Tag: Politics

Posted on

Vital Statistics

Graham got an extremely late birthday present today – I finally got around to wiring his bedroom for the internet. I did manage to get him a new computer on his birthday, but many weekends have passed since where I have promised him that I would get it installed but never found the time. He’s been understanding the whole time. Last night I told him that we could do it today if he would help and he was very excited to do it. His most important part involved traversing the crawl space from Thomas’ room (where the “hatch” is) to our room and back. There are several pipes and heating ducts in the way that make it very difficult for me to do it. When I wired Thomas’ room about five years ago, it probably took me an hour to make my way to our bedroom and back to Thomas’ room. This afternoon it took Graham about three minutes to do the same thing. Probably half of that time as me explaining to him where he needed to go. He was my Briar Rabbit today. Anyway, we got it all done and Graham is very excited to have iChat and his own computer for playing internet games.

After my first night with the CPAP, things have gone down hill. The chin restraint keeps my mouth from flying wide open, but my lips still open a tiny bit during REM sleep. This produces a hissing sound that makes Tina think that her ocean-sound alarm is going off. No, it’s just me so she rolls over and taps me on the lip so I close my mouth again. After the first morning of that (I usually go into REMs at around 4:00 am), I adjusted slightly and have since been getting the “chipmunk cheeks”. The valve (for lack of a better word) in my throat opens and air rushes into my mouth puffing up my cheeks. This wakes me enough to close the valve and go back to sleep. However, it’s not making for very good sleep and I’ve had a couple mornings where I slept past 10 hours. On Friday Tina and I saw my sleep doctor and he said to be patient with it. I go back to see him in 6 weeks and take my CPAP in for evaluation (it also records sleep data) in 4 weeks. If it’s not better by then, I’m going to insist on getting fitted for a nose-and-mouth mask.

I think I’ve noticed more motivation in myself on the weekends lately. It’s probably related to the weight loss I’ve had since Tina and I started South Beach about 6 weeks ago. But the whole sleep diagnostic experience has also made me more hopeful about my life in general, I think. I can’t tell you how great it feels to wake up after 8 hours of sleep and be completely rested. I’m looking forward to when every day is like that.

Bike odometer: n/a
Current reading: The Last True Story I’ll Ever Tell by John Crawford, The Prince by Machiavelli
Recent listening: Humpy’s Soul Show, The Jumpoff, Dave Allen’s Neighborhood (all available here)
Recent viewing: Pee Wee’s Playhouse, Ed vs. Spencer, Countdown
Recent playing: Zuma
Recently accomplished: Installed network in Graham’s room, new music for Tina
Imperative To Do: Labels for my sister’s CDs, test drive new bike seats, bank
Cool Link: Spam: An excellent gift for a 40th birthday (the variety pack would be awesome!)

Posted on

Vital Statistics

I rode all the way to work this morning – all 14 miles. It’s the first time in over a year and I felt pretty good. Well, except for my sore butt.

Bike odometer: 108 miles
Current reading: The Last True Story I’ll Ever Tell by John Crawford, The Prince by Machiavelli
Recent listening: DrugMusic, John Prine, Taking The Long Way by Dixie Chicks, Stadium Arcadium by Red Hot Chili Peppers, Running On Empty by Jackson Browne
Recent viewing: FIBA Quarterfinals, The 4400, The Colbert Report
Recent playing: Zuma
Recently accomplished: Finally reached beta on one project at work and GM on the other, paid bills
Imperative To Do: Install network in Graham’s room, sell truck, labels for my sister’s CDs, fix Newton server, kill and pull weeds
Cool Link: Keith Olbermann Responds To Rumsfeld (click on one of the video links to watch)

Posted on

Vital Statistics

My friend, Don Fitzgerald, helped me construct a bench on Saturday to reinforce the sagging rail on my deck. The bench turned out great and now the rail is rock-solid. Don was proud that we only had 4 scraps of wood left when we were done.

I’ve got some pictures from the sleep clinic that I’m sorting through. I’ll have those up some time this week.

