Journal

Way to end vacation...

Today is the last day of my just shy of two weeks of vacation. While I'm glad to be on vacation, I'm happy to go back to work. The structure will do me some good. I've been staying up later and later and later. Even last night when I got in bed at around 10:30, I still ended up reading till 1 or so in the morning.

For New Years, we took a trip down to to Cedar Rapids for the second time over this break. We spent the evening with the Matta's, which has become kind of our tradition. We went to the Sushi House, which was...ok. It's good for Cedar Rapids, which doesn't have a lot of choices, especially in this area, but after such a short time since a trip for pretty good sushi, by comparison, Sushi House was...pretty lackluster.

We headed back to the Matta's, and them being childless for the evening (Taylor and Cali staying with Jenny's mom), Nathan and I dug right into the booze. We started off with some sweeter wines, I was hoping that Shannon would actually like, which I think she did. For both of us, though, our tastings were at a bare minimum, since we were both impaired by colds. I had trouble smelling (only strong odors came through), while Shannon had trouble with both taste and smell. But the highlight of the evening was the Cedar Ridge Vinyards Port. The port was reccomended by one of the find staffers at the Gateway Market. While both Nathan and I thought the Cedar Ridge Vinyards Port was a bit too sweet, and should be aged a bit longer in wood, it was better then the other bottle of port that we had, which name slips my head. This Port was something that you could sit down and have glass, just for fun...and at the price, it wouldn't be such an expense.

Nathan also broke out the last of his Absinthe, which he had gotten through a mistake made by someone close to them (they didn't know it was illegal to import at the time). Even though the cold, it had a strong odor...and tasted vile...and I mean vile. Even after I added a whole lot of sugar, it was still just nasty.

We eventually played Pop Culture Trivial Pursuit, to ring in the new year...and by the end of it was Was having trouble rolling dice, reading questions and giving answers... I often gave answers for other people...since...well...my internal filter was pretty much gone.

We headed to bed, and got up the next day had some lunch and headed over to Kim and Mike's (Shannon's sister and brother in law) for Sean's birthday. Luckily, it was not going to be at Chucky Cheese this year. For me, especially this year, this was a good thing, since the noise of the place, the kids, and the vile food would have not gone well with the way my body felt. It was nice and simple, Sean got a nice pile of loot and we had cake and chatted with people for a few hours. And headed home. Unlike most times we take a trip to CR, we actually had to fill up on the way home.

Good weekend! Second visit to the Matta's and good times.

Oh and I just noticed this...I know that not all of the time that I've taken off is on this pay stub, but I'm still at 90% full PTO bank...though I guess another 10% will get taken off...on the next one...I guess less..since I'll earn a bit less...more like another 8%...but still..silly.

Haven't been feeling to good...so heres a bunch of stuff

Last Saturday we headed up to Ames to visit the Tomson's. This has been the first time in a long long time that we've seen them. It makes me sad that we don't get to see them more often. Seth and Bri decided to have a Sake party and we decided to go. We joined Chris and Holly in the drive up north. We did have a bit of a spat over driving, since I wanted to drink, and Shannon didn't want to drive, but with Chris and Holly driving, the problem was solved.

We saw their house, which seemed very 70sish in the decor, though very pretty. I've always thought that Bri had a very good eye and did lots with very little. I missed out on a lot of the house, since they had it mostly closed off, but I think they did that for the party, and since they had guests over and what not.

We drank 6 or 7 kinds of Sake, between the 8 or 9 people drinking. There were a few that I didn't like too much...they just didn't taste that good, but over all it was a pretty good experience... Bri had also made sushi (pretty good) and this little pork rolls (a pork mixture inside a roll, they were fantastic). We ate many of the pork rolls.

After we were intoxicated to some extent, we drove back down to Des Moines.

Monday I started to feel sick. So I went home earlier then I have been, and kinda camped down in front of the TV. I then proceeded to go through chills, being so cold that even wrapped up in a blanket, I was shivering. It was quite the ride. Around midnight or so, I think my fever broke. I thought I could go to work the next day...but after being there for a couple of hours, I thought better of it and came home and was lazy for the rest of the day.

