Monday, February 27, 2006

I (heart) Google ... still

Some of you may have seen the other day that Google is at it again. This time they have released the use of the Google Page Creator. This is cool because it allows those fortunate people with gmail accounts to create individual AD FREE webpages hosted by Google that can store up to 100MB of info! According to Google:
Google Page Creator is a free tool that lets you create web pages right in your browser and publish them to the web with one click. There's no software to download and no web designer to hire.
Check it out for yourself. As for me, I am experimenting with it and have put together a couple pages and am thinking of more. Check mine out here and tell me what you think.

UPDATE: Ok, since the Google Pages URL is pretty much my email address, I have decided to take that down and unpublish my pages so no one can find that address and start SPAMing me. Great idea Google, poor execution. On that note, I am working on a page of mine to publish somewhere. When I do, I will post it here.

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Flonase? more like Schmonase


So, based on my previous post, we are all pretty aware of how I have been feeling, right? no? ok, let's recap: three weeks ago I left work because I was feverish (cold and shivering and achey). After that I noticed some sinus pressure on one side preventing me from breathing on that side. I figured it would pass, so I took some Tylenol, NyQuil, and Nasal Decongestant. It didn't go away. I figured I would give it some more time because I didn't want to go to the doctor. I was avoiding that because without insurance, everything that has to do with your body is expensive. Last week I was getting sick of being sick, so I did some web research and diagnosed myself with a sinus infection based on my symptoms. Since I thought it was an infections, I knew I needed an antibiotic, so I was ready to break down and see the doc. Well, before I did that, I decided to consult my sister who is a nurse (why this didn't occur to me in week one is beyond me). She recommended a saline nasal spray or sinus irrigation. You can read more about that in the previous posts, but that gave me hope I would be better without the assistance of a doctor. Come Sunday I was still feeling terrible, so on Monday I went to Emergi-Care. There I waited in the waiting-room for 45 minutes before a nurse took me in, performed the general height, weight, blood pressure tests and told me the doctor would be in shortly. Twenty minutes later Doc comes in asking why I was there. Here's how it went:

Me: Well, I have had some sinus pressure on the left side preventing me from breathing. It's been going on for several weeks and I have tried all kinds of things. Last week I had some soreness in my teeth on that side, and after I did some research, I suspect it is a sinus infection. I think I need amoxicillin to get rid of the infection.
Doc: Interesting, let me check some things out. [Doc pokes in my ear (Dude, I said the problem was with my sinuses, why are you in my ear?), checks up my nose and down my throat. Then puts his cold stethoscope on my back and tells me to breathe deep, you know the drill.)] Ok, Ryan, it seems you have a sinus infection. I'm going to right you a prescription for amoxicillin, and that should clear up the infection in a few days.
Me: Thanks Doc, here's the $85 I owe you for that diagnosis. [While calculating in my head that that took 10 minutes. So $85 x 6 (for 60 minutes) = $510/hour. Well done Doc, well done.]


So, with a prescription in my hand for amoxicillin (required to kill the infection) and Flonase (advised by Doc to help with symptoms) I head to Walgreens and prepare to fork over another hefty chunk of change. When it was ready to be picked up, I glanced at the labels looking for the most important thing: price. Much to my surprise the first item I saw was $13.99, however, I was gravely disappointed when the other one showed up as $94.99. I took a deep breath and handed over my bank card as I said to myself I guess this is worth it to get better. As I am walking out, I hand over the drugs to My Girl with a seriously depressed look on my face. Luckily for me, she pays a bit better attention to detail and realizes that it's the Flonase that costs so much and not the antibiotic. Shocked, I turn back to the pharmacist asking if this is correct and ask for a more detailed summary of what Flonase does. After finding out it only treats the symptoms, I prompted returned it. I am happy to live a few more days with a stuffy nose and keep my $95.

