Steven Harper's Blog, page 27
May 31, 2022
Shoulder Surgery 20 (Peaks and Valleys)
Last time I wrote, I'd been searching for a pain specialist to see if anything else could be done. I finally found one and went in to consult with him. The doctor, who was startlingly good-looking in an Abercrombie & Fitch kind of way, basically told me there wasn't much he could do. When I told him the meds I had didn't take the pain away; they only made me high enough that I didn't care, he laughed a little and said that's basically how all painkillers work. He did prescribe a topical agent, a hyped-up version of Aspercreme. I tried it as directed, but it didn't seem to help.
By now, my shoulder ached or actively hurt a lot, nearly continuously. I was supposed to have a regular follow-up appointment with the surgeon in several weeks, but I moved it up so I could talk to him about it.
When I arrived at the doctor's office for that meeting, a numb lassitude came over me. I sat in the waiting room with my head hanging. I didn't have the energy even to look at my phone. I recognized it as a heavier version of the shutdown that always came over me when I went in for physical therapy and a reaction to the shitty treatment that the anesthesiologist and the nurses gave me.
The nurse called me in, and I trudged into the examination room. I tried to shake off the lassitude so I could concentrate, but ... not so easy. I muttered one-word answers to her questions and waited for the doctor to show up. He breezed into the room as he always does and I managed to rouse myself enough to explain to him that I was still in enough pain to keep me awake at night, and that I had to take heavy-duty painkillers two or three times a week.
He ran an examination (push this way, pull that way, move this other way), and said I shouldn't be in pain, so he wanted an MRI. It was either that, or make an incision for a camera to look around. Naturally, I opted for the MRI. The doctor told me not to do further physical therapy and to avoid using my arm at home for at least a week, then resume "gentle" exercise.
I scheduled the MRI. Their next appointment was almost two weeks away, and afterward, it would be another four days before an appointment with the doctor to evaluate it. That was a long time to wait to find out if I would need more surgery. There was no way I'd let anyone at that clinic touch me again. If the doctor recommended more surgery, I would quickly find someone else. I was only staying at this place because I was moving soon and I didn't want to transfer my care twice in a short time. But more surgery from this place? Not in a hundred thousand years.
Later at home, I realized I had no idea what the doctor meant by "gentle exercise." Easy, no-strain lifting? A little strain? Stretching? Could I run? I had no idea. What one person sees as "gentle," another sees as "heavy." To me, a "gentle" run would be 40 minutes at level four on my treadmill, but to someone who doesn't jog, that would be "heavy." I finally elected to do just stretching exercises, nothing more.
The MRI appointment finally arrived, and the four days afterward dragged. I became more and more afraid I was going to need more surgery. I was even trying to figure out when would be the best time--before school started or after? Where would I find a surgeon? How would I handle the pain?
At last, the next doctor's appointment arrived. The same lassitude settled on me as I walked through the door. It was like walking through mud. Once again, the doctor breezed into the exam room and said he'd seen the MRI. "It's hard to tell for absolute certain from an MRI," he said, "but there's nothing in there that makes me say you need more surgery."
Relief washed away some of the lassitude, and this let me wake up enough to ask more pointed questions:
"Why does it still hurt so much?" It's just that way for some people. Did I need a scrip for more meds? I did not.
"When will the pain stop?" It can take up to a year to fully recover from the surgery.
"What do I do from here?" Continue gentle exercise only.
"What does 'gentle exercise' mean?" (This was the key one, and I wrote it down so I'd remember to ask it. That's depression for you.) Lifting no more than 10 pounds in front and aside. No restrictions on bicep lifting. Absolutely no overhead lifting whatsoever. Stretching is good.
"How long will it take to restore my full range of motion? I can move my arm up behind my back a lot farther than most people, but I'm hyper-flexive, and I'm nowhere near where I was pre-surgery." It can take up to a year to recover.
Okay, then.
The abusive anesthesiologist and unprofessional, foul-mouthed nurses aside, I still feel like I wasn't fully informed going into this. You hear "non-invasive" and "arthroscopic" and you think "recovery in a few weeks," not "probable agony for weeks that may or may not die down" and "physical therapy for months on end." Knowing this wouldn't have changed the results of the surgery, but it would have changed my mindset. I would have been able to prepare myself mentally for this, change my schedule, ready myself. I never got that chance because the surgeon wasn't very communicative from the outset. He does this all the time, so he knows all this stuff, and why don't I, right? This contributes to me feeling the need to shut down when I go in to the office, and I'm glad I won't be going back soon.
