March 2005 Archives

For a variety of reasons, I got a late start on my three-day ride up the coast, but left around 10:40am. Based on a suggestion from my boss, I took a different route to Camarillo, with mixed results.

In the past, I've always slogged across the 101, and always get bogged down going through the Valley. My boss suggested the 210 to the 118, then surface streets from Moorpark into Camarillo. The freeway section was fast, but some high wind gusts added some unwelcome drama. Once on the surface streets, the construction delays and farming truck traffic slowed things considerably. Next time I'll stay on the 23 down to the 101, which is still way past the worst of the Valley traffic.

Early on, I was getting the false power cycles on the V-1, and I tried to fix it by twisting the fuse block, but wound up pulling the positive lead from its spade connector. After breakfast I found a Radio Shack, but was unsuccessful in making even temporary repairs. I was without radar detection for the remainder of the trip.

The combination of the late start, unplanned traffic in Moorpark, and 45 minutes trying to make electrical repairs with 50mph wind gusts, I had to make changes to my route if I was going to get a decent room and make my 6:45 movie time in Paso Robles. The first change was to skip SR-154 and Santa Rosa Rd. Instead I took the 101 to SR-246, then west to Drum Canyon. The wildflowers were in full bloom throughout the hills into Los Alamos, and further on up Alisos Canyon to Foxen Canyon.

I had skipped Tepusquet Rd. the last time I was up this way, and was looking forward to it. Unfortunately, the recent rains had wiped out the roadway that crosses what I think is the Santa Maria River. The detour to get back to Tepusquet was 8.5 miles, and I didn't really have the time.

I made it to the Motel 6 in Paso Robles at straight-up 6:00pm, but still didn't get as good a room as I'd hoped. Upstairs, mid-way between the two sides of the parking lot, with a lot of freeway noise, but it worked out okay.

I made it downtown in plenty of time to see the 6:45pm showing of Hostage. I loved the original story by Robert Crais, and the movie came close to the overall feel of the book.

I'm running late (meds and a long phone call), but am on my way up the coast for a few days of R&R. Today is SR-154, Santa Rosa Road, Drum Canyon, Aliso Canyon, Foxen Canyon, Tepusquet, and Old Creek Rd. into Paso Robles. Tomorrow is SR-1 up to Monterey, Carmel Valley Rd, and Interlaken Rd. back to Paso. Saturday is SR-58 eastbound, south on the 33 to Cerro Noroeste (one of my favorite local roads), then a cruise down I-5 from Frazier Park.

I should be back around 2:30pm on Saturday.

Herbal Help for Hay Fever, Headaches? discusses PA-free butterbur extract.

Prevent Migraines and Pare Pounds? is primarily on Topamax (a neuronal stabilizer, like Neurontin), but also discusses 400 milligram daily doses of vitamin B-2 (riboflavin), which requires a prescription, and use of biofeedback.

MayoClinic.com - Biofeedback: Using the power of your mind to improve your health.

Joy Lunt RN EEG - Biofeedback Certification Institute of America, a biofeedback practioner with migraine specialization in Burbank.

Kris Sharp MPA BCIA/EEG - Biofeedback Certification Institute of America, a practioner in So. Pasadena with no listed migraine specialization.

Southern California University of Health Sciences provides acupuncture/oriental medicine treatements at a Health Center on north Lake in Pasadena.

Daily Headache Linked to Nightly Snoring

Ask the Clinician with Dr. John Claude Krusz and Teri Robert for About Headaches and Migraine: Question and Answer #11 for 6/28/04

Easter 2005 at the McConnell's in Big Bear Lake.

MacBidouille.com - Ecrans Transparents is a collection of transparent screen images, like this:

I went to get coffee and noticed something wierd - a pot of slightly tinted water under the filter basket. On further examination, it looks like someone made a pot of coffee, but forgot to actually put coffee into the filter.

