Peggy & Justin Hawkwood

Prescription drug costs are my problem too

When I went to pick up my allergy meds today, I got a little sticker shock; 2 one-month supplies, $215. You see, I don’t currently have health insurance nor prescription coverage.  When I did, these prescriptions cost me $20.  When I  told the cashier/pharm-tech who was helping me this, she looked at me in astonishment, then said “Let me see what I can do.” She did a little computer magic and came back with a total price of $175, better but not great.  But as I told her, “I have allergies and no insurance, so I guess I’m paying it.”

I recalled a few years back that I had a prescription discount card that paid for some of the costs, so I hopped online and googled around.  I very easily found sites for prescription plans, but they all seamed a bit shady.  Finally I came to an informational site, NeedyMeds.com, that didn’t seem to be directly selling anything, and very quickly found the Oregon Prescription Drug Program. Upon comparison of participating pharmacies and quoted prices for the allergy meds with some of the other prescription discount sites, the OPDP plan seems the best for me.  Once I get my card next week, the quoted total price for my allergy meds should be $100, not great, but thats $125 off the original price, which after a few months is the price of a Wii.

Gallery Plus 1.1.0

I just updated Gallery Plus to version 1.1.0, and added some new features.  The changes are as follows:

• Added [ gallery_excerpt ] shortcode to show one linked-image on multi-post pages.
• Added ”Only Show Gallery On Single Post:” option to hide the gallery on multi-post pages, which has the same effect as adding a <!– more –> tag before the gallery shortcode.
• Fixed how the caption appears in the alt tag of the image.

The [ gallery_excerpt ] shortcode has several options:

• orderby - specify the sort order used to display thumbnails. The default is “menu_order ASC, ID ASC”.
• id - specify the post ID. The gallery will display images which are attached to that post. The default behavior if no ID is specified is to display images attached to the current post
• size - specify the image size to use for the thumbnail display. Valid values include “thumbnail”, “medium” and “full”. The default is the size set in the Gallery Plus options.
• imagenumber - specify which image from your sorted gallery to show. The default is “1″.
• class - specify additional classes to assign to the image. The default is “alignleft”.

For more information about shortcodes, go to the Using the gallery shortcode.

Also, In the initial post about Gallery Plus, I did not mention the additional options to the [ gallery ] shortcode.  Both options default to the settings on the Gallery Plus options page.

• link2full - specify if the links should go directly to the full resolution image.
• overlay - specify which overlay system to use.

NOTE: all shortcode tags shown above have additional spaces between the brackets and text that should not be in your use of the shortcodes.

Gallery Plus

The built-in Wordpress gallery has some options that are accessable through the use of shortcodes, but if you do not know them or the proper input they can be hard to use.  Similarly, there is now wat to make system wide changes without having to use shortcodes on all your galleries.  This plug-in creates an options page for some of those shortcodes along with adding other features that can extend the gallery’s functionality.

Installation

1. Copy ‘gallery-plus’ folder to the /wp-content/plugins/ directory
2. Activate the plugin through the Plugins menu in WordPress
3. Change any settings through the Gallery Plus menu in the Admin section.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What does Link Images To Full Resolution: do?

A: The default gallery creates links to posts with a medium-sized image with a link in it to the full resolution image.  This option cuts out the middle step, and directs the links directly to the full resolution image.  This can be very useful in congunction with the Insert “rel=…” Attribute In Link: option to get lightbox working properly.

Q: What does Insert “rel=…” Attribute In Link: do?

A: For javscript image overlay packages such as Lightbox to work properly, the links to images must have an attribute that tells the overlay to turn on.  Changing this selection will add the appropriate attributes where needed.  I know that the latest version of Lightbox 2 also does this, but it does not work well for galleries without modifying that plugin’s code.  THIS PLUGIN DOES NOT INSTALL ANY OVERLAY PACKAGES.

Q: When I change Insert “rel=…” Attribute In Link: to lightbox nothing happens.  Why?

A: As I said above, this plugin does not install any overlay packages, and those need to be installed independently.  I personally use a modified version of the Lightbox 2 plugin.

Plugin’s Wordpress Page | Download plugin

How We Voted (Updated)

Following is how we voted on some of the Candidates/Measures (& How Oregonians voted):

US President - Baraka Obama

US Senate - (Justin) Jeff Merkley, (Peggy) Steve Novick

US Representative, 3rd Dist. - Earl Blumenauer

Secretary of State - Kate Brown

Attorney General - Greg Macpherson (John Kroger)

State Representative, 23rd Dist. - Jackie Dingfelder

Multnomah Commissioner,  Dist. No. 3 - Judy Shiprack

Portland Mayor - Sam Adams

Portland Commissioner No. 1 - (Justin) Jeff Bissonnette, (Peggy) Amanda Fritz

Portland Commissioner No. 2 - Nick Fish

Portland Commissioner No. 4 - Randy Leonard

State Measure 51 - NO (YES)

State Measure 52 - YES

State Measure 53 - (Justin) YES, (Peggy) NO - not yet determined.

