September 30, 2009

Outlook cloudy with a chance of freakout

70 degrees @ 4:30pm - Means fall in SD! 4Cast = 77-88-86-78 - I guess we just get the one day, skip winter and spring and go back to summer.
I received this tweet from my friend Matt in San Diego as I was getting ready to go for a run. It was 55 degrees and raining up here in the Great Northwest.

I hadn't run in the rain in months. There weren't many days that it rained this summer, and the days that I ran were almost as rare. The radar showed that the rain wouldn't be letting up anytime soon, so there was no use putting it off any longer.

I dug out a hat and the long sleeve shirts that had been banished to the back of the closet for the last six months. It always makes me feel a little more dedicated when I run in the rain. I was listening to the latest Two Gomers Run a Marathon podcast. They are about 3 1/2 months out from their first marathon. One of them (Anthony I think) is starting to freak out.

He isn't starting as a couch potato like last year when they trained for the half marathon. A 10k isn't the big deal it once was, but he can't wrap his head around 26.2 miles at this point. A half marathon is nothing to sneeze at, but if you are running semi-regularly, you can make it through. At least that is my theory for a week and a half from now. The full marathon is definitely another animal though. Unless you are Cherie, you can't just show up without doing some specific training, and even she promises not to do that ever again.

A gauntlet has been gently tossed in my direction to run a marathon, with about half the typical training time. I don't know if I will accept the challenge yet, but I am going to start training as if I am. And I will be using that freakout factor to make sure I run, even as the weather turns nasty. I asked for something to shoot for...

September 28, 2009

Think Global, Run Local

I need something. Something to shoot for, something to keep me moving. I have signed up for the Worldwide Festival of Races Half Marathon.
On the weekend of 10-11 October 2009 runners from around the world will 'virtually' come together to celebrate their passion for the sport they love by running The Worldwide Festival of Races Half Marathon, 10K and 5K distances.

This race is a free, non-commercial event for runners of all abilities, where everyone is invited to register, train and run with us in the spirit of friendship. The only requirement is that you sign-up to run an official road race or a route of your choosing on the weekend of 10-11 October 2009, and report the results on this website. Participation in the race will also include a 'virtual' race bib, goody bag and completion certificate as well as a community forum and final results listing. As you participate, you will feel that you are part of a festival of friends all over the globe, who will support you, encourage you, and are sharing this experience with you as you run your event locally.
This is the fourth year of the virtual race. It is promoted by several blogs and podcasts, but especially by Steve Runner (Walker) over at Phedippidations.  Nike ripped off the idea last year and made it commercial, but this run-net community carries on at a smaller, more intimate scale. As of this evening, there are 841 entrants in 40 countries. Phedippidations will be publishing a podcast with shout outs where participants can cheer each other on. It will be posted a couple days before the race so runners take it along with them as they run their individual, but worldwide race.

I will be running my own individual, non-official (free) route. I am not ready for a half marathon, but I'm going to run one anyway.  My friend Sean will be running the Long Beach Marathon on Sunday the 11th. He will be running in sight of the Pacific Ocean, starting around 7:00am.  I am planning on running my half marathon at the same time. I may start at the same time, or try to do the math so we finish around the same time. And I need to figure out a route so I'm running along the ocean as well. Either way, I will be running with the at least 841 worldwide runners, as well as my friend in California.

Think global, run local.

September 26, 2009

Let's make a deal

First day of the garage sale, and I'm glad it will be over tomorrow.

There seems to be a special breed of person who tours garage sales each weekend. Last night Tami warned me to expect people knocking on my door an hour before we opened. Apparently some people feel the need to get a jump on everyone else. If they had knocked on my door, they would not have met a friendly face. I told myself I would charge them $20 just to open the garage door if they showed up an hour early. I hadn't put the house numbers on the house after painting a couple weeks ago, so that probably bought us both a little peace.  They would have needed to be extra bold to knock on a random house.

I hate to haggle, and that is all people wanted to do today. If I say $40, they say $30. If I go cheap and say $5, they have to counter with $3. If I ask them to make an offer, they refuse. The first couple wouldn't pay $1 for two wood figurines J and I bought on our honeymoon. They had to haggle down to 50 cents. Is that really such a thrill for them? Can't imagine that saving 50 cents is all that important.

