sick

Beijing 451

Jacob Redding — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 06:00:25 +0000

Over the past two weeks I have been fighting a cough and, possibly, a cold. Mainly I've been fighting a nagging cough. On Thursday and Friday I was stuck indoors for two main reasons. The first was that I wanted to give my body time to recover. The second was that I was actually fearful of going outside. Yes, fearful.

A nice thick blanket of atmospheric haze covered Beijing on those days as well as the days prior. The haze reminded me of the thick blankets of fog that would cover one of my old hometowns of Fowler, California or to use a bigger more well known city, San Francisco, California. Unfortunately this haze wasn't fog it was a thickly polluted nasty mix of smog/coal dust/diesel fumes. The effects of burning coal, too many cars, too many factories in the city, and simple inefficient energy methods that are high polluters.

Simply put I was scared of going outside in fear that the air would make my condition worse. Of course all of that was speculation until this morning when Diana found a few other people blogging about it. This is what they said.

How bad was the air the last two days? If it was a person it would have been a seedy, broad-shouldered thug, dressed in filthy leathers and reeking of grain alcohol, last-night's whorehouse and cheap cigarettes, that hauled you into an alley by your collar and beat you senseless with a lead pipe wrapped in duct tape, emptied your wallet, found your grandmother's address inside, went to her house and beat her senseless with the same pipe, cleared out her jewelry box and sodomized her golden-retriever on the way out the door before setting fire to her cottage, coming back to the alley and kicking you in the ribs one more time for good measure.

This is from Imagethief

Then she found the SEPA index. 400! 4 F*in hundred. Shanghai 50ish, Hong Kong 20ish. My guess is that most U.S. cities (L.A aside) are at like 10 or 15. 4 F*in hundred. Are we serious?!?
(update: actual index 451)

Fortunately for me the winds picked up on Friday night and were howling through Beijing all day Saturday. The winds were fierce and strong enough to carry the polluted air out of Beijing. Unfortunately for everyone else in the world that air, the same air that exacerbated my health problems is now coming towards you. Diluted yes, non-existent no.

Beijing has a long way to go before its the World Class city like they think they are.

P.S. I'm still not moving at least not yet. There are many, many other items in the city that counter the negatives.

Catch a wave and you'll be hacking all over the place...

Jacob Redding — Tue, 14 Sep 2004 13:19:00 +0000

This past Sunday I decided that it would be a good idea for me to start surfing again. The last time I was on a surfboard was sometime around May and I have been dying to get back on a board since. We hit short sands beach around noon just in time for high tide to roll in. At short sands high tide is the greatest time to surf but the swells were coming in at 11ft at 13 seconds, which basically translates into a good time, so high tide was not affecting the waves much. I climbed into my wetsuit, put my booties on, stretched the gloves over my hands and shoved my head through a neoprene hood. I was ready to go surfing in the frigid waters of the Oregon coast.

I grabbed my board, strapped on the leash and headed for the water. The lineup was in its usual place several hundred feet offshore and my battles with the waves began about 40 feet offshore, about the place where the water drops down to a depth greater than 6 ft. It felt good to duck dive beneath the waves and my paddling was almost as strong as it was before I left for the summer. I was quickly making my way to the lineup when...

I started coughing. Uggh, the sinus infection that I have had for the past several weeks is still with me. The problem is not just a cough it is that when I cough I can't stop coughing. The intense coughing causes me to exhale all of the air in my lungs?and eventually I get to a point where I am gasping for air. This is not a good thing when you have an eight foot wave about to crash down on you forcing you underwater for a good 20 to 30 seconds. Salt water tastes great but I don't want it in my lungs.

Still coughing I reluctantly turned around and grabbed the first soupy wave back to shore. It took a few waves but I eventually made it safely back to shore and sat there, still coughing, pissed off that I can't breath.

A runner's heart rate

Jacob Redding — Wed, 25 Aug 2004 20:49:00 +0000

Well I went back to see the doctor again today. I still have not gotten rid of this horrible cough that I have. After running some checks, looking in my ears, nose and down my throat, and listening to my breathing he concluded that I have a sinus infection. Apparently a sinus infection can irritate your throat, especially during the evening, and causes one to have dry coughes. Oh and do dry cough hurt ever so bad. He prescribed some antibiotics and said that I should start feeling better within a matter of days.

