New AVA/CBB Racing Squad website up and running!!

Special thanks go out to Rob Remmington and Kelsey Wood for putting this together!! We are going to kick ass this year!! http://www.avacbbracing.com/index.html Check it out!!

2006 Messquerade

This year the ol'Messmann is touring Europe but the Messquerade will go on in the capable hands of 32 Rob Kittlson. This year the race will be a fundraiser for the AVA/Counterbalance Bicycles Racing team!! Please come out Sat and have some fun and support a kick ass team!! If you want to help post here Pictures from years past are here and here

Papa Visit

BFF (Best Friends Forever!)

Christie's Dad Tom came and spent the weekend visiting with his grand daughter and us. We had a gret time and it all went by WAY too fast! I know that Abigael misses her Papa VERY much! But without much time to think about it we had a very busy day today and will also tomorrow and Friday. Ortho appt today, ID appt tomorrow, and PT appt on Friday all at 8am with school at 11am. The ortho doc appt went well Dr. Taitsman said that my x-rays today looked REALLY good. The bone grafts are healing nicely! Back in 4 to 6 weeks and time will tell the tale. I still have a very small scab on my main incision that will not heal and continues to drain! I will most likely have to stay on the antibiotics until that heals up fully.

Below are two ankle x-rays taken on Sep 6 06 and Oct 18 06


Sep 6
notice the top screw in my Tibia is straight then look at x-ray below
some healing...

Oct 18
the top screw is bent! Doc says its fractured?
could explain some of the ankle pain I've been having?
Do YOU notice any significant bone growth? I do!

This is a slightly more lateral view

1st A&P test "Bones and Articulations"

Well here ya go not bad but I can do better....

PIN

Bones (lab)

%

Bones (lec)

%

TOTAL

%

PIN

1012

47

94

57

81

104

87

1012

	49	98	67	96	115	96	HIGH
	42	83	55	79	97	81	AVERAGE
	22	44	24	34	58	48	LOW
	50		70		120		POSSIBLE

So I hope this is somewhat clear... Next up Muscles!!!

Talked with James from Black Sheep Bikes today and I should be recieving the bike fit sheet in email tomorrow!! As well I am hoping that my Desalvo cross frame arrives this week!

First A ever in Math!!!

So I have this history with math, we don't get along. In high school I would take a semester of algebra and get an F then retake it the next semester and barely pass just to go on to fail the next level. I had two math teachers in high school that, only through a bet, got me to pass math in order to graduate HS. Gary Cavender and Sid Bishop were two of the best teachers I had at Ukiah High school and they motivated me to not only pass algebra but show me I could learn stuff I had no desire to learn. I took a compressed semester of College Algebra at Campbell University and got a 3.00 (read B) but I had never really cared to work hard enough to get an A. I transferred into Appalachian State University and worked it out so that I specifically did NOT have to take any more math classes. I only had to take a computer class to fufill the graduation requirement in math to get my B.S. in Recreation Management (VERY little math and science required!). Now I have decided to go back to school to work on my nursing prerequisites. Funny thing is, I now need to take math classes and science classes!!! I placed into Math 084 which is the first half of Intro to College Algebra. I convinced my adviser that I could hack Math 085 (one less quarter to get to the prerequisite of Math 098) and he put his name on the line for me and allowed me to take Math 085 this quarter.

I say all of because even though it is only going into the third week of the quarter I have the HIGHEST GRADE in the CLASS so far!!! I got a 96.5% on my first test, the highest grade! I have gotten perfect scores on all of my homework (I've actually been keeping up with and doing my homework!!), quizzes, and in classwork. I intend on keep it up and I hope to update you all as to my final grade somewhere around Dec. 16th or so!!! Stay tuned...

Oh and by the way even though I have not yet recieved my, "Thanks for applying don't call us we'll call you." letter yet I know I did not make it to the next round of hiring with Seattle Fire Dept. The CPAT is this Sunday and I have not recieved a call so, OH WELL.... SFD has re-opened their application period I don't even know if I want to re-apply why waste my $25...

Happy Birthday to ME...

