4/30/13

Had a pretty good day today, at least awake-wise.

Went and got a CT scan of my brain pan to see if there are any issues.

I just might finish up this project at work tomorrow. Though I may be getting ahead of myself. We'll see.

4/29/13

I made some good progress at work. I'm not done yet, and I'm still be hind schedule, but I made good progress.

I went to a therapist today to start some CBT. I don't think she knows what to do with me. Not only doesn't she have any experience with sleep disorders, but she spends a lot of time beating around the bush when she could just ask me her end question and save us both a lot of time. But we'll see if anything comes of it.

My brother's laptop isn't working too well. He dropped it off for me to look at. I think the hard drive is failing. It's bad news, but at least I get to "help" him for a change. And maybe I can recover his data.

4/28/13

I finished stripping the kitchen walls of all of their layers. The ceiling is still up, but I'm going to have problems with that with the way the framing is. I'll leave that for my brother.

Stripping the walls uncovered a framing disaster, so now we need to reframe the kitchen before it collapses. I'm glad I have my brother to help. And I'm glad I have the money to do it. I've used just over half my budget so far and we haven't done any insulating yet. But we should still be able to get it done. Even if we go past the budget by a little bit. I just hope it doesn't take too long.

We moved all of the kitchen appliances and cabinets into the dinning room. It's supposed to rain tomorrow and Tuesday, so we needed to get them under cover. They all fit and there's enough room for the dog to still get out the back door.

4/27/13

Demo day for the kitchen. My brother, Wes, came over and we started taking out the cabinets and tearing down the walls. We're going to insulate the kitchen, which had minimal insulation (and several places with absolutely no insulation).

While working, we uncovered several electrical outlets, which had been filled with liquid nails and covered over. I'm glad we got those taken care of because I was scared of fire hazards when we found them.

We got all of the cabinets out with minimal damage, so we can reuse them. My wife's going to paint them so they look brand new. It's going to look great.

Now I'm going to go pass out, because I'm sore, tired, and dehydrated.

4/26/13

Responded to my first medical emergency at work today. I've been part of the team since it's inception, about 5 years ago. This is the first call we've gotten. Non-life threatening, which is good. I ended up just standing around letting other people work (it was in the women's bathroom and there were already half a dozen people in there.)

Gaming tonight. We actually finished the adventure, which was cool.

Got a good chunk of the kitchen boxed/bagged up. Need to finish the rest before my brother shows up tomorrow so we can gut it and insulate it.

4/25/13

Worked from home today because the truck was in the shop. I'm still battling these reports, but it's nice that I'm able to work from home. It's an invaluable perk.

The truck was done today. I wasn't sure they were going to get to it today or not. And they don't have hours tomorrow. So if it wasn't done today, it wouldn't be done until Monday. It only cost $400, which is less than I expected. So that's good.

Cheese. We hit the grocery store and bought over $40 in cheese. Not expensive, gourmet cheese. Just regular cheese (most of it on sale). I'm very happy. And full. And cheesy.

4/24/13

Hit the gym tonight. I haven't been in a while, so it was good to go.

I was finally able to schedule my CT scan today. I called last week, but I needed a pre-authorization from the doctor, and they never gave me one. The hospital was supposed to get one for me, but they never did. So I had to call the doctor, and it took me a while to call them when they were actually open.

I got a little bit of brainstorming work done for an RPG. It was nice to be creative for a little bit. I rarely do that anymore.

4/23/13

Got a free lunch today. One of the IT guys was leaving so we went out to lunch. I was supposed to cover my own, but my boss ended up covering it.

Gaming was tonight. We didn't get very far, but I enjoyed the twist.

Looks like I broke a strutt on my truck. My brother took a look and diagnosed the problem. I'm glad I have him around. I'm also glad that we should be able to afford the repair without too much trouble. I'm in a pretty good spot financially.

4/22/13

Blood work this morning. Surprisingly, they were able to find all of the tests on their own and didn't have to call the doctor for clarification. Because of that, I was relatively in and out - 30 minutes.

I stopped for breakfast on the way in. Wawa breakfast sammiches.

I'm behind schedule at work again. But I think I've figured out the last of my problems. I hope. After tomorrow, I should be able to start working on the next project. We'll see.

