I'm not Difficult...I'm Geofficult...

So I'm spending a million $ at the Tire dude getting new tires brakes and an alignment. I have no idea why but this dad across from me has this kid that is using him like his personal gymnasium. He is climbing and crawling all over him. I think I saw the same thing on the Nature channel with spiders crawling all over the mom spider. The kid is screaming albeit quietly and he is just sitting there like a zombie. What's up with that?!?!?

Holy crap do my legs hurt...

So as of last night I've completed an official month of Tae Kwon Do.  I felt pushed, I think I did well...and I sweated like a pig in a sauna.  I get all dressed up in my uniform and go to class.  Master Shin is walking around in his uniform for the first time.  He is always in regular clothes.  "weird...maybe he is stretching or something..."

Then 7pm comes and Master Shin walks in and starts warming us up.  Holy crap...It was like an hour long cardio session.  My legs are really sore even now.  I stuck through the whole thing though  I only had to stop once for water.  The good thing is that I felt great.  I feel like I am getting a little more stamina each time which is really cool.

My kicks are getting better although we haven't done any punching in a while.  It's all been kicks which is fine but I want to make sure that I get my first stripe sooner than later.  My daughter is on her second stripe so hopefully I'll get my stripes soon.  I want to test for my yellow belt in June.  I'm really looking forward to it.

If Itchy treats Scratchy so bad...why does he hang out with him?

Now I'm 100% mex...however I'm critical of ghetto mexicans. Somehow I feel empowered to point out the problems I see in the world. The biggest issue that I see is the $20k job and $50k car.

There is a mom in my daughters Tae Kwon Do class that...I hate to say it but looks and dresses like a housekeeper. Now that's not the big deal. The problem is that she has a Denali with 22" rims and a 4 year old that 1, is still wearing diapers and 2 is drinking from a bottle. What's the deal with that?

Whatever...

Don't ask me why unless you want a rant...  Anyway, I want to build a wind turbine using stuff that I can get at my trusty Home Depot.  I have instructions and diagrams on how to do it.  I just need to decide what I am going to do with it once I get it built.  I don't know if I can just plug it into the wall or not but I think that I can generate enough electricity to say power a light or charge up rechargable batteries or something.  I don't think I want to do anything really crazy...I just want to see if I can do it.

No real rhyme or reason...

Well I'm at the end of my first set of trays. My only issue is that I've had them in for 3 weeks now which is a week longer than everybody else that I've seen. From what I've read about other people having Invisalign they only have them infor 2 weeks at a time so I'm not sure why I have them in for 3. It sorta blows.

Overall its not too rough. My main issue is that I'm not very good at cleaning them. I've been using the Target branded efferdent without much success. Then I just brush them with a little tootpaste to get them clean. Not a big deal although I wish that the efferdent worked better.

My biggest irritation is that I found out that I would be getting the buttons installed on 9 freaking teeth so I'm pretty pissed about that. I can see the need on the bottoms but not on the tops. I only have 9 trays for the tops! Well at least I will only have them for 6ish months on top then I'm done. I think when I am totally done I will get them whitened to finish it off. I don't need them perfect but I want them straight.

I have noticed that I've been taking better care of my teeth than I ever have in the past which is cool. Hopefully it will show at my next dentist appt.

I'm also trying to take better care of myself. I joined Tae Kwon Do with my daughter about a month ago. She loves it plus its a great workout for me. I'm trying to drop about 20 lbs so working out at TKD plus cutting out fast food, watching what I eat, and cutting out fried foods will help out. I haven't really lost anything yet after several weeks worth of healthy living so I'm getting discouraged. I'm going to try to add an extra night of TKD and maybe a day at the gym in the morning before work.

I'm also finding it very hard to find extra weekend time. I think June and July are booked solid on the weekends while August is quickly filling up...oh well...

I'm also planning a weeklong cruise to Cabo/Mazatlan/Puerto V with the woman so that will be cool.

I'm not as stressed out as I was a month ago which is good. I'm not sure if its because I'm feeling better from working out or if its because I'm getting bored at work but we'll see.

Yay! The landing was a little rough but we landed ok. Now we're just waiting for all of the KY folks to get on the plane. Its a direct as opposed to non-stop flight.

