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May 31, 2005

So when you are running late (like I was this morning), Why is it that you always get stuck behind the slowest drivers on the planet?

Posted by SammyD at 10:51 AM | Comments (0)



May 30, 2005

I think Jen, Dave and Dusty headed up to Ledges State Park Friday, but Shannon and I couldn't cause she worked Saturday morning. So Saturday afternoon we both prepare, and head up there. We called when we got close and drove deep into the camping area.

Now the previous times I had camped, it has been pretty close to campers and moble homes and pretty much can drive right up to the campsite, but this time we had hike in camping. And they weren't really kidding. It was probably a third to a half a mile in. So Dave, Dusty, Jen met us by the hike in parking and helped us tote in our things. Now, I had my sleeping bag, a backpack with clothes and a small air matress (the tent was already at the site). Now I know I shouldn't give her crap, but Shannon had a huge bag, and I mean huge...it was really heavy (I carried it). We also had cooler full of food and some plastic bags and etc. So we headed in. It was quite the hike in. But we got settled in and started to set up the tent that I had barrowed from my dad (who has it barrowed from his brother). Aswe unfoleded the tent, we decided that it just smelled way to bad, and then put it away, and broke out Jen's Tent to sleep in that. It was a bit smaller then my Uncle's tent, but much easier to setup. Mark showed up a bit later.

So we cooked, we chated, we had some drinks...well...dave, dusty, jen, mark and I did. We sat around the campfire and had fun. We hiked out to try to get a good view of the stars, that was kinda fun. We ended up in a parking lot near the begining of the camp area which gave a pretty good view. We eventually went to bed. During the night I woke up a few times (sometimes to sounds, sometimes to having a very acidy stomach and other times when shannon shifted). The next morning, I got up around 6:30 and after waiting a bit other people started to stir. Shannon and I headed to take a shower, it was quite the hike. Now cold shower has it's place I suppose, but when you are actually trying to get clean, it kinda sucks. But I fought my way through it. Eventually we made it back to camp and others were up and around. We decided to cook a nice big breakfast, consisting of bacon, scrambled eggs and hash browns. Dave and mark packed up and we helped them head out.

Dave did join us for a hike in the park part of Ledges and..driving in we had to drive across these streams that fill the road with water. There were often kids to the side of these water puddles and many of them were expecting to be splashed. It was cute.

We hiked on the old indian trail that went up and around and etc. it had a whole lot of stairs, and by the end, I thought my legs were going to fall off. Dave headed home, and the rest of us headed back to the campsite. We had a late lunch and then took a nap. We then got up again, and after catching some flack from Jen and Shannon, Dusty and I headed out to find some wood. There was a guy sitting near the front of the campground that was selling wood. So we ended up getting four bundles. and heading back in. Now carrying wood with twine...well...not so fun. We built quite the fire. We went through the entire selection of wood. It was nice.

We headed to bed again, with plans to come home on memorial day. So we got up and eventually started taring things down and moving them back to the cars.

It was a fun weekend. I had a good time...even if both nights there were some people that were being quite loud, cause they were still quite far away.

Shannon drops me off (we took her car) and I started getting this going (laundry, cleaning and etc) and Shannon went home and came back to do her laundry for the weekend.

Now I am fighting sleep and it's just been kinda obnoxious. having to delete streams of K's or whatever. Anyoo...the weekend was fun.

Posted by SammyD at 9:30 PM | Comments (0)



May 26, 2005

So I just ate the sandwhich with the last of the slicable cheese in my house (swiss, I still have bleu and feta, but those are crumbles and kinda for salads). I don't know if I can follow the guideline that has me exclude cheese (high sodium). Maybe if I don't just sit down and have cheese and crackers and eat like a whole crapload? *sigh* We'll see wha ti do i guess.

Last night I adjusted my CPAP machine so it now no longer blows air over my eyes at night (drying them out an making them hurt all day). So that's good. Although it still feels really tight on there which is kind of obnoxious.

I had oatmeal for breakfast. Most instant oatmeal is high in sodium, but theyere's a Heart Healthy Quaker line that only has 4% sodium per packet and 10% potassium...so that's good.

I called the resperatory therapist that hooked me up with the CPAP machine and I told her what a pain in the ass it was, she agreed and told me that a lot of people have problems starting up with it and take it off during the night. So I guess I don't feel so bad there. She encouraged me keep using it until I had my appointment with the sleep study doctor and I will...I guess...this still isn't gonna be the way I spend the rest of my days. If the sleep study guy doens't give me the answer I want, I have a list of other people that are more accomplished in that area. Maybe an ENT guy would do me better.

Also, there is an article in todays CR Gazette (at least there is supposed to be) about my little brother and the Spelling Bee (which is next week). I would link to it on their website, but they suck and it's not there.

There is an article in the Des Moines Register about hospitals and salarys and Not for profit status. I found it interesting that the hospitals affiliated with IHS almost have twice to three times the amount of money on charitable cases that other hospitals in Iowa and surrounding regions do. And we don't pay doctor's $2 million a year either.

Posted by SammyD at 11:21 AM | Comments (0)



May 24, 2005

So over the last 48 hours or so, my comments on here have been spammed by about 3 sets of entries all advertising the same poker link site. None of these comments have been published, but I've banned around 30 IP addresses and removed around 150 entries. So...uh...yeah.

Last night, Shannon and I decided to go for a walk by her apartment. It has a bike trail right next to it. So we walked up to Dahl's got some liquid refreshment (water for me, powerade for her) and walked back. The total trip was about five miles. Now this would be no big deal, had I not been wearing my sandals with no socks. My feet were killing me by the time we got back.

We also talked about joining the gym just a bit down the street from where I live. She likes to excersize after work, but I like to walk in the morning. So I think it will probably work if I still do my walks in the morning (by myself, she sometimes has to be to work by 7:30 AM) and then I also accompany her to the gym after work. Double excersize for me! I imigine at first this'll be hard, but it'll be good for me.

fun fun.

I'm still getting used to my new diet and i still have quite a few things in my cupboards that are just horrible for me. Oh well...I am eating better over all, even getting rid of this stuff.

Posted by SammyD at 2:04 PM | Comments (0)



May 23, 2005

So I read this today and realized that I recently closed an account with two of the Banks listed in the story.

So the efforts I take to protect my identity are all for naught, since I cross-cut shred everything with my name on it (before I throw it away), I practice safe online practice (only using my Cedit card at places where I know of the store or have a history and their practices are up to my security standards)...but apprently jackholes at banks are selling information like mine (maybe even mine) to fraudsters and swindlers.

I really wonder if, since my account is closed, that they will still contact me if my name was sold?

Posted by SammyD at 3:17 PM | Comments (0)



So Friday Shannon and I headed down to Cedar Rapids to go to her Nephew's dance recital. I left work a bit early, already had the stuff I was bringing (CPAP machine, bag of clothes I no longer wanted, and overnight bag) in my car so I just went and picked her up and we headed towards Cedar Rapids.

We got there, fairly unenventfully (other then the constuction around the Amana Colonies), went to her parent's house and picked up the tickets and headed downtown. We found a small place to eat (the first few places we looked at were closed, and got fed pretty quick and headed over to the Paramount Theatre. It's been a while since I've been there (Probably a Tori Amos concert in early college) and it's still as beautiful as I remember it with very ornate detail and all that.

