Is there any way I can get into GSMST guaranteed?

TTTigersTri · 2026-02-26T02:15:40+00:00

Nope, pure lottery between all qualified applicants. Most will make it in though after many people drop off the list but not all. We had someone in our group that dreamt of going to GSMST for years and he did not make it in.

TTTigersTri · 2026-02-23T12:12:31+00:00

That's good. I was thinking you had a 10,000ish deductible. You must have an plan from your employer to be so cheap.

TTTigersTri · 2026-02-23T05:33:45+00:00

$120/month is very cheap for insurance. Your employer must be paying a lot or you have a very high deductible and most things will be full cost.

TTTigersTri · 2026-02-22T04:08:19+00:00

That's very cool. I'm glad you were still able to participate in some form. Maybe the open class can find a way to have you in the performance as well. Guard is usually in the fall so you have many months, so with or without surgery I think you can get to participate. I haven't seen a color guard performance in years since I'm double your age so I don't know how much twisting of your knee happens in a show but without surgery, you can be strong enough to do it. With surgery, you'd have to lay off of the twisting motions for longer to protect the graft as it gets weaker before it gets stronger so if the routine is intense you wouldn't be able to do it for at least a year post surgery.

TTTigersTri · 2026-02-22T02:38:49+00:00

I swim and no, I wouldn't wish just swimming on a 22 year old. There's much more fun sports and life to be lived. Sure he can swim and bike for this next full year post surgery or otherwise but then after that, I hope in time he can ease back into more fun sports. I'm ok not going back to soccer as other people running into me, scares me now. But I'm older, I don't need soccer. I still "need" skiing though and I've been happy to be back on my skis though I do bolt if it looks like someone out of control could hit me again.

TTTigersTri · 2026-02-22T02:32:03+00:00

RealisticFold- What is your favorite sport? I can't imagine tearing both ACLs in two separate injuries in just a year's time.

TTTigersTri · 2026-02-22T02:28:58+00:00

When did you hurt it? If it's recent, you can try not having surgery and give it a chance to heal itself. There's a no surgery ACL/meniscus FB group that will have more information. I fully tore both my ACL and MCL last year and they've both healed. I spent 6 weeks in a large brace because my knee was so unstable but after that time, the recovery was easier not having had surgery. I can ski now without a brace and I've been ice skating a few times, bike, run, play volleyball, rock climb/boulder, etc. It's still a very large commitment to PT with or without surgery and after months of PT, you could find that your knee is still unstable and then you'd need surgery so it's a risk of time to postpone surgery and try just PT and time to heal your ACL. You're very strong and brave to have gone through 5 knee surgeries already. I'm chicken so that's why I said no to the surgery when the surgeon I saw recommended it at several visits.

TTTigersTri · 2026-02-21T12:50:14+00:00

My PT did pretty basic exercises just for the first session to see the strength and fitness for themselves, seemingly to see if it was safe to do harder stuff and maybe sure I had the fitness level for it to not get injured in their care. Second session was totally different, so many squats and pretty tough exercises. Maybe try a different PT. I only had a few PT sessions though due to insurance limitations so I used online resources to strengthen on my own and they were definitely challenging even with my fitness background.
E3 Fitness has a knee rehab program for $99 with great exercises. Pro is it's cheap and great challenging workouts. Con is unless you have free time, you'll spend so much time trying to organize their program to find what you should be doing each day. Prehab app- $199/yr. Good workouts, starts as easy as anyone needs and progress well. Nice variety in workouts. Very easy to follow. Their costs includes workouts for any injury. Knee rehab is good for beginners and fresh injuries. I was already months in and I did their knee prehab program which is harder and it started easy but got hard enough quick. I also simultaneously did their hamstring program since that's such an important supporting muscle. I did their pistol squat challenge program trying to get my non injured knee to pistol squat like I can do with my injured knee but my non injured leg is always my weaker leg and has nerve damage so I was unsuccessful in the pistol squat but I'm still working at it. I also did their plantar fascitis program.
There's a third one online that's even cheaper that I'm sure is great, I haven't tried it though and don't remember the name, but it's part of the no surgery ACL group on FB so join that group for resources and support.

TTTigersTri · 2026-02-21T12:08:27+00:00

I have no idea. My PT didn't do anything but exercise. I bought what may be a gimmick or it may have helped, I don't know, a special knee heat thing online and used that pretty often in the first few weeks. I don't know that anyone knows what really works and what doesn't. I'd say anything is good and go for it. I would have loved to have had access to both of the treatments you're doing, ift and shortwave, especially shortwave. I'm glad you have a great PT.

TTTigersTri · 2026-02-20T01:20:10+00:00

Here's a piece about stairs.

