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November 08, 2008 / Saturday

Iontophoresis

I've been making good progress on forearm exercises, to the point where my achy right forearm is now stronger than my healthy left forearm. It's strange to see my left arm fail trying to lift n pounds with no pain and my right arm succeed at lifting n+x pounds with moderate pain. I understand why, yet it still makes no sense.

Every bi-weekly visit with my physical therapist brings the same questions: "How do I feel?" and "What is my goal?" I've felt better with each visit, and yet I don't know how to reach my goal of being pain free and able to play tennis again without reinjuring myself.

For the last few visits, we've used ultrasound on my forearm. I can only assume that it's helped.

This week, we tried something different. She brought cortisone up for consideration, and we decided my arm didn't hurt enough to warrant an injection. She did, however, ask if I wanted to try topical cortisone. That sounded reasonable, so I said yes, and she ran off to get some.

She came back with electrodes! She put some cortisone gel on one of the pads, stuck it on my forearm, then stuck the other pad on my upper arm. "This might sting a little," she said as she turned the power on.

The electrodes, they tingled! I sat for 20 minutes as cortisone was pushed into my forearm. What a cool way to deliver drugs. I like the name, too: iontophoresis.

When we took the electrodes off, she examined my forearm. It looked bubbly. I couldn't tell if that was my skin or the cortisone gel. "Oh good," my PT said, "you didn't blister much." Blister? I guess some people blister pretty badly at the delivery site. Me, I kind of liked the tingle. Bzzt!

Part of my forearm treatment homework is to swing a tennis racquet. (No ball yet, unfortunately.) I can do this now without too much pain. Volleys are still difficult, as the abrupt stop puts a lot of torque on my forearm, but it hurts a heck of a lot less than it did a few weeks ago. Progress! Yes!

02:25 PM | Injuries| Comments (0)

October 27, 2008 / Monday

Wrong Side, Wrist!

I thought I was feeling pretty good today, until I went to the gym. There, I felt pain in my:

- right glute
- right shoulder
- right tricep
- right bicep
- right forearm
- ...
- left wrist

Nothing major, just felt off. Lifted a little less than usual. What's up, left wrist? I think it's unhappy from too much hockey in Colorado. The fix is probably to rest it, but I'm finally excited about hockey again and wanting to get more ice time. Maybe it's time to throw the wrist wraps back into my hockey bag.

05:18 PM | Gym:Injuries| Comments (0)

October 26, 2008 / Sunday

More Injury Update Than Game Report

I wasn't going to write a post for tonight's game. It's my first game of the season with this team and I figured it was time to grow up, get over my OCD, and stop documenting every single game I play. But then I realized I have injuries to keep track of, so here I am, writing about tonight's game. It's Blue season 3, game 3. I missed the first two sneezing and playing hockey at altitude, respectively.

To start, there's the new skate rubbing into the outside of my left ankle injury. It started rubbing at last Saturday morning's game in Colorado, and has developed into quite the hole. At pickup on Tuesday, I stuck this nice industrial strength fabric oval from the first aid cabinet at work on it, and that seemed to do a good job against the abrasion. Today, I used a flimsy clear Band-Aid square from my home medicine cabinet, which slipped off right away and left me with an even gianter hole than I had before, along with a bloody mess. Tomorrow, I raid the work first aid cabinet for more industrial strength ovals.

The new skate is stiff, which does not bode well for my bony feet, especially the big bump I have on top of my left foot. (There's a bump on my right foot too, but it's smaller because I'm unevenly bumped.) It hurts quite a bit to tighten the skate over the bump. I'm thinking some strategically placed Bunga Pad (which I forgot to bring to the rink today) just in front of the bump will keep the tongue from pushing down too hard on it. That, or I could learn to skate without cinching my laces down like my life depended on it. I bet if you were to take my skates and dangle me upside down, shake a few times, and then spin me like a carnival ride, I would not fall out of them. My feet probably won't even shift.

I didn't talk about this as part of my Pucktoberfest post, but in the first game I landed hard on my the inside of left knee with my legs bent, which created a painful (to push on and to skate with) and nasty looking bruise at the tip of my quad. In the second game, I landed hard on the exact same spot. I spent the rest of the weekend icing it, which must have helped, because for the first time ever, I had a bruise clear up in a week. A giant nasty one, at that!

And then today, I tripped over a stick and landed on that same spot. Dang it! Currently icing. And dang it some more!

Since I'm writing about the game, I'll write about the outcome. Scoring, by period: 0-3, 3-0, 0-1. Final score: 3-4. Dang it again! Still, fun, and challenging. I've been off for so long I'd forgotten what the pace was like.

I have two teammates this season who will yell at me on the ice and tell me what I should be doing on the bench afterward. While it's never easy to hear that you weren't doing something right, I'm thrilled that they're willing to say something about it. Keep talking to me; I'll learn eventually. And, if I ever forget to say it, thank you.

As for the hamstring, which I first truly injured after a hockey clinic more than two months ago, I've been stretching and doing foam roller massages several times a week, which seems to help a ton. I've been able to skate twice this week without the giant neoprene sleeve, and it's feeling pretty good. Keeping my fingers crossed...

07:36 PM | Hockey:Injuries| Comments (0)

September 24, 2008 / Wednesday

That About Covers Everything... How Long Will Repairs Take?

This morning, I had the final two appointments in my first round of referral visits for my various pains.

I kicked things off with a visit to Physical Therapy for my achy forearm. "Classic tennis elbow," my new therapist declared. Oh good; I'd been afraid I might have "we've never seen this before tennis elbow", which I reckon is much less treatable.

We did some crazy rainbow luggage strap around the therapist and my forearm bending, unbending, bending, unbending my elbow massage thing, which left arm red but temporarily pain free. Magic! How do I get that in a little machine for my living room?

Next came ultrasound treatment, an eccentric exercise to do on my own, and a little taping workshop. We scheduled a follow-up appointment and I was sent on my merry way.

I zipped home for an hour, then zipped on back for my visit with Sports Medicine. This doctor had kind of a strange demeanor. I think that means he's either really smart, or really strange. I told him about my forearm, hamstring, glute, and tricep. He checked most of it out and told me I wasn't falling apart.

He also told me I'm getting old. Those weren't his exact words, but I'm pretty sure that's what he meant. His exact words were, "You used to be able to use your sports as conditioning, but now you need to condition to keep playing those sports." See. Old.

He showed me some Pilates-type exercises for the hamstring and glute, but stopped short of telling me to go to Pilates. Rather, he told me to go find a trainer that could tailor some non-weight room exercises to me based on the activities I do and the muscles I'm having trouble with. The thinking is my weight training routine isn't strengthening what I need. I like the idea of doing something new, but I'm not sure where to find a good trainer with a sports focus that doesn't use traditional weight room equipment. Certainly not at 24hF.

I got an additional referral back to PT for my hamstring and glute. Perhaps I'll learn some new lower body and core exercises on my next visit.

I'm digging Kaiser's everything under one roof, doctors all talking to each other over the network model. I suppose I'm also pleased because all my appointments are at their shiny new facility... now with valet service! Or have they had that for a while now? I only noticed it this morning.

Still, I have a bit of a back of my mind worry that it's all chirpy birds and fluffy clouds (too much Twitter?) until I need something big done there. I hope never to find out.

And now, a wrap-up of my first round of referral visits: one funny insole, one eccentric exercise, and one strange sports medicine doctor. What will round two bring?

10:07 AM | Injuries| Comments (6)

September 20, 2008 / Saturday

Ho-Hum

Went for a mountain bike ride at Monte Bello today. No big writeup; just some thoughts:

- There's a lot of pavement between parking on Stevens Canyon Road and where the dirt starts.
- The dirt trail in from that entrance is boring and fun at the same time. Huh?
- It's a bad idea to go mountain biking when you're not feeling quite with it.
- Table Mountain would be a nice out and back on a more "with it" day.
- My legs have some new red, black, and blue decorations. Nothing serious; just call me ripe fruit.
- Hamstring hurt a bit. When is this thing going to heal?

Monte Bello, I'll be back. And next time will be better.

06:49 PM | Injuries:Mountain| Comments (0)

September 08, 2008 / Monday

Doctor, Doctor, Everything Hurts!

I saw my doctor today about:

- My months-long tennis elbow.
- My months-long aching foot.
- My unhappy hamstring, and other unhappy hamstring.
- My unhappy right triceps that says hello every time I return from a break from exercise.

I wasn't sure what I'd get out of this visit, but I felt a need to see my doctor. I was worried that there was something really wrong with me, as my arm and foot aren't healing (my knees still hurt when I ride too far on the bike, but I've given up hope on that one) and I'm getting other injuries piled on top of that. That said, I didn't expect one answer to explain all my ailments. If that's what I want, I think I have a better shot of finding out from an acupuncturist or Chinese herbalist.

Since I don't want to abandon anything without giving it fair shake, I will stick with western medicine for a bit longer to see what it can do for me. After a couple X-rays of my right forearm, I left with an appointment with a podiatrist, an appointment with a physical therapist, and a promise of a call from the sports medicine department to schedule a consult. I'm starting to think I was a little too optimistic last December when I allocated FSA funds for this year. Those $15 dollar co-pays are going to add up fast.

As for the right hamstring (the left one feels fine now), I was told that it might not actually be a problem with my hamstring. It's a little off-center toward the inside of my leg, which may mean it's an adductor issue. In any case, it's healing, so we're going to leave it alone for now and assume that it will heal all the way with my regimen of stretching and icing.

And my triceps? Today's thinking is that I have an imbalance in triceps head strengths. (I keep forgetting that it's a muscle group.) My doctor asked what exercises I do to work my triceps, so I gave her a list: dips, overhead extensions, downward cable pulls, and some indirect work through chest and overhead presses. She suggested that I start doing kickbacks also. Darnit, I hate kickbacks! (If I didn't, I would be doing them!) But if that will make my triceps feel better, I'm willing to give it a go.

So there you go. I have more exercises to do, more stretching to do, and more appointments to go to, which will likely give me even more exercises and stretching to do. Let's hope it works.

06:01 PM | Injuries| Comments (5)

August 29, 2008 / Friday

Coors Cup 2008 Game 1: Chillin'

Arrived at the Toyota Sports Center for game one of the 2008 Coors Cup tournament. This place is pretty nice. We went upstairs, signed in, and were handed a fabulous schwag bag containing (and this list is not complete) a Roxy dog leash, a strip of Durex condoms, two bottles of lube, an ID Glide branded water bottle, Propel powder, pink hockey tape, an LA Kings cap, and a Coors Cup 2008 trucker cap. We also got tournament shirts and a fluorescent green rubber bracelet from Ice Magazine that says "PLAY LIKE A GIRL". Sweet! I was liking this tournament already.

And now, the game. We weren't sure what to expect; if you haven't played a tournament before you really don't know what the level of play is, no matter what adjectives or labels are used to describe it. Fortunately, our two teams were fairly evenly matched. Most importantly, it was a friendly game. The Chill, well, they're pretty chill. I always say hello to my opposing wing before the first puck drop, and their response is often a good predictor of the game to come. I got a stick tap and a glove bump from this one. Hoorays.

We scored a couple early, one from Kim and another from a pass that bounced off my skate. The second one, definitely a fluke. After that, their goalie warmed up or something, because she then turned away the rest of our shots. Final score: 2-0. Way to go, Burninators!

