Five days left in the Comcast Sello-drome

I didn't work on Monday. My official excuse was "can't go home, let alone work".

My car survived three days on the seventh floor of Wellington station's parking garage (next the Krispy Kreme in Medford). In fact, I only had to dust the car off for thirty seconds even though the street below got covered in thirty inches of snow. Had I taken the bus from my apartment instead of driving to the T on Friday, I would not have been able to touch car. That parking garage was the best twelve bucks I've spent all winter.

I still had to dig out a place to park at home. However, several other activities were more pressing. After all, my obelisk of a server and many other possessions of mine (and hakamadare's, chaiya's and rscott's) were still in the Park Plaza, new friend rscott and I had been standing in Downtown Crossing waiting a good damn while for an orange line train and were eager to rejoin society, and [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com] still had a snowed-in car back at his house in Somerville. So much work would come before I could park at my apartment.

It all got done. Good good. Then I went to MIT for a BLU meeting (Boston Linux Users) about Gentoo's future track. Then i went home and zonked out.

I had such a good time. I didn't get laid but I had plenty of fun anyway. I made new friends and must remember to bother some of them (such as kestrell) more often. I also need to learn how to flirt all over again. I was using such brilliant lines as "hey, you're cute" and then nothing else. I didn't ask for the sale! How foolish of me! Or not...

The Park Plaza Hotel of Boston has these amazing, dual-headed showers. You can set each to its own intensity. I highly recommend these devices as a near-erotic experience.

Work was dull today. People are losing money left and right. Me? I don't care. I was giving sales to other people because I had no use for them. I'm looking for anything else to do while I'm on the clock because I can't get any commission for any sales I'll make. I'm not stressed at all but I can't see why I'm on a phone. Tick tick tick...

I fell asleep in front of the Daily Show. I must be really tired. Time for bed.

-from the planet of sound, Dante

Milestone in losing weight: apnea diminished!

I've lost at least another three pounds since last week. Since that loss is only relative to the last time I used that specific scale a week before, I can't say the exact amount I weigh now. I'll run on the assumption I've lost a net of 30 pounds since early December and that I'm on the right track. Heck, I added a new hole to my belt and I already need another.

However, I want to talk about sleep. Maggie figured out that I have sleep apnea. I never got it diagnosed, even though I used to live within walking distance of Lahey Clinic's sleep lab. She'd hear me stop breathing in the night and it used to scare the shit out of her. Then she got used to it.

During Arisia, I slept as I could. I'd assigned myself the duty to open the Net Room in the morning (10 AM). Friday night I got to bed around 1:30 and set an alarm on my cel phone for 9. My body instead awoke me around 8:30, possibly earlier. My rational mind wanted to go back to sleep. However, my body said to me "nah, we're cool. You might as well get off this massage table you're sleeping on and forage for grub". So I did.

The next night came the Other People's Psychodrama, wherein I got to sleep on a mattress but another person in the room proceeded to have a recurring whining fit. I got to sleep around 2:30 that night but was awakened several times by said person who shall remain nameless. arib, chaiya and others in the room were also awakened. Chai handled it deftly; Ari showed amazing restraint in not using physical restraints on the person and for that earned good karma as well. (His line was "The solution is simple: Haldol." I laughed hard at this but mostly inside) Then my brain decided during one of this person's yelps that my eyes needed to open to see whether it was 4 AM or 4:30. It was 8. My body chose to spring to life again.

Cut to Sunday night and how this sleep stuff ties into weight loss. I had a hard time slowing my brain down for sleep even though I was exhausted. I found the self-titled Portishead album on my iPod and hit play. I realize other people couldn't fall asleep to Portishead but i found it downtempo and oddly reassuring so I was out sometime in the third track.

I woke up after six and a half hours. Again I assumed I needed more sleep but my body wanted me to rise and shower. When I told hakamadare about that later, he said "wow, must be nice to feel well-rested. My sleep apnea never gives me that." That's when it hit me: wait, if I have sleep apnea but I'm sleeping enough to be well-rested and not need an alarm clock, then perhaps I've lost enough weight that my breathing passage isn't getting blocked. What a coup!

Last night I fell asleep for half an hour on the couch. Then I brushed my teeth, finished the LJ entry I'd started before I'd nodded off, and went to sleep at 2:30. My body woke me at 8:30 but let me waft back to sleep until 8:45. I need less sleep now that I am breathing through sleep the whole night. I feel well-rested. I'm typing rapidly and without massive error. Losing weight now means getting more time back in my life. Hells yeah! Bring on my skinny!

It's 9:35 as I finish this entry. My alarm is set for 10. Since there is fresh snow outside, this will give me ample time to perform ablutions and still prepare for a crappy drive up 93. Once I can couple the shortened sleep time (an hour shorter but still shorter) with a shorter commute, look out.

-rawk god pimp dude, Dante

By the way, hi to all the new folks I've friended.