Here and There Blog

I know I drove through Kansas City once but didn't get off the freeway to explore. So in my first realy stop there, I found myself eating and drinking far more than normal because the culinary experience in this city is pretty good.  It's not often there's a food edition on this blog! This was an appetizer as dinner. Hash rounds, smothered in pepperjack queso, sour cream, bbq shredded pork and topped with guacamole. Beer on the side. Worthy of the food porn moniker. My view as I ate was an event area across the street. The Kansas City Chiefs had a home game and the water was dyed red in their honor. Good thing they won the game!  I had to walk off the food and wandered downtown. I didn't find any street art but a wall of books was something I hadn't seen before. Craft beer is booming. Boulevard is the city's pride and the Pale Ale was the original and tasty! The chocolates were a gift. The purple one on the left was a liquid caramel center infu...

Turns out that I didn't need to wait for the dentist to return, the office Invisalign expert could handle the next set of attachments for the Refinement. So I was expecting maximum 8 trays since after all it was only #14 and correcting the overbite. Wrong! 17 trays. At 8-10 days per tray that's another 5 months. Lesson learned for anyone considering Invisalign, it will go on longer than you thought. Right away I can tell this tray is a better fit. The last few trays went on and off so easily and seemed almost too big with no way to move teeth. This one is in business and #14 fits in it's slot and it seems that the front teeth are getting pushed back in. Good so far. The attachments are also different. I have less of them (good) but some are much larger (bad) and I'm even more aware of them. This also makes it more difficult to put the retainers on and off. It's not a good sign when you leave the office with emergency full strength orajel as a precaution. I ...

Tray 21 of 21 is complete! The hard part is over but the process continues on.  On this dentist all the attachments were sanded down until my teeth were smooth. No more puncture pain for a few weeks.  Tooth #14 never moved. It looks really left behind and a refinement series (and attachments again) are needed to push out wayward #14. I have a more visible overbite than when I started and that needs correcting. All the of the teeth look pretty well aligned up until the front. After three more sets of the purple oozy impression molds, the dentist was satified that they had good prints. What a relief because sitting there with that in your mouth for 60 seconds feels like 60 minutes! Then a batch of photographs of the interior and exterior of all your teeth. After that, Tray 21 was popped back in and will stay in my mouth day and night for the next 3-4 weeks until both the refinement trays come in and my dentist returns from vacation. That means 3 weeks where I can eat like...

Labor Day Weekend - Evergreen, Colorado. I was there for a short time to visit a friend and had the best of Colorado location and scenery. Here's a few take late in the evening. Around 7:45 pm in Evergreen, Colorado. Looks like a watercolor! 30 minutes later - Moonrise Nightfall with the glow from the moon

Walking around Oceanside Harbor on a weekend morning. It's fun to go off the normal beach walk routine and get some variety. Oceanside Pier is to the south. Colorful stacks of kayaks ready to rent! Solitary Bird Solitary Boat

This was taken outside  Wonderspaces  San Diego, an interactive pop-up arts experience. It's in Mission Valley just north of Hazard, and has been extended until August 27.  Inside are different rooms with exhibits, some hands on, others not. I spent one hour there and enjoyed the time. A virtual reality movie is included but it was a full 60+ minute wait and I ended up leaving.  It would have been nice to have had the full experience but even without it, there's a lot to look at. This isn't a hit and run, you need to observe, pay attention to other people as well as the exhibits, and participate. I liked that attendance is limited so it isn't crowded inside (except the VR area) and you can take your pictures and go in and out of the rooms at leisure.

Tray 21 is the last official tray of my Invisalign before the refinements begin!  This tray will be on for 2 weeks and on September 5th, I'll be back for impressions and corrections. Every tooth has moved but one stubborn one so that has to be corrected. I did this for the lower teeth and I'm happy with how they've turned out. The upper teeth I didn't want moved and now I have an overbite that is kind of worse than before so that part sucks since it means refinements will go a while. Overall the process has been smooth. Only a few trays were tough and some (like 21 here) went on easily. Stay tuned and I'll let you know what happens on September 5th!