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The Condo Sale Debacle--With Happily Ever After
But then the buyer's mother stepped in. We heard through the realtors that Mom said it was ridiculous to pay 5.5% (the then-going rate) for a mortgage. Mom said she would buy the condo for cash and sell it to her daughter on a land contract to save on the interest. Would we be willing to cancel the daughter's offer and accept the Mom's instead?
We were fine with that. A cash offer? We're in!
A couple weeks later, all the Is and Ts had been crossed and dotted. All agreements and contracts were signed. We just needed a closing date.
Then our realtor called us with the news that Mom and daughter had gotten into a major fight, and now Mom didn't want to buy the condo for Daughter anymore. She was backing out.
The hell?
A great deal of back and forth ensued. Would we be willing to convert the cash offer to a mortgage offer from daughter? No. Why would we give up a cash offer for a mortgage offer, especially if we didn't know if Daughter would pass a credit check? Mom kept trying to drag Daughter into it, and we kept pointing out that Daughter was not officially involved. Mom was the buyer. Her relationship with Daughter, financial or emotional, had no bearing on the contract she had signed.
In the end, she still refused to buy the condo. Fortunately, there was a $5,000 earnest money deposit, which we got to keep. When it came time for us to receive the money, we learned Mom had fired her real estate agency and, it turned out, the agency hadn't properly collected and cashed her EMD--and now she was refusing to pay it. Oops. But not our problem. The agency would have to pay us the money and try to extract it from her on their own.
This they did, and we got the check. Cool!
We put the condo back on the market and two days later, we had another buyer. A better one. So there!
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The Great House Hunt of 2022
Didn't we just do this?
Actually, we're kind of happy to do it. The condo on the lake is beautiful, but the neighbors are bigots. (We've even gotten the "I'm not prejudiced. One of my family members is gay" speech from an HOA member who fought against our Pride flag.) Also, Waterford isn't a nice place to live. We've encountered a fair amount of bigotry and prejudice here, and unless you're spending money, the residents are ... unpleasant to be around. Most of the town supported--and continues to support--Trump. And guns. They love their guns in Waterford.
When we were looking for a place to live, Darwin pointed out a couple of towns that were good location-wise, but also badly conservative. I said, "I'm tired of living in a place where I have to lead the Pride parade. I want to live in a place that has an established gay community, and where I don't have to fight all the time, or worry someone will try to hit me with a brick if I hold my husband's hand in public. I've been the neighborhood LGBT ambassador for decades. I'm done now." And Darwin agreed.
We settled on Ann Arbor or Ypsilanti Township (not the city--Darwin won't live there). It's a 45-minute commute for both of us from there, more or less, and it's much more liberal and accepting than bigoted, trashy Waterford.
We set about house-hunting with Tai Chou, an agent from Ann Arbor. (If you're looking for a house in that area, get hold of him!) Unfortunately, we got caught in the seller's market. Houses were going fast. More than once, we saw a house and put in an offer, only to learn we had five competing offers. One seller said he wanted an escalation clause in every offer; if someone made a higher offer, the clause would automatically put in a offer that was even higher, until all the buyers had reached their limit. We declined to put one in, the house sold anyway. Another house we saw less than two hours after it had officially gone on the market. We told our realtor to put in an offer, and he learned the house already had seven competing offers. In less than two hours.
What's happening, of course, is that corporations and other groups are buying houses as investments. You can buy a house for $300,000, let it sit empty for a year, and re-sell it for $330,000. That's a 10% return on investment, a huge amount. These are where many of the sight-unseen offers are coming from.
Anyway, we finally found a house we liked and for which the seller accepted our offer. It's in Ypsi Township, and the location is wonderful. It's only a 10-minute drive to town, 15 minutes to a hospital. (That's important to us.) It's at the edge of a rural area, so I can ride my bike in the country, away from traffic. It's quite large, actually. Bigger than the condo. I know we were planning to downsize, but after living two years in a smaller space, we discovered we didn't really like it much. I want a garage and a basement for storage. Darwin wants dedicated spaces for work, exercise, and recreation. We both want our own yard, and neither of us wants an HOA ever again. (The house has a neighborhood HOA that mostly exists to maintain the road. We didn't see any rules or regs about what you can do outside your own house.) The en suite bathroom is a wonder. You can fight an entire football team in the shower! So we're happy with this house, even though it's a bit more expensive than the condo.
