Pounding Ivory

Happy to report that, as of Dec. 13, I am back into the piano tuning & repair business! My occupational therapy began, this week, so I figure the hand must be strong enough to push and pull on a tuning hammer. I have tunings scheduled well into January, so if you're hoping to get your piano tuned, better email me ASAP.

My TorrellaSystems email account became the dumping ground for incredible heaps of spam - to the point where I couldn't even access my email! I messed around with things until I finally managed to regain access, but I'm seriously considering changing to a different provider -- one whose mailer-daemon has better spam control. The problem at my current provider is so bad that I've had to change the address I use for business. It's now "ron dot torrella at torrellasystems dot com." I'm not inserting a link or putting the actual address here because I'm hoping that, by not doing so, the address will be spam-free. We'll see. I know it's not a perfect solution, but you know what the address should look like, so you put the correct symbols in and send me an email right away if you want to schedule a tuning.

I started a flooring project, just before my injury, and that has now resumed as well. I hope to have it done before Christmas. Next on the list is replacing the carpet in the family room and cleaning out the basement so I can get it semi-finished. I'd like to have a well lighted workbench to build RC airplanes and a place where I can go to get away from the hubbub upstairs.

I didn't get to the Jingle Bell Run, last weekend, because there were just too many "honey dos" to complete. I'd like to do another run, during the winter, so I have some mileposts. I've started working on getting my miles back up to where I can seriously consider running in -- and completing -- the Martian Marathon. Gotta get a heart rate monitor, though. Anyone got a clue on a good model that won't make me tear the lining out of my wallet?

Cheers!

On the run, again.

I ran, today, for the first time since the DFPM-Relay on Oct. 29. It felt pretty good although I was a little slower than I was at the race. Today's (Sunday's, that is) splits were 8:56 per mile on a 5.5 mile run "around the block." No complaints, here. I did miss the Ann Arbor Turkey Trot, this year. I wasn't particularly interested in running with a half-cast that I'd been forbidden to remove by the surgeon. I'll do one of those Jingle Bell runs, instead - probably the 10K in Birmingham, MI.

The fellow who did my surgery, Stephen Haase, and his crew was fantastic! When the half-cast came off, last Monday, Dr. Haase was a little concerned about a bump on the back of my right hand (ganglion cyst?), but after some ultrasound examination, all of the ligaments (in particular, the scapholunate joint) appear intact and, apparently because there was fluid around the tendons in the area of the puffiness, synovitis was ruled out. It seems this was the result of either the initial insult (the fall) or related to the surgery. Whichever was the case, the bump has dissipated nicely.

I'm hoping to get some peri- and post-op films so I can see exactly what this bone appliance looks like. It's made of titanium so it won't set off airport security alarms and I'll be okay for MRIs. Just hope the screws don't work themselves loose!

So, I'm back on the plan to train for the Martian Marathon in April. More later.

A little comminuted, intra-articular fracture of the distal radius isn't going to stop me from running!

As I've reported, elsewhere, on TorrellaSystems.com:

On Thursday, Oct. 26, while on my noon run in Barton Park, I tripped over a chain spanning the access road to the Barton Dam and the Barton Nature Area. I landed squarely on my right hand, the result of which is a comminuted, intra-articular fracture of the distal radius - the impact crushed the lower end of the bigger bone in my arm.


I am scheduled for surgery with Dr. Steven Haase at Univ. of Michigan Hospital to repair the damage on Thursday, Nov. 2 at 1:30. The recovery period could be as many as 6-8 weeks - I don't expect to do any piano work, playing (piano, racquetball, biking, etc), or other heavy lifting with my right hand, before 10 weeks at the earliest. Dr. Haase's PA did say, though, that I would start physical therapy about a week after surgery. That should be fun.

Injury notwithstanding, I did run in the Detroit Free Press/Flagstar Bank Marathon on Oct. 29. My relay team, A2 St. Mary's Hares, took fifth place in our class (men's open). I hope we can return, next year, and place in the top three. Miracles do happen! My arm didn't hurt at all, before, during, or after the race. I took precautions to protect it, just in case I fell. Fortunately, the run went off without incident. I was pleased to do the 5.5 miles at an average 8:36 pace. I could have run faster, had I not been running with an injury.

