06 JUL 2007 : FRIDAY
I started doing leg stuff at the gym today. I usually do not do specific leg stuff at gym for time reasons mainly and usually hope running / cycling are good enough. I am more concerned about the back/shoulder as resistance training has been very good for keeping any thoracic outlet syndrome weirdness from flaring up. I was more good about doing squats and whatnot when I had our home gym available. Alas, I have been having left knee pain again recently, and after examination Dr. Amanda says I “probably” have a meniscus tear, although I am not sure what percentage “probably” means. Anyway, before spending health care dollars, I will see if some self-directed amateur physical therapy helps matters.
In the evening, we went out to Seattle’s Best Karaoke as it was a going away party for Mike. I always think karaoke will be kinda silly, but it is always much more fun that I think. We did not stay very long because Amanda was on call all the next day. Hopefully we will be able to see Mike again before he really leaves town for good.
07 JUL 2008 : SATURDAY
Amanda was on call all day and night at UW Medical Center. I drove her to work in the morning and then cleaned up the house. During lunchtime, I went up to Chipotle and got her a burrito bowl. She got me a “free” veggie burger from the cafeteria, and we ate outside the medical center. It was nice day, but unfortunately Amanda could not really enjoy it. There was another resident/student passed out at a nearby table.
We walked about outside the hospital for a while and sat in the grass. Amanda answered a few pages. I eventually even entered the hospital later; I had picked up and dropped off Amanda many times, but I had never actually been inside (although I have been in Harborview a few times).
Amanda decided she needed to take a nap, so I departed and went to pick up more kale seeds at City Peoples. I looked at the bird feeders, but I am unprepared at this time to spend $80-$100 dollars on one that could stand up to the squirrels and crows.
Back home, there was much gardening to catch up on. I thinned out the swiss chard and latest round of lettuce. I may have waited too long to thin them out, but what can you do. I ended up eating a lot of of the lettuce as I thinned them. As I told Heather who dropped by the P-Patch: “I have confidence in my immune system”.
I spent a lot of time (hours) weeding the Kid’s Plot and the common areas on the 35th Avenue South side and doing random stuff. We probably have completely gone over our community service requirement already. I still have to plant the kale, pull the peas up, and plant more spinach and lettuce.
Amanda was able to leave later, so I picked her up around 11pm. She got paged a few times, but nothing that required her physical presence.
08 JUL 2007 : SUNDAY
Amanda got up to go back to the hospital to “check out” to the next team, but that did not take very long. We ended up not doing much in the morning.
At around 1pm we went to Greenlake with a bunch of people (Sharon, Umang, Reiko, Belinda, Rachel, Matt). Most of them were going to swim: Amanda wanted to practice some open water swimming for her triathlon. I had no idea one could swim all around Greenlake because it seems to be pretty scummy. I just relaxed out of the water with Reiko and her kid and Belinda’s puppy.
Reiko had been teaching Naomi (her child) some sign language which was interesting as she was not really able to talk yet but she could make and understand signs.
After the swim, Amanda proved that she was readily influenced by advertising as she made me get her a root beer float from the nearby park snack place. The float was advertised in Very Large Letters on the side of the building.
I saw a flotilla of juvenile mallards exit the water near us. It looked like they sent up a scout to check out the area. One of them was much further ahead of the rest and continually craned his neck about. Looking for sun? Shade? People with tasty Snacks? Whatever they were looking for, it was not there, and they returned to the water quickly.
We had dinner immediately when we got home at around 4pm as I had just then hit me that I had not really eaten anything all day. Amanda dozed while I whipped up some pasta, sauce, and bread. She took a nap afterwards while I did more gardening.