Life: Long Time Coming

Has my life really been so boring the last eight months since I last made a blog post? It certainly hasn't had the excitement of past years with ultras and all kinds of new stuff. Lots of work stuff, and plenty of time trying to get the shoulder/back problem sorted. So what are some of the oh so grand things to happen in life these past months?

The first round of rehab didn't take so well. Things were doing okay, but it wasn't enough to truly allow me to regain full functionality for long. So after the end of the first round in June it was back to the doctor in August. And then finally back for more rehab in October.

And that's where I am now. I'm certainly not pushing the limit as much with work stuff. The rehab is going well too. There is definite progress. I had a minor spasm a couple weeks back, but I wasn't still working to recover from it two weeks later. I'm truly getting stronger too. Not in the quantity so much, but I can definitely manage to do things for longer than before. Things should continue to improve though.

The hot water tank sprung a leak back in October. Luckily a friend had replaced his tank with an on-demand system, so we got his tank to replace ours. An evening of work got everything in place and we are back to normal again on the plumbing front for a long while hopefully.

I say hopefully because we pulled all the polybutylene pipe in our house in July because it had sprung a leak in the basement. So another friend came to the rescue with help replacing it with polyethylene. That DIY saves us $150/year in insurance costs since the polybutylene had a history of poor installs and parts - mostly in the US though.

I've been getting lots of time on the tabletop with my miniatures with regular club games, running demos and training session at The Sentry Box, and a club run tournament where I managed to win Top General. More minis are making it to the painting table, but that will be a long ongoing process.

I'm taking continuing education for a certificate in Occupational Health and Safety. I'll be halfway done when I finish my current course. Lots more to do still, but is proving to be interesting and enlightening. My perspective on safety has certainly changed over the years. I find it not all that surprising that it's also given a short stick too. Lots to do with seemingly small return on the balance sheet. And yet it can b pretty costly to ignore too.

I'm really enjoying falling more in love with Aerin every day. The landings are not always the smoothest, but I can't imagine not having her in my life. We've had some interesting adventures this year with our jobs and our activities.

This summer we ventured into the backcountry of Kananaskis with Ursa for her first overnight trip. Things went pretty well. Ursa did a great job getting up and down the headwall to Three Isle Lake. Things went relatively well with a smaller tent. There were a couple other dogs there too.

Leadership changes at the university within the department had me contemplating other work and violence. I've never been quite so pissed off in my life I think. The lack of running and such due to the shoulder and resulting loss of sleep didn't help either, but both those problems have diminished along with the return of competent leadership at work.

And then of course there is the simple fact that the year has just flown by again. It's hard to believe sometimes. I think I was joking back in May about it being time to start Xmas shopping, and here we are less than 3 weeks away. Crazy!

Life: Catching Up

It's been a long while since I last blogged about the things happening in my life. There have been ups and downs - mostly downs lately it seems. Thus, I haven't been particularly interested in being a downer, but I'll try to cover a few things at least in general here. If I find myself particularly talkative about any one subject I will expound on that in a separate blog.

Riding to work in the fall went relatively well with an average commute of 95 minutes each way. Some of the hills make it very challenging since I can't really ride the trike very well over the narrow dirt trail that is the less hilly option. The morning ride is particularly hard since I have a big hill to climb barely ten minutes into my ride. The trip home is downhill and then "flat" for a good while, so tackling the uphills is a lot easier.

I didn't ride over the winter. Two circumstances presented themselves that prevented it. The first was necessary repairs to the car that ate my tire budget. The second was the persistent snow and cold that was Calgary's winter this year. For all the years I've lived in Calgary I don't think I've ever experienced a winter quite like this one. So I'm relieved that I didn't spend money on tires and then didn't get any riding in. I did bring the trike inside and modify my cycle trainer for the 20" rear wheel, so I got some peddling in. Which bring me to the next thing that was a bummer over the winter.

My shoulder and back had been bothering me since 2009 when I partially dislocated a rib. It meant I had problems with some motions and lifting that were repetitive - mostly work and running. After a lot of massage and some physio that only brought temporary relief, I saw my family doctor in Edmonton the beginning of February and filed a progressive injury claim with the Workers Compensation Board. The claim was finally approve six weeks after seeing my GP, so now I am getting intensive physio treatment to help the rehab. Another 2 1/2 weeks of physio before I either get an extension on the treatment or released to do my own thing. I'm hoping things continue to go well on that front. I've been taking way too many muscle relaxants to be able to sleep at night, so I hope I can get off them and get back to running and cycling without worry about my back and shoulder.

The work situation has grown increasingly frustrating and disappointing since last fall. Needless to say this has been incredibly stressful and tiring. I've effectively committed myself to placing my health and well-being ahead of this situation with my reducing any "extra" work that doesn't apply directly to pickups, processing and disposal. A lot of this had to do with management, but there are immediate changes being made there. I'm certainly not holding my breath though.

I've been able to get in a steady scehedule of Flames of War games in since last fall. A friend and I have also been able to get back to work on a submission to Battlefront for a website PDF release. It will be nice to see that finished. I haven't got a lot more painting done, but it has progressed a bit. I also got a bunch of Paper Terrain sets for Christmas, so I have start work on those. Aerin found me some really good craft glue to put those together rather easier than my previos sets. Hopefully I can make more progress, but the return of spring means other demands will be made for my time.

I need to finish the baseboards this year. I will probably skip doing the stairs for one more year while I puzzle out how to finish them. A little landscaping will need to be done too, and I need to build a proper gate across the pad beside the garage to prevent pet escape and open the space a little. With the baseboards done I can also do a proper organization of the garage including making space for fireplace wood. The chimney sweep we had check the fireplace last summer was great about educating about all things fireplace, so this spring will see the arrival of a bunch of wood to cure over the summer for next fall and winter.

Ursa turned two years old last month! Has it been so long already? She continues to be the spoiled first child, so her trianing isn't what we'd like it some times. But we do love her to bits for all the joy she brings us. She did freak us out a bit last November, but you can check out Aerin's blog for those details. Here's the quick version: Xylitol (sugar substitute) and dogs do not mix. If she'd been a smaller dog she'd probably be dead. She's 120lbs/53.5kg now, and taller than both her parents. Did I mention we really love her? She's such a character.

I'm really looking forward to having a summer this year. Last year was pretty wet and coool. Much more camping and hiking are planned with some short backcountry trips to get Ursa introduced to the whole experience. We'll likely stick to the Kananaskis area mostly.

That's it for now. (I wish I could predict the same for snowfall, but it's not June yet.)