Phillbo’s Blog Site

Well I decided to remove the dressing from my stiches. It was getting too itchy, but now I think it is even itchier. Oh well… I just hope it doesn’t get infected in the mean time. By what I can see of it.. it looks pretty clean, and its first time I’ve seen them. I still have the sniffles, the cough, and the uncontrollable sneezes, and momentary loss of voice, but I think I am also on the road to recovery. Today has been much better than the past three days.

Its time I went to bed, as I have work tommorrow. I am making a more concious effort to commit to my job, even though I am not to fond of it. I am sure something else will come my way soon, however I can’t see a need to make my current working environment any worse than it is.

Well after being on broadband anti-biotics for the past five days since surgery, I managed to start feeling pretty worn down yesterday. Swallon throat, runny nose, and some damn annoying sneezes. What a way to spend your day hey?

I’ve just taken a hot shower, and steamed myself up. I feel somewhat better now. But I don’t think it would be wise to drug myself anymore, as I think this illness is viral, and not bacterial. I could be totally wrong too.. however these atomic anti-biotics would probably kill any bacteria that tries to reach my insides. I must say, coming home tonight was a lot more peaceful than normal. Only 9 days now until I get my stiches removed; I can’t wait

Now if only there was an anti-biotic for the the most evil stream of bacteria known as spammers.

Well I know dial up Internet access at my folks place is usually very slow, and usually it sits around 26,400bps, mainly due to the RIM and the distance to the phone exchange, however right now.. noticable noise has been occurring on both of their telephone lines, and hence, Internet access crawls along at 6,000bps.

This is extremly painful, and getting anything done takes close to an eternity, however we’ve been told by our phone compnay that Telstra are upgrading our phone equipment. I can’t wait until that time comes.

Stew has thankfully let me plug into his cable connection, so I’ve managed to get some work done. My shoulder is still causing some pain, but it is less noticeable. Maybe it is slowly getting better, or maybe my brain is blocking the pain receptors… but either way.. I can’t complain too much. I just hope the pathology results are all OK.

Well after negotiating a time with my doctor, he agreed to extract the cist in my shoulder today.

After about seven anesthetic injections, I think he made an incision, and proceeded to cut out the shell holding the cist. As I was under local anesthetic, it was mostly painless, except for some areas where it wasn’t so numb, so I did have a few sharp jabs of pain, but all was OK then.. I’m glad I couldn’t see what was going on, as my stomache was feeling somewhat unpleasant. After about 15 minutes of what seemed like hacking and slashing, I got stiched up with about 12 stiches, as the cist was even bigger than initially expected. They’ve since packaged the cist, and sent it to pathology for testing. The cist was white and ugly, however I am fortunate it was removed, as a small infection was developing near the surface of my skin. Hence my diet for the next week includes pennicillan.

I am now up in the middle of the morning, feeling more pain, and wishing like hell I took him up on the offer of getting prescription pain killers. I may do that today when I get the wound re-dressed, however I think in a weeks or two, I will be much happier knowing the cist has gone.

Well Friday involved giving blood, and seeing my first screening of Star Wars Episode III. Going to see Star Wars at the cinema reminds me back to the times I was in Geelong, seeing Return of the Jedi for the first time as a child. I never did get to see Empire Strikes Back at the cinema as a kid, possibly because I was little too young then.

I’ve never expected to experience such darkness in a movie; however this one took me by surprise the first time I saw it, even though I somewhat knew the outcome. I never imagined seeing it happen the way it did.

Yesterday (being Saturday) I worked a later shift, and then headed over to Stefan’s place. Stefan and I both headed over to Zal’s place, where we saw a promotion of the Playstation 3. Zal is what you’d call a download freak, he loves his console games, but he also likes to downland pretty much everything and anything.

We watched the last three episodes of the TV show The Apprentice last night (and if you do not want to know the winner — don’t read the rest of this paragraph). The contestant Kendra was hired by Donald Trump. Considering I’ve only seen the show once before, it gave me a broader understanding about the whole purpose of this show. I think it is one big propaganda machine.

We trekked back to East Brunswick, and caught up with Enzo. We watched Episode III, and then finally made it home in the early hours of the morning.

I woke up today to find that my football team, The Cats were playing brilliantly. So today is turning out all OK. I am about to head down to Geelong right now.

Well hopefully it isn’t too far away. Just one more sleep, and Miles and I shall quest for our debut Star Wars Episode III cinema visit. I can’t wait. But before we go, we are heading into Melbourne city to give blood. I must remember to eat a good breakfast and have extra fluids.

On a more somber note, my tennis team failed on its quest for three consecutive grand final appearances. We graciously bowed out in the semi-final tonight. There is always next season. I am kind of content knowing I didn’t play, as my shoulder probably wouldn’t have coped at the moment. It shall hopefully be attended to sometime soon.

