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Hypertensed

I got up this morning and tested my blood pressure at 119/69, which had me hopeful. Summer was going to stay home with me, but ended up going to work for a while. I took the time to shower and relax a bit before I took the dogs out on a run to Walgreens to get my prescriptions filled. They found a persimmon tree along the way, so I fed them a couple that were hanging low enough for me to reach. Maybe we’ll get a tree out of it next year.

I went ahead and took them back around our normal circuit, though they weren’t behaving super well. In addition, Stilgar had eaten my old cat water jug, which angered me. We made it back home after some tugging along, and I continued my research to pick a new primary care physician. I also waited forever for Summer to finish doing work from home so we could pick up my prescriptions.

I started feeling a little hot behind the ears in the afternoon, and noticed that my pressure was climbing again. Sensing my urgency, Summer got up and we went to get my medicine. I continued to feel slightly worse, so we decided to swing by the Conway Regional clinic to see what they were like. There I encountered two familiar faces: Monalisa, who I don’t think I’d seen since my time at Asurion, and Lelan’s friend Cindy. Mona got me set up with new patient paperwork, which frustrated me further. It’s 2024. Get an iPad.

I think if I had known they were open in the evenings at no additional cost, I would have made my decision a lot earlier to go there instead of the local Baptist Health clinic. My only real gripe was about the lady that took me back and did my notes before the nurse practitioner saw me. She kept yapping loudly in my ear as I was trying to calm myself for her to take my blood pressure. It actually increased noticeably in the time I was in the room with her. The practitioner, Crystal, was wonderful. She came in early and gave me half the dosage of clonidine that I received in the ER the night before, and my pressure started coming down. We talked to her for a bit, she wrote me a prescription for some clonidine to take home, and we scheduled a full workup for January so I can get an early start on my high deductible.

We ran back to Walgreens for the additional meds, then ran home to change for the Christmas parade. My heated vest made me feel pretty fluffy, but it worked – at least around the collar. The body elements could have been warmer, but I couldn’t figure out a way to adjust just the neck. We made it across town and found a space in front of a tree where nobody had sat down. I hated to show up late and then get the best seat in the house, but the guy next to us encouraged us. We waited for Eaddie to pass, then crossed the street again to leave. I didn’t much care for interrupting the parade, but there was noone there to stop us, and Summer insisted.

From there, we went by Kroger for some bananas before I took us to Ridgewood for some food. I spotted Grant and chased him around back where he was trimming some brisket. I talked with him for a little bit, and I think we had a good moment to break through some concerns I had. He walked me through the restaurant and I got some food, and then we headed home.

Summer went straight for a bath while I mostly tried to relax. I kept watching my blood pressure since I couldn’t start a new cycle of meds until the next day. I was concerned that only getting half the dosage of amlodipine wouldn’t be enough, but maybe the addition of metoprolol will make up the difference. Time will tell, but for now, I guess I’m carrying three bottles with me.

Just, like, chill out, man.

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Good Advertising

I ran a little late this morning, but the battery didn’t seem to take as much of a hit. It was reasonably quiet, but things quickly escalated. I didn’t get into anything big. Randy and I met Jim, Kyle, and Maggie at Gadwall’s for lunch, and then I actually continued on with Randy all afternoon while he got gas, then took us to the annex to check for inventory.

Kyle found us there for a bit and we all rooted around a little bit. Randy and I were the last two out and we couldn’t set the alarm, so we went to the “octagon” to talk to Kevin about it. After that, we planned to go to a church that was putting on a self-care fair for the school district.

It had started to drizzle a bit, but we got back to the office where I packed up my things. We all drove separately so we could go straight home after the fair, but I wouldn’t end up making it to the end of that.

We arrived about 15 minutes early and Kyle and I walked in, but were promptly rushed back out. I waited by the door while he went back to his Jeep to vape. When they finally let us in, I tried to stick with Maggie since she had the eye for the swag. I got a couple signatures on my “bingo” card before I ended up at a Baptist Health booth where the lady wanted to give people flu shots, something else, or take their blood pressure. I let her check my blood pressure and joked that we would be going for a high score. I wasn’t wrong.

