| An exotic life |
[Jul. 14th, 2009|04:37 pm] |
That's right. I have it. So today? I wrote an instructor blog post and audited the paperwork of my instructors. Then? I went to Subway.
I did get to fly a plane to Auburn and back, so that was good. Got my 12 minutes of flying in. :)
Later on I plan on calling my Mom and cleaning my sink. Don't tell me you aren't all jealous.
Actually, tonight should be very nice. N&L are going to come over and cook me wondrous food while we watch Gross Point Blank on my wall. None of us have seen it yet and I have high expectations.
There. I feel so much better now that the internets knows about my day. To the sink! |
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| Fortune in misfortune |
[Jul. 8th, 2009|08:52 pm] |
Yesterday we had a tire blow out on our airplane just before departure. It was... irritating to me to say the least. I had sat around all day waiting for my client and had the hope of an early return home with some serious geeking to Fallout 3. This was not to be, alas.
There were no spares of this kind nearby so we ended up flying one over from Seattle. This took a while so the client decided to airline home and leave me with the plane.
There's a good side to this. I was a bit grouchy about it at the time and certainly tired when I got home around 9, but between those two points I had an awesome experience that would not have happened were it not for the blown tire and the lengthy time it took to get the spare.
As I mentioned, the client flew home commercially and thus I was bringing the plane back myself. I had seen fit to bring my iPod with me as well as the connections to pipe the music through the Bose headsets we wear. The noise canceling is excellent (better than the non-aviation kind) and the sound is very rich. It was a quiet flight and I was able to listen to my music the whole way back.
As I passed over the Cascades, I was greeted by the layer of clouds we've had around for the last couple of days. I was up at 12,000 feet and above them all and was struck with the beauty. Since I had my camera along, I snapped a few photos and took some videos. I've put a couple of the pictures below the cut.
( bigass pictures )
Listening to music and skimming across these is an experience I hope everybody can have. It's not like any on this earth (heh) and is one I still don't take for granted no matter how many times I see it.
So yeah, when I got home I was just tired but not so much irritated after seeing that. |
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| Girls allowed, but... |
[Jul. 1st, 2009|08:57 am] |
I'm at a very short stopover in SD to visit Mom. In an hour we'll drive down to Omaha from which I will fly to LA, then home hopefully tomorrow night after a day of work.
My nephew and niece built a small club house (with "Play Hose" written on it by my nephew) out of a cardboard box which once contained a washing machine. There are a couple of doors, a window, and a great deal of drawings present.
Since I came in last night and am flying out today, the kids and their parents decided to come over and see me for a little bit last night. While we were all hanging out, Jake decided to write up a list of rules for the Play Hose. I took a picture since mere words would not do this justice.
( Biiig pictures ) |
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| Please note |
[Jun. 24th, 2009|05:06 am] |
It is far too early to have gotten up a half hour ago.
In other news: back in 5 or 6 days. |
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| Parachute Save #19 |
[Jun. 21st, 2009|07:13 pm] |
No suspense form - Another life saved.
Short form: A Cirrus pilot was flying from NJ to SC and lost his engine at about 6,000 feet. Oil spewed onto his windshield and he couldn't see so he deployed the airplane's parachute. The plane came to rest in a wooded area and the pilot got out, walked a safe distance away, and called 911 to help guide emergency rescue people to his location.
Story from the local newspaper (which erroneously states the NTSB will probably not open an investigation - they are required to since the plane got totaled): Read here.
There are already pilots (who have never flown a Cirrus nor are they trained in the parachute procedures) criticizing this guy's choice to use the chute and not try to land sans power, but fortunately all the media spin is going against them. News people are pointing out the very true fact that this guy had a much greater chance of death and an almost sure chance of injury had he tried to glide in with that terrain.
I hope to chat with him next week at our fly-in in DLH. |
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| Air France flight 447 |
[Jun. 12th, 2009|11:38 am] |
Some speculation from a former NTSB accident investigator. An instructor I know who knows this guy sent it to me, so it's rather second hand but the facts and speculations do seem to make sense. It's kinda long so I'll put it behind a cut. Would advise you don't read it right now if you're not interested in something of a downer. I do find it quite interesting, though.
