Doing fine

For those who are wondering about how the rain and flooding is affecting us... We're doing fine so far [knock on wood] -- we're even out to dinner tonight!

No problem!

My answer to my cousin's question about how we're doing with the rain: Nooooooooo problem! There was lots of splashing and reduced (sometimes zero!) visibility on the drive home, yesterday and Tuesday. I had a cool drizzly drive to work this morning. Good day to stop for a hot coffee. We had lots of nice cheery rain outside the windows at work. There are lots of interesting and scary stories in the news media access apps on my phone. We've managed to find some barely moist times during the day, to take the dog out for walks. All in all, some of my favorite weather, as long as work, the car, and the house, stay dry on the inside! So far, so good.

Soft velvety clouds

There's a soft cool moist velvet sky laid out in front of me, as I start my drive home. Nice. Of course, it's telling a tale of impending rain, if anyone wants to listen...

Stay vigilant!

Sept 11. Wishing everyone a peaceful day. Nota Bene: When an RTD bus is approaching in the opposite direction, be prepared for the occasional very late bus rider to sprint across the road in front of you.

Rain!

Another severe afternoon storm. Got soaked just walking 30 feet to the car.

I hate wasting time

Arg. I got K to her hyperbaric chamber treatment on time, after much gnashing of teeth, on my day off. And... They're closed on Labor Day?! I guess. No one here. No valet. Doors are locked. No one answers their phone. And no one said those three little words... "Don't come Monday." Drat, drat, drat.

Another morning dialysis

K's nephrologist recommended an extra treatment, and DaVita had this morning slot available today, so here we are again, dropping her off at 5:45am for a morning dialysis. Yawn. The good news, is that our day is starting nice and early.

Mystery solved

Hooray. I finally figured out the mystery of the bedroom TV power circuit that's been dead since the deafening thunderclap last Saturday evening. I forgot you have to turn a tripped breaker completely off, before turning it back on. It looks on, but it's not. I stopped in the basement, this morning, and realized the computer and the UPS it's plugged into, were both dead. I realized we still had some other dead circuits in the house. When I got home tonight, I had the idea that I should try resetting the circuit breakers again. Unfortunately, I couldn't remember which breakers I had found tripped on Monday, so I had to turn them all off, and then all back on. The good news... Success! All circuits are alive again! The computer's UPS is charging! And the office lights work!

NROL-65 Launched!

We launched D364, a Delta IV heavy, carrying the NROL-65 satellite, this afternoon.

See the photos on SpaceFlightNow

Early morning dialysis

We're up at O'Dark-30, to take K to a makeup dialysis. They never got around to connecting her to the dialysis machine yesterday afternoon. After two hours, they recommended she come back this morning, since they had an early 5:45am slot. I'm a little worried about Mandy being all alone at the house for five hours, so I've got her with me in the car. She should be fine, since at this early time of the morning, there should be plenty of covered parking spots available at work. I just need to remember to go out and get her out for an occasional walk around the facility.

Breakers tripped

I had the idea that maybe the dead bedroom TV circuit, was simply a tripped circuit breaker, so I stopped at the breaker panels outside, when I got home. Nothing tripped on the old breaker panel, darn. Aha! The new panel that was installed when we finished the basement had four CBs tripped! I turned them all back on. No joy with the bedroom TV, though, which I kind of expected, since it's upstairs, and probably on a circuit that's in the old breaker panel.

Crash boom oops

Our neighbors were over chatting this evening, when we suddenly realized a big thunderstorm had been creeping up on us. We were quite startled when the house appeared to jump, as a huge thunderclap sounded, very close outside. Later this evening, I noticed the bedroom TV doesn't turn on any more. Then, on a hunch, I wandered the house, and found some surge protectors that had their circuit breakers tripped, and reset them, which got the living room TV and basement stereo working. After a little troubleshooting, all I could figure out, was that the new power circuit, installed back in 2008 for the wall mounted TV, is dead. I have no idea where that circuit comes from. A bunch of audio/video cables disappear into the wall alongside it, but they reappear out another hole, over by the cable box, VCR, and DVD player, and plug into the back of all that. No sign of the power cord there. Hmm.

Bunny

Friends brought their fluffy white bunny, "Awilda", to visit this afternoon. Mandy did really well with it. She just followed Awilda around everywhere, and got in the occasional sniff. She was very surprised, when she sniffed the front end, and got sniffed back!

