An Oblivion Evening

Well, it was a so-so day today at the office.  There were a few too many meetings and I burned out about mid-way through the day.  Somethings were accomplished, some were not and tomorrow we get to go through the whole dance again! 

I've spent a quiet evening here tonight, mostly watching Oblivion (Tom Cruise, Olga Kurylenko) from the DVR, which I captured off of FX on the DVR.  It's an entertaining movie - it's basically "only Tom Cruise can save the world from Tom Cruise", which cracks me up to no end.  I am a little tired tonight since I didn't sleep long enough last night and had a slow and choppy start to the morning.

On the plus side I was able to sleep a solid six hours and sleep on my side for the first time in just a little over three weeks.  The sprain under my ribs has mostly healed and there is only a bit of residual discomfort.  It took about as long as such things to take to heal and I should be back to 100% by the end of the week.  I think I made it through the entire day today without taking an Ibuprofen, though I will probably take one tonight just to make sure I sleep comfortably.

I finally picked a window for my vacation - November 12th through the 18th.  I will make the travel arrangements tomorrow and see what it all shapes up as.  I am planning on going to South Dakota for five or six days - I wanted to hold the last weekend in reserve so I can get back to California and enjoy a bit of staycation.  So, on that note, I am going to wrap it up and curl up with a book.

Ending Monday

It was a steadily busy day at the Evil Corporation. I got some things done and on some days some things are the best you can ask for.  I wrapped up work a little while and watched the middle of the Two Towers while waiting for Lucifer to come on.  I really enjoy the TV series Lucifer, great entertainment, funny and filled with beautiful people.  I give it two thumbs up.

A Cool And Windy Morning

It's a cool morning with a brisk wind from the south here in this part of California. It's the sort of wind that seems to be promising rain but according to the weather app on my iPhone there isn't any expected until tonight.  Wouldn't be the first time that a weather forecast was wrong though.

As I've been healing from the incostal sprain that I wrote about earlier I hit a milestone last night.  It was the first night that I was able to sleep on my side.  I am naturally a side sleeper so it was nice. I feel like I've gotten my first good night sleep in three weeks.  There was some discomfort but nothing major and certainly not enough to prevent me from dropping off into dreamland pretty smoothly.

It's a full work week ahead of me, a five day week.  I have mentioned before that we work a 9/80 schedule with every other Friday off.  Last Friday was my day off so I am just wrapping up a three day weekend.  It was a good weekend, very slow, very easy and very relaxing.

I went out and saw "Keeping Up With The Joneses" down at AMC 14 in Saratoga Sunday afternoon.  It was light and entertaining, with a great little cast.  I wouldn't run out at see it, but if you're looking for a pleasant bit of time at an enjoyable movie then it is worth it.

I'm not really ready to take up the work mantle yet, but that is partly why I am sitting here drinking a cup of coffee and trying to ease deliberately into the day. 

I haven't watched the Walking Dead yet, though I may watch it soon enough.  Sadly, I think the series jumped the shark last year and I just couldn't work any enthusiasm up for it's return. They drug out the appearance of Negan so long and then they didn't deliver in the last episode - and that was enough to lose me.  I was a fairly loyal fan, but they stretched that out.  It will be curious to see how this season goes over all.

My nephew, whom I live with, watched it last night and spent part of the morning telling me what happened.  It was okay and not a spoiler because, like I mentioned above, the series kind of lost me last year.

Sprained Intercostal Muscle

Okay - let me tell you the story of my injury.

A little over two weeks ago I was looking at a clean weekend and so my plan was to dedicate some serious hours to fall cleaning.  Saturday started out fine.  I moved some furniture around, emptied a few things out, then started the lovely task of shampooing the carpet.  I bought a new carpet cleaner (lighter and stronger) and I was definitely impressed with the results.  I had finished about two thirds of the carpet, opened all the doors and windows to let it dry, then headed outside to take a walk.

