Stu's surgery went fine yesterday. Took less than an hour with a couple of hours of recovery time. His doctor said that Stu's knee has gotten worse since last year's surgery. He repeated that Stu eventually will have to get knee replacements but they still want to postpone that for as long as possible, saying that Stu is very young for that. The arthroscopy surgery was to repair a torn medial cartilage, torn lateral cartilage, and clean and scrape loose stuff in knee including debris and osteoarthrosis. Stu had a fair amount of demerol and slept most of yesterday but he's starting to feel the pain from surgery today.
Sure hope this lasts him awhile or the doctors finally give in and do the knee replacement surgery on him. Stu lives in constant excruitiating pain most of the time. Much like my mom. So far, I've been able to escape most of it other then a few aches in joints now and then.
I broke down my resistance to spending $50 on a blanket and finally bought an electric blanket a few days ago. What a difference it makes. Not sleeping under the weight of 4 blankets and a comforter and the extra warmth sure makes it easier getting the stiffness out of my joints in the morning. The blanket should pay for itself in no time too, because I've been able to turn the furnace off completely rather then keeping it at 60 during the night.
Thursday, November 20, 2003
Tuesday, November 18, 2003
Welp, it's official. Today, I joined the ranks of oldfarterdom. Went in for an eye exam and new glasses and came away with my first pair of bi-focals. Had a glaucoma test too. Between the dilated pupils and getting used to the bi-focals, I look like I'm higher then a kite as my head bobs up and down trying to find the right spot in the lenses so I can see anything. Now I don't have to trombone the reading material or take off my glasses to see things up close. My eyes just aren't liking the constantly changing focus.
The good news is that my eyes were pronounced very healthy, no problems at all, and my blood pressure is within normal range. Hear that mom? You can stop worrying now. The low carb diet and extra exercise I've been doing for the last 6 months is paying off. I just wish I didn't have to work so hard at losing a pound or two a week. Rather discouraging how slow the progress is, but at least it's going in the right direction.
My brother goes in for his second or third knee surgery tomorrow. Can't remember which one it is. He's been in a lot of pain and I hope this gives him some relief for a little while. Love you Stu.
The good news is that my eyes were pronounced very healthy, no problems at all, and my blood pressure is within normal range. Hear that mom? You can stop worrying now. The low carb diet and extra exercise I've been doing for the last 6 months is paying off. I just wish I didn't have to work so hard at losing a pound or two a week. Rather discouraging how slow the progress is, but at least it's going in the right direction.
My brother goes in for his second or third knee surgery tomorrow. Can't remember which one it is. He's been in a lot of pain and I hope this gives him some relief for a little while. Love you Stu.
Friday, November 07, 2003
Recently stumbled across this quotation while looking for something else. I like it a lot and used it as a signature line at a few message boards for awhile. Time for a new signature line so I'm archiving the quotation here to share with others.
"Responsible Listening is the speaking we do to prove to the other person that we understand what his or her total message said. It saves us from attacking and defending. It allows for no judgment of the other person's character. Its only function is the present, what the speaker meant at this moment, in this conversation. Listening is the suspension of judgments-until we gain new information."
---Peter deLisser
"Responsible Listening is the speaking we do to prove to the other person that we understand what his or her total message said. It saves us from attacking and defending. It allows for no judgment of the other person's character. Its only function is the present, what the speaker meant at this moment, in this conversation. Listening is the suspension of judgments-until we gain new information."
---Peter deLisser
Sunday, November 02, 2003
Wow, been awhile since I last posted. Took a good month for me to shake that nasty cold and even longer to finally get rid of the lingering dry cough. For you folks not familiar with these blog thingies, there's a comments utility at the end of each post which you can click on and offer your own thoughts if you'd care to. Just click on the word Comment.
