Scattered Thoughts . . .

I 've been waiting for some new leg brackets to arrive from England so I could fix the tripod for my little Celestron CG-2 telescope mount.  One of the brackets that holds the legs in place broke about two weeks ago.  This mount is no longer available new so finding brackets was a bit of good luck!  (The new bracket can be seen in the photo at right.) I briefly contemplated just purchasing a newer and better manual mount to replace this broken one.  I had recently upgraded this little manual mount with a new saddle as well as installed ball bearings on both axes.  This upgrade project required a bit of time and effort.  I had cutting and grinding to do...  drilling and tapping to do...  and I had to find the exact right ball bearings to fit each axis.  After my upgrade, this mount was really working very well up until this little bracket broke.  Admittedly, having a newer and slightly better manual mount would be advantageous but, since I had already put so much effort into improvi

W e've done a lot of walking over the past week which has resulted in my ankle and knee swelling up again so I'm laying a bit low lately.  To recap, back in January, I first sprained my ankle badly enough that I could not put any weight on my left leg at all.  That required about four months to heal well enough to do some things again.  However, the four months of hobbling around with all my weight on my right leg only resulted in a sprained MCL (medial collateral ligament) on the side of my right knee.  The knee injury was mostly better until we did miles and miles of walking this past week.  Now my knee is painful and swollen again so I am now back to ice and elevation for a good chunk of each day.  My left ankle is a bit painful too but nothing like my right knee. Putting my health problems aside, I always try to accomplish something, anything, each day.  Mostly, I've spent my time at the piano lately but I have managed to squeeze in a few other little things too.  Time

It has been a rather lousy week so far, after a lousy few weeks, after a rather lousy year of lousy health.  Actually, I should go back a few weeks...  I spent the past three weeks trying to get a prescription refill for one of my most important drugs.  This drug has made the most positive impact on my health since procuring this insidious illness.  A few weeks ago, I got a call from the pharmacy looking to get approval to charge my card.  I thought that was a little odd so I asked why I was being asked this unusual question.  The customer service representative pulled up another screen and suddenly exclaimed, "Oh my!"  She then explained that my copay would be $8700 for my 90 day refill.   I sort of chuckled and informed her that even if she tried to charge my card, she would get nothing with a bill so far beyond what I have in the bank so, approval from me or not, they wouldn't be getting any money.   I went back and forth between my doctor's office and the pharmacy

I hate cars.  I hate driving cars... it is boring beyond belief. I have always (even in my early 20s) found myself constantly fighting to keep myself awake because it is so unbelievably boring. As a result, I've always preferred having a driver. Driving a car is just a boring, mundane, menial task that I prefer to avoid. I even hate today's car models! They all look the same... either a boring box or a boring wedge or they look like a giant funky sneaker. Even the limited edition runs of classic car models have been morphed toward today's styles of boxes, wedges or sneakers. I hate maintaining cars. When I was younger... as a teenager and in my twenties... I worked on cars, repaired cars, rebuilt cars, even occasionally lent a hand in a racing pit crew. I had aspirations of someday building a replica of an antique car or truck. I don't have the energy nor desire to do any of this today. It is just a drain on my energy and my finances. And besides, I don't even