4/21/13

Relaxing, but productive day. I spent a good deal of time trying to categorize and standardize my collection of RPG PDFs. I've got a lot of duplicates and general bloat on my hard drive. I'm not done, but I've gotten through all the D&D stuff except for 3rd edition (the monster). I hope to pare it all down to less than 50GB, so I can stick it online. Then I'll have access to it everywhere.

I did a little bit of yard work. I trimmed the bushes out front, chopped up a stump, and planted the green parts for my wife.

I also revamped my resume for the headhunter. I'll have my wife look at it before I send it off tomorrow. I don't think anything will come of it, but it's probably a good idea to keep my resume up to date. Even if I'm not currently looking for a new job.

4/19/13

Watched Looper tonight. It was a pretty good movie.

Didn't feel too bad today. I wasn't awake by a long shot, but I wasn't dead tired either.

Talked to my brother, Wes, today. Made some plans to work on the kitchen. It will be great to have that stuff done.

4/18/13

Got breakfast at Wawa today.

Left work mostly on time and when I got home, there were no messes from the dogs. That's good, since Sandy's had some trouble adjusting to going to the bathroom here.

Also, I bought 2 RPG supplements because 1 was on sale and the other wasn't too much. I'm looking forward to reading them.

4/17/13

Helped my wife pick up some stuff from my FiL's nursing home. They're giving his room away since he's in rehab. Hopefully we'll be able to get him into a better place when he gets out of rehab.

Helped one of the consultants at work today. It's nice to help, especially someone who I figure should probably know more than me.

I got a call from a head hunter after work today. Since I'm not looking for a new job, I threw out what I consider crazy numbers. He thought they were reasonable. He wants me to send an updated resume. Nothing will come of it, but I think it's fun to do that.

4/16/13

Gaming tonight. We made characters for the upcoming Exalted game. I'm still not 100% on my character, but I guess he's good enough for now.

Watching my parents' dog while they're away on vacation. I'm sure Tas will be very happy to have a friend for a few days.

Saw the sleep doc tonight. Not really helpful, but she did say she's not giving up. I don't know what that means, but hopefully it's a good thing.

4/15/13

Took the day off for doctor appointments.

Saw a neurologist. She seems good. She ordered a bunch of new blood tests, a nerve test, and referred me to a cardiologist. She seems to take my symptoms seriously, which is good. The downside is that she said most nervous conditions can't be treated. So we'll see.

Next up was a therapist so I could try to get into a formal CBT program. I don't have high hopes for CBT, but who knows. The therapist seems relatively easy to talk to, so that's good. She also seemed to at least empathize with my plight.

Later I hit the gym. I was tired when I finished, but it was good to go. I need to go more often.

4/14/13

I got a little bit of stuff done around the house today. Nothing major, but some little things that needed to be done.

I made dinner for my wife, MiL, and BiL. It turned out pretty well, even though I had some frustrating mishaps in the kitchen.

My MiL's birthday is tomorrow, which is why they were over. It's good to see them and I'm glad they're doing well.

4/13/13

My wife went to visit her father today. The new place he's at seems to be good. He's getting a lot of attention and are. From her description, I'm hopeful that he'll get off the ventilator soon. I'm also hopeful that he'll be in better shape than he's been in a while. With any luck, when he's ready to get out of there, we can move him to a better place than where he has been.

Tonight was gaming. I had fun, even if I didn't get to do much. There was also talk of me running the next game. it's nice that people enjoy my games.

We also got to play some Cards Against Humanity before the game started. It was a lot of fun and everyone seemed to enjoy it.

4/12/13

I meet a deadline today at work. By the letter, but not the spirit. I have to work on finishing it up this weekend, but at least it's progress.

Gaming was tonight. Had fun, even if I wasn't the awesome one this week (my dice hate me).

Hit Friday's after gaming. It's nice to get a meal and see friends. Granted, I see most of them at various other points during the week. It's still nice to chill.

4/11/13

Got a hug from my wife at lunch today. She was having a tough day and she stopped by on the way home/to work. Too bad that doesn't happen every day (the hug, not the rough days).

Orders dinner tonight from Big Ben's. It was good.

Managed to spend a little bit if time with my wife once she got home from work tonight. She's tired, but at least we got to see each other.

4/10/13

My new morning routine seems to be helping. I still need to work a little harder at it, but I'm making it into work a little earlier now.

Hit the gym tonight. I wasn't really tired afterwards. Probably a combination of the Provigil and the snacks I had before going. Regardless, it's a good thing.

Played with my phone home screens some. I have a new layout which is neat.

