greenman: (Default)
(I have no idea where this came from originally... if some knows, please inform me so that I may apply attribution)


DOG DIARY


8:00 am - Dog food! My favorite thing!
9:30 am - A car ride! My favorite thing!
9:40 am - A walk in the park! My favorite thing!
10:30 am - Got rubbed and petted! My favorite thing!
12:00 pm - Lunch! My favorite thing!
1:00 pm - Played in the yard! My favorite thing!
3:00 pm - Wagged my tail! My favorite thing!
5:00 pm - Milk bones! My favorite thing!
7:00 pm - Got to play ball! My favorite thing!
8:00 pm - Wow! Watched TV with the people! My favorite thing!
11:00 pm - Sleeping on the bed! My favorite thing!


CAT DIARY

Day 983 of my captivity.

My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects.They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while the other inmates and I are fedhash or some sort of dry nuggets. Although I make my contempt for therations perfectly clear, I nevertheless must eat something in order tokeep up my strength. The only thing that keeps me going is my dream ofescape. In an attempt to disgust them, I once again vomit on thecarpet.

Today I decapitated a mouse and dropped its headless body at theirfeet. I had hoped this would strike fear into their hearts, since itclearly demonstrates what I am capable of. However, they merely madecondescending comments about what a "good little hunter" I
am. Jerks!

There was some sort of assembly of their accomplices tonight. I wasplaced in solitary confinement for the duration of the event. However,I could hear the noises and smell the food. I overheard that myconfinement was due to the power of "allergies." I must learn what thismeans, and how to use it to my advantage. Today I was almost successfulin an attempt to assassinate one of my tormentors by weaving around hisfeet as he was walking. I must try this again tomorrow -- but at thetop of the stairs.

I am convinced that the other prisoners here are flunkies andsnitches. The dog receives special privileges. He is regularly released- and seems to be more than willing to return. He is obviouslyretarded. The bird has got to be an informant. I observe himcommunicate with the guards regularly. I am certain that he reports myevery move. My captors have arranged protective custody for him in anelevated cell, so he is safe. For now...
greenman: (Default)
So, a number of you were aware that I went and did a sleep study a couple of weeks ago, as my doctor prescribed. He seemed to think that I may have sleep apnea. The sleep study was perhaps one of the least restful nights of sleep that I've EVER gotten. They attach electrodes and such to you, hook those up to a mass of wires, and tell you "Most people can't sleep on their backs, so go ahead and sleep on your side. However, if you dislodge any of the connections, we'll have to wake you up to get them hooked up again. So, I slept lightly, and woke up every time I shifted position so that I wouldn't dislodge the connections. I went to work the next day feeling like I hadn't sleep at all.

I got the results back last night. From the Wikipedia entry:
"Clinically significant levels of sleep apnea are defined as 5 events of any type or greater per hour of sleep time (from the polysomnogram)."

During the sleep study, I would apparently stop breathing about 39 times per hour, or just over once every couple of minutes. That doesn't mean that I wake up... But it does keep me from sleeping soundly, or at least achieving the kind of sleep that I need to be fully rested.

I actually find this to be a good thing. Sleep apnea is actually reasonably easily treated, in the short term, and essentially curable in the long term. Not fun to get the treatment started, but hey. First, I've got to go back for another sleep study. Normally, the study is done in two parts in the same night, but because I was having so much trouble sleeping, they only got the first part done, which was a reading of how many events occured while I slept. The second part of the study, they put a mask on you and slowly turn up the pressure on the mask until they see how much pressure is needed to keep me breathing regularly. I'll have to go back and have that one done this time, and I'm going to TRY and schedule it for a Friday, so that I'm not crashed out the next day. Once that's done, I'll get a sleep mask (essentially a set of noseplugs that blow air up my nose to keep me breathing) to sleep with. The mask should allow me to get a good night's sleep (once I get used to sleeping with it). And that's the short term treatment.

The longer term treatment is to get my ass to the gym (which I should be able to do once I've got more energy) and lose about 50 pounds or so. That weight loss should bring the apnea under control, which will allow me to get good sleep without the mask. I've been meaning to get to our gym to work out, I just haven't had the energy to do so, and getting up in the morning to do it was painful. So the mask will help with that, and then I will be able to lose the weight and get good sleep without the mask.

I'm hopeful. It's possible that I've had sleep apnea for years without knowing it. I'm looking forward to seeing what I'm like when I'm not so tired that I can literally fall asleep on the floor in the middle of a party.

