Anyone who has flown across a few time-zones knows just how inconvenient jet lag can be be. You either arrive in a new destination exhausted, often unable to sleep, or find yourself walking around a new location in the middle the day like a zombie. A Jet Lagged Sea Otter Fundamentally jet lag occurs because your body’s internal clock is out of sync with the time in the new location after you arrive. While you can observe jet lag whenever you cross a time zone or two, it’s usually more prevalent when flying between continents. The worse jet lag I ever had was coming back to Canada from Ireland ...

The tendency for a body at rest to stay at rest, and for a body in motion to stay in motion. Two important states, to be sure. For me, I find myself bouncing between those two states from time to time, often as a result of some cycle I’m trying to break. Most of the time, that cycle for me starts with lack of sleep, and progresses into this weird state of limbo where I’m constantly feeling unhealthy. The last time I felt I totally got away from it was back in May, back when I was going to the gym routinely and eating meals at home the majority of the time. I’m close to getting back there, ...

Well, folks, Blogathon is over. Most of us left workspace sometime around 6:30am yesterday. I went with Rebecca and John back to their place, and we got there probably close to 7am or so. While everyone was totally fried, there was brief talk about watching a movie for a while to help the brain ramp back down to sleep mode. I laid down on the couch then, and woke up a few hours later to some of the sounds of downtown Vancouver. At that point I adjusted some blankets, and fell asleep again, waking up sometime around 12:30pm. Unfortunately, I couldn’t really sleep anymore, so I decided to just ...

For whatever reason, I didn’t end up falling asleep until around 4am last night. Obviously waking up this morning after about four hours of sleep was pretty crappy. I’m out of cream at home so I meandered my way down to one of my two favorite coffee shops and set up shop. Unfortunately, I forgot my wallet and my cell phone at home (at least I’m hoping my wallet is at home). Thankfully I had a few bucks worth of change in my pocket so I could order a coffee. The problem with lack of sleep is that it typically forces me into a caffeine cycle. Basically I wake up tired, so I have lots of coffee, ...

Someone came to look at my apartment in Vancouver the other day, and their first comment about it was how noisy they thought it would be with all the traffic over the Howe Street on-ramp. I guess after living here for years, I’ve sort of grown used to it. Truthfully though, it is really loud. While lying in bed this morning I heard at least three loud sirens in about ten minutes, along with tons of trucks, cars honking, and traffic over the bridge. I’ve never really been one for earplugs, mainly because I’m paranoid about sleeping through a fire alarm or something like that. That being said, ...

So I finally had an appointment down at the Vancouver Sleep Center in Burnaby. For as long as I can remember, I’ve always had trouble sleeping through the night. It’s been going on for so long that I can’t even remember if there was a time when I used to sleep soundly or not. I often wake up every hour or so and feel rather anxious, and most nights it takes me at least an hour to nod off. It could be the traffic or some sound that wakes me, but I’ve never really been sure. I had a consultation with Dr. Dong and he went over my history. Then he informed me that he wanted to take a look ...

Tracy tagged me in a blog post, so I thought I’d better step up and deliver. So without further ado, here are six things you probably don’t know about me (and most likely, didn’t want to know about me). 1) I have a queen sized bed, but only own one pillow. It makes sleeping strange. 2) I drink way too much diet pepsi, and usually have an empty bottle somewhere in every room 3) I typically buy the same thing whenever I’m at the store. That explains why I have four jars of salsa in my fridge, three tubs of vitamin E cream in my bathroom, and a freezer full of ground beef. 4) I type over ...

Today is of course Remembrance Day. It’s a holiday here in BC, but unfortunately I’m at work today. Ultimately, that’s not a bad thing, since in exchange we’re getting some extra time off around Christmas time. There’s a lot I could say about today, but browsing around the Vancouver web it seems others have already said it for me. But I’m obviously thankful for the sacrifices others made so that we can enjoy the freedoms we have today. Outside it’s rather dismal out today. I ended up driving to work, which is something I don’t typically do since it costs me around $20/day to park ...

Lately I’ve actually been sleeping fairly well, given how much trouble I have routinely had in the past. I’ve been trying to keep a fairly consistent schedule these days, going to bed sometime around midnight, and trying to be up around 8am or so. There’s a period of time between about 7 and 8 in the morning that is pure bliss these days, where I just kind of fade in and out of sleep and stretch periodically. Now that it’s a bit colder, my heater is on slightly, so my room is nice and toasty at the point. Plus, it’s still a bit dark at that hour, which makes it easier to continue relaxing. With ...

I’m just heading out the door to take my car in to get looked at. There’s nothing wrong mechanically with it, but Mazda called me out of the blue last week and asked me to swing by so they can look at my stereo. Apparently they might have put in the wrong one when I had it replaced about a month ago (which is strange, because it works and fits fine). I suspect there’s some recall they aren’t telling me about. But anyways, they are going to replace the CD player I imagine, and they also offered to detail my car for me in exchange for the hassle. It’s supposed to be a nice sunny day out ...

