Archives
Massive Veridian Dynamics
A little over 7 years ago, I started at a company called Veridian. Great place to work, especially the frequent BBQs in the summer on the patio outside the building. About two years after I started, the board sold Veridian out to General Dynamics. Not too many people were happy about that, and a lot of people quit in the following years. (Not me)
Watching TV this season, though, makes me wonder if some of the people who quit went to Hollywood. First there was Fringe, with the evil Massive Dynamics (renamed to Massive Dynamic after the pilot) company. Mildly amusing. Now there is Better off Ted, who works for Veridian Dynamics. Yeah, that’s a coincidence…
So, at least one person still works for Veridian, even if he is imaginary. 
Gluten follow-up
So I’ve been off the Plaquenil for almost 4 weeks now and my hands feel perfectly fine. They still swell up in the morning but there is no pain. I’m definitely off the Plaquenil for good.
Additionally, I had a blood test done last week for ANA levels and just got the results back. When I got my blood tested a couple months ago, my ANA level was 1:1280, which is pretty damn high. (Normal is 1:40 or under.) My results this week?
NEGATIVE
I had to ask the nurse to repeat that a couple times. I expected that they might have dropped a little, but in no way did I expect them to follow into normal range this quickly. I’ve only been gluten-free for about a month and a half.
So, I haven’t been officially tested, but I think I can confidently say that gluten was the issue.
If anyone is interested, the book I read that got me to seriously consider gluten as the cause was Dangerous Grains: Why Gluten Cereal Grains May Be Hazardous To Your Health This is another book (along with Good Calories, Bad Calories) I wish more people would read so they can understand how current eating habits are a large cause of the health problems people experience today. Health problems that were very rare a century ago, like heart disease and cancer.
Books a million
I love reading and I love books. When i was a kid eating breakfast, I used to read the cereal box, the milk carton, anything on the table, just to have something to read. There is also a rumor that when I was a kid, due to a lack of reading material, I started reading the dictionary. My dream house will have one room with wall to wall, floor to ceiling, built-in book shelves. Our third bedroom is actually headed that way. Michelle cranks whenever she goes near it because even with 4 bookshelves, books are still piled on the floor due to lack of space.
However, I do have one problem with modern books. I hate how the vast majority of them are paperbacks. And the ones that aren’t are huge, height and width wise. If you look at our bookshelves, the books are all over the place due to great differences in size.
I really miss how they used to print books – a nice, small hardcover with a blue or black cover and gold lettering, usually about 8″x6″. They looked great on shelves as they were all about the same size and had easily readable spines.
(They used to print computer books about this size, as well, in the 80s and I love when I find one like it. They actually just printed Hacker’s Delight as a hardcover in this size and I love it immensely for this, plus it’s a great book.)
Since I’ve been buying older books later, I’ve been actively looking for previous editions in order to get the hardback version. For instance, Nutrition and Physical Degeneration has an edition that just came out last year. Unfortunately, it was printed as a cheap paperback, as most books are now. I searched Amazon and Half.com until I found a 1970 edition with a good, old fashioned hardcover, and in almost perfect shape. I have had this book sitting next to my chair for two weeks, solely because I love the look and feel of it. I’m taking my time reading it so I can stretch out the pleasure of a well bound book. (The book is very interesting, as well. A dentist explores native cultures to initially try to explain why people in modern societies have atrocious teeth, while natives have perfect teeth. He learned a lot more about ways modern diets are detrimental to our health, and expands on it.)
It’s turning into a sickness, though. I had already bought the recent edition of My Life with the Eskimo. Reading it is a lot of fun, but the paperback really detracts from the enjoyment of it.
- It seems to be scans of an original copy, so the text and photos aren’t perfectly clear.
- It feels cheap, and that feels disrespectful somehow.
So I searched and found a cheap copy of the 1942 edition. Again, hardcover like they used to make. The text and photos are much clearer, but the cover does show 50 years of wear. I enjoy reading it much more, though.
So now I try to buy all my books that way. I’ve actually stopped buying books (almost) unless they have that old, traditional binding. I understand paperbacks are cheaper, but I wish publishers would do at least a limited run of traditional hardback. I would buy them in a heartbeat.
Pollutin Gluten
I think I posted about this before but I’ll give a recap. My fingers started hurting me a little over a year ago, soon after my shoulder surgery. They had a good amount of swelling and inflammation, but since I was doing rehab for my shoulder surgery at the time, I didn’t give it much thought as I considered it related somehow.
