On the way back from vacation my mild summer cold turned into ETD. Eustachian tube dysfunction. What is ETD? It's basically where fluid behind the eardrums gets locked in there usually due to swelling or some other blockage. The net result is that your ear is plugged and it's very annoying. It's like having water in your ears but not having a way to get it out. I've now had it for 5 days and it's driving me crazy.  On Friday, I'd finally had enough. We called the doctor's office and I...

I can't help it.  I spent most of my years being way underweight.  Ridiculously skinny. But I got a picture of myself from my mom at the wedding we went to and I have a gut. Me. A gut. ME. Gut. Gut ME. How did this happen? I'm only 165 pounds (5 foot 11).  So you know it's mostly flab. Muscle weighs more than fat and so you know if I have a gut it's gotta be flab. So what do I do? I really like food. I like Coca-Cola. I like McDonalds. I like ice cream. I like eating lat...

I have never smoked a cigarette. I never had any alochol until after I was 21. And I've never tried any illegal drugs.  But amazingly, as I get older, the number of pills that I seem to take grows.  When I was a teenager, I might take a vitamin. But now that I'm 36, the list of things that I either do take or can take or should take is considerable. I can't even imagine what'll be like by the time I'm 60. In the beginning, there was the Multi-vitamin. And it was good. But th...

I am having a serious migraine today.  Or I should say, in about 20 minutes I'm going to.  I only get migraines around once a year -- if that.  I have a prescription that can knock down the effects dramatically but unfortunately, I'm at work and the pill is at home. If you've never had a migraine, let me describe what they're like.  For the first half hour, you get a weird vision effect. It's like different parts of your vision are trying to uncloack ala Star Trek Klin...

I hate Januaries. It seems like that is the time of year that my body decides to make me aware that I'm not a kid anymore.  I got a bad head cold which I've never really had. I just normally don't get sick. And to illustrate that, this past weekend was the first time I've ever had to blow my nose.  It's just never come up. That's not to say I've never had the sniffles but I've never had it bad enough where I felt the need to blow my nose until this weekend.  Which was a comical...

Here's an interesting read about someone who volunteered to help the poor by working in a soup van. His experiences sound much like what I've seen from others who have done the same kinds of things as well as my own experiences -- most people who are in poverty are...sorry to say...losers.  People who are either lacking in some basic trait (living in their own filth, unwilling to work, belligerent, etc.) or deficient mentally (those people one can understand and I don't apply the "loser" ta...

Awhile back I wrote about depression . I wasn’t really intending to revisit the topic despite the apparent suicide of actor/comedienne Robin Williams but some of the analysis I’ve seen about depression written by people who clearly have no personal experience with it has motivated me to talk about it a bit. Depression is a physiological disease. Its severity is different from person to person who suffers it.  It is not about being in a bad mood.  When one is suffering from an “ep...

For most of my adult life, I’ve suffered from what I euphemistically have described as melancholy. And like most people, I mistakenly considered it to be a “mood” as opposed to a serious physiological issue.  If I just did X, then I’d feel better.  When the issue began to seriously affect my life, I readily accepted “advice” that included “appreciate what you have”, “look on the bright side”, “try to reduce stress from your life”, “don’t sweat the small stuff”, etc. However,...

It’s called Aerotitus. And it sucks. Every time I fly I get vertigo. Every time.  When I was a kid, I had a lot of ear infections and is messed up my Eustachian tubes.  So when the plane takes off or lands, my ears plug up and I get vertigo. Over the years, I’ve tried pretty much everything to address it. Gum chewing. Pinching my nose and blowing air. Yawning. Decongestants.  Nasal Sprays. Ear plugs. Patches. Ginger. Asperin. You name it.  They all help to be s...

As some of you know, I’m a kook. As I get more time, I intend to indulge in this further but with life being so busy, I only get to do the smash and grab type of kookiness. This past year I got into supplements and I’ve managed to stick with that.  The big ones I recommend are: 1. CQ10 if you’re on a Statin drug (which I’m on to control cholesterol). These reduce those general “aches and pains” people get as they get older. 2. Fish oil pills in general. These just gener...

I’ve been on Celexa for about a year and a half.  Celexa is ostensibly prescribed for depression.  In my case, I have used Celexa to deal with my aggressiveness.  That is, I tend to lack the “flight” part of the flight or flight instinct even when it would make sense to do so.  Celexa doesn’t fix that as much as greatlyincrease the threshold of when the fight or fight instinct comes into play which is useful when running a company. The effects have made others happy but ...

For years, I’ve had a serious problem with air travel. I’d get severe vertigo when I’d travel.  I’ve tried everything from Ginger to patches to decongestants. But at long last, I’ve found something that helps: Aspirin.  Take 2 before the flight and the anti-inflammatory effect seems to keep the vertigo from happening. W00t.