Even though my last update was too long ago, this site is still getting a fair amount of traffic.  I could really use the help of some guest bloggers that would like to write a few posts.

Browse the site, get a feel for the type of stories that appear on this blog and send your submissions to

“admin @ jemmille.com”

I make a living in front of the computer. Eight hours per day, at least 5 days per week, I sit in front of the computer clicking and typing away. A few months ago I started noticing pain in my hands and forearms. The first thing that popped into my head was carpal-tunnel syndrome. It was a scary thought that at 28 years old I could be heading down a road that would ultimately end in surgery. I decided to research the major symptoms and found this:

“Classic” Symptoms of Carpal Tunnel

• Tingling and numbness in your thumb, index and middle finger.
• Aching in the forearm which can radiate to the shoulder and clumsiness or weak grip.

“Other” Symptoms of Carpal Tunnel

• Tingling in all fingers
• Tingling only in the thumb or the middle finger
• Aching and pain in the hand
• Radiating pain to the shoulder or back.

If I stretched it a bit I supposed I could have made my symptoms meed a few of these criteria but in reality I had the following:

• Pain in the pinky finger (mostly the right hand)
• Pain in the wrist (mostly on the right side)
• The pain would increase as the day progressed
• My pink would become “non-responsive” — it just wouldn’t work

I decided to consult my father who has worked in sports medicine for the past 30 years and has dealt with more repetitive-motion injuries than anyone I know.  He asked me a few questions and had me do a few self-tests.  He was almost certain that, based on the symptoms, it couldn’t be carpal-tunnel.  Instead he believed it was tendonitis (inflamed tendons).  He warned that tendonitis would not get better unless I used my hands as little as possible.  Knowing that wasn’t an option he recommended that I go to CVS and buy a hand/wrist brace that kept my hands “still” as much as possible.

I have been using the brace for five days now and the results are dramatic.  My hands feel 100% better.  The moral of the story: Don’t jump to the worst possible conclusion…talk to a health professional and get the real scoop.  A $10 brace might fix the problem!

Note: I am not a health professional and this post is not meant to diagnose anything!  If you are experiencing hand pain please consult a health professional for an official diagnosis.

Today jemmille.com is one year old! Here are a few highlights:

• Approximately 300 posts
• Over 100,000 visits
• Digg Front Page Article (which accounts for half of the above number)
• Lots of friends made (even met a few of them)
• Interviews with some of the top bloggers

Future plans:

• Ramp up the posting schedule, I’ve been slacking lately
• New design (possibly)
• More “5 Questions With” interviews

Thanks for reading and I hope you keep coming back!

Unless you are a hardcore gamer or graphic designer its hard to justify spending $2000 dollars on a computer anymore. Just 10 years ago when I started college, the computer I took to school was a $2000 beast with 64MB of RAM and a 500Mhz AMD processor. On the other hand, I bought my current computer for $400 bucks (used) and spent a few hundred extra dollars to upgrade the RAM, hard-drive and video card and threw in a few parts I had in another computer. Grand total for a system that can handle just about anything you throw at it? $700

I used to make sure my computer always had the “newest and best” hardware and was on a 6-8 month upgrade cycle but I have come to the conclusion that unless you have money to burn, there is no point. Most of what I use my computer for is done through a browser or secure shell and the rest is word-processing, instant messaging and iTunes. I use a 2 year old laptop running Linux to write most of what you read here and although a bit slower, I can do everything I can on my desktop.

If you are thinking about buying a new computer think really hard about what you will be using it for. You will probably spend most of your time looking at a browser window, sending e-mail and watching You Tube. 98% of you will be able to get everything you need out of a $600 [insert favorite manufacturer here] computer.

Don’t waste your money on the latest and greatest…you will probably be getting a new one in 2 years anyway. I would much rather spend money on a good monitor (wide-screens are a godsend) and a nice set of speakers.