A kind of delicate subject

I have mulled over blogging about my surgery today but think may be it might help someone. As I've discovered other people than my family and friends read this occasionally so I'm going to briefly talk about the surgery.

Last year as most of you know, for my 50th birthday, I entered a bodybuilding contest. I did a 12 week contest preparation program of restricting carbs in my diet and adding a lot more cardio work. By the day of the competition I had lost 20 lbs. In reality I probably lost a bit too much weight and lost some size.

But getting down that lean and completely shaving my chest for the contest, I noticed a large bump or lump under my right nipple. Having done bodybuilding workouts for years and being fascinated with bodybuilding, I knew what gynocomastia was. If you do an internet search on gynocomastia and bodybuilidng, you'll see that it is commonly caused by anabolic steroids. I have never taken steroids though I have used what were called hormone precursors in the 90's.

When I performed a self-examine of the lump, it felt hard and a little sore. I made an appointment to have my general practioner take a look. He concurred that it was hard or fibrous we scheduled a mammogram. Yes, a mammogram for a man. Men can get breast cancer and there is a history of cancer including breast cancer in my family.

I had the mammogram and a sonogram. The doctors reviewing the results concluded that the lump was not cancer and diagnosed as gynocomastia.

I have kept most of the weight off since the competition....have kept up the cardio...and have been more careful of what I eat. The gyno was not noticeable with my arm at my side but to me very pronounced with arm up. I also felt that having it on one side and not the other...being asymmetrical...just didn't seem right.

It was time to do something about this if only for my personal vanity. But also because it was so fibrous (hard) and was starting to bother me when I picked up Frankie. I visited two different cosmetic surgeons. Having decided on the one who treated me the most professionally and getting pre-approval from my insurance -- very, very important -- I had the surgery today.

The staff at the Abbott Surgery Center were wonderful. It took three tries and three techs to get my IV in...that was not fun. The operation itself took about 30 minutes. It as an excision -- cut me open and cut it out. I have not had any effects from the anesthesia which I have had before.

Many, many "THANK YOU's" to Jenny Batten for taking me and picking me up and to Christine Peters for sitting with me both at the hospital and at home.

A crowded house

At one point today there were at least 6 contractors in or around the house installing a new boiler and air conditioning.

Here is the old boiler being disconnected. This boiler was probably installed in the 1970's and was working fine. It's efficiency rating was also probably in the 70's.

Here is the new boiler installed and tested. It is a lot more complicated and has an efficiency rating of 93. It vents to the outdoors (one of those white pvc pipes) and has a temperature sensor outside the house so that it knows how hard to work.

The air-conditioning system is called a mini-split. There are two units indoors (pic below) and this unit outside which is actually a heat pump so can provide cooling or heating or simply dehumidifying. One great side benefit is the electrician installed an outside electrical outlet..which I've wanted since forever.

You can tell from this picture the size of this Fujitsu indoor unit. For testing the tech turned the unit on for heat. It is utterly silent. I didn't even know it was running except for feeling a slight, warm breeze when I walked by.

Back home from weekend in Virginia

Made a weekend trip to Virginia to vist Mom with my cousin, Deb, and her partner Linda. Here we are with my sister, Carol, at the Air and Space Museum at Dulles Airport.

One of the many planes in the museum. There is a Concorde, Boeing 707 passenger plan, a very cool looking Lockheed super jet, a space shuttle, satellites, and more planes, gliders, helicopters and rockets than you could every imagine.

A quick turn-around

Got home late last night and flying to Virginia today for a weekend family visit.

Kind of a last minute trip to join my cousin, Deb, and her partner to see Mom and other family.

A second Fall

The Fall colors are peaking here in the Boston area so I'm getting to enjoy another Fall. 

The leaf colors in Minnesota are pretty much done but here, west of Boston, the colors are fantastic.  The drive from my hotel to the client's office passes a reservoir surrounded by trees in the most beautiful shades.  The sun was just up and there was mist on the water...wish I could have stopped to take it all in.

