What a pain in the ass.
No joke. A couple hours after Monday’s short run and a bit of light resistance training I found myself in the hurt locker, with big pain in the right hip and a limp that would have done credit to a drunken pirate with a poorly made peg leg navigating a wet deck in heavy seas.
IT band? Hip flexor? Psoas? I suspect the latter, because I’d been having some low-grade back issues a couple of days previous. Anyway, being manly, and also stupid, I rode on Tuesday, and felt kinda-sorta OK on the bike, but not so much off it.
So I prescribed myself a couple days of rest, some ibuprofen, and a hefty dose of work on my Masi Speciale Randonneur review for Adventure Cyclist.
Just because I will never be smart doesn’t mean I have to keep being stupid.
The good news is, all this drew my attention away from the news, which is taking on overtones of a Jeffrey Dahmer-Ted Bundy buddy pic scripted by Josef Mengele and directed by the Marquis de Sade. That Dealie McDealio is up to his saggy man-boobs in some of the worst of it should surprise absolutely no one.
The late Jim Harrison noted more than once that politicians are prone to shitting through their mouths. And boy, am I ever glad I’m not paid to catalog every turd that falls from this fool’s face.
• Extra-Credit Tower of Power: The eternal question, and more, from NPR’s Tiny Desk.
Tags: Tiny Desk, Tower of Power
Mad Blog Media 
July 12, 2019 at 9:19 am |
Hope you’re back on the bike soon. News is pretty grim – just when you think Don the Con can’t sink any lower…he does. Picked up some clients at the airport this am so I’ll have something to shift my attention away from the continuing dismantling of US democracy – starting with a nice ride to lunch here https://lacanova.net/la-cantina/
tomorrow.
The wife comes back from her academic Greece trip Monday so it’ll be time to fire up the grille and cook up some Florentine beefsteaks http://www.theflorentine.net/food-wine/2016/06/exactly-bistecca-alla-fiorentina/
(warning to vegans and vegetarians – don’t look at this)
July 12, 2019 at 9:34 am |
“I was a vegetarian until I started leaning towards the sunlight.”
Rita Rudner
July 12, 2019 at 4:42 pm |
Oh, man. I haven’t had a steak in forever. That … looks … marvelous.
July 12, 2019 at 9:33 am |
I also have a gimpy right leg. The pain started in the heel and worked up to mid-calf. I suspect the delightful combination of plantar fasciitis and tendonitis. The worse thing is I don’t remember what might have done it, other than a normal ride on Sunday. Oh well, a few more days of rest and Aleve, and if it doesn’t get better off to the doc.
See that Acosta bailed this morning. Bill Clinton and the dumpster spent a lot of time with Epstein. Damage control is what I am thinking.
July 12, 2019 at 10:34 am |
Bill “Blue Dress” Clinton’s initial response to the latest dirty mess reminded me of this clip.
July 12, 2019 at 10:55 am |
A headline writer at Mother Times calls this “The Caligula Administration.” Couldn’t said it better myself.
Like you, I don’t know exactly what I did to hurt myself, but I wish I did, so as to never do it again. I am at my worst when riding the pine. Put me in the goddamn game, coach! Somebody hit someone!
July 12, 2019 at 11:21 am |
Caligula was the first Roman emperor to be assassinated.
I’d settle for impeachment for Don the Con. Then he can be convicted of a few crimes and beaten to an orange pulp in prison.
July 12, 2019 at 10:12 am |
Getting old is not for wimps. About a month ago I strained something in the ball of my right foot putting the BMW on its center stand. I am still walking with a limp.
July 12, 2019 at 11:19 am |
Oof. You said it. I’ve come close to doing what you did by taking the Vespa on and off its stand while wearing Tevas. Don’t do that shit. Ow, wow, yow, zow.
July 12, 2019 at 12:02 pm |
Sounds tragic https://youtu.be/TGiFqAyg188
July 12, 2019 at 12:48 pm |
Ain’t getting old a hoot?
My lower body acts like it’s a Keystone Cops production. Banged up my knees 35 years ago falling out of an airplane. Got chips and spurs and arthritis and torn this and strained that. So I’m always limping, just never on the same side. The running joke is that I have one knee that I can’t straighten, and one knee that I can’t bend, so if I’m not paying attention, I walk around in circles. The worst part is, as the deputy vice assistant field marshal of the silly walks brigade, I put non-standard wear and tear on the rest of my body. So throw in plantar fasciitis in both feet, but at least never, so far, both feet at at the same time. And then throw in strained Achilles tendons and Achilles bursitis.
But here’s where it gets fun: i’m always popping something, so I schedule a doctors appointment, and they refer me to a specialist or physical therapy, but by the time I get to the appointment, the thing that hurt is better, and there are new second and third order problems, which sometimes they can’t look at because the tri-care referral only specified one thing.
I’m actually looking forward to our robot overlords knocking me unconscious, hooking me up to tubes, and letting me sleep in a pod until I finally expire.
July 12, 2019 at 1:52 pm |
See, this is why I never jump out of planes, and rarely even get in one, lest I be compelled to jump out again at some point. I have done enough damage to myself right here at ground level.
And yeah, in the rare event that I go see a doc for what ails me, it stops ailing me. Just like taking your car or computer to the shop.
“I tell you, it was making this funny noise!”
