When I got into my car after dialysis this morning, this popped up on my iPhone’s lock screen:
I have tracking turned on so Google knows where I’ve been. I guess I go to Raising Cane’s after dialysis so often that Google thinks it’s a regular schedule or something. In the past, this notification would pop up in the morning for work. Since I’ve been working from home for the past 9 months, this is what pops up instead.
Just to be different, I went to the Santa Ana location since I wanted to go back to Santa Ana Main Place to charge my car. I was down to about 20% charge. To charge to 90% would take about 50 kWh or ~$10 at $0.20/kWh. Since I “paid” for Supercharging and I have nothing else to do, I may as well let Tesla pay for my lunch.
Since my right arm is pretty much immobilized during dialysis, I can’t really write or take notes. However, I do have a blood pressure app on my iPhone that’s used to download data from my BP cuff, and it allow you to make manual entries. So during dialysis, each time the machine took my blood pressure readings, I typed it into my phone. Here’s the report/chart for this morning:
Not too bad finally. This is without taking the Metoprolol and Olmesartan before dialysis. We removed the Crit-Line monitor but still removed about 3,200 mL of fluids today. The first reading at 5:40 am was 139/75, and the final standing reading was 107/59. A bit low due to orthostatic hypotension, but the nurses let me go home if the systolic number is >100.
For lunch yesterday, I stopped at the Raising Cane’s in Santa Ana instead of the one I usually go to in Orange. I got a box combo and the total came out to $9.12, which was slightly more than what the exact meal cost in Orange. Both restaurants had the same price so the difference was in the sales tax. In addition to state and county sales taxes, cities can also add to the rate to raise funds. By checking here, you can see that the sales tax in Orange is 7.75%, and in Santa Ana it is 9.25%. The Orange location is further from my house: 7.1 miles vs. 5.3 miles. At 3.3 miles/kWh in my Tesla, the extra 1.8 miles will need an additional 0.55 kWh, which comes out to 11 cents assuming $0.20/kWh. That’s pretty much a wash, unless I use the Supercharger and get my car battery charged for free.
For a small $8 purchase, the difference was only 12 cents. But if you were making a large purchase, you probably should go to a store in Orange instead of Santa Ana, which will cost you 1.5% more. Here is a more detailed breakdown:
Sales Tax Component
%
California
6.0
Orange County
0.25
Santa Ana
1.5
Orange Co Local Tax Sl
1.0
Orange County District Tax Sp
0.5
Total
9.25
Out of the total, California takes 6.0% and Orange County takes 1.75%. I guess City of Orange is not charging any extra sales tax. You can see how heavy the tax burden is in California. The state income tax ramp is pretty steep and you get to 9.3% pretty quickly. Add the 6.0% sales tax (assuming you buy a lot of stuff), most Californians pay 15.3% in state taxes, before property tax. That’s why I typically vote no on any bond propositions on the ballot. They’re already takin 1/6 of my salary already… do a better budget. With the federal government taking ~1/3 of my salary, that’s half my income gone.
With Apple hardware, there comes a day where the lstest OS update will not install anymore. That happened to my iPad2 and iPad4. They are both running older versions of iOS instead of the latest version 14. This is now true for my MacAir that I bought in 2012. It’s the Mid 2012 version, which means it cannot run the latest Mac OS 11 or Big Sur. The eight year old notebook is a bit slow but works fine so I don’t know if I want to replace it with another Mac that I won’t use too much. For better or worse, my main desk computer is now a Dell/Alienware PC running Windows 10, mainly because of PC games. I keep music and photos on the Mac and occasionally browse the web but most “work” is being done on the PC.
Ugh. What a total shitshow. Today’s COVID update from work said we had 13 new cases in my work location since yesterday. Again, we’re pretty sure employees are infected from whatever they’re doing outside of work but the danger of being asymptomatic and spreading the virus at work is real. With Christmas and New Year’s coming, this second (or third) wave of infections will likely get worse before getting better.
First walk using the Apple Watch as the tracker instead of the Fitbit (Charge 2). I hope it’s more accurate and reliable than the Fitbit since it cost a lot more. The workout data is transmitted to an app on the iPhone called Fitness. Here’s the data screen:
If you scroll down on the screen, it also give you split times for each mile, heart rate chart, map, and the weather. I walked two laps of the larger neighborhood loop, which was ~1.3 miles. The pace was pretty good at 22’06” or almost three miles per hour. That’s close to my walking rate before the heart surgery and much faster than what I’ve done all this year.
