Update on Health Issues

For anyone who hasn’t yet heard, I’ve got some updates on the health issues front.

I went to my original Fronske appointment on Monday, and was told, rather unhelpfully, by the medical professional, that I need to reduce my work hours, and that I might also want to still go visit the actual neurologist.

So on Wednesday, Jessica took me to the neurologist. I filled out the paperwork and everything, and saw the doctor. She took a look at a few things and generally interviewed me about what was going on, and she was sure to clarify everything, like three times. I’m impressed actually, and I think she did a far better job with the whole diagnostics thing than the fine folks at Fronske. We also called upon the lab results from Fronske, only to find out that the physician there had only ordered one thing to be tested on my blood.

In the end, the neurologist had one strong possibility that matched most of my symptoms. I forgot the name of the condition, but I have been put on a prescription called Pyridostigmine for it. She says she’s going to put me on the medication, and also have some more blood work done at Fronske.

After the appointment, Megan picked me up and we went to Walgreens to turn in the prescription, Coco’s for some food, Wells Fargo to find out about getting my new debit card, then went back to Walgreens to pick up the prescription. Luckily, dad’s insurance helped cover it, so it’s not too much for 30 days’ worth of the prescription.

After that, Megan dropped me off at Gabaldon so she could go to her class, and I had an epic nap.

So far, I do think this medication is working fine. It wore off after a few hours, but I am going to take it tomorrow morning, and tomorrow afternoon, as prescribed, and I’m going to see how much my life at the ACHD improves. (Hint: infinitely.)

Megan woke me up from my nap and we went to her storage unit to get my printer. We tried for about an hour and a half to assemble her bicycle, until we finally decided to call Alyssa who has a car that can fit the bicycle. Once we got everything packed up, we went to Bufallo Wild Wings, to which I’ve never gone before. I had some boneless wings, but I wish I’d gotten different sauce. Something to note for next time. Then Megan had to go to class.

Later on, Megan and I got my printer put into the room,although I haven’t yet set the thing up, but it’s here, I will probably unpack it tomorrow after Meaghan and I get done with PR332, if I don’t go to ACM with her.

So that was my day today. Hopefully with the speech issues getting fixed, this semester will start to get better.

September 18, 2008 | Tags: , | No Comments »

Megan's Laptop

I try not to write about the other computer shops in town too much, because a lot of what I hear about them is not very positive.

The other thing is that I’ve actually helped my girlfriend Megan deal with one of them, specifically, Geek Squad, a few times, and I’ve got to say that I never really got the impression that Geek Squad’s main goal is not to provide good customer service or satisfaction at all. They’re slow and somewhat unhelpful and unresponsive when looking up previous cases, and they seem to use the condition of your machine and your call/service history as grounds for how well they’re going to treat you. On more than one occassion,  Megan and I brought her laptop in and we were told by someone “This thing looks as though it has been kicked down the stairs.”

Luckily, Megan has the full accidental-coverage warranty, which means they have to fix it even if they don’t want to.

I still haven’t decided what I think the biggest problem is. I personally think that Sony is partially to blame for the whole disaster, but I just don’t like Sony’s laptops anyway. Also, obviously it’s not Sony’s fault that Best Buy destroyed the laptop’s display in shipping when we had it fixed last year.

Currently, Megan has got my ThinkPad, which is fine because I can use the work computers, another one of my machines, or whatever, whereas she has nothing else to fall back on. Plus, the only class in which I really use the ThinkPad is our Theatre 101 class, and I’ve already gotten permission to use it during that class, to keep all of my notes in one place.

My hope is that Best Buy does replace her machine, or if they fix it and send it back again, it’s actually fixed this time. If not, then she and I are going to have to go ThinkPad shopping, or something.

September 16, 2008 | Tags: , , | No Comments »

Evangelist

Today, after my German class, as I was walking home (because I don’t have to go to PR332 today), I was stopped by an evangelist. She started off quite nice, “Hey, do you have a few moments to answer a few questions, they’re a bit philosophical,” she asked. “Sure, I like questions and I don’t have to be at class soon,” I replied. 

Evangelist

Evangelist

The questions started out fairly philosophical, but I could see very quickly where it was headed. “How do you believe we got here?” “As a species, as a society, or you and I specifically, here, to Flagstaff, Arizona, right outside Building 30 on the campus of Northern Arizona University?” I believe my actual answer was “I’ve read a few textbooks and taken a few classes that basically say we evolved from simpler creatures, but I try not to completely deny the possibility of a creator.

