The me that you know is now made up of wires...

The holter monitor in all its glory. I have to wear it for 24 hours.

It started itching like crazy after one.

No news is good news?

The blood tests showed that everything seems to be normal, which is good news I guess, although it doesn't bring me much closer to finding out what's the deal with my heart, or weight loss, or lethargy either.

Onwards to the Holter monitor.

The heart of the matter

My wife's been complaining that I have an irregular heart beat and I've been getting palpitations of increasing frequency over the last week and a bit (some palpitations so violent that you can actually see my whole chest moving in time to my heart beat).

A visit to my doctor on Thursday had him concerned enough that I've had blood tests and an ECG (apparently my resting heart rate is a little slow) to get an idea of what my base heart beat and rate is like. It is not so much the heart itself that is the concern but the the associated symptoms that, until recently, I thought were completely unlinked:

• massive weight loss without any real change in diet - in the last year I've lost 10kgs and only put 2kgs back on - at 68kgs it's obvious I didn't have that spare weight to lose!
  
• extreme tiredness - I often battle to stay awake mid-morning and mid afternoon. Case in point - this morning I got up at 7:30 and was back in bed for an hour long nap at 9:45 (it's a public holiday). I got 8 hours sleep the night before.
  

While the Doc won't speculate ("it could be so many things, so these blood tests are just a fishing expedition"), my suspicion is over active thyroid which is easily treatable with medication. Absolute worst case (according to Google :> ) is my slow heart rate needs to be corrected with a pacemaker to make sure it fires regularly and at the right speed (my doctor didn't tell me this one, probably because it would be from a very rare condition and highly unlikely, but Diagnosis-by-Google is so much fun!).

Right now I'm not worried. If the blood tests come back without any answers, then I might start to think about it a bit more...


"iron-heart-stone-bench" originally uploaded to Flickr by A.M Griffin. Used under a Creative Commons license.

Addicted to glove..

One of my favourite pastimes is interchanging the words "love" and "glove", particularly in relation to pop songs. It's fun. You know you want to try it...

This headline really made my day on Saturday.

It is a very sad thing that nowadays there is so little useless information

- Oscar Wilde

I guess some times the more things change, well, the more things change.

A better mousetrap?

For the last few days, we've been plagued by a rodent of some description. My wife saw some movement beside the oven early last week, although when I went to check with a torch, whatever had been there was gone.

On Thursday, I got a phone call at work that explained to me in no uncertain tones that there was indeed a mouse (too small to be a rat) in the house and was currently taking residence under the refrigerator. A large number of nocturnal bumping and knocking noises could be heard in the region of the fridge for the next two nights.

Yesterday, while grocery shopping, I picked up one of the little bad boys like in the out-of-focus camera phone picture above. Apparently the mouse trap was designed for those who want to kill a mouse but have no desire to see the end result. While my main concern was in fact prying little fingers, it was a point of view I had some sympathy with.

The trap has a little self-adhesive label on the underside which can be peeled back to allow you to place your bait (in this instance, I whacked some peanut butter in). Once you have done that, you twist the whole thing clockwise which opens up an entrance into which the rodent crawls in. When the trap is triggered, the whole thing apparently turns at speed, trapping the creature inside.

After I set the trap, we heard a few sounds like banging plastic, so we had a fair idea that the mouse was interested. As I prepared for bed (and tried to re-settle Bugalugs), my wife went in to the kitchen to get a drink of water. She arrived in time to see the mouse creep out from behind the fridge and slowly sneak in to the trap. It stayed mostly in for a while with just its tail poking out. It must have decided that the peanut butter was worth over riding natural caution because the tail disappeared. That last step was just enough to trigger the trap which snapped around into position.

I heard a few signs of life within the trap over the next half hour before all movement ceased. When I re-read the packaging, I noticed that they had gone to great lengths to not mention just what happens to the mouse or rat once it is inside the trap. I guess anyone who is too squeamish to look at a dead rat probably doesn't want to know about the nasty death that most rat poisons cause. I think in future I might just use a basic trap. I think a quickly snapped neck might be a better passing.

Of course, tonight I heard some more knocking noises from the fridge region. Mouse traps are already on the shopping list.

Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence in society.

- Mark Twain

Ouch. It hurts.

Yesterday I managed to jam a sharp piece of plastic deep under my left thumb nail. This morning it hurt so much I had to battle to do the buttons on my shirt up using only one (some how, and I'm not sure how, I seem to use my left thumb quite heavily in the button-doing-up process, which doesn't make much sense when I think about but there you are).

I have now developed a deeper appreciation for using slivers of bamboo under the fingernails for "information gathering". It really hurts and leaves behind very little splatter to clean off the walls.

Starry Starry Bamboo Mandala Originally uploaded by brainsik. Used under a Creative Commons license.

So it is true after all

Germinating apple seed_1
Originally uploaded by smperris.

Ever since I was told as a little kid that if I ate an apple core, an apple tree would grow inside of me, I've eaten the cores of green apples (the cores of red apples are black on the inside - taste fine but look ick).

