I got this Captcha-style image the other day and thought my answer was the only logical choice.
It’s been about a month since my last post so I thought I’d make an appearance to let everyone know I’m still interested in doing this. The time away was much needed.
Now let’s get to the heart of things and why I chose today to write, and it’s something I guarantee you didn’t know about me.
Do you know what I have in common (at least according to Wikipedia) with Phil Collins, Vincent van Gogh and Adolph Hitler? I know, it’s an odd combination but I sort of wanted it that way.
Tinnitus.
Tinnitus, which I believe to be Latin for “pain in my ass,” is a condition in which a person hears constant (read: it CANNOT be turned off) ringing in their ears. While generally described as “ringing” the sound is more of a never-ending tone that is nowhere near the sound of a ringing bell.
So how would I describe it? Not easy. It’s kind of like asking a color-blind person to describe the color they cannot detect.
But to put it succinctly, it’s extremely annoying and at times downright painful.
And that’s why I’m writing: to get my mind off of it for a bit. While the ringing in my ears is constant and oftentimes very loud, I’ve learned to tolerate it and keep it in check so that it doesn’t drive me nuts. And it will if you let it: while trying to sleep or just enjoying some quite time to yourself, that ringing is relentless and aggravating.
Yesterday things started to get worse. I had a rumbling inside my right ear which only got louder as the day went on and by today, it was ridiculous. But this noise is one that I think most can associate with: it felt and sounded like when you get water in your ear with the notable exception being that, if the condition is flat-out at its worse/intolerable, certain noises at certain pitches will bring you to your knees.
Take this example. Years ago, Ann’s grandfather (may he rest in peace) took us out for her birthday. In what I still consider the worst case of ear rumbling I can ever recall, I had to excuse myself from the celebration because the sound of the utensils hitting the plates was bringing tears to my eyes. My ear ringing and rumbling, accompanied by a headache, was just too much to handle. Yes, it hurt that bad and I spent the entire time in the car.
Fortunately, today’s case isn’t that bad but I am still suffering a little: equilibrium slightly off, loud noises bringing a little pain, moderately watery eyes. It’s no fun but I’m getting by.
Now it’s time for some Q&A.
How long have you had tinnitus?
For as long as I can remember or at least from age 10. It’s much easier to ignore when you’re a kid because, well, you’re a kid. Time moves fast and you haven’t a concern for much else besides Hot Wheels and coloring books*.
How did you get tinnitus?
I don’t know. Licking too many frogs**? Maybe I’m just lucky. I hadn’t attended any concerts at the time I first noticed it so I can’t blame it on that. But I’m quite sure attending many shows in my teens, accompanied by constantly being plugged into my Sony Walkman cassette player with Dolby Noise Reduction didn’t help. But I can still hear fine.
What do you when to combat it when it acts up?
Well, not a lot. For the most part I just let it run its course and in a few days I’m all better. But one of the things I’ve noticed is that when it does act up (the pain and rumbling at least), is that I speak at a lower volume. I do this for two reasons: 1) it’s hard to tell how loud I’m speaking with one ear not functioning right, and 2) the vibration inside the cranial cavity will aggravate my ear and cause the pain/ringing to act up again. The best thing I can do is avoid loud noises and try to block it out by listening to white noise apps on my iPod. The noise works to a point but despite it all, if I concentrate hard enough, I can still hear the constant ringing.
No, having tinnitus is definitely not a lot of fun. But you know what is?
Sitting on a brass turtle outside a Chipotle restaurant.
*Hey, I grew up in the 70s.
**And no, I never licked a frog.
As seen at work.
One of the cars we own is a 2010 Toyota Yaris which is about as low as you can go in the econobox scale. It’s a functional car that aside from its better-than-average mileage, isn’t going to be the most appealing to the opposite sex.
Not only that, it’s get-up-and-go is subpar and there isn’t much room in it for anything. But alas, it’s still bigger than one of those stupid Smart cars.
You definitely give up a lot when you sign the paperwork and make a commitment to drive a Yaris, most of which is your pride.
Which leads me to the Yaris I saw on the freeway this morning on my way to work. When I saw it, I couldn’t believe it. I tried to get a picture of it but being it was still dark and the screen on my phone was blinding in such conditions, I took one shot and just got one giant blur. Besides, I didn’t want to risk my life any more than I had to while behind the wheel of…a Yaris.
And no matter how I tried, my description would not do it justice.
