Welcome to '09!

Ok, a bit late to the party - but better late than never...right?

A few things - today we finally completed the painful switch to a new ISP. Speeds are much faster but we don't have much faith in our new ISP's competence to do the most basic things - like follow an instruction for example.

Anyway - we're plugged in again. And finally are wireless. My gaming rig and the family machine are still connected via Ethernet - but thanks to the Apple Airport Extreme Base Station I'm running wireless 'N'. The speeds are the same as using an ethernet cable - before I downloaded a file at 260kb/s and smiled all the way through. We have 200GB monthly usage before 6PM, and 20GB after - so I've got plenty of downloading to do during the day.

Going up to the Gold Coast in a week or so, taking my camera gear so hoping for some nice landscape shots. Now that I have a tripod, I can play with long exposures and night photography. I ordered a sensor cleaning kit today as some of my images have been showing a lot of sensor dust - so I'll clean it for the first time when it arrives.

Apart from that, I want to buy a 50mm EF f/1.8 II lens for some low light stuff - certainly would be handy. After that I'll decide if I want to continue doing photography if I like it, then I'm likely to sell my kit and buy something like a 450D and get some decent glass to go with it.

Apart from that - MacWorld has come and gone, and I finally got to watch Phil's keynote today (no internet for a few days thanks to the geniuses at our new ISP). Nothing really surprised me or jumped out at me, a bit boring to be honest. Was expecting a Mac Mini update but it never came. Maybe later or possibly at WWDC sometime in the middle of the year. None of it really bothers me to be honest, I am completely content with my MacBook and I don't see myself wanting to get a Mac as a desktop right now - do too much gaming for that.

Merry Christmas + Update!

Just want to wish anyone that accidentally stumbles past here (I'm sure it wasn't done on purpose) a very Merry Christmas and a safe and happy 2009!

Enjoying the Christmas Carols with the family right now - ahh the festive spirit!

Also - today I purchased a Canon EOS 350D off eBay. Ships with the kit kens (EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 II Lens with HOYA 58mm filter) and a EF 75-300mm f4.5-5.6. My very first DSLR, right now I know very little (well, next to nothing) about photography. Has always been an area of interest of mine but only now have I decided to do something about it. It may be for me, it might not - we'll see.

I also added a link to my brand new Flickr page on the right hand side. Obviously it has no pictures on there but I'll be sure to post some up once get my head around how to use the damn thing!

Story of a Knee - Part II

Ok, so where were we? Oh yeah, the depressing part.

Once the drugs wore off (probably took a full 24 hours) the pain really kicked in. It generally was bearable if I had it up on a pillow - but the second I went to get up pain would shoot all through me knee. I got pretty bored with TV so I figured I'd jump on the PC, hoping COD4 would ease my pain. Wrong. Sitting in a chair with my knee down was amazingly uncomfortable, and it wasn't long before I threw the towel in at that. Basically I couldn't do anything but sit on my ass. Not fun.

I was doing the exercises the physio gave me to do a few times a day. All I had to do was unlock the brace, bend my knee to 30 degrees and repeat 20 times. Surprisingly it wasn't too painful, and I was happy to have a bit of free movement in my knee, though very temporarily.

The next two weeks of the holiday went by very slowly. I was absolutely dreading school in the state I was in. Soon the holidays were up. Something happened and for some reason my first day back at school was the least painful since the surgery. I wasn't really feeling any better than one day it was a hell of a lot better. It was slow moving up and down stairs, through packed corridors to classes - but it was a lot better than I had thought it would be. I was happy to be out of the house doing something.

On the second day of school I had my first post-op appointment with the surgeon. To say he is a man of few words is an understatement. Whether he is just busy or not I'm not sure. But the appointments are always very brief. The nurse came in first and removed the stitches from my scars, they run beneath the skin but eventually they'll desolve into the muscle. She took off the things on my scars, and it didn't look too bad. It was the first time I'd seen them since the surgery, as they were covered the whole time - even in the shower. The doc rocked up a minute or two later. He got me to straighten my knee, which I did - apparently the first goal post-op. He asked what exercises I had been doing, then felt my knee a bit and seemed pretty happy. The news was to leave the crutches on for another 2 weeks (so would be 4 weeks in total) and the brace on till we saw him again in a month.

The next few weeks went by kinda fast. Was kept pretty busy with school. Eventually I started getting buses with my crutches and brace, was a bit uncomfortable but not too bad. Pretty much every man and his dog stared at this ugly thing on my leg when I was out in public, was a bit annoying at first but soon I didn't give a shit.

It was time for me to walk again. I had been sleeping with the brace off for 2 weeks, and had sometimes taken it off to ice my knee - but hadn't walked without crutches yet. It was magical. I had almost forgotten how to do it, but it was barely painful and I was stoked. Such a simple thing like walking is taken for granted by most people, I certainly won't ever again. To be able to walk into the kitchen and get a feed is just so liberating after being dependant on others for so long. It was a little uncomfortable with the brace, and I walked pretty awkwardly - but I didn't care. The following weeks got me even more looks in public as I looked like Forest Gump hobbling about.

I'll leave it there - if you made it to this point, one more instalment should bring us to the present.

Story of a Knee - Part I

Ok, I figure I better do an introductory post on this as I'll probably talk about it later.

To cut a very long story short, was playing soccer in August - went to turn direction with the ball - I hear a pop in my knee and I fall on the ground. Hurt like hell. Went to get up, pain was too bad so I collapsed again. Tried again, and managed to hobble off the field. 

