Spent a Week in the Hospital
Monday, January 30, 2006 
Last night I got back home after spending eight days in the hospital recovering from a motorcycle accident.
On Saturday, Jan 21, I was out riding my motorcycle with some friends. We were out near Pioneer Town, just outside Yucca Valley, in the California Mojave Desert. The road was meandering up and down some of the hills out there, and was full of dips. One of the dips had running water across it, and none of us could see the water until we came too close.
I had to hit the brakes because it was a lot of water, and it was running pretty fast. Unfortunately, I locked up the tires, and the bike fishtailed out of control and threw me off. I hit the asphalt and tumbled around quite a bit, finally banging my head against a rock before coming to rest. I didn't feel any pain, because I don't remember any of it. My friends described the whole thing to me.
I had road-rash all over one side of my face, and a sore wrist. Otherwise, I was up walking around upset over the wreck of my bike. Someone called the paramedics, and they arrived. They asked if I wanted them to take me to a hospital. I debated it, but my friends convinced me it was a good idea to go. So, I went.
The hospital found I had a "bruised kidney". It had swelled up with water, and there was some blood in the urine, but no bleeding into the body cavity. That was the worst injury. The sore wrist turned out to be a fracture, and I had a black & blue left-big-toe. For a motorcycle accident victim, I came out requiring no surgeries, awfully lucky for me, but an awful disappointment for the hospital.
So, they transferred me to Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs. They have a trauma center, and justified the transfer by means of the kidney contusion. I think Desert Regional was salivating at the mouth over receiving a motorcycle accident victim, but was probably just as disappointed when they learned I required no surgery, just care.
But to make up for it, they kept me there under observation. They actually put me in ICU the following day, Sunday. I really didn't belong in ICU. All the other patients were unconscious. I was the only one cracking jokes with the nurses. In fact, that was the day of the NFL Conference Finals. I watched both games, and the nurses and techs would stand in my room and watch the game with me. I think they had a pool going.
Funny thing about hospitals is that they won't give you any kind of medication without doctor's orders. I was getting a headache in ICU that night, and asked the nurse for some Tylenol. She came back and said that the doctor didn't write Tylenol on my chart, but could offer me some Morphine instead. I couldn't believe it! Tylenol is not ok, but Morphine, you can have all you want.
Monday, they transferred me to their trauma recovery floor dubbed "5 Sinatra", where every room is a private room. By the time Wednesday came around, I put up an argument with the doctor to discharge me, since they weren't really treating me, only laying down and watching television all day. The doctor said I was lucky, because in some other places, and in past decades, they would've just resected my kidney out and sent me home. They were actually trying to save my kidney with careful watch and rest. I guess I couldn't argue. They sent a psychiatrist in to talk to me because they thought I was threatening to leave against medical advice.
However, a really nice nurse named Lindsay who worked in that area spent a some more time with me, cheered me up and made me feel a lot better. Another nurse who changed shifts with her named Luanne was also really nice, made the stay a lot better. I really want to thank them for their attention and patience. Really great nurses like them make the biggest difference in hospital stays.
Friday came along, and the doctor was actually going to discharge me. However, I had developed a nasty rash on my right arm. This was the arm where I suffered the fractured wrist. They had put a fiberglass cast on it. The rash was REALLY nasty, with large bubbly welts covering the entire forearm and parts of the upperarm. These welts were full of puss, and they would fill up until they bursted. My arm was in a constant state of puss drip. My bed and sheets were stained with crusty yellow puss residue.
They took the cast off, and were dumbfounded as to what it was and how to treat it. They kept me another night until Saturday to get a dermatologist in for a consultation. In the meantime, they had Luanne, one of the nice nurses, put some Silvadene Cream on it and dress it up. She must have had fun popping all the fat juicy welts. She got puss all over the floor until she finally put a towel under my arm, and even squirted some on the wall. It didn't hurt at all to pop them.
The dermatologist finally arrived at 9:00pm that evening and diagnosed it as an allergic reaction, probably from the cast. I've never known myself to be allergic to fiberglass, but then again, they had to put some kind of resin on it to harden it. Maybe that's what I was allergic to.
The dermatologist prescribed a course of treatment and kept me over yet another night to Sunday just to make sure the treatment was working. Sunday morning came, and yes, the treatment was working. The puss had subsided and my dressings were staying clean. As I write this today, the next day after, most of the bubbly welts have died down, but my arm is still pretty ugly.
I'm back home now, but will have a long road to recovery. The doctor said it'll take a year for the kidney to heal, but I can't wait a year to get back on my motorcycle, and I can't spend a year not being allowed to exert any energy or having to walk like my bones are made of Tiffany glass. So, I'm going to have a talk with my regular physician tomorrow and see what I can do get myself back into health expediciously.