The hamstring held up (I wrapped it up tight), but the right glute is unhappy again. Not sure how to wrap that one. Do they make such a thing as butt wrap?

Next game is tomorrow at 9:15 in the morning. Gotta clean up and go to sleep now!

10:46 PM | Burninators:Injuries| Comments (2)

August 25, 2008 / Monday

Friday Night At Vallco

I missed a couple Blue/Maroon clinics while away last month, and decided to crash the Maroon/Red clinic this month to make up for it. On the way there, however, I realized that I had no idea where the rink entrance was at Vallco.

I wondered who I should call, but then I realized it'd be more efficient to put out a broadcast on Twitter. That did the trick; I got a few responses within minutes. I don't think I'd have managed to find the inconspicuous rink entrance otherwise. Thank you thank you, Twitterpeeps!

It was really nice to be on the ice with some of the folks from Maroon again. I've really missed skating with them. I felt right at home, although I did find it amusing/weird that the three assistant coaches at the clinic were Blue skaters. (From my team this summer, no less!) It really served to highlight how much of a n00b I still am in that division. Not that I didn't know it already. I'm not there 'cause I'm awesome; I'm there because several someones were kind enough to give me a chance.

We did some skating, some passing, some drills with more passing, some shooting. We also did a drill where we forwards practiced 1-on-1s against the defense. I had a couple runs against other skaters in the clinic, and then a run against one of my Lollerskate teammates. She totally schooled me, and when I got back in line one of my other teammates came up and said, "Don't let her do that to you!" My final run (against one of the other skaters) went much better, and for the first time, I tried to drive wide to my backhand with only my top hand on the stick while holding off the D with my other hand. It wasn't perfect, but I managed not to lose the puck and even curled back to center in time to get a shot on net. I'll have to remember to practice that one some more.

I also remembered to thank one of my teammates for her season's worth of advice this summer. I've gotten good advice from various players this season, but this teammate has had words of wisdom for me game after game. Much appreciation from me on that front.

Afterward, I drove... and drove... and drove in search of the mall exit. I eventually found my way out onto Stevens Creek, after driving around almost the entire mall. It wasn't the street I was looking for, but it was good enough to get me home.

The clinic left my body a lot worse for wear. The shooting drills wrecked my forearm (I've been battling tennis elbow for months) and I somehow managed to pull my right hamstring. The hamstring was especially troubling, as I had a 3-on-3 tournament scheduled for Sunday and a Burninators tournament the following weekend.

In the end, I decided against playing the 3-on-3. After a ridiculous number of phone calls, we were fortunate enough to replace (or, rather, upgrade) me with Shannon.

On Monday, I bought a big thigh wrap for my hamstring, a non-bulky elbow wrap for my forearm, and an ice pack for the freezer at work. I'll rest and ice and stretch as much as I can this week, then wrap myself up and Burninate away.

01:52 PM | Hockey:Injuries| Comments (2)

July 08, 2008 / Tuesday

Please To Be Reoxygenating Now, Me

A couple weeks ago, I scheduled a doctor's appointment for today to have several of my (weeks and months long) nagging injuries looked at. Last week, most of those injuries magically healed and the worst one got a lot better. I went to my appointment anyway to make sure I was okay, and figured I'd ask about my feeling of general blech since last Wednesday.

She checked out all the injuries I told her about and was pleased that most of them are gone now. She paid my left foot some extra attention and after hearing me describe all the things that did and didn't make it hurt told me that I probably had a stress fracture. A stress fracture! Yucks. I'm supposed to stretch more before I exercise. Apparently, I don't do it enough. Oh wait, I don't do it at all. D'oh. She gave me some tips on how to manage the tennis elbow, also.

I asked about my lingering nausea and elevated heart rate (resting at 75 right now instead of 60) and she told me that the effects of altitude sickness could last up to a couple weeks. So, one more week of this? I wonder how I'll do on my flights this weekend. I hear they pressurize to the equivalent of only 8,000 feet on long hauls.

Despite still feeling blech, I'm satisfied to have something of an explanation for the blechness, and for that stupid foot. I limped for days on that thing last month! Glad it's (mostly) happy again.

[ Next day update: Tennis elbow is worsening again. I think it was just behaving for the doctor. ]

11:46 AM | Injuries| Comments (2)

April 26, 2008 / Saturday

Consolation Ride

I pulled my glute during last Friday's race, and it still hasn't healed. Sadly, this weekend is Coe Backcountry Weekend, when they open up a park entrance that gives easier access to parts of the (very large) park we can't normally reach without considerable effort. I'd been planning to ride there today; I had applied for and obtained a pass weeks ago. But with my leg still hurting and trails at the park described as "steep to very steep to ridiculously steep," I realized there was no way I could ride there without injuring myself further.

Not riding is sucky in itself, but this was extra sucky because they open the Backcountry entrance only one weekend a year, and Coe is on the list of parks slated for closure. (*shakes fist at Arnold*) Way to go, fragile me.

To ease the suckiness (and to not feel like a lazy lardball on such a beautiful day), I decided to go for an easy road ride. I chose a fairly flat route and headed out. I was originally going to ride 15-20 miles just to keep my knees loose, but I didn't want to get off the bike so I ended up riding 30. Boy, was it hard riding easy. I don't want to ride easy! I want to push and zoom and mash and go go go go go! There was a little pain in the injured glute here and there, but for the most part I think I managed to get some exercise without doing too much extra damage.

The knees were a little tight the first 5 miles, but I didn't notice them at all for the rest of the ride. Once I heal up I'll start pushing for more distance again. I really want to do a century this season.

I remember when 30 miles used to be hard. I'm glad it's not anymore.

04:35 PM | Injuries:Road| Comments (0)

December 04, 2007 / Tuesday

Today Ain't Bad

I wouldn't say I'm back to 100%, but I feel tons better today. Maybe I just needed to be a lardass for a day to let my body rest.

Left hand still hurts, but less so than yesterday, although I'm sure it'll scream at me after hockey tomorrow.

11:52 AM | Injuries| Comments (0)

December 03, 2007 / Monday

Oof

Everything hurts. No ultimate, no climbing, no tennis. I don't think I could even manage to swim today.

Blah. I hate being sedentary.

02:52 PM | Injuries| Comments (3)

December 02, 2007 / Sunday

I Don't Know Me

I looked at the scoresheet after my game today and saw a number I didn't recognize.

Who's number 27?
*checks roster*
Oh, that's me.

It's bad enough that I don't know what my number is, but the fact that I'm the statistician and I know plenty of other players' numbers in means that I don't show up on the scoresheets very much. Plus, my not expecting to show up on the scoresheet means I probably didn't deserve credit for the assist. Sigh.

That said, I'm still happy to take the point. :)

Final score: 5-7. Left thumb and forefinger hurt lots now. Suck.

09:30 PM | Blue Timber:Injuries| Comments (5)

December 01, 2007 / Saturday

Ow, My Thumb

The butt has healed, but my left thumb hurts. It's been sore for the last week or two, and hockey seems to aggravate it. Why so many injuries? Am I overtraining? Not eating well enough? Too much pie and ice cream? Oh, I know what it is: genetics. I think I'm just not built to keep up with me. I'm not a big believer in fate, but it's kind of hard to get around that one, isn't it?

[ Update: The sore thumb has turned into a sore/numb/weak hand. What's going on? Sigh. ]

11:53 AM | Injuries| Comments (9)

November 26, 2007 / Monday

Ow, My Butt, And Other Blah Blah

This is pretty lame: I pulled a muscle in my butt on Thanksgiving. I don't recall how exactly I hurt it (I can only assume that it happened during my Mt. Hamilton cheat ride), but it's been slow to heal. No ultimate, no climbing. Boo.

I did, however, decide that my butt was in good enough condition for a visit to the gym. I was immediately proven wrong by an unhappy twinge as I lightly trotted after the basketball during warmups. It made for an interesting session, as today was lower body day, and half the exercises I usually do involve the glutes in one way or another.

I adjusted by lifting lighter weights at slower reps. A five count up, and five more down. It was kind of nice to change things up some; going slow really made me focus on form.

Afterward, I hopped in the pool for a few laps. I shared a lane with a lady doing water aerobics, and we chatted briefly before I left. I'd noticed that she was able to assume a sitting position and keep her entire head out of the water with almost no effort. I asked her how she did it. "I have big boobs," she said, "and they make great flotation devices." Well, that explains a lot!

Finally, I would like to proclaim my extreme dislike for all the women who gab gab GAB on their cell phones in the locker room about he said she said inanity! Today's gabber liked to repeat herself. "Like, OHMIGOD, I was SO LIVID! I was SO MAD! Ugh, I was LIVID!" Livid? I'll show you livid! *smack*

[ Update: Forgot to mention, basketball was awesome; everything went swish! Swimming didn't suck either; I managed to breathe every three strokes, right, left, right, left, and so on... at least until I screwed up, glugged, and had to start over. ]

05:39 PM | Gym:Injuries:Water| Comments (3)

August 25, 2007 / Saturday

Downhill Ass Kicking

Aaron, Ted, Wayne, and I went downhill mountain biking at Northstar today.

I will sum up the day in three words: dirt, rocks, pain

Dirt, as in, loose dirt galore. Dirt, also as in, all over us, after quite a few ungraceful dismounts from our bikes. At the end of the day, that dirt was all over the inside of our cars. That's what happens when you rolling in the stuff.

Rocks, as in, all over every trail. Rocks, also as in, scraping us after those ungraceful dismounts from our bikes. At the end of the day, however, I'd learned to ride both over and around them. In the morning, they were challenging, but by the end of the afternoon, they were fun.

Pain, as in, bumps and bruises from our various ungraceful dismounts. Pain, also as in, cuts and scrapes from the aforementioned rocks. In time, however, we'll all heal. Even our bruised egos.

Still, I had fun. It's hard not to have fun on two wheels. Plus, because these conditions were so foreign to me, I learned a lot over the course of the day. I'm now much better able to handle rock-littered descents. Not that I've all of a sudden become an expert, but I've definitely gained a point or two in the rocky downhill skill and comfort departments.

I won't go into everyone's unplanned dismounts (honestly, there were too many to count), but here were mine:

(1) A short section at the top of a black diamond run that consisted of several dips and jumps strung together. I got a little overconfident, took the thing at full speed, and ran myself into a bush. The bush retaliated by puncturing my thigh with a thick branch. I rode this section later in the day a little more cautiously, scrubbing off some speed after each bump, and completed it without issue.

(2) A two log, two foot drop on another black diamond run (the only other section of black diamond I rode the entire day). I saw a log, saw a drop, figured I could ride it, realized too late that there was a second log, dropped off them going just a little too slow, and ended up with my weight forward on the landing. Because the dirt was loose, my front wheel dug and I went over my handlebars. I picked myself up and considered doing it again, properly, but I was hurting quite a bit, and decided to just continue on.

At lunch, one of my bumps from the endo bothered me so much that I had trouble throwing my leg over my bike seat. I returned to the car and popped a few ibuprofen. That did the trick; I was able to get in a pretty good afternoon once it kicked in.

When I count all my injuries from today, I'm tempted to bring back my sidebar list.