Unusual

Mar. 16th, 2007 11:42 am
greenman: (Default)
I don't usually rave about music. I enjoy it, but I don't generally get all enthused about any particular artists. At least not to the level that I am right now.

I've been hearing this song on the radio for a while, and I heard it again last night. It sticks in my head every time I hear it, but I'd never managed to get the name of the artist. Female vocalist, bluesy/rock, strong voice. And the lyrics that I'd caught were "big black horse and a cherry tree." So I decided to try and Google that, and see what came up. And sure enough, immediately found the artist, a woman by the name of KT Tunstall. Yes, I'm sure I'm way behind the curve, everybody knows who she is, right? Well, I didn't. And the song that I'd been hearing is in fact called "Big Black Horse and the Cherry Tree". As I'm doing more looking, I noticed that a song that I'd heard last week while I was watching "The Devil Wears Prada" that I'd really liked was also one of hers, another song called "Suddenly I See".

Next step was to look her up on YouTube. And I found this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIO2qpSsUTA - and was impressed as HELL. Good song, and she's doing all the accompaniment herself, with a loop box that she calls "Wee Bastard".
And here's Suddenly I See (actually playing with a full band this time): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tlU-1u1JC8&mode=related&search=

Alyse and I just bought her first album and her new acoustic album. I plan on listening to them a lot.
greenman: (Default)
Snagged from [livejournal.com profile] dek9, it's all her fault.

The 32-type dating test )
greenman: (Default)
Please leave a one-word comment that you think best describes me.
It can only be one word. No more.

Then copy & paste this in your journal so that I may leave a word about you.

I leep! Over the cliff, to my certain DOOOOOOOOOOMMM!
greenman: (Default)
I want to thank all of the people that sent me Valentines or other messages. It definately reiterated to me that I am loved.

And Brad? No offense, you're a great guy... I never, ever want to go there. :)
greenman: (sullen)
I don't remember early (say around grade-school) Valentine's Days. Not with any clarity, or at least, not with any certainty. I just remember having a horrific dread of the day for as long as I could remember, until I pretty much decided at some point (and I can't even remember when that was) to ignore it entirely. And except for the person or people I was dating during Valentine's Day since, I pretty much have.

Now I'm seeing large numbers of people with these Valentine's Day links in their LJ. And I'm... Unsure. I'm curious as to how many people will respond, but I'm not looking forward to crushing bouts of self-doubt if nobody does respond. But, I guess I'll take the leap off the cliff with the rest of the lemmings and see what happens when I hit bottom. 8)

My Valentinr - fingal
Get your own valentinr

O rly?

Jan. 24th, 2007 12:35 pm
greenman: (Default)
So, thanks to [livejournal.com profile] dek9 & [livejournal.com profile] daddy_guido, I now know that
Visit lustsign.com to learn your Lustsign!

And apparently, I'm modest, too!

Bahhhh....

Nov. 29th, 2006 06:13 am
greenman: (sick)
Have you ever noticed that meme is really ME!ME!?

Read more... )
greenman: (Default)
One to follow the link, one to light a candle.

Bristol-Myers Squibb will donate one dollar for each candle lit to the National AIDS fund.

https://www.lighttounite.org/
greenman: (Default)
If you've posted the accent meme to your LJ, or you are going to do so in the near (or far flung) future, please remember to put it behind an LJ cut. Apparently it's breaking a number of people's LJ page views (such as mine...)
greenman: (sick)
Since my last post, things have changed a bit, but are still mostly up in the air.

They quickly ruled out aneurysms and tumors. Then, the next day, they hadn't ruled out tumors, and were going to schedule a PET scan to try and find other tumors "in the rest of her body" though they were reticent to admit that they'd found a tumor in her brain. But the PET scans came back clean, as did the MRI's and the rest of the scans. So, no other tumors anywhere else in her body.

As of yesterday, they'd decided to do a craniotomy to get a biopsy of the mass in her brain. They were concerned, mostly because she's 76 years old, and that makes things a lot more.... iffy for surgeries.

As of this afternoon, they'd gone in and performed the craniotomy, they'd gotten a biopsy of the tissue, and they'd drained about 95% of the blood that had pooled in and around her brain. They are "cautiously optimistic" about her recovery. And it may take until Tuesday to determine the results of the biopsy, as they may have to send the tissue out of state for evaluation.

So, still with the waiting.

