Still coughing

Posted on Sunday, April 29, 2012 by Thriell

You know that cough that I’ve been complaining about for the last few weeks? Well, I’m complaining about it again.

Why does the coughing always seem to be worse at night? It has gotten to the point where I can only sleep an hour or maybe two before I wake up coughing my brains out. At that point, I’m going to be up for at least an hour because if I lie down right away it’s just going to start up again.

The real joy is that since the cough is mostly non-productive, all it’s doing is making my throat raw. Today I can barely talk above a whisper and my throat feels as though I got several boxes of cigars samplers and smoked them all at once. Either that, or someone’s been going over my throat with a lawn rake.

I’m supposed to see my family doctor on Tuesday for a follow-up visit from when I complained to him about this three weeks ago. I’m going to tell him that since then I’ve had three major rounds of antibiotics and I’ve finished the $20 bottle of cough suppressant he gave me and I don’t feel one bit better than I did three weeks ago.

 

Posted in Gripes, Health Issues | 1 Comment

Good News and Bad News

Posted on Saturday, April 28, 2012 by Thriell

I finally got my Jeep into the shop on Tuesday to have some much-needed work done on it. The service station I use is kind enough to send someone to come get it and then drive it back home when the work ks finished. This saves me from bugging someone for a ride that’s the better part of 50 miles round trip TWICE – once to get it there and once to get it home.

The mysterious electrical problem was the biggie. It had started blowing fuses, even when everything was off. That, and the instrument cluster wasn’t working; no gauges, no speedometer, no tachometer, nothing. It turns out I have a rodent to thank for that. There was evidence in the glove box (which I never use, because my arthritic hand won’t fit inside it) that there’d been a mouse living in it. It apparently had started chewing on the wiring behind the dash and caused a short. Just between you and me, I hope they found a fried mouse stuck in the wiring.

I also got it serviced – it’s only 2 months overdue – and had them replace the hydraulic shocks on the lift gate so I won’t have that falling on my back every time I’m loading groceries into the back.

I called them yesterday and they said it was done, but, being Friday, they didn’t have the extra person to drive it out here.

The good news is that I’ve got some major problems fixed. The bad news is that I’m still without transportation until Monday.

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Sick of being sick

Posted on Friday, April 27, 2012 by Thriell

I have been fighting an upper respiratory infection for several weeks now and it has officially gotten old.

I don’t need a DHEA Test to tell me that my immune system isn’t what it used to be; I’ve been taking immunosuppressants for rheumatoid arthritis every day for 14 years.

It just galls me that this stuff has been hanging on this long – through not one, but two rounds of antibiotics – when I used to be the guy who could get over the flu in an afternoon.

Last night I woke up around 2AM coughing uncontrollably and I couldn’t stop long enough to get back to sleep until well after 4AM.

Posted in Gripes, Health Issues | 1 Comment

A video for you

Posted on Wednesday, April 25, 2012 by Thriell

Being a child of the 70′s, I remember watching The Partridge Family. For that reason, I still occasionally enjoy listening to 40-year old music, including David Cassidy.

Being an adult of the 90′s, I enjoy movies from that time period also. For example, a week or two ago we re-watched Stephen King’s It.

It dawned on me during the movie that someone should take David Cassidy’s song, “I Am A Clown” and fit it with clips of Pennywise the clown. I tried for two weeks to get the idea to go away. Last night, I gave up and put together this video. I’m not going to put it on facebook or YouTube because I have visions of someone hollering about copyright violations. If you’re reading this on FaceBook, you’ll have to click through to my blog to see the video.

Disclaimer: No copyright infringement is intended. I’m not claiming ownership of anything here. I just took two unrelated things and combined them.

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Birthday coming

Posted on Wednesday, April 25, 2012 by Thriell

Our three-year old is about to turn four next month. For the last few weeks we’ve occasionally been asking her what she wants for her birthday. Each and every time, we get the same answer: “My piano”.

She’s referring to a toy piano she used to have a year or two ago. It had about 2 octaves of notes, several pre-recorded songs it could play, as well as a small percussion selection. It quit working, so it was quietly made to “go away” one night after she gave up on it.

I was looking around for Musical Gear On Sale and I happened upon this M-Audio Axiom Pro 25 USB MIDI Keyboard Controller.

There was a time I might have said this was way too advanced for her, but, having seen the way she navigates a computer, I don’t think that’s exactly the case. True, she’d probably have to “grow into” some of its functions, but she’d sure have fun with it while getting to that point.

As an added benefit, I can think of a couple of other people in the house who would enjoy having something like this around. :)

Posted in New toys I've found | 1 Comment