Random Image WordPress Theme

I have really enjoyed Mikes’s Random Image theme and was looking at what I needed to do to modify Random to support widgets or Kubrick to do the random header graphic.

Looks like Mike is on that already so eagerly await the addition of the widget support.

There is a major project coming up with blogging that I would love to use the widget support for and since I like Mike’s Random Image theme, it will be nice to use the widgets in this theme.

Mike, thanks for a great theme.

“All of my creativity comes from Him. God has an uncanny way of giving me insights and ideas at the right moment. Sometimes it makes me feel like I might just know what I am doing.”

– Ed Washington, Odyssey

Patient Confidentiality and Security??

Well, an interesting thing has been happening with us in regard to hospital bills. A few months ago, a son was born to us and we did not have insurance so were able to get a special discount by paying in full prior to leaving the hospital. However, in the process, we were listed as having insurance and thus the discount was revoked and we were getting bills again.

In the process of the whole thing, I found out that anyone can call the hospital and act like an insurance company and gain access to our medical information without our approval. Without contacting us, the hospital gave information to an organization that needed medical details on my family. Fortunately, that organization manages our medical expences but the hospital freely gave them information without contacting us.  Who else have they given our information to?

Our extra bills were dropped with just a face-to-face at the hospital (wish they had listened on the phone).  But the question is still out there “Why is it so easy for third parties to access our information without our direct consent?

Web Capture and Mark-up

Ok, here is another tool for those of us that have to spend a lot of time in front of the computer.

I spend a lot of time doing research on the internet and gathering technical information. Of course there are times when I need to share the information that I have gathered. In the past I have had to save each page in the browser or use a separate download manager to get the page and then edit it in an HTML and/or text editor. Continue reading Web Capture and Mark-up

Marking up PDFs

The other day there was discussion in a meeting on how to mark up an electronic document without having to print it out. Apple has a nifty little tool in the preview program to do limited mark-up of PDFs. The problem with this program is that it is limited and it is only on a Mac. It also seem to store the mark-up in the original document so the original is not original any more. Maybe there is some way to turn off the mark-up but I have not found it.

However, I have found a very nice program to do mark-up in several different types of files and you do not have to buy a Mac to do it, nor do you have to buy anything. Continue reading Marking up PDFs

Father’s Day

Ok, what could be the best thing about Father’s Day?  Well, I will have to say my four children!

My Three Oldest
These are my three oldest at the park.  Mark, Andrea, and Audrey.  Guess which is the most handful.

Adrian all clean

This is our youngest fresh out of a bath.  Adrian loves them.

I got the most fun gift today.  A home made book from my children of things they like about me along with paintings and hand prints.  God gives such wonderful gifts.

More OpenOffice Links

I forgot some links.  These are documents from OpenOffice that I have found helpful so far.

OpenOffice.org2.x User Guide(PDF)

MS Word to OOo Writer: How to perform common tasks(PDF)

Writing a Thesis with OpenOffice.org(PDF)

How to Setup and Use Cross References(PDF)

Much more can be found at:

OpenOffice Documentation Project

If you have any great HOWTOs on OpenOffice or any comment or questions, leave comments.  Thanks.

OpenOffice Followup

Well, due to popular demand, I am following up my That Office Suite? article with some helpful links for those who are really interested in not having to buy a full (or even partial) office suite or just do not believe that something free could be even near as good as Microsoft Office :)  Following that is a little bit of how politics are involved in the Office Suite playoff (exactly what I was saying in my That Office Suite? article) Continue reading OpenOffice Followup