Manual Entry - Monday, May 7, 2012

Dr. Bxxxx ordered that the Seroquel be stopped.  Gave me some Xanax for the pain/anxiety.

I know that I didn't sleep well that night either.  My legs & head hurt and the Xanax didn't put me to sleep.  I slept for 3-4 hours before getting up and starting work.

We saw Dr. Txxxx on the 3rd.  He really only seemed to think that I was depressed after talking to Ellie.

He didn't think much of the Xanax from Dr. Bxxxx, but it did help calm me down.  I don't use it much though.

Ellie and the girls left Friday afternoon for their trip.

My Uncle and I watched "War Horse" and I stayed up watching a "House M.D." dvd.

Dr. Txxxxput me on Venlafaxine ER, 75mg.  1 for 3 days then 3 every day/morn.

Weekend w/o Ellie & girls was good.  Except that I didn't sleep well Friday night.

Actually, here's what happened Friday:

I got up by 5:30 AM & started work.

I also started process of backing up Ellie's H.D.

I worked till around 9:00AM and felt so tired and didn't really do anything that I went back to bed and slept till 1-3PM.

That night after hours of TV, I couldn't sleep, so I went to work and really got a lot done.

I stopped @ 3:00AM Sat. morn.

Sat. I got up around 8:30AM, cleaned the garage a bit, put up another shelf and organized the tumbler grit.

I also sorted out the tire weights from the local tire company, I got for making bullets.

While doing it I got an idea how to mount my banjo & resonator.

I bought screws for it then felt really tired and took a nap.

When I got up, I started thinking about the banjo and changed my mind again and bought some different screws.

I worked on the banjo till it was done and went to bed around 9:00PM.

Today, Monday, I felt kind of on edge.  Not fight or flight or nervous.

Rather, I felt on the verge of crying off and on all day.

I don't know why.

Maybe this Venlafaxine ER. wasn't working yet.

I got a lot of work done, caught up on my documentation for work, despite this problem.

Maybe I should use the Xanax?

For now, I will practice my banjo and rest.

I feel the need to apologize to almost everyone and to hug people.

Even my coworkers.

I don't know why.

Manual Entry - Monday, April 30, 2012

A lot has happened since the last entry.

My eyes are still kind of messed up, but are getting better it seems.  I stopped Cymbalta and started into a hypo-manic episode that really kicked off the 23rd.

From waking up Monday through Tuesday around 1:30 Tuesday, I did not sleep.

I did work, from 12:00AM-6:30AM.  Afterwords, I laid in bed, watched "Young Guns."  Read some books, did a few crosswords and finally took a benadryl and slept for about 3-4 hours.

Tuesday night it happened again, instead of 12:00AM, I started at 11:00PM.  Worked till 5:00AM or so.

While I was working, I was working hard.  Really hard.  Best that I could describe it is as though I was the character "Neo" from "The Matrix", when he realized he could see the code and the make up of everything around him.  I too got to a point where the code base & framework that was new to me all made sense.

Weds. morn, after work, I took another benadryl and slept till 3:30PM.

I want to step back a bit, and mention that I started to step back into my mood/nasty state.  Ellie and I agreed I needed a change.  Dr. Bxxx upped the Gabapentin to 1 capsule twice a day.  That was on Tuesday, I think.

Weds. night, I took half an Ambien and waited till close to 1:00 AM before I went out.

Thursday, I awoke OK, got a lot of work done.  Noticed that I felt like I was enraged, but I didn't have a cause.  I talked Cliff's ear off to/from our banjo class.  Not normal talking, but high speed communications.

Since the increase of Gabapentin, I've been waking up early morning, taking a piss & then all but collapsing in bed to sleep again.

Friday morning wasn't much different except I awoke around 1:30AM.

While pissing, my knees buckled.  Yes, I was standing and my knees rammed into the sides of the bowl and I collapsed all the way down and laid on my back.

I didn't think that I made much noise, but it got Ellie up.  I don't even remember if I finished peeing or not, or if it just ran all over the floor.

Ellie managed to help me to bed.  All I wanted to do was sleep.  Ellie wanted me to go to the E.R.

I refused, since all I wanted was to sleep.

After a lot of moaning by me and arguing by Ellie, I had her take my B.P.  It was very low. 84/52.

At that point, I consented to let Ellie call 911.