I must have had some residual soap on my shoes.  I turned out the door and started down the steps and BOOM down I went.  As I recall my left foot shot out first and my right foot was perched on the edge of the stair.  When I shifted my weight (all in the blink of an eye) to the right foot - zoom out it went.  I had a hold of the guardrail, but I still went down fairly hard.

As I fell, because of the grip on the handrail, I twisted to the left.  I am still not sure of the choreography of the fall since it happened so quickly.  I ended up about a third of the way down the stairs, sitting with my back to the wall.  I got right up and I knew that I had whacked myself pretty good - both due to the twisting and the impact on that stairs to my butt.

Nothing was broken, but it was all sore.  As Saturday progressed into Sunday it got stiffer, it tightened up and began to intermittently spasm. Monday and Tuesday were the worst.  As long as I was sitting down, as long as I was not moving, I was fine.  But any torso movement ran the risk of touching off a wicked muscle spasm in my left intercostal muscles, under the rib cage, at about the height of the kidneys.

I was moving very slow and very cautiously, but the slightest twist, often without warning and the spasm would very nearly send me to my knees.  I figured out how to lie down - I would place a stack of pillows against the wall, then kind of sit, leaning back against the pillows, then gradually slide down until I was laying flat on my back.  It was a pretty involved process, but it worked.

Getting out of bed was a whole other story.  Normally, I roll to the right and sit up.  Rolling triggered a muscle spasm. Sitting up triggered a muscle spasm.  Monday and Tuesday were horrible days.  I could get up by rolling over onto my right side, firmly grabbing the edge of the bed, and slowly pushing myself up. It was a painful event wracked by spasm after spasm until I would finally manage to get upright.

It was a fairly rough week.  Once I was up and moving I was okay and sitting in the Lazy Boy chair was fine.  A couple of nights I slept at least part of the night in the sitting position in the chair in the living room.  A little over two weeks have passed since the injury and I am doing well.  There is still some residual soreness, but thank heaven the spasms are gone. I can pretty cleanly get in and out of bed.

About the only thing I can't do is sleep on my side - and I am normally a side-sleeper.  I am getting tired of sleeping on my back. I do not sleep as well or as deeply as I do on my side. I snore - I am sure I'm raising the roof because sometimes I wake up and my entire mouth is dried out. I am up to the point where I can sleep a solid six hours or so, which is sufficient, but I am still looking forward to getting a good nights sleep,

So, in closing, let me just say - sprained intercostal muscles are no fun! Be prepared to sleep like a vampire - flat on your back with your arms crossed.

Relaxing and Reading

I can see it has been a long time since I've written here. 

Let me tell you a little bit about the day.  It has been a pretty good weekend, which I have spent mostly in just relaxing as best I can.  It wasn't particularly productive, but sometimes the best weekends are not.

I woke this morning to a gentle California rain - our first of the year - and it was very nice.  It rained off and on through out the day so it made it perfect for a low key kind of day.  I woke up about four AM, then napped a bit before heading out and having breakfast with Tyrone and Bob - our usual routine.  After breakfast we dropped Tyrone off and then stopped at home depot so Bob could get some potting soil.  He bought a trio of Peace Lilies for his house yesterday and underestimated the amount he needed for three pots.  I picked up a new indoor/outdoor temperature thing for the apartment.  My old one finally gave up the ghost.

From there, I circled home.  I stopped at Rite Aid and picked up some odds and ends for the week ahead before scurrying back into shelter as waves of rain passed through.  It was not a hard rain, just a slow constant soft rain.  I spent the afternoon watching some television - The Revenant, then taking an hour long nap.  An early dinner was a cheeseburger at Five Guys, then home to watch a couple of episodes of Expedition Unknown before settling in for the Simpsons.  I am going to go to bed early tonight to read myself to sleep, which I haven't done in a while.

So, on that note, let me wrap it up for the night here and get on with the relaxing and reading part.