But whatever else happens, Alyse and I will be up there next weekend. We were already scheduled to go see my mom the weekend of the 6th and 7th, so now we'll be up there however things go.

And to add to everything, I'm fighting some kind of death cold. Results thus far: no more swallowing glass, but I'm still completely wiped out, and mostly feel like I'm lightly stoned most of the time. I don't really do drugs because I don't like the length of time that I'd be stoned. I've been feeling like this for a couple of days now. I'm done with this feeling. And the quick intermittent bouts of lucidity are like a really nasty, bitchy tease.

...

Sep. 22nd, 2006 01:40 pm
greenman: (Default)
My aunt Dolores is in the hospital. I was called by my mom earlier this morning. She was taken to the hospital for something (not clear what) and it was determined while she was being examined that she was bleeding into her brain. She's been emergency transferred to a hospital in St. Paul (she lives in Minneapolis), where a brain surgeon should be working on her right now, or should have been working on her for a while.

I don't know what's happening. I'm waiting for my mom to call back. There isn't anything that I can do yet but pray to anything and anyone that I hope can help. These few hours are apparently critical for how or even if she'll recover. It is quite likely that I will be taking off at a moment's notice to the Twin Cities, either to see her while she's recovering, or to... But I'm not even going to think about that just yet.

This is not good. She's a wonderful woman, who's done so much for her family and the people around her. She was the head cook in a public school cafeteria for many, many years, and she actually made the food there tasty, to the delight and wonder of the kids in the school. For many of those years, she also taught a Christmas cookie baking class that was so popular that the waiting list to get into the class was 3 years long, or longer.

I'm not going to get morbid. I'm going to go try and distract myself, until I know more. And I have to make a couple of calls, to make sure that a couple of other people know at least as much as I do.
greenman: (Default)
So, I got the MRI done on Tuesday morning. At 7am. And other than having to stop by my office on the way to the appointment, because they needed the physical copy of the doctor's order (even though I needed to give them an RQI number, which I had to have obtained by my doctor's office, I couldn't get it from the insurance company directly), things went pretty well.

And then, I heard back from my doctor on Wednesday afternoon. Turns out that I DON'T have a meniscal tear. Instead, the back of my knee cap has worn down some, and has a tendency to wander, causing intermittant pain, especially on stairs. So, rather than surgery, it looks like it's a bunch of exercises for me, to train the kneecap to not wander off on it's own. Doc faxed over a set of them, and I started doing them last night and this morning. He didn't actually say how long I should be doing them. Presumably I'll do them until the knee feels better, and then keep doing them for a while after that, just to make sure.

But no surgery! YAY!
greenman: (thoughtful)
I've decided that it's easier to post this here than to tell people individually. I know that I'll still have to tell individuals who don't read my LJ, but this will hopefully cut down on the long explanations.
And speaking of cuts... )

So there it is. Knee is unhappy. Evan is dealing, but is not looking forward to how things might or might not turn out. But it's not like I can just say "Oh, look. My knee's not hurting anymore. I walk. A pretty fair amount. And I enjoy walking. I'd like to keep doing so for many years to come.

So when you see me over the next month or so, you're probably likely to see my wearing a knee brace, and probably limping to a greater or lesser degree. Now you know why.

GAHHHH!

Aug. 14th, 2006 01:05 pm
greenman: (Default)
So, Friday morning, I chipped a tooth. Not badly, just the enamel. No exposed anything.

But things were crazy on Friday, and Saturday, and I knew that I wasn't going to have a chance to get to a dentist to get it taken care of until Monday. So I came in this morning, and very specifically sat down to find a dentist in the downtown area.
Cut for those who don't care, or who have dental phobias )

So overall, I found a dentist that I actually like, and will recommend. And that means that maybe I will go to him more often.

And amusingly enough, his office is right next door to the office of the dentist that I went to way back when, before and during my childhood tooth trauma. Turns out that he's retiring when his office lease ends. So I don't have to feel guilty about not going back to him.

chat to LJ

Jul. 25th, 2006 03:45 pm
greenman: (Default)
I wonder if this works? It should, LJFolk have been playing with it all day. Posting from a chat client, that is...

Vox

Jul. 19th, 2006 12:27 pm
greenman: (Default)
So, I got a VOX invitation. I know that [livejournal.com profile] starstraf and [livejournal.com profile] alymid have accounts. Anyone else I know have one?

Profile

greenman: (Default)
greenman

May 2009

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