Jen has to stay up a little late. I’m trying to stay up with her but I can’t do it. It makes me sad.
I’m also starting a new mask and filter in Mr CPAP machine so once I Konk out I’ll maybe stay out for hours.
Look at me, letting everyone down again.
My CPAP machine pissed me right off last night. I went to bed at 11:00 and then woke up a little before 2:00am with the mask sliding all over my damn face and leaking like a… like a… like a something that leaks a lot, I don’t know. I sat up and screwed around with all of the harness straps and stuff and eventually was able to get back to sleep.
How much does it suck when the thing that is supposed to help you sleep stops you from sleeping? It sucks a lot.
Change of subject…
When the hell am I going to use all of this time off? My company changed the way they dish out time off, including taking a bunch of holidays that we used to have off and turning them into floating holidays and rolling that together with the couple of personal days and the huge pile of vacation days and renaming it all Personal Time Off. We accrue x number of hours each month and there is a cap on how much we can carry before we stop accruing more.
The good news is that we get a shit load of personal time off. The bad news is we actually have to use it if we want to keep getting more. Oh, the webs we weave. I am about a minute below the cap right now so I have to use some time this month… and next month… and every month. That’s a good thing, but it’s also a logistical struggle, you know? Times are tough. Anyway, what I really need to do is take a week off and get the accrual down a bit so I have some breathing room. Good idea! But when? The best time would be a time when kids are here. Bellana won’t be home for months because she’s going to be in Europe for the next semester. Harry will come home on breaks. Good idea! When is the next break? March 7-11! I’ll put in for that week!
I love it when a plan comes together.
Every few months I get a package in the mail with replacement parts for my CPAP machine. Masks, filters, hoses, harnesses, and sometimes water tanks. I should swap out parts more often than I do, but instead I tend to use each component for longer than expected and I end up not using all of each month’s delivery.
Over the last week or so I have been wanting to update everything, but I knew a delivery was coming soon and I decided to wait. It finally came two days ago and tonight I got around to swapping out parts. That’s when I realized what a forgetful doofus I am.
I keep all of the unused items in my closet. I figured I’d take what I could from the last box before using anything from the new box. I took the box off the top of the closet. It had a harness with a mask and a bunch of filters. Okay, that’s a good start. That’s when I noticed there was another box. Not the latest shipment, but the previous shipment. I hadn’t opened it yet. Ugh, really? I had a full box of parts sitting in the closet and I still waited for a new box to be delivered? What a moron.
So now the box from two deliveries back is empty except for a few filters (which I moved to the end table next to my bed. Don’t forget that, Robert. The next time you swap a filter you don’t have to go into the closet. Remember, you absent minded putz). The box from one delivery back is open and available for use. There is a hose in there and a few masks and another harness. The delivery from this week is in the closet now too, and it’s still unopened.
The machine now has a new filter, a new mask, a new harness, a new hose, and a new tank. Literally everything that can be changed has been changed.
Stop being so damn forgetful and start replacing parts more often. It’s nice that I clean them regularly, but stop being weird about replacement parts. Just stop it. Doofus.
Did I have a crummy night’s sleep last night or what?
I went to bed at midnight. Woke up at 1:00. Woke up again at 2:00. Woke up at 3:50 and could not get back to sleep. I bet I dozed off a little at a time without realizing it, but I know I saw the clock hit 4:40 before I really went under again.
My back was really sore and I couldn’t get comfortable. My arms kept going numb from laying on my side. I mean, my arms were just showing off. Look, jerk, we can go to sleep. Why can’t the rest of you? Ugh.
My CPAP mask kept feeling like it was losing it’s seal. I don’t think it actually was, but during the rare times when I was asleep I was drooling like a fooling and the mask was sliding around all over the place and it was driving me nuts.
At about 6:30 I gave up and got up. I took the trash to the street and I did my whole morning routine and I did car music. Just two songs. The one song I have for Record Every Month, and the last song I had for Quarantine volume 5.
I’m leaving work a couple of hours early today, but I have meetings pretty much for the whole rest of the day. It’s going to be a busy Tuesday. I expect by the time the day ends I am going to be wishing I had a good night’s sleep, right?
