Tag: hell

My New Leg Injury

On By Michel McDonaldIn Doctor, Exercise, Health, HumorLeave a comment

I’m sitting here in my room reading “Official Book Club Selection, a Memoir According to Kathy Griffin” on my Nook and I hear the ice cream truck. Darrin hears it too and he tells me to go stop him. I opened the door and saw he’s already across the street, he says run to stop him.

I’m in my bare feet and I’m running and waving like a maniac. They aren’t looking in the rear view mirror either. I think they get off on that.

I pass about 6 houses and figure they aren’t going to look in the mirror and they are driving the same speed that I am running which means, I have to pick up speed to catch up.

That’s when it goes horribly wrong. I pick up speed and just then “POP” my left calf makes this popping sound and I can feel the pop too. Crack one of your knuckles, that’s the popping sound that I heard.

I immediately had to stop because my calf tightened up, sort of like a Charley horse. Not only could I not continue running but I can’t even walk, heck, I couldn’t even stand up straight. My left leg hurts like hell when I have it straight like my right leg. The only way my leg is comfortable is if it’s lifted up in the back, like I’m on crutches. The tendon is tightened so that it hurts when I straighten my leg out.

I look towards our house to see if Darrin has come out of the house to come to me as if I had stopped the truck and he sees me bent over and I used a sort of sign language, as if I’m mimeing like I’m driving a car but rocking the wheel too far to the left and right. That was my way of saying, get in the car and come get me.

He’s not coming and I’m standing there with my leg bent back, I can’t go anywhere but I start hobbling towards the house. I saw the white car coming around the corner and he stops at where I’m at and opens the door and I painfully got in.

He drove to where the Ice Cream truck is because I’ll be damned if I hurt myself in vain. He gets our “Mama Flip” ice creams which is soft serve in a cup with chocolate syrup and sprinkles.

We come home and I’m not only about ready to throw up but I’m also about ready to pass out. He goes in the house to get the crutches that we have had since his mother broke her leg in 2000 and I go in the house with the intentions of laying down with some ice on it with hopes it will get better. It’s not getting better.

I went to WebMD.com and looked it up and it tells me to immediately go seek medical help so we went to the E.R. where I sat for about 3 1/2 hours waiting for them to call me. After 1/2 hour I told Darrin to go home, I’d call him. No sense in both of us being bored and losing internet time lol.

The doctor couldn’t do an emergency MRI or even x-rays but he bends my leg back and forth and moves my foot and he gives me his diagnosis which I couldn’t remember (remember that I have a learning disorder?) but all I can say is he thinks I must have torn a muscle which is what I figured out right when it happened.

He tells me to rest and put ice on it for 15-20 minutes several times per day for the first 3-4 days then after that replace the ice with heat. He also gave me a prescription for Motrin and a muscle relaxer. I can’t say the name of it because I can’t read his writing lol. I have some ibuprofen from when I had the neck and shoulder pain so I can take that until we can get to the pharmacy tomorrow (followed by Subway or Panda, you know, while we’re there lol).

I have to report to my doctor in the next 1-2 weeks to let him know what happened and maybe perhaps get an x-ray or MRI done if it’s still hurting by then. Oh and I get to be on crutches for a while too which in a way is a good thing because now I don’t have to take the dog out, I can’t if I’m on crutches (wicked evil grin).

Unfortunately, I can’t count on Darrin to do the dishes for me and when I make dinner he’ll have to bring it to me. If I leave dinner up to him we’ll be eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for a while. Or soup, he loves making soup lol.

I was afraid I would miss my shows but when I got home it was some hometown sports show plus the Closer is on tonight instead of my Sunday night Fox cartoons. Oh well, I’m glad I didn’t miss them but it would’ve been nice to know they weren’t going to be on so I wouldn’t have been stressing about miss them during my 3 1/2 hour wait time lol.

Anyway, so I’m off to go rest and ice my leg.