Yesterday, while I was munching away on a tasty granny smith apple, I happened to see this little seed.

I didn't eat it. Perhaps I should have. A tree in me would have been pretty cool.

OMG KITTIES WTFLOL!!!1

I know, I know, it's not very mature or constructive or even a good way to pass the time. However, I'm still wiping tears from eyes 15 minutes later.

http://www.icanhascheezburger.com/

I'm not responsible for any time you may choose to waste there (and depending on web filters, it's possible it's NSFW).

Still handy

The trilogy is complete.

I've finally installed the third of my guitar hooks, keeping all my musical goodness out of reach of a marauding Bugalugs. For now.

Happy Birthday Gorgeous

You know who you are :)


Birthday-cake in Hamburg used under a Creative Commons licence. Originally uploaded to Flickr by robinoo.

If you say so.

The brand? Holeproof.

Just. Do. It.

I have had a collection of three wall-mounted guitar hooks for almost as long as we have lived in this house (we moved in August 05 - you do the maths, I'm too lazy). I've put off installing them for quite a while because, as previously mentioned, I'm somewhat lazy. It didn't help that when I was finally motivated to put them up, I discovered that my stud finder[1] worked less effectively when used slowly and carefully (it screws up its sensitively and it falsely reports when it has found the edge of the stud) and therefore I was drilling screws into plain old plaster, which wouldn't even support the weight of the hooks, yet alone the weight of a guitar as well.

When I changed jobs late last year, I finally started to get my act together and began adopting a Getting Things Done attitude, somewhat inspired by the 43 Folders/Lifehacker aesthetic. Part of the GTD method is break your big picture things down into "next actions" - that is, "what do I have to do next?" - the theory being, it's easier to go ahead and do something if the task is small and easily achievable, rather than some monolithic project hanging above your head like some sort of Sword of Damocles.[2]

Part of my @Home list (which doesn't get whittled down very quickly, but I am working on it) involved getting these guitar hooks up. A couple of weekends ago I went out and bought some nylon plaster plugs which allow me to hang up to 10kgs without needing any support behind the plaster. Over the last couple of weekends I have installed two of the hooks with one more to go (which will actually have a djembe and a ukulele hanging off it rather than a guitar or bass, but it still gets junk off the floor of the study/computer/music room).

I may not be much of a handyman, but every now and then I manage to do something vaguely DIY. Enjoy the before and after shots.

The wall before (well, technically, it's the opposite wall because I didn't think to take a photo until it was too late. However, it looked exactly the same. Trust me.)
















And here is the after shot (which is of the actual wall. Trust me.)













[1] a phrase that still makes my wife giggle uncontrollably - for extra fun, I like to tell her I bought my stud finder in Bangkok. You'd never guess that I'm the immature one in this marriage

[2] Of course, GTD is more than that. One of my favourite parts of GTD is the idea that most people are stressed because they carry around everything they need to do in their head, instead of recorded somewhere. Because it's all stored in their head, it's much easier to forget things and you tend to spend a lot of your time stressed because either (a) you just know you've forgotten something important but can't think what it is or (b) you're frantically doing damage control around some disaster, caused by you forgetting soemthing important. One of the strengths of GTD is that if you can develop a system of recording your next actions that you can trust completely, the mere act of recording stuff you need to do reduces your stress almost exponentially becuause you don't need to carry it around in your head anymore. I didn't really believe it until I tried. GTD and my trusty DIY Hipster PDA has meant that I forget nowhere near as many things as I used to, and I no longer find myself lying awake at night, my mind racing (or remembering stuff just before I go to sleep and forgetting it when I wake up and not remember it again until too late). In turn, I feel much more organised and relaxed although my wife has said she hasn't noticed any difference. I feel it though, and that makes a difference to me.

In search of a comet

It will come as no surprise to people that know me that I'm a little bit on the geeky side. So, when I found out that the brightest comet in over 40 years was clearly visible to the naked eye, I thought "this is something I've got to see...". The comet in question is the McNaught Comet.

I live very near Tuggeranong Hill, which I had heard afforded fantastic views of the surrounding area. While called a hill, it is technically a mountain so I figured I was pretty safe. If I could scale the fire trail that leads to the top of the Hill, I reckoned I could get a pretty good view of this streaming ball of cosmic ice.

The journey would be difficult for two reasons:

1. the comet was best seen at dusk, which is also not long after we normally put Elijah to sleep; and
2. being up the top of the hill at dusk would mean walking back down a fire trail in the dark, because, in hindsight, I have no brain and it never occurred to me to take a torch.

Elijah went to sleep quite easily in the end and I left for the hill, imaginary leave pass from my wife imaginarily clutched in my sweaty little hand. Now, I'm not unfit, but I'm definitely not fit either and the 20 minute walk up the hill was hard work. It was made harder by the fact that the fire trail is not the most stable of surfaces and was showing signs of erosion after the hard core storms that swept through the area over Christmas/New Year. Still, there was plenty of light although the sun was setting and I reached the top without incident.

