Pinto

This past Saturday, I woke up just after five in the morning, picked up Leah, and we drove to a rest stop in Delaware. What motivated us to do something so specific and annoying?

We got a puppy!

Leah has had at least one dog for as long as she can remember, but the day of our first date was the day she put down her last dog, Roo. While that's sad, she still kept our date, partly because she liked me and partly because she wanted the distraction. However, since that day, she's been without a dog. And Leah loves dogs. If we're going for a walk and she sees someone with a dog, her face lights up like a kid on Christmas morning. Since Roo's passing, she's visited multiple shelters and watched adoption websites looking for a dog that would be a good fit. She needed a dog that would be good with other pets, specifically cats, and small children (since we're planning on having some of them in a few years). No dog met her criteria, so she kept looking.

Over Columbus Day weekend, Leah and her whole family (including her brother Rob, sister Allie, and niece Becca) searched multiple sites looking for the right dog. That's when Leah found Pinto, a blue heeler/black labrador mix. Pinto is a rescue. When he was found, he was the runt of his litter and he had pneumonia. Leah and her family immediately fell in love with him and she submitted an application. We didn't hear back until nearly two weeks later, but when we did, she was ecstatic. So much so, that making the early morning drive was easy.

Leah, moments after meeting Pinto

During the trip back, Pinto was quiet. We figured that he was having a hard time with the change, but we later found out that he doesn't like car rides. As soon as we made it back to Harford County, we went to Leah's parent's place to introduce them to the puppy. Once Pinto was out of the car, his demeanor immediately changed: he was wagging his tail so hard that it was hitting each side of his torso, making a thumping sound.

Leah snuck into her parents' room and plopped Pinto done on their bed in between them. They both were happy for that style of wake up.

Kisses for Mommy!

One thing we noticed pretty soon was Pinto's cough. Considering his recent history, we played it safe and Leah had me bring him into the vet's office where she works as a technician. He was so calm throughout the whole thing, not even flinching when Leah took his temperature.

Calm, but not exactly happy

The vet said that he was dealing with some mild congestion and it probably wasn't related to the pneumonia. Still, she gave us the option of antibiotics, which we took. His cough cleared up a couple of days later.

In the ensuing days, Pinto's personality has started showing. He likes to pile his toys together, which I think means he's trying to herd them. He loves food and we're still teaching him not to try to steal food off of our plates. He loves to go outside and either run around or go for a walk on a leash. He does like to softly bite at us, which has me a little concerned: not everyone will know that he's only playing and someone might act aggressively towards him. Still, he's such an easygoing puppy. I was nervous since the last time I had a dog, I was small enough to be scared of him, so I didn't know how things would go, but Pinto's been a breeze so far.

One of my favorite things to see is when I come home from work and he recognizes me and gets excited. The look of pure joy that he has makes me really happy. In fact, soon after we got him, I looked him in the eyes and thought: "How could anyone look at this face and claim there's no God?"

When Leah and I met, I considered myself a cat person, but Pinto is rapidly converting me to the dog-side.

How to Ruin My Day

I went to the bank today and the teller greeted me by asking "How are you?" Without thinking, I gave my standard reply: "Okay." That's when another teller asked, "Just okay?"

This isn't the first time I've had someone challenge my answer to that question and every time it pisses me off. First, there's an inherent condescension, implying that my first answer wasn't good enough. And second, it ignores the point of the question. "How are you?" and the like are salutations similar to "hello." Any reply I give that's even moderately positive is simply me acknowledging the greeting.

When I was challenged, I replied "It's better than being [expletive deleted]." The teller who had rejected my first response laughed, apparently not noticing the tone in my voice. I was annoyed, but I tried to ignore it and just take care of my business.

When I was finishing up, the teller who challenged me said that she hoped my day would get better. I had tried to ignore her, but she brought it up back up. I asked her why she challenged me and she seemed legitimately taken aback. "I just always say I'm doing wonderful," she said.

"Not everyone has to say that," I said, pointedly, "and that should be fine. You kind of ruined my day." Then I walked out, noting that she didn't even offer an apology.

I made it back to the office in a sour mood, but I welcomed the distraction. Then, about thirty minutes before closing, the branch manager called me, asking me how my earlier visit had been. I've never gotten a courtesy call before, so I'm guessing she heard about the exchange. I told her what happened, making sure to point out that the teller who actually helped me had been quite pleasant, and explain why I had been so offended. The manager promised that she would address the matter and thanked me for my candor.

I try to avoid conflict, but today it seemed unavoidable.

A Unique(ly Stupid) Present

For Susannah and Michael's wedding, Leah and I bought them a present from their gift registry. However, that didn't seem like enough. After all, Michael and I had grown pretty close after working together for more than two years. But what could I give them that was truly representative of our relationship?

