Journal

2015 - Week 19 Cooking Results

<health related, probably not of general interest>

So I think I finally figured out what has been occasionally been happening to me.  I try to eat a high fiber diet, but occasionally things work out so that I don't really get as much fiber as I should.  I know I have diverticula, and I think that this past week (probably brought on by eating the steak tacos), that it may have caused a flare up.  I think it happened a while back to, but I wasn't quite sure as to what I ate to trigger that previous flare up, but it does make sense.  It is quite painful, if I move the left side in a particular way it hurts then I have to move back.  I woke up several times to try to find that sweet spot where the pain wasn't to bad.

Anyways, I have to try harder not to slip out of my goodish behaviors and avoid big hunks of beef (I don't seem to have a problem with pork)

</health related, probably not of general interest>

Being that I didn't want to aggravate my insides, I tried the sofritas (tofu) at Chipotle.  It was quite good (at least mixed in with the other burrito ingredients).  This in no way is an indicator of going vegetarian or even thinking about it, but a good chuck of the meals this week were meat free, for the most part.

Ramp Pesto Spaghetti

I always look forward to ramp season.  Short that it is.  I got a bit from last week, then one bundle this week.  The color for this was a glorious green with that wonderful mildly garlic / onion smell of ramps.  Combining this with a bit of Pecorino Risevra and skipping the walnuts.  Turned out fantastic, though probably not something you want to eat if you plan on kissing or hell talking closely to someone later.

Spring Garlic Risotto

So I made a lot of this.  I wanted to get through the last of the arborio rice in the storage container.  I had quite a bit more then I thought, so after adding all the spring garlic I had, it still seemed a bit bare, so I added peas.  Peas added a little bit of sweetness to the dish, and filled it out a bit.  There were lots of leftovers.  Good (though not near as good) heated up the next day or so.

Steak Tacos with Cilantro-Radish Salsa (Spring Onions)

So one side of the flank steak was thinner, so they were a bit more done (mid-rare) and then the the other side was rare.  So Shannon ate from the mid-rare side and I from the rare side.  I traded the promise of future beer for radishes (know your farmer, I proceeded to forget the beer, but paid for the radishes at DTFM on Saturday).  It made for a nice offset for the steak.  Though I paid for the steak later, this recipe is still good and worth doing, though I don't think it'll be on my list again.

Beef Burgers (New farm, don't remember the name)

It is Broadhorn Farm.  Specializing in Belted Galloway cattle (fairly rare Scottish heritage breed), they clearly are a tasty breed of cow.  Good burgers, prepared simply.  I'll probably buy from them again.

Spicy Carrot Sandwiches (yay carrots, that were properly stored)

Delayed.

I can talk about this, publicly now.

So a bit back we were taken through a roller coaster of emotions.  Scare, relief, scare, more scare.

So for several reasons my wife was sent over to Iowa Radiology after a bit of back and forth, we found out that she had a mass around one of her ovaries.  So at best, it's gotta go, at worse, all that system has to go.

So the positives.

  • Her work has been amazing  She found out about it during the first month or so of working there.  We were planning on just using FMLA to ensure she can go back to work, but her manager was like here, let me get you the short term disability paperwork, lets take care of this.
  • My work has also been amazing.  Clearly I have been distracted, overly emotional, and running off to take my wife to appointments.  This has not been a problem (except the minor freakout for a major go-live that I'll be missing (I only have a minor role)).
  • Many people have said if we need anything, just ask, and not like that thing that some people might say, but more of a these people will actually do.  It feels great to have friends  / family like this.
  • The oncologist we are working with, we have not heard anything bad about her (other doctors, other people in the know).  She's been great to talk to and handle everything.  She's been a great confidence boost.
  • I had other plans for my Flex money this year (dental), and we set aside some flex money for Shannon, but between the two of these things, there's a large chunk of cash to take care of bills, and another large chunk in reserve beyond that.

The bad (for me)

  • I have been stress eating.  Now I'm quite aware of it, and I'm within a reasonable margin, but more then I should be clearly.  Strangely enough I'm still down weight, so who knew (up from my lowest point, but down from my latest peak)?
  • There has been more...drinking.  Certainly not to the same extent as some other periods in my life, but certainly more then the weekend / casual / social type of drinking that I do.  While I know it's not the best way to deal with things, some of it is the calming ritual of it.
  • I never expected to live past 30 (I'm closing in on 40).  In discussions with a fried about this whole thing, neither of us really were living our lives as if there was not much of a future.  Lives changed then my goal became, I want to make sure that there is enough money for my wife, when I pass.  Clearly I will first, though she doesn't like me talking like this, but with that as a generalized goal and a lot of what my life revolves around, what would happen if that pillar was gone?  Being in the suspense that we have been kept in, in these periods of time, very dark thoughts can go across my mind.  I'm often, as I stated, distracted, distressed and very dark.  I try to keep up the habits that keep my mood elevated (regular walks, keeping myself partially distracted at all times, etc), but often times, these days, it's not working very well.  Sometimes I hide it well, sometimes not.  Either way, it's been a struggle to keep my head in a normal / semi-normal space, while trying to be supportive and keep up with the day to day.
  • I have been sleeping poorly.  I often find myself staring at the ceiling, waiting for sleep to hold me.
  • When I sleep and dream, they're often bad dreams, haunted by bad things