Since it’s already dark outside and no one walks in LA, I didn’t wear a mask, but I also didn’t get anywhere near another person. I probably should have worn a mask though; there was definitely smoke in the air. A couple of times, my nose was burning from breathing in the air, even though the Apple Watch showed an AQI of 42.
In addition, I haven’t napped all day, even though it’s dialysis day. I’m not supposed to work that much today but there were several conference calls and a 1:1 meeting with my boss. I’m trying to hold out and not nap until tonight so I can try to get back to a regular schedule. I also have cell group tonight. Due to the fire, we’re probably meeting on Zoom instead of in-person outdoors. Need to try and stay awake through that as well.
I just picked up my new Apple Watch Series 6 from the Apple Store in Costa Mesa. This is the same store where we picked up my mom’s iPhone 11 about two months ago. Since it was a Thursday, there were a lot less people in front of the store. Additionally, I only counted less than 10 customers inside the store. The number of employees easily outnumbered the number of customers.
It took about five minutes to get my purchase from the back room so I chatted with the store employee about old/obsolete Apple hardware and how fast products evolve. He also told me that they are restricted to operating at 25% capacity, which was hard to believe since the store floor was packed with employees. He then said there were a lot of visitors from Los Angeles County since all their stores are shut down. Not in Orange County!
It took about 10 minutes to setup and synchronize the watch. I’ve never owned one before so there will be some getting used to having another apple device. I think I have something from all the Apple product families: iPhone, iPad, Watch, MacAir, Apple TV, and even some old iPods. I think the next purchase, if any, will be a new Mac/Macbook since the one I have is from mid-2012 and definitely showing its age.
Right now the watch is updating its OS from 7.0.1 to 7.1… death, taxes, and Apple software updates.
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Update: 12/5 /2020 6:00 pm
After wearing the new Watch for a few days, I’m slowly getting used to it. The rubber watch band is pretty good; it’s so comfortable that it doesn’t feel like the watch is there at all. I am a bit disappointed at the battery life however. I put the Watch on about 2:30 am this morning, and now the charge is at 35%. I’ll probably need to charge it every night. How am I supposed to use it for sleep tracking if I have to take it off and charge it every night?!
When I first turned on the Watch, it asked to synchronize apps with my phone. I said yes without thinking and it installed a ton of Watch apps. There is a lot of stuff I don’t use anymore so I’ll need to go and clean up. Unlike the iPhone/iPad, the Watch displays all the apps on a hexagonal grid. If you have a lot of apps, then it takes awhile to find what you’re looking for. It looks like this:
I’m on a conference call with my boss and his entire team right now. There were a couple of directors that I’ve never talked to before on the call. With the spike in COVID-19 cases, both at work and outside, we’re asking people to work from home as much as possible, again. However, management doesn’t want this info out on email for some reason so each VP is passing the news verbally.
Since I wasn’t planning on going into the office anytime soon, nothing really changes for me. I know some coworkers have been going in more regularly but I think the office will be pretty empty for the rest of the year. I also overheard that our company is running low on COVID tests. We’re using about 200 kits per day to test employees.
Our family has never put up Christmas lights on our house. We would talk about it every year, but never get around to it. We’ve lived in our current house since the end of 2009. It’s in a fairly decent neighborhood with 3-4 bedroom houses so a lot of our neighbors has put up lights. Some even have large elaborate displays that probably uses a lot of electricity to run each night. Anyway, with 2020 being such a sucky year, I decided to buy some lights to put on our house. I’m starting small so I just got a 40′ LED rope that seems easy to install. There were many similar products on Amazon; I’m sure they all come from the same Chinese manufacturer. The one I got was only $20. If it works out, maybe I’ll get more for next year.
I received a new Costco Citi credit card in the mail today. Since my parents go there all the time to shop, I hardly go anymore. For the past 10 years, I’ve only had one or two transactions per year on my card.
In order to activate the credit card, I went into Citi’s mobile app. I also have a Citi Double Rewards card, which is my main credit card since it gives 2% rebate on all purchases. I got tired of tracking which card had the best rebate on which categories. Looking around, I noticed that I had about $175 in cash back rewards. On some cards, there is an option to automatically apply the rewards as a credit to your account. For Citi, you have to go in and choose a redemption option. You can convert to points for shopping, apply as account credit, get direct deposit into a bank account, or receive a paper check. The points option is a $1 = 100 points conversion but items cost 100 points per $1. I don’t know why anyone would choose that option since you don’t get any monetary benefit yet you lock yourself into Citi’s points. Anyway, I chose account credit since there is always a balance due.
