Wisdom Teeth

On Friday May 13, 2005 I had oral surgery to remove all four of my wisdom teeth. The surgery started at about 1:30p and I was home by 4:30p. I was given nitrous-oxide by a nose mask, an IV injection that practically knocked me out (though, technically I wasn't completely put under), and full mouth/jaw nerve block via needle injection. They did it in that order and by the time the IV was in, I didn't feel or care about much else. I have only a vague (and in my opinion humorous) memory of the event:

During the procedure I remember becoming aware of a scrapping or scratching noise in my mouth. I began to lift my arm towards the nitrous mask hearing a voice say something to the affect of "Ah, here comes the inevitable nose itch" and they removed the mask presumably to let me scratch my nose. What I actually wanted was for them to up the dosage, and after some hand movements and assorted grunts (I couldn't talk - stuff was in my mouth), they got the message and returned the mask. My guess is that they acquiesced, because the next thing I remember I was lying in the car's passenger seat and Dad was driving me home.

I don't remember anything more coherent from the surgery. I have some odd images, but nothing I could describe, and nothing bad. I don't remember setting in the recovery chair, and I don't remember how I got in the car.

Dad got me home and helped me ice my mouth. I took a full dose of the Vicodin that had been prescribed to me days prior to the surgery. My jaw and tongue stayed numb and tingly until the next morning, and I slept most of the rest of Friday (though I did eat some Jell-O and pudding at various waking points). By Saturday morning I was feeling pretty well, and by the evening I felt pretty good and was taking only minimal doses of the pain-killers.

It's now Monday afternoon and I've been off the Vicodin for over 24 hours. My mouth doesn't feel perfect, there is still some tenderness where the teeth used to be, and I have to be careful not to get food caught back there, but it feels good all in all. I can actually feel relief. For the last year or so there has been pressure and irritation in the back of my mouth and in between my jaw. That's all gone!

I have a few more days of healing to go, and a follow-up appointment on the 24th. I have plenty of soup, Cream of Wheat, Jell-O, and pudding to eat. I'm feeling great and am happy to have finally done this! Thank you to Dr. Seul for the excellent work, and to my parents and Sandy for all of your help and support.

First Amendment News

Daily Illuminator - What's All This Liberty Stuff?

Survey Finds First Amendment
Is Being Left Behind in U.S. High Schools

Future of the First Amendment - Key Findings

Tune In to Day Glo

If you love 80's music like I do, you'll enjoy this! Take a listen to the coolest internet radio station around: DayGloRadio (Tune in).

Update: Friday, March 30, 2007
DayGloRadio.com shut down a few years ago and was replaced with RadioNigel.

Retro Post - Disneyland for Amy's Birthday

Amy, Michelle, Sandy & I go to the Disneyland Resort to celebrate Amy's 29th Birthday.

Amy's B-Day at
Disneyland

New Employer: National Stores - Fallas Paredes

I started my first day of work for Fallas Paredes (the company that purchased my former employer Factory 2-U). I am working at my old desk in the same building as before, though I am no longer responsible to answer the F2U Helpdesk Line, nor to handle any of their Support. During the next 30-90 days I'll be working to facilitate the merging of the two companies. No details have been figured out, yet. So for the next few days, at least, I've got nothing to do but show up and get paid. When "They" decide on a plan of action, I'll be here to Make It Happen. Of course, then I expect it to get quite busy.

And once the transition is complete, and Fallas fully takes over, I'll be back in charge of their POS Helpdesk and working out of their new Support Center which will exist down in Otay Mesa.

Larry started work today too, in the same capacity as myself. Sandy and Amy are still employed with F2U, and it's still uncertain for how long.

As the world turns...

Well, it's official. I am no longer employed for Factory 2-U. I have been laid off. F2U has been in Chapter 11 since January and was just purchased by a collection of interests lead by National Stores (who operates Fallas Paredes). Though technically it still exists to finish up all the paying off of creditors, etc. and to assist in the transition of assets to Fallas. Larry was also given his leave today too.

You can read about the news in this San Diego UnionTribune article.

