I Met Tony Shaloub Today!

Actor Tony Shaloub was guest lecturer today at Mott Community College (part of the Ballenger Eminent Persons Lecture Series). Actutally, it was more of an interview, with the stage set to look like the office of Dr. Bell, Mr. Monk's psychiatrist.

Shaloub was funny, gave lots of good advice for young actors, and talked about his career. At the end many of us walked up to the stage to get our programs autographed. Although the organizers did not take this into consideration and Shaloub had to move on to his next engagement, he signed programs and DVDs for as many people as he could. I didn't really get a chance to talk to him but I got a big smile when I handed him a wipe to take on the plane (they never clean those tray tables, you know). :) What a wonderful, funny man. I'm just sorry he had to rush off.

Congratulations on the Arab American of the Year Award you'll be receiving tomorrow night, Mr. Shaloub!

The Cat Who Fetches

Misty, our 9.5 month old kitty, likes to fetch. She brings toys for me to throw, but she also likes to explore the basement and bring me whatever she finds. Here's what she's fetched so far:

* bubble wrap sheets (on several occasions)

* a strip of dried caulk (I have no idea where she found that!)

* a phone jack

* a tupperware lid (I have no idea where the matching freezer container is)

Isn't she clever? She certainly keeps me guessing! I just hope she doesn't start bringing me mice. (So far, so good.)

Why the Government Shouldn't Run the Post Office

Now that we've survived moving and are getting settled in our new house, we've noticed that we don't get much mail. My husband especially misses his daily Wall Street Journal.

Monday I filled out the change of address form at the Post Office, thinking that it would only take a couple of days for our forwarded mail to start arriving. After all, this is what happened the last time we moved (just a year and half ago).

Today I stopped by the Post Office to find out what happened to our mail. Silly me! I assumed the change of address would be handled by the local Post Office, but no!, it's being done at a major P.O., probably Detroit. Once our new address is entered in the system, we'll be notified and our mail delivery will resume. In the meantime, our mail is piling up in some other P.O., probably Detroit, and we can't even pick it up.

If that weren't frustrating enough, I asked how long it might take to get our new address in the system. Hold on to your socks: at least a week, maybe two. By the time the P.O. figures out where we live, we'll have a BOX of Wall Street Journals waiting for us, not to mention our regular mail, and all the junk we usually just throw away. SIGH.

What would Ben Franklin think of his Post Office? Maybe, like me, he'd think someone more efficient than the government should be running it.

Tendonitis Update

As my faithful readers (all two of you) may recall, I haven't blogged much since February because I was busy doing physical therapy for tendonitis (tennis elbow type) while working full-time. The therapy was in Lansing (an hour away) because that was the only place where I could get low-level pulsed-laser therapy in addition to the usual stuff. That 6-hours-a-week really ate into my usual work time, so I was behind all semester. I can't tell you how relieved I was when the semester was finally over!

At first the therapy helped a lot. The pain decreased tremendously and instead of looking damaged/atrophied, my elbow looked almost normal. It even quit hurting when the weather changed. After four weeks, it improved so much that I began to hope PT would heal my tendon once and for all, especially when my sports doc ordered four more weeks of therapy in hope of doing just that.

During week 5 or 6, I had a flare-up. I was lifting something (I don't remember what) out of the grocery cart when pain suddenly shot up my arm. I do remember that the item wasn't heavy and that I was very surprised by the pain. Unfortunately, it didn't improve even with more physical therapy.

I saw the sports doc again when I finished therapy and he decided it was time to talk about surgery. After a couple discouraging doc visits, including a second opinion from a hand/arm specialist with no bedside manor, I was referred to Dr. Rook in Rochester. I really like him and his bedside manor! Fri., May 22 he'll be doing surgery to repair my tendon.

The surgery is outpatient so I'll be back home the same day. Dr. Rook says the tendon pain will go away as soon as he fixes the tendon (removes damaged area and sews everything back together). Recovery will take 6-12 weeks, during which I can't lift even a gallon of milk until Dr. Rook says I'm ready.

Right now my arm still looks really swollen and it's pretty sore. (I can't take my pain med the week before surgery since it may cause bleeding.) I'm am relieved and excited to know that soon it will be fixed and the chance of recurrence is very low. After four years of chronic pain, I'm ready to say good-bye to tendonitis!

I'm not sure how much I'll be able to type, so after the surgery it might be a while before I'm blogging again.