Done Since 2018-08-12

[mdlbear]

Really not a good week. Colleen is still in Providence Hospital, in Everett (room A505, if you want to call or visit). I still see Cecil, the cat from across the street, occasionally.

I had my left thumb looked at by an orthopedist, including X-rays; no sign of arthritis, which is good. He gave me a new brace, which works better, and a prescription for an NSAID cream, which hasn't had much effect yet. Go back in 8 weeks if it's not better by then.

It's been a pretty unproductive week, apart from my daily trips to Everett (which I guess count) and a little (less than I'd like) work on the new website. I'd been hoping to get that online (in the sense of replacing stephen.savitzky.net; it's already up as a GitHub Pages site) by the weekend. I may still get it up today, but we'll see. I did write a Makefile for it, with targets "draft" and "post" that work like the ones I use for DW. So that's a small bit of progress.

Too many things have been put off for too long. That's also a strong indication that I don't have the kind of self-discipline required for remote work, which is a problem. Perhaps I can also do some writing this afternoon. There's something about sitting in a hospital room wearing nitrile gloves that make it hard to focus on typing.

Notes & links:

0812Su
  * up 6am; W=196.6, S=6:58; 
  * Corwin was a lap-cat for about 20 minutes.  Would have been longer if my foot hadn't
    fallen asleep.  Climbed right into my lap.  Such a sweetie.  Need to take in a table
  * out grocery/drug shopping.
  " QOTD: (as I was leaving I reached out and stopped the bag holder from falling over)
          clerk: Nice reflexes.
          me:  I have cats.
  : The boy from across the street -- T-something -- came over inquiring about a lost
    cat.  His name turns out to be Cecil.  Gave him a short lecture about eagles, and he
    mentioned owls as well.  So maybe he'll be kept indoors more.  I'm going to miss the
    little guy.  The way he looked back at me as he was carried off..
  @ 92 Pieces of Advice on Being Productive No Matter Where You Are, Working Remotely,
    and Digital Nomading - Open

0813Mo
  * up 6:15ish; S=7:03;
  * 8-9am add tags to list of posts.
  * add "News" category
  & ... and now we're in Coupeville because C's nephrologist called to say her kidney
    function was down and she had to go to the ER ASAP
  : As we were leaving our builder called to say that the last invoice didn't get paid
    because of some problem with the bank.  Wouldn't be surprised if it went to the wrong
    bank.  I had an account saved, but...
  : It looks like C will be admitted, but apparently _where_ she will be admitted will
    depend on the results of the kidney ultrasound they just did.  That does not sound
    good.  -> she'll be transferred to Providence, in Everett, tomorrow.  Coupeville for
    the night because there are no beds at Providence.
    
0814Tu
  * up 6ish; W=196.6, S=5:52;
  @ Is Apple Really Your Privacy Hero? - Bloomberg apps can read contact info, so
    their developers can sell it in spite of $a's unenforced policy
  @ Yesterday’s Songs Transformed — It’s Here! – Gary McGath 
  * T' on vacation
  * got up to Coupeville 10ish.  No news on when she'll get transferred.
    : hospital's firewall doing something unpleasant with ssl certs, and blocking ssh.
      If I really need something (like, I'm bored) I can use my phone's hotspot
      -> it doesn't block gmail, but it blocks slack.  I'd suspect a whitelist, except
         that there are too many sites that work.  
      -> sophos surf protection
  * left ~5:30; they have a bed for her at Providence in Everett and she'll be on the road
    within the hour, they said.  Colleen sent me home.
  @ Carleton College Utility Master Plan | Carleton College  Geothermal!!
    (not high-temp; they're using thermal inertia and heat pumps.  Average over the year
    of 70% of heating and cooling.)
    Geothermal Under the Bald Spot | Reunion 2018 | Carleton College
  : 9:50 heard from C now that the doctors, nurses, et. al. have left the room.
    She's been seen by the nephrologist on duty, and will get gastroenterology tomorrow

