All Warm and Fuzzy

On our Columbus Day shopping excursion, Eddie Bauer was a big hit and particularly this fleece lined hoodie. This bad boy made the trip to the Bears game as the temperature dipped to 50 during the evening. It was awesomely warm. Very happy to have acquired it and for just about half price.

A friend of LL's contacted me a few weeks ago to talk about some ringing that she had in her ears. It seemed like her basic symptoms were pretty similar to mine, as far as the tinnitis goes at least. People with Meniere's all have tinnitis, but not everyone with tinnitis has Meniere's. Turns out she has a benign tumor pressing on a nerve in her ear that's causing the ringing sensation. Operating on the tumor could cause permanent hearing loss in the ear or possibly facial muscle issues as it's a tricky operation with different nerves and such around the tumor.

Before you get all out of sorts, I've had two MRI's of my noggin, several years apart and there are no tumors up there (even less hair too). Seems like the tumor possibility must be the first thing on the physicians list of things to check for when someone comes with ringing in their ears and Meniere's is really far down that list. Maybe it's because they don't have a cure for Meniere's but can operate on tumors.

Lastly, I'm reevaluating my TV, internet and phone providers. There are companies with deals for bundling, most notably Comcast and Xfinity (same company basically), but I've heard nothing good about them. Currently I'm using ATT for internet and phone and DirecTv for TV. I'd like to move away from satellite so when the weather is bad I could still actually watch TV (snow, rain and wind can limit your satellite signal provided viewing). Anyone in the Chicago area with good info to report? There have been some people switching to RCN, but not for an entire bundled package.