22
Jan

Work related travel

There was a time when I actually looked forward to traveling, out of town, on business. If the truth be told, I actually looked forward to it, but only up until the time I left for the trip. Once I arrived at my destination, all I could think about was getting home.

Well now I’m facing that same situation once again.

We have been having a minor problem at work (although the customer thinks it is a major problem), with a part we make, and the customer wants a representative from our company to make an appearance at their facility, to review the problem.

And guess who was elected to represent the company?

If you guessed me, you were correct.

So I’m off to Dallas, TX on Wednesday, for a day trip.

Yes, you read that right. I leave in the morning, and get back in the evening. I’m actually going to spend as much time on the ground in Dallas, as I will be spending flying there and back.

At least I won’t have to think about getting home for very long, once arriving in Dallas.

14
Jan

I’ve succumbed to the misery

Anxietys, Thoughts, Whatever

The cough, the running nose, the lack of desire to even eat, has forced me to violate my policy of not taking any medication, except in extreme emergency.

I did take two Benadryl and four Advil (which seemed to have eliminated my headache) on Friday, but still I had been clinging to my policy of not taking any over the counter medication, hoping my immune system would be able to do its job.

Well this morning when I got up, I started coughing and my nose started running again, so I succumbed to the pressure from Sylvia, Edie and even Becky to take something, and went to Ride Aid.

I bought some Cepacol w/cough suppressant, and some DayQuil. I only took half doses though, but I am actually starting to feel better. At least the coughing stopped, which has been the main problem, but the congestion has improved also.

Hopefully after another day of rest tomorrow, I’ll be prepared for the AS9100 audit at work, on Tuesday. If not at least I should be able to garner some sympathy from the auditor.

14
Jan

Could it get any worse?

Anxietys, Thoughts, Whatever

Besides the fact that my nose is congested, I have a hacking cough that doesn’t want to go away, one of two banana trees in our back yard, just died, shortly after blooming, and numerous other things, this morning was the first time, in the 24+ years Edie and I have lived in southern California, the temperature dropped below freezing.

The temperature dropped to 29.7^oF, just before sunrise, and has only just gotten above 40^oF just before I started writing this post.

Even worse, because of the hard freeze this morning, three more plants in the back yard aren’t looking very good.

Two plants, which I don’t know the name (pictured to the right), look particularly bad, and the third, which happens to be one of my favorite plants, a philodendron (pictured on the left), I am hopeful for, but it is not looking promising. (We have had similar experiences with this plant when we lived in Houston, where hard freezes aren’t that uncommon.)

Now Edie tells me our Schefflera may have succumbed to the freeze as well, and things could get worse, since the forecast is for more of the same tomorrow morning!

NOTE: This was originally posted on Living with MCL, but moved here and revised

10
Jan

Up! Down! Up! Down!

Anxietys, Thoughts, Whatever

I knew I wasn’t feeling very good, even before I posted how good I felt when the ER, at Kaiser, called me yesterday, but I guess I didn’t realize how bad I felt, or how much worse I would feel right now.

Spinning class workouts at the gym, and workouts on the Computrainer, at work, are always among the hardest workouts I do.

While they are far shorter (45 minutes to an hour), than a normal bike ride on the road, the intensity of those workouts are much greater. I am always totally spent after doing either of those workouts.

And this week I did a spinning class on Sunday, and a Computrainer workout yesterday. I normally only do one such workout a week, precisely for the reason they take so much out of me.

I did that, because I vowed, in a previous post, only to do spinning classes and Computrainer workouts, until the weather improved, but now I am thinking that might not be such a good idea.

Right now my nose is all stuffy and runny, I’ve been sneezing quite often, I’ve got a slight sore throat, and I can’t sleep. Oh and my resting heart rate is at 53 bpm when it is normally around 45 bpm.

Hopefully I’ll feel better later on today, but if I don’t, I may have to take tomorrow off from work.

Sorry Becky!

9
Jan

Things may be looking up!

Anxietys, Whatever

I made it through the remainder of yesterday with little incident.

I even managed a little good fortune, as I left work early yesterday (around 3:30 PM), and missed the big fires that burned 4 very exclusive homes (one owned by Suzanne Somers) in Malibu.

Had I waited another 1/2 hour or longer to leave, I would surely have been caught in the turmoil that ensued in fighting those fires, which started around 5 PM.

I even had time to stop at the gym for a short weight workout, before heading home for dinner, and to watch the BCS College Bowl Championship gave.

Even this morning, the fire trucks were still there on PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) mopping up the final remnants of the blazes. Traffic was down to one lane south bound (I was heading north), so I may have to leave early again this afternoon, to avoid traffic, just in case they are still investigating, what I have heard has just been designated a crime scene.

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