Monthly Archives: April 2013

It’s My Space

This entry was posted in Totally Irrelevant on by .

Flying back from San Diego was pretty good. I had a direct flight and that is always nice. The problem was, once again, the person sitting beside me couldn’t stay in their space.

I sat at the back of the plane and there was an empty middle seat right until the last minute, when a group of Muslim Clerics (like I know how to spot a Muslim Cleric) came on board. There were about 8 of them, mostly pretty big. I got super lucky when a very small fellow pointed to the empty seat beside me.

I was sitting at the window and right after the isle guy moved, this guy plops down in the middle seat and immediately, nearly aggressively, take over both of the arm rests. That kind of bugged me, but I was planning on sleeping the whole flight and was going to be leaning against the window, so that was fine. I was hoping to support my bad arm on the armrest some, but didn’t really worry much about it at the time.

But, nearly as soon as we took off, this guy’s arm keep getting further and further into my space. Pretty soon it was like 4 inches over. I was already crunched over pretty well, but it was nearly impossible not to touch. So, I decided to just move a few times slightly, just brushing up against the guy’s arm, hoping that he would realize he was in “my area”. Nope. Didn’t work. I tried it a couple more times with a little more pressure, but he didn’t budge.

The flight is a little over 3 hours and about 1/2 way my shoulder started hurting from being cramped up in the corner of my seat. There wasn’t a position that I could get into to relieve the pain. I’m not sure why I just didn’t ask the guy to try to keep all his body parts in his seat. I wouldn’t have worded it that way, but that is what I wanted. I think the reason was because it was so obvious that he was in my area and that it would be rude, after such a long time, to ask him to self contain.

Maybe it was a guy thing and the little guy wanted to show he was the alpha male or something. I’m not sure. And maybe I was more riled up because it was a man. If it would have been a woman, or let’s take it to the extreme, a fashion model, I maybe wouldn’t have be so pissed that she was in my area. I still would have been uncomfortable, but I don’t think I would have felt like my personal area had been so invaded.

It is sort of weird that there is only one armrest for two people to share. This guy wasn’t much of a sharer. It seems like there should be two armrests for each seat. It is probably just a space deal. It seems like that they are jamming more seats into each plane every time I fly.

Now that it’s over, it doesn’t matter much. It gave me a bunch to ponder over and really there was no harm done. Human interactions always entertain me. I don’t necessarily have to be in the situation, to find it interesting, but when I am, and don’t react as I think I might, it is interesting, entertaining, and somewhat amusing too.

This is how it started and it keep getting further and further over on my side.

This is how it started and it keep getting further and further over on my side.

All these guys were dressed the same. Any ideas about what the deal is?

All these guys were dressed the same. Any ideas about what the deal is?

It’s Gotta Get Better than This

This entry was posted in Racing on by .

I think that I’ve been dealing pretty well with this whole shoulder surgery deal. Not saying that I’m happy as a clam, but I’ve sort of came to a understanding with it.

But, saying that, I think it is so weird how uninformed I came into the whole thing even though I had talked to a bunch of people that knew a lot about it. I did make one mistake. I should have talked to a bunch of people that had experienced the surgery. That would of put me in a complete different state of mind going into it.

I’ve had the fortune to personally run into a few guys that have had rotator cuff surgery. And it keeps getting worse and worse. I ran into a guy at PT in Louisville that seemed completely “fixed” by all outward signs. He was throwing a little ball around and moving his arm over his head. I asked him what he was there for and he said rotator cuff surgery. He said he was 13 weeks out. I was at 7 at that time. I was optimistic about that at the time. I said something to him about how the sleep sucked and how I’d only gotten 3 hours the night before, he told me he would kill for 3 hours. I couldn’t believe it.

Then, last weekend in San Diego, my friend, Big Dave had nearly the same response. But his was more dire. He said he wouldn’t wish that for his worst enemy. I told him I was about 8 weeks in and he just started laughing and wouldn’t stop. He said that my should was going to be hurting at least a year from now. And that it will be months before the sleep comes easily.

I had slept pretty okay, for me, the previous too nights, so I thought he just had a bad recovery. But, that was 4 days ago and I haven’t been so fortunate ever since. The last couple nights have been nearly torturous. It is easy to recognize when it (sleep) is not working and at that point it most likely becomes somewhat mental, but I’m still in denial for that. But, no matter what the reason, sleep is not available to me recently.

This is making recovery from training somewhat non existent now. I woke up today feeling like I got hit by a truck. I probably slept around 3 hours or so last night. There was a pretty big amount of field smoke in the air for the ride yesterday too, so I’m sure that adds to how I’m feeling somewhat. But, I know that this lack of sleep is going to start dictating my waking hours once again, which is when I ride, obviously.

I don’t really understand how my shoulder can feel better during the day, and work better too, then not feel better at night. It is pretty perplexing. I’m pretty sure that this is normal for this procedure after so many emails, comments and personal encounters. I thought I was above this, but am sadly disappointed I’m just normal, as usual. I can’t really wrap my mind around the fact that this might go on for a few more months, yet alone close to a year. I think I’ll just stay in denial at this point and assume that all the guys I’ve run into are the exception. But, that is getting harder and harder to do, so I’ve have to come up with a new plan to fool myself.

Maybe I should just track one of these down and tow it behind me while I'm out training.

Maybe I should just track one of these down and tow it behind me while I’m out training.