In the last month, maybe years, i started to have some neurological problems. Main symptom is general weakness, slight paralysis especially in the spine. There are better days and worse days.
But lately i started to make a link between the temperature, the vibrations and my symptoms. And i think i found the problem i suspected before. It's the pad under the carpet.
I believe in the summer of 2011 i tried to replace it. I wrote about here. I gave up because the new one was smelling the same.
Yesterday at times i was feeling like could not stand or walk easily. Lately there's been a lot of stomping around here. Apparently i have a new heavy weight neighbor down stairs who likes to cook and move around. So he's shaking the building really bad, sometimes for hours.
Vibrations also come from planes, helicopters (every time i leave the building at least one plane making big noise showes up, i just came back when i started to write this from a short walk (a different story), when i left there was a heavy helicopter at maybe 300 ft above, probably the OHSU helicopter), or from heavy diesel powered trucks, like the garbage truck this morning. Garbage truck comes always when i eat or immediately after. Always.
When the building shakes or vibrates, whatever is being released by the padding mixes with the air in the room faster and the concentration is bigger. Dust also falls from the walls. At times i feel high. At times like i cannot breathe easily. Lately i feel some sort of weird pain and paralysis on my spine.
The smell of the padding is a combination of sweet smell, diesel fuel smell and 10 year old worn-out perspired snickers.
So i decided to do something about. And i was thinking. 2 years ago, under the padding, on the floor i put some self adhesive shelf liner when i tried to replace the padding, to seal the floor. About 10 rolls in total. Above the padding there is some sort of thin plastic foil i thin that has holes at places. But actually the pad is sandwiched between two foils of plastic. So i injected 6% chlorine for home use between these two foils, in many places, using a syringe needle with a small polyethylene bottle (flux dispenser for soldering) one foot apart for the whole area except under the furniture. That sweet smell is gone but now it smells like chlorine and i think the chlorine is trapped between those two foils and will stay there for a while.
For those who don't understand what's going on, the small pad in the picture from the link above has been in the closet in the balcony for almost a year and it smells so bad i cannot describe. The smell didn't go away.
But i believe the pad itself is not enough to explain what's happening. Probably whatever substance is coming from it is combining with something, maybe sulfur from the walls, i don't know (Sheetrock is made of gypsum, which is calcium sulfate, that in certain conditions can decompose).
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Monday, May 6, 2013
Orthodox Easter Eve
This post has been triggered by the reports in the news about cougar sightings near a Lake Oswego Elementary School at post date and time.
Last Saturday was Orthodox Christian Easter Eve. Tradition says you have to fast at least as much as you can during the previous period (by eating vegetarian food). I did not. I don't think i'm going to go to any of the Romanian Orthodox Curches in the area anymore. Maybe none of the Romanian Churches. Because i don't know exactly who is coming there, and even if there's barely any Romanians. Especially after seeing this guy at Saint Mary's when i've been last time in there.
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At the Church i arrived @2 AM, the service was still going on, first i parked on the alley but i saw this nervous guy checking his van with a flash light and i moved next on the street, and i was amazed by the amount of traffic at that time and the fumes from the exhaust, maybe two cars a minute, always coming from different directions and meeting at that place, went back on the alley, the guy checked his van again, i think he had a dog in there, then my wife came and i took her home. On 43 before down town Lake Oswego i saw a coyote and almost hit a raccoon. On down town Lake Oswego the Police stopped me for going 37 in a 25 area and gave me a warning ticket. My wife had a couple of small plastic jars with ceremonial wine and bread from the Church in her hands. I saw two more Police cars on the empty streets before i got home, one near the broken car that was being towed.
Last Saturday was Orthodox Christian Easter Eve. Tradition says you have to fast at least as much as you can during the previous period (by eating vegetarian food). I did not. I don't think i'm going to go to any of the Romanian Orthodox Curches in the area anymore. Maybe none of the Romanian Churches. Because i don't know exactly who is coming there, and even if there's barely any Romanians. Especially after seeing this guy at Saint Mary's when i've been last time in there.