With all this going on we've been working together to keep the attitudes positive.  It is hard to predict what will happen in the next 40 days or so, but hopefully, no more bad surprises.

a little bit of health

So in order to take money off my health care costs, I have been corralled to participate in a program that has goals and coaching.

I'm not a particular fan of either.

But in order to keep my interest up, I've started to use Argus and Runkeeper.

Argus, trending steps.

Runkeeper feeds into Argus and the company generalized wellness program (at least it should, I've not seen it take action yet).  I can't really recommend either yet, but so far I like Argus's display and what I'm willing to track (steps, water & coffee consumption).  I've gotten permission to get a scale to track weight, body fat, etc.

Hopefully the statistics and graph of this will keep me interested enough to continue on all this.

On a whole, I have a general problem with how this is working.  I don't like to be coached nor do I like to set goals.  If I, generally, know what I need to do, having someone tell me the same thing I already know is redundant.  I don't need encouragement because that won't particularly motivate me to move forward in the path that they want.  Goals I find pointless, because I have general guidelines, that have to be adjusted along the way.  Example, we had to quickly pay off Shannon's student loans, not because they were the smallest debt, nor were they the highest interest rate (not by a long shot), but it became a burden on the rest of the budget (due to the processor's lack of adjusting the graduated rate of repayment, until the very end).  It adjusted the generalized target over the short term, which, if I had set another financial goal, would've made that goal a failure.  Yes, I am aware that I have posted goals in the past.

To ask me to do these things, is not how to motivate me.  However, I understand that some people do like to have these types of encouragement.  These services, however, are not available to all people, just those of us who are "at risk" of higher medical costs.  I understand why, I really do, but shouldn't it be good to offer these (even at a small cost, vs no cost for us at risk) to everyone who wants to better their lives in this fashion?

On another note, I finally got my CPAP machine replaced.  I've had this one  so long (that the last time I had it in for repair) they said I was lucky, because they're almost out of support for them.  It doesn't record my sleeping habits (other than counting the hours of sleep since it started (near 15k or 16k hours)).  This one has a card that I can take in for reading and give some knowledge to my provider to how I'm doing.  This replaces the one that my mother ungifted from me (it was fair, I never got around to using it anyways).  Luckily this means no more sleep studies, which is good cause the last one I slept for shit (I don't sleep well, in general, and less so in unfamiliar places).  That reminds me I need to report back on a question from my provider (reminder added to calendar).

2014 - Week 8 Cooking

So I ate a banana.  I know what you are thinking, that is not a big deal, but to me it is.  I banned bananas from my diet because of grueling stomach pain and copious amounts of flatulence (yeah I said it).  Perhaps it is because I like my bananas a bit greener than most (no spots on the skin, when it just turns from green to yellow)) and I let this one go quite a bit more than that.  Or maybe it was a combination of other things or whatever, but even so, It passed.  So far, so good (more than 24 hours later).

2013 - Week 34 Cooking

  • BATC (with Butcher Crick Farms tomatoes this time)
  • Sausage, Tomato, pepper and onion pasta
  • (not so) Grilled Lamb Kofte (p19 Cook's Illustrated July & August 2013)
  • Crooked Gap Brats
  • Local Beef Burgers (I'm pretty sure from Coyote Run Farm, it's been in the freezer for a while) 

I picked up the first apples for me of the season this year (Summer Treat).  Excited to have them around again.  I'm also having trouble staying inside the 40$ budget.  Basically $40 are the standard supplies I get in a week, a bit of pork, some vegetables, eggs, some goat cheese, and maybe, if I'm lucky, a La Mie Ham and Swiss Croissant.  With the optional things coming up (apples, tomatoes, new things to try (local blueberries)), I'm basically bound by the budget I had to set to cover an unexpected rise in a bill.  It's driving me up the wall a bit.  I had to reduce a bunch of things to pay for this bill.  Some, not so bad (really the big difference between Entertainment and Ultimate on DirecTV was one or two channels I watch occasionally and a bunch of sports channels that I don't care about), others, like reducing the discs from netflix just sort of reflect reality, but the farmer's market thing really hurts.

