Well, i think i can say i'm able to walk again now. I don't need crutches, and I don't need the giant ski boot. It's still a bit sore from time to time (esp when i forget my anti-inflammatory like i did this morning) and i've been keeping it wrapped for good measure, but I think it's on the mend. Got a few more PT sessions to do, but they're helping and it's doing well.

Now more exciting stuff: we got to have a band practice yesterday! For our first time jamming together, i think we sounded pretty awesome, and it was a lot of fun. Man, I've missed that. I love my SG too - it's a great instrument. I don't play it enough because i usually play acoustic when i'm on my own. Hopefully this will become a regular(ish) thing. At this point, we're just gonna see where we can make this go. We're all wanting to write some great stuff to play together and hoping play some local shows when we're up to it. I'm excited about this. I really hope we can make it work.

Apart from that, we haven't done much. Oh, we did buy a Wii Points card at the mall on saturday & i downloaded Mario 3, which we can now play on our Wii. The Virtual Console thing is a pretty awesome idea.

Well - i've gotta run for now.

~PS

I won't go so far as to say i can 'walk' again...but i *can* get from point A to B, on my feet, without the use of crutches.

I had my first Physical Therapy session for my calf strain today. It had been feeling considerably better for the last few days, and i was feeling bummed that getting around was requiring 10x the effort it ordinarily would. None of the exercises Chris had me do today caused it to hurt, though i could tell it needed stretched out. He also adjusted my boot such that i can now walk in it - though like I said, i wouldn't exactly call it walkin. The height differential combined with the stiff muscles make it considerably awkward.

This development makes me feel a bit better though.

~PS

Every so often i find something old, buried in the depths of my playlist, that I haven't heard for a long time - and that, for whatever reason, I enjoy re-hearing immensely. For today's installment, the album by Skypark - Am I Pretty?. This is/was one of the few christian groups I actually enjoy.

Random selections:

Shelter. These lyrics fit so well with the crunchy, bluesy guitar riff over which they're laid:

Lies provide me no shelter
pain, no comfort
violence gives me no pleasure
shame, no treasure

i could never entertain the thought that things were better back in egypt...

Accomplishing quite a jump three tracks later, the goofy Starbucks Girl, which includes the narrative line:

i remember the first time i walked into starbucks, and i thought 'you know, this could be love - or maybe it's just really good coffee...''

Heh.


Anyway, how's that for a random excerpt from my semi-conscious?


Tune in next time, kids...

~PS

Well, I was told on monday that if my leg didn't feel significantly better in 3-5 days, i should make an appointment with Watauga Orthopedics - and, predictably, this morning it hurt as badly as ever.

Around 2pm or so, we headed out to the JC Med Center to pick up my x-rays (which i'd called about earlier) so we could take them over to Watauga Orth. This seemed like it would be a pretty routine and painless operation (esp. since i was sending Sheri in after them). I guess it *could* have been, but when sheri came back out,we had a new problem: our jeep wouldn't start.

Now, It's been having intermittent problems for a while, I was just really hoping we wouldn't see any symptoms at least until after my leg healed up again. No such luck. I called my dad and we talked through some things in the manual, but there wasn't much we could do under the circumstances. After talking on the phone for about half an hour however, we tried starting it again and it started right up. I'm beginning to think that threatening to do something to my jeep by talking to my dad is enough to scare it into submission. Anyway, as there wasn't much we could do but go about our business and hope it continued to start, that's what we did - and, thankfully, we didn't have any more problems out of it today.

When we finally got to Watauga Orth. and in to see someone, they took another look at the x-rays (presumably for hairline fractures or something that the initial read might have missed) and quickly determined that my bones were, in fact, ok and intact, but that i must have actually *torn* my calf muscle. So, they fitted me with a brace, gave me some anti-inflammatory drugs, and told me to go do some physical therapy 3 times a week - which, luckily for us, i can do at milligan. I'm supposed to go back to Watauga Orth. in a couple weeks for another evaluation...so this is going to take a while to heal completely it seems. Personally, I'll just be glad when i can walk and sit at my desk without throbbing pain again...

