1. MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL TUESDAY, AUGUST 1, 2006 7E
2408536
V A R I C O S E V E I N S • 1 0 1
®
2 5 Y E A R S O F C A R E
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Lesson 1:
© 2006 Vein Clinics of America
Paul H. Cheatum, MD • Brookfield
Jeffrey S. Gibson, MD • Madison
2442129
Cue mjstech.com
You can go out and splurge
— you’d be a fool not to!
While at the restaurant,
deduct what you are spend-
ing on this posh meal from
what you saved by not going
anywhere. You will find that
you are still ahead.
Allow feelings of smartness
and relaxation to take hold.
Go to a coffee shop in the
morning and watch people
rushing to work
This can also be done later
in the day, while driving to
the above mentioned cool and
pricey restaurant. The point
is to take in the fact that
other people rushing, and
you are not.
Lovely, isn’t it? Feels good,
doesn’t it? Sure it does.
Read a book
This might seem an obvi-
ous choice, but it is an excel-
lent move during the AHV.
Think about it: When you are
on a regular vacation, you
are rushing about taking in
the sights or “relaxing” after
taking in the sights, leaving
little time for reading.
Even when you are just
sitting there, you may feel
either too tired or concerned
about missing the viewing of
a sight to stick your nose into
a book for long. And think
about this: How many times
did you pack books that were
not read?
During my AHV, I finally
read “The Catcher in the
Rye” by J.D. Salinger (and,
no, I didn’t read it in high
school, and, no, I don’t know
why). Between chapters I
sauntered around the yard.
Anyway, I recommend it.
It’s a fabulous book, it really
is.
Consult list
Make sure few things have
been accomplished. Chuckle
at what you thought you
might get done. Schedule
nap.
Prepare for wistful feelings
One day, this will end. It’s
true that you had no minions
scurrying about fluffing
pillows and not bothering
you when you didn’t want to
be bothered. But after a week
or so of this sauntering, read-
ing and not doing, you will
re-enter the work world, and
it will be rough — as rough as
if you’d been on one of those
cruises loaded with minions.
So what have you gained?
It is true that you will be
one of the people rushing to
work. Perhaps you will get
coffee on your way, and you
will notice people who are
not in a hurry.
You must accept this. What
else can you do? Fluff your
own pillow, get some rest for
the First Monday Back. (By
now, you are a pro in getting
rest).
Take comfort in a few sim-
ple facts: You do not have to
unpack, you don’t have a
vacation to pay off, and, yep,
you read a whole book.
Go nowhere, do
nothing, just relax
BACKYARD, From 1E TAKING TIME — OR NOT
Whether it’s an at-home vacation or
a road trip, more and more Ameri-
cans are not taking all of their
vacation time. The 2006 Vacation
Deprivation survey by Expedia.com,
a travel Web site, found that:
Ⅵ Adults age 18 and older expect-
ed to leave an average of four
vacation days “on the table” or
unused. That’s one more day than
they left behind in 2005.
Ⅵ One third of Americans do not
always take all of their vacation
days.
Ⅵ American workers have the
fewest days of vacation, on average,
compared with those of other coun-
tries in the survey. Americans aver-
aged 14 vacation days, compared
with 17 in Australia, 19 in Canada,
24 in Great Britain, 27 in Germany
and 39 days in France.
— Jan Uebelherr
register is really low for me,
and it reminds me of Nico,
definitely. But that’s actually
the only song that I sang
where I felt that way. And not
throughout the whole thing.”
“Actually, on ‘Turquoise
Boy,’ Thurston always had in
mind this melody with a
Robert Plant vocal, which I
was like, ‘No way.’ ”
Sonic Youth’s signature
noise elements come across
more integrated into the
tapestry this time around.
A subtle, slow-burn crack-
le, for instance, on “Do You
Believe in Rapture?” smol-
ders under the number’s
early percussive heartbeat
cadence. A coarse sizzle like-
wise lashes itself to the me-
lodic bow on the Ranaldo-
fronted “Rats.”
“Rather Ripped” hardly
represents any sort of mu-
sical culmination for the New
York-based band.
3 together since ’81
While the music has be-
come more structured on its
albums in recent years, Sonic
Youth continues to mine new
and provocative music veins.
Gordon, Moore and Ra-
naldo began their music
journey together in 1981.
Shelley joined the group as
its drummer four years later,
after two predecessors had
moved on.
His arrival added a new
dimension to Sonic Youth’s
creative direction.
“Steve’s drumming style
really took us to another
level,” Gordon says. “He sort
of helped streamline the
sound. He’s so steady and
consistent, as well as bring-
ing different textural ideas to
the sound.”
Sonic Youth expanded to
five members with the addi-
tion of guitarist and studio
producer Jim O’Rourke prior
to “Murray Street” in 2002. In
2005, he left to pursue other
interests.
With O’Rourke’s departure,
the band returned to its four-
member dynamic.
Planned improvisation
Over the course of 20 al-
bums and numerous side
projects, Sonic Youth has
never shied away from blow-
ing apart a melody with a
torrent of distortion, or paint-
ing melancholic moods in
sweltering sonic hues.
