God, For Those Who Have Trouble Grasping the Third Step from Orson Bean, via Power Line
I’m a big fan of the blog, Power Line, though not for anything to do with recovery. This is one of the few times I can ever remember a Power Line post that had to do with my specialty. In this instance, Scott Johnson wrote a post (here) about the passing of Orson Bean, a 20-year veteran of Broadway, a stand-up comedian, a fill-in on The Tonight Show, and he was a game show panelist.
He was also a friend of Bill. Not Clinton, Wilson.
His passing was Scott’s occasion to comment on a post Bean wrote for their blog about a new book he had written back in 2007 about how Orson found God.
A personal belief of mine, based partly on observation, is that famous, wealthy people have the hardest time quitting drinking and drugs. Our lives are lived on self-will run riot. For the famous and wealthy, they’ve often found what appears to be a way to make self-will work. For we normal folk, that life crashes and burns. For those who’ve managed to manipulate the system to make it work for them, whatever the personal sacrifice, to abandon self-will is exceedingly difficult. If the adverse effects of addiction aren’t bad enough to change, why change?
The God steps in the program are simple for most; I can’t, God can, so I think I’ll let Him. Where the famous and wealthy run into trouble is in that whole “I can’t” part. They often are under the mistaken impression they, indeed, can. Now that I think of it, those who fancy themselves as intellectuals might find themselves in this boat.
Orson Bean learned how to beat his, “but what if I can?” to find God and wrote about it in M@il for Mikey:
He drank and snorted drugs and DID inhale. But he was never quite happy―until he sniffed around, found religion, and became a recovering alcoholic. This is his story, aimed at those folks who are interested in recovery, but suspicious.
If you have a problem with “the God thing”, this might be a book for you.
Wrist Pain and Road Bike Cockpit Setup; Gravel Is Fun To Ride On… Not Much Fun in Your Wrist
In a post last week, I wrote about a wrist problem I was having. I figured it might be related to the new handlebar install I did on my Trek. My wrist was a lot worse than I let on in my post.
So, the problem was in the way I installed the hoods on the handlebar, but going by looks, it shouldn’t have been a problem. We install the hoods so they follow the line of the handlebar:
Originally, I started having trouble shaving with my right hand. I’d get to a couple of key places and my wrist would lock, causing a shooting pain up my arm. My palm hurt like hell for about a half-hour after. If I gripped my razor wrong, causing the handle to rest in my palm, the pain was intense.
Before long, the tendons in my wrist were catching so much it felt like I had gravel in my wrist. This started back in November, but I didn’t miss a day on the bike and didn’t think much of it until mid-December. I thought I might be experiencing the start of carpal tunnel syndrome.
We went on vacation over Christmas, for a week and a half. I hoped, if it was bike related, the time off the bike would help. It didn’t get better. Shaving sucked, and I was resigning myself to get in to see a doctor when I got home.
On a fluke, I tried to roll my hand forward at the wrist. Make like you’re going to shake someone’s hand, then drop your fingers to the floor, bending at the wrist. The pain was hot, intense, and excruciating.
That’s when I knew it was bike related.
I left my handlebar where it was and raised my hoods, maybe an inch, so I wasn’t rolling my wrists forward so much.
Three weeks later and I just shaved pain free for the first time since this whole mess started. It was bike related, I’m not getting CTS, now that I’ve fixed my hoods… just a little too aggressive.
I just adorned the Trek with new bar tape, too, so she’s feeling good and looking snazzy:
It’s hard to tell from that angle, but the hoods were raised quite a bit.
Point is, as much as I know about setting a bike up, I still managed to hurt myself. On the bright side, I also knew enough to fix what I screwed up in the first place… so it’s not all bad.
Fit Recovery 