So, I started my day with an MRI this morning. I remember thinking, “YAY! I finally get to see what’s wrong with my back!” and “COOL! I get to see what an MRI is like!” Well, I now know what an MRI is like. It’s certainly interesting, but not quite what I thought it would be like. Here’s a description I found in the internet:

The patient will be asked to lie on a narrow table which slides into a large tunnel-like tube within the scanner. … There is no pain. The magnetic field and radio waves are not felt. The primary possible discomfort is the claustrophobic feeling that some experience from being inside the scanner. The table may be hard or cold, but you can request a blanket or pillow. The machine produces loud thumping and humming noises during normal operation. Ear plugs are usually given to the patient to reduce the noise. …

Narrow table? Check. Large tunnel-like tube? Not sure where the “large” one is, but not at Eastside Imaging, where I went. The tube has a space just wide enough for my shoulders, and left about 3 inches of space from my face to the roof of this “tube”. Not what I would call large. I’m not claustrophobic, but it did take some mental energy to not freak out in there. The machine is damn noisy! Oh, and you can’t feel the radio waves or the mag field? BULLSHIT I say. I felt like my bones were rattling at a very high frequency. It wasn’t painful, but it would have been nice to expect that sensation rather than having it dropped on me as a nice surprise!

So, my conclusion is it’s a wonderful technology. However, if you are claustrophobic they might pull you out slightly more nuts than you went in.

Why the MRI? Well, I have pretty cronic back problems, and it’s been bad lately. So we’re going to try to find out why… Stay tuned for what we find! Hopefully it’s fixable.

Wow, I remember when I used to actually blog. Before the onslaught of the Everyman’s blog on MySpace and Facebook. Not that I was any good at it, but I was better about the frequency of useless crap I’d post up here. YEP! You guessed it: ANOTHER OMG-I-Haven’t-Blogged-In-Forever post.

So, there you have it. I haven’t blogged in forever, blah blah blah blah I want to post more often, blah blah blah, <insert joke about how few readers I have> yadda yadda yadda. The probable reality is that I will likely not update for another huge stretch of time, but I really do want to try!!

So, what’s been going on in our lives for those of you who don’t know? Rhys is five freakin years old now! Insane! It seems like only yesterday that we were going through all the bullshit in the NICU, and then all the stupid ass therapy sessions. I say that because it was a pain, not because they aren’t professionals or anything. Those folks really were a godsend. But, again, so long ago… Looking at him now you’d not know he had all those issues. You clearly see all of my crazy on him, peppered with mom’s crazy too, but you’d dismiss it as normal and maybe mumble something about “poor kid”.

I still have a wonderful job at Cogswells Cogs ;) and am loving almost every minute of it. :) I’ve recently taken to ramping up my side businesses in the form of a second job since this economy is in the toilet. Boy, am I glad Obama passed that stimulus package. Can you imagine how bad it would be if he hadn’t? Whew. Thanks Mr. Obama, you rock like Chopin on tranqs.

And on that note, I’m gonna get back to work, and hopefully blog just a bit more often. :) Hope all is well out there in Happyland!

WRT160N v2

Way to go, you Cisco F-tards. If you are having problems with your WRT160N v2 router timing out with DNS issues, then you are not alone. Seems the asshats at Cisco skimped on the RAM in this unit, and it’s causing serious issues with build 11 of the firmware. What’s more, is they are being OH so responsive with their help.

Once again, we’ve been left to our own devices to “fix” this issue. Basically the fix is to downgrade to build 8, which of course is not something Linksys is assisting with. I’ve included a link to the thread where everyone is bitching about the problem below, and a link to an awesome tutorial provided by a concerned netizen. :) Well done, Paul!! Thanks much!

Linksys Thread: http://forums.linksysbycisco.com/linksys/board/message?board.id=Wireless_Routers&thread.id=119107

Paul’s Awesome Tutorial: http://audipages.com/router/

If you know me, then you know vacations are just not my thing. I usually wont prioritize them at all, and it’s something I need to fix. Heidi is stuck making all the plans for vacations and in charge of cheerleading it. Things have been so busy at work and with all the side projects I’m involved in that I’ve finally hit a wall. Even *I* recognize that I need a vacation now. Thankfully, Heidi has planned a nice vacation for the family next week. We’re off to Legoland (I didn’t even know there was a Legoland).

She also was nice enough to plan a generous portion of downtime (which is truly what I need to recharge). I like goin out with the family and doing the tourist stuff, but nothing recharges me like sitting in a hotel room and ordering room-service. :-D

I think the last vacation wwe went on was to Mexico with Drew and Cyn… That was years(?) ago I’m pretty sure! This short break is LONG overdue, and I think Heidi is working on a followup vacation to follow later in the year. Two vacations a year should be a minimum, right!?

And now, another token “I haven’t updated this blog in a long time” post. Yeah, I wish I had something more interesting for you. But I don’t. The machine that is my day job has kicked into high gear lately. It’s deployment time for one project, and we have a few other projects that are in the chamber.

Guess what, I’m planning to write on this thing more. I know, I know. You didn’t see that one coming right? :) Let’s see if I can update with something half way interesting before two weeks pass.

For a total lack of anything interesting to say, I thought I’d link a cool site I found.

So it seems I’ve taken a break from blogging. I know, I know, BOTH of my readers are disappointed I’m sure. I’m trying to get back on top of things and figured I’d start with a cathartic bit of blogging to get the juices flowing again. Curious about what I’ve been up to? Got nothing better to do than ready the random mumblings of a 33 year old computer geek? If you answered yes, then I think I can help. :)

Wanna read the rest of Status Update: Getting There…?