed him to the book below. He religiously followed the exercises in this book, which many in the medical profession do, and cured himself in three months...

The book is called Healing Back Pain Naturally by DR. ART BROWNSTEIN

She will get back on whether the program worked for her.

Her doctors are not on the "ice" bandwagon either. (Don't Use Ice!!) Not sure if there are dangers but for them shouldn't do it. I have used ice because I had swelling of the arm due to my nerve issue. Ice was the only way to reduce the swelling. Now whether this doesn't apply to discs at all is matter for science and study. I suppose you can only use this rule of thumb: In his book, Daulton makes a disclaimer for the treatments. Doctors really cannot. They cannot afford to be wrong.

But here is another viewpoint that doesn't discount ice

I suppose there is a fine line between open scientific research" and quackery

PS: Please review my posts carefully before commenting. I can't "pre-screen" Daulton's product for you for reasons I have mentioned.

Herniated Disc Follow-Up and Dr. Ron Daulton, Jr.

2011-05-11T10:06:00.000-07:00

I thought perhaps I should say a few things since over the year I have gotten several emails asking about the Ron Daulton, Jr. experience. Some actually wishing me to give them some type of preview about the program's contents and whether it was worth it etc. Given this creates issues over disclosure and copyright here's a couple of facts stated outright:

1- I don't know for certain if it's effective because I didn't end up following the program. I have not received any follow-up emails from anyone indicating they did and it worked or didn't work. So you have to make your own judgement about what that means.

2- The program has since increased in money to $100 (according to what I've heard)

3- Some people have had some negative customer service experiences. A few have comments here.

4- The charge for this type of program may be a tad high. But considering some of the aggressive alternatives $100 for non-surgical seems to me a risk you should be willing to burden. How often have you bought a product that didn't work? Non surgical options via the Internet -- via some book or program always cost something. I wish there was some resource to review all of them but unfortunately there isn't. Money back guarantees for products that can be copied redistributed and potentially resold are inherently difficult.

5- My cure was most likely the epidural and maybe cooling it with stressing activities (all types). It could've been also that this was a specific injury that got out of hand.

6- There is not a direct absolute causal relationship between arm pain, swelling and herniated disc in my opinion. There is only a likely association with them based on the physics and probably other factors. I was diagnosed with cervical herniated disc way prior to pain. How can that be. The physical process of the pain mechanism is very subtle. People that have herniation but no pain are not likely to get an MRI- they don't know they have it. There is also the possibility of trigger points and not disc or both. There are also theories that triggers and herniation are linked in some way.

7- Consider the Daulton book a resource. It lists as many of the available treatments within as possible. It doesn't say that any one thing does the trick. Only that you should throw as much at the problem as possible.

8- There are a few (to my knowledge)unique suggestions within the book that have to do with certain supplements/medicines, specific use of ice (not heat), a trampoline and a medicine ball. Again whether this is worth the price is entirely up to you. Please also note that some of these exercises may carry more risk depending on where you have herniation (cervical vs. lumbar)

9- There is cross-selling in the purchase process. I for one don't care for it

10- The failure rate for surgical options quoted by Daulton is not entirely based on medical documents that I have seen available. I asked Daulton about this and didn't get what I felt was a satisfactory answer (based on some journals that he's read that I don't have access to. date unknown). However it should be acknowledged that even with available evidence "success" is not clearly defined - (e.g. how long the benefit lasted, whether follow-ups surgeries happened). Based on anecdotal evidence from people that have written me, there does appear to be long term benefits from surgery for some.

11- The cervical disc removal surgical process is life changing and frightening. This involves losing flexibility and putting a bone graft in your neck and potential further complications. Only consider this when there is no alternative after unsuccessful treatment over at least a year. In my view the body can heal miraculously provided you have the luxury of keeping an income and taking an extended leave where you can stop causing injury to yourself.

12- An epidural apparently has disc resorption possibilities for some patients. This is not widely quoted. This essentially means that the herniation can draw back in somewhat and thereby not cause the "button pressing" on the nerve. I cannot prove that this happened because I didn't immediately have benefit, just eventually. Plus I stopped playing piano and made some ergonomic adjustments at work.

13- An epidural (according to the physician performing) does carry a risk of mental side effects. I had some but was taking Ambien as well which has known adverse psychological reactions for some. So I can't know for sure.

14- Similar to point 1. The lack of corroborating evidence outside of Daulton, Jr's site testimonials after all this time should cast a certain degree of doubt - just logically. Anybody who gets something out of a product- these days - can always be found quoting somewhere on message boards free of charge. My page is still consistently ranked high on Google search results and the original posting was some time ago. I haven't seen too many others outside of Daulton's own links.

15- Some people dismiss Daulton's authority on this subject due to his being a chiropractor not a physician or surgeon. Aside from the Alan/Charlie Harper "crock" hilarity of the condemnation, I think doctors have a diffucult road to hoe claiming complete authority on this issue as well. There is NO definitive medically sanctioned cure, only treatment plans that have some measure of success - or not- depending on the circumstance. Also keep in mind that some of the advice mentioned - for free on his page and in more detail in the books are part of many doctors' regimen of recommendations. Many doctors typically prescribe physical therapy and many don't discount chiropractic or accupuncture as a supplement to pre-surgical measures. Surgery is considered last resort because of the "no turning back aspect" of disc removal or replacement.

16- Dr. Daulton's book does not describe any "magic bullet" cure. This is a reiteration of point 7

The Battle Continues (Defeating Viruses)

2011-03-21T13:35:00.000-07:00

Well, apparently I spoke too soon. :) I was joking with a co-worker whether I'd be targeted by a hacker as a result of my previous post. I can't prove it however it's some coincidence that over the weekend I was attacked by a more virulent Trojan that seemed to trump all of the steps I outlined in the previous post. This is the ysh.exe hack virus. I may upgrade my firewall to something that monitors my ports. I used to have Zone Alarm but it was pain in the ass. Now I may need that pain in the ass:) I almost feel like this is like fighting "the Borg" which learns a little more with each battle and makes it harder to defeat. The ysh.exe plant is designed to do these things in addition to what I described previously:

1. To transplant itself at the top of the list in terms of processes. So it's running when your computer boots up windows. You can't beat it to the punch with ctl alt del early.
2. It can run in safe mode. So you still can't run your anti-virus software
3. Looks for any type of antivirus launch or install and runs its malicious fake antivirus programs instead.
4. Effectively trumps Malwarebytes because it cannot be run
5. Renaming Malwarebytes exe or install file DOESN"T work. That is often a recommended procedure
6. The malicious programs are NOT located in convenient places with C:Windows or C:Temp as I mentioned in previous post.
7. Some malicious asshole.dll files referenced in start-up process (run: asshole.dll)cannot be deleted without a special tool.

