A.T.Council

   Today was AT( assistive technology) Council. An organization I've been part of for probably more than 30 years. The council is made up of agencies and organizations that deal in one form or another of assistive technology and folks with disabilities our programs are agencies that serve folks with disabilities. In the old days I was a representative from the Independent Living Center of course. The council reflected a number of different private nonprofit organizations as well as state and other government agencies. Over the years though the population has dwindled even though the direction has pretty much stayed the same. We meet twice a year for what that's worth. We went from meeting maybe monthly to quarterly now we're at twice a year and we have to struggle to bring in 10 or 20 folks. The best part about the whole function is they provide lunch. Somewhere along the line in this blog I may have outlined by procedures for attending various advisory boards and councils depended on what they serve for lunch. In the old days it was a hot lunch and many times it included meat i e ribs, spaghetti, Stu you know just hot food started going downhill when they got rid of the meat. I never understood why that happened I don't know if it was because so many of them were these health conscious yuppies or it was a cost situation. Probably a little bit of both. Now, as I indicate there's just a few of us that continue to meet. The whole organization is basically hosted by the program down from Utah State University in Logan and they've just hired a new director who is very interesting young person. Anyway we meet and discussed various aspects of what we've been doing the last 6 months are what's new and new in assistive technology. Sometimes we have a presenter but most the times we just eat our lunch go over the high points of the year or half year and get the hell out of Dodge. The new director her name is Bora cuz I said is very interesting and she still totally believes in the system and programs like this. This program is just one of the many things that she has to attend to. The reason I outline this is because I attend these meetings but I'm the only one that's not really affiliated with an organization anymore. Before I was part of either private nonprofit industry are the state of Utah. Now that I'm retired I've just represent myself. I'm an interested consumer with a disability who uses quite a bit of assistive technology. I think Bora likes me but I don't think she knows what to do with me hell, I don't even know what to do with me. I don't know if I'm not supposed to come since I don't represent an organization but I'm still a consumer which I think is vital to this kind of an organization and one that shows up to the meetings- - and eats the sandwiches what more can I do to be involved?

 

Electrical Mess

 

I hesitated using this image for tonight's postings, I confess that even I have some form of embarrassment at the tangled web that sits next to my bed. This tangled web this actually the nurse Center where I keep my light my charger for my cell phone as well as my power chair and the drive mechanism for the electric bed that I totally rely on. I live in fear that something will happen and I will lose the power to any or all of these items that I rely on heavily during the day and even more importantly the night. A good case in point would have been I think a couple of days ago when going to transfer from my bed to my chair I had moved the bed up just a little bit or raise the bed a little bit went for one reason or another the electrical system died on the bed. I have course was totally freaked and thought that I knew what the problem was above the head of my bed is a electric outlet that I have my bed electrical bed plugged into. I've chosen this spot because I figured this was the place that would have the least amount of physical contact and therefore the plug would not come out of the wall. Of course you know that I was wrong and the only thing I can even think of was that when I was throwing the pill that I used during the night out of the way to raise my bed or to set myself up in bed I think the pillow went too high and fell down between the wall and the bed and came to rest on that plug. I of course did not realize it at the time and pushed the pillow off and brought it back onto the bed not knowing that I had pulled the plug almost out of the wall. I wasn't too concerned because worst case scenario this was Monday and my caregiver would eventually be here. Fortunately, and I still cannot really believe I did this, but I physically pulled myself up high enough to transfer onto the chair enough for me to tilt the chair back so I can get the the rest of the transfer finished. When Lisa did come she knew exactly what was wrong and pushed the plug back into the wall. I was so freaked out that I had her remove the plug unplug the electric bed into the power strip where theoretically if this should happen on the power strip I could hopefully plug the bed back in and get on with everything. I don't know how realistic this is and it kind of Spooks me to have the power bed plugged in here what's the best I can do at this point in time. I've been meaning for some time to actually secure the power strip to the side of my wooden box thing here so that it wouldn't twist and pull the plugs out as it does now every once in awhile especially if I'm not watching it.. I think I'll try to get my brother to come around and do this if not then hire some Fix-It guy to come in and do it. Now however it's just important that I maintain watch on this power strip to make sure it doesn't lose its connection..

Exhausted

 Another long day- - maybe it wasn't so long as much as the weather in the early morning makes it feel like a long day. I had to pee around 4:30 and of course never got back to sleep and then it was raining pretty bad almost to the point where I took off but finally stopped right before I had to leave for the bus. I guess it's the equivalent weather the cool weather that wears me out perhaps probably more than anything. I really didn't do that much I just went into the city did my meeting stopped at Taco time and took the bus home rather than coming home on the train. I think I didn't feel like taking the trip from State Street over to the to the train there was threats of rain all this afternoon and the chilly wind that went along with it. I'm sure the temperature didn't get below 50° the temperature just seemed cool. I kind of had a hood with me that I had wrapped around my shoulders which provided me enough warmth to doze off on the bus. I spent the day following that just hanging around the apartment and then after the news I decided to just zone out the evening doing a Spider-Man movie which got me to here. Somewhere in there also I did my arm bike for 60 minutes so that's probably why I feel more exhausted than usual. I wear my stocking cap today it sure sign of change of the seasons. It felt pretty decent getting back into my quasi winter form. I don't know if I need another hoodie I've got so many of them laying around already. I want to find some kind of a blanket or something for this cold weather this coming winter since I still plan to wear shorts all the way through as I've done the last couple of years.

