update 030708
I saw a sports med doc the other day about my knee problem, and his diagnosis? Gout. Doc ordered a uric acid level on me, and it was high. Apparently, there were urate crystals present in the fluid buildup in my knee. He’s got me on some meds, and I’m to exercise my knee to loosen the muscles and bring it back to normal. I’m also rethinking my diet. A high uric acid level can be caused by eating foods high in purines. Some examples of high-purine foods:
- anchovies
- fish eggs
- sardines
- game meats (goose, duck, and partridge)
- organ meats (brains, heart, kidney, liver)
- gravy
Aside from some gravy on my mashed potatoes (which is maybe once a week), I eat NONE of these foods. I do need to lay off the fried stuff and eat foods that are baked. And I need to drink more fluids (at least 10 to 12 cups a day) to flush out any extra uric acid. I just recently tried Glacéau’s VitaminWater, which doesn’t taste bad at all. But in reading more about it from Howstuffworks, I’ll need to exercise regularly to get any real benefit from this drink.
Work is … umm … eh. I’m pretty busy with troubleshooting daily issues and problems. We recently discovered that instead of resuming work on the new system project next year, it’s been pushed to 2010 with a go-live of January 2011. They continue to let the air out of our balloon. This project gave the staff something positive, something to look forward to, the ray of light we needed in what we consider a dark time for our organization (what with all the administrative changes and actions taking place due to the financial troubles). So me and the rest of the crew have been trying to move past this setback by keeping busy.
knee update
My knee is still not completely healed. I started the week off well, but by Wednesday, it started to stiffen again. If I’m walking a long distance, I have a noticeable limp. I normally use the stairs at work to go from floor to floor, but I’ve resorted to using the hospital elevators for the past 2 weeks. With the system implementation project on hold, I resumed working my normal 10-hr days. Which is good because that means I’m off for the next 4 days; the plan is to stay off my feet as much as possible. Daniel and I will be attending the Best Picture Showcase again on Saturday, so I’ll pretty much be glued to the theater seat for nearly 12 hours. If I’m still not walking well by Monday, I’ll be calling the doctor again.
my valentine
for my sunflower … I love you!
adventures in plumbing
Last week, Super Bowl Sunday was supposed to be an easy day for me. I did most of my chores on Saturday so I could enjoy my Sunday. I slept in, and when I woke up, I got dressed, ready to take Salem for his walk. However, curiosity got to me while I was in the bathroom. (more…)
getting older sucks
Here I go again. My right knee is swollen, and I’m in a lot of pain. I reaggravated it while replacing the sink faucet in the master bathroom (again, more on that later). I didn’t sleep well because of the pain, and when I did sleep, I dreamt that it was all better, only to wake up to more pain. I can’t put weight on it without feeling (you guessed it) pain. I called work to let them know I wouldn’t make it in today. Treatment? Ibuprofen to kill the pain and frozen veggies to reduce the swelling. This is getting to be an annual event for me (see “pain” and “bursitis“).
update 081307
I’m having probably one of my better weekends, something I haven’t had in a very long time. I’ve read a chapter of “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” each night before bed. I got to watch Tiger Woods win his 13th major at Southern Hills. I’ve not only had time to relax and enjoy myself, but I’ve also been productive. I’ve done the dishes everyday, been keeping up on my laundry, taken Salem for a walk each day, and today, I tidied up the kitchen and vacuumed. Christine worked all weekend, and I made her dinner the other night (albeit a ready-made one from the grocery store, but, hey – who’s perfect?). Tuesday will be my Monday as I return to work from my 4-day weekend, and there’s a lot to do. I’m not crazy about going back to work, but at least I’m not dreading it like I did a month ago.
