Bits and Pieces

First I shout out the news about my blogiversary, then I disappear from the blog? Yes, something like that. We spent last weekend with family in New York; the occasion was a sad one, but being with family was wonderful. (Really, the Hubs has the bestest family.) Since our return I've been running to stay in place just catching up with work I had neglected because of the whole ouch-my-back-hurts situation: I realize that it couldn't have been 387 papers I graded, 174 students I saw during office hours, or 39 meetings I attended, but the numbers give you an idea of the magnitude of the 'catching up' enterprise. This week really has been a bit too much.

First, since you asked (you did, didn't you?), my back has gotten better but is still not quite right. At last I saw a doctor, a specialist in "non-surgecial orthopedics," who told me after a two-minute exam that it's probably a herniated disk, that I'll need to have an MRI done, that, if it's bad, I'll get series of epidural steroid injections and, if they don't help, I should consider surgery. Well, duh, thanks. Since I've been through this whole thing twice already, I am fully aware of the surgery option. Since twice before I got around surgery by treating and thus relaxing the areas around the disk (through acupuncture, Tui Na, TENS, lots and lots of walking and stretching, and a positive attitude), thereby giving it a better chance of healing on its own, as opposed to aggressively attacking it, I was disappointed by the doctor's approach. I'm gonna remain a Posimist (a positive optimist) and do my walking and leave to doctor be. (He did request an MRI, and I'm waiting for my insurance's OK. Last time it took six weeks to get it, and that was when I was still a student in NY with NY student insurance coverage. This time I'm also a NY student with NY student coverage, but I reside in MA. This has proven difficult expensive before, since my insurance doesn't feel entirely responsible for the bill as soon as I move a toe across the NY border.) End of today's health report.
OK, just one more detail: I'm not supposed to ride the bike yet. But since riding the bus is brutal for my poor disk, the doc prescribed a monstrous back brace that gives me the waistline of Scarlett O'Hara but literally takes my breath.

Second, weather (yupp, I'm practicing for old age by talking about health and weather). It's been glorious. After last weekend's ungodly rain storms that flooded half of NY and MA, the bus route to work, and almost all of my students' dorms, the weather has been just beautiful. It's been sunny and warm, cheering up even the grumpiest of MBTA drivers, postal workers, and campus security personnel. And it's made me incredibly happy. Finally I can wear shoes without socks! (A big bonus when unable to reach one's feet.) Today's plan is to go on a long walk through our favorite neighborhood (which, unfortunately, isn't ours). Think 8 miles or so, with my LYS, the most fabulous bakery of all times, and our local independent book seller on the way. Yay.

Third, knitting: After I used up 200 yards of sock yarn to create a loooong tube to test lace, cable, and lace-and-cable patterns, and was still worried about boring Elinor's judges to death, I scraped the idea of entering the sock design contest. Here are a few ugly results:

Today Elinor posted another blog entry, encouraging all of us design newbies to enter the contest, no matter how "dull" we thought our designs, and I find myself back at square one. I want to be part of this! I anticipate spending all of my knitting time, which currently isn't very much anyway, racking my brain about sock patterns.

And now out into the sunshine! Hope you, too, are having a sunny weekend.