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- Lou's Kiteboarding home page
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- Lou's Comedy home page
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Note: While not kiteboarding, I plan to update my blog weekly (usually Wednesdays) - or when something special happens.
Wed 1/27 - Busy, Busy, Busy! Today I got organized for my tropical kiteboarding trip and drove to MedTronic in Tempe with my USB digital oscilloscope for experimentation with Shane, my engineer nephew. We used an external trigger so we could use my scope as a deferential oscilloscope by subtracting one trace from the other. If you don't understand all that, don't feel bad. I barely do. Then stopped by LA Fitness on South Priest Drive for an arms workout on my way here to Gang Plank.
- I've been sleeping mostly with my new CPAP machine and doing ok after reducing the pressure from 7 to 4.5 cm (water column). Also trying to figure the effect of diet on my sleeping.
- I may regret it, but I bought a new digital camera. It has everything I wanted (AA power, flippy viewer, 12.2 mp sensor, 20x zoom, good reviews, image stabilization) but lacks two things needed for good kiteboarding action photos: 1) a fast burst rate (captures only 1 picture per second) and 2) an optical viewfinder. Its electronic viewfinder blanks out during exposures to make it difficult to follow motion. I'll get along with it for a while. Fortunately it was not too expensive. I'll eventually get a link to it on my Technology's Cool web page.
- Tuesday I bought non-refundable tickets from Delta Airlines to St Lucia (LOO sha) for two weeks. Leaving Feb 4 and returning Feb 18. Now I've got to get my act together and put all my ducks in a row.
- Thursday I had nuclear treadmill cardio stress test with EKG, using Myoview, which contains the radioactive element is Technetium 99. The technology has advanced in the eight years since my last one and it was neat to see blood flowing through my heart as it pumped away. More interesting information about nuclear stress tests is available from the Texas Heart Institute. No, I did not go to Texas for my test, but the website has good information.
Wed 1/20 - Exciting stuff coming later, but first, this afternoon, since it is in the same direction as GangPlank, I went to see Avatar in IMAX 3-D. I thought the effects were awesome and the 3-D very well done.
- At Gang Plank tonight a group called Squish.net used the brains of the "Hackers Night" group to engineer an Internet-based video communications system for the Haiti disaster. Check it out at Find Me Haiti.
- Monday I had a treadmill cardio stress test. I didn't even break a sweat at 100% of my target heart rate. They have to take a person up to at least 85%. However, there was a noticeably depressed S pattern on the electrocardiogram, which means a follow-up nuclear treadmill cardio stress test, which is scheduled for tomorrow (Thursday). Yesterday I was fitted with a CPAP machine for sleeping without snoring or sleep apnea. After my first night last night, I'm not too excited about being hooked up to the thing with a hose to the nasal pillows.
- Rain this week here in Phoenix and more on the way. Perfect timing, as I applied my preemergence just before the rain came, and it needs to be watered in.
- The EXCITING news is that I am planning a two-week tropical kiteboarding trip between Feb 2nd & 23rd. My friend, Christian Canese is flying to St Lucia (pronounced LOO-sha) for ten days and inspired me. We'll see how everything works out, but I'll be busy trying to put it all together.
Wed 1/13 - I practiced with my Garmin Nuvi 885T's voice feature - not quite as neat as I had expected, but still pretty cool. It seemed like I was talking to the computer aboard the Enterprise Starship.
- Friday I gave myself a hair cut, as usual, although I managed to put off a little longer than usual.
- I saw Raymond Hurm for my seventh annual urological follow-up for TUMT (Transurethral Microwave Thermotherapy) for BPH. The good doctor had the same procedure a year after me so takes a special interest in how I am doing, as he is following in my footsteps.
- Tuesday was a big day for me and the homeowners' association. I went to a CAI (Community Associations Institute) luncheon way down in Tempe to listen to someone talk about their website, then in the evening, the annual meeting of our Mountain Rose Homeowners' Association. I was on the ballot for the board, but was not elected to the board. I really won, as I will not have the headaches that go with being on the board. Of course I will still stay involved, which might contribute to the head ache factor.
1/6 - Welcome to new decade! Like I said, my New Years resolution is to spend less time on this website (updating and tweaking it three times a week instead of daily) to catch up on and open up other activities. So my long list of things to do will have to remain a long list. As in everything in life, there are a lot of neat things to do, but you can't do them all.