Since there's not much else I'm going to be able to do for the next month or so, I might as well bore you with The Great Hip Replacement Ordeal. The long and short of which is that I had my hip replaced Wednesday January 6th at the Portsmouth Regional Hospital by Dr. Thomas King.

It was a little tougher of an operation than had been expected, and so my recovery was slower than I might have liked. I just had to bear down, do the exercises the physical therapists gave me through the pain, and build up my strength.

Not to infer lack of communication or anything from the doctors, but if you are going to have your hip replaced, or really any major surgery, you should talk with someone who has had it done on them to get the full picture of what the doctor and physical therapist are trying to convey to you. It's not a really painful process, but it certainly is not painless, and it would be really helpful for your recovery to hear how it's going to go from someone who's laid on the table.

In particular, you can not possibly conceive of the total exhaustion you will experience as your body recovers from a surgery. You have no - as in NO - idea how debilitating an event like a surgery can create for you. I was in pretty good shape when I went into my surgery and figured I'd be back at work in a couple maybe three weeks tops. Sure.... I was out 8 weeks and still was easily run to the ground if I pushed too hard. 8 weeks.... Believe me, if you push it, your body won't heal correctly. Your choice.

In addition, if you are going in for any surgery, get into shape! Exercise and getting your body fit will go a long way in helping you through a surgery. I know it did in my case, and can only imagine how much worse off I would have been, and how much longer my recovery period would have been if I hadn't done even the minimal amount of prep work that I did.

And after a hip or knee surgery, it's vital to your recovery to make sure that you start stretching your muscles before you do the strengthening exercises the physical therapist will get you into. I guess most people who have this done are not 'in shape' and thus the logical start is to get the muscle strength back. But if you do have muscle tone, those muscles have atrophied and shrunk in size. If you start to strengthen them, they will just be very painful and might even tear (as they did in my case) if you don't spend some time stretching them back out first.

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01/06/10 - Wednesday
The hospital called Tuesday night and told me to report to the hospital at 9:00am. I had expected anywhere from 8:00am to 11:00am would be when I would be called but later found out that it could have been as early as 5:30am. Since I am far from an early riser, that would have started me off in a really bad way. I was very fortunate. I had no idea it could have been that early. If I would have known that, I would have prepared a little differently, even more so that the requirement that nothing be eaten or drunk after midnight.

Marissa took me in and stayed until they took me into the operating room. The last thing I remember was waving to her as they wheeled me out of the Pre Op room. The next thing I remember was someone shaking me and calling my name. Never felt a thing and was in no pain at all. I was told I spent about an hour or so in the recovery room until they took me up to my room.

The rest of the day was pretty much a fog; I knew Marissa was there but just felt detached from everything. Probably a good thing as I knew underlying all of the drugs and pain killers I was on was a very sore body.

01/07/10 - Thursday
The surgeon and his assistant came through around 7:30am and told me that the operation had been more challenging and difficult than most; that I had lost a little more blood than usual and that the reconstruction process was more complex. I knew it would be a tougher recovery than I had hoped for, but was looking forward to getting on with things.

I didn't have to wait long before the physical therapist came in and dragged me out of bed. Before I knew it, I was pushing a walker in front of me down the hall. The PT and Marissa were on each side of me to make sure I didn't fall, but I did pretty good considering what I had been through.

And I was pleasantly surprised to have my friend Henderson drop by for a short visit. I had met him last Friday night at The Galley Hatch restaurant where I had gone after my chiropractic appointment with Dr. Martin Shulde in North Hampton. We had really hit it off great, and agreed to stay in touch through my upcoming surgery.

01/08/10 - Friday
I had been eating well all along and had been able to sleep pretty good the night before. After I finished my PT session, I talked with them about all aspects of how I was doing. It was decided by both of us that I was not ready to go home that night. We agreed that despite how good I was doing, the body had taken such a shock from the operation that I could benefit from the additional night of supervision in the hospital.

01/09/10 - Saturday
After a PT session and then a visit by an Occupational Therapist, the doctor cleared me to leave. The major pain killers from the operation had now worn off, and I was very aware of the pain and stress my body was under. I took it very easy as Marissa helped me into her car and then into my condo. I just plopped onto the sofa, and I really have little recollection of the rest of the day.

01/10/10 - Sunday
Several calls from the home care agency to arrange schedules are about all I remember for the early part of the day. I had not slept well the night before because of the throbbing pain that just seemed to press all around me. Marissa just propped me up on the sofa and by mid afternoon, after a bowl of soup, we watched the movie Twister; a favorite of both of ours.

I'm not sure if Colin came by today as well as on Monday because I was still very groggy from the pain killers I was on, but I had told him not to come to the hospital. He's very sensitive to hospitals, or even listening to people talk about medical stuff and he has been known to pass out. So, he waited and then has been coming over after I was out of the hospital.

Marissa and I stayed up late and watched Kingdom of Heaven, though I was getting pretty exhausted despite grabbing a couple of hours of naps during the day.

01/11/10 - Monday
The nurse came over around 10:30, did all of my vitals work, and took blood. She discussed a lot of what I needed to know about the healing process and other info that I found interesting and useful. After she left, Marissa and I did a couple of episodes of Treasure Quest until the PT Shireen Khavari, my physician's daughter, showed up. She took me through a new set of exercises to work on. After she left, Jackie the OT came over to go through occupational stuff I needed to know.

I plopped onto the sofa and Marissa and I watched another Treasure Quest episode until she fixed up some dinner for us and Gary. Then we watched the movie Star Trek 2009; a great end to a busy and exhausting day.

Colin, Gary, and Marissa.

Gary, Colin, Marissa, and me. My hat says, "I'd Rather Do Sanchin"

01/12/10 - Tuesday
I'm a little foggy here as to if the nurse came again or not because I had a pretty rough night sleeping from the throbbing pain. But I was determined to try to get some normalcy back into my life, so I got fully dressed in regular clothes rather than sweats and bathrobe that I had been in since the previous Wednesday.

I was not really feeling all that great, couldn't even focus on a backgammon game Marissa and I had. After coming back down from sleeping for a couple of hours, Marissa put in another of the Treasure Quest DVDs and we watched 2 or 3 episodes. Great stuff and just what I needed to keep me focused.

We sent out for the new Domino's Pizza, but were both very disappointed in it. And the salt was extreme. No more Domino's if that's their presentation. Marissa and I finished off the night with the movie Julie & Julia.