She panicked at my 185/111 and insisted that I test again, even after I tried to explain it away by having been running around the event with all the other loud people. The second wasn’t any better, but I don’t know if it was any worse. She let me go with a stern look that I should go to the emergency room.

It was only a couple minutes later as I bantered with Randy and some other lady that I suddenly became flush and dizzy, and nearly blacked out. I quickly grabbed an empty seat from another vendor and tried to relax myself. The dizziness came in waves, and I did everything I could to breathe and relax. As soon as I felt able to stand up again, we tried to finish my signature card. I got one more, but then Maggie took it to finish it for me while I sat in another chair in the corner. I called Summer, and then we all left the event.

I sat in the car for a bit to calm myself, and felt confident enough in my ability to babysit the car as it drove me out of the city. I plotted a couple of urgent care clinics in case, and headed toward home. A little ways down the Interstate, I began to get a wave of dizziness again, so I immediately took the Crystal Hill exit and gathered myself at a Shell station. I decided to go straight to the HealthCARE Express to see if they could help.

Though friendly, the urgent care center was not particularly urgent about anything I said. They did check my blood pressure, but then basically told me to start filling out registration paperwork. The girl at the counter called me up to say that it would be about $200 for them to see me, and I tried to confirm whether they could actually treat me, or if they would only try and diagnose me. A doctor or nurse eventually came out and said that he would need to check for organ failure before doing much else, and that they would basically have to refer me to the Walmart pharmacy across the street for treatment.

I took a beat and eventually gathered myself up enough to go on to the next place. I found a Baptist Health urgent care clinic, but the lady at the counter there said that they wouldn’t even be able to address me for at least an hour and a half, and that she could basically only call a paramedic for me. I decided to take my chances and get into Conway rather than wait for a more expensive ride. I wasn’t feeling terrible by then anyway.

I got to the Baptist Health emergency room and checked in after waiting for another older couple. The waiting room was pretty full, but they got me back to take my blood pressure measurement, some blood, and a urine sample pretty quickly. I waited about an hour after that before they called me back to a room. In that waiting period, Julie called for an update.

I waited for a little while before a guy came back to get my insurance information. Then a nurse eventually came back, who asked my ethnicity and then responded that he, too, was Vietnamese. He got me chained to the machine, and from then on it was basically me beating my own high score repeatedly until we got enough medicine in me.

After a couple of hours and a couple quick pop-ins from the ER doctor, neither he nor Jonathan, my Vietnurse seemed terribly concerned about my situation. They asked questions, but reported that all of my labs and EKG were fine. Jonathan didn’t even let the final blood pressure measurement complete its cycle, satisfied enough with the results of the prior test after my pill and subsequent shot.

They cut me loose, I went to Supercharge, and then made it home without incident. I felt pretty good, so I got unloaded, took out the trash, and then came in to chat with Summer. Then I had a brief anxiety attack in the kitchen and wondered if that, too, was blood pressure related. She went to bed, I played with the dogs for a bit, and then I quickly finished up so I could go to sleep myself. If I wake up tomorrow, I guess we’ll figure out a PCP solution. If I don’t, then I guess will someone come erase my browser history?

Back where we started.

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Goonie Squad

I took it easy to work this morning but still had to charge due to the extra range loss from cold weather. I kept reasonably busy in the morning as I snacked on things. Then Jim, Maggie, and I went to Sweet Poppa’s for lunch. I rode with Jim so we could go to the high school and troubleshoot some computer labs. Then we stopped by the middle school to see Jay. He was hanging out in the library playing with some little uniform plastic puzzle pieces, but wanted help resetting a user’s password.

After toying around there for a while, we finally made it back to the office. We chatted with Randy about some things that let me flex my experience a little bit, and then it was a quiet hour until quitting time. My laptop had a big update to do that it didn’t finish in time, so I ended up carrying it out to the car while it was open and installing.

