Tuesday, August 19. 2008
Finally recovered.
It took over two weeks of agony but I finally got over my wisdom teeth removal. 
In the process it took many visits back to a heartless surgeon, and only the persistence of my family that saw me through.
The result - massive doses of painkillers, anti-inflammatories and even valium to see me through.
Why the valium you might ask?! It was used primarily as a muscle relaxant.
In the process of removing my wisdoms and the pre-molar (5 teeth in total), the surgeon tore the ligaments in my lower jaw and in the process dislocated my jaw.
A couple of visits to a physiotherapist that specialises in jaw conditions, and the valium saw me recover.
The actual holes left from the extractions were never a problem (though the cleaning process and mouth washes are a drag, they weren't painful after the first few days). The rough treatment whilst under a general is what did all the damage.
If you need your wisdom teeth out, some words of advice:
If you're in Western suburbs of Melbourne, and needing such work done... let me know. I'll ensure you don't end up with her and actually are seen by someone who I would class as competent.
I hope I never see her again. It won't be by choice if I ever do.
In the process it took many visits back to a heartless surgeon, and only the persistence of my family that saw me through.
The result - massive doses of painkillers, anti-inflammatories and even valium to see me through.
Why the valium you might ask?! It was used primarily as a muscle relaxant.
In the process of removing my wisdoms and the pre-molar (5 teeth in total), the surgeon tore the ligaments in my lower jaw and in the process dislocated my jaw.
A couple of visits to a physiotherapist that specialises in jaw conditions, and the valium saw me recover.
The actual holes left from the extractions were never a problem (though the cleaning process and mouth washes are a drag, they weren't painful after the first few days). The rough treatment whilst under a general is what did all the damage.
If you need your wisdom teeth out, some words of advice:
- Ensure you get it done under a general if more than one.
- Remove them in your teens or early twenties. Leaving them longer the teeth roots are much larger, harder to extract and the actual jaw bone is more solid. This makes for a difficult extraction.
- Expect to be out of action for some time. Have plenty of heavy painkillers on the ready. You'll need them at least for the first few days (ie: A Panadeine Forte or likewise)
- If you don't see any improvement, keep pestering your dental surgeon, don't get flipped off. Their charged to look after your well-being - before, during and after your procedure.
- If you still have problems with your surgeon who is more than likely quite flippant; go back to your GP and inform him... it's not uncommon for these 'supposed surgeons', to not give a rats ass after they are paid and the surgery is performed
- A second opinion is always a wise choice if you're not happy with your treatment. Surgeons have no loyalty to you, so don't feel you owe them any.
If you're in Western suburbs of Melbourne, and needing such work done... let me know. I'll ensure you don't end up with her and actually are seen by someone who I would class as competent.
I hope I never see her again. It won't be by choice if I ever do.
Friday, July 25. 2008
Bring on the presents : It's SysAdmin Appreciation Day!
I'm eagerly awaiting large amounts of presents for all those demanding users out there that think sleep is a value-added extra for Sysadmins, or that weekends/public holidays/holidays in general are something that don't apply to us.
Today is System Administration Appreciation Day.
So before you ring me up today to fix your urgent problem, ensure to have that present sent over first.
Any calls raised without the appropriate attached gift will be ignored today.
Geek presents earn additional bonus points. Caffeine and chocolate substances are also welcome.
Today is System Administration Appreciation Day.
So before you ring me up today to fix your urgent problem, ensure to have that present sent over first.
Any calls raised without the appropriate attached gift will be ignored today.
Geek presents earn additional bonus points. Caffeine and chocolate substances are also welcome.
Friday, July 18. 2008
At wits end
It's now approaching 3:00am...
It's almost 7 days since I had 5 teeth surgically removed, yet the pain seems to be increasing not decreasing.
Two nights this week has seen me head in to the emergency department looking for some form of pain relief.
Currently the Panadeine Forte only manages to take the tip of the edge off the pain. I now have pain from my lower jaw that heads right up to my temple on the left side.
I've gone back to the surgeon twice already, yet I'm told that 'all looks good'. However, from speaking to others the pain normally subsides by now or at least is on the decrease. The pain itself doesn't appear to be in the gum, it appears more in the jaw bone itself.
So I'm back to see the surgeon again tomorrow. I'm wondering if x-rays should be looked at now (could my jaw have been fractured in the process of the tooth removal?). Do I have an infection in the bone?! Do pain killers no-longer have any effect on me?!?!
Something is seriously amiss... I'm going to perch at the surgeon's office and not leave until some further investigation is done. It's crazy, this pain is about 3 times that of the pain I had pre-surgery.
I can't even knock myself out with some heavy shots of alcohol due to the large amounts of codeine I've taken; for fear of the possibility of respiratory failure. (Hence why you should never drink and take heavy pain killers). I'm wondering if it's prudent to come off them (the drugs) and soley use alcohol for pain relief?!? At least I could pass out and get some sleep.
I haven't had a decent night's sleep for over 3 weeks now, and tonight appears it's going to be one more night that I either sit killing some time in front of the computer, or lie awake in bed watching the digits on the clock tick past.
I originally intended on heading back to work on Wednesday (that boat has already sailed). I am hoping I can get back on Monday, though some serious head-way is going to need to be made if that has any likelihood of happening.
