Or at least I'm getting the ailments of age. To be precise, arthritis.
I've been aware of this for a while. The lower back, definitely. But I now know of several other areas affected.
See, yesterday I took the train to Tacoma to meet with a general contractor concerning work to be done on my new-to-me house, and as it wasn't that far from the train station, I walked.
Well, thirty years ago it wouldn't have been that far. Three miles, basically. A forty-five minute walk. At twenty I was walking 16 miles to visit friends, up big hills, with no problems.
At fifty, it's a different matter. There were some hills, nothing major, and I felt them. I was noticing the exertion, big time. It took me the better part of an hour to start to recuperate, and I was still feeling it that evening. And today, well, my hips hurt. In an arthritic manner. I'm really glad the contractor was willing to give me a ride to the train station, walking back just wasn't going to happen, and arranging for a cab would have required calling 411 and getting Tacoma directory assistance and not knowing the name of the local cab company, and I really wanted to avoid that if I could. I need to add the cab companies, and the ride information line for Pierce County Transit, to my phone/address list I've been making for Tacoma.
It's now 25 hours since I finished that walk, and I'm still feeling it, aching hips, unhappy knees, sore feet; I'm not doing that again.
Pity, that. What a difference thirty years makes. Actually, what a difference ten years makes, which is when the arthritis started kicking in.
On the good news, I'm back down to 180 lbs., which is my low weight for the last twenty some years. Now to see if slightly smaller portions will drop the weight further without feeling overly hungry; the height/weight charts say I should weight more like 160 lbs, which I haven't weighed since before I went to grad school in 1987.
Anyway, that's it for now. Just like living with my disabilities, I get to live with arthritis, and balance things out; Ibuprofen would take care of the pain, but at the expense of mental functioning, so I deal with the pain during the day and take Ibuprofen prior to going to bed.
2011-08-17
2011-08-08
Moderation in action!
A site I frequent is self-defined as 'A friendly place to read, write, and discuss Trans-gender fiction.' And that's what it is. It doesn't happen by accident, or just by everyone naturally keeping on topic, however. It takes careful moderation.
Case in point. Poster A posted a link to a BBC article and an article in The Guardian, both discussing a research report on the NHS (National Health Service). Several responses were made. Then poster B started a new thread, destructively critiquing the report and the coverage, and taking a swipe at poster A. Again, several responses were made. Indeed, I myself prepared a response (comparisons were being made to the US healthcare system by Poster B). When I went to post my response, lo and behold I couldn't. Access was denied. I looked, I was logged in, why couldn't I post?
I couldn't post because the thread was gone. Both threads were gone. Poof, vanished as if they had never existed. I sat back, aghast. Shades of 1984! Liberal Librarianship front and center! This is censorship! This is restraint of freedom of speech! This is... all sorts of things the American Library Association is against.
Actually, it's quite proper moderation. The threads were becoming contentious, and had absolutely nothing to do with the purpose of the site. And thus, to promote the friendly atmosphere and to keep the site properly focused, they were removed.
I thought of making a thread commenting on this, and how well done it was, but realized that such a post would be unacceptable, because it would have nothing to do with the purpose of the site, and would be a potential source of contention. So, practicing restraint and self-moderation, I didn't.
But I can post here, on my own blog, can't I? Yes, I can. Here's to Erin Halfelven, site owner and moderator, for a job well done.friendly place to read, write and discuss Transgender Fiction.A friendly place to read, write and discuss Transgender Fiction.A friendly place to read, write and discuss Transgender Fiction.
Case in point. Poster A posted a link to a BBC article and an article in The Guardian, both discussing a research report on the NHS (National Health Service). Several responses were made. Then poster B started a new thread, destructively critiquing the report and the coverage, and taking a swipe at poster A. Again, several responses were made. Indeed, I myself prepared a response (comparisons were being made to the US healthcare system by Poster B). When I went to post my response, lo and behold I couldn't. Access was denied. I looked, I was logged in, why couldn't I post?
I couldn't post because the thread was gone. Both threads were gone. Poof, vanished as if they had never existed. I sat back, aghast. Shades of 1984! Liberal Librarianship front and center! This is censorship! This is restraint of freedom of speech! This is... all sorts of things the American Library Association is against.
Actually, it's quite proper moderation. The threads were becoming contentious, and had absolutely nothing to do with the purpose of the site. And thus, to promote the friendly atmosphere and to keep the site properly focused, they were removed.
