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Update: Seems that youtube has taken this video down. Click <a href=”https://dave.shakenmartini.net/serendipity/exit.php?url_id=347&amp;entry_id=227″ title=”http://www.firstshowing.net/img/vid/300-trailer.mov” onmouseover=”window.status=’http://www.firstshowing.net/img/vid/300-trailer.mov’;return true;” onmouseout=”window.status=”;return true;”>here</a> instead.<br />
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The <a href=”https://dave.shakenmartini.net/serendipity/exit.php?url_id=348&amp;entry_id=227″ title=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Thermopylae” onmouseover=”window.status=’http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Thermopylae’;return true;” onmouseout=”window.status=”;return true;”>Battle of Thermopylae</a> is the story of a battle between the Spartan and allied forces in 480 BC against an invading Persian army. Against great odds the Spartans and their allies were able to repel the massive Persian force for several days, thus allowing the rest of Greece to organise themselves against the aggressors.<br />
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This battle has been the subject of many books - one of which I have read recently being <a href=”https://dave.shakenmartini.net/serendipity/exit.php?url=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5hbWF6b24uY29tL0dhdGVzLUZpcmUtTm92ZWwtQmF0dGxlLVRoZXJtb3B5bGFlL2RwLzA1NTM1ODA1MzEvc3I9OC0yL3FpZD0xMTU5Mjc5MTY5L3JlZj1wZF9iYnNfMi8xMDQtMTU5MzA4NS02MTkxMTUyP2llPVVURjgmcz1ib29rcw==&amp;entry_id=227″ title=”http://www.amazon.com/Gates-Fire-Novel-Battle-Thermopylae/dp/0553580531/sr=8-2/qid=1159279169/ref=pd_bbs_2/104-1593085-6191152?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books” onmouseover=”window.status=’http://www.amazon.com/Gates-Fire-Novel-Battle-Thermopylae/dp/0553580531/sr=8-2/qid=1159279169/ref=pd_bbs_2/104-1593085-6191152?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books’;return true;” onmouseout=”window.status=”;return true;”>Gates of Fire</a> by Steven Pressfield. I am not sure if the movie will compare against the book as it is based off the Frank Miller graphic novel but the trailer does look very good!

Click on this <a href=”https://dave.shakenmartini.net/serendipity/exit.php?url_id=343&amp;entry_id=226″ title=”http://nerdnirvana.org/2006/07/31/caller-wins-100-grand/” onmouseover=”window.status=’http://nerdnirvana.org/2006/07/31/caller-wins-100-grand/’;return true;” onmouseout=”window.status=”;return true;”>link</a> and listen to what one guy did when he won the 100 Grand prize.

Watch this driver make an amazing recovery from an almost certain disaster! Also watch for the spectators making a scrambling run away from the BMW.<br />
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Had my first post-operative visit today to the surgeon to see how everything is going. The meeting is pretty quick - he has a look at the wounds and takes off the dressings. This is a huge relief as they are getting a little itchy from not being able to wash the area (to keep the wounds dry).<br />
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He also shows me the video from the operation from the viewpoint of the arthroscope. I can see how they thread through the hamstring as well as underneath the meniscus as well as chopping of the damaged ACL away from between the knee. I could clearly see the damage done to the ACL as it was snapped in half and seemed to have damaged portions floating around in the fluid around the knee. Next he showed me the drill going through the bone and the wire that loops around the screws in my bone. Looked kind of surreal as you only ever see the inside of the knee and not what is happening outside. Still it was pretty interesting to see what is going on - I wonder how large the actual arthroscope video camera is because it seemed like like he had heaps of room to move during the operation.<br />
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After my visit, I had to get another x-ray as this was not done after the operation - something that the hospital staff forgot to arrange for me whilst I was there. The doctor said that he would give me a call if there was anything amiss so I guess that no news is good news!<br />
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One thing that I have to concentrate on (and something that the physio has been talking about at my last visit) is the need to get my left leg fully extended. At the moment I am still limping quite badly so I need to concentrate on correcting my gait and getting the leg straight. This can be a painful process as I have been protecting my leg since the initial accident. I have to also practise the muscle activation by doing small squats and tensing/untensing the quadricep muscle whilst I am sitting at my desk.

Had my third physio visit today - again it is agony. The swelling of my knee is normal but she needs to dig her thumbs in to break it down. Jackie the physio is a little concerned that I still can’t straighten my leg properly and has adjusted my exercises accordingly so that I get a straight leg. When I suffered the basketball injury it also gave me bone bruising so my leg has compensated by protecting the knee which unfortunately meant that I now cannot fully straighten the leg. It is getting better but I need to concentrate on getting it straight.<br />
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I also have to be careful to support my leg in situations where the knee needs to be supported - ie getting out of bed and swinging the leg out or any sort of kicking motions. Apparently this can weaken the graft before it can attach itself to the bone and become a new ligament. So when ever I get out of bed or lift the leg in an extended position I have to hook a hand or the other leg under the left leg so that it can be supported. It takes six weeks before it supposed to heal properly to the extent where it can support these type of actions.<br />
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A workmate sent me this animation about the surgical procedure so you can see what took place whilst I was knocked out. Click <a href=”https://dave.shakenmartini.net/serendipity/exit.php?url_id=342&amp;entry_id=223″ title=”http://www.orthosports.com.au/swarm/knee/interactive_knee_acl.html” onmouseover=”window.status=’http://www.orthosports.com.au/swarm/knee/interactive_knee_acl.html’;return true;” onmouseout=”window.status=”;return true;” target=”_blank”>here</a> to have a look.<br />
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The physio has replaced my anti-embolism stocking (the hospital gave it to me to prevent deep vein thrombosis) with a tubigrip that gives me a much better compression on the swelling. Hopefully it can keep it contained a bit whilst my body breaks down the bruising and gets it under control.<br />
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After the physio I felt a bit nauseous and really didn’t feel like going to work but I managed to stick it out today til almost 5pm.

