Author: Brian Allen

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Karen Allen's Surgery Follow-up

Karen Allen's leg pain is gone. Her back is still sore. She hopes that the soreness is from the surgery.

Karen is stuggling to not use her back. The doctor doesn't want her picking up anything heavier that a plate of food for six weeks. Karen's research on the Internet confirms his demain. It is because the disc has not healed and could reherniate under the load.

Everyday for the next six weeks, Karen has friends helping her and baby. Today, Karen and Katherine are at Anne Bell's house for the day. Tomorrow, someone will be at our house to help.

I hope that after all this work that Karen's back heals correctly and that her back problems are gone.

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Karen Allen's Microdiscectomy

My wife, Karen Allen, had a microdiscectomy today to fix her herniated disc between the L4 and L5. She had beer trying a number of treatments with no improvement.

The procedure took all day at the hospital. The actual surgery only took about 30 minutes. The doctor was running behind by about 2 hours. Another surgery was moved ahead of Karen's surgery. Karen operation started at or around 3:30PM. She had to wait in recovery for over an hour even though she was ready to go in 15 minutes. But, the hospital doesn't check you out of recovery. They send you to a room, which was not available for another 1 hour or more. Once Karen was in the room, she quickly walked around the hall and used the bathroom which is the requirement to be able to checkout. But, the nurse was going off shift so the nurse indicated she didn't have time to do the paperwork and the next shift would handle it.

We arrived at the hospital after 9 AM and we got out of hospital around 8 PM or so.

But, Karen's back is already feeling better. She only has discomfort in the area of the actual surgery, which is super.

Karen's office sent her flowers, a basket of fruit, and a basket of snack. Wow! They are so nice.

– Brian Allen

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Learning Something New: Ruby on Rails

I have decided to learn something new. I have been wanting to learn more technologies related to developing and deploying databases to the web.

The hottest technology going for doing just that is Ruby on Rails. So I have had Karen order me the two best books on the subject: Agile Web Development with Rails and Rails Recipes.

As I understand, Ruby on Rails is built on the idea of build a little, test a little. The framework builds a shell, which gives you a minimal working structure that you can slowly replace with your own specifics.

The key negative that I have seen so far is that every example has depended on the specific version of Ruby and of Rails that you have installed. This does not look good, because it means the APIs and methods must be changing between every version.

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Tasted Brasserie des Rocs Triple Imperiale

Well, Karen and I decided to drink one of the Brasserie des Rocs Triple Imperiale bottles.

We both enjoyed it. The beer has a very complex flavor. It is on the sweet side, but it is not overly sweet.

Karen hadn't had a beer in over a year due to being pregnant and nursing. She truly enjoyed it.

Prior to drinking the Brasserie des Rocs Triple Imperiale, she had her first XXX Warlock Double Imperial Stout from Bristol Brewing Company. AT 18.4% ABV, this beer reminds me of a Port wine. Its flavors go well with chocolate, too.

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Garmin Releases Apps for OS X

Last week, Garmin released beta versions of their Macintosh applications to support their GPS units.

They have five parts to their support.

Bobcat, which provides these capabilities:

  • Bobcat allows you to transfer waypoints, tracks, and routes between your Mac and Garmin device and manage your data using your Garmin maps.
  • Bobcat provides the ability to search for points of interest from the convenience of your Mac and then send the locations to your Garmin GPS.
  • Bobcat also serves as a backup tool for your Garmin GPS. You can receive all your waypoints, routes, and tracks from your GPS and Bobcat will save them automatically.

MapInstall, which installs maps onto your Garmin USB GPS devices and SD card readers.

MapManager, which copies maps and unlock codes into the right place to be accessible by Bobcat and MapInstall.

MapConverter, which converts Windows PC maps for migration to the Mac.

POI Loader, which is free software for your computer that lets you upload customized POIs to your compatible Garmin unit. POI Loader does not create customized POIs, nor is it software for your Garmin GPS. It simply gives you the ability to upload POIs created by others from your computer to your compatible Garmin — making it easy for you to navigate directly to these points of interest.

If you are Macintosh user and you have a Garmin GPS, I suggest you checkout Garmin's Apple-Mac Blog.

I enjoy my Garmin setup:

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Silence on the Net

Well, I have learned that after you have a baby everything else in your life stops. The blogs and web site updates were quick to go by the way side. Evenings out on the town were expected to drop off, but they to have ended.

Having a baby will change your life.

