Jan 8 - windy, windy

The wind backed off a little but not much.  I should have gone to the beach to take a look, it must have been something.  All I did yesterday was a) go to Bert Fish Hospital to chase down my December lab results and b) go to Publix for a couple of items.

The trip to BF was worthwhile.  I'd been following up with the Urologist who had in turn been following up with BF on the PSA test from December.  I've been getting those every six months, approximately, and seeing the doctor shortly thereafter for monitoring.  The nurse had called the hospital a couple of times and still hadn't received the results.

So ... I went over, figuring that doing something in person was likely going to be more effective.  It was, but not in the way that I expected.  The lab receptionist looked at my record and sure enough, the results had been faxed about 3 hours after my blood was drawn ... that's quick !  She had a record of the calls and re-faxes.  She wanted me to wait while she faxed yet again, so that I'd know for sure that it was done and I could call the nurse.  Well, the fax tried and tried again but didn't go through ... perhaps that was the problem ?

Then she asked if I "knew how to use computers" :).  Well, yes, said I.  She then handed me a pamphlet with instructions on how to go online to BF and pull up my own medical records ... bingo !  ... and gave me my medical records number !  Boy, was I excited  -  it doesn't take much to get us retirees going !!

At home, I then accessed bertfish.com and entered my last name, first name, medical records number (twice) and email address (twice) ... no go.  I then tried every variation of my first name -- William, David, W David, William David ... no go.  ugh.  I then called the help line where this person asked if I'd provided my email address to reception at check-in ... well no, says I, thinking (why would I have done that ?).  Apparently I have to be on file to do this, so she adds my email address to the file, I sign on, creating my own userid etc etc and retrieve my lab results (same PSA number as forever).  I then call my Urologist's office and setup my appointment.  I didn't bother calling the nurse to say "Your fax isn't working" ... I can tell her that in person next week.  Besides, I won't ever worry about calling for results again, I'll just look them up myself.

This will work with anything that I do at BF, including my annual GP lab tests, no more calling them for a copy.  Great !

Randy and Debbie Walsh showed up around 4:15, nicely bisecting the 4-4:30 timeframe that I'd given them, and we chatted, snacked and imbibed until 6pm.  I've never spent more than a few minutes talking to Randy, other than at Roads Board things, so it was interesting to get to know him a little better.  I'd met his wife but we'd never talked.  When we get some good boating weather, we'll take them out, but that won't be until after Jeffrey and Sara are here.

Another day was done.  We didn't eat much with Randy and Debbie but the snacks took the edge off our appetite so I simply had a salad and Sandy had something else.  I watched a couple of Blacklist episodes, a series that is proving to be quite interesting, lots of unexpected twists and turns.

Early tomorrow a.m. I head for Jupiter and my first brevet of the season.  John's got both a 200k and 300k going that day as well as a 200k going the next day.  I'm tempted to make a weekend out of it but so far I'm committed to only doing the 200k on Saturday.  It's tempting to knock off a couple of rides and putting in more mileage would be good for me ... had they been close and not required a stay-over to do the two rides, I would have.

Today I have to organize my ride stuff for the season, they typical things that I have on these rides -- cue sheet holder, extra lights, reflective gear etc. -- stuff that I don't carry on my day-to-day rides here.  I've got two or three bags full of gear and will have to do some sorting.

Onward ...