The E.M.T. measured by BP too and it was already a bit higher.

Since we paid for Fire-Med, I consented for them to take me to the E.R.

Before leaving the curb, they installed an I.V. line & did an EKG.

While at the E.R.:

• I slept a bit.
• Swore/cusses/etc
• Managed to stand & pee again.
• With more swearing, because Ellie was too aggressive with the urinal
•  Let them do an EKG, with the more precise machines.

In short, I could've stayed at home and slept really well and not cussed much more.

Once more, I need to interject a missing tidbit here.

Thursday morning, I got a call in response to a message I left with Dr. Bxxxx on Weds.  They suggested & urged me to see a Dr. that day (Thursday).

I saw Dr. Pxxxx, not the one I thought he was, but his brother.

I hashed out what was happening about insomnia, anger/rage, migraines, arthritis, that the brain/head MRI & blood tests were all normal.

SO WTF?

I cussed in front of him, I told him that I was really tired and that my dad was diagnosed as bipolar and I remembered some of his mood swings.

I further explained that I found a woman's bipolar video/youtube Blog and before I really knew it, I watched everyone of her videos and felt connected.

Dr. Pxxxx had been researching on his iPhone and said he agreed with me.  He gave me samples of Seroquel.

Told me to keep taking the Gabapentin and take 2 Seroquel a ngiht.

So I did, and now, you have the full insight of what happened before my knees buckled and I fell to the floor.

The rest... WAIT!  One more item!  I used a few 10mg oxycodone pills Thursday and the last one was around 7:00PM.

The rest of the weekend, I pretty much did nothing else but slept.  I did go to church on Sunday and stood when my name was called, to accept a calling as a Ward missionary.  I didn't stay to be set apart, because I was tired and not feeling well.

I pulled out the banjo and sat practicing outside in the shade of the apple trees on the garden swing.

It was refreshing and the warm sun, combined with the cool breeze felt akin to heaven.

I took the Seroquel meds, fell asleep a bit after.

Monday I awoke earlier than anticipated, 7:30AM.

I started work around 8:00AM, but couldn't get into it until around 1:00PM.

We got a call from the Dr., about the E.R. visit, and Ellie & I will see him Tuesday morn.

Maybe things are finally working out.  I need to tell the Dr. that I haven't had an Allergy shot since, January.

Manual Entry - Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Thursday afternoon, Ellie called the family Dr. and told him about my problems and that I had mentioned taking myself out.

I was still feeling like I was in a fight or flight mode then.

Ellie told him about this and we made an appointment early the next day.

At the appointment, we all agreed that Cymbalta wasn't working well.  The prior day, Weds. I left a message that I felt I was losing my mind and that I didn't want to ER, on this Dr.'s voice message.  The Dr. took most the appointment to explain about the med & apologize even though he never said it.  I could feel he was trying to apologize without saying it out right or maybe he seemed to be begging for forgiveness.

Thursday night, I still attended the banjo class, and part way through, I got a severe urge to leave and I was starting to heat up.  I managed to hang on and enjoyed the class.

I seem to be all over today, but a lot has happened since my last entry.

To sum up the Dr. Appt, the Dr. dropped my Cymbalta dose to 30mg and started me on Gabapentin.  One 300mg capsule at night.

I saw around the day on Friday, and didn't work at all, but I did stitch up a couple of bags out of rabbit fur.  I wanted one to store my finger picks in.

Saturday I felt better but not 100% yet.

I helped Ellie load and unload our trailer with sawdust 6 times.  During this I took a small break to help the missionaries out.

The missionaries' teaching appointment turned out to be a no show though.

Sunday, I was feeling much better and went to church.  Told the Bishop that I'd take the calling to be a Ward Missionary.

Monday, I was working pretty well and got more work done that day than I had in weeks.

Today, I got even more done and for the most part felt pretty darn good.

I haven't showered yet, but that was so that I could start work early today to finish what I started Monday.

The module I had been working on, is all wrapped up except for the data views to be used by Tech Support.

During this time, my head has hurt and I've taken pain meds, but the constant feeling of shit & being fucked up is almost gone now.

-- call and setup appt with Dr. T(asshole shrink)

I must be a little less nutty today... The squirrels aren't bothering me much... yet.

Yesterday, I had the hardest time trying to stay focused and on track.

I was so distracted, that I wondered the meat grinder I had would also grind up grain/wheat.

