Sunday, February 25, 2007

March 5th

Surgery is set for March 5th. It is outpatient so I'll be home the same day. I have to be at the hospital 2 hours before and the procedure takes an hour.

The doctor told me it will take 4 weeks to fully heal and that the first two are the most uncomfortable. Not sure which will be worse. Being in more pain than I am now to fix the problem, or the boredom of being stuck in my bed for 2 weeks.

My family has offered to come down and help out with Shannon while I'm laid up. That was very nice to offer. I'm sure Erin will gladly accept any help that she can get.

I was excited to find a few sports radio podcasts from New York while trolling through the iTunes Music Store the other day. I love listening to New York sports talk but it is a little hard to find in Atlanta. So I've been listening to segments from the Mike and The Mad Dog show as well as Michael Kay. So at least I'll have those to entertain me while I'm recovering.

Thursday, February 22, 2007

What Is A Hernia???

I ran track and played baseball while I was in high school. Part of playing on a school team was getting a sports physical before you could participate. All we knew about it was we had to go to the nurse and some guy would put his hand down our pants and tell us to cough. Every one of us dreaded it. The guys hand was always cold.

After Googleing hernia this is the definition I got. "A hernia occurs when the contents of a body cavity bulge out of the area where they are normally contained." Basically when a part of your intestine breaks through a thin layer of your abdominal muscle.

After going to see a general surgeon today I found out that the pain I've been feeling in my lower right abdomen for the past week was in fact, a hernia. Technically it is called an inguinal hernia.

The good news is I get to miss 2 weeks of work and still get paid. The bad news is I need an operation. The surgeon has to make a 4 centimeter incision and basically sew a patch of mesh over the hole so that the intestine can't get out.

Recovery time is 4 weeks with the first week made up entirely of bed rest and pain meds. I should find out on Friday when the surgery will be.

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Terrible 2s

Looks like the "terrible 2s" start around month 19. The last few days Shannon has been a monster. Temper tantrum after temper tantrum. All without a rhyme or reason. Kids are crazy. One minute she is rolling around the floor crying and the next she is laughing to her favorite TV show.


For some reason tonight Shannon didn't want to sit in her high chair. As soon as we put her in there she freaked out. So Erin got out the booster seat and Shannon had her first meal as a big girl at the table. She had penne style pasta and remained well mannered the whole time.









Saturday, February 17, 2007

Getting Off The Pacifier

Today marks the 3rd day that Shannon has gone without her pacifier. This doesn't include nap and sleep time where we are giving it back to her. We aren't that crazy. When it comes to Erin and I sleeping, Shannon can have it. She used to spend the majority of the day with the pacifier in her mouth, so this is a dramatic cut back for her.

So far so good. She has been putting other things in her mouth like books, toys, stuffed animals, clothing, and her hand but she hasn't been complaining too much. This kid is so smart she goes over to where we keep the pacifiers and reaches up to let us know what she wants. As long as we can distract her with her favorite show or food, the pacifier urge goes away she is fine.

The ultimate goal is to get her completely off of the pacifier before her 2nd birthday. We have less than 5 months to go.

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Asshole Of The Week

The Asshole Of The Week award has to go to my dog Daisy. Erin woke up and started getting Shannon dressed this morning. Daisy woke up a few minutes later, followed Erin down the stairs and promptly pissed all over the carpet in the living room. No pee pee dance, no whining, no nothing.

Not only did she piss on the carpet but she pissed right in the spot that Shannon likes to lay down at when she is watching TV.

The carpet cleaners come on Thursday. So I'll be spending the rest of the night gathering everything off the floor and getting it out of the way.

Thursday, February 8, 2007

How Horrible Are My Teeth????



I recently found out that my dentist no longer takes Metlife Dential coverage. I've been going to them for a few years so they took it when I first decided to go there. Apparently they stopped taking it in May 2006. News to me, but it probably explains why the crown I just got cost me $693.50 out of pocket.

So I'm going to a new dentist starting next month. One that actually takes my coverage. They asked me to get copies of my x-rays from my current dentist. On top are my Bitewing
x-rays. Under that is my Panoramic x-ray which covers my whole mouth. The brighter white spots are all my fillings. Since these x-rays I've had my wisdom teeth removed so the last tooth on all 4 corners of the Panoramic are gone.

I've done such a poor job taking care of my teeth that almost every one of them has at least one or two fillings in them. Two of my teeth were all filling and led to me have to get crowns on them. I'll probably need two more crowns in the future.

So two life lessons today kids. Take care of your teeth and make sure your dentist still takes your coverage before agreeing to any major dental work.




Wednesday, February 7, 2007

Goodbye Rush Hour

This morning was the last time I'll have to deal with rush hour traffic for a while. Starting on Monday I go to my new 5a-2p schedule. I will have to wake up at about 4 in the monring in order to get to work on time, but it will be well worth it. My knees couldn't be happier. All that stop and go was killin' em.

Saturday, February 3, 2007

Boston Overreacts

Turner Broadcasting launched a guerrilla marketing campaign a few weeks ago to promote Cartoon Network's "Aqua Teen Hunger Force."

They hired a marketing firm to promote the show and that firm sent out 40 of these Lite Brite devices to 10 different cities.
That's is 40 to each city for a total of 400 devices. Major cities like New York, Atlanta, Philly, San Fran, Seattle and Boston. Some of these devices have been up for days even weeks.

Boston was the only city to have the reaction that it did. They shut down the T, major highways, and created a panic within the city. The local government totally overrated to the situation without investigating it. They even went to the extreme of blowing these things up. Look at them. It is a friggin' Lite Brite people. You think a terrorist would really make a bomb that is this visible??? The whole point about a bomb is that it is hidden. It should be a surprise to everyone when it goes off. This isn't the movies where bombs have flashing lights and red and blue wires to cut. This is common sense.

Now the city of Boston expects Turner Broadcasting to pay for the cost of the response they sent out. Turner will pay them something to save face, but I wish they would have told them to go screw themselves. It is obvious that Boston handled this situation incorrectly. Sent in the calvary without first assessing what they really had on their hands. Why should Turner have to pay for the misuse of city resources by a mayor that obviously doesn't know how to handle a situation like this?

Boston looks ridiculous over this. The other 9 cities in the campaign barely noticed that these things where hanging up and just sent the police to take em down. They didn't call in helicopters and bomb squads.