Usually when we go up to Vermont we leave as early as humanly possible so that we can spend as much time there as we can and still get home at a non-ridiculous hour. Today is a little different. I have to time my arrival to match up with his class schedule. That means I have another hour or so before I have to leave.
I was thinking about playing some guitar before I go, but Jen is working and a few minutes from now she’ll be in a meeting. Better for me to keep quiet. It got me thinking about gear though. The amplifier I am going to use for November is a Vox MV50 Clean. There are a ton of MV50 models, but the Clean is the only one that comes with an attenuator. The others have a master volume. Blah.
It’s supposed to be a 50 watt amp and the attenuator has three settings; Off, 1/10th power, and 1/100th power. So it can be 50 watts, five watts, or 0.5 watts. At 50 watts it is loud. Great googlymoogly it is loud. At 0.5 watts it’s not. It’s a nice, useable at home volume. Well… still maybe a smidge loud, but not bad. I keep it at 0.5 all the time.
But should I? I was complaining the other day about it caving in when I bomb it with signal out of one of my overdrive pedals. Maybe I should set it to 1/10th power and just keep the volume control really low. Hell, maybe I should turn the attenuator off and see if I can use the volume control to keep things manageable. It’s doubtful, but maybe worth a try?
Huh… we’ll see.
Change of subject: Last night I don’t know what I was thinking. Two nights ago I had a memory lapse and got into bed without putting my CPAP mask on. Dumb ass. I realized the mistake before my head was on the pillow and all was right with the world again. Last night I missed two things. I forgot to top off the CPAP machine’s humidifier tank. Oops. It didn’t run out, but it’s close to empty.
I also forgot to charge my friggin’ watch. I finished my 30 minutes of exercise and just forgot to put it on the charger. Next thing I know I’m dozing off and my battery is at 30 something percent. Crap. Well, if it dies it dies. What’s a red head to do? I went to sleep. When I woke up today it was at 12%. It’s good to know that I can go 24 hours without a charge. The downside of course is that it’s been on the charger for about 90 minutes and it’s only back up to 52%. It’s probably not going to be fully charged by the time I have to leave. That’s okay. It’ll be charged enough.
I still need to top off the gas tank (it’s about 190 miles each way. In my hybrid Kia, if I start with a full tank I can get there and back and still have about a quarter of a tank left. I friggin’ love science) and pick up some caffeinated beverages for the ride. After that the only question is music or podcasts? If it’s music I might go with the new live record from The Pineapple Thief. I first stumbled across them a couple of years ago and it’s all good stuff, just nothing that sets the world on fire for me. Their new live record (they couldn’t tour last year so they did one show in an empty room and webcast it everywhere. The new record is that show) does it. It sets the red head’s head right on fire. Great album. I was seeing all this potential and waiting for a record that lived up to it. The last one was close. This new one nails it. Having said that though… I’ll still probably go with podcasts. That’s just kinda where I’m at this morning.
Happy travels, folks!
Every time I change something on my CPAP machine I say to myself that I should note the date somewhere and keep track of how long things last.
Somehow I never do it.
Or do I? I also somehow never think to look for the notes to myself.
Moron.
Hey moron, you just changed the filter and the mask. It’s 9/13/21 at 9:33pm.
I’m really tired right now and it might be my CPAP machine’s fault. Well… my fault, but related to my CPAP machine.
I turned in around 11:30 last night… I think. (We’re using lots of ellipses in this post already. We might be shooting for a… world record) My watch told me I was asleep around midnight, which seems a bit later than I remember, but whatever. I woke up at about 1:30am (the watch didn’t catch that though) and realized I didn’t have my mask on. I laid down on the couch, expecting to spend some time reading before I went to sleep, and next thing I know it’s like two hours later.
Now if I fell asleep while reading, I would expect my iPad would have fallen out of my hands, right? Given how I was laying on my back and holding it in front of me, I could reasonably expect that it would have actually bashed me in the face. Nope. It was actually laying down next to me with the alarm clock app open and the alarm set for 6:30am. Did I set the iPad up the way I always do when I sleep on the couch (thanks to the CPAP machine that is a super rare occurrence now) in my sleep? Because I don’t remember doing it. I remember setting the alarm, but not putting it down with the clock app having focus and the screen turned off.
