Dentist Appointment

Today was my dentist appointment to check how the extraction site is healing. The appointment was for 9.30 am and Kenny and I got there a few minutes after 9. Usually I don't have to wait long. Not so this time. My dentist was running late. Apparently an earlier appointment took way longer than they expected to. So Kenny and I had to wait for about an hour. Since my dad was a dentist himself I knew that are things that can happen... and there would be no point to get upset about that. So after about 1 hour wait, my dentist finally took a look at the extraction site... and it's healing very nice. Everything is looking so good that we set up an appointment for the end of next week to remove the temporary crowns and have 2 permanent crowns put in. Then this major dental work will be over. Of course there are quite a number of minor dental issues, that eventually need to be addressed... otherwise they're going to became a major issue as well. That's definitely something I want to avoid!

Weed Control - Day 2

Today I continued work on the south facing slope of our property. First I dealt with a 60 x 100 ft area. Parts of it was in a quite flat area, the rest was in the steep part of the south facing slope. That part took me about 1 1/2 hours to finish. Once that was done I took a break of a little over 1/2 hour.
The I went back to work on the slope. This time I decidedto focus more on steep part of the slope, since that is way more challenging than the rather flat part. The flat part you can pretty much cut down a weed whacker. Of course you could try that in the steeper part as well, but you're probably better off doing the weed management by hand. Either way, working on the slope takes getting used to. About 1 1/2 hours later I was done cleaning the upper part of another 60 ft section of the slope. I only cleaned the upper half, since that is the way steeper part of the slope... and I left the lower part for a later. By the time I was done with that part of weed management our neighbor Brad stopped by and offered that over the weekend I can borrow his 25" width weed whacker, what should make weed control not only way easier but also way quicker. Shortly after Brad had left Kennygot back from the last day of 'The Guild' shoot and he brought lunch for me.
After lunch both of us went back out. I continued to work on the steep part of the south facing slope. Kenny put parts of the weeds, that had been piling up during the last couple of days, into the trash dumpster. Then we decided that we would pile up all the remaining weeds on the side of the garage. It's quite a pile, but there a lots of piles all over the south facing slope that we will have to bring up to the garage as well. I guess it will depend on how much weeds we are left after all the weeds management is done, if we are going to rent a separate trash dumpster or if we will stuff it gradually into our regular trash dumpster. After Kenny and I had worked in the yard for about 1 hour or see, we decided to take a break from the yard work and catch up on a few TV shows.
After I had taken a break for about 1 hour or so I decided to go back out again for a final round. Again I focused on the steep part of the south facing slope. It took me about 1 hour to get another 60 ft wide section cleared of weeds. Once I was done I inspected today's progress and I'm very satisfied with it, since I managed to clear almost 2/3 of the lowersouth facing slope.
I hope to get the entire lower part of the south slope finished by tomorrow. Guess I will see how that works out. I will keep you guys posted on the progress!

Weed Control

After having had a talk with our neighbor on Saturday I reread the Brush Clearance Ordinance for LA County. Turns out that, in the area where we live, we have to clear brush and weeds 200 feet around every structure on the property. When I looked at the current state of the brush clearance of our property, it was quiteclear to me that this wasn't up to code. So that had to be addressed otherwise we would be fined by the county... and I really don't have any intention of paying a fine that can easily be avoided.

The north facing slope of our property is pretty much fine, since there is no grass or weeds growing. Lots of shrubs and that is OK. Eventually the shrubbery needs to be thinned out to transform the north facing slope into a Fire-safe landscape. But for now that will have to wait.

The east, west and south facing slopes of our property will have to

be addressed

first since they are way too overgrown with weeds.

Today I started with the south facing slope. First I started to clean up the area along the driveway. Next on the agenda was the the area around the well pump and the propane tank. Then I started clearing the steeper part of the slope. While I was working on that part of the south facing slope it hit me that pulling the weeds out with the roots is just a loosing battle. On the one hand it takes way longer and on the other hand you get only 1/2 of the

weeds out with the root anyways. So that pretty much defeats the purpose. So I changed from weed removal to weed management.

While taking a break I checked the Brush Clearance Ordinance again... in essence it states that grass and weeds have to be cut down and are not allowed to be longer than 3" at the most. That certainly makes my job way easier.

While I was clearing the slope of weeds I discovered that there were parts of what used to be a irrigation system for the south facing slope... and at one point there must have been a couple of trees there as well. Eventually we will have to decided what to do with this part of the property and what we're going to do with the non functioning parts of the old irrigation system.

All in all I spent about 5 hours working on that slope and I only managed to get about 1/3 done. But it definitely looks so much better now and I'm quite pleased with the progress I made.

More Yard Work

Owning 2 1/2 acre of land is great. Now question about that. But if you have to keep the weeds in check that can be quite a nightmare. Both, Kenny and I, have been working on the weed control for the past few month. We go out a couple of our every day to try to keep them in check. Well, I do it a lot more, since I'm more time home than Kenny. But weed control is tough work. It seems that by the time you're done with one section and move on to the next section, the weeds have just grown back on the section you just have been working on. In spring weed control is literally a full time job! We can't use chemical weed removers since they are toxic for pets and I definitely don't want to introduce those toxins into the water table (which is our drinking water). So you have to do it as they've done it for a Millenia... you have to hand pull them. Today we went to Home Depot to pick up some tools to aid us in the battle against the weeds. We have put up a good fight but lately I had more and more the impression that we're loosing that battle. Maybe the right solution is to change from weed removal to weed management!

