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For several years now I have been experiencing hip pain on my right side. Most of the time the pain was a dull pain that could be eased with advil and rest. However, any time I had to do any significant walking, I would develop a sharp, shooting pain in my right hip. I always dismissed it, took advil and assumed I was out of shape or pulled a muscle. I recall walking the strip in Las Vegas being very uncomfortable, and one vacation at Disney World also. I remember laying flat on the bed in the hotel room thinking I was really old. Navigating the French Quarter in New Orleans was getting rough, too. Eventually cutting the grass became uncomfortable; the back yard had a slight grade to it, and the mower did not propel itself very well. I then opted to get the riding mower to help. Most recently, back in November I went to San Francisco for a week. This was the last straw for me. After an afternoon of walking, I found myself down at Pier 39 in borderline agony with a sharp shooting pain in my hip. There was no way I would have been able to walk back to the hotel, almost 5 miles away. So I stood there on one foot and waited for a cable car to ride back. Once again, I found myself stretched out on the hotel bed with lots of advil. I realized at that point, the pain was starting to affect my quality of life, and I had been avoiding travel and walking long distances to avoid pain. Even walking around Ikea and the mall isn’t fun.

I decided to go to my doctor about it, and he ordered some x-rays, which came back fine. Since I have had the pain for 4+ years, and it was getting increasingly worse, he referred me to Beacon Orthopaedics, where they first ordered a Hip Arthrogram MRI. In layman’s terms, they stick a port into your hip joint and inject a dye. Not too bad, but a little uncomfortable. Unfortunately when I got in the MRI, they couldn’t see anything, so I had to go back and get 3 more injections (ouch). I walked a little funny for a day or so.

Yesterday, I went back for the follow up, and learned I have a tear in my labrum, most likely caused by a structural abnormality in my hip ball, but possibly by injury at some point. People who play racquet sports, golf or any other that involve pivoting are prone to this. The arrow to the left is pointing to a tear.

So, in the short term, I will be getting cortisone injections into my hip joint, and 4-6 weeks of physical therapy. Apparently the therapy will help maximize hip range of motion, strength, and stability. If that doesn’t work, arthroscopic surgury may be needed, which I’m trying to avoid. It would involve trimming or possibly mending the torn labrum and shaving off the abnormality in my hip ball. That would be a 6-12 week recovery and 4 weeks on crutches. Lets hope therapy works .

Other than that, not much else new… working, playing in the garden, and livin’ life.

Last Sunday morning, while still in bed, I got a call from the boss asking me to go to the Dreamforce 2009 conference in San Francisco… on Monday. Still a little sleepy, I thought about it for a minute, and jumped on the opportunity. I quickly booked my flight got my laundry together, shirts ironed, and before I knew it I was on the west coast! I had a great week at the conference, and of course, out on the town.

I got into San Francisco Monday morning about 10:30 am, and checked into the InterContinential San Francisco. What a fabulous hotel. It was in a great location, with a great view and very modern in decor. Each room had a 40 inch flat screen on the wall, and a gorgeous tiled bathroom.

After checking into the hotel, I headed up to Chinatown and found a hole-in-the wall place where the locals eat. The food was pretty good. After that I went in and out the various shops, and markets, which I found particularly interesting. I truly felt like I was in a different country with the food out on the streets, fresh seafood, and foods I had never seen before.

After Chinatown, I hiked and hiked up to Coit Tower. The view was spectacular. You could see the entire city, the Bay Bridge, Golden Gate Bridge, and Alcatraz. I then proceeded down to Pier 39 and saw the shops, and of course, the stinky, noisy sea lions. I then walked the rest of Fisherman’s Wharf, got some good shots of the Golden Gate Bridge, and took in the scenery. I then headed to Ghiradelli Square and visited the original Ghiradelli shop, and of course, bought some chocolates there.

By this time it was getting late and caught the cable car back over to the Market Street area where I was staying. This area was really cool- it includes a lot of shopping and Union Square. They were putting all the Christmas decorations up while I was there, and by the end of the trip had a lit Christmas tree with ice skating. I then had dinner at an old drive-in type restaurant called Mel’s. I ended up having several meals there; it was reasonably priced and good.

Tuesday the conference began with special meetings for Higher Education institutions at the Salesforce.com headquarters. It was very interesting to hear what other schools are doing with cloud computing, specifically the cost savings and functionality available. One thing thing in particular that struck me was how confident, excited and dedicated salesforce.com employees are. They seemed to genuinely love their product, and more importantly the good their foundation does and what they offer to higher education and non-profit organizations. That evening, I met up with my good friend Andy (friend from high school for those of you who don’t know) and went to dinner at the Cheesecake factory on the 8th floor of the Macy’s building overlooking Union Square. It was good to catch up with him on such short notice. He is living out there doing his residency at the UCSF Medical Center. Incidentally, salesforce.com donated $2 million during one of the sessions to the new Children’s Hospital they are building.

Wednesday consisted of break-out sessions, networking and information gathering. There was so much information at this conference I felt like I was drinking out of a fire hose. That morning was one of two keynote addresses from the CEO of salesforce.com. This session included many notable CEO’s including, Google’s, Eric Schmidt. Later that evening was the Gala, which was a lot of fun. The drinks and food were plentiful, as was the music. They turned the conference hall into essentially a huge club scene. There 4 huge screens from floor to ceiling playing mixed videos before the entertainment of the evening, The Black Crowes!

Thursday was pretty much a copy of Wednesday, with the exception of getting to hear Colin Powell speak. I was glad I was able to hear him; he is an exceptional person and public speaker. That evening there was a reception for non-profit and higher education institutions over at the Ferry Building. Later, Andy picked me up, and had a spectacular dinner at an Italian restaurant called North Beach Restaurant. We then drove down Lombard St. and headed back towards the hotel, the sessions on Friday morning started at 7:30 am.

Friday morning proved to be useful; I got to attend some hands-on training and get a better grasp on the force platform. Once again, there is so much to learn, and so many opportunities, it was quite overwhelming at times. From the networking with other schools such, I determined the best way to integrate cloud computing into Miami’s environment is to start small, perhaps with one office or one application, and learn from that experience and add and move to the cloud as time permits and necessary. The conference ended at 12:45, so once again I pretty much covered the same ground as I did Monday, with the exception of heading over to Lombard street and watching the cars during daylight, and hiking up to a park to get some good views of the Golden Gate Bridge. I then headed back to Mel’s for one farewell dinner and prepared for my flight home Saturday morning.

I can honestly say San Francisco is one of the coolest cities I have ever visited. It has such a young, vibrant, positive, upbeat feel to it. I definitely could see myself living there sometime. Hopefully I’ll have a chance to make it back next year for the Banner conference, or just to visit Andy.

Anyways, its getting late, my internal clock is all screwed up, and am off to work bright and early tomorrow. Check out the photos here!

In order to keep my loyal reader base happy, I thought it would be wise to give an update as the first quarter of the fiscal year comes to an end.

Most people would agree it seems like we really didn’t have a summer. The weather was great, but at the same time it didn’t feel like summer. We had a lot of rainy, gray days that we really could have used last summer. I guess those hot dog days of summer add to the whole summer experience here in Cincinnati. One interesting thing most people have observed is the effect the weather had on their gardens. It was a very wet season, cool season, which was great for many plants, but not for others, most notably tomatoes. We just started to get tomatoes a couple weeks ago. Now we have more than we know what to do with. I’d say Don and I picked maybe half of this year’s crop, and he canned 7 jars of tomato sauce, and I’m getting ready to make a huge batch of salsa and lasagna.

The cool weather did make car work easier this summer. We’ve had various projects ranging from oil changes to replacing brakes. It has been fun to learn how to do some of the more expensive, yet routine maintenance on cars; It’s also quite rewarding, too. I’ve also been able to get the Altima back to it’s original shine after a rough winter with a couple coats of Meguiar’s Tech Wax 2.0. Thanks to Greg for showing me his professional car detailing techniques. The garage has also helped me keep the car looking better. He also showed me the benefits of having a floor jack and jack stands. Makes getting under the car a lot easier.

