In case anyone is wondering....
I'm still here stalking all of your blogs for updates. I'm just being lazy about my updates. But since I was awoken at 5am by work for a production issue and I am now awake, I thought I'd bust out a quick update.
A few things have been going on. I've been training (http://itrainthereforeiaminpain.blogspot.com/). Well, I use that term loosely these days. It's more like I've been applying excessive force to the bones in my feet, thus causing microfractures in my heel. I suppose it could be called "training" by some. I mean, it's not like I purposefully set out to break my heel. It was just a fantastic side effect of this yogging thing. So, the Darth Boot has made a fantastical comeback.
Some of you may recognize the Darth Boot (See: http://jpnkn.xanga.com/566565494/things-i-didnt-know/). It made it's first appearance in 2007 when I tore the ligament in my ankle. Fortunately (well, i'm not sure if "fortunately" is the appropriate word but...), I had the foresight to keep the boot after I was done using it circa 2007. It cost me $500, making it one of my most valuable possessions at the time, so I kept it. I figured that I'm me and that meant there were reasonably good odds that I would require it's use again at some point. I'm not going to sugar coat it, I'm a total spasm, possibly a klutz, and it was not unlikely that I would do something to injure myself again in the future. Plus, did I mention the darn thing cost $500? For that much money, I was going to make it a new family heirloom. I'm fortunate that walking cast technology hasn't improved so dramatically in the last 4 years, so when the doctor said that I would need the boot for my cracked heel and I was like "funny, you should say that cause I just happen to have one in my trunk...", he thought of that as good news and didn't make me buy another one.
Getting to the story of the injury...
I'd started having some massive pain in my heel (and what I thought was the lower part of my ankle) while running in Chicago a few weeks ago. We were there for Lollapalooza (oh, yeah, I went to that this year). Being there for Lolla did not stop us from our training. Noooooo, not us because we are serious athletes. So, I started to have pain during running which only got worse from all the walking around the city and at Lolla. By the middle of the week following Lolla, I couldn't run at all and by the week after that, I was not walking so well. The pain was getting worse, things were swelling, and I was in tears by the end of each day. So, I went to the doctor. He initially tried taping a pad to the bottom of my foot to provide more arch support to see if that would relieve things, but after a few days of trying that out, I was like "um, NO". So, step two was yesterday. That involved a bright pink soft cast and the Darth Boot. He'll take the cast off monday to see if the swelling is down and we'll see what happens from there. This could dramatically affect my time in the triathlon in three weeks...assuming he doesn't put a complete halt on that. He sort of has already but I've yet to accept defeat. I can still swim and bike without pain, and assuming the Darth Boot doesn't disqualify me, I really have no problem hobbling the 3 miles to finish. If I still have a cast of any sort, though, that will put a stop to things, since I can't bike with a cast. We'll see.
In other news...
Let's see...what have I been up to? Well, I'm pretty sure I owe like 15 thousand pictures of the day. I'll have to see about that at some point. I've also become slightly obsessed with Republicans. Not to say that I'm becoming a Republican. I'm just obsessed, fascinated, and slightly scared of them. Except Ron Paul. I sort of love him. But he's not really a Republican, so I think it's ok for me to love him. Apparently, there are a few others who are loving him, because recent polls are showing him to be the only Republican candidate who could beat Obama in the election. But polls are polls and who knows how accurate they are. I've never been polled. How does one even get polled? That came out wrong...I meant, how does one get involved in polling...wait...that also didn't sound right...nevermind.