Writing My Book Isn’t Easy

On By Michel McDonaldIn Books, eBook, Friends and FamilyLeave a comment

I’ve mentioned in here before that I’m writing a book based on my childhood. It’s about the abuse that I took from being beaten with a fire log to being punched in the face at age 13. Also being homeless at 15 and 17.

Edit: It’s not just a few abuse stories but the abuse I took throughout my childhood.

Thinking about these 6 kids who committed suicide has really gotten me to think differently about my book because I too tried to commit suicide, not just because of the school bullies but also because of my parents who bullied me more than the kids at school.

I don’t want to compare what happened to me to what happened to them because I really don’t know what happened to them. Everyone’s story is like a finger print or a snow flake, no two are alike.

The problem that I’m facing though is, I’m not a writer. Yes I write blog posts from time to time but this is different.

I sent my life partner a chapter to read and after only reading 1 paragraph he told me that my sentence structure needs work. I reminded him that I am not a writer and I don’t know what the hell I’m doing lol. Then he said it was too long, I need to shorten some of the stories. It’s a book! I can’t shorten the stories because the only way to understand what happened is to read the long ass stories.

A friend of mine offered to edit it because she loves to read. She didn’t say anything about what was wrong with the chapter, in fact she just said it was good. She doesn’t edit books for a living but I trust her judgement because she loves to read.

I can’t afford to pay someone to edit my book, I can’t even pay a ghost writer to write it for me, all I can do is write and edit it the way I have been and hope that it is readable.

I’m not writing it to make big bucks, I’m writing it to get it all off my chest. I have family members who were cut out of my life until I was 27 years old when I finally met them who would like to know what happened during my childhood that they were not allowed to witness.

It will take some time for me to write because I really have to be in the mood and I haven’t been feeling much in the mood lately. Thinking about those kids who killed themselves has really put things in perspective for me and I start to think, do I really need to write this book? Was my life that bad? I mean, there are people who got it worse than I did, some so bad they actually killed themselves.

My abuse stories weren’t even that bad, I mean being punched in the face is nothing compared to one guy who said that he was cinderella, forced to do all the housework, beaten and left to starve in a dungeon like basement. I was treated like a prince compared to that guy.

Well, as I said, I’m not writing it to make money, more to give my friends and family to read. It will probably be offered for $1 on Barnes and Noble once I finish it. I have to set a price and as far as I know Pubit doesn’t let you give your book away.

Ok, I’m done venting lol.

Video On Demand

On By Michel McDonaldIn TVLeave a comment

I don’t know if it’s just Bright House cable or not.  I’m sure it’s not although I asked my aunt if she had “On Demand” with her Direct TV and she said she doesn’t know what that is.

For those who do not live in Bakersfield, CA and do not have Bright House cable or any other service provider that doesn’t have On Demand, it’s the best thing since the DVR.

In fact you don’t even need to own a DVR for this.  Hell, you can just toss out your VCR for that matter.

You just flip to the On Demand channel of choice.  Take for example Primetime On Demand.  They have all the networks, CBS, FX, NBC, USA just to name a few.  You choose the network of the show you want to watch.  Then once it has a list of all that networks shows then you scroll to find your show and click Select then find the episode you want to watch and push the B button to play it.  It  has very very limited commercial interruption too.  Like instead of having to wait 2 or 3 minutes you just have to endure a 30 second commercial here and there.  That’s it.

It’s not just Primetime on Demand.  There is HBO and Showtime on Demand which will allow you to watch all the movies you have missed when they aired and you can pause, rewind and even fast forward.  If you missed True Blood then wait until the next day and see it on demand.  Or if you were just a half an hour late just click the Select button for the Start Over feature.  You can’t forward in that mode, just pause but that’s ok, you don’t want to cheat now do you?

The reason I brought it up is because I missed Merlin last night on NBC but they don’t have last nights episode there.  I checked the tv guide website and apparently there was no episode last night so I gotta wait another week lol.  That kinda bites but whacha gonna do eh?