After a lot of pondering, I decided to get them something really, really stupid: a framed 8 x 10 portrait of me with pixelated sunglasses superimposed over my eyes. I had created a similar image before and used it in an instant messaging conversation at work, and this was in reference to that. (If you're curious why I would create such an image in the first place, you can read about the meme here.)

When the day of the wedding arrived, I brought in a modest yet handsome gift bag that contained both their real gift and this stupid one and set it on a table with their other gifts. I was a little annoyed that I wouldn't be present as they opened their gift, but hoped that it would make them laugh.

On Monday evening, Michael sent me a text message with this picture:

He added my ridiculous portrait to his collection of family pictures! I'm guessing that it won't stay there long, but I'm pleased that they enjoyed my dumb little joke, at least for a little while.

The Wedding of Susannah and Michael

On Sunday afternoon, Leah and I attended the wedding of my friend and coworker, Michael and his bride Susannah. I was honored to be included, especially since I was the only person from the office Michael invited.

This was the first Jewish wedding I've attended and it was a lovely introduction. I was a little thrown by the yarmulkes that were provided with no instruction on how to wear them -- Michael had told me ahead of time that they would be optional and I wanted to be respectful of his religion and culture, so rather than wear it wrong, I chose to not use it.

The wedding was outside, which could have been treacherous this time of year. In fact, most of that morning had nothing but grey skies and muggy air, but by the time the ceremony started, the weather was perfect.

The ceremony was short -- which Leah and I appreciated since we had been going since early that morning -- and sweet. Susannah remarked afterwards that the officiant read an earlier draft of the vows that included an anecdote that she didn't care for, but it was more of a comment than a complaint.

Michael is the one of Jewish heritage and he even included some Hebrew in his vows, though Susannah's were completely in English (which is kind of ironic because Susannah is a polyglot, though the other languages she speaks are mostly of the Romantic variety).

After the ceremony but before dinner started, Leah and I wandered around the grounds of the hotel where the festivities were held. It was quite beautiful with lots of flowers, foliage, statues, and water features.

Leah and me having fun exploring

I wish Susannah and Michael the best in their new life together and I'm grateful that Leah and I were included on their special day.

The two happy couples

Manipulation

One of my current assignments at work is a product catalog. I've worked on catalogs before, but with this particular one, I had trouble finding a photograph of one product. I searched two separate databases and came up empty. After googling the product, I did find one picture, but it was from an eBay auction and we couldn't used it in its current form.

The product (in this case, an electronic controller, which is like a high-end thermostat) is at a weird angle with bad lighting and sitting on a cluttered table. Even so, I used the picture as a reference when I sought the help of Danfoss' data management team. I specifically mentioned that the above photo was only meant to be used as a reference, but my contact simply changed the file type and sent it back to me.

I decided to see what I could do with Photoshop. I spent a few hours correcting the color, distorting the image shape, and cutting out extraneous objects. This is the result:

It's not perfect, but I was really happy with what I was able to accomplish, especially since I mostly taught myself how to use Photoshop. However, even after the office lawyer said that we would probably be fine to use the image, I decided to pursue getting a better photograph. As it happened, we had had a sample of the product in the warehouse the whole time. So, I took a brand new picture with proper lighting and the office's camera.

I admit that that the stainless steel reflected the light a lot more than I thought it would, so I may go back and try to cut the glare down, either by fiddling with it in Photoshop or by taking a brand new picture and change where the lights are positioned, but I'm still happy that I took a new picture that cannot be legally disputed.

Still, it was pretty cool what I able to with that first picture, right?

Cat Sratch Fever

I live with Leah's two cats: Edward and Maybeline. Edward loves to cuddle and Maybeline (or Maybe or even just May) keeps more to herself. And even though Edward us more than twice her size, Maybe's in charge.

A few months ago, we bought the cats a cardboard scratching board. They both used it at first, but Maybe made it clear that it was hers and was often seen just sitting on the board. Since Edward wasn't allowed to scratch on the board, he'd scratch other things. Because Maybe wouldn't share, we bought Edward his own scratching board. He used it a couple of times before Maybe marked it as hers by urinating on it. We threw it away and looked for other things that Edward could scratch.

This past weekend, I ordered a small cat tree from Amazon. It arrived yesterday, but neither cat was terribly interested. So, after work today, I rubbed it down with some catnip. That seems to have been the missing element because Edward spent a lot of time with it this evening.

Hopefully this means that he'll finally leave the couch alone.

The Weekend of Food

This weekend, Leah's older brother, Rob, visited from Washington State and brought his eleven-year-old daughter, Becca. Also visiting was Leah's youngest sister, Allie, from Maryland State University. Knowing this, I volunteered to cook two meals: breakfast on Saturday morning and dinner on Sunday evening.