Once I got to work, I decided to Google what I had seen and lo and behold, there was proof of its existence on the Intertubes.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Toyota Yaris Batmobile. (See more pictures here.)
I…I don’t even know where to go with this. But what I can tell you is the “HEROES FOR CHRIST” is now gone and so are the Bat-Chutes on the bumper. Because, you know, those Yarises (or is it Yarii?) are so fast that they need the assistance of parachutes when stopping from break-neck speeds.
Look, if you’re going to make your care a rolling homage to something then go nuts and make it worth your while. And for Christ’s sake, don’t do it to a Yaris.
Because driving one of these things sans decorations is embarrassing enough.
When I first made the decision to blog every day for the entire year, it seemed like a good idea. I felt up to the challenge and figured I’d always have things to talk about. And for the most part, I did generate ideas that turned into (somewhat) interesting posts.
But on this, the 75th consecutive day of blog entries (with 290 days left), I’m reconsidering my decision.
There are more than a few reasons why I’m leaning in that direction, the first of which is time. I’m spending my evenings typing away and sacrificing time I could be spending with the family.
That time also has impeded on my reading time. Since starting my blog-o-thon, I put down whichever books I was reading at the time and they have remained untouched since. I kind of want to get back into it – a big deal since I don’t like to read books in the first place.
Working out has also suffered. I’m managing to squeeze in some here and there but I’m always mindful of the blog and what I’m going to write about that night. I feel sort of rushed to workout when there’s a blog post must be written.
Then there’s the topic of traffic which is something I never really had much of here anyhow and since starting at the beginning of the year, I can’t say that traffic has increased with the constant posting. Additionally, comments are few and far between.
So in short, it’s taking up more than time that I had previously thought it would and the expected results just aren’t there. There are nights when I just want to do nothing but no, it doesn’t happen. I have to blog. I have to keep it going.
What it all adds up to is me putting this crazy idea of blogging every day on the shelf and learning from my experience. If anything, it lasted twice as long as the annual NaNoWriMo blogging challenge plus 15 days so I guess that’s something to be proud of.
This doesn’t mean the end of blogging, though. Not at all. But I’d rather spend a day or two collecting thoughts for one good blog post rather than rush myself into writing some half-assed thought of the day.
Thanks for sticking with me and my lousy posts and I hope you return when I have something of quality to write about.
Just a shot of Anthony using the ball washer before tonight’s round of golf at Heartwell Golf Course, the place where that Tiger Woods guy got his start. Doesn’t he look so serious?
I got a text from Ann before our group started asking me if we were cold. Yes, we were.
By the time we reached Hole 2, I see Ann sitting in a golf cart and being driven right to us with two jackets in hand. It definitely got quite chilly tonight and I’m thankful that we live so close to the course.
Cold weather aside it was a good night for golf and I walked with three other kids besides Anthony. They were all well-behaved and I had no issues with any of them; the youngest boy’s sister was also in the group so she kept him in line.
That’s all I got for tonight. Walking nine holes with a group of kids can take a lot out of you.
There are a lot of Google services that my life has been perfectly fine without, some dead and some still living for whatever reason.
Google Wave was one of them and something that I (and a lot of other people) could never quite figure out. Much too complicated for something that was supposed to be a collaboration tool.
Then there’s Google+. I have a profile there but rarely check it. I may post something on there now and then but other than that, it’s completely useless to me and I find it hard to believe it has as many users Google claims it does. As per Wikipedia:
As of December 2012, it has a total of 500 million registered users of whom 235 million are active on a monthly basis
Meh. I still think it sucks.
I did, however, enjoy iGoogle which offered widgets to things like Gmail, Google Calendar, etc. I had it as my homepage for a years – until Google decided it would die on November 1, 2013.
One widget that I used all the time was for Google Reader which is where I keep all of my RSS feeds nice and tidy. All of the blogs I’m subscribed to, news feeds, etc. are all in there because it’s so darn easy.
Then today, I got this message when I logged in:
Damn you, Google. Aside from Gmail, Reader is the only other service of yours I actually use and enjoy. Now I’ve got to go and find another way to get all of my news feeds. And so far, I’ve tried most of them and none of them have worked very well nor are free.
Thanks, guys. Maybe it’s just a ploy to get me to use Google+.
Nice try. But it’s not happening.
I watch the KTLA Morning News daily so I can get a quick rundown on the day’s top stories as well as the current traffic report.