While the group’s diver-
gent sound explorations have
possessed a certain impro-
vised quality at times, it’s
actually more planned out
than one might suspect.
“All the songs are pretty
worked out,” Gordon says.
“And, you know, sometimes
that’s best. It’s almost a free-
ing thing. . . . There’s only a
couple of songs where things
get extrapolated, like on ‘Pat-
tern’ (from ‘Sonic Nurse’).”
The desire to return in the
studio and lay down fresh
material has served Sonic
Youth’s longevity well. But
Gordon and Shelley suggest
there might be another rea-
son to the band’s continuity
over the years.
“I think it has to do with
being incredibly untalented,”
says Gordon. “Even if they
(reviewers) like the record,
it’s always like, you know,
‘for a band as untalented as
they are, they sure made a
good record.’ . . . Suddenly,
it’s like everything is being
judged in terms of ‘American
Idol’ — like that has anything
to do with music.”
“Things are still fresh to
us,” adds Shelley, laughing.
Middle age just a
number to Sonic Youth
YOUTH, From 1E
MCT
Once Sonic Youth, including
Thurston Moore, was young.
Getting to know: Andrea
Bowen, actress, who plays
Susan Mayer’s (Teri Hatcher)
daughter, Julie, in ABC’s
“Desperate Housewives.”
City: Encino
Age: 16
What she’s doing now: She
just finished a
live concert
version of Rod-
gers and Ham-
merstein’s “The
Sound of Mu-
sic” at the Hol-
lywood Bowl.
Where you’ve
seen her before:
Numerous TV
appearances,
including a stint as a child
genius on “Boston Public” and
in the films “New York Cross-
ing” and “Highball.” Her
Broadway credits include
“Jane Eyre” and “Les Misera-
bles.”
‘Sound’-ing it out, again: The
much-loved tale about nun-
turned-governess Maria and
those singing Von Trapps is
pretty much in Bowen’s blood.
She played 7-year-old Marta
von Trapp in the Broadway
revival opposite Richard
Chamberlain and then again
on tour.
“I wouldn’t have done it so
long if I hadn’t had such a
blast doing that show,” says
Bowen. “Every night, singing
the music, I was never one of
those people who was like,
‘Gosh, I can’t hear that music
anymore.’ I just loved it.”
In the three-night Holly-
wood Bowl engagement that
ended Sunday, Bowen played
the eldest Von Trapp daugh-
ter, Liesl. You know, the one
who, as the song goes, is “16
going on 17.”
A houseful of musical kids?
Yeah, she gets it: The Colum-
bus, Ohio, native is the youn-
gest of six, all of them in show
business. On a family trip to
New York, three of Andrea’s
siblings booked Broadway
shows.
Andrea herself took her
place under the lights at age 6,
playing young Cosette in
Broadway’s “Les Miserables.”
As family legend has it, when
she learned she had won the
part, young Andrea got down
on her knees and uttered,
“Thank you, God! Finally!”
“My parents planned on
raising a family in a little
suburban town. It was just
going to be a normal life, and
then out popped all of us, who
just wanted to sing and dance
and perform” she says, “I
remember watching (my sib-
lings) and thinking, ‘That
looks like so much fun.’ It’s
basically like playing and
having these imaginary char-
acters in your heard and get-
ting to act them out. Of
course, when you’re 6 or 7,
you do that anyway.”
The older Bowens — in-
cluding brothers Graham,
Cameron and Alex and sisters
Jillian and Jessica — are
spread out across the enter-
tainment industry, some in
theater, others focusing on
music.
Desperately seeking Wisteria
Lane info? Ask someone else:
Practically from the get-go,
Bowen has been besieged by
fan requests to give up the dirt
on the upcoming twists and
turns of “Desperate House-
wives.”
Julie Mayer will, of course,
be getting older, possibly get-
ting involved in a relationship
and maybe showing some
signs of rebellion against
single mom Susan (Hatcher).
But where the show’s plot is
concerned, Bowen doesn’t
know much else. And what
she does know, she ain’t spill-
ing.
More info: www.andrea
bowen.com
Stay on
Broadway led
Bowen to
Wisteria Lane
By EVAN HENERSON
Los Angeles Daily News
Bowen
wireless functions.
The music-only mode is
designed to let you listen
to songs using a Bluetooth
stereo headset, while stan-
dalone mode is for tradi-
tional wired headphones.
Or you can just listen via
Chocolate’s built-in speak-
er.
In addition to all of the
media and entertainment
options, Chocolate has
many of the features of
higher-end mobile phones,
including a 500-contact
address book, voice dial-
ing, voice memos, calen-
dar, alarm clock, speed
dialing and e-mail.
Finally, the phone’s
Global Positioning System
location technology is
compatible with Verizon’s
VZ Navigator service,
which provides turn-by-
turn audio directions to
addresses in the United
States.
How sweet it is . . .
