The Roundup: Punishment

I saw this movie in the theater today. I believe it is the first time I paid money to watch a non-English film. I watch plenty of movies with subtitles, but typically at home on streaming sites.

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My Korean friend suggested we go watch this. Initially, we were planning to go to CGV Cinemas at The Source OC in Buena Park but found out the movie was also playing at AMC Orange 30. I have never been to CGV Cinemas, but their rooms are tiny. I checked one of the shows and it said the room capacity was only fourteen. That is like watching movies in a home theater. You pay for the big screen and loud sounds, so we decided on AMC instead.

Overall, the movie was surprisingly good. This is the fourth movie in a series. I have downloaded the other three but have not watched them yet. The subtitles were large and easy to read. There were only about a dozen people in the theater, and I am likely the only non-Korean person in the room.

Tickets for the show were $15.49 each for adults. I found a ten-year-old AMC green voucher and managed to get one seat for free. I should go and get a few more discounted movie tickets before I quit.

M4.1 Earthquake

Since this just happened, I may as well post about it. A medium-small earthquake just rolled through ten minutes ago and the epicenter was about eight miles from my house. It was initially rated a 4.3 but got downgraded to a 4.1. Magnitude 4.1 does not sound like much, but it is pretty large if the epicenter is close. Here is the USGS site and map:

Having lived in California for close to forty years, I have been through many earthquakes, the most famous being the 1994 Northridge earthquake. That was 400x larger than the M4.1 just now, but realeased about 8,000x more energy.

A picture fell over on a shelf in the room I was in. I need to go cheek the house in case anything else fell over or off the wall.

Ukranian Easter

Today I learned that Easter in Ukraine is this coming Sunday, May 5th. I had a call with my friend in Kyiv this morning and he mentioned it. I had thought Easter was celebrated on the same day everywhere. I also asked my Ukrainian-Korean-American friend, and she reminded me that it is Easter for Eastern Orthodox Christianity. I felt so American, that is, ignorant of the rest of the world. She also told me Orthodox Christmas is January 7th.

I found out a month ago that Ukraine switches to daylight savings time on a different date too.

The Middle of Nowhere

I posted earlier that I am picking up my sister at around noon Monday, April 29th from the Pacific Crest Trail. Well, earlier this evening, she called and basically said to come get us now. Luckily, I was already charging my car, but had only about 78% battery charge when I left. After driving almost two hours and about 100 miles, I found them in the middle of nowhere, with 42% battery charge left.

What happened? The weather on Sunday was hotter than planned and the group had run low on water. Deciding that they did not have enough water for the final half-day hike, they went to a “hostel” next to the trail. This was really just some guy and his wife’s house, and he lets people camp on his property. He also lets people use his shower and has a stocked pantry. Since the way back to the path was steep, my sister’s group ended the trip there, and asked me to pick them up. The house was down a long dirt road, so the hostel guy graciously dropped them off at the nearest paved intersection when I got near.

For most of the trip, I used the full-self-drive (FSD) feature in my Tesla. It performed well, even when it was super dark outside, and the road was narrow and twisty. The car did tend to speed, and I was not able to control the set speed. It regularly drove over 60 mph when the speed limit was only 55 mph. However, even at those speeds, FSD was much smoother than me driving.

After picking them up, we stopped at Denny’s in Temecula and had dinner/breakfast. I ordered a 55+ omelet and was disappointed when the waiter did not card me. Since portions of highways 74 and 241 were closed, the way back was longer. When I dropped off the hiking team at their cars, I only had 10% batter charge left. I found a mostly empty Supercharger site and was able to charge at 210 kW. That is the fastest I have ever charged my EVs.

Overall, the entire trip took about six hours. With about four hours of driving, over an hour at Denny’s, and maybe 40 minutes charging my car. Along the way, FSD got mad at me for looking at the map too much and shut itself down. This is rather stupid since using FSD and autopilot were touted as better drivers than people. I also had to use my injured ankle to drive since no FSD also meant no basic cruise control.

Also, the really stupid passenger wing door is somehow even more broken after Tesla Service. How is that possible if they replaced the ultrasonic sensor and supposedly tested the repair?

Ankle Update 20240427

This is the lates x-ray image from April 22nd. My primary surgeon said it looked fine. Initially he wanted me to keep wearing the walking boot after I told him my physical therapist said not to wear it. However, he changed his mind and gave me an ankle wrap. It is a lot less bulky, and I feel it does help support my bad ankle a lot.

