What I did on My Medical Leave

As I have mentioned, and as some of you already know, I had Hernia surgery a couple of weeks ago and have been cooped-up at home recovering. During my long, boring recovery I have had ample time to catch up on so many things, so I though I would share with you what I have been up to.

The first 24hrs after my surgery was taken up mostly by sleep. In fact, I couldn’t get out of bed for about three days! Good thing the hospital sent home one of those handy urinals. Over the course of the next 2 weeks I watched some TV, a few movies, listened to some new CDs, and read a few books.

Books:
The Connection: How al Qaeda’s Collaboration with Saddam Hussein Has Endangered America by Stephen F. Hayes. This is a book that I actually started before the surgery but it still counts. The gist of this book is that al Qaeda and Saddam have had a relationship for many years and that this relationship was geared towards attacking the U.S. and the West. It is a very quick read and covers some very interesting information. I just wish they had done better at referencing their sources.

Bloody Aachen by Charles Whiting. This book covers the battle for the German city of Aachen in September 1944. This was the first German city captured by the allies and the story of the battle is compelling.

War in the Desert: The Eighth Army at El Alamein by James Lucas. As the title clear states this book is about the British Eighth army in one of the most famous battle of World War II. The book spends a lot of time, not only with the battle, but also on what it was like for the troops in the field. An excellent book if you are interested in the desert war.

Idoru by William Gibson. I love William Gibson’s novels! I am not much of a fiction reader but his stories have always struck a cord with me. He seems to have a way of seeing the world as it is today and then dreaming of how it will be; he does this in a chilling and compelling way. This is a really good book but I can’t describe it. Just read it!

Flames of War. A set of WWII miniature wargaming rules. Very nicely produced rulebook and a fun game.

Music:
The Smiths “Singles” This is a Best of compilation and really the only CD the casual fan needs. Very cool.

The Infinite Steve Vai: An Anthology This is a massive double CD set…it is not infinite, however. Great stuff if you like over-the-top guitar rock instrumental stuff – which I do.

Iron Maiden Killers This is a great CD by the second most important band in Heavy Metal.

The Cure Greatest Hits Not much to add, a good collection of songs for the casual fan of The Cure.

Modest Mouse Good News for People Who Love Bad News Wow! This CD is so much better than the two radio hits. This is the type of CD I love, one that is better than the popular songs. This band is very tough to pin down – kinda like rock meets ragtime meets ‘80s new wave.

Incubus A Crow Left of the Murder I love this band but I hate their politics. A good CD that I need to spend some more time with.

Movies:
I didn’t get to see anything new but I did get to watch some old favorites. The highlight was finally being able to watch the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy back-to-back! These were the Special Editions and it took me two days but I did it, Woo Hoo!

TV:
OK, let me just say that I hated TV before my surgery – now I hate it even more! I think I have seen every home decorating, landscaping, cooking, chopper building, truck building, hot-rod building, historical documentary ever made. In addition I know everything about Terri Schiavo and the Pope. I discovered that most cable TV channels show a 4 hour block of programming and just repeat during the day. This can be very disappointing when you find yourself unable to sleep and discover the same shows that you watched all day. Boo for TV!

Well, I must say that I am looking forward to getting back to work – for as long as I have a job anyway. I need to start putting some serious energy into the school planning and the wife and I need to check over the finances to see if the school plans will work. Anyway, I am feeling better and really looking forward to getting back into the swing of things.