I also noticed you can ask for more credit on your card. The app asks for your salary and rent/mortgage payments, then it decides within a few seconds whether to modify your credit line. I didn’t change the existing values much, but when I clicked on submit, it gave me an additional $4000 of credit. Dangerous if you can’t control your spending. I don’t buy that many large ticket items so I’ll probably never used all the credit available but I guess it doesn’t hurt to have it if you’re responsible.
It’s the first time I’ve walked outside (for exercise) in over two months. The last several times I walked outside, I was afraid I was going to be stranded on the side of the street. At the time, I was still having issues with pleural effusion (now that I know what it means) so it was difficult to breathe, and often I would have to sit on the curb and rest. Today was a bit different. I don’t know the exact stats since the Fitbit had a brain fart and didn’t record the walk. Maybe it knows I ordered an Apple Watch.
Anyway, the walk took about 25 minutes and Google Maps said I walked ~0.945 miles. I didn’t have to stop at all and was breathing normal at the end of the walk. It’s amazing how a bit of fluid can have such a huge impact. I need to start walking more now that I can breathe and my toe is pretty much healed.
It’s that time of the year again. I hate doing these since the process at most companies are so formulaic. You (or your manager) fill out a form with a set of questions that is supposed to cover a year or more of work performance. I’ve always worked in small teams, often with just one direct report, and I talk to my staff (or manager) everyday. By review time, all that needs to be said has already been said a hundred times. Even worse, at both the current and previous company, the review is only indirectly correlated to the salary increase. The actual increase amount is a separate decision and not directly calculated from your performance review score.
The first step in the process is a self review. That is due at midnight tonight so I’d better get going. Our company uses a five point scale so you have to give yourself a ranking on several criteria, and write some text as well. Since I switched to part-time about halfway through the year, this is a new experience. What standards do I use to evaluate myself? I’m pretty certain that if I was working full-time, I would still make about the same progress on my one-and-only large project. Do I score better since I’m only working 3/4-time and getting paid less? Also, I’ve worked for the same manager for 17 out of the last 20 years so I can probably write my final review for him. Typically I get a 3.5 our of 5, but that doesn’t seem to have any impact on promotions.
At least this year I don’t have any direct reports so all I have to do is the self review and be done!
I mentioned that I just bought an Apple Watch Series 6 during Black Friday weekend, mainly as an early Christmas gift for myself. I don’t have the watch yet and I’m already checking out replacement watch bands. I originally wanted a stainless steel link band but Apple’s prices are ridiculous. This one sells for $449. That’s more than the actual watch.
If you search for “apple watch 6 steel band” on Amazon, there are a lot of hits, with bands starting under $20. Apple’s products are usually higher quality but in this case, probably not 25x better. I’ll probably wait until I get the watch before replacing the band, but it’s good to know not all of them cost $400+.
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Typically I don’t spend that much on watches and accessories. Actually, I’ve only purchased one watch ever. It was a special edition Tag Heuer Carrera. The list price was about $6,500 and I paid $3,400. It was one of those crazy one-time purchases since all my other 3-4 watches are inexpensive gifts. Later, while in Las Vegas, I purchased a steel Tag Heuer watch band to replace the original leather strap and that cost $550. In comparison, I guess $450 for a steel watch band is not extraordinary, except the “brand” is Apple instead of a traditional luxury watch manufacturer. I hardly wear the watch now since I usually have the Fitbit on. With the new Apple Watch, I’ll probably never wear any of my analog watches in the future.
Ha! I posted something about lucky numbers for post #777 on September 10, 2020. At the time, I was stressing about my sister’s latest donor application to UCLA Transplant Center. I think they were still discussing her case, primarily about the potential presence of a kidney tumor. That has since been resolved and it appears we’re likely headed for a transplant in a few months.
Also since the #777 post, I’ve had other medical issues. The main problem was the presence of pleural effusion. That took about two weeks of “aggressive” ultrafiltration during dialysis, and several echocardiograms to resolve. I also cut my right foot/toe pretty bad that I went to the ER for stitches. All that has been resolved as well so maybe lucky Chinese number > lucky white-people number. Hmm… 🤨
In China, it is customary to regard even numbers as being more auspicious than odd ones. So, gifts are given in even numbers for the celebration of all occasions. No. 8 has long been regarded as the luckiest number in Chinese culture. With pronunciation of ‘Ba’ in Chinese, no. 8 sounds similar to the word ‘Fa’, which means to make a fortune. It contains meanings of prosperity, success and high social status too, so all business men favor it very much. Moreover, in some areas of China, people prefer to pay much more money for a telephone number with 8 in it. They also favor residences on the eighth floor of buildings. In 1990s, a vehicle identification number with 8 was once auctioned off for 5 million Hong Kong dollars.