After four weeks of physical therapy, I can definitely feel more flexibility in my ankle, but overall movement will be very limited since the entire joint is fused. I can walk further than before, but there is still soreness in the ankle and calf muscle, and some pain and numbness in the heel. I am still wearing a travel compression sock on my right foot and using a special pillow to raise my lower leg when sleeping. I have four more weeks of physical therapy left. I hope I can walk longer distances without pain and without crutches.

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I do think the surgery has aggravated my peripheral neuropathy. I am experiencing much more pain when I lie down, especially if I sleep on my side. I have finished all the Norco prescribed during the ankle surgery, and I find that the oxycodone does not have any effect, even though it is supposed to be a more potent painkiller. Luckily, I found a vial of Norco prescribed to my mom back in 2020. It has long since expired, but they are still able to dull the neuropathy pain. Since I do not have a current prescription, I am using it sparingly on the most intense nerve pain attacks. I should ask my endocrinologist for a refill since she offered to prescribe me gabapentin previously.

Fallout TV Show

Fallout is one of my favorite video game franchises. I will admit I did not get into Fallout 1 & 2, but I played the heck out of Fallout 3 on the PS3, plus Fallout: New Vegas and Fallout 4 on the PC. I only have statistics on Fallout: New Vegas and Steam tells me I have spent 192 hours playing it.

On the other hand, I did not play Fallout 76 at all. I was somewhat disappointed in Fallout 4, and after reading some reviews, I decided not to buy Fallout 76. I did spent some time on Fallout: Shelter on my iPad but ended up deleting it since it was just a microtransactions trap.

Now I found out Amazon has produced a Fallout TV show. I do remember seeing an ad on Amazon Prime TV, but I was not expecting them to dump all the episodes at once. Now I need to binge watch all the episodes. Please let it not suck.

Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail

https://www.pcta.org/discover-the-trail/maps/overview-maps/

The Pacific Crest Trail is a 2,661 mile trail that stretches from Mexico to Canada, and goes through the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. My sister and friends started hiking this trail last year, and they are hiking this weekend as well. I believe they started at Warner Springs yesterday morning and they will hike until Monday noon. Here is their progress so far:

I am tasked with picking them up Monday from a random dirt lot near the junction of highways 74 and 371, very near Paradise Valley Cafe, next to the town of Anza. I will have to charge up my car fully and drive four hours round trip. I think my Model X has enough range for this.

The Pacific Crest Trail is part of the national trail system. Here is a map of all the hiking trails.

https://www.pcta.org/our-work/national-trails-system/

Worst Neuropathy Pain Ever? (updated)

I have wondered how it would feel if I got a really bad neuropathy pain attack while wearing a cast? Luckily, even though I did experience a few attacks while wearing a cast, none were too bad.

Well, one of the worst attacks just started about twenty minutes ago. Unfortunately, the location is in my right foot, near the top of my inner sole. The pain level is probably nine on that pain scale. It is at the “involuntary screaming” level, and I have experienced that a few times before. However, in the past, my entire lower leg was not swollen and sore from physical therapy. I tried using a percussive massage on the location and of course, I can barely feel the massager. Even worse, the pain attacks are coming in fast, sometimes every ten seconds. I already took an oxycodone pill, and it is not helping at all. Other than lying down and screaming several times a minute, I do not know what else to do.

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So, it has been almost three hours and I have not been able to sleep. The oxycodone pill did nothing for the pain; I think it has gotten worse. Additionally, another two locations on my right foot are starting to experience pain.

What is worse than super painful neuropathy? Super painful neuropathy in three locations.

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I have tried to massage the pain spot so much that I have broken the skin, and I am now bleeding. The wound is pretty small, but I still had to put a bandage on it. The pain intensity has not decreased in the past four hours.

Fuck.

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In the past, sometimes I would shake 0r swing my lower leg vigorously, and that would alleviate some of the pain. I think it gets more blood into my lower leg and foot, though I am unsure why that helps. Today, when I tried to do the same thing, my lower leg and ankle would swell up due to my ankle injury. My entire foot is numb now from the constant nerve pain. I am still unable to sleep or even feel tired. I also do not know how long I have to wait before taking more painkillers. In addition to the worst neuropathy pain ever, I may get addicted to opiates too.

Fuck. Fuck.

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My right calf is so swollen and sore right now.

