ProfessorTomoe

As with the thread from the previous incarnation of the board, I begin this one with a request that the information within remain confidential. This is a thread for those seeking support as they deal with very sensitive situations involving either their own or a loved one's health. Please let this be a thread where such information can be shared with a level of trust. Now, back to the topic at hand. I picked up my second filling of Brintellix yesterday—all $141 of it, for a month's supply. I find it odd that it is an antidepressant, yet the price is so high that it is depressing just to purchase it. As for its effects, I'm still getting used to them. I haven't been able to sleep for more than three hours at a time for a couple of weeks now. When I do wake up in the middle of the night, I'm not groggy. In fact, I feel for at least a short time that I've had a decent night's sleep. That sensation only lasts a few hours, though. I don't crash out—I just sort of fade to the point where I need to sleep again. Very weird. I've also lost weight. Not a lot, but every pound counts, and it's been a slow and steady drop. Some of this might be related to the small dose of metformin that I'm on (my A1C hit 6.5 again, causing my primary doctor to freak out). I seriously don't know. Whatever the reason, it made my cardiologist happy at my appointment yesterday. Speaking of cardiologists, mine determined that I am status quo as far as my PVCs are concerned. He hasn't seen them in the short 30-second EKGs he runs at every appointment, but the memory of my Holter monitor results from several years ago is enough to keep him on his toes. Still, he saw no reason to increase my lisinopril or to add a beta blocker to my shoebox full of medicines. I hope this thread will be as useful as the last one was. Thanks for any support you can provide.

Turns out that the doom and gloom the three sentences implied were not as doomy and gloomy as I first thought. I spoke with the doctor's office and asked them several pointed questions about the report, and they said that it was a mild outcome that allowed them to go ahead and give cardiac clearance for my lipoma removal operation. Go figure. Anyway, I don't need to make any changes to my medications or diet, thankfully, unless I start getting short of breath or feeling chest pains. End of line.

Had my cardiac stress test yesterday as part of getting cardiac clearance for my lipoma removal surgery. Didn't go exactly as planned. "As planned" would have been a clean bill of health, or close to it. Mine was not. There were plenty of medicalese comments in the nuclear stress test report, but the most worrying was this one: The first two sentences basically mean, I think, that my heart muscles aren't getting proper blood and oxygen flow under stress. The really worrying statement is the last one, though. It means I have a small spot of dead muscle tissue somewhere on my heart. This is not good. I'm now waiting for the cardiologist to call. I'm guessing he's going to want me to come in for an appointment, but who knows? I'll find out sooner or later.

Let's see if we can consolidate some of the "what are you eating/drinking/breathing" threads into this one. I am currently ingesting Crystal Light tea. Just had some hummus & pita chips beforehand. I'm considering getting a glass of Bulgarian buttermilk (I was shocked that my local Albertson's actually had the Bulgarian style! Nom.).

The torn rotator cuff in my right shoulder has FLARED UP like you would NEVER believe. I'm talking pain levels between 9 and 9 1/2, coming in waves, like someone is taking a huge wrench and giving it as much torque as possible. I have carefully titrated my pain medicine to concentrate the effects, also with no immediate relief. Typing this message was extremely painful. I think I'm going to stop.

I'd like to use this thread as a way to highlight new releases of my music. Anyone else who has any music coming out is welcome to do the same. For starters, I've just released a song called "Ant Farm Melee" to my Bandcamp account. You can read all about it on my latest blog post. Please grab a copy of the song today!

Forgot the link to the YouTube video for "Bohemian Galop":

This sort of came out of the blue. I have just found out that the International Horn Society is in the process of preparing to publish my work for French Horn sextet, "Bohemian Galop." It'll be my first published piece, if they do in fact follow through with it! It sounds hopeful, though - here's the quote: (OMS = Online Music Sales) I've contacted them for more details. Can't wait!!!

Ohmydearlord. Diarrrrrhea. Painful. Where is the fecking Imodium???

My wife has just taken Baker, our oldest cat, to be put down humanely. He has suffered greatly over the past few months, not being able to poop properly. He's had to be put under and manually cleaned out 5 times, and has developed megacolon and nerve damage as a result. He's lost over 5 pounds regardless. It was simply time. I shed a tear or two after she left. He'll be missed.

