Message from Barbara,
It as 30 degrees outside at 7:15 when I took Colin out.
Bob may not have the bypass on Monday. The doctors are not sure his heart can withstand the procedure. We will hopefully know more today.
He said to mention that since he does not have a laptop at the hospital it makes it hard to type responses to messages on his Fire but he is reading them.
RBT: I’m thinking of you and full expect that you will be back your old self soon.
Holy cow Barbara, that is really some good news/bad news. I’m sure you both would rather have the procedures and move on to the recovery stage, and I sincerely wish the same for you. At the same time, Bob clearly had a ticking time bomb in his chest, and was completely unaware there were seconds left on the clock. I’ve had friends in that situation and they didn’t find out…
At least now the ‘bomb squad’ is there working on defusing the situation. Western medicine is very good at this sort of fixing thing, and while it sounds dire, I’m sure there will be a positive outcome now that they are working on it.
I continue to wish you all the best, and offer any support I can give,
nick
Hoping for the best for both of you.
Nick said what I was thinking, and said it better than I ever could.
That’s… that’s inhumane!
and that fire keyboard is one of the worst in existence.
n
Hey, maybe we should get RBT a microsoft surface!
{{{{CRINGE}}}}} I KID! I KID!!!111!!!
🙂
n
Wow. Hang in there Bob. We are all wishing you the best.
Ditto what Nick wrote.
Without a laptop to write with, I imagine Bob has read everything on the internet by now. http://hmpg.net
Bob, I hope the accommodations are comfortable. I can attest from personal observations that hospitals can fall in an extremely wide range from strangely pleasant to sickeningly unwelcoming. For both you and Barbara, I hope it is more of the former.
Anyone have any strong opinions about the Samsung Galaxy S8 or the Google Pixel 2? A smartphone has become indispensable for me, and while I dislike the company that no longer even pretends not to be evil, I can’t think of a better idea than one of the two phones I mentioned.
@Dave, take a look at Motorola.
The family used to be all Samsung, always the newest model. In 2016 we all switched to the Motorola X Plus and have been very pleased. We are all heavy users with different needs that end up covering all bases. The price/performance/quality ration is outstanding. Very durable, have survived drops and dunkings.
Edit/Add:
This just hit my RSS Reader WRT Pixel:
https://www.slashgear.com/now-the-pixel-2-xl-has-an-unresponsive-screen-issue-12507707/
Edit Add 2:
And this:
https://www.thurrott.com/mobile/android/143596/google-pixel-2-xl-review-im-calling
I echo all the comments above WRT to Bob and Barbara.
Also, the same for OFD’s recovery.
I recursively echo CowboySlim’s comment above.
I just figured out why I find gab.ai so depressing. The only prolific gabber I follow is @SteveF, so my feed is the most depressing thing ever.
I second Cowboy Slim and third Medium Wave.
Hey, maybe we should get RBT a microsoft surface!
I have the Surface Laptop. In my opinion it is a very nice machine. I think it would serve well in the hospital. However, the thought of RBT running Windows may just put his heart over the edge.
My UPS is a CyberPower CP900AVR AVR. The batteries have died. The software says 6 minutes of run-time but a mere blink in the A/C shuts the PC down.
CyberPower lists a RB1270X2 package. It contains 2 12V/7AH sealed lead-acid batteries. The MSRP is $91.95. I found it on Amazon for the low price of $83. For that cost I’d be better off replacing the entire UPS.
Well, it uses 12V/7AH… looks just like the battery my burglar alarm system uses. Looks like the battery for Mighty Mule gate openers, too. The battery was around $25 the last time I went to Alltex. Tractor Supply wants $35. The local feed store? $12 each.
Bulk deals on Amazon had the price about $14 for 6 plus shipping.
Off to the feed store tomorrow. 🙂
Sorry, Ray, but your well wishes have been rejected for validity check failures.
You were actually thirding Cowboy Slim’s wishes and seconding Medium Wave’s. Please correct the errors and resubmit. We thank you for your attention.