The good news is that during my checkup he asked if I ran often. I, of course, responded "Heck Ya, boy!" (alright, I?only said?"yes"). I apparently have a very low rate heart which is common for?runners.

Amazing Miracles of coughingness...

Jacob Redding — Fri, 20 Aug 2004 17:45:00 +0000

This morning I woke up around 8:30 am and I sprung out of bed with quite a bit of energy. I spent the first twenty to thirty minutes, after getting out of bed, checking email, making breakfast, and generally organizing items. BUT.... I did not cough. Yes 30 whole minutes without coughing.

For me this is a 2 week olympic record worthy of a gold medal in the event of Jacob-anti-coughing.

Although the sickness has not completely passed I am definitely on the last legs of it and by Monday I should be able to go running again. I am dying to go for a run although I may die if I go on a run.

In other news...

I uploaded a few pictures from?some of the concerts that I attended in Salamanca. You can check them out here. ?

Drogas

Jacob Redding — Tue, 17 Aug 2004 13:56:00 +0000

I love doctors. When you are sick they are like legal drug dealers. Last night I slept good due to my new bottle of codeine infused cough syrup.

Doctor Doctor

Jacob Redding — Mon, 16 Aug 2004 16:11:00 +0000

Yesterday (sunday) I felt great, in fact I felt so good that we went down to the Bite of Oregon and hung out for the greater part of the afternoon. Last night and this morning, however, was the worst night and morning I have had with this sickness. I think I have figured it out though. There is a little man inside my chest playing the bag pipes with my lungs and he is not a very good bag pipe player.

I heading to the doctor's now.

Sunday...

Jacob Redding — Sun, 15 Aug 2004 13:37:00 +0000

Last night I laid down for a nap around 5pm and I woke up today at 6:30am, I'm figuring that the sleep will help me out. This morning I feel better and I am coughing a heck of a lot less, with some more drugs and lots more sleep I should be feeling good in a matter of days.

I'm going to go back to my respective spot on the couch now, the television is calling.

Coughing

Jacob Redding — Fri, 13 Aug 2004 15:50:00 +0000

Have you ever woken up to an entire body that aches. This morning I did. The day before I left Spain I developed a cough, that is?it nothing more than just a cough. My entire body felt fine and I even went for a few runs without any problems. Now that I am back in the states, however, my body hates me. I still feel perfectly normal except that I can't stop coughing and now my coughing is making my entire body ache. I have tried every type of cough drop at the store and?I have even tried tea, warm milk, cold milk soda, water, ice, wine, beer and tequila (ok maybe not beer and tequila) but nothing has worked.

Pray for my soul as I don't think i'm going to make it the next few days.

well ok maybe I will last a few more days...

Recovering,

Jacob Redding — Thu, 06 May 2004 15:36:00 +0000

For the past several days I have been pretty sick but I think that the worst is behind me now. Sunday, Monday and Tuesday night I went to bed with a nice nyquil shooter, yyyuuummm that stuff goes down so smooth. Regardless of its nasty taste it still put me right to sleep and I think has allowed my body to recoup.

Now I have a freakin' ton of work to make up because of the lost time.

Take the Skin Heads Bowling

Jacob Redding — Mon, 09 Feb 2004 07:12:00 +0000

Artist: Camper Van Beethoven..
"Some people say that bowling allies have big lanes"?

? I have been staring at my Stats book all day long because I haven't been able to concentrate on the material. I think my sickness is preventing it from happening. Eh, oh well. I'll just drink some more Chai.
? Speaking of Chai, I discovered something today. I actually like Chai and tea when?I am sick. I'm sure that once I am feeling better tea and chai will taste like the dirt it is made up of but until then the stuff is actually good. Oh and by the way I'm talking about Cocoa Chai (from Oregon Chai of course) and tea with so much honey in it that it's opaque (analagous to honey with a dash of tea for color).

? That's all I got for now. Oh, go listen to Camper Van Beethoven, it'll make you want to go bowling.