Painkillers, ice, batteries & lots of frustration

This week apparently just isn't my week. Monday was just strange and I had to spend money I wasn't planning on spending for a new router. Fortunately, the new one is working great. After researching my router problem, I found that plenty of other people have had the same problem. This was particularly frustrating considering that the one I own is one of the most expensive and supposedly the top-end of Netgear's home networking. I reported the problem using their online system only to have a reply to my ticket say that it sounds like a hardware problem, but I'll have to call a technician (most likely in India) to have them "troubleshoot" the issue to determine whether it is actually a hardware problem. The stories online don't provide much hope that I will talk to someone competent or even in the U.S. Which will definitely mean at least a very frustrating hour on the phone. I've been putting that off...maybe I'll call them tonight so it doesn't ruin my weekend. The only fortunate part is that buying a router isn't going to break me like it could have in college when I didn't have a consistent income.

Last night I took my car to the dealership because it's being serviced today. They have those envelopes you can fill out and put your key in for "early bird drop-off." Which worked well. Unfortunately, I was using the dome light in my car to fill out the information on the envelope and when I finished, I put my key in the envelope, locked my car and dropped it in the slot. Then, I turned around and realized my car was locked with the dome light on and I had no way of unlocking it and turning it off. So, we'll see if they call me to tell me I have a dead battery. I felt pretty dumb after that one.

However, the icing on the cake is definitely what I managed to do to myself at volleyball. I had been having back pain for the last few weeks, but it was steadily improving because I was making a concerted effort to stretch everyday. But, Tuesday night I played volleyball again and I stretched afterward (like you're supposed to) and I was driving home when I started to get really weird tingly feelings in my stomach and lower lungs and my back felt like I was being stabbed. I figured I had just pulled something so I took a hot bath and then tried to get my back to relax by putting my feed up and letting gravity even things out. That was a bad idea because it definitely hurt. I gave up and tried to sleep but didn't get much. When I got to work, it was still hurting and the spot felt twice as wide as the rest of my spine, which made me worry. So, I went to see the trainer at work (Thank God we have one here!) and she told me I managed to rotate a vertebra and get it stuck while I was playing. She tried popping it back into place, but my back wouldn't pop so she gave me a massage around the area. I'm told that it should rotate back into place on its own, so I'm hoping. Last night I was doing a couple stretches she gave me and my back popped and it moved over about half way. It doesn't feel like I'm being stabbed when I sit against stuff anymore, so I'm going to mark that as a significant improvement. Now instead of feeling twice as wide as the rest of my spine, it feels about 1 1/2 times as wide. However, John was still a little freaked out by it when I showed him so it's at least providing some entertainment value. I've never managed to do this before so it's been an adventure. Ice and ibuprofen are my new best friends. Oh, and for those of you who think I should stop playing volleyball, keep dreaming.