Thursday afternoon my younger brother Joseph, now free of his military obligations, came up to investigate possible job opportunities here in Des Moines. We ate at Uncle Wendell's BBQ and Joseph decided that he wanted to work there. So Friday morning, we headed out to catch Wendell at the store to pick up an application. We all headed there for lunch and Joseph got a quick little interview and it seemed to go well, but besides being overqualified (5 years of Fast Food experience including 4 of that being in a managerial role), he had apparently just hired someone and it appears to be working out.

That night we went to Appare Japanese Steakhouse. We tried to go to Miyabi 9 first, but they were so busy, that we decided to head elsewhere. Being Joseph's first experience with sushi we tried out a few different kinds of sushi. We had:

  • Seacoast roll
  • AJS roll
  • King Lobster roll
  • California Roll
  • Spider Roll
  • Dynamite Roll
  • Dragon Roll
  • Monster

I really liked the AJS and the Dynamite rolls, but all were very good. Joseph, after having a difficult time with chopsticks, began to get the hang of it and at the end showed quite the interest in having sushi again. He also wanted to do the teppanyaki part of the steakhouse and will probably come back to do so, eventually.

It was nice to hang out with him for a while. We headed back to the house and he headed back home.

Saturday, we finished up the setup of the DVDs of the home movies of Shannon's mom's family. And proceeded to burn the DVDs for the family. I also did a pork roast again (since I bought two for the previous movie night) I did it fairly similar to the previous time, though I didn't follow the recipe...since I lent the magazine to Holly...but it turned out great. The pork was much juicier (not that i was dry before...just not as juicy as I wanted). I was very happy. Since there were only two of us, there were lots of left overs...for sandwiches...mmm...pork...

Today we cleaned up the 4 or so inches of snow, and then I got to baking and made some double chocolate banana bread. In listening to the Sound Opinions Christmas Spectacular and baking the banana bread, I was really starting to catch the holiday spirit (for the first time this month) and I'm looking forward to seeing our families and the Mattas over Christmas and new years.

Mmm...time to make pork sandwiches....mmmm...pork... *drool*

Starting with Today and going backwards...and then forward

I am in the process of making my first cheesecake....It is time consuming, but it smells like it will turn out well. It has the flavor of pumpkin and burbon and I hope turns out well. Long cooktime, long cool time, even before I can stick it in the fridge.

Yesterday, Iowa Health Home Care called and told me that my CPAP was back in working order, and because I left work late last night, I headed out this morning to pick it up. I still think their new building is buried in the depths of a maze. It is kind of annoying. But I got a new water chamber that has a one way valve, to help prevent any water getting into the chamber...kinda neat.

This past Sunday, we stripped off the wallpaper divider in the dining room...our first try didn't lead to much in the way of results, but after consulting the intertubes, we made much better progress. We do have some clean up work to do with little bits of whatever the heck is left, but it should be easier.

This past Saturday we trimmed bushes and picked some weeds.

Shannon did have to nag me to do both...but I guess it was good to do. Painting is next. Starting off with ceilings, priming the dining room walls and then moving on to the colors that Shannon picked and I didn't veto.

This weekend is gonna be busy. Friday night, Chris and Holly are hosting the Halloween party, should be a good time. Afterwards, Chris is having a mini-LAN party, which, as I understand, goes through Saturday. Sunday, is the Des Moines Community Orchestra's Fall Concert, which Holly is in. Should be a good time.

stuff and maybe some things...

Movie night was last night. Holly made some wonderful things. Encrusted Chicken with a spicy sauce, some drop biscuits with cheese in them and some noodles. The chicken was tender and the sauce was good, though it may have been a little too spicy for Holly...though Shannon seemed to like it too. The biscuts..well..they were too salty, but I could tell that they would be very good, beyond the salt. We watched Psycho, I was reminded of how good a movie it is. We then watched a documentary on the movie, and I swear, it was as long, or longer then the actual movie. Needless to say, we didn't finish the documentary.

