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Chicken & Waffle + cornbread. Yay!

Seafood over squid ink pasta Anne: Various stuffed arancini

Thanks, everybody! It is tough. Saturday was one of the worst days of my life. But we'll recover. Donut and Jazz are starting to behave a little more normally. And looking after them will help keep us focused on the positive.

Agreed, I spend many days thinking, “well at least I can work. And I know many people who have it so much worse than this. It’s just a function of getting old. “ I also found an online forum for Menniere’s disease and other related problems. I agree it was a source of good information, and it was helpful. However, I also stopped reading it because it was so depressing. I agree that it would not be worth taking a medication that makes me feel worse, and don’t blame you for not wanting to try new ones. I will say, however, that these types of medicines take several months to start working and several months to stop working. The side effects on the other hand start immediately and end immediately. So, the fact that you felt better for a few months immediately after stopping that medicine wouldwould suggest that the medication worked, but caused side effects. The side effects stopped immediately, but the benefits continued for a few months. That happens a lot with the medications that I prescribe. Then it’s a matter of convincing the patient to find a medication that works but without side effects. It’s a challenge however, and as miserable as the other medicine made the patient feel, they often don’t really want to try. I can’t say I blame them. But with some work I usually can find another medicine that works as well as the other but without causing side effects. I hope that may be the case for you. I might also be to a point where I just have to accept a new baseline. That, along with not being able to eat and drink anything that I want and thinking my cholesterol and blood sugars won’t to go up. (Insert other old guy complaints ...) Getting old sucks. Don’t do it!

That reminds me of an guy I did some work for and got to know a little. He died in a small aircraft that crashed off the coast of So Cal. While I was working on his house I noticed some pictures in his study (he was a lawyer) of some old Marine airplanes. Turns out he flew in Korea (peace keeping unit I guess). He told me some great stories and it was obvious that he still loved to fly. A decade or so after that I heard that he'd died when his engine conked out while he was over Northridge. It's said that he must have known he'd never make a safe landing so he turned out to sea where he died. RIP Rodger Maino

So sorry John, Antonio and Mike. Such good ears should not have such bad problems. I hope you each can achieve a favorable resolution (no pun intended).

I hate shit like this, but it happens, I guess. At least he was doing what he loved. RIP, Doc Halladay. Way too young: http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2017/11/07/roy-halladay-former-mlb-star-killed-in-plane-crash-off-florida.html

In sockets

Leftovers become chicken hash

Verical has stock of both 3324/1312 and i'm sure some are on ebay too i also have a lot of them

These are the best for Workhorses IMO:

Antonio, thank you. I will follow up. I actually filled the prescription for Venlafaxine about 2 months or so ago and chickened out and started the Diamox instead.

Venlafaxine works pretty well on migraine and in the vertigo-migraine conditions, it has acceptable side effects (the common ones) which possibly wouldn't be a problem in your case since you're taking beta blockers already. Sometimes we use it in association with Flunarizine, so lower doses of both could be effective. Just saying

The alternative to not getting old, well you know how that ends. Your take on the meds is interesting and to be honest, I wished my two doctors had explained that to me. I don't think I would have stayed on Topamax but might have continued the Diamox. Stopping the Diamox was more related to minor side effects and just not feeling a big improvement. Also, forgot to mention that the Diamox made my reflux from almost never needing a Zantac to needing one daily. All that heartburn raises other problems. Like you said, getting old sucks. I went from working out pretty intensely for 4 to 6 days a week to now being limited to cardio with a limit on my how high my heart rate can go (the other issue). The neurologist wants me to try Venlafaxine but I am scared of the side effects. Thanks for the info. You and Antonio have been helpful. I'm hoping you can find something that gives you some relief. Al, thanks but good ears? Jp keeps telling me I have tin ears. I didn't think that was good. Who knew.

No don't listen to him, a Spritzer Carbon with the 009s is where it's at.

Just buy a pre-built Carbon from Spritzer..

PM Spritzer and kindly ask him to build you a Carbon.