On the up side, Sandy and Amy are still employed with F2U, though for how much longer is still unknown. Probably at least for another month, maybe more. Also, my bosses (Mark and Maris) both really like Larry and I as employees. Those two have been given offers by Fallas and they in turn are expecting to re-hire Larry and I soon. So basically, if all goes well we'll be employed again doing the same job with the same people, just for a different company. I should have a better idea of what's going to happen on Tuesday.

In other news, I took my bad DIMM back to ChipsandMemory. The DIMM is under warranty with the manufacturer and I was told if I brought it in they would send it off for me. However, they just did a straight out exchange. How cool is that? Now I just got to install it, I hope I can find the time... HA!

And finally, it looks like GoDaddy got their shit together and propagated my domain forwarding. So, bobclemins.com is working now after my registrar transfer.

GoDaddy Domain Transfer

I'm in the process of transferring my domain name (bobclemins.com) from my old registrar (Buy Domains) to a new one (GoDaddy). I'm making the change because GoDaddy offers (nearly) all of the same services, but at half the cost. Otherwise, Buy Domains has done a fine job for the last three years.

Larry had used GoDaddy before and had recommended them to me. I tried them out when I recently registered clemins.com and liked their service fine. It was time to renew bobclemins.com so I went for the lower rate.

Unfortunately, during this process, bobclemins.com may not work. It should all be back up within 48 hours (though I expect it to be much sooner). Until then, you can still visit my website by browsing directly to http://members.cox.net/bobclemins.

About my Weekend

On Saturday, Sandy and I saw the movie Garden State and tried a new place in El Cajon called Ali Baba's Family Restaurant. The movie was just ok. I thought it was well made (everyone was believable as who they were playing, etc.), but it was a downer movie and overall just ho-hum. Didn't really do it for me. Our lunch was great as the food at this Mediterranean eatery was yummy. I highly recommend it.

On Sunday I got together with Josh and Kirt. We three played Magic and then went to see the movie Hero. Kirt had bought some of his own cards and used them for the first time. It was also his first time playing a game with three people. The movie was great. I thought the martial arts were beautifully done and the store quite entertaining. The movie was reminiscent of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, though a bit more artsy.

Yesterday I got a haircut and then hung out with my Mom. We went browsing at City Lights and then had lunch at Olive Garden.

Today's Site Update: Check out the new Bob & Sandy Photo Gallery.

Sandy Update, PC Issues

Sandy's still having problems with the allergic reaction, but otherwise she's doing much better after her surgery (see Post 08/11). I'm sure she'd love to hear from you, drop her an e-mail.

Several days ago, I found out what was causing all of the problems on my home computer (see Post 08/05). Turns out one of my DIMMs was bad. I just don't have any luck with Memory, do I? Anywho, the other DIMM was fine and I reset up my system with only 512MB of RAM. I had to reinstall WinXP, which was a pain, but timely as SP2 has just come out so I was able to install that. I like the new version too. To those of you on WinXP, I highly recommend you update.

PC Issues, Kirt's Birthday

Yesterday I was working on my PC at home, trying to get WinXP to reinstall. The damn CD is bad. I kept getting copy errors. I've tried three different drives to no avail. Great, now I'm going to have to get another WinXP disc.

Last night, Sandy & I took Kirt out to Oggi's for his Birthday (with Karen & Trevor, of course). Then we all came back to our house to hang out and eat a Dairy Queen ice cream cake. Good times, good times.

Sandy's Gall Bladder - Update

Sandy had an allergic reaction to something, presumably the antibiotics she received while in the hospital, so she's got a wonderful rash over most of her body. As if she wasn't uncomfortable enough! Doc gave her a Benadryl shot and a 'script for some other antihistamine. I hope she feels better soon.

Sandy's Gall Bladder

For those who don't know Sandy went into the Emergency Room at Sharp Grossmont Hospital Sunday night. She was having sharp pain through her mid-abdomen. Turns out she had a gall stone impacted in her gall bladder that was causing a severe infection. She was admitted to the hospital and transferred to Sharp Memorial in Kearny Mesa. By Monday late afternoon she'd had a laparoscopic surgery to remove her gall bladder. The doctor later said her stone was about the size of a grape and she was acutely inflammed. She was kept overnight and after removing a "JP" drain tube from her side she checked out last night. I got her home at about 7:30p and she's there now.