EDIT: Oh yeah, and how many times do i have to answer the same questions? I mean, you'd think in this day and age people in the medical field would write things down - and that they might pass that info along to the people that need to know it. Any given question i was asked once, i was asked at least 3 times by at least 2 different people - things like: "where do you work?", "when's your birthday?", "how big *is* your dog?". Really people, i'm in pain. If you can do with me explaining it *once* instead of 4 times, i'd really appreciate it - and, if you haven't figured out how to communicate with each other yet, how about we just get everyone who wants to know in here and i can tell it to everyone at once. We'll even rent out a lecture hall if necessary.
Actually, it didn't really bother me that much - i just thought it was a little odd...and it was awfully fun to rant about.

~PS

Well, i'm back on the disabled list.

So we got home last night after sheri's choir practice where i wrote the last blog entry - wherein pretty much everything was fine - and I had taken ally out into the yard to make sure she didn't have to do anything before bringing her back into the house. She was really wound up since we'd been gone all day, and was crazily running around in circles like some sort of doggy 500. It was quite amusing...to a very specific point. I guess i should have been paying more attention, but really, even if i had been, I never would have guessed this could happen.

As I was standing there, letting the dog run around like crazy, she ran *into* me. This isn't all that unusual for her - she runs into things with some regularity - quite hard, sometimes. Well, this time was hard alright - and it just so happened to be squarely on the calf muscle i strained a few weeks ago. Despite the fact that my calf had recovered such that it was only slightly sore once in a while, and the fact that it felt perfectly fine at the time, I went down.

It's now been about 10 hours, and it still hurts so bad when it moves at all - much worse than it did even the first time i injured it. In fact, it hurts more than any injury i can ever remember having. Ever. It has nearly made me physically ill just from the pain at times. Whatever i strained/bruised/stretched before feels like it has now been ripped/torn/broken completely.

For now, i'm sitting out on the couch trying to move it as little as possible and still remain in a comfortable position (difficult for someone as fidgety as me). I think we're going to the clinic later. I *hate* going to get medical care, but i'm afraid something is very wrong and it's not getting the slightest bit better (so far) on its own. Honestly, i'm quite scared i'm going to be immobile for a long time and/or need surgery or something.

Please pray for me.

~PS

So on saturday i got to play in a golf tournament. It was a fund-raising event for the East TN Christian Home, and our church was sponsoring a hole and a team to go play. One of the guys who was supposed to go was kind of busy and asked if i could go in his place. I told him that I wasn't sure he wanted to send *me* - because i'm not really any good - but that it sounded like a lot of fun. I think I actually played below average even for me, but Lee and I had a lot of fun and the other guys we were playing with were really good company as well.
It was a two-person-team, best-ball game, and, as a team, we ended up at +11 - which is much better than *I* ever play for 18 holes. Lee is pretty good and we played his shot more than half the time, but i was occasionally useful. I *did* make a crazy-hard birdie putt on a par 3 (mostly thanks to luck) and I had a few other key shots, but it was mostly Lee's game. Still, he's a blast to hang out with and, as i said, we had a lot of fun - which was really what it was about.

On saturday evening, almost right after the golf game, I ran my current d&d game. Since they just arrived in a new city and had a *ton* of housekeeping type stuff they wanted to do, added to the fact that I had/have quite a bit of setup material to get through, the session was a little slow and there wasn't much in the way of action or significant roleplaying. This was a little disappointing, but not terribly surprising. It was still an enjoyable evening hanging out with friends, and most of the stuff was necessary for the game on some level. Next session (whenever that is) should get them into some more 'meat' of the game, as it were.

This afternoon sheri & i went up to Beauty Spot. We've heard of it and even knew where it was for a while, but hadn't made it up there before today. The gravel road that takes you from the 395/rock creek rd up to the actual mountain top is pretty long and rough - and slightly nerve-wracking. I've been on worse though. The area itself is really pretty. I think later in the fall when there are fewer bugs and weeds (and some cooler temperatures), it would be a really nice place to spend an afternoon relaxing. I took some pictures of the area. If any of them turn out nice, i'm sure they'll get posted.

This evening, sheri & i walked down to sonic to get some slushes. I mention this particular event because, after we ordered our grape & watermelon creamslushes, we were asked (and i quote) 'would you like any mozzarella sticks to go with that?'. Now, i don't know what universe these people are from - but in *my* universe, fried cheese sticks do NOT, in any way, "go" with sweet, fruit-flavored, ice-cream slushes. At all. And, even if some people enjoy that combo, i have a hard time believing its so pervasive that asking everyone if they'd like some is a necessary course of action. I mean, i just can't see 'mozzarella sticks with creamslush' being anything like 'fries with hamburger'.

