Surgery Notes

St. Vincent's Hospital Now

Wrote most of this three months ago just after my hip joint replacement surgery. Taken me this long to get around to finishing it.

Most of the people I saw were pretty women with a variety of personalities. Connected with some, did not connect with others.

Nurse Jerri thinks I sound like Kevin Costner.

New Operating Room

Remodeled operating room. Last time I was here the surgery center and the operating room were all very industrial looking like something out of Star Wars. This time it was all soft pastels like a modern doctor's office.

St. Vincent's Hospital Ten Years Ago

Remodeled exterior. When we arrived, I walked out of the parking garage and saw this big, shiny, new building (top) and I thought 'this wasn't here before'. Turns out they just put a new facade over the old one (above).

Aisles in new garages are narrower than in the old one which is why I prefer to park in the old garage, even though I have to walk a hundred yards farther to the hospital entrance.

Masimo Root Patient Monitoring and Connectivity Platform

Numerous connections while I am lying in bed after surgery:

• Intravenous line
• Electronic pulse monitor
• I think there was an oxygen level monitor as well, but I don't recall where that one was connected to me. Might be combined with the pulse monitor. The other end was connected to a fancy looking machine that didn't seem to do much (above).
• Warm air hose connected to hospital gown
• inflatable bladders wrapped around my lower legs to reduce the chance of blood clots and / or cramps. The ran on a cycle of about a minute - Inflate on one leg, then deflate, then repeat for the other leg. Funny thing was I noticed when it was inflating on my left leg (the surgery leg), but I had to pay attention to notice it on the right leg.
• How many times did they take my blood pressure? I wouldn't be surprised if they measured it dozen times.
• remote control for the TV. Not connected to me, but it was tied to the bed so I would be able to retrieve it. Not a problem until they started changing beds on me.
• There was nothing on there that I was the least bit interested in watching. Or listening to.
• The controls for the bed were built into the hand rails, so they didn't need to be disconnected or reconnected.

None of these connections were a problem until the gals from Physical and Occupational therapy showed up and wanted me to get out of bed. I suspect a lot of this was just protocol. Problem is I don't know how sick I am. I could be well on the healthy side of the hill, but then again I could be walking on a knife edge where one little glitch could send plunging into the abyss. So I didn't complain other than to commiserate with the njurse who had to struggle with warm air hoses. I don't think I needed any of it, but if I was just a little older and/or feebler, they could have been important. The last thing the administration wants to hear about is a catastrophic outcome to a routine procedure. Or a complaint from a Kevin that his feet are cold.

Arthur Schopenhauer

How Intelligent People Deal With 'Idiots' – Schopenhauer's Philosophy
Thought Architect

The video in my previous post on the subject disappeared, so now we have the long form video. 25 minutes of droning is a little long for my taste, but watchya gonna do?

Someone Has to Know - Netflix Series

Watch Someone Has To Know | Netflix Official Site
NITFLIXZ
Someone Has to Know is a 2026 Chilean crime-drama series inspired by the 1999 disappearance of Jorge Matute Johns. Not your usual murder mystery, this one is all about misery, persistence, and never finding out what happened.

Summary by Krutika Mallikarjuna:

When her son Julio (Clemente Rodriguez) disappears during a wild night out with friends, Vanessa Font (Paulina García) places her trust in the justice system and her local community to bring him home. The investigator in charge, Detective Montero (Alfredo Castro), thinks they’ll have the case wrapped up in a matter of days. After all, hundreds of people saw the missing teen at the nightclub he and his friends frequented. But Vanessa’s hope turns to rage when each lead — a shady nightclub owner accused of running a trafficking business, a mute witness who claims to have seen Julio’s violent abduction, and a priest who refuses to break his vow of confidentiality — turns into a dead end. Someone knows what happened to her beloved son, and she’ll chase the truth until the bitter end — even if it takes decades.

The mother makes enough noise that a squad of six police are assigned to the case for over a year. They only learned that the kid had died when the mother asked the priest to make an official prayer of some sort, and the priest refused. We can only surmise that she was asking that her son be returned to her live and well, and the priest knew that was not going to happen because he knew the kid was dead. The priest is the most interesting character in this story.

Funnies

10 Short Videos #6108

10 Short Videos #6108

Burning Offerings in Seconds

Epic GTR fake drone 1 Shot

Tilting laptop bed table

The answer is right but the steps are wrong - little kids waiting in line

Tool for reaming out plastic drain pipe connectors for reuse

Umbrella team

Sugar Glider showing off

A drone intercepts another mid-air using expanding foam.

Goose landing

The North Oaks Streetview images on Google are finally gone... but they are still accessible

Strait of Hormuz

Far Side 1987

This whole business about the Strait of Hormuz isn't making a lot of sense. Supposedly, we (the USA) launched a devastating attack on Iran. That should have knocked out all their offensive capability but evidently it didn't. An empty oil tanker can be worth $100 million so I can understand why people would not want to send their ships through the strait if there are still hostile forces operating in the area. 

Strait of Hormuz

Anyway, I'm hearing a lot of noise, but no good explanations, so I asked Google and this is what I got back:

Based on reports as of April 2026, Iranian forces around the Strait of Hormuz have not been fully destroyed despite significant damage from U.S. and Israeli strikes because of the asymmetrical, dispersed, and unconventional nature of Iran's maritime capabilities, which are designed specifically to withstand such an onslaught. 

While U.S. and Israeli airstrikes have destroyed key Iranian missile launchers, ships, and infrastructure, several factors prevent complete neutralization: 

• Asymmetric "Mosquito Fleet": Iran's primary threat comes from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy, which relies on a massive, dispersed network of fast attack boats, drones, and uncrewed vessels. These small assets are hard to target compared to large, conventional naval vessels. 
• Geographical Advantages & Hiding Spots: Iran uses its rugged coastline, small islands, and underground naval facilities to hide launchers, making them hard to completely wipe out. 
• Mobile and Low-Cost Drones: Many of Iran's disruptive weapons, such as sea drones and missiles, are launched from mobile platforms on land, making them difficult for intelligence to track and destroy in their entirety. 
• Persistent Naval Mines: Iran has deployed acoustic mines that are challenging to detect. Clearing these would require an extensive and slow-moving mine clearance operation, even while IRGC forces are hunted. 
• The "Human Shield" of Shipping: The Strait is extremely narrow, with shipping lanes running close to Iran's coast. Full-scale destruction of all Iranian capabilities risks civilian collateral damage or catastrophic, immediate oil market shocks. 
• "Destroyed" vs. "Deterred": While US officials aimed to destroy the Iranian navy to remove the threat, the IRGC continues to operate in a guerrilla-like fashion. 

As of mid-April 2026, despite a US naval blockade, Iran still maintains a "strict control" posture over the waterway, using the threat of its remaining capabilities to disrupt traffic. 

Funnies

NON SKID Tires