I really love the technology that we have now. When I was on the bus I decided to check my emails of course I had a notification from Regal the movie company that there was a problem with my membership. I have a membership with the Regal unlimited program. I think I've written about this before but for 20 bucks a month I go to as many movies as I want usually not really much more than four but I'm doing better. Anyway, I think one of my lost cards like33 credit or bank cards was tied to my account and when I had to change them again a few months ago I probably didn't update the Regal folks so now I have to call somebody and visit with somebody to let them know that I'm still interested in the program. I think all I have to do is go into the program and trade out cards for active card and then I should be good to go. I think I'll save this task for tomorrow. Wednesday I have a free day which would be fantastic. The cold front is moving out so no more rain and the temperature is not going to be hot by any means but temperature won't be too cold either…

Weather change

 Of course the only day that there's going to be rain, really rain this week is tomorrow, Tuesday, the day that I have to go to assist board meeting. It's okay it's not that big of a deal I'll just have to dress warm maybe find one of my jackets it's got some kind of water resistant surfacing. If I run into moisture I doubt if it's going to be significant after all we do live in a desert. It's just that all the other days have been warm and hot almost hot and dry but the only day that I have to be out is tomorrow and that's when there's going to be rain. Actually, I do have a doctor's appointment I believe day after tomorrow but that's not too far away distance wise and the rain should be pretty much finished by Wednesday I hope. We are fastly getting into autumn the changes later this week sometime I can't remember which day it is but the cooler weather is certainly upon us the cold front that's bringing the storm is also going to bring in cooler temperatures for the next couple of days if not weeks. After all it is getting to be the latter part of September almost October we are on the path towards winter sad as that may be.

I have gone just a little bit more than one mile today. Which basically means I sat in my apartment most of the day and that's been fine with me. The day's been overcast with threats of rain. The day is certainly felt like fall. I did go out to the dumpster a couple times to do a trash run and even though it's cloudy the day is still warm I bet the temperature is up in the 80s today but that's changing tomorrow. Tomorrow is my trip into assist, inc. So I will more than make up for the few miles I travel today I only hope that I will not run out of batteries power. Something's been going on at this chair I think I've written about it before that it seems to be down charging somewhat quicker than before. I don't think I'm in danger of being stranded, I will go ahead and charge the chair before I jump into bed hook it up to the charger and by morning it'll top out even though there's not much power gone I'll be sure that when I start out it'll be a full battery it's a full charge. I'm heading right up to the bus stop and then from the bus stop downtown in the library then across the street to my meeting and coming back it'll just be retracing my steps. So I should be okay tomorrow. It seems like I'm okay to go 4 miles and once I go to 4 miles I show about half full battery wise but then the battery will drop suddenly the next few minutes that I'm hanging around in my chair. And within an hour I bet you I'm just doing regular rolling it will go down to zero. What I found really interesting however is that at zero miles you would think that the chair would just stop but it doesn't it keeps going and I don't know how long I could get going after it shows that I've depleted my energy source but it's certainly not a really accurate depiction of what I have energy wise. It flashes on when I reach the 50% mark and warns me that I've used half of the battery which makes you feel I should be able to go as far as I had gotten so far but that's not the case. Whereas I have not been stranded with the power chair with a lost batteries but I'd have to ask strangers for assistance and I have a difficult time doing that especially if it's something like pushing me in my chair somewhere that I can get some service- - there just isn't anything like that on an emergent situation. I would certainly like to try that if I could find out and immediate individual who could immediately break free and come and assist me / you with their wheelchair needs. And once again I'm certainly not above calling the local fire department to push me out of traffic and whatever and get back to at least my station and charge the chair with my charger that I keep in this area. I just don't have an option for after that I don't even have a backup chair right now because I sent my chair in the ucat for some repair. And I I'm having To be good to make sure that I don't damage my chair before I get the backup chair back…

Sunday's sediments

 This after 9:00 p.m. on Sunday night. That used to not be late for me that used to be just an indicator that I still had a lot of time left for the Sunday which also meant a lot of time left at the end of the weekend but anymore 9:00 p.m. means it's getting close to bedtime. I know I've talked a lot about how hard it is for me to go to bed before 12:00 midnight and it's true I just can't seem to get everything together and hop in bed by an earlier time. I guess I could try it but the problem I have is that if I go to bed late there's a better chance of me sleeping through the night and getting some decent sleep Plus waking up at a relatively decent time in the morning. I go to bed earlier then I wake up earlier. Last night's not a good example but I went to bed at 12:00 roughly and was awake at 3:30 a.m. which I've been doing a lot lately. I'm wondering on this particular situation yesterday was Saturday of course and I've already got my 200 minutes of the week recorded so I didn't necessarily work out on the arm bike. But I'm also thinking that I really rely those workouts to help Tire me out which helps me sleep through the night and maybe a little bit later so I wake up around 5:30 or 6:00 a.m. which seems a lot better for me. Even though I was awake early this morning I got through the day okay with no problems to speak of. I didn't work out today either I'm just hoping the significant sleep deficit that I have going with me right now will give me the ability to sleep late tomorrow morning so I can get up around 6:00 and be ready for my morning staff when she shows up to get me going for the day. This has been a pretty decent weekend for me I did coffee yesterday morning this morning I had breakfast with my son and then later in the day went to the movies. I have something to tell people tomorrow if and when they asked me what I did this weekend. I know that makes me a bit weak feeling that I've got to tell people that I actually did something over the weekend but it makes me feel good that I have something to tell them. I'll leave out the fact that I came home and watched movies on Netflix the rest of the day. 

I found out this morning that my granddaughter is having some health issues. They could be serious I'm a little concerned. This is the first grandchild that I've been aware of having medical issues. I have not had a chance to visit with her yet regarding these issues I'm just waiting to see what the doc said and all that kind of stuff. I hope it's nothing it's something that just kids go through. But still makes me a little concerned…

A1c why me?!