Was: Tacos, because Tuesday Will be: Pad Thai, because Google

I got lucky and was able to make a small order. Minimum order is 1000 pieces. If there was a group buy with a minimum of 20 each we might be able to reach that. A lot of people bought multiple pots so maybe someone is kind enough to sell one to you. otherwise it’s probably better to do the version with the TKD pot, which you can order direct. Or air wire an ALPS pot like someone else here did.

^ There was a group buy awhile back...

Ugh, yeah, it happens. Apparently one neurologist I saw, who had been practicing or years, had never heard of a migraine aura, before meeting me. I mean, what the fuck?

Yes, I understood you were on them and that they caused more problems than they solved, sorry if my wording wasn't clear and it seemed more a suggestion to try them than the expression of the two I knew you tried. Have you been prescribed other things? You definitely need a good otoneurologist or neurootologist who can help you with the dizzy feeling. Is it continuous or does it happen on attack-like episodes, are they long? Tinnitus is a whole different story, sometimes rather innocuous drugs like betahistine or ginkgo biloba extract help a lot, but at other times nothing is really helpful. Feel free to PM me, I won't be playing the online doc, but I could make some suggestions so you can ask your specialist.

Don't give up, Mike, there are plenty of medications which they can try on you, some have more adverse effects than others, and that depends a lot on individual idiosyncrasies. If you're suffering those vertigo attacks, you may find a benefit from any of them. If the vertigo went and now the problem is the hyperacusis and the tinnitus, then expected results are less encouraging, yet still worth trying. Some migraine treatments work really well on the migraine-vertigo pathologies, better than the meds you said you tried so far: acetazolamide and topiramate.

I forgot that I had posted about the vertigo issues. I have an ENT and Neurologist at University of Miami that both believe I have migraine associated vertigo. I had all the testing and it came out mildly abnormal. Did vestibular therapy that did help but not eliminate the problem. I don't have pain in my ears but loud noise bothers me. I do not want to take any more meds as they all seem to have side effects as bad or worse than the problem or don't seem to help. I have 2 weeks to decide whether to keep the hearing aids or return them. It seems like it is replacing one noise for another. I'm at the point where this is just my new normal and fortunately, I am able to work and do most of the things I used to do with the exception of when I can't. I have another issue that also cramps my style but again, just have to deal with it. I remind myself it could be worse and move on. It's been a shitty 1 1/2 years but despite that I've had a lot of good times so again, I try not to complain (other than the last couple of times I've posted here). John, I hope your issues continue to improve or at least become tolerable. There is a FB group for people with vestibular issues. I had to unfollow as it was too depressing to read but there is good information there as well as Vestibular Disorders Association (VEDA).

Ugh. That’s so sad to hear. Not sure where it all went so wrong for the medical field. [emoji17]

