So, I'm on simvastatin to lower my not high, but not ideal cholesterol level according to our health plan to keep us at the best rate for insurance. I've added back in a healthy dose of psyllium and other things that I used to do in order to have a good cholesterol number and after several weeks of consistent use of the drug (I'm no fan of taking prescription drugs to begin with), I believe that I'm having way too many side-effects.
As Jennifer will tell you, I've been complaining of getting headaches, which is something I don't usually have, I've woken up with a headache and just feeling depressed lately, and most importantly, I don't feel sharp, at all. I'd best describe it as brain-fog. Things just aren't clicking right and it all completely goes hand in hand with taking simvastatin, which is the generic for Zocor. When I first tried the drug in late December, I was having muscle pain, but it was difficult to tell whether that was related to having been sick or the drug. I additionally was having the brain fog problem. I believe at this point in time that the muscle aches were truly due to being sick, but the brain fog, it's just like before and it only takes a few days to really start causing a problem.
I've read through several medical reports on the subject, reports from users, and I've found a great resource at spacedoc.com, where former NASA astronaut and Dr. Duane Graveline and the team there have endless resources dedicated to showing with evidence of the ill-effects of these drugs. It's also interesting that the doctor notes issues with CoQ10 and statins. Our physician told me that as well, that there might be a need to use CoQ10 as there is a depletion issue that then leads to many side-effects and physical problems.
I'm going back to treating this with natural methods like I used to and I hope to achieve the desired numbers for the next annual testing. What's even more frustrating is that their research along with many others show that cholesterol numbers aren't actually accurate benchmarks for heart issues and that it's all basically a bunch of garbage sold to doctors by the medical industry all in the name of profit. It's so frustrating. All I know is that I've woken up yet again feeling terrible and it goes hand in hand with the use of the medicine.
Friday, April 27, 2012
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Taking it all Back?
I feel as though I've lost my way. I've let an unhappy job situation cloud every judgment I have when it comes to health, rest, finance, and content living. Even blogging! So I've taken some control back. I've updated my resume, posted all new information at monster.com and will be passively keeping an eye on new opportunities. But until that time comes, if it does or doesn't, I've got take back control over myself and my life.
I've made a meal plan, or rather a list of meals when can made each evening. That way there will be no scrounging around looking for a meal. It'll just be picking a meal and cooking. It's a small step, but an important one for us.
Monday starts the wellness challenge at work and I will be participating. I'm excited for the tasks ahead.
And right now we are trying to tie up the loose ends with our antenna project. It is all kinds of crazy! Missing channels and a thousand trips to the attic. But thankfully not for me. ;-)
Here's to more writing and just letting it go.
Jennifer
I've made a meal plan, or rather a list of meals when can made each evening. That way there will be no scrounging around looking for a meal. It'll just be picking a meal and cooking. It's a small step, but an important one for us.
Monday starts the wellness challenge at work and I will be participating. I'm excited for the tasks ahead.
And right now we are trying to tie up the loose ends with our antenna project. It is all kinds of crazy! Missing channels and a thousand trips to the attic. But thankfully not for me. ;-)
Here's to more writing and just letting it go.
Jennifer
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
It All Adds Up
We've wrestled with the idea of downgrading our DISH service for quite some time, but $10 here or there basically led us to lose the channels that we actually watched. Month after month, it's $105 for us to basically watch five channels plus the locals out of over two-hundred that we could be watching. When we decide to do something, we do it. End of story. Period. So, here's where we are now: a majorly downgraded DISH service, a Channel Master aerial antenna, and streaming through Roku, iPad, XBOX 360, and whatever other gadget we have in our house with Hula Plus and Netflix, which we will be dropping.
The big question is where does this get you? Saving a lot of money is where. Our out-of-pocket monthly expense is going to be $8.99 for Hulu Plus and $50.00 for DISH. Our DISH service was $105.50 per month, so we're saving $55.50 for the service plus indirect costs. With DISH, our bedroom constantly had the churn of the VIP612 DVR, which not only made constant noise, but is also an energy hog that consumes more energy than a refrigerator each month! By removing the DVR receiver and a second, we're saving around $6.00 per month in electricity. When you do the numbers, we're saving $52.51 overall each month. Not too shabby! On top of the savings, we're going back to watching a bit more high quality television as our DVR became almost shameful with the junk that was being recorded.
Getting our house wired with coaxial cables has been a mess because the original installer made a complete mess and has so many splitters, it's a surprise that certain rooms even get a signal. The house wasn't built with coaxial cable running throughout and was retrofitted later on. The Channel Master antenna cost us $59.99, various cables and parts about $40.00, and the Roku was $99.99. We'd been planning on getting a Roku, so I guess you don't look at it so much as a cost here, as it was going to be bought anyhow.
