My most recent trip to physical therapy was somewhat less than stellar. I saw a new PT – this is the 5th person I’ve seen – and while he was quite pleasant, he wasn’t that effective. He did tell me to stop using the brace in the flexion mode since it appeared I have a physical limit there. Instead, I should spend time in extension mode since they think I can get a little more out of it.

So, I’ve been going for 40-45 minutes in a session with the brace and discovered something. With that extra bit of time and cranking, I can take the “rack” to the limit. My arm, then, is as straight as it will go. It hurt quite a bit and it doesn’t last, but it’s something. I’ve been trying to do more with heat first and cold after and I guess/hope that it’s helping. Sure don’t want 3 more months of this.

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I’m on my feet all day at work (by choice, I have a standing desk) and I walk around a lot when I’m not at work. As a consequence, I’m rough on my shoes and I had to get a new pair for work.

Now, I’m not a fan of shoes in general – I would much rather be barefoot or wear flip flops – and I freaking hate shopping for shoes.

Mostly because I don’t understand the subtle nuance of shoes that can make two virtually identical pairs cost vastly different amounts. I saw a pair that would have worked at Walmart – though they didn’t have my size, of course – for $30. At another store, nearly identical shoes were $80. Right next to the $70 flip flops. If I spent $10 on flip-flips, I expect them to be pre-bedazzled.

I ended up going to three different stores before I found a reasonable style, at reasonable price, in my size.  I am very thoroughly a size ten in shoes.

Why was that so difficult? Is it because I don’t buy into the shoe mystique? What I really need is a no-hype shoe store. I don’t really care abut the presumed features or the pedigree of the designer, I just don’t want to get in trouble at work for not wearing shoes.

I’m sure we have a rule about that.

So, tomorrow, I’m wearing my new shoes for the first day since I got them and I’ll be breaking them in.

And maybe planning a new career change in shoe sales.

“Anthony’s No Hype shoes”, maybe?
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Since I’m a compulsive folder, I always have little squares of paper in my pocket. It’s pretty much – keys, wallet, phone, paper and pen… when I head out the door.

When something happens or occurs to me while I’m out and about, I’ll jot down a note so I can write about it later. It’s usually just a word or two to help me remember what was going on or what I was thinking about. I’ll carry around the paper for a few days until I’m ready to blog, then I’ll use that as a reference. For example, the paper for today has:

Limit (as in, I took the brace to the limit)
Shoes (of my shoe shopping trip)
Finger (about getting flipped off while driving)
idle (about idle games on my phone)

I’ve covered two today and I’ll write about finger and idle some other day.

Also on that paper, though, is the word:

Suitable.

I have no idea what that’s about. Was it a pun? Was it ironic? It must have been significant at the time, but I don’t know what it’s about. I think I just created a mystery for myself and I suppose I could retrace my steps and figure out what it meant, but I suspect it’s not really that important.

Not that this blog is going to usher in a new age of civilization or anything, but I’m guessing this was even less important.

In any case, I’ve only got a few days to work it out before I start a new piece of paper – which will be right around the time I write about those other two items.