Sunday, February 19, 2006

Why Geeks Make Good Dads

I found this blog and thought it was interesting ... primarily because i am a geek (and i still love legos). http://spaces.msn.com/imhelendt/Blog/cns!1pLLf-75vbkScDmJSvitLgBA!490.entry

Thursday, February 16, 2006

I see it has been awhile since I last posted. Please accept my deepest apologies, but really, does anyone even read this?

For the past several weeks I have been a bit under the weather. It started about three weeks ago when I left work early to lay on the couch at home because I was shivering and my whole body ached. That only lasted a day, but even since then I have had a bit of sinus problems, which led to other things. Let me explain. It started with me not being able to breathe out of my left nostril. I didn't do anything about it initially because I just figured it would go away ... wrong. After several days struggling with sleep, I started taking some drugs. I have persisted with that over the past several weeks trying all kinds of solutions, to no avail. Because it was difficult to breathe through my nose, when I would sleep, my body would take over and I would end up breathing out of my mouth as I slept. This is unfortunate because it has a tendency to dry out your mouth ... Completely. Now, I am not a fan of a alarm clock waking me up, but let me tell you, that sounds like Mozart compared to waking up because of a dry mouth, tongue, and throat. After a couple days of that your throat gets sore, naturally. And that leads to your vocal chords going on strike. This lasted several days for me, and am just now being able to almost talk normally. Why am I writing this? Well, it all comes down to today. I told you nothing was working for me, but today I tried something new: sinus irrigation. Yeah, that's right Sinus Irrigation. I was a little hesitant at first when the directions included salt and shoving something far up my nose. However, it all went smoother than expected. Afterwards I was able to breathe completely and freely out of that left nostril for the first time in 3 weeks, I was amazed. I realize a lot of life is 'live and learn' where, by the time you half way through life, you know so much because of times like these.

On to other things besides gross health stuff: Valentine's Day. Or, as some of my friends have been calling it Single's Awareness Day. I know several people that don't like this holiday for a multitude of reason. Anything from bitterness of a past terrible V-Day, bitterness because of loneliness, or hatred because it is a 'commercial' holiday in that it's all so that Hershey's and Hallmark can make an extra buck. I have never had hard feelings towards this day, its a good time to have romance in the air and show someone you care for how special they are to you. On that note, I think people should be showed regularly how special they are, not just one day a year, but this is a nice reminder. It's been awhile since I had V-Day when I was dating someone, but that never really bothered me, especially after I started my V-Day Underwear tradition years ago (more on that some other time). This V-Day however, I was with someone I am dating, and since I have had it both ways, I recommend the latter.

February 14th, 2006 was my best Valentine's Day. Ever. I'll give you a little peek into how it went. (It actually started weeks ago with planning, but the I'll just cover that day's events.) In the morning I arranged for a co-worker of My Girl to open her office for me to put some flowers and a card on her desk. That went swimmingly and I was off to work. Shortly after she got to work, I received an incredible email from My Girl indicating she got them. It was a glowing review ;) After work, we drove to Denver (where she grew up and a favorite city of hers) and arrived at PF Chang's, shortly after my 6 o'clock reservation, where we were promptly seated. She didn't know where we were going ahead of time, so it was a pleasant surprise to her. The food was excellent (as Chang's regularly is), the conversation was enticing, and the service was splendid, but all that was a far cry from how lovely My Girl was that night. Because she is a fan of books, cozy places, and tea, I took her to the Tattered Cover Bookstore after dinner. There we sipped on tea and talked of all things of life until they kicked us out at closing time. We both were a bit tired, had to work the next day, and were over 60 miles from our homes, so we just headed back to the Springs. The drive home was uneventful yet memorable; though she fell asleep, her hand was in mine - I was in heaven.

About me

  • I'm supermn
  • From Colorado, United States
  • I am a Colorado native. For my entire life I have lived in this state. Born in Fort Collins, grew up in Colorado Springs, college in Fort Collins, and currently in Colorado Springs.
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