WozzTopia

So much for going home this morning, they have now told me they want me to have a transesophageal echocardiogram (TOE) to further investigate the suspected ventricular septal defect and possible growth on my mechanical aortic valve.

A TOE is an alternative way to perform an echocardiogram. A specialized probe containing an ultrasound transducer at its tip is passed into the patient’s esophagus. This allows image and Doppler evaluation which can be recorded.

Talk about cruel and unusual punishment, I have been fasted from midnight for the last four days. I was really looking forward to breakfast this morning.

My BGL was 5.7 early this morning and just now at 11:50 it was 4.1, I don’t mind telling you I’m a little bit hungry right about now.

After having the angiogram postponed for two days running today was finally the day. My nurse had me change into a hospital gown early and I was transported down to the catheterization laboratory or cath lab for an invasive procedure called an angiogram. Another nurse shaved my my groin on the left side normally this procedure is carried out on the right femoral artery but back in 2000 after suffering a ruptured cerebral aneurysm I developed a false aneurysm caused by another angiogram that required surgical repair.

After the perpetration a catheter was inserted into the femoral artery of my left leg until it reached the coronary arteries of my heart. Then a special contrast dye was injected while a live x-rays are taken of the blood vessels as the dye moves through them clearly showing any blockages that may exist.

While this happened I was awake although sedated and I was able to watch the x-ray screen seeing my innards in real time. It was very interesting to see the 3 wires warped around my sternum in what can only be described as a Cobb & Co hitch. Also clearly visible was the replacement aortic valve that was installed in 2005.

The worst part of the whole procedure was afterwords when they removed the sheath and have to press on the insertion point firmly to stop bleeding. The length of time the nursing staff need to press vary’s depending on the individual and how thin the blood is for patient like my self that regularly take Warfarin to thin the blood. After an angiogram patients have to lay flat for around four hours which can be brutal for those with a sore back.

The cardiologist told me that i had beautiful fat arteries and no blockages and that I could go home tomorrow so I am feeling very happy about that and the results.

Although I expected to have an angiogram today and fasting from midnight my INR (measurement of how thin / thick the blood is) was to high, meaning there was a risk of uncontrolled bleeding from the catheter insertion point.

They finally gave me some food and as soon as I started to eat an orderly came to collect me for an echocardiogram. This test had some mixed results showing good output but also indicating a possible ventricular septal defect or VSD commonly called a hole in th heart. A hole in the septum between the heart’s two lower chambers, allowing blood to pass from the left side of the heart to the right side. Oxygen-rich blood mixes with oxygen-poor blood. As a result, some oxygen-rich blood is pumped to the lungs instead of the body.

How much more can possibly go wrong with me?

Hopefully I will get the angiogram tomorrow and I will know exactly what I am looking at, eg stent(s) or bypass surgery.

Stay tuned…

Being just 43 a heart attack could not have been further from my mind. Despite previously having had heart surgery twice to replace defective bicuspid aortic valve I believed that I was not likely to have problems with clogged arteries as my cholesterol have always come back within the desirable level.

The latest update of the FaceBook app 3.5 offers many cool new features such as…

• Made it easier to share with who you want
• Added the ability to tag friends and places in posts
• Added the ability to share external links from a web view
• Added new design for Profile and Group Walls
• Improved the sharing tool to add privacy controls on posts and match your settings on the web site

If you are an (Jailbroken) iPad owner that has been using FaceForward available in Cydia to take advantage of the hidden version of the app, you will want to steer clear of this update.

As FaceBook has totally removed the hidden version from the app and FaceForward can not enable something that no longer exists.

The good news is that if you accidentally upgrade to version 3.5 there is hope.

Step 1: Remove / Delete FaceBook 3.5 from your iPad and iTunes.

it is also recomended that if you use FaceBook on an iPhone you remove 3.5 from that device as well to avoid accidental upgrade though iTunes syncing the newer version back to the iPad from iPhone.

Step 2: Download FaceBook version 3.4.4 from apptrackr.org.

Step 3: add downloaded version to iTunes library.

File > Add File To Library (locate V3.4.4 and click open)

Step 4: Sync to iPad as normal.

