Link dump

No time to comment, but I wanted to at least pass on a few interesting editorials I came upon today.

Kids live in fear

Do not read this column

Green is the new red ink

As for me, I'm keeping and eye out on the snow we're having right now. I thought it would turn to rain as the day got warmer, but the day isn't getting warmer yet, and the snow is getting heavier. Dh and Eldest are out driving in that.

How's spring where you are?

Interesting quote

I found this quote of the day rather thought provoking.

Every reform, however necessary, will by weak minds be carried to an excess, which will itself need reforming.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
(1772-1834)





I can think of so many things happening these days that exemplifies this!

Worth a read.

I just wanted to pass on a link to the Ottawa Sun piece by Earl McRae, Freedom 'Worth fighting for.'

He pauses. "I can't say enough about our young soldiers. The men, and the women. They are so good. They are so dedicated to the mission. Think about it. They are mostly in their early 20s, and they chose the military. Putting their young lives at risk, fighting for freedom. They could have chosen a civilian life, doing what kids their ages do with friends, going to parties, having fun, but they didn't."

His eyes moisten. "They've seen more in six months than the average person sees in a lifetime." A smile. "Because I was far older than they were, they'd take the mickey out of me. They called me Old Balls."

Several times Jed Stone and his buddies engaged the Taliban in firefights. "It's strange, but in a firefight, you don't feel fear. You don't have time. It's all adrenaline and training and resolve. Canadian soldiers are the best in the world. Soldiers there from other countries, and that includes the Americans and the Brits, look up to us. They have the highest respect for our training, ability, and character. They'd often ask us for advice."

Stone's unit, The Wolfpack, took some prisoners. "One Taliban guy we caught, he cried like a baby begging for mercy. Yet the same bastard would cut your head off if he had the chance. They don't value human life at all."

Stone knew personally some of the Canadian soldiers recently killed by exploding IEDs. "One of them, just a kid, we all loved him. He was always upbeat and funny. Some of the guys, they'd sat down to rest against a wall. One of them, when he went to get up, he put his hand on the ground and the landmine underneath exploded.

"Our Afghan interpreter got killed, too. He'd be with us in the villages when we were talking to the people, trying to win their trust. Giving chocolate bars to the kids. He was a great, young guy. We loved him. He was educated and he loved the Canadians. He was glad what we were doing for his country. We took up a collection and gave the money to his family. He didn't tell them what his job was. If the Taliban had found out, they'd be murdered."

Read the rest here.

No more putting it off.

Today, the family and I did something we haven't done in... oh, probably 4 years now. We had an all-out evening at a restaurant. We haven't had the spare $$ to really splurge like this - with 4 of us, even a modest restaurant adds up pretty fast. Actually, it was just The Keg, but for us, that's as high end as we've been able to do for a very long time! *L*

It was a fantastic evening. Especially watching Eldest tackle her King Crab. Talk about working for your meal! LOL My husband just had to have the peppercorn steak. He is, after all, the reason The Keg (in Canada, at least - I don't know about the US) even has it on the menu. A bit of a story, there. ;-) My prime rib dinner was perfection. I just had to ask about the horseradish. It looked and tasted like it had been freshly grated. Turns out, it pretty much was! The waiter was glad to see I recognised it for what it was. He said he'd had patrons who mistook it for coleslaw. !!! Youngest wasn't up to a full entree, so she had the bacon wrapped scallops from the appetizer menu, though she tried some of the crab and is thinking of ordering that whenever we can do this again. We finished off by sharing 3 desserts, all of which were excellent.

There was one thing that happened that completely surprised me, and it hit home for me that I just can't put it off anymore. Although I was told to take the time I needed for my arm to heal, I'm going to have to quit my job. My arm has actually been feeling really good, and I was starting to think I was ready to start working again. I was still hemming and hawing, though. It's great for big stuff, but small stuff, like picking up a cup of tea to drink, still bothers me more than I felt was reasonable for what my job entails.

This evening, however, I reached out to pick up a plate to move it out of the way. I couldn't do it. I literally could not pick up the plate. My elbow simply wouldn't move. Dh had to move the plate for me!

Since, in my job, I would be continuously reaching around people to clear their plates away, this just proved to me that even though my arm is doing much better, it's not enough. I've been doing the exercises and stuff that the physiotherapist had recommended, but it seems to have reached a sort of plateau. The arm is functional, but only to a certain point, and my job goes well beyond that point.

Now, I did think of trying anyways and just using my off arm, but in all seriousness, that just won't work. I'm not *that* ambidextrous, I've discovered. Plus, I know I'd be constantly reaching out with my injured arm before I even think about doing otherwise. I'm already doing it all the time. That and I need both my arms to do my job well.

It's frustrating. I'm starting to think that the arm will never completely heal. In researching this type of injury, it should've responded to my treatment of it before I'd even started physiotherapy - as it was, the only thing that made a difference was changing pain meds. From what I'm reading, lack of response in 6-12 months means moving on to surgery! It's been almost 6 months since it first started bothering me, so I guess it's time to talk to my doctor again. Perhaps there are other options beside physiotherapy to try (which, I've discovered, isn't covered by Dh's insurance after all... ).

Dang it. I don't want to quit my job!