Dear lazyweb, if any of you out there have some ideas how to relieve some serious pain I'm all open to suggestions. To be honest, I'm pretty desperate.... feel free to leave a comment. As the topic states... I'm at my wits end.
It's almost 7 days since I had 5 teeth surgically removed, yet the pain seems to be increasing not decreasing.
Two nights this week has seen me head in to the emergency department looking for some form of pain relief.
Currently the Panadeine Forte only manages to take the tip of the edge off the pain. I now have pain from my lower jaw that heads right up to my temple on the left side.
I've gone back to the surgeon twice already, yet I'm told that 'all looks good'. However, from speaking to others the pain normally subsides by now or at least is on the decrease. The pain itself doesn't appear to be in the gum, it appears more in the jaw bone itself.
So I'm back to see the surgeon again tomorrow. I'm wondering if x-rays should be looked at now (could my jaw have been fractured in the process of the tooth removal?). Do I have an infection in the bone?! Do pain killers no-longer have any effect on me?!?!
Something is seriously amiss... I'm going to perch at the surgeon's office and not leave until some further investigation is done. It's crazy, this pain is about 3 times that of the pain I had pre-surgery.
I can't even knock myself out with some heavy shots of alcohol due to the large amounts of codeine I've taken; for fear of the possibility of respiratory failure. (Hence why you should never drink and take heavy pain killers). I'm wondering if it's prudent to come off them (the drugs) and soley use alcohol for pain relief?!? At least I could pass out and get some sleep.
I haven't had a decent night's sleep for over 3 weeks now, and tonight appears it's going to be one more night that I either sit killing some time in front of the computer, or lie awake in bed watching the digits on the clock tick past.
I originally intended on heading back to work on Wednesday (that boat has already sailed). I am hoping I can get back on Monday, though some serious head-way is going to need to be made if that has any likelihood of happening.
Dear lazyweb, if any of you out there have some ideas how to relieve some serious pain I'm all open to suggestions. To be honest, I'm pretty desperate.... feel free to leave a comment. As the topic states... I'm at my wits end.
Saturday, July 12. 2008
It lives! (aka out of surgery)
Yesterday I had surgery under a General Anesthesia to remove 5 teeth (4 wisdom teeth, and a baby pre-molar that never got a secondary tooth; but had decided it had hung around long enough ).
The day surgery saw us arrive at 12:30pm to 'sign-in' though I didn't actually get the pre-med until just after 5:00pm. So a mind numbing wait of 4.5 hours was undertaken. (Even worse was the fact that my last food and any form of liquid was 7:30am, and it seemed the only thing showing on the blaring waiting room TV was food shows.). That resulted in a nice headache by mid-afternoon as my blood sugar levels dropped.
The surgery itself was a success, I left the operating theatre just after 7pm, and it took just over an hour in the recovery room. There I was treated to food that makes everything better (icecream and jelly), as well as a glass of apple juice and another of water.
Pauline took good care of me, and kept me company during the long wait before hand (though she ignored my pleads to head off and not blow her whole afternoon waiting around in the waiting room). Whilst I was in surgery she headed home (only 5 mins down the road) to attempt a bite to eat (that didn't happen as they called her back as she was about to commence eating), but she did have time to wash some bed sheets, feed the dogs and get ready for my return (buying/making some additional yummy goodies that I could eat/drink).
Swelling is well down (I expected to look like a bullfrog this morning, but it's quite minimal).
I'll continue using ice-packs on either side of my face every few hours, to lessen it further.
It appears that besides the general, that the surgeons also applied a local to my bottom jaw, to aid in pain relief. The local worked extremely well, although it gave the sensation I had a bear's tongue and not my own for most of last night.
Since waking this morning, the local has long worn off, and I'm in relatively good spirits. I'm using the Panadine Forte for pain relief (in fact the pain is minimal at this stage -- which is brilliant!).
I came home brandishing a swag of mouth rinses, painkillers and anti-inflammatory drugs for the next few days; I should be hopefully back to full steam in a short time.
This will be a weekend of rest and time to re-assess early next week. I'll potter online a little, but it's more from boredom than a burning desire to be on the computer (I'm not much value above useless at present!).
A big thanks to all the well-wishes I've received over the past few weeks... it's great to know others are thinking of you. Thankfully this saga appears to be quickly drawing to a near and I'll be my annoying, harassing and cheeky self in no-time (so beware!).
). The day surgery saw us arrive at 12:30pm to 'sign-in' though I didn't actually get the pre-med until just after 5:00pm. So a mind numbing wait of 4.5 hours was undertaken. (Even worse was the fact that my last food and any form of liquid was 7:30am, and it seemed the only thing showing on the blaring waiting room TV was food shows.
). That resulted in a nice headache by mid-afternoon as my blood sugar levels dropped. The surgery itself was a success, I left the operating theatre just after 7pm, and it took just over an hour in the recovery room. There I was treated to food that makes everything better (icecream and jelly), as well as a glass of apple juice and another of water.
