Second Trimester

The second trimester, since I was lucky enough that my morning sickness ended, was mostly smooth sailing as everyone says. I felt fine, I wasn't showing (as long as I didn't wear belly-tight clothes), and I could do what I wanted (although I got winded easily). The challenge here was to fight the fuzziness of "pregnancy brain." Since I just finished an engineering Ph.D., people think my brain works. Well, pregnancy trumps a degree, and I had to work hard to keep my brain as sharp as possible. It was tough, but the payoff is that it "sticks" and I'm pretty functional brain-wise. Still, I have been a better multi-tasker. I used to take on 4 different tasks at work, not more like 2 at a time. My co-worker Chuck says the other two threads are talking to the baby even if I don't know it.

In the second trimester, I noticed that I felt a whole lot better with light daily exercise. I did stretches, light free weights (I've never seen 5 pounds free weights change my arms in two weeks, a pregnancy bonus! I usually lift a lot more too), and (if not too tired) elliptical trainer. I was slower and needed more sleep, but I pluged away at it, and exercise is a priority. I recommend it!

Least favorite foods: anything with much fat (no fried food) or salt. Fat/grease upsets my stomach, and salt makes my chest feel tight. On the other hand, my blood pressure is fine and everyone says I look healthy. Fat and salt aren't much of a loss, although it's difficult to eat out.

Favorite food: half a grapefruit for breakfast!

You can fight pregnancy brain fuzziness, and I think it's worth it in the long run as well as the short term. Exercise is good, and goes well with feeling better.

Total weight gain: up 5 pounds.

Palm Tungsten T3 and Smart Keyboard

Background: I went to Florida (Key West!!!) in January. On the trip down, my T3 turned on until the battery ran out. It did that a few more times during that week in Key West. I was particularly annoyed, not just to be on a trip without my PDA, but also because LiIon batteries can discharge completely only so many times before they die (that's the common failure mode). Glad I packed a charging cable! But it didn't happen again for months ... until this weekend when I went to Florida again (Amelia Island). On the drive back, I thought about what those two Florida trips had in common that doesn't happen the rest of the time I use my T3 (at home, at work, or on other trips). My hubby's T3 doesn't do this, and we have almost identical software installed. I think my T3 turning itself on (but not off) is also tied to using my cell phone, because it had a few days in Key West of NOT doing this, when my cell phone was off. What's weird is that my cell phone is too old for Bluetooth, so I don't know why/how it's getting my T3 excited.

Problem: My Palm Tungsten T3 stays on until the battery drains all the way, despite the Power preference to turn off automatically after 1 minute idle.

Possible workaround: if you don't want your PalmOS (v5, not sure if v4 has this) to turn on without your permission, look at the Keylock preferences.

Solution: Once again (this is frustrating!), the solution is to TURN OFF THE IrDA KEYBOARD DRIVER! I normally only have this driver on while I'm using the keyboard, and off otherwise so that I can sync. However, on these Florida trips, I thought I might use the keyboard so I left the driver on. Now that the driver is off, my T3 is acting normally again.

Opinion: OK, so my Smart Keyboard works when I want it to work, and I don't have to reset to toggle the driver on and off. But it has three flaws: (1) the keyboard's AAA battery is dead after a week because it doesn't seem to power off the keyboard, (2) I can't sync with the keyboard driver active, and (3) the active keyboard driver also causes my T3 to destroy its battery. I think the lesson is obvious: leave that driver off as much as possible! But it's a little annoying.

Morning Sickness

I had terrible morning sickness in the first trimester. No really, I've won every "I was so sick that ..." so far! Honestly I wish that weren't the case. The only time I wasn't sick was first thing in the morning, so let's call it pregnancy sickness instead. My pregnancy sickness started before the fourth week (probably at implantation), lasted through the first trimester, and came back for three weeks early in second trimester after I endured some airplane turbulence. I thought it would never end! I have some tips that worked for me, and I suggest that you do a web search and try all sorts of ideas that don't neglect nutrition and exercise.

1. Wear loose waisted pants.        
2. Don't slouch, but sit at 90-degrees or more (reclined, no belly compression) or stand.
3. Take a nap (naps rule! no nausea when I wake up!).
4. Take an almost-brisk walk outside in the fresh air.
5. Eat an orange (or almost anything else I can stand; I feel fine while eating, and citrus seems to last after eating too).
6. Never get full or hungry. Snack frequently. In first trimester, I needed 150-200 calories every two hours. By second trimester, I tapered off to more food every four hours.
7. Eat bland food that's high carb and low fat, eat high protein and low fat, and drink fluids especially water and lemon-lime Gatorade. Look at the dietary suggestions from Margie Profet because I felt better when I did not eat the suspect vegetables (and I love my fruits and veggies; I just switched to fewer of some while eating more of others).
8. Drink fluids between meals, not during.
9. Don't hold your breath. I sometimes hold my breath when concentrating, but don't.
10. Smell a lemon. Don't ask me why, but I'm fine while smelling a lemon scent. I'm told that sucking on a lemon slice will also get your mind off of pregnancy sickness, but I didn't need to go that far.
11. Switch to a prenatal multivitamin without iron in it. GNC has one. This made a huge difference for me. (I also get lots of iron in my diet, so I need to worry more about iron toxicity than iron deficiency. Since the deficiency is common, this one may not apply to anyone else.) Do continue to take a multivitamin!

Good luck, best wishes, and it does end!