01/13/10 - Wednesday
One week since my operation! Had Marissa take a look at my bandage this afternoon, and there was minor seepage so just to be safe, I had the nurse come by to check it out. All's well, vitals super, though sore all over. Got dressed in real clothes for first time today, and tomorrow I'm venturing out to see how far I can walk the condo project, careful not to overdo it as I have both OC and PT coming in to work me over later in afternoon.

Visits by both OT and PT after which I needed to sleep for awhile. After some soup, Marissa and I watched a Treasure Quest episode or two, and then Marissa was out with some of her friends. I was exhausted, so I just rested. When she came back, we watched the movie A Lot Like Love.

01/14/10 - Thursday
Crummy nights sleep again; the pain isn't bad, it's just constant and throbbing. And sleeping positions are very limited while the incision heals. I could not stay awake during the day. I tried to read, but little success as my ability to focus on anything is still pretty limited.

Marissa helped me hobble a short distance around the parking area to see how I'd get along. Because of my training in the cane, I had been using two canes to get around. This was a good test across less than perfect ground conditions. But it took a lot out of me, so down to sleep for awhile I went after getting back in.

Gary came over after work and Marissa fixed saucy pork chops, broccoli, and noodles for dinner. The movie of the night was Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince.

Colin and Gary getting into the meal.

Gary and Marissa.

By dinner, I was feeling so much better that I had my first glass of wine, a Pinot Noir, since a few days before my surgery to go with the excellent dinner that Marissa had fixed for us.

01/15/10 - Friday
My PT Shireen came over and we worked through the exercises she had given me Monday and Wednesday and she showed me the next steps she wanted me to work on. She was heading off on a ski vacation to Colorado the following week, so wanted to give me stuff that I could work on over the weekend that would fit with what the new PT Justin would be having me do.

It seems that I tore some of the muscle fibers in my inner thigh/groin muscle and that was really causing issues with many of the exercises. Thanks to my detailed sensitivity to my body through 40 years of martial arts training, I was able to articulate just what I was feeling so that Shireen could alter the exercises so that progress could be made without aggravating the tear while it healed.

I also told her about Thursday's walk outside, so she wanted to see how I did. We went just a little further than where Marissa and I had gone, and though I made it, I could feel the strain on my muscles and the drain against my entire body. Good session, but I was very, very stiff and sore.

I slept for awhile after Shireen left, and then Marissa and I did several of the Treasure Quest episodes.

Amy from my office dropped by with a get well basket of wine and cheeses from the crew at work. Great of everyone to sign the card and say hi. I appreciated the thought.

I can't remember what we did for dinner as I was still pretty much a slightly moving hurtin' unit. But I do recall that the movie of the night was Angels and Demons. It was a tough climb up the stairs to bed, and sleep was intermittent with all of the throbbing pain I was in.

01/16/10 - Saturday
I was truly a walking wounded all day; just above vegetative state from what I recall. I couldn't focus on anything and my whole body just seemed to feel like it had been hit by a truck and was laying there on the pavement trying to figure out what had happened.

Someone can tell you all about the shock your body undergoes after something like this, but to experience it is something else. There's just nothing you can do. Both the nurse and PT told me that the best, and the only, thing I could do was to just rest. Man, I've go no choice in that! I just sat propped up on the sofa all day nodding in and out of consciousness.

I shook it off around 5:30pm as Gary and Colin arrived. I poured myself a glass of wine and parked it on the sofa as Marissa cooked dinner for us. And because Colin hadn't as yet seen it, the movie of the night was Star Trek! That was my 4th time, I think, but I enjoyed it as much then as I had in the past.

I had a pretty good night sleeping as well. Shireen had helped identify a better position for my legs and so I was able to eliminate some of just the gravity stresses against the incision. Only helping was the fact that a lot of the swelling had gone down as well.

01/17/10 - Sunday
Regardless of the good night's sleep that I had, I was just exhausted all day. I got in several exercise sets, but each time I had to lie down and rest; which was more of a heavy sleep than just a quiet rest. I came down early afternoon and Marissa was watching the movie Into The Blue, so I joined her. Then we did Into The Blue 2.

I was starving and I didn't want Marissa to have to cook again, so she and Gary drove over to KFC and got us all dinners to go. It's been a long time since I've had KFC, and it was really good; hit the spot for me. I felt so much better after eating that I was ready for the movie of the night, Night At The Museum 2.

Gary left right after that as he had to be at work early the next day. But neither Marissa or I had anywhere to go and I had been sleeping most of the day anyway. So, we stayed up and watched the movie Hitch with Will Smith.

01/18/10 - Monday
I wasn't too sore after I got up and started moving around, but I couldn't seem to get comfortable. On top of it, I couldn't really focus on much so I just read some magazines, Food and Wine and Newsweek and watched some mindless TV. Gary came over and I had subs delivered for dinner. He headed home and Marissa and I watched the movie Elizabeth together.

The nurse came over to draw blood as she has to each Monday, but just couldn't get any. We talked and determined that I must have been dehydrated, so the plan was for me to get hydrated and she'd come back Tuesday morning.

I just parked it on the sofa most of the day and read. My PT Justin, who is subbing for the week while Shireen is off on a ski trip to Colorado, came over and showed me some really good quad exercises that I knew right away were going to help. And yeah, I overdid them just a bit so had to back off a little.

At bedtime, I thought I'd cut back some on my pain killer meds to see what was going on with my body. I thought that the drugs were masking the pain and if I couldn't sense just where the pain was coming from then my meditation and my concentration during my exercises would not be as effective as I knew I could make them.

01/19/10 - Tuesday
Big mistake. I had a horrible night. The pain was all over me. I tossed and turned all night. I got up four times just to walk around. But it was the toughest night I had spent since the hospital. Finally, about 6:00am I began to feel that the increase in pain meds that I had decided to get back into was beginning to take effect.

I got up around 11:30 and was just useless until the drugs stabilized me around 3:00pm. And what a difference! Yup, not time to be cutting back on the drugs just yet.... But, I had been careful to really drink a lot of water Monday night and then after I got up. When the nurse returned, she had no trouble drawing the blood she needed.

Good thing I started feeling better because my friend Henderson came over around 4:00pm followed closely by Gary and then Colin. It was time to start my planned party: Peter's 2 Week Hip Replacement Pity Party! Marissa fixed up a terrific scallops in pesto sauce, we had a marvelous time chatting and relaxing. I felt pretty good, but I knew that I shouldn't push it. Everyone left around 7:30. Marissa put in the movie The Hangover and I was in bed by 10:00pm.

