It's the Tooth!

I had braces as a kid and have had my wisdom teeth removed. I thought that I understood mouth pain and that others who complain about having a tooth ache just had a lower pain tolerance. Boy, was I wrong.

In January (2010), I went to my dentist for a routine cleaning and he found a couple cavities, which he filled. One of them was on tooth 8 (front, right, incisor). On the x-ray and exploration, the cavity didn’t seem too bad, but when he drilled it, he found it was actually pretty deep. On went some medicine to try and heal the tooth/nerve area, and then the filling. He told me the tooth could either get better on its own, or end up decaying, resulting in the need for a root canal. I had sensitivity in the tooth for quite some time and on my follow-up cleaning in June, another cavity was found next to where the original was. Again, the same procedure was repeated and I was sent on my way.

Fast forward to the start of October, and I noticed that I didn’t quite have the sensitivity in my front tooth anymore. I was pretty pumped up until about a week later when that same tooth started sending wave after wave of pain up through my sinus cavity to behind my right eye. I then thought back to the lack of sensitivity and realized the nerve inside my tooth probably died and I was feeling the process of my tooth starting to enter necrosis. Unfortunately this was a Sunday and I was supposed to catch a plane to Sacramento for a field survey Monday and Tuesday, so I couldn’t schedule an appointment with my dentist until Thursday. For four nights I tossed and turned, trying to get sleep only to feel a shooting pain in my mouth. The only relief came from alternating Tylenol and Advil to dull the pain. I even went out and bought Orajel, which had no effect other than making my tongue numb. I changed my return flight from Friday evening and flew back to Portland Thursday morning for my appointment. My dentist proceeded to confirm my suspicion of needing a root canal and scheduled it immediately the next morning, while putting me on antibiotics to help with the possible infection in my tooth.

The procedure took about two hours and I was able to head into work for a few hours and drove up to Seattle right after. However, I still need follow up appointments with a periodontist to discuss bone loss around my front incisors, which is causing those teeth to be loose. This is partially due to the orthodontic work I had done as a kid, the infection causing my root canal, and genetics. I think it’s about time I gave up soda pop, or maybe think about getting some dentures. Take care of your teeth! =)

Summer Golf

Last year I signed up for a 9-holes/week summer league to try and meet other golfers and play semi-competitively again. In order to play, I needed to have a valid GHIN (handicap), so I searched around and found an on-line Golf Club I could join. The Club I joined, NWGolfGuys, was in its first year and hosted tournaments all around the Portland area without being affiliated with any particular course. Unfortunately, I was unable to play in any of their events, but they did help me get my handicap started. Armed with a handicap I’m able to enter almost any tournament as long as I meet the handicap requirement or qualify in a qualifying round. My goal was to eventually get good enough to play in the Mid-Am and/or some Oregon Golf Association (OGA) events. The summer league went pretty well and I got to play out at Camas Meadows, Langdon Farms, and Pumpkin Ridge for pretty cheap. I didn’t win the Championship (a 70-year-old lady from Vancouver beat all of us), but did manage to string together a solid nine at Langdon one week to win some gift cards to Golf Galaxy.

This year I decided to play in the summer league again, though this time all the events are at Heron Lakes. We started last Tuesday, and will be playing through mid-August. I also decided to try and play some of the events that my club organizes since it’s a requirement to play a couple rounds with fellow club members to keep your handicap current. The first event I played was up at Camas Meadows and I won a gift certificate for getting closest to the pin on one of the par 3’s. I also found out that I’m one of the founding/charter members from last year (~60 of us), and our club exploded in membership this year to be the largest independent golf club in Oregon (~200+ members).

Since I have my handicap in hand, I also decided to play in some OGA Tour events. The first one was at Riverside Country Club and I finished in the bottom half of the pack to miss getting any points aside from the obligatory participation point. I missed the second event at Lewis River due to work, but was able to sign up for the third one down in Florence that took place yesterday.

Florence, Oregon is a good 3.5 hours from my house, but is home to Sandpines Golf Links. Sandpines received 4.5 stars from Golf Digest and is considered one of the best public golf courses in Oregon. I had been checking the weather forecast all week and it looked like it would be raining and cold on Sunday. I wasn’t disappointed. The wind was blowing the rain sideways and it was a chilly 50 degrees when I teed off. We were playing the ball down (no pick, clean, place, winter rules), and I was hoping I wouldn’t find mud on my ball after every shot. Fortunately, they built the course on a sandy base, which facilitates amazing drainage. The course stayed pretty firm and my ball stayed pretty clean. The 18-holes flew by and we finished in ~4 hours. I managed to get 7 pars, 5 bogeys, and played the other 6 holes 16 over. I had two quads that pretty much tanked my round, but the 7 pars have me feeling like my game is finally coming around. It’s just in the nick to time, too. The second round of summer league is tomorrow and I have another 18-hole tournament with my club on Saturday morning.

New Computer

So for those of you who don't know. My old computer stopped working, so I've been using my phone and my work computer for basic internet the past couple of months. Even though everyone I know who has had a Toshiba has had bad experiences with them, it was cheap enough for me to risk breaking my ties to HP. So far, so good. I'm really liking Windows 7 and I was to salvage most everything off my old laptop except some of my software I got from my OSU days.

Spring went by super quick. Started work on our big reservoir project we won in December at the start of April (about the same time my computer stopped working). Since we thought we were going to start work in January, we ended up getting a 3-month late start. I worked a lot of weekends trying to help get caught up. Things have slowed down to a more managable pace now, but looks like it'll ramp up again after Memorial Day.

