October chitchat

[agate]

Excuse my typo. I meant Sudoku, not Sudoko!

I haven't tried it on this site but it looks as if it's a standard sudoku game. Not so much math as noticing and remembering what numbers have been used and where they're showing up:

Only registered and activated users can see links., Click Here To Register...

[Virginia]

Howie, just look at the sudoko books as you go through the check out line at the grocery. They usually have quite a few.

[agate]

When Howie goes through the checkout line, he may be too busy making sure he has everything Sam needs. My guess is that that keeps him so preoccupied that he never glances at the things on display there. It's a great idea though. Maybe he can carve out a moment to look around.

[Virginia]

I might not have high B/P after all. I have been checking my B/P for the past two days and it is running low except for one time.

Someone had asked me if I suffer from "white coat syndrome". I insisted I do not, but maybe I have developed it in the last 3 to 4 years. I will continue to take my B/P, but I will not take the medicine the Doctor gave me unless my blood pressure starts to go up. I am afraid to take it. I am scared it will go too low.

One less pill than what I thought I had to take. So great!

[agate]

There's been no word from Ralph in quite a while. I just realized I have a phone number for him but hesitate to call because I think he gets busy with fall chores about now.

[Virginia]

If you're not seeing him on FB at all, my suggestion is to call. I think, even if he is a little busy, he would appreciate someone from here checking on him. He can stop work for just a few minutes.

[agate]

Thanks for the heads up. I will do that soon.

[agate]

A question here for anyone who knows about cars (such as Howie):

Just what is fascinating about low-riders? This was a term I hadn't heard until tonight's news, when there was a segment about the low-rider culture and whether low-rider cars should be allowed or not. Apparently it's an issue in southern California.

These seem to be huge older cars like a Lincoln Continental that get stripped and rebuilt, and their drivers love to cruise around in them and paint them gorgeous colors. The ones shown on TV looked a bit odd because the wheels didn't look as if they fit right. What am I missing here?

[Ikoiko]

Agate, you must never have lived in the southwest!!! Nor have you heard the song, Low Rider, by War!

[agate]

No, I haven't been in the southwest except for living in the San Antonio area when I was 4 years old, a hundred years ago. Those big cars weren't on the scene yet. I missed out on the whole low-rider scene.

[agate]

If you're not seeing him on FB at all, my suggestion is to call. I think, even if he is a little busy, he would appreciate someone from here checking on him. He can stop work for just a few minutes.

I tried calling this morning but there was no answer. I left a message with my phone number but so far haven't heard anything. I'm guessing that he's so much of an outdoor person that he doesn't often think to check phone messages.

[Snuggles2]

I finished up my 4 doctor appointments for the month of October on Friday. This month I saw my pcp, the eye doctor, the dentist and had MRI's done.

My eyes have changed since last visit and I need to order new contacts. I don't think I will replace my eye glasses yet since I wear them only for a few minutes before bed and a little in the morning. The prescription has not changed that much so they will be OK for a while.

The dentist found a cavity. I have not had a cavity in over 40 years so I am not looking forward to getting a filling. Ugh, another doctor appointment in December.

My MRI report said no change since last year! So happy that my brain and cervical spine haven't developed any new lesions.

I did treat myself to some ice cream on Friday night when the MRI's (last appointment in October) were done.

Now onto my November appointments.

[Virginia]

I have been real busy working with electronics which I know nothing about. I have two Amron wrist B/P monitors and my B/P was running very low, actually too low most of the time. For someone who is supposed to have high B/P that is not a great sign that all is well with the wrist monitors. However, middle brother kept telling me that they are great and accurate. He has heart problems and has been monitoring his for many years and that is the kind he was told to get. He went to his Dentist last week and when they took his B/P using a wrist cuff it was so low they wouldn't work on his teeth. They got their big machine in and it tested real good. The Dentist came in and even brought his arm cuff one and took his B/P because he wanted to make sure. It was again good and not overly low. So.....the Dentist told him that the wrist monitors were not accurate. When I had questioned the accuracy of the wrist monitors he got kind of huffy with me, but when the Dentist told him not to trust them he immediately believed him. He called and told me. So I ordered a arm B/P monitor and got it yesterday morning. Again I chose an Amron. It wasn't hard to set up, but I read all about it. I decided to pair it with my iPhone. I did this using bluetooth. I worked on it for several hours last night. This morning I went in and turned it on and it appeared that it had paired over night.

Then there was the case of the iPad which I have loved, but I think it got dropped pretty hard on the floor yesterday (more about that later). I couldn't get anything I wanted on it. I worked and worked and nothing came up that resembled the way my iPad looks when it comes up. I could find settings and I kept going in working more and more places, but couldn't get it back right. It was driving me nuts. I was about to give up and order another one from Amazon and all of a sudden it righted itself. Why I'll never know. I lost some e-mails, but otherwise I am hoping everything is in working order. At least the type came back like it was supposed to and all the icons are there now. I typed one post on here to Ralph. If the B/P monitor works well enough I hope to be through with all electronics for awhile.