Visiting Family

Today Kenny and I went to see Kenny's family (Dad, Kenny's brother, sister-in-law and nephew). It's been a few weeks and we like to see these guys as often as we can. When we got there, Kenny's Mom was there as well and that was a welcome opportunity to spend some time with her as well. We spent about 1 hour or so with everyone and then we took Kenny's Dad to Hongkong, our favorite chinese restaurant. We had planned to take Kenny's Dad to a movie, but he had plans to play poker later that day. So we headed back to the house and spent a few more hours with family before heading back home.
It's amazing how fast Kenobi is growing. He'll be 1 year old next month.

Ironman 2

Today Kenny and I went to see Ironman 2 for the first time. It has been quite a while since the movie came out. But there never seemed to be time to go and see it. I really did enjoy Ironman 2. It's action packed and full absolutely amazing Special FX. I was absolutely in love with many of the Special effects. Ironman 2 is pure entertainment. Nothing that requires you to think about, just lean back and enjoy the ride.

Make sure to stay after the credits. You won't be disappointed!!

For those of you guys who don't have a clue what I'm talking about, here's a synopsis of Ironman 2:

With the world now aware of his dual life as the armored superhero Iron Man, billionaire inventor Tony Stark faces pressure from the government, the press, and the public to share his technology with the military. Unwilling to let go of his invention, Stark, along with Pepper Potts, and James "Rhodey" Rhodes at his side, must forge new alliances - and confront powerful enemies.

Erands

Today was quite a day of errands. Kenny woke me up at 9.30 am, since we had to be out of the house by 10 am at the latest. I had to take my truck to the Dodge Dealer in Canoga Park, as that's the closest Dodge dealer to us. We left around 9.45 am. Of course both of us had to get gas before we could hit the road. We made it to the Dodge dealer with about 15 minutes to spare. My truck had to go in for the 12,000 mile service. Besides that they had to check a couple of recall parts and I wanted them to check what's the reason that the tire pressure sensor lights up fairly often.
Next we went to get Kenny's spare tire fixed at a Just Tires store in Reseda, our old neighborhood. Turns out that the spare tire couldn't be fixed since the hole was in the sidewall of the tire. So that tire had to be replaced completely. Kenny also opted to replace a second tire since that was starting to come apart as well. All in all we spent about 1 hour or so at the tire place and the total cost was about 250 bucks.

After that Kenny and I had planned to go for lunch at the 'Wood Ranch Bar & Grill' and both of us were looking forward to that. As we got there they had some technical problems in the kitchen so we went over to Claim Jumper. Kenny had the Rotisserie Chicken Lunch and I had Steak. Lunch was absolutely delicious.
After lunch Kenny wanted to get a new prescription for his glasses... but the next available appointment was not for another 2 1/2 hours. So we decided to do Kenny's glasses at a later point, since we wanted to see a movie as well.
First we checked the theatre in the Northridge Mall, but nothing we wanted to see was playing. So we decided to head over to Pacific Theatre's in Winnetka. Turns out that Ironman 2 was playing and neither of us had seen Ironman... and so we decided to see Ironman 2. By the time the movie was over my truck should be ready as well. About 1/2 before the end of the movie Kenny noticed that he had a missed call and from the number I could tell that it was the Dodge Dealer. When we got out of the movie Kenny called back and it turns out that my truck is ready... at least sorta. Meaning that the 12,000 mile service had been finished. But some of the work on the recall parts didn't get completed. So I will have to take my truck back in during the next week.
We then headed over to the Dodge Dealer in Canoga Park and set up the appointment to get the rest of the work on the recall parts done for next Thursday.
We got home by about 5 pm. So it was quite a busy day!

David vs Goliath

That might just be the 'David' that slays the 'Goliath' Facebook. Those 4 guys propose a very intriguing new concept. It certainly would solve the all the privacy issues. Looking forward to seeing the first running version come out later this year !!

Facebook Audit

Today I spent a couple of hours auditing my facebook account. The reason for that were the recent changes in facebook's privacy policy and especially the way they implemented those changes. I don't have a problem if a change in privacy occurs. Where I have a problem is if a change in the privacy policy is implemented without the users being notified. That's is exactly what facebook has been doing several times over the past few month. The other thing that has been bothering me is the fact that facebook has chosen a 'opt-out' over and 'opt-in' approach. There is a right and a wrong way to do things. To have every user being automatically 'opted-in' is definitely the wrong approach. Besides that there have been several security breaches regarding facebooks privacy settings, and facebook never found it worth it to notify users about that. Today I finally took the time to audit my facebook account, since facebook's privacy settings can no longer be trusted. Here's a quick breakdown what I changed:

I left the 'About Me' Section pretty much the same. It still shows the basic information like Sex, Birthday, Relationship status, Interested In, Looking For, Current City, Hometown, Political & Religious Views.