For Saturday's breakfast, I arrived a little after eight AM and started making blueberry compote. While that cooked on the stove, I mixed up some pancake batter and heated up a griddle. I made about thirty blueberry pancakes, stacking them up as I went. Becca helped out by microwaving plate after plate of bacon (we made a total of three pounds). As we got close to finishing up, I started cracking egg into a mixing bowl. I added salt and pepper to the fourteen or fifteen eggs and starting beating them. That's when I found out that Leah's other younger sister, Megan, doesn't like blueberries, so I had Leah mix up another small batch of pancake batter. I reheated the griddle and poured the eggs into a hot skillet. With the eggs scrambled and Megan's seven or eight pancakes done, we all sat down to eat. Everyone ate as much as they wanted and there were still a few pancakes leftover, though the bacon, eggs, and compote were all finished off.

For Sunday, I made pumpkin cookies the night before and put them out for people to munch on throughout the day. And munch on them they did. Since it was Fast Sunday, I waited until dinner to eat anything, and there only eight or nine cookies left from the original three-and-a-half dozen. For dinner itself, I roasted two whole chickens, boiled and mashed nearly an entire ten pound bag of potatoes, and sautéed a few pounds of zucchini and onions, or at least I tried to. The pan I used to sauté was smaller than I needed it to be, so I put the lid on in an attempt to have it cook more evenly, which it did, but it also ended getting steamed instead of sautéed. Regardless, there was plenty of food and Allie even took leftovers before she headed back to college.

While I did get lots of compliments on the food I made, I didn't do it for the praise. I like cooking and I like serving people, so when I can combine the two together, it makes for a happy (if tired) Jordan.

General Conference, October 2017

My General Conference experience was quite lovely this year. I watched the Saturday sessions at home with Leah and her mom, Debbie (and her younger sister Megan for a couple of talks during the first session). After our 5K (which, again, we did not train for), Leah and I were hungry, so I made waffles and bacon for us and our guests. In between sessions, Leah and I took a much-needed nap while Debbie clean the recently vacated upstairs apartment. For the Priesthood session, I listened from the kitchen while I baked pumpkin cookies and Leah balanced her checkbook. On Sunday, we watched with the Larsens, which was nice. The kids were very excited to see us and even the dog Sauerkraut clearly missed us because he sat at our feet during the entirety of the first session. After the final session, we stayed for dinner -- which was a very tasty white chili that Sherlin made -- and shared the pumpkin cookies I made the night before.

As for the Conference itself, I liked how much the message of "life is full of trials, but we can still be happy" was repeated. Also frequently repeated was President Monson's challenge to study the Book of Mormon from April's Conference: Leah and I had been slacking on our companion studies, but we've been reading every day since Sunday.

Another topic that kept popping up was the importance of families. I particularly enjoyed Elder Oak's talk about the creation of The Family: A Proclamation to the World (and felt more than a little old when he mentioned that the document is more than twenty-two-years-old). I often enjoy hearing stories about the creative process of other writers and this time was no different.

I also really appreciated the final talk by Elder Anderson: the way he quoted from several other talks throughout the Conference was a really nice way to tie everything together. But more than that, I liked his mini tribute to President Nelson. With President Monson's health failing, is this a glimpse of things to come? Perhaps, but even if it isn't, it was wonderful to learn more about President Nelson's life and apostolic ministry.

General Conference is a time of year that I look forward to. I admit to falling asleep for part of the final session, but every talk that I heard offered insight and inspiration that I needed. And now we get to look forward to reviewing this Conference's talks for the next six months!

Color Run

This past Saturday, I participated in the 2017 Baltimore Color Run 5K. It was kind of lame.

First off, I should say that I did not train for this event. I knew it was coming and I always meant to run after work or on Saturdays, but I never got around to it. When the day of the run came, I was ill-prepared, but I still went through with it anyway.

For those unacquainted with the concept of a color run, it's like any other distance running event (in this case, a 5K), but runners are hit with colored chalk powder throughout the run. What does the addition of color offer that more mundane runs lack? As far as I can tell, just dirty clothes.

One of Leah's best friends, Rachel, wanted to participate in the run, but didn't want to do it alone, so Leah was roped in. After finding out that to register as a team they needed at least four members, I was roped in. I thought that color runs sounded completely stupid, but having not yet experienced one firsthand, I decided to be scientific about it and find out for myself.

It turns out they aren't as stupid as I thought. Perhaps a better way to put it is to say that color runs aren't for me, though I can see why other people might like them. The whole event was about having fun and being happy. Lots of participants wore rainbow-colored wigs, tutus, bandanas, and other clothing and entire families ran together. Throughout the run were signs reminding us to be happy. There was such an emphasis on it being fun that the event was not timed, though I did use an app to track my progress.

So, why didn't I care for the color run? Mostly because it added a lot unnecessary elements to something I already enjoy, so the main thing is obscured. Think of it like a bar of chocolate: if you add a few more ingredients like caramel and nougat, it can compliment the chocolate, but if you add too many ingredients like nuts, marzipan, and orange oil, it can hide what was originally the main attraction.

