Another good article from US-CERT.

This article does a nice job explaining what rootkits and botnets are. The article was published before and is republished to continue keeping people informed.

It is a scary number of infected and compromised computers being used on the internet today.

Check out the article here: US-CERT Cyber Security Tip ST06-001 -- Understanding Hidden Threats: Rootkits and Botnets

Christina has her new wheelchair. She picked out the color and surprise it is pink. The fitting was yesterday and Christina was tolerant, but not thrilled. I know she will like the new chair, but like any of us the fitting part is never a good time. It went quickly though and overall the trip was not too bad. Now mommy and daddy get to watch for bruising.

How to put this... ummm... seeing the new wheelchair is harder this time than seeing her first one(the Kid Kart).

Christina also went to the Big Rig Truck Show. And wanted to see the Truck Light Parade. I have to share how we ended up going to the parade.

I knew the parade was at 8. I thought Christina may like it, but was concerned about the time. That is the princess' getting ready for bed time. As the day wound down I opted not to go to the parade. Feeling bad about this I figured it would be better if I asked Christina if she wanted to go. Knowing it had been a full day, Christina was in her wind down stage, she loves her bath time and bedtime routine my guess was Christina would agree the parade could be skipped. I was wrong. I set the yes/no switches and asked Christina if she wanted to go to the Truck Light Parade. Christina reached for the yes hitting no on the way. She then proceeded to hit yes many time. I moved the switch, adjusted her so she was sitting more upright and put the switch back on her lap. I asked again and she looked at me and hit yes, yes, yes. We went to the Truck Light Parade.

Christina and John


Christina checking out a big truck

Where to start on what has been going on... Let's start with what's in my head up front and center.

Christina had her wheelchair fitting yesterday. It went well, but it was and is emotionally draining. Let's start with the good stuff. The chair is pink with black padding. The side prompts will hold Christina from her side to side shifting. The chest prompt is neoprene with an elastic band attached which should give the comfort of the neoprene and still have the strength to hold Christina correctly. The lap belt goes over her hips not her waist which should hold the princess in place better as she tries to squirm around. The ankle straps seem more comfortable, but we'll know for sure looking for bruising.

The princess was well behaved throughout; although, she was not a fan and you could tell after a couple hours in the hospital she was ready to go.

We went to the Big Rig Truck Show. Christina enjoyed some of the odd stuff we did. We walked under/in one of the big plows and had fun waling over the foot bridge. Christina wanted to check out the Truck Light Parade that night. As she was watching the trucks go by I was watching her track the lights. Good job Christina. And when they blew their horns Christina giggled on the loud ones.

Christina helped with my first attempt at zucchini bread. After we were done mixing everything and I was greasing the pans Christina asked for a taste. I didn't want to tell her no, but I didn't think it would taste good. So I told her I wasn't sure what it would taste like and she could try it if she wanted. She wanted.
This is taste number four.

Christina has been up to her usual self. Lots of walking and talking. Sunday she did exceptional in the gait trainer. Christina has also increased her teasing me at meal time clean-up. It has become quite the game.

On several instances while we have been out lately people have stopped to make a comment how beautiful Christina is. Christina has been flooded lately with comments including, but definitely not limited to: beautiful, cute, precious, adorable, pretty, lovely. This is not uncommon, but the past couple of weeks seems to be more so.

I should make a point to say the Christina's favorite song is "Three Little Fishies". When asked what song we should sing it is now always this one. She laughs at me if I mess up the words. I compromise and we sing the fishie song and then other songs and then the fishie song again.

So after I install some new software I do the usual reboot. I get an error message during POST that a Windows file is corrupt. Ugh. I try a reboot again just to see and it makes it past that point and starts loading. Only to get a blue screen and a restart loop. The message suggests using the repair console. I give it a go with no luck. Next try is to use the repair. First round did not work. Second round did work with errors. So I decided to try my backup. After I reinstalled Windows, software, and updates I ran a backup and it was stored on the network drive. The recovery was easy enough to start with the small detail that it could not login to the network drive so it could not copy the backed up files. Next step, get the files onto a external drive with USB. 30+GB later I am ready to try again. Success. The biggest 'problem' so far is my iTunes podcasts not being up-to-date.

