Thoughts & Tips For July 2018
Sunday, July 01, 2018
Thrown For A Curve
On the morning of June 5th I tried to sit down in my office chair before going to work, and suffered some major lower back pain and sciatica down my left leg. In an instant, I was pretty much in deep pain and immobile. Luckily my son Conrad was able immediately take me in to see my doctor, and I was given some medication to ease the pain, relax the muscles, and hopefully heal the back pain area. I am slowly recovering, but I am still experiencing some tingling in my left foot, so I have an MRI being scheduled and physical therapy planned for early July. I pretty much can't run (which is a big transition for me), however I can swim, walk/hike, and ride a bike so that is better than being on bed rest for sure. Currently most of my exercise is being supplemented with 45 minutes of daily stretches and strength training.
Technology
I was able to move to Windows 10 on a new Dell tablet at work before the end of June 2018 deadline. All in all it is working great, and I like having Type-C connectors on my work tablet and my personal HP Chromebook 13G1. For instance, the same power adapter can be used on both.
Thankful For
My 5oth birthday party was great. I had it at one of my favorite breweries -- Burning Beard.
I am thankful that I have improved as much as I have, and I need to realize how much my current mobility is when compared to June 5th.
I wasn't able to finish the MBSE class in early June because of my back injury, but the 2nd course at the end of June was good. I passed, so I'll be completing my certification in Systems Engineering (Level 2) soon.
Future
I am offering three more Vital Smarts' 1-day Getting Things Done (GTD) classes at work -- one in July, one in August, and then one in September.
DEFCON is coming up in August. That should be fun.
We also have a camping trip to San Elijo State Beach planned for the end of July.
Tips
One of things that made it possible for me to sleep during the first two weeks of back pain & sciatica was a TENS machine that I got on Amazon last year to help with healing an Achilles injury I had. I am now a super big fan of the TENS devices.
I am pretty excited to share my Retro 80's Synth playlist (also on Spotify) that I started as part of www.chvrchespodcast.com. It is especially cool when fans of the podcast say they are enjoying the playlist.
Quote I'm Thinking About
"Your word is pure magic, and misuse of your word is black magic.” - Don Miguel Ruiz