Month: June 2026

–Tooks Grace to Best Buy to look at laptop screens and trackpads. Turns out it may have been all for nothing: she somehow discovered that her “dead” trackpad just needed a software tweak. All good now. She still has no idea what photo editor to use, but that’ll be a whole ‘nother story.

–While watering plants, I noticed the Jimson Weed has pretty much died. Arghhh!!! I didn’t think I had let it go for that long. Crap!

–Still feeling dizzy/woozy when standing. Blood pressure still seems good.

–Feeling a little worse today. Dizzy almost every time I stand up, and some painful muscle hitches nowhere near where cutting happened.

–Looked into computers for Grace.

–Feeling a little better every day.

–Decided to look again at the InnerLight cog. It was really close to the frame–not sure if it got closer or I just mis-remembered. I reversed the cog on the crank, as the guy from Modern Bike had advised, and it looks much better. For some reason, the line seemed undisturbed. Probably because I didn’t measure it carefully enough. Anyway, all is smooth and quiet..

–Went for a 6-mile bike ride ont eh ARP. Bike is flawless. I felt good on the way out, more normal (tired) on the way back.

–Took the Beemer for a car wash at Palace Shine on Coloma. $35 + $5 tip. Most thorough car wash I’ve ever seen; e.g. they use compressed air hose while drying. Car looks fabulous. Maybe I won’t sell it.

–Stopped at UPS for some bike chain master links and LIC EDC Tea Time buttons.

–Stopped at Bel Air for milk.

–Had cereal for lunch, then started feeling quite woozy, so went to bed for three hours. Didn’t think I’d be able to eat dinner (the smell was off-putting), but once I started I devoured it. I think this has to do with energy expenditure (metabolic rate) before and after bradycardia surgery, but what do I know?

–Went to Dr. Aryana’s office for a one-week checkup on the pacemaker. They renewed the bandage, saying all looks good, and told me the battery should be good for another 12 years.

–Stopped at Costco because my left hearing aid failed. The woman there fiddled with it for 5-10 minutes and made it good again.  We bought some muffins, Pellegrino, Motor City pizza and ice cream bars. Had a pizza for dinner.

–Called off my dental appointment after reading about infections. That’s about it.

–Big day. Long story short(ish): I finally got to log in to the Dignity/Mercy portal after talking to their IT department, who said I hadn’t received my invite because my email address was wrong. Once there, I found the voluminous notes from Dr. Aryana on my surgery.. He did do ablation, and took the trouble to do it the hard way, by going after individual triggers rather than separating atria and ventricles completely. Even better, he tried several ways to induce arrhythmia after the ablations, and could not. We are good to go!

–I seem to have lost Grace’s disabled parking placard, which is hard to do. I applied at DMV for a replacement, and asked Dr. Swensson for one of my own.

–Got the Campagnolo pedals on the InnerLight, and they seem fine. There were some quite rough spots (I think) as I spun the pedals, so I do need to check the chainline thoroughly.

–Feeling a little better. Took two humongous dumps, which really helped. Put the Campagnolo pedals back together. Watered/fertilized plants in back.

–The search for a new car does not go well. I’m mostly looking for four doors (easy in and out), lots of torque, automatic transmission, smaller than the Beemer. One type–the hot hatchback–is expensive, sometimes comes only as manual shift, is sort of raw as opposed to polished, etc. Cars like Lexus IS are stupid expensive and not necessarily small. A quick search in Hemmings found zero cars of interest. If someone had a top-to-bottom restoration of a nice old BMW, I might even have accepted a 4-speed. Anything remotely like this was untouched, with high mileage. An old Maserati could work as well, but I saw zero in Hemmings. Very frustrating.

–Got a call from Dr. Aryana’s office wanting to schedule an ablation in September. What??? I told her that Dr. A said he was going to do an AV node ablation along with the pacemaker during his pre-op visit. She looked at the surgical notes and didn’t see ablation. She’ll contact Dr. A and try to figure it out. I’m puzzled and annoyed at (a) why he thought I needed an AV node ablation, and (b) why he then didn’t do anything.

–Xfinity has been out since early this afternoon; they say they’re going to do maintenance starting at 1 AM this morning. Gotta get away from these guys.

–Grace searched for Tom Elken (to find Sandy’s last name) and got hits from my journal. Bad news. I tried several things to hide it, but I don’t know yet if any of them worked.

–Feeling better. Took an ibuprofen this morning which really helped. Back to normal on peeing, no crapping yet. One of Kenny’s legendary farmers market melons for lunch with a banana, raisin bran for dinner. Had a few dizzy spells when standing. This might have improved after a nap, but I don’t know for sure. Learned today that Dr. Aryana completely severed the connection between atria and ventricles, as opposed to zapping a few hot spots, so I am 100% dependent on the pacemaker, forever. Hope it works.

–Kenny and Grace picked me up around Noon to go home. Side effects still present.