The only way to find it is to be able to know all the registry keys and delete them. If you don't know what you're looking for it's pretty hard. There is only one reasonable solution that I found. It's a dos kill process designed by a programmer that kills the virus exe load. I'm not even going to list it here for fear that the hackers might design a workaround. After that kill process Malwarebytes was able to get the rest of it.

In terms of not paying for a monitoring program. I've changed my tune. It's too difficult to prevent the virus from working once it gets in. You need a realtime virus monitoring program (or real firewall) that prevents the drop of the trojan. Avira free version is not up to that task. I'm now using Malwarebytes real-time monitoring. At $25 it was well worth it. Apparently either I had a hacker on my tail or was not fully rid of the virus. I was treading out on the Internet and all of the sudden noticed my search page was redirected from Google to MonsterBargains which is the sign of the hack, then the java6 launch started happening. Malwarebytes caught the trojan drop attempt and killed it. whew. This was after I killed all the trojans with Malwarebytes previously. After this I researched my registry thoroughly and deleted every rogue key I could find. This is not a process for the faint of heart. I think I am effectively virus free.

Round 3 I guess.

Fighting Computer Viruses and Getting the Last Laugh

2011-03-15T19:47:00.000-07:00

Over the years I've gained some experince in how to defeat some nasty computer viruses. Some virtually prevent you from using your run command and your antivirus software. The most recent ones I've seen transplant themselves on your system tray as antivirus programs. And they often can't be shut off with the task manager. They keep running and telling you your computer has a virus.

Here are some of the most useful programs I have found. I don't use the paid for antivirus programs (they're overpriced and often ineffective):

1. Hijack This - This basically is for detecting browswer hijack but it can also tell you about registry entries designed to run at startup (autoload programs), browser helpers, toolbars, and other things. Using the "fix this" process should be done with care. Look for (unknown) entries. Don't delete programs you are unsure of. I have been somewhat fearless with my hunches about suspicious programs and have not been burned. But I don't recommend this. There are also some free log analyzers out there that can make recommendations. Be aware though that in the case of browser hijack, they can often prevent you from navigating to the known hijackthis pages. You'll need to save the log to your thumb drive and try it on an uninfected computer at hijackthis log analyzer page.

2. Killbox - This has a very specific purpose. It deletes files that seem to keep growing back because the rogue program manages to exploit Windows to regenerate it. You have to know exactly what the file is and the path. It gives you some options for killing- delete on reboot, rename, standard kill etc.

3. Avira - IMO, the best free antivirus program available. Better than AVG and Avast! it generally detects viruses the others cannot. I've run tests with several programs present. Sometimes Avira cannot get rid of the virus and keeps redetecting it. But it at least gives you a clue about what and where it is.

4. Malwarebytes - This can find and delete many viruses that others cannot including (sometimes) Avira. Generally it can get rid of anything it finds. Full scan takes a long time so be patient, because it sometimes finds viruses way towards the end. But sometimes it can't find viruses and trojans. No program is perfect.

There are some 1 time applications and programs I have used called CC Cleaner and Spybot but generally the programs above in concert are generally enough to defeat the problem.

Some horse sense methods:

Sometimes you can beat the virus before it starts up. If you invoke the task manager early (ctl alt del) you sometimes can catch the program loading and stop it by looking at the PC activity. This can buy you time and ability to defeat the program before it defeats you. However be aware that it may not be listed there. This step can be helpful if the rogue program is designed to defeat the run: program: msconfig.

Make sure to disable your Internet connection. You don't want your computer connecting to the Internet if you have a real hijack happening that is communicating with your computer. Check your Tools/Internet Options Homepage. In particularly nasty cases it can be redirected to a specific IP. In extreme cases (after you have defeated the rogue processes), you may have to use "reset" on your browser to get it to navigate properly again.

Presuming the rogue program hasn't disabled it. The run commands, msconfig and regedit. msconfig can show you what programs are designed to run at startup. You can uncheck any suspicious entries in the startup panel. Look for wierd names that are unsigned. Regedit is direct registry edit. Most people would advise extreme caution with monkeying around with this. If possible back up the registry before changing anything there. You can find and delete an entry that was found by Antivirus programs or from your hijack this log.

Explorer/Search. As Windows O/S systems upgrade it seems like they let you see and find files less and less (don't get me started on Vista). If you're trying to find files in Temp or Windows (often places were rogue programs are hidden) but somehow the path doesn't show them after you navigate to my documents/all users etc then make sure your that your view/folders options is set to show hidden folders and files. Look for files that were created within the last week or few days. Or look for *.exe. If you know your activity you can often find programs that you didn't have a hand in downloading and delete them.

Be careful with deep searches on lesser known webpages. I often have found I get a quick virus attack just by navigating to a search result or someone's blog page that turns out to be fake(sometimes in a foreign language page that is translated). These places can be hornet's nests. A recent problem seems to be a Java 6 pop up exploit that transplants itsef in the registry processes immediately. This is often a prelude to the phony Antivirus transplant on your system tray. Deletion of this entry via Hijack this/fix this (look for the java6 entry) is usually enough to start the process of getting control of your computer back. It's not everything. you have to find the program it's referencing as well (usually somewhere in your .tmp internet or mydocuments/`/temp directory).

Make sure to get a good thumb drive. Sometimes you need to find programs on the Internet on another computer and load them on the infected computer with the Internet connection disabled. In worse case you have to use all of your available options and work quickly before the trojans take hold of your processes. I've literally restarted dozens of times and used each time as a learning process to figure out which programs to invoke. I ran into a trojan that disables some popular antivirus programs and hijack this. If you run in safe mode sometimes this can prevent the rogue program from running which may require full blown Windows to do it's dirty work.

Good luck! (you're gonna need it)

Good 'ol Snail Mail Issues

2011-01-13T11:54:00.000-08:00

In the wake of all the telemarketing and Internet spam complaints we hear about lately, I think we've lost sight of one good old fashioned pain in the ass: junk mail. Lately I've been drowning in it.

