School is in Session

It had to happen I guess...school is back in session and once again I have to earn my monthly paycheck. I'm teaching the same schedule I had last semester so shouldn't be a difficult semester other than the analysis and design class. It's not my favorite subject nor a topic of great interest to me. The other classes I teach are more enjoyable and deal with IS topics I enjoy more.

The building project is still progressing slowly. The weather here has turned fairly cold so the painting has been put on hold for a few days until it warms up some. The HVAC guys are slowly working on getting the heating system in place so that I can turn it on and have heat for these cold days. I am also still waiting for some steel siding for the large hangar door. Once the insulation and steel siding is in place the building will be completely closed in and be able to maintain a set temperature (without breaking the bank). After that, I won't be as dependent on the outside temps for interior jobs such as painting and final trim work. I see progress but it sure is slow going.

Another item of potential interest is facebook. After years of hearing about it from my students I decided to check it out. I just assumed it was for college kids since that was where and how it started. I kept getting emails from friends of mine from my Morrison Academy days telling me to join, so I finally did. It's crazy, there are tons of Morrison alumni and I have caught up with people I haven't heard from in years. So, I'm not completely sold on all of it's merits it has been pretty cool catching up with so many folks from my childhood. So, if nothing else it will serve as a good contact channel for arranging reunions and meeting up with people as we travel around the world. One of the things that "normal" Americans learn pretty quickly about MKs is that when you tell us to "drop by", we probably will, even if you live half way around the world from us and never really expect to see us. It really is a small world after all.

Building Progress 17

Here are some pictures of the hangar project. The top 2 pictures are of the living room wall that I had done in brick (with TN flagstone inset). The other 3 pictures are of the tile in the master bathroom.

Hospital Visit

While on my Paris trip I noticed my right leg swelling with some bruising around the calf area. Each night I elevated it and the swelling would go down but the leg stayed pretty warm. Anyway after a few days it pretty mush returned to normal so didn't think much about it when I went in Monday for a checkup. The doctor started asking questions and eventually asked about my legs and any swelling. I told him that when I got to Paris I noticed some swelling but it seemed to be pretty normal now. To make a long story fairly short...they did an ultrasound on my leg and discovered "an issue". The good news from the checkup is that my cholesterol was back down below 200 (it had crept up to 211 last checkup) and my HDLs were up and LDLs were down, the bad news was that I had a DVT (blood clot). We assume it happened on the long flight across the pond (sitting still for 9 straight hours).

The result was that I had to check in to the hospital for a few days for them to get my blood clotting level to the proper range to help the body rid itself of clots. I started on coumadin and expect to stay on it for the next 4 months or so while my body takes care of the blood clot. So I have to be careful of vitamin K intake (try to keep it fairly consistent) and watch out for any excessive bleeding. Thankfully I still have a few days before classes start so it didn't interfere with my job.