Monday, Mar 6
For Mar 5 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 2.66. Events: 1 CSR, 18 H, 23 RERA. Time on 6 hrs 46 min with (max = 18 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 74 (spurious, when stopped CPAP), actual low was 87, 3 events <88% with overall avg., 91.7%. Pulse avg. 56.9, low 50.
John and I got the blog published yesterday at 5 minutes to Noon. Won’t happen this week.
I wrote the to the music group, KV F&F, about Thursday’s performance at the Meadows Place to get a final chair count by Wednesday night.
I called Pend Oreille {Pond O-ray} Shores about our timeshare payment there. The maintenance fees have increased again. We need to find a buyer for it because we no longer can use it. I used to use it when traveling to conferences and went to some interesting places – Honolulu, San Francisco, San Antonio, Salt Lake City, South Lake Tahoe, Whistler, and Denver, among others.
The first two links below are the last of the presentations Nick Zentner presented this year for the community, and have not been reported here in this blog yet. I am listing all of them here.
Mount Rainier’s Osceola Mudflow
Nick 1
Lake Chelan Geology
Nick 2
Flood Basalts of the Pacific Northwest
Nick 3
Ancient Rivers of the Pacific Northwest
Nick 4
I attended a presentation by a candidate for a new job in the Geography department at CWU. I drove in my own car with John, in his truck, by a home where a woman gave us a bunch of lumber … and we have been waiting for better weather to get his truck out for pickup.
This was taken later in the week. The pieces were used in her girls’ bedrooms to make sleeping lofts with storage space. Perhaps something similar to those at this Link, ←click. We did not see the setup, just the pieces on the garage floor.
Tuesday, Mar 7
For Mar 6 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 0.41. Events: 3 H, 19 RERA. Time on 7 hrs 23 min with (max = 18 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 89, 0 events <88% with overall avg., 91.6%. Pulse avg. 55.0, low 50.
I paid several bills today (by phone). All our medical bills early in the year have to be paid “out-of-pocket” until we reach the deductible set by the contract.
I received several corrected “.mus” files from Evie. I am storing the .mus files from her for future use, when I install 2012 version of SongWriter on my new Dell laptop. Meanwhile, she has sent me pdf files to send to the group for our April play dates.
I renewed my account with the MedicAlert Foundation for 3 years at a significant savings over the yearly fee. I wear a bracelet with access to all my medical information in their data base. I printed my receipt and stored in Medical Info as well as digitally.
I went for my haircut today, and it snowed a ton. Went on to the Jazzercise meeting and only two of us were there. I paid my required money for the month ($2.00).
On my way home, I stopped at the pharmacy for John’s upped dosage (40mg) of Lisinopril and by Bi-Mart where I check my number on Tuesday. I won a box of Cheese Nips for the last digit of my number (a 1). Those look the same as Cheez-It (manufactured by Sunshine), but maybe a tiny bit smaller and manufactured by Nabisco.
Much of the evening was taken working on music.
John fixed a small pork roast with potatoes and veggies, and we had a pear.
Wednesday, Mar 8
For Mar 7 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 0.98. Events: 1 CSR, 7 H, 22 RERA. Time on 7 hrs 10 min with (max = 19 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 76 (spurious, stopped CPAP), actual low was 88, 0 events <88% with overall avg., 91.4%. Pulse avg. 53.0, low 50.
I carried my Irish music in to the Food Bank and handed out copies to the audience. We had probably 7 or 8 people singing through (or before) their dinner. We play from noon to 12:30, and serving begins at noon. Some of our followers come sing with us before eating. We had the normal pasta (I skipped) and a rice dish with sweet & sour chicken, salad, and a chocolate / cherry cake. From there on to the AAC with Gloria, where we participated in SAIL exercise.
I came home and worked more on music for April, after finding Dr. Dave’s arrival (USPS) of a piece of music we needed to complete our files, “Mountain Dew.” Unfortunately, the notes were not at all like the version we had been playing for years, but are more like Willie Nelson’s version and that of Little Jimmy Dickens. Evie spent 3 hours merging our notes with those that Jimmy was singing. We’re not even going to try to make them agree with the notes we sing, but those of us playing the melody will just have to listen and play certain parts by ear. At least all the timing and chords are there, with the lyrics matched. I have been fiddling it by ear for 25 years.
I still need to add the lyrics to the version of Songwriter 2012 Evie created, after I record Charlie’s version tomorrow. Then I will match the corrections to what we have been singing. It’s only a few word differences and additions, and we only have room for 3 verses to keep the score on one page, so we’ll eliminate the one about the preacher with his wife home sick from the flu.
Thursday, Mar 9
For Mar 8 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI=3.00. Events: 4 CSR, 17 H, 19 RERA. Time on 5 hrs 40 min with (max = 20 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2, actual low while off CPAP was 85, 1 event <88% with overall avg., 93.2%. Pulse avg. 54.0, low 50.