HotSync error 16385

Software: Macintosh OS X 10.3.8 (and at least one earlier version), Palm Desktop 4.2.1.
Hardware: any OS X Macintosh including Pismo, Palm Tungsten T3.
Problem: When I tried to hotsync with USB, I got this error message:
Unknown Sync Error
[16385]
I had just installed the IrDA.prc keyboard driver for my SmartKeyboard SK6688. If it's active, I get that sync error.
Solution: But all I have to do is uncheck "Active Keyboard" in IrDA on my Palm! Very easy to toggle. Using Bluetooth for sync will also avoid this problem, but since I leave it in the charging cradle at work, I (like to) use the convenient HotSync button.

Anti on Anti-Bacterial

Antibacterial soap sounds great, right? Oh, where do I start on that one? For one, there's no indication that it does a better job killing bacteria than regular soap, so it's just scare-tactic advertising. (See WebMD.)

1. Children raised in homes with high use of antibacterial products have a higher rate of asthma and allergies. Trust me, both of those are miserable: I have exercise-induced asthma, and my allergy to cigarette smoke makes me break out in hives at the worst times. (See Henry Ford Health System.)
2. Beneficial bacteria are killed with the nasty bacteria. For instance, oral antibiotics can kill beneficial intestinal flora. (See Drs. Oz and Roizen.) What does that mean? Well, let's just say I would stay within a dash of the bathroom, and start eating yogurt with live cultures to get your intestines back in shape. Also, without the beneficial bacteria in residence, there's more room at the inn for the nasty ones. Bottom line: not all bacteria are bad! The ones that belong are less susceptible to basic cleanliness like scrubbing with soap and water.
3. Increased antibiotic use leads to resistant bacteria strains! So when you really need that antibiotic to work, perhaps to save your life, the chances aren't as good as they could and should be. (See WebMD.) It's not yet known if antibacterial soap contributes to this like antibiotic drugs, but the antibacterials aren't great for your general health either.
4. Antibacterial products are very bad for sewage treatment. (I know this is a re-statement of #2, but it's an important view of The Big Picture beyond your own hands and your own kitchen counter.) You can kill your septic tank this way, if you're not on a sewer line. If you are, increased antibacterial use has increased city sewage costs (passed on to you!) at the treatment plant! In both case, the antibacterial products kill the beneficial bacteria in the system to break down the sewage.

So what should you do instead? Rub your hands with regular soap and warm water for 30 seconds. (See University Health Network.) Then rub your hands dry to continue the mechanical removal of bacteria. If you're on the road, use a hand-sanitizing gel instead. (See WebMD.) Be prudent: this is a public health issue that affects everyone.

Moral: There is no quick fix! In this case, plain old soap and water with regular old-fashioned scrubbing is how to get clean.

8600/G3 and OS X 10.3

February 15, 2005

I don't know when I will have time for this project, but I want to install OS X 10.3 on my old PowerMac 8600 with the Sonnet G3/266 upgrade and use it for a file server. I live in a multi-platform household, and a little SAMBA sharing could make life easier.

I already upgraded the 8600 to 9.22 with OS 9 Helper. And I "installed" X Post Facto 3.0. This 8600 has a USB/Firewire card and a few other trinkets.

Before I start, I will need to boot back to OS 9 (hold down option at startup, select that hard drive; one reason why I put 9 is on its own 4 Gig SCSI hard drive while X gets its own 36 Gig SCSI hard drive), and reformat the 36 Gigger with Apple Drive Setup. It wouldn't recognize it for the initial formatting, but X Post Facto isn't happy with anything else that I have (I'm fairly sure that my HDT is too old to count, but I did use it for the initial format).

Then it should be as simple as inserting the installer CD, launching X Post Facto, and letting it go to town.

March 29, 2005

UPDATE 1: Of course it's not that easy! I can't format the 36 Gig SCSI drive with Apple's software (I did dig up an old copy of APS PowerTools that had no problem), but in order to be compatible with XPostFacto, I have to format with Apple's software (not possible) or with Intech Hard Disk SpeedTools. This project isn't worth that much $ to me, so I'm pondering alternatives.

May 4, 2005

UPDATE 2: I dug out an old 4 Gig SCSI drive, formatted it, installed OS X. Once I booted into X, I noticed that the 8600 could format the 36 Gig drive ... did that, installed X on it, and swapped the 36 Gig for the 4 Gig drive. Other than spinning my wheels trying to decide if I were going to continue on this path, I think I got the 36 Gig up and running in the shortest way possible: by bootstrapping with the 4 Gig drive. I don't know why I couldn't format 36G with OS 9.2.2 on the 8600, or much of anything (mounting was problematic!) on my dual G4 MDD. But it works now, the install was smooth as silk, and I'm burning CDs with my favorite applications so I can install goodies! File server, here I come! I look forward to Samba file-sharing bliss at home.

November 18, 2005

UPDATE 3: I have spousal permission to use a Mac mini for our home file server instead, because it'll use less power.

Nosebleeds

The first question from one of my friends, after discovering I was pregnant, was, Have you had many nosebleeds yet? And the answer was, All the time. The medical reason I heard was that the nosebleeds are from the extra blood, but I don't think that's the whole story.

The other part of the problem is that we were both pregnant during winter months when it's drier. I took two trips to humid coastal Florida, one in January and one in March, and I didn't have any nosebleeds while there. Also, my friend who was pregnant in Florida didn't get any nosebleeds.

So nosebleeds during pregnancy are common if you're not in a high-humidity environment that helps protect your nasal membranes.