Carpal Tunnel Vision

Argggghhh!!! I can’t believe this! I’ve been having issues with my hands for a couple of months now. Half the time they are numb or tingling like they were asleep. They even ache sometimes after doing an activity with my hands like working on the computer for a while or cutting the grass. There was about a week span where the pain would wake me up at night. I started taking Tylenol PM to stay asleep through the pain. It hasn’t really kept me awake since that week. I went to the doctor last week and he says I probably have carpal tunnel syndrome. So he told me to get some splints and wear them. He wanted me to wear them all the time or at least one all the time and keep switching hands. I have to wear them for a month and then go for a check up to see if my condition has improved. These stupid splints are keeping me up at night. They are so uncomfortable and I can’t get used to sleeping with them on. I’ll go to bed with them on and then they wake me up around 2 AM and off they come. My hands actually hurt worse today after wearing those things last night. I have been working on a piece of my lab equipment at work the past two days and that has taken a toll on my hands and that is probably why they are so sore today.

Birds Of Prey: Prairie Falcon

I’ve been pretty slack lately about blogging. So until I have something interesting to write about, here is one of my drawings. Its a Prairie Falcon that I drew a while back. It actually took me a long time to finish this drawing. I have a bad habit of really getting into doing one thing which will consume my time and then I’ll get tired of it. Drawing is one of those things. I had started the drawing while I was excited about drawing and then stopped halfway through when I got tired of doing it. When I got the motivation to finish the drawing it was probably six months later! I’ve actually got a Peregrine Falcon that I’ve started and need to finish.

Tigers Own The Night

After an abysmal game one last night against the Reds in which we were pounded 13-2, we still had one more game to get it together. And we did with a little help from the Reds who seemed to run out of gas during their third game of the night. Hats off to the Reds who in my opinion could have easily been the champs on any other night…but not this night. We finished the regular season 12-3 losing only to the Reds, Indians and Blue Jays. We got revenge on the Indians in the third round of the tournament and after losing to the Reds in game one, beat them in game two. To read more on the Tigers Championship run go to www.cactussoftball.com and read the game summaries.

I designed the championship logo and so I was really glad that we were the ones that won.

The Best CD Ever

Yeah, I’m sure not everyone will agree with me on this, but for me Weezer’s first album will always be the best CD I ever listen to. I recently borrowed the album from a friend of mine. I used to own it but lost it when I lost my old CDs about seven years ago. After listening to the whole thing I was reminded why I used to listen to it so much. The songs sound so fun to me. Yeah, that’s right, fun! I know my musical tastes as a teenager varied from Tool, Korn, Deftones, etc. to more alternative stuff like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumpkins, etc. Since then I’ve taken to listening to Christian rock such as Demon Hunter, Project 86, Flyleaf, Dead Poetic, Falling Up, EastWest, etc. But no matter how much my music tastes have shifted since falling in love with rock music in middle school, Weezer really defines my musical roots and why I started playing guitar. I can’t even pick my favorite song from the CD because I like them all so much!

No Pity for the Children

I know that sounds pretty harsh, but hey, when it comes to Laser Tag its every man for himself. We had my son’s birthday party at Laser Quest here in Charlotte. I haven’t been there since I was in middle school. I didn’t think I was going to have as much fun as I did. It was like playing live Halo (sort of). We had a blast. After the first round I came out soaking with sweat. It was quite a workout. You’re not supposed to run, but you move around quickly up and down ramps. Its pretty intense if you want to actually do well or win. Some people just kind of wander through the maze hoping to find someone to shoot. Others blaze through it trying to find as many people as they can, shooting anything that moves. I went in with a strategy.

I found the high ground and then picked people off one by one. Another adult from our party, Kenny, also found the high ground I sought. We ended up shooting each other a few times up there, but once we got that out of our system we watched each others’ backs (for the most part). I think we still may have shot each other because I’d walk down the ramp from the top a little bit and then come back up and we’d start shooting not really knowing who we were shooting at. Once we figured it out, we’d stop firing at one another. We weren’t supposed to team up but it would be silly for us to stand there shooting each other over and over.

Your gun tells you your current rank in the game. I was ranked first for most of the first round until the end when Omega, my arch-nemesis, took up residence beside Kenny and I and gave us a few shots as he used our strategy alongside us. It was so much fun. Omega did not return for the second round. So I did not get to exact revenge on the larger gentleman with the bright white shirt under the black lights.

Round 2 was much more satisfying. Not only did I rank number one, but I set the high score for all the matches that day. It was still the high score when we left later after presents and cupcakes. I came out of that round more drenched than before. Our party roomed smelled horrible with all those sweaty people! Just for the record, my wife shot me four times in the back during the second round when she was supposed to be watching the ramp coming up to the higher levels. She would peek around the corner as I was sniping and shoot me right in my rear sensor.

 

I Got A New Door

That’s right! My landlord and I were installing a new back door on our house until about 9:30 last night. Why were we hanging a new door you ask? Well the people that attempted to break into our house yesterday completely bent in the bottom half of the door.

That’s right, the low-life scum returned for round two yesterday afternoon while I was at work and my wife was out running errands. Fortunately for us we learned from our previous losses and invested in a security system. When they kicked in the bottom of the door it didn’t set off the sensor near the top. You can see where they attempted to pry it open with a crowbar. But once the sensor seperated at the top, the alarm went off and it appears they took off. In their escape they spun their tires in the gravel driveway and left a little ditch where they were parked. So we know they were driving and didn’t run off into the woods.

We are pretty sure the alarm is what kept them from finishing the job. When we had the system installed the guy said to save money we could just put up some stickers and signs in the yard and that would probably deter most thiefs. I’m glad we didn’t take that advice. The guy meant well. I guess he figured it would be a lot of money for us and he wasn’t sure if it was necessary. Well…it was!! The cops said they caught someone not long before we called. They said there had been about 8 to 10 break-ins already that day and that they broke into someone’s house while they were home and got caught. I sure hope it is the same guys. I still won’t sleep well even if it is. Thankfully for us no one was home at the time.

A guy from my small group at church let me borrow Tiger Woods 2007 for the Wii and it was stolen during the break-in back in April. He wasn’t concerned about us replacing it for him. He said it was a perfect excuse to buy Tiger Woods 2008. This past Sunday we were going through his old CDs and I asked if I could borrow Weezer’s self-titled CD and Smashing Pumpkins’ Siamese Dream. I jokingly said “Hopefully no one will break in and steal these” and we both kind of laughed. Sheesh…