What you've done today - Days of Our Lives

[LadyCrimson]

When I want to procrastinate/avoid I read/post on forums.  Or watch short YT videos etc.  Exercise is too much like work. 

...that said, staring at the ceiling as avoidance doesn't seem very good, no. In a strange way that often builds more stress. Like Hurl says, there's lots of other ways to waste time and it might help distract your mind out of current, not likely to change soon ruts like that.

...and THAT said, I totally understand. There are some things/times where avoidance is my middle name.

[BruceVC]

14 hours ago, Hurlshot said:

I know I'm obnoxious about this, but you could take that 90 minutes and mix it up. Like, do some exercise. I find it only takes me 30 minutes of dread to get out of bed for a 30-minute workout. That workout can be whatever, jog, swim, DDPYoga. Then you have 30 minutes to recover and log in to work late. Plus now you have a few positive endorphins to help you deal with the mouthbreather.

I must add I endeavor to do my morning walk 5 times  a week and it takes about 45 minutes. But afterwards once I have showered I always feel amazing and full of positive mental energy....most of the time 

[LadyCrimson]

Speaking of motivation ... I am unsure I can do this for the next 15-30 years (if I can't achieve "remission"). 

 

...I know, big deal, vs. survival, right - but it's not that shooting myself up (hahaha) is difficult - but it's the remembering to do it every 12 hours. The "can't go to sleep/nap or do anything distracting until I poke myself" type of thing. I have tons of clocks and alarms and I've still fallen asleep a few times without doing it.  Heck I'm the sort to forget to take pills sometimes even when the bottle is right in front of me while I eat my meal.  My brain, it does not work well with long-term schedules.  Pffft. 

Edited September 17, 2020 by LadyCrimson

[Skazz]

5 hours ago, LadyCrimson said:

Speaking of motivation ... I am unsure I can do this for the next 15-30 years (if I can't achieve "remission"). 

(picture)

What exactly am I looking at?

[Gfted1]

A bag of hypodermic needles, which LC uses to inject insulin.

[Skazz]

1 hour ago, Gfted1 said:

A bag of hypodermic needles, which LC uses to inject insulin.

Thank you. I had no idea.

[Hurlshort]

Yep, the reality of diabetes in this country. I do a charity ride every year called the Tour de Cure. My father-in-law died last year of diabetes related causes, and one of my ride buddies has a son who lives with type 1. Our ride is coming up.

http://main.diabetes.org/site/TR?px=15363308&pg=personal&fr_id=13008

[Azdeus]

10 hours ago, LadyCrimson said:

Speaking of motivation ... I am unsure I can do this for the next 15-30 years (if I can't achieve "remission"). 

 

...I know, big deal, vs. survival, right - but it's not that shooting myself up (hahaha) is difficult - but it's the remembering to do it every 12 hours. The "can't go to sleep/nap or do anything distracting until I poke myself" type of thing. I have tons of clocks and alarms and I've still fallen asleep a few times without doing it.  Heck I'm the sort to forget to take pills sometimes even when the bottle is right in front of me while I eat my meal.  My brain, it does not work well with long-term schedules.  Pffft. 

I've a really hard time to remember if I've taken my meds or not. If I really can't remember I just take my spironolactone which is damn near impossible to overdose. If I feel "normal" the day after, full with energy, I know that I've forgotten to take the meds.

Also, I'm very annoyed that one of the three medicines I've got comes in charts of 15*7, so 105 to a box. The others? 10*10... That. Really. I mean, really. Annoys me.

[LadyCrimson]

53 minutes ago, Azdeus said:

Also, I'm very annoyed that one of the three medicines I've got comes in charts of 15*7, so 105 to a box. The others? 10*10... That. Really. I mean, really. Annoys me.

The blood sugar meter the hospital gave me, the meter device itself and the lancets can be bought almost anywhere and are retail $25 for 100.  But the actual test strips that go into the meter are almost nowhere to be found that I've been able to discover and (retail) would cost $100+ per 100. Thus I am forced to depend on the hospital pharmacy/prescrip. to get the strips (they're much cheaper that way w/insurance etc. but it's just weird one aspect is widely available but the other is not). 