Colin and Henderson waiting for the F.O.P. to get done with picture taking so they can eat!

Gary seems to have more patience waiting for the photo opportunity to come to an end.

Marissa has taken such good care of me through all of this there are not words to describe how I feel.

01/20/10 - Wednesday
Two weeks since the surgery and had a good PT session with Justin. I really slept in for a long 12 hours, but I'm still exhausted. My body just kept aching and then I'd fall asleep on the sofa I think for a total of another 4 hours.

My body was hit pretty hard and though the pain has gone way down, I'm just exhausted all of the time and not really able to focus on anything longer than a movie and my time at the computer is limited to about 15 minutes - up from 5 minutes just last week; a very tough week. I can best describe how I feel as imagine you have just been hit by a truck and are laying on the sidewalk knowing you are hurt but the world is just sort of floating around you. Yeah, that's about it. One day just sort of drifts into the next.

Had some dinner and began to feel better so Marissa and I did two movies: In Her Shoes, and The Holiday.

01/21/10 - Thursday
Felt better today after another 12 hours sleep, so had a nice time reading Dan Brown's new book, Lost Symbol. Marissa was out during the day at the dentist and running some errands. She then left with her friend Sarah at 4:00pm to go night snowboarding up at Gunstock in Gilford, NH.

I had a relaxing dinner and then just eased into the sofa and watched some mindless HGTV as I was exhausted and my body ached. Felt better by the time Marissa got back around 9:30pm and she talked me into staying up late to watch the horror movie Drag Me To Hell, which was supposed to have been pretty good. Neither one of us thought much of it.

01/22/10 - Friday
Even though I got 11 hours sleep, I think I dozed another 3 or 4 on the sofa between reading and a final PT session with Justin.

Gary came over after work and I had subs delivered for dinner. We got done early and Gary stayed for the movie Wing Commander. After he left, Marissa and I were just going into second gear, so we finished off the night with the movie Taken.

01/23/10 - Saturday
Marissa and I both slept in. I had a really good night and had slept well, so felt pretty good when I got up. Marissa went out during the day with her friend Courtney to do some back to school shopping as well as laying in the evenings dinner fixings and a weeks supply of stuff for me.

Because this was going to be Marissa's last night before going back to school, Gary came over and Marissa fixed pork chops for dinner. We had a little party and a great time. Gary had plans with some of his friends, and so Marissa and I decided to watch the just released movie Gamer. She had seen it before and loved it, but I had mixed feelings. Oh, lots of action. But sort of an unbelievable plot. It was mildly entertaining, but regardless we enjoyed just being together.

01/24/10 - Sunday
I was up with Marissa about 9:00am. She got all her stuff organized and the area straightened up, and was able to head off to her mom's to get packed up for the drive back to school.

I was able to get outside and take two walks around the condo project. But each one exhausted me, so there was a lot of downtime for me on the sofa. On the plus side, I got almost all the way through Lost Symbol. I had one of my archived meals for dinner, and capped off the night with the movie, The Marine.

01/25/10 - Monday
I rolled out of bed around 9:45am, took a long, relaxing shower, did some of my exercises, and got the coffee going. By 11:00am I was on the sofa feeling pretty good, though my entire body still ached. Between two outside walks around the condo project I finished Lost Symbol and started reading a bio of Dean Koontz.

I poured myself a glass of Shiraz around 4:00pm and relaxed on the sofa while re watching two of the Treasure Quest episodes - that is such a great series, I just can't believe it. I had asked Marissa to leave the set with me as I knew I wanted to see them again. For dinner, I had leftover pork chops from Saturday night's party, and then finished off the evening with the movie, Matchstick Men.

01/26/10 - Tuesday
After getting up around 9:00am, I did some of my exercises and then took a short outside walk. I had been sure to drink a lot of water last night and did a bottle of Poland Spring before the nurse came over to draw my blood.

After lunch, I took another short outside walk, did some exercises, and sped read through a lot of the Koontz bio. The author did a really exhaustive analysis of each of his works, but that was not what I was reading it for. As a writer myself, I was looking for his process and thoughts on writing rather than what he had for dinner on his thirtieth birthday.

Shireen was back from her vacation and came over to work with me on some PT around 2:00pm. Good session, and she gave me some new exercises to work on. After she left, I did a third short outside walk. But that pretty well did me in. I retreated to the comfort of the sofa and more reading until I just fell asleep for an hour or so.

I grabbed an archive meal from the freezer, poured a glass of Shiraz, watched a little HGTV as I ate. But I was pretty tired and my body really ached. I just slipped in the movie Pulp Fiction and zoned out. I hadn't seen that in a long time, and the ending cafe scene is a classic; but you do have to watch the whole movie to let it all set up, otherwise it not only doesn't make any sense, but it's really stupid. But in context, classic.

01/27/10 - Wednesday
Better day today than yesterday. Slept 12 hours, which helped. Spent day reading more of bio of speculator Jessie Livermore, which I hope to finish tomorrow.

01/28/10 - Thursday
Today was the big surgical post-op appointment with my doctor. Marissa's off at school and Colin was on a crazy schedule, so one of my karate students, Eleanne, run me down for my post op appt at the hospital in Portsmouth. All is well as far as the operation went, though because of it's difficulty the muscles will take some time to heal and all that. The issue is the overall shock to the body and the general overall pain. So, more percocet (so no driving) and I'll be out of work another 2 weeks. Fine with me. I came home from the appt, fell into bed and didn't wake up for over two hours. That's how ready I am to do anything.

After waking up, though, I sat in a chair and minimally conducted a few of my karate students through some of the work they are doing. After that, we came up and I ordered out for pizza. While we waited for that to come, I started the insipid movie The Fifth Element with Bruce Willis; the attraction here strictly to watch Milla Jovovich.

01/29/10 - Friday
Though I was in bed by 11:00pm last night, I didn't get out of bed until 11:30am today! Wow! Talk about my body needing rest! I did some exercises, had lunch, and then took a quick walk around outside, though cut that short because the wind chill must have been down around Zero! And it's supposed to drive it to 15 below tonight!

Shireen came by around 2:30 and we worked some exercises and made plans for the next two weeks of rehab work that we could do. After that, I just crashed on the sofa and read, had dinner, watched the movie The Net, and hit bed around 11:00pm. Exciting day.

