It’s been a very strange three weeks.

I suppose that is unsurprising all things considered, but what did surprise me is how it’s been strange.

First, I’ve had minimal pain from what you’d expect from “broken ankle” “broke both tibia & fibula” and “requires surgery.” This actually scared me for quite awhile, as I kept waiting for the “real” pain to kick in (something along the lines of what I felt during the X-Rays) but it never has. It was like waiting for the other shoe to drop–hard to relax because I kept waiting for the bad.

But what’s really strange is how it feels as is my life is on hold. I recognize that time is passing, as some major events have occurred in the past week, but as I go from work to home and few other places, the days run into one another and in my mind it’s still cool and comfortable at night as befits early May.

Instead, when I move from the house to the car or the car to work, I keep thinking, “good grief it’s hot,” as if it were not common for temperatures to be in the upper 80s at this time of year.

I suppose working half days contributes to it as well, as do the naps I tend to take when I come home from work–time passes, but I feel unaware of it’s passing, as if life is on hold till I can resume my normal schedule and activities.

I suppose in a way though my life is on hold. I am an active person–it’s not an unusual occurrence for me to walk 10k steps before leaving work (doesn’t happen on a daily basis, but it happens regularly enough) and right now I cannot walk anywhere. I am not exercising at all, and the trip from the car to my office is exhausting.

I plan to remedy the lack of exercise issue by learning exercises that do not use my leg, but those aren’t going to be aerobic exercises, and that just plain sucks.

I realize this injury is in no way the end of the world, that it’s simply a minor inconvenience compared to what many people live with on a day-to-day basis, but it’s frustrating because if this were a permanent injury (thankfully it isn’t but let me continue) I would be learning how to move on. I would be training myself to do tasks in a new way. As it is right now I’m just biding my time until I can put weight on my foot again, and doing my best not to re-injure myself.

I know I am lucky, and I truly appreciate that. But it doesn’t change my sense of disconnect from the world.

I’m sitting in the recliner and the cats are sitting in the window behind me. A UPS truck stops in the road outside the window. I turn to look, but he’s taking some time moving things and organizing. Minutes pass. Suddenly, Kit jumps out of the window and goes to stare at the front door expectantly. Moments later, here’s the UPS man at the front door.

Maybe we do get a lot of packages delivered.

Yes, it’s Wednesday and it’s time for word association!

For all the babies that have been born in the past week, today’s word is: adorable

Welcome to Lily!

Congratulations to my cousin Math and his wife Jana on the birth of their daughter Lillian Mary! 7 lbs 12 oz. It looks like big babies are the in thing this summer!

Happy Birthday today to two people, to my brother, who I’m sure is now short of sleep taking care of my beautiful new niece, and to Gina, best wife a girl could want. ;)

World War I 116,516 killed, 204,002 wounded.¹
World War II 407,316 killed, 670,846 wounded.¹
Korea 33,651 killed 103,284 wounded.¹
Vietnam 58,168 killed, 153,303 wounded.¹
Gulf War 382 killed, 486 wounded.
Iraq War 4,402 killed so far, at least 31,810 wounded.
Afghanistan War 1,060 killed so far, at least 5,831 wounded.
 

Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind.
~John F. Kennedy

What a cruel thing is war: to separate and destroy families and friends, and mar the purest joys and happiness God has granted us in this world; to fill our hearts with hatred instead of love for our neighbors, and to devastate the fair face of this beautiful world.
~Robert E. Lee

The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.
~Thomas Jefferson

Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves.
~Abraham Lincoln

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
~Benjamin Franklin

Most people want security in this world, not liberty.
~H.L. Mencken

We must be free not because we claim freedom, but because we practice it.
~William Faulkner

If we let people see that kind of thing, there would never again be any war.
~Pentagon official explaining why the U.S. military censored graphic footage from the Gulf War

War is a series of catastrophes that results in a victory.
~Georges Clemenceau

What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy?
~Mahatma Gandhi

Politics is war without bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed.
~Mao Tse-Tung

It is well that war is so terrible – otherwise we would grow too fond of it.
~Robert E. Lee

We make war that we may live in peace.
~Aristotle

In the last days the mountain of the LORD’s temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it.
Many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.” The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.
~Isaiah 2:2-4

Vietnam War Memorial
Korean War Memorial
WWII Memorial
The Great War

Spent most of today with my foot propped up, trying not to go stir crazy.

