Skudd.com

Obligatory Entry

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:58:39 -0500

My updates are again kinda sparse, so here's a short and sweet one.

- Work is good, though I have taken the bulk of my PTO/VTO this month, leaving just 11 days of October as days I have worked.
- I have the bestest girlfriend one could ask for. :)
- I am now pretty involved with the church I attend.
- I need to go see a dentist.
- I need to get over this flu and ear infection. It has kept me working from home this entire week and now I feel like I'm going to collapse.
- My back has been mostly better since I got a new bed and new shoes. I still have my days though.

To fill in any gaps, I just want to say that life is great.

In Soviet Russia, Language learns you!

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 12:49:56 -0500

If you've been watching my Facebook status at all over the last month or so, you've seen that I have taken an interest in learning Russian. I don't know why, but it's this strong burning desire.

I have been dabbling with various resources, including Rosetta Stone, and just haven't been able to feel good about learning the language. Nothing really seemed to provide any feedback on how I was doing, any explanation of the phrases I was reading or speaking, or any pronunciation keys. It was all very frustrating.

Last night as I was taking Emily home after having dinner with her parents, I mentioned that I was going to work on my Russian a bit today. She said she had to show me something before I left her place, and I'm glad she did.

She had me look at the Houston Public Library website with her, and they have a section on learning other languages. In their list of resources was a link to Livemocha, an e-learning site with a focus on languages. Here's an excerpt from their "about us" page:

Livemocha is an exciting e-learning Web 2.0 startup founded by a group of experienced and successful entrepreneurs based in the Seattle area. Livemocha addresses a $20 billion worldwide language learning market fueled by rapid globalization, immigration and travel. Livemocha is a first of its kind web based language learning solution integrating online instructional content with a global community of language learners. Livemocha is a venture funded company backed by Maveron, a leading Seattle based venture firm with tremendous consumer and e-learning expertise.

In the last 14 hours, I've been able to complete lessons 1 and 2 of Russian 101, and I'm feeling good about it now.

If you're looking to learn a new language, I highly recommend Livemocha. It's free for learning one language.

A Caffeine Free Life?

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 11:50:18 -0500

As I mentioned on day 6 without caffeine, things have been going quite well. I'm now just shy of 1 month without it, and I don't really see any need to return to it.

I was pretty stressed out yesterday evening, so at dinner I had a glass of Dr. Pepper. It didn't taste good to me, and I got absolutely nothing from it other than a slight thirst quenching. Other than that, the most caffeine I've had in this month long stint has been a nibble of a brownie here just a couple of times.

There has actually been a fair bit of benefit from kicking the habit, not the least of which is better sleep at night. On top of that, I have lost a little bit of weight and I find that it's easier to focus. I haven't had my blood pressure checked yet since I stopped the caffeine, but I would be willing to bet that it's back down to a normal level, even without medicine (I'm still taking my meds though).

Many people, including my lovely girlfriend who got this ball rolling, have asked why I'm still going without caffeine even though I've beat the 2 weeks. My answer to them is always, "Because I'm sleeping at night now." I think that alone is worth it.

Blind as a bat

Sun, 13 Sep 2009 23:48:44 -0500

Saturday, Emily and I went on a trip with a group from the office. This was a trip down the Comal river in New Braunfels, TX.

I went tubing with a few of the guys from work back in April, but we tubed down the Guadalupe river in Canyon Lake, TX, just about 20 minutes away from the Comal. During that trip, the most current we saw was in the places where the water was just 2" deep and ripped over some sharp rocks. Thus, I didn't think twice about wearing my glasses as we went down the Comal.

As we approached the first chute on the Comal, Saturday morning, I thought, "This is gonna be fun!" Then when I got to the bottom of the chute, I saw that I was going to hit a wave pretty hard. Before the nerve impulses went from my brain to my arm to grab a hold of my glasses, that wave ripped them clean off my head and dropped them to the bottom of the river.

While this sucked hard, I didn't really sweat it too much because I knew I needed new glasses, and this was just a very convenient excuse. After we got back to Houston, Emily had to drive back to my apartment so I could find my old glasses. Luckily, I did find them right where I thought they would be, and I have been trying to make use of them since.

I don't know what my prescription strength was in my glasses I lost, nor do I know what it was in the glasses I am currently wearing. What I do know is that I can't see this 12 point font on my screen as I'm typing from about 18" away. I also know that I have been wearing these glasses all day and the strain is starting to cause some really wicked migraines.

I will be calling a couple of different eye doctors tomorrow to see who can get me in the soonest, who accepts my insurance, and who can get me my glasses the quickest. If I have to wear these glasses for more than another day or two, I'm probably going to (try to) kill someone because of the headaches. Work is going to be rather interesting for the next day or so as well.

Re: No Caffeine

Sun, 13 Sep 2009 23:40:56 -0500

I've made it to day #6 now with the no caffeine and things are going pretty well.

I have only had minor headaches (until yesterday for other reasons) due to the caffeine withdrawal, and aside from that I'm sleeping like a baby at night. I have started taking vitamin B12 in the mornings with my blood pressure medicine, which seems to have helped with the missing "kick" I'd get from my morning cup of coffee or soda.

I have been craving some caffeine but only because of the prevalence in the beverage market; everything is caffeinated. Otherwise, it's been vitamin water, regular water, and the occasional caffeine-free soda ever since last Tuesday.

No Caffeine

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 23:14:34 -0500

I made a quick mention about this on Facebook today, but let me give you the rundown.

Sometime this weekend (don't ask what day because they all blurred together) when Emily and I were at lunch, the topic of my shaking came up. She suggested that my shaking may be caused by the amount of caffeine I consume on a regular basis, so I took that as a challenge.

