Sleep Apnea

I think it's time to talk about sleep apnea...

Did you know that doctor's estimate that over 10 million
Americans (and god(dess) knows how many in other
countries) suffer from some degree of sleep apnea?

What is sleep apnea? It is a condition where, when
asleep, the airways of the subject collapse causing
the subject to not be able to breathe. The blood oxygen
levels fall, the person will actually starve their brain
of oxygen to the point of damage. Then the body wakes
the subject up, the subject starts to suffer from long-term
sleep deprivation and heart problems can arise because of
this problem. The lack of deep REM sleep can become
life-threatening.

The symptoms of apnea are snoring, red eyes in the morning,
morning headaches and falling asleep uncontrollably in the
daytime.

As a person gets older, the problem can get worse. The
airwaves get smaller, the weight an adult can put on adds
to the problem. This will continue to get worse and worse
until the subject either dies from the effects or it is treated.

I have apnea. I started out snoring as a child and many
doctors remarked in my childhood that I seemed to have
very small bronchia (breathing tubes). When I finally got
treatment for the problem, I had gotten to the point that
I had damaged my heart and was actually getting blood
oxygen levels as low as 70 (normal is 95).

I now sleep with a simple device which is nothing but a
fancy air pump which I attach over my nose with elastic
cords around my head. This looks like a torture device
but is actually fairly comfortable once you get used to
it. The miracle is that my sinuses stay open while I sleep,
I don't get headaches in the morning anymore, I can
stay awake during the day, and I'm probably going to
be able to live a little longer.

If you or your loved one snores a lot; if they stop breathing
in the night when asleep and then wake up with a gasp; if
they are always tired; if their snoring doesn't stop when
they are on their sides, they might have sleep apnea and
you should waste no time in going to a doctor for a simple
treatment.

And then you (they) can live a bit longer.

FUCK MANPOWER!!!

I have been away from Manpower for 18 months. It has
been quite awhile since I had to work for those pissant
corporate clones but they still haunt my life! I'm currently
dealing with the fallout from the fact that those corporate
assholes have decided to drop decent health-care as one
of the options available to their temporary employees
(read this as "slave" because that is how they view the
poor benighted bastards who end up making them rich).



I am so glad I don't work for them anymore and I am
shouting to the skies that if you value your soul and heart
DO NOT WORK FOR OR THROUGH THESE
PEOPLE!!!

You have been warned. The rest is on your heads!

Thoughts On Punishment / Red Rain

I once was going to be punished for something I had done which was perceived as a punishable offence. I remember the lecture I was getting and the explanation of how this was for my own good etc. The only thing I remember going through my head was the words, "Let's just get this over with."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Red Rain is one of my favorite songs. I was reminded of this while listening to the radio today. Peter Gabriel has been delving into his darker regions and mining his dreams for the gold of musical expression. It's great to listen to this while I sit and watch the rare California rain come down.

Well I've seen them buried in a sheltered place in this town.
They tell you that this rain can sting, and look down.
There is no blood around see no sign of pain,
ayayay - no pain.
Seeing no red at all, seeing no rain.

Red rain is coming down
red rain.
Red rain is pouring down,
pouring down all over me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The strangest thing is that after reading stuff about global warming, the coming apocalypse and the age of diseases and pain which all these "prophets" have said will happen and only one thing goes through my mind,

I say to myself, "Let's just get this over with."

March Hair "cut"

Well, here we are in the realm of the March Hare. That little-known creature of lore and myth who is "Madder Than A Hatter" (wow, there's another strange term of insanity). What is a March Hare?

Well, as I've been told, during the last days of winter and leading up to the bloom of spring the diet of the rodents falls dangerously short of nutrients as they chew on dried grasses from the year before and wait for the shoots of spring. They become short on Vitamin C and other necessary things in their diet and they start to jump and spin in reaction to the lack of good foodstuffs. This usually happens in March, just before the blooming of April. Therefore the name. If you could feed your rabbits and hares some fresh produce, they would react much more normally.

Herein lies a truth, winter sucks.

Also, what comes in March is the time when Stuart (our brave correspondent) usually gets his "cut it all off" bowl haircut. The hair, left long for winter's chill, has begun upon these days to get cumbersomely long and in need of truncation (cut the damned stuff off of my head!) So it is right about now that I take the electric trimmers, set them on longest possible cut and take everything down to a more manageable one inch length. All the hairs one inch long. It's what I call my Napoleon Cut. Very distinguished in a sorta militaristic way. Easy to take care of.

So, in this California of fresh produce 24/7 ~ 365... I have to deal with March Hair much more than a March Hare.




But my haircut doesn't bring me chocolate like the Easter Bunny does.