The word of the week is conundrum.
Sept 5 – Thunder, Thunder...
The recovery continues.
I haven't been using much of the RealHeal
ointment this week, as I've discovered that the active ingredient( hemp oil )makes
me nauseus. That's a shame, as it really seemed to work the last
couple weeks, but the last three times I put it on, my stomach has not been
happy for hours afterwards, so it's a no-go now. I've got a different ointment
I'm using on recommendation from a lot of online research for people with
plantar fasciitis injuries, so I should still be able to continue my healing
this week.
Getting out of the apartment occasionally also
helps, though I can't hobble too fast or too far. Cabin fever has been on my
mind and thankfully my girlfriend has seen fit to take me out for the
occasional dinner or brief outing lately.
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| I *love* this art style of the Thundercats! |
One of the outings this week was to a local pawn
shop, known for its sizable selection of inexpensive Blu-Rays and DVDs. Not
that I need any more, but there's always the possibility of finding something
I've been looking for on the cheap - and today I succeeded! I managed to pick
up the complete first season of Thundercats for a mere $12, less than
I've ever seen on eBay and no shipping charges on top, either!
I watched a few episodes and grinned like a kid
again... it felt great.
Sept 6 – Ask and ye shall receive
Well, how's that for timing?
No sooner did I mention my desire last week for a
How To Cosplay At Home book, and one appeared - on Kickstarter, at least.
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| They know what they're doing over there in Spain... |
The page's English translation of the page looks
a bit rough, but the actual content looks like it might be worthwhile.
As well, it's funny how often you find what you
need when you stop looking for it. It seems to be the opposite end of the
spectrum from searching for something, but in this case it was simply a
"Hey, that'd be great..." thought I had. Then, lo and behold, exactly
what I was looking for appears on Kickstarter. I also find it coincidental that
they chose to use the exact same music in their video that I liked and used for
my re-recording of a video from a few years ago...
There's quite a few cosplay books due to come out
soon according to Amazon as well, but none of them have reviews yet, so in my
opinion I don't know if they are worth the money for the content yet.
Kinda like this cosplay Kickstarter, so I'll see how it
goes: there's 19 days left in their fundraising.
Sept 7 – Minimums
Well, it's a start.
Minimum wage in BC is increasing this week from
$10.45 to $10.85 an hour, though it's nowhere near what it should be to keep
pace with inflation.
As someone who has recently been paid minimum
wage, I can say that even working full-time won't pay the bills, especially in
a city like Victoria where it costs quite a bit more than an average for rent
or mortgages. The recommended living wage for this city is almost $19 an hour,
and that's just to ensure that the basics such as rent, food and utilities are covered.
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| AB has dedicated itself to $15 in the next few years - nice! |
Taking the minimum wage up to $15 an hour will be
a good start, as recommended by antipoverty groups. A statistic that made my
eyes pop and that I can really relate to was that of the over 90,000 people in
BC who are earning minimum wage, almost half of them are over age 25.
That's no wage with which to be working towards a decent retirement.
Sept 8 –
I'm a Mystery?
I saw a specialist today, and confused him.
It was a referral appointment to see if there was
any causal relationship between my recent tendon issues and rheumatic /
hereditary factors, which could have a role in explaining why simple activities( at least for other people )cause me major issues on occasion out of the blue.
Unfortunately, nothing conclusive came out of the
meeting, so getting a second opinion seems to be the only option to continue
this line of investigation.
On the bright side, nothing in my blood work
shows that I have any abnormal factors to worry about in terms of joints;
according to the specialist today, I have an excellent range of motion and show
no signs of joint deterioration - hooray! In addition, the specialist was
rather taken aback with all the medical-related things that happened to me in the
last three years and was impressed that I was still mainly functional, apart
from the recent tendon difficulties.
So it's back to square one.
I'll just focus on recovering for the next month, taking no chances. When I walk any distance for the next month, I'll be
using a cane( partly for balance at this
point )and ensuring that I go no further than the 15 minutes to work and
back again. Slowly but surely all get back on track, as I can already feel the
lower levels of energy from my lack of aerobic exercise this last month.
Once I'm back to being able to walk unassisted,
I'll take it from there - slowly.
Sept 9 – ST: THOS Animated
Ouch...
It seems I'm not quite as far along in my
recovery after the last three weeks as I thought. Even walking short distances
yesterday with a cane( from home to the
bus stop, to the doctor’s office, and 10 minutes downtown to another bus )
has caused my hamstrings as well as Achilles tendons to flare up, and I'm
paying for that today. Damn.
At least being home, I'm able to put ice packs on
the backs of my legs while reclining on the couch for 30-45 minutes at a time
throughout the day, which has helped to reduce the inflammation and soreness
considerably. Unbelievable.
So, while I was literally cooling my heels, I
caught up on Star Trek: The Animated
Series today. It was one of the few times I've binge-watched anything on Netflix,
as I'm normally too busy... but today, my energy level was as low as my pain
level was high.
