Archive of <July> <2009> [reverse chronological]

4:45 PM Wednesday, July 1, 2009
I told Tracy that I want to get back to cooking, since she does pretty much all of it since we got married. So I get one night a week. So I made meatloaf last night. I like meatloaf. It's simple, and comfy, and down home, and so good. And you can make sandwiches, and it's quite a filling meal. Of course, I didn't get around to the other things I had planned for last night, like exercising and some cleaning, but I'm putting that off until Friday, when I won't be working, but Tracy will be. Biking yesterday was good, but it was odd to be cool enough to wear arm sleeves on the way home. Definitely odd. And I'm wondering if I brought enough clothes for ultimate tonight. Which means I drove in again to work. Tried a different garage this time. Not sure when I'll try biking down again, but maybe in a couple weeks. Also, the Airport Expresses are still acting flaky, which is really annoying.
3:37 PM Thursday, July 2, 2009
Had meatloaf and mashed potatoes for 3 out of 4 consecutive meals, only because I didn't want it for breakfast, but I wonder how it'd be in a breakfast sandwich with an egg. Hmmm, something to try the next time. CUSL-Competitive was good last night, nice and cool and the ground was soft. We lost 14-16 after being up 14-12, but otherwise I thought it was a pretty good game. Felt pretty good running. However when I got home and tried walking my right ankle was pretty messed up, couldn't really put any weight on it. But after some movement, and some ice, it's back to it's normal state today. Good thing I'm getting it checked out next Thursday. Hoping it's nothing too serious and maybe some rehab is all I need. Of course, it's possible the ankle is really screwed up from Potlatch 2004, and I've been compensating ever since, so maybe there's a whole lot wrong with it. Find out Thursday. Tried to get some Residential Daily Parking passes today, but since I placed an online order, I can't place an additional order in person. And apparently I can't make more than one order at a time. Headed to Taste of Chicago tonight. Cleaning tomorrow.
9:30 PM Monday, July 6, 2009
Let's see, Taste of Chicago last Thursday was good, but seemed a little smaller. Nothing too new, but Tracy wants to try making gazpacho. Friday didn't have to work, but Tracy did, so I did some cleaning since we were having friends over, Jespy and Cases and April showed up with her friend Rich as well. Tracy made ribs, I got to clean. It was cool and rainy so didn't get to hang out on the deck. The actual fourth watched Live Free or Die Hard and Independence Day while waiting to host another party, this time for April and Scott as a pre wedding shin dig. Rained all day, but cleared up in time for the party, which was cool. Spent the entire time out on the deck, which was nice, but wet. Need to create some additional seating, and get some better lighting, and got to break out the Candela lights, which were cool. Should find some cheap solar lights to put in pots and plants and put up some of those string lights for ambiance as well. Sunday the weather got warm and sunny, finally, and spent a little time on the deck getting some sun before heading down to pick up Susmita and Sai on the way to the Garfield Park Conservatory for April and Scott's wedding. Good times there. Got to get my groove on, which I haven't really had a chance to do in a long time. Left work a little early today to sign a whole lot of documents again since we refinanced.
10:20 PM Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Met up with Tracy after work today at the Ohio St. Beach Open Water Swim Clinic. I didn't actually swim, just showing up in time to see her get out of the lake, but from what I saw, swimming in the lake looks tempting. Something I might want to try. I was thinking of going to the clinic today, but I didn't think leaving work early again would be the best idea. Maybe the next time they offer it? Biked again today, without greasing up the drivetrain or attaching fenders. One of these days, I'll tinker with it in the garage again. Last night had an Irish Breakfast and a Guinness from Wilde Bar & Restaurant, and tonight had a polish sausage and kielbasa for dinner. Eating healthy, I know. Driving tomorrow for CUSL-Competitive. Think I finally have to watch Clue. Also saw that Push got released to the iTunes Store as a HD Movie for purchase. So it's sitting in the shopping cart along with The Forbidden Kingdom waiting for September.
10:28 PM Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Actually added something to CUSL-Competitive today, the 1-3-3. Nice to know I still have something to contribute. Also happy that it worked. Otherwise, didn't seem like a whole lot of running today, probably because men played savage, so I purposefully took it easy. Had a couple bad decision throws, a drop, and got beat on D a bunch of times. Just another game for an out of shape, out of practice old ultimate player. Looking forward to my doctor's appointment with an actually Sports Medicine specialist. Not sure what to expect though. Maybe an x-ray on the foot? Since I never got one? Started writing down the plans for the deck, woodworking, additions, and stuff. Would be nicer if I had sketches along with my list. Driving is fine, almost not that bad at all. At least at the times I've been driving. Which is nice.
