Friday Night Videos

With another New Year coming this week, it seems appropriate to show a time lapse video that includes cities around the world:


With the new year, we make more weight loss resolutions. With this back injury and constant pain, I've had decreased appetite and lost 25 pounds. I'd like to lose more in a  more intentional way. I have found this (and others) video very interesting:


I found the Lego story a bit inspiring this week. My pain returned with full steam and I was quite unhappy. This story brought a nice smile:


Finally, as we enter the new year, I hope we all find our greatness, as Nike put it:

Plymouth

In October, Eric and I spent a day in Plymouth waiting for Sandy to arrive in Boston in the evening. We were slightly disappointed to confirm the rumors that Plymouth rock is in fact a large bolder.

After spending time in Jamestown in March, and loving the connection to the early settlers of this country, I was somehow expecting a similar experience in Plymouth. I did not find anything remotely close to the same experience. Although it is a lovely town, it is also very commercial. Anything that can be sold, is sold. Slap the words: '1620', or 'Plymouth' on the item and sell it for a profit. I was saddened to feel that it cheapened the sorrows and pains of the days and lives of those who lived there; the earliest settlers.

That said, I did take some very lovely photos:

Chance and a Pony

As a birthday gift, Chance was given a pony ride. A month after his birthday, in October, we headed to the stable to meet the pony and watch him have his ride. He ended up riding a full grown horse instead. It took him a while to overcome his initial fears and misgivings but once that was over, he had a ton of fun. I had fun following him with my camera in tow taking pictures of him.

Meeting the pony. He was afraid and we weren't sure he'd even consider riding the pony, much less the horse.

The pony was very curious of my camera. He came right up to the camera many times.

After a little while, Chance and the pony walked around and became cute little friends.

John walked the horse around with Chance and the owner (can't remember her name).

It's hard to see his big beaming smile through the sun's beams, but it is there.

Chance is such a little flirt. He charmed these two with his little stories.

Millcreek Canyon in Autumn

In October, we went up Millcreek canyon to enjoy the autumn leaves and have some s'mores with Richard and the kids.
It was the most perfect autumn afternoon. The temperature was lovely, with the sun shining down perfectly.

Here are my favorite pictures of the day:

Me and Richard, taking my daily picture:

Elise giving me one of her many expressions:

Marcus, who always gives me a little smile:

Richard and I always have our cameras at the ready:

Collin gives me a rare smile. He's mastered closing his eyes right as I click the shutter as if he's blinking, which, of course, he's not.

Andrew and Eric...two peas in pod. I love it!

Friday Night Videos

I shared this on Facebook (copying it from Sandy's board). I thought it was wonderful!

Yup! One single video...after all this time...it's the single video. I think after all the horrible-ness of today's news...the tragedy, this kind of uplifting video is what I really wanted to share.

Equality Utah Allies Dinner

The day before my first (and failed) MRI, Eric and I went to the Equality Utah Allies Dinner with our friends Maggie and Kristen. Other friends were at our table. We have enjoyed these dinners the past few years.
This year, John Huntsman Jr was the main honored speaker. I was thrilled to hear him speak.

Although I didn't blog one entry about politics this year, I had many thoughts and really had intended on expressing them herein. In the end, I was excited by the outcome of the election. That all said, the Allies Dinner was weeks prior to election night and there was a lot of excitement in the air about what Mr Huntsman might say. It was fun to hear his thoughts on the political parties, how the race was being run, and his own failed campaign for president. Honestly, I hope to see him try again.

Most of the thoughts he and his wife expressed came down to bullying. Because Equality Utah is about equality, they both shared stories and personal experiences with how they have tried to help prevent bullying in schools.