We sat up on the balcony, with really good seats. I think because Shannon's mom is a seamstress for the show and good friends with the owner of the dance studios, we had like 4th row center. Great view of the stage. So the dances ranged from samll children, to very experienced teenagagers and some of it was quick, some was cute and some was slow. Shannon's nephew was a shark in one (it was cute). I admit that I did fall asleep once or twice on the slower dances, but over all it was a good time.

So after the recital, we headed to Granite City for dessert and then I took her home.

So at home, I was pretty much expecting only my mom to be there (my brothers and dad were out on a father son camping trip (yes I was invited, but I had a previous commitment)), but to my surprise it was both my mom and my older brother's wif Diane. So we chated for a bit, talked about my health, Shannon, and my other siblings and things I wasn't sure about (Yes I've snored my entire life). I also was reminded of a few things that I didn't quite remember and things I didn't know at all. Diane also stated that when I told her that we had been going out for almost 5 months, that she was surprised I hadn't asked Shannon to marry me yet, with the record with the other kurth boys.

I went to bed (without the CPAP, didn't have any distilled water, rats!), and read for a while. I got up and spent the morning chatting with my mom and Diane again. It was kinda nice.

Around 10 I called Shannon and went and got her....and she had gotten a chair and a sleeping bag from her mom for camping purposes. We chatted with her mom for a while and then headed back to my parents. Shannon met Diane (who had be saying that she wanted to meet her). and we chatted for a while and hung out and until my dad and brothers got home so we could barrow a tent.

So we got that too! A little while later we headed home....Of course now I realize that I left a book there (the one Josh gave me for Christmas) and I also left my dress shoes there too. So today I'm wearing these sketchers (they kinda look like Docs) that I stopped wearing cause I kept getting blisters from them.

Saturday night, we went to see Star Wars, Episode III at Merle Hay Mall Cinema. I gotta say, this is what I was waiting for from the movies. Why couldn't the other two be at least this good? Yes the dialouge was crappy, but the dialouge is almost always crappy in the series. Oh well...At least it ended pretty good. After feeding Shannon and hanging out for a bit I took her home. And after being a bit tired on my way home...I decided to head over to Josh's and I hung out with Josh and Adam for a while...well...really they played video games and I fell in and out of sleep. Finally I went home and went to bed.

Sunday was basically a luandry day for me. If laundry wasn't in the machine, I was folding it pretty much all day. Shannon came over around 2 and we hung out and watched awful movies for the rest of the evening. She headed home around 10:30 and I went to bed around that time too.

So last night is pretty much the first night that I slept the entire night with the mask on the face, I did wake up once, but fell right back asleep. I don't know if I feel any better or worse then a normal night of sleep, but I guess I'm doing what the doctor says. Even if this is still an unacceptable solution.

Posted by SammyD at 10:09 AM | Comments (0)



May 22, 2005

Day three Pictures!

Day 3 (5/15/05)


Hey...there's my pretty girlfriend.




Here's a shot from our hotel to Overland Park.




And our hotel.




Here's shannon in front of the WWI memorial.




Union Station!




They just don't make ceilings like that anymore. The detail, the design.










Here's Shannon in the middle of one designs on the floor.








It's a shoe store, yes, but it's also one of Shannon's favorite movies...








Noooo! The picture will kill me!




I will hex you for taking my picture!




Pugs! this was in the collection display, it was kinda cool.








And that's pretty much when the camera ran out of juice.

Posted by SammyD at 2:37 PM | Comments (0)



Day two Pictures!

Day 2 (05/14/2005)


Here's the begining of the day, in the parking lot of the hotel.






We headed to Dick Clark's American Bandstand Resturant, cause I thgouth the building looked cool and it was too dark to take pictures the night before.






I don't know what Shannon's trying to tell me here, but I think it's stop taking pictures and get in the car.




Here is the entrance to the Kansas City Zoo.








We hit the sea lion exhibit first, cause they had a show...afterwards we had to go back to the parking lot cause I forgot my HCTZ.
















We headed to one of the many aviarys they had.










Yay! Kangaroos!












Ok so I found this funny. They had a machine where you could buy food for the sheep. So she bought food then kneeled down to feed the sheep...and the sheeep basically mauled her. It was kinda funny.






















So uh...the elephants didn't feel like facing us, so I have a few pictures of their bums.












I wish I had gotten a picture of this. The Cheetah is staring at rabbit that barely escaped his clutches. That's a very sleek looking kitty.
























Leopard! He had a cage that acutally went over the path. Apprently he's not so nice, cause his entire cage had these very little squares, so it was hard to take a picture. He kept wandering over by the monkey cage, which I think he could see or smell them.






















This bird...was...well...really ugly.










It's like gorillas in the mist...but no mist...




The gorilla headed over to the window to pose.




































That thing looks pissed.




Lions!
















































Crocodiles!






So if I whap the back of the hippos do their necks come out and do they try to eat a marble?






On the way back to the entrance (to wach an IMAX film) the elephants were wanting to face the path more, so these pictures turned out a bit better.














I thought the ceiling of the building was pretty cool






So this is the Arthur Bryant's BBQ place near the speedway in Kansas City. Mmmm....BBQ. this is noted by many people to be THE place to go to get BBQ.






Just over 300 miles on the trip so far.






We went to Cabela's, they were having a logging show thing.






















Ok...that fish was freakin huge.




So then we headed towards Kansas City Downtown to visit the Boulevard Brewery. mmmmm....beer
















Here's a shot of the Kansas City downtown.



Posted by SammyD at 2:34 PM | Comments (0)



Day One Pictures!

Day 1 (05/13/2005)


So here's our hotel room.




And we headed down to Country Club Plaza, which has numerous cool fountains and buildings




































Ok...so this is on our way back to the hotel. We had stopped for gas, and this car was coming out of the carwash...and although one can't really tell to well, it is relatively well pimped. It had rotating rims and all that.




This turned out pretty much how I wanted. You get the reflection, and a shadow.




We headed to Gates BBQ to have dinner with Shannon's friend Penny.






We went for dessert at the American Bandstand place...yes...we are silly.







Posted by SammyD at 2:31 PM | Comments (0)



May 20, 2005

So I went to my temp doc today, since my doc is out until August or so on maternity leave. And as my doc said, if the HCTZ wasn't effective enough they were going to add Cozaar to my daily regiment. So now I have a bottle of 50 mg pills of Cozaar. Here are the side effects.

Posted by SammyD at 9:54 AM | Comments (0)



May 19, 2005

So I forgot this....

But last night at 11:PM Shannon and I have been dating for 150,000 minutes. I was gooffing off a bit at work today and wrote a little program (like 4 lines) to figure it out.

I thought it was kinda cool...

Posted by SammyD at 12:01 PM | Comments (0)



I wore the CPAP machine all night last night, and I am still tired....although that could just be the sleeping pill of work. I suppose it may take a while to get used to, but we'll see. I woke up once during the night and took a little break from it, but didn't tear it off my face. My nasal cavity feels less violated today.

