Retirement

Tomorrow begins my official retirement from NCTD. Today Joy and I will sign some papers to initiate retirement processing. This is all good, but the real happiness is that my knee is much better. With that said I vow to lose some weight in order to lessen the workload on said knee. As anyone can tell from my past writings this has been a real cause for concern.

I want to apologize to Denise and Collin for not phoning them on Xmas. I just got caught up in events and before I knew it it was the 27th. Megan, I could have done a Facebook "Merry Christmas" to you, but I didn't think of it until just today.

While I think of it let me share this with you: I appreciate birthday gifts and Christmas gifts, but unless it is an "extra special kind of gift", I would rather have Kiva gift certificates or else money donations to AC MaNalac (PH-439-0114) at Compassion International, Colorado Springs, CO 80997.

Here's hoping that 2009 will be fine and that I'll be able to make some visits to Wyoming and Oregon to see my grand children.

Rain

It's raining finally, a cold rain, good.
Joy and I will be going for her six week visit to the doctor. She's outside now, bundled up with a ski cap and layers of clothing completing her soduku puzzles.

My knee problem is still a problem. I am using the crutches more and more since it takes so much weight off when I walk. I am really at a loss for the moment. This really sucks, yet what is there to do? Compared to the Sunday before last I am 50% improved so that's a plus. The fact that I can still ride a bicycle without much discomfort is also something to cheer about.

Life is good. Joy is good and Nancy too.

Found an interesting blog site: http://yes-to-me.com/

Off From Work

I went to work this morning with the aid of crutches. The crutches allowed me to cover ground much faster than to go without them and trudge toward a destination. Everything went fine, passengers never saw me with crutches and I got to the bus and back to the drivers room quite easily. This was a bit much for the boss upstairs so I've worked it out to be off until December 29th and either I'll be good to go or ready for retirement. Actually, the only reason I am working now (other than money) is my uneasiness with the economy and the future of my pensions. Regardless of the outcome after Dec. 29th I think I will go ahead and retire. Part of this knee problem is from repetitive motion and now with an older body frame I should quit while I am ahead of the game.

Home For The Day

Got a cortisone shot in the knee, hopefully that will lubricate the bothersome area. Right now I can limp around the house. I'll try to ride my bike for the sake of Nancy's walk. In the past the pedaling movement didn't seem to bring on pain. Nancy is patiently waiting by my side trying to read body language.

Sunday

Went to Walgreen's and bought a pair of crutches. Will go to the doctor's tomorrow to find out wtf is going on? I will not work tomorrow. I am wound up tight.

Mid-week

At the middle point of my work week. Purchased some green tea from Peet's online and just had my second gigantic cup (the Starbucks Coffee cup won at our last reunion); pretty good taste and there is a choice from a variety of three teas.

I started Weight Watchers on November 20th and have lost 3 lbs. I haven't been following it to the letter, but at least there's hope. Right now about the only exercise I am getting is my bicycle time with Nancy. My knee is really bothering me which limits any kind aerobic motion on the ground. I'll see the doctor on the 11th to figure out my next step. I suspect part of the problem is repetitive motion and pressure applied to the foot feed (accelerator) for so many years. Yesterday, I adjusted the height of the seat to see if I can cause any change for the better.

I'll try to read Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations since this is the genesis for free market style economy. I'm a slow reader, but I want to go through every sentence to see if ever there is any mention of social responsibility. I doubt it since the premise of Milton Freidman's economic philosophy is that the free market alone will make adjustments along the way to keep an economy strong. This dilemna our nation and world faces is extremely worrisome. I've heard that it is quite conceivable that every man, woman and child in the U.S. is burdened with a debt of $60 thousand plus. The U.S. citizenry will never be able to ascertain with certainty, because so much of budget is off limits for accounting because of national security.

Well breakfast is coming to mind, obviously I'll be doing my lentil thing.