I watched the Republican debates August 11. They were...entertaining. I'm a bit annoyed with Fox though. They like to say how fair they are but I think they are stinking liars. Or maybe I just don't watch enough news to have realized that sensationalism and obvious bias have become truth these days. I did not like the fact that they displayed each candidate's religion as part of their stats. I feel that it's irrelevant and potentially prejudicial. Wasn't one of the reasons this country was like created so that folks could have some religious freedom? Thus, telling me that Mitt is Mormon or Cain is Southern Baptist is just a way to potentially bias me for or against them but otherwise irrelevant. I don't know. I just think it's not cool. Also, I'm so sick of the abortion and gay marriage topics being brought up. Neither have anything to do with the running of the government. Actually, gay marriage would potentially benefit the federal government. Based on my understanding of the tax rates shown here: http://www.consumerismcommentary.com/federal-income-tax-brackets-and-marginal-rates/, married people get totally ganked. "Ganked" meaning, taxed more than single people. Thus, the more marriages there are, the more federal income tax the government gets to collect. The more taxes collected by the Federal government, the more opportunity for them to totally abuse funds, er, I mean catch up with debt. So, fiscally speaking, gay marriage across the national would be financially beneficial to the country. Other than that, it's none of the federal governments damn business. I'm just saying. I like Ron Paul's view. He's all "doesn't matter what my personal view is on the matter. Marriage shouldn't be the business of the federal government". He goes even further to say that he doesn't understand why anyone needs a license to get married. My view is that marriage is a contract between people. That contract entitles people to certain things (like benefits, property, decision making rights, etc). It shouldn't matter who's a part of the contract. Heck, if 5 people want to all marry each other, it should just require a more complicated contract to clearly define who's got what rights as part of that contractual agreement. Beyond that, I don't think ANY of us has the right to judge or try to force our own moral beliefs on others as long as those others are not inflicting violence or physical harm or trying to take my personal property.
Freedom, people, it's called Freedom. And I'm told this country was built on it. I did a little research (I occationally do that) and guess what word is NOT in the constitution (you know, that document that this country is based on)? Marriage. It's not mentioned one single time. Not even to define that people could get married at all. One could argue that any type of Marriage recognized by the federal government is unconstitutional. I'm just saying. I get pretty fired up about this because the reality is that the politicians LOVE bringing up these sorts of inflammatory "morality" topics at election time. Heck, they are even talking about ADDING a marriage amendment. And though the likeliness of that ever happening is low, talk of it is enough to swing votes and it's stupid. Because, BTW, whether you support gay marriage or not, the moment you support there being any kind of constitutional amendment that defines something like marriage, which is a personal act and shouldn't be the business of the FEDERAL government, you open up the door to all sorts of ways that the government can start setting about rules that limit everyone's personal liberties. And at some point, one of those rules could affect you and then you'll be all "crap, I should really have given a little more thought to that whole Marriage amendment thing because now I'm not allowed to have more than one child because the Federal government decided that morally, multiple children per household is not good for the overall welfare of the country." That might seem like a ridiculous example, but is it really? See also: China. Anyway, I've gone off on this rant because I just think that instead of focusing on these "moral" issues, the candidates should be focused on things that are a little more relevent, like, hmmmmm, I hear there's a problem with people getting jobs and that the US owes money to a few people. I wonder if that could be important?!
Speaking of freedom being taken away...
I was listening to the radio the other day and the song You Found Me by The Fray was on. So, one of the lyrics goes like this:
"I found God on the corner of 1st and Amistad
Where the West was all but won
All alone, smoking his last cigarette
I said, 'Where you been?" He said, 'Ask anything.' "
Except that the line "all alone, smoking his last cigarette" was bleeped out of the song. Well, not bleeped out but cut out. So there was like this weird empty space. They edited it out. I was like "what?!?!" Now they edit out references to smoking? Or was this specifically edited to remove the reference to God smoking? Either way, when did that start happening? When did "smoking" become a curse word? I find this level of censorship a bit alarming. I mean, if people think that editing out that line is going to keep a kid from running out and smoking a cigarette or that keeping the verse would cause a kid to run out and smoke a cigarette, I fear that the collective has it's head up it's ass. I mean, seriously, I found it disturbing.
Jenn - I believe I've ranted enough for one morning...
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