Miami’s Local Feeds has begun updating my journal again! I wonder what stopped it for a week?

Frankie came by, looking to mooch from me, for the first time after I talked to him about it. . I told him that I had nothing for him, and that he must’ve forgotten what we had discussed.

I got an emergency call form the big kahuna last night, 8 year old went missing and code red’s system took a dump. I got in there, and took care of it. It turns out that she was found earlier and taken to a mall up the road.

Bro called me about some sort of DVD / VCR combo for sale at sears for $35. if that’s true, I’ll pick up two of them, and give one to Danny, so he can watch his currently player-less discs.

Skinny cow’s “strawberry shortcake” ice cream sandwiches are yummy, and really not a big drag on points (2) at all. I’ll try the Dulce de leche next week.. or maybe mint.

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Gel ‘heals wounds more quickly’

A gel that helps wounds heal in half the time it takes currently has been developed by British scientists.
The gel, called Nexagon, works by speeding up the rate of wound closure and reducing inflammation.

Scientists at University College London have received an award for the gel at the Medical Futures Innovation Awards.

Although the gel still needs to go through clinical trials, they believe it could transform treatment for millions of people in just a few years.

Laboratory tests on animals have shown that an ordinary cut that would normally take about a week to close heals in three days with the gel.

It has proved effective on skin, brain tissue, the cornea in the eye and even with injury to the spinal cord.

The scientists believe it will have a wide range of potential applications.

They say it could benefit patients undergoing cosmetic surgery, those with chronic wounds or spinal injuries.

In particular, they believe elderly people could benefit from the gel, as they are more prone to slow healing wounds and infection.

They say the gel could significantly reduce the amount of time patients have to stay in hospital and enable health services to make substantial savings.

Nexagon works by speeding up the process by which cells organize themselves to enable them to grow across and close a wound.

It targets the gap junction – a small channel that allows cells to talk directly to their neighbors.

Dr David Becker, who led the team that developed the gel, said millions of people could benefit from it.

“An estimated 95 million people worldwide suffer wounds each year and yet few effective wound healing treatments have been developed,” he said.

“There remains a large unmet need. I would like to see this product go through clinical development so that patients can take advantage of this revolutionary technology as soon as possible.”

The scientists won the best biotechnology start-up innovation award at the Medical Futures Innovation Awards in London.

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How to Exploit the New Cell-Phone Rules If you have a cell phone (especially if you hate your service) you may want to read.

THERE ARE JUST 17 days until wireless local number portability goes into effect. It’s definitely something worth talking about.

The Federal Communications Commission (news – web sites) wireless number portability mandate, which will allow cell-phone users to take their phone numbers with them when they switch carriers, begins on Nov. 24 for the nation’s 100 largest metropolitan areas. The rest of the country will be covered by May 24, 2004.

Cell-phone companies have plenty of reasons to be worried. “Consumers will be in a better bargaining position because this was the last hook carriers had over their users,” says Alan Keiter, president and founder of MyRatePlan.com, a consumer-information Web site for wireless and long-distance plans. “They will be less tolerant of flaws in the carriers’ networks and customer service because they won’t be as tied to one carrier.”

After the introduction of wireless number portability, anywhere from 12 million to 18 million people are expected to switch who wouldn’t have done so otherwise, says David Meredith, vice president at American Management Systems, a communications consulting company in Fairfax, Va. That’s in addition to the 36% of wireless customers who already switch their provider each year, according to company research.

The carriers, naturally, will do everything they can to stop the bloodletting. “Right now, the carriers are playing defense, looking to market to their existing base,” Meredith says. “After number portability is introduced, we expect they will be more on the offense — trying to attract new customers.”

That’s good news for well-informed consumers. And since the cell-phone carriers haven’t exactly been proactive in keeping you informed, we’ve decided to help. Here are seven of the wireless industry’s best-kept secrets — and how you can use them to your advantage.

1. Don’t Cancel…Yet
Rule number one: Switch your carrier before you cancel your existing service. Your phone number belongs to your current carrier until it’s transferred, so if you cancel before you switch, that number will simply go back to the original carrier’s pool. “You can’t switch something you [no longer] have,” says MyRatePlan’s Keiter.

Here’s how it’s supposed to work: You go to your new carrier and say you want to sign up, but you also want to keep your number, Keiter explains. Your new carrier will put a request for your number transfer directly with your current carrier. The two carriers will then match your information (bring an old invoice to your new carrier to avoid possible mistakes), and once the number is switched, your old service will be automatically canceled. Keep your old phone until the switch happens and then double-check that your old service is no longer in effect.

