Month: August 2009

My Shoulder Exercises

On By Michel McDonaldIn ExerciseLeave a comment

Yesterday I tried to find the poster in PDF format of the exercise guide for my Weider Total Body Works 5000 home gym but I couldn’t find it anywhere.  I have the poster that came with it but it’s washed out in the sun.  I took several pictures of the poster so that I could combine them all using the panorama thing in Adobe Photoshop Elements 3.

The pictures that I took suck because I took them in my bedroom and it’s really dark in here so the white of the poster looks dark yellow.  I would like to do it all over again outside so the white shows up as white instead of as dark yellow.

The point of me doing that was so that I could crop certain exercises out and put them all side by side and print onto a sheet of 4×6 photo paper so that I can carry out there with me so I can hold it up and look at it easier.

So I picked out 8 exercises that I could do for my shoulder.  I picked out all the ones that are for the rear part of the shoulder since that’s where my pain is.  Although yesterday the pain moved to the front, well it’s back where it belongs, in the back of my shoulder.  So I’m going to focus on working that muscle to fix the problem.

Even though it sucks really bad, here are the exercises that I chose.  You can click it to see it full size.  It looks horrible but it looks better on 4×6 paper.  When I get time before my Stargate shows come on I’m going to go out there and try it again so I get it right.  Then at least I’d be able to share it with the world since nobody else has it for download.  Oh, it looks white with specks because I used the replace color option in Adobe Photoshop Elements 3 to change the dark yellow with white but I couldn’t get all of those colors out of there so I just left it for now.  I will fix it.

rear shoulder exercises

As promised here is the guide.

Pain Subsiding

On By Michel McDonaldIn Daily BlogLeave a comment

Yesterday I said that the pain in my shoulder was starting to go away.  I’ve been using my gym on the patio about once or twice a day, not for very long, I do 1 rear shoulder exercise for about 20 reps then quit.  I don’t know if it’s helping but my pain is subsiding.  It still hurts a little bit but I’m sure over time it will be gone.

I rode my bike to the store today and I was still having pain though.  I’m pushing on the handlebars too much even though I’m sitting straight up so that could be problematic.  I wouldn’t recommend going out on my rides until the pain is completely gone because I don’t want to aggravate it and make it come back full force.

I have a feeling my handlebars are too long and that I’m going to have to cut them about the length of the grips then just replace the grips with new ones.  Or maybe I can get the ones that are on there wet so I can save them.  I put them on with hairspray so they are pretty much stuck to the bar.

I might also have to just go to Target and buy another new seat, when I bought the gel seat cover for my seat I saw that they had a beach cruiser seat so maybe I will buy that to see if that will help.  It was cheap so it’s not like I’m spending another $70 on a seat.  It would be a damn shame to lose the $70 from the “ergo” seat by not using it anymore.  Oh well, lesson learned.

Oh I just wanted to add one more thing.  My last bike ride was 7/20/09 and today is 8/19/09 so tomorrow will be exactly 1 month that I haven’t ridden so I need to get back on the bike before ALL the weight comes back.

Getting Better

On By Michel McDonaldIn Daily BlogLeave a comment

At first I was apprehensive about posting this because if you say you think you are getting better then you are basically jinxing yourself and it comes back at full speed ahead.  But I just have a feeling that my shoulder is starting to get better.  It’s not better but it feels like it is getting better.

I’ve been using a cold pack until my rear left shoulder was totally numb then I would immediately put the heat pack on it and it would melt my muscle and the heat felt so good.  I would just do this all day long, giving my back a rest for an hour or so here and there.

I’ve been noticing that the pain has been going down my arm a bit more and more everyday.  At first it was at my shoulder but then creeping down my arm, it would go into my bicep muscle then it was going down to my elbow in my muscles and now it’s getting lower, I don’t know what it’s called between the elbow and the hands but it’s in there now in the middle.

Maybe, hopefully it will just keep going down until it’s at the tips of my fingers until they just leave out my fingers.  Maybe I might see sparklers and confetti shoot out of my finger tips letting me know it’s over.

