The Mystery of the Crackling Knee

To preference this post I have to say that I have been wary about posting things that are personal just because of the uncontrollable access there is in the internet, however lately I have been pondering more and more about this [and reading other blogs] and decided that maybe I should be a little more personal.

Last Christmas I received the gift of a gym membership, which was exactly what I asked for. After my introduction, I decided that I was going to scrap up the trainer fee as I felt it was important to keep me on track. I was going about 5 times a day with a trainer once a week until March and then I fell off the face of the earth. Between going out of town, getting www.308maplestreet.com running and eating junk food at birthday parties [we have a lot in march] I went 6 times in 30 days.
When April hit I mad myself promise that I would make up for it and not fall behind again. The one upside of not going in March was that I now had extra trainer days [they roll over into the next month if you don't use them] So for the month of April I am being forced to meet my trainer 2 times a week... and let me say that I think that is the best way and its too bad that I don't have enough money to continue on that schedule.

Anyway now to the real reason for this post

Since returning to my activities at the gym I have noticed my left knee "crackles" every time it is bent. And I am not talking about just an occasional "pop" I do mean.. EVERY TIME. I talked to my trainer [actually I talked to substitute trainer] and she said that as long as it doesn't hurt me I am ok and that its just a part of being old [ to which my mom kinda "freaked out" about saying that I am not old... aka she doesn't want to be ancient]
However she showed me that doing backward lunges would put less stress on my knees and allow me to continue working out.
This past monday I had my regular trainer and since it was my first time back with him since the crackling I told him what was going on and he to had me do different positions of squats and lunges to alleviate over stressing it.

After being told that this is "normal" I headed to the internet and WebMD told me I was dying of cancer to the knee... kidding [for those of you who have not used WebMD it is a online "Dr office" where you type in your aliments and it diagnosis you.. often the common cold is listed as also being something deadly... i guess they want to cover all their bases so that they can not be sued]
Anyway, most of what I read on various sites was that if there is no pain, then you use exercise to try to work it out on its own [which is what I am doing]
Today in my searching I finally came across what might be causing the issue... the way I sit. Now I will admit that the first cause is the simple fact that I am on my computer too much.. however the next big cause is that I sit in a "half lotus" position.. that is my left leg is tucked up in a half pretzel or for us --non-politically correct people --half Indian style. I believe this is in fact the cause to my knee pops so I am trying my hardest for a week to not sit like that at all and see if there is any improvement.

For those of you who remember the photo of my room, you will notice the green exercise ball. I actually got that out in February to help me sit more correctly but haven't used it in over a month... well that is being changed too.
So that's my current story, if you want to read some of the articles they are listed below. Since reading about the wrong ways to sit with your laptop I have dug out an old keyboard and have the keyboard on my lap while my laptop is still on my computer.. here's to trying to solve the mystery.

http://www.zafu.net/laptopergonomics.html
http://www.zafu.net/whatswrong.html
http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Wrong-Ways-to-Sit-on-Your-Office-Chair&id=3076430

Oh and if you actually made it all the way down to here I shall reward you with this little trivia: I have been rereading books in my personal library and have several Nancy Drew's nearby which accounts for the Blog Title.

Come fly with me...

Let's fly away. Or just let balloons fly up in the sky.
Today was your average day, I woke up with a headache and then spend a long time perusing the net. After a bit I decided to mow the back paddock (between my yard and my neighboring grandma I have a lot of acreage that needs to be mown... Enough that you don't do it all in one day) So today I was in the far back that we just mow walking paths.
Again nothing really exciting (until google earth takes a new photo *wink*)

Returned the mower to the garage and proceeded to look in kitchen for inspiration for tonights dinner. At this time I look out the front door an notice that there is something shinny on the gate. Walking closer I see that it is a Micky Mouse happy birthday balloon. Now my birthday is far away, mom's is in three weeks and dads was last week but with extended family and a few of them practical jokesters you never know. Upon reaching the balloon I see that it has not been tied there (nixing a joke) and has been most likely pulled away from a party. Which is sad but still exciting to me cus I now have a birthday balloon.
Only a few seconds later I notice why the balloon got stuck in the first place... It has been tied to a dog collar.
Now not only sadness from a child missing a balloon but also worry that dog has escaped from party and child is now extremely heartbroken.
At the same time I wonder if maybe this is not really a collar of a pet as it is a "science balloon experiment" -- you know, like where you see how far the balloon traveled.
Seeing the pets name and a phone number and city I decide to call the number and find out what is going on.
Lady on phone: hello?
Me: um do you have a per named max?
Lady:what?!
Me: I found a pet collar tied to a balloon and wondered if you are missing your dog?
Lady: (starts laughing) I can't believe you found it. I was driving to ( omitted) birthday party and tied the balloon to my dog's collar. ( omitted)... It flew out the window.
Me: so you have the dog?
Lady: yes he's fine. Where did the balloon land? Are you in Indiana?
Me: yes actually im in the same city. Would you like the collar back?

She goes on to tell me that the party was not far from my house so it must have gotten stuck on the fence nearly as soon as it flew out her car. So now as I write this I keep getting up to look out the window and see if it's still there... I tied it back to the fence so she could see it from the road.


Yep still there.

Tuesday's Tangents

For some reason this post did not post on Tuesday... so yesterday's Tuesday Tangent has become a Wednesday Wanderings