Sprained Ankle - I don't recommend it at all!

Late last month I sprained my ankle. I don't recall ever feeling that kind of pain before. I'm on my road to recovery, but it's been a difficult journey.

The weekend of September 12th didn't turn out as well as I had hoped. I had been struggling with feelings of being a less-than-stellar father. Monday morning, I had been brainstorming with the wife on how I can be a better dad.

At 6:30pm the kids & I were discussing what we could do for the evening. All three of them voted to play video games. Given my recent propensity to do the right thing, I vetoed all their votes and stipulated that if we go out on a bike ride to the park, they can do something “fun” when we get back. (Assuming we would indeed have fun at the park)

Just after 7:00pm we arrive at the park, approximately ¾ miles away. There was a soccer practice going on, but the play structure was empty, so we decided to play tag on the structure. During one of my escape maneuvers, I proceeded to walk down a 3-step stairway. On the first step, my foot turned sideways, and I heard a loud “pop” sound, followed by a “crunch”. An immediate surge of pain brought me to my knees on the wood-chip covered ground. Rolling around, in a futile attempt to get away from the pain in my ankle, I manage to drag myself, only using my hands, to the edge of the wood-chip area. At first my kids thought I was being funny. It wasn't until they noticed I wasn't addressing them at all that they realized I was indeed not being funny.

Laura had a PTA meeting to go to and was over at the school at this time. She had been there only 15 minutes when she received a phone call from our oldest daughter (I was in too much pain to hold a conversation) saying she had to come pick up her husband. I laid there a good 20 minutes, before she pulled up to the park. We attempted to hop the ~50' to the curb, but it was a no-go. I made her drive up onto the park lawn so I could crawl up into the van's backseat. She drove me home while the kids rode their bikes back home. (Luckily a neighbor saw what was going on, and volunteered to keep my bike along the side of their house until we could pick it up.)

Since it was now the kids' bedtime, Laura called my mom to take me to the hospital. It was at least 9:30 before I actually saw a doctor. X-rays showed no break, but a “severe sprain”. They gave me crutches, a “4-layer wrap” (sounds like a Taco Bell meal), and an air-cast. We got home at 11:30pm.

I figured I'd be back to work in a couple of days. My instructions were to wait until the swelling went down. 14 days , and 2 doctors visits later, I went back to work. (That whole situation is for another day). Me and my paycheck didn't get along for the following 2 weeks.

Recovery has probably been on-track, but my perception is that it's slow. I literally stayed off my feet for 16 days. I used crutches for an additional 5 days. I am now using the air-cast exclusively, and keep it on all day. It's saved my ankle from re-injury more than a few times. I have scheduled to keep it on until the beginning of November. I do manage to walk around, albeit slowly.

The orthopedic doctor gave me a statistic that is looming over my head. He told me that about 10% of people re-sprain their ankles. He added a side note saying that given the amount of people that sprain their ankles, that's a lot of re-sprains.

I've had to refuse playing outdoor sports with my son a few times. It pains me to see him say, “Okay dad.” and move on. I can't help but think I'm letting him down.

The moral of this story is this: if the kids want to play video games, don't argue. You just might sprain your ankle. (Alternately the moral could be this: You don't have to play on a play structure to be a good dad; video games will do fine.)

25 Things you probably don't know (or care to know) about me

1. My first car accident was when I was 16 & 2 weeks old.  I was hit by a drunk driver whilst "borrowing" my mother's car to cruise around with my girlfriend.  It scared the crap out of me.
2. My first job was working in a pizza place.  I lasted 2 months.  I learned a lot: don't work in the food business, & don't complain about everything.
3. I can't decide what my favorite color is.  Sometimes it's blue, sometimes it's green.
4. When I was a kid I longed to work at Lego.  It was my dream job, and I really thought I had the "stuff" to do it.  I later came to the realization that I really wasn't that good. :)
5. When I was 16 I skipped out on the family tradition of going to our church's Christmas Eve service (which I really did enjoy).  Instead I went to my girlfriend's family party (yes, the same one in #1).  It was then that I learned how much my then-girlfriend enjoyed the bottle & the pipe (if you know what I mean).  I vowed to never skip Christmas Eve service again.
6. I love dance music.  About 8-9 years ago my friend played me some Detroit Techno.  I then went to explore other types of electronic music and finally settled on dance (house, club, euro-trance, etc).  Internet radio has been my saving grace in this regard.  I've blogged about Pandora.com many-a-time.
7. I really, really, really, want to travel to Europe and see a huge, spectacular DJ show like Sensation White, Armin Only, Mayday, etc.  See #6.
8. My first car was a 1979 Chevrolet Nova; maroon, inline 6, automatic.  The trunk was rusted shut and the valve cover gasket leaked oil like a gunshot victim on blood thinners.
9. The first time I went to Canada I was 19, dumb, and asked too many questions.  I tried to make chit-chat with the Canadian border patrol.  When they were searching my car (the Nova), they found a couple of my girlfriend's feminine hygiene products in the glove compartment.  They asked me whose it was since she wasn't with me.  I said, "My girlfriend's".  They asked me to open the trunk.  I said I couldn't; it's rusted shut.  I showed the officer and that was good enough for her.  Obviously this was well before 9/11.
10. My first time having a beer cooler was during my trip to Canada (see #9).
11. I've always thought that my life would make a good movie.
12. I’ve lived my entire life in Michigan.  Although some days in the winter I’d like to move someplace warm, I don’t think I’ll ever leave.
13. I married the girl I took to my high school senior prom:

