Cast is OFF!

Good news.
My cast was removed after x-ray on Monday & the Dr says I am to keep using crutches for 6 more weeks slowly increasing the amount of weight on my leg. I am having physiotherapy appointments fortnightly & sent home with lots of exercises for my knee, ankle, foot & leg muscles to get them all working properly again. The main discomfort is my the sole of my foot & the foot bones that have had such a long holiday.

Dad Moved to Stroke ward

Dad was, yesterday, moved to the Stroke Care ward.
He was seen a couple of days ago by the Re-hab team & they want to admit him to their ward, just waiting now for a bed. Neuro Dr seems not to understand that dad has deteriorated significantly since Christmas! So it's good that the Re-Hab team have seen him.

Another new Cousin - Cassius Blue Maurice

Cassius Blue Maurice
9lbs 2oz boy born to
Tom & Jane in the kitchen
as planned at 7.13am 16th
March 2007.

Congratulations from us
here in OZ!

Cirque du Soleil

Unbelievable!
Fantastic!
Awesome!
You must see it if you can.

Dad recovering & CIRCUS

Dad seems to be recovering OK, he is still in Hosp, moved to new ward yesterday, he will need rehab to get walking up to scratch again.

We are all going to the Circ-du-soleli (how the heck do I spell that?)
4pm session today with John & Vicki, Mark, Paul & Ricky, Dino & Dimitra, Niki & Natalie, Rebecca & Dimitri, Constantine & Sophia.

Sounds like fun.

12 tips to search google like a pro

12 Quick Tips To Search Google Like An Expert

1. Explicit Phrase: Lets say you are looking for content about internet marketing. Instead of just typing internet marketing into the Google search box, you will likely be better off searching explicitly for the phrase. To do this, simply enclose the search phrase within double quotes.

Example: “internet marketing”

2. Exclude Words: Lets say you want to search for content about internet marketing, but you want to exclude any results that contain the term advertising. To do this, simply use the “-“ sign in front of the word you want to exclude.

Example Search: internet marketing -advertising

3. Site Specific Search: Often, you want to search a specific website for content that matches a certain phrase. Even if the site doesn’t support a built-in search feature, you can use Google to search the site for your term. Simply use the “site:somesite.com” modifier.

Example: “internet marketing” site:www.smallbusinesshub.com

4. Similar Words and Synonyms: Let’s say you are want to include a word in your search, but want to include results that contain similar words or synonyms. To do this, use the “~” in front of the word.

Example: “internet marketing” ~professional

5. Specific Document Types: If you’re looking to find results that are of a specific type, you can use the modifier “filetype:”. For example, you might want to find only PowerPoint presentations related to internet marketing.

Example: “internet marketing” filetype:ppt

6. This OR That: By default, when you do a search, Google will include all the terms specified in the search. If you are looking for any one of one or more terms to match, then you can use the OR operator. (Note: The OR has to be capitalized).

Example: internet marketing OR advertising

7. Phone Listing: Let’s say someone calls you on your mobile number and you don’t know how it is. If all you have is a phone number, you can look it up on Google using the phonebook feature.

Example: phonebook:617-555-1212 (note: the provided number does not work – you’ll have to use a real number to get any results).

8. Area Code Lookup: If all you need to do is to look-up the area code for a phone number, just enter the 3-digit area code and Google will tell you where it’s from.

Example: 617

9. Numeric Ranges: This is a rarely used, but highly useful tip. Let’s say you want to find results that contain any of a range of numbers. You can do this by using the X..Y modifier (in case this is hard to read, what’s between the X and Y are two periods. This type of search is useful for years (as shown below), prices or anywhere where you want to provide a series of numbers.

Example: president 1940..1950

10. Stock (Ticker Symbol): Just enter a valid ticker symbol as your search term and Google will give you the current financials and a quick thumb-nail chart for the stock.

Example: GOOG

11. Calculator: The next time you need to do a quick calculation, instead of bringing up the Calculator applet, you can just type your expression in to Google.

Example: 48512 * 1.02

12. Word Definitions: If you need to quickly look up the definition of a word or phrase, simply use the “define:” command.

