I Know, I’m Surprised, Too

On By JohnIn healthLeave a comment

There was an old Nike ad years ago: I’m not a runner…

…yet.

I resumed running on about 3 January. About a year after the fall and a stroke. And on the tail end of the infection issue… and a collapsed lung.

I was completely sedentary for the year.

Recovering.

Existing, really.

So, I began walking.

Not very far. I couldn’t even walk much more than a few hundred yards (!) at first.

I’m far too narrow-minded to just hobble along. I wanted to do more.

After a few weeks, I found that I could walk a bit further. I could go half mile then found that I could even jog for very short bursts along that half mile walk.

Re-learn how to walk before you can re-learn how to run.

After a few more months, I was able to jog more than walk. Very, very slowly. And only 10 or 15 minutes or so. Maybe a kilometer. I’m sure it seemed peculiar to the neighbors to see an old guy out at odd hours ambulating around the neighborhood.

I eventually went further and faster than my wife could keep up. So, I made sure that her bicycle was in sufficient shape to travel along with me. She could go with me occasionally when I was out for a run.

I’d posted a few months later that I was going to do a 5k. Okay, fine. Did that. It wasn’t meant to be a metric of speed to compare to anyone else. But a metric of completion.

Fast-forward a few months…

I still run. In fact, now I run a 5k regularly, two or three times per week.

My determination to move, to do more than just exist, has gone a long way toward recovery and improving my overall health.

  • My endurance is improved.
  • My resting and peak heart-rates are improved.
  • My mental focus is improved.
  • My stress is decreased.
  • My fatigue is decreased.
  • I no longer feel consistently “drunk” all the time.
  • I no longer have diplopia.
  • I no longer have migraines.

I am not a physician. Do not expect that running or exercise is going to fix anything and everything for you. Consult your doctor. Seriously. But do not give up and accept defeat.

On each Tuesday and Thursday morning, I run a 5k. On Saturdays, I run a bit further. It seems that over a few months, that Saturday run has grown to a 10k.

Besides, I have a run that I need to prepare meself for next May.

And then another in October.

Grrr…

On By JohnIn tbiLeave a comment

I’ve complained before about noise. Ambient noise, white noise, just noise. It seems somewhat common from what I’ve read to be sensitive–sometimes very sensitive–to noise with the TBI. But it’s honestly freaking tiring.

Here I am, nearly two years on–today, doing a bit of simplistic home-improvement, and generating a bit of noise in the process–and I’m exhausted. Completely and totally mentally spent.

Then again, recent events may have also contributed.

Nah, it’s totally my ability to perceive audio. It will, like all things, change with time. Continuously imperceptible to me, and, in time, it will change–or I’ll become more accepting of my own perception of it.

I wonder if I should start using some mild-strength earplugs to help dampen or take the edge off of sounds on the left side.

Which Ones?

On By JohnIn sysadmin, techLeave a comment

So, the most recent Apple update was installed on my desktop. So far so good…

And I had to enter my iCloud password… fine…

And again…

And again…

And again…

Hmm… Apple, we really really need to get this sorted out or at least provide some sort of indicator about what’s having trouble.

And, no, it’s not because I’ve forgotten the password. I’m quite certain what it is.

—

Update: Sign Out on the desktop. Sign back in. It looks like it’s successful.

Drained…

On By JohnIn home improvement, projectsLeave a comment

I’d always wondered why the previous occupant had used atypical/nonstandard repairs to some trivial drains.

I mean, these things are only hand-tight.

To their credit, it didn’t leak at all. At all.

Right, so, let’s start to disassemble and make it right…

Nine FEET of electrical tape later…

Wait, there’s more electrical tape?

Honestly, that nut is quite loose now that the majority of the tape is removed.

Yep. And it’ turned out that

  • the tailpiece (the metal pipe shown) was glued into the wye underneath of it
  • and the nut was glued onto the wye and
  • the upper nut had another type of electrical tape (yellow this time) wrapped around it two or three times

I suppose they had gone to all of that work to try stopping what was thought to be a leak. But the actual issue was that the the upper nut was simply not screwed onto the basket above it.

So, I just replaced the parts that I simply didn’t want to clean glue off of.