Step 5: Install or re-install FaceForward from Cydia.

Fixed!

The Winter Classic Trial and Tour, formerly the Winter Classic Rally and Winter Classic Rally and Tour, is a 3 day multi club event run by Ballarat Light Car Club inc., on the last weekend of August each year. With a 13 year history the event has become a regular for many competitors. The Winter Classic is a Tarmac only event (making it suitable for all types of vehicles) consisting of a Trial or Tour and good number of Driving Tests over the 3 days. The event is set around areas of the Central Highlands and includes some challenging and picturesque scenery.

The Winter Classic Trial and Tour has continually evolved over the last 13 years with this year being no different. Competitors this year were given a choice to enter the full event eg. trial or tour and driving tests or driving tests only. After several years of maintaining the Winter Classic website the new option of competing in the driving tests only, not to mention the reduced price. I was contacted by long time friend and fellow BLCC member Mick, who asked if I was interested in being co-driver for him in his Subaru on the Sunday only. My instant response was h**l yes! To my utter delight after a night to think on it just Sunday soon turned into the whole 3 days.

After a couple of days madly trying to organise my club membership renewal, a helmet, and a CAMS license, the event finally kicked off Friday night the 26th of August at the Ballarat Show Grounds with 3 fast paced laps under lights. What a way to be initiated into motor sport, although I am a long time BLCC member this was the first real event I had participated in.

Saturday saw us at Victoria Park Ballarat for an almost 2.5 km dash through the big old Oak trees. It is good to see the return of Victoria Park to the Winter Classic repertoire after several years. A few chicanes, dog leg turns and a stop, reverse, go kept the speed down on this track for competitors safety. From here we had a couple of hours to fill while the other entrants did their Trial or tour before we had to be at Myrniong for an uphill (not a hill climb) test of about 1.4 km that was all over in under 50 seconds for some competitors.

Next it was back to Ballarat for some more tests including the old favorite the bus park at Morshead Park, the FMP car park and a new test at Villiers Drive Wendouree that was well received by all. Sadly this test saw Rob P hit the gutter, pushing his front right wheel back and well out of alignment, causing the early retirement of this car from the running, but it was good to see Rob pull up in his road car on Sunday morning intent on finishing the event.

Sunday started off with a slightly shortened heart starter run around the car park of Bartlett Blinds, due to a few items being left out in the proposed test track. Next it was off to Clunes for another uphill run up Scenic Drive. This was a great test starting at a creek crossing with a family fishing just metres from the start line. This series of tests proved somewhat eventful for Mick and me with the Subaru jumping out of first gear on one run and totally demolishing the finish garage on another. (see video)

Back to Ballarat Sunday afternoon for our final series of tests starting off in Old Creswick Road for a fast run around Anchor Drive – Golden Crescent that nearly saw the withdrawal of Mick’s car from a strange shudder and noise in the left rear. Next was a tight Motorkhana style test on the car park of the Wendouree Pool. After just a few seconds on this test Mick made the decision to withdraw because of the vibration again.

While driving to the last test location at Villiers Drive Mick decides the car works well in a straight line and when turning left, we’re back in baby! We then head back to the previous test to put a time on the board and then to the final test site that just happened to be predominantly left handers. The car went well and let us put 2 final times on the board.

What a weekend! I can’t believe how much fun we had and the camaraderie with other competitors was great. I can’t wait for next year, maybe I’ll see what else I can do between now and then.

As some may know I?ve been hanging to get myself an iPad 2, and finally I have managed it. This is my first ever iPad, not having purchased the first version because as a general rule the first incarnation of Apple mobile devices tend to get a major overhaul ( as well as fantastic new features that were overlooked at first) in around or under a year, as well as the price.

It’s been around a month since I picked up my 16GB, Wi-Fi only iPad 2, and having spent a few days in hospital very shortly after the purchase I had plenty of time to get aquatinted with my new toy. Just about every day I am discovering more fantastic features of this device from built-in brilliance, like the rather intuitive text editing with dynamic spell check, to the vast array of apps that just add the versatility of this little beauty.

