Medicine Man Of Seattle: Cincinnati

Showing posts with label Cincinnati. Show all posts

Monday, January 21, 2013

Never Shall the TWAIN Meet

Having found the wonders and joys of the Neat Receipt portable scanner, I decided to explore the options of it's full capabilities and stretch my ideas to the digital limit.

Heidi was able to use Image Capture after just a click of the button and scan in COLOR and at 600 dpi!!!! Her documents looked great! I, on the other hand, was first limited to B&W and at 300 dpi by using the Neat software package (so far really the best way to keep receipts organized for tax and accounting/business purposes.)

I was NOT to be defeated by a Mac and so tried to use Nitro Pro 8 to scan in color and boost up my dots per inch!

Attempt 1: I received a "Failed to load TWAIN data sources" message and was instructed to re-install the program. Stupid "technology without an important name" sitting between me and my impressive, but not imperative, dream of being able to scan in old high school awards and news paper clippings:

But which program should I tackle first to correct this fatal error?

Surly my Nitro Pro 8 was not the cause as with all it's wonders, I am able to: 1. open pdf files, 2. combine different pdf documents into one lager pdf, and 3. even save just the pages I wanted within a larger pdf file.

So it must have been my Neat scanner/software.... however everything else with scanning and detecting receipts, documents and contacts from business cards worked perfectly (but only in B&W and at lower then optimal scan quality.)

Through tireless searching I found the solution! Don't uninstall or re-install anything. Instead, delete the folders that had "Neat" from "C:\WINDOWS\TWAIN_32" and leave your "C:\WINDOWS\TWAIN_64" files alone.

Attempt 2: SOLVED! Take that Mr. Samuel L Clemens!

Scans in color and at 600 dpi look great with Nitro Pro 8 and I'm able to save files as I choose, with OCR for better searching.

Thanks for reading,

Dr. Alex

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Geocaching

A new and recent hobby of mine has been Geocaching! Basically it boils down to hunting for Tupperware or ammo cans in the woods and signing a log book. Sometimes there are trinkets left behind. AND sometimes there are Travelbugs and collectibles left for cachers.

Here's a short list of some of the Travelbugs that I have found:

Sheryl's Geico Travel Tag

U.S. Flag Micro Geocoin
Kevin's Subie
Gear Aid Geocoin REI3
Scushy
Hobo Joe

And here's a list of Travelbugs that I own:

Eddy's Hot Rod
Wilma's Hot Rod
Seven Summit Geocoin
GC&P Club August 2011 - Checkmate Geocoin
RHG and the Peacock

One of the caches I found in August of 2011: Broose is Loose had a great description and recommendations for all cachers:

As you search for this cache, a few Broose reminders:
1. Fireworks are illegal
2. Don't talk to strangers
3. Check the front door like 3, or 4, or even 5 times to make sure it's locked before you leave
4. Bring a clipboard for any notes you may need to take along the way
5. If its not right, "Just Start Over"
6. When you are done with each and every cache, wash your hands....twice!
* A bonus tip to any husband that Broose would want to pass along: If you forget something in the car and your wife says "It's okay, I'll go back and get it" Don't let her get it, go yourself...she really doesn't want to.

Heidi and I paddle caching from the Waterfront Activities Center on the 4th of July, 2011.

Geocaching on Jetty Island on my 30th Birthday! July 26, 2011.

My first real geocaching experience - Cincinnati, OH, October 2008

Thanks for reading,

Dr. Alex

Friday, January 1, 2010

My Favorite Memories of 2009

After my friend Courtney was "inspired" by one of my posts for her own version, I became "inspired" by one of hers for this one.

Here are some of my favorite memories from 2009 recapped via photos:

In December 2008, I was able to finish a great Crafternoon project that ushered in the New Year right, and so that I could display my Christmas cards that I received for the Holidays.

In January 2009, I had my first post residency interview in Falmouth, MA, on the Cape!

The Cincinnati Snuggie Bar Crawl debuted in March of 2009, through Mt. Adams. Of course the Medicine Man knew how to doctor up his new snuggie.