I also found out that I have a double ear infection (middle ear in both, outer ear in one) .  Got some antibiotics and some drops.  Fun Fun.

Nose issues

So this all started, probably, with me coming down with a cold.  I felt pretty bad on Sunday night, so much so, that I went to bed around 7:30 PM and slept, with a half hour break around 2:AM for the next 12 hours.  Normally this would probably be a good thing and I admit I felt pretty good after, certainly better then the night before.

So we made it through Christmas eve without any issues, and right before we were going to bed at our friends house, I got my first bloody nose, which was both nostrils, just after midnight.  I took care of it, chocked it up to the amount of time I've spent blowing my nose that day and the cold.

This was followed by my nose opening up from one nostril or the other throughout the day.  The morning we spent with the Mattas and the afternoon that we spent at my parents house.  Occasionally it switched from right to left or left to right nostril.  Around 5:30 PM, my left nostril decided to open up and not drip, but decided I didn't need any of the blood in my skull.  After I couldn't get it to stop, I decided it was time to go to the ER.

So we headed to St Luke's (being in Cedar Rapids), was registered, checked in and went back to the room in a pretty quick manner.  Every one (registation, nurse, PA, and doctor) were very nice, considering that it was the evening of Christmas day.  After several times waiting (it did sound like there was some other stuff happening out there).  So the first treatment was an Oxymetazoline hydrochloride nasal spray.  So I was think that this was going to be the most expensive trip to use Afrin, however I started bleeding again and then the PA used Silver Nitrate to cauterize the left nostril, which led to a bunch of blood coming back out, which gave the PA concern and thought he'd take it to the next level.

The doctor came in, and was preparing to stuff my nose and nasal cavity.  This clearly wasn't going to be pleasant, so he checked out my nose, saw the silver nitrate did actually close up the scrape on one side, and the other closed up itself, so they had me walk around to make sure the would stay closed (I got the floor tour of the ER).  After that, my nose didn't open back up, so I lucked out and was released.

So, thanks to Jenny and Nathan, for accepting that I bled all over their house (cleaned up after myself), Mom and Dad for helping me clean my 2nd time worn shirt and Joseph for driving us to and from the hospital, my Aunt for her expert prodding and Shannon, who I should clearly listen to more often.

2012 - Week 34 Cooking Results

It's been a pretty tough week.  Between work, muscle tension and spasms from coughing, and finally being diagnosed and treated for pneumonia (with a surprise two days off).  After doing some research I think I probably brought it on myself.  I'm pointing at Serratia marcescens, probably from the water chamber of my CPAP machine.  It's been there for a while and I just thought that perhaps it was just staining of the bottom of the container (though since I only use distilled water, I'm not sure what would be staining it).  So after coming to that conclusion and trying to clean out the chamber, I just tossed it and put in place my spare.  I thought I had a spare hose, but I was mistaken, so I'll be ordering one on Monday.  But on the positive side, I'm pretty sure it's a bacterial infection and not a fungal one (which I imagine is much tougher to get out of my lungs).  My lungs are starting to clear up (about to take 3rd of 10 Levofloxacin pills).  It is easier to breathe over all, but any activity slightly above sedentary moves reminds me of the reduced general performance of the lungs.  I almost want another nebulizer treatment to dilate my bronchial tubes, but that's probably a bit much to ask for.

Sausage, Cannellini and Kale soup (may spice it up a bit)

So Larry told me a nice story about a heritage pepper which translates to "Satan's Breath".  It was a mid spicy pepper (not as hot as a habenero, but got a nice heat to it), so I figure what better to put it in.  Since I was also using his Kale as well.  It was good.  Even though it's been hotter out (but dry), the soup was warming and comforting.  It was nice, espically with all the crap in my lungs.  I wish I would've take a picture before I started eating it, but I didn't and the ones I took don't look so good (silly spoon).

Spicy Peanut Noodles with Ground Pork and Shredded Vegetables

Made Sloppy Sammys instead (was tired last night).

Spicy Turkey Burgers (vaguely based on this)

So I used some leftover chiptole chile pureed with the adobo sauce, a Bird's Eye chili, a bit of onion and garlic and pureeed everything together.  It all worked pretty well and had a pretty good taste.