update 072907
The lab system’s go-live was, ummm … fairly successful. I got called in early the day of go-live. Tuesday was surprisingly a quiet one, but day 2 was not. We actually had issues each day right up until 1 PM on Friday. I could have left early, but I had other non-lab-related tasks that I wanted to finish. So I didn’t get out of there until after 4 PM. I really would’ve preferred my normal 4-day weekend, but it wasn’t gonna happen. The way I see it, they owe me a day and a half off for the past 2 weeks. (more…)
Teny Jr, Simpsonized
I’m not a big fan of “The Simpsons”. I watched the first season, but I don’t really remember much from it. I do remember them when they were just animated shorts on Fox’s “The Tracey Ullman Show”. But since then, I haven’t watched any of the series because I just don’t have any interest in it (or in the upcoming movie). I will say SimpsonizeMe.com is pretty fun. I uploaded a picture of me, and the site transformed me into a Simpsons character. Afterwards, I tweaked it a bit to get it to look more like me. If you want to make yourself a member of the Simpsons universe, I recommend reading these tips to get the best results. I actually like this one better than my previous “Simpsons” avatar, which I manually created.
MIA?
Got an email from my dad yesterday. He noticed the lack of postings on this blog and was wondering how things were going. To be honest with you, it’s been hell. I’ve been so busy at work with the lab project that I’m just mentally and physically drained when I get home. Because of this, I don’t really have much energy to do anything. (more…)
my Simpsons avatar
What I’d look like if I were on “The Simpsons”.
Create your own avatar here.
anniversary
Today, Christine and I celebrate our 7th wedding anniversary! Happy Anniversary Christine! I love you!
update 062007
Hmm… what’s going on? Busy at work, tired at home. I still have 2 days’ worth of pictures to upload from our vacation. I’m gonna have to better organize my time so I can have this done by the end of this weekend. Daniel returns home next week when my in-laws come to visit. It’s getting hotter outside now that summer’s officially here. I’m feeling the pressure and stress at work as the lab project is almost live (5 weeks away). Maybe once that’s out of the way, I can rest at ease, relax, and get back to some kind of normal in my job. I am happy to say that, today, my new manager announced to me that I would be getting a raise effective next pay period! 
12/365
Working hard …
… or hardly working?
update 041507
I’ve got about a week left before it’s time to renew the domain “tenyjr.com”. I also plan to change hosts for my blog. Vizaweb was good the first year, but the 2 day outage last November has me looking elsewhere for better service and support. Right now, GoDaddy is an obvious choice, but I’m still researching it. (more…)
3/365
All the meds I’ve taken to relieve the headaches I’ve been having for the last 7 months. Thankfully, I haven’t had much of a headache since my wisdom teeth have been removed. Of course, now I’m back on painkillers thanks to my knee.
bursitis
I’m in pain. I now regret kneeling for an extended period of time on Saturday while cleaning the house. My right knee is swollen, stiff, and it hurts to bend it or to put pressure on it while walking. Frickin’ bursitis. I slept terrible last night due to throbbing pain. Once again, I will have to skip on taking my pup for a walk today, since I have enough difficulty getting from room to room right now. And it’s supposed to be nicer outside today, too.
coping
So I’m back up and online. I did not use a computer at all on Saturday. How was my day? Uneventful. Shutdown Day should’ve included TV, iPods, video games, radio, etc. And it’s my understanding that a good part of the online community did NOT shut down. (more…)
Shutdown Day approaches
Saturday is Shutdown Day. I’m participating by going the whole day without a computer. No e-mail, no internet, no Twitter, no Twittervision, no Digg, no iTunes, no Flickr, no del.icio.us, no Google, no Wikipedia, no YouTube, no WordPress, no Netflix, no games, no widgets, no blogging, no blogroll, no uploads, no downloads, no troubleshooting, no ripping, no burning, no RSS feeds, no Wi-Fi, no way Jose.
