oh, and there were a few delays, too

this past week I've been under treatment for an eye infection in the cornea, where they put in my artificial lens two years ago.

which was discovered a couple weeks after I had heart attack #6... a 95 percent unstable blockage in the artery called "the widowmaker."  they kicked me out of the hospital after two days... I think I ate too much, and they wanted me gone ;)  couldn't have been snoring, we brought in my CPAP.

it's a good thing I'm not getting creaky as I get older... .

// delayed //

we have the basement cleaned, the stairs replaced with golden oak, the landing built, and the carpet guys were here.  case and base is underway, and the furniture is coming on Saturday.

there is still the bathroom to finish, and window dressing to do, as well as set up the electronics stuff.

but lordy, lordy, looks like we'll have DeBasement done at the one-year mark!

ain't dead yet, but the flies aren't coming around any more

that could mean any one of a number of things.

but I'm doing fine, back at work, and actually did a little picking up in the yard yesterday.

this weekend, will see if we can get somewhere on the steps to DeBasement.  would love to get the furniture in, especially since they've called three times to see if we're ready for it.

sigh, back to cardiac rehab

it was a good 11 years, but on Sunday I had some recurrent and gradually increasing angina pain.  several mild episodes over the past month had me in contact with my cardiologist, and after an office visit, he said it was a toss-up.. no audible issues, good shape... set up an angiogram now, or be watchful, and in any case, come back in 6 months.

we decided to take the watchful route.  had exercise resistance on the elliptical machine after 5 minutes (which I ride sorta hard,) but fine on all the presses and lunges and rower (which I have been slacking on.)  last Friday, had another Pain Level One walking the mile to the bus after work, and told the wife it was time to make that appointment.

well, the appointment made me.

a little sore after church, faded after lunch.  took a nitro regardless.  went to Menards for some skirt board and patterned crown molding for DeBasement finishing touches, and walking back to millwork in that medium-sized store, had a #2 level come on.  sat down for a few minutes, got to the car, decided we'll not go to the superstore nearer home than church, but get the antihistimine I was out of, and go home.

decided after getting back to the car and having further pain that I was going to hand the keys to Cheryl and have her drive me into the ER at United.

peaked at a #4 on the way in before another nitro and an aspirin took hold.

with the electronic charting across Allina Health, they pulled me up, saw the last month, and immediately put me in a room, on an EKG, and admitted to the cardiac unit within 20 minutes.

diagnosis:  unstabile angina with a mild heart attack.  treatment:  angiogram.  result:  95 percent blockage in the LAD artery and one eluting stent put in.  everything else that was a problem in the past is flowing clean and clear as a trout stream in the spring.

not bad for 11 years.  probably had some intermittent hanging crud off the end of a plaque, so back on the super-aspirin, too.

-0-

delay of a few more days getting a power supply built for the HW-100 and getting on the air for the first time in 40 years as a ham.  that's OK.  all the hard work is really done anyway, all I have to do is drill in the circuit boards and interconnect stuff.  but it's 20 pounds, and I'm not lifting and turning that thing during my "watch-it!!" period.

-0-

commercial:  praise the Lord, for His mercy and love is sustaining while His hand guides the professionals who executes His miracles.  don't like it, stop reading this blog.  as if anybody does.  like it, make sure you examine your relationship with God.  all who ask, receive what they need.  if you need help doing that, check here for a field office near you ;)  http://www.wels.net/

woo-hoo! a General. listen and obey ;)

well, sort of.  I tested back into ham radio this morning, direct to General class. it is possible that I could have a call sign in the FCC database within days.

have some DeBasement things to do today, then I gotta get out and finish building the power supply for that HW-100.

// edit // got my call, KD0REQ

Mr. Chair... I PAID FOR THIS HEATING SYSTEM!!!

my annual salute to officious "moderators" who think they know it all, copied from an old sportcaster on the radio.

which arises because we woke up to no heat today, zero outside, and the thermostat sliding down to 56.  poked and fiddled, the reset button did nothing.  found we had power with the last dying chirp of the "growler" line detector's batteries.  cycled the breaker anyway at the panel.

shutting the maintenance switch off and turning it back shortly after got a click out of the burner controls, so downed it for a minute and then power on.  after a decent delay, the furnace kicked in and heated up nicely.  about three minutes into it, the flue got hot enough to equal one of the earlier cold-day "ouchies," so all is well for now.  particularly since the furnace walls were NOT hot, which is sorta significant ;)

didn't inspect this year on advice of our burner mechanic, so we're probably marginal on something (burner "eye", nozzle, ignitor tips) that hopefully we can catch next fall.  found and downloaded the burner manual, and it's all full of danger-fire and hotpuff warnings.  apparently nobody is supposed to know anything in the manuals except certified servicemen.

since ISO records indicate this house came by this furnace because of a claim, sounds like a good plan.  I suspect either the motor overheated and tripped the safety, or a preset on runtime against clocktime was reached and tripped the safety.  windows had been left open a crack in DeBasement because of varnished stair treads.

// edit 4/5/12 // replacing the vaporizing nozzle was the fix.  if it wasn't the issue would probably have been the transformer, which apparently now is not a VHV transformer, but something more like a voltage multiplier module, like old CRT TV set "triplers."  have not had to call the furnace guy back. it's expertise you pay for when you call.

too tired to get DeBased

we did sand everything down.  didn't put any new varnish on in DeBasement, but should tonight.  looking ahead, I don't like the idea of pulling every blinkin' wire separately for a 6x1 speaker system, two coaxes, Ethernet, video feed up from the theater amp, and a partridge in a pear tree... so I picked up another 500' spool of wire on my way into work.  now it's going to be purple and white behind the walls, in the conduits.

12 gauge stranded.  take your Monster (tm) cable and twist it in knots, guys, copper is copper.  if I built a micro-ohmmeter again (whipped one up in the 70s because I had plans) each connection would have ten times the resistance as the cable.  minimum.

did vacuum up the loose dust left after we swept Monday night.