 

I'm in such a dither regarding how my diet is going to be affected by this type 1 prediabetes thing I'm currently sifting through. It seems everything that I totally enjoy I will no longer really be able to imbibe because it's a sugar or a carbohydrate, everything! For those constant readers who have to sit through my boobing about going through this pre-diabetic catastrophe that I feel that I'm passing through just either bear with me or don't read for a couple weeks just because I think I'm going to be focused on this a lot longer than I want to be focused. Trying to go through what I might be able to enjoy and ingest things like I guess meat products like roast, steak, chicken, lunch meat spam the whole galaxy meat products. I would like to think I could eat to some degree of milk products such as cheese and milk itself hopefully yogurts. I still have to figure out what to do from the standpoint of fruits and vegetables vegetables are okay I guess. However fruits which include juices maybe a real challenge too try to justify. Everything from watermelon to grapes are loaded with sugars I guess which makes them why they're so good. Even nuts are supposed to be off limits if you're really going to be serious about trying to modulate your A1c or whatever that is. It's got its own language I guess and now I'm watching the commercials during the 5:00 news now it's all about products that lower one's A1c. They weren't real to me up until now and all the sudden they all make sense so much more sense. A chemical Arsenal to lower the A1c. Ozympic which I think is the one product. I'm taking another kind of chemical that supposedly lowers that number. I babbled about it the other night wondering if this would allow me to still take part in the foods that I really love that are not available. The bottom line is I'm going to have to be an adult and as such take everything into moderation particularly losing weight cuz I understand this all affects the outcome. Little bummed because tomorrow morning I will have breakfast with my son at the local restaurant there's not a whole lot of stuff you can have for breakfast that's not bread or flour oriented I.E pancakes, French toast, toast toast Etc. I suppose I could order a steak or I could order a pork chop or I can order eggs and be done with it and just nibble on a couple pieces of bread toast. Or I could even just order cottage cheese which might not be a bad idea. Maybe cottage cheese and eggs that sound kind of weird but could be doable follow it up with sausage links or even a spanking flat of ham might be good as well. So there may be light in this Dark Storm of pre- diabetic realities. I just had to Pace myself freak out too often …

Beans and other things

 I didn't do a movie today because a friend of mine indicated he would help me bring home cases of canned goods from the market later on in the afternoon, will not be at the movies, you can give me a exact time so I figured he'd give me a call when it was the right time for him to meet me there. So I basically dawdled around all afternoon. He finally contacted me and was at the store waiting for me. This is really quite a shot so I put together myself quickly and headed out to the market. This is such a treat for me because I have such a hard time carrying big heavy items hoping for the market. You do it on a regular basis but nothing to the extent of case Goods. I didn't get anything exotic just the usual but in case format, French cut beans, red beans, corn kernel, five or six cans of sliced jalapeno peppers I was taking more but they didn't have any more I took the last. They also got half a case of now he's beef stew which I really like. I may go back and see if I can get a 12 pack of spam but we'll see. I didn't see the spammers in the area that I was at today. I could manage a case of spam to get home on my own then I think I'd be set for about a year food wise at least give you through the winter. It's pretty crazy and I think people really look at me weird sometimes when they come into the apartment well it makes me feel good and it makes me feel safe since I really don't spend a whole lot on socialization/ items that I recreate with I figure this can food will do just as well. Of course I don't have any place to put it at least not right now hopefully with Melissa who can figure out anything she'll find a place to stash it or maybe it'll just stay where it's at. Since I don't really use the table for much of anything except putting things on and sometimes I get underneath it a little bit to do my puzzles it seems like a good place to stash a couple of cases right now.

I've got another tooth bothering me again and that's a real drag. I just can't seem to get on top of my tooth repairs and maybe that's just another gift of advanced age. My teeth are finally letting go even though they did so well over the years I totally appreciate what they've gone through and apologize for what I put them through. Way too much candy and sweets and way little tooth preservation stuff like flossing and brushing just wasn't big on my agenda and I'm now paying the consequences. Maybe it's just the one tooth I'm having issues with maybe I've got something stuck there it's been pressing and making it a bit sensitive we'll find out tonight when I floss. I wonder if I'm flossing too hard can you've lost too hard?

Coffee and the movie

 I started the new regimen of medication today. Remember I picked it up yesterday or was the day before? I don't rightly recall except that I've been holding it kind of spooked about using it. I've dragged my feet on using the medication just because on the side effects it indicates that diarrhea has been reported. I apologize I actually wrote about this last night but this is primarily regarding the action I took this morning. The pharmacist indicated that I needed to take this medication with a meal and I really don't do meals much. So that's something I'm going to have to work on but this morning I took the medication with a large tamale. I was going to actually cook something this morning but by the time I got around to getting dressed and thinking I'm going to cook something for breakfast it was almost time to leave for the coffee social. So the best I could do was take the tamale nuke it and then take the medication. It doesn't say how big the meal has to be only that I have to be eating something take this med because otherwise it does something weird to you or the medication is not as effective as it could be I don't know. All I know is I didn't want to poop my pants because of possible diarrhea. So with that in mind I decided I might as well live on the edge and after the coffee social I messed around the apartment until it was time that I could catch a bus to run up and take in a movie. I think I've hit my goal for the month of three movies. The advertising package for unlimited movies indicates that three movies you pretty much paid for the $20 a month prescription that I pay. I figured I might as well be doing something if I fill up my pants.