Bump count: a big bump just below my left hip, a bump on my left thigh, two bumps on my right thigh, and a bump on my left shin.

Scrape total, in order of severity: left elbow, right thigh, left shoulder, right elbow.

Most worrisome is the bump below my left hip. It reminds me of the grapefruit, pre-grapefruit. If I land on it again, will it explode into a ball of painful faux fruitiness? I considered skipping tomorrow's hockey game, but it's the last game of the season, and I don't want to miss it.

Stupid? Yes, but did anyone actually think I would choose not to play?

• • •

I just remembered that I got the pre-grapefruit bump at Northstar. In fact, that's the last time I was there, and I went splat just before lunch, just like this time. I think should stick with Kirkwood from now on.

My archives tell me that two weeks passed between the pre-grapefruit incident and the grapefruit incident, which means if the bruise below my hip is as bad as I think I won't be in the clear for a while. Good thing we're between hockey seasons.

10:35 PM | Injuries:Mountain| Comments (0)

August 02, 2007 / Thursday

Angry Supervillain

I'm a lot stronger when I'm mad. Teres major pull be damned.

03:40 PM | Gym:Injuries| Comments (4)

July 30, 2007 / Monday

The Tricep Is Fine

Maybe I pulled the teres major?

In any case, it hurts, and it makes putting my car into reverse a pain. Literally.

07:38 PM | Injuries| Comments (1)

July 28, 2007 / Saturday

White List?

The Burninators were supposed to scrimmage against Black List today, but for some reason the other team showed up in white, which confused me a bit. Also confusing was the Black List roster, which seems to have undergone something of an upgrade since I last saw them play in Vegas. At first, I had a bit of Piggy déjà vu, but it's no big deal; it's better for us to practice against stronger teams anyhow.

The game was scoreless into the second period, when I tried to take the puck in, had it poked away from me, and watched as the other team took it into our end and scored. That REALLY pissed me off, because I felt I should have hung on to the puck. But I didn't. Rarr.

That got me really riled up. I immediately skated faster, played harder, and retweaked my right tricep, which was still healing from last night's game. At that moment, I didn't care. I got my chance at redemption toward the end of the shift, when Lucinda sent me yet another beautiful clearing pass. I skated my ass off, took a shot, and as I slid into the boards I watched the puck trickle in. "YEAH! YEAH!!" I shouted, "FUCK YEAH!!!" I didn't say it to be rude; I was simply excited (and relieved) about having just made up for my puck gaffe moments earlier.

We put in a couple more, and they put in three more. Final score: 3-4. I really wanted to win, and tried hard to score again, but just couldn't get the puck past the goalie. I even had my shot back today; I tried to sneak several shots by Amy along the post, and she stopped every one of them. Good for her. Boo for me.

Writing this has settled me down some. I was fairly perturbed about not being able to push that extra little bit for a win today, but oh well. There's always next time.

07:20 PM | Burninators:Injuries| Comments (5)

It's Good To Be Back... Again

What a screwy season it's been for me. Played my first Maroon 5 game since June last night, and only because I scheduled my flights to get me back in time for it.

Food poisoning and 2 mostly sedentary weeks in North Carolina, have taken a toll on my body. While I was fortunate enough not to pull any muscles in my legs, my triceps did not fare so well. I knew something was wrong even before the game, when they hurt during a light and truncated game of air hockey. During the game, the right one failed altogether. I tried to load my stick for a shot, and as I pushed on the shaft, I felt a twinge in my right tricep. After that, I was pretty much done shooting.

Not that any of my shots were going on net, anyway. It seems my accuracy is the first thing to go when I'm out of practice. All my shots went wide... even the three I took on the open net toward the end of the game. Sigh.

Fortunately, we didn't need any extra goals. Whitney, Leslie, and Ellaine each put one in, and Amy totally stood on her head for us in net. Final score: 3-0.

*grins*

03:06 PM | Injuries:Maroon 5| Comments (0)

June 25, 2007 / Monday

There's A Muscle There?

Whatever muscle it is that runs from just under my tongue down the front of my neck, I just pulled it. It seriously feels injured. I don't even remember what I was doing. I think I was stretching, or yawning, or stretch yawning, or something.

Waah, it hurrrts. Make it stop. :(

02:11 PM | Injuries| Comments (0)

April 13, 2007 / Friday

More Knee Exercises

Paid a visit to the physical therapist today and got reconfirmed with Patellofemoral Syndrome and kneecap tracking problems. I was given a new set of exercises to do and sent on my way. I guess that's all I really expected from PT. I know it's not magic, and my goal was to get some instruction on what to do to get better.

While I was there, I had my knees thoroughly pushed, pulled, and twisted. No stability issues. That's good news.

So the glass half empty view is I have weak VMOs (Vastus Medialis Obliques) that fail to keep my kneecap aligned when I straighten my leg. The glass half full view is that my other leg muscles are SO STRONG that they're overpowering the poor little VMOs. Hooah!

Either way, I'll be doing exercises to try to isolate and strengthen the VMOs. I hope this takes care of the cycling pain, but even if it doesn't, I'll at least have balanced out my leg muscles a bit.

On my way back to work, I counted up all the things I've had PT for: left ankle (basketball), both shoulders (goalie), right wrist (slapshot), middle of my back (mountain biking), and now my knees (cycling). Hooray for health insurance.

11:25 AM | Injuries| Comments (3)

April 04, 2007 / Wednesday

This Kneecap Thing Boggles My Mind

After almost a month wait, I finally had my appointment with the sports medicine doctor (actually, physician assistant, but for simplicity let's just say doctor) today. She wiggled my knees and kneecaps around, ordered an X-ray of my kneecaps, and referred me to a month of physical therapy. Unfortunately for me, the next available PT appointment is in mid-May. She told me to call and ask for a cancellation spot instead. I'm starting to understand everyone's complaints about the Kaiser wait.

She says that my knee caps rotate outward when I extend my leg, which they're not supposed to do. I was told to continue taking it easy on the bikes for another month (surprise surprise), then start to increase mileage and intensity. Schedulewise, this is supposed to overlap with PT, if I can get an appointment sometime reasonably soon.

In the meantime, she gave me an exercise to do. While seated, I'm supposed to extend my leg, push with my thumb on the inside tip of the quadricep muscle near the top of the kneecap, flex that tiny part of the muscle, hold for 10 seconds, and repeat 9 more times. I'm told this part of the quadriceps helps keep my kneecap from rotating to the outside, and that most other leg exercises work muscles and parts of muscles that do the opposite. Overall strengthening of my legs might actually be bad for my knees. What? Huh?

I did a few of them at the gym today and had a good chuckle when I realized what they reminded me of. Let's just say we can boil that whole sequence above down to three words: sit and squeeze.

Bet you didn't expect that in a post about knees.

05:39 PM | Injuries| Comments (4)

March 31, 2007 / Saturday

ARP Again

Headed back to Alum Rock Park for a solo ride. My legs were tired from Friday night hockey and lard ball training week, but I managed to make it up both the switchbacks and to Eagle Rock without stopping on the climbs. My legs were killing me, though. By the time I reached the picnic table bench at the top of the switchbacks my quads were screaming.

I was happy to see progress on the short steep minihill leading up to Eagle Rock. The only time I've tried to climb that was on my first day almost a year ago, when I pretty much had to push my bike up after I lost traction and momentum near the bottom. Today, I got into the right gear (Granny gear!) at the right time (early!), properly balanced my weight over both tires for traction, and pedaled fast enough to maintain momentum yet slow enough not to spin my wheel. Piece of cake! ;)

What was not a piece of cake, however, was this one pesky turn on the switchback descent. It hadn't given me any trouble in the past, but today it did. Today, I think I simply overthought the turn. I tried to ride back up it, then down again, and had to step out both times. Some days you're just off, I guess. No worries, I'll be back.

The right knee felt a little stiff after about 5 miles, but I couldn't identify any true pain. Better than last time, so no complaints there!

04:05 PM | Injuries:Mountain| Comments (0)

March 30, 2007 / Friday

Friday Night Ice

Woohoo, I got to sub in tonight's Maroon game. I was feeling like ass from a week of sitting in a training room all day eating donuts and Oreos, so it was good to hop on the ice and get moving again. I continued my week of bad eating with some pre-game Doritos, which, as usual, hurt my stomach but resulted in a not-too-shabby breakaway goal. What can I say? They're magic.

We played against SharoN's team, and the two of us spent a good part of the game fighting for the puck. I always find this matchup really fun. We compare well in speed and style of play, and she's a few steps ahead of me in skill, positioning, poise, and patience. This creates an excellent challenge and learning opportunity for me, even when I'm on the other bench. I watch and learn, and am reminded of what I should work on when I'm out on the ice. As I told her after the game, playing against her makes me play better. I feel lucky to have someone I can learn from out there.

In sucky news, I fell forward with my left arm straight out (I was probably reaching for the puck) and reinjured my left shoulder. It's the same injury I had from repeatedly diving to cover the puck as goalie a few years back. Having now established that I can't avoid this injury simply by staying out of net, I might as well suit up again.

That way, my right shoulder can join in on the pain. I'm all for equal shoulder opportunity.

11:03 PM | Hockey:Injuries| Comments (4)

March 24, 2007 / Saturday

First Dirt Ride Of The Season

Mountain biking season is here! Met up with Lucinda for my first dirt ride of the season and her first dirt ride ever. Drove over to Alum Rock Park, where I learned to ride last April. Warmed up on the not so steep partly paved mellow trail (sorry, no map or trail names), then headed up to the switchbacks.

I was pleased that the trails all felt much easier than they did the first time I rode here. Noticable progress, whoO!

On our way up to the switchback, we came upon a snake sunning itself on the singletrack. I suppose if I'd been descending I'd have tried to hop over it, but since I was climbing that wasn't an option. I stopped, eeked (Snake! A snake! Oh, it's a snake!), and stared. It stuck its tongue out at me a few times and slowly backed away into the grass. Phew. (Badgers badger badgers ...)

Lucinda did great, riding her way to the top to enjoy the picnic table bench, tree shade, and view. I remembered being totally beat by the time I made it up there on my first day, but she didn't seem all that fazed by the climb. Cool. :)

My right knee started to hurt a little toward the end of the ride. My repeated bounce bounce bouncing probably didn't help much, but then, gratuitous bouncing is part of what makes mountain biking so fun.

When do I get to ride again? I wonder how my knees feel about tomorrow.

*bounce*

05:21 PM | Injuries:Mountain| Comments (2)

March 22, 2007 / Thursday

My Office Looks Better With A Bike In It

Pedaled into today without any major knee discomfort. Dunno what the minor ache on the inside of my right knee is (why does the pain keep moving around?), but I'm not limping so hooray.

I took it easy on my ride in, but still came close to my mountain bike commute time and speed record. Hello, mechanical advantage!*

I can't believe it's been over 6 months since I last pedaled into work. Welcome back, DST!

* I'm told that "mechanical advantage" isn't the proper term for what I'm trying to say, but the person who told me that will only tell me that it's wrong and won't offer any alternatives. :( I suspect the "more speed for less effort" phenomenon is due to some combination of weight, friction, and gearing, so until someone who does know the proper term for what I'm trying to say pipes up, I'm going to rephrase "Hello, mechanical advantage!" to "Thank you, physics!"