Okay, back to why the iPad hit the floor pretty hard yesterday. My Niece brought my 1 year old year nephew over to see me for a couple of hours. He is fast, quick and goes "wide open" all the time. He immediately found my steps that go to the second floor and he can go up those stairs faster than a squirrel. He would go up and behind him my Niece would go. He investigated everything in the house, the kitchen, my bedroom, my office, all over the living room, upstairs, ran up and down the hall downstairs. My Niece was constantly saying "no" because he wanted to go in the cabinets and everything else. He wanted my iPad and I heard it hit the floor one time and I think that was what messed it up. He is so cute and did come over and give me a hug several times. I do not see how they keep up with him.

He came in wearing a shirt that said "Big Brother" on the front. They are expecting another one next May. This one will not even be two by then. The Doctor thinks it is another boy. I think he has more energy than usual because he is a real good sleeper. He goes to bed at 7PM and gets up at 7AM. He sleeps the night through. He takes a good two hour nap in the middle of the day. If I could do that I would have more energy too. I hope the next one is as smart and cute as this one is.

[Snuggles2]

Virginia, How is your blood pressure reading with your new monitor? We have an Amron arm cuff one and I wonder how it compares to the doctor's office reading. I have an appointment in November and if I remember I will take it with me to compare it to the reading in the office.

I'm glad you got your iPad restored to how it was! I hate electronics. I was a computer programmer in my former life but I hated it when I got a new PC and had to set it up!

We have been having a beautiful stretch of weather (70's and sunny) here which is supposed to end on Wednesday and get back to normal (60's). I love having the doors and windows open to let in the fresh air and sunshine. I had a bit of a tummy ache today and so I have been taking it easy today. How is everyone else doing?

[agate]

Virginia, so often I've noticed that computers (and iPads and smartphones) that seem to be totally messed up clear up by themselves if you just turn them off and let them sit overnight or even just for a while. They seem to reassemble themselves, get rid of whatever is creating a problem, all on their own if turned off.

Technology drives me up the wall too. I dropped the remote control for my TV/DVD player once too often the other day, opened it up and found badly leaking batteries, then found I had hardly any replacement batteries for it. I have a drawer full of batteries in the kitchen but many of them had leaked and had to be discarded.

So I read up on batteries and learned that they shouldn't be kept where it is hot. Maybe the kitchen hasn't been a good place for them. So I ordered up new batteries and a container for them, not one of those battery containers but just a plastic bin that I can keep in a closet.

You're supposed to keep them in their original packaging, and watch the dates on them. Lithium batteries cost more but apparently don't leak, and so my remote control will be getting strictly lithium batteries from now on. I'm always dropping that thing.

Batteries are so important in some situations that I'm going to try to treat my batteries better from now on.

That's what I've been up to. I also made myself useful (ta-da!) by helping a Ukrainian neighbor who didn't know how to fill out a ballot for an election Nov. 8. He wanted to send it off right away and asked me to help him since he knows some Russian and we can half-communicate, with my very rusty conversational Russian being pressed into service.

Before this meeting with him I brushed up on some vocabulary and looked at the ballot. I thought he might want to vote on everything listed, and there were many candidates and 18 special issues. I was truly dreading this as I didn't think I could go on long enough in Russian without my voice giving out and just getting too tired.

But it turned out he wanted to vote for only one candidate. What he needed was help in how to fill out the ballot. He had used pencil but we replaced that with pen, and he needed to know how to put it in the envelope and mail it. It was really very simple, and he seemed very pleased to have that task done. I was there with my dictionary and tried to explain one issue in particular to him--I even persuaded him to vote on that issue in addition to the candidate he wanted.

Snuggles, no cavities in 40 years!!! How I wish I could say that. You should definitely treat yourself to ice cream. Your teeth can take it. In fact, have some more ice cream. I would. Do you have a favorite flavor?

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PEP TALK: Most people here are still confining themselves to the MS forum but BT has many other forums. I'm trying to develop the habit of always looking at the "New Posts" category to find posts in other forums and maybe drop in there and say something, just so the people who posted won't think there's nobody home here. People do get discouraged if they don't get replies.

Recently someone posted a long and informative post in the Aneurysm forum, for instance. I'm the only one welcoming him so far. It must have taken time and effort for him to write that post. Even if you have no interest in aneurysms, it wouldn't hurt to drop by and welcome someone new. Otherwise new people just go away.

This is a different way of treating the BT board, I realize. For many years most people stayed in their own interest area, usually whatever disorder was on their minds, sometimes more than one disorder. Rose (Earth Mother 2 Angels) and stillstANNding were making an effort to cover all of the forums but they haven't been around for quite a while, and now I seem to be the only one. I hope people here will rethink your approach to BT and reach out to the other people who post here. They are often hurting and are looking to this place for support and information.