Recently, Asurion (the phone insurance partner of T-Mobile) has ass-uredly crossed into the realm of the ultimate boneheaded company. Aside from the T-Mobile rep signing my daughter's phone up without her permission, Asurion has been stuffing our mailbox with a steady torrent of welcome letter packages. Not just 1 but 6-10 DAILY for over a month. I contacted them after the Thanksgiving holiday about this problem. After 3 transfers and redial to the ultimate responsible dept, I complained to a representative who assured me the problem would be fixed. It wasn't. With the holiday mailing season, Asurion's collective brainfart, our mail carrier's devil-may care delivery schedule (she's like Newman, she doesn't believe in creeds) and the recent snow problem, all my mail has been backed up. I'm now fortunate to receive all the backed up mail from December a day at a time. A few days ago I called and gave them an earful and they obviously knew about the problem and said the "glitch" was fixed just last week (that would be the first week of January). Given that I have received 6-10 pieces daily up until Dec 22. I may have as much as 6-10x6x2=72-120 pieces of mail coming before the paperworks shuts off. Fun.

Mailing lists. Remember them? They are much harder to prevent and get off of. Plus getting your post office not to deliver is a bit more involved then a click on your spam filter. By some inexplicable means, my wife has gotten on an expectant mother mailing list. (FYI - we are both about 50 with a college student daughter). It started with Babies-R-Us discount postcards. Then various mail with the baby-centric theme. Then Baby-Talk magazine. After the second came, I sent them an email to stop the unwanted magazines. I think the effort just initiated a form of junkmail virus cell division as we then started receiving American Baby magazine - 2 at a time. The next day, a UPS package of Similac formula. 2 16 oz jugs.

With all the fighting I have done over the years to fight & right dumbassed wrongs over customer service issues, I'm really losing my oomph for engaging in new mindless battles. I have enough to worry about.

What do you think?

*update Thu, 1/13/11 6pm.

8 Assurion letters received today. All dated Dec 13th

The letters

The pamphlets

So perty. Can't wait til tomorrow...

Knowing Love

2010-06-18T08:43:00.000-07:00

To know someone
is to love someone
to love someone
can be easy
but not so easy
to know someone
as to love someone
(as far as you know)
some of the time

As to loving someone
all of the time
it's easy to know
you want them
to love you
as much as you
want to love yourself
both of you knowing
still does little
to change what is:
love is somewhat unknown
most of the time

Is There a Cure for Herniated Disc?

2010-06-13T06:25:00.001-07:00

In short, probably not. But in reality there are few very serious illnesses that are truly eradicated as much as controlled. And every case is different. Everyone reacts differently to different treatments. In my case I was fortunate. My problem turned around. I think basically everything was thrown at my problem at once (besides surgery): anti-inflammatories, painkillers, Lyrica, sleeping pills, natural vitamin supplements and finally the epidural. Conventional wisdom would suggest that some measure of healing of the herniation took place as result of the epidural as predicted by the doctors performing the procedure. Three shots were scheduled. I only needed two. My case is actually the minority.

Honestly I think my body and mind went into shock after all this and I sunk about as far as I could go and I came out of it, realizing after the smoke cleared that I no longer had pain or parasthesia in my right arm. It could also be that I ceased all aggravating activities such as playing music for about 2 months. I also got a new ergonomic chair and laptop at work. The one thing I did gain was an appreciation for the delicacy of the human body. I had always sort of prided myself on never needing to visit the doctor, having few illnesses looking pretty good for my age and generally carrying on my life with little attention to the typical common sense lifestyle restrictions in terms of diet, exercise and sleep. I felt like I could do it all and that my body would recover. I learned my lesson.

I still have issues. For example I still have these killer knots in my neck. And I've developed the somewhat unseemly habit of futzing with them all the time. It has become somewhat of an unconscious habit, despite my rational knowledge that my efforts to reduce the knots by massage have zero success. In my quest to solve my problem I've run across several things so in the interest of sharing my knowledge I will list them here:

1. Surgery

I have yet to see a definitive figure on what the success rate of surgery. As mentioned in prior quotes, some as low as 16%(Dr. Ron Daulton quoting back issues of the medical journal, Spine). Others as high as 95%. Probably the issue is defining "success" is the problem, including the duration of the benefit. Anecdotally, I have come across the opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of opinion as well. A comment poster to my blog mentioned having gone thru the procedure 10 years ago and is still is thankful of having done it. On the other end, one of the doctors on the epidural team was giving me counsultation prior to the injection, and told me that the likelihood is that the epidural shot's benefit would likely be temporary and that all treatments, including surgery eventually give way to a recurrence of disc trouble and related issues. For a look some of the surgery options view my prior blog entry

2. Dr. Ron Daulton, Jr.

Most people will encounter Dr. Daulton through the Internet in a video, Heal Your Bulging Disc. As mentioned he is not a big fan of the surgery option. I paid for his $79 pdf course. Not to denigrate the knowledge he offers, but there is quite a bit of cross selling and even a bit of Dr. Ron PR requests that take place very early in the process. There are two things at the core of his method: multi faceted approach and that essentially the disc heals slowly on its own (in theory). Let me explain the latter part. Essentially, this means that the disc like other parts does have the capacity to mend itself but given the blood flow to this area is less than other typical parts of the body, the rate of healing is so slow that no one could possibly recommend doing nothing for years. Throw in the contribution of daily stress and the detrimental habits and physical activities, the ability to solve this is about as promising as paying your credit card off with a minimum payment. In terms of the method, he uses daily routines that include swelling reduction using ice(as opposed to heat),specific exercise with a medicine ball, stretches, strengthening, dietary changes, specific natural medicines and various treatment recommendations including: chiropractic, massage therapy, acupuncture, inversion table therapy and cold laser surgery to name a few. There is also an interesting section on the physical manifestations of emotional health captured by a special photographic technique (I believe it's based on Kirlian aura photography but I will double check that). Essentially this is throwing everything at the problem. I personally was not able to follow all the recommendations and commitments(including a few financial ones - if your were to follow them to the letter).

I will continue more with this on my next blog.

The pRoBLeM With a romantic

2010-05-20T12:52:00.000-07:00

A romantic is moved
but is a bit removed
a romantic is loving
but is often longing
a romantic pursues
but often peruses

A romantic likes happy endings
but doesn't like them, depending...
a romantic like things close at hand
but becomes distant at the wave of a wand

Cynicism, (the romantic's alterego)
may take the throne
but then is soon overthrown
the romantic blooms again
but a bit overblown
and shrinks back to earth
and is once again alone

The seeds are always there
and the cycle continues
with blindness to the past
and unrestrained hopefulness
about a future much less hopeless

To Hell and Back

2010-03-31T04:53:00.000-07:00

With 2009 being a bust musically because of my disc problem, I was determined to get back into gigging again in 2010. I took a job at Sofia's after New Year's with Eliot Zigmund and Ed Fuqua and it went really well. I felt very little, if any pain. But by the middle of February, my situation went from bad to worse. On a follow up gig with my old friend, Sylvia Cuenca, I needed to stretch out my arm every 10 min to avoid having my arm lock up. With top flight pianist Jill McCarron in the audience, I pressed myself to the limit and the problem probably escalated from there. Thankfully Jill sat in for two tunes, buying my aching arm a little recovery time.

