ernie scofield

2007.06.29

There are just so many details involved with buying a house. The only saving grace in this transaction is there is no lender. What I'm banking on is that a house will be a better investment than a money market. I'm one of those investors who wants a return but wants also to sleep at night, and what better place to sleep than in one of your investments.

When we moved to The Mayflower I never had in mind to buy a house but a couple of things changed my mind. First the little one in the apartment upstairs whose cute little footsteps two years ago have now turned into mini stomping. Coupled with the fact that kids no longer go to be at any reasonable hour for a guy who gets up at five am. for work. And the thing about bouncing balls off the floor. Really, people seem to no longer have the required level of consideration for living in apartments.

Then there's the little problem of the rent continually rising. In two years this building has had three owners. The first was OK, they raised the rent about equal to the prevailing inflation rate. Entirely understandable. The second owner seemed to have different ideas. They raised the base rent in line with inflation but in addition they had the idea to split the water and sewer bill among the tenants according to how many were on the lease for the apartment. They don't do a very good job of policing live ins around here so I'd be paying the freight for them. The part that really frosted me was they tacked on an "administrative fee" which, to my understanding, is not kosher in Virginia. It all added up to about 9.5% in one year. What if they decide to spit up something really big, say the electric bill, next year.

So after all that, I figured if we were going to stay, we would have to change apartments with all the change of address hassles only to go from bad to worse possibly. So a house, with all it's hassles, it is. At least no one lives upstairs.

2007.06.25

Today marks three weeks since the procedure on my left shoulder. I guess I had my hopes up too high. If you had asked me two weeks ago how far along I'd be now I would have guessed further. I progressed very rapidly the first two weeks but now I seem to be in a bit of a rut. After therapy all I want to do is come home, take a pill, and go to bed. The therapy is still quite painful. Getting up in the morning is a treat as it stiffens up all night. It's never really comfortable.

2007.06.20

It gives me great pleasure to announce I have now finished moving all the journal entries I could find in all the tools I've used here.

2007.06.18

Today marks two weeks since the "procedure" on my left shoulder. It still gives me fits at times but it's much better than last time. In the morning it's exceptionally stiff and painful and at the end of the day I break down and take a pain killer. I was hoping to announce in this post I was finished moving all my posts here but alas, there are a few more to go.

2007.06.14

Yesterday was the follow up visit to the surgeon. He said the incisions looked great and the I should get in the pool which I did that afternoon. It felt great. This morning's therapy session was intense enough that I really didn't want to visit the pool.

2007.06.09

Yesterday was the first physical therapy session since surgery on Monday. The therapist said I could quit using the sling I had been using then went about measuring my range of motion. Pain full indeed! She then assigned a set of exercises I'm to do three times daily. Mainly pulley exercises and on exercises with the stick. She also said I could quit the pain medication, Percocet, if I was able and to substitute and OTC.

2007.06.07

Last night per instructions, we removed the dressings and the procedure was obviously arthroscopic. "Three small holes you can cover with band aids" like the surgeon said it would be with my right shoulder. Needless to say, I feel much better than the last surgery. Today it's off for my first therapy session then some lunch. I've been in touch with work and things seen to be fairly slow there. Good thing since Mike's new to the city and the job.

2007.06.06

So it seems as though I have dodged the bullet so far this time. Here it is just two days after the surgery and I don't know if Dr. Cohn sharpened up his pocket knife this time or what. I just got out of the bathtub where I was able to bathe and wash my hair by myself. Last time it was a log time getting to this point. I won't know exactly what it was he had to do in there until the fifteenth of the month, however tomorrow is my first therapy day so maybe I'll get some news.

So far, so good!

2007.06.03

Tomorrow's the big day. Starting at eight thirty when I'm supposed to be at the surgical center. I'm sure I'll feel lousy for the next couple of days so today I'll be cleaning up my room. I just can't stand to look at clutter even if it's me who made it. No liquids or food after midnight tonight.

I even updated my will Friday. What's that tell 'ya.

This morning it was off first to the physical therapists to have my sling fitted and they gave me a pair of those sexy white surgical hose. Then is was off to Elmwood Cemetery for a bit of research. We'll get into that later. Then it was off to the surgical center to do all the pre preliminary paperwork, and EKG and have blood drawn for tests. There's nothing left to do but wait until next Monday at ten o'clock.

2007.05.26

Day before yesterday I had the scratchiness in my throat I haven't felt for years. The kind you feel right before a full blown sore throat. Well, yesterday it hit, "category five". It's been so long I didn't remember how bad it could be. Rippin' fever and oh so painful throat. Hurt's when you breath and do whatever it takes not to swallow. The first thing Terry says is go to the Doctor. I don't believe I could have gotten there any way but in an ambulance. I was right, I feel much better today. I've still got a touch of fever and my throat's still sore but I'm much better.

2007.05.23

The letter confirming my surgery arrived in the mail last evening. They have me running all over town on the twenty ninth for lab work and to receive "medical equipment and supplies needed for your surgery" and a therapist will review your equipment usage. What's this, do it yourself prep! I was going to take this Friday off from work but since the twenty ninth is Tuesday after Memorial day I think I'll work Friday.

2007.05.22

So, yesterday the surgeon's office called my cell phone to let me know surgery is scheduled for Monday, June 4th. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week I've been in mind numbing training. In my job I'm required to undergo continuing education. I've always believed the wrong people had to have the continuing education. It should be the contractors!

