Throwback

This last weekend I was thrilled to death to  find Pepsi Throwback products in my local stores here in Juneau Alaska. Pepsi Throwback and Mt. Dew Throwback are Sodas made from the original formula Pepsi used back in the 60’s and 70’s (That they never should have stopped fucking making) containing real sugar. No high fructose corn syrup at all.

I have been trying to stay away from soda’s using high fructose corn syrup and I have accomplished this by drinking products like Jones Soda, and Thomas Kemper soda. So last weekend I was thrilled to find Pepsi Throwback in my local store giving me another option of something to drink.

I knew Pepsi Co. had released Throwback earlier last year. I also know it can take a while for the stores in Juneau to get some of the products that have been available in the lower 48 states for a while. So I was glad to finally see this.

After doing some quick Google searches I learned that the Throwback sodas I am seeing in my local stores are actually the second run that Pepsi has done for this drink. Giving it an updated (retro) logo. The sad news from what I am reading is that Throwback is only going to be available for 8 weeks and then Pepsi will stop making it again. From the other websites I have been reading I am left feeling that the reason that Pepsi Throwback came back this second time is a result from all the facebook, twitter, and blog posts of people writing about how much they like it. So I am writing this post along with the other masses out their hopping Pepsi will see it and know that the public would like Throwback to stay as an alternitive to high fructose corn syrup shit drinks.

In the mean time I am stocking up!

Not Fixing My Arrhythmia

I am back from Seattle now. Back to cold, wet, snowy Juneau Alaska. My trip did not fix my Arrhythmia like I and everyone was hopping. I have officially stumped the doctors at Virginia Mason and told that what I have was something that was not life threating and since I grew into this I could very well grow out of it. That is just a depressing answer to get from a doctor who specializes in hearts.  I will be doing some follow up visits with the local doctor and keeping in touch with the guy from Seattle. Will see what happens.

A few higlights from the trip are:

• I got to see my dad who I have not seen in about 7 years
• It took the nurses 6 tries to get my I.V. Started. (I passed out after the 3rd attempt)
• The doctor was not able to poke my heart in a way to get it do it’s Arrhythmia thing. Nor was he able to get it to go crazy with drugs. Only after I swallowed water could they see the Arrhythmia which caused my doctor to laugh.
• He called in other doctors to watch this who also laughed.
• I was told that out of all my doctors colleagues only one had see something like this before about 20 years ago or so.
• I was lied to about how much it was going to hurt.
• I shared a recovery room with an older guy who had a hearing aid that would keep going off.
• I was unable to obtain a video tape copy of the procedure to post to youtube.

Fixing My Arrhythmia

I will be heading down to Seattle next week to fix an arrhythmia of my heart. It was discovered a month ago during a doctors check up here in Juneau. What happens is that every now and then my heart starts beating really fast for no real reason. How fast is my heart beating? Well the doctors have clocked me at over 200 beats a minute. Not the best thing for your heart.

So my heart can go in to over drive for no reason at all. But it also happens just about every time i swallow. Which no doctor I have spoken with has ever heard of happening before. .

The procedure to correct this is called a “Cardiac Ablation“. It’s rather common and no one expect there to be any issues from it.

…ablation is a relatively non-invasive procedure that involves inserting catheters – narrow, flexible wires – into a blood vessel, often through a site in the groin or neck, and winding the wire up into the heart. The journey from entry point to heart muscle is navigated by images created by a fluoroscope, an x-ray-like machine that provides continuous, “live” images of the catheter and tissue.

Once the catheter reaches the heart, electrodes at the tip of the catheter gather data and a variety of electrical measurements are made. The data pinpoints the location of the faulty electrical site. During this “electrical mapping,” the cardiac arrhythmia specialist, an electrophysiologist, may sedate the patient and instigate some of the very arrhythmias that are the crux of the problem. The events are safe, given the range of experts and resources close at hand, and are necessary to ensure the precise location of the problematic tissue.

Once the damaged site is confirmed, energy is used to destroy a small amount of tissue, ending the disturbance of electrical flow through the heart and restoring a healthy heart rhythm. This energy may take the form of radiofrequency energy, which cauterizes the tissue, or intense cold, which freezes, or cryoablates the tissue. Other energy sources are being investigated.

Once this is all over and I am back on my feet I will write a follow up post.

I found the following links to be helpful for me when looking this up on line.

http://my.clevelandclinic.org/heart/services/tests/procedures/ablation.aspx
http://yourtotalhealth.ivillage.com/cardiac-ablation.html
http://www.sjm.com/procedures/procedure.aspx?name=Catheter+Ablation
http://www.hrspatients.org/patients/treatments/cardiac_ablation.asp
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/cardiac-ablation/MY00706

Do Dice Matter?