Email I transferred to a flash drive so that just finished copying back. Should be good to go. The new software I installed of course is no longer installed. So I think I will back up my iTunes library and try again.

Crossing fingers.

Once again I was working on pictures. So much fun and work at the same time. Three hours today disappeared quickly. I am working on a page to limit the number of pictures to make it easier to go through. I have not found software I am happy with yet for adding tags. And once I find something that works and follows some sort of standard I have to get all 30,000+ tagged while staying current.

For those who tell me I'm obsessed with the pictures, you're right. If only you knew the time I put in that you don't see. A minimum of one hour per week is what it takes to pull pics off the camera, rename them, sort them, save them, back them up locally, back them up off-site. Another half hour, usually the next day, to recreate a list of current pics, re-size them, recreate a complete list, verify they are shown on the site. Another hour to follow a similar process of the videos. Then I take a half hour or so to look through pics to find some to upload for the slideshow.

Someday, Christina will tell me I'm crazy for doing it. And someday after that she will tell me it is great. And... I do realize that these somedays have years between them.

New news on Christina's wheelchair. The appointment is scheduled for her fitting. The chair will be fitted just for her. We have been told to plan on an all day affair. Oof.

Cheers.

So as the weather cools down(ha) it is 73°, a dew point of 72°, and a real feel of 83°. And that is cooler, hmm. Everything is relative. Winter where are you.

Christina and I had fun this past weekend. We went to a family reunion and got to see relatives I have not seen in ages and got to meet many more. It was a good time. Christina tolerated the heat better than some.

Our outside play has been limited with the heat. I have noticed even the neighbor kids have not been out much. Christina still keeps me running in the house.

Another round of Phenol blocks and Botox is coming up and my mind is already tossing every thought possible over it. Ugh. I have been reading a book about advocating for your child and it is informative enough to get me thinking about how lucky we have been with doctors, therapists, and insurance. There is very little positive in what I have read so far.

The slideshow of pictures should be updated tonight. Enjoy!!!

Christina has been full of hugs and kisses. The little princess has made a game after meal time to ask for kisses. If I do not oblige I am told she wants a kiss. It makes clean up time entertaining to say the least.

Another round of Phenol blocks and Botox is coming up soon. It has always gone smooth, but that what if thought always lingers.

Christina got to meet several relatives over the weekend at a family reunion. Christina did well with everyone even with the outrageous heat. We stopped on the way and picked up a fan for her in the car. The A/C works well, but it makes for good entertainment and keeps her a little cooler before the A/C has a chance to cool us down.

We have been playing a lot inside and make short excursions outside for walks, rides, swinging. On a couple of days Christina wanted to cut our wagon ride short.

Christina got to make cookies on her last day of ST for this semester. Chocolate chip, yum. It made me proud watching her interact with the others making cookies. Her movements and vocalizations were very pronounced several times for items that she gets to do when we make cookies. I am not sure how to accurately describe it, but let's try. Over the many batches we have made, Christina and I have found methods that work better than others for her to pour in the ingredients, stir, put the dough on the pan. If the student or supervisor moved in a way that did not work as well Christina's motions were an attempt to correct them. If I would not have tried those same ways myself I don't think I could have picked up on Christina's efforts. Christina definitely enjoyed tasting.

Lots of stuff going on.

I opted to reinstall the OS. It took five days to finish getting the last of the software and updates done. Now the data files are being copied over. Should be done tonight. Woo Hoo.

I have more pictures from 2006 printed so I can work on my collages. I have been on time updating the slideshow of Christina.

There was a good article about photo-blogging I came across. The downside is the means they suggested to set one up. I want to do it myself, I don't see a reason to use a third party.

The heat has continued and I am still ready for winter. These temps are crazy.

These temps are awful. I like it cooler and this is not cooler by far. Christina likes it even cooler than I do.

I read an article today that got the emotions going. http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Bo ... 05093.html
Remember that those directly involved are only the tip of the problem. There are layers of administration that have a hand in problems such as this.

I have been updating the slideshow, pictures, and videos once a week. Yea me for keeping up. Enjoy!!!