10:31 AM | Injuries:Road| Comments (2)

March 17, 2007 / Saturday

Exit Srategy

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I decided to celebrate by taking the Lucky Charms jersey out for a ride. My hamstrings have been feeling much better since I started stretching them several times a week, so I figured I'd plan a route that allowed me to ride farther than last week if I felt good, but not get stuck too far from home if my knees started to hurt.

The route: 3.7 miles out on Fremont and back, a left on Wolfe, a right on Central, then a right on Bowers to head back toward home on some mellow residential streets. Total distance: 15.7 miles.

Despite the lack of saddle time, I'm still making some progress on the road biking technique front. I don't have to remind myself as often to bend my arms now, and standing up to sprint (usually for or from traffic lights) feels stable and natural. That pleases me greatly.

And now, the much awaited knee update.

The left knee is okay. Hooray!

The right knee is mostly okay, at least compared to how bad it could be. (The left knee pain from 3 weeks ago is still very fresh in my mind.) It feels better than it did after my shorter ride last week, so I'm not too displeased. I started off pedaling fast and light, feeling (or perhaps imagining) some mild discomfort on the inside of my right knee. After warming up, my knees felt good, so I pushed it a little around mile 7. That may have resulted in my overdoing it a bit, as my right knee then started hurting around mile 11, which, as it turned out, was the farthest head-for-home point on my entire route today. I'm not quite sure what to say about that relative to my now seemingly failed ride route exit strategy. In any case, the knee is sore, but I was able to limp instead of hobble up the steps to my apartment. Took some ibuprofen, stretched, grabbed a couple ice packs and settled in to write this post.

To follow up from last week, the doctor did give me a referral to sports medicine, who was supposed to call me, but I have no idea when that's going to happen. I guess I'll give them a call Monday instead.

03:36 PM | Injuries:Road| Comments (0)

March 10, 2007 / Saturday

Finishing What I Started

After staying off the pedal bikes (as oppposed to the vroom bike) for two weeks, I could no longer bear to sit and watch the beautiful weather pass me by. I geared up, stretched, hopped on the road bike, and went for a short ride. I followed the same route as before, choosing this time to turn around at Main St. in Los Altos, where I had to stop and wait for a lift home two weeks ago. Today, I was able to ride there and back without needing rescue. Hoorays.

The ride was a paltry 12.5 miles, but it felt good to be out there again. I passed about 10 people and got passed by 1. That ratio seems strangely high, but I guess I shouldn't complain. The one guy who passed me was all decked out like a hardcore cyclist atop an S-Works Tarmac, and I suppose I would have wondered what was wrong with him if he hadn't zoomed away.

Someone liked my Lucky Charms jersey. Hoorays again.

And now, the knee update. I know you're all on the edge of your seats.

First, the good news. My left knee feels fine.

Now, the sucky news. The back of my right knee felt tight from the very beginning, much like it did in the middle of my last ride. After about 6 miles, it started hurting in the same way my left knee was hurting (except that it was 20 miles before my left knee would start to hurt). When I turned around at Main St. I definitely noticed the pain. I was halfway out, though, and the pain wasn't unbearable, so I continued toward home. I made it, hobbled only a little up the stairs to my apartment, stretched, took some ibuprofen, e-mailed the doctor who promised me a sports medicine referral, and iced.

The pain is relatively mild and nowhere near debilitating like what I had last time, but geez, WTF, KNEES? I REST YOU, I ICE YOU, I STRENGTHEN YOU, I STRETCH YOU. WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT? THIS IS CYCLING, NOT RUNNING! WHAT PART OF "LOW IMPACT" DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND? DO YOU WANT ME TO TAKE UP RUNNING? HUH? HOW DO YOU THINK YOU'D LIKE THAT? LET'S GO, YA PUNKS!

Okay, I'm done now. I just had to get that out.

03:39 PM | Injuries:Road| Comments (0)

March 08, 2007 / Thursday

Something Like Denial

Every time I see a cyclist ride by I find myself silently wondering at him, "Why don't your knees hurt?"

I really want to ride, but I'm a little scared to get on my bike. What if my knee starts hurting like it did the last time I rode? What if I can't even make it 4 miles to work without pain? I don't want to know if the answer is yes.

11:52 PM | Bicycle:Injuries| Comments (0)

March 04, 2007 / Sunday

Bye Bye Knee Pain

One of the frustrating things about my knee hurting when I cycle is that the pain begins long before I start feeling tired. A week of sitting on my ass eating junk food, however, has left my knees rested and me feeling like crap. So here's the plan: I continue to sit on my ass and eat junk food so that the next time I ride I'll tire and quit after a few miles. The knees won't have to work so hard and voila ... no more knee pain!

I am a genius.

10:39 PM | Injuries| Comments (2)

March 01, 2007 / Thursday

Mostly Happy Knees

Today, I can walk, climb/descend stairs, and drive without much knee discomfort. It's time to go cycling!

Just kidding.

Sorta.

10:27 AM | Injuries| Comments (0)

February 28, 2007 / Wednesday

Riddick And Cheesecake

Because I'm off from school this week, and because I have to rest my knees until they stop hurting, I played couch potato last night. I went home, threw on some sweats, and watched the entire Riddick Trilogy while dining on Bailey's Cheesecake Bars.

This couch potato thing doesn't suck.

11:10 AM | Food:Injuries| Comments (6)

February 27, 2007 / Tuesday

Stretching And Rolling

I've noticed that my hamstrings have felt tight the last few weeks. Research on my knee pain leads me to believe that their lack of flexibility may be contributing to the problem. I'm finally getting off my ass and making time to stretch them every day. Oh, the pain! Stretching usually feels good, but for some reason the hamstring stretch has always registered as pain.

Less pain than in the knees, though.

The other benefit of daily stretching is it reminds me to use my foam roller. My hockey and biking injured back (2 different overlapping injuries) has been acting up lately. I hope some time on the roller will help loosen things up. Otherwise, I'll have to start looking for a good chiropractor.

08:20 PM | Injuries| Comments (0)

Injuries, Now A Category

I finally got around to creating a blog category for my injuries. After hours of curation, I think I have most injury-related posts categorized as such. The tally: 146 posts.

Perhaps I should have created subcategories.

01:17 PM | Blog/Website:Injuries| Comments (2)

February 26, 2007 / Monday

Behave, Knees, Behave!

I woke up this morning with mildly sore left and right knees. I drove into work, and by the time I made it to the office, my right knee had worsened. I limped to my desk and took some ibuprofen.

I called Kaiser, told them that one of my knees hurt so badly over the weekend that I couldn't stand, and that my current knee pain was interfering with driving and walking. They sent an urgent note to my doctor, and I got an appointment with a backup doctor for the end of the day. Pretty good turnaround. I'm pleased.

The backup doctor was nice, but not very thorough, I felt. I'd gone through the trouble of documenting every knee-aggravating activity this year (along with other activities and motions that don't bother my knees), along with the types and locations of pain. He did a cursory check of my knees, listened a little to what I had to say, ordered some X-rays, and told me I had Patellofemoral Syndrome. That didn't explain the pain I had along the ITB of the left knee, but he did say he would refer me to sports medicine if the symptoms didn't go away after a week, so fine.

Until then, I'm supposed to rest and go shopping for knee braces with patella holes. Then, when my knees feel better, stretch and slowly ramp up on bike mileage and ride every other day or so. (Go figure, he said 30 miles once a week was not a good idea.) I guess I need the weather to clear so I can start riding to work. At least it stays light late enough for me to ride home without bike lights now.

Blow away, rain clouds, blow away!

But not before my knees feel good enough to ride to work and back.

08:38 PM | Injuries| Comments (0)

February 25, 2007 / Sunday

Neck and Knee Check

Progress! My neck is less sore today than it was the day after the last time I went for a not quite a metric half century ride.

My knee felt terrible for the rest of yesterday. I could barely drive, it hurt so much to step on the clutch. When I got out of the car my knee hurt so badly I couldn't even put weight on it to stand, let alone walk 30 feet to the front door.

Last night: ibuprofen, Celebrex, ice, and rest. My knee feels mostly okay this morning, although the real test is coming up. Go karting (my body aches in anticipation of the aftermath), hockey, and more hockey this afternoon.

I'll be keeping the ibuprofen handy today.

10:21 AM | Injuries| Comments (0)

February 24, 2007 / Saturday

Foiled Again

I was hoping I'd get to title this post "Metric Half Century Plus", but it was not to be. :(

I can't complain too much, though. At least I snuck a ride in before the rain returns. It was nippy out, but that made for an opportunity to wear my new tights and full-fingered gloves. Still love them. Superb temperature control.

Superb. I love using marketing clichés. They make me laugh.

The plan was to ride just over 34 miles. Leaving from my house, we'd take Sunnyvale-Saratoga to Fremont to Foothill/Junipero Serra, do a counterclockwise loop on Sand Hill/Portola/Alpine, return to Foothill, and head back. I popped a couple Advil before the ride to try to head off any mild knee discomfort or inflammation. Like last time, my knee felt fine for about the first 20 miles.

Aaron had mapped out the route for me the night before, which included information on where the climbs would be. For some reason, I think that anything Aaron climbs on his bike is bound to be ridiculous, so when he said that the biggest climb of the ride was on Sand Hill Road, I fully expected to get my ass kicked there. As it turned out, it wasn't so bad. I managed to ride that, plus all the other hills today, without using the little chain ring. (No, I didn't power up on the big ring; I ride a triple.) Cool.

So, the dreaded mile 20. This seems to be my distance limit on the road bike. Actually, even before I hit the 20th mile I started feeling some level of knee discomfort, but at around 20 miles my knee pretty much had my full attention. The problem was, when it started hurting, I was approximately halfway into my ride. Turning around wouldn't have helped much, so I continued on.

After mile 20, my knee felt worse and worse. My pedalling slowed, and with it my speed and heart rate. It's pretty interesting to see everything on the graph drop toward the end. Eventually, I couldn't pedal standing, had trouble at stoplights (whether balancing on both pedals or clipped out of either side, both legs have to be straight), and couldn't sprint away when lights turned green. Aaron asked several times if I wanted to stop and have him return with the car, but I declined. I wanted my metric half century, dammit!

As we approached downtown Los Altos, I asked how many miles we had left. "About 10," I was told. Given my slowing pace, the amount of pain in my knee, its rapidly deteriorating condition, and a pestering little voice in my head (previously Aaron's voice next to my head) blathering something about further damage, I knew 10 miles was farther than I could ride. I was fewer than 3 miles from the elusive metric half century, but I had to stop. I accepted Aaron's offer to pick me up with the car and ended my ride on Main St. Total distance ridden: 28.5 miles.

I scoped out Main St. for some restaurants to try in the future, noted a crêperie and a pot pie place, and stopped at Posh Bagel for a coffee, where I had a nice chat with some random customer about my bike. Then I headed out to wait for Aaron. During that time, I did some pushing on my knee and discovered a sore spot along a tendon on the outside. (We suspect it's an ITB issue.) Finally, something concrete. It sure is easier to localize pain by reproducing it in a controlled setting than to try to figure out where it's coming from when the entire area is screaming.

Anyway, Aaron arrived, we loaded my bike into the car, and, because we now had a way of carrying stuff, stopped at Andronico's (I didn't know there was one so close to me until last night!) to trade a paycheck for some yumminess on the way back. :-* to Aaron for riding extra slow, stopping so many times for me to catch up, and picking me up when my knee broke down.