I canceled next Tuesday’s meeting of the retired geographers because of illness and weather.
Meadows Place was our location today for the second time we’ve been through our playlist of mostly Irish music. We had 10 folks there and a happily involved audience. We also have a new request from a resident there for the song, “Laura’s Theme.”
I went to a 4:00 p.m. lecture in Dean for the third and final candidate for the new position hire.
Friday, Mar 10
For Mar 9 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 1.77. Events: 1 CSR, 1 CA, 1 OA, 11 H, 22 RERA. Time on 6 hrs 46 min with (max = 18 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 90, 0 events <88% with overall avg., 93.4%. Pulse avg. 53.3, low 50.
I received an early phone call from Katrina Douglas, the Coordinating Director of our senior center, Ellensburg Adult Activity Center (AAC) that Olivia Estill would be there today from 10:00 to 1:00. Olivia was our AmeriCorps volunteer leader for two years at the AAC. I did not want to miss seeing her. I called my friend, Gloria Swanson, and asked if she’d like me to stop and pick her up to go along for a visit.
Olivia is on spring break from the University of Louisville (Kentucky), where she is doing graduate work toward a Master of Science degree in Exercise Physiology.
Olivia with Gloria . . . . . . . . . Olivia with Nancy
We had a nice visit before others arrived and so we hugged again and went on our way for some grocery shopping, and I came back home to work on my planned endeavor today to get my new laptop working.
While in town, we shopped at Super 1, and then went to fill my car with gas. It was down toward empty.
John left early for a pruning day, expected back about 1:30. As I was leaving the house, I called Cameron Fries (the winemaker / owner), whom I knew carried his phone and would be close to John during pruning, and told him I was going to town and why. I actually made it home before he did, but at least he would have been aware of my location, if I wasn’t home.
Saturday, Mar 11
For Mar 10 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 2.37. Events: 1 CSR, 1 OA, 16 H, 18 RERA. Time on 7 hrs 10 min with (max = 19 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 79 (spurious, finger change of oximeter), actual low was 88, 0 events <88% with overall avg., 93.2%. Pulse avg. 54.5, low 47.
I stayed home today, installed SongWriter (SW) 2012 on my new laptop, and the goal was to finish the music for April. It didn’t quite happen as planned.
John did not go for his North Bend First Aid Class this weekend. Travel over the pass was risky because of the potential for freezing on the road surface and/or avalanches. {Seems not to have developed, but it did rain much of the 2 days. That would not have been fun.} Crews did do some avalanche work during the late hours.
This was a wild and frustrating day. I decided I had to begin using my new laptop (now 3 months old), but I needed to install some software I needed and did not have on the laptop I am using to create the blog.
The first thing to do was find space to set up it beside the old so I could access the web for instructions about the new Dell Inspiron-13-5378 setup and view the user manual. That meant setting up another power extension cord. The new laptop does not have a CD/DVD drive, and I had bought an external one, now residing in the new laptop’s carrier. Not all my software to install on the new one is on a CD, so I have to get creative with passing information on a USB drive. I have 3 USB slots on the new one. One is taken with the wireless mouse I have. The next most important thing was figuring out where the “on” switch was on the new machine. I had used it previously but it was not in my mind and is not obvious.
I first tried to access the Internet from my new computer, and found I no longer had a connection since we had changed modems a month ago. I have been on it before, so at first I didn’t understand what happened, except it was before we changed the modem for a different one. I called Fairpoint.
It took us a very long time on the phone with Fairpoint technical support in Ohio to get the modem working with the new computer to access the Internet. The password I was using was old and we did not have the correct new one. John was home and searched all his notes on the change. We tried many things with the fellow to no avail. Finally, John asked him if he could give him instructions to go through his computer to access the information. Lo, yes. We tried 3 codes that did not work, from various addresses printed on the back of the modem. Then he tried having John log in directly to the modem to locate the security key password. FINALLY, we found a combination that worked. Now I was able to access the Internet from the Dell, once I used that PW. I think we had gone through a total of 5 others before getting the winner. I was entering them on the new one.
The next thing I did was install SongWriter 2012 from a CD (after I figured out how to connect my external CD / DVD reader via a USB port).
Unfortunately, I had also not turned on WIFI during the change of password to get to the Internet. We need it to communicate with our printer through the Aether. Later in the afternoon, I managed to figure that out and how to turn it on. I wanted/expected to be able to print from the Dell. However, not yet.
When I tried, I realized I did not have the EPSON printer driver on the Dell. Duh! It’s new. That took another hour of our time and effort. I am so happy John was home. He located the proper package of software for our WF-3540 printer on the Epson site, then I had to download it and installed it. I could not have known how to find all needed info. We do have the original CD that came with the printer – but no CD drive on the Dell (I’d already removed it). Besides, had I used that 2012/2013 version I still would have had to download any updates from the intervening years.
