Tag: links

Vital Statistics

Happy Birthday To Me!

Today I turned 40 years old. I’ll never be 30-something again. I guess I have to enjoy being in my 40s because the alternatives are worse.

One of the great pleasures of my birthday is the gift certificate that Tina’s sister, Michelle, and her family give me from Half.com. This morning the email was waiting for me when I awoke. All I had to do was click a button in the email to redeem the certificate. Then I browsed through my Wishlist and picked everything that I really wanted at that moment. After selecting CDs and books worth about five times the amount of the gift certificate, I removed the items from my shopping cart that were less important. I ended up with three CDs and a book:

The past two nights I have slept very well and don’t remember any mouth-leaking episodes. Tina says that it’s still happening and has to use earplugs. I woke this morning with no alarm after eight hours of sleep. I hope this is a turning point.

Bike odometer: 201 miles
Current reading: I Am Charlotte Simmons by Tom Wolfe, The Prince by Machiavelli
Recent listening: Last week’s charts
Recent viewing: The Manchurian Candidate (remake), High Stakes Poker, World Series of Poker, Headline News
Recent playing: Zuma
Recently accomplished: Mowed lawn, cleaned office, finished birthday invites, cleaned up back yard and deck, stored air conditioner for the winter, setup music for party
Imperative To Do: Hair cut, new rear fender for bike, finish old blog entries, fix toilet
Cool Link: Marijuana Morals

Vital Statistics

My back is all better after the pressure washing whirlwind last weekend. In fact, this morning I felt like I had more energy than I have for quite awhile. I’m taking a day off from work tomorrow so I can expend some energy on the yard and house before the party on Saturday.

Bike odometer: 196 miles
Current reading: I Am Charlotte Simmons by Tom Wolfe, The Prince by Machiavelli
Recent listening: Science Friday, John Prine, Stadium Arcadium by Red Hot Chili Peppers, One Hot Minute by Red Hot Chili Peppers
Recent viewing: Countdown, CBS Evening News, American Masters: Gene Kelly, High Stakes Poker
Recent playing: Zuma
Recently accomplished: Cleaned and disinfected CPAP equipment, bank, post office, FedEx
Imperative To Do: Hair cut, new rear fender for bike, mow lawn, follow-up phone calls for birthday, finish old blog entries
Cool Link: Drug-danger league table: When ranked according to the harm they cause, which drugs are the most dangerous? (Hint: the top two are legal.)

Vital Statistics

Today Tina and I celebrated losing 20 lbs. each by having sushi for lunch. It’s been remarkably easy on the South Beach plan. Tina tells me everything I can and can’t eat which makes it even easier. I wouldn’t be able to do this well without her.

On Saturday I rented a power washer and spent the rest of the weekend cleaning the deck and all of our concrete. After 8 hours on Saturday and 6 hours on Sunday, my whole body is complaining today but especially my back. It doesn’t feel like I “pulled” anything, though, so I’m sure it will be OK in a few days.

My mom is getting here on Wednesday and we’re having a big (for us) birthday party for my 40th birthday on Saturday. You are invited!

Bike odometer: n/a (drove today)
Current reading: I Am Charlotte Simmons by Tom Wolfe, The Prince by Machiavelli
Recent listening: Coverville, MC Front-A-Lot, MC Chris, It’s The Jump Off
Recent viewing: Dead Zone, Countdown, An Evening with the Dixie Chicks, Sportscenter, The Simpsons, The Alternative, The Daily Show, National Pie Championship
Recent playing: Zuma
Recently accomplished: Recycled styrofoam, power washed the deck and concrete, emailed birthday invitations
Imperative To Do: Clean CPAP stuff, bank, refinish deck, hair cut, service van, new rear fender for bike, mow lawn, follow-up phone calls for birthday
Cool Video: Four-year-old drumming prodigy

Vital Statistics

Apple introduced new iPods, a new version of iTunes and added movies to the iTunes Music Store yesterday. The new version of iTunes has a really cool feature that lets you browse through your music like you would browse through your albums back in the day. I really, really like it. The new iPods have better games including Zuma! Man, if I got one of those I would never read again.

Bike odometer: 147 miles
Current reading: I Am Charlotte Simmons by Tom Wolfe, The Prince by Machiavelli
Recent listening: Coverville, Vol. 3: The Subliminal Verses by Slipnot, De-Loused In The Comatorium by The Mars Volta, Spillane by John Zorn
Recent viewing: U.S. Open Men’s Final, Colts at Giants, Dead Zone
Recent playing: Zuma
Recently accomplished: Bought new bike seat, labels for my sister’s CDs
Imperative To Do: Bank, refinish deck, hair cut, service van, new rear fender for bike
Cool Link: Ultimate Lego Chaingun

Vital Statistics

I think I got better sleep last night, but I still woke up many times either because the mask was leaking or my mouth had opened. After blogging this weekend, I went back to Wikipedia to see if there was any information about my problem. At the end of the CPAP article, there were a number of links that I tried including one for CPAP Talk, an online forum for CPAP users. I found an article by a guy who had the same problem as I have (mouth opening during REMs) that solved it by taping his mouth shut. I’m going to continue as I have for a couple of more weeks, but if I keep waking up because of my big mouth, I’m going to give my doctor a call and ask him his opinion about taping it shut. Sounds pretty simple!

Five years ago today I drove my little truck to work instead of biking or riding the Max. I think I forgot the faceplate for my stereo because I didn’t listen to the radio on the way there. Usually, I would listen to NPR if it was early enough, or Mark & Brian if it was later. When I got to work, Tina called me and told me to go to CNN.com. That’s how I found out about the attacks on the WTC and the Pentagon. We turned on the satellite receiver attached to our projector at work, but we had let the subscription lapse. So I wasn’t subjected to the media coverage until I got home that night. I remember driving to work for days after watching the taller buildings expecting a plane to fly into them. I remember how happy I felt when I heard a plane fly over our house again after the airport was silent for a week. Little did we know then that it would be used as justification for the biggest mistake this country has ever undertaken.

Bike odometer: 137 miles
Current reading: The Last True Story I’ll Ever Tell by John Crawford, The Prince by Machiavelli
Recent listening: Taking The Long Way by Dixie Chicks, John Prine
Recent viewing: Bad Santa, U.S. Open Men’s Final
Recent playing: Zuma
Recently accomplished: Paid bills
Imperative To Do: Labels for my sister’s CDs, test drive new bike seats, bank, refinish deck, hair cut, service van
Cool Link: HowStuffWorks: A great site with easy explanations, diagrams and animations to show how stuff works. Examples: How Car Engines Work, How Blogs Work, How File Compression Works, How do stringrays kill?