If you're wondering how I'm typing all this, I can use both hands, but my right hand (which is my strong hand) is rather immobilized. I can't stretch my fingers out to reach the furthest keys, I have to either move my hand over, or use my left hand. I'm learning how to use my left-hand an awful lot now.
On Saturday, Jan 21, I was out riding my motorcycle with some friends. We were out near Pioneer Town, just outside Yucca Valley, in the California Mojave Desert. The road was meandering up and down some of the hills out there, and was full of dips. One of the dips had running water across it, and none of us could see the water until we came too close.
I had to hit the brakes because it was a lot of water, and it was running pretty fast. Unfortunately, I locked up the tires, and the bike fishtailed out of control and threw me off. I hit the asphalt and tumbled around quite a bit, finally banging my head against a rock before coming to rest. I didn't feel any pain, because I don't remember any of it. My friends described the whole thing to me.
I had road-rash all over one side of my face, and a sore wrist. Otherwise, I was up walking around upset over the wreck of my bike. Someone called the paramedics, and they arrived. They asked if I wanted them to take me to a hospital. I debated it, but my friends convinced me it was a good idea to go. So, I went.
The hospital found I had a "bruised kidney". It had swelled up with water, and there was some blood in the urine, but no bleeding into the body cavity. That was the worst injury. The sore wrist turned out to be a fracture, and I had a black & blue left-big-toe. For a motorcycle accident victim, I came out requiring no surgeries, awfully lucky for me, but an awful disappointment for the hospital.
So, they transferred me to Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs. They have a trauma center, and justified the transfer by means of the kidney contusion. I think Desert Regional was salivating at the mouth over receiving a motorcycle accident victim, but was probably just as disappointed when they learned I required no surgery, just care.
But to make up for it, they kept me there under observation. They actually put me in ICU the following day, Sunday. I really didn't belong in ICU. All the other patients were unconscious. I was the only one cracking jokes with the nurses. In fact, that was the day of the NFL Conference Finals. I watched both games, and the nurses and techs would stand in my room and watch the game with me. I think they had a pool going.
Funny thing about hospitals is that they won't give you any kind of medication without doctor's orders. I was getting a headache in ICU that night, and asked the nurse for some Tylenol. She came back and said that the doctor didn't write Tylenol on my chart, but could offer me some Morphine instead. I couldn't believe it! Tylenol is not ok, but Morphine, you can have all you want.
Monday, they transferred me to their trauma recovery floor dubbed "5 Sinatra", where every room is a private room. By the time Wednesday came around, I put up an argument with the doctor to discharge me, since they weren't really treating me, only laying down and watching television all day. The doctor said I was lucky, because in some other places, and in past decades, they would've just resected my kidney out and sent me home. They were actually trying to save my kidney with careful watch and rest. I guess I couldn't argue. They sent a psychiatrist in to talk to me because they thought I was threatening to leave against medical advice.
However, a really nice nurse named Lindsay who worked in that area spent a some more time with me, cheered me up and made me feel a lot better. Another nurse who changed shifts with her named Luanne was also really nice, made the stay a lot better. I really want to thank them for their attention and patience. Really great nurses like them make the biggest difference in hospital stays.
Friday came along, and the doctor was actually going to discharge me. However, I had developed a nasty rash on my right arm. This was the arm where I suffered the fractured wrist. They had put a fiberglass cast on it. The rash was REALLY nasty, with large bubbly welts covering the entire forearm and parts of the upperarm. These welts were full of puss, and they would fill up until they bursted. My arm was in a constant state of puss drip. My bed and sheets were stained with crusty yellow puss residue.
They took the cast off, and were dumbfounded as to what it was and how to treat it. They kept me another night until Saturday to get a dermatologist in for a consultation. In the meantime, they had Luanne, one of the nice nurses, put some Silvadene Cream on it and dress it up. She must have had fun popping all the fat juicy welts. She got puss all over the floor until she finally put a towel under my arm, and even squirted some on the wall. It didn't hurt at all to pop them.
The dermatologist finally arrived at 9:00pm that evening and diagnosed it as an allergic reaction, probably from the cast. I've never known myself to be allergic to fiberglass, but then again, they had to put some kind of resin on it to harden it. Maybe that's what I was allergic to.
The dermatologist prescribed a course of treatment and kept me over yet another night to Sunday just to make sure the treatment was working. Sunday morning came, and yes, the treatment was working. The puss had subsided and my dressings were staying clean. As I write this today, the next day after, most of the bubbly welts have died down, but my arm is still pretty ugly.
I'm back home now, but will have a long road to recovery. The doctor said it'll take a year for the kidney to heal, but I can't wait a year to get back on my motorcycle, and I can't spend a year not being allowed to exert any energy or having to walk like my bones are made of Tiffany glass. So, I'm going to have a talk with my regular physician tomorrow and see what I can do get myself back into health expediciously.