We downgraded from the America's Top 200 package on DISH to the DISH America (HD programming only) package. We have the 222 dual room receiver, so even though we're paying for TV on one set, we actually get a second television that gets DISH programming with the ability to watch different channels. (The signal can be split to another TV that would get a mirror image of one of those.) The only negative is that it's a standard definition feed, but we are getting more than fifty over the air HD & digital signals as well. We could lower the DISH cost even more by getting rid of HBO ($16/mo.) or DISH all together, but I think this works. We get programming, but have halved our monthly cost.
This evening will be more time spent getting everything set-up properly throughout the house. I've grown quite accustomed to our attic and cables. :)
E
The big question is where does this get you? Saving a lot of money is where. Our out-of-pocket monthly expense is going to be $8.99 for Hulu Plus and $50.00 for DISH. Our DISH service was $105.50 per month, so we're saving $55.50 for the service plus indirect costs. With DISH, our bedroom constantly had the churn of the VIP612 DVR, which not only made constant noise, but is also an energy hog that consumes more energy than a refrigerator each month! By removing the DVR receiver and a second, we're saving around $6.00 per month in electricity. When you do the numbers, we're saving $52.51 overall each month. Not too shabby! On top of the savings, we're going back to watching a bit more high quality television as our DVR became almost shameful with the junk that was being recorded.
Getting our house wired with coaxial cables has been a mess because the original installer made a complete mess and has so many splitters, it's a surprise that certain rooms even get a signal. The house wasn't built with coaxial cable running throughout and was retrofitted later on. The Channel Master antenna cost us $59.99, various cables and parts about $40.00, and the Roku was $99.99. We'd been planning on getting a Roku, so I guess you don't look at it so much as a cost here, as it was going to be bought anyhow.
We downgraded from the America's Top 200 package on DISH to the DISH America (HD programming only) package. We have the 222 dual room receiver, so even though we're paying for TV on one set, we actually get a second television that gets DISH programming with the ability to watch different channels. (The signal can be split to another TV that would get a mirror image of one of those.) The only negative is that it's a standard definition feed, but we are getting more than fifty over the air HD & digital signals as well. We could lower the DISH cost even more by getting rid of HBO ($16/mo.) or DISH all together, but I think this works. We get programming, but have halved our monthly cost.
This evening will be more time spent getting everything set-up properly throughout the house. I've grown quite accustomed to our attic and cables. :)
E
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Endless Torture
Yes, it has been some time since I last wrote. That's wrong of me. But every time I thought about writing I just got too tired. It has been a non-stop beating-fest at work. Egos can only take so much, especially when they are small to begin with! I know no one loves every aspect of their job, but I always felt I had a career before. Now it has been deduced to a job and I'm just adjusting. Friends and co-workers say just to let it go, do what they want and go home. And that is what I'm trying to wrap my mind around. I feel like I'm not being a good employee when I take that attitude. But I guess it is no different than anyone else at any other job. So I will continue on, not taking any of it home. It's just not giong to affect me anymore.
So cheers to my new take on working!
Jennifer
So cheers to my new take on working!
Jennifer
Thursday, March 29, 2012
GM and the Traverse
I've already been processing and preparing orders for two hours this morning, so I figure that it's time to take a little break and I have so much on my mind after buying our new car. In this post, I'm just going to review our prior vehicle, the Chevrolet Traverse.
In 2009, we purchased a Chevrolet Traverse 2LT, which was the first year of the vehicle, which is on the LAMBDA platform of vehicles that included the Saturn Outlook, GMC Acadia, and Buick Enclave. The original intention was to buy the then brand new 2010 Chevrolet Equinox as a V4 with 24/32 MPG. Unfortunately, that early in the cycle, GM was basically producing the V6 model and barely any V4 Equinox cars as an 1LT or 2LT. This foreshadowed what has continued with the company. So, Jennifer told me to test drive the Traverse as well, and the car was stunning. Well finished (or so we thought), loaded, amazing. The dealer had to drive to the shores of Alabama to get our car. The 2LT Traverse was a desert brown metallic with options including leather, navigation, 10 speaker BOSE sound system, dual moon roofs, three row seating, heated seats, you name it. We thought that a big car would be enjoyable for us and with the notion of having a baby to join the twins. The fuel economy was rated 17/24, which for a car of the weight and size was decent, but I was bothered by the (lack of) fuel economy to start with.
