With help from Kristine’s documentation and beebware’s examples, I managed to get tooltips implemented. I originally got the idea from Kristine, when I figured out that I could do the same thing with my girlfriend that she does with her husband (!). Replacing all of the instances is proving to be a huge pain, but I’ll get through it someday. Meanwhile, mouseover these to see the tooltips in action:

ODP - ASL - MT - A

Anytime you see something with both underlining and overlining, that’s going to have a tooltip. Hopefully I can figure out that last Javascript error and make it go away, but I’m pretty sure this at least works for now.

I don’t think it’s readily apparent from reading this site, but I do spend a lot of time depressed and anxious, nervous and in pain. I live with chronic urticaria and arthritis, too. Also insomnia.

Sometimes, it’s just hard to keep going. I’m glad I’ve never failed to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Projects may get put off (e.g. DC Stories), but I’m still here.

Here’s my list of votes/predictions for this year’s Bloggies. I’ve included commentary and/or reasoning for most of them. I have no idea why I’m posting this, but here it is.
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Awesome! A victory for official recognition of long-term gay relationships. More than a year after Virginia denied compensation to Peggy Neff, the survivor of Pentagon worker Sheila Hein, it has been decided that she will receive money from a federal fund established for victims of the September 11th attacks. Neff’s award is more than $500,000, and while it doesn’t change Virginia’s laws, it is a great leap for the federal government.

I’ve been having fun watching my incoming keywords through Blogpatrol - previously, I’d been too lazy to seek them out. People have found my site by searching Overture for “preteen porn,” Google for “Wil Wheaton naked,” Yahoo for “tighty-whities,” etc. I’ve just discovered that I’m in the Blogging Ecosystem after all, too.

I’ve got to head over to the high school pretty soon. This afternoon I have to finish my application for Gallaudet, clean up around the bedroom, and…crap. I forgot again. I know I have stuff to do, some of it even online. Oh well, I have my steno pad with me today, so I can make notes if I remember anything.

The present my girlfriend got for me finally arrived today - the Metro at 25 book! (She must have gotten it direct from WMATA, too, because for some reason Amazon says it’s not available. Besides, the box didn’t say Amazon.com anywhere!) It looks really awesome, and I haven’t even read the text yet - though I do see many node updates in my future. So now I have hardcover copies of the Metro book and the Union Station book, plus book(s?) on the NYC subway…I’m a happy geek tonight.

It figures that after having a day off I’ll have a few days where I’ve got a lot to do all day. I was supposed to be at the elementary school this morning, but all the “specials” (art, music, etc.) were cancelled so they didn’t need me. I figured I’d go to Landover Mall, but it’s apparently been closed - as of November 2000 it was in bad shape, and by now the only thing open is Sears. So I found a library on the map instead, and headed over…except not half a mile from my destination I got a flat tire. I was driving carefully, but the roads are pretty slick due to constant flurries, and when I turned the wheel to go around a curve…the car didn’t turn. I pulled over, called my parents, and decided (with their advice) to drive to the gas station a lady told me was a mile up the road. Once there, I got the tire changed for $12 - the guy told me I’ll need a new tire and a new rim…great. I backtracked to the library and here I am.

This afternoon I have the high school like usual, except I can’t access the Internet there anymore…I may ask one of the other interpreters for her password so I can get in. (Nobody seems to have a problem with interpreters using the computers while they’re not working, but because most of us aren’t school employees, we don’t get our own logins.) After school lets out, I’ll have to hustle halfway around the beltway to get to the mall, where I’m working 5:30 to close.

To my amazement, a Metro train derailed last night between the Crystal City and National Airport stations. No injuries, fortunately, but it sure is screwing with today’s commutes.

Okay, here’s the scoop.

• I received my first PDA, a friendly little Palm IIIe, for being a good employee. (This was my stint as a helpdesk operator.)
• A few months later, my PDA disappeared. This just happened to coincide with the day when my then-roommate invited a drug dealer into our apartment while the power was out.
• I went without a PDA for quite some time. When my girlfriend decided to upgrade to a Visor Deluxe, she gave me her old Palm IIIx.
• That PDA worked fine for a while, but eventually it died of old age. (I’ve heard of people who still have their Pilot 1000 in perfect working order, but they’re the lucky ones.) To replace it, I bought a refurbished Visor Deluxe for $115.

My little Ice Deluxe worked great for a long time. It had occasional glitches, sure, but nothing a soft reset couldn’t fix - until today. Today I tried to turn it on so I could make a note while I was in a store at the mall, and the screen was all black. It turned on and off just fine, but it was completely black. Button pushing and resets had no effect. I got home and put it in the cradle; to my relief it appeared to sync just fine. I’m guessing the problem is with the display, rather than the computer itself. It thinks it’s displaying my address book or whatever, but it’s not. I tried the contrast button - no dice. (At least I think. I can’t tell if the contrast menu is showing up, but I keep trying to move the [invisible] slider and nothing changes anyway.)

So now I’m faced with the possibility of buying a new PDA, something I really cannot afford right now. (Why didn’t this happen before Xmas or my birthday?!) The technology has also advanced since I was last in the market for a PDA, and I’ve got several other options to consider now. Palm’s expansion cards seem to be a lot more successful than the Visor’s SpringBoard modules, which was one of the reasons I wanted a Visor in the first place. And I want a new one soon, dangit - preferably one that’s actually new new, not refurbished. I’ve had too many hand-me-down PDAs!

Wow, it’s been a long time since I looked at the Friday Five. New design, new software, and so forth. I’m just answering these for kicks, but maybe I’ll check in on it more frequently.

1. Where do you currently work?
I presently work two jobs. My primary job is as a freelance sign language interpreter, and my secondary job is a part-time job at the Rand McNally store in my local mall.
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Mariann prefaced the current Weekly Wrapup with the following statement:

Yahoo recently implemented a new type of spyware attached to its mailing list service. Other software packages, including Turbo Tax, come with hidden spyware that sometimes cannot be uninstalled. The U.S. government has proposed a massive database of all online activity through its Total Information Awareness Act (TIA). Credit card companies sell contact information to telemarketers. The limits of personal privacy, both on- and off-line, continue to be stretched… so let’s turn to the Weekly Wrap-Up to explore this topic.

1. Does everyone have a right to privacy? Why or why not? Who doesn’t deserve a right to privacy, if anyone? Why?
All individuals have a right to privacy in certain situations. If somebody wants to be alone while going to the bathroom, that’s certainly their right. Convicts in prison have a right to privacy with their mail, I think, though that poses the question of illegal operations being run that way (think John Gotti).
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