I’ll be back on Sunday to tell you how my day went.
post-op blues
I’m glad that the surgery is done and over with. Waiting for the moment to arrive was the worst. The anticipation was keeping me up at night. The procedure was fairly quick this morning. I don’t remember anything except the preparation. Now I’m just dealing with swapping out the gauze to see if the bleeding has stopped. I’m also taking turns with ice packs (frozen veggies) on each cheek. I have pudding, apple sauce, and jello (thanks, Baby!) to eat.
i’m in repair
Saw the dentist this morning for the 1st phase of fillings (the number cavities add up to double-digits; serves me right). He asked me which side I preferred to have done first; I chose the left side, since there were fewer cavities to deal with. Funny thing – it wasn’t until I felt the numbness that I figured out he injected the anesthetic into the right side (CL tells me that he was actually working on his left side). He didn’t realize his mistake until after having dealt with fillings on the bottom right side. He apologized repeatedly; I assured him It was really no big deal to me. Now I’ve gotten the worst of the 2 sides done, and the dentist will work on the left side in about a week. Shortly thereafter, I’ll have oral surgery.
Saturday, D and I head to AMC Theatre’s Best Picture Showcase. It starts at 11 AM, and they will be showing each of the 5 nominees for Best Picture in this year’s Academy Awards. We will get a 15 minute intermission between movies (and a slightly longer dinner break between the 3rd and 4th movies). What is really cool is that tickets cost $30 each. This includes 5 movies, free large popcorn and free large soda (both refillable). You really can’t beat that. We need to be at the theater an hour early to assure good seats, and we probably won’t get home until after midnight. It will be a very long day, but it should be fun.
pulling teeth
A little health update. I saw the dentist last week, and my bottom two wisdom teeth are decayed and badly positioned. The dentist believes they are the cause of the headaches and pain I’ve been experiencing. There’s inflammation by the left tooth, so he’s put me on antibiotics and more powerful painkillers to deal with the pain; no more ibuprofen for me. I only take the meds as prescribed, so it’s nice not having to take something every 4-6 hours. The pain is not as apparent these days (only when I’m stressed).
(more…)
update 012907
Go figure that after my 4-day weekend, I still haven’t posted anything. So what’s going on? Work has been very crazy for both me and CL. So busy that Ronald McDonald, Little Caesar, and a handful of others have been helping us out with dinner. The weekend was spent catching up on laundry and restoring the hard drive on my laptop.
Just because it’s busy doesn’t mean I haven’t enjoyed some leisure. I recently upgraded to a fifth-generation iPod (took advantage of high-capacity storage and excellent battery life at a fantastic price). CL and I have been trying to catch up on movies and TV (Heroes rocks!). I’m also learning how to be a Guitar Hero; this game is addicting and I enjoy it a lot.
I hope to return to blogging on a regular basis. I’d like to be able to write like I did when I started this nearly 2 years ago. I miss being able to write random thoughts without any worry as to what it is or who’s going to read it. I may be able to relax and have fun, but every now and then, I need to have some release.
root of the problem
Doc says it’s probably my teeth causing the headaches I’ve been experiencing. I show no signs of losing any abilities (sight, hearing, balance), so he’s confident that it’s not anything serious like a tumor. He prescribed something for me to help me sleep through the pain and continued me on ibuprofen as needed (he stressed food to avoid an upset stomach). After I see the dentist, he wants to know what’s going on; if the dentist determines it’s NOT the teeth, then Doc is going to order up a CT for me.
Not surprisingly, today is my day off, and I feel much better. Stress is obviously a factor in the level of pain I’m feeling.
pain revisited
This certainly isn’t how I wanted to start off the new year.
My headaches returned with a vengeance last week. Thursday and Friday were my most challenging days to date in IT (with Friday being worse). I went out with my buddy for some beer and pizza (CL joined us later). That’s right, I drank beer (it was ok, but I still prefer an ice-cold Coke). It was a good bitch session as we let everything out of our systems. Mentally, I felt better. Physically, I felt like crap. I haven’t slept well the last week due to the pain in my head. It still resides in the upper left half of my brain, and I still feel pressure in my left ear. But what’s worse is the pain has spread to my jaw and teeth.
(more…)