01/30/10 - Saturday
Tough time getting to sleep last night for some reason. And the wind didn't help much as it was really blowing hard. Didn't get up until 10:30, did my exercises, and sort of eased slowly into the day. So tired by late afternoon that I had to sleep for a little over an hour. Grabbed some dinner and then watched the movie Wall Street.

01/31/10 - Sunday
Gee, I dunno here.... I got to bed at 9:30 last night and didn't get up until 11:30am this morning. Even just out a little over 3 weeks from the surgery I wouldn't think I'd be this exhausted all of the time. Marissa stopped by on her way to Courtney's birthday luncheon. It was good to see her as she wasn't supposed to have been able to come home from school this weekend. We chatted for awhile and then she was off, and I just did some reading in the living room.

Bright sunny day, though very cold, I still took a walk outside; this one a little longer than individule ones before - probably one and a half the distance. I felt pretty good when I got in, but my body got very heavy feeling and the reading was difficult. I think I fell asleep a couple of times, maybe for a total of about an hour or so. But then after reading for about an hour, I was so tired I went upstairs to bed and slept heavily for an hour and a half. Crazy....

Came down and watched a couple of episodes of HGTV while I ate dinner. Was really just achy and had little motivation so got a little fire going in the fireplace, slipped The Net 2 dvd in, and zoned out to that, which even in my decrepit state was pretty crummy. In bed by 10:00pm but muscle cramps kept me up until about 1:00am.

02/01/10 - Monday
Good thing I put off going back to work as this had been my target date. I never came too until 10:00am. Great. Dragged myself out of bed, took a shower, and ran a short series of exercises. Then took a short walk outside. Got something to eat and tried to sit down at the computer to do some writing. But though the body felt pretty good, the brain just was not engaging. So, I did some laundry and read in the living room. Short dinner, some tv, and then just to bed.

02/02/10 - Tuesday
Up at 10:30am and just dragging through the motions. Don't know what's up, but body really hurts and I'm exhausted. I read for awhile and then slept on the sofa for about an hour. Brain wasn't functioning too well, so decided to put in an episode of Treasure Quest. Only got about half way through and just couldn't stay awake, so went up to bed. Just crashed heavily for a couple of hours. Dragged myself downstairs and had some dinner as I finished off the Treasure Quest episode. I just knew the night was over but I really felt like having some fun for the day. So, I put in Star Trek 2009, turned up the volume, and settled back into the folds of the sofa. The most fun I've had in several days, actually.

02/03/10 - Wednesday
Well, here I am, four weeks out from the surgery and still feel like shit. Oh well.... So the only thing to do is push it for all it's worth and see how I feel. My disciple Rick Downs picked me up at 11:00am and we did a road trip up to Farmington, NH to the New England Furniture store up there. I've been wanting a nice reading chair for the living room and my disciple Scott Williams and his wife Linda had just shopped for one up there for her mother and said they had a great selection. Lisa was a great help in assisting me in picking out a nice chair, but when I got home I realized that the size would totally block the back deck door from opening. I'll have to go back up Friday and re-check a couple of the other selections that Lisa had shown me.

Felt really, really sore when I got home. Even though only a 20 minute drive, it just killed the muscles in my right leg. Couldn't help myself; just had to slip a magic pill.... That took hold just about the time my physical therapist Shireen came to take me through my exercises.

But I was hurting in so many different places, we just discussed specific exercises that I could do later to address where she felt were the problem areas. After she left, I just crashed in bed for a couple of hours; just exhausted. Got up and just had a can of soup for dinner, watched the movie The Bourne Identity, and hit the bed.

02/04/10 - Thursday
Rolled out of bed around 10:00am still pretty much dragging from yesterday. Though I was able to sit at my desk and pay some bills, I wasn't able to really concentrate much and I got really tired after about an hour. After a quick bite to eat, I had to take about an hour nap. After I got up, I tried reading but it was spotty keeping my focus. After a couple of hours I had to go lie down again. But I felt pretty good when I got up this time. I had a bite to eat and then a couple of my karate students came over and I watched them work out for awhile. It was early to bed tonight for sure.

02/05/10 - Friday
Though I got 12 hours of sleep, after being up just about an hour and a half, I realized that I just was not feeling good. I sat on the sofa for a little while but didn't even have the energy to pick up my book. Finally, I went back upstairs and climbed into bed. I was out for over two hours.

I called one of the nurses and again the suggestion was that I might benefit from some iron supplement. I asked my disciple Rick Downs if he had time after work to take me shopping. He picked me up around 3:45 and we were back by 4:45. But I knew I was just hanging on. I had a can of soup and went back to bed.

I didn't wake up until a little after 7:00pm. I had another can of soup, took some pills, and parked on the sofa to watch more of the Star Trek special features on disk 2 but by 9:00pm I was fading fast, so off to bed for the night. What a thrilling day....

02/06/10 - Saturday
I did 14 hours sleep, though some of it early on was a little fragmented with minor muscle spasms in my right quad that were irritating. I've never experienced this type of body drain before. I know how to deal with 'normal' physical pain - of which I pretty much ignore unless it's like muscle tears etc that need time to heal. But pain? What pain....

And so, I now realize that I pushed appropriate to what I knew. Unfortunately, life is a constant teacher and it put my ass down. I see where my physical therapy was incorrectly focused and am going back to sort of a ground zero in my structure of it as well as the meditative process I use to hook it all together. Now, if I can just stay awake long enough to implement it....

Part of the exhaustion can also be attributed to the taught muscles in that I am straining my body constantly against them; sort of a constant workout. So for now, lots of stretching and water and meditation; then I'll get back to the strengthening. Spent the afternoon just sitting on sofa and reading an old commodities trading book for it's entertainment value rather than anything significant as I am still having trouble focusing on anything specific.

Gad, I read online that the President had likened the big snow storm pounding the mid Atlantic states to "Snowmaggedon." With 20"????? Gad, that happens up here a couple three times a year. Get over it! Push it out of the way and get on with your life.... But as my brother pointed out, their capability at snow removal down there is relegated to, "...two old guys with shovels and a beat up pickup truck with a plow."

After taking a walk after lunch, I went up and laid down and slept for about an hour before Marissa and Gary and Marissa's friend Courtney came over so we could have a nice little party. While I played one of the Treasure Quest episodes, Marissa fixed us all up a great chicken pesto dinner. Marissa was all tired out from her Friday night trip down to Boston with a friend to see the Celtics throw some hoop, so I got the movie of the night going early.

