AV041 Launched!

We launched AV-041, carrying the AEHF-3 payload, early this morning. By the time I got home, it was just about time to be heading back into work, but of course my plan was to take the morning off, and get some sleep.

Back at work

I'm back at work, for the AV-041 launch countdown. I took the mid-day off for a short nap to balance my work and sleep hours. K got dialysis 2-6 today. I stopped by to drop off some of her rarer meds, that the hospital pharmacy doesn't carry, on my way back in. They say they may discharge her Wednesday. The nurse also casually mentioned, that she does indeed have at least one rib fracture on the right side, where she's hurting so much.

Admitted to Sky Ridge

K was admitted to Sky Ridge hospital tonight. Her caregiver took her to the ER, where they gave her an initial "triage" evaluation fairly quickly, but then she waited an hour to be seen. I got there while they were waiting. They thought they would be admitting her, after hearing the abridged story, of the severe pain on the right side, the refusal of dialysis due to the clogged fistula, the refusal to repair it, due to the high potassium. But first they setup IV access, took and X-Ray picture and blood samples, and made her wait awhile longer. They said the X-Ray images did not show any broken ribs on the right side, which got us worrying about what was causing the pain, maybe something more serious internally. When the labs came back, they saw that yes, potassium really was very high, and decided to admit her to hospital. She stayed awhile longer in ER, waiting on a room. They gave her a "cocktail" injection to lower potassium, with a large dose of insulin (yikes!), sodium bicarbonate, calcium, and, oh yeah, a bunch of dextrose to balance the insulin. I warned about the insulin, and her brittle blood glucose. On the way to ICU, they detoured with a stop in surgery, to insert a catheter in her neck, which would enable them to give her dialysis. That took about 40 minutes. The Doc said the surgery went well, and she'd be in ICU soon. Then a surgical nurse said she was in ICU, but we couldn't visit until 8pm, because the nurses were changing shift, and visitors weren't allowed. Argh! Finally we were able to visit, after she was settled into her ICU room. They started a 2-hr dialysis, and planned on another session on Tuesday. I headed home after 9pm, wondering if the dog had survived her long 6hr stay at home alone, but she was fine, sleeping in K's closet. She sleepily rolled on her back for a belly rub, as soon as she saw me.

K to Sky Ridge ER

K will be heading to ER at Sky Ridge Medical Center later today. She has several things not going right. Multiple problems are falling on top of each other, complicating things mightily. Severe pain in her right side, combined with nausea and vomiting, are the latest to join the fray. The Dialysis Center turned her away on Friday, with a clogged fistula and thick black blood. They warned her that her potassium was already high, which can quickly become fatal, and to be very careful over the weekend, with what she ate. They were going to schedule an appointment at the Renal Access Center for today, to get her fistula repaired. Since she'll be enroute to ER, she'll miss her hyperbaric oxygen treatment, which is to try to get her foot wounds healing, so that's a concern. She'll also not be able to get her fistula treated at the Renal Access Center, if she's in ER, so there's talk of catheterization to enable dialysis, and she's very unhappy about that prospect. Her caregiver schedule is falling apart, as people are drawn away by other obligations.

Sore rib?

K is very sore under her right arm. It acts a lot like a bruised or broken rib, but there's nothing on the surface to show for it.

Looking forward to IOS 7

I'm looking forward to using the new iPhone Operating System, IOS version 7. From the keynote address, and the New Features page on the Apple website, it sounds like it has some really nice new features, that will make the phone even more simple and fun to use. I don't see anything earth-shattering, but it looks like a solid step up. In summary:

A new way to control the most-accessed settings -- Control Center -- that will be easily accessible by swiping up from the bottom of the phone. It will have a built-in flashlight, so I can delete the three flashlight apps I've been waffling between, on my phone. Yay.

A new easier to read Notification Center, with new features that sound very handy.

Some really good improvements to the way they do multitasking, that make it smarter, and will contribute to longer battery life.

A new Square aspect ratio option for the camera. They say square pictures work better for the social networking sites, like Facebook, which I use a lot.

Other new picture-related options, like color temperature and monochrome filters, and a great new way to find the one cool picture in the large list of pictures on the phone.

A new service called AirDrop, that lets you share stuff with nearby friends, if you want to. They poked fun at the Android, which requires you to go around the room, and physically bump the phone of each friend that you want to share with.

A much-improved Safari web browser, which is good news, for those of us who use that thing a large percentage of the time we're using our phone.

A new iTunes Radio feature, that gives access to online streaming music through a new method.

More improvements to the Siri advisor. It sounds better, and it does more things.

New security features to make it easier to recover and restore a lost phone.

New bluetooth features that allow the phone to integrate seamlessly with the bluetooth system in a car. Shoot. *Now I need a new car.*

Here's a link to the Apple "What's New" IOS page...

Fine on Friday the 13th

Good morning! It's Friday the thirteenth! How lucky are we?! It's still raining, but the Littleton flood Warnings are being cancelled, as the various rivers (Plum Creek, South Platte) have crested, and appear to be receding. I'm considering breakfast at our favorite place by the river...

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!