It was a good binge, though!
I actually own the series on DVD, but have never
got around to watching either of the two seasons to date. Netflix makes it
easy: just queue up the next episode and let 'er rip! I was quite pleased with
the quality of the video as well, in that there was almost no speckle or dirt
whatsoever in any of the episodes, which was quite a surprise for animation
that was made in the early 70s - well done!
As well, I noted that the series was made by Filmation, who would go on to create
the massive number of episodes for the He-Man TV cartoon series in the early 80s. It was
amusing that so many of the camera angles, animations and musical sequences
were identical to He-Man, so much so that I smiled to see all the similarities.
By days’ end, I made it all the way through the
first season, and was impressed. While not every episode was as good as I'd
hoped for, enough were of such quality that I look forward to seeing the rest of
the series. Some of the episodes were excellently
written, exploring aspects of the original Star Trek universe that for various budgetary
or political reasons the original show couldn't. It was a brilliant idea to use animation as a vehicle for those stories to be told.
It was also a great way to take my mind off things
today.
Sept 10 – Cheap Crossfire
Hooray for local sales sites!
As you likely already know, I am an expert
bargain hunter, at least from my couch. I prowl the local sale sites( VarageSale,
UsedVictoria, Kijiji, Craigslist )hunting for used bargains on a weekly
basis in order to stretch my monthly budget further for things that we
need... as well some of the things I'd like to get but are far too expensive to
buy new.
Case in point: upgrading my computer.
The last few weeks of putting my system back
together as shown me that it's really getting long in the tooth, having been most recently upgraded in 2012 - an eternity in computer years. While I'm
by no means a cutting-edge gamer, as I've mentioned recently my frustration with MWO is
mainly due to the fact that the computer can't keep up with the game's action
and so I tend to die a lot more than I should.
I do tend to plan ahead, and one of the features of
the motherboard I bought back in 2012 was that it supports having two video
cards, so that I could add one at a future date. Most people who go that route tend to
buy less-than-cutting-edge cards in order to save a substantial amount of
money, because putting two identical cards together gives quite a bit of
performance for not-a-lot of dollars. Considering that I got my current video
card on super-sale in 2013 for $130, soI think I did well. But finding that
same card again for a bargain price has proven rather difficult - until today!
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| Four years later, the puzzle piece is found! |
Tonight I spotted a used video card for sale on
UsedVictoria.com for a mere $30( !!!! )and it was equivalent to my current card. I immediately
sent an e-mail to the seller and he confirmed that it was working, so I
arranged to pick it up( thanks to my
lady! ) - score! After I tidied it up a bit( it was quite dusty )it
looked brand-new and I'm excited to be able to get it working later this week,
as all that was missing was the cable to connect the two cards together in my
system. As the chart above shows, the two cards together should be comparable
in performance to an Nvidia 760 card, cheap! The MSI card is still listed for over $100 on
various sites - plus shipping and taxes. But having bought used AND locally,
neither which I had to pay! BONUS: it's from the same maker as my motherboard!
Bargain hunters, eat your hearts out.
Sept 11 – Laserdisc 2112
I spent a good deal of today tidying up loose ends.
It's my last day before I go back to work
tomorrow, and while my left foot's not fully healed, it only feels tight
underneath rather than shrieking-sore with every careful step. I've been using my back massager on the underside of my leg( gently and only a few times a day )which has helped to loosen things up without pain, as a few runner's health sites have recommended.
I've managed to accomplish a fair number of
things these last few weeks, though regrettably I didn't get nearly as much
writing done as I'd hoped due to my constant yo-yoing from standing to sitting
that sapped my lowered energy steadily. Neither did I get a lot of reading done
to dig into my backlog of nearly 50 books that are sitting unread on my
shelves, not to mention the various movies and TV series that are on my lists.
It's rather difficult to watch a show or read a book while watching where
you're going in a small apartment, moving around on your feet carefully with a
cane.
All the same, I got enough done to feel like I
haven't been wasting my time, though I certainly don't feel like I've been
productive - understandable, I think.
During my down time, I did mean to watch a few
laserdiscs, but I've not managed to get around to that either. What I did
manage is to run across this extraordinarily amusing clip from a show I've
never heard of called Regular Show - and I probably would still be
unaware of its existence if it hadn't been for this particular episode, which
perfectly sums up how laserdiscs fit into the world today in a hilariously
over-the-top manner:
As well, today is the 15th anniversary of 9/11... that shouldn't go unremarked, nor shall it, at least not in my mind. Having been to New York a few times, once before and once after the tragedy, I'm always aware of how quickly our world can change.
Hopefully, after 9/11, we can see to changing it for the better.
That's about all I've got for this week, as I'm
going to try to get some early shuteye tonight in preparation for my first day
back at work tomorrow - wish me luck!