Pauline took good care of me, and kept me company during the long wait before hand (though she ignored my pleads to head off and not blow her whole afternoon waiting around in the waiting room). Whilst I was in surgery she headed home (only 5 mins down the road) to attempt a bite to eat (that didn't happen as they called her back as she was about to commence eating), but she did have time to wash some bed sheets, feed the dogs and get ready for my return (buying/making some additional yummy goodies that I could eat/drink).
Swelling is well down (I expected to look like a bullfrog this morning, but it's quite minimal).
I'll continue using ice-packs on either side of my face every few hours, to lessen it further.It appears that besides the general, that the surgeons also applied a local to my bottom jaw, to aid in pain relief. The local worked extremely well, although it gave the sensation I had a bear's tongue and not my own for most of last night.
Since waking this morning, the local has long worn off, and I'm in relatively good spirits. I'm using the Panadine Forte for pain relief (in fact the pain is minimal at this stage -- which is brilliant!).
I came home brandishing a swag of mouth rinses, painkillers and anti-inflammatory drugs for the next few days; I should be hopefully back to full steam in a short time.
This will be a weekend of rest and time to re-assess early next week. I'll potter online a little, but it's more from boredom than a burning desire to be on the computer (I'm not much value above useless at present!).
A big thanks to all the well-wishes I've received over the past few weeks... it's great to know others are thinking of you.
Thankfully this saga appears to be quickly drawing to a near and I'll be my annoying, harassing and cheeky self in no-time (so beware!).
Thursday, July 10. 2008
Out of action for the time being
I will be out of action for just under week as I go in to have 5 teeth removed.
I must say a big thanks to Pauline for pampering me leading up to it. (and the big slushy cook-up she's undertaking!) I think I've got soup for a year!
She's also pureed up a roast, so that will be an exciting 'experience' through a straw.
With those and jellies, and tinned fruit on the ready it should be a pleasant culinary experience. I guess I can probably throw in some warm custard as well.
I go in tomorrow, so I'll be drugged up heavily over the weekend (I am going to attempt to sleep through the weekend), but hope to make a speedy recovery (fingers crossed). I'm hoping I can be back to work on Wednesday if all goes well... though I'll see how we go.
It will be great to get off the painkillers after this all... sucking heavy painkillers every few hours hasn't been fun over the past fortnight.
I have learnt some great tips on dealing with mouth/teeth pain along the way:
It's been a revelation to me, as I have only ever had one filling in my life, and never suffered toothache before. Hopefully some of these remedies/tips I've discovered over the past couple of weeks will be of benefit to someone else.
I must say a big thanks to Pauline for pampering me leading up to it. (and the big slushy cook-up she's undertaking!) I think I've got soup for a year!
She's also pureed up a roast, so that will be an exciting 'experience' through a straw.
With those and jellies, and tinned fruit on the ready it should be a pleasant culinary experience. I guess I can probably throw in some warm custard as well.
I go in tomorrow, so I'll be drugged up heavily over the weekend (I am going to attempt to sleep through the weekend), but hope to make a speedy recovery (fingers crossed). I'm hoping I can be back to work on Wednesday if all goes well... though I'll see how we go.
It will be great to get off the painkillers after this all... sucking heavy painkillers every few hours hasn't been fun over the past fortnight.
I have learnt some great tips on dealing with mouth/teeth pain along the way:
- Use regular salt mouth washes every few hours. Directions: One tablespoon of table salt, to a glass of warm water. Rinse your mouth with it, and spit. Repeat until the glass is empty.
(Believe it or not, after the 3rd time -- you get used to it.) - Applying either two whole cloves (place between gum and cheek above the tooth in question), or clove oil onto the affected tooth/gum is a great natural painkiller. It works extremely well!
- Keep out of wind or any chilly air. This also includes whilst sleeping, you may need to warm the room you are sleeping in to avoid a painful night sleep.
- Cold drinks nuked for 10-20 seconds in the microwave ensures a pleasant experience, works with water and fruit juices especially well.
- Use a dental mouth wash like Listerine or the like after eating if painful, as it will numb the area.
It's been a revelation to me, as I have only ever had one filling in my life, and never suffered toothache before. Hopefully some of these remedies/tips I've discovered over the past couple of weeks will be of benefit to someone else.
Wednesday, July 9. 2008
Time for an Australian OSS based Accounting & Payroll program
Ask any small business owner in Australia what drives them craziest running their business.
More often then not the answer will be their accounting software.
Why? It's not because they are unable to understand the principles of double-entry accounting or even the tax system imposed on them.
No, its the lack of a decent, flexible and affordable solution.
The two most popular business accounting packages for the SME is either MYOB and QuickBooks. Both have huge hurdles, and it's not uncommon for users to find that they spend more time attempting to work the software than the software working for them.
I have previously blogged about the issue when talking about how Linux is difficult for many Aussie SMEs to take up. (Mainly due to their critical accounting software only available under Windows, though it is possible to run them under WINE if required). Though getting these Windows programs running under Linux doesn't actually solve the problem, it just migrates it. You are still stuck attempting to drive these frustrating accounting packages.
The Australian market is crying out for an alternative! It's something I've pondered over for some time.
An OSS based accounting and payroll system that put the source code directly in the hands of the users would be appealing to many.
