Visio 2007 was causing a maddening problem where it would insist on printing to the rear tray (manual feed) on my Canon MX860 rather than the bottom cassette. It was the only application doing this. Setting the print options through the usual File...Print...Properties... had no effect. Setting the printer defaults through start...Printers and Faxes...[printer name]...Printing Preferences... also didn't help. It was getting to be a "PC LOAD LETTER?! WTF?!" situation.
I found similar questions/complaints in several online forums but no answer. Rather than registering for each forum with my solution, here's what worked for me:
On each worksheet,
select File...Page Setup...
Setup...
Source = Cassette
Verify this setting by checking File...Print...Properties
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Allergies and Sinuses
Quick History
I've had nasal allergy problems for pretty much my whole life. When I was young this was probably a big contributor to many ear infections and subsequent surgery for ear tubes and removal of my tonsils and adenoids. When I was probably 8-12 years old I had constant stuffiness, runny nose, etc. In retrospect, it was really nasty. Then I did allergy immunotherapy shots and was introduced to the first non-sedating antihistamines - these let me get through most of high school and college with few issues. But things started getting much worse again about 4 years ago due to a number of reasons.
I'll go into more detail later but wanted to provide some initial advice. The usual disclaimers apply about me not being a Dr., you seeking the advice of your Dr., etc. But I've been through a lot and hopefully this can help someone.
Control Allergies
It seems that allergies which are out-of-control, with frequent flare-ups that cause inflammation, mucus, etc. can lead to sinus problems that become chronic. One example seems to be sinus and nasal polyps - these are non-cancerous growths in mucus membranes. Eventually they can get big enough to cause problematic obstructions which lead to infections and misery.
Start with antihistamines like Fexofenadine (Allegra), Loratadine (Claritin), and Cetirizine (Zyrtec). If these don't clear up sneezing, runny nose, itchy red eyes, etc. try Diphenhydramine (Benadryl). If these don't work, talk to a Dr. In my case, something (usually visits to NE Florida) was triggering flare-ups so bad that even Benadryl wouldn't really stop the syptoms, it just let me sleep. This was an example of not controlling my allergies.
Establish a relationship with an allergist and get tested. Skin prick testing is the gold standard. For me this highlighted allergies to many animals, trees, grass, dust mites, etc. This information will help you avoid triggers. It is also necessary to start allergy immunotherapy. I believe the shots worked well for me as a kid. They also seem to have worked well lately for controlling the histamine-related symptoms (sneezing, runny nose, itchy red eyes) but not necessarily the nasal and sinus inflammation.
Sinusitis
My problem became sinus inflammation, triggered by allergies or a cold (more common with two young kids), which interrupted the natural ventilation to my sinuses and resulted in sinus infections. The pattern became very repeatable over 3 years every few months:
1) Initial trigger
2) A few days of initial symptoms (sneezing, runny nose, itchy red eyes, perhaps a low fever and aches, feeling tired)
3) Initial symptoms subside but are replaced by sinus inflammation (congestion, headache, yellow post-nasal discharge, irritability)
4) Inflammation and related symptoms persist until an oral antibiotic is prescribed. This could be 10-20 days.
5) Within a few days the symptoms clear up. Within 10-14 days everything is fine.
Otolaryngologist "ENT"
My multiple sinus infections and history of childhood problems pushed me towards an ENT. ENT's are useful for a number of things, but you need to find a good one. I've seen at least 5 in as many years due to moving and having trouble finding good help. There are basically two types. One type is primary interested in screening for surgical candidates. My experience with these has been very negative. Since my anatomy isn't quite bad enough (but still problematic), I do clear up between episodes, and I have a history of allergy and borderline-low immune tests, I'm not a surgical candidate. This is actually good - I'd rather not have unnecessary surgery which may not help my problem or may need revision later. However, at least two of these types of ENT's have been totally unhelpful after determining that I'm not a candidate for surgery.
The second type of ENT's are better defined as people who really care about patients and just happen to focus on ENT. Two examples are Dr. Witten in St. Augustine, FL and Dr. Yetter in Winston-Salem, NC. The can do helpful things like:
Order and read CT scans to look for anatomical problems, polyps, infection, etc.