This blog has been a little barren these last few months mainly because some of the things I've been dealing with wasn't really blog worthy.  Although to be honest...what Isn't blog worthy?  In the last month or two I've had a lot of things going on.  Much of which has been a big deal since I'm really changing the way I live.  Im intending on documenting a lot of this stuff here so even though I doubt that anybody is really reading this yet its giving me a good outlet to reflect on everything.

So, in short this is what is going on...

1) Braces...yeah, I finally got them as you can see from my other post.

2) Mortgage crisis...my rental condo in San Diego is giving me problems since the escrow account is way under funded so I have to boost the cash in it but a few extra hundred each month that I wasn't expecting

3) My mom and her health isssues...not even sure where to go with this one...maybe talking about it will be my own version of therapy

4) My health.  Well I took the plunge and I started doing something about the round thing around my body called fat.  I signed up for Tae Kwon do.  After a couple of weeks I realized that it was a great workout and I actually enjoyed doing it since it was like getting a personal trainer to work out with for cheap.

5) Relationship with my daughter.  I dont think it's ever been better to be honest.  She is actually involved with #4 which is cool

6) My job.  I wish things were progressing a little faster.  I'll get to that in another post.

7) Relationship

I'll be 34 this summer...yeah I know...and I finally got around to straightening my teeth.  Unfortunately I wasnt able to have braces when I was a kid so I figured now was as good a time as any.  My teeth are not all that jacked up.  Actually my top teeth are pretty straight and will be straight in about 6 months.  I have some crowding on the bottom like a lot of people so it will take longer to get that straightened out...no pun intended.  I don't have the before pics from last month when I went in to get the impressions created but I'll probably post those sooner than later. 

So it basically goes like this, I get 3 trays at a time and I change the trays every 3 weeks.  Now, I read on a lot of other peoples sites that they are changing theirs every 2 weeks so I'll have to check with my Ortho to see why we are doing every 3 weeks.  Maybe he likes me being in pain for the whole thing...not really sure.  What I do know is that it will hurt less but it will take a little longer.  Anyway...I go in every 9 weeks to get my next set of trays.  I get 3 at a time.  I have 9 trays for my top top and 27 on bottom in total.  I havent done the math but it looks like I'll be done around September of next year.  Not too bad I guess...I also got the "Invisalign Rules" which are basically:

1. No eating when wearing these things.  Which blows...no snacking or anything unless I keep popping them out, but the more I pop them out the longer I have to wear them...which sucks even more
2. Only clear liquids.  I have a question that I need to get answered for this one...I get that I cant drink soda with them in to prevent them from staining etc...sugars etc...but what about clear booze?  Am I safe with Vodka?  What about beer?  I know that it's not clear...but this is going to suck major balls when I go on vacation.  I will probably cheat a little since I won't have any individual tray for more than 3 weeks at a time.  If it does stain it will be a pretty short period of time before I get a brand new set of clear ones.
3. 22 hours a day... grrr.... so this means that I need to eat fast, brush, then pop them back in.  Again, other people only have them on for 21 hours a day.  3 hours less for eating 3 meals a day for an hour each...oh well...

They popped in pretty easily but the bottoms take a little force since i have the crowding.  Hopefully that will get better soon.  Overall it hasn't been all that tough but its a little painfull.  I know they are there...i should take some advil.  I'm on day 3 so I have another 2 1/2 weeks before I switch up to the next set of trays.

The first few days of a new tray are usually the worst according to other people. However, the pain I've felt so far (knock on wood) has been really minimal at best. Real metalceramic braces are supposed to suck and keeps you in pain for days or more...The Invisaligns only seem to push a little at a time that goes away pretty quickly.  Advil is my friend...The other issue that I found is that some of the edges are not perfectly finished.  They have a sliught jagged edge to them.  Not major...just enough for me to notice it.  I took a nail file to the trouble spots that bother me so I'm cool there...Otherwise I can just get used to them.

OK, so I got my first trays on Friday, 4/25/08. I immediately noticed that I started talking with a slight lisp, and became a little self-concious about it since I think I have a pretty good voice...might have to take them out for Karaoke... However, my excitement about the whole process just made me want to show everybody, and I was all smiles.  It's tough getting braces as an adult - Invisalign or not!

So I'm having breakfast at this busy bagel/deli breakfast place and this couple found 2 tables that sit 4 each next to each other. The guy is sitting at one table and the girl at the other effectively taking up 2 tables...