progress

Some progress to report: doing my exercises today I was able to actually make a fist -- not a tight one, but a fist nonetheless! I've regained much of the motion of my fingers -- in fact, I'm typing with two hands right now! I still can't pick things up or rotate my arm, but slowly things are coming back.

I've been sick as a dog -- that persistent cough finally parlayed itself into an upper respiratory infection. I went to the doctor yesterday who gave me some antibiotics and cough meds, but balked at changing my pain medication. He said he prefers pain meds to be handled by one doc only, so I'll talk to my surgeon on Tuesday at my follow-up -- that Percocet really tears me up. I'm now down 15 pounds, and while I did want to lose weight, this probably wasn't the best way to do it.

I finished my course of anti-inflammatory today, finally -- one less pill to keep up with. I'm trying to limit the Percocet as much as possible, but yesterday was a hard day and I'm paying for it now. In good news, I haven't had to take any at all today!

Meanwhile, I'm spending today and tomorrow mostly in bed.

tough...

I want to keep telling my story of the hospital and surgery and all but this typing with one hand thing makes it very difficult -- that last entry took nearly an hour to write. Rough, since I'm accustomed to being able to type out 80+ wpm.

So, you'll have to suffice with Tarantino-like non-linear storytelling so I can update you on the now while referencing things you don't know about yet. I went to the dentist on Thursday, got two root canals (the nerves were exposed) and fitted with temporary crowns. I go back in three weeks to get the perms put in. I went back to work yesterday and I wasn't ready... I came home and took a six hour nap. I woke up in time to watch Futurama and then back to bed for another ten hours.

And... in the space of the five days since I've been home, I've lost ten pounds. Great diet plan. Terrible way to do it. Full shift at work tomorrow night, I hope I can handle it.

part one: how it happened

I have the added bonus of living one block away from my crash site. Tonight, on a run for ice cream before South Park started, I wandered over for a moment to see exactly what I hit.

I'd had a really great night leading up to the accident. I'd spent the evening with some newfound friends, met them at a restaurant and had some magnificent pumpkin tortellini with sweet apple cream sauce. It got late, I strapped on the helmet and started cautiously making my way home.

One block from my house, I'm going maybe 12 mph - I decide to pull up onto the sidewalk and cut a corner through a parking lot of a recently closed Church's Chicken. The problem? The street had been recently resurfaced, and the small entrance bump for the parking lot was more of a sharp curb now, much larger than I expected. My front tire sailed into the air and landed askew. I struggled to keep my balance, and I rolled into a dirt bed for one of those sidewalk trees. The tire wedged, I went over the front slightly to the left. My arm hit first, broke both the ulna and the radial, followed by my face cracking and chipping three teeth, and finally skinning up my nose, right palm and left thigh. I laid on the concrete, stunned, feeling nothing but knowing something was terribly, terribly wrong. I heard the sounds of homeless people yelling.

Oh, SHIT! Did you see that!? Damn, whiteboy CRASHED!!

I lifted my head for a moment, saw blood trickle to the pavement and suddenly felt the granules of my broken teeth on my tongue. I started yelling for help, but all that came out was AAAAAAAAHH! AaaAaAAA!!!!!

Cracka, you alright?
No, I can't move, please call an ambulance.
What'd you do?
I think my arm's broken, I can't feel it... call the ambulance please!!
Ok, ok... hey, you got a dollar?
CALL THE FUCKING AMBULANCE NOW SHITFACE, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He called. Meanwhile, I must have had an audience because I heard at least 6 or 7 different voices around me discussing what had happened. About three minutes later a neighborhood patrol (just passing by, can you believe it??) pulled the crowd back and talked to me. Firemen showed up, ambulance, and at some point, I was loaded and taken to the hospital. At first they didn't believe my arm was broken... until I screamed when one tried to move it gently. I was rolled onto a board, immobilized, and off we went.

broken

For those who didn't know, I've been in the hospital since Friday night. I was in a bike accident and broke both bones in my left forearm. It required surgery, and now I have metal plates in my arm! I've also chipped my front teeth and need to get them capped. BUT.. I'm still in one piece! I was discharged from the hospital this afternoon and will return to work hopefully next week.

Short entries for a while, as i only have use of one hand right now.....

something to think about

No real updates, but here are two links to get you thinking:

We live in the land of biblical idiots

An intelligent op-ed piece from the LA Times concerning teaching the Bible in schools, and the first time I've reconsidered my stance. I might support the idea if I didn't believe that some teachers would turn it into a revival to spout condemnations of homos, Muslims, abortionists, and anyone else who dares disagree with them.

Diabetics cured by stem-cell treatment

My mother was recently diagnosed with diabetes. I'm all for stem-cell research -- to me, using stem-cells to find cures for diseases is no more playing God than intravenous fertilization. This news comes out of the UK, and it is exciting to think of the possibilities. Cures for AIDS, cancer, heck, even the common cold -- and it is mind-boggling that the US has placed restrictions on furthering research.

small update

Just a continuance to the BofA story:

I'm lucky enough to have one of the group fitness instructors at my gym also be a branch manager for Bank of America. I told her what happened, and she said, simply:

"I'll take care of it."

