Mr. Subtle.

I'm reading this book by Rick Riordan. He writes fictional mysteries set in San Antonio. The main character is a P.I. who knows Tae Kwan Do, has a sword over the bathroom toilet and a cat that eats chips and tuna and enchiladas. One of the characters is a bad-ass dude who has a .357 magnum named "Mr. Subtle". This cracks me up.

Well, I've been absent a while because I've been busy and the homework structure of this class is different than most which causes me less free time. Our Big Project (that's it's name) at work is coming to fruition so everything is going haywire and they need me for extended periods of time. In fact today I had three simultaneous meetings. And I was recently accused of not being able to multi-task, if you can believe that.

Some, an executive summary until next meeting:
-- I love my new car. Saturns rock.
-- I am going to get another A in my networking class unless I really screw up next week.
-- Food involving tongues and intestines of animals are disgusting
-- I am a sandwich

A new edition to the family.

It's not what you think, family members.

I am retiring the 1995 Saturn SL1 and trading it in for a Saturn ION-1!! I pick it up on Tuesday and will post a picture of it when I get home.

In the meanwhile, you can look at Saturn's ION-1 site to see what it looks like. Mine is Silver Nickel-colored.

Hooray for a new vehicle! You gotta love Saturn. They sent a $1000 buyer incentive, gave me 0% interest for 5 years, and it comes with ABS, floor mats, windows tinting, interior & exterior protectant, and some really cool features my car doesn't currently have.

Woohooo!!!

On the health front, my ear is much better finally. I still have some ringing and high pitched noises are still very loud and metallic sounding, but the balance and volume control seems to be better. I visit the doc on Tuesday for a "hole in my ear" follow up and general checkup. Right after, I pick up the lovely new ION.

Off to do tons 'o homework (week 3 of 5 of my Networking and Telecommunications Concepts class).

Later!

Ring-a-ling-ling

Make it stop!!! The ringing in my ears has gone on for two days now. Now I know what my brother is going through every day of his life. Send him sympathy. Ringing in the ears sucks, even if it's temporary.

Stay out of my head.

Amoxicillin is my hero. On Monday morning I woke up with a pounding pain in my left ear, compounding the stuffy-headedness and raspy voice I had on Sunday. After working (stubbornly) for 3 hours I went to the Texas Med Clinic and it turns out I have an ear infection. The burst blood vessel on the ear drum was a bonus. I hadn't had too much trouble with the sinuses, but as I left the clinic, I felt a pain in my nose and then hocked out the largest, greenest, most disgusting boogers I've ever seen come out of my body. Glad to share that with you. Herald enjoyed it and so should you.

Needless to say the amoxicillin started to work in the evening and I feel relatively better, although my head still pounds some. Late in the evening, I heard this bloop-bloop-bloop sound and suddenly liquid started coming out of my left ear. This does not usually happen and I suspected a perforated eardrum. According to Dr. Internet I was correct.

Inexplicably I went to work today, even though when I turn my head rapidly it seems to continue to turn a few more inches. I have a critical project meeting at 10:30, but when that puppy is over I am Audi 5000 back to the med clinic to make sure the perforation is ok (I called and they said this is typical and they would verify for free). Then, I am asleep as much as possible. Of all the things I miss the most it's not my mind, it's sleep. I think I haven't slept well in two or three weeks for a variety of reasons. My body is pissed off. It should be; I've been mean to it.

I may take tomorrow off also to make up for it. I'm sorry, body.

I start wondering about the seeming frailness of the body. I got these two infections from nowhere and wham! if I didn't have the luxury of modern medicine and penicillin I would likely be dead in a few days. Am I so far removed from my hunter/gather roots that the vast quantities of McFood I have eaten in my life has ruined my immune system to such a degree that I am reliant on modern medicine to keep me sustained? I need to figure out a new paradigm that puts me in the fittest category of the survival of the fittest realm. By all rights, 100 years ago I would die from this.

So, I am off to get ready for my meeting so I can eventually sleep (and maybe watch some TV). I am sure I will write about the fevered dreams I have and resulting actions to become a stronger, healthier, human (string) bean.

Two out of Ten

Today, pain is much better. I had been worried during Pilates that I would be in a lot of pain, but it actually went away during the workout. I am quite aware of my energy centers as I strengthen the abs. I realize I carry a lot of tension in my hips / hip flexors. I realized this because as I activate the abs more, I use the hips less, especially for walking. So, they become sore yet more relaxed. This is very cool!