The drive home was frustrating and slow, and I kept having to remind my muscles to relax. My blood pressure had me a little worried, so I’ve been taking more frequent measurements again. As soon as I got home, I took the dogs out for a run in the cold. Stilgar still swam, and we got to my parents’ house just before all daylight was gone. They weren’t home, so we did a quick run through the yard and then headed home.

As soon as I got home, Dad texted that they still had spaghetti and soup, so Summer and I went over to eat. Eaddie was out late with robotics and crochet club, but came to chat with me when she got home. Then I finished “on time” for bed, which only gives me about six hours of sleep at best.

What are “the goonies” anyway?

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164/100

I had an okay start today, but my back still had a slight twinge in it. I made up quite a bit of time on the way to work, but it mostly ended up being for naught. Kyle came by and said the backup circuit was somehow getting traffic to the state servers, so we didn’t have to worry so much about installing the VPN. After that, it was mostly Maggie and me in the office all day, with a bit of Charles and Gary.

With Randy out, we didn’t even see Jim, though he did call for help once. I ended up getting some cheap fast-food for lunch, by way of a fry deal from Burger King and a sandwich deal at Arby’s. The afternoon was pretty quiet, and then I snuck out a few minutes early so I could get the car out of the workshop.

I stopped by Old Navy in Conway on the way home to return Summer’s ill-fitting pants. Then I got home just in time to take the dogs out on a twilight run. They ran hard all the way around the basin and to my parents’ house. Mom said she had some rice soup, so I took the dogs home and rode back again to eat.

Summer got home from work late and wasn’t feeling great, so we put her in a bath and then checked her blood pressure. Hers was fine, but mine was unreasonably high for some reason. I imagine my sleepless commute time has something to do with it. We also discussed ordering a new Model 3, and I think Eaddie’s for it now. I guess I should get one so I can enjoy it for a bit before I stroke out.

It’s always an improper fraction, but it’s usually not more than two.

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Walk Before You Run

I woke up surprisingly early this morning and thought I’d stay up, but then I let myself crawl back into the warm bed and fell asleep until after Summer was up. I had some leftover turkey and Eaddie left for church. I had a shower and Summer went to the gym. When Eaddie got back, Mom texted that she made spaghetti, so Eaddie and I walked the dogs over to their house to eat. I let the dogs run around in the dog pen, and that seemed to contain them just fine.

We walked back home and I lounged a bit with my twisted back. Dad came over with some pictures to put in the clearanced frames I bought and hung on the wall to get out of the way. After a while, I took the dogs out for a proper run and we looped around the basin trail and then up through the neighborhood a couple times before we made it back home.

Eaddie went to Eli’s for dinner just as I was getting back with the dogs. Summer was doing some laundry and cleaning up, and I took care of some more Vine stuff, which included a couple reviews and installing some more puddle lights in the Model Y. The girls picked out some glasses on Zenni and I got those ordered, and I even found another separate sale on some contacts for Summer. With that, it was time for bed.

Stay toasty!

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Smokin’ Breasts

I woke up a little bit before my alarm today and got up to start prepping the turkey breasts for smoking. Summer was up on the couch doing some work, and then left to open one of her stores because multiple people called in, or didn’t show up. Eaddie got home from her father’s and hung out in the kitchen with me so she could lend a hand while I tried to season the turkey. This was only the second time I’d tried to use my baster, and I completely forgot to blend my dry spices so they wouldn’t clog the syringe. That ended up being a big mess, so I finally just put the breasts on the smoker and used my butter concoction to baste it instead.

Summer got home and started making deviled eggs, and I tried to pick up some of the rest of the house. I think Michelle and Phil were the first ones to show up, just before my parents. I kept shoving things into the laundry room, and the house filled up pretty quickly. Alie and Chance made it, and even Julie and Kevin showed up. Uncle Rick and Ginny were the last to show.