Heading home this evening then up in the air again tomorrow for a quick weekend trip back East to visit family.

Craziness at the airport

Early flight to Boston today.  I intended to leave the house at 5:30 for a 7:05am flight.  Didn't get out of the house until 5:45 but still thought it would be okay.

Got to the airport where long lines for parking garage but made it through quickly and found a parking spot right away.  My flight was departing from the bottom of G terminal so going to use the mid-terminal security entrance.  Got off the elevator and the security line was back to the car rental counters.  Crazy crazy long.

Okay, I'll go to the main terminal and get through quickly in the Elite status line. Ride the tram to the main terminal and take the escaltor up to gate level.  Chaos!  Lines of people snaking all over the place.  It is dangerous on the escaltor as there is no room for people to step off!  And this is a more than two-story escalator!

There is no way to determine which line is which.  I have never seen such a mess....I actually accidentally type crazi-mess in the title line which is the right description.

I walked around to the down escaltor and decided to take my chances at the mid-terminal security entrance.  Rode the tram back and the line had grown just a bit more.  I figured there was no way I way making my flight.  It was not base 6:30 and it had already started boarding.

Chatted with the other guys in the line.  No one was cranky or freaking out.  What are you to do anyway?  The line moved fairly well and I am typing this from the air on my originally scheduled flight.  There are several empty seats so I'm thinking not everyone was as lucky as I was.

A big wind?

Stepped out the back door yesterday afternoon to this sight.

The umbrella, table and umbrella base had been picked up and tossed against the gas grill.  The chair in the left of the picture was to the right of the table so it was blown about 6 feet!

One of the umbrella ribs broke...it had already been damaged so really was good it was the one that broke and not one of the good ones.

I used a dowel, my drill and a stove bolt to fix it today.  All is back to normal.

The woman who sold me my house in 1991 passed away

The cats have been acting strange so I thought maybe the previous owner, Elizabeth Poshek, was "visiting" again.  I searched the internet for Elizabeth's obituary but was not able to find it.  I did find her sister's, Gertrude, who sold me my house in 1991.

She passed away just the past May!  She was 101 years old.  I think her mass was at Rose's church!  She is buried in the cemetery down the street.


Gertrude Poshek
Age 101, of Los Angeles, CA Died May 27, 2010 At Huntington Memorial Hospital, Pasadena, CA. Gertrude, also known as Trudy, was born in Silver Lake, MN. She spent several years in the Mpls. area including working as a private secretary to Sears executives. She and a friend owned and operated PO's Restaurant on Lake St. in the early 1940s. Later, she moved to Los Angeles continuing her career as a private secretary and executive assistant in the aircraft industry. Trudy enjoyed traveling and visited many foreign countries. She also liked to sew and crochet and did much reading. She was one of 11 children, with one surviving sister, Eleanore Ashman, of Hemet, CA. Trudy was greatly admired and loved by many nieces, nephews and other family members and friends. She had a wonderful sense of humor and a perfect sense of timing in telling her many jokes and stories. Mass of Christian Burial Tuesday, (June 8), at 10:00 AM at Incarnation Catholic Church, 3817 Pleasant Ave. S., Mpls. Interment Lakewood. Visitation 9:00 - 10:00 AM Tuesday at the Church. Memorials to donor's choice. 

The usuals at Old Chicago Halloween beer tour kick-off

You guessed it.  Bunny, Rose, Amy and me at Old Chicago Uptown for the kick-off of the Halloween beer mini-tour.

The food was great.  The fun was better.

The Three Faces of Fall

The three ginko trees in front of the house.  The closest one is almost still all green.  The next in green with lots of yellow.  The third is blazing yellow.

When the sun is shining in the evening, the sight is so beautiful.

Highway Clean-up...the final

Huge "thank you" to the Women of Minnesota and JT.  We had a beautiful day for the highway clean-up.  Complete opposite of last year at this time when it had snowed! 