So I realized what was going on and put the mask on and switched on the CPAP machine and had a decent night’s sleep for the remainder of the night… but that whole experience was just… weird.
I mean… weird.
Now it’s 2:00pm and I am wrapping up my lunch break and I am seriously ready to go back to bed. Go figure.
I’ve been tied to my desk pretty much all day. I did do a shit load of laundry and I cleaned up lake asshole. It’s currently small puddle asshole but the floor in the main cellar still has water under the tiles that bubbles up when you step on the right spots. The water is still coming in from somewhere. I’m guessing the water heater is leaking somewhere but I need a plumber to take a look. With yesterday’s Covid scare we won’t be inviting anyone into the house for a week or so, so the clean up will continue unabated. At least I won’t be out of the house for 24 hour stretches so I will be able to keep on top of things… in theory, at least.
Tomorrow will likely be the same deal. Lots of shit going on that I have to keep up with. Opportunities to stray from my desk are likely to be few and far between. I need to get a good nights sleep. I need to do the exact opposite of what I did last night. With the Covid semi-quarantiney we’re doing around these parts it means I am couch bound. Last night I forgot my CPAP machine. That plus the uncomfortable sectional left me with not a lot of sleep, and the sleep I had was pretty awful. I’ll have the CPAP tonight so what sleep I get should be better. I’m hoping being exhausted yet again might mean that I’ll sleep no matter how uncomfy the couch is.
What other unimportant thing can I write about? Last night I posted a blurb saying that when I start working from Harry’s desk we can expect more time lapse candle videos. Well I worked from Harry’s desk today and my iPad is taking a time lapse as I type this. The thing is, I can’t remember when I started it. I want to say it was 11:00am, which is 11 hours ago. It might have been more like 12noon. Either way… that’s a long ass time to shoot a time lapse. I want to let it run until just before I go to bed, so that will probably be around 11:00pm, maybe 45 minutes from now. I’m sure you’re over come with anticipation.
Okay. I’m watching the last episode of season two of Titans right now. I’m going to wrap this up so I can watch that. Then I am going to upload that time lapse to youtube. I know, I know, you can’t wait. I promise you’ll have that adrenaline rush before I sleep tonight.
It’s been quiet here tonight. Dad has been okay. He hasn’t gotten out of bed which is good for my stress level but not so good for his recovery. He needs to get some strength back in his legs and staying in bed is not going to get him there. I’ll see if I can coax him up during the odd coffee break tomorrow.
My mother was in a lot of pain when I got here, but after her last round of meds she went to bed and has been sleeping soundly ever since.
I got a jump on the work day by setting up my computer and everything I need for tomorrow tonight. The last blog post was written on my MacBook while sitting in the living room. This one is being written on my work issued HP while sitting at the workspace in the dining room. That cheap little USB fan is running and as always it is glorious.
I still need to set up my CPAP machine in the living room. I will have to do it in the dark as dad is in there sleeping. I’ve heard the odd snore, so he’s definitely asleep. Mostly I am sitting here writing this because I am waiting for my iPhone and my Apple Watch to charge before I turn in. On previous trips here I would setup a power strip near the couch I sleep on and plug everything in there. It’s not easy to do now as we had a hospital bed setup in that room yesterday and all of the places I would sit things on while they charged have been replaced with piles and piles of stuff. I don’t want to sit a power strip or a laptop on top of that stuff as I’m not sure if any of it might be a fire hazard or not. Shoot me for being extra cautions. So now I’ll just use one plug for the CPAP machine and keep my phone next to the machine with an alarm set. Of all the times I’ve been here over the last couple of months, I have never actually needed the alarm. I’ve always managed to be up long before it goes off. That’s not necessarily a good thing.
I thought about trying to write a little music while I sit here waiting. I have the MacBook and GarageBand with me after all. No… I can’t get into it. I feel too uncomfortable with headphones on.
Okay. I am going to start the turning in process now. Wish me luck.
The Bruins were down 3-2 late in the third. I forgot that my CPAP machine was still in the trunk of the Kia. I went out to get it, came back in and hooked it up, and in that short space of time the Bruins tied the game at three and sent it to overtime!
The mighty CPAP demands that the Bruins win this game in the first OT period. They demand it!
Inside the Red Head's Head 