277 Days

Published on July 14, 2010.

After 277 days of flawless power, there was an interruption of service at my house. For 75.9% of a year, my little PowerMac G4 Cube dutifully served files and routed traffic. This post is in memory of its record uptime, cut short by a lack of electricity.

My Tympanoplasty, A Retrospective

Published on August 23, 2008.

This is the landing page to the story of my tympanoplasty. However, it’s just a slice in the middle of a larger story, which you can find in the tympanoplasty category of my blog. More importantly, this post and the others contain useful and inspiring stories from people at different parts in the healing process. Always be sure to read the comments, and don’t be afraid to contribute.

Earlier this year, I wrote about an elective surgery I undertook to recover hearing in my right ear. From the time I was little, my right ear drum had a hole in it, a perforation. I went for several procedures as a child to repair the hole, but none of them were successful.

Having that hole in my ear drum had always been a part of me. I learned to turn my head to hear people better, and I adapted to wearing an ear plug whenever around water, including and especially while showering.

Fast-forwarding eighteen years, this last February, my family and I decided it was time to take another shot. Consulting Dr. Lawrence Meiteles, we were introduced to and studied a procedure called a Tympanoplasty.

The idea of recovering any hearing was truly amazing to me – thinking about it made me instantly emotional.

As a student, I’d always refused to take any time off, unless I was particularly sick. In this case, for this reason, I was willing to take any amount of time off, even in the midst of a busy senior year of high school.

I retell this story now because it’s time to wrap it up. It’s been six months since the procedure and everything is well. I can bathe and swim without an ear plug and my hearing is much better, although not perfect. Although recovery was painful and tedious at times, I regret nothing… not even wearing this setup immediately after the surgery:

Big Bandage

At this juncture, I’m renaming the category of the blog that tells this story of my life from “ear surgery” to “tympanoplasty”. Hopefully, that’ll make it easier for Googlers to find my experience. I entirely and without reservation recommend the surgical services of Dr. Lawrence Meiteles to anyone with an ear drum perforation. I couldn’t be more appreciative to have something I thought I’d never have – decent hearing.

Register for Change Harlem Valley Times Article

Published on August 15, 2008.

Stephanie Preston’s article about Register for Change made its way into this week’s Harlem Valley Times. Go give it a read!

As always, I quote it below for posterity’s sake.

Students raise political awareness with ‘Register for Change’ rally

DOVER – Students and recent graduates from Dover High School held a political rally on Aug. 9 in the Town of Dover to promote the importance of voting, as well as to inform the public about presidential candidate Barack Obama’s policies.

Bumper stickers, pins and signs were given out at the “Register for Change” event, and voter registration cards were available for residents to fill out.

A couple weeks before his graduation from Dover High School in June, Valedictorian Richard Mondello, 18, created a group on the social networking Web site www.facebook.com advocating to host a political rally during the summer. He received a large amount of feedback from his fellow students wanting to participate and join the group.

“I wanted to do something that would show that the young people of Dover are getting really involved and excited about the upcoming election,” Mondello said.

“I feel like young people hardly ever get good press, and I wanted us to do something positive and constructive,” he said.

After the event’s date was confirmed, Mondello and Dylan Young, 18, went to a town board meeting to get permission to assemble.

Mondello also contacted the Barack Obama campaign about the event, which is how he received the bumper stickers, pins, signs and voter registration cards that were available at the rally.

“There have been a lot of great people coming out to support us and coming up to the tent registering to vote,” said Justin Schneider, 18.

“I’ve been here since 8:30 for the cause. I’m not necessarily for a candidate. I’m for change and involvement in the political process. That’s what all of us are really trying to promote,” he said.

Congressman John Hall (D-Dover) also attended to help promote involvement in the political process.

“The wonderful turnout for this event is proof that bringing people into the political process will make a difference. I think it’s a great message to publicize,” Hall said. “The first step is to be involved and to vote.”