Plugging Along

It has been a very interesting last few days.  Some good some bad:

• Unfortunately, my SIL and her husband were unable to come to play euchre and have dinner (as we had planned last Friday nor on the alternative afternoon of Sunday..... because my SIL did not feel well (due to dialysis issues, also very unfortunately)).  We are hoping that this upcoming Friday, my SIL will be feeling better and we may do the games and dinner then.  

• My MIL had a good checkup regarding her wrist, and while she still has at least a month of wearing the cast still, she is handling it better. 

• My own sister is seemingly doing well with the BOSU ball and balances (my wife, me, my other sister, and her husband collectively shared in buying this equipment for her as her birthday present).  My sister has hip and knee issues (surgeries associated with joints) and even though she has recovered well over these many surgeries, she is very stiff and her mobility is hampered in that she a) feels less coordinated/balanced when walking, b) is very stiff and has lost flexibility in walking, and c) her walking gait is more akin to a side-to-side "duck waddle" due to (a) & (b).  The BOSU is a half ball shaped device that is very helpful for a) retraining the reflex arcs in the spinal cord associated with the legs so that you can regain balance confidence, b) it is good for stretching, and both improvements will make her gait more natural and regular. 

Yesterday was an odd mix of being a day for celebrating the life of a very important historical figure, Martin Luther King Jr.  And, yet it was also, simultaneously, a day for the inauguration ceremony for the 47th President. The diametric juxtaposition of the two events occurring on the same day was a bit jarring.

Other thoughts:

• My wife and I watched a VERY INTERESTING film about a singer we only had minimal knowledge of.... Robbie Williams.  I suspect AC may know much more about him as I believe he ended up being far more famous in Canada due to the stronger link between Canada and Britain musically in the 1990s.  And, PROBABLY, if I am guessing correctly, a lot of AC's students of that era would be fans of his.  The film is called "Better Man" and I think I will try to provide a synopsis my feelings about this film in a post.  

• It is damnably cold here the last couple of days and for the next few as well.  It has been below zero (Fahrenheit) and the low TONIGHT is anticipated to be -5 degrees (F) (~ -21 C) with wind chills considerably worse (anticipated windchill of close to -30 degrees (F) (windchill of ~ -35 C).

• I dutifully ran my 10 miles yesterday and also this morning.  I was happy that the track was open at six as usual. 

• I have been thinking about recent comments and need to make a post this week answering some of the comments.

• My pipes have been heavily on my mind most all of the weekend.  The cold winter feels RIGHT for having and wanting to indulge in a warm pipe of pleasant tobacco. 

• Speaking of the image at the top of this post, I suspect that many folks presumed the image was of a brownie or perhaps a no-bake chocolate cookie.  But, it is actually a square of what is called "plug tobacco".  Plug tobacco is a style of pipe tobacco that is produced by aging pipe tobacco that is compressed and held under quite significant pressure for months or longer during the curing process.  The square shown is how this leaf is often sold to pipe smokers, in its compressed form.  This is a type of pipe tobacco that requires it to be "rubbed out".  Generally, you would slice off a thin slice of the brick (the square), and then rub the slice of compressed tobacco together until it separates and eventually "fluffs up" so you can then use it to fill the bowl of your pipe. 

• Plug pipe tobaccos are more of a long-ago time item  because they in part were used as a means of long term storage and a way to store tobacco more efficiently as well.  Plug tobaccos were especially common in the 1800s.  But, there has always been an allure by some pipe smokers that the force of compression would imbibe the leaf with "extra" qualities of some sort  as well.  I have had a few different "plug" tobaccos over the years, but to me... while they were pleasant... they were no more pleasant that virtually any other pipe tobaccos.  I haven't tried any of my plugs in a helluva long time.  I have about 2/3 of a brick of plug tobacco wrapped in foil here in my office desk drawer.  It smells wonderfully, and is deeply earthy.  It is a dark, DARK brown that is almost, but not quite a shade of black. 
  
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PipeTobacco

PCS - 8.5.... been thinking about them a lot and the memories of brisk, cold days with a warm pipe held in my paws has been tempting me.

Contentment Score - Perhaps a "7" today as I ended up being quite happy with my upper division lecture today in neurology.  Sometimes, because I teach this particular class in alternating years with other upper division courses (last year I was teaching endocrinology at this time), I worry about having my segues "up-to-snuff" and worry that my lecture will feel less robust and less polished than I would like to provide for the students.