My tricep, forearm and shoulder constantly throbbed when walking. Oddly, just having my hand in my pocket induced the worst paresthesia. One evening I suddenly couldn’t raise my arm at all. And in the morning it was the same. I couldn’t brush my teeth. I called the neurologist immediately who prescribed a pain killer and an oral steroid. The MRI taken put me through one of my most painful experiences ever. I couldn’t lie on my back without intense shoulder and arm pain and being locked in the claustrophobic MRI tube for 20 min only tested my will to bear the pain even further. After the MRI confirmed that spinal impingment was not the cause of the arm weakness, I started physical therapy. Thankfully, the strength came back to my arm. I started doing cervical traction and using my new cervical pillow. The idea behind traction is to stretch the vertebrae and relieve pressure off the nerve. Unfortunately, I think traction was a fatal mistake in my condition. My mind drifted back to one of the accupuncturists at the clinic who advised strongly against traction for herniated disc. (Damn! was he right? I thought). I woke up in the middle of the night and felt pain across my neck and shoulder with hot patches of edemic swelling down the spine, across the shoulder, down the ribcage, triceps, forearm and fingers. In the nights following, I was waking up in pain and swelling, making trips to the couch, but still not able to sleep. I tried sleeping semi-upright, on my back and on my side. But nothing worked. Everything felt so tender, soft pillows felt painful, like they were denting the back of my neck and head. The inside of my body felt like it was boiling and swelling.

At this point I was sleeping maybe 2 hours a night and getting really run down. At work I sat on the toilet just reflecting on my throbbing pain. It was almost to the point where I could faint but in a meditative state I tried to imagine pain as another sensation, like heat, trying to blot out the pain. That day I found a book online, Fix Your Own Pain Without Drugs or Surgery written by researcher and clinician, Dr. Jolie Bookspan. Her opinion is that correcting forward shoulder and forward head often solves the disc and pain problem; many of the medical conditions described in a typical MRI analysis such as herniation, cervical lordosis, and spondylosis can be irrelevant, once you learn to balance the weight of your head and square your shoulders properly underneath it. However I probably should've held off on these posture and stretch exercises until I was in a little less pain.

The next day I had an ache in the small of my back from Bookspan's recommended exercises. I had the uncomfortable feeling of being unable to support the weight of my own head! Eventually I ended up in the E/R at St. Luke’s Roosevelt. The hope was to get the pain injection recommended by the neurologist, but they wouldn’t do it. And I was still several days away from my pain management appointment. Instead the E/R doctor prescribed the painkiller, percocet. Percocet allowed me maybe an extra few hours of sleep but I would always awake at 3am with swelling and pain. This went on for several more days. On Monday I had the day off and strolled around the city on a sunny day. I was trying to stay positive, take vitamins (my friend Charles recommended magnesium malate and Vitamin D3) and got some exercise.

I was beginning to get confused. I was thinking in circles and losing the ability to make decisions: where to eat, where to buy water, whether to stay in the city or go back to Queens. I drank a lot of water but had no appetite whatsoever. I realized I had might've dropped 5 lbs that week. On the train people started looking at me funny. I probably looked like I was on drugs. When I got to Queens I ran into Duane Reade and bought myself a 6-pack of Ensure. Outside my fingers were fumbling as I broke open the pack and guzzled a bottle down. I thought maybe I should just sit and find a place outside to relax in the sun. But I realized I didn’t have the strength to carry the six pack to the park, so I got on the bus. I couldn’t get a seat so I stood. Somewhere in the middle of the bus ride, I found myself falling asleep standing. Finally I said to myself “Enough! Stop feeling sorry for yourself! Get a grip!” This actually stimulated my system a bit. I was happy I had that in me. When I got home I started exercising and doing stretches with renewed vigor. I felt really good with this new energized attitude. I lay myself down for a short nap late in the afternoon. But an hour later, I woke up with my armpit completely swollen up along with my neck, ribcage, arm and fingers. There were these little arthritic knots down my fingers. (So much for positive attitude). Later on in the evening I started developing this burning feeling on my left side. I never felt like this. As I researched the Internet I realized that the percocet was probably giving me an ulcer. All the previous nights I starting getting the feeling that my body was turning acidic. I couldn’t eat the meal cooked for me. I stuffed my face with lettuce and some simple pasta with some broccoli but I ate it without any feeling for appetite.

The night before pain management appointment a friend recommended that I go to the clinic crying in pain and go cold turkey on my meds so that they would give me the injection right away. Given percocet was killing me internally, I went ahead. That night I suffered incredibly. Hour after hour in pain. It felt like I was in drug withdrawal. Getting up and pacing, sitting on the couch, I was unable to relieve the pain or find a comfortable way to sit or lie down, stacking pillows everywhere. At around 5am I sat upright on the smaller couch, stacking pillows to my left and my right, behind my head and my feet. I was dying for sleep and was willing to try sleeping while sitting upright, but as I would doze off I could feel my head falling to the left, the right or in front of me, like a drug addict with the nods. The head nods were pulling on the disc, further irritating it which would wake me up in spasm. I was trapped in my own body! This is probably one of the most frightening experiences ever. Suicidal thoughts gripped me for the first time in my life. Because if you can’t walk, stand, sit or sleep, what else is there?

Miraculously, at 6am I suddenly fell into a deep sleep. I woke up (missed my physical therapy appt) and suddenly felt refreshed, and without pain. As if I had gone thru drug withdrawal and gotten to the other side. Now ironically I was pissed off, because the goal was to show up to the pain management clinic in pain so I’d get my shot! In the pain management office I was stretching myself out to induce some of the pain I had been feeling all these nights. When you fill out the chart you are supposed to rate your pain on a sliding scale. Me, I’m always trying to be honest about these things, but my wife looked at me with daggers. "Tell them you're in pain! They’ll never treat you!" She was right. As it turned out they scheduled my epidural steroid shot at the end of the week. The Saturday following it was miracle. Zero pain. However it was short lived. The pain returned in about a day. But not to the level it had been. More like how it was at different points last year - a somewhat annoying discomfort, but not life debilitating. Recently I got my second epidural and the effect was about 2 days. The one mistake you can make is pressing yourself too hard in the wake of the benefit from the shot.