I kind of surprised myself I actually enjoyed the movie, it's about artificial intelligence. I like to scare myself with real life horror movie possibilities and I think artificial intelligence is that. Of course this movie was not a whole lot different than a lot of the other movies where the computer slash AI has gone on a rampage or just mentally ill and goes after it's Flesh and Blood operators. It was well done movie wise and I totally want to believe it's not true there's something in the back of my mind saying don't be naive. I actually even got popcorn. I supposed to be able to get a free bag because of the amount of points I've acquired but they have this weird rule that you've got to do you got to ask for it in a certain way and I did not do it so I ended up having to pay $8 for popcorn and I just hate doing that though it was good popcorn. I brought 3/4 of the popcorn home. Now every time I eat something I'm totally focused on the fact that because I'm pre-diabetic is this going to push me over the edge. I think I'm okay with popcorn even on the side of calories I think it's okay even though I had it drenched in butter. I'll eat the remainder of the bag in the next couple of days if my morning help doesn't eat it first.

Prediabetes II

 I got up this morning feeling fairly decent. I got much better sleep last night the night before- - I still could have used an hour or so more of sleep but I was awake now and didn't really want to try to go through the whole hassle of going back to sleep and waking up yet again. Twice, waking, in the same morning is more of a challenge than I want to deal with these days. I had to get up get the coffee made and shave today's caregiver day, Melissa will be here 2 or 3 hours to do the business. Time with Melissa's always fun but today was pretty straightforward for both of us just get the job done so we can get on with our day. My goal today was to contact my physician and just find out more about this drug I'm supposed to be taking for diabetes or prediabetes or whatever it's called.

It always takes me a few minutes to get through the barriers in my doctor's call phone. I mean you know you make the call you come into their first level explains a bunch of junk to you then you go to the second level then if you're lucky on the 3rd you get to speak with a human and ask your questions. I lucked out on my first try and got a nice receptionist named Marcy. I briefly explain to Marcy that there is a prescription for me at the pharmacy which I didn't understand- - and she did understand. She let me know that I was indeed pre-diabetic for type 2 diabetes. This of course reinforce the anxiety that I already had. She also informed me just some of the issues are Essentials that is probably no sugar, limited white bread are bread in general I guess and other dietary issues. She also inquired of me that had I checked my “ Healthcare” file on the internet which or where the docs like to dump all their information on regarding me. I know it's childish but I think it's way too scary and so I really haven't dealt into it too much I probably need to rectify that if I'm going to be Mr on top of everything. I've only been to this account two or three times it's just way too specific in your face of what's going on with your body. I know that's what the whole point is in being self-aware Etc. So I briefly asked the individual I had on the phone about what some of the stuff meant. She explained to me that I was probably in the beginning stages of the disease if diabetes is a disease or a state of being I don't know. But, she indicated there is a program in the office that explained it more to you actually had a person counselor type person explain it which I might take advantage of. She indicated that she herself was diabetic not necessarily brittle at this point in time but certainly has to take the shots and do the things that she has to do. So now I've got the meds and now I have to start taking them. She advises me I should take them with a meal. One of the drawbacks of this medication is it also can do some diarrhea which I really don't want to have to deal with I can't deal with. So I'm still kind of freaked out on the whole thing. Totally have to cut down sugar and carbohydrates which of course are my building blocks of life. I asked her and she also indicated that obesity is another Factor. If you can control your obesity and even lose some weight to a point that you would no longer be diabetic. I'm not totally totally sure how that would work but I've heard it before. And I might give it a shot since really what else do I have to do? I might even think about getting back into the exercise program over at Sugarhouse rehab. I don't know if I'd really have the energy to do such a project but it couldn't hurt…

Road trip- part 2

I'm not sure why but this morning was another 3:30 a.m. wake up event to which I never really get back to sleep. I may have walked in early because I'm or was stressed out about the coming trip I was about to take. I'm on the assistive technology advisory council/board and today was the quarterly meeting and today the meeting is to be held in Logan Utah about an hour and a half away from Salt Lake. We usually meet here at Salt Lake but the group really wanted to get together and go up to Logan for the meeting so they wouldn't have to come down. I think I may have talked about this already a little bit this week but today I actually went. I could have zoomed into the meeting and probably less stressed then the actual drive up. When we decided on doing this all 90 days or so ago my friend Kent who is a big gun over at u c a t indicated he would take the Salt Lake City crew up in the van which actually had a wheelchair lift on it has on it and therefore I would be able to go too if I wanted to. I figured this would be a good reason to get out of the city for the first time in maybe 7 years.

I wasn't sure if he/kent really remembered that he was driving up and I know that we had talked about picking me up but I wasn't sure what time so I called him around 7:00 a.m. and he reassured me that he would be by to pick me up around 10:00. Kent was a little late but not bad. The other folks that were going to go with us didn't show up so it's just Kent and I and we had a good trip good conversation made the drive a little bit quicker it seemed like. We got in about 11:55 there's a lot of construction around the building we were going to making it difficult for us to get in. It was the very six Belfair of box lunch not half bad I ate half my sandwich but they didn't have chips I would like to have had chips. They had this bizarre pesto macaroni salad and I ate that I can't believe I did. The meeting is okay not too bad we got some business done and soon it was time to head back to Salt Lake. We talked a lot on the way back much more than on their way up it was good discussion we went over the old times in the old days when we were just new working at this kind of stuff. We talked about old people that we used to work with who are now gone one way or the other and the the days we are living in and whether or not we will end up Surviving them. It was good to get home I was a little uncomfortable I ended up wearing a long sleeve shirt because I did not know how warm or cold it would be in Logan- - it was warm. It was good to get home to relax they sent a box lunch home with me which I stuck in the refrigerator I'll be able to have that tomorrow. Tomorrow I'm on the road again not going as far just south to the I'm not sure why but this morning was another 3:30 a.m. wake up event to which I never really get back to sleep. I may have walked in early because I'm or was stressed out about the coming trip I was about to take. I'm on the assistive technology advisory council/board and today was the quarterly meeting and today the meeting is to be held in Logan Utah about an hour and a half away from Salt Lake. We usually meet here at Salt Lake but the group really wanted to get together and go up to Logan for the meeting so they wouldn't have to come down. I think I may have talked about this already a little bit this week but today I actually went. I could have zoomed into the meeting and probably less stressed then the actual drive up. When we decided on doing this all 90 days or so ago my friend Kent who is a big gun over at u c a t indicated he would take the Salt Lake City crew up in the van which actually had a wheelchair lift on it has on it and therefore I would be able to go too if I wanted to. I figured this would be a good reason to get out of the city for the first time in maybe 7 years.

