Browsing March 2008

Feeding the Meter

Sunday 03.30.2008 06:24PM

I have been encouraged lately by seeing groups of people organizing to help others in the community. It reinforces my belief that the majority of people in the world are quite generous.

In the last several months, some friends and I have met together to brainstorm things we can do around Indianapolis. Instead of reinventing the wheel, the group currently serves as a clearinghouse of ideas and events we can participate in. We call it Feeding the Meter, which is based on the idea of going down the street putting money in all of the parking meters; a simple pay it forward action. The link above is to our Google Group, where most of the communication takes place. Feel free to join in the discussion.

Speaking of “paying it forward”, another group recently restarted: The Pay it Forward Meetup. I went to the first meeting and there were about 10 people there, with a variety of interests and passions. It, too, seems to be a clearinghouse of things to get involved with. As mentioned, it's encouraging to see so many people getting together to help. It also shows me that sometimes we just need an idea of “where to start” and groups like this give the opportunity to join in with like-minded people.

An event that I discovered recently and decided to participate in is Homeward Bound Indiana. This project is a series of walk-a-thons throughout the state that raise money for affordable housing and homeless service providers. Since 2003, they have raised nearly 2 million dollars for over 90 different agencies.

I have started up a team with the goal of recruiting 10 walkers and raising $1000. This works out to each walker raising $100, which I think is a reasonable goal. Please consider joining our team or donating. Keep in mind these are goals and not requirements – you're welcome to join us no matter what amount you raise, and 10 is not a cap on the number that can join us. Every dollar counts and the more people the merrier! The 5K walk is on Sunday April 27, 2008, 2pm - 3:30pm at University Park in Indianapolis.

Here is the list of agencies our team's fund raising will be supporting (total amount split among them):

April 27, 2008 2–3:30pm – Homeward Bound Indiana– at 300 N Meridian St, Indianapolis, IN (University Park)
5K Walk-a-Thon raising money to provide housing and fight homelessness in Indiana.

This hCalendar event brought to you by the hCalendar Creator.

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Health update

Thursday 03.06.2008 12:57AM

Overall: alive.

++ In January I had another echocardiogram, this time with an exercise stress test. I have not been exercising much over the winter, so I was out of shape and the treadmill wiped me out. The result was “normal”, which means an ejection fraction of about 55-60%. When I initially left the hospital it was 20-25%, a month later it was 40-45% – so this is very good news, meaning my heart is recovering and working well.

++ The other week I met with my neurologist. The results of my EEG were normal, which I guess means I still have something like a brain up there. I have been on an anti-spasmodic prescription because I did have a seizure during the event. Since the EEG looks good, I have no prior history of seizures, and it's been 8 months, they're starting to slowly take me off of that. As long as I'm responding well and there are no problems in April, they will take me off it completely. She did advise me to be more careful about driving distances, and if I notice any symptoms, including staring - like zoning out for a bit. These aren't very likely, but are possible, so let me know if you see me zone out. :)

-- I have shingles on the left side of my face. I had a bit of lymph node pain the middle of last week and started to notice a small blotch on my cheek on Friday, but did not think much of it until over the weekend I realized it was a rash of some sort. I should have gone to immediate care on Saturday, but oh well. I went to my doctor on Monday and they got me on some Valtrex (yeah, har har. Shingles is in the herpes virus family). Thankfully, there hasn't been a lot of pain associated with it so far and hopefully it will clear up soon. There is a bit of reaction on my eardrum. There is a risk of Bell's palsy if that were infected, but currently it's looking good, so that should not be a problem. If sharp ear pain develops, I'll see the ear doctor again and we'll go from there.

-- Most likely I got shingles because my immune system was weakened about a month ago by the flu, which hit me for about 5 days despite the vaccination (aside: I've heard this round of vaccination has a rather poor 40% rate of effectiveness).

So yeah, that's the health update. Overall, pretty good, but the last month or two, not so great with the flu and shingles. I think my body has just decided to get all the typically “older” health issues over with now, so when I'm 40+ I can be fit as a fiddle and not worry about them. :)


It is pretty crazy how many medicines I'm on at this age.

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Happy 303

Monday 03.03.2008 06:31PM

Back in the good 'ole days, this was a closely guarded secret. Now, in the good new days, it's not so much. Let's just say that... security was breached. It is still fun, though, and thus I share:

Circa mid-nineties, when I was in high school, my friends Tim and Andrew (I believe; correct me if I'm wrong) were responsible for coining the phrase “303.” It was clever because saying “303” among your friends drew less attention and was easier than saying “Wow!” when some hottie came by. It was cool (well, okay, to us *) because it was derived by holding your hands with your thumbs touching and your index fingers touching. It kind of looks like “wow”; 3 fingers on your left hand, an O in the middle, and then 3 fingers on your right hand. Thus, 303. It was even cooler* because it worked by addition, too. 2 pretty girls? 606. 3? 909. Ad infinitum.

So yes, we were known to toss around “303” or occasionally make the hand sign when appropriate.

Years later, after the secret was leaked and the female populace became familiar with it (via The Mothership; that's another post entirely), there was a surprise party that I was planning and I did not even realize it fell on 3/03. Sheryl, Lindsay, and Ronda did, though, and made a “Happy 3/03” cake, which was pretty awesome. I might have pictures of it around here, somewhere.

So, that's the summary of “303”, and why March 3rd is 1000 times better than Valentine's Day.

Happy 3/03!

303

The sign. Did it open up your eyes? Yes, I framed it this way on purpose.

* and to those who aspired to be as cool as us. what!? we weren't socially awkward at all!

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