I know those guys love to have a good time while at work but today they had a little too much fun as this video will clearly show. When it aired this morning, I missed what Henry DiCarlo (the weatherman) had said and only caught up when everyone was laughing.
Then I saw the video a few hours later and it all made sense. Here it is.
By the way, Chris Schauble (the reporter who started laughing) is a funny guy and is one of my followers on Twitter. He replies to every tweet and is an Ironman triathlete.
But this morning…he was just a mess.
And honestly, if it was an inside job, Henry most likely deserved it…
As I had mentioned in a few previous posts, lately I’ve been spending a portion of my evenings doing some meditation or, more to the point, Buddhist meditation. This is the type that I most associate myself with after reading what each is about.
Why I started doing it is simple: I just needed a change and closing my eyes and concentrating quietly seemed like a great way to get myself centered after a long day at the office, stressful situations, etc. And so far, it seems to be working.
In fact during last night’s session (of about 10 minutes), I concentrated on my breathing as a way to block out the noise around me and it seemed to work as my mind was set free and slowly I began to see from within me. I realize that meditation is all about blocking out noise regardless of its volume level but when you’re just starting out, it can be difficult to do.
I’m going to try to do it every night for my current time of 10 minutes then start to extend the time as I get better at it. All I know is that it’s a pretty amazing experience and one that I want to get better as time goes on.
It's probably not true but I love saying that anyway :)
Oh, and I used to be really fat. Visit my weight loss blog and see what happened.
Mean People Suck
Yes, I’m blogging. It’s because I feel the need tonight.
In short, Ann logged into our online banking account tonight and found a charge to the tune of $221.25 at Office Depot.
First of all, I can’t tell you the last time we went to Office Depot for anything. It’s rare when we have to go there and when we do, we don’t drop over $2oo because we can. It just doesn’t happen, let alone in Tennessee. I’m in California. (The bank transaction included the store’s number which I then looked up online, hence the Tennessee connection.)
On top of all that, I can tell you that I’ve never been to Tennessee let alone an Office Depot in Tennessee. I can’t even think of a situation in this lifetime or any other where that scenario would make any sense.
So after numerous calls to our financial institution, Visa (to report a stolen credit card) and the Office Depot in Tennessee, here’s what I learned:
With all of that out of the way, I have a few things to say to some of those involved in this crime ring, both victims and criminals.
To the criminals: Fuck you. Honestly, fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you to Hell and back and then fuck you again – twice and without lubricant. This is not the first time this has happened to me so I’m doubly pissed about this. It must be nice to sit there at home and with your dirty little criminal mind, figure out how to steal the identities of hard-working and honest people just trying to make ends meet. I wish nothing but the worst for you bastards who find it okay to steal from others. Karma, fate, whatever you call it. I want shit to turn on you so bad that you won’t know what hit you, you fucking assholes. Oh, and guess what? If you were a dumbass enough to use an Office Depot Worklife Rewards card when you bought your stuff, the transaction will be tied to that account which contains all of your personal information for authorities. Wouldn’t that be a goddamned hoot, ya little shit?
To the retailers: While I’m pleased as punch that only one transaction of many went through, WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED TO CHECKING FOR AN ID for large transactions? Seriously, each charge was well over $200! Holy fucking shit, I can’t even buy a fucking Carl’s Jr. hamburger without being asked for my driver’s license. How’s about a little added safety for the consumer? Am I asking for too much here? You could have captured a criminal who is now free to roam the streets and defraud others.
To my financial institution: I can’t believe what a pain in the ass it was to get the ball rolling on this. I moved from a big bank to a credit union in the hopes of having things run a lot smoother and get that so-called “attention” that I never got from BofA. Well, I didn’t. Each call was a royal pain and led to dead ends until the final call. And every time I call for something you make me jump through hoops of fire and because of that, it’s not likely we’ll stay with you very much longer. At this point it seems that keeping our money under the proverbial mattress might be a better idea.
We spent at least an hour on the phone speaking with Office Depot managers, the credit union, Visa, etc. While I’m glad that most of the situation has been remedied, I’m still pissed at the thought of having a criminal asshole out there with a copy of Ann’s debit card even if it has been cancelled. All they have to do is look up someone else and make a card with their info on it.
And in the end, it’s us honest people who pay for the actions of the criminals in the form of personal time invested trying to get things sorted out and price increases due to shrinkage (retail lingo for stolen merchandise).
Mean people suck.
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