I've started playing golf in 3 different leagues this summer after taking last summer off for my summer tour of Portland golf courses. I've already played in 4 events and have 9 lined up for June. I'm hoping to try and win at least one trophy. ;) If not, I've been having a lot of fun getting back into the game again.

Running red lights

A shout-out to Han Pan's Bread of life blog... Here's a good poem from my collection:

River Sign
The sign said one way.
I was only going one way.
The river flows downstream,
but I want to go upstream.
Does love blind logic
from misreading signs,
trying to swim against the current?
Why are the cars honking their horns?
My arms are getting tired.
Maybe I should turn around,
and flow with life.

Phone Numbers:

My old phone stopped working a few weeks back, and I ended up losing all the phone numbers I had stored. While I only remembered a few numbers off the top of my head I just decided to wait for people to call me so I would end up having their phone numbers again. As I recall, my old phone had close to 200 entries, but at the time of this writing, my new phone has 27. Fortunately my contract has expired, so I was able to get a new phone relatively cheap, and went with the Motorola Droid: A smart phone to match its equally smart user. ;) In the future, I will probably back-up my phone numbers in case this happens again. However, if you haven’t heard from me in awhile, it’s not because I don’t care, I just don’t care enough to send an e-mail, facebook message, instant message, and/or call other people looking for your number. :D

Anyways, all this talk about phones and numbers got me thinking to a conversation I had with a plant operator named Mark at the water treatment plant in Oregon City.

Me: So do you know how much bags of filter aid you go through in a year?

Mark: Ah, good question. You’d think I’d know that off the top of my head, but I’m going to have to look it up. Did you ever hear the one about Albert Einstein and memory?

Me: No, I don’t think so.

Mark: Well, there was this big conference that had the best and brightest of the science community in attendance where Einstein gave the keynote speech. Afterwards, a journalist in attendance approached the great scientist and wanted to ask him some questions about the speech he delivered. Not expecting the genius to have time for him he was surprised when Einstein told the journalist that he would very much like to discuss the speech and answer any questions over dinner sometime and for the journalist to give him a call to set something up. The journalist was ecstatic and asked Einstein for his phone number to which Einstein replied, ‘I actually don’t remember my phone number. You’ll have to get it from someone else.’ The journalist was bewildered and asked him, ‘How can someone with as great as a mind as yours not remember his own phone number?’ Einstein answered, ‘My phone number is on my desk, and is readily able to be looked up. I try to not fill my mind with things I can look up with ease.’

Me: So you’re Einstein?

Mark: I’m nowhere near in his league, but if worked for him, I’m hoping it might work for me.

Boxes

I think I've told this story before, but I'm posting in case it might be new to you. :)

One evening I was taking a box of stuff down to my car from my office, when I shared an elevator ride down with an older gentleman who was also taking a box of stuff down to his car. We struck up a conversation and then he proceeded to tell me a joke about perception:

There was this man who worked in a diamond mine. At the entrance of the mine there was a guard to make sure the workers weren't stealing diamonds when they left at the end of the day. Every day the man would come out with a wheelbarrow full of dirt, and the guard searched him and the wheelbarrow. The guard poked at the dirt to see if there were any rocks or ore inside, made him empty the wheelbarrow, did a strip search, but each time, the guard was unable to find any diamonds on the man. Finally, the guard had enough and confronted the man saying, "I know you've been stealing diamonds from this mine, how have you been doing it?" The man just smiled and replied, "Since this is my last day, I'll let you in on my secret. I haven't been stealing diamonds, I've been stealing wheelbarrows!"

The joke being finished the gentleman smiled and told me, "I guess we're stealing boxes, huh?"

My Christmas Present

I decided this year I'm going to give myself a video camera for Christmas. That way I can start video-blogging and making movies again. Phil and I have a couple scripts that need to be filmed, and I definitely have some more ideas for music videos to be put into the works. A new dawn is going to rise come the start of next year... watch out world!

On aside, I just got back from Eastern Oregon/home for Thanksgiving. While coming back I was listening to some old CDs I found when poking around the basement. I decided to pop a couple in my CD player for the drive back and rediscovered one of my favorite songs... 'Martyrs and Thieves,' by Jennifer Knapp. Her voice always gets me everytime.

Lyrics:
There's a place that I used to cling to... it presses harsh hope against time.
In the absense of martyrs there's a presence of thieves who only want to rob you blind.
They steal away, any sense of peace... I'm a king, I'm a king on my knees...
I know they are wrong when they say I am strong as the darkness covers me...

So turn on the light and reveal all the glory, I am not afraid...
To bare all my weakness knowing in meekness, I have a kingdom to gain.
Where there is peace and love in the light, in the light...
Oh I am not afraid... to let your light shine bright in my life, in my life...
Oh... I am... I...

There are ghosts from my past who've owned more of my soul...
Than I thought I had given away...
They linger in closets and under my bed, and in pictures less proudly displayed.
A great fool, in my life I have been, have squandered till pallid and thin...
Hung my head in shame and refused to take blame, for the darkness I know I've let win...

Well, I've never been much for the baring of soul, in the presence of any man.
I'd rather keep to myself all safe and secure, in the arms of a sinner I am.
Could it be, that my worth should depend by the crimson stained grace on a hand?
And like a lamp on a hill, Lord I pray in your will...

There is a place that I used to cling to... it presses harsh hope against time.
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Peace everyone!