Jack's Diary

Well, it's just a lot of the same, to be honest, Mols. Work / computers / covid / facemasks / lol.

One thing I did do was get a guitar lesson from a guy on YouTube. I decided just to focus on playing blues guitar, nothing else, and this guy has the sweetest licks. He gave me an hour-long routine which I've been faithfully doing for the last few days.

I've also been battling chess.com's computer at level 5 (out of 10). Sometimes I can beat it, but then it will turn around and make me look like a fool.

Oh, yeah, I've been getting into Eckhardt Tolle again, and also a Zen podcast made by a legit Japanese Zen Buddhist priest. I found both of them to be very calming and stress-reducing.

I'm still going to the beach for a walk every day. It's amazing - it was essentially a dead beach until Covid 19 came along. Now there are people all over the place. That's good and bad. As you can imagine, there is some, let's say, viewing pleasure to be had that wasn't really available previously. It's not so great for the meditative experience I've been using it as - a bit distracting, you know? But I'll take it ;)

One last thing - if you haven't seen Giri / Haji yet (on NetFlix), check it out. it's filthy good.
 
Just saying hi Jack . Hope you are well
 
Hi Petal, thanks for stopping by. Yes, doing well, but extremely busy. P who is the main app support guy got the covid so he's out of commission for a couple of weeks (hopefully just that). So a lot of that is falling to me. The good news is they've taken the limit off my hours for now, so that will be a few extra bucks coming in.
 
Hey, Jack. I picked up a book from the library that I must have ordered months ago & am half way through it. It occurred to me that you may have recommended it. It’s called “Opening the Door of Your Heart” by Ajahn Brahm. If it wasn’t you, then I think you would enjoy it.
How are you doing? Hope you & the ones you love are safe & well.
 
Hi guys, thanks for stopping by. There's not much going on - walk the beach, work, play chess with the computer, watch Netflix, sleep, and rewind. My work buddy who got Covid messaged me last week saying he's feeling better, but will be out "a few more weeks". Yikes! I've been staying afloat by the skin of my teeth, but it could blow up any day now. Fortunately, 2 1/2 years in, I have enough experience to handle most of the fires, but tomorrow is going to be challenging.

I saw a knee Dr. yesterday and of course, he couldn't find the problem so I'm getting an MRI. I've had that before, twice, and they didn't find anything either. I guess I'm just stuck. They can't order up a knee replacement unless the find a concrete reason. Sigh.

Oh, well. I've been watching "Outlanders" on NetFlix, it's really pretty good.
 
I'm sure you are up to the challenge, Jack. I hope your work colleague does not suffer any long term complications from C19.
Hope the knee gets better soon & it can be worked out why you are struggling with it.
 
Hi Jack,
Your life sounds a bit like mine right now . Breaking free this weekend though .
I must have missed the part about your knees . I assume arthritis would show up on a scan ?
I imagine you are very competent and efficient at work and can handle anything thrown at you .
 
Hey Jack, good to see you posting.

What is going on with the knee? Odd that the doctor can't figure it out, what are the symptoms? I have arthritis in my knees, but it was pretty easy to diagnose with xray. I know knees are complex, lots that can go wrong. Does exercising help or hurt? At least you can still walk the beach, wish I had a beach here to walk.
 
Hey
Cate said:
I'm sure you are up to the challenge, Jack. I hope your work colleague does not suffer any long term complications from C19.
Hope the knee gets better soon & it can be worked out why you are struggling with it.
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Hi Cate,

He's still out, but somehow we're holding the ship together. Engineering is helping out with the heavy-duty stuff. But I think I'm going to have to contact P (my colleague out on Covid) on giving me the password to his system and walking me through how to program the hardware locks. He's the only guy left who has the software and knows how to do it.
 
Petal001 said:
Hi Jack,
Your life sounds a bit like mine right now . Breaking free this weekend though .
I must have missed the part about your knees . I assume arthritis would show up on a scan ?
I imagine you are very competent and efficient at work and can handle anything thrown at you .
Click to expand...

Hi Petal - I think we have the same type of jobs where a lot get thrown our way, although in my case this is hopefully short-term until P gets back. On the plus side, I have a lot of hours to bill recently.
 
alligatorob said:
What is going on with the knee? Odd that the doctor can't figure it out, what are the symptoms? I have arthritis in my knees, but it was pretty easy to diagnose with xray. I know knees are complex, lots that can go wrong. Does exercising help or hurt? At least you can still walk the beach, wish I had a beach here to walk.
Click to expand...

