Original post to Facebook 04/17/2018

Nolan picked up the paddle board really fast today. Great job for a #firsttimer #paddleboarding #orlando #lakeivanhoe

Original post to Facebook 5/31/18

So this happened yesterday. That went in my hip. On 5/4 I played golf and at the end of my round my hip started to tighten up. By midnight it was agony. I rode out the pain but on Saturday had to check myself into the emergency room. Got a shot and some pills with a referral to an ortho, 1 week later. Ortho gave me different pills and an appt for an MRI and Bone Scan, 1 week later. Follow up and I have a labral tear, 1 week later. The issue isn’t only the hip, I have constant pain in my knee caused by a nerve. Referral and then this cortisone shot in my hip joint, 1 week later. My point? I have very good insurance and it’s taken a month to just get off crutches and work toward a fix. I can’t imagine what a nightmare it would be for someone with little or no insurance. My guess is this is how people get addicted to opioids. I can deal with pain, although chronic nerve pain is a whole different deal. If it’s taking months to fix injuries and meds are the only thing providing relieve, I get it. Keeping the ACA is a must for this country

Spinal injection

Went today to do the ESI which is the steroid injection in my back to hopefully help with the weakness and numbness in my left leg. At some point I’ll post the original info on the injury, but I wanted to at least document today. Dr says that I’ll have a little pain in my back and that the steroid starts to work in a few days. Here’s hoping! Next will be the labrum tear surgery. Definitely want to see if this helps, and then I will make a decision on the labrum surgery. That requires 3 to 4 months of rehab so I’m putting it off for a bit.

Original post #esi

Going to go through all of my photos and social media and start migrating it to my blog. My use of social media was originally meant to document my life, but it’s devolved into a mix of that and political rants, etc. kind of over it. I’m hoping to try this again, we will see.

Anyway, it’s been a bad year for injuries for me. I tore my labrum in my right hip which will at some point require surgery, I have a bulging disc in my back that has caused nerve damage and requires a surgical procedure, and this being the most recent. Doesn’t look like much but basically the jack went out when changing a tire on my car and it came down on my leg. I have this contusion that after a month has healed but now is a numb spot just above my knee. Hopefully it heals normally after another month or so.

No hashtags or original posts on this

Yeah

I really wish I would have kept up with this

Here is a pic of Nolan and I while he was here for a visit. In New Smyrna. He was here for 3 weeks, I wanted 2 months, but that's fucking divorce for you. I was in such good shape and now because of my schedule and other BS I'm turning back into a blob. Started back at it with my new schedule at work so hopefully I can turn it around quick. The sunscreen on my neck is pretty amusing. I miss this kid, more on that later

This gentleman was kind enough to help me with directions to my hotel, so I was kind enough to come back and have some drinks at his bar.

My customer and friend Tamura having a great meal of sushi, cold beer, and warm Saki.

Spent 2 days in Yokohama and here are my observations.

The people are very friendly but don't speak English, or at least not very well

Thats OK, my Japanese is way worse

The city is very clean and orderly

Its cold as hell in February

The stereotype of the Japanese girl in the short skirt and knee length socks is not a stereotype. They are everywhere, even in 30 degree weather

They have a giant Ferris Wheel right in downtown

It is crazy expensive here

There isn't a whole lot to do

"He Man you fool, thats was MY wave!"

I think this is where part of the previous post came from.

Model envy

I am in Japan, which really has nothing to do with this but I am bored and decided to write something.

I was thinking about the notion that models in magazines cause girls to have body and identity issues. With them all being so thin and perfect, how is someone supposed to be able to cope. But I find that thought ridiculous. Do small boys have the same issues because they watch He Man cartoons, and not being well muscled and blonde, or able to throw large boulders and ride on laser shooting space carts, they are somehow inferior?

The main reason I say this is bunk is when I walk down the street and see dozens of overweight women. How are they able to escape the lure of Vogue, or Elle? Really I think it is much more obvious we have the opposite issue, that people are far less concerned with their health and appearance than they should be. Its much more shocking for us to see someone that has gone to opposite extreme, our eyes are just not used to that any longer.