I don’t know. But when I watched the following videos found on the GameScience website it’s hard not to drink the Kool-Aid.

Being a Dungeons and Dragons player, and Dungeon Master, it’s a scary thought to think that all the games you have been involved with have not bin fare. On the other hand,  I (and my friends) have had a lot of fun playing D&D and would a set of dice that cost a few bucks more really affect our game play in a positive way at all? I don’t know. If I ever am lucky enough to be at GenCon or find a set of GameScience dice at gaming store I am sure I will pick up a set for myself. But I don’t know if they are worth the price to order on-line and have them shipped to Juneau Alaska.

To Be Continued…

More Pictures From 4th Of July Weekend In Juneau

Fireworks In Juneau

Like last year the city of Juneau put on their fireworks show at 12:01 AM, July 4th. They do the fireworks at that time because it’s dark enough to see them. Just about any other time is to light out. For the first time since I have lived in Juneau the weather was great this independence day. My pictures turned out a lot better then last years also.

We Are Moving

For the last couple of months, Hannah and I have been looking for a new apartment here in Juneau. The two of us have been talking for a while now about getting into a place that gets a little more sun light then our current basement apartment does. We were also recently told by our landlords that they are planning on selling the place we currently rent. So these two things combined have pushed us into high gear apartment hunting mode.

We spent over a month looking for a place. We followed up on newspaper ads, Cragslist postings, and just plain old word-of-mouth trying to find a new apartment. We saw several nice places both furnished and unfurnished.

At the suggestion of our friends, we eventually contacted a Realtor with Coldwell Banker Race Realty. After contacting the Realtor and letting her know what we were looking for, it only took her 24 hours to call us back to let us know she found the perfect place.

Our new apartmen is located 5 minutes from where both Hannah and I work. This is a huge plus for us. The apartment is unfurinished. This is kind of a negitive for us. Our old apartment was fully furinished. We don’t own anything to fill up our appartment other then cloths and movies. The apartment is a two bedroom two bath, with a fire place, and water baseboard heading. It also comes with a heated garage, which will be great in the winter time for us. It also comes with a storage closet in the garage.

We get the keys to our new place on July 15th.  The wait is driving us both a little crazy, but it will be worth it because it such a nice place.

Why I Love Dungeons & Dragons

In the mid-1970’s parents were nervous about RPGs. Concerns were fuelled by inaccurate and sensational media reports that re-branded D&D as a cult. This may have increased sales of D&D at the time but it also left tabletop RPGs with a reputation of begin a bit ‘out there’ or ‘niche’. Any school or library that tried to encourage RPGs risked complaints from parents.

Thirty years on most parents would be delighted to see their kids unplugging themselves from super violent console titles to read rules books, meet up face to face with real friends and enjoy imaginative storytelling.

What do I love about Dungeons & Dragons? It has to be the socializing. The funny banter between friends. That is by far the best thing about Dungeons & Dragons. Getting together on a lazy Saturday afternoon to hang out and talk with friends. Maybe having a BBQ. It’s just all in all good times. That aspect alone makes up why I love playing Dungeons & Dragons.

Drawing D&D Maps Outside

I find that the week or two I have to prepare for a game as a DM (Dungeon Master) is a great creative outlet for me. I draw and plan out maps, encounters, battles, and wars. I even find myself sometimes picking out the background music I would like to have playing when the game actually starts. If the weather permits I will try and sit outside with a couple of rule books, some colored pencils, graph paper, my iPod and just go to town.

Since Hannah and I started playing Dungeons & Dragons it has become one of the big highlights of our weekend. It will be a great distraction for us here in Juneau when the weather turns cold and we enter the darker months.

To Be Continued…

Don’t Duck Tape Babies

Book Title: You Just Don't Duck Tape A Baby!

Aren’t some things like this just common sense by now?

I saw this book last week in one of our Local used books stores and could not resist posting about it.

What’s Going On Behind My Dungeon Master Screen

From the pictures I took of my Dungeons & Dragons game last week, I got a pretty good shot from behind the Dungeon Master Screen. I thought I would explain a little about what I have going on here.

View From Behind the DM Screen

1. The Dungeons & Dragons 4.0 Screen
2. Bottle caps I use to indicate if a player is prone or bloodied for example
3. Funky looking pencil sharpener
4. Dice
5. A Full pencil box.
6. Monster Tokens from the Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set. Helps represent monster locations on the battlemat
7. Miniatures used for represent good and bad guys.
8. Wet erase markers for the battlemat
9. legal pad used as scratch paper for notes and initiative order.
10. Gridded notebook containing Maps and notes of a particular adventure.
11. A box containing index cards. On the cards will be written items in a particular store or even in hidden treasures.

To Be Continued…