–Kenny and Grace took me to Mercy Sacramento for a pacemaker placement and cardiac ablation. Got there at Noon, went through a ton of pre-op, then procedure around 3:00. Spent the night in my own private room. Big side effects: vomiting, couldn’t pee, terrible heartburn. Procedures seem to have been successful.

–Big day. Went to see Dr. Arash Aryana, Mercy electrophysiologist. He seemed genial, talked fast, and asked me to come in tomorrow for a pacemaker and cardioversion (using paddles to shock the heart “back to a normal rhythm”). I think his urgency came from looking at long pauses between heart beats on some of the many tests I’ve undergone recently. I’m baffled at why no one else who’s seen these results (starting with Bellinger) has deemed them dangerous. Glad I had that dizzy spell I guess. Symptoms rule! I go in at Noon, procedure is at 3; not sure what I do for those hours. He said in a couple of months, after the pacemaker surgery has settled, he’ll do ablation for the AFib.

–Another pizza for dinner–and no food until dinner time tomorrow. Ouch.

–Kenny bought a new mobility scooter, for reasons beyond me. It’s absolutely identical in every respect to his old one, which is in perfect shape with new batteries. Tires are worn, but they’re solid and a lot cheaper than a new scooter.

–Looked up smaller cars after running the Beemer mirror into the side of the garage. It cleaned up nicely, but I just can’t handle it any more. The Honda CR looks nice and is definitely smaller and has an automatic transmission–and 300 HP. I looked up what Carmax would give me on the Beemer, and they asked if I wanted to update my previous estimate. Apparently a Carmax cookie survived the switch from old to new Mac. Mind-boggling. They offered me $32,000. If it’s legit (e.g., I gave them the correct list of accessories, etc.) I think I’ll do it.

–Went to New York Bagels for bagels and dessert.

–Went to UPS to pick up Nexium and Park Tool torque wrench.

–Stopped at Bel Air for milk, cream, cream cheese, Vicolo pizza, Jimmy Dean sausage.

–It appears that Dr. Nandyal came through on her promise to get me in to see Dr. Aryanna soon: they called and offered me tomorrow at 9, 11, 1 or 3. I chose 11. Finally.

–Pizza for dinner.

–Went out to brunch with Tom and Sandy Elken at Mario’s Early Toast in Folsom. Good stuff, and quiet enough after a family with loud kids left.

–Downloaded and watched a Jack Ryan movie with John Krasinsky. Pretty standard stuff, but a nice escape.

–Sherry and Ray went to the farmers market at Sloughhouse and brought us back some donut peaches and cherries. Nice neighborhood…

–Took another quick ride through the neighborhood–out Gold Country, back ARP. The bike is great, but I’m not; feeling tired and sluggish.

–Took Grace to Grocery Outlet for some stuff. Got a couple of Italpizza Holy Margherita pizzas. Sadly, Grace talked me into getting some vaguely salami-like Calabrese. Tasted mild by itself, but kind of ruined the pizza.

–Took a shave and shower. The Gillette Red Dot worked great, and the blade–which must be on its fifth shave or so–was good.

–Still hot. I’ve been feeling the TINIEST bit dizzy all day. Nothing I can put my finger on. Took a six-mile ride around the neighborhood. Bike is dead smooth and silent.

–Cleaned up tools and bike parts in the garage.

–Went to UPS to pick up (a) the Canon extension grip (nice) and (b) a second Bushnell bottom bracket.

–Spent the day in the garage putting the bike together. Very warm, very tiring. Had some issues with the chain (too long with the new front sprocket); two trips to Bob’s Bikes for another master link and a chain breaker solved them. Bike rides nice and chainline (at first glance) seems close. Will install Campagnolo pedals when special lube comes in. May install second bottom bracket, now that I have an idea of what I’m doing.

–Went to UPS to pick up the Bushnell BB and the Campagnolo pedals. BB seems fine. Took the pedals apart and noted dried grease. Cleaned in alcohol; waiting for some special grease to reassemble. Will use old pedals in the meantime. Could be running tomorrow–except it’s too hot to work long in the garage.

–Stopped at Bel Air for potato chips, cereal, milk.

–There were several emails, phone calls and texts from Dr. Nandyal’s office this morning. I talked to someone who wanted me to come in for an ECG. I balked. They insisted. I went in. ECG took four minutes. Then Dr. Nandyal came in. She (sort of) apologized for all the tests and delays, and said she would make an effort to get me to Dr. Aryanna quickly for a pacemaker. Finally. She apparently had heard of my fiasco yesterday with the Folsom PA who put me on another ZIO patch and wanted to do a brain MRI. Nandyal said I could remove the patch, as I had one not long ago. Moral: it pays to have symptoms.

–Went to see PA Katie Rose Christensen at UC Davis Health in Folsom. She asked lots of questions. She suggested the possibility of a brain MRI. I kind of balked at that. Then she suggested another two-week Zio monitor. I agreed, and they installed it there.  Katie seems to be of the opinion that my issues may be more related to low heart rate than to AFib. Too many cooks making broth here. I need to have Dr. Swenson step in and sort through all the test findings.