In terms of the benefit, I had heard that epidural steroid shots are for the most part ineffective for the treatment of long-term pain. However, one of the doctors taking part in the injection procedure told me that in addition to calming down the nerve root, there is also the possibility (depending on the state of the herniation) that the herniation can resorb itself over time with the aid of the shot. That was new. I will be following up with this in a later blog.

Next Time: So IS There a Cure for Herniated Disc?

C6-C7: Not Just Chord Symbols

2010-03-19T13:50:00.000-07:00

I'm cutting ahead for a second before presenting my To Hell and Back story. Funny how these coincidences occur. I found out recently that a pianist friend has the same C6-C7 herniated disc issue as me and is considering surgery a few months down the road. My original perspective on this was somewhat driven by patient complaint posts from medical forums and a Dr. Ron Daulton, Jr., a chiropractor ( I will be reflecting on his Internet offering on a future blog). Plus the whole idea of them cutting open my neck and yanking stuff out and putting metal and grafts (yuck!) Anyway the friend has actually been in touch with many respected surgeons and upon re-examination it seems like success rates are much higher than I thought (although one site quoted the cryptic 48-98% success?? what the hell is that?) I have been doing some Internet research and honestly I can't find anything to corroborate Daulton's low 16% claim on his website www.healyourbulgingdisc.com. Perhaps he should just be asked :)It should be noted that a comment poster on my blog posted his success story with the procedure.

Two videos I have encountered today show the options. The first one, although essentially a cervical disc fusion and graft success story, is a bit eerie, due somewhat to the demeanor and the graphic explanations of the presenter (she posted this 10 days after surgery).

ACDF Anterior Cervical Decompression Fusion Internal Fixation Harvest Bone Graft **See also animiated ACDF below

The second appears to be a TV news story and features a St. Vincent's Hospital neurosurgeon and happy post-op patient after cervical disc replacement surgery. The video is from 2008.

New Cervical Disc Replacement

Although as far as I can tell (at least so far) the traditional fusion and the new replacement surgery claim similar success rates, the idea of retaining the mobility afforded by the replacment seems more appealing. As the fusion patient shows she has some mobility issues.

Cheers

Jon

** Note. The disc replacement surgery shown is(to my knowledge) still in the clinical trial stage. The hospital shown is St. Vincent's in Jacksonville, FL not St. Vincent's in New York City. This video is a replay of news spot on Jacksonville news. They ran a follow up story on it later on.

***Follow-up. For those of you still unclear on the ACDF surgery mentioned by the gal, I think this quick video expalins it best: ACDF Surgery Video. The technical name for the surgical procedure is Anterior Surgical Disectomy and Fusion. Essentially the disc is removed, the space filled in with bone graft (from your hip)and the graft is screwed in. Over 3 months the graft is supposed to fuse with the vertebrae adjacent to it.

When Do-It-Yourself Does Yourself In

2010-03-16T13:56:00.000-07:00

I’m a DIY person. And as my friends will confirm, I’m also sort of obsessive compulsive. When I read Claire Davies’ The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook, I was excited to find an alternative to the gloomy surgical track offered by conventional medicine in the treatment of herniated disc. The book’s diagrammed predictions of referred pain were as fascinating as they were accurate. But I didn’t exactly heed the book’s recommendations for massage repetitions (6-12 strokes) or frequency (3-6 times per day) and I zealously attacked those trigger points night and day – prodding, poking, and using a rubber ball or an umbrella handle. Probably not wise as on one occasion I might've compromised my median nerve, resulting in weakness in my fingers for a day or two where I couldn’t button my button fly jeans or use a key. In June I had my first experience with neuropathic edema (build up of tissue liquid as a result of neuropathy) under my armpit area. I rested my hand over it and slowly deflated the mass. It is odd how I never told anybody about this serious medical issue but then again I felt like I would have difficulty explaining it to people and even myself. Did I imagine this happened? (I didn’t imagine it, as I would discover later).

Often late at night, when I’m completely relaxed and there is no extra tension produced from other parts of my body in opposition (because I'm lying down), I am often able to bring those pesky trigger point knots to complete release. On several occasions, I cried “Eureka! I’ve done it! I’ve released my trigger points!” I’d imagine sharing my experience in the blogosphere with explanations of how I did it. Unfortunately, I would discover a problem: trigger points retighten. And in my case, almost immediately. Some may assert that the cause of the retightening was hyper irritation of the nerves through excessive massage. That might be true but the more likely explanation is that my cervical herniated disc is in a steady state of nerve compression. This is the difficult part of assessing therapy - what is the level of disc herniation and nerve compression? And how much can a scan show that pressure? Without being able to jump into the Fantastic Voyage pod and look, you can never know for sure. And there is so much variation in people’s experience.

Claire Davies solved his own frozen shoulder problem (the injury was brought about by his career as a piano tuner) by studying the Travell and Symons volumes and employing intuitive self-trigger massage. He might have had cervical herniation or he might not have. But he is lucky he didn’t heed advice to operate on his disc because he solved his problem for good without it and found a new profession as a licensed massage therapist to boot. And it is this aspect that sparks debate. Is cervial herniated disc a catch-all diagnosis given that patients can fully recover from pain while still having herniation? Because the neuropathic symptoms are identical. Some people’s herniation is more severe (at least how it appears on the MRI) and yet they do not have the painful symptoms I have felt most recently. Like relating smoking and cancer, the cause and effect gap varies from case to case. Some people smoke all their lives and don't get cancer. The disc-nerve and muscle pain link is generally established fact, but the specifics and differences of each person's illness can be subtle and costly for patients who choose a treatment that ultimately doesn't work. It is the opinion of Dr. Jonathan Kuttner there is a link between the two, that damaged disc switches on trigger points. Some of Dr. Kuttner’s website, marketing and email communications are a little unorthodox but a video he posted teaches an interesting new approach to trigger point massage, which for lack of better name I call “trigger point dissolving”. A video showing the method is here. I have been able to employ this method with some success.

For most massage therapists, the scalene muscles and especially the sternocleidomastoid (or SCM for short) are a no-no. “Stay away from them!” is usually the reply. Most of the trepidation has to do with the sensitive glands in the region and most importantly, the close proximity of the carotid artery. Any type of excessive pressure in the area can cause a serious reaction called syncope which can lead to dizziness, nausea and fainting. One day I gave myself a syncope molotov cocktail by relaxing in an extremely hot tub and slowly working out my neck triggers. I didn’t feel I was pressing on the carotid as I know where it is, but as I arose from the hot water to dry off I found myself under the sink for a very long time without realizing it. The episode lasted for about a half hour and was a little frightening. I learned my lesson about the dangers of vasodilatation. Nevertheless, I am absolutely convinced that the scalene and neck muscles are the lynchpin of the entire operation, as my experience with late night massage will clearly demonstrate. Caution, however. Anyone reading this should not attempt to do this on their own. I have made myself my own guinea pig, but in no way recommend that for anyone else, as these massage techniques carry considerable risks. If you do insist on trying it, touch yourself with the lightest possible touch (as recommended by the Kuttner video above).