I am normally a very active person, and this enforced stillness is Not Fun. It was easy when I was on the pain meds and they made my sleepy, but I haven’t taken any pain medication (at all) since yesterday afternoon, so I’m not groggy and sitting still is… difficult.

I’m looking into exercise I can do that won’t put any weight on my lower leg, and I ordered a yoga mat & a (non-latex) resistance band so I can do crunches and other exercises, and if worse comes to worse I’ll ask the doc for a PT referral to so I can see about getting some exercise training from them.

Otherwise, I spent the day going through and processing the almost 200 pictures I have from yesterday (I’d say I pitched about 40 for being blurry or just plain horrible). I’m learning to manipulate white balance and tone, and that did a lot to improve some of the pictures I already thought were pretty good. Yay!

Wanna know why my day was awesome? I spent it with my beautiful, brand-new niece Julliene.

These are some of my favorite pictures of the 144 I uploaded to Flickr.

Pretty good, all things considered!

I am still looking at four more weeks before I am allowed to put any weight on it, but the range of motion is very good, and the swelling and bruising have receded quite a bit!
(more…)

I’ve been watching the uproar over Facebook with a fair amount of bemusement.

Yes, I am on Facebook and have been there for awhile, however, from the beginning I have been careful what information I placed there. If you could find it by doing a public search of my name, I was OK placing on Facebook, otherwise, for get it. So my address and phone number have never been on listed, and the only e-mail addresses are my work address (which you can find it you search my name) and my address I give out to businesses and such. And neither of those was ever public. (Go ahead. Search for me on Facebook. See what you find.)

Yes, I probably do know a bit more about online privacy than most people, but it seems to me that not placing your phone number and address on a free website is a reasonable thing to do. If someone needs that information, they can e-mail me (or search for my work number–that’s out in the wild as well.)

But that’s where we get to the part I don’t quite get.

Facebook is a FREE service. It provides you with e-mail and a place to post pictures and an easy way to stay in contact with family and friends–all at absolutely NO COST TO THE USER!

Why on earth are people offended when a free service does things to make money? It’s not like there is a legal requirement that you use Facebook, it’s not like you are required to post your address or phone number, or give them anything more than a throw away e-mail address (OK, yes it was different in the beginning, when you need to have an edu account, but that’s essentially a public address.)

TANSTAAFL people!

Believe it or not, the internet costs money! Facebook (and Google and Yahoo and everyone else) has to pay money for the hardware upon which their content sits. And the busier your site, and the more content you have, the more expensive the underlying architecture.

For example, it costs me about $100 a year for hosting for this site. That’s about what I’ve been paying since Michael bought me my domain for Christmas a really long time ago (and I’ve used a variety of hosting services over time.)

Because I pay for this site, I expect certain things in return, such as prompt customer service, privacy, and the ability to do as I please (within reason) with my site.

I do not have the same expectations about Facebook. They are providing something for free, so I expect that they will want something in return, in this case, advertising.

You get what you pay for, and if the dollar amount you pay is free, then you’re going to have to expect to pay the price in some other way.

Would I pay if Facebook changed to a pay service? It depends upon how much they charged and whether those I keep in touch with remained on Facebook.

In many ways, I really like Facebook–I like a semi-secure place where I can keep track of a variety of friends and control to some degree what information is available to those who are not my friends. I love regaining contact with people I haven’t seen in years–yes, there are people who I don’t care as much about, but I can hide their status updates if they post things that annoy me, so it all comes out in the wash.

So yes, I would be willing to pay a small amount for Facebook; less than I pay to host my own site though–I don’t love it that much.

And that is what I think people need to keep in mind when they get all up in arms about the way Facebook or any other free service treats their information: You have recognize you’re going to pay the price in one way or another. Realize this, and privacy concerns really shouldn’t be an issue.

Please welcome Julliene Ann, my niece!

8 pounds 3 ounces, 21.5 inches long–smaller than expected, but still a big baby.

Congratulations to Brian & Stacie!

My love to everyone!

For many of it’s we’ve got a long weekend coming up for Memorial Day. Normally it’s a big day for picnics and grilling out and pretending summer has now officially started, regardless of the temperatures.

Although it’s usually a laid back day for us, this year is going to be even more so. The sum total of my plans? Putting out the flag.

What are you planning for Monday?

It is Wednesday isn’t it? I’m having a hard time keeping track.

So in honor Douglas Adams, whose birthday was yesterday, today’s word is: towel