Not only did I wonder, I searched and found it!

But Wait! There's more!

I started searching the web for information regarding this cast iron wonder.

My extensive research, 30+ minutes, I didn't really find anything.

For some reason, more research was needed for the grinder accessory for my Kitchen Aid.

Getting back to the actual grinder that I had in my lap...  I put it together with the "nut butter" wheel on it.  That's when I realized that control the pressure/tension for the grinding was hard to adjust.  There just wasn't any sort of spring/adjustment.  Only a wing nut that held the wheel on the grinder.

Now onto, yet another, distraction...  A solution for the tension of the wheel.

Thinking about it for a while, I figured that I needed to have a lock washer and a flat washer to keep the lock washer from getting caught in part of the cog.

Now that I had my solution...

I had to go back to work and get it all fixed after work, right?

Well, that's not what happened...

A few minutes later, I found myself out in the garage going through my lock and flat washers.

I suppose the good thing was that I found some that fit!

Now, I went back to work...

In yesterday's post, I was trying to edit a document and was too distracted...

What I really wanted to do with the grinder was clamp it to the counter and try grinding wheat with it.

That's right... I was that obsessed with this quest that I almost completely stopped work just to mess with a meat/grain grinder.

It was then that I realized I REALLY needed help... and I'm still not sure where to go or what to fully do.

After sitting in the recliner and dozing off/on for an hour, I pulled out my laptop that's running Majaro Linux. (It could've been any linux distro, but I found Manjaro's features better than others... and it was one of the first ones I found that worked.  I also tried Xubuntu, but it was too damn picky about the older hardware.)

Getting back to the laptop (again I'm sidetracked), I looked up the homeopathic website a friend suggested. (BTW, I really thought all of those who insisted on homeopathic solutions were wackos... I guess I am one now...)

Previously, I used this same website and found Rhus Tox and Belladona which both really help my arthritis pain!

The website has this very in-depth symptom checker/analyzer, so it took me 5+ minutes to go through all of the pages.

It suggested another remedy, which I will go and pick up after the store is open this morning.

If it works out well, then expect another post with more information about it.

I bet you can squeal like a pig.

The scene from Deliverance where the guy gets raped by another guy was horrifying to me.

Of course, any scenes/depictions of rap of ANY kind is horrifying for me see/hear about.

I hate the movie GI Jane because of the scene where the guy was going to rape her.

With my original reference to Deliverance, is that I have the track for Dueling Banjos, played by Earl Scruggs.

While I'm not a great blue grass banjo player... I do consider myself a banjo player of sorts.  Which reminds me that I need to pull it out and play/practice with it.  I miss the finger picking & what not.  Cool sounds.

So far, I've listened to Dueling Banjos close to 10 times in a row just now.

It's an interesting piece played by a guitar and a banjo, of course.  Why it was labeled as "Dueling Banjos" instead of "Dueling between a Banjo and Guitar" is sort of interesting for me to ponder.

The banjo playing is actually blue grass style, so when you watch that scene from Deliverance you'll notice that the freaky looking banjo player isn't really playing blue grass style. (i.e. his hand isn't anchored down and only the thumb, fore & middle fingers are moving on the right hand.)

Watching the video clip again, the left hand is really working the finger placements on the frets, as it's not just putting them any old where.

Linking from video to video on YouTube, I found this one, which is pretty cool.

What really got me starting to learn the Banjo was that I built a prototype of a banjo, using a cookie tin for the head.

Then a few years later, Steve Martin released The Crow.

One of the tracks I really enjoyed from that CD is "Daddy Played the Banjo".

Then a few years later, he teamed up with the Steep Canyon Rangers and produced "Rare Bird Alert". It has several tracks which show the comedic genius of Steve Martin.

My daughters both love blue grass music now, and the youngest one wants to learn how to play banjo... just not blue grass style, but frailing/claw hammer.

Well, I'm starting to wake up enough that I'm willing to get moving for work now...

I'm up and out of the depression that I had this morning

I finally bit the freakin' bullet, and took some of the faster acting pain pills that I had.

It gave me a buzz, but I also stopped trying to force myself to work, and looked for some Banjo music that I wanted to play that was in the Bluegrass style I learned how to play.

What I really wanted to do was play Steve Martin's "Daddy Played the Banjo" or "Late for School" but those are tabbed out as "Claw Hammer" or "Frailing"...