Scooby Doo Chia Pet

On By Michel McDonaldIn Daily BlogLeave a comment

Well I set up the Scooby Doo Chia Pet this morning after soaking it and the seeds for a full 24 hours.  I video taped the process but I think I’m going to wait until the time-lapse is finished and then just add that.  But maybe not.  I think that my video today was about 8 minutes.  We will see how long it is after I finish with the editing heh.

It’s kind of strange seeing my laptop sitting on the dining room table.  I have a light blue sheet sitting on the table so that I could do a blue screen.  I was thinking of adding a cartoon with blue screen but I’m not sure if it will even work because the light blue is washed out on the screen so it looks white.

The picture is a bit fuzzy, it’s not crystal clear so it’s not going to look wonderful, just ok.  I wish my camcorder had time-lapse photography with the SD card so I don’t have to use my laptop.  Oh well.

Eh what the hell, I might as well edit the video I did today and put it on YouTube tomorrow then I’ll post it here.

From One Thing To The Next

On By Michel McDonaldIn HealthLeave a comment

Well good news is I can start to sense that my shoulder is getting better.  I’ve been using the BenGay patches and the Icy Hot stick and it feels good.  Most of the time I have pain but not constantly like before.

New problem lol.  I have a toothache now.  I just ate a bowl of Malt-O-Meal and the roof of my mouth on the right side hurt like hell.  I think it’s abscessed lol.  Great, just great.

If it’s not one thing it’s another.  So tomorrow I have to make an appointment with Western Dental and get it looked at.

Oh and I got my handlebars today and put it on and over tightened the screw and it snapped in half rofl.  What the hell?  So we had to go to Home Depot and thank goodness they had it.  It was a big longer than the original but that’s fine, it sticks out the bottom and nobody cares lol.  And it’s a black screw same as the stem so it blends in.  The handlebar is silver though and I was going to spray paint it but I figured that it would probably not end too good so I left it.  I may remove everything at some point and spray it, maybe.

I also got a new gel seat to put over the ergo seat but I figured that I’m having such a crappy day that I would wait to cut it up and sew it into the shape I need it until when I’m not having a bad day.  I don’t want to screw it up too much.  Sure it was only $10 but money is money.

Dunkin’ Cruelty?

On By Michel McDonaldIn NewsLeave a comment

I just read an update on Facebook by someone who is a comedian Carol Leifer and she is asking people to support this.  It’s called Dunkin’ Cruelty.  It’s a website that someone has created, most likely someone from PETA, to urge people to beg Dunkin’ Donuts to stop using eggs and dairy in their donuts.

You know, I am all for helping animals from animal cruelty and all but how exactly is this going to impact the egg and dairy industry?  First of all they are urging them to stop using eggs AND dairy yet they only talk about how cruel the chickens are treated, not about the cows.  And 2nd of all, what the hell do you think they serve at EVERY restaurant in the world?  Eggs and Dairy.  So why is it that out of all the restaurants in the whole world you are pickin’ on Dunkin’ Donuts?

How horrible are their donuts going to taste with no eggs in them?  I mean seriously.  Why not just boycott Dunkin’ Donuts and get it over with instead of begging them to bland up their donuts?  How exactly do you make a donut without eggs?

I guess I don’t see the point in this.  Human beings need eggs for protein and they need dairy to build strong bones.  Eggs are not fertile, they aren’t going to be a future chicken since they are not fertilized by a male and the milk is produced by cows daily anyway so why can’t all the carnivores enjoy their eggs and milk and leave us alone?

Bike Supplies Arrived Today

On By Michel McDonaldIn CyclingLeave a comment

Well today my Blue Wave Camelbak 70oz/2 Liter backpack came as well as my Sweatvac Ventilator Cap (Diablo).  I’ve been waiting for it all morning and the stupid mail carrier didn’t even ring the doorbell.  What the hell!  This isn’t a very good neighborhood for leaving shit on my doorstep.  Hello!

