Mug vs. Cup

Okay, here’s where the experts go all condescending and say, “Oh, he finally noticed there are different sizes and styles! Isn’t that precious?”

Well, yes, I did just discover that there is something else besides the standard mug-size cup in the Wallace Westward Ho Pioneer Trails series. I noticed it when I put my newest acquisition into the china cabinet and found it was markedly smaller than the other two Pioneer Trails cups/mugs I have.

The new acquisition looks like the cup that came with the Little Buckaroo child’s place setting, but with the Pioneer Trails transfer instead of cattle brands. It has the Pioneer Trails logo stamp on the bottom, just like its big brother.

Gut Check Report

The worst thing about a colonoscopy is the agonizing bloating you’re left with because of all the air they pump into your lower gastrointestinal tract.

They did the upper and lower GI yesterday morning, starting about 7:15 a.m. We were out of there and on our way home by 10 a.m. with illustrated printed reports that showed they found nothing alarming. The doc’s response to my possible diabetic gastroparesis symptoms was to give me a prescription for Omeprazole, which I have concluded is definitely not the answer.

Happily, I was sufficiently decompressed by 3 p.m. to be comfortable again.

My chiropractor says she has good success treating gastroparesis with chiropractic techniques. Diabetic gastroparesis is a condition where the vagus nerve, which controls the contractions in the stomach and lower gastrointestinal tract that move the food through the system, gets compromised by a lack of oxygenation from the bloodstream. The result is that food sits in the stomach so long it begins to ferment and cause acid reflux and extreme discomfort, especially when you’re horizontal and trying to sleep. I’ve had a couple of episodes so extreme that I thought I was having a gallbladder attack with waves of sweating, nausea and disorientation. Since my gallbladder checked out fine last month, I’ve come to the conclusion that fermented food generated enough toxic stuff to rise to the level of food poisoning.

At any rate, rather than accept the conventional medical wisdom that I have a chronic, incurable condition, I’m following a course of treatment that I think may get my vagus nerve back up to snuff while, at the same time, modifying my diet to favor foods that are easily digestible.

I remain guardedly optimistic that we’re on the right track.

In the mail today

I now have a third Pioneer Trails cup to go with my three PT saucers.

Dora the Explorer (c’mon, you knew it was inevitable)

Breeder Joleen sent us a new batch of photos of our little blue merle Aussie girl showing her in her first experience with the Great Outdoors this moring.

As you can see, she met chickens and a kitten.

Gut check

I’m on a liquid diet today, preparing for an upper GI exam and maybe a colonoscopy early tomorrow morning in the continuing effort to figure out what’s going on with my digestive system.

Dr. Nicole Flora, my daughter-in-law, opined a few weeks ago that I have diabetic gastroparesis. It wasn’t until about 2:45 a.m. today, when I was fighting my nightly battle with indigestion, that I finally looked it up.

I didn’t like what I read here: http://www.diabetes.org/living-with-diabetes/complications/gastroparesis.html

The confusing, disturbing thing for me is that my doctor has been telling me for years that I’m doing a good job of managing my Type II diabetes with medication based on my twice-annual blood tests. A gastroparesis diagnosis would seem to contradict that.

We shall see.

Generally speaking, I have a higher level of confidence in Dr. Nicky’s diagnostic abilities than with my own G.P.