Swab nasal passages near the sinus openings, send the mucus off for culture, and try to determine what's causing the infection. For me it was Moraxella Catarrhalis, for which there isn't a vaccine and which apparently is common on young kids (correlates with the infections popping up after my son was born) and the 3rd leading cause of sinus infections.
Prescribe appropriate antibiotics, even give you a supply to have on hand in case of a flare up so you don't have to make an appointment. GP's and allergists can also do this. After I built a history backed up by lab tests, Dr.'s were much more receptive to meeting my needs. I was concerned about reducing the time to feel better and also the potential to have a flare-up while on travel.
Endoscopic evaluation to look for anatomical problems, evidence of acid reflux, etc. In my case, we (my ENT and I) began to suspect acid reflux was a contributor. I've been on opeprazole for a couple of months now, and it seems to help.
Provide a 2nd opinion on allergy medication
Prescribe prednisone to (hopefully) reduce allergic inflammation
My main point is, if you have sinus problems, find an ENT who will work with you. It may take a few tries. Treat your initial appointment partially as you interviewing the Dr.
Sinusitis Suggestions
1) Advil and caffeine help with headache and malaise.
2) Oral decongestants like pseudoephedrine and phenylephrine may help a little but certainly didn't help enough. I was hoping some combination of oral and nasal decongestants would reduce the swelling, open up my sinuses, and allow the to drain normally but this never happened. Be careful of pseudoephedrine. For me it caused my blood pressure to go up by 10-20 mmHg, insomnia, worse irritability, and weight loss if taken for many days. I also think it contributed to some very bad headaches.
3) Nasal spray decongestants never seemed to help enough either, plus I was always trying to avoid using them because of the rebound congestion problems associated with use for more than 3 days.
4) Neti pot / sinus rinse bottle. Some people swear by these. They were never enough for me, perhaps because if the nasal and sinus passages are so swollen, nothing will get in/out. The bottle was better than the pot because it has positive pressure, more than just gravity.
5) One thing that does seem to help with the sinus rinse bottle is adding 4 drops of Johnson & Johnson Baby Shampoo along with 10 drops of Betadine. The idea is that the shampoo acts as a surfactant to break up any biofilms where bacteria form a protective layer around their colony. The Betadine is an antiseptic which shold help reduce infection. Only about 10 drops (very slight reddish color to the saline) of Betadine can be used since it irritates mucus membranes in higher concentration. For me, this mixture seems to keep my sinuses healthier between flare-ups. It may have allowed one flare-up to clear without an infection. It seemed to reduce the severity of another infection but didn't totally clear it.
6) Establish a relationship with a GP, allergist, and/or ENT to have antibiotics, prednisone, etc. on hand for flare-ups. I often had to wait a couple of weeks to start antibiotics. After a couple of years it was just a waiting game. Now I have something on hand and can start when I'm convinced an infection has set in, saving days/weeks of misery. I am also trying this with prednisone now to see if I can avoid an infection setting in.
Wheezing and Chest Symptoms
In addition to the nasal problems, I also have a history of some wheezing and lung problems. My childhood ENT, upon my coming back to him 20 years later, remarked, "Yeah, I can remember you had a lot of problems...breathing." I vividly recall 2 incidents as a kid, once when my lungs totally seized up from exposure to polyurethane vapors resulting in a rush to the ER and another when I ended up in an oxygen tent in the hospital from some kind of bronchitis. For me it seems to be allergy-induced wheezing and tightness, not necessarily classical asthma. When not symptomatic, I pass lung function tests just fine.
I ended up with asthma-like symptoms in college when exercising outdoors, especially when the air was cool and dry. This is classified as exercise-induced asthma. For a few years I used an albuterol inhaler which did a pretty good job. Then I tried Singulair. It didn't seem to do anything for my nasal/sinus symptoms, but it seems to have totally solved my exercise-induced asthma.
What didn't work for me
The following were ideas I found while searching the net or in the pharmacy, often when I was slammed with another sinus infection, but which didn't seem to work.