I’ve enjoyed the weekly uptown concerts this summer; it has been great to gather with co-workers and friends for good food, company and music. I also attended the Oxford Wine festival; the first time I’ve ever been to a wine tasting. They also had the “big cheese” of cheese carving there. She works at Jungle Jim’s and is a professional cheese carver. Interesting. I also got to go to Porsches2Oxford again this year. It was a record setting year with around 500 Porsches. Attendance has nearly doubled since its first year in 2005.

I haven’t done too much traveling this summer, but did make it to Florida to visit Matt and Nicole for a weekend. Work has been busy and has kept me from taking much time off this summer. I have a couple getaways planned for this fall, and a business trip, so that should be fun. My brother informed me last week that he got me a plane ticket to come down to New Orleans in February for a week. Apparently my presence at Mardi Gras 2010 is mandatory. I have to admit, I’m a little scared, and not sure what to expect, but it appears to be a once in a lifetime opportunity to take in the experience.

Babies. Lots of babies. Something has gotten in the water; so many people around me are now proud parents or expecting in the near future. It has been fun to watch families grow, and share their excitement with them. Congratulations to all of you, you know who you are .

After a busy Labor Day weekend, I find myself in one of my favorite spots- chair, laptop, and coffee. I went out on Friday night, and then got up at 6 am Saturday to head up to the OSU vs. Navy game with Jason. It was my first time seeing a game at OSU, and I have to admit its quite an experience. We had a great time, but Navy turned it into a nail biter towards the end. Check out the photos here! After baking in the sun I went down to Amy’s for her birthday party. It was a nice, small group having a few beers around a fire pit. Sunday was kind of a lazy day, and met some friends for lunch, and some more for dinner and watched the fireworks on TV. I refuse to go down there and get in that crowd. I guess its not really the crowd that bothers me, but the going there and getting back part annoys me.

So in a nutshell that’s been the summer- busy working, but in general laid back. Check out some of my random photos from the summer here.

Hopefully I’ll get around to posting something before December .

Last weekend I hopped a flight to Florida to hang out with Matt and Nicole for the weekend. Matt and I had some geek guy time and saw Wolverine in the afternoon. I must say, it was pretty entertaining.

That evening we went out with a group of folks and had dinner and drinks at a place called Skewers, which proved to be excellent Mediterranean food and a good time. After that we headed to a place called Matt’s Casbah for drinks and socializing. Was a good time.

After that I had possibly the greatest practical joke ever played on me. Matt and Nicole: my hat is off to the two of you and everyone involved. I have been contemplating this for a week now, and determined I cannot top you, and if I did, I would be scared for my payback .

Sunday we loafed around and played soccer in the afternoon. We then ordered takeout, hung out with the “children” and watched Marley and Me. We did our best to keep piper from getting too excited at the movie .

Check out a few photos here!

This past weekend was a busy, yet fun one. Friday night Matt was in town, so he came over with Josh and we had a burrito and watched “Role Models.” Wasn’t the greatest movie I’ve ever seen but it was stupid funny.

The movie was an interesting segue into Saturday morning. I helped out at the DestinationImagiNation tournament at Miami. We were the official score keepers, I guess you could say. I had never heard of this tournament before, but there was a large turn out with many schools competing.

Saturday evening we got a group together to celebrate St. Patty’s day at the Dingle House in West Chester. It’s a new Irish Pub that opened recently. A good time was had by all. Check out the photos of the fun here! We couldn’t get a table at the Dingle House, so we ran across the street to Rafferty’s for dinner. I think we scared the 19 year old waitress a little bit. I’m not sure she was used to groups of rowdy college friends on her second night as a server (especially in suburbia)! Of course we ended the evening back at the Dingle House.

Sunday I slept in pretty good- have not done that in a while. I then visited with folks, fixed aunt’s computer and did my grocery shopping for the week, and got the car washed just in time for a little rain.