In the end, the Traverse was a disappointment. GM quality has a long way to go. In two and a half years and 46,000 miles, here's a list of the problems: Broken lumbar support, broken seat cover (due to the dealer, though), replacement of all the vehicle's timing chains, which resulted in not having the car for a week, broken power adapter cover in the second row, leaking rack, terrible driver side leather wear, unexplained over burn of engine coolant, the inability to perform a standard alignment and additional cost to revise factory settings, and error code errors including the Air Bag system, which amounted to nothing. Talk about a headache.
That's a hell of a list for a $40,000 car of that age. It took three tries to get the timing chain issue settled, which countless '09 owners have dealt with, as GM used a supplier with a lesser quality part. All said, the car had (some under warranty, some not) about $4,000 worth of problems, already. How would it pan out in quality after five years? Who knows, but the trajectory was awful.
The positives were the wonderful ride, silent cabin, space, comfortable seats, heated seats, and features including folding the seats down to create the cubic space of a truck bed. Besides the aforementioned problems, little things were bothersome like the lackluster navigation system's inaccuracy and the necessity to buy a replacement DVD yearly to update the system.
The Traverse of today is essentially the same as the '09 model. While in the Toyota showroom, the Venza, which we considered along with the Traverse, has improved a lot with a wonderful interior. Take a look at the Camaro. The exterior is beautiful, the interior is a colossal disappointment.
Is this the end of our GM buying? Very likely. We take pride in buying American, but when the quality doesn't measure up and the American manufacturers don't offer the technology like the Prius, there is no choice, but to go elsewhere.
Without question, I feel regret for buying the 2009 Chevrolet Traverse. It's a mixed bag of why, from the fact that we saw that the style of car didn't really fit us, having every option under the sun isn't a priority for us, and it's fuel economy among other issues. When the car gets 50% of the sticker price in a trade two and a half years later, that's not impressive, either. If it was a Toyota or Honda, we wouldn't of had that problem.
Stay clear of the Chevrolet Traverse and LAMBDA platform vehicles because odds are that your long-term cost is most likely going to be astronomical.
In 2009, we purchased a Chevrolet Traverse 2LT, which was the first year of the vehicle, which is on the LAMBDA platform of vehicles that included the Saturn Outlook, GMC Acadia, and Buick Enclave. The original intention was to buy the then brand new 2010 Chevrolet Equinox as a V4 with 24/32 MPG. Unfortunately, that early in the cycle, GM was basically producing the V6 model and barely any V4 Equinox cars as an 1LT or 2LT. This foreshadowed what has continued with the company. So, Jennifer told me to test drive the Traverse as well, and the car was stunning. Well finished (or so we thought), loaded, amazing. The dealer had to drive to the shores of Alabama to get our car. The 2LT Traverse was a desert brown metallic with options including leather, navigation, 10 speaker BOSE sound system, dual moon roofs, three row seating, heated seats, you name it. We thought that a big car would be enjoyable for us and with the notion of having a baby to join the twins. The fuel economy was rated 17/24, which for a car of the weight and size was decent, but I was bothered by the (lack of) fuel economy to start with.
In the end, the Traverse was a disappointment. GM quality has a long way to go. In two and a half years and 46,000 miles, here's a list of the problems: Broken lumbar support, broken seat cover (due to the dealer, though), replacement of all the vehicle's timing chains, which resulted in not having the car for a week, broken power adapter cover in the second row, leaking rack, terrible driver side leather wear, unexplained over burn of engine coolant, the inability to perform a standard alignment and additional cost to revise factory settings, and error code errors including the Air Bag system, which amounted to nothing. Talk about a headache.
That's a hell of a list for a $40,000 car of that age. It took three tries to get the timing chain issue settled, which countless '09 owners have dealt with, as GM used a supplier with a lesser quality part. All said, the car had (some under warranty, some not) about $4,000 worth of problems, already. How would it pan out in quality after five years? Who knows, but the trajectory was awful.
The positives were the wonderful ride, silent cabin, space, comfortable seats, heated seats, and features including folding the seats down to create the cubic space of a truck bed. Besides the aforementioned problems, little things were bothersome like the lackluster navigation system's inaccuracy and the necessity to buy a replacement DVD yearly to update the system.
The Traverse of today is essentially the same as the '09 model. While in the Toyota showroom, the Venza, which we considered along with the Traverse, has improved a lot with a wonderful interior. Take a look at the Camaro. The exterior is beautiful, the interior is a colossal disappointment.
Is this the end of our GM buying? Very likely. We take pride in buying American, but when the quality doesn't measure up and the American manufacturers don't offer the technology like the Prius, there is no choice, but to go elsewhere.
Without question, I feel regret for buying the 2009 Chevrolet Traverse. It's a mixed bag of why, from the fact that we saw that the style of car didn't really fit us, having every option under the sun isn't a priority for us, and it's fuel economy among other issues. When the car gets 50% of the sticker price in a trade two and a half years later, that's not impressive, either. If it was a Toyota or Honda, we wouldn't of had that problem.