This is pretty cool

http://movies.yahoo.com/blogs/movie-talk/flying-people-stun-yorkers-promote-movie-chronicle-194823215.html

1/25

Last night was a little rough. Nolan is sick, some sort of stomach flu or something so he is staying home. He woke me up last night at about 2:30am after getting sick. Liz was nowhere to be found. I helped him get situated in the bathroom and went looking for Liz, who I eventually found in the freezing cold garage, door closed, planting an Orchid. At 2:30am...

It's gotten so ridiculous, these all nighters. She said she had a panic attack from some meds she got from Cherie, and thats why she was up. When I woke up at 6 she was sitting cross legged, face down on the hearth of the fireplace, snoring, with lit candles all around her. TV on. I should have taken a picture. I am slowly documenting what I see every single day. I should have been doing this for the last 5 years. Funny thing is I have plenty just from the last couple of months to make most normal people cringe. More to come.

1/20

This was a short week but it felt long. My back is killing me. I wish I could get it to adjust and go back to feeling normal. Of course the weather is going to be shit this weekend too. I'm a whiner. On the plus side just about everything else sucks right now.

Can I get this plate in the US?

Hi, I have 5 carry on's, and oh yeah, I will probably stand in the aisle during boarding for 10 minutes blocking any progress while I get my shit together.

I've added my photo

This is me on the floor in Narita Japan midway thru my 40 plus hour journey to China. Under normal circumstances this trip takes 16 - 20 hours but this one was special.

I started out arriving at LAX around 10:30am for a flight scheduled to leave at 11:55. having Priority check in privileges now is such an awesome thing. It took all of about 10 minutes to go thru the TSA check and I was at my gate. The original announcement said that the plane was going to be delayed arriving. Once at the gate they deplaned and had to clean the aircraft. 1 hour delay. We finally boarded and were told that they needed to do a software upgrade. 1 hour later the flight has been cancelled and we need to go to another gate. 21/2 hour delay.

At the new gate we are told that the new plane needs to be fueled. 3 hours now. We get on the plane and finally get in the air for the 13 hour trip to what is now Japan. 41/2 hours total.

I arrived in Japan and was met at the gate by an agent who said that I can't get a connection to Hong Kong until the next day at 9:15am and they will be putting me up at the Hotel Niko. Fine. Except for now I am missing my shuttle into Mainland China and losing my 200.00 dollar hotel reservation in Hong Kong. American Airlines resolution to this was offering me 5000 FF miles. Super.

Got into China finally, a day late. My phone is dead and there is no place to charge it, and there is no driver to be found anywhere. Thanks god that there is a Starbucks in HKG. The one bit of comfort for me.

The driver finally shows up and we begin our journey into Shenzhen. The weather is cloudy and cool but not cold thankfully. Here for the CNY celebration and factory shutdown. Its mostly outdoors so it's a good thing that the weather is fair. i can tell right away that this guy doesn't make the Mainland trips very often, which is confirmed as we pass out of Hong Kong and into Mainland China thru the border crossing. The car in front of us had stopped before getting out from under the gate and it keeps coming down on the top of the car. The driver turns and looks at me and says, "China, it's no good".

There is certainly a rift of sorts between the people of Hong Kong and the people of Mainland China, but thats a topic for another time.

What is normally a 90 minute or so trip is taking much longer than usual. The border is really busy, and the driver is really slow. I can sense right away that he doesn't know where he is going which is confirmed when we exit the highway to the factory and he goes the wrong way. We end up somewhere that I am not familiar with. Being fairly good with direction and having made this trip multiple times i have an idea of where everything is but with all of the new construction and roads it doesn't take long to get confused. Needless to say, it took over 4 hours to arrive at the hotel for dinner. We won't be staying at the Nandu this time, instead staying at Palm Island, which is like another world completely.