spugbrap’s blog

I’m a die-hard keyboard user, and always like to know when there’s a keyboard shortcut to accomplish something that might otherwise take a few strategic mouse clicks. The Windows key, while a bane to gamers’ existence, actually provides us with some useful functions.

I’ve known about several Windows key shortcuts for years, but there are a couple that I learned about more recently (sometime in 2007, I think), which I now use on a daily basis. The title of this post refers to these as ‘lesser-known’, but I base that purely on the fact that *I* did not know about them, not on any sort of user experience testing or published statistics.

Windows-D: Show Desktop

Hides all open windows, bringing the Windows desktop to the front. This duplicates the functionality of the ‘Show Desktop’ icon that exists in the Quick Launch toolbar by default, and the ‘Show the Desktop’ option in the context menu that appears when you right-click the taskbar. It does not actually minimize the other windows, and those windows can be re-focused via Alt-Tab or by clicking their taskbar entries.

Windows-L: Lock Computer

This duplicates the functionality of the ‘Lock Computer’ button in the Ctrl-Alt-Delete Windows Security dialog. On Windows XP systems that use Fast User Switching, it takes you back to the screen that lists user accounts.

I make it a habit of hitting Windows-L whenever I’m done using my PC at home, so that when my wife sits down to use it, she can just click her name and login (or resume her existing session). At work, it’s always a good idea to lock your computer, so I hit Windows-L whenever I get up to leave my desk.

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Now, here are a few more well-known (i.e. I’ve known about them for a long time) ones:Windows-M: Minimize AllThis minimizes all open windows. Programs that hide out in the system tray when you minimize them will be sent to the system tray. Everything else will be minimized to the taskbar. This has the same effect of clicking the ‘Minimize’ icon in the top-right corner of all of your open windows.Windows-F: Search for Files and Folders

This pops up the Windows file search feature. This duplicates the functionality of clicking the Start Menu, clicking the ‘Search’ menu option, and clicking the ‘For Files or Folders…’ sub-menu option.

Windows key (by itself): Open the Start Menu

This pops up the Start Menu, just like what happens when you press Ctrl-Esc or click the start menu. I use this all the time.

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Please note that I’ve still never used Windows Vista, so I am unfamiliar with any Windows-key shortcuts which may have been introduced with it. The shortcuts I’ve described, above, are valid in Windows XP Professional (and most of them were usable in previous versions of Windows as well). I did read about a change to the way the Start Menu works, in Vista, with the introduction of a smart search box.

If you know of any useful Windows-key shortcuts that I may have missed, for ANY version of Windows, please leave a reply and let me (and other readers) know!

As many people already know, I had braces for a second time, and just got them off about 8 months ago. Because I’ve had braces twice, and especially since one of those times was as an adult, I’ve got plenty of advice that I’m more than happy to share. A friend of mine got braces last year, and we’ve had numerous discussions about tooth/mouth pain, problems, effective care and cleaning methods, good/bad habits, etc.

I’ve posted a couple of our instant messaging conversations, before, and it seems like at least a few people have benefited from this information, so I’ve been meaning to post some more. These transcripts have been edited to keep my friend’s identity anonymous, but other than that, they contain real questions and concerns from someone else who had to get braces as an adult.

These questions/concerns are not unique–nearly everyone worries about many of these things when they get braces, which is why I think other people can benefit from reading these discussions. Do YOU have any questions, comments, or tips regarding braces? If so, please post it in the “Leave a Reply” section, below .

Now, for part 3 of this series of tips for people with braces (also check out part 1 and part 2, if you haven’t read them yet!):