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Christmas Cards

Karen has out done herself. She cranked through writing and addressing all of our Christmas cards. We wanted to have a photo Christmas card so that we could show everyone our new baby girl.

We had put together our mailing list last week, but Karen decided to dig through pass Christmas cards, “Thanks You” notes, and baby shower gifts to find others that should receive a card. While I has taking care of Katherine and other things, she has been very busy with the cards.

Karen is already planning next years card. I am looking forward to it myself.

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Train Ride to Denver

After our visit to Chicago, we settled into the Sleeper Car Lounge in Union Station to wait for our train. We have never had access to the lounge in a station. Most stations don't have Sleeper Car Lounges. The lounge provides you with a nice place to wait and free access to food and drinks.

After we boarded the train, we settled in our room and made plans for dinner.

We took Katherine to the Observation Car were she enjoyed watching the world go by the train. She has now been on both sides of the Mississippi River.

Everyone has enjoyed Katherine. She smiles and laughs with almost everyone we meet on the train.

In the morning, we had a quick breakfast and packed up the items in our room.

Hertz picked us up at Union Station in Denver and we were on our way to Colorado Springs.

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Colorado Springs

Karen and Katherine enjoyed the heated pool at the Antlers Hilton. I have even been swimming after work with them.

Tuesday:

Karen and Katherine enjoyed the heated pool at the Antlers Hilton.

We went to the Blue Star restaurant the night the we arrived. Karen had the blueberry salmon, which she loved. Katherine smiled at the hostess and waitress before falling a sleep at the tables. I had the pork shank; I looked like Henry the VIII. I had Bristol Brewing Company's Pumpkin Ale, which I enjoyed.

Wednesday:

During the day, Karen and Katherine went shopping around downtown. She may have over done it, because her leg was hurting that night. There is a independent hobby and game shop. they have lots of models and adult games like Settlers of Canton and Ticket to Ride (www.gamesandhobbies.com) as well as other neat games and such. Like bow and arrow sets with suction cups. They looked like something from the 1950's.

We had pizza at Il Vicino. Karen had one of their homemade root beers while I had the real beer.

Thursday:

John and Kelly Smith invited us to join them at Jack Quinn's Irish Pub for dinner. I work with John. John wanted to take Kelly to hear the great Irish folk music. John and I both had the Irish Breakfast, which is great. Karen had the Fish and Chip. I believe Kelly had the Cottage Pie. John told us ghost stories.

Friday:

I wrapped up my work today. I still have a few things to handle when I arrive back in Huntsville, but everything will come to a good end.

We had thought the Christmas Parade of Light was tonight, but it is tomorrow so we went to the Phantom Canyon for dinner. Katherine wanted attention and the restaurant was full of stimulus. Karen and I had to take turns with Katherine so that we could each eat.

Saturday:

We went to the Book Sleuth Store, which is were Karen loves to purchase used mystery books. The owner of the store gives Karen all sorts of ideas on new authors to try. He remembers books and authors and eccentricities such as pseudonyms authors use. We are bringing home a bag full of books including the latest Dick Francis in paperback., “Under Orders”.

The Christmas Parade of Lights is tonight so we decided to head back to Il Vicino for pizza, because the parade goes right in front. The parade is at night

Sunday:

We went driving to find snow to show Katherine. We ended driving up Pikes Peak and found snow around the 10 mile marker. We got some cute pictures of Katherine in the snow.

We decided to eat pizza again tonight, because we had a card for a free pizza so we decided three night wouldn't be that bad. And, we love pizza.

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Chicago

Sears TowerWe arrived in Chicago and made our way to the ticket counter so that we could pay the remainder of our ticket. We learned that Amtrak has a Sleeper Car Club Lounge. So, I dropped off Karen, Katherine, and our luggage in the lounge while I settled our tickets.

I spent so much time with the ticket agent, that Karen called to check on me twice. I finally settled our tickets. It looked like the agent kept redoing the paperwork. I am going to have to check my credit card bill to see what was going on behind that counter.

After settling up, we headed out into Chicago to see the Sears Tower. Well, the Sears Tower is tall. But, the viewing area was closed, because of the overcast sky and no visibility.

Katherine and MoneyWe headed over to the Federal Reserve Bank's Money Museum. On the way, we walked by the Chicago Board of Trade, which is where commodities are traded like corn, wheat, etc. At the Federal Reserve Bank, we got our picture taken with a million dollars in $100 bills and we took Katherine's picture over a bunch of coins.

As we headed back to Union Station, we stopped for lunch at the Corner Bakery in the Sears Tower.