Personal Nonsense

So this past Wednesday, Shannon said that there was an employee from the Des Moines Water Works, and then on Thursday, as I was about to head towards the shower, another Water Works employee knocked on the door and said he wanted to listen to some pipes inside the house, so I let him in and directed him to the basement and he listened with his device and headed back outside and listened some more and back inside.  The conclusion of all of this is that on Saturday we got a letter from the city that stated that we needed to replace the service line.  When I called today for further details today, it looks as if we need to replace from the stop box to the house (from research, I've found that it's water main with an off pipe the stop box, stop box to house, simple enough, Denver Water Works had some nice diagrams).  We also found that this was our responsibility.  So I had remembered hearing some where some number of how much it cost and for some reason I had in my head the number of $10,000.  Now we don't have $10,000 laying around (we should have an emergency fund with way more then that, but we're working to get there, but aren't even close to that).  So we were under the assumption that we'd have to shoot the gains we've been making at debt reducing in the face.

We just got the first bid in, and it's well under that $10,000 number and broken into a couple of parts (waterline to stop box, one part, stop box to house another) and together they'd be around $6,000.  Well we don't have that either, but we do have the money to cover the stop box to house line...though just barely (we could cover the stop box to the waterline too, but not both).  What this does mean, however, is that the external painting of the house is put on hold for another year.

Houses are expensive.  It seems that every time we get settled and say, hey, We've done the (in order of living here):

  • Water heater (~6 months after I moved in)
  • Various plumbing things (the previous owner thought he was handy, I feel we have been slowly replacing everything he's done)
  • Roof Patch
  • New Roof
  • New Gutters (immediately after new roof)
  • Gutter repair (there were large chunks of ice that fell off the house that just bent the gutters out of shape)
  • Dishwasher (this was actually quite the deal)
  • New HVAC system (heater, A/C, exchanger, humidifier)

And that doesn't include the painting that we've done.  It's getting tiresome.  Every year or so, yields something expensive.  The only year were I feel like we haven't had at least something going on housewise, was last year, and that was a year we had several unexpected expensive vet visits (which is why we didn't paint last year).  So...what else can go wrong?  Haven't we pretty much hit all the big things?

Personally I've been fighting an unexplained iron weirdness.  This is leading to anemia.  In a little over a week, I have the join of getting a procedure more then 15 years before you would normally start getting it, to make sure that I don't have polyps or worse.  It has been affecting my ability to get out of bed, my general mood, and my ability to pay attention.  I've been doing my best to counteract the affects I think it is having, but I cannot be sure that I am adjusting enough, or if it's due to a larger amount of stress.  Either way, I've been taking iron supplements, and just take a moment to look out what a general side effect of that is.  My family has a history of poor iron uptake, polyps and cancer in that area, though mid-thirties is a bit early for that stuff to show up.

Oh well, I feel unburdened, and that's quite enough bitching out of me.

some other stuff

Yesterday I got a check in the mail for $2.80 as a refund for a slight overpayment on my car payoff. I'm still waiting for the title, though. But even so, I think I can take that as a sign that yes my car is officially paid off. Even though I did already call to confirm it was so. I do feel a bit anxious about it, since two days ago, I would've sent in a payment.

This week I headed down to the Apple Store and got a brand spanking new base model 24" iMac. Since the base model pretty much had every thing I wanted (I only vaguely wanted the keyboard with the number pad, but without is fine too, I guess). After going into the store and seeing how huge the thing is, I almost backed out, went home and ordered the 20" iMac...seriously...this thing is huge. But the nearing 3 year old MacBook that we had was struggling to keep up and running out of drive space. So the plan here is to keep the iMac with all the good stuffs (pictures, music, etc) and then replace the battery in the MacBook and use it for the type of couch surfing...

On that matter, a concern came up. Since this desk has a stand for a monitor and the iMac is so big it won't fit in the space, it's sitting right up front...which leaves a space behind it...the kind of space where a kitty could hide...and if got scared...maybe perhaps hop and bump the iMac and make it go boom. So we talked about it and we gonna start the hunt for a glass and metal desk, to go with the entertainment center and tables we bought. I found a few online, and for Shannon's birthday we're gonna buy matching lamps for our bedroom (or the living room). Since, right now, we only have one. Which makes reading at night pretty hard. So if you've seen some cool looking metal/glass desks...let me know.

Financially, since paying off the car, we've freed up quite a bit of month to month capital. I basically took the money I was paying to the car subtracted a bit and added them to the two payments made to the credit card. So with the tiny, but welcome, pay bump combined with the reduction in gas costs and the extra money, it's made us have quite a bit more breathing room. Which reduces stress. We're able to go out more and not worry about it, which is nice.

I had a great visit with my doctor this week on my 6 month checkup. My blood pressure wasn't just good, but, and I quote, "great". I don't have headaches like I was having (I did have a stress induced headache last week...but I was under a lot of stress). So we've found the right mixture of drugs. So basically I need to concentrate on weight loss (and keeping it off).