09:14 PM | Injuries:Road| Comments (2)

February 17, 2007 / Saturday

First Ride On The Allez

"We are doing a metric half century tomorrow," Aaron said, and it was decided. How could I turn down a ride that I could complete in 31 miles, yet still refer to with a slightly modified but still half-badass sounding form of "century"?

As half-badass as I'd like to believe it was, the ride was actually quite gentle. We rode the Coyote Creek Trail so I could get to know my new bike without the distraction and dangers of automobile traffic. There was virtually no climbing, and the weather couldn't have been better.

The verdict: I likes. As expected, it feels lighter, faster, stiffer, and more responsive. I don't ever want to road ride on my mountain bike again, unless it's to boing around on stuff.

I did note that I'm not trusting the bike and myself enough in corners. I think I'm still trying to get over my parking lot lowside from last April. I often notice myself feeling apprehensive in corners on all my bikes, including the motorcycle. Can someone please come and zap away the little part of my brain holding that memory? And while they're at it, please zap the resulting scar tissue on my right knee, too.

After last week's ride into work from Bugformance, I'd been worried about how my knee would fare. To my surprise, it felt great. Hooray, I thought, the mysterious cycling and scuba pain is gone! Around mile 20, however, I realized I'd thought too soon. The pain got a little worse on the way back to the car, but fortunately it doesn't hurt nearly as much as it did last week. I guess it's time to get to know my new doctor.

We ended up riding a total of 27.2 miles. I had trouble getting a speed reading with my Polar components setup, but fortunately I can borrow distance and average speed data from Aaron's bike computer.

In the end, no metric half century. Perhaps next time, if my knee cooperates. Maybe even a standard half century, if the terrain isn't too steep. Flat ground is so effortless on a road bike.

That probably just means I'm not riding hard enough. ;)

10:21 PM | Injuries:Road| Comments (2)

February 07, 2007 / Wednesday

Everything Is An Excuse To Buy Gear

My car is due for its 80,000 mile service. There's a VW stealership just down the street from where I live, but because of its reputation, my general distrust of stealerships, and the fact that they scratched my then-perfect hood when I took my car there for a factory recall a few years back, I decided to go somewhere else. My first choice was to take it to Wolfgang, whose shop was across the street from said stealership. Unfortunately, Wolfgang seems to have disappeared over the last year. After some time on the local forums, I decided on Bugformance in San Jose. One small problem: Bugformance is 13 miles away from work. The solution? My boingy bicycle! I was happy to have an excuse to ride (It's been far too cold and early evening dark and sometimes rainy lately, waah.), and also to shop for cold weather cycling gear.

This morning, I dropped my car off and tested out my new gear. The verdict? <3! The Sugoi tights rule. They fit perfectly, are super soft on the inside, and block enough wind to keep me warm while letting enough through to keep me from overheating. I also got new full-fingered gloves, which turned out to be lightly water resistant when the sky sprinkled on me. Okay, that sounds kind of gross. It wasn't yellow, okay?

Technically, I also got to try out some new socks that I bought a couple months ago. I like them, but not any more than my regular socks. What's so special about Coolmax? I can't tell the difference.

Some bad news: My left knee is killing me. After about 6 miles I started feeling pain in my knee, which got worse as I continued to ride. It's the same pain that I felt after diving on my trip last month. At least now I know it wasn't nitrogen bubbles, but what's wrong with my knee? Sadness.

12:33 PM | Bicycle:GTI:Injuries| Comments (7)

January 22, 2007 / Monday

Caribbean Sailing Trip

Some of you knew I was disappearing for this trip, and most of you didn't. In any case, I'm back. Here's the writeup. I must warn you, it's long.

The Nutshell

10 days of sailing in the Leeward Islands on a 41.5 foot catamaran with 8 people total: me, Aaron, Captain Chris, Rosie, Roberta, Randi, Brad, and Gage.

Islands: St. Martin (or Sint Maarten, if you prefer Dutch), St. Barthelemy (St. Barths), St. Christopher (St. Kitts), Nevis, St. Eustatius (Statia), and Anguilla. Kind of in that order.

Pictures soon, I hope. Depends on how much time I have.

[ Update: Pictures are up! I'll try to link some from various parts of this post later on. ]

[ Update: Individual picture links are in too. ]

Sunday 1/7 to Monday 1/8 - Off to St. Martin!

My aunt dropped Aaron and me off at SFO on Sunday night and we caught a redeye to MIA. Despite the flight's being delayed a couple hours, we still had a 3-4 hour layover in Miami. We walked around the terminal in search of breakfast. "I love the East Coast!" I declared, as we came up on a Dunkin Donuts and an Au Bon Pain. I had the requisite Dunkies coffee (with cream and sugah), which, as expected, was weak but tasty, and a disappointing croissant at Au Bon Pain.

Then it was off to the security line. I bristled at the useless TSA liquids rules, put my 0.066 ounce bottle of eye drops into a much too large plastic baggie, and took a picture of its ridiculousness in front of their 3-1-1 sign. I fought the urge to write "Kip Hawley is an Idiot" on the bag and contemplated bringing through a future security checkpoint a quart-sized zip-top bag stuffed full of 3 ounce containers of the ever-disturbingly green Diet Mountain Dew.

Got lost reading magazines on the plane. At one point I looked up and had a moment of, "Eeek! Where am I going? I'm going to be on a boat? In the water? Ack!" Then I realized I was being dumb and got over it.

Landed at SXM and took a taxi to our hotel in Marigot. For some reason I expected the island to be more modern and resortey clean. Checked into the hotel, settled a bit, and headed out to explore Marigot. Snacked on a croissant, had an Orangina Light (I wish we had that back home), and found a shot glass for Becky's collection.

Being on a boat required soft luggage, and since I did a crappy job of packing my snorkel, I found myself in search of superglue once I reached the islands. I got a little tube of it for a ridiculous amount of money, brought it back to the hotel, started to screw the top into the tube, and promptly got superglue all over my hand. I rubbed off as much of it as I could, but I had random superglue bits on my fingers for the next few days. I did fix the snorkel, though.

We met up with Chris and Rosie for dinner at Tropicana. I ordered a duck entree that sounded promising but proved to be a little too gamey for me. The staff was quite entertaining, however, and definitely created an enjoyable dining atmosphere. During dinner, we spied bottles of what appeared to be an unmarked house brew. People at various tables around us were sipping it. Rosie asked our server what it was, but he wouldn't tell her. This upset her greatly, and she threatened to boycott dessert. Fortunately, she reconsidered, and we later found out that it was a fruity house rum that every table gets at the end of the meal. (As it turns out, this is a fairly common thing at French restaurants in the area.) We got ours after dessert, and even purchased a bottle for the boat.

Tuesday 1/9 - More St. Martin & Boarding the Boat

In Marigot, everyone seems to know everyone else, and when someone in a car sees someone they know, they honk their horn to say hello. There are also a lot of very loud scooters, dirtbikes, and 4x4s zipping with and around the cars. All this makes for a very loud street, which our hotel room happened to face. Once the sun came up, the noise started. As if that wasn't enough, a car alarm malfunctioned in the parking lot below and refused to turn off, despite what sounded like repeated attempts to make it do so.

One thing I did like about the streets of Marigot was the abundance of wheelies. Bicycles and motorcycles would roll down the street with their front wheel high in the air. Back home, doing a wheelie down the street is stupid and reckless. In Marigot, it seemed almost uncool not to do one.

We walked along the water and had galettes for brunch at Deli Spoon Crêperie. I saw Fort St. Louis uphill from us, but we were too short on time to visit it. We passed by the open air market and Aaron bought a bottle of tasty local hot sauce. A couple blocks later, we came across a woman just off the sidewalk churning fresh coconut ice cream. I had to try it, and was glad that I did! It was quite tasty. My only regret is that I didn't take a picture of her and her little ice cream setup.

We checked out of the hotel and stood on the street to hail a cab. A random guy with no taxi identification pulled up and asked if we needed a taxi. We did, and he did a fine job of taking us to Oyster Pond, giving us touristy island info along the way. The taxi drivers on the islands we visited, officially licensed or not, were all pretty friendly.

Sat through part of the boat briefing with Chris and Rosie, dropped off our bags, and headed for Maho Beach, situated at the landing approach end of the runway at SXM. The planes there have to fly super low over the beach to hit the runway, and it makes for quite a sight. I love planes, and had had this on my list for weeks. We got there a little late to watch the heavy jets land, but saw a few decent small plane landings and a couple larger jets take off. I went up to the fence and hung on in the jet blast.

Taxied back to Oyster Pond, met up with everyone on the boat, tried a Carib (meh), and had some fish and chips at Dinghy Dock, a bar/restaurant at the marina. Afterward, we hung out at karaoke, where Chris busted out a fine rendition of Johnny Be Good. Learned how to play Risk, went to bed at 2AM.

Wednesday 1/10 - Off to St. Barths!

We motored from St. Martin to St. Barths early in the morning. I slept through it all, and had a really amusing dream doing so. I was on an elevator and needed to go down to the first floor. As the elevator was about to come to a close, I jumped up. I kept rising, slowly, until my head finally hit the ceiling with a soft "Doof!". I then came back down, also slowly, until I bounced off the floor with a "Boing!" Up and down I went, over and over. "Doof!" "Boing!" "Doof!" "Boing!" So amusing.

Got up when we reached Gustavia Harbor. Looked out the window and couldn't believe how blue the water was. Had a fruit salad and toast breakfast on the boat, then dinghied into town, walked around and got some food. Had a cheeseburger and a mango colada at Café de l'Oublie, then some more coconut ice cream at a place at the corner of the marina by one of the dinghy docks. The woman there was very nice, helping me out with my French when I asked her how to say certain things. We walked to Shell Beach and hung out for about half and hour.

Dinghied back to the boat, cleaned up, played cards using Risk armies as chips. Tried to inflate our somewhat soft dinghy and found that the pump that came with the boat had the wrong fitting. D'oh.

Cleaned up and went back into town in our now even softer dinghy. Had dinner at Eddy's. I ordered a sashimi dish, which turned out to be tuna done four different ways: raw, seared, raw in some sort of sauce, and poki. It came with a side of wasabi ice cream, which I passed around the table. Interesting stuff.

Had drinks at The Strand after dinner, then headed downstairs to Casa Nikki. It was a little quiet when we first arrived, but more people arrived and the club came to life. Hung out some at our table, danced some, and headed back.

Chris has a tip for everyone. "Never pee to windward."

A few of the guys geeked out on deck until 4:30. Chris couldn't sleep because he'd had too much Red Bull and vodka, but I don't think Gage and Aaron had an excuse. Crazies.

I'm liking all the French practice I'm getting here. This is the first time I've gotten to put my mostly wasted 6 1/2 years of French class to use.

Thursday 1/11 - Touring St. Barths

My camera got splashed with some seawater at Maho Beach on Tuesday, and the LCD display is slowly being eaten away. D'oh.

Woke up, had more fruit salad (We had to eat the perishables aboard the boat first.), and dinghied into town. Once there, we tried to locate scooters for rent. Unfortunately, we got a bit of a late start, and couldn't find enough available for our group. After trying three different shops, we ended up with one scooter (Chris and Rosie), one 4x4 quad (me and Aaron), and one car (Gage, Brad, Randi, and Roberta) for our group. I got to use more of my French; the scooter shop owners don't seem to speak much English here.