I needed to print a PDF file but also had to download Adobe Acrobat and install. Did that. Progress! Okay. Now I’m set for the immediate music preparation need for the group in April. I am not able to run Word on the new machine, however, because apparently the Microsoft Office Suite had not properly been activated when installed. I will work on that as the next major project, but first I have to complete this set of music to be able to share with the work my friend Evie is doing with our SongWriter songs, to get them out to the group.
I transferred all my songwriter 2010 stuff with SW 2012 stuff to a USB drive, opened it, and edited the text on Ashokan Farewell, a recent one that Evie sent me to match notes with the lyrics. She transcribed it from a video on line. Here is a link:
Ashokan Farewell ~ Sean and Scott Holshouser
I am still a long way from making the Toshiba to Dell laptops transition, but I did have a good start today. Serious frustration is now subsiding.
In between all the excitement, I washed a load of dishes.
And, we went outside to take photographs and have John show me what he intended to do with the shed where I have been parking my car. He says a garage is the place where you store several hundred dollars worth of stuff/junk, while you park the multi-thousand dollar car in the driveway.
He worked on outside projects – including starting to clear out the other side of the 3-sided shed where I park my car, so that he can get his 2016 Crosstrek under cover. This is requiring a lot of sorting, tossing, and giveaway. Here’s one thing to go, so he demoed it so that I might put a note on line to give it away, or contact first a friend who owns and runs a gym to see if she wants it or wants to share with a client or friend. She is the one who gave John his sweatpants for loosely dressing after his Dec 1 surgery.
John demoing the Tony Little Gazelle in front of the 3-sided shed.
John on the Gazelle
The video is only a few seconds. Many years ago, I bought this at a yard sale for $5, without the monitor. They now sell new for over $100 and higher, depending on the model. I have no clue which model this this is.
While outside, he also showed me boxes of old stuff (some back to 1995) of academic materials. Most of it can be recycled or some passed along to colleagues or students. John figures if I do a box a day, we might finish in a couple of years. He brought in two boxes for me to begin with that were behind the Gazelle. I’m sure I will be seeing more soon, as he tries to make room for his car. He also plans to build shelves between our two cars.
John made a pizza for lunch and froze the half we did not eat. Later, the individual pieces will make a quick lunch. Dinner was a cheeseburger, with home fries, no bun.
Sunday, Mar 12
For Mar 11 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 0.97. Events: x CSR, 8 H, 16 RERA. Time on 8 hrs 16 min with (max = 17 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 41 (spurious, stopped CPAP), actual low was 89, 0 events <88% with overall avg., 93.3%. Pulse avg. 54.9, low 42 (spurious), actual 51.
Daylight Saving Time sprung forward last night, but we actually still got an extra hour sleep over our normal. We were both quite tired. I was exhausted from “interfacing” with my new laptop, now calling her “Raisin Dell.” I have been too busy using the old to move, download software, and install. I still have a lot of work to transfer or reinstall the stuff I need (such as the software to record my daily parameters from the CPAP machine and coordinate it with the data from my Oximeter I wear all night. The only reason I’m on the CPAP crap is to control my SpO2 – the oxygen percentage in my blood to organs while I sleep. It needs to remain above 88, preferably 90%. Organs deteriorate without a good oxygen supply. It is a real threat if it goes below 80.
Several definitions of the acronym SpO2 exist, but this is a good combined one that satisfies my use of it: “Saturation of arterial blood with Oxygen, expressed as a percentage, as measured by Pulse Oximetry.” Further clarification, “Hemoglobin is the protein molecule in red blood cells that carries oxygen from the lungs to the body’s tissues and returns carbon dioxide from the tissues back to the lungs.” Concern for the higher percentage of oxygen in the blood is to help the heart function more efficiently. Blood oxygen levels below 80 percent may affect organ function.
The sun has been in and out today. Temperatures stayed above freezing during the night, melting snow and ice, but no problems here on the Fan. In town, the usual places have water where it ought not to be; seems not to be serious – and will continue not to be if the weather forecast is correct for the rest of the week.
Significant cold has moved to the east coast. Washington D.C.’s famous Cherry blossoms may take a hit. Some were blooming this past week. Ouch!
As I was putting the final touches before publishing the blog, we had a phone call from Jeri Conklin that our Daisy took a 2nd place, in the Open Limited Gun Dog stake for the Irish Setter Club of the Pacific’s field trial in California. There were 13 starters and only one other Brittany in the stake. She ran a wonderful forward race and had a nice clean find. The grass was 3’ high so no pictures in this blog. Her new trainer is going to finish her Master Hunter title, and the next Hunt Test is coming up, with him handling.
While I was still proofing the first entry to WordPress, John made all the ingredients for Nachos. I put mine together while he finished, and then came to check the text and check all the links while he ate his supper.
Hope your week was fine.
Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan