LIVING WITH MCL

And it's working perfectly. I always thought things happen for a reason. And in this case I'm pretty sure I know why. The service appears a lot faster, and I couldn't be happier!

As if my experience with American Express wasn't bad enough, now I can't believe Verizon is just as intransigent. Lately I've been having problems with my wireless connection. It seems anytime I get more than 10 feet away from the router, my internet connection fades out, and connectivity is hit or miss. Mostly miss. So I contact Verizon, and discover my wireless connection is only guaranteed for 10 feet or line of sight from the router. THAT'S RIDICULOUS! What's the point of having a wireless connection, if you can't get a connection anywhere in the house. Besides this has only been a problem for the past one or two months. I never had a problem connecting before. Incidentally this is on 3 different computers (including a brand new MAC), so I know it's not a computer problem. So anywaze, I contact Verizon, and I also discovered that the router is only warranted for one year. SAY WHAT? I never bought the router in the first place. It was included wi

I'm not sure if it's the warmer weather we're experiencing, the fact I had a great bike ride yesterday, or something else I can't exactly put my finger on right now, but whatever the case, I didn't experience the malaise, I have been experiencing for the past several months, this morning when I woke up. When it was time to get up, I just got out of bed, and was pretty much ready to go. Now I can only hope it will last!

That was my intake of water on todays bike ride, and how much weight I lost after the ride was over. That's the most water I've drank, and weight I've lost on any 55 mile ride I can remember doing. And here I was worried about a 4 pound weight loss in two days last week. At least this time I know the reason.  It was freakin' hot, and the ride was exceptionally tough.  I just never would have guessed I had that much excess water in me. And now it's time for a nap.

And so far it's mostly good news. My creatinine (kidney function) and platelets are well within the normal range, as they always been, my LDH ( Lactate Dehydrogenase ) dropped to 112, which is about 20% lower than it has been for better than a year, and my hemoglobin has pretty much remained where it has been for the last two years, hovering around 12 g/dl. My CBC (complete blood count) though is another story, and a bit confusing. My WBC (White Blood Cell) count was up [which is bad], and my absolute lymphocytes were down [which is good], but my monocytes were up [which is bad]. It seems, whenever an AUTO CBC (the machine does all the counting) is performed, the machine likes to count some of the lymphocytes as monocytes. At least that's my opinion, because if my monocytes were really as high as indicated, I would be dealing with other issues, which I'm not. But it doesn't really matter so much anyways, since in either case, at worst my MCL is stable [which is a goo

It didn't even take 5 days, for me to receive my first offer for a new American Express (AMEX) Starwood Preferred Guest credit card, since canceling the identical card Monday, because AMEX refused to give me a good will credit for the annual fee. And not only is there no annual fee for the first year with this offer, they're even going to give me 10,000 bonus points for signing up. I only wish someone would explain to me why AMEX would do this? The logic certainly escapes me, but then again I'm only a metallurgical engineer, and not trained in the world of high finance. I actually almost took the bait, but then I figured, why bother? Besides I'm sure I'll get another offer in the mail again shortly. Maybe they'll even up the ante the next time. :)

Well as it turns out, that 4 pound weight loss I was so concerned about, wasn't anything to be worried about. As of a few minutes ago, I'm back up to the same weight I was last Thursday. I'd like to say I'm happy about that, but I'm really not. Why can't I seem to lose any weight, as hard as I try? :(

But with a lot more success than last week! The group started out a little slower this time, which allowed me some additional warm up, and to get comfortable in the group. Plus, I didn't allow myself to get strung out off the back, forcing me to sprint out of every turn. I just hovered in the middle of the pack (peleton), benefiting from the protection from the wind it provides. All in all, it was a good day, and I'm looking forward to next Tuesday.

American Express (AMEX) won't! For the last 13 years, Edie and I have used an AMEX Starwood Preferred Guest credit card for the bulk of the credit card purchases we make, having charged a minimum of $25,000 per year over that time, and within the last two years charging in excess of $48,000 per year. (In case you were wondering, we literally charge everything.) When I first signed on for the card in 1995, there were no annual membership fees, but that changed around the 3rd or 4th year, when AMEX started charging an annual fee. I have never been a fan of paying to use a credit card, especially since the credit card company receives a fee (approximately 1% to 2% of the charges) from the merchant every time I use that card, and have always refused to pay any such fees. So every year, when the annual membership fee appeared on my statement, I always called AMEX customer service, and they have always given me a "good will credit" for the fee. That is up until now. This time

I would be delighted. This morning when I awoke, and weighed myself, I was 4 pounds lighter than I was Thursday morning, and 2 pounds lighter than I was yesterday afternoon [after a bike ride into Whittier with Rocky and Edgar]. I decided Wednesday evening to make a more concerted effort to lose weight, even cutting up some celery Thursday to munch on instead of the cookies, candy, nuts etc. I usually munch on in the afternoon, but 4 pounds in 2 days seems pretty dramatic. I don't feel bad, aside from having more and more trouble getting up in the mornings, so I'll wait till tomorrow before panicking. Hopefully I've just shed a little excess [and unneeded] water weight, and I'll see a more controlled weight loss tomorrow.

