Patient Zero of the Zombie Apocalypse

Yesterday I had a colonoscopy, and I got cheated and then I got more than I bargained for.

The last time I had one of these puppies, the 4 to 5 hours of trippy liquidness post procedure almost made up for the crappy (figuratively and literally) preparation. But this time they had a new way of putting you to sleep, it is very fast acting and very fast in clearing your system. When I woke up in the recovery room I was as alert as I was when sitting in the waiting room beforehand. What a let down.

We went home I had lunch and then I got in bed to catch a nap. I never did get any shut-eye, about 45 minutes of tossing and turning I started to get cold, real cold. I started shaking and couldn’t get warm. Donna took my temperature and it read 96.9. She filled the bathtub with hot water, no cold used at all, and I bet that the water temperature was about 110°. It took almost 3/4 of an hour in the tub before the shaking stopped. I stayed in the water about fifteen minutes more and when I exited the bath I looked like a cooked lobster. After that my temperature was now reading 103.

I stayed feeling warm the rest of the afternoon and when I still didn’t feel right about 6:00PM we took my temp again and it still read one hundred and three! I took an extra strength Tylenol, drank a cold soda, ate some cold jello and after an hour my temperature had “dropped” down to 102.6°

Next stop was the emergency room. They took my temperature and of course it read 99.1°. Debated going home, but opted to stay and get checked out more thoroughly. The ER doctor ordered chest and abdominal x-rays, looking for clues. He had several vials of blood drawn for lab work along with a urine sample. He also had the nurse fill 3 bottles about the size of something from a mini bar with blood that were for culturing. While we waited for lab results I got a litter of saline in my IV.

The hot bath, the ER visit, the staying at the ER and the ER doc’s testing were all done with consultation with the doctor who did my scope.

No one was sure exactly what was going on with me as these we atypical of what to expect after this procedure. I was in no pain, I just got the chills real bad and then went into the overheat range. The X-rays were fine, no bowel perforations and no fluid in my lungs. Urine was fine. My blood work did show that my white blood count was at 18k, with 10-12 being normal. I obviously had infection of some kind, but no one knew what kind. I either had a simple bug picked up from somewhere and it was unrelated to the procedure or it was related and could get much worse, plus they wouldn’t know about the blood cultures until 12 hours or so later, they wanted to keep me overnight.

We balked at this, I was feeling fine. The ER doc called my primary care physician and after a few minutes the poor schmoe who was on call came in and examined me, he finally agreed to let me go home if I let him administer the first doses of two different antibiotics right there (plus give me prescriptions for filling later.) One was a pill, but the other one took 90 minutes to drip into me via IV. We finally left the ER at 1:30AM this morning.

I have to give a blood sample tomorrow, then see the PCP on Friday and see if my white blood cell count comes down. Of course we are still waiting to see if one of those blood cultures goes mutant, and I become Patient Zero of the Zombie Apocalypse.

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Tran?si?tions since 10/24/08: 1139

It’s Not A TV Remote

It doesn’t use infrared (IR) light, it works on radio waves, there is absolutely no reason to take it out of your pocket, turn around and point it at your car to lock the doors.

Who?

While I was standing around waiting to talk to someone before being allowed to drive BMWs and its competitors, I got into a little conversation with a gentleman who was standing there. He was casually well dressed and I assumed a salesman just standing around waiting for the low hanging fruit of customers falling out of the new 3 Series after the drive.

We chatted a bit about cars with their rapidly expanding use of technology, especially BMWs. We then traded push button start/proximity key fob stories. Mine was about getting out of the car and “locking” it by pushing the button on the door handle, being greeted by a long loud chime and not being bothered by it. It wasn’t until a couple of days later that I learned that the sound was indicating that the car was *not* locked. Turns out that you can not lock the car with a fob inside the vehicle. Mine was in my pocket, but Donna’s was in her purse which we were trying to lock in the trunk.

His story involved a friend who showed him how easy it was to start his new car, just get in and push the button. His friend then let him get in the car and push the button. Of course it wouldn’t start, his friend was standing outside a few feet from the car. Ha, ha.

After driving all the cars I had to fill out a little survey. I thought it was going to be about which car I preferred and why, but it was mostly about my satisfaction on how the event was run. Every question got high marks except the last, it asked did I enjoy meeting the Olympic athlete? I had to respond that he wasn’t there when we were there. So I asked the girl giving me the survey who was our athlete, she said, “Larry Myricks, former Olympic long jumper.” I was too embarrassed to tell her I had no clue who that was.

This morning while reading a the paper I noticed a small photo and article about the BMW event. There in the photo was the guy I was chatting with and, you guessed it, he was identified as one Larry Myricks.

Knowing what I know now, I kind of wish I could get another chance at that conversation…

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Tran?si?tions since 10/24/08: 1138

BMW Drive For Team USA

Today we took the afternoon off from work to help support our Olympic Team. By driving in the new BMW 3 Series, and a couple of its competitors, a Lexus IS250 and a Mercedes-Benz C250* BMW donated $10 for each of us to the US Olympic Team. Now, all these cars were optioned out so that their list price was about 190% of the cost of our much larger Purple Whale, so the fit, finish and interior quietness of them were also nearly twice as fine. Even though they were still more the size we would have liked to have bought when we were shopping last year, their cost kept them off the list.