Anyone have any strong opinions about the Samsung Galaxy S8 or the Google Pixel 2?
I have a Pixel XL and a couple of Nexus 5X phones. I would take the Pixel 2 over the Samsung. Samsung doesn’t update their OS and provide security updates nearly as often as Google does on their branded phones. All of our phones get monthly security updates and the latest version of Android. In addition, they have less crapware than the Samsung and have a “pure” version of Android.
I also have a Moto G4 which, for the price, is an excellent phone. The G5 looks to be a hell of a phone for the money.
Rick in Portland
I installed the Google Keyboard on my Kindle Fire. It’s version 1.1.xxx. 15 MB. Works fine, lets me swype, spell check works. It’s the version that came on my Galaxy S2.
I have it on my phone also. Google offers to update it but no thank you.
You’ll have to fiddle around to find the setting to allow installation from unknown sources.
http://remsset.com/files/phone/
Pyramid, Tri Peaks, and Solitaire are basic card games.
@Paul, for good/best prices check Costco, in-store and/online.
My 10+ year old APC recently died, electronics not battery.
I bought this CyberPower UPS at my local Costco for $99.99, your store may vary.
https://www.cyberpowersystems.com/product/ups/cst135xlu/
If you prefer to go to pro level, ie. APC, they usually have a ‘trade up’ program running where you get credit for your old UPS. It can make getting an APC much cheaper.
BTW, it’s almost always cheaper or the same to just replace the whole UPS. That’s why I see so many of them in the surplus auctions. Usually they have LOTS of life left when a BigCorp ™ trades in.
If you replace the batteries, don’t forget to take the old ones to your local recycle center. They should be worth ~26c / pound, which ain’t nothing..
n
Watching NASCAR race. In contrast to NFL, they do not kneel for national anthem; they take hats off and put right hands over hearts while standing.
As for smart phones, I’ve used iPhones for a long time and the apps are what make it for me.
However, Apple has been going through a spate of iOS 11.0 updates that sucks ass. Every fix screws up two more things. Quality control and testing on the software front is lacking.
Greetings, sportsfans!
I am recovering from all the Veterans Day parties and celebrations, hahahaha, just kidding!
What I am is more worried about Bob than myself right now and pray for myself and him and our families at least twice a day, upon waking and crashing, here at this former Roman Catholic hospital. FWIW. YMMV.
I was moved by ambulance on Thursday from the joint in Snollbinz (local dialect) to this acute rehab facility 30 miles south in Colchester, where I can watch aircraft landing from my second story window or enjoy the pair of 500-gallon propane tanks below next to the garages.
I’ve once again lucked onto a private room with a sink and shared bathroom and recliner controlled by remote, which I’ve been sleeping in so far. Luckier still, another great staff of hardworking and cheerful LNAs, RNs, food service (nutrition) and my two PT and OT drill sergeant chicks. I’ve made substantial progress over the past couple of days, but still need two spotters to get me from chair to wheelchair to walker, and to the can for Number Two operations. Pain meds contribute to constipation so that’s been a struggle.
I also seem to have a torn right rotator cuff (no pain but cuts out 50% of my right arm mobility, and giant blisters on the tops of my feet (edema) one of which suddenly popped due to a freak accident here in the room and left a puddle on the floor. I know, TMI, hut maybe it will help someone else.
The dressing was removed from my back yesterday (after several changes) and I have a nice nine-inch vertical seam now, with nuts and bolts deep inside. We can’t even mess with the rotator cuff problem until after this other stuff has got me functional again. Steady improvement each day so far, three or more hours of PT for each day. May well be here for two more weeks, however,depending. Need to be able to negotiate stairs and bathroom in our 1830 house and no, we’re not moving to a ranch house, even if we have to find a place for a can and shower on the first floor, somehow.
Wife is almost in as bad shape as me; hurt her knee back in July around the same time my back troubles accelerated, and has now also somehow hurt her right arm quite painfully (she’s a lefty/ambi) and couldn’t make it down here today with GG as planned. Our fall prep schedule for winter has gone mostly kablooey, but we’ll do the best we can.