So as of right now Blogger seems to be down so I will start this post thru performancing and see how it goes. Yes, today I turm 33 and while I feel young at heart my body feels like it is 100 years old! The stupid leg is still attached and hurts like a SOB most of the time, but I guess I am hoping it will go away with time. I am also celebrating ONE year sober today! I want a real beer SOOOOOoooo bad (thank God for Guinness Kaliber non-alchoholic beer!!) but not until I am healed up 100% and off the antibiotics. Speaking of which, I still have THREE months to go, but man I have been on hardcore antibiotics since April 8th and you wouldn't even begin to know what that does to your digestive tract!
So, I am going to send in my deposit to Black Sheep Bikes today and hopefully around the New Year I should have my new Big Wheeled bike frame!! I will be chopping at the bit and 100% ready to go rip up some trail next spring and summer!! I will have all winter to get back in shape. I have been riding to SCCC for A&P class Tues and Thurs nights, about a 10 mile round trip, and it's a good regular break-in for my legs and my fitness. I have a habit of starting out too hard and too fast and then either getting burned out or injured, so I am just takin' er easy this time!
Yesterday was my, long gone from this world, totally awesome Grandma's birthday. And my sister Gabrielle's birthday was on Tuesday the 10th, she's 29. WOW I can't believe my baby sister is 29 that means you're almost 20 ten!!! Abigael is doing better with sleeping in her big girl bed but she was up at 4am this morning (not the way to wake up on your birthday!) and of course she is now passed out on the couch...

Ciao....

A New Look...

So I decided to go with a new look just cause... I got bored of looking at the same old thing so I found a really cool blog page template maker site and used it to create what you see now. I tweaked it a little on my own but all in all I like it for now. I have THREE exams this week one in each of my three classes. I took my math test this morning and I feel like I aced it! I have my bones and articulations exam in A&P tonight, it's a doosey!! And on Friday I have a test in Human Nutrition as well as a quiz tomorrow! I am feeling pretty good about where I stand in all my classes so far and I am loving it!

I am looking to reshuffle my bikes again (I know I'm obsessive but atleast it's bikes and not drugs or muscle cars or womens underwear). I have ALWAY admired the look of the old cruiser style bicycle frame. There are a few custom frame makers that specialize in this form of ridable art. Retrotec, Jones, and Black Sheep Bikes are just a few that come to mind. I have also ALWAYS want a Titanium framed bicycle! So I figured it was time to slim down the stable and put it into a bicycle that would last me the rest of my life. I decided to go with a Black Sheep and I have talked with James the owner and we will start the process soon! Here a few pictures of his work Here, Here and Here. I am having this frame made with S&S couplers so I can take it with me ANYWHERE I want to with out having to pay extra for shipping or excess baggage fees for airlines! It is also going to be a 29 inch wheeled mountain bike which means I can also through road tires on it and tour on the road!! Stay tuned for more tid bits on the BS Project!

I found out that my good blog friend Rich (Team Dicky) won the Single Speed class WORLD Solo 24hour Championships this weekend! Way to go Viking! I will be out there in the dirt with you soon brother!!

Christie's Dad will be here on Thursday and we are all looking forward to some quality Grandpa time!! Tom is going to watch Abigael while I am in class Friday and Monday, "Will he have to change a poopy diaper??" Well he should if it needs to be done! All apart of be a grandpa!

Until next time...

SEE YA ON THE FLIP SIDE!

(Late edit: I think I aced my math test should find out tomorrow and I felt pretty good after my Anatomy and Phisiology exam tonight. I think I only missed one out of fifty on the lab portion, as well as caught an instructors labeling error!, and the written essays and multiple choice went pretty well should know by Thursday night!)

What a night!!!

So, yesterday when I went to pick Abigael up from kid school she tripped over my feet and took a header into the corner of some wooden furniture. She wailed and developed a pretty big welt on her forehead right down the middle of her poor little head! She was ok. Thank God for rounded corners otherwise she would have split her head open!! She fell asleep in the car on the way home from school and I put her on the couch so I could watch her to make sure she didn't have any "head injury" signs or symptoms. She slept like the dead for about three and half hours waking up around 3:40pm with no ill effects, just a nice black and blue lump on her forehead! The rest of the evening went as usual. Christie came home and Abigael was her normal bundle of CRAZY energy. We put her down to bed, in her crib as she won't stay down in her "big girl bed" if she is still awake, around 8:00pm.

Now let me tell you about her crib. With the sliding side up it is a good 3 feet from the top of the side rail to the floor. A few weeks ago, while I was in Colorado, Abigael decided she wanted to climb INTO her crib with the side rail down but could not get out. She yelled until Mommy came to get her out, yelling "OUT!!" as loud as she could. She then repeated several times until Christie put the side rai; all the way up and even then she attempted to crawl in but couldn't swing the leg high enough. We decided to go get Abigael a "Big Girl" bed that sits much lower to the floor but in doing so she now won't stay in bed at night if we put her down awake in that bed. She has slept in her "big girl" bed a few times but only when she has already fallen asleep on the couch or in the car. And even then she usually wakes up around 3 ish to wander around the house (she learned how to use the door knob and light switch long ago!) until she wakes one of us up and we put her in her crib to keep her from getting up.

