lennys February 24, 2025

I need to write here more often...

So I figured out how to make Android Auto work. I think there was a bug in the software that got resolved by a phone OS update, I'm not sure but it's working now so I'll take it. So far the new phone has worked out well, hopefully it'll last me a few years. I also finally finished up the toolbox project. It's not perfect, but it never was meant to be perfect to begin with. I learned some things along the way with this project - most importantly, don't do what I did if you value your time and effort! I expended too much time and effort into this project for the outcome I got, I should've just bought a new toolbox that I was satisfied with and left it at that. In other news, I was in the hospital this weekend. I had a "cardiac issue" that necessitated an overnight stay at Washington hospital. Long story short, I'm okay. It all started on this past Thursday when I was leaving the gym, and I noticed some pain in my chest, like my heart was being squeezed a bit. It was mild, so I just went home and made dinner like usual, but after I went to bed the pain got worse and spread to my left arm, so after not sleeping hardly at all I sent my work an email letting them know I wouldn't be in that day and took myself to the VA outpatient clinic in town. They checked me out, ran an EKG on me, and basically told me they weren't equipped to handle chest pains and that I should go to the emergency room. They offered to get me an ambulance but I decided to drive myself there instead, as the pain wasn't too bad at that point. By that time the pain in my arm had subsided, so I figured I'd be okay to drive the thousand yards or whatever to get to the hospital. I parked outside of the emergency ward and went in, told them I was having chest pains, and they went to work on me right away. They took my vital signs and got me a bed in the emergency ward, took some blood for testing and ran an ultrasound on my chest. It was weird seeing my heart moving on the ultrasound from so many angles. X rays were taken, my blood pressure and other vitals were checked again, and after a while, maybe an hour, I spoke with an urgent care doctor who told me it was most likely a heart attack. Apparently there's a hormone called troponin that gets released by your heart muscle when it's damaged, and my troponin levels were elevated 100% beyond what is normal for a healthy person. The doctor told me they would have to run a catheter through an artery up to my heart to check for any blockage, and then they moved me upstairs to the 3rd floor. I got moved into a room all by myself, the nurses took more blood for testing, inserted two IVs in my right arm and after a while the cardiologist came in to talk with me. I had called my mom from the emergency ward and let her know what was happening, and she had asked to be on speakerphone when I talked with the doctor, so I called her and let the doctor explain the procedure to all of us. He said they would put a catheter in the main artery that feeds blood to my right leg, run a tiny camera up to my heart and check the blood vessels there for any blockages. He explained there was a small risk of stroke and even smaller risk of death from the procedure, but was rather reassuring (for me, at least). We hung up and the cardiologist left, and they scheduled me for surgery. The nurses prepped me for the procedure and moved me to the operating room, they explained again what they were going to do, slid me onto the operating table and got ready. The cardiologist came in and ran the catheter into my leg, which I did not feel - the only pain I felt was the prick of the needle with the painkiller. The whole thing took about 10 minutes and it was over. The cardiologist told me the procedure was a success and they had not found any blockages. He left, and the nurses moved me back onto the gurney and took me back to my room. I called Mom again and let her know I was okay, and then I passed out for several hours. The nurses woke me up for dinner, which was bland like hospital food seems to always be. I went back to sleep right afterward. So that was my Friday from about 9:00 am to late that night. I woke up sporadically throughout the night. I couldn't get comfortable because of the two IVs that were in my right arm, so I didn't sleep well that night. The nurses had to wake me up a few times throughout the night to take more blood for testing. By the time the sun came up I was exhausted, so I pulled the pillow up over my eyes to block out the light and rested that way until they brought me breakfast. Bland food again, but I didn't mind. Afterward the nurses came in to check on me a few times and took more blood. Another doctor came in and told me that the blood tests came back normal, and I would most likely be discharged that day. A physical therapist also came by and walked me around the nurses station, down the hallway, and back to my room to make sure I could walk unassisted. After that, around 11:00 the nurses got word that I was formally being discharged, and they came in and took all the wire leads off of me that had been there since almost the beginning. I got dressed, the nurse removed the IVs from my arm, and she then walked me back downstairs to the exit. I got in my truck and drove home, cautiously, got inside, went to bed right away and stayed there until Sunday morning. I slept pretty well that night, but was still feeling a little weak after getting out of bed. After having some coffee and cereal I got in the shower and got cleaned up, and went for a walk in the park later that day. Now I'm back at work with a story to tell, most likely multiple times. I have bruises on both arms and in my groin from all the needles, plus some swelling where the procedure took place, but other than that I feel okay. This was my first encounter with modern medicine in a hospital setting that wasn't an outpatient visit, and I must say it was a mind-blowing experience. One I don't care to repeat. I have to make a follow-up appointment with the cardiologist still. I'm left wondering exactly what caused this to begin with, since they didn't find a blockage anywhere, so I'll have some questions for him at our appointment. I'm not sure what I learned from this event yet. It's got me thinking about mortality in a kind of abstract way, and makes me wonder what to do with the time I have left. I have some thinking to do on this still. If I come up with anything useful I'll let you know.

lennys February 09, 2025

Aaand we're back, sort of...

