Miscellaneous, 2008/08/05
This entry was supposed to be published about 22 hours ago. I usually write all my entries in a text editor and just copy them to my wordpress blog and this journal. Yesterday around noon I finished publishing it on wordpress and was about to just insert the right LJ cut and stuff, when my internet suddenly shut down. First I thought it was just livejournal but then I realized no other site was working and I noticed blinking lights at my DSL modem, which is never a good sign.
So I did the usual, switch off the modem, wait a while, switch it back on. Nothing changed. I tried it a couple of times, before I called the service hotline. "Due to thunderstorms there can be breakdowns in some regions" was the automatich message on the hotline. I left my apartement for the afternoon (for other reasons) but when I came back around 7 PM it still wasn't working. And so wasn't the hotline: "This service is temporarily unavailable..." WTF ?!? It's a service hotline! I tried it again later and even got someone on the phone, who could only tell me that there was indeed a major connection breakdown in my region and it would take till the next morning to be up and running.
I once again realized how dependend I am on the internet nowadays. It's really pathetic. I usually don't mind being shut off the internet too much - or at least I can handle it - if I know it in advance. Or if I can use Bro3's internet instead. But he is shut off for months now as well. Different story :-) Anyway, to be offline from one moment to the other sucks.
So after catching up with all the stuff I missed online in the last 22 hours here is the revised version of all the little miscellaneous stories I wrote down yesterday...
°°°°°
I called in sick yesterday. And as precaution for today as well. My lower back was and still is killing me. I have problems with blocked lumbar vertebraes every once in a while, and now is one of those times. I guess, my vertebraes didn’t like walking around on pavement and climbing about 400 stone steps in London last week, because my lower back already bothered me a bit then. It didn’t get better, although I tried to relax and treated it with heat in various forms. Nothing seemed to help, so I went to see the doc this morning.
My general practitioners are on vacation at the moment, so I had to go to their stand-in GP. And as I don’t own a car I literarily mean “go”. During a nasty heavy shower and even with an umbrella my pants were soaked. Ick!
Being in that GP’s practice I once again knew why I like the practice and staff of my GPs so much. The stand-in doc himself was ok, though. He did some manual manipulation to un-block the vertebraes, advised me to take some ibuprofen for the next three days and to not do anything to strenous. I think I can do that :-). At least it doesn’t hurt constantly, only at certain movements. I spent most yesterday morning and night with a hot pack on my back. Yesterday evening I thought it was already getting better, but this morning it felt as bad as yesterday. Maybe my back just needs some time to "wake up" every morning. Argh, I'm getting old and rusty!
Yesterday afternoon I had to accompany my mom to an appointment at "my" neuro practice. She lost the feeling in her left hand for a while now and our GP first thought it was some ortho stuff. But the orthopedist didn't find anything and sent her off to a neuro specialist. And they found the cause pretty easily as it was obviously standard symptoms. I don't know why I never thought of that: She's got carpal tunnel syndrome, something pressing on the nerves in her wrist and she most probably has to have surgery for that. We don't know anything more yet, until she sees a hand surgeon and discuss everything wit our GP. And it's not like she didn't go through enough crappy medical stuff yet *sigh*
Doctors all around and none is looking like McDreamy. Or Alex. Or Pete or Sam or Jack or Billy :-) *sigh*
°°°°°
I really hope that playing Darts didn’t cause any of the back pain, because then that might turn into something chronic :-) During the last few days I spent more time throwing darts at a board than in my complete life before. I never thought I would, because I always thought I’m just not good at it and I could never learn it anyway. But like so many other things in life it really is just a matter of practice. Maybe not just practice, but also technique and maybe a bit talent, but definitely a lot of practice. And that’s what I’ve been doing and I definitely see improvements. Pretty fast even. I still need more than twice as many attempts as Bro2 and Bro3 to complete a Round-a-Clock, but I see the improvements. Round-the-Clock is a very good and simple way to practice on your own.
On Friday I even bought my own set of steel darts, because it really does make a difference if you can throw with the same darts all the time or if you have to switch sets and use the ones not used by someone else at that moment. So I wanted to have my own set. It just feels better. Or maybe I just want to show off :-) Anyway, when I browsed through the thousands of flights (the wings at the end of a dart) to personalize my darts I found the perfect ones for me.