Not only that, but they only hit us with colored chalk powder four times, which seems too few times for something that's in the name. Yes, I realize that I'm complaining about not having enough of a thing that I didn't even like.

In the end, it was a new experience and it helped to start me exercising regularly again. I don't think I want to do another color run, but another regular 5K sounds like fun.

Our team (Holly, Rachel, me, and Leah) showing off our matching t-shirts, headbands, and temporary tattoos

After the running was over, we were given extra bags of powdered chalk to throw at each other

Team selfie with Holly's friend Lindsay

Any excuse to kiss this woman

Independence Day, 2017

Yesterday was the Fourth of July, which I mostly spent with Leah.

We began the day by attending a pancake breakfast hosted by the family ward that we live in and will be a part of once we're married. This is Leah's mom Debbie's ward and I've met a few people there before, but this gave me the chance to meet a few more.

After breakfast, we went to the grocery store for some last minute items we would need for our little barbecue we were planning later on. After we dropped the food off at Leah's parents' place, we went to the movie theater. Our movie of choice? Wonder Woman.

Wonder Woman was a fun movie, though I predicted the ending. Still, there were little touches that I really appreciated. For example, Wonder Woman is played by Gal Gadot, an Israeli actress. That means that she speaks with a bit of an accent. Rather than ignore it (as was done for most of Arnold Schwarzenegger's movies), the rest of the Amazons have a similar accent. That detail helped make the world the movie was creating more believable for me.

After the movie, we went back to Leah's parents' place to grill up some hamburgers. Leah's dad, Ulf, was on his own and was enjoying his time mowing the lawn when we arrived. He had offered me the use of his propane grill, but had lost track of time while mowing and hadn't had a chance to clean it. Since Leah had to be to work in about an hour, I opted to simply use a pan on the stove. I formed the patties by hand, something I'd never done before. We also boiled some corn on the cob and ate the burgers on toasted buns. After cleaning up, Leah went to work and I went home.

After a nap, I did some work to alleviate some problems I've been having with the septic tank. (Since I completely skipped blogging in June, I should mention that last month I moved into Leah's place and she moved in with her parents. Since Leah's family owns the property I'm staying in, we'll be saving a lot on rent, which I've already started using to pay off debts.) While outside, I was bit three times by mosquitoes; fortunately, I still have some steroidal cream from when I had eczema last summer, so the itching soon stopped.

I may not have watched any fireworks, but I spent a good portion of the day with woman I love, which sounds like a great way to spend any holiday.

Taper

I’ve been continuing to taper off of Trileptal and I keep feeling better. I walked during my lunch break three days this week and I’ve gone to the gym three days, too. However, I may be pushing myself a little too hard, at least at this time: I’m so excited to be healthy enough to exercise again that I’m kind of jumping in headfirst. Most of my muscles are sore and I’ve been having trouble sleeping, which has made it hard to be productive at work.

All of this fatigue is just a part of my body getting used to being active again and will pass with time. Plus, I’d rather be tired from too much exercise than because my medication is making me sick.

One thing that hasn’t changed? The severity of my allergies, as I still can’t wear my contacts for more than a few hours at a time. Still, I’d much rather be forced to wear glasses and be able to exercise than have the convenience of contacts again.

Mother's Day 2017

For Mother’s Day this year, I spent a good portion of the day with Leah’s mom, Debbie. The day began with Leah and me attending Debbie’s ward, which also meant that Debbie showed me off like I was a prized Pomeranian at the Westminster Dog Show. Plenty of people were quite friendly, saying “hi” to me and asking a few questions to get to know me; oddly, nobody introduced themselves, so when Debbie asked if I met anyone, all I could say was, “Yes, but no one told me their name.”

After church, we went back to the Grabowski family home for me to make dinner. As our Mother’s Day gift to Debbie, Leah had offered my skills in the kitchen. A couple of weeks earlier, we had discussed different dinner options and Debbie requested garlic shrimp pasta. Leah was my sous-chef and handled cooking the pasta and providing me with ingredients and dishes, while I cooked the shrimp and made the butter sauce. We doubled the recipe, which meant that I encountered some surprises when I tried to fit everything into a skillet that wasn’t big enough, but I was able to figure out a workaround.

When dinner was served, there wasn’t a lot of talk, just a lot of eating. Debbie liked dinner so much that she made herself a lunch box while there were still leftovers. Good thing, too, because everyone went back for a second helping.

I may not have been able to spend time with my own mother for Mother’s Day, but I still honored an important mother in my life.

Healthy Again

I exercised! Not only that, I did it for two days in a row!

