Grumps can suck it, it's Friday!

[johnmdesigner]

Drove to the Bronx to our favorite taco place for takeout.
Found out the rear end of my 23 year old car is collapsing.
Tacos were good though. Mmmmm... salty beef.

[johnmdesigner]

Took a short car ride in Manhattan today so my wife could pick up the mail at her office. All the stores that were empty before the riots are now empty with their windows boarded up.
I did see this graphic on one of the kiosks though and thought it rather nice.

[bigbill]

I'm able to have lunch at a local restaurant again. It was a normal thing for my girlfriend and I to meet at noon on Friday at a diner a few blocks from where I work. Today, my son and her dad are joining us. In other good news, in five weeks I get to drop my son at the airport so he can fly back to BWI and return to Annapolis.

[72gmc]

It's date night. My wife and I will sit in the yard with takeout cocktails from a favorite local place, leave the kids to make spaghetti for themselves, and make plans for movie night and game night.

A local bake shop just reopened and is donating profits to BLM, so we'll take a walk tomorrow.

[bigbill]

Work finally made face coverings mandatory instead of suggested. I've been wearing one for two months at work and out in town. Now I can go up to people at work and enforce what should have been common sense. And it is lunch date day.

[ides1056]

It's a perfect New England day, sparkling sunlight and temperate, light wind stirring the trees overhead. I've been sleeping outdoors in a field for several months now, and this agrees with me enormously. Wake up to the birds, and go to sleep to the fireflies. The latter are reason enough to live here, and I am fortunate to have the unfettered freedom that rural life permits in these times of shutdown and quarantine. I may not be able to make it to the High Sierra later this summer or fall, but being outdoors here has a touch of the sublime I found there last summer in Evolution Valley.

No grump whatsoever here.

[johnmdesigner]

Trip down memory lane.
Back in the good old days I used to frequent the Foreign Newspaper store in the Bush building on 42nd street in Times Square.
They were pretty much open 24 hours and literally had every printed newspaper in the world.
I made friends with one of the employees who used to save me copies of L'Equipe.
Reading it on my tablet just isn't the same.

[David Tollefson]

Buckle in, this one might get a bit long.

Some here already know about my herniated disc and now 9-1/2 month journey. Every time I bend over and stand up, I have pains that shoot down the back of my left leg. L5-S1 was unresponsive to PT, and even the cortizone injection didn't last more than 2 days. I finally got a surgery date that's coming up in just under 2 weeks. Microdiscectomy. Basically they go in with a slurpee spoon and suck out the portion of the spinal disc that is protruding from the fibrous ring that's supposed to be holding it in the spinal column.

Well, back about 4 weeks, I already had the surgery date. I've been working from home (due to COVID19) and using my wife's old desk chair -- a miserable thing that I can barely endure. So, on a particular morning, before anyone else was up, I just happened to sneeze. And immediately I felt like I pulled a muscle in my back. Right side, low- mid back. It persisted for a good 10 days, and on that 10th day was excruciating. I couldn't sleep that night for that pain. The next morning, happened to be a Sunday, I was getting up from the dining room table and stepped to the left. I felt like something was holding my right leg. I pulled, and it slowly came out from under the table to reveal... nothing. I just had extreme difficulty getting my right leg under me. At the same time, I noticed that the back pain was gone. Not good. Visited the local Urgent Care facility, who sent me to the local ER... They eliminated things like MS and stroke. Suspected that I had (another) disc issue. I made an appointment with the surgery folks to inquire, and their position then was that even if it was another injury, it would need to go through the same process as the last before they would do anything, but they ordered another MRI at my request. That was Friday.

I got the MRI report yesterday morning, just before my scheduled pre-op appointment. Huge herniation of the L3-L4 disc. At the pre-op, we went over this, and the PA took the findings to the surgeon. In about 5 minutes I had the suggestion that it was advisable to take care of both herniations at the same time on the 29th. The procedure for taking care of the L3-L4 hernaition is quite a bit more involved, and may result in taking out the posterior portion of the vertebra (the "fin" part that makes the ridge in your back).

So my "happy" part of all this is that I'll have it all done at once, though I'm not really looking forward to the recovery...

[bigbill]

Buckle in, this one might get a bit long.

Some here already know about my herniated disc and now 9-1/2 month journey. Every time I bend over and stand up, I have pains that shoot down the back of my left leg. L5-S1 was unresponsive to PT, and even the cortizone injection didn't last more than 2 days. I finally got a surgery date that's coming up in just under 2 weeks. Microdiscectomy. Basically they go in with a slurpee spoon and suck out the portion of the spinal disc that is protruding from the fibrous ring that's supposed to be holding it in the spinal column.

Well, back about 4 weeks, I already had the surgery date. I've been working from home (due to COVID19) and using my wife's old desk chair -- a miserable thing that I can barely endure. So, on a particular morning, before anyone else was up, I just happened to sneeze. And immediately I felt like I pulled a muscle in my back. Right side, low- mid back. It persisted for a good 10 days, and on that 10th day was excruciating. I couldn't sleep that night for that pain. The next morning, happened to be a Sunday, I was getting up from the dining room table and stepped to the left. I felt like something was holding my right leg. I pulled, and it slowly came out from under the table to reveal... nothing. I just had extreme difficulty getting my right leg under me. At the same time, I noticed that the back pain was gone. Not good. Visited the local Urgent Care facility, who sent me to the local ER... They eliminated things like MS and stroke. Suspected that I had (another) disc issue. I made an appointment with the surgery folks to inquire, and their position then was that even if it was another injury, it would need to go through the same process as the last before they would do anything, but they ordered another MRI at my request. That was Friday.

