We put up the Christmas tree after dragging a number of boxes up from the storage room. We’ll only put up one tree since (1) there will be no one coming by to see and (2) the second tree would require moving Nina’s desk and where would we put that? After getting the tree set up and the lights on, it was very clear that we had many more lights at the bottom of the tree than at the top. So, Nina started putting on another strand of lights. She got them on the tree, plugged them in, and and about half of that new strand promptly stopped working. Off came the strand and we’ll have a tree with more light at the bottom than at the top. But, I can say that it is beginning to look like it’ll look a lot loke Christmas around here!
Category Archives: General
It’s December … and Christmas Is Coming
Merry Christmas! I needed to go to Idaho Falls to my office there today. Nina wanted to go to Idaho Falls a do a couple of sessions at the Temple today. So, we met each other for the 11 a.m. session, had lunch together afterwards, and then she headed back to Pocatello and I went into the office to sign Christmas cards and meet with some of the people there.
On the way home I stopped at Barnes and Noble to see if they had a book I wanted (they did … and two others besides). Because of the season, I wore one of my Christmas ties and put on my Christmas Elf hat. That resulted in some fun at Barnes and Noble. I made a Seesmic video blog about it: http://seesmic.com/DScxRDS8f1 so I could preserve it for posterity. ‘Tis the Season To Be Jolly!
Social Networks
The “new thing” on the Internet is sometimes called Web 2.0 and generally called “social networks”. So I decided to make a list of the social networks where I have an account:
- Twitter (rolandksmith)
- Facebook (rolandksmith)
- Second Life (Roland Schism)
- Skype (rsmithwork)
- AOL (rksmithlisi)
- Yahoo (rolandksmith)
- Seesmic (rolandksmith)
- Flickr (rolandksmith)
There might be more! I’ll have to write about what I use each of these services for. Some are more useful than others … but that always seems to be the case … particularly when I’m trying to be social!
Catching Up
I had some things to do in the Salt Lake area on Thursday starting with a morning meeting at 8 a.m. in Provo. So I drove down to Heather’s on Wednesday evening. Shortly before I left to drive down, Heather sent me a text message that Kendra was going to be there as well. Kendra’s family was vacationing in Park City, so Heather drove up to Park City on Wednesday and picked her up for the evening. It was fun to visit with her for a few minutes after they got back from the movies. I tried to record a Seesmic video, but the first attempt failed for some reason. So I tried it again and did get a short video this time. Kendra and Michael seem to be very kindred spirits!
The first event on Thursday was the monthly CTO breakfast set up by Phil Windley. That was a very interesting discussion and I learned some things as well. That afternoon I took my Macbook to the Apple store in Salt Lake City to get it fixed. I had two problems. First, the keyboard would stop working at random intervals requiring a reboot. The trackpad would also not work, but the external mouse worked just fine. Secondly, the faceplate around the keyboard was quite discolored from the oils on my palms. This was a general problem with a batch of white Macbooks and Apple was replacing the faceplates as part of the warranty.
So, I made an appointment for the Genius Bar, showed him the faceplate, and explained the problem. He told me that I would have to leave the Macbook and it’d be fixed in five to seven days. That certainly wasn’t going to fly! With a little more discussion, he went to the backroom and determined that the would be able to fix the computer that day and it would be finished before 9 p.m. when the store closed. I thought that was reasonable and left my computer.
There was also scheduled a blogger / geek get-together at 6 p.m. down at the SouthTowne Mall, so I decided I could go there while waiting for my computer to get fixed. There were about 15 people there, a couple that I had met at other CTO Breakfasts. It was also an interesting conversation at a small Chinese restaurant while munching on good old Chinese food. Just the stuff for geeks!
I got back to the Apple store about 8:30 p.m. A few minutes later they gave me my repaired computer. So far no further problems with the keyboard! Way to deliver, Apple!!
Colonsocopy … What Was the Big Deal, Anyway?
When I went to my doctor couple of months ago for a followup visit to get some prescription refills, he strongly suggested once again that I get a colonoscopy. Knowing that I probably had put this procedure off too long, I consented and made an appointment. The procedure was scheduled for this morning at 7:45 a.m. I wanted to get it over with as early in the day as possible.
The dread about a colonoscopy was mostly driven by my experience with a sigmoidoscopy that I had done about six or seven years ago when we were living in Colorado Springs. The bowel prep for that procedure was absolutely miserable and lasted for several months afterwards until my hemorrhoids were reasonably healed. The doctor assured me that this time I would not have any problems with the colonoscopy. Nevertheless, I was definitely not looking forward to the procedure.
It turns out the good doctor was right. The bowel preparation was straightforward and my hemorrhoids probably don’t have a clue that it happened. Here’s the sequence I went through leading up to the procedure this morning and the procedure itself (at least what I remember of it).
Starting on Tuesday, 27 November 2007, only clear liquids could be taken for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Nina stocked up at the grocery store with white grape juice, apple juice, cream soda, and water. There was plenty to drink and I didn’t really feel like I was hungry until after the procedure this morning.
At 8:00 a.m. on Tuesday morning, I took four bisacodyl tablets. These were to “loosen the stool” and were supposed to take about six hours to be effective. In my case it was four hours and then one urgent bowel movement. It felt like everything emptied at that time … but no cramps or other side effects.
At 3:30 p.m. I took one Reglan 10mg tablet. This drug is used to treat nausea and I suppose it was in preparation of the two-hour procedure to follow.
