You probably thought I forgot this site even existed these past five days, huh?

Well, with spending my mornings working on school stuff (this is the last week for my current class), afternoons playing EverQuest II, Thanksgiving, and my birthday all rolled into one week, I really haven't paid much attention to TheBackofMyMind.

I'm almost done with this class. I need to finish writing an employee handbook, take a quiz, and write an essay. Thanksgiving will actually occur for The Wife and I tomorrow (she had to work yesterday and today), I'm now 43, and my character in EQII is level 18.

This site will not see an update this weekend (no archiving, nothing). I'll probably be dropping the weekly Birthdays on the Recordings page. That is unless you all read them. Make a comment here if you do not want me to remove that section.

Finally, here is the Friday pic.

I know it has almost been a month since The Wife and I were on vacation, but we have finally sat down and uploaded some pictures. You can find these on the Images page.

As usual, the Journal has been archived. And, now a quick school update....

I received an A+ in my second course, Alternative Dispute Resolution, and was the one student in my class to receive the Certificate of Distinction. Okay, okay, enough of me tooting my own horn. Well at least until the next one.

Have a great week! Time for more EverQuest II.

We all saw the 666 post, here's the 999 post!

The Wife received her Holiday issue of the Victoria's Secret catalog. In it there was this particular item that she insisted I see. I have determined from the picture that Tyra is an alien. Why you ask? Well, do you see any human nipples on this female? I thought not. ALIEN. Oh and notice the price of this particular bra.

Have a good weekend!

Okay, I went to see the doctor yesterday and he says I'm just getting older. I already knew that, especially with my 43rd birthday rapidly approaching in just over a week.

He explained that the discs between the vertebrae wear down with age which causes the vertebrae to get closer together, thus why people get shorter with age. As this occurs the bone begins to touch the nerves that run parallel to the discs when in different positions. This is why if I tilt my head slightly to the right I get the pain down my arm. He also noticed that there are a couple of bone spurs prominent in a couple places. They normally wouldn't have any effect, however, since the discs are wearing, the spurs seems to be making contact with the nerves more readily after they (nerves) become inflamed.

So, what do I do? On the extreme end is a traction type of device people use in their homes. Basically, it's a device that allows the person to hang themselves, so that the vertebrae separation is widened. I think not, thank you. Then the doc explained that he should probably send me off to physical therapy. I really hated physical therapy when I had a problem with my foot, so I told him I'd like instant gratification please. Isn't there a magic something I could eat or drink to make me grow again like in Alice In Wonderland? He laughed and said that is ibuprofen didn't work to relieve the pain, then nope.

I never took any ibuprofen when it hurt. I mentioned my desire not to take any medication unless absolutely necessary. He asked if my arm hurts, do I feel like it might be necessary? Uh, yeah, I guess. I usually wait for The Wife to tell me what medication to take, since that is her job. He said, take some ibuprofen the next time it hurts, see if the pain goes away and the inflammation of the nerves goes down. If this works, great, if not, call for a referral to physical therapy.

So there you have it:
I'm getting old and shorter (who woulda thunk?)
I don't want to hang myself
I hate physical therapy
There is no white rabbit
I'm a dork (as The Wife would say) for not taking any ibuprofen
and . . .

This is the end of this post.

The update this week was nothing special, simply archiving and changing the Birthdays on the Recordings page. Why you ask?

Well, my life over the past week has been a combination of reading material for school, writing responses to Discussion Questions and other homework, and playing EverQuest II. Actually, I even managed to get my badges in Pogo this week too.

However, tomorrow I have a doctor's appointment for a pinched nerve, and I really need to call it a day with staying up until 4am playing EverQuest II. Well, maybe.

I just need to balance the playing in a bit better starting this coming Wednesday. So, until then, I'm heading back in for more.

I guess I really haven't had much to say over the last couple of days. Then again, it could simply be my preoccupation with EverQuest II.

I have played for the better part of the past 44 hours. Yes, I have taken some time to eat, sleep, do a few errands, spend time with The Wife & Dustie the Cat, and even do some reading and homework. However, I have not spent an iota of time with regard to the site.

I will more than likely post a Friday picture tomorrow, but I will probably not be doing an archiving of this very short Journal week until the following week.

Okay, time to do one more homework assignment, make a couple phone calls, then get back to the game.

The Good: EverQuest II comes out today!!!!

The Bad: My computer has been giving me problems for the past 3 days.

The Update: Feature page has the chronology of the recent vacation. The Birthdays on the Recordings page are updated. The Journal was archived. And, yes, the underlying HTML is now SHTML in order to use server-side includes making my life that much easier.

I need to take a quiz in the morning, so time for bed. Have a great week!!!

Today is the day to have your say with regard to our government. Go out and VOTE!

With regard to the site, I might have figured out a way to rework the underlying code in order to keep the same look and feel of the site and minimize the work to maintain it. I just need to understand and read more about Server-Side Includes (SSI).

Again, GO VOTE!!

I have become simply fed up with the way this web site is put together. The amount of work it takes to actually do a simple update is ridiculous. Although I might like the look and structure of the site, it just isn't put together in a practical manner for me to maintain on a weekly basis anymore.

Don't worry, this doesn't mean that I'm abandoning the site, it just means that there will no longer be the kinds of updates you have been use to.

I will do what I can to still have posts in this journal as frequently as possible, and there will no longer be a feature each week. I have already started the process of a structural redesign on paper. I'm not sure how long it will take to rebuild the site, so unless I say something in the journal about any changes on any other page, don't assume anything will be changed or new. I will ALWAYS state changes and updates on this page.

I am sorry if this gives rise to concern about having a location to visit during the day, but I just cannot take the several hours it requires every weekend just to archive and update the pages. It really needs a new and webmaster friendly structure.

Thanks for understanding.