( Some thoughts ) |
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| Pain receptors: coming back online |
[Jun. 11th, 2009|08:59 am] |
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Most will remember me commenting that the constant hip pain rather screwed up my pain thresholds. I would hurt myself somehow (cut, bruise, burn) and not realize it all the time. Also, things that hurt for a little bit went away very quickly once their pain amount dropped below the threshold.
While I'm nowhere near back to normal and don't know if I ever will be, I can tell that I am at least swinging away from the high end of ouchlessness.
I grabbed a (turns out) very hot plate this morning and have successfully burned all of the fingertips on my right hand. The prints are still there so it isn't anything serious, but it was a novelty for me to move the plate and realize that it hurt. As I record this historic event the pain is already subsiding into the background and will doubtless be gone soon, so there's my proof the tolerance isn't back down to where it ought to be... but at least it took 15 minutes to calibrate!
I haven't written many "Yay! That hurts!" posts before. Huh.
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| Thought |
[May. 28th, 2009|11:07 pm] |
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When noticing the failings of others, it is a good reminder to look for the same in oneself. |
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| Hidden surprises and hair |
[May. 27th, 2009|02:39 pm] |
I got a haircut today. A serious haircut.
I'll look respectable while I'm up teaching the jury but dang... I kinda liked it long (it was getting less manageable and needed a trim at least)
I came home from this event and looked for some food in my cupboard... and found a huge box of gourmet croutons. Yes, they do make them fancy.
My Mom bought them. She remembered when I was in the hospital and craving crunchy savory things and asked for just a small bowl of croutons. She went out, bought these, and stashed them away in my cupboard where she figured I'd find them later. |
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| Baby steps |
[May. 23rd, 2009|05:23 pm] |
I just walked a little over a mile through QA hill. The cane helps me not favor my new leg too much and I have to focus, but I'm able to do that walking thing pretty well now.
Pain was no different (just sore muscles, same as when I started) and fatigue, while noticeable, was not severe enough to make me need to lay down. I bet I could go 2 miles...
This has been your Very Important Update. |
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| Recommendations |
[May. 23rd, 2009|03:29 pm] |
The internet is a great place to find listings of general practice doctors in the Seattle area... but an awful place from which to pick.
For the whole time I have lived here, I have just gone to see specialists. This won't do in my present case as I need a doc to do checkups, give me a couple of prescriptions for things I want done, and to have available for the next time I do something stupid and need multiple band aids.
There's a family practice doc listed very close to where I live but I thought I would ask you all: Do you have a favorite general practice doc? Why?
I don't mind driving a while to see somebody good so unless they're across the state, let me know! |
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| Dear LJ |
[May. 21st, 2009|10:08 pm] |
I am very sleepy.
Being a cyborg is a lot of fun but dang if the press just won't leave me alone.
Also, I'm rocking my PT. I can lift my leg slightly back and to the side like a freaking champ.
Jascen - Thank you so much for the awesome care package! Everybody else - I have the world's best peanut butter at my house. Come see me if you want to try a little.
Random update concluded. |
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| Attention: You know who you are |
[May. 20th, 2009|10:17 pm] |
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Any stories about my childhood are to be left out of polite conversation.
It was not fair to ply my Mother with chocolate.
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| Physical Therapy: #1 |
[May. 19th, 2009|07:49 pm] |
I had my first PT appointment today and it rocked.
My therapist kept talking about how surprised he is at my current progress - I walked in there on a cane and can stand on the op-leg alone for lengthy stretches. My range of motion is pretty close to what we were aiming for and my strength has returned rapidly but for 2 areas (which are still above average but not yet rocking this house freestyle).
We've already decided to ratchet back some of the PT appointments for later. I'll keep with 3 per week for this week and the next but then go down to 2 per week thereafter. He says I just won't need it.
I'ma go leap some buildings now. |
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| Securely not secured |
[May. 19th, 2009|11:14 am] |
I just signed up for the Department of Homeland Security's electronic border crossing system. To fly over the border, I now must fill out these online forms... which means internet access is going to be required prior to any flight across a border.
This doesn't work well out in the boonies of Canada or Mexico, but I have workarounds... much less secure workarounds since they involve me sharing my login and password with somebody who I can reach by phone, but hey, whatever makes you happy DHS.
