I've ben scoped!

So I have been blessed with a lovely stomach that hates me lately! If you recall some of my recent posts where I describe how I almost canceled my planned trip to the Outer Banks due to some serious stomach pains. I have already gone through an esophagram, which involved ingestion of copious amounts of chalky white liquid. That gave no indication of any problem.

Today I had a new experience ahead of me. Gastroscopy. This involves sedating the patient and inserting a tube with a camera down my esophagus, into my stomach and the upper part of my small intestine. What ever sedation they gave me seemed to knock me out pretty well. I vaguely remember gaging slightly as they inserted the tube then the next thing I recall was being wheeled out of the room as the nurse told me I was done. All I could think was... "What are you talking about, you didn't do anything!". After sedative wore off, I felt fine. Just a little tipsy, like I had drank one too many beers. Having not eaten breakfast this morning I was starving, so Brad (who drove me to the appointment) and I went to Denny's where I got a big breakfast (eggs, sausage, bacon, ham, hash browns and pancakes) where I proceeded to eat it all without leaving a single crumb on my plates. (!!!)

I have since felt a little tired but have experienced no pain what so ever. And to think, I was worried about how this would go! Let's hope they can figure out what the problem is now.

Time to get back to reality... even if I have to be dragged kicking and screaming!

Do you have any idea how hard it is going to be for me to get in the car tomorrow morning? It's not the long drive that will be discouraging me. Rich will be joining me to help out with a portion of it.

Can you guess why I don't want to jump in that car tomorrow morning?

Could it be the sun... the sand... the salty spray of the sea...
The crashing waves... the new friends I made?

I have a feeling it is a little bit of all of those things.
:-)
Nonetheless, back to reality.

Kickin it in the OBX!

I am sitting here in the third floor living room of our incredibly luxurious beach house in the Outer banks of North Carolina. I look to my left out the window and see the waters of the Pamlico Sound separating the North Carolina mainland from Hatteras Island. I look to my right and see the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. (!!!) I promise pictures of this will soon follow. :-)

I am counting my blessings that I am here because my stomach has not been cooperative in the least. With no apparent reason (other than perhaps a fair amount of stress), I woke up Tuesday morning with some nasty stomach pains (again!) just below my sternum. The same thing happened again yesterday and to a lesser extent today. But it's OK because it is only preventing me from getting a full night of sleep, running, eating properly and enjoying any sort of beer with my friends here. But who needs those things to enjoy life!

I may end up having to cut this trip short if these symptoms persist. I hope not though because I kind of like it here. Any doctors out there please feel free to interject with diagnoses and suggestions.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Happy birthday to... this blog! (Note the counter at the bottom of the page! ;-)

I know it sounds lame but it is a big deal for me as I have been particularly lazy with things like this in the past. So let's look at my stats:

66 posts in the past year
Averaging out to 1.27 posts per week...
Which is about one post every 5.5 days.
577 total page views with...
66% unique views
34% repeat views
Averaging 1.6 views a day.

Not too much comments and feedback though. I still encourage my readers to do so as the feedback will keep me engaged. I promise my readers that I will do what I can to improve my stats in the coming year! For now here's a picture of my blog on it's first birthday.

Right now I am at a minimum for time as I am preparing for a trip to the Outer Banks of North Carolina during the second half of the week. (!!!) I have never been there. Due to some unexpected twists and turns in my life (which I may or may not disclose at a later date), I will be departing for my trip tomorow night instead of waiting until Wednesday morning. If all goes according to plan, I will be on the beach by early afternoon on Wednesday.

I will keep you posted.

Godspeed... to Jon-Boar-the-Man-Whore.

The day has finally arived where my friend Jon has left the greater Rochester area to attend law school in Topeka, Kansas. This is a sad sad moment for me as he is one of the people in a foursome of friends whom since college are affectionately referred to as "The Four Drunken Horsemen of the Apocalypse". Emily has also referred to Jon as "my boyfriend" on more than one occasion. I and Jon too reluctantly admit... Jon is my confidant and non-homosexual non-gay lover. (Thanks for being a good sport and not too jealous all these years Emily!)

So this is a continuing and troubling problem for me over the past few years. My friends have this habit of moving away. If only I was not so comfortable here, I might move away as well. The whole technology thing allows us to keep in touch much easier than before (ahem... facebook), but it sucks not having as many familiar people to hang out with on a whim. And the roommate I live with... let's just say that the apartment we share is more like a big closet where he keeps his things rather than a place where he lives as he is rarely here when I am.

So, what is a guy in his mid-twenties to do with him self and his free time? It is times like this when I (almost) miss the constant ongoing demand of graduate school. Always something to be done. If only I was not so comfortable all the time with spending time occupying my self alone. No joke, a book, a couple of netflix DVD's and a little bit of playstation3 and I am all set. Is it possible that I have forgotten how to get out and make new friends?

Life is definitely different when you are out of school and in a working world full of routine!