View-Masters

I was wondering this weekend why in a world where HDTV is considered viewing state-of-the-art why designers still think people have only one eye. Imagine if we were all still listening to monaural music and stereo didn’t exist, for instance! Why don’t we exercise our wonderful depth of field perception and create three-dimensional images to watch?

That got me thinking about the old View-Master viewers which displayed discs of 7 stereoscopic images through the use of hand-held viewers. A simple concept – invented in 1939 – yet we’re still looking at a flat, two-dimensional screen for almost everything. It was so far ahead of its time, it seems.
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Middle Crabtree Trail: Raleigh greenways’ hidden gem

Saturday, the family and I decided to explore our world by bike, so we rode through the neighborhoods to the nearby Raleigh city greenway. Our destination was the section of greenway between Raleigh Boulevard and Capital Boulevard known as the Middle Crabtree Trail. Getting there wasn’t a problem, as we could ride on low-traffic streets all the way to Raleigh Boulevard. Once to Raleigh Boulevard, though, we had to stick to the sidewalks for a block as that street appears too dangerous for safe biking.
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Mouthpiece success!

Before bed last night I went through the “boil-and-bite” procedure to fit my ..uh, “anti-snoring” mouthpiece to my mouth. I popped the mouthpiece into my mouth right after turning out the light just like the prosthodontist said to do and I waited in the dark to see how long it would take before I hurled it across the room and slept without it.
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Blue Grosbeaks!

This morning we spotted the very first blue grosbeaks ever to grace our feeder! The male blue grosbeak is a stunning dark blue color. It looks similar to a cardinal – only blue. They seem to be a bit shy, too: flying away whenever anyone inside walked past the door. We’ve been birdwatching for years now. Hard to believe it took this long to see blue grosbeaks!

I’ve set up the camera in the hopes of capturing a photo or two. They are amazingly beautiful birds!

Jolly Ranchers

I bought a five-pound bag of Jolly Ranchers at BJs a few months ago. They mostly languished untouched in the pantry until one day Kelly packed them in my bag and I hauled them off to work. They’re now a big hit with the office, though even five people aren’t enough to put a dent in a five-pound bag of candy.
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Calm after the storm

There’s something quite soothing after a storm. Its not simply that its no longer raining, or that its just like it was before the storm. A storm reorders things somehow. It fixes something we may not have even noticed was broken.

A rest doctor

Tomorrow I visit a local prostodontist for an initial consultation to discuss how a mandibular advancement device (a fancy name for a mouthpiece) might help with my mild sleep apnea. This custom-made mouthpiece is designed to prevent my jaw from sliding back at night, blocking my airway. Its a good, inexpensive first approach to correcting my apnea.

Actually, the cheapest and easiest approach is to try a sports-type mouthpiece. I ordered one of those the other day for 25 bucks. We’ll see if that is enough for a restful night.