I had this plan

A couple weeks ago we went on vacation. Our usual one week in Walt Disney World, this time at Coronado Springs instead of Animal Kingdom Lodge because of the construction going on at AKL on the new Disney Vacation Club building. I was going to update the blog daily with the days happenings, the dining experiences, and the park conditions. That didn't happen, mainly because when I got back to the hotel at the end of the day I found myself, not tired exactly, but fulfilled to the point that I didn't even feel the need to pull out the laptop. So no daily updates, no daily pictures, just some photos of about half the days on the memory card, still needing to be uploaded to picasa.

Which is what I was going to do when I got home, but that monday was a little busy with unpacking, and I never got around to it. The following morning, I got a call on the way in to work that my grandfather was back in the hospital and was looking really bad. Anna said she'd come pick me up at work as soon as I got there (because I was in the carpool). Ten minutes later, I got another call saying that he'd passed away. The last week has been one of the saddest times of my life.

This week we're starting to get things back on track a little. We got a tree yesterday but weren't able to get it inside and into the stand until today. Christmas shopping is halfway done, those who remain are problem children who need to learn to embrace online wish lists. Not to mention all the late falling leaves which I haven't been able to get to yet. But things are coming back together. Maybe soon I'll get the pictures up, and I can write up a small over view of the vacation.

Playing Catchup

It's been about a month since I've posted, but I'm pretty sure Alan is the only person reading anyway. Regardless, lots of stuff to catch up on.

When last I posted I'd started going back to the gym. Gym has been replaced by physical therapy sessions for the last three weeks. The ankle joint is feeling largely fine but aches are persisting in my Achilles tendon. Only 38 days from our trip to Disney World now, so I really need to get this cleared up. It's making me quite nervous. Some progress has been made, but not as much as I would have liked. I still have another week of PT, and then it's back into the orthopedists office on 11/5 for what will likely be my final check up with him since the ankle joint itself is pretty much healed up.

The last month has seen a dirth of game purchases. I went a little crazy on Xbox Live Arcade; having added four or five games easily. The biggest surprise for us has been Puzzle Quest. I'd resisted the game on handhelds for quite some time, knowing that it was coming to XBLA in beautiful high definition. Plus, the DS game didn't support multicard play so Anna and I would both need a copy, and we only have one PSP. Clearly XBLA was the only choice for a satisfying multiplayer experience, and this assumption has proven correct.


I'd been under the impression that Puzzle Quest was merely a puzzle game with a thin veneer of RPG elements taped over the interface to provide a new dynamic to the proven Bejewelled style puzzle mechanic. Oh how mistaken I was! The RPG elements are far more robust than I would have expected. You move your character from location to location over a simple Final Fantasy Tactics-styled map. Along the way you fight orcs, trolls, undead, and various mythical beasts. You recruit companions to aid in your fight, capture enemies, and lay siege to neighboring cities. You must invest in the construction of your private citadel by building a dungeon to keep prisoners, a mage tower to research spells, a forge to fashion new items, and much more. And everything is accomplished by completion of puzzles and in competition with NPCs. Puzzle Quest is so much more robust than I could have hoped, and it's proven a real surprise hit with the both of us.

Last Friday I picked up WarTech: Senko no Ronde for 360. It's a fairly niche Japanese title that combines shmup with 1-0n-1 fighter. I was shocked when Ubisoft brought it here. Even MORE shocked that they debuted it at full retail. These niche Japanese games have typically been brought over at a modest $40. I wasn't having it for $60, especially with the busted americanized cover art and horrible new moniker of WarTech (the original title was simply Senko no Ronde, at least they had the decency to leave it as a subtitle). It was reduced to $30 eventually, but I still couldn't part with the cash. Last week saw EB/Gamestop reduce the game to $10, so it became a no brainer.

In the TRU B2G1 sale last weekend, I also picked up skate., Eternal Sonata, and Halo 3. Even though I've never cared much for Halo, I realize this is something people will be playing for the next 5 years easily, so I might as well get some play time in with friends online. I'll get to them when I get finished with Blue Dragon, which I've returned to and managed to finish the first disc, finally. The rest of the game should go faster, I'm giving up on inspecting every last bread box and shrub in the hopes of gaining a tiny fraction of increase in abilities and resources.

That's about all I can stomach wrestling with blogger's poor interface. More updates on the last month tomorrow, perhaps.

back to the gym

I haven't been in the gym since around the end of July last year. That's when I had my odd ankle injury that had me limping around for two months last year, which finally culminated in arthroscopic surgery about a month ago. In the mean time I've gained somewhere around 12 lbs, all around the mid-section. I am not a happy cookie.

Thankfully on my last visit to the orthopedist, he suggested that getting on an excericise bike a couple times a week would help regain strength and flexability in my ankle. I didn't actually go until today. Why? After more than a year away it's just difficult to go back. It's hard to get up those extra thirty minutes in the morning to get in to the gym. But once you do, you settle right in.

Twenty minutes this morning of relatively light intervals on the excersize bike. Tomorrow night I'll go back to restart the weight training. Hopefully by this time next month I'll progress back up to the elliptical with my old pattern of high intensity interval training. With any luck, I'll be back down to about 155 by the time vacation comes right after Thanksgiving.

What a week

Last Wednesday at work I started receiving files for a big project that warrant speedy attention. I'd been anticipating their arrival for some time. They are part of a larger issue that has been going on for years before I was even in this position and there's some pressure to get it resolved.

But, of course, last Thursday I had ankle surgery. Off Friday and Monday for recovery, back on Tuesday. By which point MORE files on the project had arrived, also needing review. Fine fine, I got some work done Tuesday, but was still a little bit behind.

Wednesday morning I get up and my car won't start. Quick clicking sounds emanate from the dash... I figure it's the batter, alternator, or starter. Nothing much I can do while I'm still on crutches, though, so back in a go and wait for Anna to get home from work. The car is parked in the carport with no good access to the front though, and there's no way we're moving it out on our own. Any normal day would be fine, but while still recovering from ankle surgery? No, I think not. So she goes to bed, and that night we go out and buy one of those portable jump starters so we can get it moving. That done, I get the battery replaced and the charging system tested the next morning (Thursday) and all is well.

But Thursday I also had another Doctor's appointment so, between the battery and that, it's another day off. Only the Doctor's office disagreed. They didn't have me down for an appointment that day. In fact they didn't have me down for any upcoming appointments at all. Thankfully the physician's assistant is sweet and saw me anyway.

This morning I planned on returning to work... lots to do ya know? Get in my car and realize it's been broken in to. My fault, I left it unlocked, but now the car is full of the out turned contents of my glove boxes. I don't think there was anything in there particularly worth stealing, but I called all of my financial institutions anyway. Got new CC numbers, put a credit alert on file with credit bureaus, and file a report with the police. If I were to leave for work now I wouldn't arrive until almost 11 o'clock, half the day wasted, vacation leave taken for the morning. The heck with that, I'm staying home.

And I have another doctor's appointment on Monday. What a week.

Out of surgery.

I've been out of surgery for 26 hours, and my leg is still numb from the nerve block. Apparently I'm a complete lightweight because I was out way before they expected me to be. They gave me a light sedative to get me loose for doing the nerve block on my ankle because they said I couldn't be completely under when they did it. Yeah, well, I remember rolling on my side for them to start the block, the next thing I know I'm waking up in the recovery room.

The numbness is wearing off, but all that means is the pain is setting in.