Year: 2005

As The Cholesterol Varies

On the previous episode of As The Cholesterol Varies Brian’s good cholesterol was lower and his triglycerides were elevated. In today’s episode, as you can see from the chart below, we make an improvement in one and took a step back in another. Plus, sigh, the bad cholesterol is now slightly back over the limit. If you compare the current numbers to the January 10th ones, you can see they are pretty much the same. The Jaunary numbers were the result of 3 months of taking just the inexpensive dietary supplement Red Yeast Rice. I sense that the doctor is not exactly sure what to try next, so we play watchful waiting, keep taking Tricor and come back in 4 months…tune in again in December for the next exciting installment.

  Chol HDL LDL Trig
Goal <200 >40 <100 30-150
09/21/04 209 24 131 271
01/10/05 176 33 110 167
05/06/05 174 27 108 194
06/17/05 164 31 85 238
07/28/05 177 30 113 169

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 266

Friday Is Hawaiian Shirt Day

Couple months ago while shopping at Goody’s I found some Hawaiian shirts on sale for $14. Thought what the heck, so I bought one. The following Friday was one of our half days and I wore it in. It was very comfy and it fits into the whole casual Friday mood. Plus I actually got some compliments on the shirt, both male and female. So I went back to Goody’s the next week and bought 2 more. Now every Friday is Hawaiian shirt day.

Trouble is, now that I think I’d like a couple more, the clothing stores have been swept clean of anything resembling summer wear in favor of fall stuff (even though the average high here will be above 85 degrees until late September) so I’m out of luck. I guess there is always the internet…

Maybe for “winter” I should switch to a shirt that is something like the Hawaiian shirt, cut the same and meant to be left untucked, something like a bowling shirt maybe.

Started down, went up, went down, back up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 265

Lookee What I Found!

Went rollerblading tonight and when I finished up, I decided that the wheels needed rotating on my skates. While digging around in the cabinet in the garage looking for the wheel tool I discovered a pristine Bicycle Tube Repair Kit. The rubber cement hasn’t even been opened. I could have fixed the tire Saturday night. Doh!

Started up, went down, back up, down again, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 261

And On The 7th Day…

Didn’t get a patch kit, so bicycling this morning was out. Couldn’t get motivated enough to commit to a hike. What we did do is our weekly grocery shopping after a gourmet breakfast of Hardee’s Biscuit ‘n’ Gravy (530 cal – 34g fat – 8g sat – 10mg chol – 1550mg sodium.) Turns out we wouldn’t have gone away because we got a morning shower that started as we were pulling into Hardee’s.

Hated getting caught in the rain after just washing the car yesterday, but hey, precipitation happens. In what I think may be a sign of sickness, when we got home from the store I went out in the garage and dried the car off hoping to keep that just washed freshness.

Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 258

Bike Afternoon (sort of)

Two weekends ago before we went for our little bike ride I noticed that there was a slight wobble in the rear wheel. Living dangerously I broke out the spoke wrench and gave 3 or 4 spokes around a full turn. Loosened two and tightened two depending on which direction I needed to pull the rim. I got most of the blip out, but after our ride the wobble was back. Time for a professional. Last Thursday I dropped off the wheel at the local bike shop and when the mechanic went to put the wheel on the truing stand, she noticed my problem right off, the rim was cracked at one of the spoke holes and the nipple was puling through.

We had to order a new rim, so she said give her a week. This afternoon we went and picked up my newly rebuilt wheel. She was just finishing up the job when we arrived, putting the tire tire back on and pumping it full of air. We were planning on a late afternoon bike ride, but I had a few hours so I just put the wheel in the garage. The rains came this afternoon, so riding was out, but I went out to put the wheel on the bike because Plan B would be an early morning ride on Sunday. The tire as flat.

I pulled out a patch kit from a cabinet and the rubber cement for applying the patches was long evaporated. Donna has some glueless patches in the seat bag of her bike, I could use them. I found the hole easy enough and applied the patch. Pumped up the tire and mounted on the bike. A couple hours later I checked the tire, flat again. We never did have good luck with those glueless patches. We may head out and get a patch kit tonight or forget about the bike ride tomorrow and go for a hike in Hitchcock Woods.

Car Morning

Changed the oil this morning. As always I took this time to rotate the tires too. Jacked up the car and put it on 4 jack stands. This makes it easier to get to the drain plug and the filter. When spinning off the filter I always tuck a rag under where the filter is so the oil left in the filter will drip into it and not on the ground. Well, today I learned that khaki pants don’t do well when used for this job. The old cotton t-shirts absorb the oil, while khaki pants absorb a little and then act as a conduit for the oil to pour all over the underside of the car and then drip on the driveway. At least the tires rotated without incident, even the semi-mangled lug stud and lug nut cooperated fully.

After I put the car all back together, I went ahead and washed it. Had to use some bug remover on the nose to get off the stubborn bug guts off, so a quick bit of wax applied to the area. I keep reading about using a clay bar on the car and wonder if that would completely clean everything off the paint. But because it seems like such a production, maybe an all day affair, that I have been avoiding it. Maybe a fine fall Saturday could be set aside for that project.

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 256

Should I Stay Or Should I Go?

That is actually a bit premature, but who knows. A friend who used to work at ASCO called yesterday to let me know they have a drafting position opening up at his new work place. I emailed a PDF of the resume to head engineering guy and he wrote back with a brief description of the duties. Next step if I’m interested is to set up a phone screening.

While I don’t really hate my current job, after doing the same thing for the last 16 years it is becoming a little boring. I enjoy the people I work with (all except for my asshat of a direct supervisor), but I’m sure there will be nice folks at the new spot. It is only 5 miles further down the road from ASCO, so Donna and I would still commute together. My current job is in manufacturing and right now in the good ol’ USA that is not the most stable sector to be in. Of course the new place is manufacturing too, but in drugs instead of valves. The benefits are slightly better, matching 401k, start with 4 weeks vacation (I won’t reach that plateau for another couple years at ASCO) more holidays and a couple planned week long shutdowns. Toss out 18 years with one company only to start over at another?

Talking never hurt. Who knows, maybe they won’t even want to pay as much as I’m earning now, making it an easy decision. Of course they may not like me….nah, never happen.

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 255