The most kindest cut of all

I had my do-over back surgery last week, and it went even better than the first time.  Instead of getting nauseated by the painkiller IV and staying overnight, I came out of surgery feeling great and they let me go late in the afternoon.  I was home with my mom for dinner, which was worlds better than the night of tossing and turning I worked through after the previous surgery.

I should say it was not all perfect.  Originally, the surgery was scheduled for Thursday morning, but the night before the doctor's office called and canceled due to an emergency.  I never did get the full run down on that.  It was rescheduled the next day for Monday morning.  This was difficult, since it meant either finding someone else to get me to and from the hospital, or extending Mom's stay by changing her flight.  We actually ended up buying  her a one-way ticket home - it was cheaper than trying to switch her return.  And everyone here and in Maine had to adjust their schedules to accommodate, for which I'm grateful.  I burn up some vacation days, Mom misses some more work, Dad has to feed himself for a few extra days - sacrifices were made all around.

It's been almost a week now, and I don't even need my painkiller prescription for the incision pain anymore.  I'm still stiff, and I have to take it easy so everything heals up inside and out, but I feel like I'm doing really well.  It has been beautiful weather the past few days, so between that and the immense increase in comfort, I'm excited about getting back in the saddle and taking some bike rides.

Which brings me back to the CVT bike Matt and I have been discussing.  I've been reviewing his various proposals, and they all sound pretty fantastic.  What I really need to do is figure out where and how I'll use this bike, so we can build it properly.  I need to educate myself some in order to make an informed choice, as well.  But the trails will beckon soon.

Burst

The past few months, I had been having trouble with my back again.  Nothing overwhelming, but enough so that I got it checked out.  After some examinations and an MRI, turns out the disc had burst again.  Well not technically I suppose - discs are made of fibrous casings containing a more fluid filling.  The fibrous case is similar to hair, in that it there is no blood flow to it and it cannot heal.  So when I got my back fixed the first time, the surgeon just trimmed away the part of the filling that had pushed out of the casing.  But the hole remained, and it looks like more filling has burst forth.

In anticipation of surgery, I decided to get my car serviced, since I didn't want anything to happen while my Mom was here in town driving me to and from the hospital.  It was time for some fluids and filters.  The day before I went to Jiffy Lube, I happened to get a low coolant warning.  What good luck - I was headed in anyway.  As I pulled up to the garage, though, I noticed more smoke than I'd like to see coming out of my hood.  Turns out I had burst the upper coolant hose from the radiator.  Luckily, the service station next door was able to fix up my car in fairly short order.

Now, I'm fit to burst.  My do-over surgery was scheduled for tomorrow.  The doctor's office just called, and informed me that due to an emergency, my surgeon is unavailable until Monday.  I will probably be "first on the list" for surgery then.  Great news, now that my mom has paid to fly down here, I've arranged my work schedule to accommodate the next two days off, and I have arranged everything to take care of this Thursday.  So now I get to take more time off next week to get the new surgery date, and need to find someone new to take me to and from the airport since Mom will have flown home by then.  Just a string of bad luck lately.

On the other hand, Matt has some great ideas for a possible home-built CVT road bike for me.  That's worth getting excited about.

Busy but Bored

I've been very busy the past few weeks, trying to shepherd a project to a significant milestone.  I've been in the office early, leaving late.  I don't care for it.  And even though I'm busy, with many tasks to occupy my time, I'm bored.  I really look forward to having it done.

On the flip side, once I get my sweet Stimulus Money, I found something to spend it on.  I mean, that's what we're supposed to do with our extra money from tax reductions, right?  Well, I may do my part.  I mentioned once before the Ellsworth bike that uses the continuously variably planetary transmission.  Well, there are more out now from other manufacturers that use the same transmission, for much cheaper.  So I'm considering getting the Cadillac Bikes AV-T .  It's a "commuter" bike - I'd use it to replace my old Head hybrid, which has been pretty much demoted to fluid trainer duty.  Though I may wait just a little longer; I'd really like to get a CVP-equipped road bike.  Someone just has to make one...

C'mon baby hold together

There have been a few instances lately where my car, Stella, has not exactly driven trouble-free.  The worst was when she went into "Limp Home" mode while I was trying to give Steph a ride to the airport.  Turns out it was just a completely drained battery that was not even accepting a charge from the alternator anymore.  Easily fixed, but catastrophic in its impact.