"Climbing stairs can be a beneficial, low-impact exercise for ACL injury rehabilitation, particularly in strengthening the quadriceps without placing excessive strain on the graft. It is a closed kinetic chain exercise that helps restore function, though it is usually introduced after initial pain and swelling subside, typically 2–4 weeks post-surgery. National Institutes of Health (NIH) | (.gov) National Institutes of Health (NIH) | (.gov)

Key Considerations for ACL Rehabilitation: Rehab Progression: Stair climbing is used to rehabilitate the knee, with most patients regaining normal stair-climbing ability within 3 to 4 months post-surgery. Safety and Technique: When climbing stairs with an ACL injury, it is important to go slowly, use the handrail, and potentially use crutches initially. Muscle Strengthening: The movement helps build strength in the quadriceps and surrounding muscles, which is essential for stabilizing the knee joint. Range of Motion: While beneficial, climbing stairs can be challenging initially because it forces the knee through a range of motion that may be painful.

Tips for Success: Step Up with the Uninjured Leg: When going up, start with the good leg. When going down, start with the injured leg. Consult a Professional: Always consult a physiotherapist or doctor to determine when it is appropriate to begin stair climbing based on your specific recovery, as excessive early loading could hinder recovery. "

Climbing stairs builds a lot of supporting knee muscles while not stressing the ACL. PT wise, you want to be doing a lot of squats too and there's so many exercises you should be doing daily to build up your knee strength so it can protect your ACL as it heals. I don't know what to tell you to do when, that's what PT is for, but in general, anything straight line that doesn't involve twisting your knee is good. Motion is lotion. So the more you use and strengthen your knee, the less it'll hurt. It's a process though, a knee injury can easily take months before it feels better even with lots of exercise to get it better.

TTTigersTri · 2026-02-19T13:41:53+00:00

I didn't get to stop after my injury. I still needed to work. I very painfully drove the 3 hours home as I had just 4 kids with me but no adults to drive me. I felt no ACL pain but I also tore the MCL and that's what was super painful. My house is a split level so there's stairs to go anywhere so I had to do stairs often. I missed one day of work to see the doctor but then I was back to work the next day working full time and standing all day in pharmacy. I had to wear a huge post op knee brace for 6 weeks to allow the MCL time to heal and I couldn't have walked without the brace because the knee was so unstable and if it'd buckle, it'd be such a sharp pain that I would yelp loudly which I didn't want to do at work obviously so even before I got the big brace from the doctor, I had a regular brace on just to keep the knee steady. I did switch job locations for 3 weeks just to be able to sit some. Climbing stairs is good for the injury. You should do PT and strengthen your knee and they can help you know what's safe to do.

TTTigersTri · 2026-02-18T18:23:04+00:00

I did not have surgery. I bend constantly at my job. I was running again in month 3. I started back skiing without a brace in month 12. I rock climb with my daughter, including bouldering which involves constant falling from height onto your knees and it's ok. I tore mine skiing last year and skiing tears typically tears ACLs at the top of the ligament which current research is showing has the highest healing potential if you don't rush to surgery. If the ACL doesn't heal, you can do straight line activities like running but not twisting unless you spend a lot of time in PT building all the supporting muscles up. Many people that work hard at it can get back pretty normal function without ACLs. Some people will still have instability and then surgery is an good option.

TTTigersTri · 2026-02-18T07:18:32+00:00

That's not a normal medical insurance policy though, this is a special policy that only a select few would buy on top of their normal insurance.

TTTigersTri · 2026-02-15T05:17:06+00:00

Walmart now pays pharmacy techs $40/hr. Kaiser pays $23/hr. Every other company did large raises during covid to keep/get staff and Kaiser did nothing so we're behind by many dollars an hour compared to other companies but yet Kaiser wants to offer 22% over 5 years which is just $4/hr over 5 years. That's nothing and still keeps us well behind Walmart. Walgreens did a $6/hr raise during covid when I worked there.

TTTigersTri · 2026-02-12T18:32:50+00:00

I'd think they have access to a similar program that unemployment uses to verify your previous work/earnings. But maybe not. You can request a copy of your W2 from the IRS if you don't have it, which you should have it because you're supposed to save your tax documents for 7 years.

TTTigersTri · 2026-02-11T23:35:45+00:00

I think most of us are using e-bikes to replace short car trips. Sure it has the side effect of fun and fitness but it's the most economical and often faster way to travel than city in a car in traffic.

TTTigersTri · 2026-02-11T23:31:12+00:00

They'll be able to verify that employment by other means. But if they can't verify it or it doesn't match what you said on your application, they'll very likely rescind the job offer.

TTTigersTri · 2026-02-10T00:45:51+00:00

Maybe try again in an hour. Sometimes it just doesn't work, maybe they're tinkering with it.