Hey Rob,

The knee has some type of injury that happened in 2016 when I bent low on my left knee (playing tennis) to field a volley. I felt something give and since then I've had a chronic, on/off stinging or biting sensation on the lower-front-left part of my left knee. The first doctor said it was patella tendinitis, the second didn't know but prescribed PT and foot reinforcements, the third said it was arthritis, the fourth didn't know, and now the fifth has said I have mild arthritis but doesn't seem to think that's the issue pending the MRI results. I've had two MRIs previous to this, as well as Xrays by all. The fourth doctor gave it the best shot and started out confidently, but ended up stumped, and ended up (reluctantly) agreeing to do an exploratory arthroscopy, but I had just started my job and by the time I got back to him he had retired.

By all accounts, my knees are in decent shape for someone my age and thus don't warrant any type of surgery. PT didn't help, cortisone shots made it worse. It's not unbearable or anything, but it's kind of annoying and somewhat demotivating. There doesn't seem to be anything I can do about it. Even just sitting at my desk can aggravate it, or playing guitar.

I actually get relief from it walking the beach, though. During that time, it often feels better, as long as I don't overdo it. It also keeps me in decent shape, as I've been floating in a range between 166 and 169 for some time now. Yes, it is nice to have a beach. I will post some pics sometime :)
 
Hey Jack, always good to see you posting.

Well I guess my mistake may have been only going to one knee doctor and believing him! He did show me the x-rays and the bone spurs that he said were causing my arthritis, sounded like a good story to me. He offered a cortisone injection but I turned it down, my pain was not so bad and I decided to try exercise instead. Which has really helped, the pain is not gone but is much more manageable now, I don't notice it often. However I have never had pain while just sitting, that is different. I hope you get it sorted out, pain is not good, and knees are a particularly bad place to have pain. And I don't think many people make it to our ages without at least some knee problems. One of the things about getting older I guess.

Do send some beach pictures.
 
jackbenimble said:
Hi Petal - I think we have the same type of jobs where a lot get thrown our way, although in my case this is hopefully short-term until P gets back. On the plus side, I have a lot of hours to bill recently.
Click to expand...
Maybe so Jack . I'm starting to get really fed up at all that is being given to me and I am working to rule yesterday and today . They can go ( I really want to use swear words here so you get the idea ) . ......
 
alligatorob said:
Hey Jack, always good to see you posting.

Well I guess my mistake may have been only going to one knee doctor and believing him! He did show me the x-rays and the bone spurs that he said were causing my arthritis, sounded like a good story to me. He offered a cortisone injection but I turned it down, my pain was not so bad and I decided to try exercise instead. Which has really helped, the pain is not gone but is much more manageable now, I don't notice it often. However I have never had pain while just sitting, that is different. I hope you get it sorted out, pain is not good, and knees are a particularly bad place to have pain. And I don't think many people make it to our ages without at least some knee problems. One of the things about getting older I guess.

Do send some beach pictures.
Click to expand...

Well, there's good news on the knee front. The doctor actually found something - two small tears (meniscus?) plus a point where it looks like bone is meeting bone - or at least, a point where there should be a black line but instead it's kind of joining. So he gave me the choice to either to PT/steroids or arthroscopic surgery. Since I've already done the former, I immediately agreed to the surgery, scheduled for Sep 3. Finally, 4 1/2 years later! I hope it works out.

Picture incoming.
 
Petal001 said:
Maybe so Jack . I'm starting to get really fed up at all that is being given to me and I am working to rule yesterday and today . They can go ( I really want to use swear words here so you get the idea ) . ......
Click to expand...

That unfortunate, Petal. I like that I can charge by the hour, so I don't resent doing work - although, that has its drawbacks as well. I hope things improve.

It looks like my colleague is coming back on Sept 2, so hopefully, my workload drops. it hasn't been so bad, actually. It's just I'm useless after work because it's pretty stressful.
The good news is my contract is up at the end of the year and I can seriously consider retiring (I know, that's what I was threatening last year as well). But my wife give me the expenses for last year, and they're less than I thought, so that makes the retirement picture a bit rosier. Also, since I turned 63, that drops a year of expenses off the chart, and making it to 66.5 (when I can collect social security) only 3 and 1/2 years away. It's just a gentle downslope in savings until then, at which point it starts upward again.
 
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