For now I want and see.  By the time my references come I will be fine again and back on my bike again lol.  Well let’s hope that I will be back to my routine again soon.

Ghostly Dreams

On By Michel McDonaldIn Dreams, ParanormalLeave a comment

ghostI’ve been watching all these ghost videos on YouTube that it has entered my dreams lol.

The one thing that I’ve learned from watching Ghost Hunters on the SyFy (formerly Sci-Fi) channel is that they can’t hurt you.  Well, they kinda can because Jason has gotten scratches and they show people with scratches on their back that they couldn’t have possibly done to themselves.  And there was that one Halloween episode where Grant was being held back and you could see the collar of his jacket being tugged on.  But is that really hurting?

The videos on YouTube that I’ve been watching have been that stupid “Pantry Ghost” video where you can see hands and a face through the glass but someone has proven that it is a fake by showing you how they do it.  So I don’t believe in that one.  This same person has also shot video of himself playing hide n’ seek with his daughter and at the very end you see what appears to be a ghostly apparition in the corner by the dresser.  Well, that could’ve easily been faked using the same techniques as the pantry video.  They also made a video of going into a room and seeing a ghost girl standing up and then another where he opens the board to theattic and he sees a ghost girl turning around to see the camera.  Those are all fake because you cannot see through the ghost, it’s a solid apparition.

I’ve actually had encounters with “ghosts” in my bedroom.  Feeling a cat jump up on the bed and walk around.  That happens sometimes but I’ve accepted that it’s a kitty cat ghost, it can’t hurt me so it doesn’t frighten me in the least.  And one night, this only happened once, I was laying in bed and I felt what seemed like 4 cats on the bed but then I felt as though someone just sat down on the edge of the bed.  The edge of the bed felt like it was pressed down.  You could feel someone sitting.  I didn’t move because I didn’t want to scare it, it didn’t scare me.  I even said hello to it.  I eventually fell asleep.

But last night I had this dream that there was this ghost in the house and it was stalking me.  I went to the front door and there was a piece of furniture sitting in front of the door and it was keeping me in the house.  But I can’t put any stock into that dream because some how our toy chihuahua dog “Flower” duplicated so I had 2 “flowers” lol.

It still scared me, I was frightened and basically just scared out of my mind.  But I know that it was just a dream, they can’t hurt me.  I have to just keep saying and thinking that they cannot hurt me.

I saw “ghosts” as a kid, so did my older sister, my mother told me that she sees them too and that if I feel scared then perhaps it’s not good, it’s “evil” and to say the “lords prayer”.  Well, personally I don’t believe in evil as in hell or the devil.  I do believe in evil as in people who are evil such as those who have murdered other people and laughed about it and don’t regret it or apologize for it.  So I guess if a ghost can be good as people can be good then a ghost can be evil as people can be evil.  It works both ways.

I think the only way to stop those dreams is to stop watching YouTube ghost videos that try to scare you lol.

Home Gym

On By Michel McDonaldIn ExerciseLeave a comment

weiderI’ve said before that I’m going to do it but then I wuss out because of my shoulder pain but I really need to do it for my shoulder pain.  I need to bring my Weider Total Body Works 5000 home gym into the patio from the back yard and start using it.

I think that if I work that muscle, the shoulder muscle that hurts and my back muscles, that I might be able to strengthen it up.

I’ve had this shoulder pain for almost a month now and it seems like it’s moving from my shoulder to my neck and also down my left arm as well as being in my shoulder.  So I think that the only way I’m going to fix this is by exercising those muscles.

When I was going to the Chiropractors office in 2005 they would give me a massage, I would lay on a hot water bed with jets shooting at my back, they would put these electric things on my back that would shoot electricity into the muscle then the doctor would adjust my back and then they would send me over to their gym room where I would use the weight machine and do the exercises that they told me to do.  I still have the paper with all the exercises too.

