Saturday, April 25

scoliosis

So, the new word on what's wrong with my back is.... scoliosis.

Not sure if it's congenital or functional (muscular) or what, but found out I definitely have a short right leg that's causing about a 3/4 inch drop in height on my right compared to my left leg, which is causing my low back (lumbar) to sway to the right and throw off my mid-/upper-/neck regions.

I'm on my fourth back doctor...and finally the first thing he did was take x-rays.  These aren't mine, but mine looked pretty darn similar:


The good news is all my discs look pretty healthy (with the exception of the one being pinched in my iliosacral joint, between my S1 & L5).  



Apparently this is what is happening, biomechanically:


My new doctor gave me a heel lift to wear under my right foot (instead of the heel lift my last doctor gave me to wear under my left foot - what a mess).  And he said that surgery is far from even necessary for me at this point, so at least that's good news. 

I'm hoping that over a year of chronic pain, lop-sided clumsiness, and downing ibuprofen like candy that THIS doctor will finally get to the bottom of what's wrong with me.  He says he can.  (And if he can't I want a referral to an awesome specialist - this is getting ridiculous & expensive!)

I'll keep you posted.

Sunday, April 19

rickity old ladder

I'm home alone, watching a really scary movie, at 2:00 am (never sleeping now).  Decided during the commercial break I should get some bread for tomorrow out of the freezer in the garage, shutting the door behind me so my kitties wouldn't follow me.  

At this point I realized the handle didn't feel right.  I tried it again...yep, it's locked.

!@#$.

The folks aren't due back until late Sunday night; all my neighbors are asleep; I'm barefoot & coatless in my pjs; I don't have a key to the house or to my car; and I don't even have my cell phone with me.  And all I hear is the super creepy music from the scary movie and the screams of people being attacked by zombies.



I figure I have three options:  
(1) wake the neighbors (and then what??), 
(2) crawl into mom's car and try to get comfortable in the backseat until morning (like I could sleep in there, esp. with all the scary background noise), or 
(3) try to get through the only unlocked window in the house...the open kitchen window, two stories up.

I decided to try option 3, figuring it would either lead to option 1 or would have to try option 2 if I failed.  

I paused as I looked at the rickity old wood ladder in the garage: it's been around longer than the house - would it hold me?  I prayed the adventure wouldn't result in an option 4:  a night in the ER.

I started around the house to check out the window...and realized the night was pitch black and I had turned off all the house lights.  I couldn't see a thing.  But I could hear gun fire blasting from the living room.

Totally creeped out I hurried back to the garage to look for a flashlight.  Nothing.  How could we not have a flashlight in the garage??  Probably the same reason we don't have a spare key hidden outside the house.

So I found a portable construction light...but it would need to be plugged in to work.  Which means I would still need to walk around to the back of the house in complete darkness and fumble for the plug-in on the back deck.  Which I did - praying for protection from whatever the whole time.

Ahhh, light.  So much better.

Back to the garage for the ladder...to find it blocked in by snow tires.

!@#$.

The back seat was seeming more and more like the option I was going to have to pick.

Eventually wiggled the thing out of it's location (probably hadn't been moved for years) and hauled it off in the near-darkness to the side of the house.  I started having flash-backs to the night I helped my Irvine roommate crawl through her kitchen window to unlock her place.  ha!

Managed to get it set in place, now praying the whole time that it wouldn't slip and I wouldn't fall...and crawled through the window onto the sink counter...while Bear stared at me wide-eyed from the kitchen floor.  LOL

I made it!  Whew.

Back to the garage to close things up, I opened the freezer to get my bread...

Turns out we're all out.

Damn it.  Go figure.  Such is my life...

Sunday, April 5

i-wannabe-irish beef stew


Alright guys...y'all left me in a lurch on what to do with my huge side of beef and multiple bottles of Guinness (the latter not being so much of the issue - hehe).  NO ideas AT ALL??  I'm very disappointed.

You left me no choice but to wing it on another recipe...

I-Wannabe-Irish Beef Stew
by:  yours truly, cvo

huge chunk of stew beef, browned
cubed up fresh veggies:
- 5-6 cloves garlic
- 1 lg onion
- 3 potatos
- 3 rutabaga
- several celery stalks
- dump in some baby carrots
2 C beef stock
good-sized handful of various herbs & seasonings
and...
3 bottles of GUINNESS! -->  two for the recipe, one for me...  ;)

It's cooking in the oven at 350F right now and will continue to do so for probably a total of 2-3 hours I'm guessing.  Already an hour into it though and it's smelling the house up something fierce....yummmmmmm....can hardly wait!



What's up with this serious lack of comments, though?  Don't think for a minute I don't see you parading by on my Feedjit widget...come on now...  ;)

Thursday, April 2

need...coffee...now...


The night before my first day of work, I was way too excited about the idea of finally starting up my job (after nearly a half year [if you can believe it - time has flown] of not working...!!!!!!  talk about penny-pinching and getting sick of job hunting)...so excited, in fact, that I couldn't sleep................................at all...


I had to double my daily dose of B-vitamins...and reach for coffee (LOTS of coffee).  haha  ;) 

Sadly, by the time 5 o'clock rolled around, I was certain I wouldn't be able to keep my eyes open long enough to sit through a professional networking lecture series on Music in the Valley at the local New Leaders meeting at the Seasons Performance Hall (which I was very bummed about - I had been looking forward to that for a month!!).  Bummer.  Rather than nodding off in front of my local peers, I went home, fixed dinner, and crashed at 7pm instead.  ;(

I feel so much better today.