Autumn and Halloween
Soooo, autumn is upon us. You'd never know that here in Sacramento. Up until 4 days ago the temperatures were still in the high 80's and 90's. Last Monday it was 93 degrees. Friday, the high was 68 with lows down to 39 degrees in the valley and six inches of snow on the sierra foothills and today the high is 58. I think Mother Nature has decided to skip autumn this year and just go from summer to winter. I think I'm well prepared. Rain gutters were totally clogged and the maintenance guys had to remove them from the house and run a snake through the downspout to clear one of them. Moved all the plants on the balcony in under the eaves. Hopefully that will keep them protected from the high winds and rain.
Had a nice Halloween. Quite a number of kids came 'round, my guess would be about 50 kids, enough that they had to take turns climbing the stairs to the apartment. Scared the snot outta one little kid that rang the doorbell. I wore my Cousin It floor-length wig and derby hat and answered the door while on my knees. Didn't say a thing, just sort of muttered like Cousin It does and then parted the curtain of hair from my green painted face with blood dripping from wax fangs and dropped some candy into his goody bag.
The kid whimpered and grabbed mommy's hand before hiding behind her.
I sooooo love Halloween! Hee hee.
Nova, String Theories and WMD's
Anyone else watching the new Nova series? I'm still trying to wrap my brain around the overload of information.
Here's a link to PBS's Nova webpage in case you didn't see the program or wish to learn more. Nova's The Elegant Universe
I'd never heard of Brian Greene before now. Looks like he is the new Carl Sagan.
Here's a link to a series of images to give a sense of the size of strings. It is similar to the Power of 10 demonstration except that it is done in Powers of 100. I especially got a kick out of the last image. :) A Sense of Scale
I'm still not entirely clear on exactly what a string is but am reminded of an often quoted statement by Ralph Waldo Emerson. "This world we live in is but thickened light."
We had quite a scientific night last night on the local PBS station here. They ran both episodes of the Nova show then a bio on Einstein and followed it up with the bio on Einstein's wife.
Rather sad that she gets so little credit for what they both achieved. I think it would be even more fitting if the last picture in the series of images about the scale of strings was one of her rather then Albert.
As one reviewer at www.amazon.com said about Brian Greene's book, "I felt my brain growing while reading this!"
That's what made me think of Carl Sagan while watching the show last night. I had the same eye opening bright flash of light experience while watching many of his shows.
It's truly amazing how they've been able to translate such complicated theories into language and experiences almost anyone can understand.
On that Nova website there's a link to a story about what all went into just one scene of the show.
PBS and Nova really reinforced their reputation for excellent educational television with this show. I really hope the powers in Washington who want to rid the public airwaves of PBS do not succeed
Bucky Fuller, Marshall McLuhan, Einstein etc. I don't understand the mathematics behind it all but really enjoy the concepts and learning about the route taken to get there, especially when it is spoken in a language even I can relate to.
I still have lots of questions about strings. For instance, what about that vast void between quarks and the moment strings become visible (as displayed in Nova's example of scale that I referred to earlier).
Is that just emptiness between strings in a quark or are there larger concepts we haven't put definition to?
Also, how did they make the journey from quarks to strings without any other landmarks along the way to guide their thought process?
The more I read about this, the more confused I get.
It appears to me that scientists needed something to resolve the incompatibilities of quantum mechanics and relativity when they disintegrated into chaos when explaining the existence of black holes.
It looks to me like the urge to find an equation to settle the disruption between the two theories was the priority and strings were invented to heal that disruption. The vast emptiness between quarks and strings in the power of 100 scaled images model is just the cushion of time needed before advancement in optics proves or disproves the string theory.
Is there anything known to science that would lead one to the theory of strings other then the need to bridge that gap between quantum mechanics and relativity with some kind of equation?
Sounds remarkably similar to the hunt for WMD's and how we ended up in Iraq doesn't it?
Memories of Amusement Parks from Childhood
Been doing some reminiscing about old favorite childhood amusement parks in the area. My best memories of local ones are Santa's Village and Frontier Village. My most prominate memory of Santa's Village are of the teacup rides and feeling like my head was going to be ripped from my shoulders by the centrifugal force from spinning around in that cup for so long and so fast!
