Louis Ventre a Terre

Rest in peace old friend.

Maddie and Daddy

This is a better picture of me. That other pic from the sleep test has been up long enough. I do in fact have sleep apnea, and the new little CPAP machine is working wonders for my sleep as well as my wife's sleep. She says that I no longer snore. Not enough kayaking going on, but lots of other worthwhile times spent with my kids.

Sleep testing doesn't actually involve sleeping.

(really ugly photo of author deleted)

I may be the poster child for sleep apnea. What a miserable night.

My wife complains that I snore very loudly.

My cardiologist wants to know if it is causing me problems with my heart.

All those little electrodes stuck on my head created little hot spots that started hurting about 4:00am. The CPAP (a little nose mask that provides pressurized air to keep my airway open) started squeezing my head to the point that it felt like it was in a vise. at 5:00am they had enough info that we could stop the test, and I could go home. I was glad to get outta there.

I hate hospitals.

Falling Waters Trail

I got outside on the Big Bad Kona Hoss today for a few hours. I rode a total of nine miles along a new Rails-to-trails project called the Falling Waters Trail in Jackson County, Michigan. Yippie! the snow is melting, the air is warmer, the days are longer....I made it through another long Michigan winter. It's not kayaking, but it was good to get out of the house.

Finally Home

This is Claire just before we loaded-up to go home. She sure is a lot cuter without all of the wires and tubes.

Ready for her first car ride. It's good to have everybody home together.

Claire Elise

OK, here is some good news. This is our new baby Claire Elise. She was born 29 December 2007. She is 18.5 inches long, and 6lbs 5oz. She wasn't doing very well inside mommy, so she needed to come out about a month early. Because she was born early, her breathing is not as good as the doctors would like on her own, so she is spending a few days in the NICU on O2. Otherwise, she and mommy are doing great, and we hope to bring Claire home soon.

So turning 40 really sucks.

I have spent the last three weeks fighting Mononucleosis. The problem, is that until a week ago, we didn't know that. Between visits to the doctor's office and the ER, it took several procedures to eliminate all of the other possibilities, that included Leukemia, Meningitis, and some other long named virus that could put our unborn baby a risk. Oh yeah, and one of my first lab cultures got contaminated first thing, so they though I may have had a staph infection as well, bring on the antibiotics. The good news is that all I have is Mono. That's all that I ever had. I was presenting classic Flu-like symptoms, except that my fevers had been going on for more than ten days and they were getting worse, in the 102-103F range. The only way to rule out Meningitis, is with a spinal tap. I don't ever want another one. It took two different people five tries to finally get it. The average person requires a 3 1/2 " needle for a spinal tap. They had to get a longer one for me. I had eight chest x-rays, four sinus x-rays, and a CT scan. Even when I left the hospital on Monday night, Mono wasn't guaranteed, it was the only thing left. The University of Michigan is probably the best possible place to be for something like this, but it is a learning institution, and I really hate being a guinea pig.

Update: What I really have is Mono's evil twin: Cytomegalovirus. Just like Mono, only named different. It turns out that I was exposed at some point to mono, but not CMV, and CMV is what I really have. The same syptoms, the same treatment, the same duration, they are even from the same group of virus': Epstein-Barr.

Fever 40

I turned 40 today.

I have been running a low grade fever all day.

Bummer.

I got a remote switch "shutter release" for my camera, the DVD Ratatouille, and a book: The Photographer's Eye, by Michael Freeman.

Now I need to get to bed.

First Ride

Last night was my first ride this year. The weather was perfect. The weather wasn't really holding me back until now, but with all of the back problems that I had this winter, I figured that I would just take it easy. This happens to be the put-in that I use when I paddle near home. I just had to stop and dip my fingers in the water. It is still pretty cold. We had snow flurries just last week, and we haven't had any warm rain to warm up the lakes yet. The back feels good now, and this weekend is forecast to be warm and sunny.....Finally.

Cabin Fever and Muscle Atrophy

The month of February was a tough one for me. The baby is getting heavier, and I was too. My back just couldn't take it any more. My sciatic nerve was the worst part. My whole leg would cramp up and my right foot felt a little numb. In the middle of February, I had my wife take me to the emergency room, because I couldn't take the pain any more. I was in pain for four weeks straight, but I only missed two days of work. Now I am in physical therapy, and I am doing much better. I don't think that I like the traction though....think medieval rack.

Winter in the mid-west is terrible...at least I think so now. When I was a kid, we used to go outside and play in the snow all the time. Now that I am getting older, I just worry about slipping on the ice and breaking something. It is cold and dark outside when I am not at work, so getting good physical activity is hard to find. I really hate exercise equipment, the view never changes.

Sunday is the time change. The change to Daylight Savings Time means that it will still be light out at 7:30 pm. This glorious little event is going to happen 3 weeks sooner this year. My only worry is that it will still be too cold to ride the bike. I am looking forward to getting out of this house that I have been cooped-up in all winter long.

I want to feel the warm sun on my face again.

Big City

My first time in New York. A business trip. Did a little site seeing. It was a great opportunity for this packaging designer to see some great inspirations. Toured the Museum of Modern Art, 5th Ave window "shopping", the Empire State Building, a couple of big design firms, the Paramount Hotel, Times Square, Moss, Karim Rashid, FAO Schwartz, the Apple store, St. Peters Cathedral. Lots of walking, more than I am used to anyway. I rode a subway, and hailed a cab, all by myself.

