Icy Friday

Yet another snow day. My daughter was irritated -- she wanted a delay, but not a snow day. Delays, you just compress the classes; snow days, you have to make up.

I've been participating in the Yahoo Answers forum for a while now, and I have to say that I enjoy it. I usually take care with what I put down, on all but the simplest answers (and some really are simple; one person wanted to know how to figure the rate of change of a temperature that went up five degrees in five hours). I notice that my answers are longer, usually significantly longer, than the others, most of which sound like they were rattled off quickly. When I see a new question that I'd like to answer, and do, I'm a little disappointed when I find that someone else (frequently, several someone elses) has already answered it by the time I'm done. But I usually go ahead and post my answer anyway. I'm absurdly pleased when my answer is picked as the best of those there; I don't get anything except 'points', which I don't think have any external value, but I like the recognition. And I learn things, too. If the question is one where I think Gee, thats a good question, I have no idea, I'll go look it up. Usually, it doesn't take more than a Gsearch to find an answer; about a third of them come straight from Wikipedia. The questions are frequently worded in a way that makes it sound like they came right out of a textbook, and I imagine some kid laughing when he dumps his homework questions into Yahoo, and gets answers back. To be honest, thinking of that kid relying on what I say is what makes me take the time to write a lengthy response. Its gratifying, and its fun.

This Sunday, we're going to have some friends over for brunch. We've only done it once before, but we liked it, so after a couple of years, we're doing it again. I've told my wife that I'd like to do it more often -- to invite one or two families that we know to come over for brunch, or for dinner. I don't know very many people, and I'm always a bit amazed to see how many people some of our neighbors do know. I'd like to try (why do I feel like most people don't have to work at it?) so this is sort of a way of doing that. Its going to be a bit of a challenge to talk to some of these folks, I think. I'm just not good at schmoozing with anyone but my wife.

I'm still going to physical therapy, and the way things are progressing, I'm guessing I'll be going for about another month. I still cannot walk more than a very, very short distance without a limp, and truth to tell, I'm probably limping then, too. Yesterday, my leg actively hurt, to the point that I used the crutch inside the house, which I hadn't done for over a week. But today, I was surprised to find that after therapy was over, I actually felt limber. I still limped, but it wasn't the step/THUMP that my limping tends to be. Whenever they give me the option, I try to increase the weights that I use or the reps that I do. Its not that I'm a fanatic about it. I just want to be strong enough to ditch the crutch entirely.

And thats it for now.