Bike odometer: 82 miles
Current reading: The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson, The Prince by Machiavelli
Recent listening: NPR Story of the Day, Science Friday
Recent viewing: Brainiac, 2006 World Series of Poker, Monk, FIBA Championships, Emmy Awards
Recent playing: Zuma
Recently accomplished: Finished Zuma, built a bench on our deck, deck maintenance, cleaned up the work bench in the garage, cleaned and lubed bike, paid bills, helped Thomas design a Lego steering mechanism
Imperative To Do: Install network in Graham’s room, labels for my sister’s CDs, pay bills, fix Newton server, kill and pull weeds, design a better steering mechanism
Cool Link: Why not impeachment? by Bill Maher

Posted on

Vital Statistics

Our new car arrived at the dealer on Wednesday and Tina picked it up that evening. I celebrated by driving the van to work two days in a row – the first time I’ve driven to work in months. We’re all excited about our new Scion. The racks come in next week and Tina has to drop by the dealer to get them installed.

As I mentioned before, I slept at the sleep clinic again on Tuesday. They hooked me up with all the wires and I wore the CPAP nose mask all night. It went pretty smoothly until I started my R.E.M. period around four am. Evidently my mouth drops open during R.E.M.s which causes all the air to rush out. What’s more, I woke up startled and choking a couple of times until I finally awoke completely around five and couldn’t get back to sleep for about 15 minutes. During that time, the mask pushed the nostril microphones (yes, nostril microphones) into my septum. I awoke at 7:30 with a very sore septum. They’re probably going to give me a chin strap to keep my mouth shut. We’ll have to see if that works. I have an appointment with my doctor next week.

Tina’s mom has been here all week. We’re having some mutual friends and Tina’s cousins over tonight for a little farewell BBQ. After we bid adieu to her tomorrow morning, my friend Don is coming over to help me reinforce the railings on our deck with a nice built-in bench. I’ll take pictures.

Bike odometer: n/a
Current reading: The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson, The Prince by Machiavelli
Recent listening: KBOO Bike Show, He’s Drunk/Plus Also Too by Scrawl, Spirit Trail by Bruce Hornsby, This Is The Moody Blues by The Moody Blues, Grace by Jeff Buckley, Lifted or The Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground by Bright Eyes, Has Been by William Shatner
Recent viewing: The Daily Show, 30 Days, Sportscenter, The Colbert Report
Recent playing: Zuma
Recently accomplished: Zuma Level 12-7
Imperative To Do: Build bench to reinforce deck railing, install network in Graham’s room, labels for my sister’s CDs, pay bills, fix Newton server, kill and pull weeds
Cool Link: United Nuclear: Online purveyor of cool and geeky stuff. Looking for a place to buy thermite? This is it!

Posted on

Vital Statistics

This morning I was nearly a victim of the “right hook” (explanation here). A burgundy pickup passed me as I ented an intersection and then turned directly in front of me, passing within a foot of my front wheel. The violation was so blatant that I got mad enough to turn around and attempt to catch up with the vehicle in question. Unfortunately, he/she had a two block head start on me and disappeared around a corner. I cruised the street for a few blocks but they were long gone.

Tonight I spend the night at Portland Adventist where I will be fitted with a CPAP device. I’m bringing my camera this time and hope to get some good pictures of me all wired up.

Bike odometer: 74 miles
Current reading: The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson, The Prince by Machiavelli
Recent listening: DrugMusic
Recent viewing: The Daily Show, 30 Days, Sportscenter
Recent playing: Zuma
Recently accomplished: Zuma Level 12-6
Imperative To Do: Install network in Graham’s room, labels for my sister’s CDs, pay bills, fix Newton server, kill and pull weeds
Cool video: Naked basketball

Posted on

Vital Statistics

Saturday morning I awoke to extremely sore calf muscles. Evidently, all the hiking/walking we did at Adventure Cove the day before took its toll. I did some yardwork, but mostly rested the whole live-long day. I did more of the same yesterday, but my calves are still sore this morning. And I discovered that I actively use those muscles when I’m biking. Now would be a good time to have a second car!

