December 2005
Monday, Dec 19
How is it that the political party currently holding sway over the power structures of this nation, are bending over backward to justify behavior that runs completely opposite to one of the original tenets of that party, like minimal governmental intrusion into personal life?
How, indeed?
Sunday, Dec 18
Tim Wilson's got a resurrected blog - the only person I actually know that keeps one worth following.
Nice to have yours back, sir.
Friday, Dec 16
"I don't see a lot of the news...But I'm very aware of what's in the news. I see clips. I see summaries. I have people on my staff that walk in and say, 'This is what's - this is how I see it..."
Errrrmm...okay.
Thursday, Dec 15
Day four - I caved.
Life without coffee holds little appeal for me. In fact, I've tried this before, around ten years ago. I quit, and had a far worse time in withdrawal than now. I didn't have any coffee for four or five months. Life got pretty boring.
No apparent difference in the ear ringing, which is down to a tolerable level.
Anyway, I needed some coffee this morning: I awoke around five o'clock, and immediately noticed a strong, ugly smell, like something overheating or melting, but not actual combustion. I traced it to the battery in my just-installed home alarm system. The odor was very strong in the foyer where the central unit is mounted, and the front panel was very warm. Upon opening it, the smell burst out and the battery was too hot to touch.
I called the company, and got the service rep, then the installation tech. I cut the circuit breaker to the system, and they did something on their end to deactivate my account. They're on the way out. I think I get a gold star for being a nice guy. They'll waive the emergency service charge (well by god, they certainly should) and won't charge for any repair. I think a couple of free months is not out of line.
- update -
For some reason, the logic in the control unit that recharges the battery increased the voltage to the battery by a factor of ten or so, hence the nearly melted battery. Can somebody tell me what the fuck it is with logic boards these days??? In Apple Computer's case, I was blaming Pacific Rim manufacturing, but this alarm thing is built rot-cheer in Amurrica.
So, like, what?
Wednesday, Dec 14
Day three, no coffee.
Ears still ringing, not as badly.
Highly concentrated levels of upper frequency content, e.g. fifty young Suzuki violinists on stage, cause harsh discomfort (but seriously, folks).
Not sure what the hell's going on here. Sinuses still feel a bit plugged up - is this the reason?
I miss strong, dark-roast coffee, BADLY. But - I've told myself for years that my consumption cannot be good, for anything. And I'm pretty sure I'm right. But boy, do I miss it.
Tuesday, Dec 13
My ears were ringing constantly.
I suppose it had been happening for a couple of days when I finally sat up and took notice. I was becoming uncomfortable, having trouble concentrating on keyboard practice, and couldn't handle music or moderate ambient noises for any length of time.
Most of my life, I've been pretty judicious in caring for my hearing, and I've done nothing lately to incur the level of discomfort I was experiencing.
So I made an appointment with the doctor that checked me out for a similar condition back in '94.
First, they did as they'd done in the past: I sat in an anechoic chamber (like a good sized closet) with earphones plugged into my ears, and pressed a button in response to a series of very low-volume tone bursts, to indicate that I'd heard them. Sometimes, I'd have soft white noise (or non-tonal static) in one ear, and the very soft tones in the other, to test my tolerance for ambient noise. Then, the audiologist had me repeat certain words, with her commands at different volumes, from low to barely audible. I missed one.
After that, they performed a test for tumors. I laid back in a plush recliner, while the audiologist prepared my forehead and the backs of my earlobes for electrode attachment. She scrubbed the target areas with alcohol-soaked gauze, which was pleasant. Then she inserted earphones deep into my ear canals, and turned out the lights.
Different types of atonal, obnoxious noises were fed into one ear, with white noise feeding the other. The noises were similar to very heavy static from old audio equipment, or an intense version of the noises that malfunctioning telephones used to make, in past eras of technology. Measurements were taken of my brainwaves, to see how my brain was reacting to the different sounds.
The test results showed no malignancies. And my hearing test graphs, compared to those from ten years ago, showed less than five percent hearing loss since then. The doctor was a bit amazed by this, and said that natural aging was the only factor, and a small one at that.
I did mention that a recent search on an audio engineer internet forum showed that one poster had a blood pressure problem resulting from excessive caffeine consumption, which caused ringing in his ears. The doctor said that the caffeine could be causing inflammation of tiny ligaments right next to the eardrum, which would cause the ringing, and gently encouraged me to cut it out entirely.
Yesterday, I had no coffee. I've had none today. I've had none since sometime Sunday - nearly forty-eight hours. I feel despondent, unmotivated, hopeless, angry, desperate, and inclined to nod off to sleep at any given time. I did notice that the ringing had subsided when I woke up yesterday, which is why I abstained then. Now, under doctor's recommendation, it looks like it might be over.
This is far more difficult than quitting cigarettes.
I've been telling myself for years that coffee was going to kill me, and looky look what happened. The ringing has subsided somewhat; maybe it will decrease further. On the bright side, I'm pleased with the fact that I've still got plenty of hearing left. That will come in handy with the new personal studio I'm having built.
Thursday, Dec 8
Suppose it's October of 2006, and I live in the state of Florida. If I think that you are somehow posing an immediate threat to my well-being, and I possess a firearm, I will shoot your ass first, and ask questions later...in a perfectly legal manner...courtesy of the National Rifle Association.
But in Alabama, there is opposition to any "shoot first" law.
Friday, Dec 2
Wow - a new toy. But not a material thing...
My fabulous piano teacher (the lovely lady on the right) taught me whole tone scales. That's a scale, as in Do-Re-Mi-Fa-So-La-Ti-Do, with only whole steps - six notes plus the tonic at the end. So, the notes in a Western C major whole tone scale are C, D, E, F#, G#, A#, and C.
I love these things. Sort of major, sort of minor, not quite either, they have a marvelous way of throwing a fascinating wrench into the works, especially when randomly inserted into some metaphysical love-and-light suspended-seventh bullshit.
They can abruptly reel everything in with a mischievous jerk, and can actually make me laugh out loud. We're having Some Fun Now.
"If you never did, you should.
These things are fun, and fun is good."
- T. Geisel
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