Starting on Depakote while I was still taking Trileptal at full strength was rough and left me feeling weak. Plus, the Trileptal had made it hard for me to exercise with any consistency without getting sick. So it was just another normal day when I went to sleep on Thursday night still feeling kind of sick. But imagine my surprise when I woke up on Friday feeling better than I have in months. I went to the gym that evening after work and walked on a treadmill for an hour.

What happened? Thursday was the first day that I started tapering off of Trileptal, so I guess my body responded positively to the change. With my newfound vigor, I went with Leah to the gym this morning and did a full-body workout. I generally avoid those kinds of workouts, seeing better results from focusing on specific muscle groups, but I wanted to make all of my muscles sore so that I can get over that quickly and back to my normal lifting routine next week. (Plus, it was nice to be able to show off for my bride-to-be.)

I know that my neurologist was skeptical that the Trileptal was having any negative effect on me, but I'm glad I convinced her to make the change, especially now.

PS
The QSG is now online and can be viewed here. It's boring, but I'm really proud of it.

QSG

At work this year, I was tasked with updating the main catalog used in North America, the Quick Select Guide or QSG. Since I was in the role of project manager for this document, I decided to not just simply update the code numbers and add a few new products, but to overhaul its entire design. I wanted to make the catalog easier to use while also making it look more like the catalogs the corporate office in Denmark makes for Europe. That meant that we had to start from scratch and rebuild it from the ground up. And it was most definitely "we" because my skills in InDesign, the program the catalog was created in, are lacking. So I enlisted the help of a freelancer, Holly, whom my department uses on a regular basis.

I had been emailing Holly and collecting all of the necessary data and files when, in the second week of February, I was provided with the last pieces we needed so that we could begin. I was then told that we needed the new catalog to be printed in March. That may not seem like a big deal, but for a sixty page document, this was basically no time. I worked through the last preparations I had and sent everything off to Holly. For two weeks, we worked at a feverish pace. I regularly stayed about ninety minutes late and often worked through my lunch break. At the end of two weeks, we were done! I almost couldn't believe it, but we finished with enough time so that two segment managers could have a week to review it before the end of the month. My boss, Magda, told me that she noticed my hard work and how much she appreciated my efforts. I sent off the QSG for review, walked out the office door, and started laughing just from the relief of having finished a stressful project.

Or so I thought.

I came back in the following Monday to see emails that the reviewers weren't going to even attempt to get to the QSG for at least a week. Wonderful... I did eventually get the feedback I needed from one of the two segment managers, but the other one was not giving the QSG priority. I suspect that he was annoyed that I was making so many changes to it since he had been the one to originally design it. To be fair, his catalog had worked for several years, but again, being fair, he's not a technical writer and he doesn't have a background in document design. Just because it had worked, doesn't mean we couldn't do it better.

After some meetings, several edits, and lots of cajoling from me, we finally placed our print order last Friday. Only two months after we originally planned.

One thing that I think is cool is that my initials are on the catalog. In Danfoss, whenever a new document is released, it has a literature number, a publication date, and the initials of the main author (mostly so we know who to blame if an error is found). As a technical writer, I've gotten used to being invisible and letting my writing stand for itself, but I still like the fact that I'm getting credit for this document.

Even though the catalog has been approved, there's been a delay in posting it on the Danfoss website. Once it's up, I'll share a link to it. It's not a fun read, but as far as catalogs go, it's a pretty one.

Blessed

On Sunday, Leah asked me to give her a blessing to help her get over a cold she’s been fighting for a little over a week. I was happy to oblige. When I sealed the anointing, the words the Spirit gave me to say felt like they were meant as much for me as they were for her.

I said that when the two of us met, it was no accident: we met as soon as we were ready -- and God had been preparing us for each other for quite some time. I also said that our upcoming marriage was divinely appointed and that, while it would not always be easy, we would be happy. I choked up at this glimpse into the future, feeling the Spirit confirm the words as I said them.

When I got to the part about her cold, I basically said, “You’ll get over it when you get over it.” The words were much kinder than that, of course, but I was surprised that I wasn’t prompted to bless her in any way regarding her health. But maybe I shouldn’t have been: we receive the blessing we need, not the one we want.

It was a beautiful experience and it only strengthened my love of this wonderful daughter of God.

Nacho Man

For yesterday's celebration of Cinco de Mayo, I made one of the least authentic Mexican foods available: nachos.

It all started when I was still at work and realized what day it was. I texted Leah and said that, in celebration of the holiday, she should let me come by her work that evening and make her and her coworker nachos. At first she declined, but the more she thought about it, the more enticing it sounded. When she got to work, she asked her coworker (who is also the lead of their location) about my proposal. The response she received was "Is that even a question?" With everyone on board, we made plans for nachos!