Thanks to all for wishes and prayers; gotta charge this laptop now, looks like.
Later, haters….
There is no phone like a Microsoft phone!
The core OS and core apps are all I need and they are continuously updated and for the longest time of any other manufacturer. I like the Live Tiles as well.
Unfortunately they killed it.
In my view, the Surface Pro would be the best at the hospital. Light, big screen and either an easy to use on screen keyboard or a light weight detachable keyboard.
What is the term for the fourth instance of seconding well wishes to RBT and OFD? Whatever it is I claim it.
Well I had better get busy and step up my prayers for Robert, Barbara, and OFD and his Wife.
“Double-double”. Which is totally not slang for an alternative sexual practice, so get your minds out of the gutter.
The Double Double, is one of the most awesome fast food items you will ever taste. In N Out burger, double meat, double cheese, with fresh onion== heaven on a fresh baked bun.
I miss SoCal’s weather, and In N Out….
n
Hey OFD! Glad you are still with us and making progress. It’s great news that you’re doing that much PT. I bet it sucks rocks when you’re sweating and in pain, but it will pay dividends. Getting mobile and pain free will make your life awesome again.
n
Ahem. I said it’s not a sexual term, so we all appreciate you not making it smutty.
I also have a Moto G4 which, for the price, is an excellent phone. The G5 looks to be a hell of a phone for the money.
I have a G4 Play which I use as my 100% open source phone. The GPS leaves a lot to be desired, kinda surprising since Moto phones are usually decent in this area.
I don’t have experience with the G5, but I do have an E4 which is an excellent deal for $120 if you can live with a mediocre camera.
Bob, OFD. I’m keeping my head down, it seems like someone’s out to get the people on this board.
Hope everyone is soon well again, and we can get on with the normal routine. I hate seeing good people having bad things happen to them.
The Double Double, is one of the most awesome fast food items you will ever taste. In N Out burger, double meat, double cheese, with fresh onion== heaven on a fresh baked bun.
I miss SoCal’s weather, and In N Out….
Austin and Dallas have In-n-Out. One isn’t far from the state surplus store near the Austin airport.
OFD is just lucky that his scheduled “vertebrae alignment” operation wasn’t misrecorded as “gender reassignment”. Looks like your bollocks dodged a bullet there, big still-a-guy!
He said to mention that since he does not have a laptop at the hospital it makes it hard to type responses to messages on his Fire but he is reading them.
Again our thoughts and prayers are with you.
My issue is that my heart is so weak that it expels only 15% of the blood (versus normal of three or more times that). The trouble is, I don’t look/act like that guy. My BP is normal, my pulse ox on room air is 97%, I have zero swelling/edema that would suggest CHF, I am mentally/physically robust, etc.
At this point, they’re afraid to touch me. One doctor today estimated a 10% chance I’d die during surgery. They’re still weighing options/alternatives.
What is the term for the fourth instance of seconding well wishes to RBT and OFD?
Don’t ask me. Apparently I am an idiot according to SteveF.
the Surface Pro would be the best at the hospital
I had a Surface Pro. 99.99% of the time was used with the keyboard. It is not easy to support a Surface Pro on a lap, using the keyboard, with just the back stand. Using on an airplane with the keyboard was almost impossible to properly support the screen. Thus I opted for the Surface Laptop with the keyboard permanently attached. Bigger screen than the Surface and a slightly better keyboard.
Both are nice systems, in my opinion. But SteveF would probably call me stupid.
At this point, they’re afraid to touch me. One doctor today estimated a 10% chance I’d die during surgery
Well that is a kick in the nuts. You think you are OK but the doctors say you are not. The numbers, and you, say you are OK, the doctors say you are not. On what are the doctors basing their opinion if they are using the same numbers as you?
I would guess this is not something that came on suddenly but has been happening over time. That bout of pneumonia may have just saved your life, if you want to put a positive spin on the entire adventure, by forcing you to go the doctor. Your vertigo may have been an indication of the problem all this time.