The Norwood Community Garden was in initially founded and planted in May!

Residency Graduation at the end of June!!!! Also my first hard thoughts about again entering into another LDR.

July was a month of Farewells. Farewell Norwood. Farewell Wildfell Hall. Farewell Neighbors. Farewell Great Friends. Farewell Burgers! And also a month of Hellos. Hello St. Theodore. Hello Seattle Children's Hospital!

The month of August, I spent exploring Seattle and getting to know Green Lake, as I started my new job.

September, I went on my first trip to CA for Tim Chan wedding and caught up with old high school friends!

October. Back in Cincinnati for the RLH with Laura and Jonah, and also a look back at all the runs I've done over the years.

November was a big month for volunteering.

Who has a second going away party from Cincinnati, after not living there for 5 months? I do!

Here's a new year, where may the best of 2009 be the worst of 2010!

Thanks for reading,

Dr. Alex

Friday, December 25, 2009

Seattle > Pittsburgh > Boston > Cincinnati

Literacy pays off! Who knew?

Seattle topped the list of 75 major cities across the US! Sorry, Crystal, DC came in second, despite a Facebook quiz telling me that DC should have been the city of my choice. :-(

As the Seattle PI tells me, Dr. John W. Miller developed his rankings based on six categories:

1: Number of retail bookstores/1000 people.
2: % of adults with HS diplomas.
3. Total weekday circulation of a city's newspaper.

4: Number of web page views per capita to a city's "internet version" of a newspaper.

5. Magazine and journal distributions per capita.
6. Library staff and library volume per capita.

So, remember that you local library is also important!

Interestingly, smart cities usually ranks well against other quality of life indicators too!

"...Most active singles’ scenes (Boston, Seattle, Washington, and Atlanta), are safer (Minneapolis, Boston, Seattle, Portland, Denver, and Cincinnati), more walk-able (Seattle, Washington, DC, Portland, Boston, and Denver), and healthier (Washington, DC and Denver)."

Thanks for reading,

Dr. Alex

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Pittsburgh > Seattle > Cincinnati

Readers of the Medicine Man's Blog already know that Pittsburgh is much, much better then Boston from a previous post.

Now, Transportation for America ask "How dangerous is your city?" A study was conducted to find and measure the Pedestrian Danger Index (PDI) of 52 US metro areas with populations of greater then 1 million people. "The PDI was developed to allow a fair comparison of metro areas according to their risk to pedestrians, relative to how much an ordinary person walks in that metro area."
Over all Pittsburgh was found to be the 4th safest city (based on PDI), Seattle the 5th, and Cincinnati the 7th. Philadelphia is an abysmal #15 in overall pedestrian safely. The worst city: Orlando (#52).

If you're over 65, the study finds that states such as Hawaii, California, and Florida are all the more dangerous for you! TfA reports that the "the higher fatality rate for older pedestrians can probably be attributed to several factors: 1) older pedestrians have a higher risk of death than young people given the same severity of injury; 2) older pedestrians are more likely to have perceptual, sensory and cognitive impairments that decrease their ability to avoid oncoming traffic; and, 3) existing pedestrian infrastructure, such as the duration of crosswalk signals, ignores the needs of older walkers."

I really think from point #2 that TfA is trying to say that older walkers are slower to cross the street, slower to react if they feel they are in danger, may not see the cars or trucks coming at time, may not hear the roar of the traffic coming at them, and may not know what to do if they feel they are in danger.

Even if you are young and quick, you still have to be lucky. This video just goes to show you that brightly warn crossing guard reflectors don't always avoid close contacts with cars either.

Urban Cincy did a great recap of the findings and expanding upon how pedestrian traffic relates to safety in our fair city.

At least Cincinnati > Cleveland. :-)

Thanks for reading,

Dr. Alex

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

How's my running coming along?

After running in the 2009 Run Like Hell 5K, I decided to find/track down my place and race times amongst the dozen or so 5K races I've done in the past (initially in Philadelphia, then to Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and now here in Seattle.) I know I'm missing a few bigger runs such as the Koman Race for the Cure and the Reggae Run, but here's what I've been able to find so far: