Summer Sunday

Since I will be having my right cataract removed tomorrow, when I usually do this blog, I thought I would write it today while I can still see the computer screen. The biggest surprise for me after they did the left eye was that when I took the patch off several hours later, that eye was totally blurry and I could only see light and dark. It took a few more hours before I could make out shapes but it was much better by bedtime. Not what I expected based on what other people told me about their experience. But this time I know what to expect - at least if it is like last time. 

Yesterday was my last class/public speaking for the year - at least as far as I know. I found out today that there was 92 people at the meeting yesterday of the genealogy society. It has been at least 20 years since I stood in front of that many people and spoke. It doesn't bother me if I am prepared and I was prepared for yesterday. There was 27 slides in my PowerPoint and it was good - even if I do say so myself. 

This was the cover slide and the title of my talk. Besides talking about why a person should do their own story for their descendants, I walked them through how I do my spiral bound books that most of you have seen. The closing thought was "If we don't leave a written history of our life, we will just be faces that stare out from a faded picture or a name on a chart."  

I talked about how you don't have to just write a big book but can do a cookbook and used Vida's book as an example.  Two people came up to me after the meeting and wanted the recipe for the Chicken and Noodles that I used as an example of what is in the book. I had several of the books that I have done on a display table that people could look at after the meetings and the table drew a big crowd. Allow me to brag just a bit and say I got a lot of compliments after the meeting. Plus, here are  a couple of the emails that I got last night. "Just wanted to let you know that I thought your program today was the best we have had since I joined the group" by someone who has been a member for about a year. A long time member wrote "Your program this morning was the firs one I've heard that made me feel that I might actually be able to write my life story. Writing a book is so intimidating but what you described mad it seem possible." Mission accomplished for me"

Life after teaching: Today I am cleaning off my desk and getting ready to think about something besides teaching classes. Most people don't understand how much work goes into getting ready for a class or do one of these presentations.  It is good to get them behind me. 

 For you not on Facebook, I took this earlier in the week while out for my morning walk. I was so focused on taking the picture that I didn't see this giant bee coming in for a landing and was then too shocked to move. He only stayed for a couple of seconds and flew off. A thistle isn't much of a plant but I think the flowers are really pretty. 

Monday Misc - June 20, 2016

Another Monday....Some updates....

Last week's carotid artery dopler test: I don't have the official results yet from the doctor but I don't have any problems according to the tech who did the test. There is 1 small spot of plaque in each artery. She explained everything to me as she went along and I got to watch the screen so could see what the inside of my carotid arteries look like, blood flowing through them, etc. Kinda neat! I just assumed that since I have so much plaque in my heart arteries that it would also be in the neck arteries but not so.

Last Friday's Neuroscience Happy Hour: I am hooked on this series of lectures at the Prairie Fire Museum. Last week's topic was on migraines. Some of what I learned...  A severe headache, even if not a migraine , effects the whole brain chemesty. There are 4 kinds of headaches - migraine, general, tension and sinus. A "general" headache is really a low-grade migraine.   Migraines usually happen less frequently as a person gets older. Migraines can start with children as early as 4-5 years old and a person's tendency for them can be inherited.  You can have a migraine headache without the aura (seeing flashing lights, etc). People with migraines respond to environmental things that don't bother other people such as odors, temperature, food, alcohol, etc. The goal for doctors is to control migraines in people rather than the migraines contolling the person. They cannot be cured. Next topic is OCD, ADD and ADHD.

Long-lost niece found: Terrie, my oldest brother's daughter, lived with Darryl (my ex-husband) for 2-3 years back in the mid-1970's, when we were living in Denver, while her parents were still in Japan. Her dad was in the Navy and she came back to live with us when she graduated high school. Anyway, I lost touch with her around 2001 after she left her husband in Alaska and moved to Georgia to be near her widowed mother.  I have tried many times over the years to find her or her mother. Terrie's mother died in January of this year and her obituary popped up as a hint in my genealogy software program. In the obituary was where the children were living. So back to Facebook I went for the another search. I found Facebook pages for Terrie, her brother and her daughter who now goes by her middle name - not the first name that I had been looking for. None of them had been active on Facebook for a long time. However, I went ahead and send a FB message to Terrie's daughter in February. Last week I got a message back with Terrie's phone number in it. So after looking for 15 years, I called Terrie on Saturday and we caught up a bit. She lives about 30 minutes south of Memphis in Mississippi. I feel a trip coming up.....

