Tag Archive: postaweek2011


User roles thinned

Due to the incoming noise to signal ratio slowly approaching the famed “infinity over zero”, I’ve had to take some counter measures.

Any unrecognised user has been deleted. (My huge apologies if you had registered and I deleted you.)
You have to comment or email me to register an account (for now)
All comments will be moderated.

The latter is a bit of a joke because of the last 10 comments I received… One was legit. The rest were spam.

I don’t post a lot here. but I do like this place and hope to always post more.

I hope people read the blog and will feel inclined to comment.

That’s all for now.

[ff @lordandrei] is going to sleep. (More about that new whizbang thing tomorrow)

**waves**

A Health Update

I’ve actually never been a patient in an ambulance. Thankfully, despite last night that record still stands. It was however touch and go for a few.

I have allergies. Up until about 3 years ago they were mystery allergies. In college and after I would have random allergic swelling attacks. My hands, my lips, sometimes around my eyes, my thighs, or the arches of my feet. For years I tried allergist after allergist and had more scratch tests done on my back than I’d want to shake a stick at.

About 3 years ago the culprit finally was discovered. Ibuprofen.

When you’re allergic to a medication, you may not have a contact allergy from the raw drug. Drugs sometimes work by transforming into a different chemical as it is metabolised. So, Ibuprofen would get into my system and then over 4-6 hours begin to do its dirty work.

The discovery came about when treating my infant for teething with liquid Motrin. I filled the little plastic eye dropper and got some on my hands. Within minutes the liquid form was causing the same reaction I’d had in college. As it turns out, you really can’t test for ibuprofen allergies.

My other outstanding allergy that wreaks havoc upon my life is dairy. I love(d) cheeses. Now, I can’t even go into the cheese area of a market, too close to an Aunt “whatever’s” pretzels, or an ice cream shop without passing out. Eating rich dairy will have the same effect.

Which brings us to yesterday. After work my wife, Heather, picked me up. As I sat down I noticed the inside of my heels of my feet were itching. I have dry skin, this happens. But this was beginning to feel like one of my old allergy attacks. In hindsight, walking about 2.5 times what I usually do in a day may not have helped; but I know what a “New Exercise” burn feels like and this was not it.

I went to my weekly dinner with some of my dearest friends and the discomfort seemed to subside; or at least the social situation helped distract from it. Heading to the car, I noticed it flaring up again. Heather was having elevated discomfort in her back so I opted to drive. This may not have been a good idea. It hurt more the more I used my feet.

By the time I’d gotten home my heels and arches felt like they were burning. Definitely the allergic reaction. I took some Benadryl. I complained about the pain to Heather which I often feel guilty about. When you live with someone with chronic pain, you really get the feeling that you really don’t understand what severe pain really is. See my older post on the topic.

I hobbled into bed early. I had to walk on my toes because setting down or placing weight on my heels only made it worse. I rigged myself to my relatively new CPAP machine and tried to relax.

It’s said that pain is very hard to measure. You’re dealing with a subjective analysis of something that only has a frame of reference based on itself. Further, the more you deal with it, the better your tolerance becomes and thus the entire old scale has to be thrown out. Heather lives in the range of 5-7 and thus it can be very hard to tell when she is in severe pain because she goes into a quiet meditation. I have seen Heather at a 10 out of 10 (during labour) and never want to see that on her or anyone else ever again.

On the other hand I tend to live at about 2 – 3. I’m over 40 now so things in general aren’t completely comfortable. I rarely go above a 5. As the pain in my heels hit a 7 – 8 last night; I did NOT deal with it by going into a quiet meditation. I turned into a 4 year old. And I know what that is as I keep one in the house for me for comparison. Rocking in pain, fetal, moaning, whimpering, and close to tears, Heather woke up from the noise. (And as she is deaf at night with her hearing aids out, I must have been loud)

The pain was so bad that I went into mild shock and ran (well, double hobbled quickly) to the restroom and … um… did the porcelain embrace for about 10 minutes. During this time, Heather managed to dress and tried to figure out how to call 911 with no landline and no local cell phone. My cell phone was hidden on my bed as I use music to tune out the CPAP. (Ah the CPAP, did I mention how far I threw the mask as the pain sailed past 5?)

Our cell phones are also still carrying the 818 area code. So she thought that calling 911 might not work. Please note, for those who know Heather… She was trying to make a phone call. By the time I was done not actually evacuating anything in the restroom, my pain was back down to a 4 and sinking slowly. We decided not to call 911. But I did call my 24-hr nurse.

