Another particularly random, rambling post.
My toe is better today. I changed the dressing after my morning shower (reminded me of the shower scene from Psycho) and it looks like my toenail is recessed and painted bright red. It's tender, but nothing I can't deal with. The dr. said I could go back to running today but I'm glad it's been raining because I don't think I'm ready for that yet.
I've been asked to submit an article for a journal of theology. When you see the word journal in a title it means the contents are scholarly, complete with footnotes that cite relevant books written by...scholars. I foolishly agreed to consider the request and submit one or more abstracts, another technical term that's something like a prospectus briefly summarizing the article's thesis, direction, and conclusions.
I spent some time this morning working on a potential list of articles that I'll send the editor so he can say yea or nay to them. But five minutes in I realized I shouldn't have even agreed to that step. I am SO not scholarly. I'm pragmatic, populous, and ordinary. I'm also too ADD, or maybe just impatient, to do all that citation stuff. Cut to the chase.
[Another possibility, suggested to me by a former colleague, is that I'm intellectually lazy.]
So I'll submit my list because I said I would. But attached to the list will be a big warning/disclaimer.
I checked the USPS tracking page when I got up this morning. My pitman arm is back in VA.
Seriously? That makes four trips from one side of the country to the other.
The lady at the Elmira P.O. is very apologetic, embarrassed, but unable to penetrate the system that has my package traveling from one side of the country to the other in what now looks like a Groundhog Day cycle. She agrees that if they can't break that cycle and get the part to me forthwith it's time to call a halt to this nonsense and give me the "Up to $50" the P.O. offers when they've screwed up.
Imagine how hard it will be to get that!
It's reported that Sen. Scalise is in critical condition. How many people know what that means? I didn't, so I looked it up. In the U.S. the AMA uses the terms good, fair, serious, critical, and dead to describe a patient's condition progressing in that order from OK to bad. Critical means "Vital signs are unstable and not within normal limits. Patient may be unconscious. Indicators are unfavorable." The next most serious condition is dead.
Doctors aren't supposed to use the word stable as a modifier with any of these terms because by definition someone who is Critical is not stable, while someone who is in Fair condition ("Vital signs are stable and within normal limits. Patient is conscious but may be uncomfortable. Indicators are favorable.") by definition is stable.
Someone who is dead is very stable.
An honest question: why does the FBI work so hard to determine motive in a case like this? The guy's dead, there will be no trial, so it seems like a moot point. Knowing why he did it won't prevent the next crazy from taking a gun and shooting up some gathering of innocent citizens.
We got up to 65 and it rained on and off the whole day, and tomorrow will be almost identical.
In Phoenix they hit 110 and it didn't rain.
By Tuesday we'll warm up to a sunny 81 and Phoenix is forecasted to hit a record 121 degrees.
Today I trimmed the branches of trees that were creating a canopy over the gravel driveway in from Baker Rd. What's a beautiful 1" branch this year is 2" next, and on from there. Before long the UPS truck won't come down our driveway because the driver is responsible for damage to his truck and branches arcing over the top of his truck look like a potential problem.
I'll prune branches all day long if the alternative is 121 degrees!
We sure like living here.
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