*The Audi A4 was missing because they didn’t get enough pre-registered drivers to bring out every car.

The driving course was an abbreviation of the Susan Komen loop we used to drive and at only 6 miles long didn’t give a chance to wring the cars out and get real familiar with them, so all I have are little snippets of positives and/or negatives about each.

We first drove the IS250 and as it turned out it was the car we liked the most. We both loved the seats, very comfortable. The navigation screen was large and where it should be, right in the upper portion of the center stack. Nit picks were window, mirror and lock switches were placed awkwardly forward on down on the driver’s door. Back seat legroom was the smallest of the group.

Next we drove the MB C250. This was our least favorite of the group. The seats were hard and flat and Donna never did feel comfortable. Very Teutonic styling inside and out, so not really to our tastes. The only real plus was the turbo motor kicked butt when pushed, but the lag made it show up long after you wanted the giddy-up.

Lastly we drove the 3 Series and this was the Momma Bear of the group. Driver ergonomics were top notch and this is the one I would pick for driving (the IS250 would be the cruising choice.) The exterior is traditional BMW, pleasing, but the interior is not to our liking really (the faux wood interior accents were cheap and had an unnatural waviness.) Plus, I have complained about this in previous BMW drives, but today it seems worse than I remember, the linearity of the electronic throttle was awful, it almost felt like the Mercedes’s turbo lag.

All in all it was a pleasant way to kill a couple hours and we each got a nice little BMW ball cap (well, really I got two caps, because Donna doesn’t wear hats.)

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Tran?si?tions since 10/24/08: 1137

126,000 Nyjer Seeds

On Thursday afternoon, not long after we left the Valve Store’s(TM) parking lot, the Purple Whale crossed the 18,000 mile barrier.

On Saturday morning, not too far from home, the Emperor passed through the 126,000 mile mark on the way to Augusta.

After losing the first game of the series against the Cleveland Indians, the Red Sox have won the last three games. Is this the start of a turn around like in 2011 or is this just slight blip designed to get my hopes up, so they can drop the next 4 games in a row and crush those hopes?

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Tran?si?tions since 10/24/08: 1136

Close Encounter Of The Google Kind

It’s Friday, so, as usual, Donna and I rode the tandem to work. As we parked the bike in the rack Donna noticed something hanging from the back tire. On closer inspection it turned out to be a section of the tire about the size of 2 quarters side by side that had separated from the kevlar belts. It was still holding air so we opted to ride it home, but agreed not to bomb down the hills and take it easy on the corners in case of sudden air containment failure.

A little more than half way home we came to a halt at a stop sign we usually don’t have to stop at. Not because our tire blew out, but because there was a car coming from the left. It looked a little weird, there were some odd stripes and it had green doors, so I knew it was vinyl wrapped to advertise some business. I was so intent on trying to figure out what they were advertising for for that it took a while to register that there was something very weird about the car.

It had a 3′ stalk sticking out of the roof with a red disco ball on top – it was a Google Street View Car! I waved meekly as it passed. Because it was going the way we were going, we turned right and followed. The Google car got stopped at the light at the next block and I pulled up right behind it to wait. The light turned green and the car pulled off. I gave another wave as Donna and I turned left to continue on the way home.

I don’t know when they will update the Street View for that intersection and stretch of road, the current images are from December 2007, but when they do, we’ll be famous.

The Emperor got a bath this afternoon because tomorrow is the MMC Tech Day and heaven forbid I show up with a dirty car.

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1135

Crooked Hat As A Metaphor For A Baseball Season

When I was up in Charlotte for some training at the end of March, while my compatriots were shopping in the Bass Pro Shop, I stepped out into the Concord Mills Mall proper to buy something different.

The 2012 baseball season had yet to begin and in spite of their somewhat lackluster spring training record, I was optimistic for a nice run to the playoffs for the FRS.

It was time to replace my old Red Sox hat, it had several jagged white lines of dried sweat rings in the cap area* and the brim was getting kind of floppy.

* Sweat rings in a ball cap are only acceptable for superstitious pro baseball players and old school farmers.

My last hat had the big B on the front, but the Sox had a new manager this year and hopefully a new attitude, so this time I wanted a new look. Ducking into a Lids store nearby the Bass Pro Shop, I picked out my hat, tried it on to make sure it fit and paid the man. I opted for the dangling socks logo – Style 20000459.

I wore my new cap proudly in April even though they got off to a rocky start, showing that my fandom for the Red Sox was sincere and I was not just some bandwagon hopper. But the deeper in the month we went, the less likely this was that it was only a slow start, but more an indication that I was in for a long losing summer.

I had the hat on this weekend and when I looked in the Purple Whale’s rear view mirror, noticed that dangling socks were not exactly centered** over the brim. Hmmm. Probably off by only a half a degree and noticeable by only me, but it kind of soured my wanting to continue to wear the hat.

**Should have checked myself in a mirror when I tried on the hat.

Monday morning when I read The Soxaholix web comic, it captured my feelings exactly: The Glass Is Completely Vacated

I guess I will wear the hat one more time, it will be on a cloudy day when Donna and I go out to eat somewhere in Augusta, so I can “accidentally” leave it in the booth and not really “notice” it until it is too late to go back for it.

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Tran?si?tions since 10/24/08: 1134