Fast forward a year. My hands were getting worse, not better. It was getting to the point where I could barely bend my fingers due to how swollen they were, and I couldn’t make a fist at all. I went to an orthopedic doctor who took some x-rays and referred me to a rheumatologist. That doctor was next to useless (he tried to classify me as lupus even though I only had two symptoms and I think you need four), so I went to another doctor for a second opinion. She classified me with connective tissue disorder because I didn’t have the necessary factors for rheumatoid arthritis or lupus. She prescribed Plaquenil and I have to go back to see her every couple months to see how it is doing.
The problem with Plaquenil is a) it only treats the symptoms, and b) you have to take it the rest of your life. Now that just sounds stupid to me. I figure the point of treatment is to cure someone, not to help them cope. However, a big problem with RA/lupus/CJD is that doctors don’t know what triggers it. And it seems there is no money in trying to find out. (But there is tons of money in lifetime medication.) So not wanting to be on meds the rest of my life (especially ones that can cause severe eye damage), I did my own research into possible causes.
After a lot of research, I had two prime candidates that can cause autoimmune disorders:
- Vitamin D deficiency
- Gluten intolerance
Vitamin D
It turns out most people are at least slightly Vitamin D deficient, and slathering on sunscreen all the time just makes it worse. (You may think you’re protecting yourself from melanomas, but most melanomas appear where the sun doesn’t hit, such as the soles of your feet.) Here is one article on Vitamin D deficiency and its effects.
Since it’s winter, I can’t really test the vitamin D hypothesis. I did get tested for deficiency, however, and am taking supplements while I wait for the results.
Gluten intolerance
I can, however, test gluten intolerance. Autoimmune disorders are a common symptom with gluten intolerance and celiac disease. (Celiac disease symptoms include a lot more than just IBS, I have learned.)
Basic history: the human body evolved over hundreds of thousands of years to be a hunter/gatherer and to eat meat and what fruits/vegetables could be found. It did NOT evolve to eat grain. Eating grain is a somewhat recent notion (10,000 years compared to hundred of thousands) and the body still treats it as a toxin when it escapes from the gut. Grains were pretty much indigestible in their native form, and needed to ferment for many hours before edible bread could be made. Within the last century, however, grain has been modified enough so that it contains a lot more gluten than it used to and it can make bread without needing to be fermented. That lead to much quicker bread making, less workers, less cost, etc. There is a side effect, though – without fermenting, the gluten doesn’t get enough time to become digestible and causes havoc in people.
That was pretty short and rough. I highly suggest you read these articles for your own knowledge of how humans started eating grains and what effect it has on us.
Why so many intolerant to gluten A better history of grain and gluten intolerance
No grain, no pain
Bread dread – are you really gluten intolerant? Information on how baking bread has changed in the last century and the effects of fermentation.
Anyway, back to my story. Giving up gluten was pretty easy for me as I mainly eat like a carnivore (all meat, all the time). The only thing I would have to really give up is my weekly snickerdoodle at Borders. 
So, about a week before Christmas, I cut out all gluten. I didn’t notice a difference at first, but after about 5 days my hands started feeling almost back to normal. The swelling was down and I didn’t have any pain in my joints. Maybe I was on to something?
On Christmas Eve, I decided to do a gluten test. Michelle made cinnamon rolls and I ate three (small) ones. If you have not had her cinnamon rolls, you are seriously missing one of life’s great little treats. They were soooooo good. At least, at first…
About an hour later I was the sickest I have ever been from eating something. My body was alternating between extreme nauseousness and being so lightheaded/dizzy I thought I was going to pass out. Sometimes I felt both at once. That lasted for about an hour and then i just felt like shit for the rest of the day. Michelle thought it might have been the sugar overload, but I don’t know.
Thinking about it now, it would not surprise me if that was the body’s response to grains as a poison. The reason people don’t react that way all the time is because of built-up intolerance from long time exposure. My body had lost its tolerance, though, and eating that much put it into panic mode. I remember reading somewhere that when babies are given grains for the first time, they react in a somewhat like manner. People usually ignore it as fussiness, however, and the cycle starts over with the next generation.
Within two days, my hands had swollen back up and the pain was as bad as it had ever been. That’s a pretty good (and painful) sign that I’m onto something. I have avoided gluten the best I could since that day. It’s taken longer for my body to heal this time, but two weeks later I’m starting to feel normal again. My fingers are still slightly swollen in the morning but it goes away very quickly and there is no pain. I can make a tight first without my joints feeling like they are tearing.
So now I am onto the next step – quitting the Plaquenil. That way I can rule it out as the source of being pain-free. I’ll give it two weeks and then do another update.