Bike odometer: 64 miles
Current reading: The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson, The Prince by Machiavelli
Recent listening: Taking The Long Way by Dixie Chicks, Science Friday
Recent viewing: The Daily Show, PGA Championship, 30 Days, South Park, The Dead Zone
Recent playing: Zuma
Recently accomplished: Mowed, trimmed and edged the lawn, trimmed some hedges, instructed Thomas on lawn watering, setup my new Airport Express, grocery shopping
Imperative To Do: Install network in Graham’s room, labels for my sister’s CDs, pay bills, fix Newton server, buy pooper scooper, kill and pull weeds
Cool video: Monster dunk

Posted on

Vital Statistics

We joined Thomas at Adventure Cove on the Oregon coast this afternoon and helped him lug his bags to the van. After that we dined and watched their last “campfire”, which is sort of their nightly show. Thomas had a great time all week. We’re all pretty tired from all the up-and-down hill walking in the camp. Thomas and Graham both fell asleep on the way home after they polished off their Blizzards. Tomorrow their Grandma Jan arrives and they are plenty excited about that, too. Isn’t it great to be a kid?

Since there have been a few comments about our decision to buy the Scion, I thought I might tell you the specific criteria that we developed and how the xB fits them:

  • Gas mileage: We spend $50 to fill up our Caravan now. That hurts. We definitely wanted something that gets better mileage and the xB fits the bill: 30 mpg in the city and 33 on the highway. That’s the rating for the manual transmission, but I’m sure my granny driving will get even better mileage.
  • Cargo capacity: We need room to fit Thomas’ cello and possibly a bass if he decides to switch later. While the xB does not have nearly the cargo capacity that our Caravan has, its 60/40 fold down rear seats make enough room to fit the instrument.
  • Reliability: The last couple of years have been a real drag on us for auto repairs. We wanted something reliable and with a good warranty. The Kia 10-year warranty is pretty incredible, but we think the Scion warranty will probably be good enough: 3 years bumper-to-bumper with 5 years on the drive train. In addition, if we want to purchase an extended warranty, it only costs about $800.
  • Price: Although Tina convinced me to check 6 Online Communities About New Electric Vans For Sale You Should Join and with info I decided that a new car was what we needed, I still was pretty unwilling to go into new car pricing territory. We set our price range at $15-17k and the xB was easily the least expensive of any other car we were considering: $14,570 MSRP with standard options.

In summary, the xB tested nearly perfectly for our criteria. What I hadn’t counted on was how much I would love driving it. Even though it’s got a tiny little motorcyle engine in it, it’s got tremendous get-up-and-go. The interior is totally Spartan but that also appeals to me because I hate having to pay for interior amenities. The amount of interior space is also pretty incredible, especially the amount of leg room in front and back.

If you’re really interested, you can go to the Scion xB showroom to get all the details, but here’s a few of the standard options that we appreciate:

  • Air conditioning
  • Power windows
  • Power locks
  • AM/FM/CD player
  • Auxiliary audio input jack on the console (iPod pluggable – nobody else had this)
  • Bucket seats similar to the ones in our van including the height at which you sit
  • Extra cargo space under the floor in the rear
  • Anti-lock brakes
  • Driver and passenger air bags
  • Shoulder belts for all five passengers

As you can probably tell, we couldn’t be happier. Tina wants one in Salsa Red (I don’t care about color) and we’re told one arrived in the Port of Portland. We’re calling tomorrow morning to reserve it. We’ll see how long it takes to get it.

Finally, lest it sound like I actually did anything aside from nodding my head occasionally, I have to give all the credit to Tina for finding this car. Not only did she find a great car for a great price, she resolved the conflict between us about what exactly we should do for our next car purchase. What a great wife she is.

