Of Moose And Men
The Best Laid Plans Of Both Often Go Astray

Surgery went well. I’m exceedingly glad we chose to do a hotel 5 minutes from the surgery center, as that meant a normal sleep & wake up time, as opposed to the 40-60 minutes an uber would have taken in the morning (with all the necessary schedule adjustments to sleep, etc.). The staff were great. Had a slight issue with getting an IV going on my left arm, but they got it first go on the right side. Absolutely no recollection of talking with the surgeon afterwards, so I’ll find out more details about what they found when I see him on Monday. The only thing the husband remembered was him saying that my ligaments were a little strained as well, but those are strengthenable with exercise so I’m not as concerned there.

So far the nerve block is still mostly in place, not quite 24 hours later. That or (hopefully) it’s not going to be that painful. In any case, Tylenol is at the ready. Turned down any opiates/opioids, as I can’t handle the constipation they cause. It’s hard enough to use a toilet with the brace and crutches without also not being able to go, ya know?

The cats got some fun sniffing in on the brace, and thankfully they’ve seen crutches before so they’re not freaked out. Ezri is mostly hanging out near me and squishing the back cushions on the couch that she’s lying on; Benjamin is mostly in my office in his heated bed, unless/until it’s time for treats.

Excited to see that they’re working on Spaceballs 2 after 30+ years. The trailer was delightful, especially all of the factoids in the crawl. It’s one of my favorite films, so here’s hoping they let Mel run with it (perhaps not to the level of Blazing Saddles, but still, let the mensch do what he does best, please!).

I started situational telework early this week, and it was weird being at home all day. Couple of Teams calls, but those aren’t the same as just popping into a colleagues office and talking through something (or just shooting the shit). A lot of what I have to do as an attorney for an agency is managing relationships and small-p institutional politics and in-person time is a lot easier to handle that aspect. Even when the commute eats up 10 hours a week (though, frankly, half-time in the office – 5 days every two weeks – was plenty for managing that in most instances). I did write out at least one big research project, on the history of some of my small agency’s specific legislative authorities and limits for construction activities, which will be easier to handle at home without meetings or drop-ins. And which can allow me to get in some creditable work hours versus the full week of leave I have scheduled for next week.

But for today it’s reading, some crochet, napping, maybe some replay comfort video gaming.

Finally saw the second orthopedist on Monday and he’s recommending an arthroscopy to go in and clean up the meniscus and some cartilage, and that we don’t need to do a more invasive repair of the tendon on the inside of the knee. Unlike the other guy, this one physically manipulated my knee, moving it around to see what was going on, which is why he recommended the minimally invasive route (based on that and my original MRI). Got ahold of his scheduling person yesterday morning, and I’m set for outpatient surgery next Thursday, the 12th. This morning I’m off for pre-op bloodwork and an EKG from my regular physician, whose office was amazing at working me in. Was remarking to the husband that it had been a while since I’d had an EKG, and he reminded me of the hospital stay for the not-stroke-that-turned-out-to-be-migraines. I was thinking of the baseline one I’d had years ago with my physician in his office, and not the hospital. Whee.

Bodies are such fun.

Recovery time is typically 12 weeks, which again beats the more invasive stuff. So here’s hoping this does the trick, as I am really tired of not being able to walk like a normal person without pain.

I’m approved for situational telework afterwards (huzzah!), which means I have to clean up my office, as it’s gotten junky, post-return-to-the-office-full-time. And I need to plan & shop for some easy meals the husband can make for us (we divide kitchen duties normally – I cook, he bakes). Only thing it’s going to spoil is a Loudoun United game we bought (cheap) tickets for on the 14th, and I’ll see if I can move those. If not, not a huge loss.

Beyond that, the trip to the eastern shore was wonderful. Got through three books, and didn’t check the news, so I actually relaxed. Managed not to go into the jewelry store so I didn’t buy anything expensive this year. All in all a good way to wrap up May, and with the surgery planned, not a bad way to begin pride month.

A bit better today, for having named the feeling bummed out yesterday. Doing extended periods of couch stretch before bed seems to be helping the knee, and we got one big project completely done today, and another partially done, which also helped.

Then came the expected firing of probationary employees today, which was apparently an emotional mess in the building (understandably!). Folks gathered to applaud the folks who were fired as they left. I’m glad I was teleworking; I would’ve broken down. As I reminded a friend, the chaos and the cruelty are part of the point, to keep the public off balance so they can’t effectively push back. It will be interesting to see what reaction gets wrung out of Congress when they go after Defense, which they are reportedly doing soon.

Overslept this morning, which was odd because 1. I set an alarm; and 2. I got more than my normal seven hours of sleep. Was okay, was only a little late. And hey, I got stuck there until 7pm trying to fix some other thing that 47 and president fElon broke anyway, so it didn’t really matter.

Also, I really hope the folks who stayed home, or who didn’t vote for the other party because they ‘weren’t doing enough’ for whatever cause was near and dear to them are happy with everything that’s going on, especially today’s news about the middle east. And I really hope they don’t have the temerity to complain about anything he’s doing within earshot of me, because I’ve had it. These people are bound and determined to destroy 249 years of self governance, without a monarchy, and without (official) aristocracy.

No drugs today. Yay. But stuck in all day meetings which were more like mini-let’s-not-panic sessions. I think half of my job right now is calming people down to get them to focus. Eventually I sent some notes to the leaders of the committee after I had some quiet time by myself to think about what we were trying to accomplish and laid out my thoughts in a doc to share.