4/9/13

I had a rough morning this morning, but I still made it in "normal time" (I was hoping for early, but I'll take it). I was really tired, but felt better once I had some caffeine in me. Though I didn't have that until almost lunch.

My boss praised me for copying him on an email meant to circumvent him. Often times he gets cranky about those and chastises me for how I respond to them. It was a nice change.

Gaming was tonight, though the GM didn't show. We still (mostly) made characters for the new game. We're playing 1st edition Exalted and the character I've been working on all week was 2nd ed. There were some changes that I wasn't expecting.

4/8/13

The Provigil seems to work. I'm still working on dosage. 300mg seems pretty good in the morning. I think I may need the other 100 mg in the afternoon. I crashed some today when I didn't take it. That said, I need to work more on getting to bed earlier and getting moving in the morning earlier.

I spent some time working on my character for tomorrow. I think I have some good ideas. I just need to know the specifics for character creation. Are we playing RAW or with tweaks?

While I didn't get much done today at work, I did manage to figure out what the problem from Friday was and resolve that. So that's done, and it was a fairly visible fix, so people should be happy.

4/6/13 & 4/7/13

How did I miss last night?

Hit the gym yesterday. I felt like crap after I did, but at least I went.

I took a nap after the gym and work feeling better.

Last night we gamed. I nearly died, but somehow managed to survive. Things went crazy, but it all worked out in the end.

Today I increased the dose of Provigil to 300mg in the morning and I feel much better. I forgot to take my afternoon dose, but the morning dose seemed to keep me going through the day. It's about 10:30 now and I feel like I'm crashing. Not too bad.

I finished the federal taxes today. Going to wait on my wife for 1 more form before sending out.

Spend the day lazy with the wife and working on a new character for Tuesday's game. It was good.

4/5/13

I had one of those moments at work where I looked hyper-competent. It doesn't happen very often. But I was proud.

Went to see a friend's band after a long day of work. My friend's extremely talented. His band mates less so.  Still it was good to go out and see people. 

Did some grocery shopping after the show. Got some good stuff for breakfast tomorrow. And lunch. 

4/4/13

Took both doses of Provigil today. Half doses, but I still took them. I still struggled through the day, but it wasn't as bad as it has been.

Bought the new Humble Bundle today. I'm running out of space on my phone for all these games. So I backed everything up on my PC. I'll start uninstalling games I don't play much to free up space.

New episodes on TV tonight. They were good.

4/3/13

My brother came over today to fix the leaky pipe. We got it done, though it took considerably longer than expected.

I started the Provigil this morning, and while I only took half a dose, and missed my second dose, I felt considerably better while on it. More awake, more alert, and happier.

My phone charge lasted about 20 hours, which is better than it's been in a long time.... It sure beats the 6 hours I was getting yesterday. It looks like a battery reset was what it needed.

4/2/13

Gaming was tonight. There was a big reveal and everyone seems to be having fun. I've been struggling to keep challenging the characters, and I think I found the key tonight - guns and peppering them with horrors. They haven't really deal with huge horrors yet, but tonight went well with lots of little ones.

My father in law is still in the hospital, but he's out of the ICU now, so that's good. Hopefully they'll release him soon.

I'm working from home tomorrow so I can be here when my brother comes to fix the leaky pipe in the basement. I'm lucky that I have the ability to do that.

4/1/13

Tough day, but here goes.

I called the insurance company to find out what's been taking so long to authorize the Provigil prescription. They finally authorized it last Friday, almost 2 weeks after my doctor submitted it. I was able to pick it up tonight. Now I have the conundrum of starting a new medication in the middle of the week not knowing how it will affect me or waiting almost a whole week.

I also called the psychiatrist again to try to make an appointment for some CBT. I called last Monday to set one up and they weren't sure who I should see. So they took down my name and number and said they'd call back. 1 week later they hadn't called back. This time they told me that the best thing to do was come down for one of their walk-in appointments and be evaluated. They'd them match me with someone they thought would fit. Why couldn't they have told me that last week?

I guess the last thing is that while I didn't make it to the gym tonight (I was too tired), I am waking up a little bit now. Too little too late, but at least there's a little bit of time during the day when I don't feel like crap.

And a bonus #4. My wife went to see her father and he seems to be doing well. He's still in the ICU because they're having trouble stabilizing his blood pressure. But his respiratory issues seem to be over.