I have an appointment with my endocrinologist this Thursday. About four months ago, during an in-office appointment, she gave me some orders for lab tests. Since that was during my post-a-fib period, I was a bit distracted and buried the lab orders in a mountain of paper. Just now, I was able to find the paperwork again so I’ll need to have blood drawn after dialysis tomorrow today. Kind of ironic that I’ll get poked with another needle for blood after four hours of dialysis. Anyway, I hope the results will come out in time.
Since I don’t see my primary doctor that often, and the dialysis clinic takes blood samples for labs monthly, I haven’t had “regular” labs for a long time. In the past, results from dialysis labs have shown up in my online patient portal since they’re all part of St. Joseph hospital. This hasn’t happened lately and I’m not sure why. I’ve collected the summary results (on paper) given to my by the nutritionist:
Month
6
7
8
9
10
11
Albumin
4.3
4.3
4.6
4.4
4.5
4.4
Potassium
5.2
5.2
5.4
5.3
5.6
5.5*
Phosphorus
5.9
4.6
5.3
5.7
6.7
6.2*
Calcium
8.8
8.8
9.4
8.9
9.1
9.1
Parathyroid Hormone
455.9
219.6
307.2
385.7
Hemoglobin A1C
5.5
5.2
*The upper limit was changed from 5.5 to 5.0 in November; otherwise the potassium value would be in-range
I’m typically okay on lab results, with borderline potassium and phosphorus. It probably depends on what I eat during that month. I have an overall idea of what foods to avoid for each, but I’m not watching what I eat too closely. The high potassium is likely from getting Raising Cane’s combos what come with fries. I think the phosphorus is from cheese slices. For the past few months, I’ve been making knock-off Egg McMuffins for breakfast and including a slice of Kraft Singles. My nephrologist said to be more diligent in taking my phosphorus binders. Since it looks like a kidney transplant is likely soon, they’re not going to change anything for now.
Hemoglobin A1C test result ranges
For the endocrinologist, I think she is most concerned about the Hemoglobin A1C number. My results have been pretty good for about a year now. Normal range is under 5.7%. In April 2020, my results were 6.2%, which is pre-diabetes. The most recent results above were 5.5% and 5.2%. Too bad it’s too little too late, as the damage (chronic kidney disease and peripheral neuropathy) has occurred already.
Related to my weight loss, my waist size had gone done. As a result, almost every pair of pants I have are now too large. Likewise, most of my old belts are pretty non-functional. My daily wardrobe included jeans, mostly straight leg Levis 505s. As long as I could remember, I’ve purchased 38″ waist/32″ inseam, and they would fit fine. After drying, they would be a bit tight but would stretch out again after a few days. Now, if I don’t use a belt, the pants would fall down right away. Even with a belt, in order to get the pants to stay up, there would be so much material bunched up that it was uncomfortable to wear. My mom said she can alter the jeans but that looks pretty difficult since the material is so thick. Usually my clothes end up being too small over time; this is the first time that my clothes have become too large.
I ended up buying a new pair last week. I went with the same style but purchased sone with 36″ waist. It fit a lot better but was still a bit loose. I think 34″ waist would be too tight since I measured about 35″ waist with a tape measure. Maybe if I put it in the dryer at hight heat, it will shrink the jeans a bit. I also found a unwrapped pair of 38/32 jeans in my closet. Not sure what to do with it anymore. I’ll save it for after my trip to Bacchanal Buffet in Las Vegas.
So I guess I was wrong about the timeline. It seems like we’re a few weeks away from a FDA approved vaccine from Pfizer. The question is who will get the first few doses available. From STAT news:
Separately, STAT has learned that senior leaders in the Trump administration’s coronavirus response are pressing for adults 65 years old and older to be given first access to the vaccine. That approach contradicts the position of a committee that advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on vaccine policy; the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices has signaled for months that it will recommend health care providers be at the front of the vaccination line.