The kids and I left for Tucson at 2:30pm on Friday, hoping to beat the Friday traffic, but we were stuck in stop-and-go all the way to Indio. 90 miles in two and half hours. A wonderful start to the weekend. I started out as the driver, but pulled off in Redlands after some problems focusing. Justin took over, and drove until Phoenix while I dozed off and on. We made good use of the V-1. I finished up, and we pulled in around 1:00am.

Carole woke me up at 6:30am on Saturday to pick up the rental truck. On the way back, it started to rain. I was living the old saying: if I didn't have bad luck, I wouldn't have any luck at all.

I went to see Dr. Wogenson again this morning, to follow-up on my increased Neurontin dosage. The record shows that the number of serious migraines is down, but I'm not happy with my overall quality of life. The Neurontin makes me feel funny - words like "hazy" and "spacey" come to mind. I have an almost continuous feeling of pressure and discomfort centered in my right eye - not nearly enough to justify the side-effects of an Imitrex, but enough to make it a chore to focus and concentrate. This means I have to fight to make it through the work day at the level of productivity required.

So, after a day with the normal stress of work plus the extra stress of fighting past the discomfort and haziness in my head, there's not too much "emotional energy" left once I get home. I spent some time thinking about this cycle, and now believe it's been going on for three or four years. It takes a lot of what I call "emotional energy" to deal with the discomfort and the stress that comes with it.

Luckily, the kids are mostly stress free - if I don't make a big deal about the dirty clothes in the bathroom, cups and plates in the family room, and missed chores, which are all things normal for kids at their age, and not worth getting in a tizzy about. (Over the weekend, I had those stress-cracks I get in the bottom of my right foot, but I couldn't pin down why.)

I mentioned all this (and more) to Dr. Wogenson. He said the haziness and related side effects of the Neurontin may be part of the trade off for reducing the number of migraine days. Neurontin is used because it has a minimum of medical side effects; it doesn't harm the liver or kidneys, you can't overdose on it, that kind of thing. Other medicines for prevention of migraines (as opposed to treatment of migraines) have a variety of minor and not-so-minor side effects, and he continues to feel that Neurontin is the best choice for me. He thinks it's likely that my current haziness will fade as my body gets used to the current dosage, and encouraged me to give it another month. I agreed, but am not overly optimistic.

He reiterated that I have a serious neurological problem, and there's no magic cure. Everyone has burdens in life - I guess this is mine, at least for now. In retrospect, I should have dealt with it more aggressively much earlier, but I got some poor advice from a previous doctor. I started working with new doctors almost a year ago, and have made progress, but need more - much more.

It will be challenging to keep my stress levels to a minimum for the next few weeks. Work continues - as always - and Carole moves back over the weekend. I'm close to starting some counseling, and once things settle down I'm looking to try some non-traditional pain management - biofeedback, maybe acupuncture. It can't hurt, and it may help.

Back in January I loaned some money to a family friend to cover a shortfall while she finalized a reverse mortgage. I had plenty of headroom on my HELOC, and like to help people when I can.

Anyway, we had to get the final paperwork notarized. I watched the nice woman do the notary process with some interest - I always like those procedural things, sort of like soccer refereeing.

The following week, I decided to become a notary. Not as a money-making enterprise, but just to be able to help people out - although I'll happily take a fee for it when possible.

I signed up for an internet training course, and for a test date. The course was amaturish at best, but I did get enough out of it to pass my test with an 83%, which was more than adequate. (Like any similar test, it had a lot of questions on strange situations that most people are unlikely to see in the course of their practice.)

I went to the PCC police office to get my fingerprints taken, and waited for the Secretary of State to complete my background check and send me my commission.

The commission came on Monday. I ordered my bond and other supplies from the National Notary Association. On Wednesday, my journal and fingerprint inker came in, and I mailed my Certificate of Authorization so they can finish up my stamp. I faxed them a copy of my Commission for the bond and the E&O coverage.