We close on June 13 and move in on June 18. Woo hoo!
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May 21, 2022
Another Take On the Teacher Shortage
But they also have this:
"Ron Stoneman, superintendent of Manistee Area Public Schools, said his district has continuous job postings open all year 'not necessarily because we have immediate vacancies, but we're trying to develop a candidate pool all the time.' "
So the district posts jobs that don't exist and collects applications, getting people's hopes up ("They have an opening in my area! Great! I have a shot") when actually there's no hope at all. Additionally, it takes FOREVER to fill out an application to be a teacher. Schools always demand your resume and then have you fill out an extensive questionnaire that exactly duplicates your resume. Then there's the background check and fingerprinting and other shit that the applicant has to pay for--all for a district that actually HAS NO OPENINGS. They're selfishly putting applicants through this tedious, hope-filled process just so the district can have a pool of applicants.
The Lansing school district does the same thing. Their web site lists more than 60 "openings" for a district of 10,600 students. There's no way a district that size will have that many openings all at once. A closer look shows they have several listings for "middle school teacher." In Michigan, middle school teachers are specialized by subject area, just like high school. You are certified to teacher, say, English for grades 6-12. Or science, 6-12. There's no such thing as a generic "middle school teacher" license. The district is obviously trolling for applicants.
These districts clearly do not respect their employees. I can see why they're feeling the pinch of the shortage. I certainly would never consider working at either place.
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stevenpiziks @ 2022-05-21T17:12:00
But they also have this:
"Ron Stoneman, superintendent of Manistee Area Public Schools, said his district has continuous job postings open all year 'not necessarily because we have immediate vacancies, but we're trying to develop a candidate pool all the time.' "
So the district posts jobs that don't exist and collects applications, getting people's hopes up ("They have an opening in my area! Great! I have a shot") when actually there's no hope at all. Additionally, it takes FOREVER to fill out an application to be a teacher. Schools always demand your resume and then have you fill out an extensive questionnaire that exactly duplicates your resume. Then there's the background check and fingerprinting and other shit that the applicant has to pay for--all for a district that actually HAS NO OPENINGS. They're selfishly putting applicants through this tedious, hope-filled process just so the district can have a pool of applicants.
The Lansing school district does the same thing. Their web site lists more than 60 "openings" for a district of 10,600 students. There's no way a district that size will have that many openings all at once. A closer look shows they have several listings for "middle school teacher." In Michigan, middle school teachers are specialized by subject area, just like high school. You are certified to teacher, say, English for grades 6-12. Or science, 6-12. There's no such thing as a generic "middle school teacher" license. The district is obviously trolling for applicants.
These districts clearly do not respect their employees. I can see why they're feeling the pinch of the shortage. I certainly would never consider working at either place.
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May 15, 2022
Complex Problem, Simple Solution
The TL;DR version is this neighborhood is named after a Confederate general and has streets with a Confederate theme (Plantation Parkway, Confederate Lane, etc.). A proposal to change the name of the subdivision and the streets has the support of half the neighborhood and has freaked out the other half.
The solution is easy! Tell everyone that, as part of the deal, one person living on each street will be selected at random. That person will have the street named after them. One grand prize winner in the drawing will get the neighborhood named after them.
Hold onto a piece of history, or BECOME part of history. Your choice. I'll bet a whole pile of residents will support the idea.
Now someone just needs to tell them.
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May 11, 2022
Noir!
Doff your fedora and step into NOIR, an sff mystery anthology PREORDER from Zombies Need Brains edited by David B. Coe & John Zakour!
A missing intergalactic artifact valuable enough to inspire murder. A cartoon gag gone bad that leads to a gruesome death. Greek deities unraveling a divine mystery in New York City. A human detective navigating the temptations of Faerie in pursuit of a magical killer. Call them sleuths, call them gumshoes, call them shamuses or dicks or beagles—these private investigators prowl the back alleys of imagination, explaining the unexplainable, seeking answers and justice for two hundred dollars a day plus expenses.