The figurines themselves had the stain of haggling on them. We were dragged into this bazaar by someone who would not let us leave until we bought something. He wouldn't name a price, and when I did he went into the theatrics of being offended. I should have just told him to shove it, but being our honeymoon, well you know. Later, I couldn't see the figurines without thinking about the guy who sold them to us. Not the souvenir I was looking for. Having someone later haggle them down to 50 cents somehow makes the circle complete.

We ended up selling a few things. We got rid of the washer and dryer, so that added nicely to the total and cleared out some space in the garage. Other things that sold seemed to be the stuff we threw in at the last minute. The first couple also bought paper plates, I sold an old bicycle with flat tires and no seat, a generator that I put a sign on that said "don't know if it runs", and a camouflage net that the buyer said "I don't know what I will do with this, but I have to have it".

There is still a ton of stuff for tomorrow. Anything of any value that doesn't go tomorrow will go up on Craigslist. I'm not sure if the Craigslist crowd will be any better.

September 24, 2009

Don't Panic

The Hitchhiker's Guide by Douglas Adams was the first in a series of five books that provided us with the answers to life, the universe, and everything (42 of course).

Douglas Adams passed away in 2001. Prior to his death, Adams had felt the need to continue the story: "I suspect at some point in the future I will write a sixth Hitchhiker book...", and "People have said, quite rightly, that Mostly Harmless is a very bleak book. And it was a bleak book. I would love to finish Hitchhiker on a slightly more upbeat note, so five seems to be a wrong kind of number; six is a better kind of number."

His widow has chosen another author to complete the series. The chosen one is Eoin Colfer who penned the Artemis Fowl books. And Another Thing comes out on October 12th. He risks the wrath of a legion of geeks by trying to fill the shoes of Adams. No pressure. Here's hoping he succeeds.



An interview with the author.

September 23, 2009

A place for our stuff

I have been going through our things the past few weeks. As I mentioned before, I have been trying to filter things into piles of: keep, sell, give away, or throw away. As I am a pack rat, it has been a long process that I am not quite done with.

The keep pile hasn't really been started. Most of what will be kept will stay in the house for now. Most of what I have been doing the last few weeks is to get the house ready to sell. It has been my experience that houses with some furniture are more attractive than houses that are completely empty. So for now many of the big pieces will remain in the house, but we need to get over half of our stuff out to make it look less cluttered and more appealing.

The sell pile is going to be addressed this weekend. We will be having a garage sale to try and get some money for the things we don't wish to keep or store. There are some larger items like a fridge and washer/dryer that may not go over the weekend, so I will be posting some of the stuff on Craigslist next week. Any money we make will likely go into some final touches on the house.

The three boxes of books kind of fall in between the sell and giveaway piles. I think I netted about $10, so it paid for the gas I suppose.

As to the giveaway pile, we have made a large donation of J's clothes and I will be going through my closets tomorrow. For other things besides clothing that fall between the sell and throwaway piles, I will be placing on the local freecycle site. This is a community of folks that post things of varying value that they no longer need, and don't want to needlessly end up in a landfill. Everything is free. I placed a posting for the old screen door we took of the front of the house, and within an hour I had four people willing to take it. Things that don't end up going in the garage sale or Craigslist will hopefully find a new home through freecycle.

I have been trying to find other ways to recycle some of the clutter we have accumulated. Of course the 90 gallon recycling bin has been overflowing for the last month or two. I have been dropping off all the plastic bags at Home Depot to be turned into decking. I have also found that the local UPS store will take in any styrofoam - both packing peanuts and larger shipping pieces. Trying to do my part to keep from adding to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

I have only made one trip to the dump so far. I didn't even go over the minimum charge as the metal I had (downspouts, curtain rods, etc) was recycled for free. There will probably be an additional trip, but hopefully I can keep most of the stuff out of the landfill.

I think I will be embracing a more minimalist life in the future.

September 22, 2009

What hasn't been said

This year has been a real struggle as I have alluded to and detailed here. I haven't shared the biggest thing behind it until now for a number of reasons. I wasn't sure how things would turn out, and it seemed premature to tell people about it until I knew what was going on. I didn't talk about it out of respect for the other person involved, and we wanted to tell as many people in person as possible.

My wife and I have been separated for much of the year, and we are now on our way to divorce. The too-simple explanation is that our marriage suffered from neglect. I think we have both been down and depressed for some time, and in struggling to deal with our own demons, we turned away from each other. It is of course much more complicated than that, and I am still trying to understand it.