I thought of making a thread commenting on this, and how well done it was, but realized that such a post would be unacceptable, because it would have nothing to do with the purpose of the site, and would be a potential source of contention. So, practicing restraint and self-moderation, I didn't.
But I can post here, on my own blog, can't I? Yes, I can. Here's to Erin Halfelven, site owner and moderator, for a job well done.friendly place to read, write and discuss Transgender Fiction.A friendly place to read, write and discuss Transgender Fiction.A friendly place to read, write and discuss Transgender Fiction.
2011-07-15
Home purchase
Today I get possession on my new home in Tacoma. Won't be moving immediately, there is stuff I want done first, like replacing knob and tube wiring, earthquake retrofit, plumbing inspection/repair, flashing on the roof, some other stuff. But possession is today.
And such a deal, too! $411.00/month payments, including property tax and insurance. $40,000.00 30-year mortgage, finish paying it off in 2041. Fixed rate at 4.65%, no penalty for paying it off early.
It's a three bedroom, with a large living room and a breakfast nook in the kitchen which I get to rebuild; the breakfast nook originally had built-in table and bench seats, I'm going to restore it to that style.
1925 Craftsman, other than the breakfast nook it doesn't seem to have been changed much if any. Oh, and the garage, the garage isn't original, it's a huge cinderblock construction, plenty big for a shop and storage, and a carport as well. Nice sized yard front and back. Nice neighborhood. Sushi shop at the end of the block.
And such a deal, too! $411.00/month payments, including property tax and insurance. $40,000.00 30-year mortgage, finish paying it off in 2041. Fixed rate at 4.65%, no penalty for paying it off early.
It's a three bedroom, with a large living room and a breakfast nook in the kitchen which I get to rebuild; the breakfast nook originally had built-in table and bench seats, I'm going to restore it to that style.
1925 Craftsman, other than the breakfast nook it doesn't seem to have been changed much if any. Oh, and the garage, the garage isn't original, it's a huge cinderblock construction, plenty big for a shop and storage, and a carport as well. Nice sized yard front and back. Nice neighborhood. Sushi shop at the end of the block.
2011-03-15
Update on Clematis & Blackberries
Just thought I'd mention, if I hadn't, that the massive campaign several years ago was completely successful. The Clematis is eradicated, and the blackberries are hardly around anymore. Go team!
Update on things
Well, it's about a year since Mom left home. She's in an Adult Foster Care facility in Olympia, with increasingly advanced Alzheimer's, and I don't call her anywhere near as much as I should. My difficulty making phone calls combined with not knowing what to talk about, and crying.
My grandparents' farm in Grand Ronde has sold, which relieves a great many monetary worries.
The current plan is to move me to someplace near Olympia, either Shelton or Centralia. My IRA combined with some of the funds from the farm and some budgeting will allow for a property up to $95,000.00, but lower is better, smaller mortgages are nice, more money for living. There are some nice properties available, but wanting a shop does limit things a bit. But I've bought too much shop stuff to not have a shop, don't want that money to have been for naught.
My sister, Beth, has done a great job dealing with things, I couldn't have done anywhere near so well, not with my broken brain. 15, 20 years ago, maybe, but not now. I just fear my own slow deterioration and that I need to get things lined up for when she'll need to take care of me, a number of years away still but I fear the day will come. Given we got Mom's power of attorney filled out and notarized at what turned out to be the last minute, and had a time getting the notary to agree Mom was fit to make such a decision, we shouldn't wait that long with me. Just glad when we did the power of attorney for mom that Beth was listed as the fall back, so when we determined I couldn't handle it we could just notarize my stepping aside in her favor, we wouldn't have been able to get a new power of attorney filed.
Anyway, once I'm moved, we look at selling this place that has been home since 1976. It's been homebase for 34 of my 50 years, and home for 25 of them. Mom knows where she lives; she lives here, in Portland, and she knows her son lives in the same building. So not seeing me bewilders her some, just like not seeing her is so strange, especially since the last several years I'd been supervising her meds and seeing her at least three times a day. I've spent a fair amount of the last year contacting organizations to get her off of their mailing lists, with good success except for Consumer Reports, which ignores all requests and doesn't respond to my emails, even though they claim to respond to all emails personally. I may be forced to call them on the phone, which is difficult for me, I freeze up and fear confrontations, don't deal well with real time at all these days. Which is where the property search activity so far has gone well, I've been able to do everything by email or the web.
