Atom FeedArchive of March 2007
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Status Update: A long couple of months
So, as you may have noticed, I haven't been posing much lately. It's certainly not for a lack of wanting too. Even when I am posting often I come across things I would like to comment on, but simply don't have the time to do so. I may have an answer to that, but I'll cover that possibility in a separate post as that's not really what this post is about…I've become rather busy with work again which in turn tends to cut into my personal life and time. This tends to also lead to a bit of computer burnout so I generally feel less inclined to work on my personal projects. Thus why Yapter hasn't seen much activity of late; that and I ran into a problem that was stumping me. So as a diversion I managed to package up my weather project and get it released as I had been planning on for quite some time. So in the end I guess that's sort of a lose/win situation as at least something worthwhile got done.
My family life has also required a good deal of attention in the past couple of months. My wife, Mary Lou began having gall bladder attacks about two months ago and it's been a pretty rough go of it for her. Fortunately they successfully removed it about a week ago and she's well on her way to regaining a sense of normalcy in her life.
Me on the other hand, I've begun to have some medical issues of my own. I've been going to switch my primary physician for some time, but you know how it goes…you put it off and you put it off, until your wife schedules something for you and you finally go! ;) So a few days ago I went for a physical with my new doctor. Happily, I'm generally in very good shape for my age. Which is pretty much what I've always suspected because I try to eat healthy and I exercise regularly. There's only one problem…about a month ago, one typical Sunday morning after reading the pager I got up and walked up stairs. No biggie, except when I got there I suddenly was extremely dizzy and had to lie down. I felt fine other than this spinning feeling I had that wouldn't go away. After a couple of hours I was able to get up and ate a bit, but a short time later I began to get dizzy again. I then spent the next several hours in bed, unable to do anything. After a miserable evening I went to bed with a horrible headache and hoped that after sleeping all would be well. Often if I'm not feeling well after sleeping I generally feel better. The next morning the headache was gone, but I still felt uneasy and disoriented. I went to work anyway and by mid-morning I contemplated leaving early. But after eating lunch I was feeling better and worked the rest of the day. I was pretty wiped out by the end of the day and turned in early. The following morning, although tired I was feeling human at least. So after a couple of days in a funk, life began to return to normal. I wrote it off as "just one of those one time things". Unfortunately that wasn't to be the case…
Since that time I've had a few minor dizziness episodes but nothing like that first day. But this past week I've had it to varying degrees with the past two day the worse since the beginning. So while visiting the doctor I discussed the situation with him. The verdict is that it would seem I now have Meniere's Disease. And based on the symptoms, I really can't argue with the diagnosis as I clearly exhibit all of these.
So now what? Well, the negatives are that the vertigo attacks can occur at a moments notice and can literally render you unable to do anything. This tends to create anxiety because you tend to worry when it's going to happen again and how bad will it be. For me, thus far it hasn't been too often or severe. If you read further on the symptoms page you can read about various case studies and how truly awful this can be. Thus I'm hopeful that it stays relatively mild and continue to wish that it would just go away…because I don't have time for this. So, as disabling as this can be, on the positive side it's generally manageable and appears to dissipate after a couple of years. Most people are largely symptom free after about eight years. Thus I guess I have a reason to look forward to my fiftieth birthday. :)
So with this in mind, I'm trying to continue my life as normally as possible. I can tell you at this point that even my relatively mild attacks leave me feeling disoriented for days as well as completely exhausted. And although things have improved in the past couple of days, it seems to be a very slow recovery process as I still don't feel quite right, particularly if I make sudden movements. What affect this is going to have on my cycling remains to be seen. But based on the way things are progressing, it would appear that what has started off as a very good season could quickly go in the toilet if this situation gets any worse. Vertigo and balance problems tend to make cycling, shall we say "a tad difficult". :(
So now you know why I've been absent from my blog. And now that I've babbled on endlessly in this oh so serious tone, let's see if we can't get back to the usual nonsense you find here. :) March 31, 2007 @ 11:58 pm | Category: Brainwork
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
PolarLava Weather V1.0.2 Released
It's been largely done for a while now, but I've finally gotten all of the little things done so I can officially release my PHP5 weather class. It's now under version control, has all the API documentation and is packaged up to go. So if this is something that might of interest to you, hop on over to the PolarLava Weather project page. March 20, 2007 @ 12:57 pm | Category: Software DevelopmentSaturday, March 17, 2007
50 States in a Week’s Vacation
This is sort of an anti-Way Too Much Time entry; Actually it's more of "Not Nearly Enough Time" entry. Here's a guy that did a 50 States in a Week's Vacation back in 1998.This comes to me via Alan…who needs to update his PolarBlog installation so I could just trackback to his entry instead! ;) March 17, 2007 @ 08:55 am | Category: Way Too Much Time!
Gumby’s Going Online
I just read over at TechCrunch that Gumby's going online! I loved watching Gumby as a kid and later when I was working a night shift factory job while I ate breakfast/dinner in the morning. Hell, I still love watching it! A number of years ago my brother bought me a Gumby and Pokey for Christmas…you can see it sitting on my office window sill. This is truly the bestest. :)
March 17, 2007 @ 08:38 am
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Category: That's Funny!
Monday, March 12, 2007
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
What Did You Say?
What Did You Say?What did you say?
What did you do?
I ask you what —
Oh, what did you say?
What should we do?
The next song we play for you?
Tell me what —
What did you say?
(Your taxes are due!)
4/15/1983 March 6, 2007 @ 12:59 pm | Category: Writing
Likeable
LikeableI hear you complain everyday
Pepole look at you and think you're insane
What's the problem, what's your game?
I really think you should be more like me
'Cause traveling's easy when you're likeable, like me
Life is easy when you likeable
When your likeable, life's a breeze
And life is easy when you're likeable —like me!
4/15/83 March 6, 2007 @ 12:57 pm | Category: Writing
