Most anyone who knows me knows I have near constant back pain…  But now, suddenly and for no good reason, I’ve been waking up in the middle of the night with what can only be described as a knot in my upper back.

It’s on my spine, right between the shoulder blades on the spot where my back hinges the most…  I’ve asked a doctor about that spot in the past, and nobody thought there was anything strange about it.  Well, I’m telling you now that there is.

It’s probably the worst kind of pain, back pain.  But add to that not knowing what is causing it, or how to relieve it…  laying down doesn’t help.  Sitting barely helps.  Standing and walking… not much.  It’s almost more frustrating than it is painful.  

All I want to do is lay down, but it feels like I’m tensing all of the muscles in my upper back, and can’t let them go!  I’ve tried pillows and no pillows, laying on hard and on soft.  Nothing works.

So do I go to a doctor and get more muscle relaxers?  ugh.  Not what I want…  Add to this a strange pain in my gut for the past two days as well, and you’ve got yourself a party!  I’m hoping the two are related and will both disappear at the same time…  but I don’t know what to do to cause that!

And I’m not sure if it’s the lack of sleep or excessive biking, but the palms of my hands are extremely sensitive and feel swolen…

So do I sound like a wreck or what?  And this is, of course, on top of all of my regular pains.  I normally try not to complain about it, but this feels complaint-worthy…  Especially when I can’t seem to find even a momentary relief!

Now, as I eat my eggs and toast, I give you the second installment of observed differences between living in the US, and in Poland (Warsaw, specifically).

This continues the "Obvious Differences" category with: The Metric System.

Currently only 3 countries in the world do not use the Metric System.  They are, Myanmar (formerly Burma), Liberia, and us Yanks back in the ol’ US of A.

Actually, it’s interesting because some measurements in the US are in metric.  Soda comes in 2 liter bottles.  We measure sodium and fat and other food constituents in grams.  And I’m sure there are many scientists and engineers who use metric.  So some things aren’t so shocking.  Getting drinks measured by the milliliter takes some getting used to.  As does the fact that 50 kilometers per hour is SLOW.  Temperature is another one that messes you up, though we changed our thermometer over a few months before we left the states, so we’ve had some time to figure out roughly where everything is (20 is room temperature, 30 is shorts, 15 is pants, 10 is jacket…  pretty simple).  Though this is pretty easy when deciding what to wear, it makes cooking a bit more challenging!  Luckily we brought some of our own measuring cups and spoons, since all of our recipes are measured in cups and spoons, rather than liters and grams.

It’s still really hard for me to judge distance, though part of the bike trail is spray-painted in 100m increments up to 1km, so that helps.  Weights is another story, though…  When I ordered a half kilo of cold cuts, I didn’t expect to get so much!  But it was a manageable size.  Though next time, I’m going for a quarter!!

Makes you wonder when and if the US will burst from our little bubble and join the rest of the world on the Metric system.  Don’t get me wrong, that kind of change takes a LONG time and a lot of work, so I don’t see it happening any time soon (not like the US is a small place!).  But it makes me wonder if we could start transitioning the little things…  give the weather in Celcius and Farenheit for a while…  Heck, we’ve already got that on most thermometers.  And our cars tell us both kmph and mph, so maybe someone’s already started this…

At some point, I’d like to do a "day in the life of…" style entry.  But today you get the abbreviated version.

Last night I didn’t sleep so well, as with the night before.  I think it may be related to the new pillows we got at Tessco (essentially Wal-Mart).  Not so much because the pillows themselves were uncomfortable or painful to sleep on, but simply because, now that I have two pillows, I tend to sleep on my stomach or side more, which hurts my back.  Plus I had a piwo last night, which I think hurt my stomach, further proving the fact that beer hurts me.

So I tossed and turned from about 1am until somewhere between 4 and 5 when I managed to find a position that didn’t hurt my back, and fell asleep on the couch.  

I almost didn’t bike in with Jess this morning, but I knew I’d regret it more if I didn’t.  I checked the thermometer, and it was around 15°C, so I put on my warm weather gear.  At first, I wanted a hat or earmuffs as well, but once we got going it felt good to have someplace for the extra heat to go.  Though, I may have wanted earplugs when I hit a snail for the second day in a row.  That makes the most God-awful snap you’ve ever heard…  about the same sound your heart makes when you realize what it was.  The first time I think Jess almost cried.

It was still pretty wet out, and there were a lot of clouds, but they were breaking up and moving on.  We got to school a bit more muddy than when we left the house, but better than yesterday.  By this point both my stomach and my back were feeling a little bit better (I had a banana before we left, which helped because I think mostly I was just really hungry).

My legs were really stiff from working out yesterday, but I figured I should keep at it.  I did a little bit, but not much.  Then made the mistake of doing a few kip-ups (where you kick from your back up to your feet) and hurt my neck, too.

The return trip was pretty – sun was out and I had good music on my ipod.  When I got home, I checked the thermometer…  35°C!!!  Granted, it was sitting in the direct sunlight, but so was I!  That’s a huge jump, and me in my cold weather gear (well, some of it anyway). 

If it stays this nice, I plan on taking a stroll over to a small park near our house that I only just noticed.  I’d like to bring my little notebook and do some writing in it, since I haven’t touched it since we got our Internet connection!

So now I’m cooking some eggs and toast (a change from the usual bowl of cereal) and having a glass of juice.  Mmmm….  (they have good juice here).  After this, I’m going to shower, maybe shave, and then start my work day…  I need to get a new desk and/or chair, though, because the ones I have aren’t even close to ergonomic, and I will fall apart if I keep this up too long.  That’s another thing I’m going to do a section on when I have time…  the myths about working from home!!