It's good to be out of the house, but it's bad to be in the office. I'm not really sure which of these two evils is the lesser.

I feel almost naked when wearing boxers at work. (Haha, the same kind of thrill as using the hospital urinal.)

I'm already not following doctor's orders, by accelerating some of his out-of-commission recommendations.

Thanks for the well wishes from all of you; it's lifted my spirits during this time and had a positive impact on my recovery. Apparently, of the three people who had appendectomies from that doctor that day, I'm the only one already back to work; in fact, I'm the only one out of the hospital already.

You can call me ScarBelly. I thought medical science had advanced, because the nurse told me they only had to make small incisions now. And yet, here I am, staring at a three-inch scar that they left while doodling around with my innards! And my belly is all swollen because of it. So much for all that working out, ugh.

Now I remember why I don't like wearing boxers: I don't like hanging loose like that. (Thought I'd share.)

Second thought of the day: Vicodin rocks, even the generic version.

Look what I noticed! See the BlogSpot banner ads above? They are context-based. For instance, with my last post, the ads above were consistently about medical supplies and male and female urinals and other hospital needs. So ... let's try a few buzz words here. sex toys sex girls men adult magazines videos xxx toys smut women naked pornography lingerie sexy ... did that work?

The Hospital, not the Truck

El Camino Hospital staff was really nice (except one late-shift b!tch), very informative, and made me feel at ease. I'm sure that I helped them, since I was appreciative of everything they did for me, but the courtesy was reciprocated. A few things I learned at the hospital:

1. Peeing into the little urinal jug is strangely amusing. You can be standing in the middle of your room, and let loose on your bladder without worrying about getting in trouble for it! The same kind of sick thrill one might derive from sneaking a camera into a stripclub and taking "strictly forbidden" pictures. (Not that I have, but I suspect it would be the same kind of thrill.)
2. The "nurse call" button is a pretty fun power trip. Having a suite of buttons that beckons people is kind of nice. There's one for the nurse (general), and they're paid to answer to you! Then there's a green button with a frowny face, which is for "pain management" -- it basically means, "Dammit, it hurts, it hurts, please somebody bring me another 2mg dose of morphine!" And finally, there's a yellow one with what looks like a burnt out lightbulb. Be careful with this one -- it's not a lightbulb that means "reading light", but rather it's a toilet which means I can't do my daily chores by myself and need someone to come help me with it. (I learned that one the hard way, while looking up at the lightbulb wondering why it wasn't coming on.)
3. If you're nice to the staff, they give you more drugs. And they give you seconds and thirds of jello and chicken soup and cranberry juice. Jello, though sickly sweet, still tastes pretty damned good -- could use a few shots of alcohol to liven it up, though.
4. After an appendectomy, they want to know how much you pass through your system. Use the urinal jug and buzz them each time so they can come examine your pee for colour, viscosity, and volume.
5. That urinal examination job must suck. I could never work in a hospital, but I'm glad some people do.
6. Even if you're only 28 and in decent health, you still feel like an old fogey shuffling down the hallway pushing your IV pole around in order to get doctor-recommended exercise. But the least you can do it double-check your gown to be sure you're not mooning all the people in your wake.
7. It's a real neat thing to use, that hanging chain handle over the bed. Great for hoisting and repositioning yourself when you have no abs functioning. And probably a decent back and bicep workout too (if they don't catch you doing it).
8. That table that is your food tray, your desk, your little mirror and drawer ensemble? I need to get one of those for home!
9. So you've been up and about the hospital floor, walking around fully capable of getting here and there. You're ready to check out and they will still insist on wheelchairing you out to your car. I don't get it.
10. And however pleasant this whole experience seems, I'm sure the medical bill will make up for it.

I figure I'll just keep adding as I remember more. :-) Back to lying on the bed, pretending I'm utterly useless again.

I had an interesting question posed to me about a week ago. How does WinMX handle downloading a file from multiple users/peers/locations? My first thought is that it divides up the file (to be downloaded) into x segments and starts each download stream from a new segment. But might WinMX file chop this in a different way? Because what if you decide to stop downloading an MP3 at 60%? Wouldn't you like to have the first 60% downloaded, instead of a 20% chunk in the front, middle, and end? I wonder if there's a happy medium in there somewhere.

Now that was an interesting weekend. Exciting, to say the least. Started off with a fantastic day -- weather was great -- in bed and a dip by the pool / hottub. Then while at the mall, I started having abdominal pains and got a little crabby (unsocial). I couldn't sleep more than 15 minutes at a time that night, the pain was so intense. Blame? Food poisoning from the Thai food and the burrito. (Wouldn't you blame them?)

By about 6am on the Sunday, it had gotten bad enough that my parents drove me to the hospital. 11am diagnosis (after a blood and urine sample) determined appendicitis. D'oh! Surgery was scheduled for 1pm that day, and I stayed there overnight. Just got back from the place, and I'll probably be stuck at home for a few days.

And that's not even the worst part. I'm not allowed to workout for 2 weeks. Dammit!

Ray, James, Maria, Cess, and Noah came to visit me yesterday ... mere hours after I called them! And these sweet, sweet friends brought with them gifts of magazines, DVDs, congee, and balloons. Though I feel bad that they all took some time out of a gorgeous weekend day to see me, it was really nice of them to see me (looking like sh!t and having not showered for a whole day).