otoh

I saw the doctor today to get the MRI results. My arm has improved, but I still can’t raise it and it’s still pretty sore. The MRI shows a bruise on the bone but doesn’t show any damage to the rotator cuff or any torn ligaments — about the best news I could have hoped for at this point. [Well, see below....] I need to go for physical therapy for a few weeks and there is a place for that just two blocks from my house. I go there for the first time on Friday afternoon and I think I’ll be able to schedule my PT without missing more work. I have another doctor appointment in about six weeks. Until then, no more racquetball….

The pups are doing well. Work sucks, but I don’t want to get into all that right now. So that’s what is new with me!

[Note: In some alternate reality I am being nudged awake by a gorgeous young woman telling me the last few weeks are all just a bad dream. That would be better news. But in my reality, I got about the best news I could hope for today....]

I had an MRI this morning. So that’s one more experience I can cross off my list of things to do before I die. I won’t get the results till I see the doctor next week, but from the way my recuperation is progresing I’m hopeful he will tell me to just keep taking it easy for a few more weeks.

My shoulder is still very sore but I’m managing on over-the-counter analgesics, ice, and rest. I don’t wear the sling all the time and I’m starting to be able to move my shoulder a little. I even managed to brush my teeth with my right hand the last two days. Even though I can manage pretty well left-handed there are some things that just don’t feel right with the non-dominant hand. Brushing my teeth is one. I’ll spare you the details of another, but there’s a clue in the title….

I am damaged.

Wait, [warning: incredibly geeky reference alert] since I am not Borg that would be a different post. I am injured. Not severely. Annoyingly. Inconveniencingly. [Don't start with me. All words are made-up words. And I'm a cranky patient.]

I took a tumble during a racquetball game Monday night and partially dislocated my right shoulder. [So, I can cross that and "ride in an ambulance" off my list of things to do before I die.] It went back in place when the EMTs got me ready to move, but I’ll have reduced mobility of my shoulder for weeks/months.

I went to a specialist this morning. He said the nerve damage from this kind of injury usually comes back [gradually] on its own. He ordered an MRI, which I can’t get until next Tuesday, to look for damage injuries that don’t show up on x-ray. And he showed me an exercise to start getting the muscle control back. He told me to keep using the sling [shoulder immobilizing device] that they gave in the ER.

This could have been much worse. I wrote back here and here about when I broke this arm as a teenager and damaged the radial nerve. It made finishing high school a bit more challenging, but I was still living at home and had people around to help. Now I live alone [hard-headed and fiercely independent] with two dogs [who are happy to see me every single day -- it's the damnedest thing -- but are really no help around the house at all] and I’m not sure what I would do if incapacitated. That’s not entirely true. I have a pretty good idea. I would hate it….

Because [obviously] the world was in dire need of this product, the folks from Garment Guard disposable underarm shields introduce subtle butt disposable gas neutralizers.

And really, what else can I say?

Today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day. In the spirit of the day, I wore an eye patch. Because I’m… weird, I wore it in the middle of my forehead. You know, over my third eye.

I also [and I don't know where I got the strength to do this] resisted the urge to talk like a media pirate. You know, instead of Ahoy, me hearty!, Aaarrr, and Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum, I wanted to say things like Napster, Bit torrent, and mp3 file sharing. Not that anyone listens to me anyway….

Not that you need yet another site to read [or that you care, probably] but I’ve been posting some Words I Can Dance To.

But this is just between you and me, okay?

You can take that to the bank!

Just doesn’t have the same ring to it any more, does it?

I recently read a discussion here that was spurred by a New York Times article there. I read only a fraction of the hundreds of comments on the NYT article and, as expected, they were not all as polite or well-stated.

I am tolerant of other people’s beliefs, but I bristle when they believe that non-scientists should be able to decide what is taught in science classes. For me it is no problem if a science class and a religion class [or one's school and one's church or home] teach information which is contradictory and incompatible. They are different approaches to our attempts to understand the world and our place in it. I would even go so far as to say it is important to learn about things you do not agree with — you’ll have to deal with people that disagree with you all your life, you might as well try to understand their point of view. [I hesitate to use the "agree to disagree" phrase because I've worked with too many people for whom that is code for "I disagree with you and therefore don't have to listen to your point of view" -- NOT the same thing at all.]

Anyway, I was surprised by a comment that stated:

Noah may have brought some dinosaurs with him on the Ark.

That was a new one on me. The commenter went on to explain, “I believe everything incapable of surviving a worldwide flood was preserved aboard the Ark.” Okay, I see how believing that statement could lead to the previous one. [I do not, however, consider either statement to be scientific.] But I wonder then, what happened to the dinosaurs after the flood? Does he believe they were hunted to extinction?

Regrettably, I didn’t see the discussion until a couple weeks after it was posted. I asked the question anyway, but I’m not hopeful I’ll get an answer there. How about here? Anyone have similar beliefs?

This is NOT another political post, because I’ve already said how much I hate politics and avoid discussing it.

I LOVE Tina Fey. I might even get interested in politics if she were running for some political office. (And yes, I realize how shallow and sexist that statement is.) I love Tina Fey. I used to love Saturday Night Live and I still watch parts of it occasionally, but I fear I have aged out of their target demographic. It’s just not that funny to me any more and I’m quite willing to suppose it’s me because why would the network keep a show that sucks as often as SNL does? For years I would watch just for the Weekend Update segment and nothing else. Now I watch The Daily Show instead.

But I love Tina Fey and I was pleasantly surprised when I watched the beginning of SNL’s new season. Because I got to see this:

Okay, you may officially question my resolve to stay away from politics….

The local CBS affiliate [for reasons that I'm sure must make sense to them] broadcasts EXTRA after Letterman’s Late Show moving Craig Ferguson’s Late Late Show even later. Not that I could stay up that late on a regular basis any way…. But as a result, I rarely get to see Ferguson.

I did see an interview with him not long ago in which he talked about recently becoming an American citizen. His patriotism seems genuine and his enthusiasm can be infectious. And here is his perspective as he prepares to vote in an American presidential election for the first time: