Myke's 'blob.

MRI Tech: Can you put your arm over your head?
Myke: Uh, yes...?
MRI Tech: Can you lay on your stomach?
Myke: err... Yes?
MRI Tech: Put your hand in here.
Myke: ∗puts∗
MRI Tech: ∗clamps the damn vice down on it∗
MRI Tech: How's that?
Myke: ∗Wince∗ It's... sucky, but I'll live
MRI Tech: Okay - try not to move.
MRI: ∗bwong bwong bwong∗
Myke: ∗trying to not move while breathing on stomach in a Village People dance pose∗
(Towards the end, I could feel twitches and spasms in my arm & fingers, I was quite concerned that might screw things up.)
MRI: ∗stops∗
MRI Tech: All done! ∗unclamps my hand∗
Myke: That is one angry wrist.
MRI Tech: Oh yeah... err... probably eh? But that coil really helps the imaging.
Myke: So it was good?
MRI Tech: Yes, great images.
Myke: Good, I was worried, I felt my arm & hand move during the scan, I was worried that it screwed things up. (This is likely a 3.0 Telsa machine)
MRI Tech: Oh no no, we actually stimulate the nerves, very strong signals. But very good images. Don't worry.
Myke: Cool - Can I see them?
MRI Tech: Sure!
(I had no idea what I was seeing, nothing really obvious, sorry) (tho they did look damn cool)

2-3 Weeks for Radiologist's report. I'll be requesting the 'films' from that too. Stay tuned.

Almost 100 days of suck completed!

Just as I started planning a post-Christmas trip to Amsterdam to see Alia & Martin & Samara, and celebrate the new year, my knee MRI gets booked too closely to make going worth it (in terms of affordability and time-spent.)
I guess I need plan for the unexpected, what with more tests, doctor's & surgeon's appointments - and likely surgery itself, I'm not really sure that I can plan any real trips/vacation at all in the next year... And we were talking about a family trip in the winter too. And K and I wanted escape somewhere too.

This 'blog is approaching LiveJournal levels of emo

Wrist MRI is confirmed for this weekend though!

"It's like twitter. Except we charge people to use it."

I'm sure it happens to graphic designers more than it does to me, but every so often, an existing client will come up with a brilliant idea that we'll make millions on, "we just have to bite the bullet for now." so-please-do-all-this-work-for-free. kthxbai.

Read This
This kind of person is why I've stopped doing things "for potential profit", because the amount of actual lost revenue has so far greatly outweighed all of the non-existent "profit" I've (never) seen. Ask me why my rates are "high".
_(via)

Champs-de-Mars

Had to go to Montréal for some datacenter stuff, so I took K along with me and we just had a nice weekend. Pretty decent view from the hotel eh?

Time Lapse Video

I also shot a lot of film
_{What's on Myke's arm??}

Again, another minor publication, but I'm not going to complain. This shot I took for Ian Capstick's 'blog post, but I'd also posted to Flickr and Schmap noticed.

I did get new arm candy:

"VACOhand"

_{(... I have two arms K, you're still my other candy}

So I've lost the use of my thumb, and all but my finger-tips, which pretty much renders my hand entirely useless, but the upside is that the pain & edema is significantly reduced. I feel (emotionally) human again. The past couple weeks were really rough, mostly because of the near-constant agony... but if near-complete immobility makes everything else better - I'll take it. Curiously, when I take it off my hand is almost normal, but within 30 minutes it's puffy, after an hour it's pretty huge; my inference is that using my thumb was a big irritant.

Apparently I can get this thing wet too, like swimming... but I think I'm going to hold off on that.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a fan of wearing a pound of plastic, foam & velcro, and it still hurts, it's just that things aren't that bad this week. And that's a huge improvement over the past 3 months.

I swear I'm going to need an oven-mitt for wearing outside during the winter... And sadly there's nowhere for blue LEDs!

10 Days till the MRI.

(Probably 6mo+ for the MRI on my knees, but that's a chronic problem, not acute, so I can wait.) (What? You didn't know my knees suck too?)

Can't believe it's been more than two and a half months.

There's been no improvement; and other than a possible upgrade to my arm-candy, it's just a waiting game. Sigh.
The TENS helps, but the effects don't last more than an hour or two after.

