One of the challenges that we have had over the past (almost) two years at church is bad instrument/mic cables. We have been buying the inexpensive (read: cheap) cables due to the number of cables that we have needed and the overall budget that we have had. Lately these basic cables have been dying at a rate of about one or two a week. We have now made the decision to change our approach and go with the more expensive “Lifetime Guarantee” cables that our local music store of choice sells a store brand and of course the monster cable variety. Now if we have a cable backslide (yes that was a religious joke) we can take it to the local reseller and get a new one. “How cool is that!?”
I still have that vacation time. Still not sure when I will use it or what I would do but it is fun to dream. One of my dreams someday is to visit Las Vegas. Not really sure if I would do the whole casino thing. I don’t mind making a donation to the public schools of Ohio but Vegas is just a different ballgame. But I would at least want to drive down the strip and see some of the famous hot spots like Caesars Palace.
My name is Mike, and I am a book hoarder.
Every time someone had some books that they were getting rid of, I was more than happy to snatch them up. The only problem is that I have really never read any of them.
Back in my other life, when I was preaching – I got a lot of ‘churchy’ books that for the most part were very closed minded and past times focused. There is nothing wrong with remembering and learning from the past but dwelling on it and wanting to relive it… I mean really, what good does a book on ‘bus ministry’ do me now?
Since we are trying to live within our means I have begun to go through all the old books that I have collected over the years and check Amazon to see which ones I can sell. I finished going through all my CDs a couple days ago, would you believe that a CD of 70′s & 80′s TV theme songs sold for $24 – it didn’t even cost of half that when it was originally bought.
[Big bonus points for any one who can tell me the song/artist the title quotes]
I got an email from my brother today that was summarizing the last couple of months and looking at his future plans.
“I am pretty sure everyone knows that I was diagnosed with diabetes this past Feb. In case you didn’t know this already I am doing fine keeping it under control. I am still in the Navy, but that will be for only a few more months as the Navy is telling me I’m no good to them anymore. My last day will be Jan 31, 2008 and which point I am going to go to an automotive school here in the Chicago area.”
I suspect that before too long my brother will be stocking up on body shop supplies.
With all the upheaval in the sub-prime mortgage industry and the slow markets all over the country I can’t imagine working in
West Palm Beach real estate. Florida has been a really hard hit area. There are so many people that are trapped in homes that they can’t afford for a variety of circumstances and reasons – some of which can be out of your control. The best thing one can do in a situation like this is to get rid of the house, either through selling it via a realtor, selling at a loss (a small loan is better than a large mortgage), negotiating a short sale with out recourse, and then finally foreclosure. Given our house situation I sometimes wonder if we should just get out and accept our loss as stupid tax.
GEM asked today how a pulse oximeter works… this is what I found…
A pulse oximeter is a medical device that indirectly measures the amount of oxygen in a patient’s blood (as opposed to measuring oxygen saturation directly through a blood sample) and changes in blood volume in the skin, producing a photoplethysmograph. It is often attached to a medical monitor so staff can see a patient’s oxygenation at all times. Most monitors also display the heart rate.
A blood-oxygen monitor displays the percentage of arterial hemoglobin in the oxyhemoglobin configuration. Acceptable normal ranges are from 95 to 100 percent. For a patient breathing room air, at not far above sea level, an estimate of arterial pO2 can be made from the blood-oxygen monitor SpO2 reading.
A pulse oximeter is a particularly convenient non-invasive measurement instrument. Typically it has a pair of small light-emitting diodes (LEDs) facing a photodiode through a translucent part of the patient’s body, usually a fingertip or an earlobe. One LED is red, with wavelength of 660 nm, and the other is infrared, 905, 910, or 940 nm. Absorption at these wavelengths differs significantly between oxyhemoglobin and its deoxygenated form, therefore from the ratio of the absorption of the red and infrared light the oxy/deoxyhemoglobin ratio can be calculated. The absorbance of oxyhemoglobin and deoxyhemoglobin is the same (isosbestic point) for the wavelengths of 590 and 805 nm; earlier oximeters used these wavelengths for correction for hemoglobin concentration.
The monitored signal bounces in time with the heart beat because the arterial blood vessels expand and contract with each heartbeat. By examining only the varying part of the absorption spectrum (essentially, subtracting minimum absorption from peak absorption), a monitor can ignore other tissues or nail polish and discern only the absorption caused by arterial blood. Thus, detecting a pulse is essential to the operation of a pulse oximeter and it will not function if there is none.
Because of their simplicity and speed (they clip onto a finger and display results within a few seconds), pulse oximeters are of critical importance in emergency medicine and are also very useful for patients with respiratory or cardiac problems, as well as pilots operating in a non-pressurized aircraft above 10,000 feet (12,500 feet in the US), where supplemental oxygen is required. Prior to the oximeter’s invention, many complicated blood tests needed to be performed.
SOURCE: Wikipedia
Now if only I knew what half the words in the explanation meant. I might have a better understanding of what a pulse oximeter does other than shine a light through the end of your finger.
I just checked one of my paid blogging sites and noticed that I was supposed to have blogged about Bush furniture. Unfortunately it was due a little over an hour ago. I am hoping that PayU2Blog will be forgiving and accept this post anyway. I guess all you can do is beg forgiveness.
Journey Church continues to serve the people of West Chester/Liberty Township. Not only can you get a hot cup of coffee Sunday mornings but you can get a coffee cup lid that won’t smoosh your nose – Starbucks doesn’t go to this level for their customers.
What would we do without digital cameras?
My drums arrived today and after only three or so hours of unpacking and setting up I finally got them all plugged in and hooked up a pair of 2.1 desktop speakers (2 speakers with a subwoofer). Currently everything is in the dining room and everyone wants to play it right now…
I got some work to do. I need to get back to practicing and need to learn a bit more about the Alesis DM5. Also I am working on converting an acoustic snare to a dual triggered snare.
The set is exactly what I was looking for – a steal of a bargain, and something that I can practice on while I save up to build it out and upgrade. Aside from finishing the snare drum, I need to figure out if the hihat pedal works, I need a better kick pedal and I would really like to swap the Alesis for a Roland drum module.
Follow up post
I think the next time we head down to the land of mouse if we don’t stay at a Mouse House we will probably look into an Orlando rental home. We stayed at a rental home a few years ago on the edge of the smokies in Tennessee. It wasn’t a luxury place but it was a decent place for a long weekend. Now we just have to get rid of some debt and then we can go on a much needed vacation.