So last night, while Shannon was studying for her Vet Tech State Boards next month (she's already passed nationals), I headed upstairs and cleaned out my closets. It was quite the experience. I have a lot of shirts that are not in the best condition, that I saved on the mere fact that they are linked to memories and stuff...but I had a lot more then that. I finally retired a bunch of tie dyed t shirts that I bought early in college that were all ripped and worn through. So I made two piles, one to take to my parents house to give my dad/mom/brothers first go at and then the rest ending up at goodwill and the other pile that were just too worn out to give away. So it made it quite easy to combine my clothes to fit into one closet per type (casual and dressy). There's also a lot of dressy clothes that just doesn't fit to well or I don't like the way they look...so that went in there too. So it's a big bag.

After Shannon was done studiing for the night, she broke out the Ben and Jerry's Chocolate Therapy. Now if you are a chocolate lover, you should go out and pick up a pint. It's very good.

Tomarrow, I've got a doctor Appointment in the morning, and that afternoon, we'll be heading down to Cedar Rapids to Go to Shannon's Nephew's Dance recitial. I think we'll be staying over night, and returning on Saturday. Next week I'll be going to Cedar Rapids again for a meeting.

Posted by SammyD at 10:39 AM | Comments (0)



May 18, 2005

So yeah...apprently I didn't sleep with the machine enough to get any sort of quality sleep.

I honestly think that since they said that it's ok for me to be tired during the day (cause I get really crappy sleep) that I'm more tired now then I was before I knew.

I guess I'll try again tonight and see what happens...

Posted by SammyD at 1:30 PM | Comments (0)



As I sit here, and it rains, so I cannot go on my morning walk, I am recovering from my night of sleep.

So I did use the CPAP last night. But I'm not sure for how long. At some point during the night I kinda ripped the thing off my face. I don't remember why I took it off my face, but I did it rather quickly. Luckily, I didn't break anything, and was able to put the mask together again this morning. I know that about half the water in the humidity chamber is gone.

I feel like my sinus cavity and my nose have been molested, and not gently. The insides of my ears feel strained and my eyes are dry and feel pressured.

I can't really tell if I'm awake cause I'm not sleepy, or if I'm awake cause the whole experience has left me upset. Well see how the day goes.

I did read in the manual that it does take a bit of getting used to to use it all night, so maybe that is why I kinda got rid of it during the night.

Posted by SammyD at 6:52 AM | Comments (0)



May 16, 2005

So I went shopping for breakfast stuff and some other stuff to put in my lunch...and was just absolutly amazed at how much stuff had sodium in it. I eventually found some things that were a higher percent recommended daily allowence of potassium then sodium. I also bought a lot of dried fruits (raisins, plums, etc) cause they are also high in potsassium.

I checked the "healthy" food isle and the pasta sauces in there are none that I found that are less in sodium.

I was shopping for an hour and only came out with a basket full of grocerys...

Oh well...I guess that's what change is about.

Posted by SammyD at 11:32 PM | Comments (0)



So We got up on the last day and I just gotta say, the water pressure was nice in the shower, but shower curtains can go straight to hell. All bunching in and coming to get ya, crowding up the little space that was left in there. Ugh I find that annoying.

Oh yes, I have forgotten to mention that not only did I forget my comb (that I bought in Des Moines), I also forgot, shampoo and conditioner and body wash and a poof...yeah...I'm a forgetful guy.

Another good breakfast to start off the day...So we packed up our things did a double and triple check of the room and checked out. We then headed down to the Union Station I thought we'd get down there and beat the rush, and beat it we did...not only did we beat it, but we beat most of the shops being open at the Crown Center too. Whee...So we wandered around, checking out the places that we'd like to go to once they actually opened. The Crown Center has the first Hallmark store and the Hallmark offices. Which was kidna cool...but not open for tours on Sundays. So we sat down and had somethign to drink and just kinda goofed off and people watched for a while.

When 10:AM finally rolled around we headed into this little display in the Center that had just parts of peoples collections. Ranging from sports memoriblia to all things Pepsi to whatever. It was kinda cool. The high lights of the Crown Center were the Russian Store (which I wanted to buy things, but after knowing how cheap my Sister got the same stuff in Russia, I just couldn't bring myself to spend the money), a Fudge shop (I thought long and hard about buying stuff, but decided against it) and the Crayola store and Cafe. We ate lunch at the Crayola Cafe. The food there was good, not great. They had ageist practices though. They had a lady going around making balloon things, but only for kids. She didn't even ask if we wanted anything. So after lunch we headed back to Union Station. On my way back I picked up a shot glass.

By the time we got back to Union Station things were opening back up and much more open (the first part of our exploring, I really felt like we were being followed, It wasn't just my paranoia, Shannon felt that way too). So we shopped the touristy shops and I bought two more shot glasses (one at the suggestion of Shannon). We headed down to the Science Center. After being directed around, we eventually bought tickets and headed in. It was pretty cool. Lot bigger then the last science place I had been in (which was Cedar Rapids, years and years ago). I had fun. Quite a few things were broken to some extent or another. But we wandered around and eventually got bored, so we hit the bathroom and headed to the car.

So...getting out of Down town KC...well...that was quite the trick. If we wanted to go south, it would've been real easy to get out, but because we wanted to go north, we had trouble and then hit, what I'm guessing, was some high school graduatation ceremony getting out and the traffic jam that followed. Eventually we got on I-35 north. Shannon tried to sleep for a bit, but the roads were just awful, and she had trouble doing so. Finaly with about 40 miles of kansas left or so, she woke up and we stopped to fill up (I had half a tank, but I would've had to fill up before Des Moines) and get some drinks, and we talked the rest of the way. And the time flew by much faster.

We stopped at her house and dropped off her things and said hello to the kitties, and eventually (after she picked up a few things, we headed back to my place where we spent the rest of the evening.

It was a great weekend, it was fun to do...I still have yet to figure out how much it actually cost (got a wallet full of recipts)...but we had fun, and that's what matters. And it was all paid for in money that I actually HAVE instead of money that I'd pay for later.

Posted by SammyD at 3:15 PM | Comments (0)



So when we were looking for a hotel, one of the things that we looked for was a free breakfast of some kind included in the cost of the hotel. Where we stayed at, had quite the spread. Eggs, waffles, pancakes, bacon, oatmeal, pasteries, etc. Made fore a good start to the day. I did have things that I probably shouldn't have had (bacon) but I also had a big bowl of oatmeal with raisins in it (take that heart!).

We got ready for the rest of the day and headed off to the Kansas City Zoo. It was through some winding roads, but we were starting to get more comfortable with Kansas City as a whole and it wasn't too hard to find. We parked and headed on in. We headed up to the Sea Lion show. When we got there I remembered that I forgot to bring in my high blood pressure meds, so after watching the show (which was kinda silly) we headed back out and got my pill for the and headed back in. So we visited the various sections and weren't able to see others (closed for renovations) and saw many animals and took the majority of the pictures (188 that day). It was actually kinda cool. I think I've been to the St Lake City Zoo, but I don't really remember it, so it's probably the biggest zoo that I remember since the Beaver Park Zoo (which is more a petting zoo then anything) in Cedar Rapids. Shannon took her parent's video camera and took a few video shots.