Odds and Ends - June 19th

Nothing major happening this week - just odds and ends of stuff that is taking up time.

Classes: Two classes down and one to go. Last Monday I taught a 1 hour class on "Why Should I Do a Timeline?" to 53 people who attended the genealogy class. We ask everyone to do evaluation forms on various aspects of the class and the "speaker" scored a 4.85 out of a possible 5 so I guess I did o.k. On the 25th,  I speak to the Genealogy Society's general meeting on "Writing YOUR Family History" with the emphasis being on writing it for you or your immediate family. If a person is writing a family history,  they usually do it on past ancestors - like 3X Great-grandfather, etc but not about current people. People don't like to write/talk about themselves. I will be glad when this last class is over and I can get on to other things.

It's HOT outside: I have had several people who know I moved here from the desert ask me how the hot weather here compares to the summers in Tucson. I will take the weather here because even when the heat index is 100, there is a breeze when you go outside. It isn't just the "oven heat" like it is in the desert. Plus, because of the humidity here, I can breath much better.  In the desert, in the summer when the humidity was so low, I felt like I was breathing in a closed plastic bag when I was outside.

Car problem: Yesterday I left a restaurant with Vivian at about 1:30 - hottest day of the year - and the air conditioner in my vehicle wouldn't work. It was just blowing hot air and I do mean hot - like you had the heater on high. It was working fine up until then. So I called the dealer and they got me right in this morning plus gave me a loaner car since they didn't know how long it would take to fix it. I got a call a little while ago that a valve broke so they were fixing it and then recharging the air conditioner. I can pick it up in the morning. One thing about them, I can get a loaner anytime I want it and I get relatively new vehicles of the same kind I have. Today I got a new RX350,  like mine,  with less than 10,000 miles on it.  I wait if I'm just in there for an oil change and it will only take a couple of hours but could get a free loaner for just an oil change.

Until next time....

Happy Monday!

Heart Doctor: I saw my heart doctor last Thursday for a routine yearly checkup. Again, I am impressed with the doctors at KU Med. This guy is the head of the cardiology dept and only sees patients 2 afternoons a week. Yet he and the resident take the time to read my file in the computer BEFORE they came into the room to see me. I don't feel like just a number that they have no idea who I am or what my problems are like it was in Tucson. He took me off one of the meds that I have been on for a year since it didn't bring my triglycerides down like he hoped it would. Cholesterol is good so that med is doing it's job along with walking and diet. Because of family history, he is scheduling me for a carotid Doppler (ultrasound of the neck artery).  They didn't do the neck when they did the heart a couple of years ago. I like that he said "yes, you are a high risk but go live your life and do what you can that is within your control - you can't change what you inherited." We talked about me going back to taking Trilipix, the only med that worked on triglycerides for me,  but he wants to review all my liver numbers first.

Neuroscience Happy Hour: I went to another one of these last Friday night and learned all about Parkinson Disease. Bet  you didn't know that the stethoscope was invented in 1816 so a male doctor would not have to put his ear on a woman's check to hear her heart? The doctor's other tidbit comment was "There is NO advantage to getting older." He was speaking medically because otherwise I would have to disagree with him. Parkinson is a neurodegenerative disease like Alzheimer's or dementia is. It is on the increase because people are living longer. He compared the body to a car as we get older.... The engine (brain) and transmission (heart) may still be good but all the other parts are wearing out. The production of dopamine (enzyme in the brain that makes us feel happy/good) slows down as we get older so we don't enjoy things like we used to. If you have hand tremors when you are holding something but it goes away when you rest your hand in your lap then you do not have Parkinson's. The head movement of Michael J. Fox is not due to the Parkinson that he has but is a side effect of the medication he is on for the Parkinson's. The next Happy Hour topic is on migraines and I plan to be there. Where else can you learn from a doctor while enjoying a glass of wine and appetizers?

Otherwise...: I'm still plugging along on preparing for the classes I am teaching this month. I'm prepared for the first one and making progress on the 2nd one. I'm also working on the trip book from when Nancy was here for a visit last month. The pictures are all in the book and am writing the text. I'm also doing some planning on things to do when Jane comes out for a visit next month from Tucson. Busy week coming up.