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Updated: Saturday, April 20th, 2024

I ended up falling asleep around 3:00 am Tuesday and woke up at 6:00 am. The pain was still there but more muted. Throughout the week, I would get occasional flare ups at the same spot, which has not happened. This evening, six days later, the pain came back in the same spot, though around a six or seven on the pain scale. I had finished taking all the Norco I was prescribed for my ankle operation, so I tried taking 5 mg of Oxycodone. Even though it is supposed to be stronger than Norco, I really do not feel any difference in pain afterwards. Maybe I need to take Tylenol at the same time? It has been two hours since I took the pill, and again, I cannot sleep. At least the pain is not as bad as Monday’s attack.

Ankle Update 20240415

Happy Tax Day! Today is also my first day back to work after taking a twelve-week medical leave for my broken ankle.

After two weeks of physical therapy, my ankle is still very swollen. My physical therapist has been adding weight and new exercises each time I go into the clinic/gym. I can walk short distances normally. but the ankle swells quickly and becomes quite sore. I am still not wearing the walking boot, but I am carrying my crutches in my car.

I have an appointment with my orthopedic surgeon on April 22. That will be after three weeks of physical therapy so hopefully everything is on track.

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I bought a lot of travel compression socks while I was on dialysis and I am wearing them again, if only just on my right foot. I feel it does help keep the swelling down, and give some support when I walk around slowly.

Too Much Coriander

I like coriander (cilantro) in my dishes. However, Pizza Hut Japan introduced recently introduced a limited time “Too Much Coriander” pizza. I think it is too much since the taste of cilantro is overpowering and you will not taste anything else if you put that much on a pizza.

I still would like to try if it is available the next time I visit Japan.

My sister-in-law has the gene that makes cilantro taste like dish soap. She said this is what hell looks like.

Supplemental Short-Term Disability

I may have mentioned this before, since I have been on disability and medical leave so many times. Our company provides some supplemental benefits via The Hartford insurance company. My understanding is that the benefit is two-thirds of weekly salary, up to a $1,600 maximum. The maximum is also affected by what I receive from the State of California for short-term disability. Previously, California provided up to $1,357 per week so I received several hundred dollars per week. However, the state cap is now $1,620 per week so even though I filed a claim with The Harford, I pretty much ignored the process after finding out the maximum benefit was less than what the state offered.

Today, I received a call from The Hartford asking to confirm my disability end date. I provided it but asked why it mattered. The customer service representative (CRS) said I should have received some checks. While she was still on the phone, I checked all the unopened mail and found about $450 in checks. Strange. I looked at the statement closely and discovered that there is a minimum benefit of $50 per week. Even though I was paid more than the maximum benefit, the minimum benefit must still apply. It is not a lot of money, but it is better than $0.

$20 Minimum Wage

I started this blog to vent about living with dialysis and heart failure, but it has become my regular blog. My previous blog had a lot of posts about politics, especially about how shitty the Chinese Communist Party is. Politics is stressful. In California, there is no choice for independent voters since everything is run by Democrats. That in itself is not bad, but with our hyper partisan political environment, any place with a supermajority, either party, is going to see terrible and unaccountable politicans and policies.

I spent almost my entire career in finance, and doing cost versus benefit analysis is second nature. Every business needs to generate enough revenue to cover costs and hopefully generate some profit. I remember the first thing we were asked in business school, “Why is this company in business?” You can talk about all sorts of secondary goals, but the primary reason a for-profit company is formed is to make money. Given that, are there tasks in the company that does not contribute $20/hour to the bottom line? Maybe.

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I just saw a new story from NBCLA that mentioned the author of the $20/hour law was in fact SEIU (Service Worker International Union). They seem to have the support of the entire Democratic Party in California to sponsor shitty laws. These are the same assholes that tried to blackmail the dialysis industry three times with bogus voter initiatives. I was on dialysis during that time and all the nurses and technicians said to vote no on the initiatives. All three initiatives failed.

The law has only been in effect for a week, but the train wreck is coming. Unfortunately for those of us living in California and vote independently, we are unwilling passengers on this train.

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The last part of the story mentioned that no politician is taking responsibility for the law, even the ones that sponsored the bill. Are we letting unions write laws? The story also said that the SEIU had every politician involved sign a NDA. How is this legit? Are there not transparency laws in California? I guess we will see during the next election which Democrats the SEIU paid off and are responsible for tanking the California economy.

Part-time Job Scam

I got this text message today. It is obviously a scam since there are no other merchants on Target’s website. Other red flags? Using WhatsApp as a communications platform, and the bullshit about reviewing my background/resume. I am not sure what the scammers are after. Your personal info? Maybe a fake check scam where they send you a fake check and ask you to buy office equipment? So lame.