One of the pictures that I missed (and it pisses me off) was a rabbit decided to hop up in the Cheetah's area, and the Cheetah zoomed after it. The rabbit barely escaped.

I think the silliest moment of the entire event was in the Lion cave. So they had this one way glass (I think it was one way) and all the lions were near there resting and so the male like gets up and one of the female lions and procedes to do what they do, in front of a bunch of familys and people. It just really struck me as funny... There were quite a few blushes from some people.

So we had hit all the zoo except for two exhibits and it was time for our IMAX tickets to go, so we headed back to the entrance part of the zoo (quite the hike). We got back, just in time to have a fire alarm go off in the theater. When nobody moved, niether did we, and eventually they told us the building was not, in fact, burning down, and the alarm stopped and we watched Mystery of the Nile. It was pretty good. Kinda slow though, I ended up dozing off for 2 or three minutes right near the end. This was my first IMAX experience, and it was kinda cool, there were times when I felt like I was there on the nile.

Afterwards, we were preparing for the long hike back to the exhibits that we missed, and decided against it. Being hungry, and not being able to find any decent food (the cafe was closed) was probably the killer there. So we headed into the gift shop. I was hoping to buy a shot glass for my collection, but after searching high and low, none where to be found. So I ended up with a coffee mug. Shannon checked out a bunch of the stuffed animals and had trouble decided between two versions of white tigers...so I bought her both.

And we headed out to go to Arthur Bryant's BBQ for a very late lunch. So we headed south. It took forever to get there, espically since I thuoght it'd be a lot closer. But it is out next to the speed way. Finally we got there and we went in to eat.

So Arthur Bryant's BBQ's meat and fries were better, but their normal sauce was more what I would expect for something that you would put on your meat before serving, so a lot of it can grill off. It wasn't really like something you'd add afterwards. So it wasn't THAT good....however their meat was awesome, their fries were great and their Rich and Sassy Sauce was just freaking good. the portions were quite big. By the end of the meal I think we both wanted to enter a food coma.

So we were gonna head back to the hotel, and then we noticed that they had a Cabela's and they were doing a loggin competition type thing. They had two big logs standing up in the air for people to race up and down it and also did the water log run too. It was kinda cool. After we got bored, we headed back into town, and decided to go to the Boulevard Brewing Company and see if we could maybe sneak in for a tour. We got there (after getting lost) and it was true, tours have to be pre-arrianged, cause well...nobody was there. I took a few pictures and smelled the smell of beer being made and was happy with that for now.

Now getting back on the interstate to go back to the hotel was a trick. In KC they are working heavily on I35 and we had trouble finding a place where we could get on. So we drove around and took this long round about way to get going the right way. Finally after driving through some crappy neighborhoods, we found signs and got back on the interstate.

At the hotel, we had pretty much accomplished what we wanted to get done for the day, and after walking around the zoo we were both tired, and we were having trouble coming up with what we wanted to do next (I think neither of us really wanted to walk anymore) so finally we settled on a movie and went to see Monster-in-Law which I thought was gonna be awful, but Shannon wanted to see it, so I went along. I must say it was great, but there were parts of the movie that I couldn't help but laugh at. I didn't hate it, like I thought I would.

After the movie, we headed back to the hotel and went to bed. I watched a little part of Saturday Night Live before I went to bed (Queens of the Stoneage was the musical guest) and it was a Jeopardy paradoy and I love those...I couldn't stop laughing...so much so I think I woke up Shannon. After a bit I headed to bed.

Posted by SammyD at 2:15 PM | Comments (0)



Played from Friday May 13, 2005 to Sunday May 15, 2005.

