Good morning.

Given the date, I think Jay's excellent "report" is a stand-alone, rather than a daily, so here's a place to start today....

Marj--good to see "real life" coming back. We know you've been on heavy care duty.

Murray--sounds like "run for fun" wins!  I found something similar years ago when I discovered I'd inevitably run faster in marathons if I just focused on relaxing.  (Of course, "faster" is relative here )

RCG--are you getting paid by the state parks office?   (Tribee got us state parks license plates a couple years back, in part because we used to have a tent that looked just like that one.)

Henry--Toronto's got sooooo much talent!  They're bound to break through sometime.  And don't overdo it on the rehab.

sub7--that sounds quite similar to my routine since my meniscus blow-up. So far, so good.

Surly--good on the negative COVID results.

Mike--yeah, I'm looking at that shot later this year, too. Ouch.

Starr--glad you checked in.  Good luck on managing the meds; they sound like a lifesaver.

Steve--where do you get your trees?

I've been looking at the various billings for my surgery in March and I wish someone would explain how all that works.

I don’t know the specifics of your case, of course, but a major trend in recent years has been private equity groups buying up physician practices to maximize profits by having docs—especially ER docs and anesthesiologists--work primarily “out of network.” That is, they don’t join any of the insurance networks and are therefore free to charge whatever they want, since those network agreements are what help keep a lid on medical costs. Those crazy rates you cite are what the uninsured and out of network patients get charged. Those types of whopping charges are often at the root of “surprise billing” you may have heard about and, more generally, skyrocketing medical debt. Of course, there is no "network" for Medicare, and the feds, not the docs, set the payment rate based on actual value of service provided. New regs this year are trying to clamp down on some of this surprise billing. (BTW, most of this info is spillover from TriBee's work.)

Pouring rain here, so I suspect it'll be a washout for me.

Sorry about your friend, Leslie -- always a tough situation, and more common as we all age.

Starr! Nice to have you back. It sounds like you're taking good care of yourself -- keep it up! Pedego makes some nice e-bikes in a variety of styles; our first time riding e-bikes was on a pair of rental Pedegos in Tucson a few years ago. The League of American Bicyclists just released their "Bike Friendly State" rankings and Minnesota was #5 (Michigan was #11, Virginia #7). And I was just reading about a great-sounding 100+ mile paved trail in MN that goes north out of Brainerd. Ever hear of it?

 

Pouring rain here, so I suspect it'll be a washout for me.

I empathize. It's generally agreed in these parts that this was one of the worst Aprils we've ever had and it continues into May. One indicator is that this is my DW's birthday and it's the first time I can recall that I'm unable to make her a rhubarb pie simply because the rhubarb isn't far along enough in its growth (maybe a week or two behind). It's too carpy again for a walk or ride this morning, and this afternoon I'll be over at MIL's apartment putting in the finishing touches (hanging pictures, mirror, etc.). Next week? Could hit 80s!

I keep forgetting to mention this, but do any of you here who are in academia familiar with and have access to JSTOR? There’s a paper on there of interest to me, but without a subscription I can only read it online and would prefer a PDF so I can print it out and more easily study the maps, etc. The paper is titled The Prehistoric Great Lakes of North America (Hough circa 1961) (I found it easily via Google). Anyway, if I’m not asking anything unethical, I’d appreciate getting a copy of it.

Tet - the race cancellation was not weather related at all (since I talked about rainy weather and the race cancellation I can see how that was misread to assume the cancellation was weather related - my bad for not being more clear on that).   the trail race runs the perimeter of a lake reservoir and there is one area where a small footbridge goes across the water and that bridge is broken right now. You CAN follow a short trail that goes around the bridge and you have to cross through a small-ish amount of water (maybe 6-8" if that) but per the RD, the BLM who controls that area won't give permits for an event with that bridge being out. Honestly, this should have been a detail that could have been taken care of weeks if not months ago - either getting the bridge fixed, or finding out back then (not 48 hrs in advance) that the race couldn't happen with that potential liability out there.  Lots of folks pretty po'd about last minute cancellation and I can't blame them. If they had been putting in the training for either the 30k or 50k, they could have chosen another race had this been a known factor. Since I run out there occasionally, I knew that bridge was out and had been all winter and wasn't sure how the race was going to happen just knowing the potential for injury liability (my personal injury law background coming out here. lol ) .  I had a gut feeling this could happen and that's why I didn't register for it. I was just going to show up the morning of and register if it was actually a go.

So with that said, the race cancellation yesterday kinda took the wind out of my sails and I had zero gumption to go run after work. Did not help that it was heavy rain and quite windy too.  I may run this afternoon, but not entirely sure. I'm coordinating a dog adoption between a dog we have in a foster home, who got spayed yesterday, and a gal that is adopting her but she works until 5:00. So if I'm able to get out of work early, I may get in some miles before facilitating the adoption at 5:00. Who knows what the day will hold!

Leslie - I'm glad it's not a tear in there! That's good news!  Now, to figure out how to tx the PF in the quickest but most complete way so it doesn't keep recurring. But eliminating a tear I'm sure is a relief since that would be a long healing time.

Happy Friday everyone.

Dnaff, the additional dog 🐕 walking will benefit you as well. How old is your dog?

Tammy,  I have been so impressed with your races and daily running miles, way to go sister.

Holly, sorry to hear about the parentheses in your job.

Praying the perfect one for you will come your way.

Stumpy. How is quarenten treating you?

Thanks everyone for your warm comments and best wishes for me. I missed you all and I am so glad to be on the other side of treatments.

Today I walked up Kermel grade, a tough walk, but it was worth it since I was was able to harvest a handful of wild asparagus.2.5 miles of walking.

Hi Masters.

The surgeon had said, and it is in the post-surgery instructions, that a little walking would be good for me. I did a little walking around the house this morning and it felt OK. So DW and I went out this afternoon for a very, very EZ 1.3 miles. It did feel good to be up and about a little bit and to get some fresh air. But now I’m going back to bed.

Jay

So my day started off a bit strange and has continued to be strange!!

First my friend I planned on carpooling with told me she was running over 10 minutes behind and for me to go ahead.So I did, but there was absolutely no traffic going into Boston and I really could have waited for her. 
Then I walked to the hospital and added a little extra

to hit 1 mile. Just as I got it I realized I left my ID badge in the car!!!! This floor is really tough to work on without a badge so I walked the .8 miles back to the garage. Just as I walked out of the garage to head back, I missed the shuttle and did the walk back to the hospital!! 2.7 miles to start my day and only a tad late as floor report had just finished!!

The entire day has been strangely quiet in triage - hope I didn’t curse us but we have just over an hour to the day so even if the bus pulls up, it’s still been a strange day!!

Oh and I did a 10 minute standing core class on my Peleton app    Happy Friday Friends

Sorry Mike- I was afraid of that.

Mike, I remember a very sore arm from the shingles shot, but otherwise I was fine.    Glad you got the  shot, though  - sounds much better than getting shingles!

Tammy, that's crazy about the bridge being out for months and the race being cancelled on short notice.  I'd have been angry if they did that when I ran there, because we drove halfway across the country to get there!  Of course it was a vacation road trip too, but still...

Jay, happy to hear you got out for a walk!

I spent the day with DD and grandson Levi.  First I babysat Levi while DD taught a yoga class in her community center, and then we went to a local park for our annual mothers day hike, a few days early.  It was warm in town, so we let Levi play in the creek.  So 3 miles walking for the day.