Observing

Ironing things out in the men’s locker room…

by

I’m a good shirt folder. There, I said it.

I like to fold the shirts—t-shirts in particular—after doing the laundry.

If a customer tries on a shirt in a store, or unfolds it to get a better look at it or to judge how extra large the extra large is, and they just throw it back on the table or display, I’ll refold it. (I understand my sister does this, too.)

I’ve done this occasionally in the Planet Fitness men’s locker room, when I’ve taken off a shirt to put in the locker while I work out.

I’ll admit that, at times, I’ve been self-conscious while folding one, especially if a bunch of macho dudes (watching “the big game” on the locker room TV) are are just hanging theirs up on the hook in the locker or—worst yet—just balling it up and throwing it in there.

Well, imagine my surprise today when a gentleman had an iron in the locker room, and I don’t mean a travel iron, but a full-fledged steam iron:

He was using the wide shelf in front of a mirror as his ironing board, ironing a nice green-and-white-striped polo shirt.

And he didn’t even appear to be on my team; although, as we all know, it’s impossible to tell by just looking.

Prompt: Strangest habit

by

Writing prompt: What is your strangest habit?

I’ve written about this before—it’s probably making an entry on my Google calendar when I change my razor blades. (A quick search shows that I’m probably not even halfway through this one’s life.)

Thinking back on why I started doing this, it was once when I noticed how often other guys seem to change theirs and thought, “I wonder how often I change mine. I know it’s not nearly as often.” So I made an entry in my calendar the next time I did.

In what I was going to call a non sequitur, but is actually tangential, since razors are naturally associated with shaving, I can’t think of shaving without still being flummoxed about this incident 45 years ago:

I’m in a suite in the college dorm, in a bathroom shared among four rooms, and I’ve just lathered up my face to shave. One of the suite residents walks in, looks at me, and says with a critical tone, “That looks like something a cat licked on.”

What’s your strangest habit?

Imma be honest about Instagram

by

I don’t like Instagram (IG)—never have. There, I said it.

The biggest issue I have with IG is that it’s a platform based on images, so a photo is required with every post. I don’t want to post an image most of the time I want to share something. I’m a writer. My product is text. So almost every time I post there, I have to create an image of that text. And that’s just silly.

I only joined it to host my 50-word stories when I decided, in January of 2021, to write 3 of them around a theme every day in 2021. I’d heard of accounts that had a shtick going viral on there, accounts like:

and I had big dreams of my 50-word stories being my shtick and doing the same thing. Since that didn’t happen, and I’m done writing them, I’m happy to not log in daily there to post them.

It’s no secret that IG is a “young people’s platform,” so my biggest draw to go there now is that it’s where a lot of my work colleagues post stuff.

So, I’ll hang out on my @instatome account, and let my @jm50wordstories account rest.
 

8 years of entries from my sentence-a-day diary for this day

by

In October of 2014, after learning from a friend and colleague that she kept a “sentence-a-day diary” and loving the idea, I started one myself. These are my one-sentence diary entries for this day for the last 8 years.

January 13

2015
Tuesday: While stopped at the light at Blount Street, waiting to turn right onto Peace Street, a man stepped off the sidewalk and pulled on my back passenger-side door handle, which thankfully was locked; I think he thought I was his Uber ride.

2016
Wednesday: At 9:00 this morning, Bob and I met with Inclusion Studio, the people who are designing our house remodeling and addition, to see the two options they’d drawn up for us, one of which we ended up going with.

2017
Friday: It was Grand Central Station at our house with several contractors here putting final touches on our addition/remodeling, and a Red Hatter came by to look at my skis for a possible purchase.

2018
Saturday: Brett Taylor repaired our roof this morning; we got an estimate this afternoon to remove the tree whose branch fell on it, and it was $10,000; and mom just made a donation at bingo tonight.

2019
Sunday: Mom called me this morning at Vivian’s complaining of kidney pains, and I took her to urgent care where she was prescribed acetaminophen, and at 8:30 at night she called me to take her to Vidant Hospital for a stiff neck and numbness and we spent 5 hours in the emergency room to be told her chest x-ray and CT scan were clear.

2020
Monday: I had my consultation with Dr. Hum, which included an x-ray (where they made me remove my earring and I’ve decided not to put it back in after 30 years), and we scheduled my tooth implant; I did my upper-body strength training at the Red Hat fitness center; and I read a little more of The Once and Future King, before abandoning it and reading 26% of My Year of Rest and Relaxation.

2021
Wednesday: “Bob” from Luxury Bath & Kitchens came by to assess our office windows and we ordered some replacements, including a frosted picture window replacement for the “downstairs” bathroom, and it was “free night” on our weekly dinner menu for which I had cereal and Bob had salmon.

2022
Thursday: Today is 9 months until the day I retire.

Calendaring

by

As soon as my indicator came on, I checked my Google calendar for the last time I changed my oil. Don’t you keep that info on your calendar?

I want to make sure it’s been at least 6,000 miles since I last changed it, and it has. And it’s good timing, because I have to get an inspection to renew my registration, and I can get the oil change at the same place and time.

Another, perhaps odd, thing I keep track of on my Google calendar.

Money well(ness) spent

by

It was a big medical expense year for us, one for which we’re glad we have good medical insurance.

I’m guessing most of this was from my total knee replacement surgery, because the only other expenses we had was the abdominoplasty, collagen injections, dermabrasion, and lipoplasty.

Thanks Red Hat and Cigna.

Range of motion (ROM)

by

In medical parlance, I’m “PO83,” which stands for “post-op 83,” and which means it’s 83 days after I had my total knee replacement (TKR).

I haven’t been obsessing over what’s referred to as my extension (how flat I can get my knee) and flexion (how much I can bend my knee), which are two very important things to monitor after a TKR.

I was “released” from physical therapy (PT) on December 10, 2021, when I reached a flexion of 120. I’ve worked harder at PT at home than I did when I was going to the Raleigh Orthopaedic Clinic to do it.

According to “the literature,” a completely straight knee joint will measure 0° and a fully bent knee will have a flexion of at least 135°. If you’ve had a knee replacement, your physician may look for a knee extension close to 0° and a flexion in the 125-135° range to consider you fully recovered.

Degrees used doing everyday activities
65° to walk
70° pick an object off the ground
85° to climb up stairs
95° to stand from a sitting position
105° to tie shoelaces
115° (or greater) to squat or sit cross-legged
125°+ covers most activities. However, squatting or sitting on your heel may always prove challenging. (Note: I don’t think I’ve ever sat on my heels in my life, nor do I want to.)

I measured today, and my extension is at 0° and my flexion is at 137°. I’m calling it a win.