Medtronics InPen Scam

This is such bullshit. My endocrinologist recommended the InPen to me and I got one last year. The pen connects via Bluetooth to your phone, and there is an app that calculates how much insulin you need depending on your glucose reading. Medtronic’s website claims that the InPen is a “smart” insulin pen, but the intelligence is in the app. The app tracks injections and calculates dosages; all the pen does is communicate how much is actually injected. Since you can manually enter shots, there is really no need for the pen itself.

What is the scam? The pen’s battery only lasts one year, and the battery is non-rechargeable and cannot be replaced. WTF? It is a nice pen, made of what looks like anodized aluminum. The condition of my pen is pristine so why do I need to throw it away? I checked online and the retail price is $400-$500. Since I have insurance, I paid a small copay. I may get another one while I have insurance, but I can always use my old manual insulin pens and just log doses manually.

Ankle Update 20240404

I started physical therapy this past Monday, which is April Fool’s Day. The clinic signed me up for three sessions per week for eight weeks. I hope it does not last that long.

During yesterday’s session (#2), the therapist told me to not wear the walking boot next time, and to put more weight on my right ankle. Each session so far has consisted of a calf massage, a foot/ankle massage, and several exercises, usually three sets of ten repetitions on each leg. After each session, my right lower leg and ankle would swell a lot. I think that is normal since physical therapy works the non-fused bones and muscles. Both my legs and my right ankle are quite sore. Due to neuropathy however, I do not know if I am putting too much weight, or if the exercises are too intense.

DMV HOV Decal

It has been six weeks since I sent in a paper application for HOV lane decals for my new Tesla. I checked the DMV website and it said they switched to an online system and are no longer taking paper applications. If you sent in a paper application and your check has not been cleared, then you should reapply online. So, my check has not cleared, so I started the online application process. After entering a bunch of data, I get this message:

The text says:

A decal has already been issued for the vehicle you provided. You will only be able to select the following options to complete your form online: Transfer to new owner, replacement ID card, replacement decals

I am unsure what that means. I assume DMV has received my paper application and it has been entered in their system? If so, why have they not cashed my check? Why did it take so long to add HOV decal application online?

I guess I wait…

The Worst Neuropathy Pain Ever

I had the worst neuropathy pain I ever felt during the last hour. My physical therapist told me to not use the walking boot anymore, and just wear regular shoes on my right foot. After the session, my ankle was pretty swollen, but it felt okay. However, when I tried to go to sleep earlier, about four to five attack pointes appeared on each foot. For almost an hour, I was in constant neuropathy pain; it was about level seven or eight on the pain scale. I was about to get out the oxycodone I received for surgery pain.

Since then, the pain has subsided. Both my feet are still sore and numb, and there are still attacks but more spread out. I also skipped dinner so I will probably eat a snack, and reconsider if I need to take the narcotic painkiller still.

Tomahawk Tuesday

Last year, I lent some money to my friend’s company. He returned the principle but wanted to give me around $800 of interest. I told him just to buy me some meals. He paid for a couple of lunches last week, but we decided to check out Tomahawk Tuesday at Fleming’s Steakhouse. Basically, you choose between bone-in steak or have them slice it for you. Additionally, you get two salads, two sides, and two desserts. The total cost for the meal is $150.

So, we went to the Fleming’s at Fashion Island in Newport Beach last night, and got the sliced porterhouse. It was expensive but everything was really good. At my insistence, we got the steak medium. The ribeye was great, but I think the filet was a bit overcooked. I probably should have gone with medium rare, but I really do not like chewy steak. The salads and the sides were really good, and dessert was great.

Ukraine Call 20240327

I just got off a video call with my friend/student in Kyiv. He said that there was a missile raid over the weekend. He had to go to a bomb shelter at his son’s school and hide out all night. What a fucking shitshow.

He said they sometimes get a thirty-minute warning that missiles are on the way, but recently Russia started using Onyx missiles that fly at 3,000 km/hour and are launched from Crimea. That means they only have a few minutes of warning. My friend said sometimes the missiles arrive at the same time the warning sirens start.

It is kind of difficult to have a normal discussion with my friend when you know he and his entire apartment building can be wiped out by one missile. For this call, we ended up taking turns sharing our screens and showing areas of our city using Google Street View. He showed me places where he is planning a bike ride, and since we ended up talking about World Cup 2026, I showed him aerial views of large stadiums in Los Angeles.