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Libertad's Journal

libertad
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03/07/2011 20:06 #53780

My gut is shrinking
If I start going to the spinning classes 2x's a week it should be gone by the time I go to Florida at the end of April at the rate it has shrunk already.

The one thing that might get in the way of my work out routine and my life in general is my wrist. I started getting dull pain in the right wrist about 6 months ago. My right wrist is my dominant and I believe it is related to repetitive actions and working on the computer. It freaked me out a bit and I started taking glucosamine. So far I have taken a 100 of them and the pain has been on and off since then. Now the pain is on and I am recently out of glucosamine and am not sure if it is worth continuing. From what I understand glucosamine really can't harm you but the scientific data is inconclusive as to whether it really helps with joints or not.

I definitely need some help in ergonomics at work and at home. I'm pretty sure the first thing I need to start with is the mouse. Not sure what I should do really. I question going to a doctor for this particular thing because I'm not really sure what they can do for me. Does anybody have any suggestions as to what to do? Any kind of advice about ergonomic mice or whatever? I don't know if it is carpel tunnel or if it is the beginning of arthritis or what.
libertad - 03/08/11 18:41
Thanks for all the suggestions guys, I appreciate it very much.
tinypliny - 03/08/11 07:56
I am not sure that glucasamine has successfully been cleared by clinical trials especially for the indication you seem to taking it for. Please be careful. Most of the time, non-drug routes are several times more effective than popping a pill and I know that you definitely know that.
tinypliny - 03/08/11 07:53
You could try a tablet and a stylus as a mouse replacement. It's like using a pen (that does not involve lateral pressure on the wrist joint) for mouse activities. I absolutely LOVE my tablet and stylus because it has completely eliminated the shooting wrist pains I used to have earlier. However (e:Jim) did not seem to like it so much, so it depends on what you prefer, really.

Ergonomic placement of keyboards is also an extremely important point. The keyboard should be placed so that it's at a slightly lower level than your elbow joint. This is so that your forearm can slope naturally towards the keyboard in a "drapey" fashion without any muscle tension anywhere.

Also, it is important to remember that RSI is not altogether computer-related. If you use the lateral wrist movement with pressure all the time (for eg. cleaning, scrubbing, knitting, other small-range repetitive movements), your carpal tunnel will bear the stress and shear. It's a good exercise to make a count of all the activities that are small-range repetitive and see how you can modify them with ergonomic solutions - like using long-handled cleaning implements to shift the fulcrum away from your wrist or knitting with a ton of breaks and thicker needles...
paul - 03/07/11 22:15
...and congrats on the gut shrinking ;)
paul - 03/07/11 22:14
They have special keyboard that should be massive help with this. (e:jim) has one. I used to have wrist problems a long time ago, they went away a lot once I started typing with both hands and more fingers. The one thing that still bothers me is push ups. I have to do them gripping two hand weights instead of palm flat down.
heidi - 03/07/11 20:19
I've had that twingey wrist problem before - I can usually make it go away by immobilizing my wrist(s) while I sleep so that the tissue can heal. I've been using skater wrist guards, although I'm guessing that any drug store would have cheap braces. I'm always shocked at how quickly it clears up with just immobilization.

I also try to improve the general ergonomics of my workspace - 90 degrees at the elbow, 90 degrees at the knee, mouse close by, etc. Here's a text-heavy Cornell guide :::link::: and mouse tips in particular :::link:::

02/26/2011 23:05 #53741

Creep Center Market
Mike and I went to the Clarence Center Flea Market today. Here is a bit of the creepy.

Still have the post mortem photos for sale. I'm sort of surprised nobody snagged those yet. I'm not sure I would buy those for $35 for the entire set even though I sort of want to see the rest of them.

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Creepy bébé

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Bare chested warrior lawn jockey?

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tinypliny - 02/27/11 17:23
Grisly... UGH
mike - 02/27/11 10:45
Seriously they had the craziest stuff! Who ever decided to make this crazy stuff.

02/19/2011 15:24 #53650

For e:mike who is working all day

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mike - 02/19/11 15:36
haha! I love it! I think that is actually kind of a diss to the horse though haha
flacidness - 02/19/11 15:30
Damn shame......

