Posts in the “personal” category

My colectomy (colon resection) experience (recovery, diet)

“I’m going to have to resect the colon.”

~ pretty much every surgeon on M*A*S*H at some point

In 2018 I had to have a colectomy surgery, which is also known as a colon resection. Here’s a diary of my colectomy experience.

Background: Diverticulitis

I had two bouts of diverticulitis in the lower-left portion of my abdomen, once in 2015 and again late in 2017. After the second bout in 2017 the pain never went away completely, and would get significantly worse if I tried to eat normal, high-fiber foods like cereal, wheat bread, broccoli, etc.

What are Ram Dass’s best books (recommendations, ranked)

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While many people know the famous Ram Dass book, Be Here Now — which is currently the #1 All-Time Best-Selling book in Spiritualism on Amazon — I’d argue that it’s not his best book. I had a young friend in Colorado who was struggling with it because of all the art and 1960s “hippie style” stuff — which I personally like — and it was at that time I realized that while Be Here Now is his most famous book, it may not be his best book.

IMHO, I think the following books are his best, where I believe best will depend on a person’s experience with his writings and teachings, and also their own progress on the spiritual path.

Ezoic ads vs Google AdSense

March 27, 2024: I just received my first payment from Ezoic ads, so that’s cool.

March 16, 2024: As a brief note today, I recently started using Ezoic for the ads on this website, and so far my revenue is much greater than it was with Google AdSense. My ad revenue has increased 100%, maybe more.

Switching from AdSense to Ezoic

For a long time I was afraid to switch to another company besides AdSense because I had not heard of Ezoic and others, but after several weeks on their platform, all is well.

I should also say that I was very busy, and I thought that “making the switch” might take a while, but if you have existing AdSense and Analytics accounts, it doesn’t seem to take too long. The actual time I spent on a computer to make the changes was probably about 4-8 hours overall, but in calendar time it took a few days because of the AdSense and Analytics integration (waiting), and a few other configuration things I had to wait for. (So, several days in calendar time, but 4-8 hours in actual time.)

It’s also important to note that Ezoic is an AdSense partner, which I discuss more below.

Mad As a Hatter, by Larkin Poe

One of my favorite songs of late is named Mad As A Hatter, by Larkin Poe. The song is about their grandfather, who has schizophrenia, and their grandmother, who has dementia.

Maharaj-ji, Ram Dass, and Maya (illusion)

As I continue my quest to learn about Ram Dass and Maya (illusion), I also had a very hard time finding any quotes about Maharaj-ji and Maya, and after sifting through about 1,000 pages of books I finally found this Maharaj-ji quote:

  • “All is God’s will, but Maya prevents you from knowing it’s all God’s will.”

If you’re interested in this, you can find this quote and a little bit more on page 326 of the book, Miracle of Love.

October, 2023 Update: I also just found the following quotes in an out-of-print book about Maharaj-ji:

  • “You see others trapped by maya (illusion).”
  • “This temple and whatever is seen by the human eye are illusion.”
  • “Delusion makes everything look real.”

In that first quote the “(illusion)” part was in the book, I didn’t add that.

The Fringe episode with the song, “Seen All Good People”, by Yes

If you’re looking for the Fringe episode with the song, “I’ve Seen All Good People”, by Yes, it’s the Season 2, Episode 4 episode named, “Momentum Deferred.” It’s just before the 20-minute mark of that episode. It’s the one where Walter starts playing the song, hits the table, and Peter starts putting the wires on Rebecca Kibner (Theresa Russell). “I’ve Seen All Good People” is one of my favorite songs, so it’s great to see it and other Yes songs featured on Fringe.

The meaning of the Alanis Morissette song, Thank You (Thank U)

This is my interpretation of the meaning of the Alanis Morissette song, Thank You (also known as Thank U). I don’t claim any special knowledge about the song; this interpretation of the lyrics is just based on my understanding of Zen, Buddhism, and also my practicing of yoga, specifically Iyengar yoga. If you’ve read some of the personal entries on this website about Zen, yoga, mindfulness, and meditation, you know a lot of what I know.

My gallstones diet advice: how to live with gallstones

Note: I originally wrote this article in the summer of 2010. I survived on this diet for a long time, but eventually gave up my gallbladder to a surgeon.