In Noir, speculative fiction authors Hal Bodner, Jessie Kwak, Esther Friesner, Travis Wade Beaty, John Zakour, Alex Bledsoe, Erik Grove, Andrija Popovic, Julie E. Czerneda, Aprilynne Pike, D.B. Jackson, Justin Jordan, Steven Harper, R.S. Belcher, and Eve Golden Woods spin tales of intrigue and danger, introducing you to worlds where information is currency and life is cheap. So put on your fedora, raise your trench coat collar against the evening chill, and come explore the shadows. But remember, in this seedy business, you can trust no one…sometimes not even yourself.
NoirKindle: https://amzn.to/3vkjdm2
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May 2, 2022
Darwin's New Job
Stockbridge hasn't had a manager in several years. When their last manager left, the village president said, "We don't need a manager. I can do the job!" and took over running the village. That was a couple-three presidents ago. The current village president and council didn't want to run the village this way anymore, so they started a search for a new manager.
Enter Darwin.
He started work on Thursday. As you might imagine, there's a lot to do! And the commute . . . it's more than an hour away from our home. Each way. It makes for an exhausting week. However, we're moving, and that's a different set of posts.
And congratulations to Darwin!
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May 1, 2022
For the Terry Prachett Fans
CARPE JUGULUM DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Themes: light vs. darkness; vampires vs. witches; two minds or single-minded?; faith vs. practicality; old ways vs. new ways; "in the blood"
PART 1 (pp. 1-65)
1. What bird do the vampyres try to kill at the beginning of the book, and how does it fit one of the themes?
2. What is special about Agnes, and how does it fit one of the themes?
3. What happened to the highwayman and who does he hold a conversation with afterward?
4. How is Mightily Oats, the preacher, similar to Agnes?
5. What decision (judgment) must Granny make with Mrs. Ivy and why does she make the choice she does?
6. What are the invitations for, and how are they especially important to the vampyres and to Granny?
7. How is Nanny changing, personality-wise?
8. What does Oats declare the baby princess’s name to be, and why does this happen?
9. What is Agnes’s attitude toward Vlad, and what is his attitude toward her?
10. What is Igor’s attitude toward the new vampyres?
11. Why does Nanny dislike Oats so much?
12. What odd object does Hodgesaargh find, and where did it come from?
13. How do Nanny and Agnes try to find the vampyres and what do they find out as a result?
14. What is Hodgesaargh looking for in the forest and how does he try to find it?
PART 2 (pp. 66-117)
1. When Agnes and Nanny arrive at Granny’s cottage, what is striking about the objects Granny has left out and what do they all mean?
2. Agnes accidentally makes a bawdy reference to buoys. How does Nanny Ogg respond to it, and why does this worry Agnes?
3. Why do people generally call on Nanny for the births and Granny for the deaths?
4. What are the young vampires doing these days with their names, and why are they doing it?
5. What is the vampire family’s attitude toward Igor, and why do they think this way?
6. Oats is encountering a problem when he tries to preach in Lancre. What is it?
7. Oats says there can only be one phoenix. Hodgeasaargh privately disagrees. Why? And how does this fit one of our themes?
8. According to Oats and Nanny, what do you always have to do to kill a vampire, and why is this funny?
9. How do Agnes and Oats sneak into the castle, and why are they able to get away with it?
10. How does Agnes persuade Magrat to leave the castle?
11. When Magrat takes charge of the situation and gives orders, Agnes realizes what is happening to her (Magrat)?
12. Where does Nanny think Granny has put her mind, and why?
13. What’s the problem the witches have with crossing the bridge in the gnarly ground, and why is Agnes/Perdita able to solve it? (Side note: Terry Pratchett was a big fan of Lara Croft.)
14. What strange object does Granny keep in a bottle, and how does it fit our themes?
15. Why does Agnes think Nanny is wrong about where Granny put herself?
16. What does “from can to can’t” mean, and how does it fit our themes?
PART 3 (pp. 118-163)