I personally don't think that the caffeine is at fault, but to prove this I suggested that I go without for some time. After I decided that a week should be sufficient, Emily threw down and said that she didn't think I could go a week without caffeine. With that, I called her bluff and raised it to 2 weeks.

My research since then has shown that the symptoms of caffeine withdrawal typically fade after 9 days, so 2 weeks should indeed be a valid goal for this.

However, I am feeling the effects already, even after going just 36 hours without a caffeinated beverage.

The rules to this game are simple: No caffeine shall be consumed at all for 14 days, regardless of the pains associated with the detoxification. If after the 14 days are over the tremors are still present, I will have eliminated that as a suspect and proven my ability to stick to such a decision.

:)

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 18:52:55 -0500

Since she says I haven't blogged enough about her (and she's very right), I'd like to take a quick moment to say how lucky I am to have this very pretty young lady, Emily, to call my girlfriend.

Since I've met her, you've probably noticed a severe drop-off in my amount of online activity such as blogging and whatnot. Well, that's because I have a much better use for my time now, and I enjoy it much better than sitting by myself in front of that dull box of blinking lights.

Emily is really a great lady, and I hope that you can all meet her sometime. My life just hasn't been the same since I met her. :)

Bathroom Etiquette

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 20:56:20 -0500

This is a topic I wanted to rant about a couple of months ago, but got severely distracted and forgot all about. It has to do with bathroom etiquette.

Where I work, we have pretty nice restrooms. They offer a nice level of privacy for when you are doing your deed, and they have very nice wash-up areas. But it seems the quality of this setting doesn't differ from that of a run-down truck stop in the middle of nowhere. But what indicators make me think this? Let me hit them one by one.

First, I'd like to point to the janitorial staff. For a crew that's on site daily, all day, you'd think that keeping the paper goods stocked properly would be a small task that could be done at either end of the workday. Apparently that's too much to expect. You see, each "stall" of the mens room holds 2 full rolls of toilet paper. Yet every time I walk in there, I see that there are an additional 2 to 3 rolls stacked on the back of the toilet. Let's not forget that sink area either. The paper towel dispenser is pretty good sized and would probably hold a sufficient amount of towels by itself. However, there is invariably a couple more packs of fresh paper towel laid on the countertop next to the sink, where it does nothing but absorb the water that splashes out of the sinks when they are used. This is a very frustrating thing to witness and would not be tolerated by my standards.

Hanging on to the topic of paper goods, let's talk about what people do with the toilet paper and paper towels. No, I don't mean their intended uses; I'm talking about how they always seem to end up on the floor. It doesn't matter that there are 2 very accessible trash cans within close proximity of the sink and door. Heck, there is almost always a pile of spent paper towels on the floor directly next to the trash can. In the stalls, it seems there is always at least one length of (hopefully) unused toilet paper laying on the floor. Do people not understand the concept of reaching to the floor to pick up what they have so horribly misplaced? It's not that hard, folks.

Have you ever worked somewhere and had to share a workstation with other people? I mean, that keyboard, mouse, and telephone you use on a daily basis has to be used by someone else when you're not there, right? How would you feel if I told you that only 3 of the 5 visitors to the restroom at the office wash their hands between reliving themselves and exiting the bathroom? This is a very loose figure, because it's only observed for the couple of minutes I'm in the restroom each visit. We can easily amplify the intensity of this issue by noting that the offenders are typically those who interact directly with customers or groups of workers in the office. Simply gross.

Another seemingly trivial issue that plagues even the most sophisticated restroom facilities is the concept of flushing the toilet. I could understand and partially appreciate the reluctance if the facility were that of a nasty truck stop, but not when it's a clean and mostly well-kept corporate restroom as we have. Even if placing your hand on the lever to flush the fixture does wrench your stomach, consider using that thing attached to the end of your leg: your foot. The levers are generally low enough that you can easily raise your foot to gently press it downward and trigger the flow of water. Otherwise, your nasty mess that you just got rid of is left for everyone else who enters the restroom after you. Would you like for someone else to leave you such a present? I think not.

What do you feel should be done with those dirty hands once you have dealt with your bodily functions and handled items that others who have done the same have? That's right, wash your hands! There should be no further discussion here, just do it!

Oh, and let's hit one more point while we're at it: Turn the water off when you're done. You do remember those public service announcements we all saw growing up, telling us to turn the water off when we were done, right? Even when it is city water that you don't have to pay for, you should still use the same amount of respect you would expect at your house, should one of your co-workers use your restroom. If you turned it on, turn it off. Simple.

I mean, come on now: We are all old enough to be considered mature adults, right? Why not act the part?!

Re: More about my back

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 23:25:53 -0500

Just a quick entry to keep everyone in the know.

I picked up the lab report from my brain MRI today. Here's what it said:

Findings: There is no evidence of acute infarct, intracranial hemorrhage, mass-effect, midline shift, hydrocephalus or extra-axial collection. There is no diffusion restriction. There is no abnormal parenchymal or meningeal enhancement. The orbits are normal. The paranasal sinuses and mastoid air cells are well-aerated.

Impression: Unremarkable brain MRI.

I'm still feeling the numbness in my legs, a bit of it in my hands and arms, the shaking in my arms and hands, and the back pain and tenderness, but the doctors have said it's not because of my back or anything in my head.

While this is good news, I'm still frustrated that nothing has come of it. I guess I need to talk with my doctor again and ask if it's nothing nervous-system-related, what the heck is it?

Re: More about my back

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 12:43:32 -0500

I just got back from a follow-up with my primary care doctor a bit ago. She said that since the neurosurgeon said my symptoms weren't being caused by the ruptured disc that we needed to look further, to the central nervous system. Thus, she has issued a prescription for an MRI of my brain, which I need to schedule sometime later this week.

This stuff is getting very scary very quickly.