The physio at the school I was playing at brought over some ice and we were told to go up to the nearby medical centre. The swelling got pretty bad quickly but it wasn't too painful after the initial fall. I remember saying "I'm feeling ok, think I can go back out". Well, I didn't. Eventually the game ended as I watched - and finally we began the 100m trek to the car. I can't tell you how painful it was. I knew it was serious after that and was waiting for bad news.

So we rock up to the medical centre and they couldn't do much till the next day, as the radiologist had gone home so I'd have to wait for an X-Ray. So we went back on the Sunday, had the X-Ray and the doc didn't like it. Wrapped my knee up in a plaster cast and was told to spend the next week on crutches. 

Skip forward a week of amazingly uncomfortable sleep (with the cast digging into leg) and we see the doc again. He still didn't like it and said I had done my meniscus, and might need surgery. Sweet. Got a referral to an orthopaedic specialist. After seeing him, he took a look at it and didn't seem to like it either. He seemed to want to speed up the whole process so he got me in for an MRI the same day. 

2 days later we picked up the MRI prints and saw the specialist again. He said I had done my meniscus and my Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) and would need surgery. As you can imagine, my heart sank. Seriously felt like shit after hearing that news. Anyway, he referred us onto an orthopaedic surgeon. We had to wait about 3 weeks to see him, apparently he was on holiday or leave or something.

So we saw the surgeon sometime in September. He looked at the X-Rays and MRIs, played with my knee a bit and told us about the surgery. It was elective surgery, but obviously as a young bloke I want to be able to play sports and generally have a healthy life. Plus, if we didn't do it I'd probably get osteoarthritis in my late 20s. That and my knee gave way on me a few times a day, plus the constant clicking was more the reason to get it done. I would be on crutches for 7-10 days, which wasn't too bad. My folks agreed, and we set a date for October 1, 2008.

We rocked up to the hospital the day of the surgery and had a few hours to kill. I played Crash Bandicoot on my iPod while watching the time. Soon I had to suit up in a beautiful robe and one of the doctors came to wheel me to the OR. For some reason they were a bit late so I had to wait in the recovery room for about an hour, still in my bed. Obviously it was pretty boring and I got more and more nervous, being in a room of people who had just come out of surgery and were still smashed from the anaesthetics. Eventually that same doc came and shaved my leg, and a few minutes later we wheeled me into a room joining the OR. I met the assistant surgeon and my anaesthetist. She asked me a few questions, stuck a needle in my wrist and........

I wake up in the recovery room totally hammered from the drugs. Everything was blurry, I didn't have a fucking clue what was happening and I was as sleepy as hell. I was that out of it I asked one of the nurses if they had done the surgery yet. Obviously they had seen I had come out of the anaesthetics okay and they wheeled me back to my room. Was still very sleepy as I saw my folks again. At some stage the surgeon came and saw us, can't remember if it was before or after I had a bit of a sleep. He had bad news. Not bad bad, but not what I was hoping. 

He said I had totally done my medial meniscus (which didn't show up on the MRI) so he repaired that too. He went on to say I had a full leg brace on and would have to be on crutches for 4 weeks (compared to the mere 1 week I was expecting). I didn't think much of the brace as I had no energy to take the sheets off to look at it. My folks left, and I was in for a long night.

Eventually the nurses got some food for me, and I felt heaps better. Just layed there watching TV. I was in no pain as I was still under the drugs. If I felt a bit of pain creeping in, all I would have to do was push the button connected to the machine to increase the dose and the pain would quickly fade away. Ahhh....

Didn't get any sleep that night, nurses had to come in every 2 hours to take my blood pressure. Oh, can't forget the ice pack on my knee breaking so I had icy cold bed sheets. They had to come change my sheets, all while I was still on the bed barely able to move. That coupled with trying to pee in a bottle wasn't fun. When you're lying on your back and you're trying to go against gravity it isn't easy...never mind.

The next day breakfast was brought to me and I was cleared to be discharged after seeing the physiotherapist. She must have been pretty busy because I waited hours before she came. I was given a few little exercises to do - including bending my knee to 30 degrees. The brace itself is looked at straight extension, but you can set parameters to how far it can go when it's unlocked. She then taught me how she wanted me to use the crutches, and I went up and down a flight of stairs and we were done. I go to a school that's 3 stories high, and my locker is on the top floor - and I have classes all over the school. Fun.

We got home early-mid afternoon, and I was as useful as a door-knob. I was told to keep my knee up and to ice it every 2 hours for 20 minutes. I could obviously move around on crutches, but as the drugs wore off my knee was as painful as hell the second I stood up. I couldn't do anything for myself, not get a drink of water or anything. If I wanted to change rooms I'd have to ask someone to carry my pillows (to rest my knee on) plus the can of Coke I was drinking at the time. Was extremely frustrating. Not only was it the most pain I've ever been in (and I once had my finger half amputated, they had to sew it back on as it dangled carelessly in the wind) but it was the most mentally challenging experience I ever had.

I became semi-depressed not long after getting home. The anger of being so dependant on others plus the pain drove me insane. I had another one and a half weeks to shake it off before returning to school.

Okay, I'm tired as hell just from typing all that - so I'll finish it off later. Please ignore the whole "long story short" thing.

Yeah, another blog

I'm bored at the moment, so I made a blog. 

And no, this blog has nothing to do with Ron Burgundy or Anchorman - it just asked me for a name and in my infinite creativeness this is what I came up with.

Like my lengthy description says, this is just a blog to post whatever I feel when I remember - I'm on holidays right now so I should have plenty of boring crap to talk about.

Buh-bye!