°°°°°
I did some other things this weekend except playing Darts and whining about my lower back pain though. I started to work on my Climate Change term paper once again. Actually I wanted to hand it in at the end of July; now I’m aiming for mid-August. Ambitious probably, but I need that sort of pressure this time. I have a lot of ideas for the different assignments, I just have to put them into a logical order. And yesterday, waiting that the practice, I even started reading the study material for the mobility class.
I also started working on my vacation photobook for the Norderney trip in September 2006. I’m soooo behind with these photobooks. There were five more photobook-worthy vacations after that (including the London trip). But the good thing is, that I realized it doesn’t take that long to work on. Well, it still takes quite some time, but I managed to cover almost half the albeit short trip to Norderney in about 90 minutes on Sunday. That even included a software crash, when I hadn’t saved the current two pages and had to do it all over again.
And I finally managed to get my hold on the complete new Doctor Who series. Four seasons á 13 episodes. Yay! I have no idea when I will get around to start watching the show, but at least I’ve got them on stock now. And my DVD recorder seems to work for once. Maybe it all was just a matter of DVD brand? I have to give it a few more trys.
On Saturday I spent a wonderful night with some friends celebrating
hai_dis birthday. It’s always fun with these group of friends, catching up with all the stuff going on in our lifes, eating yummy food and dessert, drinking pink prosecco, playing games and just having a great time.
°°°°°
In reminiscence of my London trip I watched “Shakespeare in Love” on Friday night. I think I liked it better, when I saw it at the movies a couple of years ago. It was ok, entertaining, but I don’t really understand some of the Academy Awards this movie has won. Best movie and best actress? I have to admit I didn’t at all remember that the movie and Gwyneth for that movie won. Who was their competition that year?
I paid Chicago Hope some more visits this weekend as well. I’m almost done with season 3 and I’m anxious to see how it all works out (or not) for Jack McNeil and his gambling. At least now the hospital staff know about it and I hope they can help in some way. And that Jack let them help him. And you don’t just say “You wanna hit me? Go on and hit me!” to Billy Kronk without some sort of reaction *g* Pretty intense scene. Talking about Billy and Diane: I’ve seen quite some proposals on several TV shows in my life, but I think the one at the end of episode of 3.21 was a really great one. It didn’t quite top Kevin’s on Brothers & Sisters, but it comes close. In it’s own way :-) Too bad that Diane and Billy already sort of put the whole engagement on hold in the following episode...
So I did the usual, switch off the modem, wait a while, switch it back on. Nothing changed. I tried it a couple of times, before I called the service hotline. "Due to thunderstorms there can be breakdowns in some regions" was the automatich message on the hotline. I left my apartement for the afternoon (for other reasons) but when I came back around 7 PM it still wasn't working. And so wasn't the hotline: "This service is temporarily unavailable..." WTF ?!? It's a service hotline! I tried it again later and even got someone on the phone, who could only tell me that there was indeed a major connection breakdown in my region and it would take till the next morning to be up and running.
I once again realized how dependend I am on the internet nowadays. It's really pathetic. I usually don't mind being shut off the internet too much - or at least I can handle it - if I know it in advance. Or if I can use Bro3's internet instead. But he is shut off for months now as well. Different story :-) Anyway, to be offline from one moment to the other sucks.
So after catching up with all the stuff I missed online in the last 22 hours here is the revised version of all the little miscellaneous stories I wrote down yesterday...
°°°°°
I called in sick yesterday. And as precaution for today as well. My lower back was and still is killing me. I have problems with blocked lumbar vertebraes every once in a while, and now is one of those times. I guess, my vertebraes didn’t like walking around on pavement and climbing about 400 stone steps in London last week, because my lower back already bothered me a bit then. It didn’t get better, although I tried to relax and treated it with heat in various forms. Nothing seemed to help, so I went to see the doc this morning.
My general practitioners are on vacation at the moment, so I had to go to their stand-in GP. And as I don’t own a car I literarily mean “go”. During a nasty heavy shower and even with an umbrella my pants were soaked. Ick!
Being in that GP’s practice I once again knew why I like the practice and staff of my GPs so much. The stand-in doc himself was ok, though. He did some manual manipulation to un-block the vertebraes, advised me to take some ibuprofen for the next three days and to not do anything to strenous. I think I can do that :-). At least it doesn’t hurt constantly, only at certain movements. I spent most yesterday morning and night with a hot pack on my back. Yesterday evening I thought it was already getting better, but this morning it felt as bad as yesterday. Maybe my back just needs some time to "wake up" every morning. Argh, I'm getting old and rusty!