Sheesh, Ray, yer so sensitive. Are you sure you didn’t go to college (assuming $150k in debt along the way) for a Studies degree (which qualifies you for exactly no career which would not have been better served with no degree)? All I did was point out that you don’t know the first from the second, your left from your right, or Barack Obama from a pile of shit. OK, that last one was a gotcha question.
As for RBT, uh… good luck? Start doing heart-ups to make your heart stronger so it can squeeze out more blood? Join the Democrat Party because they claim to have bigger hearts?
“One isn’t far from the state surplus store near the Austin airport.” Didn’t know that! Will have to look. I did find the one in San Marcos, but I don’t get that way very often.
@RBT wow, that’s a kick in the goonies. You’re in the right place if you have issues though, as much as it sucks.
I suppose they’re not letting you smoke your pipe either. There’s gotta be some unpleasantness from that too.
Getting some more consultation can’t hurt…
nick
If the normal symptoms aren’t there, on what are they basing their diagnosis?
Maybe it’s time for a second opinion.
Re: “…It is not easy to support a Surface Pro on a lap,…”
Ahhh, but we are not talking lap we are talking bed and lying down. 🙂
I use my Pro 4 every night lying in bed with keyboard attached, in portrait mode and the back stand extended. In this way it just remains standing by itself on my belly and is great for reading. I obviously use the inbuilt soft keyboard to type my password to unlock it and the fingers to turn pages, open things and whatever else needs doing.
My wife uses her Pro 3 (which I envied for a long time) for hours everyday sitting in bed and using keyboard and mouse. They are really too expensive in my view but they are nice and very flexible.
“On what are the doctors basing their opinion if they are using the same numbers as you?”
Echocardiogram. The doctor today said upon visual examination I presented as a very healthy, vigorous man and that he wouldn’t have believed otherwise without the echo CG. He asked about shortness of breath, and I told him that recently I’d carried a contractor bag full of 60 pounds of crap the 50 yards out to the street without SoB.
He said if the stents or bypasses or whatever they decide to do improve my numbers as much as they expect, I may be able to leap tall buildings.
This is the whole cardiology department.
I may be able to leap tall buildings.
Is that in one or two bounds?
They are really too expensive in my view but they are nice and very flexible.
Yes, they are nice. Really liked mine until it just quit. I wanted a new one, the Surface 4, but after seeing the Surface Laptop opted for that instead.
Sheesh, Ray, yer so sensitive. Are you sure you didn’t go to college (assuming $150k in debt along the way)
Yes, I am ashamed to admit it. But after the liberal mind transplant I am getting offended at everything. I get offended if no one offends me because I then feel ignored. I need my safe place.
!!!
I bow in the presence of the Zen Master of butthurtedness!
Ah ha! more recursion. Recursive butthurt!
n
Recursive butthurt
That was the jalapeño nachos. That will soon pass.
Continued prayers and good wishes for Bob, Barbara and OFD.
If the Fire supports USB on the Go, it would be easy to connect a keyboard. I use a small portable keyboard to enter notes and appointments on my tablet. It’s easier than trying to use a blue tooth keyboard.
Best wishes to both you and Dave. I hope everything works out for the best.
My issue is that my heart is so weak that it expels only 15% of the blood (versus normal of three or more times that).
Dude, that sucks. My heart effective rate low was 45% eight years ago but through the miracle of arteriogenesis my rate has increased back up to 53%. Took years though.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arteriogenesis
Hah, you heard it here first! RBT wasn’t unique…
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-11-12/wal-mart-raising-prices-food-household-products-its-us-website
“Somebody should tell Wal-Mart they’re doing it wrong.
In what the Wall Street Journal described as an attempt to lure customers back to its brick-and-mortar locations,Wal-Mart has been quietly raising prices for some food and household products sold on its US website, “
n
Bob, your heart problem seems to have been brought on by pneumonia, so it’s likely to get better even without any intervention now that the infection is clear. Unless a heart valve blew out or something.
