Today I had my first physical in perhaps a dozen years. There are several dynamics at work here, not the least of which is a desire to keep my health for as long as possible. You see, when I was sixteen and the United States celebrated its Bicentennial I decided that I wanted to be alive to see the Tricentennial. I’ll be 116 then, and I’d like my body to be as fit and as healthy as possible.
Finding a new doctor is an interesting experience. This is a person you will be sharing intimate details of your person with, and if you happen to select a doctor with whom you can’t openly discuss bodily functions (or the lack thereof) you need to start over again. My insurance provider has a cumbersome to use but ultimately useful physician locator on their website. With a list of internists in hand I tried to figure out which to see. Finally I just settled for the first one alphabetically.
Dr. B was very approachable and easy to talk with; she didn’t talk down to us and I feel she listened to my concerns and addressed them. While the exam was perhaps a bit perfunctory (I didn’t actually turn my head and cough) I feel good about the visit. I should get the results of a back x-ray and blood work back early next week. I’ve also got a recommendation for a dermatologist as there is a history of skin melanoma in my family and I have some candidate moles.
In keeping with my new found desire to become active in my health once again I have a dentist appointment next week. Expect the posting following that visit to be one long “Gaaaaaah!” sound.
Eagle-eyed reader JJ, sent me this today:
net.zanshin.PlacesLivedException: placesLivedCount may not be decremented at net.zanshin.blogs.001243.html (I’ve lived in six states:iii) at net.zanshin.blogs.000572.html (I have lived in 7 states: xv) at net.zanshin (index.html:1) at user.jj (see what mark is doing:1) at user.jj (preflight checklist:114) 08 May 2007 12:13:04,553 ERROR JJUsingWebDaemon : [10.170.77.54-63b5c0.1126c1a3314.-7ff2] runtime exception…
It seems that in an earlier posting, 44 Things About Me I claimed to have lived in 7 states, and in this week’s posting, 46 Things About Me I only claimed 6 states. Hence the PlacesLivedException.
The correct answer hinges on what constitutes “lived in.” Two years ago I was using the looser “any place I’ve stayed that wasn’t a vacation” rule. This year I employed the “any place where I’ve had mail addressed” rule.
In my life I have lived in New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Indiana, Washington, South Carolina, and Kansas. Seven states. However, my stay in Pennsylvania was very brief, only about 4 or 5 weeks as my parents were in the process of moving from New York to Illinois. My mother and I stayed with my paternal grandparents while my father went ahead to start his new job and to find a rental house.
This brings up a slight exception to the “any place where I’ve had mail addressed” rule. You see, I was born in Brooklyn and lived there for 10 months before we moved to Illinois. I doubt that I got any mail in that time period. New York stays on the list since it is my place of birth. Pennsylvania is out as it was transitory.
And besides, as the the chief source of requirements for this site, I am allowed to change the rules without prior notice. Still, kudos to JJ for having caught the discrepancy. Heck, I’m tickled that someone out there is actually reading this stuff.
In honor of the date, here are 46 Things About Me…
It has been a year since my original laser eye surgery, actually more like 13 months. A requirement of the lifetime enhancement package that I got is to have annual eye exams. Yesterday afternoon I had the first of these and the results are not entirely good.
The eyes themselves are healthy and in good shape. There is no evidence of any disease not any lasting complications from the mechanical portion of the surgery. However, my vision is not what I’d hoped for. I have blurred vision frequently in the morning when I first get up that prevents me from reading, and my vision is blurry when I am tired. Both of these conditions are new to me - never in my life have I had blurred vision.
After a whole series of tests and measurements performed on my eyes by a technician I finally got to see the doctor. His first question to me confirmed my fear that my eyes weren’t where the surgery was supposed to leave them, “How is your reading?” In order to read I have to have the material at a full arms’ length otherwise I can’t focus clearly on the words or images. Having a bright lights is necessary too. I am unable to read anything held closer without straining or using a magnifying glass.
The doctor confirmed that my right eye, the near eye that has now had two surgeries, wasn’t measuring where they had hoped. After the initial surgery in March 2006 it measured a 3. In English this meant I could read the smallest font size imaginable as long as I held the print no more than four inches from my face. Their explanation was that my eye had healed “stronger” than expected. After allowing it to heal for three months an enhancement procedure was performed to “flatten” the eye. Yesterday I learned that the target number for the enhancement was a 1 or a 1.25. My eye again over-reacted to the adjustment and has healed at a .5. This accounts for the full-arms length required to read a book or clearly see a computer screen.