• Session Start ([spugbrap]:[friend]): Wed Jan 24 08:53:07 2007
• [spugbrap]: so, used to the braces yet?
• [friend]: Hi Dave. It’s a little better but I still can’t chew anything. The general discomfort has gone away but when I chew and put pressure on teeth it is uncomfortable and it feels like other other teeth get so much pressure. This Thursday will have been a week and I am hoping after that things start to normalize a little.
• [spugbrap]: ah yes that reminds me of some times when pressure was in uncomfortable places. like my top right canine tooth would touch a bracket on the front of one of my bottom teeth, making it so i could not completely close my teeth together without feeling like i was a) putting to much pressure on the bracket, and b) going to chip that canine tooth
• [spugbrap]: that got better within a few days. or i at least adapted my eating style around it somehow.
• [spugbrap]: i also remember when i first got the braces this time, i felt like all my teeth were so loose that any time i felt too much pressure on them (especially when THEY were applying pressure at followup appointments) i felt like my teeth were just going to fall out/break/etc.
• [spugbrap]: but nothing bad has happened. i was truly afraid though.
• [friend]: Eeek. That is almost how I feel when I chew, like I am loosening them or something. But it must just feel that way and these ortho. people know what they are doing. I can’t believe how much my teeth have moved already. I always thought that the tooth movement would be so slow that I wouldn’t even notice. So far I only have them on the top because she wanted to try to get my bite aligned first before putting them on the bottom. Now, I am glad about that because that will be even worse.
• [spugbrap]: ahh yeah they do move amazingly fast at first. the phase i’m in now is kind of a perfecting/finishing touch kind of thing, so it’s been several months now of waiting for a few stubborn teeth on one side to move ever so slightly, using rubber bands (which reminds me, gotta put one on!).
• [friend]: Are you suppose to wear them all day?
• [spugbrap]: at this point, yes
• [spugbrap]: for one or two months i only had to wear them at night.. i think because i was being so “compliant” and wearing them most of the time, the teeth moved more than she’d anticipated, so she had me change the rubber band configuration and just do it at night. now i’m back to all day again. it amazes me how they know just what type of rubber band type and configuration to use, and which types of wire-holder-on-ers to use (little rubber bands on each bracket, or a “power chain”), etc.
• [spugbrap]: for a while i had to use 2 different types of rubber bands, in different shapes on each side. that was fun.
• [friend]: Oh wow, that sounds like another hassle. I know it is wild how they have this down to a science.
• [spugbrap]: like i’d have to use a thicker/heavier one on the right side and connect the hook on the back of my back top tooth to the hook on the front of my bottom 3rd tooth, then use a lighter-duty rubber band in a trapezoid formation on the front on the left side. hehe. crazy stuff. but it worked. and it only took a couple tries to get the hang of putting them on.
• [friend]: Oh wow, that is interesting. I’m assuming that it is hard/strange to talk with the rubber bands in too? The other thing I thought of is having to wear a retainer afterwards. But I heard you can get those is clear without the wire. Did you have to wear that 24×7 when you were little or I mean when you had these on the first time?
• [spugbrap]: it’s not hard to talk with rubber bands in. i mean i guess at first it was a little weird because it was pulling my mouth shut. but you get used to it, and rubber bands stretch a little bit over time (i think), so the longer you have one in, the less annoying it is..
• [spugbrap]: as far as retainers.. i will wear it/them religiously this time. i did not wear mine when i was younger. i couldn’t breathe with it in, but either they didn’t care/understand that, or i didn’t speak up enough about it.. and eventually i stopped going back for followup appointments so they couldn’t even nag me about it.
• [spugbrap]: i don’t remember how much i was supposed to wear them before (i think there were two) but i’ve always had breathing issues and one of them was just too much in the way of breathing through my mouth, somehow
• [spugbrap]: but not wearing my retainer back then is probably the #1 reason why i had to end up getting them again. and i’ll give up and go for dentures or something before i’ll get braces AGAIN. hehe
• [spugbrap]: besides, i won’t be able to afford braces a third time, either.. i’ve got 3 kids, and chances are they will all need braces at some point (particularly because both of their parents did), and that will be a lot of money right there!
• [friend]: Yeah braces are expensive and it strikes me funny how the Ortho. insurance isn’t very high because the insurance companies know that now a days that most kids will get braces. Well hopefully thought after you finish treatment and get your retainer, you will be in good shape.
• [spugbrap]: yeah it was ridiculous how they only covered like what $2k or something!? and i think i still have to pay over $5k out of pocket.. at least the ortho does monthly payment plans with no interest or anything!
• [friend]: We must have different insurance because mine paid only $1K. I paid 30% down and then monthly payment plan for the rest totaling out to $7k. It is expensive, but then again Ortho’s usually only get a patient once a lifetime, not like the dentist where you go the rest of your life, I guess they need to make their money somehow. Well good to hear more info. about your experience. Thanks for sharing. I’ll let you get back to work, but on another day I am really curious to find out from you what I should expect at my first adjustment appointment. It is not until March 1st, though. I can’t believe that 6 weeks is March already.:)
• [spugbrap]: you’re right, only $1k. i forgot.. it’s been a year and a half since i looked at that stuff, after all. :)

When opening a new container of deodorant, it used to annoy me that the first one or two times I used it, it was not easy to dispense the proper amount. I like the “soft solid” type of deodorant, which pushes the white goop through tiny little holes in the top, when you twist the bottom of the container. Each time you twist it, it makes a clicking sound, and–in theory–it dispenses a consistent amount of deodorant.

