Most of my updates have been fairly positive. I haven’t really had any discouraging weeks. Don’t get me wrong, I am still very encouraged but the last week has been rough. I think I could sum it up in one word…..OUCH!

It has been 15 weeks since I had my shoulder replaced. I am now back to life as normal. I am pastoring my church full time again, I am shuttling my kids around to all their various activities, I am basically back to my normal routine. My natural life busyness has affected my ability to consistently do all my range of motion exercises, strength exercises, cardio and physical therapy. To be fair, I probably get two or three sets of stretches in a day. Overall I still spend about 1 to 2 hours a day on rehab.

My range of motion is good. My strength is, slowly, but steadily improving. But my shoulder has started hurting again this week. Really it has been the last two weeks but in particular this week. The shoulder aches. I also have this weird pain in my bicep. It started a month and a half ago. I figured it was from lack of use and would go away once my strength started returning. Unfortunately it is still there. I am not sure what that is about. I asked the doctors and no one knows for sure. It is interesting. I am choosing to not worry about it.

The shoulder pain isn’t unmanageable. It hovers around a 5. Some days it actually hurts about where it did a couple weeks after surgery. My best guess is because I am back to using my arm fully again and the new shoulder is adjusting. I am very hopeful this is only a minor setback. In fact, as I write this, it is actually doing OK.

Most of my blogs have been very positive and I thought I would be very transparent. I didn’t have a very fun week. My shoulder HURTS! OUCH!

It could be because the weather in Seattle has been horribly cold. When my shoulder was arthritic, the cold always aggravated it.

This week I am traveling to Houston to speak at a friends church. I am not planning to bring any pain medication with me. I will be sure to update you on my travels. I am prepared to get frisked by airport security when the x-ray machine goes off. I am prepared to have my should ache as I haul my luggage around the airport.

I am hoping to be pleasantly surprised.

Until next week.

Last weeks episode of Survivor was the first time I was mad watching since Russell Hantz got robbed in the Samoa Finale. Colton’s childish, racist, elitist behavior so annoyed me I considered boycotting the remainder of the season. Unfortunately, I am a Survivor addict and couldn’t resist watching this week.

As expected a tribal mix up happened. The tribes ended up being the young, good looking, athletic people versus the misfits. The misfits got destroyed in both the reward and the immunity challenge. It wasn’t even close nor will it be until the merge. Kudos to Mike from the Seattle area. It wasn’t looking good for him prior to this switch but he had a physically dominating episode. The beautiful people tribe should decimate the misfits. Normally, that would be a bad thing for anyone on the misfit tribe. I don’t see it playing out that way though.

As much as I dislike Colton he played a strategically great game this week. On the weaker tribe, he convinced the girls he was with them and the guys he was with them. He not only convinced both sides he was with them but, also, controlled what both sides were doing. I hate to say it but he is set up pretty well. Getting Monica voted off, while hurting his tribe, helps him in the long run. After the merge, he can claim to the guys on the other tribe that he orchestrated it for them. If he decides to flip to the girls, post-merge, they will still take him. Oh, and he still has a hidden immunity idol. It irritates me but I see a clear path to the final three for Colton. He will likely make it to the end but will lose.

I picked Troyzan to win the season and I am sticking with my pick though I am beginning to think Kim is looking really strong. She is in a strong position with the girls. She is in a strong position with her new tribe. She has a two-some alliance with Chelsea. (Chelsea will do whatever she says.) She has an immunity idol that only Chelsea knows about. If somehow she can keep that idol a secret from everyone else she will cruise to the end.

So my episode five final three are Troyzan, Colton, and Kim with Troyzan taking it. (Only because I picked him already.) I am actually leaning towards Kim, Chelsea, and Colton with Kim winning the million dollars.

Let me know what you think!

