Skip to content

First Snow

We got our first snow of the season yesterday, about 2.5″ of wet, white stuff fell near our house throughout the day on Sunday. Bailey the cat decided that this year he does not like the wet stuff, and he complained bitterly that it interrupted his normal afternoon prowl. It’s cold but at least there is no wind.

I am beginning to feel a little bit house-bound and stir-crazy. Surgery was last Wednesday, it went well. The good doctor removed a record volume of polyps from my sinuses and then removed the surgical packing the next day in a followup (that really hurt). Since then I can breathe through my nose effortlessly and both in and out. It is amazing. I’d forgotten what that felt like. I am so happy I want to celebrate… so I go to jump for joy or party hard, and discover that I am still recovering from surgery. Ouch. Sudden motion and/or tilting my head causes mild nose bleeds, headaches, and dizziness. Damn. I so want to celebrate. It will have to wait.

Percoset definitely kills the headaches, but it makes me even more loopy. Saturday Erci took me to Karen‘s baby shower, where I got to see lots of fabulous people, but they all had fun at my expense as I was pretty woozy the whole time (and utterly defenseless to the witty repartee they all participated in). Sunday I just slept a lot. Keep feeling frustrated that there was so much to do, but unable to get up the energy to go do any of it… the house is still a mess, I need to pay some bills, I should catchup on email for work… I got nothing done except for a reviewing of all the Firefly episodes sporadically throughout the weekend.

This morning I woke up and felt like trying to shovel the snow a little, going very slowly and not lifting at all, just pushing… just the little bit by the garages and the hill was enough to cause a nose bleed and really make Erci mad at me though, so I came back inside to work a little from home and rest.

Sorry for the tedious details, but some people seem to want to know.

2007 01 22 snolan Personal Comments (0) Permalink

Recovering from Surgery

I am way behind in posts and will be updating out of chronological order, but in order of importance for a few days.

The big news is that yesterday (Wednesday, January 17th) I had minor surgery done to my sinuses by the amazing Doctor Hermansen. The surgery was to remove sinus polyps that were making it difficult to breathe (more details about that history here), and I am excited about the prospect of freely breathing through my nose again instead of just my mouth. Many thanks to Dr. Hermansen for her expertise and steady hands. Many thanks to Bob and Saniah for recommending the Doctor and the advice about what it would be like. Many thanks to my beloved partner, Erci, for patiently and lovingly taking care of me through surgery and after.

I slept most of yesterday away, not in any pain (1-2 on a scale of 1-10), but woozy, light-headed, tired, and slowly bleeding from nose. I look a little silly with a Spaz-like bandage taped over my nostrils, but it catches the sporadic bleeding. Every now and then I hear/feel what I can only describe as pop-rocks going off in my nose or throat; we think that is the surgical packing expanding. The drugs they gave me to keep my unconscious, stop pain, and prevent infection really knocked me out. No sudden standing for me for a day or two…

Update: Went back to the Doctor today and she removed the packing and I can breathe again. Packing removal was painful, but a big relief. I can breathe in and out through my nose now, hurray! Erci is still my hero (drove me around and nursed me all day).

2007 01 18 snolan Personal Comments (0) Permalink

2000 “Elyse” Petite Syrah, WOW!

Monday night I opened a bottle of 2000 Elyse Petite Syrah that someone bought at Dean and Deluca (fancy grocer in DC and NY) for $38 a few years ago. This was an amazing bottle of wine. Rich, sense of black berries, very savory, positively yummy.

It has been a lucky year for us opening bottles we’ve had racked for a long time. The highlights in no particular order:

1997 Ridge Geyserville
2000 Elyse Petite Syrah, Rutherford Napa Valley
2005 Three Foxes Piemontese Nebbiolo

Also, I’d like to apologize for not being very communicative since the new year began. I’ve been buried under a major project at work that has pretty much taken almost every bit of my waking time, and I am looking forward to launching this albatross soon so I can relax and catch-up a little.

2007 01 10 snolan Personal
Wine Comments (2) Permalink

Apple TV on order

After checking to be sure our trusty old Sony KV-40XBR800 could handle the output of the new Apple TV (it does, though with conversion from 720p or 480p to 1080i), I went ahead and ordered a new Apple TV so I can play Rocketboom and Terra: The Nature of Our World HD videos on our big TV rather than my computer. I will also use my existing Mac (PC will work too) as a PVR and can play those captures back over Apple TV too.