The most important concept for me is the “top down” principle of triggers. It is best to work the knots at the top of the chain to ensure release of the lower ones. This is also mentioned in Claire Davies book. If you work those, the ones below tend to release as the muscles lengthen. From a common sense perspective, you can see how this should be true if you imagine a rope with knots in it. I’ve had about 6-7 nearly marble sized triggers deep in the neck muscles for a quite a while now. There are just too many and touching any one of them tends to make them yank and seize on their trigger brethren, growing even harder. Still I imagine a day when these little devils in my neck will be a thing of the past.

One night, (following the "top down principle") I decided to locate the highest trigger point in my scalene muscles and tackle this issue with with them once and for all. Moving up, I took my left thumb and gently pushed higher and higher towards the bottom of my jaw. Once I relaxed I found myself releasing the entire muscle group to the side of the jaw line and I worked my way further up until eventually I traced the muscle tension over the ear and to the little depression in the skull. With a gentle push I completely relaxed my jaw. I had no idea it was so clenched. (As a mental aside, I thought to myself, is this a dental problem? Does my unconscious jaw clenching cause the attaching scalene muscles to tighten?) With this key relaxation I then worked my thumb back down, gently pushing the now releasing scalene triggers over to the right. I felt my lower triggers in my shoulder and forearm beginning to release even before I got there. Little by little, I worked my way down, pushing away and releasing the knots down the chain, eventually reaching the attachment at the clavicle and underneath the rib cage, where the muscles then work through the thoracic region. I continued to work the trigger point path working through the bicep and over the forearm to the fingers. Essentially the entire region is like one continuous line extended from the jaw down through the rib cage, the arm and the fingers. And then suddenly I had done it. I completely released it. I regained full range of motion through my shoulder. Previously I had been unable to lay flat on my back due to the thoracic ache and swelling on my right side. Now I was able to do this completely comfortably. I was in heaven. Not only could I trace the entire muscle network, but I could sense correctly the entire nerve pathway of my neck and arms. It was like I could almost feel the electric current underneath my skin. I imagined a theory of trigger points, that they were like resistors, modulating and dividing up the current and bunching up in response, lessening the flow but causing pain in the process. But this was also an uncomfortable feeling as my arm felt like an ungrounded wire. All these deep concentration imaginings aside, I was happy enough with the result and I lay myself to sleep for the rest of the morning hours.

When I awoke, all the muscle knot triggers were back. I was crestfallen. Recently, in the midst of my worst suffering (I will recount my experiences in a follow-up blog), I repeated the same trigger point release actions and eventually got the same result, only this time, no sooner did I get to the end of this trigger point row ending in my hand that the top knot in the neck began to reform and seize up again. I held my just released hand trigger down as I went back up and re-relaxed the neck trigger. But it was like having a tiger by the tail. Something was hitting the button to fire up these muscle spasms and there wasn’t a blessed thing I could do about it. Like little weeds on steroids, they all came back within a few minutes.

So all told, I would say I have had essentially zero success with trigger point massage. But there is sort of seduction when you get into it, as with any physical habit of futzing with your body in ways you shouldn’t. Haven’t we all popped our zits or picked a scab? You think, this time I can get it to release. And you keep trying and this goes on for months. Again some might say I have failed by either overmassage or missing the trigger point entirely. As stated I think that trigger massage can be successful for those who don't have excessive nerve compression and have muscles that can relax. Sadly I am not that fortunate in this regard. I am trying to keep an open mind as to the cause however, as there are some other possible reasons for my spasmodic muscles outside of the nerve compression model that I am currently exploring. I will talk about them in a future blog.

Next time: To Hell and Back

Herniated Disc Progress Report part 2

2009-11-11T19:10:00.000-08:00

This March wasn't the first time I had back, neck and/or arm issues. Back in 2005, I had a recurring tingling in the right hand and arm that became troublesome. This was the first time I had ever visited a neurologist and had an MRI, which confirmed disc herniation and was deemed the source of the tingling.

Back then, the combination of physical therapies, acupuncture, massage, exercise and other techniques managed to cure my condition in 6 weeks. It was also the first time I had traction, which seeks to gently pull apart the discs and relieve the pressure. The first traction session produced an uncomfortable spooky feeling of soreness after. But by my second session I had this tremendous sensation of well being after as if it truly did release the pent up energies pushed between the discs.

In 2007, due to over practice for my new recording (still unfinished)I had lower back issues. I returned to the physical therapy clinic and received more treatments. Again I was able to resolve this in around 6 weeks. 2 for 2

This past February I started having pain between the shoulder blades and right hand tingling that would not go away. With the good track record of physical therapy prior I returned to the clinic hoping for a similar result. My luck ran out. My symptoms actually got worse. And finding the treatments resistant to therapy caused some of the staff to look at my case as problematic and one even suggested that the problem was mental. In addition to pain I was also now developing swelling in the arm.

During massage I was first introduced to the terms "trigger points" and "referred pain". I had a doozy in my right ribcage just below the armpit and when it was touched I literally jumped off the table. In response to this uncomfortable eureka moment, I bought the noted Claire Davies books on self-massage which uses the famous trigger point mapping volumes by Travell & Simons for targeting and treatment of the various trigger points.

I will tell you about the results next time.

Herniated Cervical Disc: Progress Report

2009-10-30T10:43:00.000-07:00

Earlier in this year I mentioned getting cervical herniated disc (c6-c7). It was quite a traumatic and disheartening experience to suddenly have my hand swelling up to Hulk-like proportions, my arm feeling like it's asleep all the time, and having these bulbous muscle knots throughout the affected area - underarm, shoulder blade and upper back. But under the circumstances with what I'm about to mention below, it should've been entirely expected, especially considering my increasing age. I was doing all the wrong things. Here are a list of terrible things I did that everyone should avoid:

Hauling heavy laundry, grocery and musical equipment to our 4th floor walk-up apt since 1998(!)
Doing work until late at night in an uncomfortable position and ignoring the discomfort
Doing 8 hours sitting at computer then more at home and piano practicing on top of that
Maintaining bad posture both when typing and practicing
Not exercising and stretching sufficiently
Not eating right and drinking enough fluids
Drinking alcohol a bit too much
Not paying attention to chronic neck and shoulder tension
Breathing shallowly
Skipping lunches and not taking enough breaks
Having a big Labrador pull me around too much

Is it any wonder that this happened? This was an eye-opener for me, I have always been blessed with incredibly good health and having little problems with aging. I got cocky I guess and all of these poor physical habits caught up to me.

