Month: November 2003

Them are some ol’ fishies!

First, there was the fish in San Francisco that is 65. They were claiming prize of oldest fish. But it turns out there’s one in Chicago that is even older.

On a related note, my annoying and old goby in my fish tank finally died. He was too big to flush down the toilet, but it was nice to get rid of him as he’s eaten most of the new fish we’ve tried to get. He was just such a pretty (and valuable) fish that we were trying to sell/trade him, but found no takers. Oh well … at least we can get some other fish in there, and just hope the ropefish won’t chew on them.

November 21, 2003

This town’s getting too big

This is why I’m starting to get annoyed with Central Oregon’s growth. The population in Bend in the last year gained nearly 9% — up 5,150. So we’re up to about 63,000. That amount of growth in one year is insane. Only one city in Oregon grew by more people: Portland went up 6,960, which is only a 1% increase for Portland. That’s scary to me that the biggest city in the state is the only one to get more people. Percentage-wise, Central Oregon exploded with Redmond (8.3%) and Sisters (32.4% — yes, you read that right) sitting on top of the charts as well. Full story.

But that PSU Study also showed that, while we gained nearly 7,000 in the major cities in Deschutes county, the county’s population only went up by 4,000. Huh? Yes, it’s a confusing mess, and, needless to say, the County and PSU are looking into the disparity.

November 21, 2003

Anybody got $1000 to get rid of?

Because that’s how much money I need to pay for the MRI I need for my back/leg pain. I went to the doctor earlier today, and all indications point to a disk problem (herniated or slipped) in my back. My back pain isn’t bad, but my leg pain is. And from everything I understand, an MRI runs between $800-1000. But they can’t decide whether to go the physical therapy route or surgery route until they get the MRI.

Luckily my doctor was pretty good about trying to save costs. He’s not going to bring me back to the office unless surgery is required. he’ll just call with the results. He only took the bare minimum amount of x-rays, and he gave me samples of the one of the drugs he prescribed so I wouldn’t have to pay for any. He also is using a radiology place that has better payment plans than the more popular place in town, so at least he’s being helpful in that way.

But, certainly, if anybody (or any company) our there has an extra grand to get rid of, I’d like to talk to them. jake at utterlyboring dot com. Hell, e-mail me and I’ll even give you my home phone number, if you’re serious. I’ll even post a permanent button to your site here, if you’d like.

OK, gotta go take my pain meds. I’ll try to blog later.

November 20, 2003

Two Hours and 15 minutes later, we finally have power back

I had been sitting here trying to get some work done, but my laptop battery sucks, and you can’t get much done without an Internet connection. Two hours and 15 minute later, we finally got it back. Apparently it was concentrated in a couple-block radius around my house, as when we called Pacific Power, they didn’t give us a very high number. When we called after the second hour had passed, they didn’t seem to know about any outages. So we reported ours (after checking the breakers) and things turned back on after another 15 minutes.

The wind is Bend is blowing hard today, which is the reason behind the outage. I guess gusts were hitting nearly 80 MPH in town, and I believe it. I have yet to go outside and check out the damage, now that things are calming down (only about 25 MPH now). Granted, I don’t think I can make it off the couch, so nevermind.

November 19, 2003

This umbrella’s going where the sun don’t shine

I’m not anti or pro war, but I am anti obnoxious protestors. You have your rights, and I have mine, which reminds me of this joke I got via email:

To nobody’s surprise there were protestors today in DC, they attempted to disrupt the metro system and block the Key Bridge, a leading artery into DC from Northern Virginia. I got hosed twice because I come in from NoVA on the metro and it is raining hard which makes traffic worse any way. My commute was long and arduous and only caused further resentment for protestors (but that isn’t the point of this thread). Anyway, I’ll get to the point.

I got off the train in Rosslyn because I had to use the bathroom and the train was moving quite slowly. When I was getting back on the train, there were protestors on the train platform handing out pamphlets on the evils of America. I politely declined to take one.

An elderly woman was behind me getting off the escalator and a young (20ish) female protestor offered her a pamphlet, which she politely declined. The young protestor put her hand on the old woman’s shoulder as a gesture of friendship and in a very soft voice said, “Ma’am, don’t you care about the children of Iraq?”

The old woman looked up at her and said, “Honey, my first husband died in France during World War II so you could have the right to stand here and bad mouth your country. And if you touch me again, I’ll stick this umbrella up your ass and open it.”

I’m glad to report that loud applause broke out among the onlookers and the young protestor was at a total loss for words.

