Thunder of Wade

Category: Uncategorized Page 88 of 158

I passed my pre-testing

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On May 21, 2010

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On Wednesday, one week before my septum un-deviation surgery, I went in to the hospital for pre-testing.

Which was a waste of time. I was told in advance that it would 30-45 minutes – it took 15.
The nurse practitioner took my temperature, my BP and pulse, listened to my heart (she seemed to have trouble finding that one), my lungs, and oddly enough, my stomach – which didn’t make nearly enough noise for her.
She looked in my ears, down my throat, and rubbed the sides of my neck. I have expected her to kill a chicken and examine it’s entrails to see if I was a good candidate for the surgery.
A little bit of paperwork, a few vague suggestions, and I was on my way. No idea how much my insurance is going to be charged for that little visit, but I’m guessing it’s a lot.
In other news… my sister is coming to town – and campus – to meet with one of our higher-ups about how we do our accreditation. It’s right after my surgery so I’ll be at home and not the best company, but it will still be nice to see her – if only for a short time.
Finally, we had a meeting yesterday – actually a webinar – about our recent usability testing. I got some praise for my role, once they got the right name, and then got slammed. In the nicest way possible. I’m not taking it personally – it was my first time running a session and I was bound to screw it up a little bit.
The meeting wrapped up with a “discussion” about the terminology used on the site we were reviewing. The people in the department insisted on using the terms you could only know if you had already been taught about them. I was in the “either explain it or change it” camp – and we nearly came to blows over it. It was like they had a secret club and you had to be “initiated” before the site made any sense. It was irksome to a geek like me.

adventures in retail

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On May 13, 2010

In Uncategorized

I got a couple of gift cards to Barnes and Noble for my birthday and christmas and though we don’t have any stores in the area, our campus bookstore is part of this chain. So, with two $25 cards in hand, I headed to the store in the student center.

The selection was not what I’d hoped for and decided to go online instead. Back at my office I visited the online version of the campus bookstore site and was underwhelmed at the selection again. I found a pair of shorts and a sticker for my car – with a total price of over $25 dollars. I entered the first card and then couldn’t find a spot to enter another card or my credit card. Instead, the order got submitted – even though I hadn’t paid enough. The shipping info said it would be delivered to the campus bookstore, so I figured that I would be contacted to sort things out.
A couple days later I got an email indicting a problem with my order. Which wasn’t a surprise, I hadn’t really paid for the items. I called the phone number on the email and was transfered to 5 different people before I got someone that knew what they were talking about. She indicated that yes, the system will let an order go through without sufficient payment. She asked for my credit card number to complete the order.
I suggested that since I’m on campus, we could just cancel the order and I could stop by in person. She said she would cancel it and I could pick up and pay for the items at the counter.
Shortly after that call, my room-mate called and said that someone from the bookstore called and said there was a problem with my on-line order. I thanked him for taking the message and explained I’d already called to sort things out.
After my swim, but before I got my lunch, I stopped by the bookstore and indicated that an online order was being held for me at the counter. They looked around a bit, then sent me downstairs to the online pickup area. I head downstairs, wait for a clerk and then explain what I’m doing there. They look though the records, can’t find it, and send me back upstairs.
I go back upstairs to the counter and explain I’ve been sent back up. They call back downstairs and after a few minutes find the order sitting on the counter. Less than two feet from where the cashier was standing. I use my gift card and then cash to complete the transaction.
I was lucky to have been on campus to sort this out – it could have been much worse.
The shorts are cool and fit great, the sticker is pretty cool too. I think for my other gift card, I’m going to the main barnes and noble site and just get some books.
In other retail related news…
I don’t listen to the radio much in my car, except when I’m stuck in traffic. And then I only listen to AM stations. It makes me appreciate how lucky I am to be in traffic than to be the kind of person that listens to AM radio all the time – and believes what they are being told. Yesterday, road construction prompted me to listen to a “doctor” that was promoting digestive health (i.e. over-eating cures) by – I think – “mud-packing emotional scars”. This would align your Chi or something and make you not be fat. Or something. He also promoted a special formula for sale of 13 different types of pollen, specially blended to prompt genital health. Operators were, presumably, standing by. As his show ended and the traffic cleared, there were two separate announcements indicating that pretty much no one was willing to back him up on anything he had said.
On a final note of confusion, I went out to dinner with my room-mate and his sister. We had a coupon for one free entrée with the purchase of an appetizer and another entrée.
I usually get a “3 course meal” with appetizer, entrée and dessert. Which is not valid with the coupon.
He ordered green bean fries for me (which I was going to do myself as part of 3 courses) and another appetizer of mozzarella sticks.
The server left and I told my room-mate this might be a problem since the 3 course is usually ordered all at once.
The server came back to take our order and I asked if the previously ordered green beans could be shifted to my 3 courses. He said he would have to have his manager do it, but yes. I felt bad, but not as bad when the rest of the orders were taken. My room-mate’s sister got an entrée and he then ordered pot-stickers. An appetizer – and thus not valid with the coupon. The server thought about it for a minute and said that if my order was not treated as the three courses -then it would count as one of the entrees.
So, everything worked out – and I made sure we tipped the server well for the trouble we caused.