This blog post was written with one of the above mentioned apps Blogsy, that is seriously feature packed and offers easy access to your Picasa, Flickr and Youtube accounts etc. with the ease of drag and drop placement to your post. Uploading complete posts couldn’t be simpler; all that is required is a quick vertical swipe of the finger.

What’s hot?

The size it?s small, but not too small, it is a bit smaller than a sheet of paper, it?s easier to surf the Web than with a smartphone. Which means it really is ultra-portable. No spine bending laptop to carry. Have iPad, will travel.

Wi-Fi connectivity, seriously it is drop-dead easy to share the internet from my iPhone 4 via ?Personal; Hotspot? and most places I go have wireless networks anyway so if I ask nicely? I seriously considered getting the 3G version during my pre-purchase investigation of the iPad, and decided the big price difference wasn?t worth it, plus I would have to sign up to another 3G internet package that I already have on my iPhone.

The seemingly limitless amount of 3rd party add ons are available to compliment the iPad at very fair prices if you like to shop online and are prepared to wait up to 4 weeks. I started by purchasing a faux leather case front and back screen protectors and a stylus for less than $19 Australian. ? Next I was perusing eBay and found and won another leather case with inbuilt Bluetooth wireless keyboard for only $25. My most recent purchase, a 5 in 1 camera connection kit, was a great buy, and lets me sync photographs directly from my camera or iPhone 4 via the USB cord and it also takes SD cards.

What?s not?

Well not a lot really but if I had to nominate one thing as being a letdown that would be the camera. Although it looks good on paper the camera is awkward as heck to use (given that may well be because I only have one correctly functioning arm) but here is my tip, I don?t think you are going to see too many folks walking around taking happy snaps with the iPad. Also the results don?t seem all that good to me.
Having said that the front facing camera is sure to supply much fun with Photo Booth and the addition of FaceTime is a pretty cool feature.

We Left Ballarat at about 7:30 heading for South Australia. Traveling along the Glenelg highway. Just outside of Hamilton we noticed a sign for the waterfalls, Nigretta and Wannon.

We had a BBQ lunch and continued on our way to Mount Gambier, where we arrived at mid afternoon, set up the tent, after buying new tent pegs. (oops)

Below is panorama photo of the Mount Gambier Blue Lake  made up of 4 individual shots.

Tantanoola Cave

This cave system was discovered many years ago by a 14 year old boy trying to retrieve a lost ferret. Shortly after his family took a lease on the land and started making money through guided tours. The land was eventually turned over to the Conservation Forests and Land department

Woakwine Range Wind Farm

With dozens of giant turbines the magnificent Woakwine Range Wind Farm is a spectacular site visible from many miles away.

Woakwine Range Wind Farm is the largest wind farm in the southern hemisphere, the 123 spectacular turbines at Canunda and Lake Bonney wind farm development will generate almost 300 megawatts almost 1/8 of South Australias energy needs.

My first visit to One Tree Hill since 2000 where I believe I caught a staphylococcus infection that caused a brain aneurysm. With any luck things won’t turn out that drastic this time:)

With the demise of the Ballarat Light Car Club run, One Tree Hillclimb in 2002. A small group of local motoring enthusiasts met and resolved to “Re-climb the Hill”.

The Ararat Car Club was formed and after much hard work and frustration, in 2008 after a 6 year hiatus they ran their very first One Tree Hillclimb.

Below Steve Grinstead proving he has what it takes to please the crowd.

On the 5th and 6th of June my daughter and I spent the weekend in Camperdown, Vic helping out the Ararat car club by doing the event timing of the Mt Leura Hillclimb. Although it was a very wet day on Saturday I was in a perfect spot in the timing bus.

Sunday was a much better day for weather, but the track remained damp just about all day.

With a huge field of 67 cars with a few being double entered the entrants managed to get 4 official run on Sunday, some got more due to a few mess ups in the timing equipment (or the timing official)

Outright Places

1^st Kevin Mackrell Viagra             1^st in class          31.41

2^nd Rod Moody Cheetah             1^st in class          31.97

3^rd Scott Thompson Pirahna         1^st in class         34.19

The winners Chev powered, 4WD Datsun 280Z

The above trail was recorded on my iPhone 3gs using MotionX-GPS. But I did start recording at the top and drove down the hill