Stop the noise! The best Christmas gift of all!

Hard confession here, I snore. Not a little, I am told by my wife I could rival any freight train. While that noise is a huge disruption to her sleep, and that of my children, I have discovered the snoring is something much worse. My arms would flail at night, my legs would twitch followed by what my wife described as gasping for breath. Over the last year I noticed I was more fatigued, found it more difficult to drive for long periods without scaring myself by nodding at the wheel.

After more than a decade of prodding by my wife, I started researching and then visited a total of three specialists. After an extensive sleep study, the most intense and thorough medical exam I have ever experienced with more sensors attached than an astronaut preparing for a space shuttle flight, I was diagnosed with severe sleep apnea. I was stopping breathing dozens of times every night, and never reaching REM sleep. Plus, my oxygen concentration was falling into the low 80’s, very dangerous! In short, the doctor said I was exhausted. After exploring all the possible treatments, a surgeon convinced me none of the innovative things he or other surgeons could do would be a 100 per cent fix. But, he said there was an absolute cure, a machine called CPAP. I first used CPAP during my sleep study. I got to choose from a large array of “masks,” I chose the “nose pillows” that look a bit like a tiny scuba apparatus, and slept like a baby!

I am now in my second week with the machine at home. We feared we might be replacing my snoring with a noisy machine, but not so. I do not snore at all now, do not gasp for breath at night, the machine is very high tech and very quiet. The mask takes a bit of getting used to, but unless you are claustrophobic it is very tolerable, especially considering the results. My energy level is soaring, I do not feel drowsy, I am back in the gym and losing weight (doctor ordered I might add). In short, I feel great!

All of that considered, there are a couple of other reasons I call this the best Christmas gift of all; my wife can sleep comfortably, no more running to the couch in the living room to escape the freight train noise, and something else; the doctor says I will live a lot longer! I can look forward to enjoying grandchildren some day.

This is going to be a very good Christmas, and yes it will be a “silent night.” Merry Christmas everyone, and to all a good night’s sleep.

One went out! Which one?

Oh! How I love Christmas! Oh! How I really dislike putting up the “pre-lit” tree, getting ornaments hung and the very next day a string of lights right in the middle of the tree goes out. It was one of those long 100 bulb strings, and only half of it went out. So, do I string a new set over the top of the old half out string, or do I remove the old one and start fresh? Surely I am not the only one to face this monumental question. Well, I decided to “do it right,” take the old half lit string off and replaced it with a new one. And in the process, another half string went out! Holy smoke! Yea, I took that whole thing out and put in a second new string. 2 and 1/2 hours and 2 diet Cokes later, the tree was done and in full twinkle again! Not all bad. My daughter entertained me by reading aloud her 4 chapters of “Junie B. First Grader Aloha-ha-ha!” Twice! The tree is back, we can have Christmas now.

A bright idea! My bulb experiment.

Have you ever needed to replace a light bulb, rushed over to Home Depot only to look down the lighting aisle and be overwhelmed with that “Oh my God!” feeling? That happened to me this morning. My wife asked me to replace a spot light in her children’s store, sounds easy enough, eh. But, this one type of 50 watt mini spot keeps burning out, so I asked the Home Depot “bulb man” to guide me to a better bulb that would last longer. Boy, was I in for an education!

Did you know consumer light bulbs are made for 120 volt current, and that the current coming into our homes and businesses is usually hotter than that? Well, that hotter current shortens the life of the 120 volt bulbs, according to the “bulb man.” What to do? Do I buy the “halogen” with longer life but is hotter than a pistol, or do I do the full spectrum Neodymium (that’s a new one on me), or go fluorescent (the green way), or even greener with the longer lasting and much more expensive LED’s? Choices!

Then the “bulb man” clued me in on a secret; commercial grade bulbs are built on a 130 volt model, they cost more (a lot more), but they last a lot longer, because the filaments inside are thicker and don’t burn out from power spikes above 120 volts. I was sold! BUT, then he made me feel guilty about buying the energy hog, and told me how much money I would save on electricity buying fluorescent bulbs. Good grief!

So, I am doing a little experiment. I bought a box of the commercial grade 50 watt mini spots (6 of them) and a whole bunch of “daylight bright” fluorescent bulbs. The spots at the store (left on all the time) have been lasting about 5 months. Let’s see how long these commercial ones last (the “bulb man” says 5 years, ha!). I am replacing every incandescent bulb in my house with the fluorescents, the “bulb man” says I will see the difference immediately on my electric bill. I can’t wait! I’ll let you know the results.