friday updates!

[alexr_rwx]

I tweaked my back (again) -- perhaps taking up kung fu when I thought I was "pretty much better" from a unicycle-related muscle-pull-thing was not the best idea. I'll be back up and rolling pretty soon; I took the day semi-off for being horizontal and the application of ice.

I've been to visit the chiropractor twice; she seems really helpful, except I'm not totally sure I believe in this metric of judging how well my back is aligned by checking where my blind spots are. Actually, I'm doubtful for two reasons. First, the idea that back-alignment has a direct relationship with blind spots seems suspect. I asked, and she said something about a particular brain section that I should remember, and that having to do with integrating sensory input. Which, okay, maybe that's how it works. IANAN. Granting that there's something useful and measurable there -- the experiment that she uses to judge where my blind spots actually are is pretty suspect, in that she moves a pencil along a sheet of paper and has me report when I can see it again, asking me to focus on a dot in the middle of the sheet of paper. I can see where the previous marks were, it's hard to know exactly when something comes into focus if you're trying to look at something else (did it really come into focus, or did my eye dart over to look at the moving pencil tip?), and I can tell she's slowing down the pencil when it's getting towards the area she expects me to report.

That aside -- she pops my back right into place, helpfully diagnosed me as having an irritated disk, and suggested that I take some time to lay flat and apply ice. And that sitting in chairs is not a great idea for me right now, and that walking is probably preferable to cycling, what with the bent-over bicycle posture.

I'll be fine real soon :) Kung fu dudes, watch out.

Lindsey lindseykuper is finishing up her last day at work before Summer Vacation, as I blog, and she's coming to hang out in Atlanta for a while, hooray! We're going to do the ICFP programming contest in a few weekends, so ICFP dudes and dudettes had best watch out. We've been Scheming, and we're not afraid to map/reduce. Although we will probably not MapReduce.

And this weekend, Martin samarin and Lauryn yourusername and I are popping (gently, in my case) to Valdosta to visit that Andrew sault character.

OK. That's all I've got. I should write about learning R and futzing with my OLPC over on that other blog.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

His chiropractor recommended it, and Keith has not needed the services of the chiropractor since! Before we made the purchase, we saw one in a Relax the Back store in Chicago, but the proprietress did not let us try it out (she had been sued recently when a customer claimed to have hurt himself with one in her store). Later we were able to try one in a bicycle shop in Dubuque. The guys in that shop were able to answer all our questions because they ALL used the demonstration model in the shop so frequently. Keith then bought one online. He has used it as often as 3 times per day--on arising, on getting home from work, and just before bedtime. Set up, it takes up about a 54" x 28" chunk of floor space and is about 5 feet high. It can be compacted into a smaller but taller space if you want to put it away for awhile (like in a closet) but it's nice to leave it set up all the time if you have the space. That way, it's very convenient to use. He purchased an F7000 model--not sure if they still make that one. If you get one, make sure to get the optional "corner feet" (http://www.teeterhangups.com/products/corner_feet.html) They add stability and make it easy to use the inversion table on even relatively slick surfaces like hardwood floors. Hope this helps!