Author: sean

Deuce

  1. Why isn’t this Pi day in Europe? What other stupid Internet celebrations do you fail to understand?

I don’t know, and I’m trying to remember my acquaintance who got really upset about my contention that July 22nd is Pi Day.

Wikipedia says that 7/22 is also Pi Day, and that’s on the Internet, so it must be true.

There’s a day for everything, except, maybe, Tony Romo’s Super Bowl victory parade…..

I fell asleep right after I got back to my home-awwy-from-home last night, and ended up sleeping way too long. As a result, I’ve woken up way early this morning.

It happens.

Work is plodding along; I think I just need to trust my instincts a bit more as I go along. I don’t have a lot of productive work years left. If I’m going to be spending them for somebody else, it needs to be the right situation.

This isn’t it.

One

  1. What’s your biggest worry rightt now?

Single-biggest? This: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_multifocal_leukoencephalopathy

Do I have some other concerns? Sure, but none is as fatal.

I’m trying to do the right things in many of my places in life, but the PML still hovers.

I had a laundry list of things to gripe about, but I kind of wrote the prompt narrowly. That happens. Admit it, and move forward.

I was absolutely spent when I left work this afternoon. Unfortunately, this is too often the case. Fingers crossed to find a successful departure sooner rather than later.

Steamy Summer Stops

Since I’m bored, I’m going to do NoJoMo early this year. July 21 – August 20. I really want to get back into the swing of writing, and I figured this might be a way to do it.

My initial thought was to do a calendar month, but I want to get started, and August has some painful parts.

so I need to setup a new book, but that’ll have to wait until I have a better browser.

Pfffft.

so, with that, I need prompts. For all 31 days in August. Readers’ inputs will be strongly considered for inclusion; I’m not that innovative.

July
twenty-one. What’s your biggest worry rightt now?
twenty-two. Why isn’t this Pi day in Europe? What other stupid Internet celebrations do you fail to understand?
twenty-three. Nobody liked you, but write a bit about you, when you were 23.
twenty-four. It’s the weekend; what are your plans?
twenty-five. Five months until Christmas. Have you started shopping? What do you think it might be like this year?
twenty-six. Describe your work situation. Are you happy with it? Will it change soon?
twenty-seven. Write about a really expensive restaurant bill you’ve had. Where was it? How many people were in the party? What was really good? What was not-so-good? Do you at all regret it?
twenty-eight. Do you have anything you feel like you’ve missed out on this summer? If so, can you still fit it in?
twenty-nine. What’s something you used to do often, but have gotten away from, and really miss?
thirty. What has you on edge?
thirty-one. Medical procedures. Tell me of them.

And I need some more….

August
1. It’s always kind of odd when a month starts on the last day of the week. That aside, what are you doing this weekend? What would you rather be doing?
2. 8-2. What do you remember from 1982?

31

.31. Medical procedures. Tell me of them

This prompt I wrote knowing what I’d be doing today. Accordingly, I started writing this from a bed in the infusion center at Norfolk General Hospital.

I’m getting Tysabri this afternoon.

Considering the part of the procedure that would give me the most issue is over, so far this isn’t ranking among the worst.

I’m squeamish. I admit that. I’m getting better, however. I think.

So, with that…..medical procedures.

I’ve never been under general anesthesia. I’m thankful about that.

I’ve had some major dental stuff done. I’ve been in the MRI tube enough that iron sticks all the time.

Like so many things, though, I get told to man up.

But the drug is flowing. And I’m bored. Pfft.

RICO

Not Suave, though.

The certification mafia is racketeering, pure and simple.

That said, I did “pass” my latest compelled purchase (of something I already held).

I am not at all amused by the whole process, or by the various four-letter companies for whom I was previously employed who should have been tracking this.

Don’t Do That

I’ve always made it a point to let someone I’m having a conversation with finish what he’s saying before I respond.

Is it so wrong that I expect the same from others?

Don't Do That

I’ve always made it a point to let someone I’m having a conversation with finish what he’s saying before I respond.
Is it so wrong that I expect the same from others?

