Checking In

A catch-all, catch-up post

There are 1,132 posts filed in Checking In (this is page 15 of 114).

Scott Greenough is gravely ill

Scott Greenough

Scott Greenough

I have been preoccupied for over a week as my close friend Scott Greenough has been battling for his life. He’s in the hospital now with terminal liver failure and everyone is concerned that he might not make it.

I set up a Caring Bridge site for Scott last night for his friends and loved ones to share their thoughts and follow his progress. You can check it out here.

Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers!

Update: I have created a separate blog for updates on Scott. See the Scott Greenough page.

Daylight Saving Time for Electricity

Today (or maybe tomorrow? I’m still not sure) is the day that the hours change for those of us on Duke Energy Progress’s Time Of Use (TOU) electric billing plans. When you’re a grid-tied solar electricity provider like we are, Duke puts you on a TOU plan so that you are encouraged to use most of your electricity off-peak. The change in electric season is like Daylight Saving Time for our electric bills.

Peak hours in winter are from 6 AM to 1 PM and from 4 PM to 9 PM. Summer peak hours are from 10 AM to 9 PM. This means we can run our dryer or charge our electric car in the morning, rather than hold off until after 9 PM, which is a good thing.

I made a handy chart to help keep track of these schedules but haven’t shared it yet since I want to incorporate suggestions that Kelly made. Hopefully I’ll get it posted soon.

Southern again

The family and I were spending a few hours trekking around Raven Rock State Park yesterday when we encountered three senior citizens who were obviously NC natives. They had made their way down the steep stairway to the base of Raven Rock and were looking for someone to take their picture.

“I’ll be happy to take y’alls picture,” I said as they handed me their iPhone. “Y’all just stand together right there.” I snapped two photos of them and grinned as I handed their phone back to them.

When we had climbed the stairs and were out of earshot, Hallie gave me a quizzical look and said, “you were totally Southern back there!”

“Well, that’s how I was raised!” I said as I shrugged and laughed. It doesn’t occur to me that that’s not how I act all the time. I see good country folks and can’t help but slip back into my Southern accent.

I guess the South our kids are growing up in is different than the one I grew up in. I suppose that’s a good thing, them being around people from different backgrounds. Even so, I sure hope I never forget where I am from, and how to speak properly with the good folks who’ve called North Carolina home far longer than I have.

Hand modeling

Over the past few weeks I’ve gotten a taste of what life must be like for a hand model. Well, except for the fame and money part, of course.

I bought a lifecasting starter kit for my birthday. The problem of having a January birthday is that one’s skin is rarely in good shape from the bone-dry winter air. I’d been waiting a while for the cracks in my knuckles to heal. When they finally did, I managed to slice my right index finger when I was repairing the dishwasher last weekend. Fingertip injuries take a surprisingly long time to heal!

Ever since the dishwasher injury I’ve been overly careful with my hands, paranoid that I’ll cut myself again and have to delay casting my hand another week or more. On the other … hand (sorry, couldn’t resist), it’s been a good realization that the perfect body is a myth. We all have flaws that we conveniently overlook.
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Book idea: Malcom McLean

I became fascinated yesterday of a relatively-unsung North Carolina hero, Malcom McLean. It’s not much of a stretch to say McLean more or less revolutionized world trade with his invention of the standardized shipping container. Not bad for a truck driver from Maxton, NC who only had a high school education.

Someone ought to tell his story.

Apnea hacking

At a follow-up trip to my neurologist I mentioned catching myself not breathing occasionally at night, at which point he ordered up a sleep study. Unlike the previous sleep studies I’d done several years ago, this was a home sleep study. FedEx delivered a sleep study kit to my door Wednesday with instructions on how to use it.

ResMed ApneaLink Air

ResMed ApneaLink Air

We went to the kids’ wonderful Pieces of Gold presentation and got home late. I was in little mood to dig through the paperwork and assemble this thing, and yet I was also tired of being tired all the time. I fumbled through setting up this ResMed ApneaLink Air device that was about the size of a pack of cigarettes and had tiny hoses and wires poking out of it. Surprisingly, it was more comfortable than I thought and soon I was snoozing away.

My directions said to wear it two consecutive nights, so after the second night (last night), I prepared the kit for shipping back. As I wrapped the cables up, I noticed the USB port on the box.

Hmm, I thought. I bet this acts as a USB drive if I plug it into my laptop.
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Five years gone

It was five years ago today that my close friend Gerry Reid was killed in a freak traffic accident. The days that followed were some of the darkest days of my life, though obviously they don’t even come close to what his family went through.

The scars heal but the wound never goes away. I miss Gerry’s wisdom and humor. Someday we will hoist tasty brews again, my friend. Cheers to you, wherever you are.

Time stands still?

Kelly and I had a rare night alone last night, having shuffled Hallie off to a friend’s party and Travis off to a sleepover. We settled in on the couch to watch a movie, keeping an eye on the clock on the mantle so we could pick Hallie up from her party in time.

As the clock advanced to our 9:30 departure time, we increased the frequency of checking it, of course. I looked at it at 9:15, turned again to the TV, then checked the time again a few minutes later. It seemed that time was passing more slowly than I had expected but I thought little of it.
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Snow daze

We’ve just gone through a string of 8 snow days over the past two weeks. The first storm was ice and sleet of about 1-2 inches. The second was a powdery snowfall that surprised everyone Monday morning and kept us hunkered down most of the week. Just when the dust cleared by Wednesday and the temperatures finally warmed up enough to allow some semblance of normalcy we got hit with another storm. When the flakes began falling Wednesday night, forecasters predicted anywhere from 2-8 inches possible, with some predictions of epic levels of snow. The blizzard predictions were largely a bust here in East Raleigh as warm air created a wet, slushy snow that started melting quickly. The end result was a week’s worth of school (and lost work productivity for the grown-ups), and a few scattered power outages in the neighborhood. I was so happy today to brave the roads and sit at my office desk again!
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The VA’s crystal ball

VA diagnosis by crystal ball

VA diagnosis by crystal ball


The Veterans Administration is the most amazing medical system anywhere, bar none. I had always been under the impression that rendering a diagnosis required a doctor but somehow the VA can do it without one.

After years of mysterious health issues, I finally got mad enough two weeks ago to file paperwork to enroll in VA coverage. A day or two after mailing my paperwork I was delighted to receive a phone call from a VA representative who helpfully set me up with an appointment. Having long worked in customer service, I was impressed with my representative’s knowledge of his job and his rapport with his customer. In fact, I was already working on a blog post and even considered sharing my praise with Rep. David Price. All was looking up until I got this fancy-looking, full-color customized booklet in the mail yesterday. On page five was the bad news:
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