Yes I know it has been a long time since the last update...apologies to all.  There is some good news to report and some not so good news.  The good:  my knee is doing fabulously.  We got past the 6 month period and all appears to be well.  I am not experiencing any chronic pain and I am (will be) set to resume running.  The bad:  I tore my pectoral tendon last month and underwent surgery to reattach my left pec to my arm (open pectoral tendon repair to the humerous). 

It occured while I was weightligting after Wrestling practice.  It is a gruesome thing to describe, so I will save you all of the details.  The good news is that I am 6.5 weeks into my recovery and I no longer need to wear the arm sling.  And yes,...

...this occured while I was bench pressing a moderate amount of weight.  I was not doing anything unusual, nor was I lifting a weight I haven't lifted before, nor would a spotter have saved me.  It just popped on the way up - really, no warning or anything.  The good news is that the doctor who repaired my knee has also fixed my chest.  If I behave myself, I should be able to begin strength training again in about 5 weeks.  In the mean time, I have to stick to benign range of motion exercises.

So longer term, I should make a full recovery in 6 months total time.  I am happy that I can again contribute to society by doing dishes, driving more safely with two hands, and generally doing the meanial things for myself again.  I still can't mow the grass, or ride the motorcycles, or otherwise enjoy myself.  I am doing my level best to stick to the doctor's instructions.

TTYL,
Doug

Dennis and Carol drove out to Pullman for Destinations (Parent's Day) on Friday. Despite traffic delays on the way back, they had a great time. Carol is convinced that Frats are gross- a reference to their living conditions. Dennis was hoping to pledge PKT in the fall. I now have my Coug Dad mug, hat and hoodie. Carol is also able to 'represent'.                          

I pulled together a quick motorcycle photo gallery.  Click on the picture to enlarge - then move through the gallery.  This is brain dead simple and has nice animations.

Doug and Abbie

The Beast

Banana Bike

More Dirt

KTM

Ginger

Beaty

Pumpkin

07 Gixxer 750

Ginger on the Track- warmups

Ginger Track Day warmups

 Almost 3 weeks ago I had the pleasure of getting my right knee repaired by Dr. Belfie.  I'll admit that the very first week after the surgery sucked.  Even crutching around was painful - gravity pulling on a very swollen knee was not any fun.  I returned to work the following week and even began walking early, but that alone will not get it done.  I started physical therapy this week and the progress day to day is remarkable.  Muscle memory is a beautiful thing.  I will be doing PT 3 times a week for the next 4 weeks and I expect great progress; strike that- I demand great progress.  I can finally get up and down stairs and I was allowed to toss away the crutches yesterday officially.

The photo above is a comparison of my "good" knee to the newly repaired one.  Even though the surgeries for them both were ACL repairs, the way they go about fixing them has evolved over the years.  I should get away with almost no scars for this surgery.  And because I chose a cadaver graft from the start, there is not obligatory patellar tendenitis on this knee.  All good.

My hope is to be running early to make this summer with my family and on the motorcycle enjoyable.

Doug

  One week into my rehab and I am already walking fairly well without crutches.  The picture above was taken ~4 days post op - the swelling has gone down quite a bit and I am doing fine on over the counter pain meds.  I did my best to get off of the serious stuff in the first 3 days - I cannot function on those meds.  I am right on track with regard to the things I should be able to do--> step one, lose the crutches in 7-10days.  I will work hard to hit all of the rest on time if not early.

Thanks again to all who wished me well prior to the surgery.  It was a fabulous success.  Dr. Belfie did a wonderful job and I would recommend him to anyone who needs a knee put back together.  He and Dr. Morris handle the knees for the Seattle Sounders and Seattle Storm. 

Stay Tuned!
Doug

Today is one of those days where you wonder if anyone in management actually listens to the spew they send forth.  All details aside, I find it quite demoralizing when I spend multiple very long days preparing for a conversation that could be rather contentious, only to have the meeting cancelled an hour before it was scheduled to happen.  All of the horse trading and back room conversations that were required to get multiple teams on the same page are for naught.  This Dilbert cartoon leaves me hoping for the time when they actually do make sense.

Both cartoons are copyrighted works of Scott Adams.

This weekend was an interesting one to say the very least.  My old domain controller died- so I picked up a very cheap quad proc and stood up a new domain running SBS (Windows Server, Exchange, Sharepoint).  It was fine once I installed a NIC that was recognized by the OS.  Additionally, I discovered that my Windows Home Server was doing some crazy modifications to the routing table of my router- but that crisis was averted as well.  My old BDC is still running until I can get the remaining machines in the house switched over.  I can lay claim to moderate success because I am still not exactly where I want to be with my SQL Server.  Be that as it may, I should be able to retire the old BDC and use it for my nephews when they are over.

  The implementation of the new Blogengine Release was as simple as it gets with the exception that SBS likes to quarantine files if they come from other machines in the net - even if on the local domain.  I also found a couple of interesting widgets that I will be putting to good use in the near future.  My post previous to this one contained the YouTube widget that is very easily implemented from witin content.  There are others out there for  twitter, FlickR and FourSquare as well.  So stay tuned.

In the midst of all of this fun, I regrettably received the news that my Uncle Albert passed away.  I only wish I were able to travel back east to be with Aunt Dorothy and my cousins.  I will have to send my prayers and best wishes through the big man above.

Doug

You Tube Widget == Nice.  Here are some JT SNL Shorts just for fun.

Dic* in a Box

Omletteville

Plasticville

Mother Lover

and a bonus Jiz* in my Pants