Why I do what I do
It’s been a while since I posted, but not due to lack of trying. I’ve written two long draft posts that I might publish, if I can make them “friendlier.” In the meantime, here are two blogs that explain why I eat the way I do. I don’t do it for weight loss, but for overall general health, and these help explain why.
Blogs
The first is one of my favorites and is almost like Good Calories, Bad Calories (a book I wish everyone would read) condensed into bite size chunks. He also references Nutrition and Physical Degeneration which I hope to read soon. His most recent posts talk about what happens when cultures go off their native diet and start practicing a more Western diet (what most Americans eat).
http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/
The second is by Dr Eades, and his latest post is a very good one on why studies should be taken with a huge grain of salt, especially the ones the media likes to report on with sensational headlines.
http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/
I also have some articles I found informative. The first is basically the precursor to GCBC.
Articles
What if it’s all been a big fat lie?
My breath smells like an old dog’s knob
Now for some pictures of England and Scotland.
Michelle in front of tower bridge. I didn’t realize till later that the bridge is out of focus. I still my f/stop set to when I was shooting inside the Tower of London. Oh well. I still like it due to how the sky came out.
I really wanted to see a castle while I was there. Luckily, outside Edinburgh is the best preserved ruined castle in Scotland. We had to take a train out to the hospital and then hike for a ways to it. We came in the back way and here is our first view of it when cresting the hill.
And a couple more as we got closer. What really sucked was how cloudy it was. So the sky is a nice, uniform grey…
Pink and sassy.
The master bedroom had a stairway off it that led to the wine cellar. Guess who loved that room?
I didn’t edit this picture at all. I like how it came out just the way it is.
The front yard.
Michelle on a bridge again.
One day we walked to a canal that was near Michelle’s uncle’s house. I took a lot of shots of the water but none came out right due to blown highlights. We were really there at the wrong time of day. The canal was surrounded on both sides by a thick line of trees and brush. At one point there was a break in the vegetation “wall” and you got this view over a farmer’s field. Michelle wanted a picture so I took one (or three). I like how this one came out, with the sun shining through the leaves. I wish the sky wasn’t blown out though.
At another point, it opened up on the other side to another field. This one had 2 horses and a donkey, all wearing blankets. Here is a shot of the donkey.
Overall, we had an excellent time (excluding the news we got while there mentioned before). I would definitely go back. I enjoyed Edinburgh much more than London proper but that’s because I prefer old cities. London looks much too modern for my tastes.
I wish the trains were as functional and pleasant here as they are in Europe. I greatly enjoyed taking the train between Edinburgh and London this time, and Rome and Florence last year.
I wonder where we’ll go next year…
(The headline came from a show we watched over there about two guys starting a pub. I wish we could have finished watching the series. It was very entertaining, much more so then the reality crap they show here. )
Never the right time
It’s been almost a month and I still haven’t written about our London trip. We had a blast for the most part, though there was some sadness.
Before we left, we found out my grandparents were making a trip up from NC to visit all their family around us and in PA. I was pretty sure this would be the last chance I would get to see my grandfather, but hoped we might be able to see them at Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, they were going to be in our area the day after we left for England, so we didn’t get to see him. We left on Friday and he was at my sister’s on Sat.
On Thurs the following week, we got an email saying he had passed away. Apparently, he got to see all his sisters in PA and was ready to go home. That evening he stopped breathing. We were in Scotland at the time and weren’t quite sure what to do. We weren’t flying out of London till Sunday and I was really hoping we could get back in time. A couple days later, we found out the funeral was being held the same day we were flying back. We missed him yet again.
I used to spend every summer at my grandparents, who had a house on Lake Norman. For at least a month, and usually longer, I would be down there. From when I was 6 until I was 14. It was my favorite time of the year. I’d get to hang out with my cousin and spend all day swimming or skateboarding, and all night fishing and talking. When we weren’t doing that, we were out on the boat – which I got to drive. Everyone else would ski, but I was the driver, with my grandfather right next to me. That was one of the things I looked forward to the most: driving the boat. Wouldn’t be able to drive for 5 years, but I could dock a boat.
One of the things that always impressed me was that even my grandfather skied, well into his 60s. To a 10 year old, he was so OLD (he was 64ish). But he was out there, on one ski, loving it. I don’t know if it was his age or the Parkinsons that finally made him give it up.
As I entered high school, I quit going to the lake. I went for a week when I was 17. But then more and more years would pass between each visit. It was hard watching his Parkinsons progress and seeing him go from the skier slicing the water to the old man confined to a wheelchair, unable to perform the most basic functions without help. But it was also hard watching all the changes happen to my childhood paradise. I have a ton of fond memories of the lake and the family reunions and hanging out with my cousin.