I actually wrote a letter the other day. And dropped it in the mail...I don't know how much good it'll be, but I hope it helps to lift my brother's spirits, though I don't know if he'll make it through.

I was very disgusted with myself the other day. Sitting at home, just kinda waiting and I was hungry. Instead of eating many of the healthy things that are around the house (apples, carrots, bananas, etc), I open up the bag of marshmallows. I'm such a binge eater...I have been since I can remember. From cheese and crackers to banana bread to whatever. I try to control it, but from time to time, I feel like I am watching myself do these things. It's dreadful. Yet, I wouldn't get on drugs for it. I ended up throwing them away...

Speaking of drugs, the Prevacid seems to be going well for the most part. I have had painful gas/bloating from time to time, but over all I'm tolerating it well (only that one time has it woke me up out of a sleep). Carrots go down well. The other two seem to be going well and my blood pressure is in line too. So, it's all settling out. I'm not looking forward to the bill for the esophageal dilation, but it should come sometime...I'm actually kinda surprised it hasn't....

So we're going to go see the Cedar Rapids Symphony tomorrow. I have many fond memories of going to this when I was a child. I think the company my dad worked for donated money or something and they always had tickets (that apparently nobody else wanted), so I went a lot. It'll be also be nice to see the Mattas too.

Tomorrow is a big day for Brandon. He turns the big 30. Shortly he'll be a father. The changes he's made in his life in the past year or so, makes me happy. I used to worry about him quite a bit, but now, it is much better.

Happy Birthday Brandon!

waking me up...

So I had some abdominal pain so bad that it woke me up...I'm feeling all right now...but the Prevacid apparently has a possible side effect of that.

I've also found, in my searches to find out what I should do, that they have a kids site and that there are a whole lot of websites out there that basically take the medical information, break it up, publish it and hope for some ad hits...

I wonder if they feed this data from somewhere, or they actually have to be proactive about it...but it is frustrating to have all these resources that say exactly the same thing...

My throat hurts

So this morning Shannon and I headed down to John Stoddard to get an upper GI endoscopy for me. Things went pretty smoothly and I don't remember much of anything that happens...other then at the begining, where they put a plastic loop in my mouth (to protect my teeth and their camera)...Shortly after that they drugged me up and I remember fighting back a little when they stuck something in my mouth...but shortly after that I zonked out.

So I did get a balloon stretching of my esophagus. They also told me they they collected some samples and what not. So I should know eventually if there is anything else going on. I've also been put on Prevacid.

I've been groggy most of the day, though not totally out of it...I've taken a couple of naps, but I feel ok now. My throat does hurt, but not any worse then a medium sore throat.

past two weeks

For the past two weeks I've been on Avalide 150mg/12.5mg and another 12.5mg of HCTZ. this has actually brought my blood pressure into control and also the headaches are gone, for the most part. At the very least, they are a lot less intense and they are growing more and more infrequent.

I'm supposed to be getting a call from someplace to get scoped to check things around and leading to my stomach. Apparently, it'll leave me fairly drugged up afterwards. I guess we'll see what happens.

And my next checkup is in 6 months.

Drug Summary

Cozaar 100mg + 25 mg HCTZ (couple of years)
Benicar 20mg + 25 mg HCTZ (couple of weeks, switched because bp was getting higher)
Benicar 40mg + 25 mg HCTZ (couple of weeks, felt tired all the time and like someone was constantly punching my kidneys)
Avalide 150mg/12.5mg (couple of weeks)
Avalide 300mg/25mg (couple of weeks, again felt tired all the time and eventually like someone was punching my kidneys
Avalide 150mg/12.5mg + Metoprolol 25mg (couple of weeks)
Avalide 150mg/12.5mg + Metoprolol 50mg (~3 months, felt tired a lot, near constant headache...obnoxiously so sometimes like stabbing pain usually localized on one side of the brain or other, mild most of the time)