Dinner party was so much fun; so great to have them all over. Courtney hadn't seen the new Star Trek movie, and so I put it on. 15 minutes in, with eyes bulging out of her sockets, she wheezes, "I've got to go buy this tomorrow...." and her expression just sort of glassed over. That was the 4th time I've seen it in 3 weeks; I could put it on again right now and watch it again. I was beat and in bed by 9:30.

Marissa getting down to business in the kitchen fixing what turned out to be a terrific dinner for us all!

Courtney and Marissa hamming it up for the photo journalist.

Courtney, Gary, and Marissa - again waiting for the F.O.P to get done with the foolish picture taking.

02/07/10 - Sunday
I got up a little after 10:00am after 12 hours of not so restful sleep, did some of my lying down exercises and stretches, and had some Quaker oatmeal and orange juice with one of my new iron pills - colorfully dubbed 'ferrous sulfate'. Feeling a little sleepy about an hour later, I decided I needed a walk. I bundled all up because the wind was really blowing and it was pretty nippy out, and did one of the longest walks I've done yet. I concentrated on really stretching my quads which appear to be causing no end of grief here; I'll get it.

The walk and some breathing exercises I did seemed to throw off most of the fatigue I was feeling, so I parked it quietly on the sofa and read for most of the afternoon. Took a short nap and then got up to cook my first meal in about 5 weeks, tarragon pork chops in a dry sherry and minced garlic reduction cooked with herb and sauced mushrooms. And I had a big spinach salad, as suggested by the doctor to have dark green veggies to help with the exhaustion.

As I was finishing my meal, I caught the first quarter of the Super Bowl; Indianapolis up 10 over New Orleans. Football three times a year: Super Bowl, Thanksgiving, and New Years Day. That's my quota and my tolerance..... Movie of the night was crummy and forgettable, so I put in another one, Adam (2009) and that was really nice; saved the evening. I hit the rack around 10:00pm. Beat again; maybe a little too much activity with fixing dinner. Just trying to work the body back, but this is really taking a lot - a lot - longer than I had ever thought or was implied to. I'll get there....

02/08/10 - Monday
Very crummy 13 hours in bed; tough getting to sleep. Seems I've strained my back somehow, so gimping around a little more than just from the quads I'm working on stretching.

Well, I think starting to take some iron is helping. I backed off of all of the muscle strengthening exercises and am working stretching. Don't know why I didn't think of that earlier. Even the PT said that most folks that have hip or knee aren't in very toned shape and so none or few of the issues I have. I finally figured out that's why they didn't get me on a stretching program first; never crossed my druuuuuuuug cluttered mind at the time.

Anyway, think I strained my back a little so just doing slow relaxation stretches when I can.

Took a couple of nice short walks that seemed to flush some crud from me. Only concern right now is that because I was sooooooo beat and feeling awful the last couple of weeks, I find that I've lost 5 pounds and am down to 145. I've never had to worry about putting weight on; only studied good eating etc. so have no idea how to gain it back!

Whole body aches and general feeling of being tired, though only one short nap this afternoon. But it's clear that I'm not going to be ready to go back to work next Tuesday. Had an archive meal that I had fixed weeks ago, watched a little mindless tv, and then hit the rack.

02/09/10 - Tuesday
Another difficult time sleeping. I had wanted to get up a little earlier to start to try to work my way back to more full days, but just wasn't able to until 11:15 when the nurse called to set my last appointment today at noon to draw blood.

Before Maggie came, I took a long walk around the project and got some good leg stretching in. By the time she left, it was time to get a bite to eat and then I took another short walk and got the mail. Then I was pretty tired, so I lay down on the sofa for a short nap.

My disciple Rick Downs swung by at 2:00pm to pick me up for another run up to New England Furniture in Farmington to look for a reading chair for the living room. Lisa was working again, so she was able to show me some options and get me all squared away. But because I wanted a specific fabric, it'll be 4 to 6 weeks for delivery. That's fine. At least I have a really nice chair coming.

I tried doing some computer work when I got home, but was pretty tired. I took another short nap, grabbed a bite to eat for dinner, and settled down to watch the movie The Matrix, in Blue-ray that I had just received from Amazon, before heading off to bed.

02/10/10 - Wednesday
Up a little easier this morning at 10:00, though more sore than usual as I cut my night meds in half as I start to wind down from them. By the time I had a shower and got dressed, the slight snow flakes had turned into show showers. Brian, one of my karate students, arrived at 11:00 to finish some painting I've had him working on in the basement so I corralled him and off we went on a long exercise walk around the condo area.

I worked a little on the computer, trying to start building up my concentration strength. I didn't overdo it, but was achy after, so took another very short walk. Shireen, my physical therapist came around 3:00pm and we had a good stretching session, though I think I overloaded her with all the questions.

I took Colin out to dinner to Longhorn's steakhouse down in Newington to celebrate his great year at work. I had him drive me in my car as it has not been even running in about 6 weeks. It was a little tough starting, but fine after that. We had a nice chat and I'm sure the huge piece of screaming red meat (as Ted Nugent would say) was just what my iron depleted body needed. Besides, I've got 5 pounds to put back on here somehow.

Starting my next round of meds reduction, so we'll see how that goes....

02/11/10 - Thursday
The body fought me for a few hours trying to get to sleep last night despite cutting in half the meds when I went to bed. And then, the quad started to spasm around 3:00am and I had to take an early med. But then I did get a couple of 3 hour sleep sessions. I woke up at 9:30 and decided to just power my way out of bed. Though a success, I did have to lie back down on the bed after I got dressed and ran through some of my stretching and strengthening exercises.

I took a short walk around 1:00pm and was able to do a little work at the computer before I had to go lie down for about an hour. Shireen came over at 3:15 and we worked through a bunch of really good exercises, pushing just a little harder. I was a little sore after she left, but more of a refreshed sore than just painful sore; sort of a 'good sore'.

I went to bed around 11:00 with no meds, just a couple of Tylenol to see if that would affect my ability to get to sleep easier/sooner. It didn't. I tossed around unable to get comfortable and overall achy until around 2:00am when I disgust I popped another couple of Tylenol and finally drifted off.

