March 2005 Archives

Wow! I just realized that my blog is more than two years old! My first post was on March 6th, 2003. Incidentally, I have installed MT-Notifier which should allow people to unsub from the Notification list if they don't want to receive emails when my blog is updated.

A little something from my friend Steve Gideon (sole proprietor of Kickstand Critters)
(click pic to read the article)

In other news, it's been a week since they have taken my drain out and I still feel fine (despite a slight head cold). I visited my surgeon yesterday, and he put some silver nitrate on the wound to make it heal quicker (that stuff BURNS!), with any luck, I will be done with doctors for awhile.

This weekend, Jakki and I are going to Moscow to visit the folks and see Flo, Paul and Kristi who are driving over from Seattle. It will be close quarters but it will be nice to see more family.

Today the cath lab docs at Holy Family hospital removed my last remaining surgical drain. Yay! Since the 15th, my drainage had reduced drastically, which was what we were waiting to see. I met with my attending surgeon on Monday and he scheduled the procedure today. They shot contrast solution into the drain and visualized it on the fluoroscope. There were no additional pockets of hidden fluid so they pulled the tube out. I have to wear a bandage for awhile until the hole heals up, but I don't have to worry about getting it caught on things or trouble showering. So that's the good news for today!

Last weekend, Jakki and I journeyed over Snoqualmie Pass to visit relatives in Seattle. As always, the food and company was great, and the weather was weirdly warm. Here are some pics from that trip and a previous trip to see mom and dad:

Click to open in a new window (rollover for titles):
       
     
   

Also in recent news:
Last Wednesday afforded me the dubious opportunity of getting yet another CT scan with GI and IV contrast. Joy of joys! I had some pretty serious abdominal pain on Tuesday, and a moderate fever. This prompted a trip to the doctor, and he was pretty certain it was my appendix. As it turns out, it wasn't appendicitis and the pain and fever went away on their own. As of today, I feel much better; and glad I didn't have to have more sugery. I still have an appointment with the surgeon on Monday, just to touch base and see what's what. My surgical drain output has been much lower as a result of this ordeal, so we are hoping that it was just a signal that the cut ends of my pancreas have finally healed up. Hopefully I can get the one remaining surgical drain out!

Also, KelVo has been re-installed with a newer version of KnoppMyth and MythTV. It kicks right along and I think the encoding colors (esp. reds) are better than before. The interface also seems more responsive.

My next trick will be able to get MAME (an emulator for old arcade game setups) running so we can play Space Invaders and the like. For being such a geek, Jakki is happy at how well I've hidden all the wires, dead chickens, bottles with magic smoke in, and pixie dust. Our entertainment center looks almost normal, save for the WiFi bridge and antenna on top of it.

I uploaded 32 new photos into my online photo album. They are in the album titled "Moving To Spokane". You can get there with the link on the left side bar or by clicking here.

Today I got the first and last oil change I will need in 2005. Since my factory warranty expired in October, I have decided to change to Amsoil synthetic. There is a local shop down the street. One filling of oil is good for one year or 25,000 miles, whichever comes first. You must get the filter changed every six months or 12,500 miles. The grade I went with is a Series 2000 0W-30 oil. It has some features I think are important for a turbo car like mine, such as up to one full quart will stay up in the cylinder head after it is shut down, this means that when the oil pressure drops because the car is shut off, the turbo will still have lubrication while it spins down. I'm curious to see how it affects my mileage, I need to take some data out of my log book and put it in Excel so I have a history baseline to compare it with. If anyone knew my grandfather, Don, you would understand my strange compulsion to do this.

In other news, Jakki is registering for classes at Spokane Community College as I type this, but she is bummed out because she has to go down to the registration office and she has a cold. Here's hoping she will be better by tomorrow, because we are traveling to Seattle to visit some of my relatives and some of Jakki's.

The coffee roasting has been going good, and I have only set the smoke detectors off two times this week. They are a tad bit sensitive, but I plan to replace the filter in the range hood, and that will remedy the problem, or I will attack the smoke detector with a bat.

While searching for more on Beattallica (link from Kevin Bryant), I stumbled across a new music festival:
Mamapalooza! The self-proclaimed festival for mom's that rock.

Apparently there is a whole Mom Rock Band movement that I, just now, am hearing about. This is waaay cool! Such artist include:

• The MyDols
• Placenta (Afterbirth Cometh Rock)
• Black Flamingo
• Frump
• Housewives On Prozac
• The Mothers (from the UK)
• Sin & Tonic
• Betty
• Pilley & Ila's Dress

Due to the current state of my pancreas (alcohol of any kind is no longer allowed), I have given up my homebrewing equipment to my father and taken up the roasting of my own coffee. This morning I did my first roast using some green beans called Indonesian Organic Sumatra Gayo Mountain beans. Following the instructions for my roaster (a Fresh Roast Plus 8), I preheated the roasting chamber for about a minute, and then roasted for about 4.5 mins. The instructions said to take a full minute off the roasting time if you are above 5000 feet. Since I'm not quite that high here in Spokane, I took 30 seconds off. With the preheat cycle, I went a little past a Full City roast and into a French or Espresso roast (click here for definitions). Anyway, as I sit here listening to Rush's Hemispheres, and drinking a cuppa, life is good even though I have to go to the doctor later.

Last weekend, when Jakki and I were down in Moscow visiting the pair-of-ants, I managed to pull my one remaining surgical drain completely out of my body with the help of a doorknob. Joy! After a trip to the Gritman ER and some battle field surgery from a Dr. Vanek, I was put mostly back together.

Upon returning to Spokane, I found a new GP close to the house and saw him on Tuesday. He referred me to a surgeon that I'm going to see today. Hopefully he will be able to replace the drain with a more suitable tube complete with a Luer-Lok junction and a stopcock. The Gritman guy just shoved a modified "16F red Robinson" catheter up in the hole until it stopped, taped it to the old bag, and then sutured it through my skin to hold it. I'm sure my insurance company will be even more in love with me!

Anyway, the fresh roasted coffee is awesome, and I have yet another new hobby.