However, when you first open it, it takes quite a few clicks before the deodorant actually starts coming out of the holes. When it finally starts coming out, it only comes out of the edges; nothing comes out of the center for quite a few *more* clicks. In the mean time, it’s hard to gauge how much you need, when it’s only coming out of the edges.

One day, I decided to try something new. I left the plastic seal on the top of the container, and started twisting the bottom (clicking it).

The plastic seal helped to contain the deodorant, as it tried to come out the holes on the edges. I kept on clicking it until the goop looked ready to come out the holes in the center, too. It got more and more difficult to twist, the more I clicked it, because the seal was holding it back.

By the time the deodorant was coming out of all of the holes–but still being held back by the plastic seal–the goop from the edges was starting to come out.

When I finally removed the seal, it just took a couple clicks, and I was able to easily get the amount of deodorant that I wanted.

Last night, when I was taking the trash out, I noticed that the trash can in the garage was making a lot of noise. As I went to pull the drawstrings on the trash bag, I saw little worms crawling around the outer edge of the bag. Upon further inspection, I noticed that there were hundreds more crawling around inside the bag. Then I realized what they were: MAGGOTS!

So, I went about trying to kill them. I had a can of Lysol Disinfectant Spray with me, so I tried that first. I sprayed it all over the top of the trash bag, and sprayed a good bit into the trash bag, as well. At that point, I noticed that there were some crawling around on the floor, too. So, I sprayed them as well. But, that didn’t phase them one bit. They kept right on crawling. I carefully grabbed the trash bag and ran it outside to the curb (good thing it was trash night!). Then, I scanned the garage for anything that might kill bugs.

The next poison I saw was a spray bottle of Lysol All-Purpose Cleaner. I assumed that it was stronger stuff than the aerosol spray can I had just used, so I decided to try it on the bugs. I could almost hear them laughing, as they kept on crawling, sometimes walking directly through big puddles of it, when they could have easily gone around. They just didn’t care. By this time, there were about 20 of them crawling around on the floor (that I could see). I had to use something specifically designed to kill bugs.

So, I ran inside and grabbed a can of RAID. The can we had handy did not say anything about maggots or flies on the label, but I hoped it might work better than nothing. So I sprayed it all over the floor, wherever I saw maggots. I made bigger puddles wherever there were several of them close together. They didn’t seem to mind, and just kept going about their business. By now, I’d seen them crawling under a nearby pile of wood, and more seemed to be crawling out, than were crawling in. Either way, this showed me that they were not only resilient little bastards, but that they were probably already well established in every nearby dark place/crevice. I was freaking out, now, because they seemed to be multiplying, right before my eyes. I could see probably 40 of them, at that point.

Next, I called Lacey, and asked her to look up how to kill maggots. She read about a lot of things that DON’T work, and then found some things that supposedly had worked for some people:

- Products containing permethrin

- Boiling water

- Bleach

I looked around the garage, some more, and found a can of pesticide, in a powder form. A quick glance at the ingredients confirmed that it did have the chemical I was hoping for: permethrin! So I started shaking the powder everywhere I could see the maggots, and also tried to make a barrier around the area that I had been treating thus far, to try and contain them. Somehow, it did not come as much of a surprise when they kept right on crawling, through pools and piles of 4 different poisons.

This was really testing my sanity. I kept worrying that they were on my shoes, or might have grabbed onto the bottom of my pants legs. The barrier didn’t work at all. They were branching out in every direction, at this point. Everywhere I looked, I saw maggots. I could probably see close to 100 of them, at this point, and I knew that there were lots more that I couldn’t see. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, they were nearly invisible. Their coloring was a perfect match to my concrete garage floor. Without their constant wiggling, I might not have even noticed them. I felt helpless and defeated. But I still had one trick to try: bleach.

