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| My friend's funeral is today, at 1 PM...I'll be attending it. Other than that, nothing much to say at the moment | | |
| I received an e-mail yesterday morning from a friend letting me know that a mutual friend of ours had just passed away that morning (Jan 22). I am not entirely sure how I feel at the moment...work has been busy so I haven't had the chance to just sit there and think about it. Dean was a good guy, only a couple years older than myself, with a wife, 2 kids and a bunch of cats. He had colon cancer and from what I know, he got really ill over Christmas. I met Dean when I first started working at the company. I saw him a couple of times; I worked in Development at the time while he worked in Support. Anyway, he was a pretty cool guy and then, I think a couple months after I started working here, he left on long term leave...that's when the cancer first showed up and he had to go in for treatments and such. There were some complications, but he eventually pulled through and it looked like the cancer was beat. It was a while before he came back to work, but then when he did, I was working in Support so I ended up working with him and got to know him more; we were both into role-playing, computer gaming, and music. That's when I found out he actually had his own band, a group called Rhythm Slave. They did covers of other bands songs, but they were really good, and man, Dean could sing...I was able to see them perform a couple of times. Anyway, things were going well, but one day he went in for a routine checkup to check the levels of something in his blood...turned out that it looked like the cancer was back. Some more tests and then he started on treatments again. For the first while, he made it into work, but as the treatments continued, he couldn't make it in. I think, at the moment, I miss him now. I don't know how else I feel...I think I hadn't seem him in a while so there's that feeling of separation, but I still considered him a good friend even if we didn't see each other a lot. | | |
| I'm on the road again, another business trip in another city in Canada...this time Coquitlam, BC. Though, looking at the map of Vancouver City, Coquitlam is in all honesty, just a part of the greater Vancouver. Looking outside, I can't tell if it's raining or snowing at the moment...it looks more like rain though. Not surprising given that Vancouver is right on the coast. One thing I found a little nerve-wracking coming into the city by plane...the international airport is on an island...watching the plane fly over a beach as we approach the runway gave me a moment to reflect that, should the plane fall short of the runway, we'd be in water...brrr. Might be better than hitting the ground, but still... So, I have to go out and do an install in a little bit...should be fun. Oh, I dislike the hotel...charge for the use of internet when everywhere else I've stayed, the internet has been included. When I was in Sherbrooke, the hotel included complimentary bottles of water each night...this place, has said bottles of water, but if they are used, you get a $2 charge to your room...on top of that, the bottle of water is only 500mL; Sherbrooke had 1 L bottles. As I was feeling a bit dehydrated last night, I went down a floor to the pop machine...$1.25 for a 355mL bottle of water...what the heck. At work, the pop machine there is $1.25 for 500mL. Oh well... | | |
| Sleep is a good thing, and one that not many people get, myself included. For most, it is not getting enough sleep. For me, it is actually looking like the quality of sleep that is my problem. Now, I don't have a problem going to sleep, but no matter how much sleep I get, I always wake up tired and lethargic. At first, I thought it was just stress from work, and perhaps there is some truth to that cause when I'm on holidays, I seem to get slightly better sleep. But, it might be more than that. Now, as much as I hate to admit it, I know I snore...I have had too many people tell me this. I would like to believe I don't, but there have been times when I've been dozing off and suddenly jolt awake cause of a snore. However, a friend of mine a couple of months back said that I wasn't snoring per say...it sounded more like I would stop breathing for a few seconds and then gasp for air. They said they had another friend who has a similar problem and was diagnosed with sleep apnea. I took a look into what sleep apnea is all about and learned a couple of things. Like the fact that the gasping for air either wakes the person up compleltely or at the very least brings them out of the deep sleep which is what the body needs to re-energize itself. Thinking about it, there is a good chance that I do have sleep apnea...I seem to suffer from the symptoms, so I made an appointment to see my doctor (this was back in early December). Went in and told him what was going on and he said he would send a reference letter to a sleep specialist, but did warn me that it could take a couple of months before I would have an appointment (guess sleep specialists are in high demand). Anyway, I got a call a couple of days ago from my doctor's office informing me of my appointment with the specialist...it is in March....so, yeah a couple months away. I'm looking forward to this appointment cause if it can be treated, then I can look forward to good quality sleep...I like sleep and that just really appeals to me. The only bit of dread I have is what might be needed to treat the problem. Like I said, I haven't done a whole lot of research, but do know that there are two types of treatment, one that involves surgery the other one doesn't. I guess it also depends on the type of apnea...there's from what I could tell 2 types; one is an actual problem with the central nervous system (if I remember correctly) and the other one is actually caused by being overweight (though I think that's a bit of a generalization). Guess I will find out more come March. Another thing that I wonder about is...is my narcolepsy in fact just a symptom/effect of the sleep apnea and that in fact I do not have it at all? Or, do I in fact have both narcolepsy and sleep apnea? Very confusing. Well, like I said, will probably know more come March. | | |
| It's been a couple of weeks since my last post...have been a little distracted with other things at the moment. Not much new going on with me at the moment, mostly glad that Lori's doing okay and is recovering from her ordeal. The holidays were quiet...and was sick for most of it. Was also worried about Lori and missing her terribly. | | |
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