We went through counseling, both together and separately. It was a mixed bag. It felt good to finally get things out in the open, and honestly, I never felt closer to her. I did not care for our marriage counselor, and wish we had gone to someone else, but in the end it may have been too much, too late.

People have different feelings about what is appropriate to write about online. Some folks share every emotion while others simply describe their day. I have been walking that line all year, not sharing the biggest thing going on in my life. In the past, my way of dealing with emotions has been to not deal with them at all. I have buried them deep inside and put distance between myself, and my family and friends. Continuing to leave out what is in my head and heart seems both dishonest, and a slide back into a bad way to live my life.

By sharing more of my journey, I am trying to do a few things. First and foremost is to work through things and try to make more sense of it all. Talking about things with friends has been helpful, but I am still having trouble keeping my emotions in check. In the past, writing is where I have found meaning, and I am hoping to find it here again. I am also trying to be more honest with myself and others, and not be a live as a shell of a man.

What I am not here to do is to trash on my wife. I still love her and making her feel worse will not make me feel better. We are doing our best to remember that we still care a great deal for each other through this process. I will simply say that this was not my idea. I have not used her name in the blog in the past, and I don't plan to start now. I will not be calling her my 'ex' either, as it isn't technically true yet, and it makes me throw up in my mouth a little bit. I'll simply call her J.

I probably won't describe many of the details here. I am planning to write on a more deeper level on a different blog. I am hoping it will be interesting enough to read, but I will leave this one a little more clean. The divorce is certainly the biggest thing going on in my life, but I don't want it to define me. Mostly I will stop leaving out the background information when I describe what is going on. And I will stop saying 'we' when I mean 'I'.

I am fortunate to have wonderful friends and family who have been very supportive. It will be some time before I make it out the other side of this tunnel, but I have never said "why me". There are plenty of reasons why me. And of course that is what I will continue to work on.

September 18, 2009

A few good dogs

Since my job ended at the beginning of the month, I've been home much more than normal. I've been using the time to work on the house, and spending some quality time with the pooch.

She is moving a little slower these days, dealing with some knee issues and the pains of getting older. But on the inside she's still the happy, tail-wagging lab she has always been. She always brings a smile to my face, and I try to return the favor by giving her the attention of time spent and regular fur scrubs. Dogs are a pretty special part of this life, and ours is one of the best.

Here are a few great dog stories and videos I've seen over the last few weeks. The first two are courtesy of Quixotic Soul, and the last one is so it doesn't get too mushy around here.


Meredith and Abby









Better than dogs playing poker

September 17, 2009

50 thing that are being killed by the internet

Here is the full list courtesy of the Telegraph. A few good ones:

1) The art of polite disagreement
While the inane spats of YouTube commenters may not be representative, the internet has certainly sharpened the tone of debate. The most raucous sections of the blogworld seem incapable of accepting sincerely held differences of opinion; all opponents must have "agendas".

3) Listening to an album all the way through
The single is one of the unlikely beneficiaries of the internet – a development which can be looked at in two ways. There's no longer any need to endure eight tracks of filler for a couple of decent tunes, but will "album albums" like Radiohead's Amnesiac get the widespread hearing they deserve?

5) Punctuality
Before mobile phones, people actually had to keep their appointments and turn up to the pub on time. Texting friends to warn them of your tardiness five minutes before you are due to meet has become one of throwaway rudeness of the connected age.

13) Memory
When almost any fact, no matter how obscure, can be dug up within seconds through Google and Wikipedia, there is less value attached to the "mere" storage and retrieval of knowledge. What becomes important is how you use it – the internet age rewards creativity.

14) Dead time
When was the last time you spent an hour mulling the world out a window, or rereading a favourite book? The internet's draw on our attention is relentless and increasingly difficult to resist.

50) Your lunchbreak
Did you leave your desk today? Or snaffle a sandwich while sending a few personal emails and checking the price of a week in Istanbul?

I would also add to the list - the unexpressed thought. Read all about it on my Twitter and Facebook feed.

September 16, 2009

Filler

Ah the blank page. The scourge of anyone who pretends to be a writer. Better to avoid it for a few days, which is what I have been doing lately.

