Thursday, August 05, 2004

Cruise legs

First of all, thanks for all the comments and research you all put up on my last post!

Yesterday I went to Costco to pick up my riluzole prescription, and on the way out there were the usual milling throngs of people. As I sought to get around them, my 'cruise legs' popped into gear. I didn't do it on purpose, but suddenly I was zipping through the crowd as I would have before ALS. When I noticed how fast I was walking, I slowed down. But it's an indication of how well my legs and my energy are doing.

Yes, I do look at the Sitemeter for this blog from time to time, and today I saw this recent hit from house.gov (The United States House of Representatives):


Search Engine:
google.com

Search Words:
"rectal itch"


Now, I was curious as to when I wrote about myself having a rectal itch, because... [***Blogspot joke truncation mechanism enforced here***]. But it turns out I was writing about my son getting pinworm in his rectum.

I just hope those people in the House [***Blogspot joke truncation mechanism enforced here***].

But enough of this hilarity.

Yesterday my lovely wife and I had a date: We went to the hardware store and bought a curtain rod, some black 'chalkboard' spray paint ('Make a chalkboard on any surface!"), and a motion-sensitive night light for the bathroom (the old light-inhibited one was stuck on all the time, even during the day). The spray paint made me wonder if it would be useful in Afghanistan and Iraq, where many kids and teachers don't have basic school equipment. Typical American solution: "This can of spray paint will make schools for you! Love me now!" Did you hear about those battery-powered, talking educational devices they are going to give to women in Afghanistan? The intention is nice, but I'm not sure it will be a fit.

Yesterday my lovely wife and I dropped off some bags of used baby stuff at Goodwill (we're not planning on any more babies...) and then stopped for lunch at a cafe. My boy had gone to preschool that day with some kind of cold (perhaps 'the summer cold season,' as joked about in that cartoon, is here), so I used my lovely wife's cell phone to check our voicemail and indeed the teacher had called saying he was feeling poorly and we should pick him up. So we did.

The motion-sensitive light is now installed in the bathroom. The garage rubble has all been placed in buckets by yours truly. It'll take about six months to get rid of the rubble via the house garbage, five gallons at a time.

I was going to put in the blocking today, segments of 2x4 down at foundation level, but I started spray-painting the curtain rod parts instead. It came in white and we want it black. The stuff has all sorts of ghastly warnings on it about the lung and nerve damage from breathing the vapors.

I leaned the rods upright inside the opened wall (where I have torn the drywall out), and tacked some nails into the risers, from which I hung the small pieces. The great thing about using the open wall as a backdrop for spray painting is that it will all be closed up soon, and no one will see the spray-paint marks.

I put my eye-protection goggles on, then opened the window and door in the garage (first time we have ever opened that window), and stood outside the garage and hyperventilatd for a while. Then I went in the garage and sprayed the curtain rod components without once breathing. After another session of hyperventilation outside, I went back in, locked up the room, and exited to the laundry room. There, I resumed breathing, took off my work shirt, work pants, and work shoes. I went out through door to the garden.

Bushra, while I did go into descriptive detail about my limited impairments, I hope I gave the impression that they are as yet minor and peripheral. That's why I can do all this DIY work. I am strong and energetic.
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