Spammers suck, and I want them outta my space. I guess if people like Sara Palin, the dumbest bitch in the world, then I guess spammers must find suckers to buy their crap too. I think my husband, who might actually might want to be a super-computer in his next life, will figure out a way to rid this space of spam shitters.

I finished week 1 of PTA school. It was fun, but a little shocking. My classmates are way more equipped than me. Some have degrees from Bastyr in exercise science. Others are massage therapists or work in clinics. It's a diverse bunch. One woman is from Austria and one man is from Paraguay. So one of our assignments is to deconstruct an info-mercial that sells exercise equipment and promises six-pack abs in six weeks and other ridiculous stuff. There should be a recycling center dedicated to exercise equipment that people buy. I think the equipment watches the owner gain weight as it gathers dust.

I really like school. My favorite assignment was describing a jumping jack. JJ's probably get a bad rap because we had to do them in phy. ed. (which is what Wisconsin kids call PE). They aren't a total waste of time, especially if you don't spend much time abducting and adducting.

L.

I just watched Colbert interview Dean Kamen and his prosthetic arm, named Luke. Luke picks up a grape without squishing it. Luke has the dexterity to pick up a raisen. Dean and his team built this arm in 15  months. Listen to this cool man talk about his arm, the soldiers he is inspired by, and check out the demonstration. http://www.ted.com/talks/dean_kamen_the_emotion_behind_invention.html

He's a worker.

He also invented the Segway. 

School started yesterday. I feel swamped already.

Today I re-upped at the gym. My favorite trainer is teaching a 16-week class, so I talked Eric into it and this morning's class consisted of a few tests to get some baseline strength, agility, and cardio information. Just a few tests provides a lot of information. Here's what we did. Actually, I couldn't do 3 of the tests because my knee is still rehab'in itself. I wish it would hurry up.

1) Vertical Jump

2) Punch/Pull with resistance. This is for "rotational strength". We pull one pulley and punch the other. Resistance is set on the machine.

3) Chest Press: 15 pound bar with resistance at 10, 30, then 50 pounds. The guys started at 30 pounds and went to 80. At each weight, we lifted the bar twice. (I was WEAK). I need to do a billion pushups.

4) 300 yards at as fast-as-you-can pace. The track was 50 yards long so runners had to also stop, turn, and run back 3 times.

5) Cone-sprints (2x). Not sure what this test is really called, but football players do a lot of this. Three orange cones are set 10 yards apart. The runner gets in a linebacker position at the middle cone. He turns, runs to the left cone, stops, turns, runs to the far cone (20 yards), stops, turns, and sprints back to the middle cone. This takes between 5 and 10 seconds, or at least that's what the folks in the class were running it in. Eric was fast. He was under 6 seconds both times.

That was it. Now we work our asses off for a couple of months and see what happens.

Here's a "I miss my skis" photo. My friends are skiing fresh snow at Crystal Mtn. this week. Good for them.

I'm reading a great book by Sara Wheeler called Terra Incognita: Travels to Antarctica. On an extended trip through Chile, she discovered the country didn't end at Tierra del Fuego. "A small triangle was suspended at the bottom of every map. They called it Antartida chilena." So she hopped a antediluvian Hercules, compliments of the Chilean Air Force, and took a long look "out over the icefields vanishing into the aspirin-white horizon".  That was the beginning of her Antarctica love affair. Anarctica is a task-master and she worked hard to produce this book. It begins with with a Thomas Pynchon, V quote: "You wait. Everyone has an Antarctic". Hope so.

Back to the topic. She mentions Inexpressible Island where Victor Campbell and 5 others were stranded for eight months in 1912. Of all things to mention about the ordeal, she writes that the men suffered from "igloo back". I did some searching and didn't find much information about this except it was the result of stooping when they entered and left their igloos. I did find a link to this gem: http://infomotions.com/etexts/gutenberg/dirs/1/4/3/6/14363/14363.htm. 

I could imagine getting this if I lived in a tent for eight months. I'd probably change my entry/exit method. I don't know the mechanisms that cause this sort of injury, but I'll bet the lower back, my Achilles heel, is involved.

The butt stays put because its held up by the buttock suspensory ligament, or the gluteal fold. I think the term is used interchangeably. Maybe not. It's made up of fibrous tracts the connect the skin in the gluteal area to the ischium, which is part of the pelvis. Fat sits in the gluteal fold. The ligament looks like that old-fashioned and useless "exercise" machine that had a wide strap, which wrapped around the backend of the user and vibrated (circa Ed Sullivan Show). I guess like everything else this tough little butt strap can get weary. When that happens the heavy fat situated between the gluteus maximus and the gluteal fold sags. Best to keep your butt up.  

On March 7, River, James, and I climbed to 13,500 on Mt. Rainier before reluctantly turning around. We argued, and then headed back to where we'd parked our skis at the top of the Ingraham Direct route. While we were away, a serac sitting 1500 feet above us let loose a highway of ice across our tracks. Our skis escaped the avalanche. We escaped the avalanche. After admiring the car-size blocks of blue glacial ice we started our descent. I jumped 3 crevasses, but messed up the landings.  I popped up from these impressive crash landings.The snow was soft. River took a hard right at the flats and skied Cadaver Gap back to Camp Muir and a cold beer. James and I headed to Cathedral Gap, This aspect of the mountain was fogged in and hadn't seen much sun. I skied the Gap, traversed a bit, and then almost made that last turn before tucking back to camp. I caught the uphill ski under some crust. My ski didn't pop. I fell downhill and my pack weight torqued me a few  more degrees. I can't recall experiencing pain that intense ever before.  James heard my screamin', and rolled over to pop my skis off. He hobbled me back to camp. I was pissed off. The next day I took my first tobaggan trip. It was grueling work for River and James, who were joined by Jordan, Ken, and Ben from the park at the top of Pan Point.

Now, unable to ski, and poised to start physical therapist assistant school at Whatcom Community College on April 6, and trying to come up with ways to remember, reinforce, think about, all things anatomical, i (a certified introvert) am starting this public journal, log, diary. It's not a blog because "blog" is a word that I depise and reminds me of the word "barf," which actually describes the writing and content of many blogs... blog-barf. This journal might have to include talk about other stuff too. The stuff that introduced me to the remarkable field of physical therapy in the first place: bikes, skis, crampons, ropes, and rocks.

What's cool about this knee injury is my MRI.  My MRI shows intact ligaments: anterior and posterior cruciate ligaments, and MCL. It shows rock solid menici (lateral and medial). It shows that I bruised my femur (posterior and medial swelling white portions of MRI around the bone). Other views show more swelling and other neat knee anatomy. I didn't fracture my femur, which was what the doc I saw thought I'd done. This is about the best knee injury a skier could hope for. If I chill it and keep my quad muscles firing and take some anti-inflam potions, and if I do not ski, jump, torque, fall, or carry heavy shit on my back for a few more weeks, I'll get to backcountry the spring snow up at Washington Pass and elsewhere. This accident turned into a crash course on knee anatomy and kinesiology.

This is my first blog entry