18 Jalal 166 B.E. (Baha'i Calendar)
Soundtrack in my head: Seefeel, “Come Alive”

Thought you might like the new design. I never quite felt comfortable with the old one. Someone had remarked that it looked like a winter sunset, and there was indeed something kind of bleak about it. The graphic was based on something much more colorful, but it was so bright that it detracted from the text. This one is intended to be more cheerful.  Credit for the background design goes to the free images downlaoded from Dreamstime, in case anyone's wondering.

In some ways, the old design was reflective of my mood. It was a difficult winter for me because of my sleep apnea. I've probably written about it ad nauseum, but it was because it has been ever-present in my life ad nauseum. I couldn't run away from it. It cast itself like a shadow over work and over my waking life in general. My life this winter has been characterized by brain fog and exhaustion.

Hopefully, this is now going to change. On Wednesday, after a five-month wait, I had a VPAP machine delivered to my house, and my sleep apnea is finally getting treated.

It's funny how my health seems to have paralleled the season. I first began to really notice I was having problems around Thanksgiving, which is pretty much when winter begins in this part of the Midwest. It got worse as the winter wore on. Now, as I begin my treatment for sleep apnea, buds are appearing on the trees, and I can tell that the landscape will be transformed into a lush green one in about a couple of weeks.

I had a hard time sleeping with the VPAP the first night. I didn't feel uncomfortable. but I think my body was saying, “What? You can't sleep! You've got this mask strapped on your head that's blasting high pressure air over your face. Duh!” But it was easier the second night, and last night seemed almost effortless, and I even took a nap with it on earlier today. I don't want to get my hopes up too high, but it's looking pretty good so far.