So sorry to hear, Mike. I remember reading some of your posts a while back and thought I should have posted something. But I couldn't find the words, being in the middle of my own problems with the same, and being so lost in it. I'm glad you were able to post here. This stuff is really hard to sort out. I saw two ENTs before the one who helped me - the first said everything looked good, she had nothing for me. The second was a specialist in neurotology and I was referred to him by the audiologist I called, to get some relief from the tinnitus, thinking I'd get a similar device to what you're trying. But she said she saw something in my hearing test that suggested something wrong to her. She set up an appointment with this 2nd ENT who was a 'specialist in hearing'. I wrote up my whole history and handed it to his nurse. He never saw this writeup that I gave to his nurse, and didn't want to find it, but he said my hearing is normal, there's nothing wrong. Everyone has tinnitus, just sit in an anechoic chamber. 'The only thing that works is the antidepressant Elavil ... so you know what THAT means' . The ear infection? 'Yes, you had a viral labyrynthitis. That will resolve in time. It can take a year - what has it been, 8 months? You only have 4 months to go.' I said nothing and nodded, but seeing the disappointment in my face, he said 'well, we could get an MRI, but it will be normal. So don't even bother coming back, I'll just call you to tell you it's normal. ' I didn't bother going back, but I also didn't bother with an MRI. I didn't have the symptoms of a tumor, and everyone I talked to agreed. A year later, having given up on the whole thing, and just figuring I'll always be dizzy, have horrible tinnitus and be in pain with every moderately loud sound I hear (movies, my dog barking, my treble-voiced daughter laughing) and I would just never hear normally again, an audiologist I worked with was willing to hear my story, and said there is definitely something wrong. I should do an extended hearing test to higher frequencies (suggested to me by Antonio a year earlier, but I had no one else to see in my original health system). She did that test herself for me on the same day. She said yes, my hearing was normal in the usual testing frequencies, but in the extended frequencies, she saw a clear hearing loss above 8khz only in the left ear, and said anyone who has one sided hearing loss and gets dizziness that's worse with loud sounds, suggests something real going on, and I should go see the ENT she trained with at Northwestern. I did that, and that's when he said I had this condition, the rare (or under diagnosed?) result of the inner ear infection I had 3 years prior. He gave me a diuretic, and this has helped immensely. Day to day, I'm so much better. I can even go to a movie without pain. My dog's bark is annoying, but not horribly painful. I can enjoy my daughter's laugh again. I still carry my ear plugs and use them at loud movies, but I might be fine if I didn't, I'm just afraid not to. I won't go to an amplified rock concert, and avoid going to loud bars. I still can't listen to my high end rig, as that still makes me feel queasy, and my left ear is uncomfortable above 80db. And it worsens the tinnitus, which is still there slightly. Plus it just doesn't sound good any more. Oh well, enough about my problems. Don't give up, Mike. Look around in your area for someone who has an actual interest in this stuff. Most ENTs are not interested. See my guy, if you want, just PM me and I'll give you his name, though I know it'd be hard to travel here just for a doctor's visit. I also found that one of the nation's leading experts on this stuff is in Chicago, Dr. Timothy Hain. He's a neurologist who specializes in hearing and dizziness, so he's an otoneurologist, instead of a neurootologist. I was going to see him next, but mine has gotten much better. Maybe I still should still see him ... but I feel like I have a good explanation and treatment at this point. Maybe it'd be worthwhile to at least read his web site. There's a lot of good information there: http://dizzy-doctor.com Keep in touch, and feel free to PM me if you want to take this offline in more detail. Or keep it here, if you'd prefer. Hang in there , Antonio! Keep in touch!

Bumping this lively thread because TTVJ is no longer selling the Pinnacle -- don't ask why I was browsing -- but says to look out for the "Pinnacle 2" and (OMG) "Ultra Pinnacle".

Sorry Carl and Bonnie. Rest In Peace Enigma. I’m going to go hug Effie. She’ll still hate it. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Breakfast Donuts: Chocolate donut w/ bavarian creme filling + chocolate frosting + chocolate sprinkles Vanilla donut w/ bavarian creme filling + vanilla frosting Pumpkin donut w/ bavarian creme filling + maple frosting

Work went great. I think I'm going to fit in just fine. After work, I drove the scooter back to Fairfax, where it promptly died in the 7-11 parking lot. Glad it got me back to Fairfax at any rate. So Al's tenant Frank (the motorcycle whiz) helped me get it into a friend's yard and off the street. Then when going over the charging system, we found a loose battery cable. Cleaned and tightened up the terminals. It was down to 5 volts, so we put it on the trickle charger overnight. Hopefully, the battery will be fine, hold a charge and work well as transportation again. It really is kind of ideal for working in the city. Fingers crossed and major kudos to Frank! I did have to listen to a 40-minute speech on the history of motorcycles but it was well worth it for all his help. Then he insisted on buying Suzy and me dinner at Good Earth foods, though I tried hard to treat him. No go, Frank is a hard guy to repay a favor. But he sure knows his bikes.