I think frontline healthcare workers should be one of the first to get the vaccine since their exposure risk is very high. It would also be a good environment to test the effectiveness of the vaccine in the wild. Nursing home patients make sense as well since their has been so many deaths in that population. I think the Trump administration is focused on seniors over 65 because they are higher risk, but also majority Republican voters as well. You can target the seniors in the nursing homes but if the rest of the seniors are socially distancing or isolating themselves, a few more weeks/months seems like low risk versus not vaccinating healthcare workers.
Since I have lots of health risks, I’m probably in the front of somebody’s list. Although it would be nice to get the vaccine and live vicariously, I think I can wait a few months since I’m working from home anyway, and the kidney transplant may be soon. Maybe I’ll get the vaccine post-transplant due to all the immunosuppressive drugs I have to take.
I’m sure my three readers know that I go to Raising Cane’s for lunch after dialysis a lot. I’ve been going to the restaurant in Orange on Tustin Avenue since I thought that was the closest one. I just found out there is another restaurant in Santa Ana that is a lot closer to the hospital, and a bit closer to my house. Also, if I want to get food then charge my car, it’s also close to the Tesla Superchargers at the Santa Ana Main Place. I think I’ll go try the other location tomorrow.
Evidently there are a lot of locations in LA/Orange County now. I thought there were only two in Orange and Downey.
The highlighted marker is the Orange/Tustin Avenue location
Lately, I’ve been getting just the chicken fingers and sauce since I don’t like their bread and coleslaw. I’m also trying to lose fluid so not getting the drink means I won’t drink it. Finally, their fries are just mediocre so not getting any is fine with me. I usually park in the lot right after getting my order and eating the fingers right away while it’s still hot and burning my tongue. So good though…
Even though everyone in the house has a Windows PC as their main computer, every other device is made by Apple. I just purchased a new Watch Series 6 to replace my Fitbit. The Fitbit was a hand-me-down from my niece who didn’t use it at all. It’s fine but the Watch has a built-in EKG function and an oxygen saturation sensor. After my a-fib episode and pleural effusion, it would be good to have a constant monitor on my heart and breathing. I got the larger version (44 mm) plus the new solo loop band. The total came out to $429 before tax. Since shipping would take 2-3 weeks, I opted to pick it up at the Apple Store at South Coast Plaza. Let’s hope it’s not as much of a zoo as last time.
I also just purchased an Apple TV 4K online as well. We have two Apple TVs already but they are both from the first generation. I think the output is only 720p and not sure if it can use the latest OS. We’ve also since bought a Samsung 4K TV so this will match nicely with it. I got the 64 GB version so it was $199, but there was a Black Friday special offer for $50 off. Finally, I bought my mom an iPhone 11 a few months ago. That turned out to be the most expensive item lately. We also have six iPads and about the same number of iPhones at home, plus a few old Macs. It makes for a very busy Wifi environment; right now there are 41 devices connected. I’m sure if everything was on and connected, the count would be closer to 70.
I think the pandemic has been good to a few companies like Amazon, Apple, and other electronics manufacturers. I should have purchased Apple stock earlier. Currently I have 168 shares in my managed brokerage account.
It’s time for HR training again at work. I’ve had these training modules for many years now. Almost every large company in California has some sort of training on workplace harassment. I guess the only surprise is my “personalized” course is titled training for “non-supervisors”. I was hired to my current company as a director level employee, which means I managed people that managed others. At my previous company, my last title was at a senior manager level so for the past 15 years, I’ve been trained as someone with managerial responsibilities when it comes to workplace harassment. However, with COVID and my dialysis schedule, I gave away all my staff to other directors so I’m a group of one at work.
Hopefully that means the training will be shorter this time. 😀
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Ugh, the switched the course this year. Not sure what company HR contracted but it’s totally different from the course from previous years. On the third screen, it requires you to answer a question in a freeform text box. I hate these type of questions. Whenever they come up in a survey, I usually just skip. I don’t think I can skip theses questions.
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Holy crap! I’ve been at it for over four hours and I’m only 40% done. Sure I’m multitasking a bit with other work and calls, but this course is taking forever to complete. My goal now is to finish the remaining 60% by end-of-day today.
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Done! It took about five and a half hours. The last two modules were shorter; the last one was only three pages. I also found out that you can submit a blank text box for the freeform questions. Finally, there is no quiz at the end of the course. Previously, there was always a quiz and if you failed to get a passing score, you just took the test again immediately. There was a time spent requirement but I believe I more than satisfied that.
Life with chronic diseases 