That's all I've wanted. A little understanding and flexibility. I've been a good, solid client for them; I've recommended several new customers their way. I deserve that much. I'm saved the hassle of changing banks and I'm more than happy to direct business her way as a result.

Stay tuned.

fume

I am so angry with Bank of America right now. Last year, after Wachovia put a hold on my paycheck for 16 days without being able to explain why, I hesitantly moved to Bank of America. I'd heard some stories from wars people had with them, but I figured I'd be okay since I wasn't taking out massive loans or playing the stock market. "What can go wrong with a simple checking account?" I foolishly asked.

Truth of it, very little. I've been with them for a year and a half now, and scarcely a problem has arisen...until now.

My direct deposit is set up to put a chunk of my paycheck directly into my savings account. I keep just enough in my checking to get by and make transfers when something larger comes up. I wrote my roommate his rent check at the start of the week, but he didn't deposit it until Thursday afternoon. No problem, the money was still there. Additionally, payday was Friday and the direct deposit would show up in my account at 3am, so there'd be PLENTY of leeway.

Thursday night, secure in this knowledge, I went to Moe's for my dinner break, and the grocery store for some shampoo and bandaids. Friday morning, I logged in to my bank account to see my direct deposit balance, and instead found: 6 cleared transactions. Four earlier purchases came off their pending status, my grocery store trip, and -- get this -- the rent check, deposited at 3pm that afternoon, had CLEARED TWO BANKS in a record time of seven hours.

Long and short of it -- my grocery store trip had unwittingly sent me into the red because I thought (and precedent supported this theory) I had more time. 4 over draft charges, to the tune of $140.

Now, I don't make much money. $140 is a big, big deal to me. It was a silly mistake, of course, and I'm willing to pay one overdraft charge for that silly mistake, considering: 1) the total amount of the overdraft came to only $25. 2) The money overdrawn was replenished in less than three hours. 3) My rent check seemingly defied the laws of physics. 4) There WAS money in my savings account, and enough to cover it (granted, I'm not signed up for the overdraft protection, but with that knowledge you'd think they'd give me the benefit of the doubt). $140, to me, is a ridiculously exorbitant amount for such a piddling amount of money and this set of circumstances.

However, the idiots at the customer service line don't seem to understand the concept of flexibility when it comes to their customers. I've been a solid and reliable customer who misjudged his timing once in a year and a half. I'm even willing to accept responsibility to the tune of an overdraft charge, but I am *not* willing to accept a loss of $140 because a check that normally takes five days to even show up managed to fly between two banks in seven hours.

On paper, they are within their rights. But having spent a great deal of time in customer relations across several different industries, I know that flexibility is just as vital as the written word. Instead of being understanding and attempting to come up with a compromise, I've been pushed out their door and into the loving arms of SunTrust.

third time's a charm

So I wrote a post yesterday, hopped in the shower and kept on thinking about things I wanted to include, re-write, and change. So, I finished the shower, logged back on, took down the entry and promised a re-write. But then I had to go to work, and as it turns out I've forgotten most of what I'd wanted to change.

It's surreal to have your mother prodding you for an updated blog. For all the years I've spent chronicling my thoughts on the web, by and large, my family has never really been in the audience. I can't say there's a specific reasoning why that's been the case. It seems like, with this incarnation, my family is my *only* audience (with a few random others sprinkled in -- hi TeKay!).

What's even weirder is that I am, by nature, an intensely private and independent person. For all the exposition and meanderings of a web-journal (I hate the word blog), it barely scratches the surface. If I were to die early (not in the plans) I'd have to say my funeral reception would be a fascinating affair, as people from various eras of my life piece together the parts of the jigsaw they have. I've gotten in trouble in the past for putting too much out there; for a great long while I said nothing at all.

--

Work has been alternately frustrating and fantastic. Every time I start to feel like things are going in the right direction the corporate office makes some bonehead move and we're back at square one. There's so much potential, though, and occasionally I get a glimmer of hope that they're beginning to see that.

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Holiday weekend begins today -- it sneaked up on me this year. I may or may not have to work Sunday morning, I'm not sure yet. We may have a guest popping in from Augusta tonight, so that'll be fun. Otherwise, it's laundry and sleeping in on the agenda.

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Next season's Broadway tours have been announced for the Fox -- its a fair to middling season, but some decent stuff coming too. Jennifer Holliday will be in Dreamgirls in July -- there's nothing like watching a 45 year old woman re-creating her most famous role 20 years later. This will be, by turns, amazing and horrible. The Wedding Singer comes in October, my friend Alex is in callbacks for Sammy. The Drowsy Chaperone makes an appearance in January (which I've missed on my last three trips to NY), Avenue Q (seen it four times!) shows up in March. The season wraps up with Sweeney Todd in May.

My friend Jason is currently on a tour of Jesus Christ Superstar which I saw in Macon in November. It comes back through Columbus in May and then in early 2008 roosts in Atlanta for a few days. Jason will probably leave the tour before then, which is sad -- it's not a good show, but having him in town would make me very happy indeed.

--

I am now down 10 pounds, after biking a total 102 miles last week. That feels good. My hair has grown out quite a bit and that thin patch at the top is barely noticeable now. It won't be long before I'm devastatingly handsome once again.

try again

I'll re-write this later, I didn't like how it turned out.