The painting is all done. It is probably pretty difficult to see the difference from the street -the house is still red and white. Not really satisfying after three days work, but on closer inspection the house looks much better. I'm hoping that those small, incremental improvements make the whole better. And it is one more thing to check off the ridiculously long to-do list.

The weather was wonderful this weekend. One of those great, surprise last weekends of summer after you gave up hope after a rainy Labor Day weekend. I would have loved to be doing something besides painting, but it was nice to be outside for any reason. I made time to lay back on the roof to soak in the rays, or sit on the lawn with my pooch at the end of the day. You have to grab these moments while you can.

September 12, 2009

Glad someone's brain is working

Today was the second day of painting. I didn't make it to the south side of the house yesterday, so that's where I started this morning.

As I got to the peak of the roof, I noticed some wasps hanging out in a space between the siding and the roof. They looked pretty groggy, not ready to start their day, just like I was feeling. We kept an eye on each other, both of us moving slowly but ready to spring into action if anyone made a sudden move.

When I returned at the end of the day for a second coat, they were much more spry. I would paint while trying to keep an eye on the scout circling my head. I was up and down the ladder a few times when they flew a little too close, but no stings.

I caught up on lots of podcasts while painting. I planned to tune into the live broadcast of Prairie Home Companion at 10:00am as they don't podcast the whole show, just the Lake Wobegon segment. At 10:00, a different show came on. I was worried, because Garrison Keillor had a stroke recently. I had heard that he was fine and planned to host the first show of the season, but no show this morning made me wonder.

The actual problem was it wasn't Sunday like I thought it was all day. I'm already losing track of days and didn't figure out my mistake until late in the day. I jumped online this evening just to check in on Keillor and found this on his website:

A message from Garrison, reporting what he did upon arriving back to his St. Paul home last night, Friday September 11, after being released from the hospital.
--
I came home Friday evening, had dinner, wrote a limerick about my neurologist, and started writing about the experience of having a minor stroke. Nothing bad happens to writers — everything is just material.

Last Monday I suffered a stroke
Which affected the way that I spoke,
But it revved up my brain,
Which they cannot explain,
And now, when I think, I smell smoke.

September 10, 2009

A brighter white

This week has been a continuation of appointments and working on the house. After my second dental appointment of the week (picking up free whitening gel for being a new patient), I stopped by the rental place.

The rental shop is a total guy haven. Any tool you can possibly need is there to pick up. You try to imagine a valid need for a backhoe, if only to make the neighbors jealous. I wasn't picking up anything really manly today, just a power washer.

This weekend's project is to finish painting the house. We put five coats of red paint on the house last year, but the white trim is only white primer so far. Also, after a year of weather, the vertical siding has expanded and contracted, opening up cracks revealing the old house color. Stripes was not the look I was going for.

So I needed the power washer to spray off a years worth of grime before finishing up the paint job. The minimum rental period was four hours, so I ended up spraying off the patio and sidewalks to get my money's worth. They didn't seem all that dingy when I started, but the power washer really brightened them up.

After returning the power washer, I ended up spending 45 minutes at Home Depot waiting for them to mix up the particular shade of white I had picked out from the 40 options. 4o shades of white! It seemed ridiculous looking at the wall of white cards, but when you pull them out and look at them side by side, there are differences. I ended up going with "Dove White". According to the cards, doves are more purely white than swans, in case you were wondering.

Then I spent a few hours taping up the house so I can start painting first thing tomorrow. Unfortunately I ran out of daylight before I could finish. As I was working on the front of the house, one of my neighbors shouted from across the street, "Hey didn't you paint your house last year?" Smart ass. Yes, it is one more unfinished project I'm trying to wrap up, thank you.

I should have grabbed a few of those paint sample cards so I could compare them to my teeth whitening progress.

September 8, 2009

A no labor weekend

I headed out of town and into the rain this weekend. One more camping trip before the summer ends. This time we traveled southwest to Belfair State Park on Hood Canal. The weather forecast called for rain all weekend, and we considered canceling the trip, but decided too late to get money back. I'm glad we ended up going.

I arrived Friday afternoon/evening with enough daylight to set up camp. Friday was also the one day without rain in the forecast, so it was nice to be able to set up shelter under clear skies. The other two couples and their kids had arrived ahead of me, so there were lots of hands to make quick work of it.