02/12/10 - Friday
I woke up around 10:00 and just pushed out of bed and into the shower. Did some exercises while the coffee brewed and then did some email and worked a little on my programming project. Had some lunch that Jim Nancarrow had brought me yesterday and then just rested for awhile.

I was going to drive for first time today to go down to my chiropractor; stopped percoset yesterday so okay to drive. But you know, I'm just really, really tired from yesterday's PT workout and I canceled my appointment. Took a short nap this afternoon and then my first drive - short, very, very short. I had heard that the local Hollywood Video was closing soon (chain going bankrupt) and that they had some good deals, so I drove up there - about 5 minutes - and found Mamma Mia in Blu-ray and just had - had - to buy it.

Of course, when I got it home I had to watch it because it was used and I needed to make sure it didn't have any defects. It was about half over when the first couple of folks arrived for my Movie Night At The Garrison: The Bourne Supremacy. Of course they wanted to watch it while some backgammon was going on. I had pizza delivered and by the time we had eaten, Mamma Mia was over but then those that hadn't seen it wanted to see the start of it so.... we watched it from the beginning until about 8:20 when I just had to blow the whistle and get on with The Bourne Supremacy. Even though that got over just a little after 10:00pm and everyone was gone, I just had to stay up and watch all of the special features segments.

Linda, Rick, and Brian working their way though dinner and some backgammon, though Linda claims she was totally distracted by the movie Mamma Mia that I had running.

Jim and Chris arrive just after we had sat down. They made short work of grabbing some pizza and joining in the fun.

Ahhhhh.... Pizza.... What more can you say?

Linda insisted on watching more of Mamma Mia after we ate. But I had to throw a flag on the field around 8:00pm so we could get on with the real night's movie!

02/13/10 - Saturday
Still leg cramps for two hours kept me up last night. I finally crawled out of bed around 11:30am but I was dragging with little motivation for much of anything. I poked around getting things straightened up for the little dinner party I was having with my friend Helen who I hadn't seen in 28 years, but I just couldn't focus on programming and really didn't feel like reading. About mid day, I went up and took about an hour and a half nap.

Dinner was great and Helen and I had a lot of fun sipping a couple of bottles of wine she had brought and catching up on our lives for the last 28 years. Whew! The time goes....

Even though Helen left around 10:30, I determined that I was not going to go to bed until late tonight. I've been trying to get to bed anywhere from 9:00pm to 10:30pm but just toss and turn for hours, so I just figured I'd watch some tv until I got really tired and then see what happens.

02/14/10 - Sunday - Valentines Day
No luck. Went to be at midnight and still tossed around until about 2:30am. So, I just slept in until noon, rolled out of bed, and dragged around finishing cleaning up from last night's dinner party. Helen called around 1:00pm to see how I was doing as she knew what a crummy couple of weeks I had. I brought it to her attention that she had brought double the deserts and thus I had two left sitting on my counter calling out to me to consume them. I thought it only fair that she come back tonight and help me finish them off because where was the adult female supervision in leaving me to my own discretion in dealing with the temptation of consuming both of those deserts?

Marissa and Gary swung by for a short visit mid afternoon and then I went up and took a short nap. After an archive dinner of one of my special chili efforts, Helen and I watched The Big Chill. Been awhile, I think, since I've seen that and it always amazes me how good a movie that was. Got to bed about 11:30 and finally only tossed around for about an hour before falling asleep.

02/15/10 - Monday - Presidents Day
Finally! I slept really good all night and was up at 9:30 feeling better than I have in many days. Took a long shower, did some stretching exercises, worked out a little more on my Aero Pilates machine, and took a long walk around outside, and slowly worked my way into the day. I just kept it very low key, and though tired, it was nothing like it has been.

But still sharp pain in certain positions that when the physical therapist Shireen was here, we still can't figure out what's causing it. Shireen called my surgeon's and I'm going if for an evaluation tomorrow morning. After she left, I did need to take a short rest. Finished out the night with some easy tv and that's it.

02/16/10 - Tuesday

Didn't go so good for me, though. Went to bed last night at 10:30 but just hurt and could not fall off. Got up at 1:00am and did about 5 minutes on the machine to see if I could tire out, but by 2:00am I had just had it. Jumped out of bed, went downstairs, ate a can of Beefaroni and watched tv for awhile. Unbelievable. Then up early to go to the surgeons.

Seems I get a little ahead and heal in one way and then boom, something else happens. The surgeon said he was surprised how well I was doing; that I was doing far better than he had expected. Gee... why don't I feel that way, hu? Great. Got some meds to drop me to sleep and a pat on the back.

When Rick, who drove me, and I got back to the condo, Marissa had stopped by to see me so we decided lunch from Subway was the thing. After Marissa left, Rick and I watched one of the Treasure Quest episodes, and I was really beat. Rick left and I went up and took a nap, but still sore and tired when I got up. But I pushed through because I have the sleep meds to solve all-s my ills (as Dr. John would say). Great.

I just parked it on the sofa all afternoon and evening watching the Winter Olympic games in Vancouver as a big snow storm pounded away outside.

02/17/10 - Wednesday
Looks like we might have caught a foot of snow from this storm that ran through most of yesterday afternoon and all night. It's really deep.

I got a pretty good sleep last night with the pills. Went to bed at 11:30 with full intent to get up at 9 but just couldn't pull it off until about 10. And I'm tired still.

After being up just an hour, I was on the sofa and fell deed asleep for an hour and a half. I had to do another hour later that afternoon. Man, I was wiped out. Based on my conversation with the surgeon yesterday and then this today, I knew I just would not be able to go back to work next week. And though it pisses me off to no end, I've still got some major healing to do, and I'm just not going to be able to force this.

Shireen came for my final home physical therapy visit. I had showed her some of the karate 3-S type stretching exercises that we do, and these have really helped over the last couple of sessions, getting some of the deep tissue moving and stretching. Though tired after she left, I felt refreshed. But I'm thinking the whole time when my body will just collapse....

And it did, so all I could do was lie on the sofa like a beached whale and watch two movies: The Deal (2008) with William H. Macy and The Happening. The Deal was really entertaining, and, though The Happening was not one of my favorites, it was deep and dark and just sort of sucked you in; typical M. Night Shyamalan fare. I watched most of both movies special features. That's how hard up I was for entertainment.

