Semi-Back in Swing

I feel significantly better than I did the day of the Mohs surgery. It was a weird because I’d never felt like this after one of these procedures before and I have too much  experience at that. I’ll add it to the lengthy list of things to complain about getting old. I got a much better night of night and even though the damned nose bandage still itches like crazy at times, the pain is pretty much gone. The funniest thing about the whole thing was my Favorite Panamanian riding to the rescue. She thought the compression bandage on my nose looked unseemly, no argument there.

The FBR Like to Munch on Lemon Wedges!
Kind of Weird

She decided it needed a couple more strips of tape to secure it. I was beyond complaining at that point and once she did that the pain gradually disappeared. Who knew my wife’s sense of style could result in pain reduction; it’s usually the other way around? I’m thinking the original bandage wasn’t secure enough and was tugging on the underlying stitches, causing the pain. At any rate, once again, she’s my hero. I’ve had a couple zoom meetings for work where I explain away the bandage as the result of a lively knife fight. It figures next week I have to have an ID card picture taken; that should be a conversation piece for years to come.

Updated Bandage

My Buddy is Back

2020 isn't screwed up enough and I'm not even talking about the nadir of the year that September has been so far but it had another curve ball to throw. I didn't talk about the start of the NFL season or the post-Brady Patriots because I as still POed at the cable company. I look forward to the NFL season in large part because of the NFL Red Zone. It was therefore a very 2020 thing to happen when I tuned in the channel to find I no longer had it! The channel bore a message recommending a number to call and when I did I was told the average wait time was two hours. I'm thinking I wasn't the only one discovering the loss. They recommended I try doing it online but after a two hour wait there nothing was moving. Today I finally got to talk to a human and she reestablished my connection in less than five minutes. When I asked her what happened she said the cable company made this change back in January. I was a little impressed with the marketing acumen of making a major, unpopular change like this knowing customers won't try to watch it again until September.

Ancestery.com contacted me again to say that my DNA results had been further refined as technology improved. I loved it for one simple reason. Great Aunt and I have had a running gun fight for decades about our genealogical origins. It sprung up when my initial love of bagpipe music emerged (go figure). I always claimed to be part Scottish which Great Aunt scoffed at. I now have scientific evidence that both of us are in fact more than a quarter Scottish. I win so few arguments with my talented big sister that it’s nice; not that I’ll gloat or anything. 😊 Here’s the latest refine lent of my DNA test in terms of where my ancestors came from (no wonder the sun kicks my ass so thoroughly):

England & Northwestern Europe - 39%

Scotland - 28%

Ireland - 21%

Germanic Europe - 7%

Sweden - 3%

Norway - 2%

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RECURRING CHARACTERS                                           

BR3 – granddaughter #3, BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel - second granddaughter; FBR - First Blog Reader - first granddaughter, ABFA – Amazing Best Family Athlete = my daughter in law; Wingman – my son in law; Keene Friends 1 & 2 – friends since high school from my home town of Keene, NH; Soxfather - my brother in law; Great Aunt - my elder sister; Cantankerous Friend – friend since grade school who likes to argue about everything, poses as radical leftist to attract women; Pittsburgh College Roommate – high school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; Deckzilla – our backyard deck which grew to monstrous dimensions once my wife got involved in planning; Maine and Virginia Musqueteras – two close friends of my wife – her US sisters, my wife is the 3^rd musquetera (musketeer); Riggins - also known as the Grandpuppy, son's dog; PanaGals – female relatives/friends of my wife from Panama; Panamanian/Latin Mafia – inevitable group of Latino friends my wife accumulates wherever we have lived & their spouses; Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia member, Favorite Panamanian - the wife (of course); First Friday – celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Curbside Girls – close friends of my daughter acquired during her single days in Brooklyn