I got to drive the quad. I'd never driven one before, and I was disappointed by how it handled. Plus, it was underpowered, which didn't help matters much. I'll take something with 2 wheels over a quad any day.

Chris led us to the roundabout near the St. Barths airport and kept riding in circles (with the car and quad in tow) until people started honking because we were holding up traffic. I was sick of trying to turn the quad and started yelling and cussing at him. Eventually he tired of his little roundabout game and continued on.

We returned to the roundabout and pulled off the road to watch the planes land. There's a steep drop after the roundabout to the airport runway, so it made for some nice up close shots of planes on their approach, even though there were no heavy jets landing there.

Continued on in search of lunch, got lost, did a half island loop, and eventually ended up in St. Jean. I had the Le Piment panini at Le Piment, along with a frosty drink, which I suspect was probably a virgin pina colada. I don't remember now.

Did some shopping after lunch, then headed over to Governor's Beach to do some snorkeling. The water was great, but the snorkeling was boring. We left the beach at around 5 PM to go return our vehicles. I was still wet from the water, so I hopped on the quad in my bikini. I'm sure that was an amusing sight, since I had a gigantic dirtbiking helmet on, too. Returned the vehicles and dinghied back to the boat.

Earlier in the day, we noticed a catamaran nearby dragging anchor. A couple in a boat just behind ours noticed too and went to check it out. We struck up a conversation with them as they passed by, and saw them again on the island that afternoon. We later borrowed their dinghy pump, and invited them over for some drinks in the evening. They're exploring the world on their boat, and have their own website and satellite radio broadcast. Very cool.

I had some Red Stripe and a few sips of a mojito while they were on the boat, and ended up falling asleep until dinner time. On their recommendation, we had dinner at La Saladerie. I can't remember what I ordered, but I think it was decent. Headed back to the boat and went to sleep for the night.

Friday 1/12 - Off to St. Kitts!

We left St. Barths early the next morning and headed for St. Kitts. There were 6-8 foot swells, which made for a pretty rough ride. Initially I stayed in bed, but all the banging was making me antsy, so I got out of bed and headed up on deck. Bad idea. I got seasick in a matter of minutes, threw up, had some saltines and water, gave up, and went back to bed. That was clearly the option I should have stayed with in the first place. My stomach settled and I slept like a baby until our arrival at St. Kitts.

We docked in Basseterre and had salad and sandwiches for lunch. I spent some time writing down notes from the last couple days. Played a couple hands of gin, then explored the area near the marina with Roberta. Came back and declared that St. Kitts was a shithole. As it turns out, it wasn't really that bad, but wandering around a not-so-wonderful part of town in the dark after two sunny days in St. Barths just didn't seem all that great to me.

Returned to the marina and found a free standing 4-star bathroom facility. I swear, it was probably the nicest building on this part of the island. How strange!

I was a little disappointed that this wasn't a French speaking island. Yes, I know that sentence reads funny.

Returned to the boat, cleaned up, and went to dinner at Ballyhoo. I had some vegetarian stuffed pepper dish that was fairly decent. Mainly, I was hurting for vegetables. Kind of strange to hear me say that, even though I've been a veggie eater for a while now. I still find myself wondering what happened to my mom's "Little Meat Monster". But I digress ...

Returned to the boat again and went to bed. Woke up in the middle of the night to loud sounds of someone puking ... and puking ... and puking. Found out the next day that that was Gage puking off the back of the boat.

Saturday 1/13 - Touring St. Kitts

Got up and had omlettes for breakfast. We toured the island with a (taxi?) driver named Percy. He gave us island history, talked about the former sugar industry, and stopped at various points of interest for us to take pictures. At one stop, there was a lady selling drinks and trinkets at a stand. She had some cool bracelets and I bought one before we continued on. We stopped at Romney Manor, where we got to see a batik demo and purchase various touristy items. I got myself a turquoise triangular batik bandana. Good for hiding messy boat hair.

Side note on batik: I think I did this sketching and waxing and dying thing in high school. I batiked myself the Primus guy on the cover of the Miscellaneous Debris album. It hung in my room for years.

We continued on to the Brimstone Hill Fort. It's fun to explore old forts. We took lots of great pictures there.

On the way back, we passed by the island Carib plant, drove by the black sand (ash) beach, purchased a couple of roadside coconuts through the window, and stopped to purchase some sugar cane and take pictures of, uh, rocks and water.

Got back to the boat, paid our fees, filled up on water, got some ice, and headed off to Ballast Bay, also at St. Kitts. We anchored for the night, snacked, and the guys played with the grill and made dinner. Steak and chicken. Tasty, and, despite a crazy windy rainstorm, made possible by Brad, who got soaked from head to toe manning the grill. Props to Brad for braving the elements to feed us!

After dinner, played some swaying boat Jenga and a few rounds of various card games, again using Risk army chips. Got ready for bed, noticed that it was dark and clear out, and spent some time stargazing. I never knew that the middle star in Orion's sword was actually a nebula. Hooray for binoculars and Aaron's random astronomy knowledge!

I realized today that I forgot to get Becky a shot glass from St. Barths. I looked for one at St. Kitts, but didn't find any. I also tried to find a tile for Lew, but all the ones they had at Brimstone Hill Fort were ugly. Siiigh.

Sunday 1/14 - Biking Nevis

Motored over to Nevis in the morning and anchored (Or moored, I'm not sure which.) in Tamarind Bay. Had some eggs, bacon, and potatoes, then dinghied to shore and walked to the bike rental place.

Brad, Randi, Roberta, Aaron, and I all rented bicycles (Aaron and I had Trek 4300s, not sure what the others had.). Gage had work to do and Chris and Rosie decided to just chill at the beach. Brad, Randi, and Roberta rode to the Four Seasons for the afternoon while Aaron and I set off to ride around (Literally. There's a road that circles the perimeter.) the island.

Reggie the ridiculously in shape bike shop guy had told us about the hills on our route ahead of time, but climbing in the humid air on unfamiliar bikes proved to be quite difficult. Or original plan had been to stop at every ice cream place on the loop, but since it was Sunday we found only one open shop. My flavor? Coconut, of course!

After making it about halfway around the island, we had reached the highest point, and got to tuck and zip back down the curvy roads. So much fun. We rode through Charleston, which had many shops, all of which were closed. Even the touristy gift shop was closed, which made me sad because it meant yet another island sans shot glass. We came across Brad, Randi, and Roberta farther down at a fruit shack. Aaron got more ice cream while I bounced around on the bike in the "parking lot".

We returned to the rental shop and I continued to play around with stoppies and track stands. It'd been a while since I'd been on a bike (It's been cold back home!) so I didn't want to get off. Reggie understood, and didn't seem to mind. Finally, I handed the bike over and met up with everyone at the bar.

A few notes from the ride that I didn't manage to work into the paragraphs above ...

There were goats along the side of the road all over the island. I meh-eh-eh-eh-eh-eh-ed at them all in an attempt to get them to meh-eh-eh back. It actually worked a few times. Success! Huzzah!

We saw the ocean quite a few times riding the perimiter road. After a while the beautiful blue water ocean view started to get old. Yawwwn. ;)

I was running low on cash so I went to an ATM in Charleston. I requested 300 EC and it was smart enough to give me 100 + 100 + 50 + 20 + 20 + 5 + 5. Why don't our ATMs do that?

We returned to the boat, I did some dishes, cleaned up, sat down to take notes on the day, and received a dark chocolate bribe from Chris to not blog anything bad about him. He sure knows how to pick a bribe!

Earlier in the day, Aaron cut into one of the two coconuts he bought from St. Kitts. The juice wasn't coconutty and there was barely any meat. Maybe it was a baby coconut?

Helped cut veggies for dinner (tasty burgers and salad). Ate, chatted, took some more notes, and went to sleep.

Monday 1/15 - Off to Statia for Some Diving!

Sailed to Statia in the morning. The seas were rough, so I elected to stay in bed. Better than barfing!

We arrived around late morning and planned to dive in the afternoon. Since I got seasick the last time I dived, I prepared by filling my stomach with fruit and ginger ale.

We met the dive shop folks at the dinghy dock, got geared up, and headed out for Double Wreck. My first boat dive! I rolled off the side and loved every millisecond of the entry. The water was warm (82 degrees at 60 feet down) and clear (approximately 70 foot visibility). We saw lots of sealife, and I got to pet a couple large stingrays. They're so soft and smooth!

We ascended to our safety stop, and after hanging out with the group for a minute or so, I slowly floated away from them to the surface. I'd been having some trouble descending toward the end of the dive, and I guess I finally used up enough air to become positively buoyant. I shrugged at the divemaster, he shrugged back, and I swam toward the boat.

A couple hours later, my left knee started to hurt, and not in the somewhat injured MCL spot on the inside. I don't know what an arthritic joint feels like, but I would guess that that's how my knee felt. I couldn't think of anything I'd done that might injure it, so I worried that it was nitrogen bubbles. The knee pain increased into the night, but otherwise I felt fine.

We had dinner at Kings Well, a quaint German hotel and reservation-only restaurant run by an older couple. We radioed them in the afternoon and they ran a menu down to the dive shop so we could order in advance. We had fun with the self-serve bar and the many pets they kept, including a Great (Big) Dane named Sam. We had some super yummy super rummy chocolate rum cake à la mode for dessert.

One thing I haven't talked about are the boat heads. There's a toilet, and it has a pump. It takes very little (two single-ply sheets) to no toilet paper. Using the boat head is not a joy, so whenever I was onshore I tried to use public toilets with real plumbing instead. The problem was, I kept finding myself in stalls with two remaining sheets of toilet paper. Better than none, I suppose, but I was convinced that the toilet paper gods were doing it for a laugh. Yeah, very funny.

Tuesday 1/16 - More Diving & Simpson Bay

Most of the boat got up for an 8:30 morning dive. Since I was worried about my knee (and its implications), I decided to skip it. Chris came back to the boat around 10. He told us about their first dive, a 90 foot wreck dive that sounded like a lot of fun, and said that they were going to go on a second, more shallow dive in a little while. We got up to go join them.

The dive was to 55 feet, at Hangover Reef. Again, I thoroughly enjoyed the backward roll entry. I remembered to give Aaron my cheapie underwater camera, and he took pictures throughout the dive.

My knee was feeling somewhat okay when I woke up, but it hurt a lot more after I got out of the water. In any case, I survived, so phew, and hooray.

We then sailed for St. Martin to dock at Simpson Bay for the night. The seas were pretty rough, but I tried to stay awake anyhow. I was okay for a while standing on deck and looking forward, but since it was a several hour journey, I eventually sat down. Soon, I felt sick, so I lay down on the bench just inside and snoozed until we got there.

There's a drawbridge that controls traffic into and out of Simpson Bay. It opens at specific times during the day, and tourists line up to watch. We arrived just before the 5:30 PM bridge opening and sailed through as people waved and took pictures. Amusing.

Got to take a real shower at the marina. Totally refreshing.

