My Visit to Foot World

I'm home from the podiatrist -- it's about 11.30 as I begin this -- and I'm ... what can I say? stable. (Well, sort of.) He wrapped my feet again, which is the way to go until new orthotics can be made. He says the orthotics will not only let me walk without pain, they will treat the condition, so it improves. But I had orthotics made last winter (which are no good), so I'm going to wait until January to get new ones to see if insurance will cover them. I also asked about the cyst that is growing on my right foot, just below where a bunion would be, and told him I want it removed. I do wear Crocs all the time, but I don't know if any other shoe is even possible now. (Although I have sneakers on now to try it out.) Anyway, yada yada, the podiatrist has a partner who is the surgeon and who is joining the group as soon as his details are worked out, so, fingers crossed that I can have it removed during February break. At first, he thought I was asking about removing a bunion (which I don't have) and said something about being out of work for five or six weeks (!!!!!), but then he remembered it's a cyst, so it's out of work for five days. So I'd just as soon do it during a break, either February or April, so I don't have to take so many sick days.

1.00

Just ran around and did a variety of errands, and made various appointments, too. K doesn't have class today, so she just went to campus briefly for a few things and then came home. She thinks she's coming down with something, which time will tell. She did just go out and run around with me, but mostly she stayed in the car. (They were a lot of drive-by errands, like dropping off mail and getting gas.)

I'm off in a half hour or so to get a haircut. I don't feel so hot myself, but I don't know what it is. If it's what I'm starting to think it might be, let's just say, I am too old for that kind of thing. (And no, not pregnant, god forbid, which would require a religious miracle, not to mention all kinds of microsurgery.) I think there's some phenomenon, like the one where you don't quite remember what labor feels like (or you'd never have a second child) that says once menopause has started, you kind of don't remember what cramps feel like. Once again, time will tell. It just better tell the story I want to hear.

4.30

Home, and home again. Got my haircut and had it styled curly, which on me just looks kind of uncombed, but why not, for a change. Once I got home, K and I trekked over to R's to feed the kitty, since R is coming home late from the city tonight.

My chore for tonight is to give the fridge a really good cleaning out, since we'll need all kinds of space in it for the coming week's cooking, and to make up my shopping list for the supermarket tomorrow morning. One of my favorite things is shopping for Thanksgiving. Everything I'm buying is exactly what everyone else is buying, and it's all stacked at the ends of the aisles where it's easy to find.

So, here's one of the things I wanted to mini-rant about that I put off until today. Have you heard how the governor of New York wanted to start a program in which illegal immigrants got drivers' licenses? This was all kinds of ripped into in the press, and by politicians on every side, and even the governor himself finally gave it up. Now, I ask you: why was this a bad idea? As for me, I would like to know that every driver on the road has been tested and is licensed, in this country. So that's one. Here's another. When there are illegal immigrants in a community -- and like it or not, there are -- they are still entitled to public services like education, emergency medical care, use of the roads, water and other utilities, and so on. But because they can't be counted properly, services are often inadequate to meet the needs of the number of people who are actually in the community. Giving them driver's licenses would help count them. But here's the really big question: if we give them driver's licenses, we will know who and where they are. What on earth is wrong with that?

So. I'm not saying this resolves the illegal immigrant problem in any way, although something needs to. I just think the driver's licenses was a great idea on many levels. It didn't make them legal. It just made them visible. I think it would be a smart idea if we knew who they are. I'll bet police departments everywhere wish they had licenses and showed up in a database. I don't know why every state isn't doing it.

I'll save my other thought for tomorrow. Time to attack the refrigerator.

WATCHING VH1 :: ENTRY #1626