This morning I finally had enough. After several bouts of coughing spells last night during which I could hardly catch my breath, my whole chest was SORE and my diaphragm especially so. It even hurt to just breathe. The cold was definitely winning.

So, I made my way down to an urgent care center to see someone about a prescription for something that would stop the cough. After filling out three pages of medical history I then went into an examination room where a nurse took my vital signs. The machine to take blood pressure was not going to succeed, so she did it the old fashioned way and came up with a blood pressure of 210 over 142. Not good! She immediately went to get the Physician’s Assistant who was seeing patients. He came in and took my blood pressure in my right arm. A little better: 160 over 108. We went through the rest of his process and he agreed (after I had a couple of coughing spells while he was there) that I needed something and wrote a prescription for Cheratussin AC Syrup. He then took my blood pressure again in my left arm and got 132 over 86, a much nicer number.

I got the prescription filled and came home. It’s kind of working. I took a nap and woke up coughing, so took another dose. Since then it’s been better.

But that got me wondering … what was the difference between the Calmylin from Canada I was taking and the prescription? It turns out that the prescription itself was twice the price of the Calmylin from Canada and half the potency of codeine. That doesn’t take into account the cost of the visit to the urgent care facility. I’m hoping that when I get to a position with sufficient codeine in my system, that taking the prescribed dose will maintain a reasonable suppressant level.

Because I’m now a Medicare / Blue Cross person, the urgent care facility first bills them and then whatever they don’t pay gets billed to me. So, I’ve no idea what this visit to see the PA actually cost. There was a sign with a price list and the cost associated with “cold or flu” was $55. That may not be the Medicare price, though.

Meanwhile, another front on the battle with this cold has been opened. It’ll go away some day, I’m sure of it.

TTFN!

Ink for printers is incredibly expensive, in my not-so-humble opinion. The cheapest place to buy ink from the manufacturer is at Costco. However, Costco only sells printer inks for the latest printer models and then only in sets. Nina uses a lot of black ink and we’ve got plenty of colored ink for her printer. So, I checked a couple of options in town. Both Staples and OfficeMax sell just the black ink her printer needs. That’s goodness. The price for a cartridge of black ink at OfficeMax is a dollar more expensive than a set of black and color cartridges from Costco. Staples as even more expensive. There’s something wrong with this picture!

This busy day included:

The Pocatello Amateur Radio Club monthly breakfast at 9 a.m. I went and had an OK breakfast, but the location combined with my cold made for a less-than-hoped-for experience. There were about 18 of us at the breakfast in a row of tables in the room with everyone else and the noise level was so high I came away with a serious headache.

The Kinport Branch Relief Society (that’s the group up at the Women’s Prison where Nina was the Relief Society President until last September) had a conference and a fashion show in the afternoon. Nina went and reported that it was an excellent meeting with excellent attendance from the women. It ended at 3 p.m. which was the time that Nina and I both had to be underway to Idaho Falls for a special meeting followed by an endowment session. So, she ducked out early and I met her at the Stake Center so we could head north.

Each year as part of Ward Conferences, the Stake schedules a Saturday afternoon meeting at the Temple with a member of the Temple Presidency followed by an endowment session. These are always very delightful and beneficial events. The cold didn’t leave me alone, however. At the beginning of the endowment session I got coughing so hard I was sure I would have to leave. Thanks to folks around me, we got it under control. I’m rather unhappy with this cold.

TTFN!

There was a series of fires “of suspicious origin” over several months ending a little over a year ago out on the Reservation. Someone was setting these fires. There was some damage to property but for the most part, these fires were put out before any serious damage was done. Then we went a little more than a year with no fires until the 16th. We’ve had a dry spring and a fire would spread quickly, which this one did. Several fire departments were needed to get the blaze under control and put out. Maybe this fire isn’t related to those a year or so ago … but it seems a bit “suspicious” in my mind!

This was our usual busy Friday starting with a 3:30 a.m. alarm and our shift at the Idaho Falls Temple. The day before I got a phone call from a company here in town with an invitation to come in for an interview. They’re looking for some programming help on a project for a new client. I’m one of several people being interviewed for the position. It was an interesting interview and I enjoyed getting to know a little about the company and their business. While I would very much enjoy doing some work for them, I’m pretty sure they’ll go a different direction.