Since I'm a newbie I was testing constantly for a while. The pharmacy gave me a hard time when I wanted to refill because I'd used the 100 strips up faster than expected. I was all like "well how else am I supposed to gain knowledge of what my body does re: meals/foods and insulin dosage."  I mean, I understand the needles, drug abuse and all that, but what, is there some worry about abuse of test strips by patients? I suppose I could sell them on the black market since they apparently can't be bought legitly almost anywhere. 

...I'm suspicious of a deal between the company, insurance, and the hospital or something.  

[majestic]

Yeah, might as well chime in. I think I might have dodged the bullet that is having to inject insulin last year. At least for a good while.

Last year in January I went to the doctor and got a full blood work up to check if anything might be wrong. Turns out there was a physical reason for me being tired all the time and having hyperphagic episodes. Most of my blood work was okay except for some minor indication of liver damage and an HbA1c of 9.1. Blood pressure was pretty bad too, but not as bad as Azdeus'. That didn't come unexpected though, all of my family on my mother's side has type 2 diabetes and the family on my father's side all have high blood pressure. I just had to pick the best combination for myself.

Got a nice little leaflet telling me that I should change my diet, a prescription for Metformin (500 mg, twice per day) and a referral for an internal medicine specialist for some follow up checks including an ECG. Luckily those came up negative except for a minor enlarged heart, a common side effect of long term high blood pressure (or being an athlete, which, let's face it, I'm not. Hurlshot might have Athlete's Heart though ), so some medication against high blood pressure was added and told to come back after a three month observation period.

I began with a low carb diet and interval fasting (of the 16/8 kind, I start at 11 - the exact time our work cantina starts with lunch and end at 7), added some regular excercise and three months later was back at a healthy HbA1c of 5.3 where it's been sitting ever since, the liver values are within normal range now as well. My fasting clucose levels are around 85 to 95 mg/dl and it's been well over a year since I had more than 130 mg/dl after a meal, even if I splurge by having something that amounts to a carb overdose (i.e. pasta and a sugary dessert or pizza). I dropped the low carb diet after the initial three months and replaced it with something a little easier to sustain.

Resting blood pressure is down to 110/70 (pulse 60), without the medication now. I feel fine. Better than in a long while. Except for never... and I really mean NEVER feeling as if I had enough to eat. That's probably in part due to the strict regimen of really only eating one normal meal per day (a workplace necessity, while we have a really good cantina you don't get special diet food there obviously), some fruit in the afternoon (mostly berries, avoiding high sugar fruits like grapes) and an evening snack that I actually really measure with a kitchen scale. 50 grams of bread, 100 grams of protein and whatever vegetables of the low carb/low calorie variety I feel like having.

I imagine that this constant need to walk over to the fridge and eat everything at once is what recovering addicts feel. Just with unhealthy food instead of alcohol or other drugs. Well, can't be helped. I could have listened to my doctor before it got to that point but hey, where's the fun in that? Can't have me doing something without a bloody boot up my arse first. Meh. I wonder of that ever goes away? Probably not.

Anyway, good luck getting your diabetes into remission LC.

edit:

Forgot to mention, I'm still taking Metformin. Not sure if I still need to, but I can't get free blood sugar testing strips without being on diabetes medication. Stupid commie healthcare. ^^

Edited September 18, 2020 by majestic

[Azdeus]

2 hours ago, LadyCrimson said:

The blood sugar meter the hospital gave me, the meter device itself and the lancets can be bought almost anywhere and are retail $25 for 100.  But the actual test strips that go into the meter are almost nowhere to be found that I've been able to discover and (retail) would cost $100+ per 100. Thus I am forced to depend on the hospital pharmacy/prescrip. to get the strips (they're much cheaper that way w/insurance etc. but it's just weird one aspect is widely available but the other is not). 