Song Artist Album
Bandits Buck 65 This Right Here Is Buck 65
B. Sc. Buck 65 This Right Here Is Buck 65
Wicked And Weird Buck 65 This Right Here Is Buck 65
Centaur Buck 65 This Right Here Is Buck 65
Roses And Bluejays Buck 65 This Right Here Is Buck 65
Out Of Focus Buck 65 This Right Here Is Buck 65
Talking Fishing Blues Buck 65 This Right Here Is Buck 65
463 Buck 65 This Right Here Is Buck 65
Phil Buck 65 This Right Here Is Buck 65
Craftsmanship Buck 65 This Right Here Is Buck 65
Don't Walk Away Shawn McDonald Simply Nothing
Missing Beck Guero
Broken Drum Beck Guero
Emergency Exit Beck Guero
Beverly Hills Weezer Make Believe
Perfect Situation Weezer Make Believe
We Are All On Drugs Weezer Make Believe
Pardon Me Weezer Make Believe
My Best Friend Weezer Make Believe
Hold Me Weezer Make Believe
Peace Weezer Make Believe
Freak Me Out Weezer Make Believe
Haunt You Every Day Weezer Make Believe
Pants On Fire Buck 65 This Right Here Is Buck 65
Don't Stand So Close To Me '86 The Police Every Breath You Take
De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da The Police Every Breath You Take
Favorite Show MU330 Mu330
When The Tigers Broke Free Pink Floyd Echoes- The Best Of Pink Floyd - Disk 2
Peach Prince The Hits/The B-Sides (Disc 2)
Banana Mango Joe Satriani Time Machine
Switchblades And Infidelity Fall Out Boy Fall Out Boy's Evening Out With Your Girlfriend
11:11 Andrew Bird's Bowl Of Fire The Swimming Hour
Where The Streets Have No Name U2 Joshua Tree
Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man Björk Gling-Gló
Ocean Man Ween The Mollusk
The National Anthem Radiohead Kid A
Lost for Words Pink Floyd The Division Bell
All Apologies Nirvana MTV Unplugged in New York
Some Postman (Is Grooving) The Presidents of the United States of America Some Postman - EP
Sweet Home Alabama Lynyrd Skynyrd Forrest Gump (Disc 2)
Sell Out Reel Big Fish Turn Off the Radio
In My Life Johnny Cash American IV: The Man Comes Around
Not To Touch The Earth The Doors Waiting For The Sun
Radio Song R.E.M. Out of Time
Get Up Stand Up Bob Marley Legend
Freddie Freeloader Miles Davis Kind Of Blue
Myxamatosis Radiohead Hail to the Thief
I Want You Now Depeche Mode Music For The Masses
Jumpin' Jack Flash The Rolling Stones Forty Licks [Disc 1]
Just Getting Started Punchline Action
Night In Tunisia [Dizzy Gillespie] Various Artists Jazz Greatest Hits
2 + 2 = 5 Radiohead Hail to the Thief
I Will Play My Game Beneath The Spin Light Brand New Deja Entendu
Sovay Andrew Bird The Mysterious Production of Eggs
Pink Triangle Weezer Pinkerton
Time To Build The Beastie Boys To The 5 Boroughs
Hurt Johnny Cash American IV: The Man Comes Around
Sovay Andrew Bird Fingerlings 2
Head Like A Hole Nine Inch Nails Pretty Hate Machine
Close To Me The Cure Galore
Who Am I? (Whats My Name) Snoop Doggy Dogg Doggystyle
Get Rhythm Johnny Cash The Essential Johnny Cash
Wouldn't It Be Nice The Beach Boys Pet Sounds [Bonus Tracks]
Octopus's Garden The Beatles The Beatles - 1967-1970 (CD 2)
Every Breath You Take The Police Every Breath You Take
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds The Beatles Beatles 1967 - 1970
Redymade - Face The Day Various Artists Trance Europe Express - Teex CD 1 (Disc 1)
Magic mystery tour The Beatles Beatles 1967 - 1970
Ball Of Twine Manplanet Skylab EP
Ring Of Fire Johnny Cash The Essential Johnny Cash
Still D.R.E. Dr. Dre 2001
Someting Good (Edit) Various Artists Only for the Headstrong Vol II
We Want A Rock They Might Be Giants Flood
Bridge Over Troubled Water Simon & Garfunkel Bridge Over Troubled Water
Grace Is Gone Dave Matthews Band Busted Stuff
Ideal Woman William Shatner Has Been
Dance the Night Away Forces of Evil Friend or Foe?
The Real Slim Shady Eminem The Marshall Mathers LP
One Note Song Tenacious D Tenacious D
Brand New Song Reel Big Fish Why Do They Rock So Hard-
Five State Drive Less Than Jake Hello Rockview
Let's Spend The Night Together The Rolling Stones Forty Licks [Disc 1]
Testify Rage Against The Machine The Battle of Los Angeles
Even If You Don't Ween White Pepper
Original Sinsuality Tori Amos The Beekeeper Special Edition
How Do You Love? Collective Soul Youth
Mrs. Robinson Simon & Garfunkel Forrest Gump (Disc 1)
In My Head Queens Of The Stone Age Lullabies To Paralyze
Triple Trouble The Beastie Boys To The 5 Boroughs
Trip Like I Do The Crystal Method The Crystal Method
Pork Roll Egg And Cheese Ween The Pod
In The Fade Queens Of The Stone Age Rated R
Clones (we're all) Smashing Pumpkins BWBW Single
On My Way Home Enya Paint The Sky With Stars- The Best Of Enya
Eugene Andrew Birds's Bowl Of Fire Thrills
Without Me Eminem The Eminem Show
Danny Boy Johnny Cash American IV: The Man Comes Around
Magnetic North Less Than Jake Borders and Boundaries
7 Minutes In Heaven (Atavan Halen) Fall Out Boy From Under The Cork Tree
Nervous In The Alley Less Than Jake Hello Rockview
The Mollusk Ween The Mollusk
Second Chance Kemuri 77 Days
The Bells Are Ringing They Might Be Giants Factory Showroom
Cries A Girl Buck 65 This Right Here Is Buck 65
Robots One, Humans Zero Less Than Jake B Is For B-Sides
Clint Eastwood (Ed case re-mix) Gorillaz Gorillaz
Birdhouse In Your Soul They Might Be Giants Flood
God Only Knows (Stereo Mix) The Beach Boys Pet Sounds [Bonus Tracks]
Lightning Song Queens Of The Stone Age Rated R
Better Living Through Chemistry Queens Of The Stone Age Rated R
Stuff MU330 Live Oh Yeah!
Heart Transplant Punchline Action
Life Of A Salesman Yellowcard Ocean Avenue
The Lumberjack Song Monty Python The Monty Python Instant Record Collection
I Slept With Someone In Fall Out Boy And All I Got Was This Stupid Song Written About Me Fall Out Boy From Under The Cork Tree
Fight Test The Flaming Lips Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
Tune Me Out MU330 Live Oh Yeah!
Why Pt.2 Collective Soul 7even Year Itch: Collective Soul Greatest Hits 1994-2001
Helena My Chemical Romance Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge
G Funk Intro Snoop Doggy Dogg Doggystyle
The World I Know Collective Soul 7even Year Itch: Collective Soul Greatest Hits 1994-2001
Blink 182 - Anthem Part Two Blink-182 Take Off Your Pants and Jacket
Hold Me Now The Thompson Twins The Best Of Thompson Twins - Greatest Mixes
Pascal Device-Hydro Base Various Artists Technomancer 2
Rhinoceros Smashing Pumpkins Lull
Farewell To John Denver Monty Python The Monty Python Instant Record Collection
Come Together The Beatles 1
The Science of Selling Yourself Short Less Than Jake Anthem
Blue in Green Miles Davis Kind Of Blue
Dreams of Our Fathers Dave Matthews Band Everyday [Australia Bonus Live CD] (1 of 2)
Principles Of Lust - A. Sadeness B. Find Love C. Sadeness (Reprise) Enigma MCMXC A.D.
I Can't Explain The Who My Generation
50 pieces Andrew Birds's Bowl Of Fire Thrills
Richard Allen George... No, It's Just Cheez Less Than Jake Hello Rockview
Cafe Europa Deep Forest Boheme
Hang 'Em High My Chemical Romance Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge
What's On My Mind The Cranberries Bury The Hatchet
Godlovesugly Atmosphere God Loves Ugly
Here Today The Beach Boys Pet Sounds [Bonus Tracks]
Stoned Dido Life For Rent
Don't Be Scared Andrew Bird Weather Systems
Trepak (Russian Dance) P.I. Tchaikovsky Mad About Tchaikovsky
God Only Knows The Beach Boys Sounds Of Summer
Wildflowers Tom Petty Wildflowers
Orinoco Flow Enya Watermark
Hot in Herre Nelly Nellyville
Evenflow Pearl Jam Ten
Turn Collective Soul Blender
Friend of The Devil Grateful Dead The Best Of Skeletons From The Closet
Harm Of Will Björk Vespertine
Devil Went Down To Georgia Johnny Socko Johnny Socko
Somebody Depeche Mode Some Great Reward
Work That Guitar (Bobby Told Me) Johnny Socko Johnny Socko
Cabin Essence Brian Wilson Smile
Counting The Days Collective Soul Youth
(What's Your) Angle? Andrew Bird's Bowl Of Fire Oh! The Grandeur.
When I Don't Know My Name Grubby Ernie Grubby Ernie
What I Got Sublime Sublime
From Tha Chuuuch To Da Palace Snoop Dogg Paid Tha Cost To Be Da Bo$$
Pinch Me Barenaked Ladies Maroon
My Peaceful Hell DJ Swamp Never Is Now
The World's Gone Mad Handsome Boy Modeling School Feat. Del The Funky Homosapien, Barrington Levy & Alex Kapranos White People

Posted by SammyD at 1:40 PM | Comments (0)



No that I believe in any of the crap, but it was still Friday the Thirteenth when we left so, you know, it did maybe add a bit of an edge to it.

I was ready to go before I told Shannon I'd call, so I sat down and played some video games and caught up on my email and comics and etc. So I called Shannon around 10 and she wasn't quite ready, but I headed over so that she could pack some things into the second half of my suitcase (pillow, video camera, beauty products, etc).

So we headed out...and while we were on our way out, Shannon realized she forgot her sunglasses so we ran back to get them. I forgot a comb, so we stopped at Drug Town and picked up a comb for me and drinks for us. And then we were on the road.

The music started off with Bandits by Buck 65 cause I hadn't finished rating a few of the new stuff that I had gotten. And we went on from there. For the first part of the drive, Shannon studied for her Vet Tech Boards (for Iowa, she's passed her Nationals), and I drove along. At around noon we stopped off at a Subway by the interstate and had a nice lunch. We also just beat a huge rush that followed us in. The parking lot of the subway was under construction and large chuncks of it were torn up.

