serinde

...that anyone who is looking for a kitty, or knows someone who is looking for a kitty, should contact nedlnthred (or me, for transmittal of message). She is trying to home several cats, of varying ages, temperaments, and color patterns. Contact Our Matchmakers Now!

(Should have pictures to post by next week. Particularly of young Ingelram, as plucky a tabby kitten as you have ever met. And incredibly snuggly, too! with the tiniest purrs!)

Pre-announcement: Lo, there shall be a pool party on Fri., July 4th. Mail will go out anon; this is just the mark-your-calendars notification.

...left in my voicemail today, transcribed verbatim:

"Hi Victoria it's me, XXXXX, from Payroll. Uh, it is the change of rate for Smith John is fine, so if he needs to multiply hours times 9.85 that is the rate as he is supposed to get, is fine. But if you want call me back, please 19999. All right? Bye bye."

(Generated by me asking about the fact that John Smith, who had had a pay increase back in March to $9.85/hr, had not seen said increase & back pay reflected in his paychecks.)

Running ist verboten, so I had a 25-minute go at the elliptical instead. I'm not entirely sure I have escaped without scathe, as things feel a little weird in the knee region and I got a twinge (in a completely different part of the joint! Hurray!) as I was walking up the stairs on my way back, but I don't actually hurt at the moment.

Our gym does not in fact have the foam roll whatsit I'm supposed to use for the illotibial thingummy, so will have to check sporting-goods-store-of-choice and do that exercise at home.

I've also been using sweh's Wii Fit, insofar as I can without doing any activities that require deep knee bends, squats, etc. (I'd guesstimate that cuts out maybe 15% of what I've unlocked as yet.) Me likey, even if I'm terrible at the ski jump. I am working out how best to integrate a daily dose into my schedule without undue disruption to his life (or mine. As I was sitting there going "well, okay, I could get up at 5am, ride my bike down, do a half hour, ride back, get ready for work, and make the 6:56 train..." Um yeah maybe not).

(This was last week Thursday, I'm just running behind.)

sedai and Non-Livejournal-Member Mr. sedai, in a spirit of purest kindness and friendship that I cannot possibly requite, gave me their spare ticket to this show. I'd seen Buffett once before, sort of, when I drove Mr. sedai (who was not that, then) to a show out at Jones Beach, since he was not car-enabled; that being an open amphitheatre, I was perfectly happy to sit out on top of my car and listen to the tunage while lolling in the warm summer air (as I was accustomed to doing in my broke high-school and college years), but about 1/3 of the way through someone who had a spare ticket just gave it to me, so I got in anyways. There's something weirdly trendlike, here.

Anyways: a fantastic show, and a fantastic time. The man's not any younger, but it quite simply doesn't matter. He loves what he does, and we love what he does, and that's all any of us need. It was also of particular moment for me: you positively cannot listen to Jimmy Buffett and not feel mellow and good and hopeful.

OMG HE PLAYED "SOUTHERN CROSS" OMG OMG OMG. And "One Particular Harbour", which is one of my big favorites, but I did not think it was big enough to get concert play. And one of the encores was "Glory Days", which I found really nifty; I don't tend to think of him having a crossover with Springsteen, y'know?

Also, I smuggled in a hip flask of dark rum past the Myrmidons of Madison Square Garden, because I am that damn good.

In an unusually efficient morning, I achieved X-rays, specialist appointment, and physical therapy. And I was still in work by noon. Go Me.

My damage appears to be uneven wearing and grinding of cartilage. Cause unknown, since I couldn't point to any trauma; the frontrunners for guilt are the leg extension weight machine, which is apparently evil on your knees, and/or the way I was trying to correct my running stride since I tend to land on the outside of my feet. Whatever the reason, what seems to be going on is that my quadriceps are MIGHTY!~ and have told the rest of my muscles "oh get out of the way you useless sods, let me do it" so that when I move my knee, it's Doin It Rong, and the connective tissue has thus become very unhappy, and worn, and inflamed.

So, here is what I have to do:

- 600mg vitamin I, 2x daily (morning and night)
- No running.
- Yes elliptical.
- No deep-knee stretches or movements or aggravations.
- No leg extension machine, for it is Evil.
- Single-leg bridges, 2 reps of ten, on each side (for to strengthen my glutes. Apparently my ass is not mighty enough)
- I.T. band roller stretch, 2 min on each side (this hurts like a motherfucker)
- 3 or 4-inch stepdown on the right side, making sure my left knee does not turn inward when I step, 2 reps of ten
- Come back three more times in the next several weeks for PT followups
- Come back and see the boss doctor in a month.

At that latter point, he will see how it's going, and judge whether this will be sufficient or whether bigger juju will be required. (I'm okay with that.)

After a good deal of advice and input after my post earlier this week, I have modified things a bit. First, adding stretching. Second, per the Mayo Clinic, I'm going to aim for 12 reps of any given weight, whereat the twelfth rep should be barely do-able.

This ended up being a little disjoint, as a) I was pressed for time and b) there were a lot of zombiepunks bogarting machines. IT'S SUMMER, CHILDREN, GO THE FUCK HOME.

5 min. elliptical
Stretching. I went through the usual round of pre-aikido stretches, which cover most of the body.
Lateral pull-down: 12 reps @ 50 lbs
Modular shoulder press: 12 reps @ 4 lbs <-- higher
Leg extension: 12 reps @ 3 lbs <-- higher
Fly: 12 reps @ 2 lbs <-- hard.
I started doing the pullover, but I'm really convinced it is just too large for me. I'm feeling it in all the wrong places. So I gave over.
Seated Row: 12 reps @ 40 lbs.
Assisted chin-up: 10 reps @ 100 lbs. <-- higher
Assisted dip: 10 reps @ 100 lbs <-- higher (Remember, these two are counterweight-operated, so the less it's set to the more of your own weight you're dealing with.)

All email sent from my work account has my full name in the GECOS field.

All email sent from my work account has my full name in the .signature.

People keep responding to email from my work account with my name variably, and invariably, misspelled.

5 min. on the elliptical blah blah.

Lateral raise: 2 reps of 10 @ 2lbs
Modular shoulder press: 2 reps of 10 @ 3lbs
Pullover: 2 reps of 10 @ 3lbs <--- raised this weight
Leg extension: 2 reps of 10 @ 2lbs
Leg Something Else That Does Hamstrings: 2 reps of 10 @ 2lbs
Assisted dip: 2 reps of 10 @ 115lbs
Assisted chin-up: 2 reps of 10 @ 115lbs. I changed to yet a third hand position, whereat it did seem to be using my back more than my arms.
Back To The Old Fly Machine: 2 reps of 10 @ 2lb. Grindingly hard.
Seated Row: 2 reps of 10 @ 25lbs. This was mostly to kill time while waiting for the situp bench.
13 situps on the angle bench, where at the 13th I got a charley horse...in my left hip. I mean, what?! (I have a suspicion this was delayed result from one of the leg machines.) Anyways, I deemed it prudent to stop at that point.

I think I'm doing some of these wrong, because I'm not always feeling it where the helpful colored-in muscle diagram says I should. And I think I may be doing them in an infelicitous order. And I definitely shouldn't be generating charley horses. Anyone recommend a book or a non-bozotic web site on these deep matters?

I have been staggeringly useful until 3pm, what with work and purchasing of food and booze. Now I have swimming pool, and a Singapore Sling (which, since I had no lunch, has knocked me three sheets to the wind), and good company, and I am well-content.

Enjoy the moment, yes?