Since I'm a newbie I was testing constantly for a while. The pharmacy gave me a hard time when I wanted to refill because I'd used the 100 strips up faster than expected. I was all like "well how else am I supposed to gain knowledge of what my body does re: meals/foods and insulin dosage."  I mean, I understand the needles, drug abuse and all that, but what, is there some worry about abuse of test strips by patients? I suppose I could sell them on the black market since they apparently can't be bought legitly almost anywhere. 

...I'm suspicious of a deal between the company, insurance, and the hospital or something.  

I'm very happy that I've got some really nice perks from my job when it comes to costs, first the medicine is cheap since it's ubiquitus, and my employer pays for any medication that you have to pay for aslong as it is on a prescription (So... basically, not paracetamol, ibumetin or aspirin unless you need mega doses, they come with a prescription). So... my employer paid for my morphine; because I thought it was funny, and my felodipine, candesartan and spironolactone.

I did go to the apothecary and by a new BP machine, since my father destroyed mine in his constant efforts to "make it better", and it's way, way, waaay off. My real BP at the moment is 150-160 over 100, and the new machine shows 90/50... I was measured around the bicep by the personell at the apothecaries, and they told me the old one was to small. The one I used before. Should've listened to myself.

1 hour ago, majestic said:

Blood pressure was pretty bad too, but not as bad as Azdeus'.

That would be a feat!

I'm glad that you got it under control though

[Labadal]

Haven't been here in a long while. Came to check out if I would see any members that I might remember.

After the slight disappointment that was Pillars of Eternity 2, I didn't bother with The Outer Worlds. Grounded is not my type of games, and I don't know what to think about Avowed.

Before that, I more or less loved all Obsidian games.

Today, I have spent more than half the day watching soccer.

[MedicineDan]

I have a friend, kind of an adopted nephew I've known for many years.  He went off to the Naval Academy and graduated recently.  We have spectacular political arguments come from diametrically opposed sides (he's a Bernie Bro, but I love him anyway).  Since he's out at Charleston, he thought he'd swing by my virtual 5th edition campaign I'm running.  He was hooked line and sinker!  By the end of the first hour he was already downloading Fantasy Grounds.  He created a bard and provided significant help to the party in the last major encounter of the night and also contributed to some of the exploration.  I like puzzles in my games, so I truly value people who are willing to tinker with things and figure out new approaches.  Modern technology is truly great.  While I'd like to get back to in person gaming, I'll undoubtedly sitll use some of the tools I have now.  I keep track of party character, npcs they've met, clues they've found, and my wife keeps a party journal.  Then I put all these documents in my OneDrive D&D dedicated folder.  Today, when they got started, one of the players mentioned one of the things I'd thought they'd overlooked.  It was truly gratifying that someone had taken a gander at it beforehand.  Players never find all the fun stuff you put into a campaign.  It is, after all, their story as much as mine, but it's always fun when they get invested enough to think about things between gamedays.  It's even better when one of my old friends can join my campaign from 3,000 miles away!  Huzzah!

[BruceVC]

4 hours ago, MedicineDan said:

I have a friend, kind of an adopted nephew I've known for many years.  He went off to the Naval Academy and graduated recently.  We have spectacular political arguments come from diametrically opposed sides (he's a Bernie Bro, but I love him anyway).  Since he's out at Charleston, he thought he'd swing by my virtual 5th edition campaign I'm running.  He was hooked line and sinker!  By the end of the first hour he was already downloading Fantasy Grounds.  He created a bard and provided significant help to the party in the last major encounter of the night and also contributed to some of the exploration.  I like puzzles in my games, so I truly value people who are willing to tinker with things and figure out new approaches.  Modern technology is truly great.  While I'd like to get back to in person gaming, I'll undoubtedly sitll use some of the tools I have now.  I keep track of party character, npcs they've met, clues they've found, and my wife keeps a party journal.  Then I put all these documents in my OneDrive D&D dedicated folder.  Today, when they got started, one of the players mentioned one of the things I'd thought they'd overlooked.  It was truly gratifying that someone had taken a gander at it beforehand.  Players never find all the fun stuff you put into a campaign.  It is, after all, their story as much as mine, but it's always fun when they get invested enough to think about things between gamedays.  It's even better when one of my old friends can join my campaign from 3,000 miles away!  Huzzah!