getting caught up

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On May 12, 2010

In Uncategorized

A couple weeks ago, I did my Swim for Diabetes. This was a week after I’d done three miles in the pool and I wanted to try it again. The pool was nearly empty, not many people were participating that day. I did my three miles without any trouble. In fact, I think I could have gone farther. My count matched up with the the official’s length count – which was a relief – and I got a pin for my efforts. I’m in the process of gathering the donations now.

Last weekend, I visited my family – and my brother-in-law’s family – for my niece’s dedication at church. We played some games and had a nice time. The drive was rough again – can’t seem to get used to that – but it was worth the effort. My sister and brother-in-law are doing such an amazing job with my niece – it’s really awesome to see them in action.
My room-mate’s sister is coming in for a visit. She’ll be staying a few days and may help him do some gardening if the weather clears. I suspect we’ll go out to eat a few times in any case.
In video game news… I beat Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time. Good game – and the Chimp-o-matic weapon is a lot of fun. (turns your enemies into chimps)
It’s pretty quiet here in the office today. One of my colleagues is on his honeymoon and two others are at a conference. Our student assistant is gone for the summer and it’s just me and one other colleague today. Speaking of which, I need to check to see if he got my email.

A new personal best in the pool

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On April 28, 2010

In Uncategorized

Last Saturday, I decided to do a “dry run” for my Swim for Diabetes swim. My goal was 2.5 miles – further than I’ve gone before. I was feeling pretty good and was able to push myself – and got through three miles. That’s 108 laps in 2 hours and 5 minutes.

I was very tired afterwards and almost took a nap that afternoon – but I’m no good at naps and it wouldn’t have worked anyway.
So, I should have no trouble doing 2.5 miles this Saturday for the official swim – but I’d still like to bump it up to 3 if I can. One thing’s for sure though, I need to eat a bigger bowl of cheerios – the ones I had last Saturday gave out at 1.75 miles.
In other news… I got a text message this morning from a co-worker as I was driving into work. It simply said “hurry up!”
I got into work, parked in my regular spot and went on into the building. My co-worker wasn’t there yet – so, I texted him back with “I’m here at work, where are you?”
He showed up a couple minutes later – astonished to see me. Apparently, he had texted me from his car – he had seen me pull onto the highway and blown right past me. And then driven much faster coming into work. Somehow, I had managed to get onto campus, parked, and into the building before he did the same. We don’t park in the same area and I suspect the longer walk he has to the building is the factor – though I told him I’m the master of space and time and he that he shouldn’t be surprised.

Taxes, testing, temperature, and time

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On April 18, 2010

In Uncategorized

I did my taxes recently – yeah, I waited till nearly the last minute. My room-mate finished his up the day they were due, so at least I wasn’t that late. I did my taxes online – completely this time instead of having to do my city ones manually. The forms were pretty easy, I’m getting some money back, and they didn’t take too long. The city insisted that I send in my W-2’s as well as doing the online form, but at least that was all they wanted off line.

