News and Views From my kids accomplishments, to my heretical perspective of the world

October 25, 2012

Shoulder Surgery, Next Generation

Filed under: Family Updates — Daryl @ 5:37 pm

Not me this time. Derek tore the labrum in his left shoulder playing soccer a few months ago. He had laparoscopic surgery this morning to repair it. Everything went well and he is at our house spaced out on pain pills this evening.

The labrum helps hold the arm bone (humerus) in the socket. When it is torn, the shoulder can easily dislocate, and Derek had two tears, one short and one quite long. After about a year of recovery from surgery Derek should have a normal shoulder again. Meanwhile he will be in a sling for a few weeks, and in physical therapy for a few months.

In the picture below (taken during his surgery), you can see near the middle of the screen how the cartilage is peeled back from the bone
Torn Labrum

In the next picture, you can see how it has been stitched back together. This smaller tear only took one stitch, while the larger one took 3.
Stitched Labrum

You can also see one of the laparoscopic instruments in the lower picture, though I’m not sure what it is for. Probably just a tube for inserting various instruments as needed.

October 24, 2012

Ooma

Filed under: Computers, Tech & Science,Family Updates — Daryl @ 12:10 pm

I’ve just subscribed to a VOIP telephone service, Ooma. That’s “Voice Over IP”, which means it uses my internet connection to make phone calls.

The main advantage is cost. The monthly fee amounts to about $4, which includes unlimited calls anywhere in the US and Canada. International calls are cheap too — Taiwan landlines cost about 3 cents a minute, though Taiwan cell phones are about 11 cents. Still cheap. I will probably opt for the $10/month premier package that includes enhanced Caller ID, and a community block list where people share the phone numbers of solicitors so we can block them.

I just set it up this morning, so we don’t have a lot of experience to report on call quality and reliability, but the few calls I have made sound good.

Some people have asked why we continue to have a home phone. International calls is one big reason. It costs a lot to call Taiwan or Australia on a cell phone. Another reason is so I don’t have to give my cell phone out and start receiving solicitations everywhere I go.

I’ll update after we have tried it for a while. Right now it is a separate number, but if we are satisfied with the quality and reliability we will port our existing home phone number over and cancel Qwest.

October 9, 2012

California

Filed under: Family Updates — Daryl @ 10:23 pm

Gisele and I are off for California tomorrow, spending a couple of days in the LA area before heading up to San Francisco for a few more days.

Derek and Apollo are staying home.

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