Car vs. University Shuttle

Once upon a time, there was a handsome young prince named Eric who loved his transportation dearly. He loved his car so much that he named this vehicle Smoke. Smoke had its own personality in Prince Eric's eyes.
One day Prince Eric was driving home from work with his lovely wife, Princess Tina in the passenger seat beside him. They were stopped at a stop sign at a four way stop next to a bicycle. A bus sized shuttle had right of way, turned left and turned into Smoke, swiping the driver's side of the car, knocking off the mirror and scratching the side of the car from bumper all the way down the door.
Now, Prince Eric is normally a very sane and calm young man, but Princess Tina saw him change many colors that afternoon: from flesh tone, to gray, to red to steaming. Lucky for everybody involved, the bus was two inches from the driver's door and Prince Eric was trapped in the car and couldn't get out...and took the time necessary to calm himself down.
Princess Tina, had an injured back and decided to sit on the lawn and wait for the police to arrive. She also had her camera with her, of course, and took many pictures of the scene.
Two things happened to help the situation in Prince Eric's favor:
1. The evil bus driver troll lied about what happened and the Police saw through his inconsistent stories and lies.
2. Eric was calm by the time the police arrived and he and I had not spoken about the details of what happened, as I was sitting on the lawn when the police arrived. Our stories matched and it was clear that our version is what had happened.

Moral of the story: Don't lie! LOL! And....the camera doesn't lie!

Quick edit in response to Mark's comment: this accident took place in September. My back did not suffer to much of a setback, although it was stiff for a few days (more so than it already was). We rented a car for about four days while the car was being repaired and now Smoke is back home with us. :)

September Catch Up

We're quickly reaching the end of the year and I'm finally feeling like I can sit long enough to load my photos onto flickr and type..... so now I can catch up.

September was when I first began to really feel the pain in my back and down my left leg. Eric and I went to the Utah State Fair with Evan and Sam. I normally love spending time looking though the photos that others have entered. I'm not sure why I never have entered any of my own photos...it's one of those things I keep "meaning to do" but never have done.

I also really love looking at the crafts that people enter. People are so talented and I love admiring the work they spend their time working on.

This year, I was unable to spend more than a glance of time as I sped through the photos. I couldn't stand or sit...I had to keep walking. It was the only way to alleviate any of the pain from my back and leg.

I did stand long enough to take aim at the beautiful sunset, however. Here are two of my favorite pictures of the evening:

Where in the World Have I Been?

I am terribly behind in blogging because I have a difficult time sitting long enough to type up any entry. I have been very busy traveling and playing with Richard's kids and Chance and enjoying what I can.

But I have been in a lot of pain.

Back in March, Eric and I traveled to Virginia and on the long flight I felt a twinge in my back and left hip. My left leg hurt off-and-on for a while but was generally pretty mild. Over the months, the pain increased but I didn't think too much about it. I took Ibuprofen for a while and then began taking Aleve, which helped.

By the time we went to California in August the pain was much more notable in my left hip and leg. So much so, that Sandy helped me do some stretches on her Pilate's machine each morning. They helped relieve some of the pressure.

In late August, I mentioned the back pain to my primary care doctor and he referred me to physical therapy for hip bursitis. He was convinced it was my hip, but I was convinced it was my back. I went to physical therapy a few times but mentioned the pain to my friends and they referred me to their chiropractor.

The chiropractor began to help me for the hip bursitis but quickly agreed with me, that this was a back issue we were dealing with me and referred me to have an MRI.

I went for an MRI on Sept 28 thinking it would be no big deal. It turns out I'm a little bit whole lot claustrophobic.
When they put me in the machine, I tried to remain calm as I waited for the music to turn on, but the music never came. I tried to talk to myself into a calm place, but I could hear my heart rate and my breathing begin to pick up the pace....and then my stomach joined in the panic party.
To make matters worse, the night before the MRI, we'd been to a party and as we'd left, we'd seen a man on a bicycle be hit by a car so with my eyes closed in the machine, his face was all I could see. With my eyes forced open, all I could see was the edge of the MRI machine. This white coffin MRI machine was too close for comfort and The Crazy entered into the thoughts, "what if there's an earthquake?" "what if my vertigo starts?" "OMG, did the earth just shake a little?" ... the pit in my stomach grew two sizes.
Sane Tina tried to intervene and remind The Crazy that this tube has two openings at both ends and that I wasn't truly trapped ..... but I was shaking and breathing heavily and could feel that I was going to lose it any minute ... Once The Crazy got in the Rational side didn't stand a chance....I pushed the panic button before the scan ever even began.
I chuckled with my friends about it later that at least I never got to the place of "what if the zombie apocalypse starts while I'm in here!?" LOL!

I returned for on Oct 3, for the MRI. This time I was given a Valium. I was told it might knock me out. It didn't. But it did keep the panic at bay, for the most part.  I decided to prepare myself by giving myself several images to keep in my head's "happy place." Specifically, Lake Powell:

And, places I'd like to photograph:

I also decided to replay a dream I once had. It was one of my favorite dreams of me walking along the beach. I found beautiful sandcastles that wanted to be washed away by the water. As I complied, they left me beautiful gems: perfect emeralds, rubies, amethysts, etc.





The final thing I decided I would do if began to panic, was to count from1 to 50 and back to 1 again. That would be the ticket. :)

I arrived for the Valium an hour before the MRI and felt myself relax a bit but didn't feel too much and definitely did not konk out. The two techs were so nice helping me get into the machine and explaining the process and we went. They forgot to turn on the music again, but this time they asked me about it and I was able to tell them so the panic didn't even start up. The music was nice.

I didn't realize how loud the machine would be, however, so the music was drowned out by the BOOM, BOOM, BOOM...however, I didn't mind the rhythm of that BOOM, BOOM, BOOM. It reminded me a lot of the trance house music that I listen to when I'm running and I was able to let time pass pretty quickly. Lake Powell images helped a lot. Waterfall images were nice.

Twenty minutes passed by without much of a flinch. Then they moved me deeper into the MRI machine and my heart jumped and my stomached lurched. They were moving onto my lower back and I really had to rely on all the little tricks I'd prepared myself with. The machine got really warm....and told myself, "I'm on a beach laying out...yeah, that's the ticket. At Lake Powell and it's really hot...can't get away from it cuz, it's Lake Powell in June! Yeah! That's right!."

It wasn't much help. Heartbeat started rising.

Okay.
Um.
Waterfalls....pretty waterfalls. 
Nope?
okay.

Um.

Beach.
Waves.
Sandcastles.

Not that either?

Okay.

1...2...3..4........
41..42..43..44..43..42...
wait...which direction was I going?

I got stuck in the 40s every time.

Once in a while I'd have a little devil in my ear saying, "just open your eyes...just see how close you really are to the wall...just do it.....do it, do it...just once."   I never did.

Finally!
Finally! 45 minutes later, they told me they were done and I was being let out (as if I was in prison, or something, geez)...That's when I opened my eyes, on the way out. And I'm so glad I waited, because there wasn't more than a few inches between my nose at the machine.

The results came back a couple of days later. I have two bulging discs in my low back (L4-L5 and L5-S1). It's not uncommon for someone in my age bracket. I've been told that about 80% of 39 year olds will have this; it's part of aging, like wrinkles and gray hair, but only about 20% of the 80% will experience the pain of what I have, and most will heal completely (so there's a lot of hope for me).

Here's my actual image:

You can see the bulge putting pressure on the nerve. This is the nerve that goes to the legs and feet. It's on the left side of the nerve, so only the left leg is affected by this condition. (thank goodness)

I have since been undergoing treatment, but I will talk about that in another entry, when the pain has completely subsided.

Be Well Utah

One of the events my department partcipates in each year, is Be Well Utah, which is an initiative to help educate employees and the general public on ways to better our health.

I was asked to take photos of two of the events and had a lot of fun doing that. The first of the two was at Red Butte where various University Departments present a booth and answer questions. Others in the community also have booths. Here are my favorite photos of the day:

The next day a coworker and I went to the Harmon's at City Creek and photographed the testing of cholesterol, blood sugar, fat percentage and blood pressure.

I was excited to find a very normal cholesterol, blood sugar and blood pressure. I didn't need the fat machine to tell me I'm over weight.

Here are my favorite photos: