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The life that is 2006 October 27 15:48

Posted by diamond in : Work, Random, Health , add a comment

Things have been so so hectic since i moved to dublin. Between trying to get up to speed in work, looking for accomadation, starting a new relationship, trying to get a life together, stay sane, etc, there’s not been much room for breathing.

Myself and niall went to see a property in glenageary during the week. I looked up the dublin transport office website to see where the nearest dart station would be, and off we went. Unfortunately, i assumed that the said station was the glenageary one, and didn’t double check it. Compare the route i intended to take vs the route we actually ended up taking.

So, despite careful planning, we ended up being about 10 minutes late, and that only because my father was able to direct us over the phone when i called for help. When we arrived, there was about 15 people standing in a line outside the house, and another 4 or so inside viewing the house with the letting agent. He was taking down the names and numbers of people who were interested, but at best we were on the second page of said list. The house was lovely, and in a really nice neighbourhood, so needless to say it was off the market the next day.

It appears that the “If you haven’t paid tax this tax year all you need to do is give us your PPS number and we’ll take care of the rest” spiel we were given on the first day of starting here wasn’t exactly… accurate. When i recieved my first payslip yesterday (horray for getting paid at least -), the figures didn’t make much sense to me, so i went to talk to the payroll department. “Oh no, you’re on emergency tax, you’ll have to apply to the tax office to get a tax cert”. Huh. Anyway, that’s done, it should arrive in the next week or so… when i’m in california. Next month’s pay check is going to be severely hurting as i’m not going to be able to hand in the paperwork in time for it to processed. It could be worse, it’s just extra hassle i’d rather not have to deal with.

It appears that this whole trying to get into work in the morning from balbriggan thing is having a toll on me. I kinda collapsed on Tuesday night from exhaustion, couldn’t walk straight etc. I guess the biggest problem is the lack of permenant accomadation is preventing me from getting into any sort of routine where i can regulate things like sleeping properly.

I’m off to the states on monday, being collected from balbriggan by taxi at 03:45. There’s then a one hour flight to london heathrow, followed by an eleven hour flight to san francisco. There i’ll be collecting a rental car and driving an hour or two south to mountain view where i’ll be crashing (in the sleep sense) for as long as possible to try and recuperate. Horray for this modern jet-set lifestyle -/ I guess at least i should have a chance to relax a bit.

Traction 2006 October 19 23:07

Posted by diamond in : Health , 3 comments

I’m now up to 19 minutes with 40kg of tension at the physio’s (up from 30kg and 34kg of the previous visits). It’s a rather interesting experience. As the machine applies the pressure, you slide down the table a bit until the harness across your chest begins to restrain you. Then, as the pressure increases, every time you breath out you’ll slide a tiny bit more. Eventually it reaches a stable point where you can only take shallow breaths as your ribs are being compressed. It’s fine as you’re not doing anything more exerting than lying there, but did make me somewhat nervous the first time. Also, forgetting to remove my leatherman from my belt was a bad move. The straps around my waist ensured i had a rather unusually shaped bruise on my hip where my leatherman lives. Still, the experience is generally quite benign, and along with the various stretches i’ve been given to do, seems to be helping my back recover. The stretches take about 35 minutes, and the physio has told me to try do them twice a day if possible. I suspect that’s mostly in the im-possible category, but we’ll see how it works out.

Stretch 2006 October 3 16:28

Posted by diamond in : Health , 1 comment so far

Today i had my appointment with the physio in maynooth. He tells me that i have a compressed disc from too much office-time. He’s given me a range of stretches to do, and put me in traction for 15 minutes, which was an interesting experience. I’m going back to him on next monday, i expect this to be a fairly regular occurance. He also demonstrated to me that my cronic lack of flexibility isn’t actually being caused by my hamstrings, but by the nerves controlling them (i’ve been given stretches to improve that too ,-). He says the damage to the disc(s) isn’t fully reversible, but that the symtoms should be mitigatable, which is all i could have asked for anyway.

The first week 2006 September 29 11:51

Posted by diamond in : Work, Random, Health , 3 comments

So, i started as a SysOp with google in dublin on monday. It’s been quite a week. There is so so much to get up to speed on, my head is still spinning, and is likely to continue to do so for some months. The offices and people are great, the food however is a problem. This can be summed up in 3 ways: (A) it’s delicious, (B) you can eat as much as you like, whenever you like, (C) it’s all free. This combined with the lack of routine for the last few weeks has impacted my weight trend signifcantly (see graph).

My back issues seem to be getting worse, i think the commute isn’t donig it any favours. I’ve now got fairly constant pain in my lower spine, and occasionally get pains down my legs. It’s not debilitating, just worrying. I’m seeing a physio on Tuesday in maynooth who’s supposed to be one of the best in the country, was referred there by the physio i saw in athlone. Here’s hoping the damage is reversable.

And in other news, i’m no longer single -)

Backup 2006 September 21 15:38

Posted by diamond in : Health , 3 comments

Today i went to a physiotherapist. I’ve been having back problems for the last few months, difficulty bending, sleeping, sitting etc. It’s been a big bunch of not fun. So, after some discussion with the physio, he started poking at my back. It turns out that the lower half of my back on the righthand side is completely taut in spasm. It appears i have damage to one of the lower vertebrae, possibly a fracture. He also told me i had the “hamstrings from hell” after seeing how tight they were. That’s most likely because i’ve had a problem with my back for a long time, and the body is trying to protect it.

He did a lot of pushing and pressing and massaging. He then followed that up with some acupuncture, which was a first for me. Tiny pin-prick as each needle went in, 4 needles in total. I then lay on the bed for about 20 minutes with him coming back a couple of times to adjust the needles (i think by turning them, i’m not sure). After the time was up, that part of my back was significantly loosened up. I’ve been given some exercises to do, and he’s referred me to an excellent physio in maynooth as i’m not going to be around athlone. I may have to get an mri scan as well, but we’ll see. Here’s to an improved situation.

*Update*
Oh yeah, just remembered, when he brought me in a model of a spine, and showed me in great detail where the problem was and what it would cause etc, well, i came close enough to fainting. Fortunately it didn’t come to that however.