The gravel road that led to my grandparents house that always filled me with so much excitement when we hit it because it meant WE WERE ALMOST THERE! is now 5 luxury homes. No trace of the road remains. The last memory I have of that road is letting my sister drive the moped with me on the back and her getting a tank slapper on the gravel and laying it down. While we were wearing shorts. Gravel, at speed, directly on the knees and legs – it wakes you up in the morning. Thanks, Amelia. 
The large yard I used to have to mow and that always held 50-100 people for reunions. Replaced by a jungle of plants. Due to my aunt’s desire to to turn every yard into mini-Panama, I guess.
Anyway. I wish we could’ve been at the funeral. I’m really sorry we weren’t. But maybe it’s better that I don’t have a memory of the funeral, and him in a coffin looking nothing like he did in real life. That way my lasting memory can be of him skiing past the pier, letting go of the rope, and slowly sinking into the water as he loses speed. A big smile on his face after another great run.
The more I talk to people…
The more I realize how much I suck at it. And it only gets worse as I get older. The reason I mainly talk to people by email is because it gives me time to get everything straight and coherent. When I’m talking on the fly, look out!
For example, while we were camping this weekend with Kelly and Pat, we had to drive somewhere to get wood. Their car was in front of my truck, so I had to drive around it. Always looking for an excuse to go off road, even for only 10 feet, I jumped on it. I then tried to start a conversation on my love of going off-road. Here is what I wanted to say:
“I love driving off-road. When we were at Snowshoe one time, they got slammed with a snowstorm, and I looked for any excuse to go driving. I would try to nail every snow bank and pile I could. Given the choice between plowed roads, and the untouched path with 2 feet of snow, I chose the untouched path every time.”
What I really said:
“I love going off road. One time, Snowshoe, big snow. Off-road lots. hrrrrr Plowed roads, nail snow banks. derrrrrrrrr.”
And if you looked around the car just then, you would’ve seen me with the big dopey grin, and everyone else with blank stares and maybe a couple pity looks thrown Michelle’s way.
And I knew right away that what I had said made absolutely no sense. So I dropped it.
Fucking retarded.
A different world
We had a lot of fun watching the MotoGP bikes live. Our seats allowed us to see a third of the corners and the first half of the straight, so that rocked. We got to see Rossi putting the moves on Hayden each lap, which sucked. Hayden constantly burns his tires out halfway through each race. Hopefully, he does better on Bridgestones next year.
However, I’ve never been glad to see a city at my back until Indianapolis. It was just depressing being there. Everything is run down, empty, or a cornfield. Driving on their version of the Beltway in the middle of a Sat was a real WTF moment. Mainly because there would be periods where I would see three cars total. Combined in both directions. In the middle of a Saturday! Where the hell was everyone? (Probably at a bible rally considering all the In God We Trust license plates I saw )
The more I think about it, the more I wonder if that was normal and I’m the weird one. I’ve dealt with DC traffic all my life, so I expect the highways to be jammed at 2 in the morning (and they are), let alone in the middle of a Saturday.
We were driving somewhere in Indianapolis, trying to find the Palomino for dinner. I took a wrong turn, so I got off the interstate to turn around. We get off at the next exit, turn left and go under the interstate and then left again on a parallel road to get back on. We get stopped at a red light right before the entrance, so I look around. We are in the middle of the city, buildings everywhere, but not a single soul around. Not even in another car. At 8pm on a Saturday! It looked like a total (modern) ghost town. So I mention to Michelle how this looks identical to scenes in zombie movies where all of a sudden a whole horde of zombies comes around the corner. She didn’t like that comment and started looking around a little nervously.
She REALLY didn’t like when I yelled, “Look! ZOMBIES!” and grabbed her leg. Oh, the scream that pierced my ears. It was worth it.
And considering what I saw of Indianapolis, I wouldn’t have been surprised to really see them.
thy color is blue
All of that rambling yesterday and I forgot to mention the most important thing that’s happened recently: Michelle’s painted our bedroom! She’s been wanting to do it for months and finally got tired of my procrastination. So she spent Friday priming and Saturday she painted a light grey blue; I’m sure she’ll post pics soon that show the color.
The room looks AWESOME though. She did an amazing job. I’m really looking forward to getting all the furniture back in place and really giving a good look.
She also spent time last week replacing all the outlets and light switches with pure white rockers and covers. Including the new faucets, the house is really starting to come around. It’s too bad people only do this when they are preparing to sell. We should have done this years ago.