After wandering the streets of Simpson Bay for a decent place to eat, we wound up back at the marina and ate at Jimbo's. I had half a mango margarita, a disappointing shredded chicken chimichanga with too-dry rice and beans, and a salad destroyed by hot sauce that Aaron had declared to be salad dressing. At least I got to eat his salad instead.

The boat was a short walk from Jimbo's. When we returned, I laid my margarita lightweight self down on the bed and didn't wake up until 4 AM. Woops.

Wednesday 1/17 - Off to Anguilla!

As per usual, we had some crazy bursts of wind and rain overnight. I like how short the "storms" are here. It's dry, it's pouring, it's dry again. It's calm, it's howling, it's calm again.

Woke up, took a taxi to Marigot to pick up some croissants and beignets. Returned to Simpson Bay, picked up some sodas, and got on the boat in time to head out for the 11 AM drawbridge opening.

Brad, Randi, and Gage decided the night before that boat living was not for them, so they hoped off the boat to find a cushy hotel for the rest of their vacation. Chris had to run around all morning to get the paperwork in order, and at some point ran into a pole and chipped his tooth. Poor Chris.

With fewer people on the boat and calmer seas, I got to help and become honorary boat crew. I learned how to use the winch and worked one of the jib sheets. I got a much better understanding of how the jib and sail are controlled, and what all those lines are for. For the first time, I made it from one island to another without without feeling sick or having to sleep. I finally got to see the flying fish along the side of the boat as we sailed.

Aaron would like me to note that he saw a dolphin along the side of the boat yesterday, and that even though I didn't see it I should write down that he did.

Made it to Anguilla and anchored in Road Bay. As we waited for Chris to clear us through customs, we saw schools of fish of various sizes jumping out of the water. Big fish in pursuit of little fish, perhaps? We also saw a turtle surface and poke its head out of the water a few times. So cute!

Knee update: It felt okay in the morning and I was very happy, to the extent that I took a huge leap off the boat and landed on it. It hurt a bit as I continued to walk on it, but I took a couple Advil and felt better. I think it'll be fine for hockey next weekend. Phew!

Camera update: The LCD screen is unusable now. I should find another camera so I can take a picture of the damage.

Boat update: It feels roomy with only five people.

Dinghied to shore and walked around looking for a place to eat. There were restaurants, but most of them looked to be closed. We found two open ones, one of which was an English place called Ripples. Service was ass-slow, and their Beer and Guinness Pie was only okay. Oh well, what can you do? At least they were open!

Thursday 1/18 - Prickly Pear Cay

Woke up, went into the kitchen, and found Chris making omlettes. We ate and sailed to Prickly Pear. Aaron was at the helm, and did a good job of dodging the many crab pots along the way. We anchored on the leeward side of the island, then dinghied to the other side. The ride through the channel between the eastern and western cays was rough and scared me a bit, as I'm pretty sure I would have been in a world of trouble had I ended up in the water there.

We lay out on the beach sipping frosty drinks (their pina colada was tasty!). This may have been the first time I've ever enjoyed the sand, and simply lying on a beach doing nothing. Well, okay, I wasn't really doing nothing. I was making shapes out of the clouds overhead. The best one: a Care Bear shaking its fluffy ass at all of us below.

After a little while, I made Aaron be my snorkeling buddy and we spent some time swimming around checking out reef and fishes. My favorite was the one that looked like Dori from Finding Nemo. Blue fish are so pretty!

We decided that it'd be better to lighten the load on the dinghy for the ride back to the boat, so Aaron and I walked over to the other side of the cay and snorkeled back. On the way we saw a bunch of huge black sea urchins. I'd never seen them before, so my first thought was "Underwater mines!" followed by "Exploding Death Stars!"

Back on the boat, I sat on deck near the bow to take some notes on the day. Someone called for me from inside, and as I walked back toward the stern I slipped and banged the front of my lower shin against a slightly open bathroom hatch. OW! It hurt for a while, and developed into a nice little bump shortly after.

Had some squishy pizza for lunch, thanks to our underpowered boat oven.

We motored back toward Anguilla. Along the way, Chris grabbed a seat cushion and a bottle of water, jumped overboard, and grinned as we motored away. "MAN OVERBOARD!" we yelled, to which Rosie (who was fulfilling some requirements for her bareboat charter class on this trip) sighed, "Oh, dammit." We swung around a couple times, picked Chris up, and continued on.

Finally able to take notes while the boat is in motion. WoohoO!

After anchoring at Crocus Bay, we cleaned up, dinghied to the rocky shore, and walked up a steep hill into town. Chris had promised us piles of amazingly tasty and cheap roadside barbeque. As it turns out, that doesn't happen on Thursdays. We ended up eating at a fancy restaurant (Koal Keel) in our roadside barbeque clothes. Not quite what we had in mind for dinner, but tasty nonetheless. I had a northern Indian butter chicken entree and an apple pastry dessert with ice cream. Rosie ordered a shrimp dish that was simply amazing, even to a non shrimp lover like me. We got a little tour at the end of the meal, headed back to the boat, and went to bed.

Friday 1/19 - More Snorkeling & Grand Case

Chris (and Rosie?) got up early to motor us a few football fields over to a mooring buoy in Little Bay. We got up a couple hours later, ate breakfast, cut up some leftover chicken chum, and dinghied over toward shallower waters for some snorkeling.

I got to backward roll off the dingy. It pleased me greatly.

Saw more fish and exploding Death Star sea urchins. It was cool to watch the fish come by and eat the chicken. Aaron put another roll of 800 speed film into my underwater camera and took some more pictures.

We returned to the boat and left at noon for Grand Case, St. Martin. The seas felt a little rough, so I ate some Saltines. I continued to feel sick, so I lay down on the bench and fell asleep.

I woke up as we neared Grand Case. I munched on some pretzels and took some notes.

For the first time this trip, we had an entirely overcast day. Yuck!

I realized that I left Anguilla without a shot glass. I didn't come across any. Oh well.

We cleaned up and dinghied into shore. We did some shopping, then had dinner at a nice French restaurant called Le Pressoir. For my appetizer I had lobster ravioli in an amazing passionfruit sauce. I would have been perfectly happy to have had more of that for my entree. There was a sweeter, tangier passionfruit sauce in my dessert also. This was definitely my favorite restaurant out of all the ones we visited on this trip.

We found out that it was the hostess/waitress's birthday, so we sang her happy birthday. Probably a little out of place for a fine French restaurant, but it was fun, and she seemed to be pleasantly surprised.

Saturday 1/20 - Returning the Boat

Headed from Grand Case back to Oyster Pond in the morning. Rosie still had an MOB to do under sail, so we tied a couple fenders together and tossed them into the ocean. "MAN OVERBOARD!" we yelled. "Oh, dammit," she sighed again. I got to work the boat hook this time around, and managed to pinch a chunk of my right forearm off extending it. Good job, me.

Got back to Oyster Pond around 11. Finished packing, cleaned up the boat a bit, and grabbed a quick lunch at the Dinghy Dock. I wanted one last island pina colada, but their blender was broken. That's just not right! No Caribbean bar should be frosty drinkless! Gah!

Taxipooled a ride back to the airport. Taxipools seem to be common practice on this island.

Saw Gage, Brad, and Randi at SXM. Caught up a bit on their adventures over the last couple days. Sounds like they had a nice time relaxing, drinking, meeting new people, and jet skiing.

Spent half an hour wondering where Aaron was after he disappeared while going through the security line. My first thought was, "Oh no! They've taken him to a special examination room!" As it turns out, he'd left the bottle of tasty local hot sauce in one of his carry-ons and had gone back to check it in.

Got on the plane and took some notes between SXM and MIA. Checked into our hotel in Miami, discovered that my phone had wiped itself clean over the last day or two, ughed at the possibility that I'd lost my list of logins for good, shook it off, went to dinner at Bennigans, went back to the hotel, called my parents, and went to sleep.

A few things I noticed once I returned to the US ...

The taxi drivers here are rude as hell.

The people are rude too, for the most part. Everyone's posturing. On the islands, everyone was friendly, everyone was cool, everyone seemed at ease with themselves. In the US, it seems like everyone's trying to be some stereotypical kind of cool. I found that to be totally uncool. Blech.

The people here are really fat, too. I mean, REALLY fat. What's wrong with us?

Sunday 1/21 - Back Home

Woke up around 5 AM (That's 2 AM California time, yuck!) and hopped on a shuttle to the airport. As I passed through security for the fourth time this trip, I was irked by the fact that I had gone through undetected with liquids tucked in my carry-on every time. Security, my ass. I truly believe that all the hoops we now have to jump through for the TSA do absolutely nothing to make us any safer in the air.

The flight back to SFO was largely uneventful. I polished off a few magazines. It was nice to do some leisure reading. I miss all the magazine time I used to have when I travelled for work. On the other hand, I quite enjoy my more stable schedule now.

Aaron's mom picked us up at the airport and whisked us back to the South Bay. We lunched, then I went home and got ready for hockey. It was a great way to get me off my lazy vacationing ass, and a wonderful finish to a wonderful two weeks.

09:56 PM | Injuries:Trips| Comments (4)

December 24, 2006 / Sunday

Agh, The Knee

I think I tweaked my left MCL yesterday. I was playing in the Logitech 3-on-3 tournament, was tired enough by game 4 that I couldn't skate properly, fell funny with my left leg in a butterfly-like bend (which is very not okay if you're not in goalie gear), and felt a small pop on the inside of my knee. I registered it at the time, but because it didn't hurt I continued to play. Last night, my entire left knee felt mildly sore. Today, only the spot of the pop is sore, but I definitely feel it when I bend my leg.

On the upside, I can now look at my just-begun 4 week hockey hiatus as an opportunity to heal.

12:50 PM | Hockey:Injuries| Comments (2)

November 15, 2006 / Wednesday

Last Bill, I Hope

Received another medical bill this week from my Burning Man ER adventure. This one's for the doctor with the magic numbing eye drops.

Those eye drops were worth every penny.

01:18 AM | Injuries:Trips| Comments (1)

November 13, 2006 / Monday

Too Much Time Off

Two weeks off isn't bad just because of conditioning. I fall more the next game, too. Today's inventory of pains:

- sore legs
- sore hip flexors
- sore upper traps
- bruised tip of left hip
- bruised side of left knee
- pulled abs

Ow. Waah. Ow.

10:50 AM | Hockey:Injuries| Comments (0)

September 06, 2006 / Wednesday

Steyeroids

Went to the opthamologist today to have my eye looked at. I noticed something strange on the way there. My vision through the left eye is actually blurrier with my glasses on than without. What the hell? Did I self correct my myopia or something?

Turns out I didn't. The doctor says it's probably because the scarring (!) on my cornea during the healing process is distoring the light. I won't know what my final (possibly new) prescription is going to be for a while.

Did he say scarring?! Fortunately, he also said that it should heal completely. Unfortunately, he expects that healing to take a month or two.

Holy crapoly, that's a long time! Especially for someone as impatient as I am.

The doctor then offered me an alternative: I could put steriod drops in my eye to reduce the healing time to a few weeks. I asked him what the tradeoff was. "It could increase the pressure in your eye," he replied, "so you'd have to come back for a follow-up visit in a couple weeks." I decided the time savings was worth the risk, so I opted for the eye drops.

Hooah, my eye is on steriods! And if that wasn't exciting enough, those steriods might make it asplode!