It was in the high 60's, though it felt warmer, and gorgeous Fall color.  The group of ladies to the right are the best.  JT had to leave before the picture taking but cannot thank him enough.

The Dairy Queen is are start and finish locale.  It is so nice to have an ice-cream after all the trash pickup.

At the opposite end of our two miles is a gas station and convenience store.  It also has a dinosaur in front but the poor guy has lost his tail this Fall.

From the road it looks like the dinosaur has taken a big dump!

Speaking of dumps... a vote was taken on whether to renew our committment to the Minnesota Department of Transportation Adop-a-Highway program.  The vote did not win (it was actually a tie), therefore, this was our last clean-up of Highway 10 outside of Elk River.

The last apple...a perfect one.

I had to pick the last apple before the squirrels got it.  It was part of a pair high up and out on the tree.

The other was being eaten from the bottom.  I can only assume the squirrels were jumping up and taking bites.

This one is pretty much unblemished and measures 3 inches in diameter!

My brother's birthday

My oldest brother would have been 61 today.

Happy Birthday, Bill.

Dodge Avenger

I just about forgot to do my auto review from last week's rental.  I guess this blog is read more widely than I thought.  Look at the comment posted to my rant about traveling back from Denver.

The Dodge Avenger...what a name.  It sounds like a superhero.  The experience didn't start out very well.  I hit my head on the roof pillar when I first got in.  I don't think I've done that before with any vehicle.  Granted my Ford Escape is taller and has larger door openings, but I was not happy about hitting my head.  I took extra care for the rest of the week.

The rental Avenger was a very basic model.  No extra buttons nor displays....adequate.  It took a little time to get in the groove of the transmission.  Once I understood where the sweet spot was, the car performed very adequately at highway and local speeds.

Unlike some Dodge vehicles, I did not have trouble seeing out in all directions.  There really isn't much good or bad to say.  The Avenger is an adequate vehicle.

bald-eagle sparrow update

No longer bald-eagle marking, our sparrow has gone almost entirely white and has been named "Marilyn" for Marilyn Monroe in 'Some Like It Hot'.

She is fairly fearless of people and still hangs out at Isles Bun & Coffee.  May be she should become there new logo?

Well, at least I was upgraded to first class

Getting to my flight yesterday was one aggravation after another.

Returning my car didn't go smoothly as usual. The checker-in guy asked if I wanted to keep it on my credit card...Discover. Of course, he had already pressed the end button before I could say "no." So I had to go inside to the desk where there was one person working.

The one National Car rental agent was helping one customer. They discussed travel options, how the toll pass works, how much the toll pass costs, how the toll pass works, how much the toll pass costs, over and over. Meanwhile another National Car employee was wandering around. That guy added coffee beans to the coffee machine and wandered around some more.

I flagged him down to see if he could help. Oh, no, he doesn't do that but he'll get someone. He didn't. Finally the one agent was available. He had to explain that the other guy didn't know how to do anything except the kiosk. The kiosk is self-service....SELF-SERVICE!!! -- you are not supposed to need a person to work with you!

I finally got to the airport. The security lines were long which is typical of Denver. I went to the secret terminal A entrance which was great because the premiere/first class line was empty so I walked right up to the TSA checker. And stood there....and stood there...as I waited for the TSA agent to gesture me forward as every other one has done. Instead he rather snidely says, "You'll have to work yourself in." Nice.

Got through that and got in line for baggage x-ray and scanning. Just as my stuff gets to the entrance to x-ray machine...it comes to a halt. The x-ray machine dies. The TSA agent that can't see anything says it will be five minutes. Five minutes? Really? And you know that because???

Turns out, of course, it is dead, caput, finished. Me and all the rest in line have to try to gather up our now spread out crap and move to another line. Thanks to the kindness of strangers, I made it through quickly.

In the scheme of things, these were all minor irritants and I should be happy they all happened in one trip. This is not the normal thing....thank goodness.