It's doubtful I'll be able to run in the Tortoise and Hare Ann Arbor Iron Turkey Trot, Nov. 12. I don't think the suture will have healed sufficiently for that. But who knows? The next race opportunity after that will be the Jingle Bell Run for Arthritis, in Birmingham, MI on Dec. 9. I could run in the 10K, but may only do the 5K to be with my wife and kids. we'll see. It's a fundraiser for the Arthritis Foundation (hey, I have arthritis! May as well help myself, eh!).

My next big event will be on April 1, 2007. My goal is to run the Martian Marathon (Dearborn Heights, MI) in under 4 hours. I ran the Martian Marathon half-marathon, last spring, completing the 13.1 miles in 2:07:32 and I didn't think I was particularly well-prepared. Barring another two-week stint with the flu this winter, I should be able to accomplish that goal.

Well, tomorrow is reconstruction day on the right wrist! Here's to hoping for a fast recovery!

2005 - It was a very good year.

Amazing, in a word. I started out 2005 as a university piano technician on medical furlough - unsure about what the future held in a way of a career for me at the University of Michigan, unsure about what the Dickens was going on with my hands. By about April, I was aware that the problem in my hands was not going to go away. The hamate and lunate bones in my hands (bilateral) have what I learned is called a hamatolunate or "type II" articulation--one bone connects with another in such a way that, when I make a fist, one bone grinds against the other. [Read more about the condition here. Caution: Extremely dry medical journal materials...unless you're really into this kind of thing.] Piano technicians make fists all day long holding screw drivers and tuning levers and all manner of other hand tools. Do that for 18 years and your hands will eventually start aching--and that's precisely where I was. Surgery to alter the offending bone would only create more damage and was not guaranteed to eliminate more of the same pain in the future. No surgery. No career as a piano technician at the University of Michigan, either.

The day on which the announcement that I was out of the piano business at the School of Music was made, I got an email whose subject line said, "Is it true?" A colleague/client/friend wanted to talk to me about working with her on an internet publication project. She needed someone do to legal background work for various aspects of the project.

The Internet Publication Project had been started by Prof. Mary Simoni in 2003. Among the goals of the project was development of a new record label for the University of Michigan - well, the School of Music to begin with. Block M Records was essentially "born" on Dec. 8 [U-M News Service Press Release]. The Media Showcase was set up as a place where prospective students could come to listen to performances by students and faculty. One more piece of the puzzle is forthcoming - online distribution of the recordings being released through Block M Records. The last report was that a contract had cleared the distributor's legal department and was headed for their finance department....perhaps it was lost at the company's "holiday" party?

What I get to do, in all of this, is receive recording project proposals, submit them to a committee for review and selection, perform copyright clearances where necessary, send out and receive contracts, track the recording projects from start to finish, and a whole host of other interesting steps. I get to work with some really nice attorneys from the Office of General Counsel, the Division of Research Development and Administration, and the Senior Technology Licensing Officer at the Office of Technology Transfer.

Back in Sept. 2002, when I started working on a Bachelor of Science in Legal Assisting at Eastern Michigan University, I didn't anticipate that I'd land a job working as a legal assistant at the University of Michigan. I think I'd only located 7-8 individuals, there, whose job descriptions either said they were paralegals or legal assistants. It just didn't look very promising. But, eventually, I wanted to leave the piano technician job and start a new career as a legal assistant. I figured I'd just bide my time until something came open. I mentioned the scheme to a few people but never expected things to develop the way they did.

I've had a belief, for some time now, that nothing happens that's unintended - that things happen for a reason and its our business to figure out what the reason is. I imagine it's kinda like paddling out beyond the surf and just sitting there waiting for the right wave to come along.

Well, better check out for the day. I'll have more thoughts, soon enough.

Hey, Dad! See you when I run, this afternoon.