Pat's Journal

Doctor, doctor

I never get much done on a Friday afternoon, so it's a good time to blog. In fact this week has not been good for getting things done. I had "soft" deadlines on two projects and procrastinated my way past them. I had better be more productive next week.

Part of the reason I've not been productive at work is because I haven't been sleeping well lately. I usually wake up 2-3 times a night, about every 2 hours, unless I take generic Benedryl to help me sleep. If I do that then I'm usually drowsy until noon the next day. I also sometimes wake up with a headache indicating either that I didn't get enough hours of sleep, or that I'm not breathing well during sleep. Sharon thinks I may have sleep apnea. I think I'd better make an appointment for a checkup, so the doctor can tell me what else is wrong with me (high blood pressure, overweight, ???).

Speaking of doctors, I took S to the doctor for a checkup after he complained of side pains. It turned out to be a recurrence of a medical problem he had when he was 5 years old. Nothing serious, but it was something we'd hoped he would outgrow. No such luck. He was off school for two days to rest and to see another specialist. There will be more trips to doctor's offices for him over the next few months. Sharon is also seeing the doctor about another non-serious problem. The only good to come from this is that I'll probably be able to use up the rest of the money in my 2009 Health Care Reimbursement Account.

The piece we're playing in the orchestra right now is by a 20th-century Mexican composer whom our conductor calls "the John Williams of Mexico in the 1930s." Most of the piece is OK but the 4th movement is a disaster. I would not call it music. I would call it "random noise." Sharon didn't come to the rehearsal on Tuesday night, and I told her she didn't miss anything.

Last night Sharon and I went to daughter K's middle school for their open house. K is going to a different school than S went to, and although it is one of the oldest schools in the district, I was impressed that many improvements have been made to the building so that it is at the same standard as S's former school. The teachers seem OK but there wasn't much time to chat with them because of the meeting format.

I also spoke to one of my colleagues in China last night. It was the first time I'd spoken to him since late March, although we have exchanged E-mails since then. We still need to finalize the electrical drawings for the project. My colleague's manager will be coming to the U.S. in about 10 days, and working in our office, so we'd like to complete the drawing work before then. I also asked D (my colleague) about the upcoming Chinese national holiday (60 years of communism), the upcoming Shanghai World Expo and what work is like. D said his wife's family will come to Shanghai to visit over the holiday, and that the Expo construction is on time. At least that's what the media tells them.

I also spoke to Mom, who's doing OK. She had more work done on her car this week, and the people who bought the house next door to her have continued to rapidly repair and improve the property.

Tonight is homecoming at S's high school, and today it decided to rain for the first time in a month. Hope it lets up before the football game starts. Other than that, we don't have much planned for the weekend. I should be leaving work myself, so bye for now!

posted by pat @ 4:15 PM