After work I made a quick stop at the grocery store before going home and eating dinner -- dinner was a mistake since I knew I would be eat nachos later, but at the time I was hungry, so it made sense. I turned on what is quickly becoming my favorite kitchen gadget, my deep fryer, and started slicing tortillas. That's right, dear reader: I made homemade corn chips. I wasn't sure how many to make, so I asked Leah. She said make all of them. I cut 26 corn tortillas into 6 triangles, making a total of 156 chips. Split amongst three people, that proved to be exactly twice as many chips as were needed (not that that stopped me from eating my fair share). With my freshly made chips in tow, I drove the thirty minutes to the group home where Leah works.

When I got out of my car, Leah was waiting for me next to the garage, dancing enthusiastically as she sang "Nacho, nacho man!" to the tune of "Macho Man." Once inside, I discovered that while I brought the chips, cheese, and beef (for taco meat), I had forgotten a creamy chipotle sauce that I had made before working on the chips. I was quite annoyed with myself, spending time to make a condiment, only to forget it, but nothing could be done, so I moved on. I browned and seasoned the taco meat and then we assembled our glorious snack.

Leah was able to contain her excitement long enough to take a picture (unlike me)

As we sat down in the living room to enjoy our Mexican-inspired American food, Leah looked at me and said, "You're the best fiance. I can't wait to upgrade you to a husband."

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how I spent one of the best Cinco de Mayos I can remember.

Side Effects

I know that I just wrote about changing the dosage of my medication, but now I'm switching to a completely new medication. Let me explain why.

Remember last summer when I had such bad eczema? That prompted me to change everything in my house to hypoallergenic products: every soap, lotion, shampoo, detergent, and solution was now perfume- and dye-free. With those changes in place, the eczema went away and hasn’t come back.

Around the same time, I started having problems with my contacts. I'd already been using a hypoallergenic cleaning solution for years, but I switched to a preservative-free saline for rinsing, and that seemed to alleviate the problem… at least for a while. Around late January, even with the changes I made, I could only wear my contacts for about four (maybe six) hours before they'd get so itchy that I couldn't stand it anymore. In March, I saw an ophthalmologist who said that my eyes were showing clear signs of experiencing an allergic reaction. I told him all of the changes that I had made and he said that I was taking all of the right steps and gave me some steroidal eye drops to reduce the reaction. I used the drops for a week straight before attempting to wear my contacts again. The next time I wore them, I was able to go the whole day without discomfort, but only for one day. On day two, I was back to being itchy to the point of not being able to keep my eyes open. Since then, I only wear my contacts for short periods.

Even more worrying, since December, I've had something like five sinus infections. I've been on so many rounds of antibiotics that I'm a little worried that I'm going to become resistant. I've also missed four days of work this year. That may not seem like a lot, but I've gotten teased from my coworkers because I never take any time off. Other than for Thanksgiving and Christmas, I just keep to my normal schedule, so taking that many sick days in such a short period was shocking. It was also troubling because I went from being healthy to being unable to exercise on a regular basis, something that I'd come to rely on to keep me sane.

Because of the problems that I had with my contacts, when I got my annual bonus this year, I looked into getting Lasik surgery and even had consultations at two separate locations. I talked about everything with Leah and we decided that I should wait until after the wedding before we plan something so expensive, though I decided to pray about it just to be sure. I felt like I hadn't explored all of my options and I thought that I should look at the side effects of my epilepsy medication.

So I did.

What are the major side effects? Allergic reactions (including rashes) and flu-like symptoms. I thought that match up too well with what I was going through to simply be a coincidence. I called my neurologist about my discovery and she was not convinced. To be fair, I hadn't told her about all of these problems before because I didn't think it was related to my medication. Plus, the fact that I had been on the new medication for a while before the side effects showed up. So she was understandably reluctant to prescribe a new medication, but I cajoled her into trying what is now my third medication.

(Quick aside: I've been referring to my medications on this blog by their generic names because I like avoiding proprietary eponyms, like calling any kind of lip balm Chapstick or any brand of tissue Kleenex. But whenever I tell doctors or nurses about what medications I'm taking, they ask for me to clarify with the medication brand name. So from now on, I'll refer to my medications by the names everyone recognizes. Levetiracetam, the first medication I took, is Keppra; oxcarbazepine, my last medication, is Trileptal; and divalproex sodium, my new medication, is Depakote.)

Because of how anti-convulsants work, I have to gradually start the Depakote as I gradually stop the Trileptal or risk what the warning labels call "non-stop seizures." For this first week, I'm going back to my old Trileptal routine of one dose in the morning and one in the evening while adding one dose of Depakote in the morning. Next week it'll switch, with two doses of Depakote and one dose of Trileptal in the evening. In two weeks, I'll maintain the two doses of Depakote and reduce my intake of Trileptal to once every other day. After that, I'll stop taking Trileptal completely.

