Stuff

 

Trying to keep my focus and trying to get things off my plate today to attempt to have a smoother weekend.  Some random thoughts:

• One of my Brother-in-Laws (husband of my wife's sister) has had a major milestone birthday occur this week.  He has now officially turned 70.  My wife and I are planning to have him and my SIL over later this afternoon to have a miniature celebration.  We are going to play euchre together for a few games, then go out to dinner.  He is tremendously fond of Snicker candy bars, so in addition to a more traditional birthday gift, we are giving him 70 Snicker candy bars ("Fun Sized" not full sized).  We found four different Snicker varieties available and are mixing them together in a wrapped box.  We also bought him a fun birthday cake (it is the shape of, and is also decorated... to look like a taco) to have as well.   
• I did my running today.  I am working to get back the joy I used to feel from running.  There have been three things that have made running much less than joyful for a while now.  1)  it was a frustratingly slow time to get rid of the damn plantar wart that was on my heel and was painful, and 2) the compensating I did because of the pain of the damn plantar wart caused me to change my gait in a way that ended up starting my plantar fasciitis, and c) ever since I tripped over a piece of gravel late last fall, I have felt a bit nervous/gunshy about running.  When I trip and fall and skin myself up, it is painful, and it gets me to worrying quite a bit about what could happen.  My wife's own issue with her knee has also given me a lot of concern (for her of course, but here... today....  I am meaning I am seeing it in the framework of "What if that happened to me?" as well).  All of the above has made running much more of a chore, and a fearful one as well..... and that is NOT GOOD.  The exercise of running is a) tremendously helpful for my emotional health by dissipating stress, and b) healthful for me as it keeps a lot of my systems healthier than they otherwise would be.  So.... it is an important task for me to turn around my fear and sourness about running back into a joy like it had been.   I am hoping now that I am back outside running, that this may help me again acquire the joy.  
• One of my friends was still at the Retiree's Cigar Group when I arrived very late yesterday.  He is the fellow I think I mentioned before that goes by his nickname of a number instead of his name.  Everyone calls him "23" and he likes it that way.  "23" is the number of his cigar locker at the shoppe.  I do not think he likes his actual name, which is a rather rare, not particularly popular name which was more widely used in the late 1800s.  His wife has stopped in a couple of times and addresses him by his real name, and we all usually are taken a bit aback by this at first, because she is the only one who uses his real name.  He often talks about his time in Vietnam, or about different aspects of the many classic cars he has and relishes (a late 60s Corvette, a classic Mustang, a Rolls Royce, Jaguars (two), or about the challenges he has with trying to do any sort of renovations on his old victorian home because it has been now included in the towns historical district, and the rules for renovation are now extremely stringent.  Relatively recently he had also celebrated his birthday.  He turned 83. 
• Today is one of those days where I am carrying around an empty pipe and having it almost be a "pacifier" of storts for me.  I miss them very much.
•  At a committee meeting this morning, the Chairperson of the Honors Committee startled me a bit.  She is roughly my age, and I have known her for well over 30 years.  Today, at our meeting, when she opened her mouth, I was surprised to see that she now was sporting a mouth full of braces..... with the traditional, old-school rubber bands and all.  I was rather taken aback.  I DO KNOW and realize that folks are NOW often getting braces well into their 40s..... BUT, I had never heard of anyone getting them in their 60s!  In fact, I had once asked my dentist about this perhaps 10-12 years ago when I was a lot younger than now.... and he intimated that it is usually not "recommended" at my age.  Now, whether or not that is true today, I guess I do not know.  Or, perhaps it was also related to and in conjunction with my TMJ... again I do not know.   But, I do know that seeing my friend (the Chair) today with braces had me imagining and wondering.... not that I want to consider them any longer.... but, wondering if I had somehow had them earlier in life, if perhaps they would have diminished my TMJ or even eliminated it?  I will never know.  
• Not sure if many (or any) of my blog readers will know or be able to identify the fellow in the image at the top of this post.  As I always strive to do, I try to have at least an ancillary connection of the image to an aspect of the post.  

PipeTobacco