Colloidal silver, grapefruit seed extract, and other sinus rinse additives
Steam, tea, soup, etc.
Sinupret
Switching steroid nasal sprays (Beconase, Veramyst, Omnaris, Nasonex)
Vitamin C in various forms
Reducing the duration, intensity, and/or frequency of exercise
Post-exercise recovery drinks
Distilled water for sinus rinse
Mucinex
Dust mite bedding spray
Xyzal (vs. generic ceterizine)
Astelin, Astepro (doesn't help inflammation, caused drowsiness)
Omega-3 / fish oil
To discuss later
Food allergies, sensitivities, MSG
Limiting outdoor exercise in pollen season
Immune tests and pneumovax
Sinus irrigation, sloshing, and draining
Monitoring pollen
I've had nasal allergy problems for pretty much my whole life. When I was young this was probably a big contributor to many ear infections and subsequent surgery for ear tubes and removal of my tonsils and adenoids. When I was probably 8-12 years old I had constant stuffiness, runny nose, etc. In retrospect, it was really nasty. Then I did allergy immunotherapy shots and was introduced to the first non-sedating antihistamines - these let me get through most of high school and college with few issues. But things started getting much worse again about 4 years ago due to a number of reasons.
I'll go into more detail later but wanted to provide some initial advice. The usual disclaimers apply about me not being a Dr., you seeking the advice of your Dr., etc. But I've been through a lot and hopefully this can help someone.
Control Allergies
It seems that allergies which are out-of-control, with frequent flare-ups that cause inflammation, mucus, etc. can lead to sinus problems that become chronic. One example seems to be sinus and nasal polyps - these are non-cancerous growths in mucus membranes. Eventually they can get big enough to cause problematic obstructions which lead to infections and misery.
Start with antihistamines like Fexofenadine (Allegra), Loratadine (Claritin), and Cetirizine (Zyrtec). If these don't clear up sneezing, runny nose, itchy red eyes, etc. try Diphenhydramine (Benadryl). If these don't work, talk to a Dr. In my case, something (usually visits to NE Florida) was triggering flare-ups so bad that even Benadryl wouldn't really stop the syptoms, it just let me sleep. This was an example of not controlling my allergies.
Establish a relationship with an allergist and get tested. Skin prick testing is the gold standard. For me this highlighted allergies to many animals, trees, grass, dust mites, etc. This information will help you avoid triggers. It is also necessary to start allergy immunotherapy. I believe the shots worked well for me as a kid. They also seem to have worked well lately for controlling the histamine-related symptoms (sneezing, runny nose, itchy red eyes) but not necessarily the nasal and sinus inflammation.
Sinusitis
My problem became sinus inflammation, triggered by allergies or a cold (more common with two young kids), which interrupted the natural ventilation to my sinuses and resulted in sinus infections. The pattern became very repeatable over 3 years every few months:
1) Initial trigger
2) A few days of initial symptoms (sneezing, runny nose, itchy red eyes, perhaps a low fever and aches, feeling tired)
3) Initial symptoms subside but are replaced by sinus inflammation (congestion, headache, yellow post-nasal discharge, irritability)
4) Inflammation and related symptoms persist until an oral antibiotic is prescribed. This could be 10-20 days.
5) Within a few days the symptoms clear up. Within 10-14 days everything is fine.
Otolaryngologist "ENT"
My multiple sinus infections and history of childhood problems pushed me towards an ENT. ENT's are useful for a number of things, but you need to find a good one. I've seen at least 5 in as many years due to moving and having trouble finding good help. There are basically two types. One type is primary interested in screening for surgical candidates. My experience with these has been very negative. Since my anatomy isn't quite bad enough (but still problematic), I do clear up between episodes, and I have a history of allergy and borderline-low immune tests, I'm not a surgical candidate. This is actually good - I'd rather not have unnecessary surgery which may not help my problem or may need revision later. However, at least two of these types of ENT's have been totally unhelpful after determining that I'm not a candidate for surgery.