Depakote has its own list of side effects which I'll be on the lookout for. Most prominently is the risk of liver damage, which was also a risk with Trileptal. That means quarterly blood tests to make sure that the medicine that keeps me from seizing doesn't also kill me. The other most common side effects are headaches, nausea, drowsiness, dizziness, vomiting, stomach pain, and (ironically) tremors. There may be other side effects that I'll encounter from the Trileptal and the Depakote interacting, but those will be short lived. So far, I was nauseated for less than ten minutes when I first took the Depakote yesterday, but that was it. I don't want to have the same problem as before where I didn’t connect my ailments to my medication, so any time I have any medical problem, I'm going to check it against the list of side effects.

Managing my epilepsy has not been easy, and I'm still encountering new challenges, but I'm living with it and not letting it get in the way of the rest of my life. Anyone else think I should be on a motivational poster?

Successful Transition

I've been taking my medication at the increased dosage for about a week now and I've had some trouble adjusting. At first, I was exhausted all the time. Well, it felt that way at least. I was constantly dragged down by the kind of fatigue that made me feel like I had low blood-sugar and needed to take a nap -- while eating would lessen the feeling for maybe an hour, I wasn't able to fall asleep during the day and I often had trouble sleeping through the night. Even stranger, I had what I described as a "floating feeling," wherein the top of my head felt like it was floating above me (not detached from the rest of me, just that the floating sensation didn't extend down to the rest of me). However, all of these weird feelings lessened on Saturday and on Sunday, I felt completely normal.

I'm grateful that my medication is working properly again and I can live my life without having to worry about my epilepsy. Hopefully the current dosage will be a longterm solution and I won't have to keep increasing the dosage every year.

Photoshoot

A couple of weekends ago, Leah and I met with our wedding photographer Courtney to take our engagement photos. We decided to take our photos at Jerusalem Mills, a so called "living history destination" with lots of different buildings and landscapes for varied backgrounds. We were originally planning to do the photoshoot two weeks earlier, but had to push it back due to rain, though I'm glad for the delay -- the extra two weeks allowed for more plants to come out of hibernation and made everything look more like spring.

We had scoped out the site ahead of time to plan where exactly we wanted to take pictures. Plus, Leah looked to Pinterest for inspiration on poses. When we met with Courtney, we were full of ideas. We ended up staying there for over three hours and took well over 600 pictures (while that is a lot, many of them are duplicates as we worked to get each pose just right). So far, only five pictures have been edited, but I'm really happy with the way they turned out.

This is my least favorite -- I'm clearly in the middle of talking and it makes my mouth look weird 

Getting this silhouette image was my idea (and supposedly that covered bridge is haunted, but I didn't notice anything) 

Gotta show off that rock! 

I like how you can see the short, green grass in the foreground and the tall, brown grass in the background 

This is my favorite one so far. Getting the pose just right took a lot of adjusting, but I'm really happy with how it turned out

I'm really happy that we went with Courtney for our photographer, though Leah did the legwork to find her. And according to Courtney, we were really good clients: she said that the fact that we were up for anything made her job easier and a lot more fun.

With how good these are, I'm excited to see how the rest of the pictures turned out.

Ripley's Believe It Or Not

On Saturday, Leah took me out on a date. She's great at finding deals and got a great discount on a pair of tickets to the Baltimore Ripley's Believe It Or Not! museum.

Back when Leah and I first started dating, we went to Atlantic City. While we were walking around the boardwalk, I saw a Ripley's museum there and mentioned how much I loved reading the newspaper features as a kid and that I had a couple of books that collected many of said features. She listened and when she came across a sale on tickets, she asked if I wanted to go. It was sweet of her to remember something so trivial, so of course I said "yes."

The museum was filled with artifacts and reproductions of amazing things. Some were based on people, like the tallest man in recorded history, while others were works of art using unusual media, like giant portraits of Bill and Hillary Clinton made out of hamburger grease. One thing I liked was how there were several displays that focused on Baltimore, like Chessie, Charm City's version of Nessie.

Me standing next to a life-sized animatronic of Robert Wadlow, the tallest man the world has ever known

A(n admittedly creepy) mannequin or Robert Ripley

Ants painted like basketball players (for some reason)

There were also interactive exhibits, like funhouse mirrors, a mirror maze, what was called a "kaleidoscope room," and other attractions, some of which that didn't involve mirrors.

Inside the mirror maze -- finding our way out was much harder than I expected

The kaleidoscope room was pretty disorienting and I didn't stay in it long

We also got to see a "4-D" movie, which was a couple of short cartoons -- one staring the Angry Birds, the other staring the Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote (we enjoyed the second one more, probably because we were familiar with the characters) -- that were in 3-D and required glasses and had chairs that shook. It was... okay, but I'm glad that we got to try it out.