Example: define:plethora

test email blogging

I am trying out the email to blog feature with this message.

John - hospitalised

6:30am Sat 10Mar07 - Vicki woken with John having been v.incontinent in bed. Then took 3 hrs to cleanup, shower, dress...
9:30am Breakfast.. John dozing on & off during breakfast, falling asleep between mouthfuls. 10:30am Vicki phoned CALMS (Canberra Afterhours Locum Medical Service) & arranged for Dr to visit.
11:40am Dr Rob Ilberry, thought maybe Urinary Tract Infection (UTI), took specimen & prescribed Augmentin,
12:30pm Dr Phoned with confirmation of UTI. John v.dopey.
1pm Mark arrived & took Ricky & Paul & went to Woden to have script filled.
2:30pm Mark, Ricky & Paul back, John having lunch..looked a bit brighter..
3:30pm John snoozing in lounge chair..
4pm John wanted to go to loo but couldn't work out how to stand or walk or sit or climb stairs, took 3 of us giving instructions to get him to loo.
8:40pm Ambulance came to collect John & Vicki followed 15min later.
At hospital John had been only triaged as having UTI & so made to wait for all the more urgent cases.
Sunday 11Mar07 2am - John admitted to Emergency.. under observation..
7am Vicki home to sleep.
9:20am Mark will go to hospital.
9:40am Dimitra called wishing well.
10:15am Matthew - working in Syd.
10:20am Reb - will talk to Mark.
Divert Home phone to John's Mobile.
11:20 Mark sms - Dr checking vision & bladder capacity John has had b.fast & sleeping on & off.
11:45am Jamie - asking how things are.
11:55am Mark - John seen by Cas Reg Dr Ross Wyte & Neuro Dr Craig McColl - John Chirpy sending for x-ray & scans.
12:40 Matthew updated.
1pm Vicki lunch after waking.
1:20pm Vicki talk to Matthew.
1:25pm Aileen Gilles - updated.
1:30pm Mark sms -John being moved to ward.
1:40pm Vicki back to Hosp.
1:40pm Mark - John in CCU bed9.
2:30pm Mark - John in CCU but not for heart.(CCU but not because of his heart, is the only bed to be found).
2:40pm Dimitra - updated.
4:05pm Tom called - updated.
4:20pm Pat Develin - updated - please give best wishes & if you want to call please do on the hospital phone.
5pm Mark spoke to Matthew.
John UTI- catheter, left vision v.impaired, headache.
5:25 Margaret Kaye - anything she can do? best wishes.
6:20pm Mark spoke to Nicholas.
6:25pm Vicki home - Mark made dinner, John not remembering to drink water may need drip, no Dr's seen this PM.
7:16pm email from Gen.
10:18pm email from Harry.

Update on Broken leg

I was awoken at 6am this morning with severe pain in my right knee joint, after dozing on & off for about 1/2 an hour I decided I had to get up & take some pain medicine.
The pain subsided after about 20 minutes or so but the knee was still painful to try to move or to touch on the inside of the knee.
I spoke to Mum about it when she awoke & we agreed I should ask Dad's physiotherapy Barbara Doncon when she arrived at about 10.30am.
I spoke to Barbara at length & Mum & I decided I should go to the emergency department at The Canberra Hospital.
I then spent the rest of the day at the hospital.
The emergency registrar examined me & decided after consulting with her boss that I should have an ultrasound to check for the possibility of a blood clot & an x-ray to check what was happening with the knee.
All of this took until about 3.30pm & it was found there is nothing wrong & that I must have strained the ligament & need to see a physiotherapist.
The physiotherapy department of the hospital are unable to see me as they are too busy & have said I should access community physiotherapy services & provided me with a phone number to do so.
I finally got home to Mum & Dad's again about 4.45pm & still have some pain.
The emergency Dr has also said I need to keep the leg elevated as much as possible & use pain medication if needed.


Oh well, at least I know there is nothing seriously wrong with my knee & just need now to access the physiotherapy which I need to do anyway to begin to get my leg working again.

I still have about 3 weeks until the orthopaedic surgeon wants me to have more x-rays to check on the healing of the Tib & Fib breaks.

Cheers to you.
Paul.