So I received my replacement phone for my broken Pixel 5a a couple of days ago. It's a Pixel 7, and gladly I was able to restore it from the 5a's backup online so I didn't lose anything. That saved me a lot of time, because I had like 80 apps on the phone I would have had to reinstall one at a time. So far the transition has went well, except for one thing - I can't seem to get Android Auto to work in my truck now. I've tried messing with the settings on the phone and the truck, and even tried a different high-quality USB cable, but no luck. It's strange because when I plug in the phone, the little Android Auto icon shows up along the top of the phone's screen like it should, but it never actually connects to the truck and I cannot figure out why. I'm going to file a bug report later today about it and hope that I get some answers or advice that way. Other than that, the phone's fine so far. I got a good case for it so if I drop it it won't break. Also Google emailed me and let me know they received the old phone from FedEx, so they removed the $600 hold on my credit card they had put in place when I first placed the replacement request. They are going to bill me a $69 deductible charge for the Pixel 7 next month, but I'm okay with that. I figure if I can't get Android Auto to work I'll keep this phone until the end of the year, then trade it in on a Pixel 9 or whatever kind of Pixel is on sale at that time. It's rained all week so I haven't got any painting done. Today is supposed to be a clear day, so I'm going to try and get some painting done when I get home from work today. I'm sick and tired of looking at this disassembled toolbox, I want to get it finished. I think it'll be a long time before I try on a project like this again, as much of a hassle as it's been. But once I get the toolbox done, I can take my tools out of the cardboard boxes they're all in right now and clean up the living room, which will give me some room to move things around. I might finally get some new furniture once I have a place to put it all. A new sofa would be nice, as would a new bed. The futon I'm sleeping on is fine, but I'd still like a new queen-size mattress instead. In other news, I submitted an application for a job at Amazon yesterday. They have a sort-of work study program for working at their data centers which I applied for. My resume isn't so great-looking, but I figured I'd try for it anyway and see what happens. The job would still have me working odd hours, evenings, weekends and such but there'd be a little bit more money coming in, and having Amazon in my work experience would be good for the future. I hope I hear back from them, but I'm not holding my breath over it. There are other jobs out there, I just have to find the right one. I started looking outside of the Bay area too, so a move might be in the cards for me at some future point, who knows?

lennys February 01, 2025

My phone broke

So yeah, my phone isn't working as of about as of about 43 hours ago, by now. One minute everything was fine, I used it to take a couple of pictures. But the next time I took it out of my pocket 10 minutes later, the screen was dead. Pressing the buttons does nothing. I know it's still powered on because if I press and hold the power button for a couple of seconds the phone vibrates, but other than that it's a brick. The alarm clock still works, but to turn the alarm off I have to hold down the power button for 15 seconds until the phone reboots. I have a device protection plan for it, so I opened a case with Google about it and took it to an authorized repair shop. After a couple of hours they said the motherboard was bad, and that I might as well get another phone because it would cost more to fix it than a new phone would cost. Today I heard back from Google, they are going to replace it with a Pixel 7 that should be shipped to me and arrive sometime between the 7th and 10th. So until then I'm stuck without a phone. It's like I had my right arm cut off. It's amazing how dependent we become on the technology we use regularly, such that when something fails it becomes a crisis. Now if I want to pay any of my bills I have to physically go to the bank because I can't login even with a laptop due to the 2 factor authentication - I can't get any text messages or use the authenticator app. Sigh. In other news, I finally got started with the final coats of paint on my toolbox project. I had to bring everything inside yesterday because of rain, but if the weather cooperates I think I'll be finishing up this project soon. I just need to put a couple more coats of paint on the drawers, then put everything back together and I'll finally have a decent toolbox rig. For the record, don't do what I did and try to restore anything, buy new instead. This project was too long, too expensive and too much of a pain in the neck. Of course I didn't know that at the outset, so it's been a learning experience, but not one I'd care to repeat any time soon. You really, really should have your own garage for stuff like this. Doing it on the patio like I've been doing just carries a lot of problems along with it, such that all the fun gets taken out of it at the end.

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