The new iPhone looks stunning as a ultra-portable, pocket computer running OSX even if I am not really interested in a new mobile phone or MP3 player. I think the interface is slick and I have been longing for a full featured handheld computer since I retired the old Fujitsu Lifebook B132 I had in 1999 (Windows sucked, but having a subnotebook lighter than 3 pounds was cool). The new iPhone may or may not work as a phone, and I don’t really care: I am intrigued by the thought of OSX in only a few ounces, and with a touch screen. So I wonder what keyboards I will be able to plug in… the device supports Bluetooth, will Bluetooth wireless keyboards work? This could replace my old Palm Tungsten C and do much more besides. Apple says June for the little device, by then we should know more about it.

2007 01 09 snolan Computers
Fun
Personal Comments (0) Permalink

Happy New Year!

It’s been too long since I wrote anything meaningful hear, sorry. I’ll make a determination to write more frequently this year. To celebrate the winter season I decided to work on some of Erci‘s honey-do-list for me a bit, so I began wiring up and connecting all the unconnected speakers in our house. It’s what she asked for, really! The doorbell is working now, and surround sound is connected in the family room. I have a 12 channel amp coming soon, and volume controls for several rooms in the house. New outdoor speakers are already installed on the back patio, and waiting only for outdoor weather-proof volume control and the amp. That was over the company holiday they call Christmas.

Details and update after the fold…
Continue reading ›

2007 01 01 snolan Buddhism
Dance
Fun
Holidays
Personal Comments (0) Permalink

Windows XP and essential software

Gah, I find myself once again dipping a toe into the murky waters that make up the Windows(tm) experience.

I consider myself extraordinarily fortunate that I have not had to touch any MicroSoft crap for many years now… but I inherited an old Compaq desktop and my boss suggested we put XP on it so I could do the occasional web-form written by idiots that require MSIE as the only browser. It makes sense. I can also test websites I make for MSIE compatibility (since IE can’t handle CSS properly).

So I find myself setting up the whole uber-paranoid security software suite because Windows is so vulnerable… and I discover that my information is dated… I last dabbled in the Win 98/SE era. Yikes.

Update: I have a much newer page of XP information available here. The rest of this post is for posterity only…

Here is what I have so far:
Firefox 2.0.0.1 (secure and CSS aware browsing)
Ad-Aware SE Personal 1.06 (generic spy-ware/mal-ware remover)
Spybot Search & Destroy (alternative spy-ware/mal-ware remover)
McAfee VirusScan (corporate license, thanks to the company I work for)
cygwin DLL (because I still type like a UNIX/Linux geek)
putty (because Windows Telnet/Terminal sucks enormously)
gvim70 (because vim is better than notepad)
Opera 9.1 (alternative fast browser for low memory Windows boxes)
VideoLAN 0.8.6 (best media player with no spyware in it at all)
Synergy 2 (lets me treat side by side desktops like a two headed machine, cut & paste and same mouse/keyboard shared over both monitors/machines)

It appears that ZoneAlarm is no longer essential because the built-in XP firewall is pretty good, but is that really true? I really liked ZoneAlarm’s program manager, which prevented bad Windows software from getting out to the network… not sure yet if XP firewall can do that.

XP has a built-in graphic file viewer, so IrFanView is not needed anymore.
XP has a built-in xntp network time protocol client, so Dimension 4 is not needed anymore.

SecureCRT and NetTerm are competitors with Putty – looks like they all work equally well.

What other suggestions do people have?

What makes your Windows XP box useful?

2006 12 26 snolan Computer Security
Computers
Personal
Windows Comments (2) Permalink

iPod stuff

So I had no interest in getting myself an iPod nor any other portable music player since I left the military. I had a Walkman, and later a portable CD player – but then I stopped traveling regularly and no longer needed portable music. I listen to music all the time on my computer, home stereo, and in my car, but I have not needed portability.

Years ago my wife snagged a Diamond Rio 500 (slick little MP3 player) and it was an interesting novelty, and remains a decent MP3 player because it uses standard memory cards and can be expanded easily. When she later got an early iPod, I inherited her old Rio 500 and used it for short bike rides. That has been good enough for years.