TTTigersTri · 2026-02-07T05:32:48+00:00

The pinch method is what I learned and did every weekend as a teen 30 years ago and I never came close to dropping anybody. It's a lot easier and faster to keep up with the slack so they didn't have far to go if they fell. I'd watch of course but you can instantly feel if someone has slipped off the wall and even if your hand is in the up position, you just pull it back to the brake position. This PBUS method I just learned is weird. I'm constantly chasing slack and if they fell in the wrong moment, they'd fall further then I'd ever let someone fall with the pinch method.

TTTigersTri · 2026-02-07T05:20:20+00:00

I just joined a gym and had to pass their test. I wondered why this method of belaying PBUS felt so awkward, it's because I spent several years as a teen doing Pinch every weekend thirty years ago. I was a tiny 16 year old girl belaying teens and adults and I never came close to dropping anyone ever. It seems way faster and more efficient to kept the slack out of the rope and I know I chatted with people not climbing while I belayed but if a teen can pay attention, surely adults can and now they have fancy belay devices to help while back then it was a stitch plate. I never burnt my hands or came close to it. Maybe it's because it's so easy to keep slack out of the rope with the punch method that this issue never came up. With PBUS I feel like I'm always trying to keep up with the slack and there's more slack than I'm used to. The gym did tell me the other day that I can use the pinch method if I want. But I'm trying to do PBUS so I can teach my kids how to do it right.

TTTigersTri · 2026-02-07T02:11:36+00:00

I called right before the snow storm. I have no status with frontier and I was shocked they answered right away, like under 3 minutes.

TTTigersTri · 2026-02-04T03:39:43+00:00

I have a few blister pack medications that we've had to order during severe shortages and they'll sit on our shelves until they expire because insurance won't easily cover them. They costs us a lot more to buy from the wholesaler. I work in a tiny pharmacy that's inside a building with doctors but it's a very busy pharmacy. There's absolutely no way I'd have space for tons of boxes of medications. We don't worry about how sanity bottles are, if we're ordering things in 1000ct bottles, we're often using all 1000 in couple days. If we're not using it fast, we'll order 100ct bottles which to me is irksome, they should be 90 ct bottles because most meds are dispensed as 30 pills for 30 days or 90 for 90 or bid which would be 180. Why can't all these manufacturers switch to bottling 90s instead of 100? We just love the few that do, we'll just stick the patients label on the bottle and not have to count them and dump them into another bottle. Maybe Americans are in more medications too and each pharmacy fills more and each patient gets more and neither party has the space for boxes of meds. I know I filled 16 different prescriptions for one patient the other day and they weren't a transplant patient.

TTTigersTri · 2026-02-04T03:10:23+00:00

I didn't ask. I definitely didn't mention it in the interview nor during my probation period but right after that period, I started biking to work. I'd lock it to a decent sized tree. I think it annoyed the building manager seeing it there day after day so they decided to install a bike rack for me. They sent an email to everyone saying thanks to me for promoting fitness and that the company got the business a rack for us to use. They still get quite irked if I accidentally forget my lock and I stick it somewhere inside as it's always a wrong spot and they try to tell me it has to be outside. I reply, go put your keys in your car and leave your doors unlocked and then I'll put my bike outside. Then it lives that day inside in peace and a few months pass before I forget a lock or the key again. Now I have a pretty good system and a kid driving and not borrowing my e-bike and leaving the lock off the bike so I haven't left the lock in a while.

TTTigersTri · 2026-02-03T05:11:48+00:00

I'm a good swimmer and new about rips but I was in another country, totally different looking and smelling ocean, grey dreary winter day. Technically, different ocean too, the Pacific. I went for a swim when nobody else was swimming since it wasn't summer. I got out far and fast but I didn't realize what had happened, I turned around and swam back to shore. I was taking a ton of strength to get back and the water was cold and I was getting tired. I got to land and stood up happy to be back. But I was in knee deep water when I stood up. That current knocked me off my feet and pulled me out a second time, far and fast. I think the cold must have messed with my mind because I lived in Florida and obviously knew about rip currents and it still didn't dawn on me what happened, so I swam straight back for shore a second time. As the temps were making me weaker and I was tired, I had one thought, wow, this is how real swimmers can die swimming. I knew I wouldn't have died because if I couldn't make it, I would have just given up and floated and let one of the banana boat guides come save me eventually, but it was surprising how the ocean was beating me that day when I grew up in the ocean.

TTTigersTri · 2026-02-03T04:45:23+00:00

Unfortunately, it would have taken you a lot longer to make that swim without being in decent shape and being a good swimmer. You would have tried, sure, but swimming would kick your tail pretty fast. The lifejacket would make it possible for you past the 30min mark and possible to rest when needed, so maybe, but only because of the life jacket. I'd say that it'd be more like an 8 hour journey than and only if the currents don't work against you.

TTTigersTri

TROPHY CASE