I like the idea of a browser-based accounting system. It means end-users aren't restricted to one operating system platform, and in theory it doesn't need to be restricted to just a computer. (3G Accounting anyone?).
Accounting isn't fun, in fact it's dead-pan boring. It is however a required evil if you wish to be paid and be compliant with the taxation law. (Particularly GST, BAS reporting and PAYG).
I've looked at programs like SQL-Ledger and LedgerSMB, though both didn't 'fit right' for an Australian environment.
SYMBOL was promising. But unfortunately has been abandoned. fiveDASH, I played with for several hours, though I found it quite primitive and in it's infancy... it's one that at least has some promise, but it will need to progress quite some way to make it in any real production system for a business.
As such, I've decided to look at writing my own. This is purely selfish, as I would like to ditch MYOB come the 2009-2010 financial year. That gives me just under a year to get something up and running. I'll run a dummy book up til the time, by running MYOB in parallel to ensure all is working as required. The ATO also has some excellent test suites/scenarios to assist in testing an application.
The big choice now is from what components should I build it?
I think PostgreSQL is probably the most solid OSS database to use, though writing something that can also talk to MySQL (due to it's popularity) is probably also wise. End-users can then elect to run whichever they feel most comfortable for their backend.
I considered many languages, but I'm leaning towards PHP for a few reasons:
I'm interested to hear people's feedback with their thoughts. Do you think a PHP application (backended by your choice of MySQL or PostgreSQL) for your business accounts is feasible? (Obviously if 'approved' by the ATO as compliant).
Do SMB owners prefer the option of paid software with support packs? (like offered by MYOB and Quicken) they can fall back on? Would you not trust your business books to an OSS based accounting package? What other hurdles do you envisage if you used OSS accounting software?
More often then not the answer will be their accounting software.
Why? It's not because they are unable to understand the principles of double-entry accounting or even the tax system imposed on them.
No, its the lack of a decent, flexible and affordable solution.
The two most popular business accounting packages for the SME is either MYOB and QuickBooks. Both have huge hurdles, and it's not uncommon for users to find that they spend more time attempting to work the software than the software working for them.
I have previously blogged about the issue when talking about how Linux is difficult for many Aussie SMEs to take up. (Mainly due to their critical accounting software only available under Windows, though it is possible to run them under WINE if required). Though getting these Windows programs running under Linux doesn't actually solve the problem, it just migrates it. You are still stuck attempting to drive these frustrating accounting packages.
The Australian market is crying out for an alternative! It's something I've pondered over for some time.
An OSS based accounting and payroll system that put the source code directly in the hands of the users would be appealing to many.
I like the idea of a browser-based accounting system. It means end-users aren't restricted to one operating system platform, and in theory it doesn't need to be restricted to just a computer. (3G Accounting anyone?).
Accounting isn't fun, in fact it's dead-pan boring.
It is however a required evil if you wish to be paid and be compliant with the taxation law. (Particularly GST, BAS reporting and PAYG).I've looked at programs like SQL-Ledger and LedgerSMB, though both didn't 'fit right' for an Australian environment.
SYMBOL was promising. But unfortunately has been abandoned.
fiveDASH, I played with for several hours, though I found it quite primitive and in it's infancy... it's one that at least has some promise, but it will need to progress quite some way to make it in any real production system for a business.As such, I've decided to look at writing my own. This is purely selfish, as I would like to ditch MYOB come the 2009-2010 financial year. That gives me just under a year to get something up and running.
I'll run a dummy book up til the time, by running MYOB in parallel to ensure all is working as required. The ATO also has some excellent test suites/scenarios to assist in testing an application.The big choice now is from what components should I build it?
I think PostgreSQL is probably the most solid OSS database to use, though writing something that can also talk to MySQL (due to it's popularity) is probably also wise. End-users can then elect to run whichever they feel most comfortable for their backend.
I considered many languages, but I'm leaning towards PHP for a few reasons:
- Most SMB that have a Linux server for File and Print serving also have a LAMP environment already setup.
- Writing the system using say the Zend Framework ensures a lot of the ground work is already done. Working within their coding standards also ensures the code is reasonably clean and readable (and thus maintainable).
- Python was also considered, but it's more likely a SMB has a Apache/PHP environment over an Apache/Python setup
- I already have quite a number of generic PHP libraries that will mean I can get moving much faster. My Python libraries are no-where as extensive.
- A Java-based web app would be an overkill and likely to confuse many small business owners. (ie: Install a Java Application Server, etc.)
- SugarCRM is already popular in many SMBs. It would be quite easy to have an Accounting + Payroll package integrate into SugarCRM. Sugar is written in PHP, so it would make the job much easier if they both spoke the same language.
I'm interested to hear people's feedback with their thoughts. Do you think a PHP application (backended by your choice of MySQL or PostgreSQL) for your business accounts is feasible? (Obviously if 'approved' by the ATO as compliant).
Do SMB owners prefer the option of paid software with support packs? (like offered by MYOB and Quicken) they can fall back on? Would you not trust your business books to an OSS based accounting package? What other hurdles do you envisage if you used OSS accounting software?
Saturday, July 5. 2008
Down but not out.
Some of you have probably noticed I haven't been around as much as usual in the recent week.