Sorry to hear that the Santa's Village in Lake Arrowheard fell victim to the southern California wildfires.
We visited Frontier Village long before ever getting to go to Knotts Berry Farm and I think I liked the smaller Frontier Village better in those days.
Southern California Wildfires
I learned from my dad yesterday that an old family friend lost her house to the fires. Such a tragedy and comedy of errors. So many things could of been done to lessen the danger of such fires if politics and profits weren't involved. Everyone is making predictions that the rebuilding will be good for the state's economy. This is true, it's just too bad it will be mostly the corporations doing the benefiting and not the worker bees who suffered the life altering losses. I've been biting nails while watching the progress of one of the fires through Bruce's eyes. I hope he escapes unscathed.
I worry what the future will hold for such large pockets of the population. In both New York and California, a huge number of people have been subjected to very unhealthy air quality in the last few years due to fires and building collapse. My prediction is a steep increase in future lung problems for these groups of people.
Mom
Mom isn't doing too well. She's going through a rough spell of bursitis in her hip and has already had two cortisone injections and is living on codeine while getting about with crutches when necessary. She's still in excrutiating pain and worries that something else might be wrong with her hip. She says she hasn't fallen recently and x-rays don't show anything being broken. She's got another doctor's appointment next week so hopefully she'll have some answers. I may have to make a trip to New Mexico sooner then I expected to.
Keyword Jungle
My brother has a new website business. He's proud of his website. Give it a glance and contact him if you're in need of keywords for your website. KeywordJungle
Holidays
Don't have any plans for the holidays this year. I think they'll be relatively quiet. Will probably drag out the decorations in another couple of weeks if I get in the spirit. Putting them out is lots of fun and I enjoy it. It's the clean up and storing away again that is a pain in the arse. How about you folks? Got any special plans?
Autumn and Halloween
Soooo, autumn is upon us. You'd never know that here in Sacramento. Up until 4 days ago the temperatures were still in the high 80's and 90's. Last Monday it was 93 degrees. Friday, the high was 68 with lows down to 39 degrees in the valley and six inches of snow on the sierra foothills and today the high is 58. I think Mother Nature has decided to skip autumn this year and just go from summer to winter. I think I'm well prepared. Rain gutters were totally clogged and the maintenance guys had to remove them from the house and run a snake through the downspout to clear one of them. Moved all the plants on the balcony in under the eaves. Hopefully that will keep them protected from the high winds and rain.
Had a nice Halloween. Quite a number of kids came 'round, my guess would be about 50 kids, enough that they had to take turns climbing the stairs to the apartment. Scared the snot outta one little kid that rang the doorbell. I wore my Cousin It floor-length wig and derby hat and answered the door while on my knees. Didn't say a thing, just sort of muttered like Cousin It does and then parted the curtain of hair from my green painted face with blood dripping from wax fangs and dropped some candy into his goody bag.
The kid whimpered and grabbed mommy's hand before hiding behind her.
I sooooo love Halloween! Hee hee.
Nova, String Theories and WMD's
Anyone else watching the new Nova series? I'm still trying to wrap my brain around the overload of information.
Here's a link to PBS's Nova webpage in case you didn't see the program or wish to learn more. Nova's The Elegant Universe
I'd never heard of Brian Greene before now. Looks like he is the new Carl Sagan.
Here's a link to a series of images to give a sense of the size of strings. It is similar to the Power of 10 demonstration except that it is done in Powers of 100. I especially got a kick out of the last image. :) A Sense of Scale
I'm still not entirely clear on exactly what a string is but am reminded of an often quoted statement by Ralph Waldo Emerson. "This world we live in is but thickened light."
We had quite a scientific night last night on the local PBS station here. They ran both episodes of the Nova show then a bio on Einstein and followed it up with the bio on Einstein's wife.