Once I get my bond back, I have to go to the County Clerk's office in Van Nuys to file everything and take my oath. Once that's done, I'll be able to begin my notary public career.

I watched Uptown Girls during my donation this morning. I'm not a big Brittany Murphy fan - she's cute and all, but kind of looks like a cadaver sometimes, and always has too much eye makeup on - but Dakota Fanning is always fun to watch. The mix of fun-time party girl and the emotions of death and newfound adult responsilities was strained, but overall it worked, in spite of Murphy.

Most of Grisham's books feature the law and lawyers, but this is a political espionage novel, with only fleeting ties to the legal profession. The detailed tours of Bologna triggered some wanderlust.

I drove out to Riverside again today, but got a couple of nice games out of it. At 10:00am, Tom Rios centered a 0-0 draw in GU-14 that was better then the score might indicate. At 12 noon, I centered a BU-14 game that ended 4-0, but was a lot closer than that. The losing team played with no subs, due to an important no-show and an injury earlier in the day.

Unless Sam needs some refereeing help for her spring team, these may have been my last games for a while.

tautology-

• Needless repetition of the same sense in different words; redundancy.
• An empty or vacuous statement composed of simpler statements in a fashion that makes it logically true whether the simpler statements are factually true or false; for example, the statement Either it will rain tomorrow or it will not rain tomorrow.

Sarah and the Bowsers came over for carne asada today. I had some headache problems, and was snippy with the kids because of it, but once everyone arrived and the food was ready, we all had a good time.

Karen got a little weird with the smores maker, and I was making plans for evacuating the heirlooms until someone confiscated the lighter stick she was using. Their new van is really nice.

To help out the cause, I volunteered to referee a couple of games in Riverside today. Dan Labrado, Bob Shonborn, and I represented Region 98, assigned to a GU-10 game at 9:00am and a BU-10 game at 10:00am. Bob ran the center for the GU-10 game, and Dan insisted that I do the center for the BU-10 game, since he was staying all day and assumed he'd get his chance at a center later in the day.

The games were well played, and well refereed (if I say so myself). After the GU-10 game, a mom came up to us an complimented us on the refereeing. After the BU-10 game, a dad tracked us down in the referee tent and complimented us again. Very gratifying.

I wound up with a sore back, but was otherwise unscathed.

Motivation was slim this morning - I pulled in 45 minutes late for my donation appointment, but the staff didn't seem to mind. I watched Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. The graphics were interesting, but the plot seemed like a bad Indiana Jones rip-off.

The 6-4-2 blog posted an MP3 of Vin Scully calling the ninth inning of Sandy Koufax's perfect game against the Cubs on September 9, 1965.

I took the V-star out to Bert's today to see if they'd take it on consignment. I waited a half-hour for Scott, the buyer, to finish up with something else, and went over the details once he was free. It seemed to please him that I had clear title and good paperwork - registration, service records, and all.

Scott asked me to ride the bike down to the service department for an 'evaluation', which he expected would take 30-45 minutes. I browsed the Parts department for a while, then spent more time looking at all the cool bikes on the sales floor. I found a cool little dual sport in the back - it would be fun on the trails up in Big Bear.

Sooner than expected Scott tracked me down, and we went back to his desk to review the evaluation. Service said it was rough at idle (it has been since I first got it...) and needed a valve adjustment and carb work. I showed Scott the service record for the carb work that Pasadena Yamaha did back in January, and we quickly agreed on a price - $3,500. I probably could have gotten a few hundred more if I tried to sell it myself, but decided long ago that it wouldn't be worth the hassle. (Considering the fantastic deal I got when I bought it, I think I did pretty well anyway.)

Scott wanted to buy it outright, so he cut me a check right then and there. Who's to argue?

The V-star got me back into motorcycling after a 25 year layoff, and served me well. I took it up the Coast Hwy many a time, and last year's trip to the Sierra was very cool. Without the V-star, I never would have been ready for the FJR, and for that I'll always have fond memories.