14. When I was a kid (<12), whenever I fell off my bike, I made sure to get up quickly & not make much fuss, because I felt like an idiot when the neighbors would come out to “rescue” me.
15. When I was 13, my friend & I would sneak into a quiet place in the house and listen to Eddie Murphy tapes.
16. About 4 years ago I spent a week in Amsterdam on a short-term mission trip assisting a local church called Zolder50.  Although we were there doing God’s work, it didn’t really feel like we accomplished much.  I loved the city, and want need to take my wife there.
17. I have a serious problem with authority, namely cops.  I have a feeling this is an inherited trait, which strangely, makes me proud.
18. I’m constantly intrigued by people and society.  I often wonder how people cope with their individual life struggles, and who their friends are.
19. I’m a jack of all trades, master of none. I am often jealous of people that are really good at things I am interested in, e.g. photography, Guitar (Hero), home improvement, parenting, etc.
20. I changed my own oil in every car I’ve owned.
21. I love cars like I love dance music (see #6).  I just can’t afford to own anything new(ish).
22. My first computer was a 386 DX20 with a 40MiB HDD.  It was a Christmas present in 1989, & cost about $3400.  When I installed a copy of Windows 3.1, it was 20 floppy discs, & I had to use a Stacker program to bring my HDD to 80MiB.
23. I always complain about not having any friends, but I’m not willing to do all the work to obtain/maintain them.  What to 2 married men talk about anyway, their wives?
24. When I was quite young (<6) I would sometimes play doctor with the girl down the street (per her request).  One day my buddy got busted by her mother for playing the same game, and was banned from seeing her again.  I was too little to really understand what was going on or its ramifications.  I even, often, felt uncomfortable playing that “game” but didn’t have any idea about how to express my feelings.  She & I eventually stopped playing each other when she moved on to Jr. High (she was a few years older than I).
25. Although I’m not a fanatic, I do love movies.  I prefer dramas, but I’m also a sucker for those sappy romantic comedies. 
    
26. (Bonus) I have 2 tattoos.  One on each arm.

Technorati Tags: 25 things, personal, friendfeed

Guilty pleasures...so?

54 by !SOY 89¡ on Zooomr

We all have guilty pleasures, although it's more guilty for men, I'm thinking.  A friend of mine has created a list of his top 5 guilty pleasure movies; one of which is Mean Girls.  I have to admit, I have several guilty pleasures.  Here are a few:

1. Mean Girls
2. Sky High
3. Freaky Friday
   
4. "One Step at a Time" by Jordan Sparks
5. nearly anything by Justin Timberlake
6. "Womanizer" by Britney Spears
7. "Disturbia" & "SOS" by Rihanna
   

As you can see, these are pretty bad. But you need to understand, I don't care. Who's judging me?  My friends? My coworkers? You?

I was talking with a friend the other day about why we're homeschooling our kids. One of the bullet-points that popped in my head was self-esteem.
   I can remember numerous times where my peers in school would give me a hard time about what I liked. I tried my darnedest to blow them off, and enjoy what I liked anyway. I wasn't strong enough. It took many years, (and a wonderful wife) to get over those fears of "what will people think?".
   I want my kids to have the freedom to like what they like, why they like it.  Not because their friends like it.

So, basically I'm exercising my right to like stupid stuff.


Pandora Radio - Listen to Free Internet Radio, Find New Music

Technorati Tags: pandora.com, guilty pleasures, music, movies, freaky friday, mean girls

Annoyed...LBP, where are you?

LittleBigPlanet - The Human Body Level

When I placed my pre-order for LPB a month ago, I used trusty Amazon.com. (Even though they had recently eliminated their 30 day price protection policy, I figured that game wouldn't drop in price for quite a while.) I haven't pre-ordered anything for probably 5 years, so I wasn't sure I would get it on the day of release. At the time, I didn't care. "What's a few days?" I thought. "I am saving $4 in sales tax." Little did I know...

During the last month, I have been amazed at all the things surrounding this game; from the plethora of pre-order goodies, to the reviews from all those using the beta. Screenshots, in-game videos, costumes, user-created levels, all get my hands twitching with excitement.

LittleBigPlanet TGS 2007 Trailer

Today I receive an email stating if I want to receive the game on the release day, I have to pay $5.98. Screw that! Even with the pre-order incentives, I'm way too cheap to pay $6 to ship something I can go up to the store, cheaper. But at the same time, I can't wait 5-9 days for shipping! I've decided to go up to GameCrazy and place my pre-order there. That way, I can pick up the game on the way home from work. (Not to mention, they have a cool carrying case.) I'll pay the $4 tax to have it on that day.