Then a senior manager who was in the meeting with me all day had a related legal question and instead of emailing me, the guy who had been answering legal questions all day for the group including him, he emailed the general counsel directly. Who, of course, then had to turn around and send it to me to give her the answer. Dork. After everything else that was the “I’m out!” moment of the afternoon. Not really, but I seriously wanted to smack him upside the head.

I’ve been telling people at work to just focus on the small tasks they have to get done and not try to encompass the entirety of all the new orders coming down the pike; that way lies madness. Like trying to follow the entirety of social media, it’s just not possible.

Still sick. Ran to the pharmacy for refills of various cold medications that I’ve almost run through. Napped for a bit right after lunch. Comics and dinner out, then reading and serving as a cat bed when we got back to the house.

After sort of being in remission the head cold the husband gave me last week came roaring back this morning. That or it’s a new things on top of the other thing from someone at one of the rest areas on the way home. Who knows. Still managed to straighten some things in my office and catch up on a few comics, but otherwise was pretty much a lump for most of the day. Back to the job tomorrow, but I may use the excuse of not wanting to infect my coworkers to telework the rest of this week.

Whole lot of changes coming down the pike at work, as expected. I suspect some of them will end up being pulled back as impossible to implement from a practical standpoint, but others will end up creating a lot of work. Eh, elections have consequences and all that. I don’t anticipate that it’ll be life changing for my little agency, just a lot of busy work changing language around.

We will not be doing a late night tonight. The husband and I both expressed that we’d prefer to sleep at the normal time, so after finishing this past season of Only Murders in the Building (so good!) we both retired to our offices to wind down on daily tasks. I got my bullet journals for work and home set up for the new month (kept separate for work records reasons), and did a little reminiscing and planning in both. There are fireworks going off somewhere in the distance, little pops as the show goes on.

We also had a summer-like thunderstorm right around dinner time that set off a tornado warning south of us, and had hail to the east of us in Annapolis. The thunder and heavy rain was more than enough; glad we missed the more exciting stuff.

Got outside to walk today instead of the treadmill. Post-lunch walk with a stop into the local organic grocer at the end to pick up some sundries. Felt good to get out – high 50s, and the sun was nice. We’re about to get pummeled with cold by the end of this week, so I’m enjoying the pleasant outdoors time while I can.

So farewell to 2024, and here’s hoping 2025 is good for all of us.

That’s about what I estimate I have left to go on the endless brioche scarf. I can definitely say I have brioche stitch down now, at 60 inches/152 cm or so of scarf done. About 2.5″ left to go and I can bind it off, weave in ends, and enjoy the softness of it all.

Did I mention it hit almost 100F/37C here today? Perfect scarf knitting weather. Ha.

Knocked out about 2 hours of knitting this evening while watching Atlas on Netflix. Not a bad movie, fun premise, good background noise for knitting. The lumos & lumos neck lamp I grabbed last year was a great investment for couch & TV knitting. Would definitely recommend it. If you do decide to order one, in my experiences buying from them (more than once; picked up some for my nieces) they always offered a light at 50% off after I checked out the original order, so if you’re looking to get more than one keep that in mind. And there are always coupons, so never pay the full list price.

Have been dealing with some shoulder/arm issues related to posture/positioning while gaming, knitting, and computing. Strengthening stuff has helped a lot with that. And since I’m finally getting back to being able to jump rope on the knee I dislocated last year adding the strengthening has been a natural progression. Making sure I move more often while doing those activities has also been key.

Work is going. I’ve used this relatively quiet pre-holiday week to clear out some longstanding projects. Haircuts over the weekend, and visiting with one of the husband’s new coworkers and his family. Then probably being a lump. And maybe, just maybe, finishing this scarf.

We did, in fact, settle on “silent migraines” as the cause of the incidents I had from early December of last year through mid-February of this year. None of the blinding pain, but some of the side effects that mimicked stroke symptoms (dizziness, numbness). The two ocular migraines clinched it, since there was no damage present on any of the imaging we did of my brain. Bodies are such fun.

Did not make it through to interviews for the Deputy slot this go round, and after they failed the search for other reasons I chose not to re-apply when they re-issued the announcement. I think they’re at the interview stage, but I’m also not participating in that process (staff frequently helps out with resume review and/or interviewing candidates, and other attorneys are doing so). At this point I’m going to hunker down in my nice little mostly apolitical agency and see what November-January brings. Depending on which way that goes I may decide to look elsewhere or I may just settle down and decide that they pay me well enough and I can focus on other things rather than worry about supervising again.

The knee is better, but still not to running stability. I’m slowly increasing walking speed, but it still has stability issues at times when I turn corners or the like. I’ve used a set of ropeless jump ropes a few times to test the boundaries of how much I can bounce on my feet. That, in conjunction with biking and walking, is my exercise these days.

Took a knitting class on basic two-color brioche knitting and finished a hat this past week, in record time for me (a week!). Pictures over on Flickr, as well as some of the long fingering weight single-color (at-a-time) brioche scarf I’ve been working on since (checks Ravelry) February of last year. I’m on the last color block of four for the scarf, so almost done. I have another scarf on the needles for Metro knitting, and a hat and a blanket in the immediate next queue. I took a crochet class back in March to get some hands-on help and learn some of the basic steps there, but I haven’t done anything past the first project yet. Will probably try and whip out some dishcloths first.