Work is going well so far!  Second day under my belt.  Right now they are training me on their software systems and data management protocols (yawn).  The technology itself seems pretty intuitive for the most part - it's getting used to the new lingo that's been the biggest challenge yet (...picture filling out an application form you've never seen before, one that you have a basic idea of how it should flow - but about half the language on the page looks foreign to you, as though it's written in some latin or germanic-based words that you kinda get the jist of and/or has a bunch of "abbrv txt spk 4 P/C MODs, liab ins, pip, & other ins sys" that you have to guess what it stands for based on its relationship to the rest of the page, but some context is missing & recorded demo training voice guy has some weird accent that distracts you from the program every time he explains the "dee-fot" [default] buttons and "dec" page [all I can think of when I hear him say that is the liam show!...sad!!  focus, focus.....]................huh?!....that's about how it feels).  

Apparently this "training" period takes about 6 months before I start to feel up-to-snuff on how things run.  (I told mom I already feel my competitive edge kicking in: "well if it takes 6 months, I'm going to show them - I'll have it down pat in 2-3!!  I'll be their fastest learner yet!  Promotion here I come!!")  ha!  right.

 How did I get this way??

Anyway, the company is built to function entirely internet-based & completely paperless, which is very cool.  In fact, they have it so streamlined that I rarely need to move away from my desk to do anything (except reach for more coffee of course).  Faxing?  Receiving scans?  Sending insurance docs?  Email.  Email.  Internet.  All at my computer.  I'm excited about how progressive they are.  Everyone has three monitors on their desk as well!  Which does beg the question:  why would anyone REALLY need to be IN the office, so long as they have a good computer and a fast cable connection?  The work can be done VIRTUALLY anywhere.


(sample picture - not my real desk)

In case you are curious, my actual job - or hired position at least - these days is as a Commerical Lines Assistant for a local insurance company that handles some large-size regional clients (hospitals, farms, etc.).  I'm not totally sure what that means yet, but I'm getting the sense that it involves mostly data management and some project management as support to a small division in charge of Commercial Property insurance: some folks in the division handle sales (or as they call it, "production" - why not just call them sales people?  I don't get it), some are client relationship managers (portfolio mgrs), some are team managers (supervisors), and others - like me - process the data as support staff (administrative support assistants).  The position I interviewed for was a portfolio manager position...but obviously I have to walk before I can run in this new industry, since I don't have direct insurance background.  So, they are showing me the ropes to see how high/fast I can climb before assigning me to management (if I get there).  Which makes sense.  There's a lot for me to learn.  It's exciting to be flexing my brain again (but I have to admit - I am still pining to be crunching market population statistics instead, analyzing financial data trends, and driving around a new cities scouting out, assessing, and cataloging old-peoples' homes....I'm just telling myself that this background in Commercial Insurance will only better my understanding of property management, should I go back to the Senior Housing industry in the future someday).

God's got it in His hands.

Little blessings, so far, that I'm happy about (far over and above my last job) - all things said:  awesome, fast, up-to-date, company-provided technology (with NO expectation that I am to personally fund and/or maintain my own technology for company-use).  A window in my cubicle...it lets in lots of natural light (even if the view is of a brick wall...oh well).  My desk faces windows on the opposite wall that let in more natural light and I can see some greenery (even though it's mostly a view of the parking lot and the ghetto-ville neighborhood that our building is located in...at least I can keep an eye on my car).  Friday we can wear jeans if we want to...and everyone actually does (versus my last job where we could wear jeans but everyone was competing so fiercly we all still wore our suit get-ups, and maybe just ditched the jackets for the day).  I'm expected to be there at 8:30am, to clock my two 15 minute paid breaks, to take my full hour lunch, and to leave no later than 5:00 sharp (lest I be the one to lock the door & turn the lights out at 5:10!! - which you should be very happy about, SMM - it means I have no excuses and may actually be saving YOU a chair at Bob's one of these days now, instead!).  The people seem way nicer to work with than in California, easily by 10 fold if not more.

I should probably get going.  I have a lunch to make and shirt & slacks to press for tomorrow!

Hope you have a great Friday.

cvo

Wednesday, April 1

job

The rumors are true (despite this being April Fools) - it's official: I am finally employed!

Today is my first day back in the world of cubes.


Yes, cubes.  

Sadly my new job isn't my "dream job" in the sense of it being another step on my Senior Housing management career path.  Or is it?  Maybe it's just a side step, and I just don't know it yet.  Either way, I still feel like I'm making some personal sacrifices and taking some professional steps backwards just to HAVE  job in this current economy... my accustomed income level, an office with a door, a position with the word 'manager' in it, business travel points and key chains from states I haven't visited yet, etc.  You know, that material ego-stroke stuff that somehow, some sneaky way, becomes important in a professional life.

...(sigh)...

What I am GAINING from this job, though, is priceless to me right now:  a steady paycheck, great hours (8:30-5, with no frowns or strange looks if I'm not in the door before 8am and leave before 6:30pm), in a city I want to live, near family & friends & 5 minutes from Bob's (crucial - ha!), a chance to start in a new industry broadening my resume (yeah, yeah), working for people from a culture that is people-focused & friendly, time for exercise & fun stuff after work, short commute, low-stress job, ...basically, a better, healthier, more fun lifestyle than the one I had in OC.


So, I guess 'so what' if I'm back down at the bottom of another ladder.  At least I already know how to climb...and have been given a new ladder!