0815We
  * up 7am; W=198.6, S=7;
  * converted the PIA papers from CVS to git.  Not clear what's the best way to make it
    into a project website, but in any case we're ready to add content to ss.g.io, because
    everything in the Writing directory from the old site is under git control _somewhere_
    It's not clear what's the best way to do _that_, either, but a submodule is plausible
  : Went out to take my guitar to the car, and Cecil was sitting in the shed.  Snagged
    some kitty cuddle.
  * C at Providence Colby campus; room A514 bed#2. 1700 13 Street, Everett, WA 98201
    (she'll move to a private room sometime today; precautions due to UTI)
  ~ 1pm C gastroenterology Everett
  : I love Firefox's access-point login feature.
  : They're going to put in another PICC line.  No veins.  Maybe even a central line.
  x 4:30 Singing as usual -> couldn't make it back in time, and couldn't get in touch.
    Grumph.  No idea whether _any_ of my texts or emails made it through.  Got back to the
    island ~6.  Email from N told me that *neither* of us were managing to connect with
    messaging.  Ugh.
  : Cecil was there by the shed when I came home.
  % Thumb doesn't have the trigger thing this evening.  Maybe the brace is helping?  Still
    hurts when I use it, though... Took the brace off.  now it's starting to trigger.
    Brace on seems to help it, so it's some kind of compression effect.
  % Reading a slack thread about people with low self-esteem not feeling useful unless
    they're doing something for someone else, and not wanting to inconvenience someone
    else, it occurred to me that that's a large part of my problems asking for help, and
    behind trusting other people's judgement more than my own.

0816Th
  * up 5ish; W=197.6, S=5:50; shower
  @ Leonardo Da Vinci's wacky piano is heard for the first time, after 500 years (thnidu)
    Basically a keyboard hurdy-gurdy
  @ Opinion | Poetry Is a Way of Being in the World That Wasn’t Made for Us - NYT ()
  * order drugs -> tizanidine isn't covered by insurance; buspirone is missing.
  * update Colleen's medication list
  : got a thank-you for places/forKids, with a recommendation.
  * leave 9am for Coupeville
  * 10am me ortho Dr Idjadi Coupeville
    -> ortho is across the street from the hospital.
    -> no sign of arthritis.  Gave me a (better) new brace (neoprene, with a metal bar),
       and a script for an anti-inflamatory cream.  8-week callback Referral for OT.  heat
       (damp towels) in the morning.
  x 3pm C MAC clinic
  * cat boxes
  : 13 spam comments on Thankful Thursday from 106.132.130.140

0817Fr
  * up 7ish; W=197.6, S=7:52;951834
  @ Putting Stickers On Your Laptop Is Probably a Bad Security Idea - Motherboard [L]
  * pick up prescription at RiteAid
  * down to Rest Stop for an hour or so.  Missed 9:30 ferry by about a minute, but since I
    don't really plan my departure time that's going to happen.
  : C was out of bed and sitting in her recliner whenI got there (2:30ish)
  : From the nephrologist (or nurse from the kidney team; didn't get her title):
    => we need to get the catheter changed *whenever it gets cloudy* -- if it's draining
       properly, it doesn't have time to get cloudy, so that means it's blocked.
    -> Her kidney function is recovering.
    -> Dr. Fenton also came in -- kidney function contnuing to recover.  She'll get PT
       tomorrow.  
    : pleasant chat with the nurse while she was getting C back into bed and cleaned up.
      Introduced her to the term "yak shaving"
  % 5:25 I've been totally unable to focus here; all three days I've visited.  It may be
    excusable, but it isn't helping.
  % got essentially nothing done.  There's something about sitting in a hospital room
    wearing gloves that makes it difficult to focus.
  : Hit the ferry line ~7:20(?); home 9:30
  & Mongolian barbecue in Mukilteo on the way back.
  * catfood at Payless.  Also bacon and English.
  @ The Cautious Path to Strategic Advantage: How Militaries Should Plan for AI |
    Electronic Frontier Foundation [LJ]

0818Sa
  * up ~5:50; W=198.2, S=6:21;
  @ Most wear-resistant metal alloy in the world -- ScienceDaily (ysabetwordsmith |
    Platinum-Gold Alloy)
  * visited Colleen.  Kidney function continuing to improve.  She was seen by PT today,
    and walked ~10 feet.  They are recommending that she spend a few days in rehab.  The
    only SNF/rehab place on Whidbey is Careage, in Coupeville.  V volunteers there
  @ Opinion | The Coming Green Wave - The New York Times one can hope
  @ Hud Files Housing Discrimination Complaint Against Facebook    targeted ads 
    " HUD's Secretary-initiated complaint follows the Department's investigation into
      Facebook's advertising platform which includes targeting tools that enable
      advertisers to filter prospective tenants or homebuyers based on these protected
      classes. "
  * wrote makefile for s.g.io -- make draft; make post

Comments

[jcfiala]

I'm glad Cecil is keeping in touch.

Yeah, I hear you on the gloves. I had the hardest time typing in the damn things when I was working from my wife's room the last few days she was conscious - since I was usually working a distance from her bed I would just take off the damn gloves while I was working. But by god, it's far from optimal even then.

And of course when I got the news, I just gave up on trying to work at all for a while.

Good luck!

[patoadam]

Best wishes to Colleen for a speedy recovery!

[vixy]

All my best wishes to Colleen! (And also to your thumbs!)