02/18/10 - Thursday
Well, after going to bed last night at 11:30pm, I tossed around for about an hour or so and thought it was going to be another long night. But the last time check I remembered was around 1:00am and then all of a sudden it was 4:30am, then it was 7:00am, and then magically 9:15am. So, I climbed out of bed at 9:30am and felt pretty good, though still recognizing my energy level was not really up there. I just took it really easy through the day and hit the rack at 11:30.

02/19/10 - Friday - Movie Night At The Garrison: The Bourne Ultimatum
Yeah, another toss and turn night. Despite the sleeping pill and some Advil, I was up twitching every hour until finally the last I recalled of that foolishness was 2:30am, and then it was 4:00am. But, I got up this morning just after 9:00am, took a shower, and thought I'd try to see how much I could focus by working for awhile on my computer programming project.

That worked out pretty good, with several mini breaks as my stamina and concentration just gave out. Around 6:00pm friends started arriving for Movie Night At The Garrison: The Bourne Ultimatum. We got take out Chinese and had a great time. It was nice to have everyone over and share a really good movie. Though I got to bed around 11:30, still a really tough night getting to sleep. I think I was still aware of the time up until about 3:00am.

Chris, Jim, and Rick digging into the Chinese food that Linda and Rick had driven over to pick up.

Tim and Linda fully involved in the food frenzy.

Linda, me, and Jim having a great pre movie time.

Me, Chris, and Jim.

02/20/10 - Saturday
I climbed out of bed about 9:45am when Colin came in to drop my car keys off after picking it up earlier in the morning to do an oil change and some general maintenance. Just as well I got up as my friend Sue was coming over at 11:00am to see if I could help her get a web page up for her artistic photography work. A couple of cups of hot coffee got my motor running while we chatted for quite awhile.

Nothing else planned for the day, so after Sue left I just sat in the living room and read one of my books and rested, though I did do a short, crisp walk out to get the mail; probably one of the quickest walks I've done. Though I could feel the muscles straining, I didn't over do it.

I've been laying off almost all exercise and most stretching the last few days. I want to give my body time to do some general internal healing without running it down with 'stuff', particularly since I am having so much trouble sleeping. Getting the sleeping under control and resting the overall body systems is primary; I exercise, gain strength, and stretch anytime; for the rest of my life. But right now: I've got healing to do and only a little over a week to make it happen before I go back to work.

I grabbed a dinner out of my pre made stock and watched an early movie, Bullet with Steve McQueen from 1968. I remember from watching the special features from the movie The Bourne Identity that they used as a model for their car chase scene the one from Bullet, which even today is amazing.

I went to bed around 11:30, this time taking two of the meds the surgeon gave me to see if that would work better for me.

02/21/10 - Sunday
Had a terrific sleep last night. One of the best in a long time. Maybe two of the meds is the answer. I'll try it again tonight and see, but when I got up at a little after 9:00am, I felt pretty good. And not groggy at all, as I had been told might be the case if two was too many for my body to handle. Okay.... This is a start.

I was actually able to put some time into programming later in the day, and I was just fine for the evening when Helen brought over leftovers from her family gathering Saturday. Made it to bed around 11:45, though did take an hour or so to fall off to sleep. But a good sleep.

02/22/10 - Monday
Well, today was my previous target for returning to work. Though I did get a good night's sleep, couldn't get out of bed until 10:00am and would not have been good to push things. I feel good, but at the same time I know there's a definite line that if crossed would just exhaust me. Still healing, so good that I have this week and a little of the following to make sure this is a consistent mending process and not just an anomaly.

All in all, the day went pretty good, though I did run low on energy a few times and if I would have been at work and not able to rest I think I would have run myself totally to the ground. Just wasn't ready to go back to work yet. Good advice from the surgeon to really take this thing slowly.

02/23/10 - Tuesday
Despite going to bed last night at 11:30 after taking 2 meds an hour before, I had a rough time dropping off to final sleep until about 3:00am. As a result, I was dead meat until about 10:00am and this is not helping me get ready to get back into the mainstream of life outside of this condo. Very frustrating....

Did pretty good through the day and fine with dinner out with a friend, though that was an early night. Came home and watched the brainless but terrific special effects movie Transformers to wind down and then toppled into bed.

02/24/10 - Wednesday
I did push it yesterday, so didn't get up until 10:45am. I feel fine, though not quite 'all there' thing. Crummy sleep Monday night but pretty good last night. It's been two bad, one good. Hopefully this will turn to two good, one bad soon. I talked with the surgeon's assistant yesterday about all this and she says it's all pretty much par for the course for most folks with hip replacements, though some come out of it in a few weeks while most go 6 to 8. And she reminded me how really difficult my surgery was on my body.

And, as I wrote in an email to my brother: "Great day here! Overcast and raining and misty and cold. Just like Ishmael walking toward the Spouter Inn, I'm slowing slipping through the senility of my perceptions."

I was, for the first time today, able to work productively on my computer programming project in pretty good half hour blocks. Not quite ready for prime time yet, but feel pretty good that I was able to do multiple sittings and work somewhat productively.

I had my first out patient PT today, and Joe really worked the hip joint. Though I'm sore, it should really help with the stretching exercises - which he gave me a whole different set and format for doing. But I knew this probably took a chunk of my energy, so I just parked it on the sofa and watched a some mindless HGTV episodes.

02/25/10 - Thursday
Went to bed at around 11:30 last night but it just wasn't working. I wasn't sure if I was in for another long night of this crap or just temp, but at 12:30 I got up, went downstairs, got something to eat, and surfed cnn.com for 20 minutes. That was the ticket: didn't wake up then until about 3:00am, though had to take some more Advil as the effects of the PT were digging at me. Then slept until about 6:30 then 9:00 when I got up. Did some of my new exercises and surveyed the really dreary and sprinkling day.

Spent longer segments at the computer today than I did yesterday, but got pretty tired in the afternoon. Didn't do nappies, but close. And then it started to rain. And the wind was whipping in gusts that must have been 50mph. The lights started flickering around 10:15pm so I just shut the tv down and headed up to bed. Just in time for the power to go off. Great.

02/26/10 - Friday
When I woke up at 8:00am, the power was still off. So, I decided to just stay in bed until around 11:00am and got a really nice rest. But getting up in the cold was bracing. Fortunately, the temps were in the low 40's and so no worry about freeze ups.

I just parked it in a living room chair by the large deck window and read some more of the The Billionaire's Vinegar: The Mystery of the World's Most Expensive Bottle of Wine until late afternoon. I got cleaned up and headed off to dinner with Helen at Ronaldo's Italian restaurant in North Hampton.

