Nothing funny about feldspar

Well, here it is, Friday night. I didn’t finish everything on my list. In fact, since I left the most time consuming ones for last (roofers, boxes and posting), I didn’t get them done. I did think about the post I want to write about independent scholarship, but didn’t get much farther than the assertion stated in the original list.

So, my score is 5/8 items done. Not bad, but it’s more like 30% complete if one considers the size of the tasks involved.

However, I did get a couple of other things done that I didn’t expect, such as writing a nastygram to Comcast for their redesigned-to-be-unreadable website and their stupid online billing system that suddenly doesn’t work with Safari (after having worked quite well for over a year) and their inane “tech support” people who insist that I need to have the latest java and flash to make the fonts appear darker on their site.¹

I also managed to get the supplies for a workshop I’m taking tomorrow. I just hope I can glue while under the influence…

1. I’m all for low-contrast designery sites (for instance, this blog) if I’m not trying to conduct financial transactions for crying out loud.↩

O Estrogen! Thou
Twice-edged; protector and scourge;
Fuck! Leave me alone!

You might possibly get me to click on your message… if only you would use full words.

tks 4 ur help

I signed up to take a 10-week “Swim Therapy” class from our local recreation center. It’s in a therapeutic pool, which means it takes place in warm water — cool bath temperature, about 85°F. I figured that since I can’t get any exercise by walking, because it hurts my back and hips, I’d try the no-impact route.

So… I slid into the water wearing a float-belt (used to help keep one vertical in deeper water), and eventually realized that just because I was in a no-impact environment, it didn’t mean that I wasn’t going to stress my hips and my SI joint.

I should have taken a pain pill before I went, ’cause I hurt as badly as I do when I’ve walked around all of a Meijer store (if you’re unfamiliar with Meijer, think about, oh, the biggest Super Wal-Mart you’ve ever seen. Or a smallish IKEA, but one where you have to visit every aisle not just the bits you’re interested in, with groceries).

The funny thing? The instructor said, “Let me know if this helps your bursitis. My husband has it, and he sure hurts!”

Right now, that would be a no. Who knows, though? I might end up getting enough strength and flexibility in the other muscles in my lower back, &c. so I don’t have so much problem with my back. I’m hoping so, at least.

Next week, I’m getting cortisone shots in my hips. Let’s see if they help as much as I want them too. I’m tired of this.

I’ve always disliked to-do lists, mainly because I’m not very good at making them. Whenever I get into Organize! mode, I’ll make a list of absolutely everything I think I have to do… and then after doing this for a few hours, my good intentions evaporate away in realization that I’ve lost another day and it’s time to start cooking dinner.

However, I do find I need to write things down so I remember to do them. So I’m trying to find a good way to make rational (doable) lists. (Don’t talk to me about that Getting Things Done guy — I don’t have staff.)

My thought this gray Monday morning was to make a short list of stuff I’d like to get accomplished this week (by the end of Friday). Chores can’t be on it, and neither can things like “Go to the pub with Plagioclase” ’cause those things I’m pretty good about making sure get done (though not always, especially when it comes to laundry).

And since everybody blogs their lists, so they have some sort of impetus to actually try to work on their stuff, I naturally thought of posting mine here on Nfaf.

So here goes:

• Repair the hall toilet (the problem with having so many bathrooms is that one doesn’t have any reason to fix toilets right away, but we’ve had the parts for weeks now and just haven’t done it)
• Repair the paper roll in the downstairs toilet
• Write a description of a complex database query well enough so the database person can translate it into an SQL query that will get me the data I want
• Make reservations for a conference
• Call the health insurance company (for some reason, they don’t think we paid for September)
• Call some roofers (luckily the leak is only in the garage… for now)
• Write a post comparing the reception of independent scholarship in the sciences and in the humanities
• Clear the boxes out of any one room in my house

I think that’s a good start. And lest you think I’m being too easy on myself, remember that I have phone phobia, so it’s really hard for me to make calls. Building up the nerve is going to take a while.