So for the next part of the trip, we played 20 questions...until Shannon got a bit tired of how I was answering the questions (yes I admit that it was a bit misleading). And by that time we were just outside Kansas City. So we took I453 around the city and headed to our hotel in Overland Park. this is quite far away from her friend, but it was very centrally located for the other places where we wanted to go. At the hotel, there were Geese chilling in the road and grass around the hotel.

We Checked in.

We took all our stuff up to our room on the 3rd floor. The bed was firm (too firm) the couch wasn't the most comfy. The thing that kinda bothered me is that they had free wireless access and here I was without lappy. Oh well...I guess it's ok to get away from the computer from time to time.

So the first place we headed was Country Club Plaza. The directions we had there were a bit confusing and we did get lost on the way there, but once we found it, it wasn't too bad. We parked and then we headed to look at the stores. We wondered back and forth taking pictures of the buildings and art work. We'd ocassionaly go into stores to look around. We even went into a few stores where I don't even think that we could afford anything in them. They even had a Bang and Olufsen store where I drooled heavly. We also looked at crystal figureines and other things. It was nice. At around 5 or so we headed back to the hotel so Shannon could get ready to meet her friend Penny.

After a bit we took the short route over to Gates BBQ. Even leaving what I thought would be late, we were still early, since the place was so close to our hotel. We got there, took some pictures and then walked around to see an Animal hospital around the bend. It was a nice walk. We headed back and eventually Penny and her Fiancé showed up. So we went in and after waiting a bit in line, we were greated by a very loud "MAY I HELP YOU!". So I ordered a Turkey Sandwhich and Shannon had beef, and I moved a long and got the 3 types of sauces that they had.

So dinner was good, and the sauces were good. Shannon and Penny caught up and her fiancé and I pretty much sat around and listened to them talk. I kept an eye on the line to see if It died down, so I could buy some BBQ sauce, but it took a long time for it to do so. So when the line finally died down, I jumped up and bought some sauce, only to have a mass of people that wanted to order show up and get in line to order. They did a quick business all night long.

So the Food. The food was pretty good. The meat was pretty well cooked and tender. The fries were crisp and still had the skins on (which I like) and the suaces were yummy. And it was all relatively inexpensive. So I'd go again.

Penny told Shannon to be expecting a wedding invitation, and noticed the glum look on my face where, trying to convince me that I wanted to go, she mentioned beer (meh), and then brought out that it was gonna be a redneck-mexician wedding (her words not mine), and that, in and of it self, has convinced me that it would be worth going to just on the mere possible entertainment factor.

So after Shannon and Penny were all caught up, we said our good byes and they headed off and we headed back to the hotel. We stopped on the way back at the Dick Clark's American Bandstand Bar and Grill to have dessert. We had this brownie ice cream tower thing (I forget it's name) and between the two of us, we devoured it pretty quickly. I picked up a shot glass and we again started to go back to the hotel. On the way there, Shannon wanted to head off a headache and some aches and pains, so we headed beyond our hotel and ended up at a Wal-Mart to buy some Ibuprofin.

We finally made it back to the hotel and we got ready for and went to bed.

Posted by SammyD at 12:35 PM | Comments (0)



May 15, 2005

560 miles driven (the most for my car in a three day span)
247 pictures taken (thanks again Dutty!)
140 (or so, can't tell for sure without finangling my ipod into connecting with lappy) songs played on the iPod.
5 bottles of BBQ sauce
4 shot glasses
2 stuffed white tigers
1 white tiger mug
1 cat toy

I took notes so I can remember all the things we did (yeah I know, I'm lame). We both had a good time, we both are still alive and talking to each other :) It also gave us a chance to talk about some things on my mind, and her mind. We're talking about Christmas stuff and things....mmmm...future.

So there have been a lot of changes going on in my life and it's been tough for me. I've never been one that goes to change really quickly. But between work, Shannon, friends, and all this medical crap going on, I'm having trouble keeping up (I think it's the medical stuff). The whole CPAP mask thing I still haven't done and I'm not doing it tonight either. I'm tired during the day, sure, but not exausted and the idea of wearing a mask for the rest of my life is just obscene. I've got a while between (about a month) now and my follow up appointment about my sleep study. So so far, it's a pill, change in diet (low sodium, high potassium), blood pressure monitor, CPAP, and I suspect I'll be getting another pill on Friday.

Anyhoo it's late, and I'm tired.

Posted by SammyD at 11:32 PM | Comments (0)



May 13, 2005

So I left work a little early and headed down to Iowa Health Home Care to pick up my CPAP machine. So they told me how to use it, how to clean it and all that. It was interesting. Apprently, my insurance company is renting it, and at some point they will buy it for me, if I use it long enough.

I am still not sold on the idea.

There are things that I have to wash daily, things that I need to do twice weekly and things I need to do monthly. The care for the machine is...well...quite annoying it seems like it will be alot. I have decided to forgo starting this weekend and wait for the struggle til monday.

So after I did some things at home, Shannon and I ran a few erreds, picked up Dusty's Camera to use (better quality pics, bigger memory card then mine, Thanks Dutty!. And headed back here to plan out the rest of our trip to the Kansas City. We printed off maps, wrote some email to Shannon's friend down there and just got kind of ready.

I kinda never thought that I would be the kind of guy to go on weekend trips, but I guess I am. And we'll see how things go.

Next weekend, we head back to Cedar Rapids to see her Nephew in a dance recital.

I have thoughts rolling around in my head, but they are all good, some of them are about timing, some are about work, and some are about reaction.

Posted by SammyD at 12:32 AM | Comments (0)



May 12, 2005

So on my way home from work yesterday, I stopped by Peeples Music to pick up the new Weezer album Make Believe, and while I was there I also got Beck's new one, Guero, and further in my wanderings I also found a Buck 65's This Right Here Is.... So...more then I went in there for, but that's not too bad.

So when Shannon got home, I headed over there so I could at least see her for a little bit before I headed down to Iowa Lutheran Hospital for the sleep study.

I got there, Signed in and headed up to the 3rd floor. Iowa Lutheran Hospital is much less confusing then Iowa Methodist Medical Center, cause it's smaller and doesn't have near as many confusing pathways to get places.

So I got a bunch of sensors placed on my head and then the sleep tech was gonna come back around 11 to hook up the last of the stuff. So if at a point during the night I had crossed the threshold of having sleep apnea, then they'd hook me up to the CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) machine and see if they could ge the level adjusted to be right.

So around 11 or so I get the rest of the hookups (26 in all, 1 for each leg, one to check the oxygen level in my blood (which was an infrared light attached to my finger, probably the coolest monitor), one to monitor my breathing, two to monitor my heart, a band around my chest, a band around my stomach, and a bunch on my head), So it was vaguely like having a wiring board hooked up to me. and I lie down. I read for a bit, call that I'm gonna go to sleep and then try to go to sleep.

She wanted me to sleep on my back if I could (I don't usually sleep on my back), and I tried, but eventually I rolled over on my side and went to sleep. No I think I dreamed about having trouble going to sleep cause she woke me up and I thought that I was having trouble sleeping...

