So Far, So Good

I have made it to lunch time and nothing disastrous has happened yet. My feeling that today is going to be a bad day has not yet come true, but I still have half the work day to go. Fingers crossed that everything stays quiet.

I have been having a couple of issues. My stomach is not having a good day. The frequency of gastric bypass side effects does seem to be getting smaller with time, but today has been noteworthy. I was feeling a little off this morning while drinking water and doing my exercise. By the time I had my protein bar breakfast in the car on the way to work I was okay. Three hours later though I started having that empty-stomach-ache feeling. I had a small snack and felt better, but it only alleviated things for about an hour. Now the stomach ache is back, but I just started eating lunch so hopefully that will put an end to it.

The other issue I am having today is one that I hinted at in a post last night. I am completely exhausted. I got about 6.5 hours of sleep last night, which is a little less than I was hoping for. I still wear my Apple Watch to sleep to keep track of various sleep related data. One data point that seems really important to how rested I feel is called Sleeping Heart Rate Dip. The SleepWatch app says that a dip between 10% and 20% is average. Over 20% is excellent. Under 10% is not good. The last two nights I have been under 10%. I don’t know why. The app recommends exercise as a way to encourage your heart rate to dip more while you sleep, and I have exercised a lot the last couple of days. I’m not sure what to do about this, but I am so tired today that hopefully my body won’t have a choice but to have a good night’s sleep tonight. I guess we’ll see how things look in the morning.

Until then… fingers crossed that my sense of impending doom is not warranted. Here’s hoping!

Sleepy

Despite the possible influence of a mild migraine headache overnight last night, I thought I got a decent night’s sleep. Apparently I was wrong. I have felt seriously exhausted all day today, and it’s especially bad (as it often is) after I finished lunch. I just feel really tired and I wish I didn’t.

I didn’t use my CPAP machine last night. For some reason I thought it would be a mistake to wire myself up while dealing with a migraine. I didn’t want any extra noise or distractions. I just wanted to pass out and stay that way until the alarm went off. I think it worked, but now I expect if I had put the machine on I would feel better tonight. Hindsight, and all that crap.

Change of subject, all of the guitar playing I’ve done over the last few days is really making me want to get the work I need done to my two 1970’s Gibsons. I have two shops I want to bring them to and get an estimate from. One is in Rockport, MA, which is an hour away from here. The upside of that shop is that it’s open on Saturdays. The other shop is in Malden… or Medford… same difference. They are not open on weekends though, but they are open until 7:00pm on weekdays. I should be able to get there before they close. I am thinking of making an appointment for 6:30 or so next Monday. I have no clue how much they will charge for frets and wiring. I just hope it’s low enough that I can pay for work on both guitars without needing to sell anything else. If I do need to raise a little more money I will probably sell my Fender Bassbreaker 18/30 amp, but I don’t think I will be able to get very much for it.

I might sell the 18/30 anyway, even if the money I raised is enough to pay for the three things I need. Maybe I could raise a little more fundage and pay for new pickups for the Les Paul Custom. I don’t know. That’s a pie in the sky kinda thing.

I am really tired and I still have 2.5 hours to go in my work day. Blah. I hope to get some better sleep tomorrow. I might mix a song before bed though. I have three songs ready to go. Huzzah, right? Rock and Roll.

Welcome to July

Happy July 1st, everyone. Summer in full swing. The forecast calls for a high of 80 degrees today with rain every day for the foreseeable future. Hooray.

Today is the day that my company’s Covid-19 lock down kind of comes to an end. Prior to Covid I worked in the building four days per week and at home one. Now it’s sort of the opposite. It’s not in the office once per week, it’s more like in the office an average of once per week. Flexibility is our friend. It’s actually in the office 20% of the month… so about once per week.

I was hoping to make my first day back July 13th as my last day before lock down was March 13th and it would be funny for it to be exactly 16 months. Nope. My nana sitting schedule will not allow that. I need to sneak in at least once before the 13th.

Change of subject, I went to sleep around midnight last night and woke up a bit before 5:00. I felt okay, even though I failed to get even five hours of sleep, but my SleepWatch app is telling me my heart rate dip was garbage. It says I was in restful sleep for about three quarters of the night though, so I’ve got that going for me. It’s going to be a long day.

The 50/90 challenge starts in four days. Are you ready to be bombarded with posts regarding awful, pointless, idiotic music, guitar playing, song writing, and recording? I strongly suspect this year’s challenge will end in a crash and burn, and it will likely happen quickly. As of this moment though, I am still thinking I am on board. In fact, I was thinking about swapping out my amplifier. I don’t want to go with a two amp setup like last year. I don’t want to take up that much room in the bedroom anymore. I have been using my Vox AC15 for the last few months. This weekend before things kick off I might swap it for my Fender Bassbreaker 15 again. We’ll see.

Did I mention I have an eye doctor appointment on Saturday? Does it make me sound like an old fart when I say I am seriously looking forward to it? Probably. Okay (son of) boomer.

Right, time for my Nana Sitting duties. I need to bring her the 8:00am meds.

Until next time.

Good day, eh?

Heart Rate

Since I started keeping track of sleep stats a couple of years ago I have learned that one number is pretty much as important to a good night’s sleep as the amount of time I’m asleep. That number is the average sleeping heart rate dip.

For the last month or so my sleeping heart rate dip numbers have waffled between eh and uh. For the few months prior to that, my sleeping heart rate dip numbers were more like WOW!

What changed? Why are things different now?

Is it a statistical anomaly? I haven’t been exercising. Could it be that my heart rate dip is less because my daily average waking heart rate is lower due to not getting jacked through the roof while exercising?

Or am I just not sleeping as well because I’m not exercising? I bet I’m reading too much into this. Whatever, I need a nap.

Though for the record… my exercise ring on the Apple activity app has been closed for today. Let’s get back into it, fatty.