StarFleet Carl: Blog

My surgery is now scheduled for Friday morning. Get my bloodwork done early this upcoming week, and then get my left arm fixed (I hope) Friday. I'll be off work for until the last Monday of the month, recovering. Note that means off work doing what I do best. I plan on about 30 - 40 hours of sitting here, talking to my computer via Dragon, and getting A True History finished.

Speaking of that little story ...

Obviously, many of you sent me corrections and such afterwards. A very fine editor (Jim7) volunteered to do a full post-edit of the entire novel, sending me corrections and recommendations. And I just sent him Chapter 31 (the first chapter of Book Two) last night. Once I get that back, and we get a few more 'in the can', my plan is to start posting on a one chapter per week basis starting August 1st.

Quick update. Still waiting for the insurance pre-authorization at this point. (What is this, Canada? Yes, it's free - and we'll get that for you sometime in 2023 ... maybe.)

Installed Dragon 15 and using a Logitech noise cancelling microphone. Other than homonyms, it's doing fairly decently and it's learning to put words in context. I'm from Indiana, now live in Oklahoma, and I told it to watch for a US Southern accent when I installed it. Seems to be doing okay so far. Amazingly enough, it didn't have an issue on really tough words that I figured I'd have to spell. (Rostenkowksi - put it up there just like a champ. No comment at this time about WHY that Congressman's name came up.)

Amazon has finally given a release date of September 4th for the first new episodes of their series, 'The Boys'. I've been working on this novel for several years, and had this idea long before I ever knew of the comic or the series. Fortunately, Cal is not like Homelander, but ... the preview video on YouTube is vicious. If you can handle gore and haven't seen it, I recommend 'The Boys'. Serious language, intense drama, and gore. Lots of gore. (If you've ever wondered what would happen with an explosive device INSIDE someone, they show it. Fully.)

I'm going to bite the bullet today and order Dragon Speech to Text software and a really good microphone today. My wife's joke that I'm either going to be a busy paperhanger or a slot machine for about a month was the deciding factor.

For those of you who don't get the joke, because you're not from our culture - busier than a one-armed paperhanger, and another term for slot machine is one-armed bandit. (And for those of you who are too young to know what a paperhanger is - that's someone who puts wallpaper up for a living. In this era of home decorating shows, go figure out what wallpaper is on your own.)

The original surgeon passed the buck to another surgeon, whom I met yesterday. Of course I have cubital tunnel (that's in the elbow) - I knew that. Apparently, I also have some bone impinging upon that tunnel, so he'll do the cubital tunnel release and shave some bone off. No big deal. As the ad people say, but wait, there's more! I also need a carpal tunnel release, too. Mind you, I've had both wrists done years ago ... decades ago (damn, I'm getting old) ... but apparently it's ALSO messing the nerve up, too.

Yay, me? Anyway, waiting on insurance pre-authorizations, and then I'll get sliced and fixed. But that means it's speaking software time now. Enjoy your summer (winter for those on the opposite side of the globe).

You know how you don't stick a fork into a wall outlet? Go have Electromyography done. You'll WISH the pain was only as bad from sticking a fork in a wall plug. Why do you hit yourself in the head with a hammer? Because it feels so good when I stop.

Oh, and the doctor confirmed that I need surgery. Wow ... who'd have guessed? Also - Chapter 39 is on page 24, so about 8 more pages for that one. Not going to jinx things by saying I'm still on pace to start posting by the end of summer.

Doctor agrees that I almost certainly have cubital tunnel, needing ulnar nerve release. Still have to have an EMG to confirm 100% and make insurance happy. Thank you to everyone who's emailed.

Book Two will start with Chapter 31. I'm about done writing Chapter 38. Realistically, I'm thinking around the end of August.