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I hear that avocado toast is why I can’t afford a mortgage. To that I say “Yum!”

Studying for my occupational therapy board exam at Philz Coffee, drinking high-test and eating like a millennial!

Megan and I went to Oakland Art Murmur First Friday Art Walk, it was great! It was so refreshing to get out!

We saw great art, ate street food… lots of it, and felt the buzz of ten thousand Oaklanders having a good time in the street

Yeah, we ate well! Had a shimp po-boy, an allspice ice cream sandwich, and grilled cheese from the world famous Grilled Cheese Guy! We went to the uptown area. The best art (and grilled cheese!) was found on 25th where Jon Sarriugarte parked his beloved Golden Mean art snail :-).

Local Language looks like an exciting art fabrication space.

Thea Schrack’s Seaglass 8 was amazing to see. An image of it is to the right but it is far more entrancing in person! When I saw it in person, I found myself saying “I could build a house around that image.” I became so wonderfully lost in it!

There was lots more great art at Art Murmur! Jeanne Jabbour’s work (see on the left) at Oakopolis had “great lines”. We had a fun discussion about how her work would be great in a psychologist’s office.

Hurray for art!

I’ve been using a CPAP for mild obstructive sleep apnea since January 2015. It definitely helps me get a good night’s rest and keeps me from snoring which helps Megan sleep. I still take it off in my sleep most nights. Megan prods me and I put it back on. Here is a list of hints, most of which I’ve tried, to keep my mask on. Do you have any tips to add? Email or comment!

– keep a log of good and bad nights and what I’m doing about it
– Set an alarm in the middle of the night to put it on
– cough syrup (helpful when I have a cold!)
– antihistamine pills (when I have a runny nose or cough)
– nasal allergy spray… Flonase, saline
– turn the temperature up to 80 degrees (didn’t help me)
– use distilled water in the humidifier (I don’t usually use the humidifier but it’ll last longer with distilled water)
– higher pressure… ramp pressure from medium to higher (waiting for the doctor to change the settings is for chumps. I fiddled with the settings a little and it helped. Just 1 small change every 2 nights and a log book helped dial it in for me!)
– Set a timer when going to bed so I don’t forget (I wait til I’m almost asleep to put it on. I sometimes fall asleep forgetting. So I set a 10 min timer when getting into bed for a while)
– Chin strap (didn’t help)
– shave before bed for a smooth face (seems to help)
– wash the facemask weekly (if I don’t, I have to keep pulling it tighter to keep it from leaking… wash every 1-2 weeks. My masks have lasted 3-12 months)
– rinse my nostrils with water and blow my nose before bed for clear nose.

August 2014-May 2016: four semesters of a very intense master’s program with a 5 hr/day, 4 days/week commute (see commuting footnote).

June 2016-May 2017: Two completed internships, one 1/2 completed due to a medical problem

Married June 2014, just two months before school started, just two years after we met.

New baby born a week before second semester started.

Two ongoing family conflicts that I won’t discuss here. Both began around 2014.

Megan told me, almost demanded that I take some time off! So I’ve spend the last couple weeks NOT studying for the boards exam in occupational therapy. Thanks honey!

At the end of May, my master’s degree posted. It’s now “Lee Sonko, MS”.

Looking forward, I just started studying for my board certification, hoping to be done in early August.

Footnote about my school commute:

Yes it was a 5 hour/day commute, Kensington to San Jose State.  Driving would have cut an hour a day but was far more stressful. When I drove, it usually took an hour for me to recover. And I couldn’t study while driving. Here was my commute: 15 minute drive down the hill, 55 minute BART from El Cerrito Plaza to Fremont Station, 45 minute bus ride to downtown San Jose, 15 minute walk to school. 2 1/2 hrs door to door. On a good day, I could study for about 45 minutes on the train and 25 on the bus. I got car sick on the bus every time I tried to study, and I needed/chose to study most of the time. It completely sucked.

These are the two most seminal comedy shows in my world, and they are (gulp!) 30 years old!
These are just links to IMDB, not the actual shows.

Emo Philips Live at the Hasty Pudding 1987
I found the LP record of this when I was working at the Tufts radio station and I pretty much memorized it.

A Steven Wright Special for HBO, 1985
He came to Tufts and completely killed it!

My sister-in-law, Gail got us a Fagor Lux Multicooker for Christmas. It’s great. We’ve used the slow cooker, pressure cooker, and even the yogurt maker settings (the yogurt came out perfectly!). I’m cooking a fancy bean soup in it right now.

Here is a local copy of the manual! Fagor Lux Multicooker User Manual 2015