The nurse was friendly. She only asked if I might have diabetes about 6 times. It’s in my foot, it has to be diabetes. She could not give me actual medical advice but did say… a doctor or Emergency Services “might” be a good idea. I told Heather that I was going to keep the phone next to me and try to get some sleep as the pain was subsiding. If it started to come back up, I would call 911. Now the pain was down to about a 3.

Half an hour later I was making my way down the steps. the pain was back up to about a 6. I unlocked the front door in the event that EMTs would need to come in. Heather was in no shape to drive. I was in no shape to drive. Aiden… Aiden wasn’t driving. I tried to find anyone online at 2+am who’d make a run for me so I wouldn’t have to call an EMT. I went to the restroom for a few. More bodily reactions to the pain.

I sat down on the recliner in the living room to assess where I was and how I’d proceed next… And fell asleep. (Or passed out. Hard to tell) That tired and after that much pain. I’m pretty sure I’d covered most of the house in spoons. At one point earlier in the evening I told Heather that being in severe pain was exhausting. She gave me a smiling nod that looked eerily like the albino in “The Princess Bride”.

I climbed back into bed at about 5:15 and told Heather that I didn’t wind up calling 911. (She doesn’t remember me doing this.) Around 7:15, a bit later than usual, I woke up. I did comment that I had a code demo first thing in the morning. She looked at me and said, “You’re not going in. You will be calling a doctor.” I love those moments where the only proper response is “Yes, Dear” because she’s right.

I tried to write a short “I’m not coming into work email” that explained I’m not able to make it in without using the phrase “I didn’t need to call 911 last night” because that kind of statement needs nearly 7,000 words of context.

Now? Now I am sitting in the pass-out recliner. I’m writing this to clarify what has happened and to explain my rather cryptic twitter from last night. And also to fill in anyone from work who is curious. Heather has just returned from dropping the boy at day care and I will be getting to a doctor at some point.

And for the knowledge of folks at work (who might choose to read this)… I hate being stuck in a chair when I’m in the zone with a project. Fortunately, the pain is at about a 3 and the only thing I can do is type and use my head. So I will probably end up making good headway today on my project (that I am REALLY jazzed over) and not lose any ‘work time’.

Blah. I feel lousy.

Follow the bouncing date

WWDC season is approaching again. For those out of the know this is Apple’s World Wide Developer Conference.

This is the “Go To” conference for Mac Tech. The future of the platforms are exposed here. Interestingly, we’re supposed to get an entirely new OS this summer called Lion: Mac OS X 10.7. Developers have seen exactly what the public has seen concerning this OS.

Now the format of WWDC goes like this (at least the last 3 years)

  • Dec-Mar: Rumoured estimate of WWDC Dates
  • Mar/Apr: WWDC Dates announced, tickets on sale
  • (Shortening span): WWDC Tickets sold out
  • June (give or take a week): WWDC

Here’s the actual recap:

  • 2008
    • 2008: No early rumour
    • Mar 13, 2008: Apple announces WWDC 2008 June 9-13 (Tix on sale) $1295/1595
    • May 14, 2008: WWDC 2008 sold out (60 days, first sell out)
    • June 8-12, 2008: WWDC 2008
  • 2009
    • Mar 6, 2009: Rumour of WWDC 2009 to be 2nd week of June
    • Mar 26, 2009: Apple announces WWDC 2009 June 8-12 (Tix on sale) $1295/1595
    • Apr 28, 2009: WWDC 2009 sold out (28 days)
    • June 8-12, 2009: WWDC 2009
  • 2009/2010
    • Dec 21, 2009: Rumour of WWDC 2010 to be June 28-July 2
    • April 28, 2010: Apple announces WWDC 2010 June 7-11 (Tix on sale) $1599
    • May 6, 2010: WWDC 2010 sold out (8 days)
    • June 7-11, 2010: WWDC 2010 (Announce iOS4, iWork for iOS, iPhone 4, XCode 4)
  • 2011
    • Feb 7, 2010: Rumour of WWDC 2011 to be June 5-June 9
    • March 28, 2011 8:30 AM EST: Apple announces WWDC 2011 June 6-10 (Tix on sale) $1599
    • March 28, 2011 6:30 PM EST: WWDC 2011 sold out 10 Hours
    • June 6-10, 2011: WWDC 2011 (Announce???)
  • 2012
    • Feb 12, 2011: Rumour of WWDC 2012 to be June 10-June 15
    • April 25, 2012 8:30 AM EST: Apple announce WWDC 2012 June 11-15 (Tix on sale) $1599
    • April 25, 2012 10:23 AM EST: WWDC 2012 sell out 1 Hour 53 minutes.
    • June 11-15, 2012: WWDC 2012
  • 2013
    • April 24, 2012 10:16 AM EST: Apple announce WWDC 2013 June 10-14 (Tix on sale 4/25 10am PST) $1599
    • April 25, 2012 10:00 AM PST: WWDC 2012 On Sale
    • April 25, 2012 10:02 AM PST: WWDC 2012 sell out 2 minutes.
    • June 10-14, 2012: WWDC 2013

