redwood13

Watched the first 2 episodes on Hulu and by episode 3 I realized the commercials were killing the entertainment value, so I stopped at that point and will likely watch it when the DVD set is released. And yes I too found it difficult to track the characters, so I made up a crib sheet.

A recent article in the LA Times says though he will continue writing this will be his last writing in the novel form.

Last job I had was taken out of desperation as I'd been out of work for over a year. Worked nights, 21:00-07:00 seven days and then 7 days off. As mentioned at the very least the first day off is just a recovery day and as I was in my sixties it frequently took more that one day to recover. I remember my daughter saying how much better I looked after I quit. Did that for 7 years until I hit 65 and social security pension kicked in. Then I moved to Thailand. That was in a hospital lab in a rural setting and maybe the most gratifying job I'd had as I got a lot more patient contact than I'd ever had in other similar jobs. But yes, after 7 years I was definitely all done.

One of those fine establishments was requiring a condom during the panic days of AIDS or likely an extra 100 baht.

The likelihood of my fainting is limited the sudden changing of position from lying down to standing for example. I can't jump out of bed and most especially I can't suddenly get up off a medical examining table. Doctors have never cautioned me regarding driving, however without the pacemaker that would likely have been a topic for discussion in the future. I don't drive very much. The new car I bought in 2012 now has about 25000 miles on it!

Surgery was done in Sacramento, California. Back in 2011 I began to be tired frequently. Over a period of months I reached a point where I couldn't walk more than 50 feet without having to stop and catch my breath. I was being treated by a cardiologist at Bumrungrad who had done a residency in the States and in fact had an office practice there for a time. I saw him in May, 2012 and on my next visit in June he remarked that he'd noticed I appeared pale on my previous visit. So he waited a month to find out that my hemoglobin was 6.3! It was a colon tumor bleeding at a very slow rate likely since the fall of 2011. Within the next week I got transfused 2 units of blood, confirmed the diagnosis by a colonoscopy at Bangkok Pattaya Hospital, packed my stuff up and moved back to California where I had surgery. The tumor was malignant, however it had not metastasized, so no further treatment was needed. Really lucky. All this to explain why I could never have any trust in Thai medicine again and couldn't live in Thailand again given my ongoing heath.

I have had atrial fibrillation for about 18 years and all too frequently my heart rate has been running in the low 40's and I've occasionally had spells of lightheadedness and dizziness. This can lead to fainting, which will likely be at the wrong place and wrong time. So last Monday I had a pacemaker installed. But not the commonly used type with a battery implanted in the chest and leads going to the heart, but instead it's the newer leadless pacemaker. This consists of a metal cylinder smaller than a AAA battery. It's inserted into the femoral vein at the groin and implanted into the right atrium of the heart. The cylinder has a threaded end and this is screwed into the wall of the heart. Battery is supposed to last 15 to 25 years. As I'll be 87 in August battery live is not really a concern for me. However it can be removed or simply left in place and a second cylinder installed. Procedure lasted about 2 hours and I had a (miserable, sleepless) overnight stay. I took the pressure bandage off on Wed morning and could shower. No driving for a few days to protect the incision. Otherwise not much drama post-op.

The original owner was American, from Oregon I think. He'd started and owned a number of different kinds of businesses in the States. It took him months to open Pitini as he imported a lot of the kitchen gear from Europe. The idea was to make the operation kind of fool proof in that it would be as automated as possible. He intended it to be a long term investment, but someone made him a great offer, so he sold it much sooner than he had intended and moved up north.

About 10 years ago I gave up beautiful, exotic Pattaya for beautiful, exotic Sacramento, California.