Year in Review
Jan. 9th, 2004 07:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stdesjardinsI've been dilatory in composing this entry, largely because it's such a big subject. But I have to leave for work in half an hour, so I'll try to cut it down.
Physically, this year was a big winner in the "Most Improved" category. I began taking neurontin early in the year, and that quickly produced noticeable results. Then a fluid-filled bump on my elbow, which turned out to be insignificant, prompted me to make an appointment with a rheumatologist, who diagnosed ankylosing spondylitis (something another rheumatologist had decided against many years ago) and put me on Enbrel, a powerful anti-inflammatory drug injected twice a week, which had a spectacular effect. Soon I was zipping along sidewalks, straightening my back, bending over and reaching further. My increased vigor had only one negative consequence, which was that my legs couldn't handle the strain. Two days before Thanksgiving I found myself barely able to walk. My right leg wouldn't support my weight. It took about a month before a follow-up set of X-ray finally showed the cause, a tiny stress fracture in my right femur, near the hip. The treatment, taking it easy with a cane, preceded the diagnosis and proved very successful.
Culturally, the biggest change is that I started watching more movies. The AFI Silver theater opened in Silver Spring, and I was won over by the huge theaters, comfortable seats, and great selection of foreign movies and American classics. I soon began going to movies half a dozen times or more a month. I also switched my Netflix membership to GreenCine, a smaller and more film-snobbish competitor, and upgraded to TiVo to hold over a hundred hours of programming, enabling me to store dozens of movies from TCM for viewing whenever I had a couple of spare hours.
I also began proofing for Distributed Proofreaders, to help put books into Project Gutenberg, and toward the end of the year I got a scanner and began to put in content. In December, I scanned ten books and post-processed four (which means I read through the books looking for any problems the proofers missed, and did some formatting to make them ready for Project Gutenberg). January's gotten off to a slower start, but I've resolved to catch up on my post-processing this month before putting any more books into DP. (I'll keep scanning, but I won't release any books until my post-processing queue is empty.)
That's the major news for 2003. I always feel as if I should have accomplished more than I have, but on the other hand, I'm mostly satisfied with the way I live my life. I'm a pretty cool person, I think.
Physically, this year was a big winner in the "Most Improved" category. I began taking neurontin early in the year, and that quickly produced noticeable results. Then a fluid-filled bump on my elbow, which turned out to be insignificant, prompted me to make an appointment with a rheumatologist, who diagnosed ankylosing spondylitis (something another rheumatologist had decided against many years ago) and put me on Enbrel, a powerful anti-inflammatory drug injected twice a week, which had a spectacular effect. Soon I was zipping along sidewalks, straightening my back, bending over and reaching further. My increased vigor had only one negative consequence, which was that my legs couldn't handle the strain. Two days before Thanksgiving I found myself barely able to walk. My right leg wouldn't support my weight. It took about a month before a follow-up set of X-ray finally showed the cause, a tiny stress fracture in my right femur, near the hip. The treatment, taking it easy with a cane, preceded the diagnosis and proved very successful.
Culturally, the biggest change is that I started watching more movies. The AFI Silver theater opened in Silver Spring, and I was won over by the huge theaters, comfortable seats, and great selection of foreign movies and American classics. I soon began going to movies half a dozen times or more a month. I also switched my Netflix membership to GreenCine, a smaller and more film-snobbish competitor, and upgraded to TiVo to hold over a hundred hours of programming, enabling me to store dozens of movies from TCM for viewing whenever I had a couple of spare hours.
I also began proofing for Distributed Proofreaders, to help put books into Project Gutenberg, and toward the end of the year I got a scanner and began to put in content. In December, I scanned ten books and post-processed four (which means I read through the books looking for any problems the proofers missed, and did some formatting to make them ready for Project Gutenberg). January's gotten off to a slower start, but I've resolved to catch up on my post-processing this month before putting any more books into DP. (I'll keep scanning, but I won't release any books until my post-processing queue is empty.)
That's the major news for 2003. I always feel as if I should have accomplished more than I have, but on the other hand, I'm mostly satisfied with the way I live my life. I'm a pretty cool person, I think.
no subject
Date: 2004-01-09 07:11 am (UTC)Fortunately, no stress fractures so far, but I'm going to be doing the public transport thing in NJ, so I have to be careful.