The cold is not going away. In fact, it feels like it’s getting worse.

TTFN!

I usually try to get my taxes done well before the deadline. For some reason that didn’t happen this year! I finally got everything together and worked up the tax return on the evening of the 14th. I use software from H&R Block to do my taxes which includes free electronic filing for the federal tax return, but doesn’t include free electronic filing for state tax returns. Since I was getting a refund from the feds and owed the State of Idaho money, I elected to electronically file federal taxes and to mail in my state return along with my check and thus hang onto the money for a bit longer.

So, on my way down to Salt Lake City I dropped the state tax envelope off at the post office. I have a nice 70-300mm lens for my digital SLR Sony camera. I originally bought the lens in Japan for my Minolta film SLR back in 1997. That lens plus a couple of others was the reason I bought the Minolta DSLR camera. I really liked that camera a lot. Then, the Minolta camera was stolen out of my luggage on a trip to the Philippines. Because I had the lenses, I bought a Sony A100 digital camera to replace it. A few months ago my favorite 70-300 lens began having a problem. The zoom mechanism would bind, probably meaning a little gear in the lens somewhere was worn out. Eventually the mechanism stopped working completely. I could still use the lens, but had to pull the barrel out or  push it back in to set the zoom that I wanted. One side effect was that the zoom information was no longer being stored in the data information about the picture.

A few weeks ago when we were in Salt Lake, I took the lens over to Inkley’s to see about getting the lens fixed. They took my deposit and sent it off to the repair shop. Unfortunately, parts “were no longer available” and the lens couldn’t be repaired. It was back at the store in Salt Lake, so I made a quick trip down and back to retrieve the lens.

The Portneuf Valley ARES (Amateur Radio Emergency Service) will be providing some communications assistance to the Pocatello50 Super Marathon being held on May 29th. The day ended with a meeting of the group to continue with the planning for the communications we’ll be providing. This will be a lot of fun.

TTFN!

Nina’s sister Pamela has been visiting here for a couple of days. She’s a lot of fun to have around and the two of them thoroughly enjoy each other’s company. Goodbyes are always hard. I’m of the opinion, however, that I should leave when people are happy I came and not stay so long that they’re happy I’ve left.

One thing that could go away with no regrets is this cold that I have. It’s kind of settled in the chest bringing with it a deep, hacking cough. Getting a reasonable cough suppressant in the United States is nearly impossible. There are no over-the-counter drugs that’ll do anything for a cough. Getting a prescription takes long enough that the cold is over.

On the other hand, the good stuff is available over-the-counter in many other countries. The last time we were in Canada I stocked up on Calmylyn which contains codeine, a very effective cough suppressant for me. I’m almost out, the cold and cough isn’t gone, and that’s gonna be a problem!

TTFN!

At the beginning of the year when all the tax forms come in, we put them in a basket in the kitchen. When I finally get around to doing the taxes, I go through the basket and sort out all the various pieces of paper. There’s plenty of pieces of paper and I’m hoping we have indeed received all of them because tomorrow morning I’ll prepare the tax returns. We will definitely owe money to the State of Idaho because no state taxes have been withheld from any of the money we’ve received over the past year. I’m hoping we won’t owe the Feds anything … but that remains to be seen.

I belong to one of four Rotary Clubs here in Pocatello, the Portneuf Rotary Club. We hold our meetings on Tuesday afternoons from 5:15 p.m. until about 6:15 p.m., one of the few “evening” Rotary clubs in the United States. My role in the club is to arrange for the weekly program. Most weeks that works out just fine. Occasionally the program is not so very interesting. And, every once in a while, the presenter cancels. Today was a cancellation day. That also worked out since we used the time to discuss some items of Club business. Rotary has been very interesting and I’ve enjoyed being a part of the organization. The programs for the next month have been setup, but it’s now time to begin working on the programs for June.

Entrance into the LDS Temples is by recommend which is obtained by passing a worthiness interview. The recommend is issued for two years when it has to be renewed through another worthiness interview. Of all LDS adults, about half have at one time or another been to the Temple and about 35-40% currently qualify for a recommend. Nina and my recommends expire at the end of April. The renewal process is a two-stage interview, first with the Bishop of my local congregation and then with a member of the Stake Presidency. The questions are very straightforward. There are a few about basic Church doctrine, a couple related to integrity and my relationship with my family, and a couple about moral cleanliness. I suspect the main issues that hinders LDS members are two questions: Do you pay an honest tithe? Do you keep the Word of Wisdom?