10:01 PM Thursday, July 9, 2009
So, first guess by Dr. Balu Natarajan on my foot? Possible Jones Fracture. Looking it up, sounds very plausible. Got to get an X-Ray and an MRI before hopefully figuring it out. So entirely possible I've been walking around with a broken bone in my foot for the past 5 years. That's awesome. And it's the second time I'm going for an MRI, except this time I'm so far removed from college that I won't understand the physics of what's going on, like before. That was a long time ago, trying to figure out PAI. Maybe I should have gone to the doctor 5 years ago. Would have been a good time, since I wasn't playing then. Either way I figure I won't bother with any sort of treatment until after Muddy Buddy. Since I did it last year, I figure I can do it again. And then deal with any sort of treatment, which besides a boot could mean a screw. Awesome. Wait and see. I did get to make dinner, a chile rubbed pork with pineapple salsa, which wasn't that good. A little disappointing. But that's why I'm cooking again, so I can get better at it.
11:30 AM Monday, July 13, 2009
Another busy summer weekend. Friday night dinner at Joy's Noodles with the in-laws who brought Gabe into the city to stay with us for the weekend. Then went out with him and his friend Eric to watch The Hurt Locker, a good movie but filmed shaky cam style. And I am, from here on out, boycotting shaky cam movies. I should have learned my lesson after The Blair Witch Project, or Friday Night Lights, or Dancer in the Dark. Maybe it's just trying to watch it in the theater that causes a problem. So no more for me. If I read a review about the most amazing film ever, but it's shaky cam? No $10 from my pocket. Otherwise, the movie was great. And made me want to watch S.W.A.T., which I did the next day before we went out to Minooka to see Lisa and Ryan and little Zoe, and play in the pool. Sunday wandered around the neighborhood a bit with Gabe, lunch at Lucky's Sandwich Company, which I thought was a Pittsburgh joint, but might just be like Primanti Brothers. The Iron City 6pk cardboard holders gave me the clue. Headed out to Homer Glen to drop Gabe off at his parents, and a BBQ. Then some supply shopping at Target. Busy weekend.
12:41 PM Tuesday, July 14, 2009
So, took a peek at my x-rays from yesterday. To my untrained eye, no breaks, no non-unions, no history of a break, no ugly healing. As far as I can tell, my foot looks perfectly normal. Haven't looked at the MRI yet, but I'm tempted to. Spent 30 minutes half into a giant and scary sounding magnet. Fun. But nice that it was walking distance from work. Not nice that I went back after the appointment to do more work. I just had to look up how MRI works again. So sad. Otherwise, greased up the drivetrain on the Sprint when I got home. Stopped a little creaking but it still does. Ugh. As much as I like the cleanliness of the shaft drive, I'm done with it after this bike. Maybe a belt drive will be next? Or just a single speed? Also changed out the shifter cable to one that's the correct length. Also finally bent the rest of the brackets so I can mount fenders to it, which I'll hopefully do tonight. Pulled Tracy's old ringtones and pictures off her old RIZR via bluetooth. It was dead simple and fast and easy when I did it on my MacBook. Not quite as simple but still pretty easy, but super slow when I did it on Tracy's Vista laptop. That was annoying. And I don't even consider bluetooth to be a first class citizen under OS X, and it was still super easy.
10:58 AM Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Spent some time on the deck last night. Tracy grilled dinner, chicken and veggies. We need to get some more charcoal, already. I still don't think we're using charcoal properly, I think we burn it too hot too fast, and don't use the vents at all to control temperature or burn rates. Maybe something to look into. It was nice though, a little cool, not too hot, and the clouds moved off so we got a little sunset. Very nice way to end the day. A little too cool to eat inside though. Thinking I should change the Airport Express setup to have control over 3 sets of deck speakers, front, middle and rear, except that volume control is hardwired into pairs of front and rear. Another thing to think about. Started up transcoding again, I'm in the middle of the L's. Still have to metainfo the Friends series. Watched Better Off Ted last night. That's a funny show. Those Veridian Dynamics commercials? Awesome. CUSL-Competitive tonight, and gonna try and make it over to Piece afterwards.
4:09 PM Thursday, July 16, 2009
At least there's nothing structurally wrong with my foot. Had the follow up with Dr. Natarajan this morning, and X-Rays and MRI show nothing broken or torn. Not even any scar tissue. So I got a prescription for some rehab. Which means I just adapted for the injury 5 years ago and have been using my foot wrong ever since. That's awesome. So that should be fun. Last night CUSL-Competitive was interesting. I didn't play all that well. Also seemed like a much different vibe, especially compared to the previous week. I feel like I'm moving better, but still have no endurance whatsoever. Went to Piece with Bryan afterwards and caught up a bit. First time in a long time to be back in Wicker Park/Bucktown area. Seems kind of the same, but different. Lots of bikers. And bikers wearing dark clothing. And without any lights. Which makes them hard to see. After being a driver and not seeing these bikers, makes me want to get one of those silly high visibility safety vests to wear while biking. I didn't hit or come close since I was looking out, but I could see how one could.