Before the sun went down, I headed down to the canal. I can't resist walking into any lake, stream or ocean I come upon. I find water extremely relaxing, and it isn't enough to see it from the shore. I need to literally soak it in. I waded in about knee deep and took in the rhythm of the lazy ripples. Cold beer in my hand, I watched as the day came to a close.

The weather would soon change. Friday remained pretty nice, but the skies opened up after we went to bed. The sound of rain on the top of your tent can actually be pretty soothing, and I had one of my more restful nights on a Thermarest. Until the tent leaked and water dripped slowly on my forehead. It was a slow leak so I just moved my sleeping bag to the other side of the tent.

The rain throughout the weekend wasn't your typical Washington weather. We have many days of rain, but it is usually constant drizzle that doesn't always add up to a lot. This weekend it was heavy squalls passing through and then periods of blue sky. Fortunately we each brought a canopy, so we had a few dry spaces to hide under and do our cooking.


In the past we have strung blue tarps between trees for rain shelters, with limited success. The new canopies made it so much easier. When it was raining, we spent most of our time under shelter playing cards. When the squall passed and the sun broke free of the clouds, we simply picked up the canopy so we could sit in the sun. It was never very cold even when it was raining, and I was able to get in a 3 mile run on Saturday in near perfect weather.

During the sun breaks, the kids headed out on their bikes or wandered through the nearby trees looking for some treasure or just the right stick. They were pretty good sports through a mostly wet weekend.

Saturday night I was getting ready for bed and headed out to the trees for some last minute business. When I paused at the chosen tree, I thought "wow, the river is loud". A half a beat later I thought, "wait, we're not on a river". Another beat later I realized the noise I was hearing was approaching rain. The rain couldn't have been more than 40 feet away and I had just enough time to dash back to my tent before the rain caught up to me. This rain was more on the order of a tropical storm and in the safety of my tent I could only laugh in disbelief. No soothing sounds to lull me to sleep at this point.

Sunday was much the same, time spent in an out of the rain shelters. When the sun was out, we wandered down to the beach and took a walk through the other side of the park. Even on a rain filled weekend, the campground was at near capacity. Most of the folks in our section were in RVs, so the weather isn't as much of a big deal, but the loop in the trees was filled with tents as well. Everyone was determined to get in one last break before the summer season semi-officially came to a close, weather be damned.

Monday was dry up until our 1:00 check out time, so we were able to dry things out a bit before packing them up for another season. As it turns out, the forecast calls for sun for the foreseeable future, so the rain was reserved for the holiday weekend. I'm sure it is the government's fault somehow.

September 5, 2009

Letting things slide

When the mind is weak, make the body strong. The mind will follow and keep up. - Iron Wil from the Get Your Geek On podcast.

I have been feeling mentally overwhelmed lately, and more than a little down. I haven't been taking care of myself very well along the way. I have been leaning more on comfort food, and have all but stopped working out. As I have postulated previously, I need a definite running or biking event on the horizon or it is too easy to skip workouts. Turns out I was right.

From January to June, I was running three times a week, and getting on the bike at least once every other week. By the time of the marathon at the end of June, I was in pretty good shape physically. Two weeks later I rode the STP, not reaching my goal, but still riding 150 miles that first day.

In the last two months, I have run seven times and didn't get on the bike at all until this week. Four of the runs were during a week in July when I had set up a running schedule with a vague target at the end. Since money is tighter than ever, I hesitated to sign up for another half or full marathon. With no carrot or deadline 4 months out, I stopped lacing up my shoes in the evenings and hit the snooze button when I planned an early morning workout.

With my mind of jumble of thoughts, worry and anxiety, this is the exact time I should have been leaving it all on the side of the road. But I haven't. Depression is tricky that way. You can sense what would help pull yourself up, and you want more than anything to feel better again, but you are fighting feelings of apathy that seem to weigh down your heart and limbs to the point where you can't rise off the couch.

My weight has been relatively stable, but I know fat has replaced muscle in my makeup. I need to take care of myself better for many reasons, not the least of which was my little cancer scare this past month. I am doing what I can to work through the mental side of things, but I know getting myself moving physically would provide some relief. I need to find a way to shove myself out the door without a looming deadline of a marathon.

When the mind is weak, make the body strong.

September 4, 2009

In case I wasn't feeling old enough

I met most of my friends through work, and most of those when I was working in restaurants. I spent over 20 years all told serving food in one form or another. Though I and most others have been out of the industry for several years, we have stuck together.