I went to a Ear, Nose, and Throat surgeon recently to figure out what to do with my snoring. He had a med student with him as well and they commented on how normal my ears were. Whatever that means. The doctor also opened up my nose with some kind of instrument and they both commented on how messed up my nose was. On a scale of 1-10, my septum deviation is a 9. Like, it’s almost one nostril. The doctor recommended surgery – big surprise – and was really pushing to get me to sign up for an time for the operation. When pushed too hard in any direction, I did what I always do – step back to consider. I held off making an appointment to think things over. Despite the somewhat casual attitude the doctor had, it’s still a pretty big deal for me.
And with thought, well, I guess I’ll go ahead and do it. I need to coordinate that with my work schedule, my co-workers schedules, my room-mate’s schedule, and my swim for diabetes. And make dang sure that my insurance will cover it.
In other news… I’ve been conducting some usability testing on one of our websites. In the past, I’ve been the tech guy, but this time around I’m pretty much running the show. We did testing 2 days last week and it was interesting – but very tiring. I’ve been fighting a cold for a while now and that didn’t really help. I’ve been trying to keep up with my swimming as well and I guess I’m putting more strain on my body than usual.
My room-mate has been fighting a bad cold as well. Like, bordering on bronchitis. He’s missed a few days of work as a result.
I took myself for a walk yesterday, got a little stir-crazy in the apartment. My feet were tired afterwards and I was cold – but it was still good to get out for a bit.
So, mostly video games and music this weekend. And laundry.

Running hot and cold

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On April 7, 2010

In Uncategorized

I got some bad news yesterday – my great aunt passed away. She’d been fighting an illness for a while now and while I wasn’t all that close to her, it was still sad to hear. Seems like its been a rough time for our family recently – my aunt and now my great aunt passing away, another aunt fighting a brain tumor, my grandmother still in a nursing home and not getting better.

In brighter news… I got to see my niece (and her mom and dad) this past weekend. We all had a nice visit and she was a sweetie – at least during the day. At night, well, I had earplugs in. 🙂
I’ve been fighting a cold the past few days and it, along with a late night and too much exciting TV, meant I didn’t get to sleep until around 1 AM last night.
On the flip side, it’s been hot here in the computer center. Right now, my little temperature gauge on my desk is reading 79.5 F. We were in the mid-80’s yesterday afternoon and some buildings on campus reported temps in the 90’s. Our heating and cooling is determined not by outdoor temperature – but by time of year. And it’s not yet time to switch over to cooling. I’m actually okay with temps in the 80’s, but only when I’m on a beach with a cool drink in my hand and a gentle ocean breeze. In an office staring at a computer screen, it’s really not pleasant. I’m still better off than the students though – imagine trying to sit through a lecture with those temperatures.
At least it’s a swimming day – I’ll get cooled off in the pool. Should make the afternoon a little more enjoyable.

Things are out of sync, it seems

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On March 31, 2010

In Uncategorized

The latest update on my aunt is that she’s in good spirits and recovering from her brain surgery. The doctors got 85% of the tumor, but the remaining 15% is “the bad kind” of cancer. Left untreated, she may have less than two years. She’s got another appointment with a doctor once she’s healed up a bit more from the surgery to see what treatment options she has. The surgeon estimates that if she hadn’t had the seizures when she did, she might not have lasted 2 months. So, I guess the seizures were a good thing, but I don’t think that really balances out with the negative of what they revealed.