If you're wondering how I'm typing all this, I can use both hands, but my right hand (which is my strong hand) is rather immobilized. I can't stretch my fingers out to reach the furthest keys, I have to either move my hand over, or use my left hand. I'm learning how to use my left-hand an awful lot now.
Behold the Power of Strange New Products!
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Back on December 12, we blogged a strange new product called "SenSlip", an artificial piece of foreskin, designed for circumcised guys. We blogged on the same day it was unveiled by the manufacturer.
We expected to fetch some comments due to the nature of this thing, but we never expected 103 comments thus far. The comments centered around a very emotional debate between the pros and cons of circumcision, even some being critical of Jews. Note that I deleted several inappropriate comments that attacked Jews with nasty four-letter words.
Today, the maker of SenSlip issued a press release saying that in the weeks since the product launched, their offices have been flooded with thousands of letters expressing concern about the detriments of circumcision. I imagine they also they also received thousands more in jest or in defiance of the product as well.
Anyways, the company said they sent letters to the American Academy of Pediatrics and the US Secretary of Health and Human Services, in an effort to cease the practice of circumcision.
Was our Strange New Products blog the driving media force that drove people to these letters? I think so, considering the amount of comments our article fetched, the fiery debate that took place within the comments, the number of blogs linking to us, and perhaps many other blogs who saw our piece and wrote about it as well.
This viral form of grass-roots marketing that we call "blogging" is very powerful towards publicizing a product, and generating its sales. We certainly didn't receive any compensation for this company's early success, and we didn't ask for it either. But the symbiosis is evident, they got their publicity, and we picked up backlinks and bookmarks.
However, I can't help but concede that today's existing PR firms will launch their own line of blog networks (with no stated connection to the PR firms) that will consist of all the consumer niche groups, just for the purpose of generating this kind of buzz. Heck, AOL now owns Weblogs Inc., and who here thinks that AOL is not a PR firm?
We expected to fetch some comments due to the nature of this thing, but we never expected 103 comments thus far. The comments centered around a very emotional debate between the pros and cons of circumcision, even some being critical of Jews. Note that I deleted several inappropriate comments that attacked Jews with nasty four-letter words.
Today, the maker of SenSlip issued a press release saying that in the weeks since the product launched, their offices have been flooded with thousands of letters expressing concern about the detriments of circumcision. I imagine they also they also received thousands more in jest or in defiance of the product as well.
Anyways, the company said they sent letters to the American Academy of Pediatrics and the US Secretary of Health and Human Services, in an effort to cease the practice of circumcision.
Was our Strange New Products blog the driving media force that drove people to these letters? I think so, considering the amount of comments our article fetched, the fiery debate that took place within the comments, the number of blogs linking to us, and perhaps many other blogs who saw our piece and wrote about it as well.
This viral form of grass-roots marketing that we call "blogging" is very powerful towards publicizing a product, and generating its sales. We certainly didn't receive any compensation for this company's early success, and we didn't ask for it either. But the symbiosis is evident, they got their publicity, and we picked up backlinks and bookmarks.
However, I can't help but concede that today's existing PR firms will launch their own line of blog networks (with no stated connection to the PR firms) that will consist of all the consumer niche groups, just for the purpose of generating this kind of buzz. Heck, AOL now owns Weblogs Inc., and who here thinks that AOL is not a PR firm?
Year End Recap & 2006 Goals
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
To recap the entire 2005 year, I think 2005 will go down as a very special year for our company.
First, 2005 is the year we incorporated this business. The process of incorporation itself was busy, meetings with our attorney, meetings with the CPA, getting stationery created, keeping meticulous records on finances, etc.
2005 is also the year we struck success with one of our blogs, Strange New Products. That success gave us a winning business model for publishing blogs, and led us into redesigning and refocusing several other of our blogs.
It's hard to say at this point if our 2005 income has grown compared to 2004. I'll need to visit with our CPA to get everything in order to file for taxes. It's looking like we made less this year compared to last. This is mainly due to decreased earnings from MyFamily.com, an affiliate merchant, our largest revenue source.
The good news is that our blog income is starting ramp up. The last few days of December saw heavy increases in visitors to our blogs, translating to more income. Thus far this month, the traffic increases continue. DoggieNews.com, for example, is seeing nearly triple the amount of traffic compared to December. Junk Food Blog is seeing a doubling of traffic compared to December. Real Estate and How and Biker News Online are also seeing similar increases.
As for new blogs, we launched Bottle Watch in the beginning of December, and Slot Machine Blog at the end of December. Bottle Watch simply reports on the newest alcholic beverage products hitting the market, while Slot Machine Blog is a question & answer blog, with a real slot machine technician answering the question. Bottle Watch is building up traffic quickly and could within a year become the most popular liquor blog in the world, while Slot Machine Blog is taking its sweet time.