November 19, 2003

This is about as tired as I’ve been in a long time

Tylenol 3 makes the pain go away (at least until I try to walk where I survive about one minute before buckling over), but man, it makes me tired as hell.

The last time I was this tired I had run and hiked 35 miles (yes, in one day) up in the Steens Mountains. But all I’ve been doing is laying down, and I’m tired as hell. How sad is that?

I’ve got an appointment to see a back specialist in a couple days to figure out what the hell’s wrong. We’ll see how that goes.

Expect slower blogging over the next few days. I’ve got about 300 entries/links to post, but have been too tired and uncomfortable to do anything. I’ve been working from home, but it’s been slow going, to say the least, as it’s hard to get comfortable when your back is out of whack. It’s not even my back that hurts, but my left leg, but I know it’s my back that’s causing it (damn sciatic nerve).

November 18, 2003

Gotta love it when nature creates its own problems

Folks like PETA are always freaking out about what we do to animals. There’s always sombody complaining about how we’ve killed off rare animals all over the place. But what if the rare animals are killing each other? Then what do we do? Thanks to Barney for the link.

November 16, 2003

Oregon State University tries to break pillow fight record

Leave it to those Beavers to do something like trying to gather more than 645 people in one place for a pillow fight. I just love this in the story: “Fighters will need to bring their own pillows. Rocks or weights in pillowcases, of course, are not allowed.” Really? I was planning on bring my bag o’ nickels and knocking somebody cold doing this. Christ, the event’s at noon, for cripes-sakes. If you held it later in the day, then you might have to worry about somebody showing up drunk and beating somebody senseless. Of course, if I went to OSU, I’d drink a bunch, too (sorry, it’s Civil War week so expect a few anti-rodentBeaver comments on here now and again).

Update on 11/17: Record was broken.

November 16, 2003

Who says men can’t multi-task?

This video proves it (apologies for the Windows Media file) — men are very resourceful multi-taskers. Thanks to Shasta Bob for the link.

Update on 2/28/05: Welcome BluesNews.com readers. Apparently this video I posted LONG ago was linked as the “Media of the Day” over there. Needless to say, the traffic is beating the hell out of my already underpowered server. I’m looking for a mirror to host this video on (it’s 800KB) if anybody’s willing (e-mail me at jake [at] [this site’s domain]. Meanwhile, at least click on a Google ad or two so I can get this server upgraded at some point (or click on the donate link on the left side). Feel free to enjoy the rest of the site while you’re here as well.

(more…)

November 16, 2003

“Regarding your application for health insurance…”

I recently applied to receive health insurance through Pacific Source Health Plans based on glowing reviews from not only doctors but patients and insurance agents as well. Everything I’ve heard about them has been good. It was refreshing to hear such good things, considering how many people (including me) hated a company I used before, Lifewise. So I was excited when I applied.

However, I knew, based on previous back, leg, and other problems, I had this gut feeling I wouldn’t get covered. I made it quite clear on the application what was going on and treatment. I was just hoping, I guess. Even if my back problems weren’t covered, it would be nice to have the insurance for other stuff.

Word came today: Application denied. For me, at least. My wife and two babies are covered (for the same premium price, which is annoying, but they charge a flat rate for 3+ people), but I’m out in the dark now, and still paying out of pocket.

Since I was denied, I’m eligible to apply for the Oregon Medical Insurance Pool (OMIP). It’s basically a state-subsidized program for people like me who are screwed. But I’ll still have to pay for it, and affording two seperate premiums is something I know I can’t afford right now. I might have to apply for FHIAP as well.

Why am I needing this so bad? Because my back and leg is still killing me. I did good stretching and exercise for three weeks, and it hurt it even more. I’m in too much pain to work out any more, and everything hurts to bad to even stretch anymore. I can barely move, and certainly can’t do the extra work I’ve got on my plate to make the extra money I need (I have five web sites lined up, but I’m so damn tired and sore all the time that I can’t do them).

I took the day off today (Sunday — I usually work today) as my leg was hurting pretty bad. Damn nerve pinch. I’m skipping out on work tomorrow, too, to see if I can rest my back some more and (possibly) get into a specialist, as yesterday was an awful day. I spent about 4 hours in my parents hot tub (not in succession) and could barely walk because of the pain. I’m pretty doped up right now, and I’m feeling good if I don’t have to walk.

We’ll just see what happens. Anybody know a bone/joint doctor who needs some Web/computer work done? 😉

November 16, 2003