Anyway, it came and so I’m happy.  Of course I tried on the skull cap immediately and thankfully it fits perfectly.  I started wondering maybe I bought one that was too small or too big but it’s perfect so that’s good.  I had this f’d up dream last night that I got it but it was 1 inch thick all the way around and it was a lot bigger than it really is and I was pissed off in the dream.  Also it wasn’t Diablo, it was blue and black lol.  I put it on and it covered the top of my head and parts of my face and it was so heavy lol.  Well, the real one is ultra-thin and lightweight, it’s so light you don’t even know you are wearing it after a while.  I wore it around the house for half hour and not realizing I still had it on.

My Blue Wave Camelbak is really nice.  It’s red and black and it has 2 compartments for you to carry other things.  I like it.  It’s 70oz which according to the tag is 2 liters and that’s enough for me.  Normally when I go riding even when I did the 18 mile trek, all I had was a 32oz cup.  Actually when I was doing the 18 miles I ended up having to refill it at one of the rest stops which was fine.  The water wasn’t great out of the drinking fountain but it was fine until I got home.

So all I need is my front wheel from Snider’s Cyclry and then I’m all set.  I was supposed to have it yesterday but they told me Monday so now I have to wait until Monday which is fine I guess.  I can wait just a couple more days.  But if they still don’t have it I’m going to raise hell because I can’t stay this fat forever lol.

Deadly Pet Toys

On By Michel McDonaldIn PetsLeave a comment

We got our Toy Chihuahua last year so we’ve had her for maybe a year and 2 months.  When we first got her we went to PetSmart and bought her this little toy that is a green frog with a squeaker inside of it.  She loves that frog.  She’s always playing with it and her favorite thing is to bite down on the squeaker to make it squeak.

She’s chewed the hell out of that frog and she’s even torn the fabric so that she was able to access the squeaker and she chewed the tip of it off.  This was like 6 months or so ago.  I took the squeaker out and threw it away when I realized what she had one.

About a month ago I found the spare squeaker that came with the frog and there is an access in the back of the frog with Velcro so you can remove the one inside and replace it.  Well, even though she chewed the hell out of the stomach it didn’t occur to me that she might try to chew the spare squeaker the same way.  I don’t know why.  I forgot that she did it to the first one so it didn’t really occur to me to not put the second one in there.

Today Darrin was laying on the couch talking to his brother on the phone and our dog Flower was laying next to his feet just going to town on this frog.  I saw how passionate she was chewing on this thing and it didn’t occur to me that she might have been chewing the tip of the squeaker.

Darrin got off the phone and I noticed that she was clawing at her face.  I went over to her and picked up the frog and she didn’t try to get it back, she was still clawing at her face.  She had this look of horror in her eyes.  I could tell she was in trouble but I didn’t know what to do.  I looked at the squeaker and the tip was gone.  The part that makes the squeaking sound was laying on the couch where she was laying all by itself next to the frog and I realized she was choking on something.

I put my finger in her mouth and I could feel it in her throat but I couldn’t get at it.  I accidentally pushed it in her throat and she was struggling still.  I knew she couldn’t breathe at all.  I told Darrin to blow inside her mouth to help her out but he didn’t know what I meant.  He put his lips up to her mouth and blew on them, I grabbed her and put her entire snout into my mouth and just blew and then chip squeezed her chest and you could hear a popping sound, the plastic piece shot out of her mouth and fell onto the floor.

OMFG!!!  I was in total panic mode, I didn’t know what to do.  I didn’t know what I was doing when I blew in her mouth, I thought I was helping her but at the same time I would’ve been hurting her.  If it weren’t for Darrin squeezing her chest she would’ve been dead.

I immediately threw the frog away and took a picture of the squeaker.  You can see in the picture the piece that she had stuck in her throat, it’s the thing that the arrow is pointing to.

squeeker

I can only imagine what might have happened if we weren’t home to see this happening, what we might have walked in on one day.  I might have been on my bike ride and come home to find a dead toy chihuahua laying on the living room floor or on the couch.  Or we might come home from the movies or from going out to dinner.  I will never ever buy another toy with one of these things in it ever again.  And if I find a toy that has one, I’m going to take it out first.