2. Know Your Rights — and Obligations
Your carrier can’t stop you from switching or try to delay the process, even if you still owe a contract-termination charge (typically $150 to $200) or monthly dues. “There are some thoughts that carriers may try to hold up the process,” Keiter says. “They may say, ‘You still owe us money, so you’ve got to pay it first.’ They are not allowed to do that.” FCC (news – web sites) regulations clearly state as much.

On the timeline, be aware that even though the wireless industry has said “porting” (as it’s called) should take no longer than 2 1/2 hours, you might have to wait a bit longer, especially in the beginning. Your old carrier could also require you to pay a porting fee, Keiter says. Ask your new carrier to reimburse you.

3. Avoid the Crowd
The wireless companies admit it: The process won’t be flawless at first. In a letter to the FCC dated Sept. 23, for example, Sprint PCS says that “mistakes invariably will be made in any project of this magnitude and Sprint expects some difficulties to be experienced at the outset.”

“It wouldn’t surprise me if there are some glitches, especially in the first couple of weeks,” Keiter says. To avoid possible problems, don’t rush into the store right away. Moreover, “this is probably the worst time of the year for this to be implemented from the carrier’s perspective, because it’s already a very heavy shopping [season],” Keiter says.

4. Look Around for the Best New Plan
Before you switch, do your homework. And be prepared to dedicate many hours to the cause. After all, now that you’re no longer limited to the plans offered by your carrier (assuming you were reluctant to leave previously), you’ve got a whole new world of options to consider.

One smart strategy is to know what you need before you go shopping for a new plan — and then ask for it, suggests Bill Hardekopf, founder of CellUpdate.com, a consumer information Web site focusing on wireless plans. Your old bills will tell you about your calling habits. How many minutes do you use a month? Do you need long distance included in your plan? What should your “local calling area” be — national or regional, with which you’ll be charged roaming every time you leave your area?

Once you know the answers to these questions, call each of the wireless providers in your area and ask them what they can offer that fits your needs, Hardekopf explains. “Don’t get lured into other juicy offers,” he says. Chances are, the carriers will have a lot more plans than you see on their brochures, which often list only the company’s current promotions.

5. Time to Bargain!
When you find a great deal with a new carrier, tell your current provider about it — before you switch. Unless you’re absolutely certain that you want to switch carriers, chances are you might end up with a matching — or an even better — offer from your current provider.

“If you’re a high-value customer…the carriers will reward that value by giving you a richer offer to stay with them,” says AMS Vice President Meredith. After all, the cell-phone companies spend anywhere from $350 to $425 to gain each new customer. If they can keep you on board for less than that, they’ll be willing to spend the money, he adds.

So how much should you expect? On average, cell-phone companies shell out $65 for each customer retained, Meredith says. But you could get a lot more if the company deems you a valuable customer. “If you have a couple of phone lines, you’re using a ton of minutes, you’re using other data services, you’re a more valuable customer than someone who’s using the phone only in case the car breaks down,” he says.

6. Two-Year Contract? Think Twice Before You Sign
So your carrier surprised you with a very lucrative offer. But wait. Will you have to sign a one-year or a two-year contract to get it? Keiter advises that you stay away from two-year contracts.

“One thing we’re seeing more is slightly better deals if you agree to a two-year contract,” he says. “That’s because they want to lock you in as soon as possible so they don’t have to deal with this again, because they’re not sure how aggressive pricing is going to be in a year…. I’m not sure the deals [right now] are so much better that I would sign a two-year contract upfront.”

7. Stay on Top of New Offers
Wireless number portability will force the cell-phone companies to come up with more creative offers in the battle for customers (the more reason not to sign a two-year contract yet). “We’re already starting to see more aggressive stuff,” Keiter says. “T-Mobile just the other day introduced a three-day weekend plan — you get free minutes on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.”

Stay on top of new offers so you’re prepared for your next switch. Meredith predicts that in the near future, the different carriers will start targeting users with different needs. “In the past, it has almost been one size fits all,” he says. In the future, you’ll see some carriers position themselves as pricing leaders, offering the lowest prices, others differentiating themselves on excellent quality and customer service, and still others offering the latest camera phones, screen savers and other data services for the techno geeks. “The carriers are going to start to position themselves to cater to those different markets,” he says.

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Wow, the rain has been almost continuous! I think I’ll share the wealth, and send it out and about over the USA, using my mental powers and connections with Norse weather gods.