I wasn't sure if he/kent really remembered that he was driving up and I know that we had talked about picking me up but I wasn't sure what time so I called him around 7:00 a.m. and he reassured me that he would be by to pick me up around 10:00. Kent was a little late but not bad. The other folks that were going to go with us didn't show up so it's just Kent and I and we had a good trip good conversation made the drive a little bit quicker it seemed like. We got in about 11:55 there's a lot of construction around the building we were going to making it difficult for us to get in. It was the very six Belfair of box lunch not half bad I ate half my sandwich but they didn't have chips I would like to have had chips. They had this bizarre pesto macaroni salad and I ate that I can't believe I did. The meeting is okay not too bad we got some business done and soon it was time to head back to Salt Lake. We talked a lot on the way back much more than on their way up it was good discussion we went over the old times in the old days when we were just new working at this kind of stuff. We talked about old people that we used to work with who are now gone one way or the other and the the days we are living in and whether or not we will end up Surviving them. It was good to get home I was a little uncomfortable I ended up wearing a long sleeve shirt because I did not know how warm or cold it would be in Logan- - it was warm. It was good to get home to relax they sent a box lunch home with me which I stuck in the refZaza Zaza qcsrigerator I'll be able to have that tomorrow. Tomorrow I'm on the road again not going as far just south to the podiatrist it's time to get the toes trimmed..

 it's time to get the toes trimmed.. zzz's zzz's

Road trip!

 I'm kind of perplexed tonight because I neglected or failed to do something today. I should have gotten a hold of my friend Kent who works with the state. We are on the same Advisory Board for assistive technology for the state of Utah. We have a quarterly meeting and that meeting is tomorrow. The office for this program is in Logan Utah which is about an hour and a half north of us here in Salt Lake so typically they come to Salt Lake and we have the meeting here but for one reason or another we're having it tomorrow up in Logan. The members of this Advisory Board are all traveling up there, those who are going, to have lunch and the meeting there and probably two are the facility again. They do offer the option of having this meeting as a zoom meeting but we've all decided to go up there except tomorrow is the meeting and I haven't heard whether my ride is still up for the ride up to the university. I'm sure he is I just have not heard from him this week which is kind of strange. The reason I'm going up with him is that a few of us decided to go together since he has access to a wheelchair accessible van and will be driving me up with the group. Now one of the group has develop covid so he's not going it's just me and Kent. I just don't quite remember when he's going to pick me up. It has to be around 9:00 I would think to get there by 12:00 when we get our lunch. I'm sure there's not a big issue even if all right to miss the ride completely I can still dial in and catch the meeting on line. I would not say that I'm excited but I have to admit I'm a little anxious about this whole event. Anxious in a good way I have not really ridden in the vehicle besides public transit for years actually. And I really haven't even been out of the city for as many years. So it'll be quite interesting to get on the bus and travel to Logan. I don't know if there will be any time to do any stopping along the way. There is a major Creamery up there that makes famous cheese out of that area of the Cache Valley. Everybody wants Cache Valley cheese if anyone's going that way. I doubt that we'll have time for anything like that but one never knows. I'm hoping tonight I'll be able to get some sleep. Last night or rather this morning I was awakened by about 4:00 a.m. there's something going on in my body that I'm somewhat concerned about. Last night I had some twinges not really pain but discomfort to the point that made me concerned and this is not a new phenomenon every once awhile this tends to act up. I'm going to try tonight to take some ibuprofen and see if that will make it at least sleepable through the night. I really should bring it up with my appointment with the internist next week but I'm a little chicken. Perhaps if the payment is more severe and the fact that it comes and goes I would be a little more cautious. Maybe something just being inflamed or something. Maybe it's something to do with diabetes but just totally on my mind now since the experience at the market pharmacy. I should have called the doctor's office today but couldn't get around to it. Who knows maybe after tomorrow I won't even matter…

Pre-diabetic?

I almost wrote about this yesterday cuz that's when it happened but I'm still pondering the situation. I went to the market today primarily because I got a notification on my emails or my messenger or something that I had a prescription to pick up at the pharmacy at my market. I wasn't too surprised I have a prescription that actually is coming due and I figured it was just that prescription that had been filled. I was wrong. When I asked the pharmacist what the prescription was he told me and I didn't recognize it at all. I thought it was a mistake. Then he did this interrogation thing about who I was but date of birth all that kind of stuff. He then indicated the physician who prescribed it of course and then all kinds of information about me. The prescription is for a drug for people who are pre-diabetic. This kind of made sense but it totally came out of that field I didn't know how to react to it. Then I remembered that when I was at the position the other day for the checkup / follow up there was a blood draw done and it was for checking the iron levels that I was low on the last go round. In the meantime I've been Faithfully taking the iron tablets. The only thing I can think of is that something popped up regarded in the pre-diabetic stuff any prescribed the medication. I don't know why this really rubbed me wrong though. I left the meds there and then we'll call the doctor's office Monday to see if I can get any other information about if he is prescribing this for my pre-diabetic condition what else do I need to know?