04/14/2013 10:34:18 AM St Mary Orthodox Church Portland, OR
So i decided not to go. Especially after the week that passed, with our new neighbors and noises and stomping. I mean i was exhausted.
Saturday just before midnight i was barely awake. My wife wanted to go alone and i should just let her but she didn't sleep more than a few hours the night before and only one hour that afternoon. I am a more experienced driver despite being so tired. So i left, and realized i am very low on gas. The light was on. There was all kinds of smoke on the street and i noticed last week the sound of a small exhaust leak (again) under the hood so i used a breathing mask.
None of the gas station we saw on the road were open.
We arrived at the Descent of the Holy Spirit Church in Oregon City exactly when they were going round the church (Within Orthodox Churches at Easter tradition requires going round the church three times at a certain time during the special Easter Liturgy. So when i turned around to leave my headlights were beaming the whole crowd, could not turn them down, they're automatic.)
I went back with no major incidents. I found gas at a station on Nyberg St. At home minutes after i got inside i noticed the dust mask i was wearing was smelling a lot like unburnt emissions, oil and gasoline. Either from my exhaust leak from under hood or from the street.
Around 1:30 i went back to pick her up. On McNary right after the intersection with Monroe (LOL this is the first time i realized it's the last stage name of the diva), right after i left home, two Police cars were securing the road because of a broken car. They allowed me to pass on the other lane, and i went forward. Then i choose 43. Then at the ramp of 43 towards 205 N, in the middle of the "clover leaf", a deer showed up on the right, about to cross the ramp. I saw it in time, gently hit the breaks, i would have had time to stop, on the very curved ramp, when the deer changed its mind and went back on the right and uphill. What would have happened if i didn't see it and the deer had crossed the ramp? Probably would have lost control because of the curve.
View Larger Map
At the Church i arrived @2 AM, the service was still going on, first i parked on the alley but i saw this nervous guy checking his van with a flash light and i moved next on the street, and i was amazed by the amount of traffic at that time and the fumes from the exhaust, maybe two cars a minute, always coming from different directions and meeting at that place, went back on the alley, the guy checked his van again, i think he had a dog in there, then my wife came and i took her home. On 43 before down town Lake Oswego i saw a coyote and almost hit a raccoon. On down town Lake Oswego the Police stopped me for going 37 in a 25 area and gave me a warning ticket. My wife had a couple of small plastic jars with ceremonial wine and bread from the Church in her hands. I saw two more Police cars on the empty streets before i got home, one near the broken car that was being towed.
Others Will Follow
Set an example and others will follow. The slogan of elitists of
modern times. Actually not so modern, don't know, i'm an amateur in
everything but i think it started with the model of centralized state in
France.
It is a type of society that evolved naturally along history as opposed to the ideas of some philosopher or philosophy or collective state of mind of the few that mattered at a certain time.
The main advantage is that is simple. It's a simple idea that doesn't need much argumentation in one's mind in order to be accepted. The simplicity is its main disadvantage as well. The well fed and respected few at top set standards and rules but also experiment and come with new ideas and generally are the only motor of progress in that society.
Since the system was in place for so many years, tradition took place and nothing else can be easily recognized as an alternative. In fact, it almost seems like a stapple in social evolution. Any other types of state models and societies that have tried to replace it had to rely on the old model and change some things here and there.
All states including communist and fascist have a government composed of ministers and some sort of territorial divisions and local authority. They are all more of less tributary to the centralized model.
Unfortunately, because of how the centralized type of state and society evolved, it has to have at the top some sort of leader, emperor, king, sultan, president, dictator or any combination of the above.
As a consequence, scores of people from the elites few developed a taste for gaining king's favors, thus shortcutting and competing with the others at establishing rules, shaking the system and contributing to the dynamics of the organization but also becoming a source of progress in an unwanted direction, that of manipulation and generating inequities.