We may be living in times of pandemic and tumultuous social disturbances but when you can have some fun like this with D&D and its so enjoyable ....you realize its going to be okay  

[Guard Dog]

The housework is done. The work work is done. Today I'm breaking out the muzzle loaders and getting in some range time. Hunting season for archery and muzzleloaders starts on two weeks. I think this year I might buy a hunting license for the first time in years. My property shares a border with the Hatchee River WMA and Anderson Tully is only a 20 minute drive.

I see deer around my place all the time. But I'd never consider harvesting one of them. I KNOW them! I'd rather hunt deer I don't know. 

[Gfted1]

Its a beautiful day in the neighborhood! Blue sky with no clouds and going to be a high of 71. Perfection. Im about to go do the grocery shopping for the week then Im done with my chores for the day. w00t.   

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

On 9/15/2020 at 5:45 PM, Azdeus said:

I'll be honest, I'm glad I can't work from home

I'm not because I've had to work through the lockdown as a supposedly essential worker.

Edited September 20, 2020 by KaineParker

[Azdeus]

2 hours ago, KaineParker said:

I'm not because I've had to work through the lockdown as a supposedly essential worker.

You and me both

[majestic]

We're back to mandatory home office or at the very least an office rotation that makes no sense for our team of three people.

I dunno. I like being at the office more. It's less convenient but it's a lot easier to absorb what everyone else is working on, who they were talking to and picking up bits and pieces here and there. We interact a lot on Teams but that's not nearly the same.

Well and the other two guys have the video conference discipline of five year olds. The absolute highlight last week was a short talk where one of them went to make himself a coffee on a frickin' freight train (or at least it sounded like freight train running through my eardrums) and the other one had his mic attached to his shirt. Which would be okay if that thing had any noise cancellation, but it doesn't, so it was a litany of rhasping sounds whenever he moved. Which.was.all.the.god.damned.time.

It's occasionally hilarious too. Like Friday when one of the guys got told off by his wife for making too much noise. She just showed up and talked to him like he's a retarded five year old.

Ugh. I'm beginning to understand why recruiters like to see MMO raiding experience on resumees. Pull off something like that on TS or Vent during the raid and it's a f'ing 50 dkp minus and the bench for repeat offenders.

 

 

[Malcador]

Talking crap is easier at the office, no paper trail   Was nice to just change scenery as well as have a good delineation between when the work day ends - I  find myself working from 8 am to near 8 pm some days.  Well ok, I am logged in, working some of the time.

 

 

[LadyCrimson]

I think 80% of hubby's company workers will end up staying at home fairly permanently. At all the engineers and paper people. Some even talk of moving very far away and staying remote etc. Sadly hubby can't do that easily (or I'd be all for leaving the Bay Area), he still has to go in now and again to do physical/non-remote work. Unless he wants to fly or long-drive/hotel-overnight a couple times a month perhaps. Which I'm sure he doesn't (I wouldn't either).

Today I ate a big lunch, took a walk, gazed at the internet. The air around here seems back to normal for now, so the weather's been nice.  Been binge-watching a couple k-drama's, staying up too late again.

[MedicineDan]

Be definition, I can't do most of my work at home, but I chart there and it sucks.  I miss the hospital.  Pay and hours are better now, though.

EDIT:  Work can be a real pain, but sadly I can't talk about the funniest/weirdest things for privacy reasons.  However, I just now uploaded an audio flie about a dream one of my players had.  To think of the cool things I could have done if I had this stuff available back in the day!  I wish I had more time!

Edited September 21, 2020 by MedicineDan

[Skazz]

18 hours ago, Malcador said:

Talking crap is easier at the office, no paper trail.

I misread that as "taking crap". The post still made sense.

[Amentep]

To bad you didn't misread it as 'talking carp'...

[Malcador]

Both are applicable, coworker once found an interesting use for a waste paper basket.