Rather sad that she gets so little credit for what they both achieved. I think it would be even more fitting if the last picture in the series of images about the scale of strings was one of her rather then Albert.
As one reviewer at www.amazon.com said about Brian Greene's book, "I felt my brain growing while reading this!"
That's what made me think of Carl Sagan while watching the show last night. I had the same eye opening bright flash of light experience while watching many of his shows.
It's truly amazing how they've been able to translate such complicated theories into language and experiences almost anyone can understand.
On that Nova website there's a link to a story about what all went into just one scene of the show.
PBS and Nova really reinforced their reputation for excellent educational television with this show. I really hope the powers in Washington who want to rid the public airwaves of PBS do not succeed
Bucky Fuller, Marshall McLuhan, Einstein etc. I don't understand the mathematics behind it all but really enjoy the concepts and learning about the route taken to get there, especially when it is spoken in a language even I can relate to.
I still have lots of questions about strings. For instance, what about that vast void between quarks and the moment strings become visible (as displayed in Nova's example of scale that I referred to earlier).
Is that just emptiness between strings in a quark or are there larger concepts we haven't put definition to?
Also, how did they make the journey from quarks to strings without any other landmarks along the way to guide their thought process?
The more I read about this, the more confused I get.
It appears to me that scientists needed something to resolve the incompatibilities of quantum mechanics and relativity when they disintegrated into chaos when explaining the existence of black holes.
It looks to me like the urge to find an equation to settle the disruption between the two theories was the priority and strings were invented to heal that disruption. The vast emptiness between quarks and strings in the power of 100 scaled images model is just the cushion of time needed before advancement in optics proves or disproves the string theory.
Is there anything known to science that would lead one to the theory of strings other then the need to bridge that gap between quantum mechanics and relativity with some kind of equation?
Sounds remarkably similar to the hunt for WMD's and how we ended up in Iraq doesn't it?
Memories of Amusement Parks from Childhood
Been doing some reminiscing about old favorite childhood amusement parks in the area. My best memories of local ones are Santa's Village and Frontier Village. My most prominate memory of Santa's Village are of the teacup rides and feeling like my head was going to be ripped from my shoulders by the centrifugal force from spinning around in that cup for so long and so fast!
Sorry to hear that the Santa's Village in Lake Arrowheard fell victim to the southern California wildfires.
We visited Frontier Village long before ever getting to go to Knotts Berry Farm and I think I liked the smaller Frontier Village better in those days.
Southern California Wildfires
I learned from my dad yesterday that an old family friend lost her house to the fires. Such a tragedy and comedy of errors. So many things could of been done to lessen the danger of such fires if politics and profits weren't involved. Everyone is making predictions that the rebuilding will be good for the state's economy. This is true, it's just too bad it will be mostly the corporations doing the benefiting and not the worker bees who suffered the life altering losses. I've been biting nails while watching the progress of one of the fires through Bruce's eyes. I hope he escapes unscathed.
I worry what the future will hold for such large pockets of the population. In both New York and California, a huge number of people have been subjected to very unhealthy air quality in the last few years due to fires and building collapse. My prediction is a steep increase in future lung problems for these groups of people.
Mom
Mom isn't doing too well. She's going through a rough spell of bursitis in her hip and has already had two cortisone injections and is living on codeine while getting about with crutches when necessary. She's still in excrutiating pain and worries that something else might be wrong with her hip. She says she hasn't fallen recently and x-rays don't show anything being broken. She's got another doctor's appointment next week so hopefully she'll have some answers. I may have to make a trip to New Mexico sooner then I expected to.
Keyword Jungle
My brother has a new website business. He's proud of his website. Give it a glance and contact him if you're in need of keywords for your website. KeywordJungle
Holidays
Don't have any plans for the holidays this year. I think they'll be relatively quiet. Will probably drag out the decorations in another couple of weeks if I get in the spirit. Putting them out is lots of fun and I enjoy it. It's the clean up and storing away again that is a pain in the arse. How about you folks? Got any special plans?