I received a call yesterday. It was the 18 year old son of one of my friends I met at the Keg. He was asking if he could put me down as a reference - for a job at the Keg. I can remember him waiting for his Mom to get off work, and he couldn't have been more than 5 years old. The years sure do fly by.

September 2, 2009

Medical update

So, two doctor appointments today. We'll start with the big news first to get rid of any suspense.

NO CANCER OR PRE-CANCER!

When I initially thought about the possible damage from acid reflux, I was primarily concerned with a weakness or tear in the esophagus. My mother-in-law had this happen, and she had a rupture and had to be rushed to the hospital. After speaking to the specialist, and walking away with his business card from Swedish Cancer Institute, it became clear that there were other serious concerns.

Over time, the acid can change the tissue of the esophagus to something more similar to tissue of the stomach or intestine. This is called Barrett's Esophagus. Apparently a possible next step is to have these cells turn into cancer cells. My doctor took some biopsies and didn't find indications that any of this has happened yet. Wonderful, wonderful news.

On to what they did find. The Manometry test showed that the muscles of my esophagus are working properly. The second best news was that I shouldn't need to take that test ever again. The endoscopy showed that the valve that is supposed to prevent the acid back up is weak. It also showed that there is definite damage and inflammation in the esophagus from years of acid reflux. And the doctor had all the pH readings from the bravo probe. Apparently a normal reading for a 24 hour period is below 14.7. Mine was 64. No question I have a problem.

So now that we know where I stand, its time to start thinking about what to do to fix the problem. Ideally, I would be able to make lifestyle changes to solve the problem. My doctor didn't consider this much of an option. Major risk factors he mentioned were age and weight. In his eyes, and in this particular instance, he considers me young and in shape. Woo Hoo!

As far as food, certain things made the acid readings worse, but at every meal the acid readings were too high. I am sure changing my diet and eating habits would help, but the doctor didn't give the impression that it would be enough.

So the major options are drugs or surgery. The drugs would reduce the acid production. This wouldn't do much to prevent the reflux, but weaker acid means less damage I suppose. Generally the regimen for products like Prilosec is a 14 day run, but the doctor said I would probably need to be on it indefinitely. The doctor gave me a prescription, and the plan is to do more testing in 6 months to see if anything looks better.

The other option is surgery. The way he described it is that they take part of the stomach and wrap it around the base of the esophagus. This is supposed to reinforce the valve to help prevent the reflux. Surgery never sounds appealing, and I initially dismissed it in favor of seeing what 6 months of drugs and lifestyle change would bring. But I'm starting to reconsider doing the surgery. I'm not interested in taking pills for the rest of my life, and surgery seems like a more permanent solution. Time for some Google research into more new medical terms and procedures.

Oh, and the dentist appointment was mostly harmless. It had been 8 or so years since I had been in for a checkup, so it could have been ugly. I just need to get a root canal filling replaced. One more old thing that is falling apart.

September 1, 2009

Back on the street

My contract job finished up yesterday. It wasn't the most exciting job, but it had the most important parts - a check every Friday, weekends off and no heavy lifting. It was a good experience and I had slim hopes of an offer at the end of the contract. The underwriters are still a couple of months behind, so I was hoping they would bump a few of us up the food chain. My boss later told me she suggested this very thing, but was turned down. Worth a shot.

My updated resume is back in the bin at the staffing agency, but like anywhere else there are more resumes than jobs. I get e-mails every morning from the local paper and Monster.com with jobs that vaguely match my abilities. Most of the jobs are at hospitals, and have requirements of prior experience. As the population ages, this might be the industry to get into.

One job title jumped out at me the other day - "Process Improvement Analyst" for Amazon.com. Not exactly a dream title like "Bicycle Tester" or "Bourbon Taster", but it sounded like one I would be perfect for. I am all about figuring out a better way of doing things. I like to think it is my mission in life to reduce waste of every kind - money, time, resources, etc. When I was on the accountant track, I wanted to become a consultant who visited companies to help improve the way they did business. Not like the Bobs, though.

Turns out the Amazon job an IT position with a list of requirements a mile long, so I'm not the kind of geek they're looking for.

Tomorrow a visit to the dentist and the results show for the GERD testing. Hopefully both will be painless.