Now what I love is the hang time between announcement, selling out, and opening day.

At this rate: The conference will be announced May 30th, a week before the conference and likely sell out 2 days before the tickets go on sale.

Good luck!

I found this list on the front desk of my office this morning. So I had to track it down.

Apparently James Harrison is now replacing both Chuck Norris and Charles Nelson Riley as the dangerous person on the block.

I finally found the list on a thread on Planet Steelers at the Pittsburgh Steelers Forum under the thread “The Legend of James Harrison.”

Enjoy… Add a few if you like.

  1. If you have five dollars and James Harrison has five dollars, James Harrison has more money than you.
  2. There is no ‘ctrl’ button on James Harrison’s computer. James Harrison is always in control.
  3. Apple pays James Harrison 99 cents every time he listens to a song.
  4. James Harrison can sneeze with his eyes open.
  5. James Harrison can eat just one Lay’s potato chip.
  6. James Harrison is suing Myspace for taking the name of what he calls everything around you.
  7. James Harrison destroyed the periodic table, because he only recognizes the element of surprise.
  8. James Harrison can kill two stones with one bird.
  9. When the Boogeyman goes to sleep every night, he checks his closet for James Harrison.
  10. James Harrison doesn’t read books. He stares them down until he gets the information he wants.
  11. There is no theory of evolution. Just a list of creatures James Harrison has allowed to live.
  12. Outer space exists because it’s afraid to be on the same planet with James Harrison.
  13. James Harrison does not sleep. He waits.
  14. James Harrison is currently suing NBC, claiming Law and Order are trademarked names for his left and right legs.
  15. James Harrison is the reason why Waldo is hiding.
  16. James Harrison counted to infinity – twice.
  17. When James Harrison does a pushup, he isn’t lifting himself up, he’s pushing the Earth down.
  18. James Harrison is so fast, he can run around the world and punch himself in the back of the head.
  19. James Harrison’s hand is the only hand that can beat a Royal Flush.
  20. James Harrison can lead a horse to water AND make it drink.
  21. James Harrison doesn’t wear a watch, HE decides what time it is.
  22. James Harrison can slam a revolving door.
  23. James Harrison does not get frostbite. James Harrison bites frost
  24. Remember the Soviet Union? They decided to quit after watching hearing James Harrison was born.
  25. The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
    The only thing fear itself has to fear is James Harrison.

CPAP Night 1 recap

Last night was my first night on CPAP therapy. I really don’t want to go into all the details of how this works. Suffice it to say, CPAP is a face mask that pushes air into your system under pressure while you sleep.

The idea is that with the right amount of Air Flow you won’t snore or worse choke in the middle of the night repeatedly to prevent you from getting balanced sleep.

My CPAP is set at 15 (psi?). That is a LOT of air being pushed at you. (And I’ve just realised that I think I left my headphones at work. This digression will be obvious shortly.) It feels very unnatural but fortunately, there is a ‘ramp up’ button on the device that starts you at 4 and then works up to 15 over 20 minutes. (I wish it were more like 45 minutes)

With Hose to mask to face I started it up last night. Unfortunately, thanks to a 4 yr old spending the weekend sneezing on me. I was also congested. I went to bed with one nostril blocked from congestion and the irrational belief of the sick person that as a result, only one lung was getting filled.

I must have snoozed the CPAP back down to 4 at least 4 times. And after about an hour of not being able to catch my breath and breathe at the same time. The CPAP went off. This was good because the CPAP breathing noises were driving me nuts. (Oh yes… Headset)

I am not daunted.. but I’m even more congested tonight. So this first week is going to be very slow going. I’m going to take a pseudophedrine this evening before bed. But that is also likely to wind me up.