The biggest challenge to this system came with the appearance of modern communications. We can mention of how important communications are by citing here the very the famous example, that of Rothschild's family in connection to the battle of Waterloo, when they knew one day ahead of everybody the result of the battle. (This is the first time in my life when i realize the true meaning of the ABBA song, Waterloo, by recalling the verse "i feel like i win when i loose".)
For those who read this don't need to mention how much communications evolved to this day. It has become the most important industry in modern society, the new Eldorado, the cornerstone of mankind's evolution, the main tool in learning, keeping in touch, selling, redistributing, the new soft infrastructure of modern times. Large categories suddenly came in contact with unprecedented and unpredictable amounts of information.
But also a place of dirty games, not to say wars, manipulating, impersonating, creating false images and parallel realities sometimes hard to figure and adapt to. Some categories were more prepared for then others. Those who knew it was coming.
Don't know exactly who leads this new informational revolution, but as usual, most interested where those left behind, those that have lost previous fights for king's favors. The distinctiveness of this revolution is it has taught large categories that real favors are not the ones sought for until not long ago. Money will always be money, but health and other favors have gained totally new meanings. For some, work can be a hobby, a sport and a place of gaining fame and/or respect.
I personally think allowing one to work in an acceptable environment can be a favor.
Some categories are satisfied just with the enlightenment in itself brought by the new revolution and do not seek anything more.
It is a type of society that evolved naturally along history as opposed to the ideas of some philosopher or philosophy or collective state of mind of the few that mattered at a certain time.
The main advantage is that is simple. It's a simple idea that doesn't need much argumentation in one's mind in order to be accepted. The simplicity is its main disadvantage as well. The well fed and respected few at top set standards and rules but also experiment and come with new ideas and generally are the only motor of progress in that society.
Since the system was in place for so many years, tradition took place and nothing else can be easily recognized as an alternative. In fact, it almost seems like a stapple in social evolution. Any other types of state models and societies that have tried to replace it had to rely on the old model and change some things here and there.
All states including communist and fascist have a government composed of ministers and some sort of territorial divisions and local authority. They are all more of less tributary to the centralized model.
Unfortunately, because of how the centralized type of state and society evolved, it has to have at the top some sort of leader, emperor, king, sultan, president, dictator or any combination of the above.
As a consequence, scores of people from the elites few developed a taste for gaining king's favors, thus shortcutting and competing with the others at establishing rules, shaking the system and contributing to the dynamics of the organization but also becoming a source of progress in an unwanted direction, that of manipulation and generating inequities.
The biggest challenge to this system came with the appearance of modern communications. We can mention of how important communications are by citing here the very the famous example, that of Rothschild's family in connection to the battle of Waterloo, when they knew one day ahead of everybody the result of the battle. (This is the first time in my life when i realize the true meaning of the ABBA song, Waterloo, by recalling the verse "i feel like i win when i loose".)
For those who read this don't need to mention how much communications evolved to this day. It has become the most important industry in modern society, the new Eldorado, the cornerstone of mankind's evolution, the main tool in learning, keeping in touch, selling, redistributing, the new soft infrastructure of modern times. Large categories suddenly came in contact with unprecedented and unpredictable amounts of information.
But also a place of dirty games, not to say wars, manipulating, impersonating, creating false images and parallel realities sometimes hard to figure and adapt to. Some categories were more prepared for then others. Those who knew it was coming.
Don't know exactly who leads this new informational revolution, but as usual, most interested where those left behind, those that have lost previous fights for king's favors. The distinctiveness of this revolution is it has taught large categories that real favors are not the ones sought for until not long ago. Money will always be money, but health and other favors have gained totally new meanings. For some, work can be a hobby, a sport and a place of gaining fame and/or respect.
I personally think allowing one to work in an acceptable environment can be a favor.
Some categories are satisfied just with the enlightenment in itself brought by the new revolution and do not seek anything more.