The password they made me create was a real piece of work. It has to begin with a number, must involve some character that isn't a number or letter, and cannot have a character repeated more than twice in a row and not more than 4 times in the whole thing. My bank password is less secure.
Seeing as how I have absolutely no hope of remembering my login ID (you can't change it, it's a gobbledy gook of upper and lower case letters and numbers) or my password, I have spread my login ID and password all over my computers, written them down in my house, will have them written down at work, have them in my phone... they're everywhere. I had to do this because I'm not going to be able to commit this stuff to memory, at least not quickly, and I don't travel across the border often enough to drill them in there.
Also, you can't reset them without an act of Congress (lest you should forget/can't find them)
DHS - punishing the responsible. :) |
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| Surgery recap 2 |
[May. 18th, 2009|10:14 pm] |
Like I said, surgery takes it out of you. I had most of yesterday to post this but steam was in short supply. I did manage to walk up and down several flights of stairs, remove my bandage and see the awesome (gory) glory of my newly forming scar, and become overly self conscious that my Mother has played more hours of video games in our time here than I have.
I'm serious. Please come take her away from Solitaire and Mahjong. I have been trying to talk her in to taking walks and going to the library... anything... but she won't go.
On to the fun! There is one picture below this cut of my wound that might be considered icky by some. If you don't want to see it, scroll till you see a bunch of xxxxxx and then use your periphery to scroll past the image. It isn't bad, just a little blood under some butterfly bandages, but I figure it's fair to give warning.
( Woo! Pictures of a hospital! )
Many more thoughts on pain, walking, and a life spent no more than 20 feet from your mother at any given time - but those will need to wait until later. My exhausted level is frustrating to me... but it is slowly getting better. I suppose I should give myself a little slack but I'm not terribly good at that.
I should be running marathons by now!
Well, close to it anyway. According to the literature that came home with me, I'm at least a week and possibly two weeks ahead of schedule on recover. I was operated on one week ago today... and now I barely need crutches. My pain is so low was to be non-existent... and I can function like a normal person in bursts (and then it's nap time).
Progress: I have it. In truckloads.
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| A note |
[May. 17th, 2009|09:05 pm] |
Giving oneself shots every night in the stomach is not a lot of fun.
11 more days of this. It isn't that it's *that* painful, it's just freaking weird.
Yes I know who just said that. |
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| Accomplishments |
[May. 17th, 2009|12:07 pm] |
You'll all remember that part where I said that once I get this hip thing done it's all I'll manage to talk about because of how much it excites me? Well here it is again with my permission (you're welcome) to skip this post which is mostly me saying: OMG I can do things everybody else can do without thinking about it and even though I have to think about it a little still it's crazy great and completely mundane!!!!
Ahem.
On Friday morning I had a wild idea. I was craving the cherries jubilee french toast being featured at the 5 Spot right now and it's only a few blocks (and 4 flights of stairs) away from here... so let's take a walk.
Being the 5th day since I had surgery, I figured I would need to stop part way and catch a breather... but I didn't. I walked the steps like a normal person would too, none of that one foot down, other next to it, one foot down, other next to it.... No, I took one step per foot and just used the railing on one side as a support. I was completely thrilled and my Mom was unable to be quiet about it through most of breakfast. I'm surprised she didn't tell the waitress.
Mom: "You know, my son just walked down some stairs. All by himself!"
Waitress: -sideways glance at me now second guessing why she had flirted- "Ooh... well, he's certainly getting to be a big boy! Coffee?"
But no, this horror story did not happen.
Surely, I would need to take a breather on the way back up the steps going home, right? No. I was actually surprised when we got to the top, figuring I should be much more winded. We just kept going and ended up back at my place.
One thing about surgery, though, and I know a few of you already know it: It saps the hell out of your energy for quite a while. We got back from breakfast and I zonked out for a 2.5 hour nap. My stamina is getting measurably better each day, but wow. I knew I was tired (special note: I did not say 'in pain) but didn't realize how much it takes just to walk a few blocks and cover some stairs.
I just got done going up and down the stairs in my building. Time for a rest. |
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