The reason I seem to be acting so defensive as that this is just a sucker punch for me. I really have been feeling pretty good the last couple of weeks I don't know if that's the iron thing kicking in or exactly what. I don't know if there's any particular way a person should be feeling if they're pre-diabetic. And again, I certainly don't doubt that I am. I'm just don't know what the regimen is to live with such a diagnosis. At breakfast this morning my granddaughter was pretty adamant that I'd have to stop ingesting sugar of any kind. I could do this, stop eating sweet things, it might be a bit of a challenge but I could do it I know I could especially if it prolonging whatever the pre-diabetic condition might be. That would certainly like to get rid of it completely but I don't know if that's possible. I know that many people who are overweight are diabetic and I know that I am overweight but I don't know if that just means that if I were to get my weight under control would I be able to lose the pre-diabetic label and live a fairly normal life and I think I can even if I am diabetic. I might be getting myself into a tizzy because really if anything I'm pre-diabetic .. on medication...

1 million bucks

        Remember when a million used to be a large number well I mean it's still a huge number that goes without saying but a million just isn't what a million used to be especially in the sense of money. I remember when the person was a millionaire they were pretty rare. If you had a million dollars you could pretty much do whatever you wanted for some time. Having a million dollars was like you would never have to worry about anything for the rest of your life but that's not true anymore. Anyway that's what I feel. Granted million bucks is a lot of dough but you could easily spend it out if you wanted to. In fact there's a lot of houses that cost that much there's a lot of houses that having that much money would not cover the cost of this house and they're just like regular upscale properties. They're not some giant mansion like in the Avenues are the North End of Boise. Each Community has a place where the rich people live come the place where you want to go for Halloween when you're a kid because they gave away full size candy bars. You can get a lot of stuff with a million dollars but at some point you'd have to watch your your money it's not like you could endlessly be Reckless spending like one feels one could at one time. Did you know that at today's prices of cars about 25,000 for a new vehicle that's a little bit more than a lot of the vehicles but I use that as a easy number to work with but if you had a million bucks if you could just pay the money and not have to pay any of the other stuff you could only get 40 vehicles out of a million bucks. That's a lot of cars no question about it but it's certainly finite but if you wanted to check out SUVs or trucks or whatever the number goes down significantly.

If I Had a Million Dollars, right this minute, I would buy a tricked out wheelchair van and a place to store it and of course insurance and such for at least a year. I would even include in that cost the price of a driver/ mechanic someone to house the vehicle. The driver would have to be available 24/7 and that's kind of stupid for me because I never have that kind of use for a vehicle but it would be nice to have just in case I did need that kind of support. I could buy a house not necessarily A upscale house but maybe a fairly nice property in a fairly nice neighborhood. This would seriously diminish the amount of money I have in the account Maybe by even a third if not a half. One could get some toys but you'd have to be careful on what you got and how much you paid for them. I could see them shrinking your pot quickly. One could travel even having someone to go with you as an attendant. You know someone to do this suppositories the bathing that kind of stuff while you're on the road. I don't think even if I did a trip it would be very long. I like being a homebody but who knows the million bucks in my pocket I can do some serious travel. But I would probably one of those weird people who had the check someplace in the house and never cashed it or put it in the bank. That kind of stress is just too much. I'm not ready for a million maybe next year

Movie and chicken

 It seems that the more rest I get are sleep the more tired that I am at the end of the day. I actually got about six and a half hours sleep last night. Woke up at 3:15 to go to the bathroom and then forced myself back to sleep two hours later I didn't feel too groggy but did feel a little sleepy here and there during the day I went to the movies this afternoon and it was all I could do to keep awake during part of the movie. It's so easy to not offer me but in the big dark room by myself and just a big screen going on and on. I was late going to the movies, I went to Beetlejuice just so I could say that I've been there and saw what it was all about and that was not impressed at all with the show but like I said I went to a late viewing probably around 2:30 or 3:00 in the afternoon just because I need to wait around and tell my friend brought me over a chicken and green bean dinner. He prepared the chicken a certain way somehow split it open and flatten it out then I think grilled it up it tasted great the same with the beans they were green beans with pretty large bacon bits in it. He brought it over in the afternoon before I went to the movies. I don't know if he wanted me to eat it then he didn't stay but the Beast was still hot when he brought it over all wrapped up in tin foil and such as were the beans. I quickly put them in the refrigerator then went out and caught the bus down to the movie house. It really must have taken a lot of work to do this chicken at least it seemed like it would have done that taking a lot of work if I had done in the chicken but I forget how functional able bodies are. They don't think anything of doing a task in a few minutes to an hour or so that would take me like a whole day to accomplish I forget how functional most of the world is.

Today was the first real day that Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is playing. I was amazed at how many theaters or venues inside the one theater was playing the the movie. I have to confess I was not very impressed with this movie a lot of noise and a lot of movement but I didn't see greatness in this film. I felt it was almost like some kid trying to outdo himself. A lot of noise, a lot of color and a lot of sleight of hand. I had difficulty following who is who in the zoo with all the different actors. I was glad when the movie finally exhausted itself I know I was exhausted.

I made a plate full of chicken and beans tonight for dinner. Threw it in the microwave nuked it for a few minutes and it was really quite good. I don't know if it would have been any better if I'd eaten it when he brought it over but it's a whole chicken flattened out waiting to be eating.