Stanley A. Miller II covers
personal technology for the Journal
Sentinel. He can be reached at
(414) 223-5162 or
smiller@journalsentinel.com. His
Web log is at
www.jsonline.com/weblogs
Expect a TechWatch video
review of Chocolate by LG in a
couple of weeks at
www.jsonline.com/links/techvideo
Chocolate
just may be
new taste in
cell phone
Q: A few weeks ago, the
My Documents folder filled
up with folders I had never
seen before and random
files with names like
“WRL0003.tmp.” How do I
stop this stuff from appear-
ing?
A: You can’t, but you can
hide these files and folders —
all byproducts of your soft-
ware’s routine operation.
That’s how Windows normal-
ly works, but somebody must
have changed this setting —
perhaps to fix a problem in
one of these invisible folders
or files.
To undo that change, open
the My Computer window, go
to its Tools menu, select “Fold-
er Options . . . ” and click the
View tab. Click the button
next to “Do not show hidden
files and folders,” followed by
the “OK” button at the bottom
of this window, and your com-
puter should look a lot clean-
er.
It might seem weird to have
your computer hiding, but the
only idea is to ensure that
sensitive data don’t get moved
or deleted by mistake. This
isn’t exclusive to Windows,
either; Mac OS X, Linux and
other operating systems keep
some files and folders invis-
ible.
Q: My iMac can’t open the
.WMV video clips my friend
sends me. How do I solve
this problem?
A: Microsoft provides two
free Mac programs to play
Windows Media Video clips:
Visit www.microsoft.com/mac,
click on “Other Products,”
then “Flip4Mac and Windows
Media Player for Mac.”
The first option, Flip4Mac,
is a plug-in that lets Apple’s
QuickTime software play
Windows Media movies; it
works well on PowerPC Macs
but doesn’t yet run on Intel-
based models. The second,
Microsoft’s Windows Media
Player for Mac, is Intel-com-
patible but is no longer being
developed.
Neither program, however,
plays WMV files wrapped in
Microsoft’s “digital rights
management” software. That
keeps some online video
sources, such as AOL’s In2TV
Web site, off-limits to Mac
users.
Rob Pegoraro attempts to untangle
computing conundrums and errant
electronics each week. Send questions
to The Washington Post,115015th St.
NW, Washington, D.C. 20071or
rob@twp.com
TECH.MECHANIC
Sending your
hidden files back
underground
the company complied
with “a set of rules we we-
ren’t comfortable with”
when it set up its self-cen-
soring Chinese search en-
gine.
An Amnesty representa-
tive welcomed the “ongo-
ing discussions” with In-
ternet companies on cen-
sorship, but said the Lon-
don-based rights
organization would keep
the pressure on.
Its report highlights how
the Internet companies of-
ten invoke the promise of
online freedom and unbri-
dled communication.
“I don’t think they’re
used to this sort of criti-
cism,” Mila Rosenthal said.
“And we hope to keep this
issue alive with the help of
bloggers. This will attract
left-wing Democrats and
right-wing Republicans.”
Firms
targeted over
censorship
CENSORSHIP, From 8E
Shalin Mody’s computer
held innumerable things he’d
love to have forever: TV
shows, video games, papers
and more than 50 gigabytes of
music.
Normally he would have
panicked the day the PC com-
pletely failed, unable to start
up.
Fortunately, the 26-year-old
investment manager from
Boston had only weeks earlier
come across a blog describing
Carbonite, an inexpensive
new service that backed up ev-
erything on his PC over the In-
ternet and stored it remotely.
When he bought a replace-
ment PC, Carbonite repopulat-
ed it with his old files.
“It was extremely lucky,”
Mody said. “I just didn’t stress
too much.”
The first part of Mody’s ex-
perience is all too common.
It’s generally just a matter of
when, not if, a disk drive fails.
The solution to Mody’s
woes, however, is much rarer.
While backing up computer
files is standard procedure in
big companies, for regular
people it traditionally has
been a cumbersome, expen-
sive and easy-to-blow-off af-
fair.
Now, however, as people
increasingly stuff the home
computer with digital pho-
tos, videos, music and other
valuable content, several
companies are popping up
to offer some insurance.
Taking advantage of
cheap data storage and the
proliferation of broadband
Internet connections, Web-
based services such as Car-
bonite can provide the
equivalent of a fireproof
safety deposit box for digi-
tal content.
Carbonite runs in the
background of a Windows-
based computer, copying
files, encrypting them and
sending them to remote
servers.
Because most broadband
connections have much slow-
er upload speeds than down-
load speeds, the initial backup
process can take several days.
Users can individually se-
lect which files or file types
they want backed up. Or they
can have everything stored
just in case. The software is
designed to be like antivirus
software: something the user
doesn’t have to think about.
In fact, security vendor Sy-
mantec — which bought stor-
age specialist Veritas Soft-
ware last year — soon plans to
combine a Web-based backup
product with its Norton anti-
virus software.
Glover Lawrence, a princi-
pal in the tech-focused invest-
ment bank McNamee Law-
rence & Co., predicts other se-
curity-storage combos will fol-
low because consumers
already trust the vendors.
Microsoft and Google are al-
so weighing vast remote-stor-
age services that could be free
and backed by advertising,
though neither company
would offer details.
Your files can be safe,
even if computer fails
Associated Press
MILLER, From 8E