The second type of ENT's are better defined as people who really care about patients and just happen to focus on ENT. Two examples are Dr. Witten in St. Augustine, FL and Dr. Yetter in Winston-Salem, NC. The can do helpful things like:
Order and read CT scans to look for anatomical problems, polyps, infection, etc.
Swab nasal passages near the sinus openings, send the mucus off for culture, and try to determine what's causing the infection. For me it was Moraxella Catarrhalis, for which there isn't a vaccine and which apparently is common on young kids (correlates with the infections popping up after my son was born) and the 3rd leading cause of sinus infections.
Prescribe appropriate antibiotics, even give you a supply to have on hand in case of a flare up so you don't have to make an appointment. GP's and allergists can also do this. After I built a history backed up by lab tests, Dr.'s were much more receptive to meeting my needs. I was concerned about reducing the time to feel better and also the potential to have a flare-up while on travel.
Endoscopic evaluation to look for anatomical problems, evidence of acid reflux, etc. In my case, we (my ENT and I) began to suspect acid reflux was a contributor. I've been on opeprazole for a couple of months now, and it seems to help.
Provide a 2nd opinion on allergy medication
Prescribe prednisone to (hopefully) reduce allergic inflammation
My main point is, if you have sinus problems, find an ENT who will work with you. It may take a few tries. Treat your initial appointment partially as you interviewing the Dr.
Sinusitis Suggestions
1) Advil and caffeine help with headache and malaise.
2) Oral decongestants like pseudoephedrine and phenylephrine may help a little but certainly didn't help enough. I was hoping some combination of oral and nasal decongestants would reduce the swelling, open up my sinuses, and allow the to drain normally but this never happened. Be careful of pseudoephedrine. For me it caused my blood pressure to go up by 10-20 mmHg, insomnia, worse irritability, and weight loss if taken for many days. I also think it contributed to some very bad headaches.
3) Nasal spray decongestants never seemed to help enough either, plus I was always trying to avoid using them because of the rebound congestion problems associated with use for more than 3 days.
4) Neti pot / sinus rinse bottle. Some people swear by these. They were never enough for me, perhaps because if the nasal and sinus passages are so swollen, nothing will get in/out. The bottle was better than the pot because it has positive pressure, more than just gravity.
5) One thing that does seem to help with the sinus rinse bottle is adding 4 drops of Johnson & Johnson Baby Shampoo along with 10 drops of Betadine. The idea is that the shampoo acts as a surfactant to break up any biofilms where bacteria form a protective layer around their colony. The Betadine is an antiseptic which shold help reduce infection. Only about 10 drops (very slight reddish color to the saline) of Betadine can be used since it irritates mucus membranes in higher concentration. For me, this mixture seems to keep my sinuses healthier between flare-ups. It may have allowed one flare-up to clear without an infection. It seemed to reduce the severity of another infection but didn't totally clear it.
6) Establish a relationship with a GP, allergist, and/or ENT to have antibiotics, prednisone, etc. on hand for flare-ups. I often had to wait a couple of weeks to start antibiotics. After a couple of years it was just a waiting game. Now I have something on hand and can start when I'm convinced an infection has set in, saving days/weeks of misery. I am also trying this with prednisone now to see if I can avoid an infection setting in.
Wheezing and Chest Symptoms
In addition to the nasal problems, I also have a history of some wheezing and lung problems. My childhood ENT, upon my coming back to him 20 years later, remarked, "Yeah, I can remember you had a lot of problems...breathing." I vividly recall 2 incidents as a kid, once when my lungs totally seized up from exposure to polyurethane vapors resulting in a rush to the ER and another when I ended up in an oxygen tent in the hospital from some kind of bronchitis. For me it seems to be allergy-induced wheezing and tightness, not necessarily classical asthma. When not symptomatic, I pass lung function tests just fine.
I ended up with asthma-like symptoms in college when exercising outdoors, especially when the air was cool and dry. This is classified as exercise-induced asthma. For a few years I used an albuterol inhaler which did a pretty good job. Then I tried Singulair. It didn't seem to do anything for my nasal/sinus symptoms, but it seems to have totally solved my exercise-induced asthma.