Last Saturday night I discovered a large painful lump in my mouth, just under my eye tooth facing towards my tongue. To say it scared the life outta me is probably is an understatement.
I headed off to the doctor to get it checked out on Sunday, and he immediately referred me off to an Oral and maxillofacial Surgeon on the Monday.
She examined me and all my tooth and diagnosed it as a Tori (Lingual) Mandibularis which is basically a bone growth that attaches to your gum. It unfortunately can get quite inflamed and sore if bumped or eating hard food. This is probably what caused the initial pain. The thing isn't small either, and is probably about the size of a peanut M&M (for comparison).
Whilst there she gave me my entire mouth a good once over. She noted that I was in immediate need to remove my two left wisdom teeth, and wanted me to go off for an xray. (The xray is to confirm how close the facial nerve is to the roots of the wisdom teeth.) Something you don't want to hit!
So off for x-rays on Wednesday and back to see her for the results on Friday.
It appears that all 4 of my wisdom teeth need to come out, in addition the upper left maxillary first pre-molar. The pre-molar is still my baby tooth (I didn't get any secondary tooth -- and it's long past it's expiry and it's root systems have long given way.) This is also the cause of the severe tooth/gum pain I've been experience (but first put down to the tori). A closer inspection of the x-ray has revealed that 3 out of the 4 first pre-molars are baby teeth! One I've already had removed as a teen (upper right), so that probably leaves one in my bottom that will need attention in the future.
I've been scheduled in for surgery under a General Anesthesia for the removal of all 5 teeth on Friday (11th July). The surgeon explained that having my wisdoms out latter in life normally ensures the gum bone is much tougher and the root systems much more advanced than that of a late-teen (when many people have them removed). This is why she recommends a general over doing them with a local in the chair. (I'm all for knocking me out for the procedure!) Luckily for me the facial nerve is quite a distance away from the tooth so it shouldn't pose any problem.
So at present -- it's been a week of heavy painkillers to take the edge off the pain, that with salt mouth washes and only luke-warm drinks to avoid aggravating it further.
Pauline's also grabbing some full cloves as we've been told that placing them on the tooth also works well for pain relief. At this stage, I'll try anything. Dosing up on codiene based pain killers for any length of time is never the best solution.
So whilst I'll be out of it for a little while, I am hoping after the operation I'll be back to my normal self shortly there after. I've been advised that it will take about 5 days to recover post-op, but I'll pay it by ear. I've already missed a fair bit of work this week. Luckily it falls on a Friday so I'll at least have the weekend to help in the recovery.
So it looks like soups, pureed meals, tinned fruit and jelly will be on the menu later this week! I wonder what a steak and 3 vegies are like through a straw?!
Update: The tori will stay in place. It's apparently extremely painful to remove (they have to drill/chip it away from the bone of the gum), and something they only wish to do as a last resort. The hole created is normally quite large and requires weeks to heal. So this will stay in place. As such I'll have to just be more careful with a toothbrush (so I don't crash into it when brushing) and when eating hard food. It basically just feels like stubbing your toe badly when hitting the tori...besides the unpleasant pain, it's not much to worry about.
Last Saturday night I discovered a large painful lump in my mouth, just under my eye tooth facing towards my tongue.
To say it scared the life outta me is probably is an understatement. I headed off to the doctor to get it checked out on Sunday, and he immediately referred me off to an Oral and maxillofacial Surgeon on the Monday.
She examined me and all my tooth and diagnosed it as a Tori (Lingual) Mandibularis which is basically a bone growth that attaches to your gum.
It unfortunately can get quite inflamed and sore if bumped or eating hard food. This is probably what caused the initial pain. The thing isn't small either, and is probably about the size of a peanut M&M (for comparison).Whilst there she gave me my entire mouth a good once over. She noted that I was in immediate need to remove my two left wisdom teeth, and wanted me to go off for an xray. (The xray is to confirm how close the facial nerve is to the roots of the wisdom teeth.) Something you don't want to hit!
So off for x-rays on Wednesday and back to see her for the results on Friday.
It appears that all 4 of my wisdom teeth need to come out, in addition the upper left maxillary first pre-molar. The pre-molar is still my baby tooth (I didn't get any secondary tooth -- and it's long past it's expiry and it's root systems have long given way.) This is also the cause of the severe tooth/gum pain I've been experience (but first put down to the tori).
A closer inspection of the x-ray has revealed that 3 out of the 4 first pre-molars are baby teeth! One I've already had removed as a teen (upper right), so that probably leaves one in my bottom that will need attention in the future.I've been scheduled in for surgery under a General Anesthesia for the removal of all 5 teeth on Friday (11th July). The surgeon explained that having my wisdoms out latter in life normally ensures the gum bone is much tougher and the root systems much more advanced than that of a late-teen (when many people have them removed). This is why she recommends a general over doing them with a local in the chair. (I'm all for knocking me out for the procedure!)
Luckily for me the facial nerve is quite a distance away from the tooth so it shouldn't pose any problem.So at present -- it's been a week of heavy painkillers to take the edge off the pain, that with salt mouth washes and only luke-warm drinks to avoid aggravating it further.
Pauline's also grabbing some full cloves as we've been told that placing them on the tooth also works well for pain relief. At this stage, I'll try anything. Dosing up on codiene based pain killers for any length of time is never the best solution.
