Day 2951

I'm mad at the FDA. I got a letter today saying that Nokia was removing the ability to measure Pulse Wave Velocity from my nifty WiFi scale. The company is apparently worried that they will be in violation of several new FDA rulings regarding medical devices. Why? I have read numerous reviews from well respected doctors saying that the Nokia scale is surprisingly accurate for a consumer device and that Pulse Wave Velocity measurements are a valuable tool to evaluate hypertension and heart health. Since the ability to measure Pulse Wave Velocity was the only reason I bought the scale, this decision makes me angry. It also illustrates the tenuous relationship we now have with the things we buy. Tesla can instantly change battery life and the performance of its cars through software patches. Apple can download U2 songs to your phone whether you want them or not. Apparently Nokia can remove features from its products whenever they wish. This all started with music and movies. You don't really own anything anymore. You are just allowed to use it. Now I have one more reason to hate bureaucracies, digital rights management, and any and all information stored in the cloud.

I still don't understand why the FDA wouldn't want people to have valuable information about their own health. I have a feeling that there is a lawsuit at the bottom of this decision. Maybe there are doctors who feel this new generation of home health tools will cause their patients to self diagnose. Who knows? The sad thing is that Nokia wasn't even forced to remove the Pulse Wave Velocity feature. They proactively trashed their own popular product because they were fearful of future regulations.

Probably this product will reappear for dogs soon. There aren't nearly as many regulations for pets. Sometimes I wish there were fewer regulations for humans, but more for pets. I'm never really sure whether what Dash is taking is safe. Vets have often suggested Gabapentin for our dogs. Apparently it is very effective at reducing some types of pain. I never gave Gabapentin a second thought until I started reading about how horrible it was in articles about the opioid crisis. It is an addictive drug with some frightening side effects. I would never give it to Dash after what I've read.

Life has become entirely too complicated. Some things are over regulated. Other things are under regulated. Everybody means well, but very few of us actually know what we are doing. Just look at our legislators. They are supposed to be our best and brightest, but they continue to act like idiots.

I try to keep things simple. I walked and fed Dash today and finished one of my two articles. I also sent an e-mail to Dash's vet with some questions about his upcoming exam. It wasn't a terribly busy day, but I didn't feel bored or unproductive. The weather still has me confused. It was warm enough yesterday that I could wear shorts and a t-shirt. Something apparently changed overnight. When I woke up this morning, Winter had returned.

I'll finish my remaining article tomorrow and probably brood about Nokia some more. What is wrong with that company? Don't they realize they are no longer in the cell phone business because of their cautious, backward attitude? I wish they had never bought Withings. Withings had some really cool, innovative products and now Nokia is ruining them.

Raider is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 2595

I found my missing fitness tracker today. This thing disappeared almost two months ago, so I'd totally given up hope of ever seeing it again. It was always a mystery where the tracker was, since just before the battery died, I noticed that it was still paired with my phone. Logically, the wristband had to be nearby, but I never could find it.

Today, I was cleaning the car after getting the interior dirty bringing stuff back from the storage warehouse and while I was brushing a crevice under the rear seat, I dislodged the illusive bracelet and swept it, along with a lot of dirt, to the driveway. Weird. The car was the first place I looked, but it never occurred to me to look under this seat. The tracker must have fallen off my wrist while I was loading photo equipment and found its way under the seat while I was driving. I'm glad the mystery is finally solved. Now, I can finally quit wondering whether one of the dogs ate it, or if I inadvertently vacuumed it up while cleaning rugs.

I never would have found the fitness tracker if I hadn't decided to bring home the garment rack from the storage warehouse and bring some order to my growing collection of coats. Don't ask me how the garment rack got muddy. I don't recall that it had ever been outside. At any rate, I disassembled the thing at the warehouse so it would fit in the car, and then cleaned and reassembled it when I got home. I had to take a bookshelf apart too, so the bulky rack would fit where I needed it to go. I always forget how heavy books are until I need to move them. These books and magazines hadn't been moved in decades. There were old Communication Arts magazines from the 1970's. There were German language textbooks from the 1990's when I was doing a lot of work in Germany. I threw away about thirty pounds of old B&H catalogs from the days before the Internet when they used to mail out massive two inch thick books every six months or so. If I had more time, this cleanup job might have been a little nostalgic, but I was trying to get everything finished while the dogs were still sleeping.

Eventually, I rearranged all the books and gathered up the loose coats around the house so I could place them neatly on the garment rack. The job was a success, but it took longer than I'd thought. By the time I fed the dogs their dinner and got them ready for their evening walks, it was starting to look like rain. Dot's walk went fine, but when it was Dash's turn, the sky was pretty dark. When we were about a mile away from the house, I started to see lightning. I urged Dash to hurry up and amazingly, he listened. We arrived home again two minutes before a real downpour started. I guess today was a lucky day. We didn't get struck by lightning and I found a fitness tracker that I never thought I'd see again. The office is still a mess, but the coats look much better on the garment rack.

I'm pleased that the new wonder scale tells me I'm in pretty good shape. My body mass index, bone mass, body fat percentage, standing heart rate, and pulse wave velocity are all excellent for someone my age. I'd never even heard of pulse wave velocity before. You take the time it takes for blood to travel from your heart to the blood vessels in your feet and then compare this value with your height to determine your pulse wave velocity. Lower numbers are good because they indicate that your veins and arteries are elastic. Higher numbers indicate hardening of the arteries which could put you at risk of a heart attack. I guess I already knew that my arteries were somewhat elastic, but I didn't know what it all meant. Cool machines that actually teach you something are the best. I like my scale.

Molly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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