I raced yesterday for the first time in at least two years, and the first time in probably 10 years since I've done any real significant amount of racing. It was supposed to be more of a training ride for me than a race, but I guess I forgot to inform everyone of that, not that anyone would have listened to me. As it turned out it was a little too fast for me, and I got dropped after the 4th lap. It might actually have been the 3rd lap [or 2nd lap, I am trying to be optimistic], I'm just not really sure, I was working so damn hard. And this was in the Masters group. Those are riders in approximately my age group. Anywaze, I ended up riding myself for a lap or so, until the Cat 4's and 5's (typically younger and less experienced riders) caught me, and I managed to finish the race with them. They were riding at a more moderate pace. Oh well, at least I have a good excuse, it's just that only one other person racing last night knows it. Still, I need to sta

What's this country coming to, when prisoners, i.e. convicts, murderers, thieves, pornographers, child molesters, drug dealers, etc. have greater rights, including a constitutional right to health care, while honest, law abiding, god fearing, tax paying individuals are not being afforded those same rights. From California Healthline ...Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's (R) administration asked the Legislature to provide $7 billion to construct long-term chronic care facilities at state prisons and to upgrade current medical facilities at state prisons... The upgrades are necessary to bring the prisons health care up to a constitutionally acceptable standard after years and years of underinvestment. SAY WHAT! Where in the constitution does it say anything about health care? Somethings just not right here!

Still noticed a slight twinge in my knee as I walked downstairs this AM, which is making me think twice about going for a bike ride, but I just can't afford to take another day off the bike. So I'm going to at least try. I just can't afford to take another day off from training. Hopefully that slight twinge was just my imagination.

It was less than a year ago, I wrote this post , warning myself about drinking plenty of water when indulging in alcohol, so you would think I would know better. But NO, that was not to be the case, and I went on to repeat almost exactly what happened last year. The only difference being, I didn't go for a bike ride ( my knee was still hurting slightly ), and went to the gym instead. At least the dinner party went well. There was plenty of good wine, and everyone said my lamb wellington was very good. I wasn't totally pleased with it, because I wasn't able to obtain the cut of the lamb I wanted, and I thought it was slightly over cooked, but I'm still going to assume they were telling the truth, and weren't just being nice. Besides this was my first time making wellington, and I learned quite a bit. Next time it will be even better. I just hope the next time I remember to drink plenty of water!

Lately I just haven't had much enthusiasm. Maybe it's because I'm still feeling the effects of the trip to New Zealand, maybe it's because I can see the US economy going down the tubes, and an administration that just doesn't have a clue, and the prospect that could all continue should John McCain be elected, or maybe it's because I've just surpassed my 6 year anniversary of being diagnosed with the lousy disease. I don't know, it could be any of them by themselves, it could be all them combined, or it could be something I would prefer not to think about. But whatever the reason, I do know it is being made worse by the fact, my knee started hurting again, when I went out for this mornings bike ride, and I decided it best not to ride today. I noticed some slight pain in my knee yesterday as I was pedaling down the coast with the club, but I wasn't concerned, and thought I could easily work it out. And when we picked up the pace slightly, the pain ac

Oh wait, I almost forgot, it's actually spring time. It's just that at 46.6°F, it doesn't feel much like spring. I actually have to break out my tights for this mornings bike ride. I just hope it warms up fast enough, I can get away without the gloves. I hate wearing gloves!

From vacation that is. Here it is 3:30 AM, and after tossing and turning for the last hour, i decided to get out of bed, and play on the computer. It looks like things are back to normal again. :(

I hate it when I don't ride my bike. Here I thought I would like a chance to rest, after riding hard for the last three days, but that is not the case. I'm so freakin' bored, just sitting here in the house, watching Tesoro plummet another $1.50 a share today, and watching Washington Mutual skyrocket $3 per share, after I came with in $0.20 cents of purchasing it last Friday. I gotta get out of this house. I've already eaten way to much!

That's not exactly how I felt returning from this mornings club ride to Dana Point, but now that I've had a chance to recover, and had a good nap, I can say that. The best part about cycling is you don't have to be as strong as the next guy to be competitive. You just have to know how to ride smart. You have to know who the strong riders are, and pick the biggest rider of the lot (wide and tall is best to protect you from the inevitable wind) to ride behind. When you do that, you can attain speeds you couldn't normally attain on your own, and can ride distances you're not normally accustomed to. Of course there are some riders who are so strong [and typically a lot younger] , no matter what you do, you can't keep up, but just pushing yourself to your limit trying to keep up, can only be beneficial. Remember that old saying, what doesn't kill you, only makes you stronger You just have to watch out for the "what doesn't kill you" part. :wink:

I'm sure everyone has been asked this question sometime in their life, if a tree falls in the forest, and nobody's around to see it fall, does it make a sound? My usual response to that question is, if nobody's around to see it fall, how do you even know the tree actually fell? I know this philosophical question is of little value to most of us, considering everything else going on in the world, but I bring it up today, because this morning, I over slept, for the first time in a long while, and was about 40 minutes late getting to work. But when I arrived at work, I discovered no one was in the office yet. The plant was working, but they don't usually pay attention to the comings and goings of those in the front office. Now I didn't tell anybody [up until now that is], that I was late, so my question is, since no one was around to see me arrive late, was I really late?