Tag: health

Tech, The Web & Smokey Seattle Skies

Carl Setzer
Smokey Skies Outside My House
Smokey Skies Outside My House

It’s a hazy day in Seattle. And that haze is smoke, coming here from a variety of sources, mostly from Eastern Washington. Outdoor activities are pretty challenging right now with the horrible air quality.

Air Quality 9-11-2020
Air Quality 9-11-2020

And it’s looking to get worse over the next few days. Hurray! cough cough

Key to adapting to and managing this situation: knowledge. I offer two sites I’m using for key details.

  1. Accuweather’s Air Quality Index. It shows the current air quality issues and is updated throughout the day.
  2. The Washington Smoke Information Blog. Says something that we have a need for such a blog.

Lest I get too whiny about these conditions, I recognize that many other areas in the west are far worse.

Check out this shot from Portland (from Oregon Live).

Or this one from San Francisco. (Via the San Francisco Chronicle).

How are you coping? Any tools you’re using that I should know about? Let me know.

Update on The Memorial Day From Hell (Memorial Day Week)

Carl Setzer
Braeden Update:
 
Well, we have one full day back at home. Plenty of ups and downs. The biggest up: a significant increase in appetite. Loss of appetite is one of the major challenges of concussions. Nowhere near what a teen boy needs to be eating, but so very much more than he could eat yesterday. Also, it’s so much quieter than the ICU. It’s also nice to have the ability to close the blinds as he is light and sound sensitive right now. Dizziness and nausea are slowly retreating, too. And he was awake far more of today than any other day this week.
 
On the downs: he’s still in a fair amount of pain. Plus a few other aches and pains have materialized. Still have nothing on his head, though. Light and sound bother him a lot (nice that our little house is in a rather quiet neighborhood…though I was pretty angry with the garbage trucks this morning). That was blessedly short.
 
It is SO nice to be home. I didn’t realize how hungry I was until last night. A friend brought by a Papa Murphy pizza. Not feeling hungry, but realizing I should eat, we heated it up, and I grabbed a slice. Then ate three more! Far more hungry than I thought. And I slept until around 10:30 am, which made me realize how little I slept at Harborview.
 
Sheri returned to school today. She made it through, but is now thoroughly exhausted. Along with her classes, she attended part of the track end-of-season party. Several students asked if she was going to be there after missing their final meet on Tuesday.
 
We have felt all of your prayers and positive thoughts. Please keep them coming. This will be a long journey with many ups and downs.

Weekend’s Ending 

Carl Setzer

A good weekend. Got some time in at the gym, which has been lacking. Need to fit in more time. Better/more empowering: want to.

Fitness is important to me. It frustrates me that I’ve allowed weight gain again. Or that I’m overweight at all.

My youth was extremely active. Long-running for hours, for fun. Running, hiking, multu-hour gym sessions, racquetball until getting kicked off the court. During that time I developed terrible eating habits. Oddly, right before I joined the Navy, I was focused on good eating. Galley cuisine destroyed that for me (kinda strange that the culinary focus was more on processed, deep fried junk. Hardly setting us up for elite athleticism).

For several years after the Navy, I biked or walked everywhere. I didn’t own a car for nearly 10 years. But as soon as stopped the heavy biking and walking, my diet took control and drove my weight up. Then the metabolic changes as I moved into my thirties bit me, too.

I also denied what was happening. Crazy, but I still viewed myself as an athlete.

Slowly I grew the exercise back. And some of the weight left. But my diet still doesn’t help me. But I work a little, every day, to move this forward.

Nowadays, my exercises of preferences are taekwondo mixed in with some gym sessions. This is my happy place. That and cycling.

Still, I need to work on my diet. It’s not been helpful with all these high fat foods: cheeseburgers, fries, milkshakes along with candy and cookies. Empty calories, low nutrition, increasing my risks for heart disease and diabetes.

I’ve thought lately that it would be really cook to come up with a meal plan where I 100% of the USDA daily recommendation. I’ve also wondered if such things are possible.

So, I’ll try and see what I can do.

Got any suggestions? Let me know.

All the best, my friends!