Aware of what you can't see

This week is supposed to be about raising awareness of multiple sclerosis.
I really hate that euphemism, “raising awareness.” Is anyone really not aware of cancer? It’s quite possibly going to kill you, eventually. Yes, you are going to die, and chances are it’ll be cancer or cardiovascular disease.
Is anyone really not aware of male pattern baldness? Maybe I give the common man too much credit; I refuse to assume he’s a complete idiot. Makes me a bad nanny-state politician.
The tens of you who read this may or may not be aware that a) there is a condition called multiple sclerosis, and b) I have it.
You would not know I have it just by looking at me. One of the most common things that people say to me, upon hearing that I have it is the dreaded, “you look so good!” At first glance, if you don’t see my often present cane, I do look better physically than I did not terribly long ago. Although I’ve lost some hair, and have more wrinkles, I’m a lot skinnier than I was not terribly long ago.
I probably weigh about what I did when I graduated high school. How many other folks in their mid-thirties can say that? Otherwise, it’s visually tough to tell I’m afflicted — unless you can see my bruised elbows. In addition to the scar I have on my right elbow from a childhood baseball incident (batting left-handed, and took a pitch right to the elbow), I often have bruises on my elbows from various collisions with things in everyday life. I thought about this as I got the shower wall in the other morning..
This article touches on many of them. I’ll run through the ones that affect me the most, then go try to go back to sleep.
Pain
I’m trying to remember the last day when I didn’t have some sort of physical pain, and honestly, cannot. When I was younger, it was largely attributable to overexertion, and poor dental care. Both of those were partially my own damn fault. I worked out too hard. I didn’t go get those wisdom teeth pulled when I should have, etc..
Towards the end of college, I started having the odd body aches nearly every day. I attributed it to living in perpetual jetlag; for years, I lived in both day and night worlds. Student or entrepreneur during the day, radio news guy at night. In 2005, I signed on with a company that allowed me to leave much of that lifestyle behind. but I still ran too hard out of habit.
Fatigue and Sleep Issues
See above. I think the last time I would have been on a somewhat-normal sleep cycle would have been early in college. From about age nineteen to 25, I pretty much existed on various stimulants (caffeine, nicotine, etc.). Four hours of sleep here, two hours there, a 30 minute catnap, etc..
The concept of going to sleep at 2200, and waking at 0600 was completely foreign to me. In many ways, it still is, because I really have trouble sleeping more than a few hours at a time. Even after a few hours’ sleep, I’m not “rested.”
Since diagnosis, I’ve not gotten better with that. The last two years’ employment drama haven’t helped. Right now, I often struggle through a full workday, go back to my mom’s house where I’m staying during the workweek, sleep for a couple of hours, wake up, have dinner, talk to my wife, and try to sleep again until it’s time to head in to the office in the morning. Not fun..
I’ve tried backing off on the stimulants and depressants, but it hasn’t helped all that much.. I’m tired nearly all the time, and that makes my vision worse.
Vision Problems
I have them big time since around the time I was diagnosed. My vision has gotten worse. The last time I went to an opthamologist, I was at about 20/50 combined, corrected. I was correctable to 20/60 in my right eye, and not correctable better than 20/2000 in my left eye. (For reference, not correctable better than 20/200 combined is legally blind.)
My visual decline has been ongoing, but really accelerated the last few years. I don’t see well enough to feel safe to drive a car. I miss lots of things. Reading the ticker on the TV? Yeah, good luck with that. Failing to recognize someone I’ve known for a long time? Guilty.A sensation like I’ve just had a camera flash me all the time? Got that, too.
I could rattle on for pages about my various maladies, but you’d never be able to see them for yourselves. So, how do I raise your awareness? I can’t. All I can do is tell you my story, my situation, and hope you’ll believe me. I know when I was younger, I probably wouldn’t have believed me, because I couldn’t experience these things, myself. And, of course, I look so good! *sigh*

Aware of what you can’t see

This week is supposed to be about raising awareness of multiple sclerosis.

I really hate that euphemism, “raising awareness.” Is anyone really not aware of cancer? It’s quite possibly going to kill you, eventually. Yes, you are going to die, and chances are it’ll be cancer or cardiovascular disease.

Is anyone really not aware of male pattern baldness? Maybe I give the common man too much credit; I refuse to assume he’s a complete idiot. Makes me a bad nanny-state politician.

The tens of you who read this may or may not be aware that a) there is a condition called multiple sclerosis, and b) I have it.

