Friday, November 30, 2007

Dude, what's up with your spine?!

Ok, here's the more detailed scoop on what's up with my back/neck problems.

After posture exam, thermography exam, x-rays, and adjustments the chiropractor gave me the prognosis. I found a couple visual aids on the internet that are close to my situation...

A normal neck should be curved, like this:

normal_cervical

My neck is perfectly straight, and tilts down a bit too much. This is known as Phase One degeneration. It looks kind of like this:

phase 1 x-ray

In addition to the cervical (neck) problems, my sacrum (very last part of the spine before the coccyx/tailbone) has no disc and is kind of "squished" up against the next vertebrae at an angle. That probably isn't the most accurate/correct description, but sorry it's the best I can do.
I found a graphic of a slipped disc on the sacrum, which looks sorta like my x-ray did, only, there's no disc at all, and the two bones were smashed against each other...not flush, kind of crooked. Oy...it hurts just thinking about it!

sacrum slip

Oh, and looking from the back, the spine should be straight, but mine is leaning to the right, which is also bad.
(No visual aid for this one)

I was really, really impressed with the doctor at this place (that did an excellent job of checking me out - all as a free consult!). The way they explained how the spinal cord affects our central nervous system, which in turn affects: EVERYTHING made sense. I liked the sound of their "plan" to get me healthy...except for the bill. $2,700. OY! Huh-uh. Even on the credit plan, the monthly payments are more than our car payments.

Wendy has already beefed about this a bit on her blog. (She's got a messed up neck too.) Suffice to say we were(are) pretty bummed.

Maybe in a few years we can revisit the idea.

LOL

I'm having a "Laugh-out-loud" moment at work.

I share an office with a lady who has the radio on a classic rock station. I'm really digging it, takes me back to high school hearing some classic Van Halen, AC/DC and even older classic rock stuff that I'm not as familiar with but am digging (Grateful Dead, Van Morrison, etc.)

Anywho...this song comes on called "Lola". Of course, for the last 20 years, I've always thought of the song as "Yoda" by Weird Al. I don't think I had ever actually heard the original version. So I surprised myself at how well I remember the words as I sang the Yoda version.

Friday, November 16, 2007

38 Questions

Stole this from my wife’s blog just because:

1. Name one person who made you laugh last night.
Connor (my son)

2.What were you doing at 0800?
Logging in at work and starting to check emails.

3. What were you doing 30 minutes ago?
Pulling employee files

4. What happened to you in 2006?
Daughter (Cosette) was born

5. What was the last thing you said out loud?
”You too” (Answering someone who left saying “Have a good weekend”)

6. How many beverages did you have today?
2 glasses of water (so far….it’s only 11:00 AM)

7. What color is your hairbrush?
I don’t have a hairbrush. (I have a black comb)

8. What was the last thing you paid for?
$20 stake in poker game on Wednesday night (I got $60 back though, so does that count as “paying”?)

9. Where were you last night?
Home.

10 What color is your front door?
White.

11. Where do you keep your change?
In a holder in my car or my desk at work.

12.What’s the weather like today?
60 degrees and clear.

13. What’s the best ice-cream flavor?
Thrifty’s brand Mint ‘n Chip

14. What excites you?
Seeing friends I haven’t seen in a long time; getting a package in the mail; a good LOTR discussion/debate; my wife – hubba, hubba

15. Do you want to cut your hair?
It’s already been cut real short, so not again for a while.

16. Are you over the age of 25?
Yes.

17. Do you talk a lot?
No. (Unless it’s a good LOTR discussion/debate)

19. Do you know anyone named Steven?
My brother is technically a Stephen.

20. Do you make up your own words?
Yes, I’m quite the etymagictricator.

21. Are you a jealous person?
No.

22. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘A’.
Alf. (Shut up! He’s real!)

23. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘K’.
Ken

24. Who’s the first person on your received call list?
Wendy

25. What does the last text message you received say?
”I take it u r winning?” From my wife after midnight Wednesday. The later I’m out on poker night, the more likely I’m going to cash out.

26. Do you chew on your straw?
No.

27. Do you have curly hair?
More like wavy.

28. Where’s the next place you’re going to?
Home for lunch.

29. Who’s the rudest person in your life?
Can't think of anyone... and would I really name them if I could?

30. What was the last thing you ate?
Peanut Butter cookie.

31. Will you get married in the future?
I hope not, unless it's a vow renewal.

32. What’s the best movie you’ve seen in the past 2 weeks?
2 Weeks? Have I seen a movie in the last two weeks...? Oh, we did rent The Number 23 and Shooter. I'll say the Shooter was better. And it's Marky Mark! Er, I mean Mark Walburg.

33. Is there anyone you like right now?
I like my wife, and my kids. And I like Rick from poker.

36. Did you cry today?
No.

37. Why did you answer and post this?
Because my wife did it.

38. Tag 5 people who would do this survey.
No.

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Good News, Bad News

Bad news first, right?
Apparently, cold weather messes with the cable TV. We turned it off tonight out of frustration, since it’s constantly going in-and-out. So is it gonna be like this for the next 4 months? Funny, I don’t remember the cable company mentioning that when we signed up. Grrrr…

Good: I exist! No, Descartes, not because I’m thinking. I guess I’ve been at the company long enough now for the President to know who I am. This morning I passed by him in the hallway, and we exchanged curt “Hellos”, and I remember thinking he probably doesn’t know my name. Then about an hour or two later we passed each other again, and he actually said, “Hi, Josh”. Woah!

On top of that, I found out the the owners of the building we work in is having “tenant appreciation day” on Friday. So they’re having a big buffet breakfast in the lobby. People who remember last year’s say it’s pretty darn good food too. So, yay!

Thursday, November 1, 2007

Yuck

Ok, I was going to update this last weekend, but a nasty stomach flu bug made war on our family.
Cosette brought something home from church and started throwing up last Wednesday. Then Connor got it, then I got it, then Wendy got it, then my brother Steve got it, then his wife got it. So as of Wednesday this week, we're all on the mend. It only lasted 12-24 hours for each person, and fortunately it didn't hit all four of our family at the same time, or we would've been in real trouble. (Oh and 2 different neighbors had it too)

Fortunately, we were able to attend the church's halloween thing last night. They had several booths with little games for the kids to play and then they got some candy. Connor had a pretty good time, though you would have a hard time telling because Connor always gets "in the zone" when we're somewhere doing something and shows no emotion.

Connor was Bob the Builder, and Cosette was Little Red Riding Hood. (Wendy made that one)

Wendy has great pictures on her website as usual.