1. What is Nanny’s suggestion for how Agnes could stop Vlad, and what is Agnes’s reaction to the idea?
2. What are the pictsies like and why are they in Lancre?
3. How do the pictsies steal cattle and how does Nanny prove to Agnes and Magrat that the pictsies are dangerous?
4. What does Igor keep doing in the castle that annoys the vampires, and how does this fit one of the themes?
5. Vlad says his great-uncle lived in Don’tgonearthecastle Castle. What is the joke here?
6. How is Oats of two minds about his faith? (Look at p. 132-133.)
7. According to the Count, why does Oats have no power over the vampyres?
8. What happens when Granny challenges the Count? What does this say about the Count’s power?
9. What is the reason Nanny and Magrat abandon Agnes in the castle, and what is her attitude toward this?
10. What do the vampyres do to Granny?
11. What happens to King Verence in this section?
12. What happens when Nanny and Magrat meet Igor, and what is Igor’s reaction to Nanny?
13. How does Granny stop herself from changing into a vampire and what does the process do to her?
14. Who does Agnes wind up with at the end of this section?
PART 4 (164-201)
1. Magrat and Nanny have Igor take them into Uberwald. What event from the beginning of the novel does this parallel and how does it fit one of our themes?
2. When Agnes refuses Vlad's offer to become a vampire, she says, "I won't know good from evil." (p. 166) What is Vlad's response to that, and how does it fit a theme?
3. What do the pictsies and the Kelda do for Verence, and how does it fit a theme? Also, what do the pictsies want in return for this favor?
4. What is Granny's attitude toward faith and gods, and how does it contrast with Oats's view?
5. How do we see the theme light vs. darkness in the attitude of the other birds toward the phoenix?
6. Oats gets a mule for Granny to ride, and she says, "Neither one thing nor t'other, eh?" What does she mean by that? (You may need to look up mules.) Also, what biblical reference is Pratchett making?
7. What is the only way Granny accepts Oats's help and why does it work?
8. Multiple times, the text points out that Granny and Agnes would both make "a good vampire." What's the pun here?
9. Describe the arguments Granny and Oats have about the nature of faith.
10. How does Oats try to save Granny's life when she collapses, and how does he actually do it? How does this fit a theme?
11. How does Magrat shock Nanny (it's about Igor), and how does it fit a theme?
12. What was the old Count (the old Master) like, and why does Igor admire him?
13. How does Granny's attitude toward Oats change at the end of this section?
PART 5 (pp. 202-end)
1. What arrangement does the Count have with the town of Escrow and how does this year's visit end?
2. Oats says, "And [Om] said that we should take light into dark places." How does this fit a theme? What is the light and the dark place Oats (symbolically) is talking about?
3. What kind of prophet does Granny say she would make?
4. Before Agnes wakes up on page 215, she has an internal moment reminiscent of Granny. What does this foreshadow (since you've finished the book)?
5. Where does Agnes wake up, and what has happened to her?
6. What happens when Verence returns to the castle?
7. According to Agnes and Granny in this section, what is the definition of evil or sin?
8. The Magpyres argue quite a lot among themselves in this section. Also, on page 219, the Count asks for tea. What is this similar to, and what does this foreshadow?
9. Nanny, Magrat, and Igor use the old methods of fighting vampires--and they win. What does this say about old ways vs. new ways?
10. Why doesn't the phoenix's fire burn Granny and Oats, and what does this say about both of them?
11. What is making Agnes act more assertively on pages 229 and 230?
12. How does Magrat defeat the Countess and how is this symbolic? (Think chess.)
13. So how did Granny defeat the vampires after all, and how does it fit multiple themes?
14. What attitude do the villagers have toward the old Count?
15. Describe Oats's moment of triumph.
16. What is Granny's sentence for the young Count, and what theme does it fit?
17. In the end, what way is proved better: the old or the new? What examples do we see of this?
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April 14, 2022
Yow! and Whee!
I haven't had a migraine in months, actually, and this surprises me. I tend to get them after a period of stress has ended, and by all rights, I should have had more than one after the surgery. But . . . nothing. I haven't missed them.
So it was a bit of a surprise when little dwarfs started pounding the inside of my head while little demons started gnawing on my shoulder.
I took pain meds for my shoulder and a double dose of migraine meds for the headache, then sat up and waited. (There was no point in trying to sleep, not with double pain.) I waited . . . and waited . . . and waited. The meds weren't kicking in. The headache dug in like a cat sinking its claws into your lap. No sign of it letting up. About an hour later, the pain in my shoulder eased, and I decided to try sleeping. I managed a fitful doze. When my alarm went off, the pain was gone, but I was seriously high from the meds.
It's now near the end of first hour, and I'm still floaty. And sleepy. Gonna be a long day.
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