I have had several more bouts of arrhythmia this past year, each ending with a visit to the ER where they dose me with something that sets things to rights. This is not painful, frightening, or dangerous, but it is certainly annoying. And my cardiologist is tired of it, too.
So on Tuesday I will be going in for a cardiac ablation. It’s hard to believe that any procedure involving the heart could be done on an outpatient basis without even a single night’s stay at the hospital, but that’s how things are done. You can read the linked article, but in brief and very technically: they’ll run a catheter through a vein/artery “in my groin area” up to my heart where they will zap a bad electrical connection that’s causing the problems. Then they’ll send me home.
I could probably get “back to work” on Wednesday – since I telecommute – but I’ve decided I’m going to be super slack and call that a sick day, too. I’m willing to milk “cardiac procedure” for all it’s worth.
I went on a tour of the Diablo Nuclear Power Plant a couple of weeks ago. I remain a fan of nuclear power. This is the last active plant in California and is due to be shut down in ’24 or ’25. I’m OK with that. By then we absolutely should have enough solar to more than replace the output. And while I am a fan of nuclear – in areas that can generate enough with solar I figure that makes the most sense. Particularly if those areas are earthquake-prone.
But I was reminded that we don’t visit the ocean as often as we should, so last weekend Ellyn and I took a little stroll and visited our local sink hole (near Montaña de Oro).
It’s November in California and our veggie bed does not know what to do. The two big plants in the foreground are zucchini. They are still trying to produce. Just behind and between them are a couple of tomato plants that have sprung up in the past 4 weeks and are doomed. The plant crawling up the stairs is a watermelon vine that could not be happier – thank goodness it’s just flowering and not really trying to produce. And the one at the far end is our Japanese eggplant that is still producing.
This past week was full of cultural events. Finished a great book last Friday. Sunday saw Romeo and Juliet at a little outdoor amphitheater (not a fantastic performance, but I enjoyed it). Monday we caught Jason Bourne (pass) and Star Trek Beyond (fun!) at the drive-in. Thursday we saw The Claypool Lennon Delirium with opener JJUUJJUU.
JJUUJJUU was great. Kind of droney. Some RYCE friends should maybe check ’em out.
Delirium – at least as much for me as for you:
Les Claypool – Primus
Sean Lennon – The second son of
Money Mark – Beastie Boys
Paulo Baldi – Cake
The show was at the Fremont – our big downtown theater. I love it. Sean commented that he felt like he was in a Coen brothers movie.
I finished reading Vernor Vinge’sA Deepness in the Sky the other day. It is exceptionally good. It is the second book in the series, but they are only distantly related – you could read them out of order. Though the first book is also quite good – so you’re not doing the wrong thing if you read them in order.
If you are at all into science fiction I recommend you give it a read.