Yesterday afternoon I had to accompany my mom to an appointment at "my" neuro practice. She lost the feeling in her left hand for a while now and our GP first thought it was some ortho stuff. But the orthopedist didn't find anything and sent her off to a neuro specialist. And they found the cause pretty easily as it was obviously standard symptoms. I don't know why I never thought of that: She's got carpal tunnel syndrome, something pressing on the nerves in her wrist and she most probably has to have surgery for that. We don't know anything more yet, until she sees a hand surgeon and discuss everything wit our GP. And it's not like she didn't go through enough crappy medical stuff yet *sigh*
Doctors all around and none is looking like McDreamy. Or Alex. Or Pete or Sam or Jack or Billy :-) *sigh*
°°°°°
I really hope that playing Darts didn’t cause any of the back pain, because then that might turn into something chronic :-) During the last few days I spent more time throwing darts at a board than in my complete life before. I never thought I would, because I always thought I’m just not good at it and I could never learn it anyway. But like so many other things in life it really is just a matter of practice. Maybe not just practice, but also technique and maybe a bit talent, but definitely a lot of practice. And that’s what I’ve been doing and I definitely see improvements. Pretty fast even. I still need more than twice as many attempts as Bro2 and Bro3 to complete a Round-a-Clock, but I see the improvements. Round-the-Clock is a very good and simple way to practice on your own.
On Friday I even bought my own set of steel darts, because it really does make a difference if you can throw with the same darts all the time or if you have to switch sets and use the ones not used by someone else at that moment. So I wanted to have my own set. It just feels better. Or maybe I just want to show off :-) Anyway, when I browsed through the thousands of flights (the wings at the end of a dart) to personalize my darts I found the perfect ones for me.
°°°°°
I did some other things this weekend except playing Darts and whining about my lower back pain though. I started to work on my Climate Change term paper once again. Actually I wanted to hand it in at the end of July; now I’m aiming for mid-August. Ambitious probably, but I need that sort of pressure this time. I have a lot of ideas for the different assignments, I just have to put them into a logical order. And yesterday, waiting that the practice, I even started reading the study material for the mobility class.
I also started working on my vacation photobook for the Norderney trip in September 2006. I’m soooo behind with these photobooks. There were five more photobook-worthy vacations after that (including the London trip). But the good thing is, that I realized it doesn’t take that long to work on. Well, it still takes quite some time, but I managed to cover almost half the albeit short trip to Norderney in about 90 minutes on Sunday. That even included a software crash, when I hadn’t saved the current two pages and had to do it all over again.
And I finally managed to get my hold on the complete new Doctor Who series. Four seasons á 13 episodes. Yay! I have no idea when I will get around to start watching the show, but at least I’ve got them on stock now. And my DVD recorder seems to work for once. Maybe it all was just a matter of DVD brand? I have to give it a few more trys.
On Saturday I spent a wonderful night with some friends celebrating
hai_dis birthday. It’s always fun with these group of friends, catching up with all the stuff going on in our lifes, eating yummy food and dessert, drinking pink prosecco, playing games and just having a great time.
°°°°°
In reminiscence of my London trip I watched “Shakespeare in Love” on Friday night. I think I liked it better, when I saw it at the movies a couple of years ago. It was ok, entertaining, but I don’t really understand some of the Academy Awards this movie has won. Best movie and best actress? I have to admit I didn’t at all remember that the movie and Gwyneth for that movie won. Who was their competition that year?
I paid Chicago Hope some more visits this weekend as well. I’m almost done with season 3 and I’m anxious to see how it all works out (or not) for Jack McNeil and his gambling. At least now the hospital staff know about it and I hope they can help in some way. And that Jack let them help him. And you don’t just say “You wanna hit me? Go on and hit me!” to Billy Kronk without some sort of reaction *g* Pretty intense scene. Talking about Billy and Diane: I’ve seen quite some proposals on several TV shows in my life, but I think the one at the end of episode of 3.21 was a really great one. It didn’t quite top Kevin’s on Brothers & Sisters, but it comes close. In it’s own way :-) Too bad that Diane and Billy already sort of put the whole engagement on hold in the following episode...