Well, finally some good news from the blogging realm. I finally figured out how to open the blog dashboard on my Android app. This means I am able to publish from my tablet which I am using to write since my Inspiron’s coffee collision. That takes care of the right now although it is difficult typing on this teensy-tiny keyboard. Since I am sure no one out there cares about my computer woes I will cut this short.
Giving blogging the finger and my sleeping health
Live from tablet world! I don’t yet have a wireless keyboard to, hopefully, make this more blog-like. I have also not figured out how to get my WordPress platform–if that is the correct terminology–working on this particular Android operating system. It is a real pain in the ass to train my opposable thumbs to work on this quote-unquote “virtual keyboard.”
So what does a quote-unquote blogger do? Hellafino. I have to later shower, eat and drive uptown to a private medical facility for a sleep study. It has been about 14 years after I covered my own sleep study at a VA-DOD center out near Fort Hood and discovered that, yeah, I indeed have sleep apnea. My picture was on PI above the fold and everything.
A look at the computer chip in my head CPAP machine by the VA revealed I wasn’t getting as much sleep as was thought during the pregnant pauses in my breathing during night-night. An echocardiogram recently showed I have a slightly enlarged heart. The heart doc at the VA said it can be a byproduct of sleep apnea. So we will look and see eventually. If you see me writing about a stress test some later, you too will know. I kind of wonder about the VA sending me to a local private mini-hospital and that happening PDQ. Is it me or the scandal nationwide that this sudden burst of medicine is about?
My fingers or finger, one, index, right, is about to give out. So it”s off to hopefully a good night’s sleep, with a touch of weird science.
It’s the same ol’ same ol’
Computer problems have raised their ugly head. I will monitor the laptop for a couple of days and see what happens. I have been intending on doing a factory restore. I just hadn’t backed up my files. I just finished that task. Now when I have a little time, then maybe I can wipe the slate clean. If that doesn’t work. Ugh! Buy yet another machine.
More to life …
Not much is left here today to say about the apparent suicide death of comedian and actor Robin Williams at his home overlooking the bay just north of San Francisco. Sources close to Williams said he had struggled with depression lately.
Many of my friends took to Facebook last night to pay tribute to Williams. One of the more poignant was by my friend Grace, who works for the VA seeking ways to fight manic depression. She posted on Facebook a number for the national suicide hotline and the suicide hotline for veterans. Watching the CBS Evening News just now, a National Suicide Prevention Lifeline official said the hotline received the most calls last night than in the previous year.
The Marin County Sheriff’s Department held a press conference today and laid out the preliminary findings into Williams’ death. Nothing was very enlightening or surprising. The late comedian who first appeared in the series “Mork and Mindy” and movies such as “The Dead Poets Society,” “Good Will Hunting,” and “Good Morning Vietnam,” apparently died from asphyxia after using a belt to hang himself. A nearby pocket knife and some superficial cuts on his wrists were also found, said Lt. Keith Boyd of the Marin Co. Sheriff’s Departments Coroners Division, in a prepared statement he read to reporters.
I suppose all that I — who likewise suffers from depression — can add is that people need to get their heads out of the sand and realize that depression is not just “feeling blue like everyone else.” It is a mental disease that is potentially deadly. The good news is there are plenty of medications out there that can help the symptoms and when the disease gets particularly ominous, there are plenty of people to whom one may speak about their situation.
One light shined by this tragic death is that all the money, the beautiful houses by the bay, honors, fame and even love from those around one can alone make someone healthy when depression takes aim.
No demons are left to torment you Robin, Truly, may you rest in peace.
UPDATE: Marin Co. Sheriff Office press release on Robin Williams death
1600 Los Gamos Drive, Suite 205
San Rafael, CA 94903
Marin County Sheriff’s Office
Coroner Division
Investigation into Death of Actor Robin Williams
On August 11, 2014, at approximately 11:55 am, Marin County Communications
received a 9-1-1 telephone call reporting a male adult had been located unconscious
and not breathing inside his residence in unincorporated Tiburon, CA. The Sheriff’s
Office, as well as the Tiburon Fire Department and Southern Marin Fire Protection
District were dispatched to the incident with emergency personnel arriving on scene at
12:00 pm. The male subject, pronounced deceased at 12:02 pm has been identified as
Robin McLaurin Williams, a 63 year old resident of unincorporated Tiburon, CA.
An investigation into the cause, manner, and circumstances of the death is currently
underway by the Investigations and Coroner Divisions of the Sheriff’s Office.
Preliminary information developed during the investigation indicates Mr. Williams was
last seen alive at his residence, where he resides with his wife, at approximately 10:00
pm on August 10, 2014. Mr. Williams was located this morning shortly before the 9-1-1
call was placed to Marin County Communications. At this time, the Sheriff’s Office
Coroner Division suspects the death to be a suicide due to asphyxia, but a
comprehensive investigation must be completed before a final determination is made.
A forensic examination is currently scheduled for August 12, 2014 with subsequent
toxicology testing to be conducted.