4:10 PM Friday, July 17, 2009
Always nice when you give yourself some tasks and are able to mark them as complete, even if they aren't productive tasks, or useful tasks, just completing something feels good. Getting home last night was easy, but super busy because of the concert at Wrigley Field. Kind of glad it was Billy Joel/Elton John, and not the Jonas Brothers, or Miley Cyrus. That would be absolutely insane to deal with. We could hear some music, if we opened the front deck door, but we decided not to. I ended up doing a quick Cuban spiced pork tenderloin for dinner, which was pretty good. That's what I like about cooking as a little variety to Tracy, trying something different, something she wouldn't normally make, something completely random off a web recipe, and using spices in the cupboard that never get used. As for the weekend, Tracy's working tomorrow, and I think I've got some chores lined up for myself. She's also got another triathlon on Sunday, this time up in Waukegan, in Lake Michigan for the swim. But that's about it. Ended up riding the Trek 7000 today since I need to tweak the drivetrain on the Sprint after twiddling with it on Monday. Good thing since it rained and I still haven't put the fenders back on the Sprint.
11:10 PM Monday, July 20, 2009
Tracy's got another triathlon under her belt. Slightly longer distances than her first sprint, and a better time. Impressive. When she does another one, I need to remember to bring food for myself. Also, I'm now her sherpa, carrying her packs and food from the car to the transition area and lugging it around while she's competing so it's available when she finishes. Friday night was just leftovers. Saturday she worked so I did a couple chores, watched Wanted (I caved, and rented a couple movies through Redbox and transcoded them for the Apple TV). I found out you can view and reserve movies at each Redbox location, but I made a mistake and rented movies at both the Jewel on Broadway and Ashland. Whoops. So had some biking to do to pick them up. Dinner at Adesso on Saturday night before heading up to Waukegan for the night. Not what I was expecting. Trying to check the course out the night before in the dark wasn't working, and it was a little confusing. But a little more straightforward early Sunday morning for the Harbor Lights Triathlon. The day before I tried to do a once over with her bike, and can't seem to get the front derailleur dialed in. Still can't hit the biggest chainring. Water was a frigid 58°F. I tooled around on my bike with two bags in the baskets, before settling in after her first transition. Took as many photos as I could with a real camera, and didn't do the play by play Facebook status updates. Got a lake checkout, so after she finished and got some free food, went back for showers. Shopped a little at Old Orchard, before hitting up a BW3 for dinner, which was pretty good. Ended up walking out with a bottle of the Medium Sauce. Also, I don't think Rolling Rock tastes like creamed corn. Relatively early night ended with watching Push in bed.
10:48 PM Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Had my first session/treatment at Accelerated Rehabilitation Centers on Fullerton and Sheffield with Paul and Jamie. Standard medical history. Took some measurements, did some musculature tests. Then they tried to figure out what was wrong with it. Not sure if they figured it out. Probably hard trying to deal with symptoms after the original injury was 5 years old. Also didn't help that they applied a lot of pressure using thumbs for leverage, so felt a lot of discomfort from their fingers. Eventually they gave a couple things I can do for treatment, or rehab, or exercises for homework. And get to go in on Thursday, then next Tuesday and Thursday again. Not sure if it's joint or tendon yet. Wait and see. Besides that I think I'm addicted to Redbox. Picked up Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, both for Tracy, at the 7-Eleven on Halsted, then saw that the one in Sears, I mean, Willis Tower, had Momma Mia!, which I got on my lunch break. And then I already reserved Tropic Thunder and The Forbidden Kingdom for tomorrow. Yeah, a bit of a problem, except that's only $9 so far. Tracy worked the night shift so I got to make dinner, fresh pasta in a sun dried tomato goat cheese sauce. I'm still not happy with my fresh pasta. I need to see either Jamie at Home or Good Eats to see how they do it, and better yet what it should look like.
11:01 AM Thursday, July 23, 2009
Not sure, but my foot might be better. Hard to tell. It was kind of sore from rehab exercises, and from CUSL-Competitive last night, and almost thought it was worse, and it hurt last night while sleeping, and then this morning, but after sitting for a little it was much much better. Still have some discomfort, but nothing like before. I'm impressed. Not sure if it'll keep up or not. Wait and see. Otherwise, headed out to for Bryan's going away party tonight at Piece. Continuing to rent and transcode movies from Redbox. Got Iron Man and Speed Racer today. Also on the list for me are The Dark Knight, August Rush, Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, maybe The Bank Job, The Da Vinci Code, The International, Jumper, National Treasure: Book of Secrets, Marley & Me, Black Hawk Down, and Tears of the Sun. Seriously, I have a problem. You know why I'm addicted? Online rental reservations. I love that I know what I'm getting when I walk up to one of those boxes. The slowest part is returning them, or waiting in line as someone browses the movies at the box. Annoying.