For those of you who might be confused about how a pain in the cervical spine area can result in pain in the arm and other places, in a word, it can happen rather easily. The herniation results on pressure on the nerve that routes through that cervical area and that nerve pathway continues along the pathway to the shoulder, arm and specific fingers. See below diagram

*

And this is how the pain "refers" to other parts of the body: arm and fingers:

**

I will be talking about the therapy choices I took and where I'm at now in the next blog.

*The first animated gif is used courtesy of necksolutions.com
**the nerve diagram is courtesy of myopain.com

Getting organized in the face of adversity

2009-06-04T22:17:00.000-07:00

Back in the end of February, my cervical herniated disc (orig diagnosed in 2005) came raging back with a vengeance, affecting my right arm and shoulder so severely that it forced me to stop playing, reduce my computer work and cut out any type of strenuous physical activity. With the preoccupation and frustration of finding relief from this vexing medical issue, I find myself having difficulty staying focused on anything or follow thru with projects and goals.

Recently a coworker hipped me to one of the new types of products that fall under the category "mind mapping software". One of the goals of this software is to help more clearly mirror and assist with the brain's organizational and thinking process when creating and documenting tasks. It is much more intuitive than let's say a linear outline, which forces a conformity and presumes a degree of pre-knowledge to the scope and hiearchy of the task. Although I haven't reviewed the merits of the various products currently on the market, I am quite fascinated with the product, Personal Brain recommended to me. Like most people in this self-helpy generation I often document my goals on paper, rewrite, toss and rewrite again and then forget about them. Tonite I'm giving Personal Brain a crack at it and I've done a video capture for you to check out.

I'm currently using the trial pro version. Not sure exactly which features will still be available if continue with the free version. In the demo I've mapped out my various projects, and I'm shown navigating to a folder I've created for my friend Charles Monteiro's music project and then drilling down to the tunes, and notes and attached finale files for the tune sketches. It's somewhat hard to see in blogger video view. If possible it might be best to use the download video option so that you can see a larger screen rendering (for example in Real Player)

The Raneys and Pets

2009-05-11T07:22:00.001-07:00

This blog is dedicated to my black labrador, BJ's best friend, Tanzi, a rhodesian ridgeback owned by my friend and colleague Charles Monteiro.

I received the heartbreaking news the other day that Tanzi contracted lymphoma. There was never a sweeter, gentler dog and I and my dog both love him (which is rare for him given he is pretty particular).

Everyone wish Tanzi well on his 26 week therapy to lick this. You can visit Charles' medical log about it and see some other great pics of the handsome fella. If any of you might have any knowledge or info to share on Tanzi's condition please visit the page and send an email to the link provided.

The Raneys have always adored animals. When Dad was a boy he had a dog named Snuffy Smith. He also had a rabbit and several other animals according to my grandmother. Later on he took a shine to cats, having seven of them near the end of his life. He would let them run around in the back yard. He kept his garden uncut (He often commented that he wanted his backyard to look like Monet's garden, much to the chagrin of his neighbors who would murmur about his unkempt habits). As creative as he was as an artist, he was not so much so with his pet names. They were quite perfunctory: Blacky, Yellow Kitty, Felix etc…

Felix was his favorite. He had a daily "making-bread-on-belly" ritual with Dad as the master would recline on the couch. The activity would end with a couple of head brushes against my father's nose. The other two cats had funny schticks as well. For example Yellow Kitty would completely circumnavigate the livingroom across all possible above-ground perches without touching the floor (jump the table, cross to the couch, up to the top of book cabinet, the entertaiment center, the window sill...you get the picture).

Whenever any one of them passed on, it would send Dad into the worst tailspin psychologically. Unfortunately they outlived him and our friend guitarist Mel Deal and his wife Becky were nice enough to adopt them and bring them to their big house in Nashville for their remaining years.

Doug and I were always cat people, too. Doug brought home a cat from the schoolyard in the sixties with his first "can we keep'm??" plea bargain. He was either named after comic/actor Orson Bean (whom Dad knew from his Blue Angel days) or Orson Welles, not sure. I liked to call him "Orson Being because he had human like habits; he was the only cat I have ever seen that sat up on his haunches like an old lady in her easy chair. Orson's other endearing habits were slipping his head between my pen and my homework assignment. He used to allow me to wear him like a yoke across my neck, gripping his two pairs of paws. The other hilarious thing was the "crazy kat boomerang routine" where all the sudden he would get bats in his belfry and tear ass across the wood floors. But since it was a small apt with twists and turns, Orson had a rebound wall that would make the 90 degree turn into the living room a breeze. It also made for ever higher and higher paw prints on the wall.

My second cat Kodak was very similar in behavior and temperament to Orson. Almost dog like in his friendliness. He loved to sit in the center of the table to be where the conversation energy was happening. Licking my bicep until it was raw was another of his favorite pastimes. The night I had to put him down was awful for me. I just got home from a gig. I cried for days after.

Given the somewhat canine behavior of my previous cats, I was somewhat prepped for dog ownership. Although I wasn't prepared for my Dog BJ to be so interwoven in our lives and daily routine as he is now. Will devote a bit more space to him on a future blog.

Cheers

Jon

The first or the second biggest a-hole in America?

2009-05-10T11:16:00.000-07:00

Most frustrated got nothing better to do than criticize wanker of a human being

It's a toss-up. Rush and he should have a sudden death tournament. You can take that literally if you like or not..

Derail-mongers I would call them.

The National Youth Leadership Forum marketing scam

2009-05-10T11:14:00.000-07:00

Has your college bound child recently been the recipient of a glowing congratulatory letter for academic achievements and invited to attend a conference or seminar sponsored by The National Youth Leadership Forum (NYLF)? At first, a gush of pride comes as you think, "Wow my child aroused the notice of this big organization!" and some representative Dr. Doshi, MD – seemingly - wrote it. We are all looking to get support for our college bound child's best efforts and are prone to want to believe these things, and they are aware of the timing of this as a strong marketing method.

