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Sunday, August 10, 2008

A Largely Lost Weekend

This weekend that is about to wrap up was one that brought little if any productivity for me. I did not get home from work until after 4am early on Saturday morning and, after showering and having some watermelon, was unable to fall asleep until around 7am. I awoke about 3:30pm and discovered both my hands were once again atrophied and fully stiffened. I spent the rest of the day and night at home often doing some therapy on my hands which consisted of soaking the hands in a bucket of hot water for extended periods of time. This moist wet heat therapy seems to bring the most effective amount of relief, but once I go more than about hour or two without the therapy, the hands stiffen up again and there are regular varying episodes of numbness, tingling, and pain. I watched some preseason NFL football games as there were three games that were on I could watch portions of. For dinner I had some pizza that I ordered for delivery from Blackjack. I also did some surfing and posting on the blogs and continued to relax and enjoy some movies on tv until well into the night.
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Sunday was about the same as I had trouble getting to sleep and woke a few times due to the numbness and pain in the hands. After I awoke for good around 1pm I watched some baseball. Later I did the dishes, picked up some items, and enjoyed the solitude. This weekend brought some very saddening news with the passings of the eminent comedian and actor Bernie Mac and the extraordinary musician Isaac Hayes. Both were individuals whose work I truly enjoyed. A good rainstorm roared through in midafternoon knocking the temperatures down into the upper 50s to lower 60s for most of the rest of the day. This resulted in the apartment being about the most comfortable in late afternoon and on into the evening in nearly two months. Around 7pm I did get out and went out over to Albertsons to get some milk, bananas, vegetables, and a cherry pie. I then went over to Wendy's to read my newspapers while having some chili, a burger, and a caesar salad while I listened to Sunday Night Baseball on my headphones radio as Chicago defeated St Louis.
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I returned home around 9:30pm and did some more hot water therapy on my hands. It is still likely that I have either carpal tunnel syndrome or repetitive stress injury. But further research on the internet indicates there is a strong possibility that my condition could also be osteoarthritis. I cannot even rule out that I have the beginnings of multiple schlerosis. I am unsure exactly what is wrong with me but it definitely is going to be a significant lifechanging condition for both the longterm and shortterm. If it is an acute case of arthritis I have to dismiss any plans of moving to the Northwest with its more damp climate as conditions such as that exacerabate arthritis pain. I may yet have to return to the hot desert as many other older people have and continue to as the dry heat is better for arthritic conditions.
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As Mick Jagger once sang, "What a Drag it is Getting Old" -- that sure is the truth.
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I wrapped Sunday evening watching some science - oriented programs on the Science Channel about the future of computing with Dr. Michio Kaku, a noted quantum physicist that I enjoy listening to and learning from; and a program on future renewable energy prospects.
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This upcoming week will take us into the heart of August and the end of the Dog Days of Summer as the length of days starts to become even more noticeably shorter. Sunrises are already past 6am and this week takes sunsets to before 8pm. In the next 35 to 40 days we lose over 120 minutes of daylight, more than three minutes per day. The normal temperatures have already started their decline from their peaks in the last week of July of 83 and 56. We have already slipped to 81 and 54 and by months end we will have dipped to 78 and 50. 90 degrees highs are still possible for more than another month, but morning lows can now be seen around or below 40 degrees. Within a few weeks it will become necessary to wear a light jacket, sweatshirt, or sweater a few hours before and shortly after dawn. The annual decline of summer is underway and here in Wyoming where I reside it is more noticeable in early to mid August than most any other place I have ever lived. Not that this is such a negative thing.
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This week I may get over to the mechanic and make arrangements to get some work done on the White Knight. This part of the project will include replacing the kingpins in the front suspension system; getting a tuneup and oil change; performing an alignment; and doing some other small jobs like a coolant flush. By the time it is also said and done it will probably be around $800 for this work. Part two will come in September with the complete replacement and repair of the exhaust system which will also cost about that much. I hope to get my 36" television also repaired in September which should cost less than $200 I hope. I also have to spend about $300 on the repair of my two desktop computers. I hope to get that done in October.
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With the start of football I stay pretty busy into January so it is nice to be filled with a list of projects and activities to keep me focused and in a small sense purposeful for the shortterm. With my lack of energy and troubles with my hands, I failed to get my projects done of going to Lowes, Walmart, Walgreens, Big Lots, and Barnes & Noble. I will have to get a few of these done during this week if possible.
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Before going to bed, I had some more watermelon. This is the fourth watermelon I have eaten this summer which has to be doing something good for me !
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