Ice Storm

We got a pretty serious ice storm last week. Cable was out for several days, therefore Internet service was as well, so I couldn't post, or even surf. I've been trying to catch up on my reading of blogs. Still...it could have been a lot worse. We didn't lose power, but last Tuesday, I was outside letting my dog relieve himself at about 3:00 am, and it was dead calm and only 16 degrees F. I could hear a generator running down the road a little ways. Some of my neighbors were without power for three days. That would have really sucked, No power, a new baby, and cold enough to freeze the......well you know what I mean.

Freak

Paddle by your refuge.

Yeah, I set the alarm and got up early on my day off.

Yep, loaded the boat and drove an hour and a half, one way.

It was all going really well, until I showed up at the registration desk. That's when it hit me. There were about four times as many people as I had expected, and it looked like a three ring circus in the staging area and launch site. I don't do well with crowds, and I started feeling really anxious. I stepped back, and then went for a walk around the park, trying to calm down, and to let the crush at the desk let up a bit.

Big water spooks me as well, and the wind kept building.

Paddling with strangers kinda scares me too.

I know, they are all just excuses, but I freaked out anyway. I kept telling myself, that these are my kinda people, but sometimes it is easier to just hide behind the camera.

At least the pictures turned out well.

No. I didn't go paddle.

Dental Work Update

Hey, it only took eight months. I am finally done with my extensive dental work. It turns out that I was able to leave the lower wisdom teeth in. They are not causing me any problems, and removing them now may introduce new problems. All of my cavities, and old silver fillings that were deteriorating have been fixed. My upper wisdom teeth have been removed, without complications.

What you see above is my new crown, just before it was cemented in. The crown was the last item, and it still feels a little funny yet, but I am getting used to it. This tooth has been broken for several years now, and I lost a large chunk off of it about a year ago, so having a full tooth back again, is a strange sensation. My dentist referred to the root as being viable. That means that I still have a hot nerve, and that the tooth was not a total loss. What it also means is that it hurt like hell when she put the crown with cement on the post on the final time. It feels a lot better now.

Just prior to having my upper wisdom teeth pulled a month ago, I broke a decayed chunk off one of them as well, and it tore my cheek up for a couple of days, until I got tired of it and started wiggling it a bunch with my finger. I was actually out paddling in my kayak, when I had decided that I had had enough, so while sitting in my kayak, in the middle of the lake, I started pushing on that wisdom tooth with my finger again, hard enough this time to break the offending jagged piece off, further gaining me a lot of relief. I guess in retrospect, doing this on shore may have been at least a little more intelligent.

I think I am going to be a lot more diligent about seeing the dentist on a frequent and regular basis.

Live and learn.

Art

The driver picked us up in a white, Lincoln Continental, stretch limo. Leaving the office at 11:00am on a Friday, feels a little naughty, but our plan, with this little field trip, was to enrich our creative process. Six packaging designers (a six pack?), two supervisors, and four digital cameras, all headed for the "big" city. The Ann Arbor Art Fair. (And this link too.) Our task was to collect as many images, and ideas, as we could for a new mood board at the office. It was also a great way to get the creative juices flowing again. There were plenty of great sculptures, pottery, paintings, drawings, and photography. There were also the typical elements that provide the chaotic carnival atmosphere that no one can seem to resist. Street performers, sidewalk vendors selling anything imaginable, and junk food galore. People watching at its best on the University of Michigan campus. It was a great way to spend an afternoon for work. Oh my head is sunburned, and my feet hurt, but I think our new boss is going to work out just fine. It is a tough job, but somebody has to do it. =8-}

Close Call

I had a close call tonight. As I rolled to a stop at this road construction site, the minivan coming up the road behind me must not have been paying attention. When I looked in the rear view mirror, I didn't even have time to flinch. As I watched the driver of the minivan whip the wheel to the right, it went sliding past me with all four wheels locked up and making the gravel fly. The minivan finally came to a stop further forward than I was, but luckily for them, still not fully in the ditch. The driver then simply put the van in reverse and backed up behind me and then pulled back in line. Wow! The poor flagman never moved his feet, but did at least look up. I wonder how many other close calls he has seen? Enough to make him have nerves of steel, or is the job so dull as to make him numb to screeching tires?

Kona Hoss

I rode my bike tonight. I haven't been riding lately. I don't know why, I just haven't. I need to ride more often. It hurts now, and yet it feels good too.

I've been reading Silbs Says, and noting that his back has been hurting lately too. This weekend mine was killing me, but now it is starting to feel better, as long as I keep moving. If I have to sit still for a long time, I stiffen up, and it takes a little while to get fully straight again. The bike ride helped me get all of my muscles warmed up and my back wasn't hurting then, but since I got home, and tried to relax, its stiff again, but its getting better.

I hate getting old.

Maybe tomorrow I will go paddling.

Dead is Forever.

WOW, Hillary is right.

I sometimes see people while out paddling and wonder about their apparent disregard for others. The ones I wonder about are usually the ones on Jet-skis or powerboats, going way too fast. I have wondered if anyone would ever notice or help if I needed it.

I wonder how those climbers can look themselves in the mirror?

I read a statistic yesterday that said 49% of Americans said they would not seek evacuation assistace in the face or wake of a hurricane if it meant they would have to abandon their pet.

I can't believe anyone would just leave a person to die.

Sorry no picture today either, maybe next time.

Sick Day

Ok, so what do you do in March, in Michigan, when its snowing outside, and you have the flu? You watch the Weather channel, and read Wenley of course.
I have a little proof that spring is on its way though.

I'm sorry

I'm sorry that I have not been blogging lately. We've been really busy lately, and the flu didn't help either. Three in the morning and a dehydrated expecting mother is a little nerve wracking. Everything turned out all right and everyone is doing well now. The sleep-less nights have already started.