At 4:00 p.m. I disolved a 225 gram bottle of Glycolax powder into two quarts of apple juice and drank the first 8 ounce glass of the solution. Every fifteen minutes I drank another 8 ounce glass. Glycolax is a prescription laxative, but seemed to be tasteless in the apple juice. By 6:30 I had finished the apple juice and had started making trips to the bathroom to void my bowel. They were urgent trips, but no cramps or other distress. There were lots of bowel sounds, but definitely no cramping and no forceful bowel movements. By 8 p.m. that was also pretty much finished. I had one more movement about 10 p.m. and woke up at 4:20 a.m. for my normal get – up – in – the – middle – of – the – night trip.
This morning I was to stop drinking anything by 5:45 a.m. That was no problem. I got up at 6:45 a.m., showered, and we were at the clinic by 7:45 a.m.
The preparation was finished and had been uneventful other than needing to be fairly close to a toilet from about 5 p.m. until 8 p.m. the night before.
The procedure itself was also unremarkable. I put on a hospital gown (that tied in the back, thanks to the help of the nurse). She started a saline IV drip and I laid down on a bed to wait.
About 8:30 they wheeled me into a small, fairly dark room where the doctor and a couple of nurses were waiting. They hooked up a blood pressure monitor, a blood oxygen sensor, and an EKG. The doctor asked how I was doing and had me roll over on my left side while one of the nurses fluffed up the pillow. The doctor asked if I was “ready for the happy juice?” I said I was and the next thing I knew he was helping me to roll onto my back while they were disconnecting everything. It was finished. He said that I had been there about twenty minutes.
I promptly went back to sleep and woke up in the same bed, but back in the small room where I had started. The nurse came in and said that I had been there about fifteen minutes. She checked my vital signs and took out the IV. I rested there for another ten minutes or so and she said I could get dressed. That was at about 9:15 a.m.
After getting dressed, the nurse met with Nina and me to go over what had occurred. The doctor had removed three small polyps out of the sigmoid portion of the colon. Those would be sent in for testing and they would send me a written report in about two weeks. She gave us a list of symptoms that, if they occurred, I was to call the clinic. She also said that I would have be passing a fair amount of gas from the air that had been put into the colon so the camera could see.
By the time we got home at about 10 a.m., I definitely needed to pass some gas! That was the only time I had any cramps. A half-hour later even that was finished.
I did a lot of procrastinating and worrying for nothing. All of the folklore around the pain and discomfort of a colonoscopy is just that … folklore.
Winter Has Arrived
It started snowing around 6 a.m. this morning. The forecast didn’t say anything about snow, just high winds. By 9:30, when I took this picture, we had about an inch of snow on the ground. By noon the snow had stopped and this evening most of it has melted. The winds did arrive and the snow has moved south. Utah will finally get some snow for the ski resorts.
The dentist worked me over this morning and my mouth is very, very sore. It’s probably a good thing that I’m not eating anything today because even soft foods wouldn’t work, my mouth is so sore. The prep for the colonoscopy is underway. This is NOT fun.
Dog Update
The new dog door insert is finished and Bradica (the dog) is using it quite successfully. It fits into the sliding patio door and has Plexiglas down to where Bradica goes in and out, keeping most of the warm air in the house and the cold air outside. The only issue is that it has to be taken out to close and lock the patio door at night or when we are not at home. It does come out very easily, though, so that’s not a huge problem.
The diuretic from the vet has helped. She’s not quite so bloated and is getting around a bit easier. She even slept on her tummy for a while yesterday. However, she’s a bit more bloated today than yesterday, so we may need to increase her dose of diuretics to help reduce the fluid. Meanwhile, the vet called today to check up on Bradica. I was quite impressed. That’s good customer service.
Tomorrow will be a crappy day … pun intended. The tooth scheduled for a root canal on Friday is giving me a lot of problem. The bridge that’s supposed to be cemented to the tooth is loose and bad stuff is going on up inside the bridge. I’ve been taking Tylenol almost like candy to keep the pain down. The dentist has time available tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. and this time I’ll probably be OK with the injection … I wish. But tomorrow also marks the beginning of a prep for a colonoscopy scheduled for Wednesday morning at 7:45 a.m. I can’t have any real food tomorrow so Nina stocked up on a variety of clear liquid drinks for tomorrow. I’m looking forward to getting the tooth fixed, but the rest of the day will likely be a pain in the nether regions….
Bradica (The Dog) and The Vet
Bradica (the dog) is fourteen and is really showing her age. She no longer can do stairs and can only amble along at a very slow pace. She’s got something bad going in as well. She’s become quite bloated and is having trouble breathing. She sleeps a lot and works at getting into a position where her head is lower or higher than her body. She cannot sleep on her belly, either. She falls down quite often and sometimes when she collapses on the tile floor she can’t get back up without help. On Thursday evening we found her at the bottom of the stairs to the basement. We think that she probably fell down the stairs as she’s not gone down the stairs voluntarily for several months now. Getting old is a no fun!
We took her to the vet this morning because of her distended bowels — she’s put on more than six pounds in the past couple of months. There are several likely causes, none that can be treated. She’s for sure got congestive heart failure happening. The vet took some fluid samples that will be checked at the lab to see if anything else is going on, like cancer or liver problems. She is now taking a diuretic in hopes of giving her some relief. That means she will be going outside much more often.
Earlier this summer I built an insert to put in the sliding screen door going out to the deck. We had been leaving the door open with the screen partially open, but had a bird get in the house on two different occasions. The insert has a small opening for Bradica to go in and out and the rest is screened off to keep the birds and bugs out.
Now it’s turned cold and a new insert is needed in to go into the patio door. Rather than being a screen, this insert needs to be a window. So I picked up the material at Lowe’s today and started building the insert this afternoon. The basic construction is finished and the first coat of stain is on. Monday I’ll sand it down and put on the second coat of stain, cut the Plexiglas, and it’ll be done. Bradica will be able to go … and the heat will stay. I recorded a short Seesmic update….