Antibiotics can also stir up trouble. In the long run they can cure cardiovascular disease, but one often gets worse before getting better.
http://www.cpnhelp.org/?q=node/132
In contrast to NFL, they do not kneel for national anthem; they take hats off and put right hands over hearts while standing.
It appears that the hand over the heart while the national anthem is being played is relatively new, possibly from 1998. I remember learning in Boy Scouts to stand at attention and sing. If wearing a hat, you would place it over the heart. (Now you place it over the shoulder so that the hand is over the heart.) Also, it was changed a while ago so that veterans and active duty not in uniform can choose to salute.
“Waveform: Simulated Sine Wave
Connected Equipment Guarantee: $500,000”
DC, I used to use APC UPSes a lot. “Simulated Sine Wave” can mean almost anything.
“Connected Equipment Guarantee” easy to promise, hard to claim. This is what Bob used to say 10-15 years ago in PCHiaN.
Good luck.
“One isn’t far from the state surplus store near the Austin airport.”
Didn’t know that! Will have to look. I did find the one in San Marcos, but I don’t get that way very often.
Anywhere you find CA transplants along I-35 in Texas.
The San Marcos store went up fast. Even with the Raiders committing to Las Vegas, the NFL rumors refuse to die around San Antonio, and the nearby Texas State stadium site is the one place a team owner could get a new building put up quickly without a large investment in infrastructure.
Hang in there Bob.
BTW always get the double-double with GRILLED onions.
Oh no, I like the sweet crunch of the fresh sliced onion.
I did like the option (secret menu) for the low carb version too.
n
Echocardiogram. The doctor today said upon visual examination I presented as a very healthy, vigorous man and that he wouldn’t have believed otherwise without the echo CG. He asked about shortness of breath, and I told him that recently I’d carried a contractor bag full of 60 pounds of crap the 50 yards out to the street without SoB.
He said if the stents or bypasses or whatever they decide to do improve my numbers as much as they expect, I may be able to leap tall buildings.
Sounds like the Docs are working all of your options ! Good for you and them.
Dude, you may be an excellent candidate for a heart transplant. A friend of mine at church had one about ten years ago when his heart failed suddenly at age 60 or so. He is still doing well.
“Heart transplant”. “Echocardiogram”. “Doctors”.
Bah. What RBT needs is the healing power of crystals. Crystals gather life energy from Gaia and then emit it, facilitating all-natural healing. I know someone who was helped by crystals, so I know it’s the best cure for this.
A drum circle might help, too.
Stand, kneel, heart, salute, whatever. I stand at attention. I’ve been doing it for 30+ years, and I’m not about to change now. I’ve never saluted out of uniform. Not about to start now.
Yes, even in my living room, in front of the TV. I make my kids do the same. They don’t understand “attention”, but they do understand standing and silence without wiggling. Sometimes I get to explain what it all means, which is always worthwhile.
Started to go thru the actual words of the Anthem this am with my 8yo, and the circumstances under which it was written. Kinda choked me up.
Then my wife says “and who’s this Jose’ guy anyway?” So then we had to explain that joke. Which daughter got, eventually. Then off to school.
n
“Bah. What RBT needs is the healing power of crystals.”
No, he needs essential oils! Oils. Essential. See, even the name says how necessary they are, e s s e n t i a l.
Maybe he needs some peruvian shaman’s urine in a cup, so he can see the universe as it really is… without the obscuring science-ist worldview, and all his cis-hetero, patriarchal, gaia raping toxic masculinity…
yeah, that’s what he needs. Or leeches. Good dose of leeches never did anyone harm…
n
You’re right about the oils. How did I manage to miss that? Snake oil, that’ll cure everything!
As long as it’s made from actual snakes. ‘Cuz snakes are icky and scary and not at all creatures of mother gaia.
n
I’ve made substantial progress over the past couple of days, but still need two spotters to get me from chair to wheelchair to walker, and to the can for Number Two operations. Pain meds contribute to constipation so that’s been a struggle.
Good to hear that you are getting better and better. TMI on the other.