OK for HBO (not the cable channel)

The wound clinic gave the OK for Kristan to receive treatment in a HyperBaric Oxygen (HBO) chamber. They hope it will help get her foot wounds heading in the healing direction. She tried it early last week, and that's when they found her ears weren't equalizing. The pressure was so great, she just about passed out from the pain, which then lingered on for the rest of the week. They sent her to the Ear-Nose-Throat Doc, who inserted ear tubes that will allow the pressure to equalize. But she thinks those are not healing up right either, so it's back to the ENT today.

Bedroom fun

We're having fun with our new bedroom furniture. We finally have a headboard, for the first time, and drawers to put things in, that won't get all dusty in a few days. I'm all excited about picking up two power strips at Office Depot tomorrow, to clean up our dozen electrical power connections. Simple pleasures...

UPS 1354 Crash

The UPS flight 1354 that crashed on short approach into Birmingham on the 14th, is starting to sound more and more like the Asiana crash at San Francisco. Things seemed like they were generally going OK for aircraft N155UP, considering that there was no electronic glideslope guidance available, right up until they descended below the desired glide slope, hit power lines and then the ground. There's some network buzz about an unstabilized approach. These pilots had darkness, and an overcast layer, to deal with, which shouldn't have been a big deal. Why was the autopilot still engaged, on short final on a non-precision approach? Puzzling.

Ear troubles

The wound clinic gave the OK for Kristan to receive treatment in a hyperbaric chamber. That should get her foot wounds heading in the healing direction. She tried it early last week, and that's when they found her ears weren't equalizing. The pressure was so great, she just about passed out from the pain, which then lingered on for the rest of the week. They sent her to the Ear-Nose-Throat Doc, who inserted ear tubes that will allow the pressure to equalize. But she thinks those are not healing up right either, so it's back to the ENT on Monday, if she can get an appointment.

The light at the end

OMG. It feels like we can see the light at the end of the home-repair-improvement tunnel. The refinished hardwood floors are all cured and ready for use. The furniture is mostly moved back onto the hardwood floors where it belongs. The new stairway railing is installed and stained. The new replacement carpet is installed on the main floor, staircase, and upstairs bedrooms. The leaking pipe in the kitchen ceiling is fixed. The five huge holes in the kitchen ceiling are patched, and the ceiling has been taped, textured, and painted. The new bedroom furniture (our first headboard ever!) has arrived, and the dozen electrical devices around the bed have been unplugged and replugged several times. Now, we just have to deal with the moderately long "punch list" that's left over from all that.

Scheduling conflict

It should be fun at the house right now, with the drywall repair and new carpet installation happening at the same time. I had a bit of a problem with the schedule... then I couldn't bring myself to send either of them away, since they're all busy, and might not be able to get back for weeks or months, and I so badly want all this work to be done.

Holes patched!

It's the first day of kitchen ceiling repair. Today they patched and taped. I'm so glad, to finally have all those holes covered up.

Found the leak

Some good news: After many weeks of putting up with five huge holes in the kitchen ceiling, while waiting unsuccessfully for the leak to re-occur, today our painter/friend and his drywaller/friend found a bunch of corrosion on a section of copper hot water pipe that was hiding between the holes. He sanded off the worst of the corrosion in one spot, and it started leaking immediately. A self-sealing (sort of) leak! Called a new plumber, and replaced the entire section.

New landscaping

Our front yard landscaping is finally in! It's been a long time since the landscaping fire last summer, that almost burned down our house. It is so nice to be able to look at the nice plants and rocks alongside the driveway now, instead of that pile of muddy dirt that's been there for a year. I'm sure our neighbors are appreciating it, too.

Disneyland!

I'm back, from a whirlwind trip to LA, just gone for two nights and a very fun day. Mikele talked me into going to Disneyland with her, the kids, Bob, and some of his relatives, 13 of us in all. I was soooo hesitant to go, but Kristan talked me into it. We made arrangements for a friend to spend the nights with her, which made the difference for me. I had a really fun time with everyone. I had to laugh, using the Find My Friends app, to watch people getting lost on the LA freeways, while coming to meet me at the airport. We had a fun little group adventure, walking to dinner at Inn N Out on Sepulveda Blvd, and watching the big Jets arrive. Parts of Disneyland were so different! I'd never been to California Adventure, the new park that replaced the huge parking lot that used to be right outside the old park. We had lunch at the Boudin Bakery in the Pacific Wharf there, really enjoyed my Shrimp Louie in a sourdough bread boule. I'd never used the Fast Pass, that lets you reserve a spot in the shorter line at the more popular rides, and I just loved bypassing those long lines! We hit up lots of twisty turny rides, old and new. And I did get to eat dinner at my old favorite Cafe Orleans restaurant, just outside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, and got a delicious drink from the Mint Julep Bar next door. I loved watching the evening Fantasm show on Tom Sawyer's Island, and the fireworks over the Fantasy Land Castle, complete with Tinkerbell floating by! The LA Sheraton Gateway hotel was a perfect place to stay, right by LAX, which made it so much less stressful, catching an early-morning flight home. Mandy was ecstatic to see me. She's lying on the bed next to me, looking exhausted and content after all the dancing she did for me, when I walked in the door just now. I posted a bunch of pics on Facebook.