My aunt Louise takes them out.  When I went to visit her for Christmas in Texas someone bought her dogs some toys and she took the squeakers out but I didn’t know why, now I know.  They are killers.  But her dogs are a lot bigger than mine, like Golden Retriever sized dogs.  Our dog is smaller than a cat.  Like half the size of a cat.  I never even imagined this would happen but now I do and I’ve learned from it.

Kindle Blog

On By Michel McDonaldIn eBook, KindleLeave a comment

I was looking at Kindle the other day and as I was there I saw that you can read people’s blogs on the kindle.  I thought that you could just go to either their website or there was a think where you tell them who you subscribe to but apparently it’s not like that.

If you want to read a blog their blog site has to be registered through Kindle and you have to pay for it.  Well, I don’t want to charge people to read my ramblings.  Although the money would be nice but why charge people when they can read it for free here through my website either on the PC or through a mobile phone like the iPhone or iPod or even PSP.

If they make it so that I don’t have to charge people at all then I will add it to Kindle but I honestly don’t know anyone who even has a Kindle.  I would like to publish my blog though because I currently have 0 readers.  So frankly, nobody is going to read this.  Hell, I don’t even read my own blog.  I just blog it.  I do read it after I’ve posted it to see if there are any corrections needed or I go back.  Anyway lol I was rambling.  I would like to get it on Kindle but not as a pay blog.

Amazon Kindle 2

On By Michel McDonaldIn Books, eBook, Kindle, TechLeave a comment

In my previous blog about e-books I talked about the pro’s and con’s of e-books.  Well, most of the day I’ve been obsessively researching e-book technology and I have to say that I’m really excited about the future.

E-books use e-ink.  They don’t hardly use any power so the battery lasts a whole week.  You turn it on, press the menu and find the book you are reading, and by the way it shows in that menu the page you were on so you don’t have to find where you were at, it keeps it bookmarked from the last page you were reading.  Then you click the book you want to read and start reading.  Once that page is loaded it stops using any of the power from the battery.  You can have it sitting there for an hour on that page and it won’t use any power.  Once you press the button to turn the page then it uses power to turn the page then you see the words change and then no more power usage.  The battery will last basically a week before you have to charge it at all.  And when you do charge it, it takes about 2 hours to charge.

If however you are flipping through the Amazon website and flipping through pages of a e-magazine then yeah, it’s going to use a lot more of your battery and it will probably last 2 or 3 days before needing charged.

I love the idea of waking up every morning and the newspaper is already downloaded on your kindle.

It would also be good if the catalog companies would deliver their catalogs directly to your Kindle so that you don’t have to 1, wait for them to come in the mail and clog up your mail box and 2, waste paper when you throw it out.  This way you can flip through them then delete the file when you are finished reading it.  That is if you decide you want to, you can keep it if you want.

Another thing I want to obsess er um I mean discuss is the hard drive.  The previous Kindle 1 from last year only has a 256mb hard drive allowing you to store 200 e-books but the new Kindle 2 has a 2GB allowing you to have a hell of a lot more.  I don’t know exactly how many but it’s a lot.  Can you just imagine maybe in another year or 2 when they come out with the Kindle 3 it might have 2TB.  Then you will have a crap load of books and magazines and newspapers.  You won’t ever have to delete anything because you will have tons of room.

As I said in my last post, I’m waiting for it to be cheaper, in color and have touch screen.  Well, I watched a video today of the guy who invented Amazon talking to Martha Stewart and she kept mentioning color e-ink and he said it was in the labs.  Not their labs but in labs period.  Well, I’ve been seeing e-books with color e-ink so I know it is possible and I’m sure in Kindle 3 it will have color e-ink.

My other issue is about the touch screen.  I think it is a lot better than buttons.  I saw an e-book from Dvice.com that was touch screen, all you do is press and drag the page and it turns the page, or you just press the right side of the pager to flip it.  And also when you are on the website trying to buy a book you touch the screen for the keyboard and it comes up so you can type the name of the author or book title.  I think the Kindle keyboard is just too much.  Although it does have more of a use than just buying books, you can make notes in your books.  You can also highlight sentences.