Bike odometer: 59 miles
Current reading: The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson, The Prince by Machiavelli
Recent listening: Rufus Wainright by Rufus Wainright, Vol. 3: The Subliminal Verses by Slipnot, Abraxas by Santana, Stadium Arcadium by Red Hot Chili Peppers, Humpy’s Soul Show
Recent viewing: The Daily Show
Recent playing: Zuma
Recently accomplished: Got the boy back
Imperative To Do: Setup Airport Express, install network in Graham’s room, labels for my sister’s CDs
Cool link: zunafish: Trade the stuff you’re done with for the stuff you want

Posted on

Vital Statistics

Tina, Graham and I went car shopping today. We decided that we really needed at least one reliable car, so rather than replace the truck with another used truck, we’re going to get a new family car. Today we looked and and drove a Kia Sorento, a Scion xB and a Chevy HHR. The Sorento was nice and Kia has a great warranty, but they couldn’t come down to our price range. The HHR might be nice, but after driving the xB, there was really no question which car we would get. We’re going to finalize our financing options and might have a new Scion next week!

Thomas didn’t go with us today because he’s been at Cub Scout Camp all week. Tina has missed him greatly and we’re going to pick him up there tomorrow. I suspect that he’s hardly noticed we’re not there.

I may have mentioned a couple of weeks ago about spending the night at the hospital as part of a sleep study. The study confirmed that I have positional sleep apnia which means that I have an abnormal number of apnia episodes when I sleep on my back. I also exhibit apnia symptoms while I am in R.E.M. sleep. During the sleep study, if I would have shown apnia by 2:00 AM, they would have awoken me in order to fit me with a CPAP device. I did not meet the criteria and did not exhibit severe enough apnia until after I went into R.E.M.’s sometime after 2:00 AM. I can’t tell you how disappointed I was when I awoke at 5:30 and realized that they had not awoken me. Later, the technician explained my situation and assured me that I would probably still be fitted for a CPAP on another night. Thus, I am scheduled for another study next week and I’m pretty sure it will be to do that very thing. I’ll write more later when I know more.

Bike odometer: 59 miles
Current reading: The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson, The Prince by Machiavelli
Recent listening: Taking The Long Way by Dixie Chicks, KBOO Bike Show, Humpy’s Soul Show
Recent viewing: Pee Wee’s Playhouse, Nature, Monk, Countdown, The Colbert Report
Recent playing: Zuma
Recently accomplished: Car shopping, recycling, garbage, paid bills, expense report, upgraded my DSL
Imperative To Do: Setup Airport Express, install network in Graham’s room, labels for my sister’s CDs
Cool link: Moving by bike

Posted on

Vital Statistics

Looks like we’re looking at 90+ degree heat later this week. Saturday might be the day we go see the new Superman movie in Digital Super High Def at Cinetopia.

Bike odometer: 39 miles (I think my bike odometer needs a new battery)
Current reading: The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson, The Prince by Machiavelli
Recent listening: DrugMusic, Lynryd Skynyrd, Run DMC by Run DMC
Recent viewing: The ESPY’s, Sportscenter, Countdown, The 4400, Monk
Recent playing: Bust-A-Move
Recently accomplished: Lubed bike, returned cans, pulled huge blackberry vine, sequenced CDs for my sister
Imperative To Do: Bike repairs, get watch fixed, buy battery for bike odometer, truck shopping, Internet for Graham’s room, burn CDs for my sister
Cool link: Chris Bliss: Awesome juggling act choreographed to the final medley on Abbey Road.

Posted on

Vital Statistics

Graham and Tina are at Cub Scout Camp this weekend so Thomas and I are having a bachelor’s weekend. Some of the agenda items include: returning cans and bottles to the store, poker at Jonathan’s, Halo, Bust-A-Move and maybe some yard work if we find time.

Current reading: The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson, The Prince by Machiavelli
Recent listening: Taking The Long Way by Dixie Chicks, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Dead Kennedys, Jackson Browne, Bob Dylan
Recent viewing: Sportscenter, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, Brainiac, Mythbusters
Recent playing: Bust-A-Move, Halo
Recently accomplished: n/a
Imperative To Do: Bike repairs, get watch fixed, truck shopping, Internet for Graham’s room, burn CDs for my sister
Cool link: Gaussboys Super Magnets: Purveyor of rare earth magnets. These are super-powerful – check out the Crazy Pics link.