2007.05.19

Yesterday was the last day of pre op physical therapy followed by a visit to the surgeon. I shared my worries about going home right after the surgery. I mentioned Stan Foster who died from a blood clot after knee surgery. He asked what I thought the hospital could do in a clot situation and that there were many more bacteria in a hospital than at home. He also said blood clots were most often associated with leg surgery and even then were very rare. He was surprised when I shared my fear of being sent home with an iv in and changing all the syringes in the middle of the night. He said he doesn't send patients home with a iv any more and was surprised I was sent home last time that way. He said maybe he was doing it that way "back then".

On the new home front, the exterminator called and said he'd never seen a house that clean and there was no sign of termites or anything else. Arrangement for a lawn service after the operation have been made. I don't think I'll feel like pushing a lawnmower right away.

2007.05.06

Last week was a week I'd rather not repeat. Had a substitute therapist and I think she was a bit overzealous, I hurt and it's Sunday night. Friday, Terry called at work in a panic. She was on her way to the eye Doctor because she was almost blind in her left eye. The Doctor said she would be in for several different Doctor's visits over the next few weeks. She appears to have arteriosclerosis of an artery which supplies her eye. No warning, just blind.

2007.05.05

So it's been three weeks or so since I put Vista on a new Toshiba laptop I bought several months ago. I don't think I would have bothered but I got a deal on it the week before Vista came out and lo and behold, there was a coupon for Vista in the box. I installed Internet Explorer 7 just after it came out. I can see no reason why they moved the buttons around on the interface. They do the same things as before and I've gone to the upper left to go back to the previous web page the last time. I have installed Firefox.

Now back to the first point, Vista. Can anyone tell me why anyone would rename "Add Remove Programs", "Programs and Features"? Does Programs and Features sound like a place you'd go to remove a program? This makes no sense! This kind of thing is all over Vista! They rearranged all the user and document paths, why, just to be different? I'm pissed!

2007.04.26

So today was my first day of therapy. A month of it then it's back to see the Doc, just like last time. The Therapist was nice enough but the pain she left was real. It's all coming back to me now.

2007.04.24

Today I signed a contract on 920 LaGrange Bend. That's right, were about to become homeowners again. When I left the farm I wasn't shure I'd ever own another house, especially in Virginia Beach, but with economic times being what they are, who knows what the money will be worth five years from now.

2007.04.20

What a week! My condolences to anyone who may find this and has a family member, friend, or other tie to anyone at Tech.

This morning at nine I had a appointment with the same orthopedic surgeon who did my left shoulder. He looked great and was as agreeable four or so years ago. This morning, after the x-rays he asked if I wanted to " try the needle", even though he didn't think it would help much. I said yes.It was more painful than I remembered from last time.

Since we just hired a new Fire Protection Engineer at work, I asked the Doc if it would hurt to put this off long enough for the only other person who would be able to carry the load at work to get his feet on the ground. His response, " physical therapy over the next month might help". This seems to be the same script as last time.

2007.04.15

Yesterday we buried Terry's Dad. Full military honors. Those funerals always get to me. I buried my Dad and both Grand Dads that way. It was a wonderful service with all his children there.

2007.04.11

I just added a vi cheat sheet so to speak at vi.txt. I know, it's an ancient skill, but at times it's the only text editor available on a *nix system. This will get one by enough to edit a config file and that seems to be all I use it for in *nix.

2007.04.08

Installing Ubuntu in Vmware on my MacBook Pro.

I found this deep in the bowels of the web and I'm putting it here in hopes I'll not lose it.

You need to install the headers for the release of
the kernel you have installed. To find this out
you can type

>> uname -r

to get the header you can apt-get install them,

>> sudo apt-get install linux-headers-`uname -r`

or select the appropriate package in synaptic.

Note: you'll also need gcc etc which if you don't
have already you can get with

>> sudo apt-get install build-essential

After installation the vmware installer should just
pick up the right place and not require anything
but the defaults.

If it's still being stupid, the path to include can
be found in /lib/modules/<<module release number>>
/build/include

I was able to figure everything out except this part. It worked for me with Ubuntu 6.06 YMMV

2007.04.07

Look closely. Just a couple of days ago, it was seventy degrees and this morning it's snowing. I really can't remember snow in April.

Here's some more shots later as the snow kept on.

2007.04.05

So my appointment with my family physician was just two hours ago. What I thought was going to happen, happened. I walked away with a referral to the same orthopedic surgeon who did me the first time. I put this off for quite a while because who has time to take three months away from the job? Hell, they might forget I work there!

2007.04.03

Well, Thursday I have a appointment to see the Doc about my left shoulder. I have an idea about the outcome, but we'll see. Last Friday was the worst my shoulder has been. The receptionist asked if I was ready for round two. Ha Ha!

2007.04.01

Springtime at last!

Last week started out alright but later in the week my vehicle at work hand to be turned in for service. I was assigned a real rag of a truck to drive whose left door was very difficult to close. I must have forgotten about my left shoulder once or twice and yanked the door closed with my left hand. I've been battling with my left shoulder for several months, but Friday it got to the point I had to take pain medication. I guess a call to the doctor is in order. I was trying to put it off until next fall but the old body just doesn't want to cooperate.

What's amazing is my brother Matt goes under the knife tomorrow Monday for about the same thing.