Chad Things

My back has always been a pain in my ass (heh). Well, a few weeks ago in Atlanta, i got a pain in my shoulder so bad that i couldn’t lay down, take deep breaths, or even eat a full meal without pain. So I went to my mom’s orthospinologist, Dr. Parkerson in Atlanta. He took some x-rays and then told me the good news and bad news: The good news was that he found a problem that prolly caused my pain. The bad news was that my vertebrae were messed up. He told me lots of numbers, like my C1 was tilted 8 degrees to the right, but basically i was twice as bad as his average patient. He couldn’t tell me how long I’ve been that way – could have been since april when i took a bad fall while snowboarding, or as far back as when i was 8 years old and broke my collarbone. He made some adjustments, and i got better, but still far from where i need to be. Once i got back to SF i started seeing an orthospinologist here, Dr. Christina Meakim. They tell their patients they must come in about 1-2 times a week till the adjustments “hold”, usually about a month. The adjustments are very well placed, but light, and can easily be undone by jarring activities (like wrestling, heh). Although not as bad as that first pain in atlanta, i still get backaches when i sleep for just 7 hours – and i wake up tired. I feel like i’m definitely slowing down, so i finally decided i want to focus on fixing this thing once and for all. That means see her 1-2 times a week, take it easy, and not do any traveling for more than a week. Sigh. My summer trip to asia is now postponed till fall .. or longer. If this works, and my back is fixed, i cannot tell you how happy i’ll be. Booyakasha.

Thats right, I quit Yahoo. My last day was Friday, April 14, after 2 years 8 months, i was ready to move on. Why quit you ask? Well, those that know me, know that i’m not one to sit around and do nothing. I always got ants and in my pants. And frankly, my job was getting boring – responsibilty but no fun. My last project, My Web 2, launched in the summer in 2005, and was winding down, so it was a good time to leave. Thats the team plus some other yahoo coworkers at my going away lunch. How nice. But more than that, I had some money saved, and i’m not in a relationship, no house payments, nothing tying me down – so clearly i should quit and travel. Clearly. Indubitably.

What’s next then? Thats the biggest question. Well, as i mentioned, i want to travel, mainly New Zealand, Australia, Thailand, and other parts of Asia. Of course I live in San Francisco and there’s tons of stuff going on here . . . all the time. So it was tough to figure out when to leave, but i did it. I’m going to visit my sister and her family in early july, then i’m off till october, when i have to be back in california for a wedding (plus another wedding in december in costa rica). I still need to work out the details of where i’ll be between July and October, so don’t ask. I’ve traveled a bit already, and i’ve found that without the time pressure, it’s more fun to plan as you go, be spontaneous, just wing it. Afterall, we do have “the information superhighway” and email to keep us all connected. Plans are soooo last century.