Painful Gain

Yesterday saw my return to my daily run after trying to coax the knee back into some sort of health.  The run itself, while painful due to the long layoff, went well, at least until the last quarter mile.  Well, I’ve got an appointment next week with an orthopedic doctor.  Getting old can suck, at times.

Pass on This

Since last night was date night we went to see the movie, Pain and Gain, which was kind of painful without much to gain.  Some really charismatic movie stars trying to portray moronic thieves and murderers can be a real stretch and it was here.  The “heroes” of this movie, portrayed by Walberg, the Rock, and Anthony Mackie are just too likable to be the completely idiotically loathsome guys they’re called on to.  I kept trying to glean some redeeming facet for any of these bozos but it never came through.  This movie was marketed as a dark comedy and it really wasn’t.  It was something between a docudrama and a crime drama since it was based on real life events.  It didn’t work despite some top notch efforts from the actors.  Ed Harris as a detective who brings these idiots to justice looks like he’s a hundred years old.

Working around the date I completed the planter project my wife conspired to get me to do. I’m semi-proud of how it turned out. (see photos below) My wife now claims it’s much bigger than she anticipated but I could see her planning on what plant goes where.  She said it looked like some of the beds in Panama and in a telephone conversation with her mother  I was being volunteered to build beds in Panama. She helped me carry the planter out of the garage where I promptly fell flat on my face trying to go up our little hill.  Luckily the planter survived the fall, testimony to its stout workmanship.    

I also finished my latest book yesterday, Countdown:  M-Day by Tom Kratman.  It was a very well written military thriller set in the not too distant future featuring a war of aggression by Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez against Guyana which is thwarted by a mercenary unit headquartered there and led by retired US military dudes (no wonder I liked it).  It was a fascinating look at both the strategic and tactical levels of war and the searing human cost of war itself.  The author and I served in Panama as lieutenants together and we both married Panamanians.  I clearly remember sitting on a balcony overlooking Panama Bay at a going away party singing military ballads with him (I think beer was involved in the effort). 

The Framework Goes Up

It Does Kind of Look Like a Bed

The Final Framework Added

Mission Complete with Garden Fabric Lining