A few months later and thing have taken a turn for the better.  I wish I could say the arm injury is 100% better but no, that’s not the case.  I have returned to full usage of the arm in daily life as well as at the gym but there is still a small hint of pain/discomfort that flares up every now and then.  It’s just enough to keep me from thinking it’s not all better.  The problem is that when resting the arm, there was little improvement for months so eventually I said the hell with it.  I was just going to go back to the gym and either hurt it to the point where I couldn’t move and then maybe it would be a big enough problem that a doctor could actually find it or it was going to go away.  Well the 2^nd option seems to have taken place.  3 weeks now I’ve been working to rebuild the strength that I lost which seems to be about 30% in some areas.  I’m not to worried so long as the injury doesn’t return.  If it does, then, I fear I’m gonna get real depressed again L

In other news though, life has gotten more exciting in Seattle.  I’ve been meeting more people and doing more of the fun things one should be doing when living in an awesome city such as this.  Went skiing a few times up in the mountains and have a few concerts lined up in the next few months.  I’m really close to getting MRB signing authority at work which means that finally I can work on my own and don’t have to get everything approved.  That should open me up to more overtime, which I’m not exactly thrilled about from the time at work standpoint, but when overtime equals $85.50 an hour, it’s really hard to say no.  The only problem with that is that the work load is shrinking rapidly.  I am working on a program where they are introducing to new variations of the 747 aircraft.  The first one, the 747-8F (freighter model) just flew last week and a number of them are moving down the line.  The second one, the 747-8I (passenger model), isn’t supposed to start moving through the factory until mid summer.  Until then manufacturing will continue to get better at making the 747-8F and will greatly reduce the number of things that us “fix-it” engineers are needed for.  This puts the company in a pinch as the smart thing to do would be to furlough a number of us contractors until the work load returns yet if that happens, a number of us will go to work someplace else and maybe not return.  So they would then face being short handed this summer when stuff gets real busy.  I wouldn’t go anywhere, actually I’d quite enjoy the time off but I like my giant paychecks so I’m gonna work all I can in the mean time.

Oh and paintball this Saturday, lookout!

It’s that time of year again.  The time where family comes together to exchange gifts and words of comfort and thanks.  It’s supposed to be the happiest time of year yet for many years now it has been more of a source of stress than anything else.  The pressure of gift giving is the problem.  I enjoying giving gifts when the timing and the item is right but giving something to someone simply because society dictates that I must.  Well, that just doesn’t have the same appeal.  Gifts act as statement of how well you know or care about an individual.  To be able to pick out an item that someone will truly appreciate is a very tough task.  I have often left holidays and birthdays feeling quite depressed because my family and friends spent good sums of money on things for which I have absolutely no interest or clothing that I would never wear.  Sure I appreciate the effort but it’s clear that these gifts were only given out of the mandate that you buy things for people on certain days of the year.  Now I know that I am no pro at gift giving, heck often I’m just as bad as those I am complaining about.  Yet some of the time I feel like I get lucky enough and come across a great idea.  It simply takes a little time to get to know the persons interests.  All people have certain things in their life which are important to them, and when it comes to gift giving, anything that acknowledges your awareness of those things will be a great start.  That said there are times when a person’s hobby is known by everyone and to give something in that category would be too easy or too much in line with what everyone else is doing.  That leaves you with the option of a sentimental item, one that brings a special memory of a past event or one that shows how much you appreciate a person.  Regardless of how it is looked at, gift giving can be one of the best and worst things about the holidays.  When you do come across that perfect gift for a person, you feel great about it.  On the other hand, it seems much more common that we give gifts simply for the act of giving and just hope the receiver never mentions it again. 

I have no clue how well my gifts will be received this year.  Some should go quite well while others may only fill the purpose of giving.  To me it’s not the thought that counts either, it’s the presence.  Just being around friends and family is far better than any trinket or toy.  I wish that one day more of society would realize this that the mandatory act of holiday gifting would be pushed aside.  Gifts should be given periodically throughout the year at times when people feel the desire to do something nice or to let someone know they are appreciated.  Sadly though our consumer driven society will probably never let this happen.

Ok so it looks like I’m doing a little better with posting here but I’m still finding it hard to make the time to type.  It’s odd how even though I have much less going on in my life right now, I seem to have less time for things.  Possibly it’s because without the pressure of feeling like I won’t get everything done, I procrastinate more.  Oh well, on to the latest in my life…

So in my last post I tried to sum up a number of the events from the past few months but so much had happened that I just couldn’t fit it all in at once.  That’s right, there’s more and before I can talk about current events, I feel that I have to sum up the old ones.  Right then; many of you have often been forced to endure my long winded rants on the benefits of the Crossfit exercise program and you are no doubt aware of my fondness and commitment to it.  This program is so good and gaining popularity so fast in the fitness world that I have actually considered the possibility of jumping career paths and starting up my own Crossfit gym.  This idea first entered my mind back in the fall of 2008 and has been gaining steam ever since.  Last summer, when faced with a possibility of loosing my job at Cessna, I began to see an opportunity for acting on this idea.  Before I could even consider applying for a Crossfit affiliation liscense, I would have to become a certified trainer in the Crossfit methodologies.  So I instantly signed up for the nearest and earliest certification seminar that I could.  I paid my fee and was all set to go to Dallas in September when suddenly things started to shake up a bit.  A few weeks later I found myself preparing for a move to seattle and about to start a new career with a new company.  But wait, it just so happens that in the Pacific Northwest, Crossfit is everywhere.  There is a gym about 3 miles from my apartment where I went in and talked with the owners before I even checked into my place.  Everything was looking great.  I had a new job, more money, was in an amazing city, surrounded by mountains and water, access to a gym and trainers where I could learn the business of running a gym, had all my affairs back in KS in order, and was at an all time peak in nearly all levels of my personal fitness.  Just when everything was looking great, disaster struck, sort of.  I got hurt! 

To sum up the injury I tore a tendon in my left forearm doing movements and exercises that I’d been doing for years only this time around I did way way way more than I should have in a very very short amount of time.  Oh and of course I neglected it for 2 weeks while continuing to workout and making it worse.  Finally it got to the point that anything that put the slightlest amount of torsional load on my wrist was causing severe pain.  I was basically reduced to a one armed man before I finally went to the doctor.  After a short visit which included some poking, twisting, and pulling of the arm (a, does this hurt? How about this? Approach) and no diagnostic testing the doc said there was a small tear in the tendons that connect my forearm muscle to my elbow which should heal with 3-4 weeks of rest.  Well that visit took place on the 18^th so here I am in my 8^th week and sill one armed L.  The prolonged healing period is greatly my fault as I have continuously reaggravated the injury by “testing” to see if it was better.  Apparently when the doc said 3-4 weeks of rest, she meant total and complete non usage of the arm.  No stretching, lifting, or pulling of any sort.  Think about that for a moment, you have an arm the moves and works just fine but you can’t use it or tomorrow it will start aching again.  It’s very frustrating indeed!  As of today I am 2.5 weeks into a self commited 4 week period of no arm usage and while it is feeling better, there is still a long way to go.

In the mean time I still go to the gym and do my best to workout the rest of my body but I can really feel the effects.  The worst part though is simply not being able to participate.