With the freezer contents at stake, my Lacrosse monitor just became very useful

I've had my Lacrosse wireless monitor system for several weeks, using it to monitor the outdoor temperature and the indoor conditions in my upstairs office. I had it set up to notify me when the office temperature rose above 84 degrees to signal me to turn on the window air conditioner and save our computers from overheating. It worked well in that capacity.
Then, this morning, I found a better, more critical use for it when I discovered that our garage circuit breaker had tripped, letting the contents of our upright freezer warm to about 30 degrees.
I figured I'd rather just pay attention and used the upstairs air conditioner whenever it seems stuffy and use the monitor system to alert me if the freezer contents are threatened. (Actually, it would make even more sense to add a second monitor and cover both fronts.)
At any rate, it was a simple matter of tossing the wired probe into the freezer and setting the transmitter on top. Now I have constant monitoring of the ambient temperature and humidity in the garage (which is useful since we store canned goods on shelves there) and the interior of the freezer.
I have the software programmed to fire a text message and an email to my iPhone if the freezer temp exceeds 25 degrees (normal operating temperature is 0 degrees Fahrenheit) or if the ambient temperature in the garage drops below freezing or above 110.

Haircut

I needed it.

Remembering Mike Brady

I was introduced to Mike Brady in the fall of 1963 shortly after I arrived at Indiana State College (now University) to begin my freshman year.

The introduction was made by Dave Johnson, a fellow Delphi Oracle, who was beginning his sophomore year and was eager to see to my orientation. He also took me on a tour of the Terre Haute red light district on my first night on campus.

Dave was a drummer with jazz inclinations and Mike was the quintessential jazz hipster, given to noodling on “air saxophone” with little or no prompting. Brady was also a perceptive young man and declared me a “sleeper.” (From the Urban Dictionary: Sleeper - Outwardly common looking item, that possesses something special or unique inside.)

He played gigs on and off campus with other student musicians including David Darling, a cellist and composer who won the 2010 Grammy for Best New Age Album.

Mike was a graduate of Cathedral High School in Indianapolis. I lost track of him after my freshman year and didn’t see him again until I ran into him while covering the Indiana State Fair for The Indianapolis News in the early 1970s. He was playing with a rock band at the fair, which surprised me because I never expected him to forsake jazz and “go commercial.”

I’ve often wondered what became of him and did an Internet search yesterday. I found he played with an Indianapolis bar band called Chooch and the Enchanters. An email query to Jim “Chooch” Kennedy confirmed we were talking about the same Mike Brady.

“Michael passed away several years ago from a heart attack in  his sleep. He was a great musician and friend {although we got in to it once in awhile}. No one taught me more about music and other things than Mike,” Chooch said.

I can’t say I knew him well, but I can say I knew him well enough to know he was one of a kind.

At one point, several of us bought cap-firing Mattell submachine guns. Here’s a shot of Mike menacing one of the guys in his Sandison Hall dorm.

Sadly, Dave Johnson is gone too. He died a couple of years ago of cancer in Farmington, N.M.

The Dora Report–Day 31

Here’s our little Aussie blue merele girl Dora, photographed by her breeder last evening after dinner. She was born a month ago today. We get to bring her home June 22.

Headphones!

Granddaughter Lisa, seen here enjoying the pink headphones we sent her for her ninth birthday, has been listening to stereophonic music on headphones for much of her life.

Not so for her ancient grandfather.

I, who was born two days before the first atomic explosion, also pre-date commercial stereophonic sound.

I was in junior high school in 1958 when the first two-channel stereo vinyl records came onto the market. Our neighbors, the aptly-named Joneses, were the first people I knew to own a stereo phonograph and they played the grooves off of Henry Mancini’s “Music from Peter Gunn” and one or two Johnny Mathis albums.

Nobody I knew, including my audiophile high school band director, had headphones.

My first encounter with headphones came around 1960 or 1961 at a record store on Main Street in Lafayette, Ind. The store had two or three headphone-equipped turntables on a big table up at the front of the store by the plate glass window. They made it possible to listen to records before you bought them and without disturbing other shoppers. I spent hours being amazed at what I could hear on headphones that eluded my notice when played through speakers.

But it wasn’t until 1968 or ‘69, when I bought a Fisher stereo with a headphone jack, that I bought my first set of headphones. They were made by David Clark and were considered excellent for their day. The David Clark Co,. is out of the audiophile business now, but pretty much owns the aviation headphone market.