She upgraded her iPod, and sold her old one to our dance teacher. Recently she just upgraded again (she has a shiney new black 60GB iPod Video), and once again I inherited her old device, this time a very nice 20GB 4th generation iPod. Initially I was thinking, what would I do with this thing…

After a few days I figured out that I needed some accessories to make it work, so I grabbed:

Dock everything combo adaptor ($23):
http://www.sendstation.com/us/products/pocketdock/combo.html ( it is smaller and handles both firewire and USB connectivity and charging)

Y-adaptor with volume controls ($16):
http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/smartshare/” (for sharing your audio with someone else’s headphones)

Headphones for travel:
Etymotic ER-4P ($160) – noise dampening Canalphones (http://www.etymotic.com/ephp/er4.aspx)

Belkin headphone to headphone plug cable (apple store) – this plugs my iPod into the Prius

So the noise blocking Etymotic headphones are stunningly awesome, both as ear-plugs (-38dB makes for a really quiet airplane ride) and as fantasically clean audio monitors for great music and really easy to hear spoken words. Shure and Ultimate Ears both get good reviews too, but for the music I listen to the Etymotics have cleaner crisper sound. If you like rap and never listen to classical, you might check out the Etymotic ER-6i, Shure E2C/E3C/E4C, or Ultimate Ears Super.fi 5 Pro instead (for less money than the ER-4) or the Shure E5C or E500PTH if money is no object.

I spent the recent trip to the Bahamas listening to fun podcasts and music, and I gotta confess that though I am a late adoptor to the whole iPod/portable music scene, I am now thoroughly infected with the bug.

Update: If I had it to do over again today (April 14th, 2010) I would replace the above with headsets that have a microphone and button to use with iPhone and Skype on my laptop. The incredible Etymotic ER-4P’s mentioned above still sound fantastic, but they have no microphone and button. Also, in-ear canal phones are so good at blocking noise, you can’t really use them when jogging, cycling, or out and about (you need to hear things around you as well as your music).

Today for flights I’d get: Etymotic HF2 canal phones for noise dampening isolation from the world, and Aerial7 Matador for jogging or walking about where I still need to hear the world around me.

2006 12 19 snolan Music
Personal Comments (1) Permalink

Cute clip

This is a novel way to beget a Soccer buddy:

Thanks Kate!

2006 12 15 snolan Fun Comments (0) Permalink

This is just awesome!

I know it’s a paid for commercial for the music group “The Bastard Fairies” and that it was all scripted, but the truths coming out of this little girl’s mouth are so profound and so awesome that I had to share it. Also, the band is giving away their first album in MP3 format and asking people to download and share it if they like the music, I do.

I am reading Sam Harris’ “The End of Faith” right now – so her diatribe about religion causing violence strikes a familiar chord in me. Anyway, enjoy. I downloaded the album “Momento Mori” and I am enjoying it – though I’d like to buy higher quality version I think.

2006 12 13 snolan Fun
Music
Politics
Religion Comments (1) Permalink

Gah! Medical Practice sometimes gets it wrong

So for about ten years I have had sinuses blocked pretty regularly. I have gone to over a dozen medical doctors and perhaps a half-dozen nurse-practitioners in at least two different medical clinics (changed from FemCare to Herndon Family Medicine years back following changed insurance coverage). I have made appointments and been seen for sinus infections at least quarterly, and general sinus blockage at least as often.

Sometimes it is clearly an infection, and anti-biotics usually help kill the infection. Occasionally I was told it was a virus; and the usual rest and hot liquids regime are typical. Most often I have been told it was general airborne allergies and I’ve had a long list of anti-histamines prescribed over the years; none of them particularly effective. I was told that as I got used to one, it became less effective so they’d switch me to another.

For three years now I have been unable to exhale through my nose except for rare 1-3 minute periods after I take a steroid spray or when taking Neo-Synephrin (which I refrain from taking except when particularly blocked because medical people said it has long-term effects – so I’ve only hit that about once a quarter since 1998). Nothing works and I am getting worse.

Rant and light at the end of the tunnel after the fold…
Continue reading ›

2006 12 12 snolan Personal Comments (3) Permalink