What didn't work for me
The following were ideas I found while searching the net or in the pharmacy, often when I was slammed with another sinus infection, but which didn't seem to work.
Colloidal silver, grapefruit seed extract, and other sinus rinse additives
Steam, tea, soup, etc.
Sinupret
Switching steroid nasal sprays (Beconase, Veramyst, Omnaris, Nasonex)
Vitamin C in various forms
Reducing the duration, intensity, and/or frequency of exercise
Post-exercise recovery drinks
Distilled water for sinus rinse
Mucinex
Dust mite bedding spray
Xyzal (vs. generic ceterizine)
Astelin, Astepro (doesn't help inflammation, caused drowsiness)
Omega-3 / fish oil
To discuss later
Food allergies, sensitivities, MSG
Limiting outdoor exercise in pollen season
Immune tests and pneumovax
Sinus irrigation, sloshing, and draining
Monitoring pollen
"Mountain Biking" in NE Florida
OK, there simply isn't mountain biking in NE Florida. With the exception of dunes, this area is totally flat. Getting any kind of hills means going west or riding a bridge. Here are the closest good things I've ridden:
Graham Swamp near Palm Coast
http://www.sjrwmd.com/recreationguide/grahamswamp/index.html
Who would have thought the best nearby trail would be in Flaglar County? Apparently the hilliness is the result of limestone excavation. Park off Colbert Road. The climbs and downhills are short relative to what I like from North Carolina. The sand can be annoying. But if ridden fast this is actually a decent trail. Thanks to the folks who built and maintain it.
Belleview / Santos near Ocala
http://omba.org/index.php/Trailhead-Locations.html
The hilliness on these trails is from a combination of slight elevation changes in the middle of the state plus quarries. I haven't ridden there recently, but it was good a few years ago.
St. Augustine and Jacksonville bridges
Good thing I took up road biking a few years ago.
The Acosta (State Road 13) bridge in Jacksonville gets steep enough (6% maybe) to be a good challenge for running or biking. The climbs are about 0.35 miles. The climbs start steep, taper off a bit in the middle, then pick up again near the end. Parking near the Museum of Science and History works well. There's a disorganized group ride here on Thursday nights in the daylight saving season.
The Usina (A1A) bridge linking St. Augustine to Vilano Beach is also a decent challenge. It has about the same grade as the Acosta but it slightly longer. The views of the intercoastal waterway and ocean are very nice. The seabreeze can add an additional challenge and one direction.
Graham Swamp near Palm Coast
http://www.sjrwmd.com/recreationguide/grahamswamp/index.html
Who would have thought the best nearby trail would be in Flaglar County? Apparently the hilliness is the result of limestone excavation. Park off Colbert Road. The climbs and downhills are short relative to what I like from North Carolina. The sand can be annoying. But if ridden fast this is actually a decent trail. Thanks to the folks who built and maintain it.
Belleview / Santos near Ocala
http://omba.org/index.php/Trailhead-Locations.html
The hilliness on these trails is from a combination of slight elevation changes in the middle of the state plus quarries. I haven't ridden there recently, but it was good a few years ago.
St. Augustine and Jacksonville bridges
Good thing I took up road biking a few years ago.
The Acosta (State Road 13) bridge in Jacksonville gets steep enough (6% maybe) to be a good challenge for running or biking. The climbs are about 0.35 miles. The climbs start steep, taper off a bit in the middle, then pick up again near the end. Parking near the Museum of Science and History works well. There's a disorganized group ride here on Thursday nights in the daylight saving season.
The Usina (A1A) bridge linking St. Augustine to Vilano Beach is also a decent challenge. It has about the same grade as the Acosta but it slightly longer. The views of the intercoastal waterway and ocean are very nice. The seabreeze can add an additional challenge and one direction.