I have always wanted to climb up to the top of Tuggeranong Hill and the view from the east did not disappoint.


I quite liked the view to the south as well.


The view to the west (where, apparently, the comet would reveal itself) was none too shabby either.


Since I had some time, I also checked out the TV broadcast signal repeater (appropriately adorned with a cheesy slogan - considering it's a hell of a walk, some people really are dedicated to their vandalism)...


... and then there was some sort of doodad dealy up there too (I have nfc what this is at all, but you can see the broadcast repeater tower in the background).


The sad thing about all this is, I waited for over an hour in the rising breeze, getting colder and colder as I regretted climbing a small mountain in t-shirt and shorts and shoes without socks. I got cold, it got increasingly dark and in the end, I had to head home disappointed, lest I break my neck on the descent.

Sometimes geekiness has a price that must be paid, a toll that must be extracted.

No comet for me.

Go here for a photo on Wikipedia of what the comet would have looked like in Canberra if I had been able to actually spot in the dusky sky.

Edit 1/2/07 21:57 to remove an orphan link. Oops.

Trim the sails, the wind has gone...

Ever had an idea, kicked it around with a friend for a while, decided it was worth chasing and discover someone else has already had it?

It can be, well, somewhat deflating.

That's cool. Life is full of good ideas. Maybe the next one...

(No, I'm not sharing the idea, but rest assured it was a cool one. There may still be hope in another form. One day.)

Edit: btw, post 1oo! Wow, has that taken a long time.

Just can't leave well enough alone

My skin, for some reason, has been playing up a little lately (too much information? Probably. Deal.)

Yesterday afternoon, I found a pimple that only I could see (and that was because only I can feel it) and it started driving me mad. When I got home, I just had to get at it. I just had to. I don't know why. I just did.

It was stubborn. It was deep. It was not its time. I didn't care. After much effort, I finally got it (well, some of it). Of course, for my efforts I now have what can only be described as a plasmay, leaky mess near the corner of my mouth. Luckily I can hide some of it in my facial hair but I can still see it. I know it's there, mocking me, whispering "You never learn, do you. Punk."

One day I will learn. On the upside, I did derive great satisfaction from the process. After all, it's the journey that is important, not the destination.

Oops. No site stats for you!

Unintended consequence of switching to New Blogger #1

I didn't think to check that the javascript from Sitemeter followed the template over to the new layout. Turns out it didn't. Here I am, thinking that no visitors just meant no one cared. It seems that not only do people not care but machines are actively working against me, too.

My last recorded visitor was on 18 December 2006. By my calculations, that means that I should have received at least 4 more hits since then.

I'm so popular.

Tip? I’ll give you a tip…

I don’t think anyone would argue that airports operate within a financial system that is a universe unto itself. It is probably only a matter of time before they start charging people for the air that they breathe inside the terminal (and I shudder to think what sort of margin they would be adding on top of that as well).

At the end of our recent holiday, we found ourselves in the departure lounge with a little bit of time to kill. The Boy needed to be breastfed and my wife was really thirsty (breastfeeding will do that to you). Since I had forgotten to fill up a water bottle and pack it in our carry-on luggage, it fell upon my shoulders to find a suitable replacement.

It was not long until our scheduled boarding time so I needed to find somewhere close with quick service. Casting my eye about, I chose a nearby store. Now, I use the word “store” in a not so much loose as liquid sense. The facility was a large bank of open-fronted refrigeration units where you perused and selected your chosen product, and one small check-out manned by a bored looking assistant.

After choosing a 750ml bottle of water, I was stunned to discover that the going rate in this dislocated economy was $4, more than twice what I would pay for this product in most supermarkets. However, as it was my fault we had to buy anything in the airport anyway, I gritted my teeth, took my karmic lumps with internal good humour and fished out the coins to pay. It was while I was paying for the bottle that I encountered something that really made me question just what it is that gets put into the water supply.

Prominently placed on the counter was a bowl with some coins, adorned with a sign communicating one simple word that is still burned into my occipital lobe – TIPS (and yes, it was in all caps, too). The rage seethed and bubbled deep within as part of my brain transmitted with full power over the entire telepathic spectrum with quiet fury: Not only did I select the bottle and physically transport it myself to the front counter and then pay well over twice what it is worth, but YOU WANT A FREAKING TIP? FOR WHAT? THE “SERVICE”?

Of course, making a scene is not my thing (deep down inside I’m just a spineless coward, like all the other sheeple) so I just quietly sighed (well, maybe not that quietly) when I found out that water now costs $4 and walked away.

You know what baffles me more than anything else? There were coins in the bowl. Either the proprietors of the kiosk have such a low opinion of people that they think that by chucking a few coins in a bowl, peer pressure will out and people will tip if they think the person in front of them in line did, OR, people actually have felt obliged to tip the staff in thanks for being gouged in an extraordinarily lazy manner (points for style, I guess).

I’m not sure which one is worse…

Offline for Christmas

Back mid-January.

Stay safe and have fun.