You would not know I have it just by looking at me. One of the most common things that people say to me, upon hearing that I have it is the dreaded, “you look so good!” At first glance, if you don’t see my often present cane, I do look better physically than I did not terribly long ago. Although I’ve lost some hair, and have more wrinkles, I’m a lot skinnier than I was not terribly long ago.

I probably weigh about what I did when I graduated high school. How many other folks in their mid-thirties can say that? Otherwise, it’s visually tough to tell I’m afflicted — unless you can see my bruised elbows. In addition to the scar I have on my right elbow from a childhood baseball incident (batting left-handed, and took a pitch right to the elbow), I often have bruises on my elbows from various collisions with things in everyday life. I thought about this as I got the shower wall in the other morning..

This article touches on many of them. I’ll run through the ones that affect me the most, then go try to go back to sleep.

Pain
I’m trying to remember the last day when I didn’t have some sort of physical pain, and honestly, cannot. When I was younger, it was largely attributable to overexertion, and poor dental care. Both of those were partially my own damn fault. I worked out too hard. I didn’t go get those wisdom teeth pulled when I should have, etc..

Towards the end of college, I started having the odd body aches nearly every day. I attributed it to living in perpetual jetlag; for years, I lived in both day and night worlds. Student or entrepreneur during the day, radio news guy at night. In 2005, I signed on with a company that allowed me to leave much of that lifestyle behind. but I still ran too hard out of habit.

Fatigue and Sleep Issues
See above. I think the last time I would have been on a somewhat-normal sleep cycle would have been early in college. From about age nineteen to 25, I pretty much existed on various stimulants (caffeine, nicotine, etc.). Four hours of sleep here, two hours there, a 30 minute catnap, etc..

The concept of going to sleep at 2200, and waking at 0600 was completely foreign to me. In many ways, it still is, because I really have trouble sleeping more than a few hours at a time. Even after a few hours’ sleep, I’m not “rested.”

Since diagnosis, I’ve not gotten better with that. The last two years’ employment drama haven’t helped. Right now, I often struggle through a full workday, go back to my mom’s house where I’m staying during the workweek, sleep for a couple of hours, wake up, have dinner, talk to my wife, and try to sleep again until it’s time to head in to the office in the morning. Not fun..

I’ve tried backing off on the stimulants and depressants, but it hasn’t helped all that much.. I’m tired nearly all the time, and that makes my vision worse.

Vision Problems
I have them big time since around the time I was diagnosed. My vision has gotten worse. The last time I went to an opthamologist, I was at about 20/50 combined, corrected. I was correctable to 20/60 in my right eye, and not correctable better than 20/2000 in my left eye. (For reference, not correctable better than 20/200 combined is legally blind.)

My visual decline has been ongoing, but really accelerated the last few years. I don’t see well enough to feel safe to drive a car. I miss lots of things. Reading the ticker on the TV? Yeah, good luck with that. Failing to recognize someone I’ve known for a long time? Guilty.A sensation like I’ve just had a camera flash me all the time? Got that, too.

I could rattle on for pages about my various maladies, but you’d never be able to see them for yourselves. So, how do I raise your awareness? I can’t. All I can do is tell you my story, my situation, and hope you’ll believe me. I know when I was younger, I probably wouldn’t have believed me, because I couldn’t experience these things, myself. And, of course, I look so good! *sigh*

Snowy Monday

Today is a Federal holiday (thanks Presidents of the United States), so I don’t have to take leave I don’t have (thanks, MS).

Tomorrow, OTOH, and maybe Wednesday, too, are different stories.

Extra time, bad weather, and a lack of football, have provided me some time to think about a lot of things.

First, does anyone remember Apple’s Think Different campaign, which started around the time of Jobs’ return? To me, the first part of that slogan is important, operative. Maybe I’m old-fashioned that way.

Secondly, I’ve been struggling with the whole concept of “reducing customer confusion.” Somehow, that’s replacing the tired “customer value” in sales pitches. I heard it featured in an ad in a competing industry the other day. It continues in this advertiser’s spots, and it really bothers me.

Why?

I get the impression that “reducing customer confusion” is code for selling-the-customer-expensive-shit-he-doesn’t-want-or-need.

the customer is confused why you’d offer multiple price levels? So, offer fewere, and make sure the remaining offerings are more expensive!

*sigh*

Furthermore, you explicitly refrain from showing the customer what he actually does need, keeping him ignorant. You’re the expert, so whatever you recommend must be right, right?