It's not a hard method to understand, but hard for me to implement.

I want to play the songs, so eventually I will wind up playing Claw Hammer sooner or later.

What I have at the end of my adventure for music, is quite a stack of printed tablature on my home printer.

I didn't use my home system for anything more than a print server, as I setup Bluetooth printing from my work computer to my home computer so that I can print anything from the work computer without having to transfer it over or "look it up" twice.

It's pretty freakin' slick.

If I was in the office, I would just wheeze on the company's printer & paper.

Well, I'm in the mood now for working and I feel "Sane" again. W00t!

Well, I'm not surprised by this. Uncle Update....

This is an uncle update, that's not surprising to me.

He's been down for a while now, and today it's finally started oozing out his ears.

For the past few weeks, he's been hounding the medical room of his assisted living facility (Let's call it Bob's Place), for his pills, even when he doesn't need them.

At first, I thought it was anxiety problems, so I helped to get him on some anti-anxiety meds. (Xanax & such)

Then on Saturday, after General Conference (Remember I'm one of those Mormon dudes, and this last weekend was our General Conference that's broadcast world wide.) my daughters and I visited him.

When we arrived, I asked my uncle how his pain has been.  He said it's been pretty good, then about 1-2 minutes later, he wanted to go to the med room for his pills, so we went with him.

They found that he could get some of his pills, so he took those and went back to his room.  I asked him if he was going to watch one of his movies or go play bingo, or if he wanted to go for a ride this week.  He didn't really answer, and didn't seem to engage in life or what's around him.

For me, this screamed depression as I was in this funk a lot over the past couple of years, before I started on the combination of Effexor & Zyprexa.

Today, my uncle started asking for more pills so that he could die and that he wanted to just die & kill himself.

To this, they called his doctor, who then ordered a psych review, and the sent him off to the mental health division of the hospital in the next town.

I got called about this while I was in Wal-Mart shopping for Terra Cotta pots for my lady slippers to go into. (Also, I got Ice Cream!  Can't forget the damn Ice Cream!)

When I got home, I texted his daughter and let her know whats going on, and left a message with my folks' answer system.

My cousin called back to chat for a bit, and I let her know more of the story, and she said he hadn't answered his phone calls for weeks.

I talked to my folks finally, let them know what's up.

Zeke just showed up to practice our banjo number, and I got to go.

Another day, another... oh...

I don't just want another dollar, I'd rather have a fist full of fish?

Eh, forget it.

My knees hurt really bad today, but less than yesterday.

Especially my right one. It hurts to extend it and then also to put weight on it when climbing/descending stairs.

My mood seems to be OK, for now. I'm not completely elated/euphoric right now, but I also feel a bit drowsy and I'm still waking up.

I am working, but I'm not full aware. To make this better understood, I'm not in my "Neo" state... yet.

The "Neo" state is where I'm working and I can see all the pieces of my source code lining up, I can picture exactly what needs to be done where, etc.

Yesterday, after seeing "The Ogre" (my shrink), I went and worked from the office for the rest of the day. It was good, and I was able to continue working on the security auditing as expected. Unfortunately, I have a problem right now where the 3rd party SQL dll's we're using were built using the .NET target of 4.x instead of 2.x. Our entire project is flipping out, but only for me, because I don't check things in until I am able to have them 100% operational locally and on another system...

I practiced banjo last night with 'ol Zeke, and we started playing off of each other when we were playing.

It is hard to play blue grass banjo against a claw-hammer player. Most claw-hammer playing is at a 4 count... 1, *, 2, *, 3, *, 4, where blue grass is an 8 count. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. Perhaps it's properly described as 4 counts per measure for frailing/claw-hammer, and it's 8 counts per measure for blue grass.

So, when I start to play, I'm throwing lots of extra notes that Zeke is not playing.

My hearing loss doesn't make it any easier.

I need to schedule an appointment to get my hearing aids adjusted, as I noted before, the right one doesn't seem to be picking up audio as well as it used to.

Oy! Again, with the feeling good.

I'm doing pretty good again today, although I'm pretty darn tired.

Being tired is truly my fault, sort of.

Last night, I was a bit "randy", and had a headache when I first laid down to sleep in bed next to my wife.

I fell asleep and awoke.. Sometime later on and... Well... none of your business!