I get out nearly every day, picking up trash surrounding the building, especially the covered bus shelter in front, so I get some fresh air. But other than that I stay inside except for going shopping or appointments. Which is really a change over how I used to be. Used to go for walks all the time. Used to go see people all the time. But I just don't get out. And don't want to depress people, so rather just fade into the past with good memories of me. Which is maybe not fair on my part, my friends, and they are friends, should be given the option rather than my just vanishing, but I've always been this way, it's part of my problems, not keeping in touch with people, not seeming to be capable of keeping in touch if not actively involved in doing something. It ties in with my disabilities, the inability to do things that don't grab my attention, so if nothing grabs my attention I don't do anything. Which is as bad as it sounds. My diet is fairly good at least, sleep is pretty good, spend my days at the computer, mainly the Whateley Academy Crystal Hall forums and wiki, the Whateley Academy stories catch my interest even after many rereads, don't get enough physical activity which is reflected in my blood pressure, listen to the local classical music station from waking until bed.
One thing I need to focus on now is entering the financial information from the Olympia bank account, so I can do Mom's taxes. But it has to grab my attention. I should position the files so I see them, that'd help. (pause) OK, just did that, we'll see if that helps, it should. Just like I need to remember that the gate to the side yard has fallen down and that I need to fix it. (pause) OK, post-it note put up.
I do as well as I do because so much can be done online these days, banking, bills, shopping. And my food shopping, I buy in bulk so I don't need to go out that often. A tank of gas lasts me most of a year at this point. That'll change once I move, will have further to travel to Costco and the food co-op, plus seeing my sister and mother. And who knows, if I get everything organized with enough space, I might become active again; get to where I can have people over again. I've still got the impressive library, although I seem to have given away my SCA publications, my old TIs and CAs, etc.
Guess that's all for now, thought I'd but some thoughts down, just to prove I was still here.
My grandparents' farm in Grand Ronde has sold, which relieves a great many monetary worries.
The current plan is to move me to someplace near Olympia, either Shelton or Centralia. My IRA combined with some of the funds from the farm and some budgeting will allow for a property up to $95,000.00, but lower is better, smaller mortgages are nice, more money for living. There are some nice properties available, but wanting a shop does limit things a bit. But I've bought too much shop stuff to not have a shop, don't want that money to have been for naught.
My sister, Beth, has done a great job dealing with things, I couldn't have done anywhere near so well, not with my broken brain. 15, 20 years ago, maybe, but not now. I just fear my own slow deterioration and that I need to get things lined up for when she'll need to take care of me, a number of years away still but I fear the day will come. Given we got Mom's power of attorney filled out and notarized at what turned out to be the last minute, and had a time getting the notary to agree Mom was fit to make such a decision, we shouldn't wait that long with me. Just glad when we did the power of attorney for mom that Beth was listed as the fall back, so when we determined I couldn't handle it we could just notarize my stepping aside in her favor, we wouldn't have been able to get a new power of attorney filed.
Anyway, once I'm moved, we look at selling this place that has been home since 1976. It's been homebase for 34 of my 50 years, and home for 25 of them. Mom knows where she lives; she lives here, in Portland, and she knows her son lives in the same building. So not seeing me bewilders her some, just like not seeing her is so strange, especially since the last several years I'd been supervising her meds and seeing her at least three times a day. I've spent a fair amount of the last year contacting organizations to get her off of their mailing lists, with good success except for Consumer Reports, which ignores all requests and doesn't respond to my emails, even though they claim to respond to all emails personally. I may be forced to call them on the phone, which is difficult for me, I freeze up and fear confrontations, don't deal well with real time at all these days. Which is where the property search activity so far has gone well, I've been able to do everything by email or the web.
I get out nearly every day, picking up trash surrounding the building, especially the covered bus shelter in front, so I get some fresh air. But other than that I stay inside except for going shopping or appointments. Which is really a change over how I used to be. Used to go for walks all the time. Used to go see people all the time. But I just don't get out. And don't want to depress people, so rather just fade into the past with good memories of me. Which is maybe not fair on my part, my friends, and they are friends, should be given the option rather than my just vanishing, but I've always been this way, it's part of my problems, not keeping in touch with people, not seeming to be capable of keeping in touch if not actively involved in doing something. It ties in with my disabilities, the inability to do things that don't grab my attention, so if nothing grabs my attention I don't do anything. Which is as bad as it sounds. My diet is fairly good at least, sleep is pretty good, spend my days at the computer, mainly the Whateley Academy Crystal Hall forums and wiki, the Whateley Academy stories catch my interest even after many rereads, don't get enough physical activity which is reflected in my blood pressure, listen to the local classical music station from waking until bed.
