Photos were taken on November 15, 2008 at Lake Sacajawea in Longview, Washington. As with all the photos on this website, high resolution versions are available for media use and general publishing. Please contact for pricing.

For ACL surgery, I have two reputable doctors with contradictory opinions. One says a patellar graft is best, the other says a hamstring graft is best. Online research suggests there’s no strong winner on either side, but perhaps a slight leaning towards the hamstring graft.

Doctor A says:

• Hamstring graft is the most popular choice for professional athletes today
• There’s less risk of graft complication
• No knee pain with hamstring graft, where as, the patellar commonly results in a lifetime of pain when kneeling
• Hamstring graft is stronger than the patellar, because of 4 dense strands bound together, instead of just 1 with the patellar
• Neither grafts ‘grow back’, so better to go with the hamstring, since it’s a very large size and taking such a small portion of it only results in a hardly detectable loss of strength 5% - 10%, but it’s easily regained through basic physical therapy
• The drilling hole in the bone can be smaller when using the hamstring graft, because of the efficient configuration of the 4 strands in the hole. A smaller hole, results in a stronger bone
• Patellar grafts can loosen/weaken the knee and lead to patella arthritis
• Patellar grafts are ‘old school’ - a thing of the past. This surgeon used these grafts years ago, but not since the advancements in hamstring grafts, which are now superior
• Tiger Woods had a hamstring graft
• Hamstring grafts are the best

Doctor B says:

• Patellar graft is a larger and stronger tendon that’s 10mm, instead of a 8mm hamstring graft
• Patellar graft is the most popular choice among athletes today
• An annual survey of hundreds of orthopedic surgeons shows that patellar grafts are most popular
• Patellars are the ideal size and length
• The hamstring is too small, too long, and requires a more technical procedure with greater opportunity for error
• The hamstring may stretch/loosen and may not fasten to the bone correctly over time
• The patellar actually grows back and regenerates itself in 8 months, where as, the hamstring will be gone forever and be noticeably weaker
• Tiger Woods only got a hamstring graft only because the surgeon he chose invented his own hamstring graft technique which he wanted to promote
• Patellar grafts are best

As you can see, there’s good reason to hesitate when making a choice with potential long-term health ramifications. Pardon me while I go flip a coin.

This is one of the drum videos I made today. Since I’m likely having knee surgery this week, I wanted to document some of my drumming beforehand.

Drupal is an open source content management system (CMS) using LAMP technology (Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP). It just happens to work quite well for basic websites.

Here’s the first Drupal website I made a month ago which took less than 2 hours. The ranking of the site is already good when searching Google for ‘Longview Toastmasters’ - it ranks #1 in my tests.

Longview Toastmasters

Here’s another made yesterday- slightly more complex, using an image uploader module, which allows for galleries of real estate listings. It took about 2 hours for the logo design and 2 for the site setup/configuration.

PDX Home Pro - Portland Real Estate

Those involved in the world of search engine optimization (SEO) would also recognize that this page is aimed at boosting rankings of these sites. Notice the keywords in the URL links.