What else? The great office purge continues at home. I am tossing things left and right and with any luck within a couple of weeks will have all the little projects done and can concentrate on other stuff. I still have two days of vacation from school left and I am enjoying it. The next 8 classes (that's all that's left!!) are much easier. I was reviewing notes for my next class, Fundamentals of Telecommunications, and realized I knew all this stuff from my MCSE. I am looking forward to a little coasting the rest of the way. It's been earned, so don't give me any crap about it. :)

Other than that, work is hectic and Herald (the dark matter of the universe) is reminding me to be a cool Frood. Not to get hung up on the little things. It's easy for him to say -- he is after all, a good portion of the unaccounted for mass of the universe and is therefore infinitely large (or small).

Thanks, Herald.

Herald

Everyone knows that the name of the center of our galaxy is really Steve (see http://www.in-c.blogspot.com/ for details. Steve floats in space--which is astonishingly vast; so vast in fact as to be nearly incomprehensible and those who comprehend it have yet to prove it's disturbing vastness.

Space is made up of a whole lot of stuff, but is mostly, well, space. Emptiness with thin molecules of hardy compounds. Space is horrifyingly cold and violent. We couldn't live there without protection and oxygen and stuff like that.

But, space is made up of mass and some of that mass is unaccounted for. You should see the size of the scale they weighed the universe with. Of course mass and weight are not the same, but don't think about that for now. Enjoy the size of the scale visual for a moment. If your noodle is baked, this is appropriate.

The unaccounted for mass is called Herald. Herald is everywhere and nowhere all at once. Don't mistake Herald for God (also usually known as Quarl). They aren't the same. Herald is infinitely small because size and mass have nothing to do with each other. Well, maybe they do, but not in Herald's case.

Herald is a harbinger. He fortells the Great Equilibrium where all things entropically spread out and stabilize into a gel-like substance very similar to Jell-O. You would know this if you listen to the dark matter in yourself. For, Herald is dark matter, the unknown mass of the universe.

Fear Herald. But, listen to him too. He is everywhere.

Eight out of Ten

This is my pain scale, where 1 = no pain and 10 = excruciating.

It was a tough week. I am addressing issues related to beliefs and physical pain, now. You see, I started taking a Pilates class down the street at the urging of the instructor. Pilates is about strength from within then extending out. This translates into working with your core energy a lot. It all begins with the abdominals. Abdominals are the muscles that support the back. My back is injured from my HEB incident 13 years ago and my abdominals resemble a keg more than a six pack. So, I have core issues.

Last week in Pilates (week 2), I focused on strength in the abdominals and it was great. However, the next couple of days, my original back injury (quadratus lumborum) and subsequent piriformis injury became aggravated again. This is actually the worst I have felt since the original injury 13 years ago.

On Tuesday - Friday I was at an archive conference here in S.A. and we were sitting all day in these hard flat chairs. By Thursday evening I was experiencing limited movement in my ability to walk. Quite frightening. SO I reinstated my back stretches that I had learned and stopped using (I know, I know, Dawn & Mom). This helps fairly immediately, and have continued to use them since. I did not go to the last day of the conference, preferring instead to stay supine with alternating heat / cold packs.

The trick with stretching is that after a while I feel ok and don't want to take the 30 minutes twice a day to do the stretches. This is especially true if I wake up late or am running late or too busy. However, injuries are deceptive that way. I think this needs to be more of something I do every day for good (no comments from the peanut gallery -- you can tell me to do it all you like but until I decide to it's just wasted air).

My original recovery from these injuries took months because I was informed to stay as still as possible to let the injuries heal. This is counter to more modern work at re-strengthening the injured muscles. Sadly, because I feel the original injury never healed properly, I have had subsequent minor support injuries.

One thing I quickly noticed in Pilates is that my right side (where the injuries are at) is weaker and "lower" -- like it's lazy. My abs are stronger on the left side. I feel like I am finally restrengthening this, and to that point, I am, today back at a "3" or "4" in the pain scale. I also discovered that by engaging my abs as I stretch, I get a MUCH more powerful stretch, with more distance and lengthening of the stretches. This is a good thing because it shows progress and is very helpful over all.

So, from an energetic standpoint, I've spent the last 13 years operating outside of core energy. I've been engaging legs, arms, neck, and chest for strength when I really needed to focus on the abs and back -- the central point of strength. Consistent with my experiences with stretching, if I hold tight in my abs and back, my limbs are more able to be stabilized and flexible. Also, pain reduction is MUCH faster. A good thing.

So, largely, I've been dealing with this during the last week. I'm on summer vacation from school (one week, ends this Thursday). There is a lot of belief work in all this stuff, too -- fear of success, fear of using core strength, being stabilized and supportive of myself. This is all what I am working on here, so there's lots of movement happening. Fortunately it's more flexbile movement now. I hope I'm pain free in a day or so.

I have pilates tonight. We'll see. :)

More posting soon. It's been a weird couple of weeks and I've been introspective and thus didn't feel like sharing with the world.

Gotta go square up the joint.