On my way home from K's last week, I witnessed an accident southbound on Riverside Drive at Industrial Avenue. I'd lined up in the left straight lane, which turns into the "Alta Vista Only" left turn lane onto Industrial Ave.. Apparently the car in front of me didn't realize this subtle change happens. So after queuing, s/he realized the traffic in the right lanes was still flowing, so the driver unceremoniously veered into the left-straight-through lane and cut off a Taurus, who, in the process of trying not to have a collision, slammed on his brakes and veered right... hitting a Civic in the right-straight-through lane. The driver/vehicle that caused this was long gone.

I decided to stick around because in my opinion the Taurus driver had no option and made the best of a bad situation, and thus was not at fault. (And could've hit my Element instead if he'd gone left instead!) I gave the drivers involved some advice and snapped some pictures. Left them my business card, told them I'd give a statement to the Police if needed, and then I left.

Apparently the boyfriend of the Civic owner is considering filing an insurance claim... So the mother of the lad driving the Civic called me this morning asking for the photos, which I've sent along. (They're easy enough to find in my gallery if you're so inclined...)

Considering the Civic is a 1989, rusted out monstrosity, that I doubt would pass an E-Test... I really hope this isn't going to turn into a protracted affair for those involved. It would seem rather futile to me.

... To my previous query. Rather candidly too, I appreciate that.

Hey Myke,

Thanks for the detailed information on your problem. Believe me, I understand your frustration. Unfortunatley, this is one of the stupid things about the iPhone. I agree, if you have USB for iPod, why would you use A2DP. Alas, until Apple provides a way to turn off A2DP/AVRCP, while maintaining HFP, the solutions you currently use would be the solution i'd use.

However, on my version of iPhone software (3.1.2), when I connect to an R800 and it kicks it to Bluetooth, on the iphone screen, at the bottom, there is a line that says connected and a bluetooth logo. If I click that, it gives me the option to quickly select between dock connector or JVC Unit. If i select dock connector, it's all good again. That might be an option for you. I'm not sure what version of software Apple added that feature into, so upgrading to the latest version in iTunes might provide a solution.

As for the USB hub, I don't believe you can use one. However, why not either A) keep the bluetooth dongle on the rear usb all the time, and the front for iPod...or B) vice versa (ipod on rear, and bluetooth in front all the time). B would probably be best, as the dongle should be unobtrusive on the front.

Let me know how it works out for you.

Just sent this note to JVC about my car stereo, we'll see if they respond...
(Mind you, this is what you'd call a 'first world problem')

---

Hi - I've got a KD-R800 with Bluetooth. This was installed in August 2009.

I love the unit, but I have an irritating problem that I don't know if it's possible to fix without a firmware update...

When I start my vehicle and connect the dock cable to my iPhone, music begins to play - this is desirable. Unfortunately, after a few moments the BlueTooth pairing completes and the iPhone switches to playing Audio via A2DP, even tho the JVC unit doesn't switch to that input (not that I'd want A2DP over the dock cable anyway)

I've determined three 'work-arounds' for this situation:
a) don't connect the dock cable until the BlueTooth has paired (this is annoying, and can take up to a minute)
b) Via the JVC menu -> BlueTooth -> Device -> Disconnect Audio (this is labour intensive)
c) Go to the iPod App on the iPhone and manually select the output (The iPhone is very latent at updating this menu, and this is a labour intensive operation as well)

Is there a way to permanently disable the JVC's A2DP profile? I can't think of any circumstance where I'd rather play audio via BlueTooth rather than over the Dock cable - since a) the dock sounds better and b) charges the phone.
There doesn't seem to be a way to disable A2DP on the iPhone either.

Given the new driving-cell-phone laws in Ontario, I'd rather not have to spend a minute fiddling with my stereo and/or phone EVERY TIME I start my engine.

And a second query (which I suppose I could answer via experimentation) - can I connect a USB hub to the KD-R800 so I can plug in the dock cable and bluetooth adapter via the REAR connection? This way I don't have to constantly remove the bluetooth adapter from the front (I'm concerned about losing it), or have cables hanging from my dash. Ironically someone just asked me the same question via my personal 'blog where I discussed this: http://www.mike.geiger.ca/blog/index.php?/archives/409-Exorcising-my-Blessed-Radio.html

Thanks for your assistance.

Myke