~PS

So I went to the Battle of the Bands at Winged Deer Park last night to see Mahto's band, Ralvaden, and some others play. It was quite a fun and entertaining way to spend a thursday evening, I have to say. Hanging out with friends and listening to some live music. Does make me miss playing a band, though (I think i've mentioned that before?). Troy even made it out - hadn't seen him in *forever*.

I was pretty impressed with Ralvaden. I think they've improved quite a bit since I heard them last just a week ago. For their first show *ever*, they were awesome. They had written the two songs they played, which I thought were pretty well-composed for no longer than they've been at it. If they stick with it, they could be very good. In terms of technics, I don't think they were the most talented musicians playing, but they did have a good style and played well I thought. I could tell they've worked hard at it. I loved how Mahto handled the 'interview' that they did with the band after the performance - he really seemed to keep the mc off balance. It was quite amusing.

What kind of surprised me was that the whole event was sponsored by a a 'christian' organization, and there were some plugs for some upcoming 'christian' events, etc. Also, the surprise 'prize' for the winning band was being given the opportunity to open for one of the aforementioned events. A cynical part of me wants attribute the fact that the most overtly 'christian' bands took the top spots to these aspects, but the more benefit-of-the-doubt part of me decides (and hopes) that that was *probably* not the case. I think I would have picked the same 'winner' (based on the judge's proclaimed criteria), though I think I would have flipped places 2 & 3.

I really think that the David Nipper band (who placed 3rd) was really the most musically talented and professional of the lot - though The Verity (who took 1st) was a close second on that score (and a bit better on the stage presence). I suspect it was the fact that their stage presence was a lot more laid-back that cost them a higher slot... ...but, for a group that stylistically reminded me quite a bit of John Mayer, you can't really have the crazy jumping-around that some of the more hardcore/punk bands did. High-energy, high-volume music is easy to dance and jump around with, but mellow stuff takes a different, more subtle and more difficult, kind of expression. The guy was a good song-writer, and *all* of the musicians were very, very good. David, I thought, had good expression and presence, as did the drummer, but the rhythm and base players - for all their talent - just kinda stood there. Still, I would have given them 2nd above the repetitive thrashing (if energetic) of Free The Martyr (though, man, their guitarist could play *wicked* fast).

Pictures are posted in the Gallery. I was mainly there to photograph Ralvaden, but I tried to get a shot or two of everyone. The only one I missed was the Last Minute Band - who happened to play while I was eating dinner. Sadly, I was least impressed with them - probably because they only played cover songs (i'm big on originality)... ...but having only been together for less than a week, they were pretty good. Troy liked them.

~PS

Or, you know, as real as I get.

Not too much has been going on here. Watching the grass grow. No, for real. Since i strained my calf muscle, I haven't mowed the yard - which is now really, really bad. My plan is to start tackling it later today. That's gonna be rough.

Sunday was our church picnic. I took a few great pictures of the munchkins on the playground. I'm still learning how to best shoot moving subjects - a lot of my shots are a little soft. Especially the ones of Claire. She doesn't stop moving. Anyway, it was fun. Oh, and I made lemon cheese bars for it (the first time by myself :)) which were a big hit with at least a few people. There were only two left.

Ginger, Sheri, Nick and I went out to the Elizabethton city pool on saturday. That was cool. Actually it was downright *cold*. There were only a dozen or so others in the water. I think i know why. After 5 or 10 minutes you got used to it though... ...if only because you were at that point numb and couldn't feel the cold. It was a good time though. The weather's been beautiful here: very mild for this time of year. Tomorrow's high is only 78 and the lows have been near-record.

On friday we had a fun gaming session. The party wrapped up what they had been doing in the dwarven ruin and have now traveled to the city of Madrid for more fun and mayhem. That game continues to be lots of fun.

Mahto's band had a practice on monday & I went to listen in. They sound pretty good for a highschool group. I think if they keep it together for a couple more years, they could be really good. They're actually playing at a 'Battle of the Bands' this thursday that we're gonna try to go to. That should be fun. Robb and I got to sit outside & play some guitar on monday as well. I really miss getting to play in a group. We talked for a while about trying to put something together at some point, but i think we'll need to find at least one more member.