Apprently I come close to waking up every 15-30 minutes, because the oxygen levels in my blood dropped very low. So she came to put the CPAP machine on me.

So this is kinda how it works. They put this mask over your nose, and you are only supposed to breathe through your nose (keep your mouth closed). Then it's hooked to a vacuum like thing that holds the air pressure at a certain level (by pushing air into your lungs, so the pathway is forced to remain open. Basically it's easy to breathe in, but harder to breathe out.

It felt like air was going in my tummy and a little out through my ears, but didn't really hurt, just felt weird. I told her that it felt like a monster was trying to eat my face (I was barely awake). It was more like a moster trying to blow air down my nose.

I'm really hoping that this isn't the only option, cause I don't wanna wear this thing every night. I know it'll probably let me sleep better, and it will certainly stop or greatly reduce the snoring. The docotor I had my initial consultation with said that surgical remedys only had a 30% success rate, but considering I have an example of a person in my family that something similar worked on, wouldn't it be at least something to try? This certainly makes it near impossible to go camping or anywhere I won't have and outlet to plug in my machine.

I will admit that I do feel more rested then I normally do.

Posted by SammyD at 9:23 AM | Comments (0)



May 10, 2005

So Shannon was over doing laundry, and I headed downtown to a Des Moines Music Coalition meeting. The next meeting is where they actually vote for board members and all that, so they are kind ramping up for it.

Since Youth Incentives is done for the summer, I've decided to take a more active role and we'll see where it takes me.

Posted by SammyD at 10:28 PM | Comments (0)



May 9, 2005

So over this weekend Shannon and I talked about where we were gonna put her things. And everytime we talked about it I'm get this initial reaction of not wanting to change (I've never been one to desire change to much) the way things are. I've got my house the way I want. But then again, it's not that bad. Maybe putting my HomeStar Runner things with my other little toys upstairs, maybe moving pictures from the living room to the dining room, that sort of thing. It does force me to do things that I should've done a long time ago (clean out my closets) cause I'll be giving up half my closet space (yeah I use all four closets upstairs). She likes things a bit tidier then I do, not that I'm a slob by any means of the word, so I cleaned up my coaster collection and put most of them away. Now there is only a stack of around 10 or so of relatively uniform size and shape. This made her very happy. So there are just things that I have compromise on.

There still are things that she jokes about that she wants to add to the place (yesterday she joked about adding a garden gnome) and that's one of the reason why she is making this easier. Cause she jokes about it. It makes other things that are a little tougher to take, easier.

So my Dad's email about the whole moving in thing was very well written, and it really comes down to a few things. He thinks that building a long term relationship is based more on trust and commitment to each other and there are certainly a few things in the text that I agree with. Certainly my parent's loving relationship is what I do base most of my thoughts about marriage on. They've been married for thrity some odd years and still are very happy together. Shannon and I have talked about engagement, marriage, who we would invite, where it would be...at least all in theory now. There are no plans to hop along to the next whim that passes by. We are commited to each other. We both make efforts to make things work better for each other (example of snoring, organizing things, making space for her, her watching my salt intake, etc).

As it stands right now, I'll either go over to her house or she'll come over to mine every weekday evening and she'll usually spend the weekend at my place. So the biggest change will be that she'll be sleeping over 5-6 more times a week and won't have to lug her laundry to and from my place once a week. Financially it'll be better for the both of us, her contribution will be significantly less then what it costs her to live where she is at now, and it will also allow me to have more capital free on a month to month basis and also pay more to my financial obligations (house, school loans, car, although most of the extra money will go to 2nd mortgage). We like spending time together, and we've talked about the need for personal space from time to time (getting lost in a book, etc). I know most of these are purely practical reasons, but I don't like to say good bye to her at night either. Finding just the sillyest littlest excuse just to stay 5 minutes longer (Oh no! the door's locked! I guess I can't go. Rats!).

Am I trying to justify it to those who don't necessarily like the route that my life may have taken...well...maybe, but not entirely. I still think that my life is still basically on the path of good (if there is such a thing). I try to be honest with my friends and family and others (although I know I just avoid certain subjects with family cause they can be touchy). I do good things, from taking this guy that was limping down the road to the Mercy Clinic to talk to his wife, to donating my time, efforts, money and/or links to causes that I believe in (Youth Incentives, Des moines Music Coalition, EFF, etc).

Posted by SammyD at 10:05 AM | Comments (0)



May 8, 2005

So Friday, Shannon comes over and we're going to head over to a Des Moines Music Coalition BBQ with some of the big wigs of it, which includes Jen. So we headed over, and apprently because of lack of interest it was cancelled. So we all headed back to Casa de Sam.

On the way over, we called a few people to invite them over (we forgot a few people too, sorry Courtie, Chris, and Holly). I fired up the grill and put on the burgers and we had a nice old fashion grill out. More people show up, more sides, more meat, more fun. I thik over the night, Dave and ...uh...his friend who I can't bring up her name right, but she's been here before, Chris, holly, Jen, Dusty, Josh, Ryan, a couple of Josh's friends. So people are packing up to go...and there is 3 or 4 half eaten bags of chips, and 1.5 cans of pringles left from what people brought over, so I have people take it away! One of the benifits of having a party is the leftovers...but I couldnt' keep those around, cuase i know I'd eat them. Oh well...I think dusty and ryan took them.

So the next day, I clean. Bathrooms, kitchen, some sweeping all that good stuff. Throw some stuff away. I get a call from Jen and an push to go to the Asian Cultural Festival at Waterworks park. So I call and remind Shannon of the time frame (left a message) and continue to clean.

Around 3:15 or so Shannon calls and says she's ready, so I uh...not being ready and being all sweaty from cleaning, head to get my self cleaned. After all that I made sure to coat on the sunscreen, not only for my normal burning self, but my now extra light sensative self (thanks drugs!), just for the protection.

I went and got Shannon and headed to Waterworks park. We walk over, and wander around, see things (food vendors, crafts, martial arts displays, dancing, etc), eventually meet up with Jen, and a bit later with a friend of Jen's. We look for food, but Shannon and I decided, instead, to head out and get some food at a sit down place. So we headed over to this little chineese resturant by where I work...which was good, since I got paged and need to acutally go look at something at work. So after stopping by, giving Shannon a quick tour of my office, we headed back and watched some Japaneese style drummers (they weren't actually japaneese, they were from Minnesota). It was pretty cool. Fun, rythmic. It ended around 7 so Jen headed off, and Shannon and I headed home. With not big plans for the evening, we ended up watching 50 First Dates and going to bed relatively early. I am looking forward to this upcoming weekend where I get to spend the entire time with her.

We woke up in the morning and I made us some Ham, bacon and cheese omlettes (yes I know, all have salt, but I got all this food left). And then got ready for the day, and headed over to Shannon's to feed her kitties and then headed over to Drake to see Holly and the Des Moines Community Orchesta. It was good. They had a marimba part and that was really pretty cool.

I called my parents (my mom) for mother's day and left a message and then talked to them for a while when they retuned my call. I cooked pasta, and caught up with my parents.

