wine by the color

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Oh that's right. I have a blog. I almost forgot.

Yes, it has been 20 days since I posted. But I have LOTS of reasons....

When we last spoke, the neck seemed to be on the mend. And then, it wasn't. It really wasn't. But I managed to make it to the final Springsteen show at the Meadowlands. It was not easy and my body was a complete train wreck after it, but it was worth it.













Did Adam enjoy his first concert? You can decide for yourself...













My brother and sister-in-law then escaped for a few child-free days, leaving me in charge of the crazy trifecta. We did the best we could given my physical limitations, making daily trips; first a stroll through Lambertville and New Hope on a spectacular autumn day...



















then apple picking with my friends Ellie and Dan...






















and a "nature walk" around the local reservoir...






















We also went to dinner one night, during which we had this amusing exchange:

Me to the boys: "Let me know if you have to go to the bathroom, ok?"
Adam, looking around: "Do they have a bathroom here?"
Matthew, with a knowing nod: "A fancy restaurant like this always has a bathroom."

We were at the Outback Steakhouse. For them, it might as well have been Per Se.

After getting much worse after that, a several-day spell that included some horrifying twitching and jerking of my head, my neck finally started to feel better, thanks to some additional drugs, a complete lack of activity and some fabulous nursing by the Captain. I recovered in time to bring him to his first Jets extravanga on a cold and windy day...









(By the way, that is one of my co-workers to my side, pouring shots of sambuca. Good times...)

He handled our tailgating crew like a savvy veteran, including a "fatherly chat" with the Professor's father. That important hurdle cleared, we then traveled west to Columbus, to visit my college roommate and see the Buckeyes. We enjoyed some spectacular fall foliage, visited some of my old favorite haunts and witnessed the awakening of the OSU offense on another cold and windy day....




























While in Ohio, we did not drive the two hours north to torture ourselves at a Browns game. I did return from the Buckeye State with a nasty cold, which figures, since I was finally feeling good after the whole neck debacle. Let's hope the illness is on its way out the door before next week's family venture to Disney.

Let's see, what else...

Oh yes, I checked my yahoo account for the first time in months and found I had more than 37,000 e-mails. Apparently, signing up for all the alerts on Freecycle in two counties and then not checking the e-mail account for several months was a huge mistake. Deleting more than 37,000 e-mails takes a lot of time. I currently have it down to 5,932.

I have also found time to pull over and watch beautiful sunsets as often as possible. It's time well spent...











That pretty much sums up October.

Wednesday, October 07, 2009

Do you smell what the Rock is cooking?

Apparently, a big steaming pile of shit...



Was it really necessary to start promoting this crapfest more than three months before its release? I think not.

This, however, looks like something I'd really enjoy...



During my couch time with this herniated disc, I have watched more movies than I have in the previous nine months, including six new ones: The Wrestler; Rachel Getting Married; Sunshine Cleaning; Gran Torino; I Love You Man; and Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist. All very enjoyable. Gran Torino in particular was excellent.

But I have attempted a few forays back into the real world, as opposed to the sanctity of my sofa, which is where I have spent most of the past eight days. There was Sunday's trip to see Ron White and dinner afterward with friends, which was an excellent albeit extremely painful outing.

Saturday morning I needed to run a few errands and wound up at my brother and sister-in-law's house. My younger nephew was getting ready for soccer and asked if I would come watch his game. There's nothing I would have liked more but I just didn't think I could handle sitting for that long so I told him I was hurt and couldn't come but would go to his next game. He understood but it broke my heart to say no. So I went home and thought about it for a while and then just willed myself to get over there. I arrived just in time to see him dribble the ball the length of the field and score a goal, which provided more joy than a day's worth of Vicodin.













Yesterday, the Captain decided it was time to take me for a test run so we went to a local park, Natirar. I was in a fair amount of pain by the time we returned home but it was quite worth it...










Today, I returned to work for the first time since Sept. 25. That didn't go so well. Sitting in a chair for more than three minutes is sheer torture. Given that, I might work from the comfort of my couch for the next few days. And pray that this is over SOON. I have a lot of things on the horizon that I'm really looking forward to - the last Springsteen show at the Meadowlands; three days alone with the crazy trio; a camping trip with the Captain and friends; and his first trip to Columbus to see an Ohio State game and meet some college friends - and I need to be in tip-top shape.

Sunday, October 04, 2009

Vicodin is good. I just thought I'd let you all know that.

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My biggest fear was that Mangini would get fired by the Jets, then go to Cleveland and became a wild success, much like when Belichick left the Browns and then became a genius in New England. Well, clearly that ain't happening.

Here's a stunning recap of the disaster that is the Browns franchise since its return in 1999. Being a Jets fan isn't always easy, but it is definitely better than that torture.

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When Le Anne Schreiber's tenure as the ombudsman of the Evil Empire ended earlier this year, I'm pretty sure the powers-that-be in Bristol decided they needed to replace her with someone who would much less critical.

Mission accomplished.

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It's not exactly timely given that his passing is now a few weeks behind us, but Patrick Swayze starred in several movies that rank among my all-time favorites. Honestly, I would be hard-pressed to name a quintent by a single actor that could challenge the joy these brought me:

The Outsiders


Red Dawn


Dirty Dancing


Road House


And this classic Saturday Night Live skit, which I can't embed and is not a movie but is a gem nonetheless.

Honorable mention would be given to Point Break, not Ghost. I was never a huge fan of that flick. Too much Whoopi Goldberg for me.

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After being more or less immobile for the past four days, I'm going to try to pull myself together later today to join the Captain and some of our friends to see Ron White. It's probably going to be painful but it should be worth it.

Friday, October 02, 2009

The only thing worse than having a major, incredibly painful injury is not having any reason for it. But apparently that is exactly what I have done - nothing.

Although a cervical herniated disc may originate from some sort of trauma or injury to the cervical spine, the symptoms, including arm pain, commonly start spontaneously.

Of course, this isn't the first time this has happened - this medical adventure first reared its ugly head in late 2006. To have it return has not made me happy. It has been a long week of horrible pain, which has made it almost impossible to sleep, sit, stand, shower or drive. All you need to know is that it's been so bad I had to skip the Springsteen concert Wednesday night. Really, what else is there to say...

Usually when I'm home sick I take advantage by doing household tasks like laundry, but I can't even get off the couch to do that. Even being on the computer is painful because of the searing pain in my arm and the numbness in my left hand. But I have found a new favorite web site - Sporcle - a repository of games, including lots of sports quizzes. It is an incredible time waster. Here are a few of my favorites so far...

-http://www.sporcle.com/games/Booger/ProTeamGNames
-http://www.sporcle.com/games/sportlogos.php
-http://www.sporcle.com/games/nosportstate.php
-http://www.sporcle.com/games/metalbands.php
-http://www.sporcle.com/games/springsteenalbums.php
-http://www.sporcle.com/games/leeann82/female_singers

The other upside to being completely out of action this week is discovering the Captain makes a pretty good nurse. He's made me meals, tended to household tasks, brought me flowers and sent me pretty pictures...










So I guess it could be worse. Not much worse, but a little...