My neurologist and I have decided to stop Topamax because I have been having vision issues, like the last time I was on it.  Waking up in the morning I would get ghosting of images and my eyes in general would hurt all day long.  This probably is related to the possible side effect of closed angle glaucoma that Topamax can induce.  I had my eye pressures checked a while back and they were fine – but I didn’t again after increasing to 200mg/day.

The other thing I hadn’t realized is that Topamax seems to have been affecting my ability to develop software.  You’re reading that right – it prevented me from finding the right CODE TO TYPE.  I thought it was concentration issues or just the headaches in general but I think it has to do more with word association and the ability to think ahead of the code before programming it.  Even a few days after being off of the Topamax I could tell something had changed and I was back to my previous performance levels of slinging out code and finding solutions to problems.  I’d almost say that I’d rather deal with the cluster headaches than not have the ability to be a software engineer.

Anyone else have this type of experience?

Today I was in the restroom at work washing my hands and I looked up.  What did I see?  One of those evil machines staring at me with its single eye of death spray.  I thought to myself, you need to leave now before it sprays.  As I was drying my hands with my back to machine, it lets out the puff of air.

Awe shit.

Not more than two seconds later I felt the mist hit my neck and then into my sinuses.  You’d think the floral scent would be relaxing, but it’s not.  I’m very lucky I didn’t get a migraine out of this experience.  But now I know, the machines can read your thoughts and are as devious as those squirrels that run out in front of cars to make you swerve to miss them.

The client I’m at didn’t renew our contract through the end of the month, so I’m heading back in the office after April 24th.  I may already have another client booked but that hasn’t been finalized yet.  To be a consultant on the bench isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but I’m not bringing in money and it isn’t cheap to sit around doing nothing.  I’m not too worried as I’m continually adding to my skills to be more of a selling point to potential clients.  Enough about work.

School has been crazy, as usual.  I’m looking forward to finishing at the end of this month because Tazz and I are heading to New Mexico for five days and then to San Antonio for four days.  We’re going to see Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico along with the VLA (Very Large Array) near Socorro which was featured in the film Contact.  San Antonio will be four days of unplanned activities, mostly sitting around relaxing with my Aunt and Grandfather.  Tazz has never been to SA so he’s looking forward to it!

The household work has been a blast this spring, already.  Finally got the garage door replaced and entry door removed.  The chimney was falling apart and just dropped $2200 on a new liner and repair.  Next up, our driveway is getting ripped out and replaced because of water issues we were having in the basement.  It’s the year of repairs and I’m doing my part to stimulate the local economy.  (read: sarcasm)

Starting this fall, maybe even this summer, I will be starting initial work on my iPhone application for a migraine diary.  If you have interest in being part of my focus group and potentially a beta tester, let me know via a comment or send me an e-mail through my blog.

My client built out some pretty nice offices in a foundry that went out of business many years back.  The building has some strange space configurations given this history and not every desk has the best view or alignment with bathroom facilities, break rooms, etc.  My desk happens to be located right on a main walkway between two of the buildings this office covers.  A fairly wide hallway/breezeway is about 20 feet from my desk and has a number of break room tables located in that walkway.  During lunch, there is a group of ladies who get together and have a jolly old time.

They cackle like hens and it’s maddening.

I’m all for a stress-relieving lunch, but do they realize they’re smack in the middle of a business?  The tall ceilings lend themselves to horrendous echoes and when all five of them get wound up in their air-raid siren guffaw, I nearly lose it.  Being a consultant, I have to maintain a level of acceptance of the client, even if I don’t work with them.  However, I think I will print a small sign up saying “Please be mindful – voices carry!” or something neutral of the sort.  They have plastic sign holders for announcements and it would look professional enough.  But a part of me wants to throw my desk chair at them.  It doesn’t help when I have a migraine and music hurts my ears.  I should record them sometime so you can get the full effect.

Camping this past weekend at KOA in Wisconsin Dells was great.  The cabin was cozy, the people very friendly, and the weather beyond awesome.  It put a nice end to the summer season!  This is actually my favorite time of the year, with the trees turning colors and the air a bit chilly at night.  The trees just started to turn in our area and soon we’ll be left with the grey skeletons of branches.  Of course, not soon after those grey skeletons turn white in winter with all of the snow.  That’s fun too!

School has turned out to be manageable this semester.  My Monday night class is a lot of work and the four person team only has myself and one other person doing any work.  It sucks how inexperienced the other two guys are and I wouldn’t complain if this were an undergrad degree.  Master’s degree implies a level of knowledge on the applied level.  I shouldn’t have to teach people concepts that I learned during my Associate’s Degree schooling.

