A weird morning

I woke up at 5am, normal time, ate Cheerios, fed the dogs, and tried to decide what to wear to walk the dogs in pouring rain and 35 degrees. Yes, they expect and get a walk every morning, regardless of weather. I’ll admit it was a short walk, and I was soaked head to toe when we got home. Dry myself up, dry both dogs, clean up my mess of wet towels and wet clothes. At 6:30 I had to drink 450ml of barium (355ml in a can of coke). It was soooooooo disgusting. Then at 7:30 a second bottle of 250ml of barium. Double ick. This stuff is just plain awful. Then I’m off for my first CT scan. Yep, very exciting. Two days ago, I was in for my annual checkup and my nurse practitioner thought my right ovary was enlarged. Crap. Right in for an ultrasound. Good news – ovaries were normal on the ultrasound. But they thought my iliac arteries were enlarged. What? So, she consulted with a doctor, and they want me to get a CT scan to check out all the pelvic organs. And that got scheduled quickly – this morning! So, I really think this is a waste of time, resources, and health insurance dollars. I googled enlarged iliac artery and found nothing – so if google finds nothing, how can a CT scan! Ok, so, I go ahead and do the CT scan. They shoot the dye into your vein, and you lay there a while until it gets warm in your body (even your bladder and you feel like you are maybe peeing – you aren’t). Then an awful taste in your mouth. But it all passes in a minute. They take the scan, and tell me I can go on my way. Oh and by the way, the barium is a laxative – oh great, I’ve been to the toilet already 4 times since I’ve been in to work. Oh, and by the way, by the way, when I went to the scan, two hours after walking the dogs in 35 degree torrential rain, it was 60 degrees and 30 mph winds! What the heck!

Well, all is back to normal as I’ve had my yogurt/fruit/grapenuts.

One warm day today, tomorrow cold, and Sunday we settle into an artic blast. What a joy.

my pets love me

Scientist? Magazine junkie?

I'm not a scientist. I'm a magazine junkie. I hate to admit it, because I know it’s a waste of paper to get magazines. But I have cancelled many catalogs, don’t get a newspaper delivered anymore (have not for 5 years), and I have cut back on magazines, and I won’t buy books anymore (I try to use the library or borrow from others who have already plopped $ down to buy a book).

There is one magazine I have a love hate relationship with. Outside Magazine. It’s a subscription I’ve had on and off over the years. Now I have it. And I was excited to receive last months and see Michael Phelps on the cover, and covered inside. I love reading about swimming and swimmers. Phelps is the greatest, so I like to see what makes him tick. Usually when I get a magazine, I flip through the pages, not really reading, just glancing at the articles and ads, looking to see if there will be anything that really jumps out at me. I swear everytime I get Outside, my first flip through is disappointing. I think that all looks like crap (except for the Phelps coverage). Then I wait a day or two and go back. And then I make myself start reading some of the articles. And they are really great! I think it must be the titles and photos that sometimes turn me off initially. But some of these stories are incredible. Last month was about a man named Greg Mortensen and his work to build schools in Afghanistan. He wrote a book, which I have on hold at my library (I’m 14th in line for the book! It could be years before I get to read it! argh!!!!).

This week I got my next issue, and last night I read a fabulous article about a researcher who is working on a way to take solar energy and store it. Apparently that’s the biggest problem with most energies (wind, nuclear…) is not converting it to electricity, but storing it in a form that can be used as fuel. He’s working on a way to store enough solar energy in a gallon of water to fuel a house for one day! How cool is that!!!! I’m sure I have the details a little off, I don’t have the mag in front of me. But if you have a chance, borrow it from someone, wait for it to be posted to their website, or hang out in Borders and read it. The scientists closing quote was something like ‘we put a man on the moon, don’t you think we should be able to do something like this!’. Good point. I’m extremely optimistic about the brilliant scientists of the world, and what they can do for the future of the world. If I were just going to school now, I would be a scientist. I’d want to be working on the next big scientific breakthrough.

I wish I were a scientist.

my washing machine decided to kill my old ipod

so I just got my new Nano! And now I have to get more music to fill the 8gb ( a sizeable increase over my old 4gb mini).

This morning I had an IM workout. To all you non-swimmers - this is not an ironman workout - I am talking about IM (as in individual medley - fly/back/breast/free). And it was great. I even had the awesome opportunity to do another 400im. And the 100fly was soooooooooooo good. No cheating - no one arm fly, no one handed turns. The whole 100 I was completely legal, and I didn't even die. My swimming is feeling so good. Can't wait for some meets in 2009!

the weekend in review

It was COLD!

Despite that I managed a mountain bike ride in an inch of snow - woohoo - that is fun!

I replaced the brake pads on my commuter bike - no more 100 decibel squealing every time I apply the brakes - 2 pads were exposing metal! oops

It was the anniversary of Pearl Harbor - watched a bit of the History channel - thinking back to high school history class - they really don't teach you much.

I bought a Bosu ball - oi! - I am bad. I thought I was coordinated (swimmer) and had good balance (mountain biker), but I really suck on the Bosu ball. This will be a great learning experience for me.

I also bought some Silk (Soy milk). Thought maybe the lactose in milk is causing my thick dusgusting mucus problem. Even though I have tried eliminating dairy before for a couple days and it didn't help, I thought I'd see if I could handle the taste of soy milk, and if so, I'd make more of an effort to try it again for a longer period of time. I tried it this morning on my Cheerios - ick - don't like soy milk.

Watched some of the events at the US SCY Nationals on swimnetwork.com. Up and coming 16 year old Dagny Knutson (from North Dakota!) will be one to watch in the future. She broke Katie Hoff's american record in the 400im - 4:00.6! She was incredible.

Waiting for my replacement ipod to arrive - last week mine went through the washing machine. So sad. Except that it was 3 years old, and now I get to upgrade.

oh yeah!

I rode my bike to work - it was 13 degrees! If I had to ride my bike to work, I would hate it in this weather. But since I don't have to, its just a challenge to see how long into the winter I can keep on riding. I probably won't be so happy when I'm riding home from the pool tonight in the dark!