Kerr Scott Mountain Bike Trails
Here's some really good singletrack in North Carolina.
http://www.bmcc.us/kerr_scott.htm
I used to ride the Dark Mountain trail when I lived in NC and then rode the Overmountain Victory Trail as it was being built. After moving to FL in 2009, I got the chance to ride these trails again last weekend. The Warrior Creek Trail was new to me and really impressive. The trail builders have done a wonderful job of building and maintaining the trails. I regret that I've never helped them
There are three things I really like in a mountain bike trail: a good rhythm, sustained climbs, and challenging but not ridiculous downhills. By rhythm I mean that the trail isn't obstructed to the point that I have to stop a lot and get off my bike. A 5-7 mile loop is perfect. The combination of sustained climbs and a challenging downhill mean the trail is distracting enough that my mind isn't wandering onto topics like work while I'm riding - I'm really focused on the ride and getting a good workout. The trails at Kerr Scott meet my needs.
The Dark Mountain trail feels a lot like the trails I used to ride in Greensboro/Winston-Salem, e.g. Hobby Park, Country Park, and Owl's Roost. Dark Mountain is just better - longer climbs, longer downhills, and almost no annoying roots.
Warrior Creek reminds me a lot of Tsali, probably because it follows the lake shoreline much like Tsali.Warrior Creek had some steep, short undulations outside of the long climbs which made it more challenging than Tsali
Since there are about 26 miles of trail now, wrapped around a lake, with campsites, a comparison to Tsali seems reasonable. There are a few things more appealing about Tsali vs. Kerr Scott. All four of the Tsali trails can be ridden right from the parking lot and campsites. I don't see how this is easily done at Kerr Scott, but the Overmountain Victory Trail could be used to get from camping to Dark Mountain. Tsali also has some longer climbs and descents, and better views.
http://www.bmcc.us/kerr_scott.htm
I used to ride the Dark Mountain trail when I lived in NC and then rode the Overmountain Victory Trail as it was being built. After moving to FL in 2009, I got the chance to ride these trails again last weekend. The Warrior Creek Trail was new to me and really impressive. The trail builders have done a wonderful job of building and maintaining the trails. I regret that I've never helped them
There are three things I really like in a mountain bike trail: a good rhythm, sustained climbs, and challenging but not ridiculous downhills. By rhythm I mean that the trail isn't obstructed to the point that I have to stop a lot and get off my bike. A 5-7 mile loop is perfect. The combination of sustained climbs and a challenging downhill mean the trail is distracting enough that my mind isn't wandering onto topics like work while I'm riding - I'm really focused on the ride and getting a good workout. The trails at Kerr Scott meet my needs.
The Dark Mountain trail feels a lot like the trails I used to ride in Greensboro/Winston-Salem, e.g. Hobby Park, Country Park, and Owl's Roost. Dark Mountain is just better - longer climbs, longer downhills, and almost no annoying roots.
Warrior Creek reminds me a lot of Tsali, probably because it follows the lake shoreline much like Tsali.Warrior Creek had some steep, short undulations outside of the long climbs which made it more challenging than Tsali
Since there are about 26 miles of trail now, wrapped around a lake, with campsites, a comparison to Tsali seems reasonable. There are a few things more appealing about Tsali vs. Kerr Scott. All four of the Tsali trails can be ridden right from the parking lot and campsites. I don't see how this is easily done at Kerr Scott, but the Overmountain Victory Trail could be used to get from camping to Dark Mountain. Tsali also has some longer climbs and descents, and better views.
The Tropicals
I was taking a walk with Cora (sleeping) in a stroller at Disney's Animal Kingdom while the rest of the family rode a roller coaster. We came upon this "acoustic / reggae / tropical" band playing along the path. What caught my ear, before I could see the band, was the bass playing. I was pulled in by the combination of songs with room for the bass player to work plus a bass player who has a great sound and creatively uses the space. I don't usually go for reggae/tropical music, but I stayed for a few songs until they took a break. I took note of the group's name and did some web searching when I got home. I picked up their album "Liming On the Island" from iTunes and was happy that it included the songs and bass I'd heard in Orlando.
http://www.myspace.com/thetropicals
http://goinnative.com/artists/17510/
http://www.myspace.com/thetropicals
http://goinnative.com/artists/17510/
Introduction
OK, this is just a simple place where I am going to post things which someone may find helpful.
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