We didn't take any pictures of the movie, so here's one of us having fun in the gift shop

After the fun of the museum, we went to a Japanese restaurant that was right on the Chesapeake Bay. Once again, Leah had a coupon. To save on parking, we walked from Ripley's to the restaurant, which was about a mile and a half away. In the rain. We both had umbrellas, so the walk just meant that we were really hungry when we sat down. Luckily, the food was pretty good.

This was Leah's first time trying unagi (eel)

Overall, it was a really fun day and further solidified the fact that Leah's a keeper.

Aphasia Strikes Again

On Monday, at about 3:30 in the afternoon, with about ninety minutes left in the work day, I had an aphasic episode. I've had episodes like this plenty of times before, but this time I was medicated and I wasn't in the middle of transitioning to a new medication.

When it hit me, I was listening to a podcast and immediately lost the ability to understand anything that was said (I recognized all the words as English, but I had no idea what any of it meant). I also felt exhausted and struggled to stay awake -- not that it mattered since I wasn't able to read or write while I was in the throws of the episode. After about twenty minutes, I was able understand what I was listening to, but I was still exhausted and couldn't concentrate. After about five minutes of futilely trying to be productive, I stood up and walked over to the desk of my boss, Magda.

She was talking with one of my coworkers, Chelsea, so I waited for a break in the conversation before speaking up. Before I had the chance to interject, Magda looked up and asked what was wrong (apparently, the feeling of extreme exhaustion was all over my face). I explained what happened, describing aphasia as a kind of micro-seizure, and said I needed to go home. She was completely understanding and Chelsea offered to drive me, which I declined -- I've had aphasic episodes while driving before and never blacked out, so I figured I was fine.

As I drove home, I talked to Leah on the phone. She also expressed concern about me driving while in my fatigued state, but I assured her I was fine. Almost on cue, I felt another aphasic episode begin before evaporating (I can feel them just before they hit, though sometimes they pass). She told me I was lucky and that I should have accepted Chelsea's offer for a ride.

The next morning, I woke up and felt sick. It felt like I had the flu and I was physically weak. I worked from home, though I was not terribly productive. Thankfully, I felt better this morning and was able to put in a full day at the office.

After talking about what happened with my neurologist, she recommended increasing my medication dosage. We increased the dosage for a few weeks last year when I first transitioned onto oxcarbazepine and it made me really drowsy. My neurologist thinks that this time I'll handle it better since my body has acclimated to the medication, but if I feel overwhelmingly tired like I did before, she has a supplemental medication in mind that we can try. For now, we're going to wait and see if simply increasing the dosage will be sufficient.

Perhaps I was foolish to think that my epilepsy problem was solved since it was under control. Maybe my life will be segmented by periods of being in control, punctuated by times when I have to look for new solutions. While I'd rather not have to worry about my epilepsy, it's under control for now and we have a possible remedy lined up if I start to show symptoms again, so things are still pretty good.

Self-induced Sleepiness

As mentioned before, I have to take allergy medication everyday in order to function at my peak. My medication of choice, Flonase, contains low levels of steroids. I had a mild case of bronchitis a few weeks ago and was given a steroid pack to take, which meant I needed to stop using the Flonase for a while and switch to something different. The different medication worked great, so when I had finished the pack, I decided to try using both. However, this made me feel sleepy, so sleepy that I had trouble staying awake at work. Unfortunately, I didn't realize it was the double dose of allergy medication that was causing my drowsiness (despite this exact thing happening before). Not until I had finished off the replacement medication, anyhow.

I have a lousy memory, but this blog helps me recall the past, but only if I review it.

Donut Holes

What happens when you're bored and you have deep fryer in your kitchen?

You make donut holes (which you then take to your fiancee while she's at work).

Easter 2017

Easter was busy for Leah and me. We had decided to host Easter dinner and had invited her family and mine, though not everyone was available. In the end, we had Ian, Sherlin, Leah's dad Ulf, and her younger sisters, Megan and Allison, over. (From now on, when I mention Allison, assume I'm referring to Leah's youngest sister.)

I was a bit ambitious with the meal that I planned, though thankfully it all worked out. We made a spinach salad with strawberries, feta cheese, and sliced almonds; a spiral-cut, honey-glazed ham; sauteed green beans with garlic and cranberries; deep fried sweet potato french fries; and a trifle with blueberries, strawberries, and pound cake for dessert. Leah was a champ on the deep fryer and did a lot of prep work by slicing all of the strawberries and about half of the sweet potatoes. The trifle gave me problems as I didn't have enough pound cake and had to quickly bake another, though I probably ran out because Leah and I kept munching on it before I assembled the cake.

Dinner was great, if a bit crowded in my tiny apartment. I don't usually get to entertain in my home (and this was certainly the biggest group that I've fed here), so it was nice to be able to plan out the meal and execute it -- having Leah as my assistant made it even nicer. After most of the guests left (Megan hung out for a while afterwards), I collapsed on the couch, exhausted but happy.