I had a fire going, and the smoking was pretty much done before anyone showed up, so I just had to carve the turkey while everyone else arranged food on the dining room table. Then everyone visited and ate in the living room. Julie and Kevin left pretty early, and I threw out my back at some point during the afternoon, which slowed me way down for the rest of the night.

Sometime during daylight hours, I took the dogs out for a quick run before wrapping up with everyone at home. It wasn’t our most entertaining event to host, but hopefully everyone enjoyed it. The whole thing just kept shrinking more and more until we could fit everyone our house instead of an aircraft hangar.

Eaddie wanted to go out to see Wicked again with some friends. Summer went to bed super early while I cleaned up and eventually made it to bed. Maybe my sleep schedule won’t be too far out of cycle by tomorrow.

No deals!

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Chicken Potato Bowls

Today was a long day of picking up the house. Summer went to work. Eaddie came out eventually and took a shower while I was running all around the house. I thought Summer would be home around lunch time, but that wasn’t so. At some point, Eaddie asked if she could go to her father’s house for the night since I guess one of her half sisters had a kid with a birthday. These people propagate like mint.

I warmed up some leftover mashed potatoes and frozen chicken strips for lunch, then continued picking up and organizing randomly until Summer finally got home. She started on some deviled eggs and then took a bath, and I took the dogs out for an early run. We did nearly five miles after stopping to see Dad. He was worried about the new fiber internet provider after they cut their existing cable line trying to run fiber to the house. I just told him to find a place to leave a negative review, and someone would probably reach out rather than have him fight with incompetent customer service trying to direct him to an insurance company.

The dogs did really well, and Stilgar didn’t seem to care about how cold it was. He still wanted to be an alligator in the creek. I ran them all around the neighborhood and then brought them home for hot dogs. I had several more packages at the door, which brought the total to four separate deliveries for the day. I brought them inside and Summer started opening them. I wasn’t double checking what she was doing, and evidently she threw out a bag that still had a watch band in it. That wouldn’t have been bad, except I had just taken the recycling out to the curb just seconds before the truck picked up the dumpster.

I was furious at her negligence. I picked up a bit more before leaving to get some McNuggets for dinner. I didn’t want to go home, and considered that I might want something more to eat, so I ended up stopping in the Wendy’s parking lot. I ate the nuggets, and then remembered a deal for half price Famous Bowls from KFC, so I drove across the street and ate one of those in the lobby. I dawdled there for a while and then got back in the car and had Full Self Driving take me across town. It didn’t get adventurous, so I pointed it up the mountain before having it drive me back home.

Summer went to bed and I stayed up late picking up the ceiling-high stack of boxes she had shoved into the corner. There was a lot of junk there that she had just shoveled out of the way instead of letting me handle it. I sulked some more before eventually taking a shower and going to bed.

Let me remember the ways.

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Newly Guests

Summer went to Conway for a run this morning, so I got up to take a shower before she got back home. When she did get home, she said she decided to subscribe to the monthly Full Self Driving for me for Christmas. I felt like that was a fair compromise for her wanting to get me something, and me not wanting to receive anything. Even if I don’t commute in the long term, we can always cancel the subscription.

Eaddie got home a little after that, and we all got ready to go to Chris’s house for Thanksgiving. I loaded up the drinks and Summer brought her broccoli salad and some deviled eggs, and we headed up the hill. We arrived at a full house just behind my parents, and I think Julie and Kevin were the last to arrive. The only other people I knew there besides Lelan and Steven were Seth and Danielle.

The inebriated Chris gave a little speech and then we all got to eating. We found the proper dining room table and crowded around that with some other strangers. Julie got into a fight over Disney Adults with the one small, loud-mouthed child that showed up. It was a fine time.

After we ate, Lelan was making rounds and stopped by to talk. I ended up taking her and Kevin for a ride with FSD. Kevin babysat in the driver’s seat, and we rode to the Neighborhood Market and back. As we made our final turn, the car took a left in front of a blind hill and then stopped in the middle of the lane when an oncoming car appeared. Kevin gunned it and we all got out to kiss the ground.

