Now I’m going to sound like a doting father when I say this, but it really can’t be helped. In my 30+ years, my most vivid memory ever is the day I first laid eyes on my little girl. I’ll never forget. It seems time has passed so fast and the Noodle has grown so much these past four years. It’s just simply amazing watching Neve take a giant step into the big wide world.

Just wanted to say hello to my internet stalker, Stephanie Hicks. Lurk and stalk away.

Welcome to the bits and pieces of my daily life. It's a typical life, but a great life. It's even better with the Noodle in it! By the way, the song playing in the slideshow is Jack Johnson's Better Together.

My L-Spine series x-rays have been looked over by the doc and the diagnosis is in...I have a narrowing of the spine. The correct medical term is spinal stenosis. As my doctor so aptly put it, this condition is very common in people who are middled aged and older. Jeez doc, thanks for making me feel so young.

So what exactly is spinal stenosis? Well spinal stenosis occurs when there is a narrowing of your spinal canal caused by the forward slipping of one vertebra on another. In my case, my L5 is the vertebrae that is the root of my troubles. This narrowing pinches on the nerves that leave the spinal canal to go to your foot.

The pain of this conditions is a constant soreness of ache located from the lower back to the thighs. It is worse when I straighten my spine or walk for a prolonged period.

This is what I've been staring at off and on for the past 30 minutes. Boring.

create or replace trigger MIRASSOC_B_IU_SIDSWAP
    before insert or update of MIR_OBJ_FROM, MIR_OBJ_TO
    on T_MIR_MIR_ASSOC
    for each row
declare
    TMP   varchar2(20);
begin
    :new.ASSOC_DIRECTION := upper(:new.ASSOC_DIRECTION);

    if :new.ASSOC_DIRECTION not in('AB', 'BA') then
      RAISE_APPLICATION_ERROR(-20200,
         'Invalid Relationship Direction (' || :new.ASSOC_DIRECTION || ')');
    end if;

    /* Make sure that A < B so that the PK will prevent the same
       assocation be recorded twice */
    if :new.MIR_OBJ_FROM > :new.MIR_OBJ_TO then
        TMP := :new.MIR_OBJ_FROM;
        :new.MIR_OBJ_FROM := :new.MIR_OBJ_TO;
        :new.MIR_OBJ_TO := TMP;

        if :new.ASSOC_DIRECTION = 'AB' then
            :new.ASSOC_DIRECTION := 'BA';
        else
            :new.ASSOC_DIRECTION := 'AB';
        end if;
    end if;
end;

I've had a Facebook profile since February 2009 thanks to my Auntie Sue. You see...she sent me an invite to look at her newly uploaded photos on Facebook. Well, the only way that I could actually look at any of her photos was to register with Facebook and create a profile for myself. Initially, I set up Facebook to automatically retrieve my latest blog posts from tonymcdonough.com and my latest uploaded photos from my Flickr photostream and post them to my Wall. It has worked out really well. All my blog entries and photo uploads have been posted to my Wall without any effort on my part. I really dig the effortless approach of maintaing Facebook. Anyway, I did a little housekeeping on Facebook tonight. I've uploaded a few pictures of my face painted Noodle, filled out some profile information, become a Fan of some sports teams, products, and places, and set some privacy settings. I've even managed to put a few friend requests in. So, if you're interested in finding me on Facebook...

Local Pharmaceutical
Photo taken by mcdonoughab

I've been living with lower back pain for over 15 years. Until this past Wednesday, I've always been able to cope with the stiffness and soreness. So, I really don't have a good explanation as to why my back suddenly seized and went into spasm. All that I do know...when you can't walk or even sit up in bed and your father and neighbor carry you out of the house and to the doctor's...you probably should have been in the emergency room a lot sooner than Friday. Anyway between the Flexeril, Vicodin, and Prednisone, I'm a walking pharmacy at this point. Speaking of walking, I wouldn't consider what I'm doing as walking. Holding onto someone and shuffling my feet isn't really walking, but an adult form of crawling.

Tony can't type his blog post right now because his back is not playing nice with him. So I am sitting here thinking about what to write and Tony is dictating some stuff but I still don't know what to write so I'm rambling like usual. But that is okay because it is not my blog. However you can check mine out at jess05.wordpress.com. Wow, that was a shameless plug but if I'm writing his blog for him, then I get to type whatever I want. But I have nothing else to write so I'll leave you now but go check out my blog!

Oh! My aching back! by mcdonoughab