I can’t end my episode rambling with a mention of this seasons eccentric genius, Tarzan. Tarzan is obviously a brilliant person. He is a surgeon. He has the most expansive vocabulary in Survivor history. His vocabulary is so complex that it actually caused Jeff Probst to declare, “Awesome!” But any grown man who wants to be called Tarzan is a few bricks short of a full load.

My Tarzan highlight for the week was him announcing he has nominal aphasia. Though he is brilliant he can’t remember someone’s name he met 3o minutes ago. He has spent over a dozen days with Jonas and doesn’t know his name. Colton reminded him 100 times to vote for Monica, yet looking at Monica he couldn’t remember her name. This affliction, as explained by Tarzan, is because he has nominal aphasia.

I have decided that from now on, whenever I can’t remember someone’s name, I am going to use his same excuse.

I have watched Survivor religiously ever since Rodger Bingham conquered his fear of heights and cliff dived into the river during Survivor Australia. I am one of the few people who remember Brian Heidik for winning Survivor and not for his other escapades. I still remember Boston Rob’s first season and wondering why he was even invited to the first All-Star Season. I have seen EVERY episode of Survivor at least twice. This probably qualifies me for some sort of support group. I have applied to be on Survivor four times. So it goes without saying that I am a super fan. I know this is sad but at least I am honest.

All that to say, I have NEVER disliked a contestant more than I do Colton. At this weeks final tribal council Tarzan tried to defend Colton. He even claimed that Colton is being painted in a bad light. Jeff Probst almost asked point blank what most of America was wondering, “Who has painted Colton in a worse light than Colton?” We are only four episodes (or 9 days) into the season and Colton has already called Bill “ghetto trash” and Leif “munchkin” and “oompa loompa.”

Without boring you with a detailed recap of what happened during this episode, the men’s tribe made the single worst decision a tribe has ever made. Survivor fanatics rail on a tribe that throws a challenge. Winning immunity and then giving it away to your enemy tribe is just STUPID!

I can’t believe that all 8 men on the tribe agreed to this horrible decision. How could Bill agree? Did he actually think agreeing was going to save him? I literally watched the final 15 minutes of this episode with my jaw on the ground. You have to ask, is this men’s tribe the worst conglomeration of Survivor contestants ever? How could they of let this happen?

Then I pause and realize….Colton. Now that Matt is gone, he is the alpha male. He is in absolute control. He is a tyrannical dictator. The last season of Survivor we watched Boston Rob dominate from beginning to end. He was at least a benevolent dictator. Tom Westmann dominated his season, he was a humble dictator. Even Russell Hantz showed loyalty to some people.

Never in the history of Survivor has an immunity idol wielded more power than it is this season. Colton’s idol has literally paralyzed the rest of his tribe into submission. I think that is the most shocking part of this episode. Colton bared all of his true colors at tribal council. His interaction with, a very classy, Bill was horrible. He made it clear his intentions. He made it clear his twisted world view. He made it clear he is immature. He made it clear he will lash out at anyone who crosses him.

The fact that no one on his tribe stood up and put him in his place is amazing. As I am sure most of America did, I sat there shocked as no one even voted for him. I was amazed.

If you watched this episode I am sure you agree. Colton hate has blown up on Twitter and Facebook. I am sure by tomorrow dozens of blogs will be written echoing the same sentiments as this one.

My irrational rant is over. I apologize for how erratic this was.

Since I got all that off my chest, here is another view….

I had an idea awhile ago. I was imagining if I was on Survivor what type of strategy I would implement. Reflecting on the last Redemption Island season and Philip making it to the end I began to wonder. What would have happened if Philip would have announced at the final tribal council that he was just acting. That in reality he is a very sane person but was pretending to be crazy because he knew everyone would bring him to the end. That is the goal, make it to the end and give yourself a shot to win. What if this had been confirmed throughout the season in his confessionals. Philip would have gone from being one of the craziest contestants ever to one of the most brilliant. The entire audience would have been in on the facade. We would have been cheering for him. I actually think he would have won had that actually been his strategy.

