Bragging break

I just wanted to take a break from the political ranting and raving to brag on my little brother, who just ran a 5k race with a finish time of 23:30:05 -- that is about a 7.5 minute mile, a very respectable time, especially for someone who just started running this year! As a long-time distance runner (who's never even come close to a 7.5 minute mile -- I ran an 8 minute mile once and puked), I am very proud of him! This is him crossing the finish line (the 23:36 is gun time, which includes the time it takes to get to the starting line):

He's flyin', baby, his feet are right off the ground! Wooohoooo!

Okay, back to politics.

Temporarily off the grid

Boom! On go the lights!

I've been without hydro since last night -- the wild winds of pre-winter whipped some power lines down and plunged this whole terrified section of the grid into the big darkness. I expected it to be back on this morning, but when I got up at 5am it was still out. To add to my aggravation I felt like I was coming down with another cold -- or maybe it's the last blast of my September cold, an incredibly tenacious and muscular virus. But so what? I had the day off, so I grabbed a bottle of orange juice and took the dog for an extended run -- we ran by the beach and saw the sun come up, a welcome sight to someone who's been stumbling around in the dark for awhile. I was hoping (no more "expecting") that the power would be back on by the time I returned home. Nope. What!?

This was getting serious. I was wide awake and sweaty now, and panting for a coffee and a shower, but when you're on well water, being without hydro also means being without running water. I wasn't about to break into my emergency water supply and start a fire in the woodstove just to make a cuppa, so there was only one option: dive head-first back into my duvet, followed by 3 cats and one lethargic dog. Besides, by this time I was sneezing, hacking and snotting in the throes of a full-blown cold, so it was clearly the right thing to do.

Eight hours later this cold has unfortunately settled in, but at least I once again have hydro, running water and the internet. Did I miss anything??? (I'm almost afraid to ask.)

Sidelined

On a personal note... ouuuch. An old knee injury, the result of a long-ago event in my life as an Amateur Crash Test Dummy, flared up over the weekend. "Lift with the knees" -- gah! Yesterday I was limping and today things have degenerated to the point where I had to haul out the crutches.

This thing flares up on a semi-annual basis; in the winter it's usually due to a combination of overly-enthusiastic knee-bending and creeping arthritis; in the summer it's brought on by the half-marathon training I insist on doing despite being warned against it by doctor after doctor (but I'll keep asking different doctors until I get a the answer I want, duh!). When my knee finally snaps and it's suddenly taking me 5 minutes just to get to the coffee maker, that's 5 minutes I'm forced to spend reflecting on how this sonofabitch happened in the first place.

Me (and my left knee), Yonge Street, an evil Honda Civic: BOOM, flying. As knee injuries go, it was pretty complex -- contact with the Civic's bumper not only shattered my kneecap, but jammed some of the broken bits down into my tibia (that's a lower leg bone, perverts) and split it wide open in the process. The subsequent surgery left me with 2 stainless steel screws holding everything together and a killer-looking scar on the outside of my knee: about 6 inches long, jagged and ugly, one of those things that looks like it was done with a broken beer bottle. If nothing else, it's a great conversation piece -- "Shrapnel, 'Nam, '68", etc. Hahaha.

It's all fun and games until the malevolent ghost of the injury comes screaming back to life, then it's Advil, crutches, and "Aww, crap". Well, things could be worse -- at least I know this will go away in a few days. At this point in time, anyway.