As of this morning, she's uncomfortable, as to be expected, but happy to be home. Doc says it'll probably be about a week before she's better and may experience some effects for up to a month.

Bruce and Vote for Change

Sandy e-mailed this Bruce Springsteen article to me. It was published in the New York Times yesterday. I agree with her that it is eloquent and well written. It puts things into an easily understood perspective. I checked out Bruce's site which includes details on Vote for Change, and a reprint of an Al Gore speech.

According to his site, the Vote for Change tour will be presented by MoveOn PAC, with all concert proceeds benefiting the work of America Coming Together (ACT).

PC Issues

Friday I installed the latest MS patch and since then my home PC has been failing. WinXP sometimes won't finish booting (when the log on screen appears it just reboots). Or if it does, it immediately "encounters an error in Windows Explorer". Nice, eh? Grrr... Anyway, I tried deinstalling that update last night and now it seems even worse. C'est la vie. Looks like I'm going to have to reinstall XP (and everything else).

>sigh< :(

Parents to Germany, Disneyland Loner

I took Mom & Dad to LAX early this morning. They're on their way to Germany to see Jeff, Steffi, and Julian. We got on the road at about 3:20a, arriving at the airport (after a breakfast stop) at around 6a. Their flight was scheduled for takeoff at 9:15a. It's a good thing we were there so early. The International Flights desk had just opened and we got in about third in line. By the time we got up to the desk the line stretched back over a hundred people!!! Whew! After getting their boarding pass and checking their luggage I left them at the security checkpoint on their way to the gate.

On the way home I went to the Disneyland Resort. Yup, to D-land all alone. I've never done that before and it was great! I got there as the park opened at 8a. I took the early morning time to look at some of the Main Street Shops while they were still empty. It was nice to have the stores to myself. Usually, they're so crowded! I learned about Mickey's All American Pin Festival. To play I had to answered seven Olympics-related questions on a card. I then took that card to various locations within the park, where they would check my answer (and if I didn't know, give hints until I got it right) and give me a stamp. At the final stop I got a free pin. :) Way cool!

I also experienced the joy of the Single Rider Line. Basically, as a single person you can go into the exit lane of most rides and skip the big line. You get put into any available seat on the ride. With Stand-by Line wait times between 30-60 mins I was able to ride California Screamin', the Maliboomer, and Mulholland Madness (each five times in a row) in about 90 mins. That was great fun! I also by-passed a 90 min wait for Splash Mountain and got on that in about 5 mins.

I stayed at the park for about 9 hours, and leaving at around 5p, got home at about 7:15p. A wonderfully long day indeed!

New Printer

I bought a new HP PSC 2175 All-in-one printer. It's a printer, scanner, and copier. Additionally, it has a built-in multi-card reader. The card reader is handy and acts as a "removeable drive" for my PC. Oh, and it prints nicely.

New Jump Drive

I received a Lexar 512MB JumpDrive Elite in the mail. I bought it off eBay for a nice savings (about 40% off retail)! Great for transmitting files from PC to PC.

San Diego County Fair

Amy, Sandy, & I went to the San Diego County Fair. My favorite thing to do at the fair is to eat. And, Boy-Howdy! Did we eat! I had Australian Battered Potatoes w/Cheese & Ranch Dressing, Garlic Butter and Parmesan Cheese Indian Fry Bread, four Teriyaki Chicken Sticks, a Deep Fried Twinkie, an Italian Sausage Sandwich, Mini-Donuts, and an assortment of free samples. Oh, I shared a bit with Amy & Sandy, but I ate most of it. YUM! :D

We looked around the various vendors, rode a couple of rides (including the Mouse Trap - see picture), and played a few of the boardwalk games where I won a silly "Large" stuffed-animal lizard after beating Amy at a race - Ha! Ha! Sandy got her first "100" while playing SkiBall and won a couple of smaller stuffed-animals. We toured the Gem & Mineral Exhibit where I discovered a like/facination for the mineral Wulfenite. The cheapest selling specimen they had there was ~$150, too much for my blood. Sandy later found the mineral selling on eBay at much cheaper prices, so I'll be able to add a piece to my meager rock collection.