As for new blogs on the drawing board, you probably won't see much from us in 2006. I think we're going to sit on what we've got and spend the year building them up. If anything we're going to get some of our dead blogs going this year, such as OCThen and Erection News.
As for me personally, I'd like to make an effort getting out of this home office, and find other places where I can do my work. I have a T-Mobile account, so there's no reason why I can't go to a Starbucks and work there. Or spend an evening in Vegas during mid-week and do some blogging there. I think having a change of scenery energizes my spirits and gets me doing more work.
First, 2005 is the year we incorporated this business. The process of incorporation itself was busy, meetings with our attorney, meetings with the CPA, getting stationery created, keeping meticulous records on finances, etc.
2005 is also the year we struck success with one of our blogs, Strange New Products. That success gave us a winning business model for publishing blogs, and led us into redesigning and refocusing several other of our blogs.
It's hard to say at this point if our 2005 income has grown compared to 2004. I'll need to visit with our CPA to get everything in order to file for taxes. It's looking like we made less this year compared to last. This is mainly due to decreased earnings from MyFamily.com, an affiliate merchant, our largest revenue source.
The good news is that our blog income is starting ramp up. The last few days of December saw heavy increases in visitors to our blogs, translating to more income. Thus far this month, the traffic increases continue. DoggieNews.com, for example, is seeing nearly triple the amount of traffic compared to December. Junk Food Blog is seeing a doubling of traffic compared to December. Real Estate and How and Biker News Online are also seeing similar increases.
As for new blogs, we launched Bottle Watch in the beginning of December, and Slot Machine Blog at the end of December. Bottle Watch simply reports on the newest alcholic beverage products hitting the market, while Slot Machine Blog is a question & answer blog, with a real slot machine technician answering the question. Bottle Watch is building up traffic quickly and could within a year become the most popular liquor blog in the world, while Slot Machine Blog is taking its sweet time.
As for new blogs on the drawing board, you probably won't see much from us in 2006. I think we're going to sit on what we've got and spend the year building them up. If anything we're going to get some of our dead blogs going this year, such as OCThen and Erection News.
As for me personally, I'd like to make an effort getting out of this home office, and find other places where I can do my work. I have a T-Mobile account, so there's no reason why I can't go to a Starbucks and work there. Or spend an evening in Vegas during mid-week and do some blogging there. I think having a change of scenery energizes my spirits and gets me doing more work.
Google Roller Coaster
Wednesday, January 04, 2006
On December 27, 2005, Google must have released a new index, because all of a sudden referrals spiked up 10 fold to Interment.net, our largest property.
Back in October, Google referrals dropped a ton of bricks, about 10 fold. And now, it's back up 10 fold.
This has actually been the case going back by nearly three years. It used to be that Google referrals gradually increased with every new index they released. Then in May of 2003, referrals gradually went down over the next several months. Then it started going back up, and then down, and then up, and it's been roller coaster ever since.
In November, we did make a significant change to Interment, in that our "What's New" page was converted to a blog. Did that do anything to boost our Google referrals? We've also been slowly converting our index pages to the new format. Did that do anything to boost Google referrals?
Who knows!
I'm basically throwing my hands up in defeat in that you can't count on Google being consistent. Interment is very much the kind of website that Google ought to love: full of original content, content you can't find anywhere else, content that's high in demand from our audience, real content that's actually consumed and appreciated by real human beings. Yet, in their zest to punish the spam sites and link farms, we get caught up in their nets, and are punished for part of the year.
Obviously, Google ought to do their best to remove the spam sites and link farms from their index. But it's odd that seemingly every index either punishes us, or rewards us, without us really doing anything different.
Back in October, Google referrals dropped a ton of bricks, about 10 fold. And now, it's back up 10 fold.
This has actually been the case going back by nearly three years. It used to be that Google referrals gradually increased with every new index they released. Then in May of 2003, referrals gradually went down over the next several months. Then it started going back up, and then down, and then up, and it's been roller coaster ever since.
In November, we did make a significant change to Interment, in that our "What's New" page was converted to a blog. Did that do anything to boost our Google referrals? We've also been slowly converting our index pages to the new format. Did that do anything to boost Google referrals?
Who knows!
I'm basically throwing my hands up in defeat in that you can't count on Google being consistent. Interment is very much the kind of website that Google ought to love: full of original content, content you can't find anywhere else, content that's high in demand from our audience, real content that's actually consumed and appreciated by real human beings. Yet, in their zest to punish the spam sites and link farms, we get caught up in their nets, and are punished for part of the year.
Obviously, Google ought to do their best to remove the spam sites and link farms from their index. But it's odd that seemingly every index either punishes us, or rewards us, without us really doing anything different.
Copyright © 2005-2007, Clear Digital Media, Inc.