I got the MRI report yesterday morning, just before my scheduled pre-op appointment. Huge herniation of the L3-L4 disc. At the pre-op, we went over this, and the PA took the findings to the surgeon. In about 5 minutes I had the suggestion that it was advisable to take care of both herniations at the same time on the 29th. The procedure for taking care of the L3-L4 hernaition is quite a bit more involved, and may result in taking out the posterior portion of the vertebra (the "fin" part that makes the ridge in your back).

So my "happy" part of all this is that I'll have it all done at once, though I'm not really looking forward to the recovery...

I had a L5-S1 microdiscectomy five years ago. I was almost to the point of dragging my left leg and couldn't lift my foot. The shooting pain made me forget about how hard it was to walk. I did PT, three rounds of Prednisone, and finally got referred to a surgeon. I had surgery a week before thanksgiving, and was walking around the block on day three and walking an hour by day ten. There was a park with a flat, one mile walking loop. Level walking surfaces were important, anything like the crown of a street was a no-go. After six weeks I got back on the bike on the local rail-trail for an hour at a time. By March I was doing 200 mile weeks. The absence of pain and improved mobility were instantaneous following surgery. I walked up and down the hospital hall for 30 minutes after I left recovery. I went home the same day.

I have muscle atrophy in my left (affected side) calf because the nerve root was damaged. That may never come back. I also have a herniated disc on L3-L4 and some stenosis but none of that is worth fixing. My quality of life is good, the best thing I did was to start boot camp classes that do a metric shit-tonne of core work. My back is very strong and stable.

[SlowPokePete]

I'll chime in a day early, and I'm pretty sure this is my first time posting in this thread.

After 28 years as a teacher, Friday is my last day of school.

Forever.

My wife of five years, once my Teaching Assistant, retires too.

A move to the country, no job, and feeling good to be where I'm at...

SPP

[bigbill]

I'll chime in a day early, and I'm pretty sure this is my first time posting in this thread.

After 28 years as a teacher, Friday is my last day of school.

Forever.

My wife of five years, once my Teaching Assistant, retires too.

A move to the country, no job, and feeling good to be where I'm at...

SPP

I'm looking forward to teaching as my retirement gig, hopefully community college, most facilitating online classes. Congratulations on the transition to semi-professional cyclist.

[72gmc]

Congratulations, Peter, and thank you for being a teacher.

[ldamelio]

Nothing special here, but first week off in six months after hectic stretch. Living 99% off the grid (except for VSalon, of course). A few rides (including only second MTB ride of the year), some beach time, couple of dinners with friends, two outdoor restaurant meals, caught up on household stuff, etc. No work e-mail, TV or other news, thus no Covid, no Trump, or any of the rest of the 24 hour news cycle that keeps us all in a perpetual state of aggravation. We also have my elderly father-in-law settled in a safe, comfortable living situation that meets his increasing needs. To boot, we found a loving home for his elderly mutt at the last minute. (I'm deathly allergic, otherwise would have taken her in a heartbeat.) My wife looks like a different person with this complex situation being resolved. The combination of stress and fatigue had me on the brink of real depression for the first time in a decade. This week has broken the cycle.

[bigbill]

We have donuts at work today. Plus, I'm wearing a freshly laundered cloth mask and it's so refreshing. I guess I need to wash them more or get more in the rotation.

[johnmdesigner]

I am 62 today.

Lucky to have retired several years ago. We own our home, no debt, no kids, no pets.
I have a few observations from 62 years. Your experience may vary.

1. 99.99% of all humans don't want to be told the truth.
2. Never give advice unless it is solicited (see #1 .).
3. The best experience is sitting on an Istanbul rooftop at night listening to the mudahan call to prayer.
4. Always smile and say hello to strangers.
5. The latest and greatest is frequently bullshit.
6. I'm still riding on 23 tires.
7. When you mess up admit it. Don't blame someone else.
8. Failure can be way more interesting than success (sometimes).

We have lived on the edge of Harlem for 25 years. They are lobbing mortar rounds this year instead of the usual firecrackers. Going to be a long hot summer.

Thanks for reading.

[guido]

Welcome to 62. It is doing ok for me so far...

[72gmc]

Happy birthday!

I'm finding a whole bunch of new resources and opportunities to learn today. I'm behind on these topics but I'm working on it.

[johnmdesigner]

Gonna be a good day!

[Tom]

I wish I had a black powder cannon like quite a few people had in my home town. There's a big kerfluffle in the Dorptown about people shooting off fireworks all day and night for the past couple of weeks. I get it, some dogs and cats are really afraid of those noises and it's not good. People want the police to crack down, and they are. I think it'd be a whole lot more effective if I had one of those cannons. I'm thinking one or two good blasts from that and everybody would just give up with their little fireworks having heard what an actual Fourth of July celebration sounds like.

Have a good summer weekend, people, and do something to mark your independence while you celebrate that we're all one in this experiment that I hope lasts more than another year or two.

[johnmdesigner]

I took a walk in my neighborhood this morning and found some projectile tubes about 5" in diameter mounted to plywood bases. I imagine the 4am explosions originated from these.
I always liked to be in Stony Point Park on the Hudson when they fired off the 6 pounder Revolutionary cannon. That was quite a thump.