One thing I need to focus on now is entering the financial information from the Olympia bank account, so I can do Mom's taxes. But it has to grab my attention. I should position the files so I see them, that'd help. (pause) OK, just did that, we'll see if that helps, it should. Just like I need to remember that the gate to the side yard has fallen down and that I need to fix it. (pause) OK, post-it note put up.
I do as well as I do because so much can be done online these days, banking, bills, shopping. And my food shopping, I buy in bulk so I don't need to go out that often. A tank of gas lasts me most of a year at this point. That'll change once I move, will have further to travel to Costco and the food co-op, plus seeing my sister and mother. And who knows, if I get everything organized with enough space, I might become active again; get to where I can have people over again. I've still got the impressive library, although I seem to have given away my SCA publications, my old TIs and CAs, etc.
Guess that's all for now, thought I'd but some thoughts down, just to prove I was still here.
2010-09-08
Water, water, everywhere
So. Saturday morning, about 3:30, knock at the door, it's Karen, my sister's partner, coming up from downstairs to inform me we had a water leak, coming from my apartment, doing tons of nastyness, and could I please turn off the water so it would stop?
Bathroom sink, cold water supply, compression fitting, came loose, spraying everywhere, my sleeping mind had said "heavy rain," 'cause that's what it sounded like to the former Chicagoan in me.
Massive damage. Standing water everywhere, creeping towards stuff, soaking carpets, swelling underlayment, ceilings sagging, ucky.
Beth, my sister, calls insurance broker, contacts emergency after hours line, leaves message, gets callback, talks to insurance carrier emergency line, meanwhile Karen is mopping stuff up, I'm moving boxes of books to keep them safe, water keeps dripping from flooded between floors, yucky.
Morning comes, Beth back on phone, trying to findout what we can do about this, don't want to wait until Tuesday for Insurance Adjuster, need to start work now to prevent mold, etc., get referred to Kennedy Restoration, specializes in disaster recovery services, has worked with insurance carrier before, sends out a team immediately, lots of pictures taken, carpet removed, underlayment removed, sagging ceiling removed, fans and dehumidifiers implaced, thorough job all around. Samples taken from vinyl flooring to determine composition, in case needs special handling.
Fans and dehumidifiers raise temperature exceedingly, much warmer than outside, but opening doors and windows to lower temperature would be counterproductive. Swelter. sigh.
Tuesday. Insurance adjuster comes, asks questions, lots of photos, talks with Kennedy rep, will return Friday with Kennedy rep after further drying out and work.
Last time saw the floor under the underlayment was in 1976, when my parents' bought the place.
Amazingly, while building damage, no stuff damage; we got everything moved and protected in time.
So much for going to Anime Convention that weekend.
Bathroom sink, cold water supply, compression fitting, came loose, spraying everywhere, my sleeping mind had said "heavy rain," 'cause that's what it sounded like to the former Chicagoan in me.
Massive damage. Standing water everywhere, creeping towards stuff, soaking carpets, swelling underlayment, ceilings sagging, ucky.
Beth, my sister, calls insurance broker, contacts emergency after hours line, leaves message, gets callback, talks to insurance carrier emergency line, meanwhile Karen is mopping stuff up, I'm moving boxes of books to keep them safe, water keeps dripping from flooded between floors, yucky.
Morning comes, Beth back on phone, trying to findout what we can do about this, don't want to wait until Tuesday for Insurance Adjuster, need to start work now to prevent mold, etc., get referred to Kennedy Restoration, specializes in disaster recovery services, has worked with insurance carrier before, sends out a team immediately, lots of pictures taken, carpet removed, underlayment removed, sagging ceiling removed, fans and dehumidifiers implaced, thorough job all around. Samples taken from vinyl flooring to determine composition, in case needs special handling.
Fans and dehumidifiers raise temperature exceedingly, much warmer than outside, but opening doors and windows to lower temperature would be counterproductive. Swelter. sigh.
Tuesday. Insurance adjuster comes, asks questions, lots of photos, talks with Kennedy rep, will return Friday with Kennedy rep after further drying out and work.
Last time saw the floor under the underlayment was in 1976, when my parents' bought the place.
Amazingly, while building damage, no stuff damage; we got everything moved and protected in time.
So much for going to Anime Convention that weekend.