I have always wondered if I was on Survivor if I could pull off the pretend to be crazy strategy. Announce I was playing everyone at the end. Win the respect of the jury and pull out a million dollar victory. I quickly concluded (and was reminded by my wife) that I am a horrible liar. I couldn’t keep up the charade longer than a couple episodes. I would then be exposed, voted off immediately, and have to live the rest of my life in shame.

But what if…..this is Colton’s ploy. Play the tyrannical dictator. Play the worst villain in Survivor history. Convince your fellow contestants to take you to the end. Then at the Final Tribal Council announce in reality you aren’t really an evil gay republican who grew up with wealth and an African American housekeeper, but, in actuality, you are a sweet married father of two who makes a living working as a social worker in the inner city.

Anything is possible. Lets be honest, any thing less than this type of revelation and Colton ends this season as the most hated contestant in Survivor history.

Move over Russell there is a new devil in town.

It seems like just yesterday I was about to have a panic attack because I knew I was about to have my shoulder replaced. I can’t believe that that was 3 1/2 months ago. I am so happy I decided to have the surgery when I did, now I get to look forward to the summer knowing that the majority of my rehabilitation will be behind me.

For any normal surgery, 3 1/2 later you would be near full recovery. With the ream and run surgery you expect a 12 month rehabilitation, so I am now 25% into it. Though I have the majority of the rehab still to go, the most challenging part is behind me. Needless to say, I am pretty encouraged.

A couple quick updates…

I had my 3 month appointment with Dr. Matsen and he was very encouraged by my range of motion and my strength. He took another set of xrays which confirmed that everything is healing just like it is suppose to. Xrays are below.

If you follow these blogs you are probably thinking, “those look exactly like all the previous xrays.” If you thought that, you would be right. That is what is so encouraging. When you have spent years getting xrays and every time your shoulder arthritis kept getting worse, seeing everything stay the same is a miracle.

My pain level is very manageable now. I would say it is about at a 3 or 4 on the pain scale. I take a couple Aleve a day to help with the pain and a 1/2 of one oxycodone on the days I do strength exercises.

I am able to sleep with no problem now. I sleep on my back with no pain and on my side with minimal pain. I have talked to several people, that have had my same surgery ,who 6 months after surgery are still having trouble sleeping on their side. Fortunately, that isn’t the case for me.

My up and down range of motion is great. My side to side motion is improving weekly. It is just a slow process increasing your strength, range of motion, and working through the pain. Every week is a slight improvement.

My twin boys finished their season of basketball with a fathers versus sons game. I wasn’t even going to try but it meant a lot to them, so I gave it a shot. I am proud to say, that I successfully played basketball. I was paying for it afterwards but it was fun to do something I love doing. One of my sons, Judah, said it was the most fun he has ever had. I will take a little bit of pain to thrill my boys. By the way, I won the “bump” competition. I even hit a few three pointers. (Again, I am paying for it now.)

Overall, I give my 3 1/2 month evaluation two thumbs up!

I have been looking forward to this fight card for a couple months. It is absolutely stacked from top to bottom. 7 fights are featured on the Pay-Per-View! Well worth the buy this week.

Here are my predictions for tomorrows fights. I think we might have a new lightweight champion by Sunday morning.

Tiequan Zhang by decision over Issei Tamura

Chris Cariaso by decision over Takeya Mizugaki

Riki Fukuda by decision over Steve Cantwell

Kid Yamamoto by decision over Vaughan Lee

Takanori Gomi by 2nd round KO over Eiji Mitsuoka

Joe Lauzon by decision over Anthony Pettis

Bart Palaszewski by 2nd round KO over Hatsu Hioki

Yushin Okami by decision over Tim Boetsch

Jake Shields by 2nd round submission over Yoshihiro Akiyama

Cheick Kongo by 1st round KO over Mark Hunt

Rampage Jackson by decision over Ryan Bader

And the new lightweight champion upsets Frank Edgar with a 5 round decision.

So what do you think?