The doctor is hesitant to “enhance” that eye again, for two reasons. First, it now has a history of over-reacting to adjustments, making it harder to gauge what adjustment to make. Second, each adjustment leaves behind some scaring and alters the surface of the eye at the edges of my vision. Repeated surgeries could start to have a detrimental effect.
He is willing to adjust my left eye, however, as it has had only the original procedure. I’m left-eye dominate and so that eye was designated for distance vision. What he is proposing is to take away some of the distance and make that eye slightly near-sighted. This would, if it succeeded, balance my eyes a bit more and hopefully more my near focal length into about 18 inches instead of 24 or more.
They have a long-wear contact lens that can be inserted that would back my left eye down to simulate the effects of the surgery, but I am reluctant to try that just yet. My fear, obviously, is that a new surgery on my left eye might result in the same situation as my right - an over-reaction that would leave me out of options and looking at corrective lens, either contacts or glasses. The remote possibility that after a year, two surgeries and $3000, that I might have to buy glasses again leaves me understandably upset.
Part of the process yesterday was dilation of my eyes, which left me unable to read or use a computer all last evening. Even though I knew this was a temporary condition, coming on the heels of the doctor’s news it left me feeling very out of control and like I’d made the biggest mistake possible with my eyes. I actually asked the doctor during our consultation if he “could put the astigmatisms back?”
The other upsetting aspect to all of this is a failure upon their part to do two things for me. One, my near vision wasn’t tested yesterday. Therefore we have no idea if it is 20/30 or 20/80 now. Once the drops causing the dilation have taken effect it is too late to perform that test.
The second failure upon their part was to notify me that the eye drops they had recommended have been pulled from the market. It seems that one bottle may have produced a mold in spite of the preservative in the liquid. I actually still have a bottle with a few drops left of that particular brand. They’ve been thrown away.
Over the coming weeks I will need to decide what to do about my vision. I am resigned to having blurry vision when I get tired, and to putting drops in my eyes every single morning to try and reduce the blurriness upon waking. But I am fearful of taking a chance on another surgery. It may make things right and good, but it could also make things far worse and it cannot be undone.
If you want to piss me off, if you want to do something that will cause me to hold a grudge, simply agree to meet me somewhere and then don’t show up. Nothing upsets me more or faster that being stood up.
For example. I scheduled a lunch with a bunch of the people I used to work with. I used Google Calendar. I actually am nerdy enough that I tested on myself to see what happens when a non-Google mail/calendar user gets a Google Calendar invite. The email comes with some nifty links so that you can respond: “yes”, “no”, or “maybe.” Easy. One-click and you’ve given common courtesy to the person scheduling the event.
Some of the people I invited I knew would not come. They never eat lunch out for their own reasons and I can respect that. I only invited them because they are friends and, well, friends invite friends to lunch. Of the ten or twelve invitations I sent out one person said maybe, and two others declined. Two more managed to indicate they were coming without successfully using the “yes” link in the email announcement.
So I went and stood around like a idiot for 30 minutes while no one showed up. The location was out of the way for me, 15 minutes each way; so an hour into this deal and I still don’t have lunch.
It would take, what, 30 seconds to pick up a cell phone, poke my entry in the address book and say, “Hey, I can’t come, I’m sorry.” No calls. No emails, no last-minute updates to the calendar. Nothing.
I don’t care if work keeps you busy. Personally I think using work as an excuse to not have a 60 minute lunch with a friend indicates an imbalance in your priorities, but then I’m strange. And even if you are going to use the “I’m suddenly too busy to come” excuse you have to actually broadcast that excuse somehow. Not caring enough for me and my feelings to make that 30 second phone call really frosts me.
So if you are reading this, and you previously said you were coming to lunch and you couldn’t be bothered to call or show up, then understand that I got your message. Same to you.
Back in February, with a new job raise firmly in hand, I decided to get a wireless broadband card, or “aircard” as it is sometimes called. Basically a cell phone in PCMCIA form-factor, this card would allow me to connect to the Internet regardless of my location and Wi-Fi availability. Primarily I wanted it for the forty odd hours a week I spend at work.
The first card I bought and tried was Cingular’s Edge network capable card, the Option GT Max 3.6. The performance was unacceptably slow, and when I discovered I could get a EVDO card from Sprint for the same monthly price, I called Cingular to start the return process of the Option card. Within a couple of days I had the return authorization and had shipped the card, it’s accessories and manuals, back to Cingular in the original box. The return authorization was setup for the US Post Office, and didn’t include a tracking number. I opted to pay for the return shipping myself and used UPS with a tracking number.