02/15/2011 19:51 #53621

The makings of a monster
Today I flipped my lid and spent a good part of the day swearing and screaming. Mostly only I could hear me but a decent portion of it was directed at another human being. I really let her have it short of calling her the big C. Without getting into all of the specific details it basically goes like this, I am totally getting screwed over. This stupid company I have to deal with has got all the power and I have none. They can do whatever they want to me and I just have to take it because they are more powerful than I am. They are totally in the wrong and I am in the right but it just doesn't matter.

So I yelled and screamed at this girl who really was being insensitive. Her biggest problem is she REFUSED to have a supervisor call me back. This is when I unleashed my wrath on her. In my opinion, this is absolutely not fair. It is a reasonable request based on the problems that I have had with this company to have a supervisor call me back. So after hanging up on her, I had to call back after a suitable amount of time had passed to calm down to ask to speak with a supervisor. I got some stupid schmuck who wasn't a supervisor of anything, just a glorified schmuck. He wouldn't listen to me and constantly talked over me. Nobody has really ever acknowledge that the company has messed up, they actually try to blame it on me and I KNOW that it isn't my fault.

The thing is that I can be really patient for long periods of time but eventually I will explode. This problem has been going on for several months now. I feel good in knowing that I probably made this girls day worse, but I feel bad that it probably affected everyone else in her environment in a negative way.

After watching this documentary about stress being related to not having any power I completely understand. I need more power. I'm not just referring to this particular situation but just in my life in general, I have no power. I'm not really sure how to change that.
metalpeter - 02/16/11 17:23
I am not in your spot but I get that feeling of no power from being at work... Boos and people in charge make all these stupid rules and there is some new thing (they can now check your car for weapons ... well if what else are they looking for.... You can't be impaired at all aka I get drunk the night before and am sick that is wrong.... You can only use the type of cutter they say anything else is a weapon now it is complete bullshit) What happens if you don't sign it I don't know but I feel like not singing it...... See they have all the power... But if everyone in the place walked in and said "This is Bullshit and here is why..... we aren't signing it" then we would have the power or maybe they would fire all of us who knows.....

In terms of blowing up it sounds as if you let things build up... You think you are cool but someplace things are simmering and then bang giant grease fire hits the walls... Then you turn off the burner and no real damage is done....

In Terms of the girl she is most likely thinking who is this crazy man.... I think part of their training is to push people away or dismiss claims or what ever it is along those lines.......
lilho - 02/16/11 10:27
I think yoga sounds like a good idea, and I work someplace like that and have had many many days just the same. I suck it up because I need a paycheck... One day hopefully you will have some power and you will use it to do good. :o)

tinypliny - 02/15/11 21:58
(e:libertad), come to yoga with me and (e:paul) tomorrow! We are going to hand-to-heart with Erin @ 7PM to achieve calm and push our bodies to our limits while our soul is kind of amazed at it all. :)
flacidness - 02/15/11 21:21
There is nothing more frustrating than knowing youre right and you still have to argue your point. Especially to someone who dosent seem to care about what's bothering you. I hope you don't lose too much hair over this. A little yoga should calm some nerves.
libertad - 02/15/11 20:33
It was actually a National Geographic special "Stress: Portrait of a Killer", I watched it on Netflix. :::link:::

The special features Robert Sapolsky, some neurobiologist genius or something, who talks of the ill effects of chronic stress and the importance of hierarchy in determining the amount of it in our lives.

jbeatty - 02/15/11 20:15
What was the name of the documentary? Sometimes it feels really good to scream at people on the phone.

01/11/2011 18:28 #53424

Great Grandma and Grandpa
I'll let you guess which couple are my great grandparents. This is my dad's father's father and mother.

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libertad - 01/17/11 15:21
My great grandparents are the ones on the right, like (e:mike) said. My great grandfather looks just like my grandfather and somewhat like my dad. The other man was his best man in their wedding and the girl was obviously a girlfriend or wife or something.

tinypliny - 01/13/11 10:26
That's so tough because the other bloke also looks a bit like you in a way!
tinypliny - 01/13/11 10:25
Hmmm... the one in the boat? ((e:mike) that could be any one of them!)
mike - 01/11/11 23:41
the one guy looks just like your dad, it has to be that couple