By the time I headed home, there was such a heavy wet snow falling that I could hardly see two car lengths in front of me; sort of had to come home on the Braille System. Worse: the power was still out.

02/27/10 - Saturday
I woke up around 9:00am but nothing to do in that cold so just stayed in bed until noon. Besides, I was a little tired from such a heavy dinner and a few glasses of wine over the course of several hours. Again, nothing to do but read. But I did haul up the kerosene heater from the basement, which by the way took in about 10 gallons of water through the walls because of the high water table and the fact that we got something like 8 inches of rain in a day and a half.

Anyway, in about an hour the heater brought the downstairs temp up from 52 to 75, with noticeable changes upstairs as well. Good unit. Thought I'd drive down to Border's Bookstore at the mall after grabbing a half Subway Italian B.M.T. sandwich at Wal-Mart. I bought one book that looked like light, interesting reading, No Angel. I felt sort of tired, so I drove back to Dover and just had to do nappies.

But got up at 5:00pm,washed up, and headed out back down to Newington to get 7:40pm tickets for The Wolfman (2010). I had parked behind the theater so figured I just walk from around there and across the mall parking lot to Longhorn Steak House on Gossling Road. But when I got there, people were standing in line out in the cold on the sidewalk. I just walked across the road to McDonalds and ate a chicken sandwich and Sprit that and talked to my brother on my cell phone - which has very little bars in Dover because once again something has happened to the Sprint tower. This is becoming tiring.

After eating my sandwich, I still had time to kill so I walked over to the kitchen place by the theaters and found a great 12 inch Faberware deep saute pan that I need to replace my worn Teflon version that is peeling. $30 but what the heck; the thing will last 6 to 10 years as long as I don't turn the heat up too high or scrape the surface with metal implements of destruction to the pan's surface.

I enjoyed The Wolfman for it's entertainment value and special effects, but it was a little over the top as far as some of the violence goes, unnecessarily in your face violence from my view. I'd rate it 3 out of 5. Fortunately Public Service NH came through and my power was running when I got home about 10:00pm. I was so excited I pulled into the Burger King just off Exit 7 on Rt 108 to grab a cheeseburger and drink. Though all the lights were on, no one was working. So, when I got home, I just had to do a can of Beefaroni and Diet Coke - what a mix. And with those delights, I watched Hunt For Red October and loved every minute of it.

02/28/10 - Sunday
Again, I work up at 8:00am, which is the time I am starting to program into my mind when I go to sleep at night. But rolled over and didn't get out of bed until 10:00am. Because of all the storm related stuff I've been doing, I somehow strained inner thigh muscle as well as the right glute muscle. I'm really needing Janis to get around because when those muscles pull, the quads have a grad time of sending pain up and down my leg. Maybe part of it was all the walking that I did on Saturday; provably the most I have walked since before my surgery. Again, pushing it forward the best I can.

I bit into several concentrated 2 hour programming sessions. I'm combining several files functionality into one service file and than going about the business of break the various discrete business functionality back out into new separate files I got it all to the point that the entire project compiles. But when run, error messages start popping up all over the place where I have left warning code to indicate that more work needs to be done in those areas. My job tomorrow is to categorize those areas and then triage then for order of implementation. And then will come the complete rewriting of transaction services and how critical program and reporting data can be efficiently obtained from their respective service classes.

One of my students, Brian, was nice enough to come over for a couple of hours and wet vac up 10 or 15 gallons of water that the storm and high water table had shoved into my basement. Laundry has to wait until tomorrow so the area dries out some.

I tried conning Helen to come over so I could try out my new skillet, but she wasn't hearing it. As a result, I lost track of time in all the bullshit I was involved in with all this code manipulation I'm working on and totally, completely forgot to go shopping. Thus, there would be no breaking the new pan in this time. Instead, I opted for a past dinner in freezer stock. And though very good (it was chicken pesto on linguini), it was not the normal sit down semi formal Peter's Sunday Dinner Party For One. See: no supervision, and this is what happens.

Done with dinner early so did two movies. The first was the 1997 Wilde, about the playwrite Oscar Wilde. I thought it a bit overly gratuitous, whereas so little was spent on the great works Wilde was able to do. It was okay, but to recover from that, my second movie was the 2009 Surrogates with Bruce Willis. Not really a Bruce Willis fan and the movie made some absurd jumps in reality. But it was mildly entertaining, and it put me in a sleep ready mood.

02/29/10 - Monday
Slept pretty good but just could not haul my ass out of bed at my desired 8:00am. I never made it until 8:45, did some of my exercises, and took a long hot shower. I can feel how my overall body is changing, but I'm impatient and want my strength back now. It's been frustrating for me to say the least.

Was able to get a good day in programming so getting back in the swing of things preparatory to going back to work on Wed. Had outpatient physical therapy this afternoon, and not real sure my body wants to move in all the directions the therapist is shoving it...

Did some food shopping after my PT appointment, popped a bottle of Zinfandel as just wanted a glass of wine with dinner in prep for the world stopping event of the finale of The Bachelor. I know, I know. Pretty lame....

I was pretty sore from the PT and had a lot of discomfort at first trying to get to sleep. When I finally did get to sleep, I slept pretty well, though was very tired.

03/01/10 - Tuesday
Well, I woke up at 6:30, rolled over telling myself to wake up again at my desired 8:00am. And that's exactly what I did. Right on the dot of 8:00am I woke up. But I knew I wasn't going anywhere. My body ached and I was exhausted. The body ache was the good kind of ache from having a good workout. But the exhaustion I felt made me very aware that my body just has not healed.

That was only my second outpatient physical therapy appointment and Joe had got me on some of the machines, did lots of deep tissue massage, and moved my leg around in ways that really pushed me. But that's what you have to do. However, I was wiped out and knew it. If I got up, I knew I'd just be doing nappies all day. So, I just turned over and went back to sleep. Suddenly, it was 11:00. I felt refreshed, though still a little sore, as I worked my way out of bed and into the day.

Marvelous Amazon purchase this afternoon of Beethoven's Sonata 110, which includes andante favori in F Major with the rest of it all.... Smooth. I'm still feeling fine, so pretty sure my exhaustion this morning was the after effects of my rigorous physical therapy. Regardless, I just had dinner, watched an early movie, 500 Days of Summer, and called it an evening around 10:30pm.