I am so goddamn sad he's retiring.

But hey! We could get another Kennedy in the House! @@

In theory, a sloth should be a lot less work than a puppy. I mean, it's not like you'd have to walk it, right?

Couldn't you just hang a branch over a drop cloth?

I'm going miss Barney Frank.

Wow, I have no idea what I'd submit for this challenge. And that makes me sad. I'm mentally walking through my apartment, and there are a lot of things I love, but nothing that sets itself apart. That's bumming me out.

Warning - rant ahead:

So I hit the trifecta of pain in my leg this weekend/week. I started having problems with my foot (I've had similar ones before) on Saturday, but I could still get around OK enough to walk into town and do some errands and get lunch. When I got back home, I noticed my ankle was twinge-ing a little, but didn't give it much thought. I dosed on ibuprofen and spent a quiet night at home.

Sunday, the ankle still hurt a little, as did the foot, but still not enough to ping me. I again walked into town, got brunch and watched the first half of the Pats game. When I got home, the ankle felt a little worse.

You see where I'm going with this.

When I got up off the couch later that night, I could barely hobble. Also, I noticed my knee was starting to feel a little twinge-y as well. Finally warning lights go off.

Come Monday morning I'm even more hobbled, the knee is now definitely an issue, and so I have to call in sick. Because of how we remote in to work, I can't really work from home because I have a Mac (I have to request a laptop when I have an on-call week, and they won't issue a long-term one for this particular reason). This makes me feel bad because, a) I'm a little stir-crazy after spending the last two days relatively housebound, b) I called in sick last Tuesday (after a Monday holiday) because I was down with some fever-y/ache-y thing from Sunday to Tuesday, and c) this is now the second weekend I haven't been able to do much of anything I wanted to because I'm incapacitated.

This morning, the ankle and the foot felt better, though not 100% by any means, but now the knee is hobbling me. So I'm out another day and going even stir-crazier.

I'd really love some less-pain-ma because if I need to call in a third day, I need a doctor's note and getting to a doctor is going to be as difficult as getting to work if the knee hasn't improved. Also, I hate taking this many doses of ibuprofen for this long a period.

None of these symptoms are new (I have a number of joint problems), but I've never had them cascade this quickly before. It's like a perfect storm.

The biodiversity project.

Awesome!

This thing!

One of the more hilarious lemurs. Check out its ground moves! [link] And, just because I can, here's the mating dance of the blue-footed booby. "Hey babe, these feet? Totally blue." [link]

I dunno--can a sloth be trained to not shit on the floor?

Probably not. In the wild they're some of the most dedicated tree-dwellers around - and yet, despite the danger to a creature that would be hard pressed to outrun a glacier, they invariably come to the ground to defecate. (Apparently they view ground level as one gigantic litter box.) On the plus side, however, they only go once a week.

That's awful, Frank. It sounds like a trip to the doctor might be a good idea, though.

Ouch, Frank!

It sounds like a trip to the doctor might be a good idea, though.

See, I have, and it's always the same treatment - ice, elevate when possible, stay off it, NSAIDs. For the knee once there were also some exercises, but I can't really do them at this point (it's more for after the incident). It's a combination of arthritis, a years-ago sprain, and walking for decades without arch supports and flat feet.

I just really need to start reading the warning signs a little better, so I'm kinda kicking myself (if I could, which I can't at the moment). The last twinge like this I had was in my other ankle and only lasted one afternoon and evening with minimal treatment, so it's hard to tell what's really going to be a problem.

woke up with stomach yuck. waves of yuck every couple of hours. do not like.