So, I didn't sleep straight through the night, but I felt good with that interruption.  My wife agreed it was good.

Today, our oldest is home again, as she has a bad cough; probably due to asthma.

I'm continuing to go through the security audits for our project, and 99% of the security alerts come from the modules that interface the unsecure code to secure code. (i.e. .NET vs. MFC / (non-.NET)

Yesterday I was doing really well, and the weather was going perfect, so I barbequed some pork steaks. Mmmm. mmm.

It was close to 6:30 or so when we finally sat down to eat, and then my banjo buddy stopped by, as expected so that we could practice.

He brought some Henry Weinhard's Root Beer to share with me, but wound up sharing with the rest of the family.  It's okay, we had so much pork steak, mashed potatoes & asparagus, that we set him up with dinner, as he hadn't had time to eat yet.

Then we began to play our banjos.

For protections sake, let's call my friend Zeke. (I know, it feels like I'm getting ready to startup a story similar to "Deliverance"... Especially with banjos involved.)

Well, Zeke got me involved with a bluegrass banjo class last year at the community college.  It was great, it helped me to round out how to read & play banjo music better.

Zeke is a claw hammer (frailing for some of you folks) player to begin with, whilst I was a guitar picker to prior to learning how to play bluegrass banjo. (i.e. 3 finger banjo playing)

After our hour+ long jam session, my finger felt good, as I haven't played regularly for months & months.

I'm going to pick up the 5 string again tonight after work and play some more so that I can pick up the tune "Bile 'em cabbage down" again.

It's a pretty simple tune, however, getting the full blue grass picking down and hitting the accent notes correctly is quite a feat, but it feels good to play and enjoy thing again!

I still cannot continue enough of how good I'm feeling now.  It is remarkable the difference of my attitude & demeanor since starting Zyprexa.

About earlier today...

Earlier this morning, I was ready to go off on a cussing streak, like I did yesterday... Good thing I didn't start here first... Unless you like to read a page or two of just the F word or whatnot.

I'm certain that a full page of cuss words in various combinations could be really funny to read, but to me, it doesn't really help anyone, except for the youth who doesn't know any better and wants to be "Lord Potty Mouth".

I know cussing isn't good, and for some reason, as a 2nd grader, I learned how to do it really well.  Of course, it sort of helps when your grandpa used to be a cowboy, put planes together for McDonnell Douglass and work in housing construction.  He was well versed in the various forms and combinations of this "eloquent language" that got me spanked & into so much trouble.

Now that I've covered swearing... again... I don't know why I got to keep covering, except that I feel responsible for my online content... when I can control it.

Living with depression / bipolar really sucks.  There were/are days that I don't do anything... I get up, I get dressed (note, I didn't say shower here), and "work", by sitting at my laptop.
Some days, I get into the mood, and I get a lot of stuff done.
Then there are days, when I'm superman, and I am moving at the speed of light, and I'm doing work at 2-4 times the speed of my coworkers.

Lastly, there are days, that I'd wished I could just disappear and leave this earth.

Those are the hardest days to live with. I often don't know what to do, or how to do, or... if I want to live.

These are the days that I cry into my ice cream.

Who'd have thought that a person could cry while eating ice cream or candy?  Well, I have personally done it, and done it, and done it.

Some days for me, I would get emotionally overwhelmed and just break down into tears for no freakin' reason.  I remember once, that I just wanted to get into the car, goto ("goto" is spelled right if you're a coder) one store and come home, when my wife asked me if I'd mind picking up a few other things... then the list got longer and more stores got involved... I went our bedroom, closed the door and wept.

I remember one time where I just cried in bed, next to my wife, for 3-4 hours...  (Good thing I use bandanas to blow my nose on, or else Kleenex or other paper companies would've seen a huge jump in sales.)

You know.. thinking of what else you can cry at, I've cried while listening to freakin' banjo music.. How's that possible?  Banjo music is like yodeling... You either smile at it or plug your ears, but you don't cry.

Why am I writing about this now?  Why not in the first post?

Hell, I don't know.

I suppose, what I did today helped me to think about things in better detail.

Clicking through things on YouTube today, I finally watched this documentary. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=eyiZfzbgaW4)

I added the URL, just in case some of you aren't using an HTML viable browser or something. (Sorry, I think in backwards compatibility, as I'm a developer and I remember the days when not everything was "equal" in terms of computers.) In fact, sometimes, I prefer to surf without java scripts & images.  Want to talk about fast page navigation? Can I hear a "whoo hoo"?