2010-07-22
Converting from vinyl to CD
It's something I'm working on, converting my 300+ collection of LPs to CD. I've got a refurbished SFF WinXP machine set up in the stereo cabinet, hooked up to the stereo receiver, and have started copying the analog LPs to digital format. So far I've just recorded them off in Audacity, which is an open source audio recording software package which seems to work well. I mean, it allowed me to play a 78 at 45, record it, and then change the tempo to what it should have been recorded at; it let me select from a pull down menu the recorded speed of 45 and the should have been recorded at speed of 78, and it changed it perfectly, and after running the noise reduction filter we can again listen to Basil Rathborn narrating Peter and the Wolf. I've copied off about eight or nine LPs so far, doing one a day prior to going to bed, at that rate I'll be at this for quite some time, and I haven't begun the process of taking the recordings and separating them by track, labeling them with all the appropriate recording info, and exporting them to .WAV format prior to actually burning audio CDs. And I suppose I should also create .MP3s or some such as I go along.
The fun bit will be going through each recording, using noise reduction where necessary, and the really fun bit will be applying the clip filter, which will remove the sound of scratches and attempt to recreate the sound sequence using a best guess approximation based on the surrounding sound recording. Audacity is a really good program, capable of great stuff in cleaning up and modifying sound files, well worth checking out. I can also recommend the instruction book which is mentioned at the Audacity site, I purchased the eBook version, read through it, and it really made a difference in re the learning curve.
It's been kinda fun, listening to old mono recordings that mom bought prior to her marriage, which places them back pre-1956; have to admit I'm not quite sure which year my parents married, just that it was more than two years prior to my sister's birth, and I'm not looking it up just now. But yeah, a bunch of what I recorded so far are from prior to stereo recording of LPs, but I think I'm close to being through with them, and shortly will be purely working with stereo recordings. I know they're mom's records from before they married because she wrote her name on the outer jackets, and it's her maiden name. Kind of interesting seeing what she collected.
The burning of CDs shouldn't be that hard, the time consuming bit will be creating the sleeves for the jewel cases; two options, purchasing pre-perforated sleeves for laser printers and using their included software, or creating my own templates and cutting the sleeves out myself. I'm seriously leaning towards purchasing sleeves, it would make it so much easier. And purchasing jewel cases. Then there is the whole buy CD labeling stuff or just writing on the CD. So I've got a bunch to think about prior to creating the CDs, but I can do everything up to that without any further investment except for time. And time is something I have plenty of.
The one I'm not looking forward to is the 1950 La Scala performance of the Ring Cycle, all eleven records worth. Wondering how many CDs that will end up being, all depends upon how the tracks fall out. You can buy jewel cases that will hold a varied number of CDs, six I believe being the max without shifting to a DVD case, I've got an empty six CD jewel case, it would be nice if it would be enough to hold the recording, we'll just have to see now won't we?
The fun bit will be going through each recording, using noise reduction where necessary, and the really fun bit will be applying the clip filter, which will remove the sound of scratches and attempt to recreate the sound sequence using a best guess approximation based on the surrounding sound recording. Audacity is a really good program, capable of great stuff in cleaning up and modifying sound files, well worth checking out. I can also recommend the instruction book which is mentioned at the Audacity site, I purchased the eBook version, read through it, and it really made a difference in re the learning curve.
It's been kinda fun, listening to old mono recordings that mom bought prior to her marriage, which places them back pre-1956; have to admit I'm not quite sure which year my parents married, just that it was more than two years prior to my sister's birth, and I'm not looking it up just now. But yeah, a bunch of what I recorded so far are from prior to stereo recording of LPs, but I think I'm close to being through with them, and shortly will be purely working with stereo recordings. I know they're mom's records from before they married because she wrote her name on the outer jackets, and it's her maiden name. Kind of interesting seeing what she collected.
The burning of CDs shouldn't be that hard, the time consuming bit will be creating the sleeves for the jewel cases; two options, purchasing pre-perforated sleeves for laser printers and using their included software, or creating my own templates and cutting the sleeves out myself. I'm seriously leaning towards purchasing sleeves, it would make it so much easier. And purchasing jewel cases. Then there is the whole buy CD labeling stuff or just writing on the CD. So I've got a bunch to think about prior to creating the CDs, but I can do everything up to that without any further investment except for time. And time is something I have plenty of.
The one I'm not looking forward to is the 1950 La Scala performance of the Ring Cycle, all eleven records worth. Wondering how many CDs that will end up being, all depends upon how the tracks fall out. You can buy jewel cases that will hold a varied number of CDs, six I believe being the max without shifting to a DVD case, I've got an empty six CD jewel case, it would be nice if it would be enough to hold the recording, we'll just have to see now won't we?
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