“If you think that noise was funny, just wait ’til you see our bill.”
July 13, 2019 at 8:49 am |
Same old s–t. Doc says “Take this RX. You’ll be better in a week.” And you ask, “Doc, what if I don’t take it?” and he says “In that case it’ll take 7 days.” At my age I wait at least a couple of weeks for something to go away before I even think about seeing a doc….and 99% of the time, it does.
PS-Saturday’s ride and lunch were perfect – 3 hours on the bike with a 3 hour lunch break in the middle – PRICELESS!
July 13, 2019 at 4:26 pm |
Me: it’s hurts when I do this.
Doc: Stop doing that.
July 12, 2019 at 8:45 pm |
I jumped out of a perfectly good helicopter once. But, I had a rope.
July 13, 2019 at 11:33 pm |
Yep, my knees are shot but I don’t blame jumping out of a Hercules, (although that happened), it’s more like jumping out of APVs with 40 KGs worth of shit strapped to you, followed by high impact shit like karate, squash & distance running. In retrospect, I wouldn’t change a thing.
July 12, 2019 at 1:21 pm |
Damn, tougher to keep the rubber side down. Thank for the ToP- I do love that tune. I know I’m repeating myself, but I’ve been listening to the Live version of that track since the late 70’s and it still makes my hair stand up. The for the NRP link. Wow, do they have it, or what?
July 12, 2019 at 4:44 pm |
I saw ToP once, in Greeley, back in the Seventies. Talk about longevity. Them, not me. Sure, I’m still around, but so are cockroaches, Republicans, and even the occasional Ford Pinto.
July 12, 2019 at 2:56 pm |
Hope your psoas quiets down pronto! Thank you for the TOP soul! Fantastic.
July 12, 2019 at 3:54 pm |
Also, piriformis muscle – check that. It checks the limp and sore butt issue, also. The psoas and that muscle may be bothering you. IT and hip flexor could all be locked up, too. Here’s to a complete resolution to your pain and limp!
July 12, 2019 at 4:35 pm |
Aggggh! Too many muscles! Too much Latin! Who sold me this 1954 carcass, anyway? I was robbed!
July 12, 2019 at 5:14 pm |
Man down! Sorry to hear that. I’ll send a link to a site that you might share with others that solved my similar (and oft repeated) pains.
Now I’m fighting an upper respiratory infection that has pummeled me for three weeks. And I blame the air flights I took prior even though I didn’t jump from the airplane as per SAO. (over the years it seems I have caught some Far East Crud right after traveling too many times) The steroids and antibiotics didn’t do shit. Well…not entirely true. The drugs eventually gave me the runs.
July 12, 2019 at 5:22 pm |
O, Bubba, them airy-o-planes is test tubes fulla bugs that even scare cockaroaches.
One of the neighbors’ grandkids has had some class of coughy thing for six months now. I’m thinking allergies, as the pollen and particulates have been off the charts around here. I’ve been making some tubercular noises my own bad self, especially in the mornings, when I prefer to make my noises from the other end.
But that’s probably not the least bit amusing for a dude camped on the terlet, fulla steroids and antibiotics.
July 13, 2019 at 6:38 am |
i’ve never listened to tower of power. i need to add them to my pandora playlist. good stuff.
July 13, 2019 at 7:30 am |
You might’ve heard them in collaboration with some other folks, Carl. The ToP horn section has backed up the likes of Santana, Little Feat, Rufus, Bonnie Raitt and Lyle Lovett, among others.
Here’s another classic:
July 13, 2019 at 4:29 pm |
Bonnie Raitt headlines the totally free New West Fest this year. (Thanks, Strykers!) Not sure how much band or which version she’ll have with her.
July 13, 2019 at 7:05 pm |
Hey, Lettuce is gonna be there. And Poco, the Subdudes, Grant Sabin … interesting lineup.
Did I mention that, like Your Humble Narrator, Pat and Ronda Stryker did time at UNC in Greality? True fact. They’ll deny ever having met me, of course, and I would too, if I were them. Or just about anybody else, come to think of it.
July 13, 2019 at 9:50 pm |
Same time frame?
I’ve never met them, but a music loving construction manager type friend of ours has done some work for them, and he recites gospel and verse how much that family means to NOCO. Every year that fest gets bigger and Pat just writes a check. They built the ice rink where my kids are learning to skate, the pool where my kids take lessons, and keep funding the arts projects that bring decent acts to our little town.
July 14, 2019 at 8:48 am |
Ayuh. We had quite the gang back then. The Strykers went on to do good works on a massive scale. Michael Brangoccio became a famous artiste. Chris Coursey became mayor of Santa Rosa, and now has his sights on a spot on the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors. The Martinez brothers worked on several high-profile Democratic campaigns, in Colorado and nationwide, before settling down into corporate gigs.
We only had one bum in the bunch. A real loser. Pissed away his life scribbling for newspapers and magazines. Lives in the desert now and burns a lot of daylight arguing with the voices in his head.
July 14, 2019 at 10:46 am
Yea, and we get to listen in on the conversation. And it IS entertaining as hell. Besides, I don’t think you would fit into the standard corporate gig. You would have moved into a van down by the river.
July 13, 2019 at 10:07 am |
If you like them Carl, you might also like these guys, Lettuce.