We stayed for a little longer, and then the girls had to get home. I took the dogs for a run before it got dark, and we caught my parents just as they got home. Then I spent the evening sending texts and submitting Vine reviews. My bedtime shifted way too much, so this weekend will be a treat trying to get it turned back around.

Like Thanksgiving in a hotel lobby.

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KPOT

Randy had been talking about going to KPOT for lunch for the past couple days, so we looked forward to that today. I got in pretty early again, but didn’t get into anything. Javier hung out in the dark with me for a while after Randy left for the high school. Then Jay left me to run an errand until nearly lunchtime. Kyle and Randy showed up and we all chatted for a little bit, and then we all met at KPOT.

I’d tried the hot pot at Linh’s before, but this was a whole different experience. Jim met Jay, Randy, Kyle, and me, and we got an iPad to order food, and there was one shared grill in the middle of the table. Then we each had our own cooktop sitting right in front of us for soup pots. They had a bar for making your own sauces, but many things weren’t labeled, and I didn’t really think it needed any of it anyway. Randy did most of the ordering and cooking at first, but then I started ordering things. My soup base was pretty spicy, but it was good. I wished we had started by just dumping all of the meat on the grill to cook, because I was left without meat for a large portion of the meal. I made up for it by the end, but then everyone got up to leave while I was finishing my last bowl.

I gave up shortly after that since I had to get home to launder my newly stained shirt. Pulling noodles out of the hot pot was unnecessarily difficult. Traffic was pretty rough, but I made it through Morrilton for some more drinks to take to Thanksgiving, and then I wasn’t home long before Summer showed up with some groceries. I thought we’d go together, but she picked everything up on her way home.

We got a couple new watch bands in, and I immediately messed one up because I tried to push a pin out the wrong direction. I broke a couple tips on the extraction tool, and was eventually able to pull it out far enough to grab the pin with pliers. The band looks and fits great now though.

Summer started making food for Thanksgiving, and I took the dogs out for a long run in a completely new path. We circled the block, then went up the hill and down the sidewalk. It was a pretty decent run, but they seemed mostly deaf to my direction callouts. We got to my parents’ house and Mom fed them a couple little tomatoes she pulled off the vine. Then we went around to the pond before eventually making it home before dark.

Eaddie spent the evening with her father, Summer spent most of the evening in the kitchen, and I ended up taking a long bath to warm up. Summer started watching Loki when she went to bed, so I finished up and headed to bed myself.

Cook more efficiently!

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Slow, Short Days

I got out really early this morning, and got to the office a few minutes before seven. The cold sapped the battery a bit, so I pulled into the shop to charge before going into the office. I wasn’t there long before Randy and Jim came in and took me on a ride around the city to check network connectivity at all the campuses. We only got a couple done before we had to meet with a Windstream tech to troubleshoot an issue. From that moment on, we were especially not busy.

The morning dragged on as we eventually made it to the annex and then the high school to move some more equipment. DIS would be coming in the afternoon, so the three of us and Kyle went to Larry’s Pizza for lunch. I’m still amazed at how they operate with such a tiny bar, but keep the variety of pizzas flowing. With the kids out of school, they were packed.

The afternoon especially dragged on forever. I got the car and went to Target to pick up an order. After I made it to the high school, Krissy showed up along with one of her techs, and I basically sat around trying to stay out of the way. Near the end of the day, I mentioned leaving before my phone died, and Randy just said, “bye.” I headed home nearly half an hour early, stopped for some beer in Morrilton, and made it home in time to take the dogs out during the last few minutes of daylight.

We visited Dad briefly, but then I got them home in the cold. I couldn’t believe Stilgar still wanted to take a dip in the creek, but he seemed fine. They got fed, and Eaddie and Summer spent some time on the couch watching videos about tornados. I did a little Christmas shopping, and then it was off to bed early.

Good apps can’t be that hard.