So whilst I'll be out of it for a little while, I am hoping after the operation I'll be back to my normal self shortly there after. I've been advised that it will take about 5 days to recover post-op, but I'll pay it by ear. I've already missed a fair bit of work this week. Luckily it falls on a Friday so I'll at least have the weekend to help in the recovery.
So it looks like soups, pureed meals, tinned fruit and jelly will be on the menu later this week! I wonder what a steak and 3 vegies are like through a straw?!
Update: The tori will stay in place. It's apparently extremely painful to remove (they have to drill/chip it away from the bone of the gum), and something they only wish to do as a last resort. The hole created is normally quite large and requires weeks to heal. So this will stay in place. As such I'll have to just be more careful with a toothbrush (so I don't crash into it when brushing) and when eating hard food. It basically just feels like stubbing your toe badly when hitting the tori...besides the unpleasant pain, it's not much to worry about.
Saturday, June 14. 2008
Stop whining about Wine printing!
Wine is a way to run native Windows applications without Windows.
The Wine project have been able to replicate the APIs required to run quite a number of applications under their environment.
It's one way you can run your legacy Windows applications under your Linux desktop.
I daily run Wine for a number of applications for business:
Here's the blurb off their website:
This way they can keep their functionality, but move to a more secure, less restrictive (licensing) operating system and a better and more richer computing experience in my opinion.
I recently attempted to see if I could run MYOB under Wine. Currently Pauline is stuck on Windows, due to her requirement to run MYOB to do our company books. MYOB ran under Wine without a hitch.
Well... until I went to print. It went off to the dark printing gods and spat out an empty plain page -- no matter what I printed. And thus is the reason for this blog post.
If anyone does business accounting, you realise printing is a key feature. Many hectares of forests from the Amazon are destroyed each year keeping up with the legal requirement of keeping financial records. (Personally we print a lot to PDF -- but still, under Wine this was failing for us!).
Scroll through many Linux forums/help sites and you'll hear people whining and complaining about printing under Wine. It seems to have also increased with the introduction of CUPS. From what I could see people where having problems printing to a physical printer most of the time, even though their CUPS printers correctly are represented and available in Wine. (This is exactly what I was seeing -- just blank pages printed).
Unfortunately this was going to be a show-stopper. Without a way to print (paper or electronically) for MYOB the idea was dead in the water. I didn't want to run Windows XP in a virtual machine (more on that in my next post over the following days).
I decided to sit down and take a bit of a fiddle (that's a technical term!)
Really -- if CUPS-PDF didn't work, nor did my native printers attached; even a Postscript file would be sufficient (I could then feed that into ps2pdf or something similar if I really wanted it in PDF format for Emailing, or just print the Postscript file directly to the printer).
I found that within the printing application I could create a virtual printer that printed a postscript file directly to a file in Linux. Okay, that works fine under Linux... Now the big test, did it print fine with MYOB running under Wine?
I could see the printer fine (as I could with all the other CUPS printers previously). I bit my bottom lip and hit print. Low and behold... a working report!
Even better I could link the Postscript printer to the CUPS-PDF printer and it would convert it auto-magically into a PDF for me.
I since tested a range of applications under Wine and they all seem to be printing.
So if you need to print in Wine and don't want a headache, try the local Postscript virtual printer hack. It works well.
For those that want to replicate it, here is a series of pictures showing the Postscript printer properties.
And if you still don't believe.... here is some sample print jobs:
So have fun and happy printing from within Wine.
The Wine project have been able to replicate the APIs required to run quite a number of applications under their environment.
It's one way you can run your legacy Windows applications under your Linux desktop.
I daily run Wine for a number of applications for business:
- Windows Lotus Notes for my office Email/Office Databases - it's not as crappy as the native Linux one then.
- Internet Explorer 6 for those pesky websites that refuse to run without IE (many customer client websites).
- Microsoft Office for some complicated files that get garbled by OpenOffice (but that number is decreasing with every release!)
Here's the blurb off their website:
Friends, vintners, penguins, lend me your ears:I recently blogged about how hard it is for many small businesses to move off Windows. One way they can (particularly those that are on pre-Vista desktops and don't wish to go to Vista) is to utilise Wine for those legacy business Windows applications that need to run.
We come not to praise Windows, but to celebrate our increasing independence from it.
The final release candidate for Wine 1.0 will appear this Friday (13th), and barring catastrophe, Wine 1.0 itself will be released a few days later.
This way they can keep their functionality, but move to a more secure, less restrictive (licensing) operating system and a better and more richer computing experience in my opinion.
I recently attempted to see if I could run MYOB under Wine. Currently Pauline is stuck on Windows, due to her requirement to run MYOB to do our company books. MYOB ran under Wine without a hitch.
Well... until I went to print. It went off to the dark printing gods and spat out an empty plain page -- no matter what I printed. And thus is the reason for this blog post.
— – — – —
If anyone does business accounting, you realise printing is a key feature. Many hectares of forests from the Amazon are destroyed each year keeping up with the legal requirement of keeping financial records. (Personally we print a lot to PDF -- but still, under Wine this was failing for us!).
