I went to the Texas Back Institute and have "severe to be this young" Lumbar Degenerative Disk Disease. What I gathered from that is the area below the L5 disk is shrinking into the S1, thus putting pressure on my sciatic nerve.

They are expecting that physical therapy 3x a week to strengthen the muscles in my lower back and an NSAID will do the trick. I'm also going to try to force myself back into swimming because that helps everything.

I was THRILLED that no one mentioned my weight at all, and actually commented that I was in great shape based on blood pressure and flexibility...though I'm sure that's relative to the patients they normally see who are in much worse shape than myself!

In other, much more fun news...I traded my car in today for a VW Beetle! After driving it (ok, just sitting it did it!) I fell in love with it. They aren't too wide, but because the steering wheel telescopes in and out not just up and down...there are a good 6-8 inches between me and the steering wheel AND my legs don't have to stretch all the way out to reach the petal!!! There is also probably a foot of seatbelt length left after I get it buckled!! Very very comfy overall.

It's black; I have a thing for black automobiles. But I can't decide between black or cream inside. They have the cream inside in stock, and a black inside on the truck in Houston that will be here at the end of the week. In all honesty, I like the cream better...but I'm worried about being able to keep it clean. The only thing I don't like is you can NOT get them with a CD player. Some crap about nostalgia. But I listen to the radio mostly and I *am* a child of the 80's who still happens to be rather fond of tapes. But for any of you who have tapes and don't listen to them, please email me at:

ammthegr8@hotmail.com

to get my address so that you may make a donation. :). Besides, who can resist a car that comes standard with a flower vase on the dash board?!

Just for fun, I'm now going to name all auto's that I've had since getting my driver's permit at age 14 in Jan of 1993.

1991 Red Jeep Grand Cherokee aprox Jan-March 93
1993 Red Camero Z28 March 18, 1993 until March 18, 1994
1990 Baby blue w/ wood paneling station wagon Mar 19-June 1, 1994
1994 Red Pontiac Grand Prix June 1-end Aug 1994
(same thunder wagon anytime home from boarding school Aug 94-May 95)
1994 Red & Black Z71 truck May-Aug 95
1994 White Buick Roadmaster Aug 95-April 96
1996 Maroon Chevy Blazer April 96-Spring 99
1999 Black Tahoe Sport Spring 99-Jan 2001
2001 Black Pontiac Bonneville SSEi Jan 01-today
2003 Black VW Beetle GLX Turbo today-?

10 cars in 10 years it seems. I love cars. I even loved my grocery-go-getter and my tylenol (roadmaster…shaped like a giant gel cap…you know). I’m also spoiled and admit it. That’s fine as long as I’m not bratty.

Ok, I’m off. Peace in the Middle East.