I’ve got my own health issues plaguing me – though nothing as severe as what my aunt has going on. My recent trip to the doctor – and the subsequent bloodwork – has revealed that I have “moderately high cholesterol”. They didn’t give me the exact numbers over the phone, but told me to watch what I eat and get another test done in 6 months.
Which sucks. I mean, I already try to eat fairly well, but apparently there’s been too much fast-food in my diet. I sense a lot of whole grain and salads in my future.
I’ve also got an appointment to see a doctor about my snoring, which continues to be epic. The doctor I’ll be seeing in a couple of weeks is a surgeon – and that bothers me a bunch. I mean, aren’t there more placebos and hack remedies to try first? I haven’t committed to anything yet and I guess if I’ve got some kind of apnea the longer I wait the worse it could be for me, but it still worries me.
Work has been crazy busy – and we ran into a difficult situation recently. I think I’ve mentioned before that I’ve helped with usability testing on websites, well, we’re getting ready to do another round of testing and I contacted the software providers about getting an upgrade on the testing application. They responded back and told me that it had already been done – by another on-campus department. When the project was first kicked off, my group supplied the software and the computer and another department supplied the location. And now we’ve got a third department that took over the facility and didn’t bother to check with anyone on the software or – more importantly – the scheduling. Which has suddenly become more complicated.
To top it off, it looks like I’ll be leading the sessions as well as doing tech support on the project. I sort of knew this was coming and it will be a good opportunity that I’m pretty sure I could do in my sleep (provided the snoring doesn’t bother anyone), but there’s still a degree of stress with that. We’re getting it all worked out and in the long run it’s actually better for my group – but still…
Yeah, yeah- I know. “Pity, party of one”
I’ve got a good job, a car, and an apartment. Enough money in the bank. I’m in relatively good shape and I get along with people – and I sleep really throughly. I should be happy, but a little misery seems to creep in.
In other news… I’ve resumed digitizing my music collection. I feel a bit like a robot loading the CD’s into my computer and then removing then once the music has been added to my external hard-drive. But, I’m also rewatching seasons 1-3 of the Venture Bros. so the time goes by quickly.
I watched Lost last night – a good episode, but I think the “flash-sideways” into an alternate timeline is getting less interesting in the face of the “main” timeline. I also watched V – which is not bad but the pace seems a little slow.
I’m going to hit the pool again today. Planning on using my flippers again and seeing if I can do a mile with them on.
Well, time to wrap up a few projects before I go for my swim/lunch. Got a pile of meetings this afternoon.

After all that, I’m skipping my swim today

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On March 26, 2010

In Uncategorized

This morning, I took an early lunch to go to the doctor’s office to get some blood drawn. I would have done this on Wednesday when I had my regular appointment, but I didn’t know I shouldn’t have eaten anything. So, hungry, I get to the doctor’s office and start to sign in. Oh, no, I’m at the wrong window. So, I go to the right window and they tell me to sign in and also sign in at a yet another window. I get in line there, sign in, and get out some paper – assuming a long wait.

Surprisingly, my name is called after only a short wait and I go into a small room where the very friendly nurse tells me she doesn’t like to keep people waiting. In moments she had drawn the blood and sent me on my way – telling me to go right on past the other windows. No need to check out – or pay, apparently – since this would normally have been done as part of my appointment.
I head over to McDonalds to get some lunch and then back to work. Given the time of day, I had to park far from my office and walk back. I stepped on a patch of black ice…
… and down I went. I hit the ground like Whitney Houston hitting a crack pipe. (Okay, so that’s a little mean, but come on, the woman had it all and destroyed her voice and career with drugs).
I landed on the meaty part of my butt, rolled onto my back, then hit my head on the ground.
Chicken nuggets flew everywhere.
(wait, that made it sound like chicken nuggets flew out of my head like some kind of poultry pinata. I meant that I lost control of my bag of McDonald’s and the chicken nuggets went all over the place when I hit my head on pavement.)
I started to get up, then just lay there for a moment hoping to get some sympathy from a random passerby. When I realized that wasn’t going to happen, I got up and gathered the remains of my lunch and my dignity. Lunch went in the trash and I went back to the office.
After checking in, I headed back out to try and find my sunglasses and get some lunch. Sunglasses found at the scene of the crime and I got some lunch at a restaurant on campus.
I’m back in the office, a little worse for wear. Headache, tired, and grumpy. I’d really just like to go home and play video games. Or nap, but I’d be too worried about having a concussion and dying in my sleep or something to enjoy it.
2 hours left to go in the day – better get back to it.