I deleted my entire Bio, except for my favorite quote.

Work and Education details are completely gone.

I've also removed my Likes and Interests.

Then I went into the application settings and removed all application that I don't regularly use. Next I removed all permissions of that I no longer use on a regular basis. To top the audit off I re-examined all remaining permissions.

I don't think that my Bio, my Work and Education Data and my Likes and Interests should be broadcasted all over the Internet. I just don't think it's a good idea to have all that information made a public record. Furthermore I don't think it's a good idea if facebook shares the above data with 3rd party providers without my explicit permission. That's the main reason why I've reduced my profile pretty much to the bare basics.

I've left the Photos and Videos as the were. I'm not quite willing to de tag and/or remove them yet. I think it is possible that this will become necessary at some time. But then I will have to really question if it wouldn't be easier just to delete the entire account. For right now I'm not willing to go that far.

Of course I'm aware of the fact, that if some of my friends use certain facebook Apps, that these Apps have access to my personal data, although I don't even use those Apps myself. And there is nothing I can do about it. But the less personal Data is available to facebook the less they can broadcast all over the internet.

My email, Skype and IM handle are still part of my public profile. That way anyone who needs to get a hold of me can do exactly that. Anyone who wants to know more personal details about me have to ask me those via email or IM! Of course I posted only my secondary email address to my public facebook profile. If Facebook should misuse my email address... One mouse click and the email address is deleted.

Prop 16

Today I finally got around to work on the finishing touches of episode 2 of "The Independent Observer". This episode deals with the details of the California Prop 16!

Click here to check it out on my YouTube Channel

or watch it below!

Skype Call with Family

Today I finally called my mom after dental surgery. I had promised to call to let my parents know how the surgery went. Yesterday I could have done it, but I was still a little sore. So today I called my parents and let them know how my dentist appointment went. Good thing that I called as my mom was starting to get worried. It was fun talking to them and hearing what's going on 'across the pond' and how they're doing. They're doing just fine... and that's always great to hear. We talked for about 45 min. or so. There's always lots to talk about, since I only call them every few month. Luckily I call them via Skype, otherwise that would bankrupt me.

Lunch at Chevy's

Today I was still recovering from yesterday's dental surgery. But I thought going with Kenny out for lunch might be fun. We thought about what would be easiest for me to eat and settled on Chevy's. We drove down from our place to Burbank and picked up Brian and Will, two of Kenny's co-workers. We headed over to Chevy's and had lunch there. Surprisingly I didn't have any issues with the food at all... and as always the food was absolutely delicious. Hanging out with Brian and Will during their lunch break was lots of fun.

Dentist Appointment

Today I had my appointment with the dentist to have 1 Molar pulled and Root Canal Work on 2 more Molars done. The appointment was at 10 am. So Kenny and I left at 8.30 and got to Van Nuys around 9.30. We decided to get into the dental place and that way I got a head start on the paperwork. Around 10 am they called me into the Operating Room. I laid down on the operating table and the nurse connected the monitor cables to my chest. After that Dr. Gottschalk, the anesthesiologist mad sure that I didn't have anything to eat or drink from midnight on. Then he started the anesthesia IV. The last thing I remember was he telling me that the next thing I will remember will be waking up from the anesthesia. I just heard the nurse telling me that she will take off my glasses. I never even saw my dentist. With that I was completely out for the next 2 1/2 hours. The first thing I remember was my hubby talking to me while being rolled out on a wheelchair from the dental place. I still have no clue what my hubby was saying to me. I must have slept for most of the travel... as the next thing I remember was getting of the freeway in Santa Clarita and driving to the CVS to order the Meds I had been prescribed. My dentist prescribed Vicodin against the pain and Amoxicillin (an antibiotic) for the extraction. After that we headed home, where I just hung out on the recliner.

At that time I was still so groggy that the extraction site didn't even hurt. The only thing that I felt was having a sore throat from being intubated while under anesthesia. 2 hours later the effects from the anesthesia wore off and I was in way too much pain. The pain from the extraction literally drove me out of my mind. I could have screamed or jumped onto the ceiling if I hadn't been afraid of ripping suture. Luckily we had still Vicodin from my last tooth extraction at home. So Kenny got me one of the Vicodin's and an ice-pack and that took the edge of the pain within the next 15 minutes. Kenny then left to pick up the Meds in Santa Clarita. By the time he got back I was looking way better and in a way better spirit.

For me it's meanwhile the 4th time going through that kind of pain. That's the thing with having a molar pulled. It irritates the nervus mandibularis (the jaw nerve) and that leads to an incredible amount of pain. Somehow I expected that this would be happening and it did. But there's nothing you can do about it, than endure it.

Around 8 pm I took another Vicodin, but this time the pain had not been that bad than in the afternoon. It was mostly normal postoperative discomfort and a some pain from the swelling of the extraction site.

The 1.000 bucks I paid extra for the anesthesia were definitely well worth it. It was the most 'enjoyable' dentist appointment of my entire life. If you have a hard time dealing with pain during dental procedures, I would definitely suggest it!!!