They are predicting Biblical-level flooding for the D/FW area tonight. 100% chance of rain overnight with 5"-6" accumulation at the big airport. Thank goodness we live near the top of a hill, or at least the top of a sloped piece of land. The chances of water pooling on our property are low. It's more likely to flow through our yard and go down toward the local creek, which will likely jump its bank. We're a good distance away from and above it as well, so it's unlikely we'd be caught by flooding from a swollen creek. Still, it's likely to be a tense night once it finally gets under way.

In case you're interested in what I'm considering, here's my "list" at Apple.com. (It's one item long.) It's a 16" MacBook Pro with an M4 Pro chip in it, 48GB unified memory, and 4TB of SSD storage. There are more details if you click on the "list" link above. What shocks me is how expensive the SSD gets at the 8TB level. You'd think they'd allocate multiple slots for that, but it seems like they're using only a single SSD slot, which would explain the high price. Those 8TB NVMe drives are expensive as hell, if that's what they're using. The only thing I don't like about the laptop at first look is the lack of a numpad. How does this affect the usability of the thing, in your opinion? Do they make plug-in numpads for it?

I have had it up to here with the BSODs. To the point where I am very seriously considering making my next laptop a 16" MacBook Pro. I've done my homework. Dorico, Cubase, and Wavelab all run on macOS, as do the VST plugin packages I use. Microsoft Office 365 comes in a macOS flavor, although I'll have to find a replacement for the sucky Outlook that comes with it. I may have some peripheral programs that I'll need to replace, but nothing huge. So, no big deals there. The only object is cost of the MacBook Pro itself. I can't say where the funding for it might be coming from yet, or if it might be coming at all. I'm working on it, though. As for why I'd consider doing this, well, the Mac biosphere is pretty much tailor made for working with audio. Everything just works, to coin a phrase. Even my son, who's the skeptic who would be frying a loaf of bread in pure Wesson oil (remember that commercial?), can recognize that much. Anyone have any comments on this? I'm interested in getting your opinions before I potentially make the switch.

It's probably elapsed, but I wouldn't think it would apply in any case. The thing they repaired doesn't seem to be the thing causing the BSODs.

The very same.

Why? Surely we make more Danishes than any other country on Earth.

I have spent the better part of my day today trying to figure out why my laptop succumbed to yet another Blue Screen of Death. At my son's urging, I have gathered my issues and submitted them to the gurus at the BleepingComputer forums in an attempt to debug the situation. I hope I will get a resolution to the situation soon. However, for reasons I cannot explain at the moment, I soon may not need to debug the situation too deeply. I might just be able to replace my 4-year-old workhorse with something even more powerful. Watch this space for further developments. If they happen, that is.

Welcome back, @The Old Hack. Glad to see you around again. Satisfell, as the late, great Buddy Ebsen once said. Kick yer shoes off.

Crappy news inbound today. I've been waiting since August '24 for a decision from a certain publisher on whether or not they were going to publish a woodwind quintet I wrote ("Theme and Tangents"). Well, that decision came through today, and it was a negative decision. I quote: God, what suckitude. Anyway, I've found a different publisher called Murphy Music Press which I'm going to try, I think. They publish band and chamber music, so if I can, I'm going to send them "Fantasias on a Hillside Theme" plus what I've got up on MyScore, along with "Theme and Tangents," of course.

Well, no surgery for me. The anesthesiologist cancelled it. Said I need cardiac clearance after showing signs of "AV block and sinus tachycardia" on my EKG. Now, I'm delayed at least a week or two. Smeg.

Did anybody listen to this? ...sigh...

I'm supposedly being treated to a "last supper" tonight, prior to tomorrow's lipoma removal surgery. The meal of honor will be Japanese beef curry, served with koshihikari rice (top level stuff, if it gets here in time). I definitely feel honored. Curry and rice is one of my all-time favorite meals. It'll definitely soften the blow of having to fast from midnight until 10am Tuesday for the surgery. Will report on how things go, both gastronomic and surgical.

61 here atm.

And while you're at it, put a blue rose on David Lynch's grave. He was 78. https://variety.com/2025/film/news/david-lynch-dead-director-blue-velvet-twin-peaks-1236276106/

Jusssst a bit outside the world of the living Bob Uecker dies, aged 90