Headphone use really took off in 1979 with the introduction of the Walkman by SONY, which paved the way for an even greater explosion of personal stereo music with the iPod in November, 2001.

I have several sets of earbuds and headphones, but I have yet to find a pair that are as comfortable as those old David Clark ‘phones.

Maybe I should try some pink ones like Lisa’s.

Lisa's birthday

Looks like we hit a home run with the new pink headphones.

She says they sound great and are the most comfortable she's had!

Freshman

I have a big pile of old photo prints stacked up on a box next to my desk and, not being able to think of anything profound to blog about, I reached over, grabbed the first photo that came to hand and scanned it.

It’s a Polaroid shot of me trying to look cool, probably during the first few months of my freshman year at Indiana State when I thought smoking a pipe might make me look more intellectual. Hah! I just look like an 18-year-old kid with a pipe.

Half a century ago this week

I let an anniversary get past me this week – Monday was the 50th anniversary of the Delphi High School Class of 1963 commencement.

That’s me on the far right, adjusting my gown in the school auditorium before we lined up and filed into the gym next door for a mostly forgettable ceremony. It was one of those days when I was happy to be an underachiever because that meant I escaped having to come up with valedictorian or salutatorian remarks.

What a long, strange trip it’s been.

Brilliant!

Every now and then I come across a photo that makes me exclaim, “Dang! I wish I’d thought of that!”

This is just such a photo, called to my attention by the witty dinosaur aficionado and blogger Laura Ledford who writes fetchmyflyingmonkeys.com.

She calls it the “best wedding photo ever.” I agree.

Second impressions

I’m back at the new Starbucks for a second impression.

It’s still kinda noisy and the baristas are clearly new to the job and acting like spastic puppies. And the cheese Danish isn’t as good as what I can get across the street at Panera.

But I did get a primo parking place for my K1200GT (see photo) and they are doing a pretty brisk business.

I broke out the FirstGear MeshTex jacket this morning after doing some heavy sweating on the bike yesterday afternoon in my German Polizei leather jacket. The difference is dramatic. The MeshTex feels like riding in a t-shirt and is perfect for humid temperatures in the 80s. It lacks the visual impact of the Polizei jacket, but that becomes a secondary concern on a hot day.

Congratulations, Sophie!

Our neighbor Sophie Holland is the 101.7 KISS FM “Rockin’ Apple Award” Teacher of the Year for 2013!

Sophie teaches advanced placement history at Greene County Tech Junior High School in Paragould.

Here she is with her award and some radio station guy.

I love being the first to break a news story. Always have. Always will.

The Dora Report

Dora had her first bath this morning and got her nails trimmed. The breeder sent us these photos.

Oh, Dora. What blue eyes you have!

Welcome to Starbucks!

The new Starbucks at 2303 Stadium Blvd. is finally open.

I noticed the “Now Open” sign when I rode past awhile ago on my way to pick up a prescription from the Parker Road Walmart pharmacy and made a mental note to check it out on my way home. One of the baristas said they’ve been open since Friday.

As far as I know, this is the first free-standing Starbucks in town. There are two inside the Mall at Turtle Creek – in Target and at Barnes & Noble.

I wondered if this Starbucks would pose a serious threat to Panera, which is just north. I really don’t think so. It only has indoor seating for about 35 and the outdoor seating will become useless once the heat of summer is upon us. They do have free Wifi (which I’m using right now) and a pleasant ambiance.

My only complaint is with the jarring clatter the baristas are generating as they go about their work. I don’t recall noticing that at a Starbucks before, but there doesn’t seem to be anything acoustically unique about the place.

So I got myself a grande frappuccino, fired up my netbook, logged into the Wifi and here I am.

Her birthday approaches…

My granddaughter Lisa turns 9 on Thursday! Pictured here with Emmy (Bichon) and Skippy Joe Jones (Cocka-poo).

Dora!

Twenty-six days old and growing fast.