return to potassium

[gurdonark]

Today I worked until 2:30 p.m., then drove into Dallas to the Baylor Hospital. This was a "pre-check" for a visit I will pay next week. I was so pleased with how efficient and friendly everyone was with me. Because my father was a family doctor, I tend to be very pro-medical-professionals. Perhaps that predisposition exudes into the air, like a fine fragrance, making everyone feel just a bit elevated. In any event, it was a good visit, and not, as I previously imagined Scrooge-esquely, convened for the principal purpose of extracting payments.

I returned to work at 5 p.m., and finished up some projects. Then I drove home and played with my wonderful two dogs. One is ~12 and one is 17, but they are both still full of life. I think sometimes how lucky I am to have as a mission in life the care and play of two fine dogs.

I finished my space opera, learned it was 3rd in a series, and learned that it had started life as a podcast. No wonder it had a Dickensian chapter-by-chapter episodic feel. I bought two more e-books by the same author, and somewhat darker space opera by a different author, to have more things to read. I reviewed on-line the book that I just finished.

I ate roast turkey at Dickey's BBQ tonight. A chill is creeping into the night air. I am one of those people who loves Christmas, less for its boisterousness and gifts than for its quiet and wintry grace.

I forgot to pick up my potassium medicine,and logistics dictated that I drive all the way to Garland, near my work, to pick it up tonight. I enjoyed hearing "Fresh Air" on the radio, discussing this year's films and the fellow who wrote the wonderful "have yourself a merry little Christmas".

My new EP is up to 401 downloads. Downloads are not important, in the sense that twitter follower counts are not important. But both are like wires from Radio Shack, a chance for connection and integrated circuits.

Comments

[vuzh.livejournal.com]

+400 is a very good download count. That's far more than I usually get. Congrats! It's a very good release.

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

I wish I understood more about Archive.org methodology.
You never know if 400 is 150 of the zip file and 250 songs, or
400 songs, or what. Downloads in general vary a lot from venue to venue depending on the format of the site.

I was at one of my favorite ambient netlabels, and noticed their download format is that one must download a zip of all the mp3 and all the FLAC in the release. There's a purity in that, somehow, but it makes for some huge releases.

Thanks for the kind words about the EP. I seem to be simple and melodic right now, and that's a good place for me for the present.

[vuzh.livejournal.com]

Ah, good point. I don't know about archives download count either. I can tell in stats how many of each file on my website have been downloaded, but I can't figure out how to create an automatically updating display of that information.

I don't like the inclusion of different formats in zip files. I discovered this tactic recently when I realized something was eating up lots of hard drive space. I'd have to like a release an awful lot for an FLAC to be something I'd treasure.

[sapience.livejournal.com]

Did you like the space opera? Which one was it? I was intrigued when you mentioned there weren't any "wars, violence, or skullduggery".

Good luck with your visit to the hospital next week. I've been keeping you in my thoughts. I had my MRI today, and tried to keep things as light and pleasant as possible, given the circumstances. I believe I succeeded.

[elainegrey.livejournal.com]

I too would welcome knowing this author and work, given that you bought two more works by the author (the previous two in the series?)

I read Heinlein's The Rolling Stones yesterday while sick. It a 50's "boys" novel but was just right. Baen has it in an e-edition.

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

Nathan Lowell, "Full Share", a kind of combination of a golden age/Heinlein tale and a Horatio Alger, with a fair bit of Horatio Hornblower mixed in :). It was a lot of fun, and I'll read more of his. I'm working now on something also space-opera-y but a little but only a bit more dark and satiric, and I'm enjoying it, too.

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

The book was "full share" by Nathan Lowell. I thought it a good, old-fashioned bit of sci-fi space opera fun.

I noticed that you are and I each coping with health difficulties, though the exact thing, while not entirely dissimilar, varies a bit between us. I hope the MRI plots out your next step, and that everything is solvable.

[the-lady-lily.livejournal.com]

I am glad your preliminary hospital visit went well, and I hope that next week's trip goes equally smoothly.

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

Thanks! This coming Friday will be the next step, and I'm hopeful it will be a good one.

[toluene.livejournal.com]

I agree with you about Christmas. I get overwhelmed when it's just gifts/music/food/insanely overbearing family time. But going around the neighborhood and basking in the winter atmosphere is nice. That said, I think we set a record high here yesterday at 81 (in Savannah). :P

And I hope your next hospital visit goes as well as this one did.

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

I could use a good weekend in Savannah! It's been years since I've been out that way, though I used to travel to Hilton Head for business from time to time. I like all of Georgia, for that matter, but I must admit that it was grand to arrive back home in Texas yesterday from Kansas.

Friday is the next hospital visit, and it'll be a little less about the talk and more about the treatment, so I'm looking forward to a new experience.