Overall, the conversation was not that bad, but I feel like she maybe went a bit too far, being a bit of a Converting Cathy. I felt a bit pressured and awkward during questions like “Have you ever looked at a girl. ever.” and “Have you ever told a lie, ever?”

To me, that’s just an attempt either to push my buttons, or to really pump up the guilt on the fact that I don’t actively follow the advice of the bible. My personal stance on it is I just need to do what I need to do here, and what happens in my after-life, if I should have one, is the business of whatever higher power, if there is one.

A kind and understanding diety would say “well, he’s been trying to be good, and he’s done a pretty good job.” Not “He didn’t stop his life to worship me. To the bad afterlife with him!”

Anyway… not to be too political or religious or anything, just a few thoughts.

September 11, 2008 | Tags: , | No Comments »

eeePC 900

Meaghan, my WonderTwin, recently became the proud owner of an eeePC 900. I have had a few short opportunities to play with it a little bit, and I’ve got to say it counts as an impressive piece of machinery.

It’s not impressive in that it’s a particularly fast machine, or in that it would be useful at all for photos, or even (for me), novelwriting, but it seems pretty great as a content consumption device. It also looks like it’s going to hold up for quite awhile, and because it’s got linux on it, it’ll probably go a very long time without really being slowed down.

It has made me think a bit more about my own use of the R61i. The R is pretty big, and I sometimes find myself struggling to find places to put it, and in some of my classes, there’s almost not enough room to use it. A Netbook like the eeePC, or even a smaller ThinkPad is something I may want to think about getting some time in the future.

September 10, 2008 | Tags: , | No Comments »

My hopes for Apple's event today

It’s not very often that I get to write about an Apple event before it actually happens, so I thought I might take the opportunity to do just that today. Well, It’s not, I suppose, that I don’t get the opportunity to write, just that I always forget to.

Anyway, Apple’s having their traditional music event today, which means, of course, a new version of the iPod nano, a nod to the iPod classic, and information about the sales figures of things like the 2.0 updates for iPod Touch, and the iPhone and iPhone 3G.

I don’t actually see the iPod Classic being updated this time, because it’s no longer exciting for Apple to update that thing. Everyone’s interested in what’ll happen to the touch and the nano.

More important than the iPods, I’m personally very interested in what will happen with the iTunes software, and I’m interested in finding out for sure whether or not Apple’s actually working on my favorite rumor of all, “iTunes Unlimited.”

The basic jist of iTunes Unlimited is that it’s iTunes, but on a subscription model. You pay for your subscription, then your files are set up to expire after that subscription ends, unless you renew it. To my knowledge, the rumors stated that about half of the store would be available through Unlimited at first. That’s pretty impressive, I’d just need to verify that there was anything I’d like.

And of course, the biggest thing I wish for this year at Apple’s September Music Event, is an update to the Mac Mini. This year marks about five years since the family was first introduced, and in that time, the thing has relied only only two motherboard designs. It was anemic and outdated as a PowerPC mac, and it remains so as an Intel Mac, still relying on 2005′s 945 chipset with the GMA 950. A competent chipset and grpahics processor for everything the Mac mini needs to do, no doubt, but the $599 price tag of the baseline Mini, with a 1.83GHz Core2, 1 gig of memory and an 80GB hard disc is just far too much.

Let’s compare to Dell’s also-overpriced Studio Hybrid, which includes a newer processor on a faster bus, with the 965 or G31/33 chipset, a gig of ram and a 160gig hard disc for “merely” $499. Dell’s basic minitower, the Inspiron 530, even sells for $470, including a large hard disc drive, 2 gigs of memory, and a 17″ wide-screen monitor.

Yes, I know that comparing Dells to Apples is quite unfair, but I think it’s very demonstrative of the fact that Apple should easily be able to reduce the price of the Mini a bit, to be competitive.

I suppose I really just want to see Apple do something for the mini, even if it’s just to acknowledge it’s existence. “Hey, by the way, we still sell this thing.”

That, and Apple really just needs to release a cheap, upgradeable, “desktop” Mac. Like the 6000-series and the 7000 series were in the 1990s.

I can dream, I suppose.

September 9, 2008 | Tags: | No Comments »
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