Work today (or technically now yesterday) was boring as, however I couldn’t say it was a bad day. Somedays are better than others

I just got out of the shower, and now I am certain I have definately lost a few inches around my waist. So my diet and excercise is now starting to show dividends That excites me, so I hope to have my next weigh in on Friday. Friday is also my Star Wars III day, and I may have to scour every cinema across Melbourne to see it, but it shall be done. Yoda would be disappointed if I simply tried.

I’ve looked at way too many SQL tables today, and help desk emails. I am also attempting to hunt down a problem with a parser involving curl/libcurl; and it is casuing me one big head ache. Staying up later won’t fix the problem, so I think it must be definately bed time now.

I have confirmation that I can move to my new place…whenever I want to, so I am wrapped about that. The house is a little bit out of the way distance wise, but having a real backyard, a garage, and plenty of space has its benefits. Just need to organise that also.

I woke up early for once, and actually arrived half an hour early at work. I think I had a productive day, and in the afternoon, I was once again used as a mentor for new employees… bah! I don’t think I make a great role model, but I know I can do my own job really well if I want to. The worst thing about it is, I do have the tendancy to be over confident, and I think the new employees feel a little uncomfortable about it. But life goes on, and I leave work at work.

I had a coffee with Enzo again after work, and listened to a few of his latest recordings with other musicians. Enzo is one of those freak guitarists, that every potential guitar student would be content if they could steal even 1% of his raw talent and enthusiasm. He inspires me to play more often too.

Cooked up a big dinner for myelf tonight, however I think it is relatively healthy, and low on carbohydrates too. I also did some dishes and little house cleaning. I will be hopefully moving place within two weeks, and I sure hope I can get myself well organised in the mean time. I think I’ve finally found a new place to call home. Nothing is absolutely confirmed at this stage, but I think it is highly probable.

I am looking forward to Friday. Miles and I are scheduled to give blood, score a free milkshake (from the bloodbank), and then hope to find a cinema screening Star Wars Episode III. I can’t wait.

If it wasn’t for my tennis team’s semi-final, I would most definately be up for an early Thursday Star Wars adventure.

Well I usually have a Sunday/Monday weekend, and today I took some time to relax. I am all prepared for Star Wars Episode III, after watching both the prequels and the sequels on DVD.

Vince (my tennis captain) summoned me to the court tonight, and we played tennis. Initially, I was a bit scratchy, but I think played quite consistant, which is a nice change. Even my volleys were OK, however I am still having problem with over heads and fast swinging serves; and this cist on my muscle join isn’t helping.

My initial GP told me he could remove the cist after reviewing the ultrasound (to confirm it wasn’t cancerous), but another doctor at the same clinic referred me to a surgeon, and I think simply because he is not confident enough to do it himself. I was advised by Geelong Hospital, it would take me three weeks just to find out when I can expect an appointment. So I’m not a happy camper. I think I will visit another GP, and ask him or her to extract it, or refer me straight to a private surgeon. I have health insurance, and I rarely every claim on it, so I think it’s time I reaped the benefits… and made a claim. Now all I need to do is make another appointment….arrgh!

Well it has been a week since my last post, and I know I am slack.. so to go back a week….

Monday 9th was spent in Geelong. I had dinner with my folks before heading back to Melbourne. Well that is what I remember of it anyway.

Tuesday 10th involved working, and an early night. Not a productive day.

Wednesday 11th involved working at the Church, and fixing a few things relating to their current web site. I also managed to crack MYOB passwords, just so they can view their historial financial details. Wednesday also entailed a basketball trek down to Geelong, and an early morning trek back to Melbourne. My basketball team lost, I couldn’t play, as I couldn’t find my uniform, however going by the overall result, I don’t think my participation would have helped too much.

On Thursday 12th, I was rudely awakened by my alarm clock, went to work, and had coffee with Enzo after work. I cooked dinner, and saw my tennis team win their last match of the regular season. My team is now in the semi-finals again, and I sure hope they pull a victory. But my team will just have to wait and see I guess.

Friday 13th — well this day isn’t super sticious to me, however I did a little bit more work at the Church. I had a look at my Aunte’s place with my cousin Lance, and afterwards I went to Esther and Jo’s place for dinner, where we consumed a lovely lamb roast. I headed over to Hartmeier’s place afterwards, and played about four games of chess with both Stefan and Russ, and went home in the early hours of the morning. At about 4am (Saturday 14th), I woke up to an uneasy stomache. Industrial strength (pharmacy only type) Mylanta didn’t fix the problem; instead it had the opposite affect within minutes. I consequently pulled a sick day, and spent most of the day being unsocial, tired, and quite possibly grumpy.

By the time Sunday came, I was feeling a little better, but spent it at home none the less. I did eat today, so that has to be a good sign. I am sure I will be ready to rumble come tommorrow.