I'm Back... (An Old Fashioned Steve Rant)

Been away for a few days on business. I gotta tell you, flying away doesn't bother me so much. Really it's easy. I sleep better on the road and I get more done paperwork wise. The coming home part is the bitch. Usually I am flying in late and on some screwed up flight. My trip home was screwed up. I left at 5:20pm Central Time from Minnesota. Landed in Salt Lake at like 7:00pm, Mountain time. Then was supposed to fly out at 9:00 Mountain and land at 9:40 Pacific. (For those keeping score that is 6 hours 20 minutes, MSP to SMF)

I then I lugged my bags into carry on. WTF was I thinking? MSP (airport code for Minneapolis) is freaking huge! And of course I was at a seminar so I got heavy assed binder full of stuff (useful stuff but heavy). No inspirational books thank God. But dude, I go in to MSP near B and I got to go to F. And they don't have those moving sidewalks to there.

It gets worse, I land at A in Salt Lake (SLC)and I got to go clear over to C. Salt Lake is one of the most spread out airports on the planet. At least Vegas has a tram. Seattle is cool because it has this underground trolley. When you land there the first time and you look wa-a-ay over at the main terminal and you are like, "Dude, how am I getting over there?"

Of course the worst thing. The flight is delayed out of Salt Lake 40 minutes and it's a 757 so there are like 260 people trying to get on this thing. Something I must say about Salt Lake while you are waiting all this time... (Darling Wife cover your ears).... Full of hotties. OMG!! Hot, blond, 20-40, even the 50 year olds got it going on. Salt Lake City has the hottest women on the planet. Too bad though. Most of them have 4-5 kids trailing behind them. Mormons breed like rabbits. Freaking toe-head fest or something. Okay... so...

So I pack into this flight and every seat on the plane is taken. Except one. The one between me and the guy at the window. I am an aisle guy. Right side of the plane, always... (stretch out my back and left leg a lot). So this flight is late and one seat is open. The waitress stewardess comes up and says, "Hey... wanna trade seats with someone in the exit row?" I glance at the row and there is some like Samoan guy who is like 6'10" maybe 350, with all the leg room in the world slammed into an aisle seat, with his shoulders all pinched back and his left arm was blocking the aisle. My total lack of altruism takes over and I am like, "No!". Yeah it was a better seat, maybe... but seriously, I had my iPod out and there was no way I could move my carry-on bag forward. Plus, I am such non-conformist. I paid for 22-D and that was my seat. Check the manifest, lady... I thought.

So she asks my single serving friend at the window. Row 22 is freaking perfect now and this bitch lady wants to ruin it. I just look at him and let out one of those "Please don't move, I don't want that freaking giant blocking the window, besides... they have those lame fold out trays that never fold out like they should, and you'll spill your beer!" stares at him. He lets out the perfect, "Huh...wha? No way." It was awesome. The stewardess hung her head in shame saying, "I don't know why those guys don't want the best seats on the plane?" Um lady... when I got on the plane, 1 B in first class was open. If you were offering that seat... I'm freaking gone! But you didn't so... HA HA.

Then we land in Sacramento, finally home 30 minutes late... But know... 5 freaking gates are open at that side of the airport but Delta is only using one gate. We freaking wait...15-20 minutes. The pilot getting on every 30 seconds assuring us that we're a couple minutes from pulling up.

I get off the plane. We're at the A side. I parked in B. Gotta walk...

If I flew direct out of MSP. I would land 10 minutes later and probably would have had a nice meal.

Sucks!

Elijah Swims

Well...not really,

More like clings for dear life.

The Magical World of Carbamazepine

Ah... the 80's with their great synth songs.

Yeah... so I went to the doctor yesterday to discuss my options and I came home with a couple of bottles of carbamazepine.

Basically it makes your pain go away. How, I don't know... But let me tell you, man... I have to work up to 6 pills a day to kill the pain. And after one... I am flyin'!!! Well... not really. But remember when you went to the dentist as a kid and they shoved nitrous on your nose and claimed that you were an astronaut on journey before they drilled on your molars? Way too calm down a 5 year old so they did not have the most traumatic experience of their lives.

The stuff seems to work but let me tell you, I have been at the edge of my chair all day. I went golfing last night and shot about a 52 on 9 holes which actually is good for a guy who has a numb leg and arm after he swings a club. I didn't hit one ball straight off the tee until the eighth when I gave up on the driver and it a 3 iron. I smoked it too. On the ninth hole, I did pull driver but I used my old grip which actually hurt me off that tee I mentioned on the previous post. I had a par on the 5th hole, bogeyed the first and third. So all in all, it was good to get out. Pain wasn't too bad when I got up this morning. Then I took the new medication and I feel okay today.

The cool side effect... It helps with bi-polar disorder so I shouldn't be pissed off all the time and then suddenly happy for no reason at all.

Update: After watching the video and writing the first two comments below, I decided to search "Major Tom" in Wikipedia. See link here. Amazing how one mythical character transcended time from Space Oddity all the way down to a neopunk band, like At The Drive In (I have one of their CD's) from the late 1990's/early 2000's.

Spinal Tap Results Are In!!

Well... At this point I don't have MS. Spinal fluid was totally clear and has nothing wrong. I am completely healthy. No meningitis. No weird genetic disorder. Just healthy. My MRI's from last year were clear too so this sort of backs that up.

At this point, all of you precious readers of mine, will tell me how awesome and what relief it is to know that I am healthy. And you are right, it is a bit of relief that I don't have something that could degenerate me into a wheel chair or prevent me from tossing a baseball with Elijah.

However... The pain didn't just stop with those results. I sit in my office today, and I really didn't do shit. I got dressed up and saw a big customer and now I'm back home. Felt fine when I got up, fine when I left, fine when I got home. But I have bounced around from my office to go upstairs and answer the phone and I freaking hurt. Legs, arms... you name it. More so on my left side. The stress in my life has come to a grinding halt. There is nothing going on that should drive me nuts that isn't out of the ordinary, other than our dog Trisha having a tumor removed from her eye. But even that was peaceful. It just cost $1200. We like our dog, she wasn't going to die and she's only 7 or 8 so, it was fine. Just plunk plastic and pay it by June.

I digress...

But it is stressful ever since I stepped up to that tee box on the third hole at Bartley Cavanaugh and took that swing a year ago March 20th that threw me onto the ground in agony. The other part that is a concern to me, which I will figure out tomorrow when I see the neurologist tomorrow is, where my medical provider put me now? Back on the shelf or in the "black hole" where I talk to someone about my "feelings"? As I look back, this thing is progressing. First it was wrist pain. Then hand pain. Then back pain. Then all that plus leg pain, limping and struggling with heavy items. But... it's like. "Hey you don't have MS that is spectacular.." And I am like, "I just want to carry the vacuum upstairs, I don't care what disease or injury I have..."

I sucks... Just bittersweet victory...

Viva Las Vegas

Elijah has his fill at Il Mulino, at Caesar's Palace.

I could have a long post written about Vegas, my ups and downs and ultimate defeat at a blackjack table or my new watch I bought. But this photo pretty much sums it up. I mean, we took a 9 month old to Vegas. That in and of itself is a remarkable accomplishment. We survived and had fun at the same time.

Oh and we drove downtown and went to Binion's. Remarkable bunch of people that hang out down there. Never saw more drunk passed out people getting rolled away in ambulances.