Environmental controls

My sleep pattern is changing and I don't like it very much. The past couple of days I woken up at 3:00 a.m. 3:30 a.m. 4:15 a.m. and 9 times out of 10 not being able to get back to sleep. In defense of myself I've been able to get through the days even on the earliest of wake UPS fairly well. Once again it would be Splendid if there's a way that I could take a nap sometime during the day like all the other farts who are old here at the facility do I really envy that. The best I can do however is just tilting back in my chair and sometimes getting a little bit a very light sleep. The weather's been changing a little bit there's been a big fire and there still is large fires in Idaho and the weather is blowing the smoke right over Utah and normally I don't have a problem with that even if that means smelling smoke in the air but I don't like is the smoke being so thick it acts like a cloud cover and everything's kind of chilly not really cold and most people really like it after a hot summer but for me it's just cold maybe not at the very moment I'm thinking of but the sneak up kind you know when you get on the bus and you get strapped in and realize that you have to sit in but feels like Sub-Zero weather for 20 minutes until the bus takes off no matter where you're going someone's got the thermostat set to Sub-Zero it feels like. And the immobility do like their cold and ice cold temperatures in the sun of the summer.

Where are these phenomenon of sitting in a cold environment or air conditioned there's no more evident then going to the movies in summer. As we enter this changeover. From Summer to Autumn the movie auditoriums are always chilly for me. I thought about starting to drag a blanket with me every time I go to the movies but that seems so geriatric but I certainly can understand why they were do such a thing. I still might start doing exactly that just to stay warm during the movie but chances are when I do that I will fall asleep. Today I went to the movies and it wouldn't have mattered because I was the only one in the theater. Just amazing. I think my phone must have rang three times during the movie and I was able to check my mail a couple times as I would receive new emails. I didn't worry about the amount of light that bled out from my equipment or the amount of noise my system made whether it was my cell phone or my power chair. I just stretched back in my chair elevated my feet lowered my back I enjoyed the movie. This was my second movie this week if I'm lucky I'll squeeze in another movie before the start of the next week. The new movies start tonight actually and there's a couple I think I need to see I don't know if I really want to but I want to see these movies and get them out of the way. 

Power Up

 Sometimes I'm totally freaked out how dependent I am on electricity. Truth is I never think about the dependency until I'm totally dependent and it's gone away. Case in point this morning when I went to get up to transfer into my chair my electric bed stopped working right in the middle of the process leaving me totally immobile. Luckily, the bed stopped in such a position that with what strength that I have I was able to get myself more or less onto my chair and eventually slid myself onto my chair totally. However it's early morning still my help hasn't got here yet and I have to find out what has happened. The hand control seems to have stopped working that I use. I don't know if the beds unplugged or what is the problem but I've got to get it fixed before bedtime tonight. I cannot leave you hanging there is eplog to this story and of course it has to do with my right hand man, woman, Friday- - Melissa. She a little late coming in today which is actually about the regular time she should be here but I wanted her here a little bit early because I have a doctor's appointment today and I need to make sure I had enough time to get to the bus and get over to the doctor's office. Anyway she did come in finally and of course I had to lay out the whole idiotic feeling I had the technician technique was against me today. She took care of me then went to work on the problem and found it immediately which I figured it was either going to be an easy fix or a hard fix and it was an easy fix. I keep my bed plugged in just on the head of the bed behind the head of the bed which makes it difficult for me to get to but there's the least amount of issue where it might get unplugged. Anyway it got unplugged or nearly unplugged she was able to find it reach around plug it in and now I'm set to go again. I have got to figure out a way to make that less dangerous for me. I shouldn't worry so much but I do I hate to be stranded and luckily like I said I was able to muscle myself actually into my power chair which was a blessing indeed. The trip to the doctor's office went without issue unless you count the idea that I got to the bus stop I thought late and I just missed the bus in fact I saw it come in and pull out. Later I found out that that bus must have been terribly late because that was the previous bus that should have been there half an hour before and as I was waiting for the bus which I thought would take another half hour my bus came in. I was actually on the phone letting the doctor's office know I was going to be late when the miracle bus came by pick me up took me and drop me off. A minor Miracle but still I felt blessed. I stopped at Costco on the way back I remembered the sack our bag this time so I had something to carry stuff home in I actually got a bag of plums, a hot dog and something for $13 but I can't remember what it was. I put the bag between my feet brought it home without an incident it was a pretty good day..

Password discouragement

 I am sure somewhere along the line I have written about passwords but I feel motivated if not inspired to once again go over my aggravation towards these super important items to Guard Security of your written thoughts and programs or whatever in the internet world are the computer world or whatever all I know is I've totally frustrated by the whole concept. You remember last week when they came to pick up my power chair and drop off the new shower chair and my buddy from the government agency gifted me I eat loaned depending on whichever you want to use to tablets one an apple and the other at Android. Each one of those are older but basically new. They feel new to me and you know what I've still not gotten them working yet. Trying to set them up- - which I thought was going to be fairly easy- - totally freaked me out because in each case I've got to go back and find the passwords I used to link me to either Google or whatever pieces of software I'm using in my internet life or online life. I mean I didn't even realize this the software I'm using to write this document is basically Google Google Documents which is okay but I'd like to have the same feature on tablets I have in waiting or to use on different projects. Cuz I do dictate a lot as you know. And I find being verbally able to write as opposed to typing it in with my little quad fingers is much more appreciative. I don't know how creative I am with the dictation part all I know is I get a lot more words written everyday that I would as fast trying to type this out on a keyboard somewhere. I would do that- - the faithful reader knows that but still I default to dictation now that I've gotten this far along. So I've got a filter through sit down at the table with a tablet- - a real tablet paper and pencil / pen and first try to go through and find passwords I will need to get my other systems operational and then write them down somewhere that I'll have them when I need them. I was be moaning this problem to one of my kids the other day and of course they always bring up the idea they have password controllers where you back up all your passwords it's got to have a password to get into that. I know that I would be just as frustrated so I'm going back to the old paper pencil thing and keep a log somewhere in the real environment that I can use to go back to find passwords I need to get to other platforms that I use at. I could do it I just think it'll take time and patience and the place where I can work to go back and find this stuff I think I'm just setting myself up for more discouragement