An honest tithe means 10% of my income annually. We have been full tithe payers for most of our adult lives, meaning that we have learned to live on 90% of what me make. Something that the Federal Government certainly could take a lesson from.

Keeping the Word of Wisdom specifically means no tobacco, alcohol, coffee, or tea. That health code sets the LDS Church apart from most other religions.

I had my interview with our Bishop on Sunday and then met with a member of the Stake Presidency this evening for the second interview. I’ve been issued a new recommend good for the next two years. It feels good.

TTFN!

Today is my last day of doing some work for the Census Bureau for the time being. As I understand the situation, the Tribes out on the Ft. Hall Indian Reservation originally wanted the Census Bureau to do the census on the Reservation because then the labor and expense money would come out of the Fed’s budget and not out of the Tribe’s budget. The expectation was that the Census Bureau would hire as many native Americans as would apply and qualify to do the work. Some did apply and some of those did qualify, but of the thirty or so people working on the Census out on the Reservation, only a handful were native Americans.

Apparently last week the political pot boiled over and last Thursday the Census Bureau was ordered by the Tribes to pull all of their workers off the reservation. Somehow the Tribes came up with people to do the work and a training class was cobbled together over the weekend and the early part of this week. Today I updated, verified, and turned in all of my binders and starting sometime tomorrow they’ll get distributed to the new teams.

Meanwhile, the other people on my team and I are all on hiatus. Supposedly, the Bureau plans to move us onto a different set of work called NORFU … non-respondent follow up … visiting folks who have not mailed back the census forms they received in the mail. That’ll require an additional three days of training which may be happening around the end of the month. I think that the Bureau was allowing time through the end of April for people to mail back their forms. When (and if) there’s further word, I’ll probably have something to say about it….

I have come down with a cold. It’s not the raging, crappy cold, but an almost-enough-to-stay-in-bed kind of a cold. I’m seriously looking forward to a day when science finally figures out how to cure a cold!

I’ve spent the day nursing this cold and doing pretty much nothing after turning in my time sheet and binders. Nina and her sister Pamela drove the 3 1/2 hours over to Boise to visit with a relative over there and a few minutes ago started their 3 1/2 hour drive back. It’ll be early tomorrow before they’re home. I’m not waiting up … bed is calling!

TTFN!

Sundays are usually my busiest day of the week and this one was no exception. On the 2nd and 4th Sundays my meetings start at 7:00 a.m. at the Stake Center for a High Council meeting. If the LDS Church were a business, the Stake Presidency would be the CEO and President of the local corporation and the High Councilors would be the Directors over the various functions performed by the Stake. My responsibilities include music, the single adults (unmarrieds, divorced, or widowed over the age of 31), emergency preparedness, and liaison to the Cedar Hills Ward.

At High Council meetings we report on our areas of responsibility and receive assignments to be carried out. These meetings usually last about 90 minutes. From there I go to the Cedar Hills Ward and join their Bishopric meeting in progress. That’s followed by a Priesthood Executive Committee Meeting, which is usually followed by either a Ward Welfare Committee Meeting or a Ward Council meeting. These meetings usually end about 10:30 a.m.

The Cedar Hills Ward meeting block starts at 11 a.m. with Sacrament Meeting first. On Fast Sundays, which normally is the first Sunday of the month but this month it’s the second Sunday because General Conference was on the first Sunday, I then go to my home ward, the Juniper Hills Ward, to attend meetings with my wife Nina. The Juniper Hills Ward begins their block of meetings at 1 p.m. and finish at 4 p.m.

On Sundays other than Fast Sunday, I attend the meeting block in the Cedar Hills Ward which ends about 2 p.m.

Sometimes that’s the end of the meetings for the day. Sometimes there are other meetings to attend in the evening. Today was a special Stake Fireside on protecting families from the bad Internet while taking advantage of the good Internet.

Now it’s about 10 p.m. and I’m really finished for this Sabbath Day!

TTFN!