Christopher Lowell’s 7 Layers of Design

Back in 1999, we were on vacation and watch the ____ show (can’t remember the name of the show, but it because the Christopher Lowell Show), and Christopher went over his general steps for redesigning a room.  We wrote them down then, and recently came across them again, so rather than keep the random piece of paper for another 9 years, I figured I’d blog it.  Obviously, this is already online at christopherlowell.com, but following is the basics:

1. Paint and Architecture (moldings, mantel)
2. Installed Flooring (any floor surface that is wall to wall)
3. High Ticket Upholstery Items (sofa, love seat)
4. Accent Fabrics (area rugs and drapes)
5. Non-upholstered Furnishings (the work horses of the room, end tables, chairs, coffee tables)
6. Accessories (pictures, mirrors, candlesticks)
7. Plants and Lighting

Less is (not) More

The <!––less––> tag is the opposite of the <!––more––> tag. Where the <!––more––> tag hides all content that follows it when viewing the post on multi-post pages, the <!––less––> tag shows content preceding the tag when viewing the post on multi-post pages and hides that content (with the exception of a <p> if necessary) when viewing the whole post.  This gives a way of adding content for an excerpt in the Visual Editor without having to use the Excerpt box.  When used in conjunction with the <!––more––> tag, it gives greater flexiblity to create an dynamic excerpt without having to repeat content in the Excerpt box.

Note on “Requires at least”: The Visual Editor button works with TinyMCE version 3.x, which is in Wordpress 2.5.  So the main functionality may work in previous versions, but the <!––less––> tag will have to be manually entered in the Code Editor.

Installation

1. Copy ‘less’ folder to the `/wp-content/plugins/` directory
2. Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress
3. When editing a post, click the Less button in the Visual Editor, or insert <!––less––> in the code where you want it.

Q: When would I use this?

A: One example of a time to use this is if you have a gallery in your post.  You may not want the full gallery on multi-post pages, but one image for those pages would be nice.  Conversely, once viewing the whole post, that introduction image would now get in the way, and would be better off gone.

Plugin’s Wordpress Page | Download plugin

All Remodel Pictures

In 2006 We played three-card-monte with the office, kitchen, and guest room.

Oregon Primary Election 2008 Guide: Candidates

Afraid of Heights?

http://www.brightcove.tv/title.jsp?title=1438490562

(there is sound, but you don’t technically need it- about 6 min. long)

this is a climbing spot- you have a something around your wasit with two clips, and you clip yourself to the cable along the side of the wall…. or that’s what you’re SUPPOSED to do…

unlike this guy, who just Walks.

EEeeekkkkk!!

Oregon Primary Election 2008 Guide: Measures

The Oregon Primaries are coming up in a few weeks, and there is actually more to vote on than just Hillary or Barrack.  Following is my take on several of the measures for this election:

Oregon Measure 51: NO

This measure, which amends Section 42 of the Oregon Constitution, is called a “house-keeping measure” since it helps solidify laws that have already been passed, but are they good ones?  Since our legal system is based off the concept ”innocent until proven guilty”, isn’t that how it should be? The defendant, until proven or plead guilty, should be treated as innocent, and therefore their rights, and not the victim’s should be more important.  The “victim’s rights” from that section include, among others, the right to refuse being interviewed by the defendant’s lawyer, which could seriously impact the defendant’s case, especially for someone wrongfully accused of a crime.  This measure strengthen laws that should not have been passed in the first place. 

It is also worth noting that the ACLU (www.aclu-or.org) is “neutral” on this measure.

Oregon Measure 52: YES

This measure, which amends Section 43 of the Oregon Constitution, is also a ”house-keeping measure”, but unlike section 42, the “victim’s rights” in this section are reasonable; the right to be reasonably protected from the criminal defendant, and the right to have decisions for pretrial and/or bail based on that reasonable protection and likelihood to appear for trial.  Strengthening these rights, which do not infringe on the defendant’s rights, is a good idea.

The ACLU (www.aclu-or.org) is “neutral” on this measure also, but I believe that to be because they lumped the two measures together.

Oregon Measure 53: (tentative) YES

Reading the text of this measure, I am not entirely convinced that the benefits outweigh the risks of abuse, but I try to have faith in humanity.  The sections that concern me are in regards to forfeiture without conviction.  One section allows forfeiture of property for “crimes similar to the crime for which the claimant was convicted.”  If the claimant committed these similar crimes, then why aren’t they being prosecuted for them?  Another allows that “property of a claimant who has not been convicted of a crime may be forfeited in a civil forfeiture proceeding only if the claimant consents to the forfeiture…”  This is where I see a large chance of abuse; if people don’t know that it’s okay to say “No, you can’t take that” to the police (I’m assuming that the police would be the agents of the “forfeiting agency”) and not have criminal repercussions, then there could be a situation of amoral, but not illegal, “forfeitures”.  Again, I say YES to this measure because I have faith that there are more moral officers than there are amoral ones.