Vertigo

I can talk about this now, because I'm more or less over it.  But for about a week, I have been suffering from dizzy spells.  Not the more serious low blood pressure, fainting type of dizziness.  No, this was more like occasionally experiencing a spinning sensation.  In certain situations where I moved my head suddenly - especially when I moved position in bed, something I do a lot of - then I was getting really dizzy.  There is something deeply, fundamentally disturbing about experiencing a really spinning room while you're stationary and gripping hard onto whatever you can before things settle back to normal.  Fortunately these spells only lasted for a few seconds, but still very unsettling.  I think I was suffering from something called BPPV (Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo) - where, apparently, tiny calcium crystals get dislodged and go into the wrong part of your ear canal.  Isn't the human body a crazy thing.  But apparently this is quite common, especially for people over 50 (which I nearly am).  And fortunately I didn't have to live with this condition for too long.  But an unwelcome reminder that I'm going to experience more stuff like this as I get older.  

An Unexpected Visitor

I moved my trail camera in the hope of seeing new wildlife.  Well, my decision has paid off.  And in quite spectacular fashion:

Yes, that is a black bear going up my driveway towards my house.  And quite a large one at that.  I had absolutely no idea it was even possible for there to be any bears in my neighborhood.  It's not like my neighborhood is overly developed, but neither are there any big wilderness areas nearby.  I certainly haven't seen any bears here before, and I haven't heard about any here before either.  And judging from my landlord's reaction when I sent him one of the above photos - "Holy sh*t!!!" was the text I got back - I suspect he hasn't either.   

Watch Repair

It took me 3 days to notice that my watch had stopped running.  And I'd been wearing it for most of those 3 days.  Is it weird that I don't look at my watch that much?  Either way, I need to get a new battery fitted.  I took it in to a jewelers today, and the price they quoted just for a battery replacement was outrageous - almost the cost of the watch itself.  So I declined, and instead went home and ordered a very basic watch replacement kit from Amazon instead.  I'll do it myself - I think (hope) it isn't too complicated.  I think I just need to use the right tools to unscrew the back of the watch, and simply replace the battery (which I also need to order from Amazon).  It'll probably end up being a lot less easy than that, especially with my very limited expertise when it comes to doing fiddly things, but we shall see.  

Cleaning

Note to self - don't use any cleaning products that contain bleach.  Whenever I use them, I have an uncanny ability to stain things that I don't want stained - in the worst case, ruining some item of clothing that I'm wearing.  Just in the last week, I have contrived to get bleach stains on two of my washcloths.  Nope, I am done with using bathroom spray containing bleach.  I'd rather use an inferior cleaning product.   

Gambling

It seems to me that the US has a serious gambling problem.  Both the Stanley Cup final and NBA finals are going on right now, and the preponderance of sports gambling websites and apps being advertised during these games is shocking.  And the number of things you can bet on just over the duration of a single game is unbelievable.  I've noticed that even the news ticker on sports channels has started showing betting odds, and an increasingly larger amount of pre-game coverage is explicitly dedicated to gambling.  It doesn't seem like there is much regulation of this industry here, which I guess shouldn't surprise me given the current administration.  And it's not just sports, but even platforms that allow you to bet on almost anything (such as political, military or social events) seem to have massively increased their presence.  And profits.  Because ultimately, the house always wins.       

A New Angle

I've made the big decision to move my trail camera.  It is now on the edge of my driveway, pointing down towards my driveway entrance, but hopefully far back enough that it doesn't capture traffic on the road.  Why did I move it?  Mainly to see if it captures any different animal activity.  But also because one morning last week, I found some neighbors' discarded mail at the bottom of my driveway.  Some of the mail was opened, so I suspect a mail thief was opening it down there.  I hope not, but I don't have any other rational explanation.  It makes me thankful that early on when I moved here I asked my landlord to get me a locked mailbox.  Anyway, the trail camera in its new position will hopefully capture any unwelcome activity like this in the future.  It does have the unfortunate consequence of capturing all my toing and froing, in addition to that of my landlord and his family who also occasionally use the driveway.  My landlord has already knocked down the camera once when he was out in his mower cutting the grass.  So I wouldn't be surprised if it gets run over one day.  But the early indications are that I will get some good new images.

Busy

If today is any indicator, it looks like it's going to be a hellishly busy week at work.  Again.  Sigh.