Right now, in Las Vegas, is the huge Blog World Expo. Most of the Vancouver tech-scene is down there, including Rebecca, & Arieanna and Ianiv. Last night I decided to head down this morning and join them until Monday morning, since it looked like they were having such a great time. I actually found a pretty decent flight special late last night, and I booked it for this morning. Unfortunately, when 5am rolled around and I had to get up for the airport this morning, I didn’t really feel all that well. Plus, doing six hours worth of plane travel seemed less fun than it did the night before. ...

I haven’t written on here in a few days now. That’s a long stretch for me. Truth is, I’m just kind of busy and a bit bagged. I haven’t been sleeping all that well lately, and feel like I’m a walking zombie. I was feeling pretty nauseous all yesterday, and didn’t really eat that much. I hardly slept at all last night and woke up feeling like I was going to throw-up, so I decided to work from home today and try to save what’s left of my body here. I decided a few weeks ago that I’m taking this weekend off. I don’t know what I’m going to end up doing, but I’m really hoping it ...

I ended up doing a bunch of work on Saturday night, and just hung out close to home. A quick twitter by me saying I was going to have a few casual drinks at my place led to Dave showing up for a few beers. After that, we went down to the Six Acres to meet up with Trevor, and then ultimately over to Matt’s house for a few quick drinks. When I got home that night, I realized just how tired I was. I passed out on the couch around 4am, and quite literally woke up sometime around 5pm last night. I got up here and there to answer my phone and check email, but I just couldn’t force my body to wake ...

I’ve hardly slept at all this last week, and I feel like absolute garbage. I don’t know what my problem is, but I spend most nights just tossing and turning. They had a bunch of free liquor at work today and I could hardly bear the thought of drinking any of it because I was so bagged. I got home tonight and promptly passed out on the couch. Of course, given my stupid body, I woke up every 30 minutes or so, and didn’t really get any rest. I’ll be honest — the only time I’ve had a decent sleep in the last year is when I was pounding back Oxycontin tablets after my first surgery. It ...

A big thanks to the following people who recently pledged support for the Union Gospel Mission - Cullen Jennings Wow. To say I am completely exhausted at this point would be an understatement. I’ve essentially been awake since yesterday at 9am. That means I’ve been awake for around 30 hours now. Blogathon ends for me at 10pm tonight, which means I still have nearly eight hours left to go. I’m really not entirely sure how I’m going to make it, but hopefully I get my third or fourth wind soon. This Is Me When I’m Tired I’ve been listening to music rather loudly in my living room, hoping ...

I got back from Deception Pass early this afternoon, and I have to say, it was a really great trip. I spent most of the time there just sitting around the campfire reading, often taking a sip from a can of beer when my attention wandered from the pages. I took a little day trip on Saturday, driving back along the water towards Anecortes, and then south towards Oak Harbour. Driving along the open road with the windows open made me realize just how long it has been since I’ve gotten away for a weekend. Not only that, but it makes me extremely excited for the block of time off I’m taking in ...

I haven’t been sleeping well at all this week, and on Monday night only got about three hours of sleep. So last night I picked up some Sleep-Aid from the pharmacy on my way home from work. I was originally going to force myself to stay up until 11pm before hitting the sack, but actually passed out on the couch at around 7:30pm and woke up around 10:30pm. I did a bit of work on the computer until 11:30pm, then popped a Sleep Aid for the win. I woke up at around 6:30am this morning feeling rather good actually. It’s nice to have a full sleep for a change. This weekend is easter (I think), and ...

Yes sports fans, it’s 3:46am and yours truly is still wide awake. I’ve been lying in bed since around midnight try to sleep, but it’s just not happening. I caved in and popped a sedative a few minutes ago. I think I have to cut myself off from doing anything on the computer on Sunday nights and just read or watch movies instead. Whenever I get involved in something on my blog or some coding I’ve been meaning to do, I just have a really hard time turning my brain off when it’s time to go to sleep. Maybe I need to lay off the caffeine for a bit as well. Who knows. Needless to say I’ll ...

Throughout my life, I have always had a hard time sleeping in the evenings. Although in the odd instance I can put my head on the pillow and wake up in the morning refreshed, most evenings I not only have trouble falling asleep, I have a hard time staying asleep. While I have gotten used to not sleeping very well (during the eight years I was in university staying up late and getting up early was a requirement), this week has been particularly difficult for some reason. On average I think I’ve had about three hours of sleep an evening, and I find myself running completely on fumes during the ...

Sorry for the lack of entries around here. I’ve been meaning to write something, but whenever I find a few minutes worth of time, nothing really comes to mind. First, I’m on day three of new antibiotics. Good news is that I feel a lot better again, which is a big relief and a really good sign in terms of outcome. Unfortunately, because the dosage is a bit larger, I’m finding that some of the side effects, namely headaches, are a bit worse as well. Also, I find myself extremely tired. The last few nights I’ve come home with the intention on lying down for a few minutes, only to take up ...