A Cold Rain

Normally I would be telling you all about my lessons last night. They didn’t happen and we’ll get to that. Yesterday, I had my first injection of Euflexxa. This is the next step up in treatment of arthritis but it requires three injections over a three week period. The instructions tell you to avoid strenuous exercise or weight bearing stuff for 48 hours although my doctor isn’t that extreme. To be honest, I’ve sort of ignored that advice in the past but have just tried to not do anything extreme.

For some reason yesterday I had a little more pain and stiffness in the knee after the injection than I normally do. Then again, I’ve only had a few of these and they are spaced more than six months apart so maybe my memory is just faulty. Anyway, something told me to just take it easy so I cancelled my workout for yesterday afternoon.

I had still planned to keep my dance lessons although I was on the fence but I got a call from OwnerGuy telling me he was going to have to cancel my lessons because JoNY was sick. I guess other forces in the universe were going to make that decision for me. So no lessons last night.

Now there is another factor at work here. Of of the ladies who takes dance is a physical therapist so she’s talked to me a few times about the knee. Before Christmas she talked about CBD oil which is the new hot thing that may cure everything. Anyway, I’m open minded enough and I’ve tried plenty of supplements so what’s the harm in giving this a shot. The problem now is I’ve changed two parameters and if the knee starts to feel better, I won’t know which one it is. I have been taking this CBD oil for about three weeks and I can’t say it has made a major improvement but you never know.

Back to JoNY. I’ve got to think that you’d need a pretty strong immune system to work as a dance instructor. The dance studio brings in people from all over who’ve been exposed to who knows what at their various workplaces. Then, if you are dancing with them, there is unavoidable physical contact. There is plenty of hand sanitizer available and it is used but I don’t think it can prevent everything. Probably not the occupation for a germophobe. I hope it is just a minor thing.

Today we had temps that were a little above normal for January so we got rain instead of snow. And lots of rain. I like a gentle spring or summer shower but this was a nasty cold rain. Got up this morning to the sound of the rain and really just wanted to turn the alarm off and stay in bed. I don’t know what it is about the heating system at work but days like this leave my office feeling damp and cold. So I end up feeling chilled all day. I rinsed out my water bottle with boiling water and then used that to warm my hands for a minute or two. We’ve certainly had colder days but something about the addition of the rain that just makes it feel colder.

Speaking of work, it seems that we are now headed into another round of job cuts. This was predictable given the change in direction and the project mix vs skill set. But it is going to make work even less fun than it is now. Like most large companies, the upper management meets in secret to discuss these things and they spring it on us when they’ve created the right “story”. But since I believe the size of the rumor mill at a place is inversely proportional to how open and transparent upper management is, we typically have an idea of what’s going on long before it becomes public. And I do have my sources so I know this is happening but just don’t know the timing.

The one nice thing about being where I am in my life and career is that this is not something I have to spend a great deal of time worrying about. Financially, it would certainly be better to not lose my job but we could survive if I did. Our financial planner confirmed that although I’m not sure if I could keep dancing at the same rate. That would be an open question. But I look at my remaining team and those who are in their 30’s and 40’s with families and needing a longer term career and it becomes painful thinking about having to tell one or more of them that they are no longer wanted.

To end on a cheery note because I think that is a good thing to do, in just a little over three weeks we are leaving for vacation. It is our annual late winter trip to find a place with sun and to leave behind the dreariness of winter for a little bit. Also, next week is the last week of January and that brings us that much close to the end of winter.