–Stopped at UPS to pick up a bike tool and some Trillium spinner parts, mainly the OG “cross” buttons. Nice buttons, with a clear soft rubber coating. Never seen anything like it.

–Stopped at Bel Air for stuff including dessert and another Italpizza clone, this one by Raley’s. Had it for dinner; it was pretty good.

–Feeling better today than yesterday. BP is still high, though: consistently 160+/80+. Grace forced me to call Swensson, and to my surprise (after a couple of handoffs)  they asked several questions about symptoms, then set up an urgent appointment with Swensson tomorrow.

–Watered plants, harvested some peppers.

–Feeling dizzy and woozy this morning.

–HOA dues payment finally went through via Ally.

–A disturbing number of recent orders have either (a) no tracking number or (b) tracking number but no delivery date.

–Took a shower and shave. Blood pressure was quite high after: 170/80 with four measurements. Crap.

–Messaged Dr. Nandyal about lab panel and angiogram. Got  a response from a nurse saying (a) go to any UC Davis lab for the blood draw and (b) the angiogram referral is in; wait a week or so and call this number for an appointment.

–Walked to Bel Air for corn. Stopped by the “farmers” market. Saw some possibly interesting cinnamon rolls, but no prices on them. One or two other prices suggested they’d be very expensive.

–Vacuumed the living room.

–Made barbecued turkey burgers, corn and antipasto salad for dinner. Yum!

–Went to the recycling place on San Juan, then Raley’s for some stuff.

–Stopped at UPS for hearing aid batteries and 1930’s Henckels bread knife (pretty cool). A lot of scratches on the knife; I’m working on it.

–Grace is in a terrible mood again; not sure why.

–Went to UPS to pick up Montblanc NOS pencil parts. Stopped at Bel Air for donuts (it’s National Donut Day).

–Assembled a pencil out of the parts (and a previous pencil). The NOS barrel had a huge deep scratch in it. Lots of work on the buffer couldn’t begin to get rid of it, so (of course) I used a Bergeon wheel (which also wasn’t doing much) and wrecked it. Shame on the eBay seller calling that NOS.

–To my surprise and delight, I heard from Modern Bike on my query regarding what size bottom bracket to get. After some back and forth, we decided on 108mm, and I ordered an Origin8 Torqlite. Hope it works. FWIW, he asked about spacing between the rear dropouts, saying it should never be > 120mm or so in a single speed. I measured 137mm. Memory fails, but I’m guessing I asked Kimo Tanaka to allow for really big tires.

–Italpizza-like pizza for dinner–roasted vegetable. Pretty good.

–Went to Bel Air for ice cream, cream cheese, milk.

–Stopped at UPS for spinner buttons and Origin8 crankset.

–Turns out I can’t install the crankset at present–with my current bottom bracket, I needed a set where the axle is pinned to the crank. The current set doesn’t even have an axle. Much despair, until I found that there are BBs with a built-in square taper axle. I’m looking into one now; it might require me to measure the chainline to get the right one though.

–Went to New York Bagels for bagels. Then to KP Market for chicken for Grace. Then to S-T Strawberries for strawberries for us, Sherry and Kenny. Then UPS for (a) watch batteries for Grace’s Seiko, (b) Origin8 cog, (c) adapter for Rikenon to Sony, (d) coffee beans (same Colombian as came with the roaster, really looking forward to them). BUT Kenny dropped by as I was roasting and I burned them. Next time.

–Gave Kenny and Sherry strawberries. Sherry gave me four hard-boiled eggs in return; Kenny was appreciative but later said he wasn’t a big strawberry eater–he’ll put them in a milkshake.

–Xfinity worked on something all day, killing TV and internet. I managed to use the iPhone as a hot spot and pay for a Clean EDC Slim Pillar in Tungsten that I won in a SUS.

–Went to see Dr. Nandyal again. She referred me for an angiogram, and said I might not need stent or bypass–they might be able to fix blockage electrically. She also said (seeming to surprise herself) that I might be in line for a pacemaker. Finally.

–Got a new lock and three keys for our mailbox, after I stupidly gave my key to UPS after getting the new box.Neighbor Sherry messaged the mailman Ken and we’re good.

–Learned that I have a septal infarct. Treated with stent or bypass. Great.

–Went to U-Haul on Pyrites for propane. Old tank had “expired,” so I bought a new one for $70. Great.

–Started the process of deleting all my Adsense websites (after copying them to disk). They’re just wasting space now, and constantly bombarding me with plugin updates and such. I’ll revive them after my youtube channel is thriving…

–Went to S*T strawberries for strawberries and jam. Stopped at Bel Air for corn and potato salad. Barbecued for dinner. Beef burgers on sourdough were good, corn was great, cheesy baked potato salad was not so hot.

–Did an acuity test between Leica and Sony with the Contax 50/1.4 (at 5.6). Sony is better, but it’s not a gargantuan difference.

–Watered plants.