Wednesday, February 26, 2014

2 Weeks After AC Separation Surgery

Today, I got to see the ortho-surgeon for my post operative surgery appointment. I took four x-rays and it shows that everything is back in alignment. He snipped off some stitches that were sticking out and offered to put the steri-strips back on. I kindly declined due to the irritation on my skin.
He told me that I needed to wear my sling for up to 6 weeks. To be honest, I only needed it for the first two days. After that, I've been rehabilitating myself without one. The first two days really sucked. I was taking oxycodone which was making me nauseous. I didn't eat very much for 3 days after the surgery and I needed to take fiber supplements so that I could have a bowel movement.

Even though, I was prescribed enough pain meds for 10 days, I was only able to take them for 3 days until I called it quits.  Many people say that narcotics are addicting, but I couldn't wait to wean myself off of it!  Well rather than wean myself off as planned, I just forgot to take them and I didn't take them since. It just shows how bad my memory is.  Anyways...

Overall, I'm getting better.

The 2013 Prius V



So right after my surgery (while my right arm was still numb and while I was high on narcotics), I did the sensible thing and decided to stop by a Toyota dealership in San Diego. I was wanting to trade in my aging RAV4 due to reliability issues and a myriad of flaws due to being a high mileage vehicle.

I have had this for two weeks now and I'm actually liking it. The amount of gasoline that I save is really surprising. My visits to the gas station has been drastically reduced from 4 visits a week to 1. The car gets almost 400 miles to a tank! I am very pleased. So far, I've only been to the gas station twice since I've owned it.

I paid $25,000 for it because it is a used vehicle. It had just over 19k miles on it which is high for a 2013, however for the cost of this vehicle, I got the technology package which comes with navigation, backup camera, keyless entry/ignition, Bing, Pandora and a bunch of other things that I haven't even discovered yet. The windows came tinted which was what I was going to do anyways. So coming with that saved me time and money. Being a prior leased vehicle, it came with hubcaps to protect the aluminum wheels that came with the car. Cool huh?



So how much did I trade in the 9 year old RAV4 for? $8,000! Wow. How could I say no to that. Well, I was originally wanting $9k for it and Mazda was prepared to give me that. However, when I came back to the dealer to turn in the spare key to the RAV, I found out that my salesman was "relieved" (maybe fired???) the next day.

Sunday, February 16, 2014

Grade III AC Separation

 
 
This is what my shoulder looked like before surgery. I had a Grade III AC Separation caused by a mountain biking accident. The doctors told me that it would heal and that I should be fine after that, but after almost a year of having this, it was still painful to have so I had surgery done to it.

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Shoulder Surgery Pre-Op

It has been a busy week for me since I'm trying to wrap up all my work before my surgery. I'll be getting my right shoulder reconstructed due to a Grade III AC Separation that was due to a mountain biking accident I had in May of last year. My surgeon asked me why I waited this long to get seen because usually people have surgery shortly after their accidents. I just explained to him that I was in a middle of a PCS move from Camp Pendleton to the Naval hospital. To get a consult takes weeks and months. The bureaucratic red tape is a giant hindrance and a big pain in the butt which pretty much explains everything. From my experience, NEVER ever ask your surgeon what he is going to do to you because the gruesome details just might scare the living shit out of you.

Monday, February 10, 2014

Vicky's 6th Birthday

Instead of a birthday party filled with BBQ, bouncing castles, birthday gifts, and piƱatas.  I have decided to make a move to a non-financially devastating move to implore exciting alternatives that lasted a whole weekend.  The San Diego Zoo, Babycakes (cupcake restaurant), John's Incredible Pizza and road trip' in all over the place.  Here we go, enjoy the video.  Music credits go to: Cash Cash - Take Me Home.

Friday, February 07, 2014

Another Eureka Moment Again...

I just had another eureka moment again after watching "Jobs".   That movie was very good and it was about Steve Jobs and his life as a jerk with humble beginnings.

