Setting the record straight

 General Health, My MCL  2 Responses »
Apr 272009
 

It seems based on recent discussions on the MCL message board, and a review of my first post on fatigue, I may have led some people to interpret I believe fatigue to be psychological. So let me set the record straight.

FATIGUE IS NOT PSYCHOLOGICAL!

There are many factors which can contribute to the feelings of fatigue, which are psychological, e.g. depression from having a terminal illness, but that doesn’t mean fatigue isn’t real. It is real. I know, because I experience fatigue every day. I just try not to wallow in such feelings, and rather attempt to do something about it.

There is no doubt in my mind that as we get older our bodies don’t respond as they did in the past. There is also no doubt that cancer patients, who have undergone chemo and/or a transplant, have had Continue reading »

Bad karma?

 Life, Work  6 Responses »
Apr 242009
 

Well, there may be a few out there who will revel in the knowledge I may have been struck with some bad karma, as the result of my recent post on fatigue, and my last 3 posts on the MCL message board, regarding fatigue, and the US health care system.

I didn’t really think the comments were inappropriate, my only intention being to try and get everyone to learn and think on their own, without relying so much on others, but yesterday, when I was driving to work, I hit a [BIG] rock (ironically near the Big Rock) on PCH, a few miles north of Zuma Beach (it was dark, and I had just come around a bend in the road), which I just learned today, resulted in a cracked transmission which will require a new or rebuilt replacement.

My only consolation is it’s an 11 year old car with 230,000 miles, and since I do have an extra car, I don’t have to spend the money to fix it. Plus, when I bought the car, I said when the Camry dies, I’m going to retire.

So does a broken transmission constitute dying?

I really didn’t want to retire just yet. I actually like my job, and besides, what would the company do without me?

Here we go again

 Life, Off Topic  No Responses »
Apr 212009
 

Every year it’s the same thing. American Express debits my Starwood Preferred Guest card for a $45 membership fee, I call them to get a good will credit, and every year they tell me the same thing.

I’m sorry we can’t issue you a credit.

Then I talk to a few other people, write an email, and with the exception of last year, I have always been able to obtain a credit for the membership. Last year, if you remember, was different. No matter what I did, I couldn’t get any satisfaction from anyone, and I ended up cancelling the card.

Of course about a week after doing that, someone at American Express, who does have the authority to give me the credit, called, and not only gave me the credit, but gave me an extra $50 to boot. So I agreed to use the card again. She also gave me her name and number to call, should this happen again.

Unfortunately I lost her number, but did remember her name, so I thought I would still be able to get in touch with her, and solve my problem. But after three days of trying to get in touch with her, and even leaving a message once, I was unsuccessful.

So after talking to the latest individual, who of course had no authority to do anything, I just canceled the card, and this time, Continue reading »

One of the worst experiences of my life

 Life, Vacations  2 Responses »
Apr 202009
 

It may even rival March 26, 2002, the day of the fateful blood test which led to my diagnosis of MCL.

Not only was it one of the hottest days of the year, maybe even one of the hottest since I’ve been in California, but my check out dive, for our upcoming trip to Grand Turk, went horribly.

This probably wasn’t the best day to be donning a 7 mm wetsuit, strapping 60 pounds of weights and tank to my back and then traipsing 100 yards to the ocean, but I needed to check out my gear, to make sure everything was working properly, before going on vacation.

So my buddy drove down from Glendora to pick me up first thing in the morning, and we headed out to Corona Del Mar. We decided against Shaw’s Cove in Laguna Beach, our first choice, because the thought of adding 100 stairs (50 down and 50 back up), was going to be more than we wanted to endure, considering the hot weather, simply to go for a check out dive.

Things didn’t start out badly either. We didn’t have to pay for parking, I remembered all my gear, and I was able to get my wet suit on with little effort, but after walking the hundred yards through the sand to the shore [with the 60 pounds of weight on my back], as I was putting on my fins, one of the buckles broke.

I just can’t describe the feeling when that happened. It was utter disappointment. I was sure I had checked the fins before the dive, but some how, the buckle broke, and I didn’t have an extra buckle with me.

But after all that effort, I was not about to abort the dive, so I decided I would try to dive with just one fin.

Well it turns out that wasn’t the best idea. After all the extra effort I needed, to first walk back to the car to drop off the one fin, and then swim out to a point where it was deep enough to start the dive with only one fin, I was so worn out, I could not relax enough, and get enough air out of my lungs to submerge.

So after about 15 minutes of floundering around in the water, I decided it wasn’t worth any more effort, and I called it a day. I’ll just do my check out dive in Grand Turk. My regulator works fine, the BC holds air, and my mask didn’t leak. So with the exception of the fins, which I do have an extra buckle for, everything seems to be a go.

It’s ironic too, that the last time I did a cold water dive with my buddy, about 6 years ago, he lost one of his fins (the same kind) in the surf, and we aborted the dive then. So I am taking that as a double omen, not to take those fins on vacation (I do have another set, which I have an extra buckle for), and don’t do any more cold water dives.

It’s easier riding with Group 1, on Saturdays Hammer Zone ride, than doing a beach dive in California.

A blast from the past!

 Cycling, Life, Vacations  2 Responses »
Apr 182009
 

Went to a wine tasting today, which is of little note, except for the fact I met someone I hadn’t seen in at least 20 years, and was so surprised, I had to blog about it.

For those of you who don’t know Alex, or may have just forgotten (it has been 20 years), Alex was one of the charter members of Lightning Velo, the bike club I used to ride with, and is most remembered for the encounter we had with an old man driving his car on PCH. It seems this driver didn’t like the way we were riding, so he decided to cut in front of us, and stop, causing Alex to run into him.

No one was hurt, but this guy decided he was going to teach us a lesson, and proceeded to try and get out of his car. Now Alex, at 24 years of age was a pretty buffed guy, who was also a boxer, and not someone I would ever want to meet in a dark alley, so why this old man (at least 60 years old) wanted to get out of his car, and mix it up with about 8 pretty pissed off cyclists was beyond me.

So Alex, without much hesitation, just “popped” this guy in the nose as he was trying to get out of the car, forcing him back into his seat. After that, reason triumphed over everything else, and the old man quickly sped off. Nothing else ever came of the incident, except for us telling that story for years to come.

It was shortly after that, Alex went a different way, and I hadn’t heard from him since. I actually thought he had returned to his home in Argentina, which he informed me he did, but only for about a year, after which he returned to the US.

So it was with great astonishment [more like shock actually] when I walked over to this guy, who looked a lot like my neighbor, to listen to his conversation, just out of curiosity, and he recognized me, remembering me from the bike shop I used to own, and the bike club we started.

It was just so surreal, that after all this time we would meet again, and just when we were planning a trip to Argentina this coming winter.

The wind is your friend

 Cycling, Life  No Responses »
Apr 152009
 

That’s the cyclist’s mantra. Well, at least that’s what I tell myself when I encounter a particularly strong head wind.

And such was the case today, as I headed out the door at 6:45 AM for my usual Wednesday morning bike ride. The wind was already starting to kick up, which is not typical for that time of the morning, so I knew it was going to be tough, but I thought about the cyclist’s mantra, and headed out anywaze.

It’s easy to say I’m glad I went now that I’m home comfortably resting in front of the TV, but that’s not how I was feeling as I was riding home into that wind.

The only saving grace was there were 7 of us who decided to turn around at the Huntington Beach pier (10 miles short of our original destination of Corona Del Mar), to face those gale force winds. (Ok, so I exaggerate a little.)

Two of the riders dropped off shortly after we turned around, but I managed to hang on to the remaining four all the way through Bolsa Chica. I didn’t dare slow down, because I knew as hard as I was working then, I’d have been working twice as hard had I lost that draft.

Thank you Corey and Clay!

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