My gallstones diet advice: Ugh, my health has destroyed my productivity lately. Due to a mysterious stomach ailment, I’ve had a lot of “stomach” pain, visited the ER several times, met a lot of doctors, had many tests, and lost thirty pounds in less than seven weeks.

Sage Hotel, Santa Fe: Bed bug report

In a personal note, I found out that the Sage Hotel in Santa Fe, New Mexico had bed bugs when I stayed there in late 2023. The photos below show the bed bugs that I discovered on the bed at 1:15 a.m. one morning, and the resulting invoice/receipt from the Sage Hotel (formerly named Sage Inn Hotel).

2024 Update #1: I wrote the Sage Hotel in 2024 about my experience, and how disappointed I was — both with the hotel having bed bugs and with their service — and never received any sort of reply.

2024 Update #2: Also, I talked to a person who checked me into another hotel, and they said (a) they’ve never had bed bugs, and (b) if they ever did, they would give customers a full refund. (The Sage Hotel would not give me a full refund.)

Sage Hotel bed bug images

This first photo is from the bed bug I killed. I woke up, saw something moving in the bed, pressed it with my finger, it popped, and left this blood stain:

Allergic angina (Kounis Syndrome) in mast cell disease patients

Everyone tells me that the cardiologist I see is the best heart doctor in Boulder, Colorado, so on Thursday we were talking and I was telling him that it looks like I have mast cell activation disease, and said, “So that fake heart attack I had last May may have been allergic angina, you know, Kounis Syndrome. If we had known about MCAS at that time I might not have needed that angiogram, yada yada yada.” Then he said, “Wait, what was the name of that disease?”

At first I was upset that he didn’t know what this was, but then I realized how rare mast cell disease is. Statistically there are only 26 other people in Colorado with this disease, and if I was still in Alaska there would only be three or four of us. (This is the same doctor who knew what a Pheochromocytoma is, and told me to get to the Mayo Clinic asap.)

The good news is that I was able to give him all of the information I have on mast cell disease and Kounis Syndrome, so hopefully in the future he can try giving patients who present unusually some Benadryl and see if that helps. (I started to write, “Give them Benadryl instead of an angiogram,” but the stress test showed a possible dead spot in my heart, so I was getting that angiogram one way or another.)

(This image comes from the book, Never Bet Against Occam: Mast Cell Activation Disease.)

Black paint that "turns any surface into a chalkboard"

A few days ago I found this black paint that “turns any surface into a chalkboard.” I’ve been painting the backs of some cheap cabinets, whose backs are now exposed after I moved some furniture around. If you know me, you know I like to have surfaces I can write on. :)

What are bed bugs?

In a 2023 trip to New Mexico, I found out that The Sage Hotel in Santa Fe has bed bugs, and since then I’ve been trying to learn more about them. I asked ChatGPT, “What are bed bugs,” and got this answer (which I edited slightly for brevity and clarity):

Bed bugs are small, parasitic insects that feed on the blood of humans and animals. The common bed bug, Cimex lectularius, and the tropical bed bug, Cimex hemipterus, are the two main species that feed on humans. Bed bugs belong to the family Cimicidae and the order Hemiptera.

Key characteristics of bed bugs include:

  • Size and appearance
  • Feeding behavior
  • Habitat
  • Reproduction
  • Resilience

Signs of a bed bug infestation include itchy welts or bites on the skin, small reddish-brown bugs on bedding or furniture, and dark spots (fecal matter) on surfaces.

Shadow on a cold day in Santa Fe

I just ran across this photo of my shadow. I accidentally took this picture while walking on a cold day in Santa Fe earlier this year.

Pay attention as if your life depends on it

Dateline, 2015: I really like this quote about “paying attention as if your life depends on it.”

One night last spring I laid in bed, unable to move because of severe pain in my chest. Any time I tried to move the pain got worse, so I laid as still as possible. I was laying on my right side, looking at a bedside table, and all I could do was breathe and look at that table, what was on the table, and see the light coming in from outside and shining on the table.

Ender’s Game

I saw Ender’s Game at the movie theater and thought it was a good movie, but given its dark nature I never expected to watch it again. But after buying a new television — my previous tv was smaller than my iMac, and so old that it didn’t have any HDMI or USB connections — I saw the movie marked down to $5, and it now has the distinction of being the first movie I watched on the new tv. Kudos to Asa Butterfield (probably 15 years of age at the time the movie was made), he pretty much carries the entire movie, with a little help from Harrison Ford and a few others.