Last night we put her in her crib and she actually went straight to sleep as she was just plain tuckered out from school and the fall. That was until about 2:15 AM!!!!!!

We were awakened to the sound of Abigael yelling for Mommy and Daddy!! Usually we just let her do her thing and she settles down and goes back to sleep. Finally around 2:35ish she said, "Mommy! PEEPEE!!" So Christie bolted out of bed and went to check on her. I hear Christie down the hall and on the baby monitor say, "You're naked! Where are your clothes and your diaper?" Abigael responds, "Abigael nakkie, and Mommy nakkie too!" (Chrisite was in night clothes) . Abigael had to go pee and she knew being naked that she had to use the potty. So she went pee. Christie put clothes and a diaper back on her and put her back in bed with a stern warning to go back to sleep. Christie came back to bed and we thought that would be the end of it, no prob right?

We were awakened again around 3:30AM when our door was shut abruptly, something she likes to do first when she gets up in the middle of the night, and we heard her milling about in her room through the baby monitor. Christie says to me, "I think she's up." I say "I think she is too!" and I mumble something about " You put her in her crib, right?" Christie says, "YES!" I walk out to Abigael's bedroom to find her darting for her crib and attempting to crawl back in as I open her door. She is sans clothes again but still in her diaper. I pick her up and tell her that she should not be trying to climb out of her crib! I make it back to bed in time to hear her crying out "Dadda help STUCK! HELP!" I run back in and turn on the light and she is perched on top of the side rail one leg over and one leg stuck in the bars. I picked her up and put her back in the crib with a VERY stern warning about crawling out of the crib and of course she mimicks me back and looks very cute. I turn out the light and stay by the door and by the time I close the door I hear movement and I open the door and turn on the light and she is on the floor. I put her back in and tell her "NO! climbing!!" I turn out the light and leave the door open and she again vaults the rail this time I catch her in mid air as she lands on her butt on the floor! I pick her up with a swat to the butt and very upset dad voice I tell her "NO more escape attempts" and I think she gets it this time as I waited for a while with no noise or movement. I go back to bed to try to salvage some sleep....

Then around 4 something AM she is out again and Christie gets up this time and puts her in the "big girl" bed (just for safety-sake knowing that she won't stay in bed) with a swat to the butt and again a stern NO and warning not to get up. We get back to bed thinking she may just have had enough getting up. NOPE! Up again. So then we put the baby gate up in front of her door and we figure that she can just play in her room. The first attempt the gate was not secure enough she topples the gate and is out!! GGGGRRRrrrr I fix the gate and then she just opens the door and says "Mommy" about 173 times and then starts opening and shutting the door loudly! I am just about fed up when all of the sudden she is at the side of my bed! I take her back to bed again and she gets up again. This time I am standing outside the door and as she attempts to hurdel the 2 and a half foot baby gate I scoop her up and smack her butt enough to actually get it in her head that she needs to listen. She crys and lays in bed for about 15 minutes and then tries to get up again!!!! At that point I just get up because its 5 AM and I am not going back to sleep and neither is Abigael.

While up and out in the living room, Abigael lays on the couch and almost falls asleep but then decides she want the TV on. With my back turned, she gets into the A/V cabinet, turns the reciever to the radio with the volume turned all the way up!! I have to vault the couch to get it turned down and off with again a NO! and a michevious Abigael wanting to watch Dora... She is still up and so are we. Christie called in sick because she has a splitting headache and we are now getting ready to go to school.. So what do we do??!?!?!?!?!?!? Tie her into bed at night?? The crib is out now and we are at a loss as to what to do!!

A&P class should be fun to night from 5:30 till 9pm uhgg!!

(Late edit: Abigael was wired, but exhausted, until about 10pm when she passed out on the couch. I put her in her "Big Girl" bed and SHE SLEPT THROUGH THE ENTIRE NIGHT!!! That is until I was awakened at 6:35 AM once again to my door slamming shut. When I finally decided to drag myself out of bed (I was up till midnight doing math homework!) she was in the bathroom sans diaper trying to wipe herself after peeing. Which is great if she hadn't had a poopy diaper that was hucked in the bathroom trash can and a butt still covered in poop!! NOT THE WAY I AM SUPPOSED TO WAKE UP!!! Needless to say I got her cleaned up no harm no foul and we're off to another day ;) )