Now, I'm sure that all 2 of you who read my blog wonder why I would make such a big deal about having this game at launch. Just search LBP on google or youtube, and you'll see; or go to the LBP website. This game is going to be awesome for the whole family...

...and look at this cute costume for those who get the game at launch:

Technorati Tags: LittleBigPlanet, Amazon, video games,

My Pandora Bio

I figured since Pandora is probably going to shut down soon, I'd post my Pandora bio for all my millions of blog readers see. Here it is:

I grew up exploring hard rock, then eventually hair metal in the 90s. In college I went thru a music identity crisis; listening to all sorts of things, none of which really struck me. In 1999 I discovered electronic music with a now defunct internet radio station Pajamajammyjam. I quickly dove in with both feet & have been stuck there ever since. I like Euro-Dance, Trance, some funk, some downbeat, some goa, and the occasional D&B. I'm sure there's other categories I can't define...

Now I'm a Pandora die-hard with no intentions of stopping. Curse SoundExchange with their bogus royalty rates. Long live internet radio!!

Technorati Tags: Pandora.com, music, biography

Is "No Child Left Behind" still the right choice?

Schools, Facing Tight Budgets, Leave Gifted Programs Behind - New York Times

Bridget Williams, the principal of Mountain Grove Middle School, maintains that very bright children do not deserve specially tailored classes, especially when the district is focusing on bringing all children up to a minimum standard of competence.
Ms. Williams said it was not so much the education, but merely status, that gifted children lost when their program was cut in September. ''They lost the title,'' she said.

She is not, obviously, gifted nor talented. That statement above can only be made out of ignorance. I'm not about to say that I am gifted either, but I managed to skate through 12 years of public school without having to do any real "work". I received A's & B's my entire school career; that is, until college. I had supposedly been taking "college prep" in high school, but when I arrived in college, it was a rude awakening. All-of-a-sudden, I didn't know how to study. I actually had to work to achieve a decent grade. It only took me a semester of college to realize I was "short-changed" by my public school. There are numerous cases where highly intelligent children have severe side-effects when not challenged.

Others contend that cutting programs for such students threatens the nation's future by stunting the intellectual growth of the next generation of innovators. Not only do gifted children learn faster, but often they learn in a different way, experts say.

This is exactly my thought. So, couple the continued reduction in programs geared toward the intelligent with stricter home-school laws, making it increasingly more difficult to teach your (own) children, and what do you get? You get a country that is bleeding all its intelligence away. I fear the innovative-less future of our nation.



Here's another incident. I've always thought it was pretty stupid to deprive a child of learning as a punishment; especially for something like this where intent is clear.

Technorati Tags: news, school, homeschool, parenting, laws

You're probably less-free than you think you are...

Memorial day weekend, I got the chance to shoot my buddy's kid's bow. Before this, I hadn't had much opportunity, if at all, to shoot a bow. I had a great time. The following week, I made a point to go to the local archery shop to check out their used bow selection, and see if I could pick up some useful information from the shop guy(s). I was able to shoot a new Ross bow, and boy was it smooth. The whole experience really got my blood pumpin'. It is not my nature to buy anything over $50 on-the-spot, so I left...excited.

While I was in church this past Sunday, I jotted down some notes: things I needed to take care of, or things I just wanted to remember to do. I decided that I needed to research the city ordinances regarding shooting a bow in one's backyard. On to the city website I went.

After sifting through many, many pages of legalese, I found what I was looking for. Shooting of arrows is prohibited. I figured as much, from suburbia; but that's not the area of the law that was concerning to me. There are several instances where what some would consider trivial rules, are prohibited by law. The couple that come to mind are swearing in public, or on school grounds is punishable by up to 90 days in jail or $500 fine, or both; and city parks are restricted to residents, those employed within the city limits, or bona fide guests thereof. That last one is punishable although, I forgot the punishment.

I'm sure this is the tip of the iceberg. And the laws of probability suggests that the majority of the cities are like this, and some with more asinine laws that the few that I have stated. I shudder to think...

Technorati Tags: city ordinances, archery, stupid

Thanks. No.

Quite possible the best web-service out there today.

Thanks. No.

(via Lifehacker)

I think my kids are at a slight advantage...

By reading this article, I get the feeling that my kids could (almost) fall out of bed and do better...

Some DISD students not ready for college

As a rather new homeschool family, we are often nervous about the learning status of our children. Again, thanks to the internet, we can be reassured that we need not stress out.

Technorati Tags: homeschool, school, news, parenting

Woopsie-Daisies...

I think I may have had too much beer for a "school night".  Doh!

Mark


Photo by tanakawho

PAINFUL!

(It is my theory that) for my employer to thwart heavy internet usage they've restricted their pipe to dial-up speeds.  OMG!!  This is so FRUSTRATING!  It took this movie the greater part of an hour to load, making it impossible to watch it on my lunch (half-)hour.





My new plan-of-action is going to have to be to post sites, videos, etc. on my blog (or my shared stuff page) so I can watch them all when I get home.  I think that'll work...


Technorati Tags: car-porn, work, frustration, web, video, mazdaspeed3