The finale came when I was hypnotized by Mark Yuzuik. This is actually the fourth time I've been in his show, dating back to 1991 at Magic Mountain. I'm such a ham too. Hee hee. It's fun. Among other things I was a World Class Air Guitarist, World Class Booty Shaker, and he "programmed" me to propose to Sandy, though "woke me up" before I actually went through with it. HA! Needless to say, Sandy & Amy really enjoyed the show too.

Journey to Atlantis

Sandy used her Star Freeloader Points to buy tickets for a "special" evening admission at Sea World for the new Journey to Atlantis ride. She took Amy & I and we later met up with Kirt, Karen & Trevor.

The Atlantis ride was quite a hoot and we got a "little" wet. Neat-o elevator. Trevor and I also had a good time at the Tide Pools, a personal favorite of mine since I was a very young kid.

Tomorrow it's off to the Fair!

Lower Kern Rafting - First Trip!

For the first time I went River Rafting down the Lower Kern River with Whitewater Voyages. The river is off of Lake Isabella north-east of Bakersfield.



It was AWESOME! The adventure began when I went up to Riverside Saturday night with Larry & Angie. The three of us met up with other friends, and the whole group were on the road Sunday morning at 3:30a. Including a 1hr stop for breakfast the drive from Riverside to the Lake was about 4 hours. Our party consisted of 17 people: Larry, Angie, Shane, Ron, Elena, Jay, Matt, Kevin, Trish, Michelle, Paul, Randy, Alex, Ivan, a couple of others, and myself.

We arrived early and had plenty of time to load our gear into the trailer that would meet us halfway down the river for camping Sunday night. By around 11a we were on the water. I was in the Last, or Sweep, Boat with Ron & Jay in front, Shane & I in center, Lelena & Michelle in third, with our guide Justin in back. The rest of our party was divided up with Larry & Angie in the Lead Boat with the head guide, Mark. Boat 2 was piloted by Bret (with another guide-in-training, Jill).

You start out learning the various commands for paddling as given by your guide. The first day consists of gradually increasing rapids, classes I-III, with two stops for Jump Rock and lunch. The rock was about 20' off the water. We climbed up and jumped in. A real hoot! And lunch, WOW!!! They "spare no expense" - Such wonderful lunch meats, bread, fruit, veggies, cookies, chips, candy - YUM! After these stops you proceed with more rafting.



The river was fast so we got to camp early. There was plenty of time to set up tents, have "happy hour" (chips, salsa, and drinks) and rest before dinner. Also, we had time to Adventure Swim and Surf. To Swim we went up-river about 100' and jumped in the river going through a class 3 rapid with just a life jacket. Exciting! I did it three times. :) Then to Surf, the guides tied up a board (sort of like a boogie board) up-river and one would "ride" it into the river attempting to stand with the water rushing over you. I could not, though I tried three times. The only people who could stand were Jill and Elena. The women rocked! After the water play came dinner, and again it was amazing: I had steak, corn of the cob, salad, pasta, and more. We then played volleyball until it was too dark to see the ball, sat around the campfire eating smores, and partying.

Come morning the guides treated us to a wonderful breakfast (eggs, pancakes, bacon, OJ, bagles, granola, cheese, tortillas, etc.). The water level had risen overnight to the highest it'd been in four years. Another guide, Fillipe, and some other people with a fourth boat joined our expedition (though my boat remained Sweep). We got on the river around 10a, this time another guide (Wade) in a kayak went on ahead to video us. That was cool.

The second day has even better rapids, class III & IVs, even a class V (though you portage around it). Because of the water level, some of the guides were calling them class III+ & IV+. My boat also rescued Paul who got stuck standing on a rock in the middle of a Pinball, a class 4 rapid (ask me about Paul's Island sometime). It was such a rush! Again, two stops, a higher Jump Rock and another scrumptious lunch. Eventually it was over, the loaded us up, we drove back up-river to our cars, loaded those and drove home. I didn't want to leave. Hee hee...


Rafting Photo Album
Anyone who's ever interested in rafting in California should try Whitewater Voyages. Their guides are amazing and take such great care of you. They serve you the best food and are just a lot of fun. We all had such a great time we're going back next year!