Now that, that tangent is over, let me continue.

I guess why I'm writing this down now, is that watching the video reminded me so much of why I think I have bipolar and not just depression.

I've suffered from just plain depression in the past, but not been the complete visceral, mean, yelling, practically uncontrollable jackass that I had been.

Ever hear/watch those stories on TV/News/Movies or from other people where someone wants to actively get into a fight?  Or just rants & cusses at everything, without the influence of tourettes?

I was one of those people.  Now, I never got into a physical alteraction, thank goodness for several reasons:

I didn't:

1. Want to really get hurt.
2. Want to land in jail.
3. Pull my sharp knife out and lose control of the fight enough where I'd actually harm someone permanently.
4. Do it in front of or with people that I love.

Do doctors look for someone who doesn't have full control of themselves, before they diagnose Bipolar?
Perhaps, they want to wait for someone to fully have a problem in their office before they do?

A former friend's wife is bipolar, and when she was going through some uncontrollable problems... We got her into see a doctor, and then she would come out from the visit without any help, because she "seemed normal" at the time.  Even though she'd been dealing with bipolar problems since she was a teenager.

I used to think of her as "what a kook".  WTF would a friend marry someone like that?  I mean, she was pretty, so it's not like he used a paper bag on her head during their honey moon or anything.

Now that I've gone through these trials, I really feel bad about how I thought of her... Perhaps I could've helped her more at that time, instead of just "not wanting anything to do with her".

You know... they say that "hind sight is 20:20"... Well, if you name is "hind", it would only work if your glasses are on...

For me, I can see lots of things that I would do differently, but I also see that if I didn't have many of the crappy problems in my life, I wouldn't be where I am now...

Despite the depression/bipolar problems now, I like where I am in life.  I mean, I make more $ than all of my brothers put together.  I own a house in a town that I really love living in.  I am married to a really strong and pretty woman, and that I've had two daughters with. (I have a 3rd daughter from a divorce, but that's a subject for a later time.)

Today / right now, I can say that I love life.

Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!
- Rudyard Kipling

Again with the whining!

If you've ever seen Futurama, picture the character Zoidberg saying "Again with the whining"...

I suppose, I like the humor, and like to get the feedback & jokes when talking about movies & stupid TV shows...

Last night, it was getting late for my kids to try and watch a full 90 minute show, so we watched our favorite parts of "Nacho Libre".

I know... Stupid movie, eh?  Well, when you start bouncing your favorite/funny things about shows like that, it makes for an enjoyable time... If you're kinda like me.

Wow... perhaps, I'm going to start doing better now...

Up to about 5 minutes ago, I was really feeling bitchy & like I was going to be a "grumpy lord of the crumpets" today.

Now, I am feeling better... Almost euphoric... I suppose Caffiene and some Tylenol is helping out.

Congestion down the colon highway is down to a minimum again, and I suppose that too is helping me feel better too.

That, and prior to typing, I started playing Steve Martin's "The Crow" banjo MP3's... I really enjoy his music.. Yes, Steve Martin, the actor is also a Banjo player.

For those of you who are in your 20's or early 30's, you probably don't remember that Steve Martin used to play banjo while doing his stand up comedy.  If his jokes started to bomb, he'd play... If his playing was getting bombed, he'd tell jokes.

His playing is pretty awesome, and he can not only play 3-Finger, Bluegrass style, he can also play ClawHammer/Frailing.  I can't do clawhammer/frailing...  I like the idea, but I really prefer the speed/sound of the Bluegrass.

Due to this Steve Martin album, several years I finished up my banjo prototype that I started building many years before that. I was only building it to build it... For fun.

Well, now I have a banjo that I bought from a coworker for about $50, that only needed a bit of repair, that I play now.  It's worth closer to $100/$150 now that I fixed it.

My youngest daughter wanted a banjo built, so that she could learn. (She was 7 or 8 at the time)... So I built her one with a solid purple heart neck, with a small crown at the top. (Yes, literally a crown shape cut out of the top of the peg head... Perhaps I'll post pictures someday.)

Well, I suppose that's it for now.

I'm feeling better, so I better get the stuff for work done that I promised by boss I'd get done soon.