Not too much else. Calendar's pretty blank for this month.

~PS

addendum: late last night i finally finished the graphic design for sheri's new blog - you can see it here.

...from the San Francisco Bay
Rolled off of their ship, and here's what they had to say
"We're callin' everyone to ride along to another shore
We can laugh our lives away and be free once more"

But no one heard them callin', no one came at all
'Cause they were too busy watchin' those old raindrops fall
As a storm was blowin' out on the peaceful sea
Seventy-three men sailed off to history...

So we were sitting in a Wendy's in Erwin yesterday having lunch before heading out to the camp where our church was having its annual picnic, and I couldn't help but notice the insanely random array of songs being played over their radio. Four decades in 10 minutes is pretty impressive. This was made most evident to me when they played an old 70's song I don't think i'd heard since i used to listen to tons of classic rock back in highschool. It was a song called "Ride, Captain, Ride" by Blues Image (which i have to admit i couldn't remember - and it was driving me crazy). I would say that i'm dating myself a bit here, but since i was about 6 months old when the song came out, it doesn't make me feel *too* old. ;-)

I also have to admit that I have something of a fascination with sailing ships and shipwrecks - and I almost always enjoy songs and stories about them (Even the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Hey, they can't all be as good as the Mariner's Revenge). I also like songs that have a sort of abstract, cautionary moral - particularly allusions to 'something better' that most of the 'people' in the song are missing (see also: lyrics to One Tin Soldier). So yeah, when I heard this old song that I hadn't heard in ages I thought, "hey, cool!".

~PS

When your website has about 300 pages, how about lets not actually code the menu 300 separate times - i.e., one for each page. How about lets write the menu code *once* in an external file, then we'll just call that on every page. Huh? Sound good? You know, just in case some poor sap comes in later and has to change something in the menu... ...cause you know, it would total suck to have to go into 300 different html files and change one line in the menu...

...no, no...that would be far, far too easy...

~PS

Well, this weekend has taken an unexpected turn for the crappy. Having got some last minute time off, Sheri & I were going to go on a camping trip for a couple few days. It was some last minute string-pulling, but we had everything sorted out by thursday afternoon...

...and then i saw a deer running through our backyard.

Now, generally deer running through our backyard doesn't inherently ruin plans. Thing is, deer running through our backyard is a somewhat uncommon event. In fact, I don't think i've ever seen it before. Granted we don't live in the most urban of areas, but we don't live in what I would classify as a 'rural' area either - so when I saw the deer run through our backyard and stop underneath a neighbor's (apple?) tree, i grabbed my camera and threw open the office window to take a few pictures. When I saw that the deer was quite content to stay where it was for a bit, i decided I'd try to get a little closer - so I headed to the front door and down the stairs on our front "porch" to head around from a somewhat concealed position.

At this point I need to point out that, in the excitement of taking pictures (which i *love*), there were a couple of factors here I had failed to consider completely. The first is that it was lightly raining. I decided that I wasn't worried about my camera - it wasn't raining very hard and my camera does have some weather protection. The rain, however, did result in the ground being wet - and the concrete slab at the base of the staircase is both inclined and significantly less textured than the concrete on the stairs and the porch itself.

Which brings me to factor number 2: i was wearing flip-flops. When i reached the bottom of the stairs and attempted to make a 120 degree turn to the backyard, I discovered that my flip-flops have *no* traction whatsoever on a slick, wet sidewalk.

I didn't actually fall, but my left foot immediately slid straight out from under me. This had the unfortunate side effect of me basically sitting down on my right ankle - which popped at least three times. And hurt. A lot.

Undeterred, I limped into the backyard where I got a handful of decent pictures of a young male deer (which are in the gallery) who was apparently eating apples from our neighbor's tree before i got too close and spooked it and it took off.

Now, usually when I do stuff like this to myself, I expect my ankle/leg to hurt for a few hours and then stop. Not so this time. It's been about 27 hours now, and it's still very sore - though considerably better than last night. I can't really walk without a serious limp & some occasional pain. It's actually my calf muscle that hurts so bad. I think i stretched/pulled/strained it. What sucks is that it's killed our camping plans. :-( Still, at this point, I'm just hoping it continues to feel better.

~PS