Stay clear of the Chevrolet Traverse and LAMBDA platform vehicles because odds are that your long-term cost is most likely going to be astronomical.
Friday, March 23, 2012
How about a redux?
A couple of weeks have gone by since our visit to the local Ford dealer, which didn't work out. Well, after that, it was time to bring in the Traverse for some needed maintenance and repairs. Unfortunately, it's even worse than what we anticipated. First of all, it's terrific to bring your car to a local shop that does quality work, is fair in their pricing, and attempts to save you money. It's like taking the whole car shop business, turning it upside down, and doing the exact opposite of what the majority of car shops do, which is to run a quality, honest business. So, a big thank you to Midway Automotive Repair. We needed two more tires replaced, a very much needed alignment, rotors resurfaced, and then came the leak. Since Chevrolet did a replacement on the timing chains for what was only a two year old vehicle, a small leak has developed. Where's the leak? The rack. So, there will be another $1,000 repair on the Traverse in addition to another two tires at some point sooner rather than later.
The car has been a real disappointment. Jennifer and I purchased a car that was basically twice the cost of any other car that we've ever purchased and in twice the cost, there has been way more than twice the amount of problems of the other cars. Between the warrantied timing chain mess, seat issues, and now the rack, this two and a half plus year old car has about $3500 worth of problems. That's absurd. You can't even get a standard alignment on it based on the factory settings, which adds to even more cost.
After ditching the Ford idea, we decided to do something at the end of the year with the Traverse. That timeline doesn't work now, rather now. It's time to part ways with the big tank. I know you have every gadget you can imagine from dual sunroofs, to automated everything, and the best sound system we've had in a car, hands down, but you're expensive, and you're only going to get more expensive over time.
There are two cars that I've had on the list of cars to buy for several years. They are the Cadillac CTS and Toyota Prius. They're at opposite ends of the car spectrum, but are both awesome vehicles in their own right. With the Traverse, I don't think we're all too high on GM right now, even though a certified CTS could be had. No, how about 50+ MPG, high tech, and environmentally right car? Yes, that sounds right. So, now it's off to visit the Toyota dealership and test drive the Prius. They have two 2011 models left that are the Prius Four trim and they're discounted $3,200 to get them cleared out of the inventory. We're coming for one of 'em!
The car has been a real disappointment. Jennifer and I purchased a car that was basically twice the cost of any other car that we've ever purchased and in twice the cost, there has been way more than twice the amount of problems of the other cars. Between the warrantied timing chain mess, seat issues, and now the rack, this two and a half plus year old car has about $3500 worth of problems. That's absurd. You can't even get a standard alignment on it based on the factory settings, which adds to even more cost.
After ditching the Ford idea, we decided to do something at the end of the year with the Traverse. That timeline doesn't work now, rather now. It's time to part ways with the big tank. I know you have every gadget you can imagine from dual sunroofs, to automated everything, and the best sound system we've had in a car, hands down, but you're expensive, and you're only going to get more expensive over time.
There are two cars that I've had on the list of cars to buy for several years. They are the Cadillac CTS and Toyota Prius. They're at opposite ends of the car spectrum, but are both awesome vehicles in their own right. With the Traverse, I don't think we're all too high on GM right now, even though a certified CTS could be had. No, how about 50+ MPG, high tech, and environmentally right car? Yes, that sounds right. So, now it's off to visit the Toyota dealership and test drive the Prius. They have two 2011 models left that are the Prius Four trim and they're discounted $3,200 to get them cleared out of the inventory. We're coming for one of 'em!
Monday, March 19, 2012
Blog Forgotten
It’s been two weeks since I last wrote. I just forgot! Maybe because I didn’t have much to blog about. We’ve had a good few weeks. We’ve figured out we have to be better parents and deal with a lot of issues that we didn’t know existed. All in all it has been quite all right. Work is work, I guess. It isn’t perfect but I’m taking a different approach where I am just letting everything roll off my back. The negatives will not take the energy away from me. I just won’t let it.
So now our days will be much more structured, not that it is a free for all now. Everything has to be regimented to make sure that everyone stays on task. And it all starts today! We are going to sit down with the kids today and make sure they understand our expectations and what will provide to them. It will be hard work and I hope it is worth it and I hope it works.
We have a great “single life” weekend with no kids! It is amazing how fast you can get in and out of places when you don’t have any kids to drag around. Or a screaming toddler who only wants to walk and pull you around.
So, happy belated St. Patrick’s Day! I had to share the wreath I made. Sadly it is down now. I’m pretty proud of this one!
Tired,
Jennifer
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