9:41 AM Friday, July 24, 2009
I should go and get things looked at when they hurt more often, you know, instead of just dealing with it and hoping it gets better. Instead of waiting 5 years to get my foot taken care of, I could have had a marginally better quality of life. I walk funny. Almost a toe walker, but more of a midfoot walker. They figured that out at the PT session last night. So I'm trying to fix it. Slowly. And it's good. Apparently my way of walking isn't very efficient. Might explain why my feet hurt from extended walking like shopping and exploring. Seems pretty amazing to me, walking around and it not really hurting. Seriously amazing. There was a lot of traffic on my way up to PT, as I did the slow bike between lanes of stopped cars. Made me very happy to be on a bike. Apparently it was because of the President's motorcade last night. Funny. After PT, headed out to Piece for Bryan's going away party. Got to see a bunch of people I hadn't seen in a very long time. So that was cool. Headed out to Jammin' at the Zoo tonight, Venetian Night tomorrow, and I think that's it. It's one of the few summer weekends without any serious plans.
4:33 PM Monday, July 27, 2009
For what I thought would be a weekend off, ended up being pretty busy. Friday night Jammin' at the Zoo, which was really cool. I'd forgotten how good live music can be, seeing musicians play off the audience, the performance aspect. Good stuff. I just now wonder how the animals took the noise. Saturday tried watching Speed Racer, but my transcode screwed up right at the climax of the movie, so kind of left with a let down. But the visuals on that movie are so vivid, I should buy it. Only wish they offered it in HD on the iTunes Store. Hit up Green City Market as well on Saturday, went for a run with Tracy, took a nap, went to Venetian Night. I think we need to get there at like 3pm to get a quality spot on the lakefront area with no chance of people standing or putting up chairs in front of us. Setting up just behind the sidewalk is a bad idea, since people think they can just stand there walking through to watch the boats and the fireworks. Especially annoying were the two girls who stood during the fireworks just talking to each other, not even watching. Sunday watched Eagle Eye and did some wood working, making a monitor box and a garage shelf. I just hope it stays up and doesn't come crashing down at any point. Tracy grilled dinner, and we watched Eli Stone to cap off the weekend. So yeah, pretty busy.
10:40 PM Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Put a little more work in putting together a support frame on the monitor container for the Apple Cinema Display so Tracy and I can watch movies on the deck. I need some flat stuff, maybe some peg board, so it makes it easy to mount the power supplies and stuff, and some handles to make it easy to move around, well, relatively easy to move around. Only problem is that the Macbook network connection drops out occasionally, which means we'd need to copy movies over when we want to watch something. Front Row is rather interesting, and I wish Hulu Desktop worked better, cause that'd be pretty sweet on the roof too. At some point I should paint it too, and maybe add some siding, but then I'd probably have to add a fan or two. Didn't ride today because I thought it was going to rain, and I didn't want to be all wet for therapy today. I'm not actually sure what to call it, but maybe PT is the best term for it. Did a lot of stability exercises for the foot and hips. Tired and sore. Went grocery shopping and bought a lot of prepackaged food on sale.
9:53 PM Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Just one more CUSL-Competitive game left next week. And then I go back into ultimate hibernation. Even though I think I've rounded into decent shape. Good thing I went grocery shopping yesterday since we had frozen pizza for dinner tonight. And that's pretty much it for the last day. Realized I should have hit up the Home Depot while I had the car today, since I don't think I'll be carrying pegboard on the bike, especially since I don't have an Xtracycle. I did see the Xtracycle that parks kitty-corner to work rolling down the street. Looks so relaxing. Someday. Someday. Otherwise feeling pretty good for Muddy Buddy on Sunday. I was worried that being sore from therapy yesterday would combine with ultimate today into an injury, but I actually warmed up and stretched, so no injury. Not sure if I'm going to bike tomorrow, since there's a rain forecast again.
9:16 PM Thursday, July 30, 2009
So, Paul at Accelerated Rehabilitation Centers thinks the foot should be good by the end of the next month. So that's cool. Workout is good, and maybe something I should continue after therapy ends. Or at least some sort of exercise. Especially some sort foot and ankle stability exercises. Those are good for balance. I did not get caught in the rain until after therapy. So I could have totally ridden today. I will tomorrow. Dinner at Taco Burrito Palace, since I got home late, and Tracy got a haircut, so didn't eat until 8:30. Switched up the home network a bit, trying out WDS again, to see if it's stable, or at least more stable than the current setup. Wait and see. I had been rebooting the 802.11n Airport Express every couple of days. It was being used as a bridge.
Archive of <July> <2009> [reverse chronological]