Gearing Up

A very hot, windy day where I work, but no issues walking, so the hallux is holding up okay. I schlepped an Amazon return into Whole Foods, where I usually get my lunch, and because of the weather I decided to splurge for a 2-liter bottle of iced tea to pour from during the afternoon. Well, enough of it was left over by the time for my homeward commute that I took it home along with my laptop and, while I was glad to have it during the few minutes in direct sunshine waiting for the local bus, I really can't carry that much stuff any more over great distances. But I'm home now, the All-Star game is underway, I cannot believe France is out of the World Cup on Bastille Day!, and I'm ready for bed again. More heat tomorrow but I'm working from home again.

The Calm Before

No baseball (Home Run Derby doesn't count, particularly as they've changed the rules again and none of it really matters anyway), no footie, weather is decent enough to have had the windows open for a few hours this morning but we're back to AC... I feel like I'm in a holding pattern again. I got nothin'. Work is well in hand, took a couple hours PTO as I felt positively drugged, but nothing much to watch...

Steamy

I didn't go out today, although Robin's been downstairs to the front door at least once with an Amazon pickup (I laid out my weekly pills and supplements this morning and found I needed to order more of the latter, so those will be here any minute), but the heat still permeates and makes us both feel kind of drugged. So I watched some Tour de France and both NY baseball teams (so not worth it) and odd sports like cricket, but mostly rested and did the dishes and... oh yeah, steamed about 7 shirts for work, so I consider that a good day. Next I'll have to get up enough energy (which I did NOT have today) to get back on the exercise bike. But for now, I'm catching up on my debit accounts...

Through to the Semis!

I can't believe I'm undergoing World Cup withdrawal, but I really got into it this year. I mean, I'm not as obsessive as our mayor, but once you get to the quarter finals (even the Gang of 8) there have been some enjoyable games. And I didn't expect England to beat Norway, so the fact that they did made it even more fun for this binational household. Certainly more fun than the crispy rice hot dog we had at Kura. Folks, please stay away from that, if you value your palates and stomachs. Other than that, the sushi was lovely, the food shopping reasonable, and my hallux behaved. Next on the weekend agenda, catching up on personal finances (as opposed to inherited ones) and steaming some tops to wear to work because I'm definitely not going to want to do that with the rising temps.

Silly Site o' the Day

We continue to enjoy the World Cup as the quarter finals start to wrap up, but I'm not sure I'd go to this sort of lengths even if I had this person's immense talents:

 Via Laughing Squid.

The Perils of Speaking Too Soon

I honestly thought the reupholstering of my orthotics had taken care of the hallux soreness. Even bragged about how I could walk again to my coworkers today. Alas, lots of walking and standing about (especially the latter) during the World Cup watch at the office (where we were treated to tasty food from our San Antonio branch as they'd lost the basketball bet, and of course everyone shows up for food so the queue was pretty long) did enough damage that the blister was back by the time I got home. So my conclusion is that it was me staying off the foot last week and not really going anywhere that contributed to the healing. Not doable going forward, alas, especially with an upcoming vacation after Labor Day. Ah well, I'll make do the way I've been making do for the last 18+ months, I suppose. It's not debilitating, just painful, so I'll be careful. For now, I'll just rest.

A Day Without World Cup

I had the opportunity yesterday to watch the Egypt-Argentina match either in my office or out on Manhattan West Plaza, but after the first half I was kind of falling asleep so opted to go back to my workstation instead. Fortunately we recorded the playback on our home DVR last night, and I finally watched that this morning. And yeah, I can see where the corrupt FIFA (but I repeat myself) seems to have greatly favored Argentina, especially on that brilliant disallowed goal, but unlike the overturned American red card it's not like you can prove anything was amiss. So it was fun to hear the incident alluded to by our footie-loving mayor this morning, and I think going forward I'm going to record all the remaining games, or at least tomorrow's as that will be taking place as I get ready to leave the office for my homeward commute. Meanwhile, the NY baseball teams are either winning or losing, and both could really use an All Star Game break.

Learning to Walk

Today was the acid test for whether the newly-upholstered orthotics have really made the difference in my no longer having foot pain, as it involved a bit of walking during my commute. So far so good, the bump on my left hallux may take a little time to fully heal (as is the case for diabetics) but it doesn't appear anything is pushing it into the shoe any more. And I can walk a lot faster without pain and without limping, provided I reteach myself how to do that. I keep expecting, pardon the pun, the other shoe to drop, and it hasn't happened yet, so I just have to retrain my body how to walk normally without a limp and hope the rest of me gets properly aligned again. It's been bad for at least a year and a half, so the sudden absence of pain is delightful.

Easing In

I was right, I didn't sleep well at all last night, maybe 3-4 hours at most, and it took its toll today. Thank goodness it was a work-from-home day! I'd also been tossing and turning over work stuff which came to fruition today when I could least handle it, but it's out of my hands now and moved up the chain of command so I think I'll sleep well tonight. Especially as the US men look to be going down in World Cup defeat. Serves our country right for having the grifter in chief get involved.

Footies

The heat continues to dissipate, so for the first time in almost a week (not counting when I had to move my car) we went out today to do our grocery shopping. And my left hallux no longer hurt! Whatever the shoe place did when they reupholstered my orthotics, it worked like a charm. So happy I can now make plans to actually walk when we're in England! Might have been nice to get some sleep this evening, as I have work in the morning, but too many idiots decided they had to shoot off more fireworks despite the torrential rains this evening, and besides, England beat Mexico in a World Cup game for the ages, so we had to stay up for that. I suspect I'll be something of a zombie tomorrow.