It's been ten days since my last post!

I finished that plumbing project. Nothing like necessity to speed things up, eh? I've now snaked the drain a few times and it appears happier. One of these days I should probably get a real plumber in here to auger the whole underground pipe. But why pay for something now that I can to get much worse later?!?

Well I had a pretty uneventful week up until Thursday night when my mom and Holly flew in. We hung out for the whole weekend and it was fun. Emily and I introduced them to Top Gear and they thought it was hilarious, as all real human beings should. We ate lots of yummy food. We went to Ackbar's for dinner Friday night (their first Indian food, I believe). We ate at Red Canoe for lunch on Saturday, Indian food (leftovers) for dinner Saturday. Sunday we amazingly got up the energy to go into DC, walk to Georgetown from the Foggy Bottom metro stop, explore the cozy expensive neighborhoods, and went to Dumbarton Oaks (definitely a worthwhile trip, especially during flowering season). After that we had some much needed ice cream based food-like things. Then we stopped at Metro Center and ate at Chef Geoff's again. Sadly mom thought the bun on her crab cake was stale, which was certainly very disappointing. I ordered the same thing I did last time (basically Indian-style chicken) and it was just as good.

Didn't do much in the way of work or exercise by virtue of all these things.

Last Friday I had appointment with Dr. Kasamon (just a regular one). Mom and Holly came along. I was going to have them sit in with me, but he was running unusually late by 10:30AM so I decided against it, he came out and said hello at the very end though, so at least they know what he looks like or something. Another reason is that I didn't want crazy questions from mom getting in the way of my pre-prepared list of questions and concerns. My mom had pointed out (first thing upon seeing me at the airport) that one of my pupils was hugely dilated compared to the other. That's generally not good and nobody has ever pointed it out to me nor have I ever noticed it myself. But it's definitely true. So Friday Dr. Kasamon had me go to a STAT brain MRI. (MRIs are neat). Apparently there isn't anything seriously wrong. At least no masses or edema or blood clots. I haven't seen the MRI report yet so don't know if contains any other little notes. I have persistent headaches that occur right behind my right eye (the screwy pupil one), nosebleeds in my right nose, and earaches in my right ear. Something seems fishy. I kind of thought it was some kind of new found allergy, which maybe it is. I am going to see a neurologist recommended by Dr. Kasamon some time though, so maybe we will sort out my crazy brain.

I had another treatment on Monday. I didn't feel too hot at first, but not too bad. I slept marginally better than the week before. My brain wasn't running at a million miles an hour, but I kept waking up some rather bad acid reflux which is quite painful. I still haven't quite mastered the right cocktail of drugs to try and bring that under control. Then I just felt awful for all of Tuesday. I can't put my finger on it, but it wasn't right. I had a big headache and my stomach just felt bad. I took an Ativan (along with an Aspirin) before bedtime and I slept like a baby. I feel pretty good right now.

I put a feeler out to Pat to see if he wanted to do something this weekend. I kind of want to do something outside involving hiking and/or camping. I was looking at kayak stuff too. Emily seems pretty keen on kayaks though I've never really been in one. Not sure we want to blow a substantial amount of money on yet another hobby that we'll indulge in once in a blue moon ;) Though I think hiking might be all we accomplish (this weekend at least). Biking would be good too, but I'm the only person with a bike so meh.

We're back in St. Augustine from August 8th through August 16th. We're certainly looking forward to it!

This is me hiding in some bushes at Dumbarton Oaks.


How is it that chipmunks are so cute?


A bird of some sort hopping along a water feature at Dumbarton Oaks.