I grabbed a huge bottle of bleach, that just happened to be within arm’s reach, and started pouring it on them. I was a little worried about the fact that I was mixing so many harmful chemicals together, but I was much more concerned about killing these evil maggots. They kept right on crawling, though! UGH! Lacey had said something about bleach taking a half hour to kill them, though, so I tried to be patient. The maggots were continuing to expand, and to hide underneath every box, piece of wood, etc. I tried to move a few things out of the way, so I could pour bleach in more places, but I’m pretty sure that every time I moved something, it just helped them spread (because they were already crawling on everything).

Uh-oh, the bleach-pesticide-pesticide-cleaner-disinfectant mix was now working its way across the garage. Apparently the garage slightly slopes so that liquid runs towards the outside driveway. But we’ve got all kinds of bikes, scooters, helmets, jumpropes, baseball bats, etc. stored in the garage, some of it in cardboard boxes. I scrambled to move everything cardboard out of the way, but I was a bit too late. So I had to empty the contents of the wet cardboard boxes, before their contents got wet. Empty them where, though? Wherever I could. Stacked on top of toolboxes, bikes, shelves, plastic tubs, etc. Just had to hurry. I didn’t want this poison mixture getting all over my kids’ stuff.

Finally, I got things pretty well moved around, so the little poison rivers could proceed towards the exit. I figured this was also helping me to spread the poison around, so if the bleach did work after a while, it was already covering a wider area. It was getting very late, so I started picking up my cans of poison and putting them on a shelf. As I was doing that, I kept noticing more maggots in places that hadn’t been treated [enough] yet, so I poured more bleach on them.

I hated leaving the garage in this state, but I really needed to get to bed. I wished there was some way I could burn the tiny demon spawn, without destroying my car or house. Believe me, if I ever find a pile of these things outside, they’re going to burn. Revenge will be mine, someday. Unfortunately there was nothing more I could do, out there, so I closed the garage and prepared to go in for the night.

Before going inside, though, I shook my pants and checked my shoes for maggots. When I got inside, I watched the floor behind me as I walked, to make sure I didn’t see anything wiggling. I was very freaked out and paranoid, at that point, so I undressed slowly and carefully, putting my clothes and shoes into trash bags.

Then, I went up and took a hot shower. Every drop of water, running down my leg or through my hair, made me feel like maggots were crawling on me. I almost felt like taking a bath in bleach, but I wasn’t quite that far gone. If I had actually found maggots crawling on my skin, I might have gone to that extreme. That was one of the most unpleasant experiences I’ve ever, and I’m sure my words cannot express just how horrible it felt.

This morning, I’m feeling a lot better (sanity-wise), but am not touching the garage door until the pest control people come. So, I’m staying home today so I can ensure that these evil creatures get annihilated ASAP.

We received an ad in the mail, recently, which immediately disturbed Lacey and I. It’s a service that lets you create real, usable postage stamps with a picture of your choice. Sounds kinda cool, right? But take a look at the ad, and see if you can find what’s wrong with this picture:

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It seems like a cool concept, at first, to put whatever picture you want (as long as it’s yours/legal/etc) on stamps. But this ad is proudly showing a picture of a cute little kid, on a stamp. That would be cool if you’re just sending mail to your friends and family, and nobody was going to handle that mail in between.

But the reality is that several people are going to handle each piece of mail, and you’re probably going to send some to billers/rebate warehouses/misc. companies as well, and multiple people will probably handle the mail within those companies. If any of those people happens to like little kids, in a NAMBLA sort of way, then you’ve just given them your cute kid’s home address via the return address on the other corner of the envelope.

In other words, you’re announcing, “Hey, pedophiles! Here’s a picture of my cute kid, and here’s where to come get him/her!”

I remember Lacey talking about some online moms’ group forums where there was some controversy, a while back, when people posted their addresses (for swaps/co-ops/etc) publicly and had cute pics of their kids in their signature blocks. These stamps aren’t quite as bad, I think, because at least their exposure is limited to a few people handling snail mail, whereas the online message boards are googleable.

But, still, stamps.com might want to consider this before enabling proud, naïve parents to advertise their children this way. Art would be fine. Maybe even the family pet. But not children.