Sadly this is just another modern day scheme by an opportunist company seeking to make bucks off of you at a time when you need to spend your money wisely. This is a new age of spam where your child can now be marketed to as well. Once your child checks off certain boxes on an SAT form that's how you start getting these things. I am also suspicious of mailing lists that get generated from flyers and literature from colleges. My daughter gets more mail now than any of us, especially now that credit is dried up and all those low interest credit card offers no longer fill our mailbox. Poetry organizations are another one that I'm suspicious of. The tell tale sign is hidden costs at the end of the process.

Are the NYFL offers a type of "Nigerian scam"? No. They actually run these seminars. Will your child get something out of it? Doubtful. You're not doing anything that will improve their college resume I can tell you. What colleges are looking for are important extracurricular activities such as research, mentorship programs or even worthwhile jobs to show them that the student has something else on the ball besides good grades and SAT scores. These things won't cost you anything and in some cases, the students can actually earn some spending money for themselves. In the words of one recent college advisor, "We are looking for someone who has something different going on, someone whom WE want to have here as part of our school." If you have $2000-$3000 to blow on some seminar, be my guest. But I would challenge anyone to provide proof that attending such events has any benefit towards the college selection process or a student's academic goals.

The best explanation of the scheme is featured on Jim Skamarakas' blog (ironic name in this case…) located here: http://skamarakas.com/jim/2008/03/04/nylf-working-to-steal-parents-money-again-in-2008. Here is an excerpt of a blogger response to it:

js13 said,

I noticed your site a while back but hesitated to reply. Let me just state for the record the I worked for Envision EMI and their ubsidiaries NYLF, CYLC, etc. And, I must say, everything you have been saying……..is true. They're whores for money and are run at the top by 2 people with no business acumen. They employ over 200 full-time staff to extract every available cent out of any parent who has high aspirations for their son or daughter. Its quite slick marketing and looks very impre ssive, I know. But frankly, most of what they say are lies or half-truths.

Undoubtedly, this blog will attract trolls who claim, "they went to the seminar and it was great!" the "NYLF is legitimate" etc,.They did the same on Jim's blog. All I can say is bring it on! You will ultimately spur me to gather signatures and allies (for example other parents who fell for these offers) to make schools review their partnerships and the organizations they allow themselves to be associated with. Personally, I would like to see a public official take up this fight to control the actions of NYLF because clearly they are misrepresenting how they obtain your child's information and sending a blanket form letter - with a clear intent to make parents and children believe that a teacher or high grades made them part of a special "nominated" group. This is merely a demographic marketing selection to sell a product: a costly seminar. Schools have some culpability in this as well, frankly.

My thanks to Jim for telling it like it is and taking a stand on it. If you are still debating this question ask yourself, why would such an organization, supposedly send you this invitation (several times - be prepared for it)indicating your child was nominated when in fact your child was just signed into a mailing list by checking an SAT box? They will claim that teachers can nominate and provide an online form for them to do so as proof. This is merely the smoke screen to cover themselves. But do you really think a teacher would be so foolish to sign a child up without the child's or your consent--breaking the most basic rules of email opt-in procedures and courtesy? And on top of that, referring them to some organization whose sole function is to sell costly seminars for $2500 or more and burdening parents with such a decision? C'mon get real.

Man vs. Machine

2009-05-10T11:13:00.001-07:00

Do you have a love hate relationship with computers and technical gadgets? I know I do. At times it seems like the gadgets have their own spirit and intentions and in some cases (as in below story) openly defiant. And forget about the manuals. I want to constantly shoot the authors of them. And gadgets always screw up at the same time don't they? Which is contributing to my personal persecution theories...

Case in point. I bought a Motorola 2.4 ghz cordless phone w/ answering machine. I was happy with the purchase and got it for a good price. But for some reason it would not correctly update the day and time stamp for incoming messages: it was always one day behind the current one. What started out as a simple quest to reset and fix became an unwinnable war between man and machine.

To start off, we manually reset the date on the unit to Saturday 10am. We hear it. We're not hallucinating. The answering machine said "Sa-tur-day 10 ay-EM!" We call the phone and leave a test message : "Hello this is a test of the answering machine". We listen back to the message and the answering machine defiantly reports "New message sent Fri-day 10 ay-EM". We try it several times with the same result. Even setting it to Thursday. The machine, like a defiant child responds, "Wednesday, 10 ay-EM(?)" almost with an upturn in the voice to pose and interrogative as if to say, "Had enough, human?"We decide to trick the machine by setting it one day ahead since it insists on putting it one day behind. Makes sense right? Wrong. You know what the box said? You guessed it. "Fri-day, 10 ay-EM! Now I'm completely confused. Is time not relative for these little machines? If I tell it that it's Sunday, shouldn't the little demon accept my appraisal? Does it know I'm lying? Who's in charge here??

Anyway it became my theory that there was a bug in the machine and somehow had an internal calendar set for 2005 rather than 2006. I looked at my old calendar and confirmed in fact that January was one day behind in terms of numerical day of the month and its day of the week. Eureka! I thought. So I slog through the manual for some time (Again no love lost there to Mr. Manual writer) to find a way to reset the complete date including year for the phone. After achieving this I'm certain I've licked the problem. I reset the machine, the phone and leave a message. "New message....sent.......FRI-DAY, 10AY-EM! At this point it's about time I take the answering machine to the back alley and rough it up a bit. But like death and taxes I'd resigned myself to Mr. Motorola's wishes to remain in yesterdayville and focus on other things with the unit.

Well at least I can change that awful blaring default ring tone to another one more pleasing. After scrolling through the classics and testing them out, Mozart, Handel and others we decide on Lizst. Catchy and soothing. But when we call the phone we are somehow treated to the Motorola's perverse form of musical counterpoint: the base ringing the default tone and the handset ringing Lizst! And on top of that there is no way to control the volume level of the ring for the base. Once again I consult Mr. Manual and of course there is everything but practical function explanations on there. Troubleshooting? Well I'm sure you've seen the explanations. "Make sure the unit is plugged in.." and the like.

What I had first viewed as an attractive, stylish machine with it's silver lines and umber/orange LCD, now struck me as a kind silver metal armadillo in sunglasses that wanted to do its own thing. "Screw you, anthro". Needless to say I boxed the little dickens in a generic container with lots of bubble rap and now it's on its way back to the merchant and eventually to its next unsuspecting owner looking for a good deal on a refurb. Perhaps it will encounter talking Chucky somewhere in the gadget warehouse in need of an answering machine , who won't be quite as civil or forgiving as I.

(This story was first published in 2006 on the somewhat useless portal & blogspace, Yahoo 360)