They had me pull on the weight cable then hold for about 5 or 10 seconds or whatever, I forgot.  Then I would do it again, so about maybe 10 times for 5-10 seconds.  So I believe that this worked so I think I should do the same.

I’m giving myself shiatsu massages, vibrating massages, putting cold then heat on my shoulder.  I can’t adjust myself but I do try to crack my back when I can.  I don’t have a little twin sized water bed with heat and jets and I don’t have one of those things that you put on your muscle then push the button to electronically stimulate the muscles by zapping it (as seen on Jackass the movie where they put it on their balls lol) but I do have a home gym and it’s about time I use it.

I really want this pain to go away.  It’s been almost a month and I haven’t been on my bike in that amount of time.  I’m told to just go to the Chiropractors office but how am I going to get there?  Bus then have to walk the rest of the way?  Every step I take causes pain in my shoulder.  In 2005 I was going 3 days a week, that’s $3 a week in bus fair that I just can’t spare.  I would ride my bicycle but then I’d be paranoid that it’s going to get stolen the whole time cause you are in there for 2-3 hours at least.

So my best alternative is to just suffer and use the options I have available to me I guess.  Maybe if I had a person to drive me then it would be easier but I don’t.  We have a perfectly good SUV in the driveway that I could get there with but… don’t know how to drive and even if I did, it’s gonna cost me a lot more than $3 a week in gas.

Men Soliciting Sex in Parks in Bakersfield

On By Michel McDonaldIn NewsLeave a comment

Undercover investigation: Men soliciting sex in parks

That is an article in the BakersfieldNow website.  In the 1970’s and 80’s this was apparently a very typical thing, men going to the park and sitting in the cars and/or going to the bathroom and exposing themselves hoping to have sex with someone either in the bathroom, their car or going somewhere else.

I go on the bike trail and I pass 3 parks (as seen in my BikeCam videos) and I see children playing sports, people exercising and children on bikes, they don’t need to see this.  What is wrong with people?  These children use those bathrooms and that’s the last thing kids need is to go to the bathroom at Yokuts and Beach park and see 2 men having sex.

What really pisses me off is that these people are adding to the laundry list of why straight people hate gay people.  It’s not just gay people, it’s straight people who are doing it but that doesn’t get put in the newspaper or on the news, they focus more on the gay people doing this.  If people want to find other people to have sex why can’t they do what normal people do, go to a bar and end up going home with someone.  Do whatever you gotta do but don’t go to the park and do something gross like having sex in cars and in the bathroom.

I have actually seen men and women making out in cars at 2 parks, 1 of them is by a Catholic school too which is in a neighborhood.  Plus I’ve seen straight people making out at the parking lot across the street from AAA on Truxton Ave.  I see these people doing this and all I can think is that they aren’t married, they are probably cheating on their spouses because trust me, if you are as old as these people are and you are having to make out with someone in your car, you aren’t married to them, you are cheating and most likely because your husband or wife don’t have sex with you anymore so you are sneaking around.

I have seen straight people doing this several times but I have yet to see any gay people in cars.  I don’t ever use the bathroom unless I am so desperate to go to the bathroom.  I’m a bit of a germaphobe so I would prefer not to sit on public toilet seats.  Peeing is one thing but if I see someone standing at a urinal I will use the stall to pee.  I don’t use park bathroom stalls because they don’t have doors.  So you won’t see me in the park bathrooms unless I REALLY needed to go lol.

Clay’s Restaurant

On By Michel McDonaldIn RestaurantLeave a comment

California Avenue IHOP becomes independent eatery

November 28th 2008, IHOP in Bakersfield became Clay’s Restaurant.  We’ve been going to that IHOP since 2000 but we don’t always have the money to be regulars.  We only go once in awhile.  But we actually haven’t been there at all since they changed their name to Clay’s.

Well this morning Darrin wanted to go out for breakfast and the place that he chose was closed for some strange reason.  So he said well let’s go to Denny’s.  I said that’s too far.  He said where do you want to go and I said “well we haven’t been to Clay’s yet” so that’s where we went.