Just finished taking my 5 hour long, every 10 years Specialty Boards recertification test. I’m thinking this is the last time I’m taking this damn thing. (Assuming I passed this one!) Treating myself to lunch at Shaw’s Crabhouse, which I’ve always wanted to try! Hot appetizer combo Seared George’s Bank Sea Scallops with cremini and maitake mushrooms, red wine-balsamic butter sauce

Warm, High bacon content chicken club on focaccia

a true balanced differential amplifier will have significant common mode rejection. For example there are a few well known diy dacs that have a bit of dc on their output. a differential amplifier will subtract the dc from the inputs and the output will be free of dc with respect to ground. a balanced amplifier made from 4 x unbalanced input amplifiers will have significant dc on the output. For headphones wired as balanced, no problem. For headphones wired as single ended, could be a big problem. supersymmetry dynalo and dynahi are true balanced differential amplifiers. So is the RSA darkstar (although it still sounds like shit) schiit joutenheim is a balanced differential amplifier (actually its an instrumentation amplifier) but has significant differential gain when used with a single ended input. liquid gold, liquid carbon, gsx are not balanced differential amplifiers. The first two have phase splitters to fix the problem. the gsx is balanced out only when you have a balanced input signal.

Seeing shit like this tells me pretty much all I need to know about Lampizator...

I can also sell you a T-8000 if you'd like it...

I used to get severe headaches after a migraine aura which started when I was 16. Second event happened 1 month later, and the headache was worse than the first. Third episode was 2 months later and the headache was worse again. Ditto the fourth and fifth episodes at 4 and 8 month intervals The fifth episode had me looking through a severe mist for over a couple of days after with a mega headache that only lasted a few hours.. I went to the company mediic after the first episode, and he didn't believe me about the aura. I was really dreading the sixth episode as the time approached, and it came ons Saturday morning. I ended up just relaxing and waiting for the process to go through it's cycle of aura, then headache, but the headache didn't come. Since this sixth episode, the migraines come at randon times, even when I don't think I am overly stressed. I found out that with me the episodes come when I am stressed, or even after a stressful event, but not always. I usually get a feeling of mild euphoria before the aura starts out as a fuzzy spot in the centre of my vision. It then grows out into an expanding arc of white zig-zagging light until it travels beyond my field of vision. Then the headaches used to come. This arc is usually about 270 to 300 degrees, but never a full circle of light. It usually travels to the top right of my field of vision. Only once did it go to the top left. If I relax and take a few deep breaths as soon as I detect the srtart of the visual disturbance, It goes away. Once the disturbance grows to a diameter of about 25mm, it just goes through it's cycle of visual disturbance no matter what I do. The visual disturbance phase lasts for about 1.5 to 2 hours, and you know that it is still there when it is out of your field of vision. I have had a period of about 15 years without an episode, and a month where I had four episodes.

Sorry to hear about this John. I've been having issues with a form of vertigo, maybe related to migraine for more than a year. I also have a finding on one side similar to yours. I am finally able to go some days without almost constant nausea. Despite some improvement in that regard, I still have tinnitus in both ears to the point that I am on a 30 day trial with hearing aids that produce a white noise which my brain should adjust to and cover the tinnitus. Not sure whether it is going to work but since I get a full refund within 30 days, I figured I would try. I stopped listening to music, in particular headphones for a while. It wasn't painful but I was afraid of making things worse. I am not back to listening to speakers and headphones without an issue. With the headphones I can either take out the hearing aids or turn off the white noise as the music covers up the tinnitus. I've tried topomax (never again) and diamox for the vertigo. I find that the side effects of the meds are worse than the vertigo symptoms. Fortunately, I do not have much in the way of hearing loss other than. Certainly nothing that would justify hearing aids.

So sorry, John. For a different reason I'm going through the very same process, with the same symptoms, even the same left ear. It started almost a month ago. If it doesn't improve a tiny bit I could be selling all my headphones, and I would ask you about those Even H2. I wish they work.

Enigma has passed away. We loved her with all our hearts. She was kind. She was tough. She was smart. I'll never be able to express my gratitude for all she gave me. Tears on my keyboard.