Had my second physio visit yesterday. I had noticed a bit of bruising down my leg that was causing it to swell a bit. Apparently this is normal and mine isn’t too bad as it is a lovely shade of yellow as compared to say something like a nice mottled purple that can happen on bad bruising. Still it causes me a bit of discomfort when walking around and I could only manage half a day of work yesterday before retiring home.<br />
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The first physio visit wasn’t too bad but this time it was torture. Part of what she does is to give me a deep tissue massage directly on the bruise in order to break down the blood so that it can be reabsorbed by the muscle easier. So I had maybe a good 20-30 minutes of agonising massage - thumbs digging in directly on the bruised tissue. Today it has gone from a yellowish colour to more of a dark red/mauve.<br />
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I am getting better, after the session I was able to get 99 degrees of rotation through the knee which is still ahead of schedule. I am assuming that it will slow down over the next couple of weeks - the old principle of the last 20% of a project takes 80% of the allocated time <img src=”https://dave.shakenmartini.net/serendipity/templates/default/img/emoticons/smile.png” alt=”:-)” style=”display: inline; vertical-align: bottom;” class=”emoticon” /><br />
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Today however, the leg is not feeling great - I have a sharp pain in my shin bone that is making it difficult for me to walk around. My knee is feeling fine but I think that all the walking that I had been doing in the last couple of days has given me shin splints or something similar. In any case I decided to stay at home and work out of the home office. It’s also easier for me to apply ice packs and do my stretches so I don’t mind doing stint at home. Also I get to work with my music blaring so that’s good for the motivation as well.<br />
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Also as the swelling came up in the last couple of days without my stocking I’ve decided to put it back on again. The hospital had given me the stocking which is really used to prevent deep vein thrombosis but it does act kind of like a compression bandage to reduce the amount of swelling around the knee, thigh and calf.

Silvermac has an <a href=”https://dave.shakenmartini.net/serendipity/exit.php?url_id=341&amp;entry_id=221″ title=”http://www.silvermac.com/2006/cool-things-you-can-do-on-mac/” onmouseover=”window.status=’http://www.silvermac.com/2006/cool-things-you-can-do-on-mac/’;return true;” onmouseout=”window.status=”;return true;”>article</a> on some cool stuff that you can do on a Mac.<br />
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Such as inverting the colours on the screen using a Control-Command-Option-8. The best one though is the the screen grab keystroke - I’ve always been firing up Grab to do the screen captures, but now I know I can use Command-Shift-4 to trigger the screen capture mode and pressing space will let me capture individual windows.

Had my first physio visit today. Physio was actually pretty gentle on me this time around and I wasn’t in complete agony. I am apparently doing pretty well with 90 degrees of rotation in the knee. I asked if there was going to be more pain as I haven’t really had a lot so far. She said that I might get some if I try to push the healing process too far - ie try to do shit before my knee is ready. I’m pretty careful of it so far but I just know I will be itching to get out there as quickly as possible so I will just have to learn some patience.<br />
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The stretches are like the ones for when I first injured my knee - lots of hamstring and calf stretches using a towel on a couch/bed. I also have to do quad tensing exercises with a ball against the wall. At the moment the knee is still a bit puffy so it limits what I can do.<br />
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Had a jury summons last night to appear before the selection panel on Monday morning. Don’t think that will be happening somehow and got the good Dr Parker to write me up a medical certificate to get me out of it. First off, I can’t drive myself there so Vic would have to take me or I get public transport. Secondly I have to ice it every couple of hours and the lastly I have to continually stretch it out. No way this can happen when I am sitting in court all day long.<br />
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Also ran out of physio health benefits with MBF so I am on my own for the rest of the year - this sucks as I have twice weekly appointments for the next couple of months so it aint that cheap. At least I will be able to claim some of this back on my tax next year.<br />
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I haven’t even seen the surgeon’s bill yet so I am waiting in anticipation for that one… not!

Well I am finally back from hospital. I recently had to have a knee reconstruction for a rupture of my anterior cruxiate ligament. I had suffered a bad knee knock during a game of basketball that I later found out to do a lot more damage than I had first anticipated. After several visits to the physio and a couple to an orthopaedic surgeon they concluded that if I wanted to play sports again then I should really look into getting a ACL reconstruction. Since not playing sports is not an option for me I decided to go for it. It is a relatively common injury in Australia and I know a few people who have had it done.<br />
<br /><a href=”https://dave.shakenmartini.net/serendipity/index.php?/archives/219-Recovery.html#extended”>Continue reading “Recovery”</a>

Watch this video of the EFCC police in Nigeria tracking and busting a scam group operating out of a cybercafe in Nigeria. What gets me is the crowd’s reaction to the arrests - this sort of crime must be extremely popular and/or lucrative to these groups to garner such support. <br />
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