We get there and are seated right away.  There was a person we knew who was leaving so Darrin wanted to talk to him before we sat down.  Our host had our menu’s sitting open on the table waiting for us which I thought was very nice.

So we order and our food comes, I ordered the #6 2 eggs, 3 bacon, 3 sausage, hash browns and pancakes.  Darrin ordered chicken fried steak with gravy, eggs, hash browns and toast.

I can’t speak for him but he didn’t complain about his food.  My food was pretty good.  The sausage was different though, it wasn’t over cooked and wrinkly, it was a nice light shade of brown and it was smooth.  The bacon was also very flat and smooth and it tasted good.  The pancakes were smaller but I guess they can’t sell pancakes that look exactly like IHOP’s so they just made them smaller.  The hash browns weren’t crispy which is IHOP’s signature hash browns but that was fine.  It was still good.  Normally scrambled eggs are 1 solid color but mine weren’t mixed completely so you could see the yellow and white.  That’s not a bad thing, the eggs were good but it was just different.

Our waitress was Donna and she was a very nice woman.  We asked her if the business has suffered since they changed their name to Clay’s and she said that there aren’t as many customers as when they were IHOP but the customers are coming back.  I can say that I would definitely come back because the food was very good.

Clay’s Restaurant is located at 1530 California Ave. in Bakersfield, CA.  There are also other Clay’s, I just know about this one and the one over by Valley Plaza on Ming.  I would recommend Clay’s and I give them 5 stars.

Ooooh Scary Bunny Man

On By Michel McDonaldIn Paranormal, TVLeave a comment

you-make-bunny-cry

I turn the TV on because at 1 I watch Enterprise then Atlantis then SG-1.  Scariest Places on Earth is on and this woman is terrified to go in this tunnel in Rome because she is told the tale of a scary bunny man and if you say his name 3 times he appears.  She says it and then all of a sudden screams while running away and she falls lol.

Oh come on people, do you believe everything they tell you?  Look at that cute wittle bunny wabbit, he’s not gonna hurt you.

So I go to YouTube to find the clips from that episode to put in here but all I find are these videos for “The Bunny Man” in a small town in Fairfax County called Clifton in Northern Virginia.

No I haven’t watched it because Enterprise is on and I’m MISSING IT!  LOL I’ve seen every episode so that’s ok.  But I’m not going to watch it (bunnyman legend video) because it’s too funny to believe.  Call me close minded, call me skeptical or a cynic.  But if someone tells you about a scary bunnyman who lives in a bridge well, I have a bridge I would like to sell you.  It’s in Brooklyn and it’s called the Brooklyn Bridge, I won’t ask for much for it because it’s a little old.  Or maybe I should ask for a lot since it’s an antique.  Get your checkbooks out.

Girlfriend Doesn’t Realize Boyfriend Is In Europe

On By Michel McDonaldIn HumorLeave a comment

Have you seen or heard about this?

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2AV3cmEWX4

I had something similar happen.  I got a call from my aunt telling me that my grandmother was dying and she asked for me so I took the Amtrak bus down to Palmdale, CA and spent a week with my family until my grandmother passed away.  After she passed away I checked my email and this friend of mine had sent me a few emails just yelling at me for ignoring her.

I emailed her before I left telling her that I was going to be gone for a week and she thought I would have internet access where I was going.  My aunt had dial-up and it’s not cool to go to someones house and tie their phone line up so I just didn’t read email at all.  I had my cell phone on the whole time and I would talk to Darrin which was the most important person I needed to talk to, nobody else.

So I told her that I was visiting my aunts and that my grandmother had just died.  I think she sent me 2-4 emails and was basically very cross with me in all of them for ignoring her lol.  She ended the friendship but when I finally emailed her and told her what happened she was sorry for saying all of those things.  We’re still friends but it took a long time for her to realize that I wasn’t going away and she would have to just deal with it lol.