We visited so many attractions, I was overwhelmed!

Infection

The doc at the wound clinic told K today that her ankle wound is infected. She said she was stopping at the pharmacy for antibiotics. I hope they work. They often haven't for her, especially below the knee where the circulation is poor.

Smackdown

Dad and Adele were making a valiant attempt to drive out and see us again this summer. They had almost made it to their first stop in Acworth, GA, when they got hit. They're fine, but the car needs a few days of repair, and they're discussing their options. I fear they may be headed back to FL, when they come to their senses.

Humalog overdose

Now we're playing the same old (not fun) game: K accidentally took 20 units of Humalog (fast acting insulin) instead of Lantus (slow acting insulin), just before 2am. Just as my head was finally hitting the pillow, she said "Oh, God..." Not good. 20 units will drive her blood glucose (BG) down about 1400 points. If it gets below 50, things get very serious quickly. Unfortunately, her BG was just about perfect (126) at the time, instead of being really high, which is not uncommon, and would have helped a lot. Now she's got to eat 300 grams of carbohydrates (7 bottles of apple juice or cans of Coke, or 15 slices of bread, etc) in a short period, to avoid having a low glucose crash, and possible ER visit. She's eaten 216 grams of apple juice, glucose gel, and ice cream, so far. Now we're staying awake and waiting to see if her BG plummets, or if we've caught it in time. Heavy sigh. When it first happened, I was so frustrated, I just told her to get dressed, so I could take her to the ER and get her setup for IV glucose, because I was sure she couldn't eat that much. But she disagreed, and attempted to distract me, by having me make several (wasted!) calls to health care advice numbers. Those people are required by HIPAA regulations to ask the most stupid questions possible, and to refuse to talk to me, practically forcing me to call 911 instead. Idiots! The one person I did finally talk to, who was very helpful, was the doctor on call at her Endocrinologist's office. He got me calmed down by focusing on the current BG which was still OK, and pointing out that this was an opportunity for K to eat all the sugary junk she's supposed to avoid, like candy bars and ice cream. Anyway, it looks like it's going to work out, after all.

Asiana Flight 214 Crash

I have been sadly but avidly (it's a compulsion for me) following the news about the Asiana airlines flight 214 crash at San Francisco airport. It appears they hit the seawall on the approach end of runway 28L.

I just found this informative analysis of flight 214's speed and energy profiles on final approach. http://flyingprofessors.net/what-happened-to-asiana-airlines-flight-214-2/

They say the flight was high and fast, several miles out, then the throttles were pulled back to idle for a rapid descent, but then they ended up low and slow at the sea wall. What a crying shame.

The FAA, and I think the airlines, all recommend a missed approach, if the aircraft isn't on a stabilized approach, by the time a flight is within 500 feet of the ground.

There's an FAA circular that defines a stabilized approach, as:
1) On the correct track.
2) In the proper landing configuration.
3) No big corrections required, to maintain track and glideslope.
4) Speed within acceptable range specified.
5) Rate of descent no greater than 1000 fpm.
6) Appropriate power setting for the landing configuration.

They must've been asleep at the controls, to not have realized several of the above were out of whack. Very sad.

Another fox chased

Mandy took off at a full run this morning, presumably after a fox that she saw and I didn't. She was back ten minutes (seemed like hours) later, with her usual swagger. She knows I'm not happy about it. But thankful she made it back alive.

Finally a good one

K hadn't had a good dialysis since two weeks ago, because her Fistula has been blocked. After three visits to the Renal Access Center, it appears they may have finally gotten it right. I think she had a good dialysis today. 

Tweaked back

Would it be bad, if I were lifting a table from an awkward overhanging position, and something in my back popped, and I suddenly had a level 9 pain in my back? Just askin'.