The new client at work has been good so far.  I am busy all day long and have very little time to goof off.  I’m learning a lot as well and finally applying my schooling to my job.  My previous jobs and clients were technical in nature but in reality all revolving around non-software engineering positions.  I’m finally designing applications and also implementing those designs.  Fun, yes, but exhausting.

My Grandather is coming up from Texas this coming weekend to visit mainly my parents, but also my brother and I.  He’s in the dark about me being gas, but he’s a smart guy and probably knows.  He knows Tazz is a friend at least and he’ll be with me when we go up this weekend.  I think it’s good that Tazz get to know my Grandfather a little bit since it explains a lot about my father. 

I’m hosting a carnival next month – topic is art inspired by migraines.  I’ll post more on it later.

I have two classes this semester.  My Monday night class is called “Software Engineering” and it seemed like a fun class when I got the book.  Remember here, I am a geek at heart and stuff like physics and engineering are right up my alley.  Within 20 minutes of night #1, I was already crapping my pants.  Every computer class that I’ve had up to this point with a group project includes a fake company and project to work on.  This class has a real project that we MUST complete by the end of the semester.  Why am I in software engineering if I hate working with other people?  Not quite sure, really.  The application we’re building is going to help the disability services group on campus to manage requests for accommodations due to a disability.  It’s going to a good cause but already, I can see they don’t even know what they need for an application.  Thankfully my Thursday night class is somewhat of a repeat of an undergraduate class I took.

Work took kind of a weird turn at the end of last month.  The current client I’m at (remember I’m a computer consultant/bitch for hire) had me contracted through December 31st.  They are a relatively small hedge fund and recently had to “reorganize” their staff which ultimately led to me being dropped at the end of September.  My employer found me a new client to interview with and they accepted me to start 10/1.  I do feel lucky that I don’t have to sit on the bench waiting for a new client – some of my coworkers don’t have an engagement to follow up with.  The only thing that scares me is that this will be my first real development job.  Up until now, I usually work on reporting with some programming mixed in.  This is going to be a real project with deliverables.  Frightening.  It’s good that I’m finally getting what I want to get into but I can be a baby about it, right?  (Remember, I said back in October 2005, I like to bitch about everything!)

As for vacation, Tazz and I have had our share of adventures this year.  A cruise to the Bahamas in January, camping twice, road trip to Niagara Falls & Toronto and a casino trip last weekend.  All in all, we had fun.  I’m going to San Antonio again this coming Thursday and will be back in town Monday night, late.  I like visiting my family and have been fortunate enough to be able to do it every six months for the past two years.  Our last trip of the year was supposed to be tent camping October 10th.  We decided, because of being rained out last week, to switch it up and rent a cabin so we can’t be rained out.  It’s going to be at a KOA campground, which is to say the least the most commercial campground ever.  We’re going to have WiFi – that’s NOT camping.  But, alas, we’ll be able to have a fire and still do things in the area.

So that’s kind of the catch-up.  I need to get back to the homework so I can relieve the anxiety I have about not having a good grasp around my classes.  Toodles!

I was pleased to find the room being very clean and none of that “was once a smoking room but now isn’t” smell.  The beds were clean, soft, and not full of stinky detergents.  I’m not THAT sensitive to perfumes and smells but sometimes I get whacked upside the head with things like cleaners, gasoline vapors, and perfume.  I don’t have to ask for a scent-free room but it was nice not having to!!

The casino was fun, smokey, but still fun.  We play the “cheap” slots and had a good time.  Ended up ordering take-out to the room and watched the Weather Channel all night.  Weather geeks at heart and the hurricane Ike was more entertaining than I thought it would be.  Strange how we’re getting rain from the remnants of Ike.

This Friday I have a certification exam for work, Saturday is a 5km walk for Milwaukee Children’s Hospital, and then Saturday night Tazz’s family is coming up to my parents’ place for dinner.  Busy week coming up.  Cheers!

I can deal with headaches and crap like that but being sick just plain SUCKS.  Nothing is comfortable and even your bed which is like the number one safe zone turns into a stink pit after two days of being sick.  We did the smart thing and changed all the bedding and kept using new cups so not to reinfect ourselves with the same crap we’ve had.  I, against my better judgment, bought the tissues with the antiviral stuff in them to prevent the spread of the junk.  We’ll see if that helps.

I’m hocked up on cold medicine right now.  I’m looking forward to a normal week of weather.  Only nice thing was both nights of school were canceled this week.  I was not caught up at all from my vacation so I am going to use this weekend to get caught up.  We’ll see if that really happens.