Laboring on Labor Day

 I'm just back from the market actually I went up to Del Taco to utilize one of the coupons I got this weekend on their monthly mail out. Two bean burritos and I got a drink which wasn't covered by the two for one thing. Then of course I dropped the drink off the table on the floor giant mess. Nobody saw it that I was aware of and I could have totally just left the mess on the floor when I left the building but I felt compelled to contact somebody at the front order desk to let them know what I had done what happened. I did take a pair of scissors with me that's my new go to these days when I go out for fast food since very rarely- - except for Taco Time that's a little bit different- - has condiments that you can just pour everything is individually wrapped these days and even worse things like hot sauce ketchup and things of that nature you have to tear open the top and those little bitty containers. I of course have to try to hold the little packet in my hand between thumb and forefinger or whatever and then try to tear the top off with my canine teeth basically holding the packet with the tooth and move in my hand so it rips open the top sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't but it's always frustrated so I've developed a solution kind of a solution which is to take a pair of scissors with me that I stuff in my pouch that I carry with me. I can whip the scissors out and cut the tops off the little packets which is a great relief actually. It's messy as all hell but some things you got to accept. I don't think staff cares about the mess that I make as I pile up pack it after packet as I empty the contents onto my bean burrito, or taco or whatever I'm trying to increase the flavor of. I snip the top off and then squeeze all the contents of the little container onto whatever I'm ingesting. I'm sure it looks awkward and weird as hell but at least the heck out of trying to wrestle the contents out of hold and rip. The staff at the front counter where it's very nice when I told them what had happened. Of course, all they did was nod their head and smile at me because they probably didn't know a lick of English and I just sort of motioned about what had happened but I think they understood because I know one of them asked me if I wanted another cup of juice or drink and I said no. I had actually found their button to punch for fruit punch which isn't really too bad there. It was a quick lunch and a fairly cheap lunch All Things Considered. All together it was three something and some change and I had the extra burrito. I myself was pretty much a Mess by the time I pushed myself away from the table and begin my return trip home. I did this as a holiday treat today is Labor Day and I love to pretend that I'm participate in some kind of holiday ritual. This morning I actually I had Melissa, actually Melissa did it herself without me even asking put a roast on the slow cooker I.E Crock-Pot. The apartment smells great this afternoon. She's a funny little kid I got some small potatoes to put in there she put the whole packet in plus some carrots that look pretty ragged when I put them in the carrots in the refrigerator and now they had like whiskers all over them she took the whiskers off and cut them up for the Crock-Pot. I also two weeks some onion and garlic of course I'm sure it's going to be good regardless. My goal was to have enough protein / roast beef to smear the contents of one of my bottles of horseradish on. I have a ton of horseradish that I need to start using. I doubt horseradish goes bad I mean it's so bad to begin with it I don't think you could get any worse but by two or three today though that roast should be finished it without intend to let cool entirely before I put it away tonight. I'll have this for the rest of the week and I'm excited totally excited

September Sunday

Another month Bites the Dust. I woke this morning about 4:00 a.m. and really couldn't get back to sleep. I didn't have to use the catheter or anything and I don't know if it was because I was going to have breakfast with Marc Anthony at least this morning and possibly my granddaughter as well and I doubt that was the reason though it could be. I woke up thinking about quiche. Earlier Saturday I had talked with Janet upstairs at the coffee shop about quiche and some quiche with eating last week at the coffee social. It's been a long time since I made cheese and I kind of like it making it anyway and of course I love to eat quiche all kinds of quiche. But I have some eggs and I have some frozen broccoli pieces plus I have an onion and cheese I think I have everything I really need to build such an item I just don't know if I have time. Maybe time stop the issue baby it's just a matter of well. If I did get to make some quiche I would get one of those rolled out or rolled up boxes of pie dough already made you just have to unroll and put it in your pie dish and I just have to figure do I cook the pie dough before I do the quiche or do I do the key pour it into the pie dough then cook it all at one time I can't remember to be honest with you. I may end up examining any videos that might be out there for building quiche. I don't think it's going to be anytime soon before I build a quiche but you never know. I think tomorrow the holiday, I'm going to put the roast on. Then I'll have roast beef and vegetables for the rest of the week. And can I share something with you, I would say 90% of the reason I'm building this or cooking this roast is to use the horseradish that I have bottles of for some reason. I had some steak with the horseradish later last week but I forgot how much I do enjoy the hot herb or whatever it is. I have the ingredients that I could put together a broccoli cheese onion quiche maybe something I could do for next weekend after all it is September.

My son works tech support for a major computer type company in the area here and he's got over to Apple systems because a lot of the people where he works have apples and so he wanted to be checked out on how to work with them. So, when I got the option to have a Apple laptop I would just wait until I met with Mark too do the transfer or to get it going or whatever you have to do. So I took the tablet with me to the breakfast this morning and Mark did an Adderall job of check it out the tablet as well as almost getting it up and running. He's being stopped because we needed to have a password developed and we did that but then we have to have the system tied into a internet provider so that the tablet will work. We got we almost got it going but we're stifled because I had to have the password for my provider and I don't have it. I'm not sure what I'm going to do there should be a relatively easy way to defeat the password protection system on the tablet. I don't know how aggressive I can get or even want to get to do this but I would certainly like to have the Apple tablet functional and see how this might be easier to use- - as Apple systems are supposed to be - - as well as giving me more storage areas to keep my block submissions.