The second most boring traffic accident I have ever seen

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On March 26, 2010

In Uncategorized

It was my turn to drive to Chipotle yesterday and on the way back we were stopped at a red light. I was sensibly paying attention to the car in front of me and the light – and therefore missed much of the traffic accident that occured just to the right of us. A women – with a small dog in her lap – ran a red light and hit a van that was entering the intersection on a yellow/red. One of the passengers in my car is a volunteer paramedic and asked me to pull into a nearby parking lot. We parked and he and my other passenger got out to go help – and make a report of what they’d seen if needed. I only saw the tail end of the accident and since I don’t have any training in that area – and there were more qualified people there – I stayed back with my car and out of the way.

No one was hurt – though I imagine the dog was a little shaken up when the airbag deployed – and there wasn’t much for anyone to do. The police had been called, but were slow in responding, so a business card was left with contact information. I also made a note of the license plate numbers in my phone. And then we went back to work.
The most boring traffic accident I’ve seen occurred when I lived in Miami. Same situation as this one for the most part but at even lower speed.

Do you feel a draft, or is it just me?

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On March 25, 2010

In Uncategorized

I left work a little early yesterday to take myself to the doctor. The goal was a general checkup and some discussion about my snoring problem – which is apparently loud enough to wake the dead. And you know how I feel about zombies.

I got there early – anticipating traffic and paperwork, neither of which manifested – and was taken into the exam room early. The nurse took my blood pressure and temperature and set out a hospital gown, saying that the doctor would see me, then have me change into the gown for the rest of the exam.
I waited patiently, then talked to the doctor for a bit when he came in. We talked a little about health history, then he told me to change into the gown and he’d be back.
Now, I’m not a prude by any stretch of the imagination, but something about that gown – open in the back, too short, etc. – tends to swiftly drain the dignity out of a person. I honestly think I would have felt better just being naked.
The doctor checked my lungs, poked me in the stomach and the glands in my neck, and then did the ‘turn your head and cough’ routine. I also found out that I needed a tetanus shot – I guess we’re due for one every 10 years and I’d never had one. The doctor gave me a clean bill of health and told me the office would be calling me to set up an appointment with an ENT doctor for the snoring. I got dressed again and the nurse came in to give me the shot. I stopped her before she proceeded and asked about side effects – a concern since I’d never had one. Soreness in the arm for a few days was the answer and I let her go ahead. I’m supposed to go back in to get some blood drawn sometime this week.
So, overall, a good visit.
I swam a mile yesterday at lunchtime with the pools lanes set the “long way”. I’m used to more, shorter laps and was pretty worn out when I was done. Still trying to get ready for the swim for diabetes.
Played more InFamous last night – went up against these gigantic golem creatures. Turns out the best tactic is throw lighting balls at them and keep moving. And hope for the best.
“Lost” was interesting this week, though my room-mate took what I saw as a deliberate misdirection with the show and decided it validated his theories. I tried to convince him otherwise, but gave up quickly.
I’ve been reading a pretty good book called “Innocent Mage” by Karen Miller. It’s been a fun read, but it took a very abrupt twist in the final section and left with an insane cliff-hanging. I’ve already bought the sequel so I can jump right back in there, but it was a little jarring.
I got another update from mom about my aunt. She’s supposed to meet with the doctors again today with more information on what they found with the surgery and what additional treatment options are available. We’re all keeping her in our thoughts.
And speaking of thoughts – I got a second email from mom shortly after my last blog post. I talked to my sister that evening and got the full scoop. I’m paraphrasing and summing up:
Apparently mom talked to my sister and asked if it was a good idea to remind me to pray for my aunt. My sister, of course, said no – reasoning, I’m guessing, that I’m an adult. Mom reminded me anyway in an email – prompting me to post an entry in my blog. My sister reads my blog (“Hi!”) and she told mom about it. Mom read the post and responded back to me with another email. Which I didn’t respond to. The content had me pretty riled up for a while and I actually wrote a couple of responses before deleting them – reasoning that if an interpretation of an email started this whole thing, then another email is unlikely to make things more clear.
I sort of expected a phone call about that – but it looks like mom is dropping it and I’m eager to do so as well. Not that I won’t stand my ground if confronted, but I’m all about not making things worse if it can be avoided.
Ah, the Internet. What would we do without it?
Today is Chipotle day – so, without a doubt, my afternoon will be good. For now, though, back to work.

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