It turns out that having that tracking number was a good thing. Printing off the delivery confirmation was an even better idea.
About five weeks after the shipment had been signed for by Cingular I called the customer service number for two reasons. First, Cingular was still trying to charge me the month service charge for the card ($60) and second, they hadn’t yet credited my account with the refund. I spoke at length with a friendly and seemingly helpful young man who was able to properly remove the second line from my account, and credit my account to reverse the extra charge. He wasn’t able to completely sort out the return and refund however. His best effort was to assure me that it would happen soon and that he would look into it the following day (the returns department was closed for the evening when I made my call) and call me back. Right.
This week, now nearly two months after I had returned their card, I once again called customer support. Armed with the original order number, and the all important UPS tracking number and delivery confirmation I was able to get an assurance that the credit would occur within the next three to five business days. Sure enough, this morning when I checked my account balance online, there was a credit for the full purchase price. While I am glad that I got my money back, and I am pleased with myself for having the foresight to keep the various tracking and order numbers, as well as notes from each call to customer service, I am disappointed that it was this difficult to make a return. I strongly suspect that had I not kept track of this and kept calling that I still wouldn’t have my money. While I can’t say for sure, I even think that Cingular would have kept my money until I called and raised enough of a fuss.
Cingularly disappointing.
Recently at work I was chosen through a random drawing to receive a pair of tickets to see the Kansas City Royals host the Chicago White Sox. It has been years and years since I last saw a professional baseball game so I was very much looking forward to it.
The weather was not cooperative, threatening rain all day and finally starting to rain about 15 minutes before game time. Our seats couldn’t have been better, either for viewing the game or staying dry; on the third base line just about even with the base itself, and up on the Club level, under the upper deck overhang. We were comfortably out of the rain and enjoyed ourselves people watching during the 90 minute rain delay. Once the rain stopped and play started it was a beautifully cool evening - perfect for watching a little baseball.
We only stayed for the first 5 innings, given the nearly 9:00 pm first pitch, but had a wonderful time nonetheless. Bratwurst and Polish sausage (with sauerkraut) were had, as was a tub of popcorn.
My new employer has a block of seats, primarily for entertaining customers, but the left overs are given away to employees through a random drawing every couple of weeks. I’m already signed up for the next batch of games.
The move to a new office building seems to have gone very smoothly. All of my office items where here waiting for me upon my arrival Monday, and better still, none were broken or damaged. There was network connectivity and my phone worked. Almost anti-climatic after the several weeks of build up.
The new space is very nice. For the first time in a decade I can see a window from where I sit. Working as an employee rather than as a consultant continues to produce new benefits. The part of the building I am in holds about 30 cubes, most of which are filled. Between the cloth covered cube walls and some art work on the building walls it is surprisingly quiet here. My last cube opened onto the hallway leading to the stairs and the restrooms, so I had a lot of foot traffic behind me all day. Now I am in a dead-end aisle which makes it very quiet.
Since starting my new job in January my team, and two floors worth of other people, have been temporarily housed in a borrowed building. The company I work for is owned by a larger company, and we’ve been squatting in one of their buildings. My company has recently completed interior renovations on a new office building, and everyone is moving. Some people are moving from the temporary building to the new building, some from the original building to the new building, and some (including me) are moving from the temporary building to the original building.
Moving at work is a lot less difficult than moving at home. Other people plan all the steps and make all the arrangements. All you need do is toss your stuff in a box or three and slap some labels on everything and walk out into a beautiful Friday afternoon. On Monday, all your stuff is in your new cubical.
At least that’s the plan. Tune in on Monday to see how it all works out.
So, as it turns out, you can’t use scotch tape to fix a stamp to an envelope.
A while back I made a purchase that came with one of those handy mail-in rebates. Naturally I forgot about it until the night before it had to be post-marked. I carefully filled out all the paperwork and put it into the envelope, sealed it, and put my last stamp on it. Ready to be mailed in the morning.
Then I discovered I had left out the sales slip.
Phooey.
Putting all the stuff in a new envelope I was faced with the lack of a stamp. Enter the scotch tape. What could be better? Two little pieces and away we go.
Today, now several days past the post-mark deadline, the envelope came back. Marked, “Stamps are void when coated, defaced, or re-<smear of red ink here>. Returned for postage.”
Whoops.
So, as it turns out, I’m out the $0.39 stamp and the $49.95 rebate. How many people can say they have an unused (but “coated”) thirty-nine cent stamp in their collection that is worth $50.34?