Scroll through many Linux forums/help sites and you'll hear people whining and complaining about printing under Wine. It seems to have also increased with the introduction of CUPS. From what I could see people where having problems printing to a physical printer most of the time, even though their CUPS printers correctly are represented and available in Wine. (This is exactly what I was seeing -- just blank pages printed).
Unfortunately this was going to be a show-stopper. Without a way to print (paper or electronically) for MYOB the idea was dead in the water. I didn't want to run Windows XP in a virtual machine (more on that in my next post over the following days).
I decided to sit down and take a bit of a fiddle (that's a technical term!)
MYOB running under Wine
I found that within the printing application I could create a virtual printer that printed a postscript file directly to a file in Linux. Okay, that works fine under Linux... Now the big test, did it print fine with MYOB running under Wine?
I could see the printer fine (as I could with all the other CUPS printers previously). I bit my bottom lip and hit print. Low and behold... a working report!
Even better I could link the Postscript printer to the CUPS-PDF printer and it would convert it auto-magically into a PDF for me.
I since tested a range of applications under Wine and they all seem to be printing.
So if you need to print in Wine and don't want a headache, try the local Postscript virtual printer hack. It works well.
For those that want to replicate it, here is a series of pictures showing the Postscript printer properties.
 |  |  |  |  |
And if you still don't believe.... here is some sample print jobs:
- An example MYOB Invoice printed from Wine
- An example MYOB Report printed from Wine
- The sample test print from Linux
So have fun and happy printing from within Wine.
Sunday, June 8. 2008
The difficulty of Aussie small businesses adopting Linux
There are many reasons people are stuck on Windows.
For small businesses the main reason is their accounting software.
Like it or not, since the introduction of GST and BAS the days of the shoe-box accounting have disappeared. Every business that wants to keep accurate financial records requires an computerized accounting system.
In Australia, The introduction of GST and BAS has made it difficult for these same people to move over to Linux.
The two most popular Small Business Accounting packages are MYOB and QuickBooks. Both products support the Australian market and handle submissions to the ATO.
Many small businesses look for software that can handle base accounting (less then 25 invoices a week) and an integrated simple payroll module that can pay their employees (1-5 typically).
Both QuickBooks and MYOB operate as closed-source commercial software that runs on Windows (and on Mac - in the case of MYOB). They also integrate heavily into Microsoft Office.
Both business models expect customers to fork our between $500 - $800 for the initial purchase, and anywhere from $200- $500 annually to get 'updates'. For any small business this is a hefty investment just to keep up with the legal requirements of running their business. Calling for support can also attract additional fees on top of the yearly retainer.
As such, many are fearful to move on, but have a love-hate relationship with their accounting software provider. They feel cheated and ripped off (and rightly so). This duopoly has created a handsome cash-cow for both software makers.
The current extortion model used by MYOB and Quicken is best explained by Turbo Cash's explaination (a GPL Windows Accounting package). Unfortunately TurboCash is Windows software and contains no Australian payroll module.
Unfortunately, I am yet to see an OSS Linux accounting software that handles all the features required for an Australian business:
There is both Ledger-SQL and LedgerSMB (a fork of the former) that handle accounting and can be customized to handle GST. Yet, they don't do anything to address BAS reporting/lodging or have a payroll module. As such, both are unsuitable for the Australian SMB market without further heavy lifting.
Their is commercial software like SAGE AccPac available, yet it's quite expensive and more geared towards a medium sized business and thus out of the price range for most small businesses.
One OSS project that did look indeed promising was SYMBOL (Surf Your Money Books On Line). It was written by an accountant from Western Australia and licensed under the BSD license.
I have been in Email discussion with the developer Edward Metcalfe, but it appears he has now moved on from the project and as such the project has stalled. Looking at the CVS repository the last update was unfortunately 13 months ago.
However, the software is indeed functional and delivers on the two items listed above (Australian Taxation/Payroll). Whilst you would need to update the PAYG tax tables (no real show-stopper), it should do the job admirably. ComputerWorld actually ran an article on SYMBOL in Februrary 2007.
Those interested in SYMBOL, will find it is a web-based application so accounting can be down via a regular browser (making it suitable on either Mac/Windows/Linux clients) It runs on a PostgreSQL backend and uses Perl/CGI for the front-end. It also is multi-user based. (One thing software like MYOB and Quicken charge an arm and a leg for!)
The fear of running SYMBOL though in it's current form is that it is unmaintained. It's likely the current government or subsequent ones will indeed look at overhauling the payroll and corporate tax systems (as opposed to just an implementation of the Goods and Services Tax). This would mean that any software a small business adopts would need to address these modification.
The ATO has worked to provide great documentation on the complex tax scheme we have in Australia for software developers. Their Software Developers Website gives test case scenarios and formulas to write compliant and competing software.
I'm in two minds:
Ideally I would love to see a AJAXed based web-version of the application with a modern interface using either the Yahoo UI or the Dojo Toolkit's Dijit and DojoX interfaces.
Either solution would provide an excellent interface and provide the user with an experience that matched a local fat client. Using a web framework like Django and a PostgreSQL database underneath, would make for a solid backend.