So...here's the whoopsy. Even though most people I know knew what I did in my early college, I did tell my parents, I did warn them but the did wanna know. And that's fine. It's a part of my life.

Anyhoo...I've been more label conscious and lots of things I eat are very high in sodium, which I guess means I get to make more things from scratch...which is more time, but will probably end up tasting better. I don't exactly know what to do until I run out of all this stuff I have...but I guess i'll just be more careful replacing the stuff that I buy. And eat more things with potassium in it.

Posted by SammyD at 11:32 PM | Comments (0)



May 6, 2005

I guess I'm now the proud owner of a blood pressure monitor. So that way I can take readings of my own blood pressure. Whee! So now, unlike other years where I have to burn through my flexable spending, I'm buzzing right along in getting it spent.

Oh well...at least it's pre-tax.

Posted by SammyD at 5:49 PM | Comments (0)



So I went to the doctor this morning, and I came out with just slightly lower blood pressure, and suggestion to keep loosing weight and the urge to add more Potassium and less salt to my diet.

Potassium Rich (good) Salty (bad)
Bran Flakes
Other Flakes
Oatmeal
Wheat Germ
White Bread
Whole Wheat Bread
Boston Brown Bread
Graham Crackers
Beets, canned
Carrots, grated
celery, raw
radishes
Spinach, raw
Tomatoes, raw
Tomato Juice, Canned
Almons, cashews, brazil, peanuts (unsalted)
beef
turkey
avocado
Apricots
banana
blackberries
cantaloupe
dates
figs
fruit cocktail
grapefruit
oranges
peach
prunes
raisins
strawberries
sherbet
buttermilk
skim milk
whole milk 		Asparagus
sauerkraut
spinach
beans with pork
lima beans (canned)
snap beans (canned)
sweet corn (canned)
mushrooms (canned)
peas (canned)
peas (frozen)
Almonds
cashews
peanuts
Olives, green
olives, ripe
cheddar Cheese, processed
swiss cheese
margarine
Saltines
Pretzels
rye wafers
popcorn
potato chips
corned beef
bacon
ham
sausage
frankfurter
salt pork
liverwurst
pork sausage
dried codfish
crabs (canned or cooked)
salmon (canned)
sardines (canned)
tuna (canned)
any packaged food not labeled low salt
any canned soup
soup at a resturant

So yeah...some of my favorite things are on the side of things I probably shouldn't eat or at least cut back on. But Frozen peas? come on...their peas!

So I've got my sleep study next week. And the following week another Doctor's appointment. The doc wanted me to check my blood pressure at home so I now kinda have to go out and buy the blood pressure thingy. So time to do some research on the internet!

Posted by SammyD at 9:42 AM | Comments (0)



May 4, 2005

So I went to Iowa Radiology today. And they did an ultrasound on the blood vessels around my kidneys and my bladder. mmm...my belly got all Gelified. It was glorious. God I hate that stuff...it's so...ewww...

Anyhoo...other then my sleep study next week, that's the last of my tests. I go to the doc on Friday to get another blood pressure reading (after about a week of being on the blood pressure meds) and probably to get the results of my tests.

Fun fun...So I'm just kinda hanging in the air right now. there was no "Oh my!"'s during the scanning so I'm probably ok...We'll see I guess.

Posted by SammyD at 6:15 PM | Comments (0)



May 3, 2005

Two Credit Cards Cancelled!

Now begins the hunt to replace the primary and the secondary credit card...or at least the primary.

They haven't been too hapy to see me go, but...well...screw them.

Posted by SammyD at 3:54 PM | Comments (0)



So, I headed down to Iowa Methodist Medical Center cause that's where my initial appiontment at Iowa Heart was. So after wandering around for a bit not knowing where they were, for sure, I finally called them, and found out that I was going in entirely the wrong direction. Oh well... So I ran my way back up to where they were at, and got setup.

So I was taken back into another room, where they had a treadmill and I was thinking, if they want me to run on that, they probably should've told me that, since I was wearing business casual clothes. They didn't. I got hooked up to some electrodes to monitor my heart and then had this cold jelly covered ultrasound device take pictures of my heart. I was mostly turned away from the display, so I didn't get to see what my insides looked like to much. She pressed pretty hard around my chest and stomach and I think I may actually have a bruise cause of it. Oh well... So after about 30 minutes or so she got done, I put on my shirt and headed back to work.

Later that day I headed down Iowa Methodist Medical Center again for my second appointment at Iowa Lung. This one was just a consultation before my sleep study. The few things I learned are that I have a very narrow air passage (which probably explains the really loud snoring), and that surgery isn't very effective in treating sleep apnia (if that is what I have). I also got my blood pressure read, and it was...well...I can't remember, but the second number was like 40 points lower...so that's good. So he sent me off with a sleeping pill (in case I can't sleep during the sleep study).

So I headed home, and spent the evening with Shannon, which made up for the rest of the day of being scoped listened to and prodded.

So...I did recieve that email from my Dad, and I have read it, but want to read it again a time or two to make sure I know how to think about it.

Today is Shannon and my 4 month anniversery! We'll be celebrating tonight by mowing the lawn and doing her laundry! Woo...we're way exciting people.

Tomarrow is my Grandma's (my Dad's mother) 83rd birthday. She's probably one of the best cooks I've ever known and a really cool Grandma. I'm glad she's still around. I need to go visit her.

Posted by SammyD at 1:35 PM | Comments (0)



May 1, 2005

So after spending the evening with Shannon and going to Biaggi's, I met up with Dusty, Ryan, Adam, Tiffany, Jen and Josh to see The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Apprently, I was more tired then I thought I was, cause I fell asleep for a few bits of it. This upset me, but not too much, since I was planning on going to see it with Shannon. After it, I went home and went to bed.

Saturday, I got up and spent a long time cleaning. Most of it was just sorting and filing, and categorizing. It was a very boring very long day. But I did get most of the things in my basement office sorted and put away...at least to some of it. So I got a call from Shannon and she headed over and I headed into the shower. We headed to J Benjammins for dinner, which was pretty darn good. After coming home, we headed out to the way south of town area, to go to a party for a co-worker of mine. She was turning 30. The party wasy fairly busy, and I saw someone I used to work with, and Matt and Kelly there (eventually). I t was an ok time. Her house is a lot futher south of time then I thought it would be. She has really butiful floors and tables. Nice big open kitchen, with lots of cubbord space.

We came back here and slept. And the ear plugs that I bought did help Shannon sleep better, so that's good. We got ready for the day and while Shannon was finishing up, I played some video games. We headed down to the Waveland Cafe to eat, which, again, proved to be very yummy. We headed out to her apartment to feed her kitties and then the mall to watch The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Which, after missing some important parts before, was really quite nice. We went grocery shopping (for me) and headed back here. We ordered the new Taco Pizza from Papa John's, which is good, not the best, but good. I talked to my parents a bit. I found out my oldest sister and brother in law, have found a new home in Ogden. I told them about my medical visits. I also told them that Shannon is moving in...which went over just about as well as I thought it would and I'm expecting an email with my father's opinion on the matter. Around 11 or so, Shannon headed back to her place.

Happy May Day...or what's left of it.

Posted by SammyD at 11:23 PM | Comments (0)


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