Other minor hiccups have been popping up - some brake squeal, some indications the belts need to be adjusted or replaced, a telltale shimmy crying for a tire alignment.  My favorite, though, was just today while out running errands.  Everything was fine, but the gas gauge didn't register at all.  I knew the tank was at least one quarter full, and there was no indication of any kind of leak.  Must be the gauge.

Now, how many times has a mechanical device or electronic doodad failed you, and you couldn't help but knock on it a few times hoping it would kick back in?  Has that ever worked?  But you try anyway.  As I did this morning - and it springs right back to life, one quarter tank.  I'm not sure if I should worry, or just enjoy being Han Solo to my car's Millennium Falcon, Fonzie to it's jukebox at Arnold's.

Really, besides the battery fiasco, there have been no major issues with Stella.  But I've had her for 10 years now, and she's a 1996 model.  I have to admit I'm thinking of finding something a bit more current.  Too bad those affordable, practical electric cars aren't around yet.

Union

While I live just outside Washington DC, I did not venture across the Potomac for any of the Inaugural festivities.  Not for lack of interest - I think it was a great and important day for a number of reasons.  But you tell me there's going to be a crowd of 2 million people, my only question is which direction leads away from them.  Far too much hassle, as I'm sure everyone has heard from the news, and not enough return on the effort.  Most people on the Mall watched the ceremony on a screen, so why shouldn't I as well, in my office on my lunch break?  Plus I don't lose the day, which I desperately need in order to get projects delivered on time.

However, watching and reading about all that has happened today, a peculiar sense of familiarity came to me.  It was actually described best by a kindegartener to an old friend of mine: "It's like the country is having a wedding to get married to Obama."  This rang particularly true while I briefly tuned in to one of the Inaugural Balls, and the President had a first dance with the First Lady while the old Etta James standard "At Last" was sung.  You could write a paper unpacking all the symbolism there between history and race and politics.  But on the surface, it was a first dance, with a man in a tuxedo and his wife in a formal gown.  And they are the only ones dancing, and everyone is watching.  It was very much like a wedding.

The thing of it is, there is a long history of Heads of State "marrying" their nations, though usually in the case of royalty.  I'm especially reminded of the Doge of Venice, who each year would renew the marriage of the Venetian Empire and the Sea by tossing a ring into the Adriatic.  The parallel is not perfect, but it illustrates the essential idea of a union between leader and state, with accompanying pomp and pageantry.

Like many other in the country, I'm excited about this administration.  I look forward to governance based on facts and reason, if nothing else.  I'm glad America has found a nice boy to settle down with.

"Rightsizing"

To look at the entries here, you'd think it has been a very slow couple of weeks.  If you thought that you would be wrong.  In fact, since coming back to DC from Maine right before New Year's, there's been a great deal of activity.  Besides a very enjoyable New Year's Eve at the Army Navy Country Club and Southeast DC, I've become very busy with two separate major projects at work, enrolled in online graduate courses from Virginia Tech to start my master's (plus all the legwork to get tuition assistance at work), and winterized my "backyard boat" Pegasus.

The most significant thing maybe be one that was less time consuming.  But I've winterized boats and taken courses before.  This is a unique and novel event.  I'm selling off some of my library.  Well, trying - I've picked out the duplicates and candidates for "reduction in force."  They fill a grocery sack and a rolling suitcase.  Some are good titles that I have multiple copies of - The Sea Wolf, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, House of Leaves - while others just haven't aged well for me.  I'm getting rid of all of my old Mass Market Tom Clancys (Clancies?) except for my still-beloved The Hunt for Red October.  Goodbye to all of the "Hannibal" novels by Thomas Harris except, again, the best of them, Silence of the Lambs.

The reasoning for the sale is twofold.  First, and primarily, I need more shelf space, especially in my fiction section.  Second, with the exception of the duplicate copies, I could not see myself ever re-reading any of these titles, or needing to refer to any of the non-fiction volumes.

So I've got them set for their departure.  The only problem is the destination.  Used bookstores, good used bookstores, are a rare thing.  Alexandria only has a few candidates, none of which I've visited.  I've heard good things about Capitol Hill Books, though..  What I wouldn't give to be near The Crow back in Burlington.  Or really, my old used book section at the South Burlington Barnes & Noble.  Then I could sell them to myself for store credit and use my employee discount on new purchases to trade in 10 old books for about 5 new ones.  That's a pretty good swap, unless one of your used books is a Gutenberg Bible.

JingEling V

Go to the JingEling blog or Ryan's Youtube channel for this year's JingEling videos and outtakes.