So my eureka moment?  Yes, hit me up if you have about 2 million dollars, I have a cool idea that will completely change the world and it is definitely something that can make you and your offspring retire forever.... til the end of time.  So just e-mail me so we can discuss this.  And no, I'm not building a computer.  But I do need to incorporate to execute this business plan so that "we" can protect our assets.  It is a product that is internet proof and cannot be copied by anyone else which makes it even more plausible.  My idea will cost $100,000 to be paid back in full once I reach net positive with your investment in R&D, real estate and in the company with me running the whole operation just like Jobs did.  If I receive no responses within two years before I retire, I'll post my idea on Kickstarter and you "the multi-millionaire" will never be a billionaire.

Wednesday, February 05, 2014

North Park Park

 
In the heart of North Park is the community park.  The North Park Park!  It is just a few walkable blocks away from my house and the kids love it.  There is sand and lots of activities for your imaginative little ones.  Hidden and scattered throughout the park are 100 frogs waiting to be found. 


Tuesday, February 04, 2014

Celebrity Power

With thousands and thousands of views on this blog, sometimes I wonder if some of the views are coming from people I know.  It is interesting that once, because I used to post a ton of information about Japan, this blog has gotten me backstage to an Everclear concert.  Someone who recognized who I was, instantly invited me to come backstage.  I got pictures with the band and had a 10 minute chit-chat with lead singer.  This blog has almost gotten me in trouble in the past and got me fired from a job and it's brief removal has also caused some turmoil during my breakup in marriage as well.  To add on to that, I know the government is monitoring this site to see if I make any slipups concerning OPSEC and such. 

I wouldn't call myself a celebrity, because to be considered that, you must have millions of adoring fans.   I'm a normal person just like most of you.  And to all of you who continuously check on this site, I sincerely thank you.  Although, I know that blogging on here is a complete waste of my time and that I get no money from it what-so-ever, I hope this site remains to be somewhat relevant to others.

Since I started Blogging, I have joined a social media thing that you may all know of called Facebook.  It is fascinating and addicting and people can easily be hooked on clicking on pictures and links and stuff.  I have recently came in the realization that it is like a drug and before you know it, you end up spending hours on it.  Hours that I could've spent on doing something more productive, especially since posting on Facebook only reaches a close circle of friends.  Through Blogger, I can reach 7 billion people without much effort.  Now that's powerful.

P.S.  If this is your first time visiting this site then, welcome!  Take off your hat and stay a while.  Click on the time line to the right to view the chronological postings of my insane adventures.

Overlooking the 805 on Adams

Monday, February 03, 2014

Most Fascinating Person on the Planet

One of my friends posted on their Facebook: "If you could sit on a bench and have a conversation with someone living or dead, who would it be?"

For me, it is simple.  Michio Kaku is my pick.  I like how he breaks quantum physics down into lay terms.

Here is the link to how to reverse aging without drugs or creams and stuff.

http://bigthink.com/ideas/how-to-reverse-aging-2

Sunday, February 02, 2014

This Guy Nailed It

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/retiring-27-ambitious-lazy-crazy-140000847.html

Read the article above.  My life would have been drastically different if I hadn't decided to join the military to serve my country.  Entrepreneurship run in my veins and being constantly deployed, getting married, having kids and transferring to new locations have always held me down.  Maybe God decided that my talents serve a purpose for the greater good and that I shall be rewarded in the end.  I can only hope.  Realistically though, if I had decided to go to school instead of the Navy, I had already made a conscious decision to become a chiropractor.  I had the school picked out and everything.  Yeah, life would've been different.

Recently, I had an eureka moment (again).  My never ending quest for process improvement has led me to finding shortcuts.  When I was handed over two jobs from two different people who were leaving, I was short on time.  Doing reports take hours and hours to do. I figured out how to do something that used to take 6 to 8 hours and brought it down to ten minutes by schooling myself on mathematics and spreadsheet formulas.  Now my secret?  Haha.  No way. 

Being lazy is always a good thing.