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2022 is over and what have you done?

Plenty! 2022 was an excellent year to finish up a few things and start new ones.  I finished all my braces, retainers, and follow up appointments.  I solved some GI issues, and while not 100% better, at least I know what to do to get back on track and can do so in short order.  The broken IVC filter was removed so I no longer need to worry about wondering what certain stabbing pains be from that (it'll just be kidney stones mostly).  I've gotten far enough in PT that I'm not waking up in pain due to my shoulders.  I completed a specialization course in Coursera regarding the use of Tableau. I was awarded a promotion to full Database Administrator, effective 1/1/2023. I continued to hike, successfully hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park, where my biggest hike was 8.5 miles and 1,500 foot elevation gain! I really enjoyed it, though the most draining I've also felt. I wasn't effective on my monthly goals that I had written out on the blog. Perhaps I should just aban

The History of Chat GPT

ChatGPT is a natural language processing (NLP) model developed by OpenAI. It is a variant of the GPT (Generative Pre-training Transformer) language model, which was first introduced in 2018. GPT was developed as a way to improve the performance of language models on a variety of tasks, including language translation, summarization, and question answering. It achieved state-of-the-art results on several benchmarks and quickly became a popular choice for NLP researchers and developers. Following the success of GPT, OpenAI released ChatGPT in 2020. ChatGPT is specifically designed for conversational AI applications, such as chatbots and virtual assistants. It is trained on a large dataset of human conversations and is able to generate human-like responses to user input. One of the key features of ChatGPT is its ability to remember and reference past conversations, which allows it to have more natural and contextually relevant conversations with users. It also has a number of other advance

In between Christmas and New Year

 Today is December 27th. Had a lovely and relaxing Christmas where I received a fancy chef's knife and co-op board game based on one of my favorite movies, a set of hot pepper blends, fancy chocolates as well as a soft blanket and set of stone coasters as a needed upgrade from my cork coasters. I'm preparing for January 2023. Looks like 2023 will be the year to get in shape since my hiking group is leaning towards hiking in Alaska this fall. Good timing to start going to work on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and the gym straight after to keep myself on the straight and narrow. I'll still want to make sure I can participate in the North Hills 5k in early September, as it'll be my 8th year in a row! I've been in PT for several months now due to hip and shoulder issues. It's been a surprise to see how weak I am. I've been focusing too much on just running and walking, and after my IVC filter, not enough of either between recovering and additional responsibilities at

The 14th Anniversary of I'm Not Dead Day

 This anniversary is different because I no longer have the IVC filter! The surgery was a success, and though I needed several days to feel better, I'm back to being able to walk and run again. Just need to get my endurance up! After work, I'll have some wine at Vita Vite with Tim and Lori. And it looks like UTMC changed their website so I no longer have my 3 minute video! Oh, I'm wrong, the video exists on YouTube, just not on their website. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3IjBBqcFyc Upon a run eval with my PT she said "Did you know you don't really move your right side?" Errr... no, I did not. More stretches and strength training for me!

2022 North Hills 5k

 Not my fastest this year, but I also was less than two weeks post surgery for that IVC filter! I hadn't run in a few months so I decided to just walk fast. https://files.racereach.com/files/results/159899/result_5k_2022.txt?kick=1663679240 2016: 327/356 51:06 2017: 234/281 45:12 2018: 224/262 48:15 2019: 282/305 48:44 2020: 84/116   42:49 2021: 178/239 45:42 2022: 293/349 49:20  I'm pleased that I still beat my original time of 51:06!

IVC Filter Removal Surgery

 On August 29th, I had another surgery. I didn't want to have another surgery, but I learned that one of my IVC Filter struts was broken. These type of filters have been recalled since my stroke, and no longer are suggested to be permanent. Too often, the filters (or pieces of them) have been migrating to other parts of the body, causing worse damage. The procedure was to have two doctors, one at the right jugular and the other at the right femoral vein, to remove the filter using sheaths to collapse and bring out the filter. Since it had not moved and the original broken strut was still in place, the doctors felt there was a high chance of the surgery being no big deal. It was only a medium deal. It took 3 hours, and I felt pretty beat up afterward. It was a success, though, despite the filter not wanting to leave. They were able to remove it and I was able to go home a few hours later. I have a follow up with the doc in November after another CT scan. Hopefully everything looks g

Jose and Sons review

 I went with one of my friends to Jose and Sons Mexican restaurant on Glenwood Avenue and Pleasant Valley Road. I picked this place as I'd hear a lot of good things about it, and we were there early before the place got busy.  We were not impressed. The server was slow to get us our drinks, and did not get us chips and salsa, bur I could see his other tables got chips and salsa - turns out it was from a runner. We got ours eventually, (not from the server) but the first five minutes of our meal, we just stared at a bowl of guac and our two waters. No matter, maybe he was new. Maybe the kitchen was frying a new batch of chips. Maybe the bartender was new. While waiting, we noticed that the place looked like it needed new paint. In our booth, the pink paint was chipping off the wall. I was confused, because I thought they just moved here from downtown. They didn't even give the place a new coat of paint before moving in? The chips were warm, not hot, and the salsa was very sweet.