In other news, I'm cleared to wear contacts again. I'm not sure how much good that's going to do, though. My left eye is sort of in limbo right now. Things are blurry either way. I guess I'll just leave it 'roided up and nekkid.

04:47 PM | Injuries| Comments (3)

Eye Want My I Back

Walking around with glasses and half blurred vision really puts a crimp in my style. Me, wear glasses? That's so not my ready-for-anything self. I can't wait 'til my eye heals.

02:11 PM | Injuries| Comments (0)

September 05, 2006 / Tuesday

Burning Man 2006

Finally, my pictures are sorted, edited, loaded, and captioned. Now for the blog post.

Burning Man was awesome. It wasn't as surreal as I expected it to be, but it was definitely different. No place like it on earth. I'm very glad that I finally got to go. That, despite the fact that I landed myself in the ER. You'll read about that later.

The weather this week was beautiful. A dust storm rolled in when we first arrived, but it died down once we set up camp and stayed calm the rest of the time we were there. The temperatures were mild, too. It was neither too hot during the day nor too cold at night. I really lucked out weather-wise.

Wednesday

We left the Bay Area a little after 7 AM. We drove out to Susanville, where we stopped for ice, lunch, and little hair tie things for my new 'do. We then set out on a dirt road toward Gerlach.

Many dusty dirt miles later, we made a stop at Planet X Pottery, where we discovered that the dirt road had given us a flat tire. We changed the tire, bought some pottery, and continued on.

Finally, Black Rock City came into sight. I bounced in my seat a few times as we waited in line to get in. Just as we passed the greeters, a dust storm came in. We donned our goggles and set up camp. The wind died down, we ate dinner, and Aaron took a nap. I hopped on my bike and headed out to explore.

I rode along the Esplanade until 10:00 and headed out to a big bright structure way out on the playa that turned out to be Uchronia, a.k.a. the Belgian Waffle. I can't believe they built that thing free-form! It was pretty damned impressive. The music and lights drew tons of people in. Too bad I wasn't there to watch them burn it down. I trust it was spectactular.

[ Update: Looks like they have a website for the structure. Awesome. ]

I rode some more and came across Conexus Cathedral. Totally pretty lit up at night. Actually, it's really pretty in the daytime, too.

I rode up to the Man and got a nice picture of him with the base lit up. It took me forever to get there because I kept getting distracted by fireballs in the distance. I'd ride toward the man, see a fireball, and change course for the fireball. Mmm ... fiiire.

After a couple hours, I headed back to camp to see if Aaron was done napping yet. We headed out again a bit later. To my delight, Dance Dance Immolation was up and running! I wanted to sign up for a round, but unfortuantely the line was too long. That reminds me, if anyone out there has a fire suit and a gigantic flamethrower and would like to test out that combo on someone, I'd like to volunteer.

We wandered some more and checked out more camps and playa art. I made a couple videos of the Big Round Cubatron. I want one of those in my backyard.

Oh, wait, I don't have a backyard. Never mind.

Thursday

Thursday started with a bike race on the playa at 10:30. I rode around in circles for fun, and got a nifty spoke bracelet out of it. It's purdy.

After regrouping at camp, I headed over to play horseshoes with our neighbors. I'd never played before, so I was excited to learn. I even threw a couple ringers! WoohoO!

After horseshoes, we walked another half block to the Titty-Totter of Death. I don't think any teeter-totter ride is ever going to top that one. Well, except for the spinning teeter-totter I came across on the Esplanade later that night, which teetered up and down while it spun in a circle. I wanted to ride it, but, siiigh, the line was too long.

Out on the playa, we discovered the Sunflower, a parabolic solar cooker. After using it to instantly sear through sheets of paper, Aaron put Jack-Jack on the end of the stick and roasted him.

After a quick Penguini photo shoot, we rode out to the Starry Bamboo Mandala. I really wanted to climb it, but I didn't want to fall off and wind up in the ER. I didn't know then that I'd wind up there anyway. Oh well.

We headed back toward the camp and came across a giant version of Operation, complete with forceps that really shock you. I've gotta get one of those for my living room. Bzzz!

Then it was off to watch some Kosho. It looked fun, but I'd never been on a trampoline in my life and I didn't want to break my back trying to jump between the two they had set up. Fortunately for me, I later found a free trampoline at a different camp, where a random guy named Corey taught me a few moves. Huzzah!

After dinner, Aaron fell asleep and wouldn't get up, so I went out and played on my own. I watched the much heralded return of the Megavolt truck and enjoyed a performance by the Mistress.

Then it was off to the Thunderdome, where my patience earned me a front row view and I got to watch people fly into and beat the shit out of each other with padded bat things whilst suspended from the dome structure. I was mesmerized and didn't want to leave, but I realized the people behind me wanted to get a view, too, so I rotated myself out to let them have a turn.

I watched some more Dance Dance Immolation and headed over to the Opulent Temple camp, where I danced my little dance and spun my glowsticks to my heart's content. It's been years since I've spun, and I've missed it.

Friday

On Friday I did something else that I haven't done in years: I swung on a swing. I got Aaron to give me a few pushes, and I got high enough to actually feel a little scared. I miss that feeling. Got some great pictures, but you'll have to take my word for it. My Friday outfit was NSFW, and, therefore, NSF my Flickr account.

After the swing we returned to the pyramid I had attempted to climb the day before. I was determined to get to the top, and this time I made it. That felt really good.

Later in the afternoon I went to a sock poi workshop and learned a few moves. I also hit myself repeatedly with my tennis ball socks. Glad I didn't bruise.

Some more wandering led us to a human powered swingy-go-round. I hopped on and made a video.

Wander, wander, dinner, a beautiful sunset, then s'mores. And then began my night that ended in the ER.

But before I go into my ER adventure, I must talk about my day-of-random-butt-pictures. You see, on Thursday I put my little purple huggy shorts on, sprayed on sunblock, and spent the day out in the sun not realizing that my little purple huggy shorts had then proceeded to ride up a good six inches, exposing a nice chunk of unprotected skin on each cheek. On Friday I was left with a very red band across my butt, and a choice between covering up the sunburn with potentially chafing shorts or letting it air out with a healthy coat of sunscreen. I chose the latter, and spent the day running around in goggles and a pair of thongs. This led to many comments about and requests for pictures of my crazy butt sunburn, which I obliged because, well, if I really cared all that much I wouldn't be running around in a pair of thongs. In any case, the very red butt also led to an amusing moment in the afternoon when, after just having ridden past and been flogged in the behind by a couple of self-appointed street flogger male hussies, I heard them exclaim in the best lisp ever, "OH MY GOD HER ASS IS ALREADY RED! SWEETIE YOU DESERVE AN AWARRRD!" Yes, yes I do.

And now, the section you've all been waiting for.

My Trip To Reno: The ER Adventure!

It all started with a little container of Oxy Daily Cleansing Pads.

I carried it in a big Ziploc bag with my other toiletries. I know I had the lid on tightly, but perhaps because of the temperature changes during the day, it leaked all over the contents of the bag. Then, thanks to evaporation, it concentrated.

Friday morning, I brushed my teeth, wiped my face, and, with salicylic acid from the Oxy pads everywhere, put my left contact lens in. I felt it burn my eye immediately. My eye watered a lot. Then everything looked to have a haze over it. I took the contact lens out and rinsed it. I irrigated my eye. Everything still looked hazy.

My eye didn't hurt, so I hoped that the haziness would fade over the course of the day. I cleaned off the contact lens some more, put it back in, and headed out for the day.

When we returned to camp a few hours later, I noticed that things were hazier than before. Also, my eye was starting to feel a little irritated.

We headed out for s'mores. My eye felt worse and worse. After s'mores we rode to one of the side medical tents. I told the medics there what had happened, but I don't think the lady in charge listened. She simply irrigated my eye, patched it up, and sent me on my way.

Over the next two hours the irritation in my left eye got so bad that every time I tried to move my right eye it triggered both eyes to shut. I could barely see well enough to walk. We headed for the center medical tent. After I explained what had happened they took me to the trailer in back, where they administered some numbing drops and dye so they could examine the cornea.

The doctor shined a special light in my eye. "Whoa!" he exclaimed, "I'll be right back." He returned shortly with two other doctors. "Are you ready?" he asked them. He shined the light in my eye again. Silence. Finally, one of the doctors said, "I have an eye specialist friend at a camp one block from here. He's offered to help with any eye emergencies. Let me go find him."

Ten minutes later the doctors returned. The eye specialist friend was not with them. Turns out he was a little too sloshed to be of use. They decided to send me to the ER. In Reno. Over two hours away.

By the end of what felt like a very long ambulance ride to Reno, my left eye had swollen shut, and thanks to that crazy powerful irritated eye reflex I was equally unable to open my right eye. They had to take me to my room by wheelchair. I sat on the bed with my eyes shut and answered a bunch of random voices as they took my stats and info.

Finally, the doctor came in and put some more magical numbing drops into my eye. He took a look at my cornea, declared that I had a chemical burn in the shape of a contact lens, gave me a tube of erythromycin, wrote me a prescription for Vicodin, and told me to follow up with an opthamologist when I got back to the Bay Area. Then he told me to get some sleep before my discharge in the morning.

Saturday morning came. The nice night shift ER people left and the mean day shift ER people arrived. They kicked me out into the lobby. Okay, now what?

Back in the medical tent, the staff had said that there was a bus I could take back from Reno for $40. I asked where to find it and they assured me that all the ERs would be able to direct me to said bus. I asked the people in the ER. They had never heard of it. I called all the other ERs in Reno. None of them had heard of it either. Oh. Great.

I called Greyhound. They had a station in Reno and I asked whether they had any buses headed toward Gerlach. They didn't even have Gerlach in their system.

I called Enterprise. A one day rental would cost about $60. Not bad, except that I could barely keep one eye open. That certainly wasn't going to work.

Finally, I called a cab. It cost me $370 to get back to camp, but at least I made it. And at least I could pay for it.

Just before noon I was back at the entrance to Black Rock City. I picked up my bike at the medical tent and rode back to camp. Aaron had spent the morning there waiting for me. I gave him a hug and, well, I don't remember, actually. I was pretty emotionally spent by then. I wanted to cry, but I couldn't. There was too much going on in my head. I was really happy to see Aaron, I was worried about my eye, I felt like I wanted to cry, and on top of that a little voice in my head kept telling me, "Don't you dare fucking cry! Only the weak break down and cry. Suck it up and deal with it."

In any case, I rested my eyes at camp all afternoon. Aaron hung around and kept me company. When night came, I got dressed, headed out, and squinted my way through the burn. Let me tell you, the night playa looks way trippy when your vision's screwed up. Who needs drugs when you can just burn your eye out instead?

Saturday Night

After an afternoon of resting my eye, we headed out to the Man just before 9 for the burn. The Man raised his arms and fire dancers surrounded him. They put on a show that I didn't get to see much of because, well, I'm short.

At some point, the fireworks started, then the fire. It took a long time for the Man to burn, and even longer for him to fall. Actually, he sort of fell to his knees or torso and sat there for a long while before he finally fell the rest of the way.

And then it was time for the big party, which I couldn't see much of because, well, my left eye was screwed up and messing with my overall vision. We wandered a bit through the people and artcars, the lights and the music. It was still early when we returned to camp. I couldn't re