I think there is a market for an excellent OSS product to capture the market and knock off this duopoly. However I suspect it will take some committed individuals to pull it off. From the grumblings you hear frequently from small business owners there is a ready market to ditch their over-priced software once a viable and supported solution arises.
Here are some interesting facts about the Australian Small Business Market:
I suspect a lot of OSS developers do a fair amount of moon-lighting and as such require a way to invoice for their work. (Consulting may be your day time job also to pay for the bills, and OSS coding your passion and after hours work!).
So what are your thoughts?
Is there enough interest in getting up an OSS Accounting+Payroll solution for Australian small businesses?
For small businesses the main reason is their accounting software.
Like it or not, since the introduction of GST and BAS the days of the shoe-box accounting have disappeared. Every business that wants to keep accurate financial records requires an computerized accounting system.
In Australia, The introduction of GST and BAS has made it difficult for these same people to move over to Linux.
The two most popular Small Business Accounting packages are MYOB and QuickBooks. Both products support the Australian market and handle submissions to the ATO.
Many small businesses look for software that can handle base accounting (less then 25 invoices a week) and an integrated simple payroll module that can pay their employees (1-5 typically).
Both QuickBooks and MYOB operate as closed-source commercial software that runs on Windows (and on Mac - in the case of MYOB). They also integrate heavily into Microsoft Office.
Both business models expect customers to fork our between $500 - $800 for the initial purchase, and anywhere from $200- $500 annually to get 'updates'. For any small business this is a hefty investment just to keep up with the legal requirements of running their business. Calling for support can also attract additional fees on top of the yearly retainer.
As such, many are fearful to move on, but have a love-hate relationship with their accounting software provider. They feel cheated and ripped off (and rightly so). This duopoly has created a handsome cash-cow for both software makers.
The current extortion model used by MYOB and Quicken is best explained by Turbo Cash's explaination (a GPL Windows Accounting package). Unfortunately TurboCash is Windows software and contains no Australian payroll module.
Unfortunately, I am yet to see an OSS Linux accounting software that handles all the features required for an Australian business:
- Handles Australian Taxation - including GST and BAS reporting/lodging
- Handles Australian Payroll - including PAYG and Superannuation
There is both Ledger-SQL and LedgerSMB (a fork of the former) that handle accounting and can be customized to handle GST. Yet, they don't do anything to address BAS reporting/lodging or have a payroll module. As such, both are unsuitable for the Australian SMB market without further heavy lifting.
Their is commercial software like SAGE AccPac available, yet it's quite expensive and more geared towards a medium sized business and thus out of the price range for most small businesses.
One OSS project that did look indeed promising was SYMBOL (Surf Your Money Books On Line). It was written by an accountant from Western Australia and licensed under the BSD license.
I have been in Email discussion with the developer Edward Metcalfe, but it appears he has now moved on from the project and as such the project has stalled. Looking at the CVS repository the last update was unfortunately 13 months ago.
However, the software is indeed functional and delivers on the two items listed above (Australian Taxation/Payroll). Whilst you would need to update the PAYG tax tables (no real show-stopper), it should do the job admirably. ComputerWorld actually ran an article on SYMBOL in Februrary 2007.
Those interested in SYMBOL, will find it is a web-based application so accounting can be down via a regular browser (making it suitable on either Mac/Windows/Linux clients) It runs on a PostgreSQL backend and uses Perl/CGI for the front-end. It also is multi-user based. (One thing software like MYOB and Quicken charge an arm and a leg for!)
The fear of running SYMBOL though in it's current form is that it is unmaintained. It's likely the current government or subsequent ones will indeed look at overhauling the payroll and corporate tax systems (as opposed to just an implementation of the Goods and Services Tax). This would mean that any software a small business adopts would need to address these modification.
The ATO has worked to provide great documentation on the complex tax scheme we have in Australia for software developers. Their Software Developers Website gives test case scenarios and formulas to write compliant and competing software.
I'm in two minds:
- Do I run SYMBOL and either start maintaining it or fork it?
- Do I use a lot of the program logic, and spawn a completely new project?
Ideally I would love to see a AJAXed based web-version of the application with a modern interface using either the Yahoo UI or the Dojo Toolkit's Dijit and DojoX interfaces.
Either solution would provide an excellent interface and provide the user with an experience that matched a local fat client. Using a web framework like Django and a PostgreSQL database underneath, would make for a solid backend.
I think there is a market for an excellent OSS product to capture the market and knock off this duopoly. However I suspect it will take some committed individuals to pull it off. From the grumblings you hear frequently from small business owners there is a ready market to ditch their over-priced software once a viable and supported solution arises.
Here are some interesting facts about the Australian Small Business Market:
- There are about 1.2 million small businesses in Australia employing around 3.3 million people.
- During the past decade, small businesses have created an estimated 660,000 new jobs.
- 42% of all goods exporters are small businesses.
- 25% of the Australian GDP (estimated in 2006 at $1 trillion dollars) comes from small business.
I suspect a lot of OSS developers do a fair amount of moon-lighting and as such require a way to invoice for their work. (Consulting may be your day time job also to pay for the bills, and OSS coding your passion and after hours work!).
So what are your thoughts?
Is there enough interest in getting up an OSS Accounting+Payroll solution for Australian small businesses?