What I Did in November
November was another month in which I didn’t do much. We did have a book club meeting to talk about The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles, which had some interesting things early on, mostly having to do with the 8-year-old brother, Billy, and the adventure book he admires. But it completely fell apart in the last 60 or so pages, with an ending that didn’t hold together. I also had my Litvak genealogy group and my needlework group.
Getting my water heater tune-up for winter proved to be extremely annoying because they sent me both a text and an email telling me I’d be notified of what time the technician would show up by 11 a.m., but I didn’t hear a word and when I called back, they told me that was an old message and I just needed to wait. He eventually showed up at almost 3 in the afternoon. Still, it’s one of those things that has to get done.
Of course, there was also the election. I did early voting at the community center near me. Both that and the elementary school where my normal polling place is are easy walking distance from where I live and I would normally walk, but not with my knee problems. At any rate, there was almost no wait to vote. There was really nothing contentious in my district since, as I have said before, VA-11 is so blue that it is practically indie. (Gerry Connolly got about 67% of the vote. Interestingly, I hadn’t gotten any mail or any phone calls from his Republican opponent.) There were also a couple of bits of good news. First, Eugene Vindman squeaked out a victory in VA-07. This is important because it suggests that Abigail Spanberger has a decent chance in her run for governor. (Note that Virginia has its gubernatorial and other state / local races in odd years. I am fairly sure that this is Thomas Jefferson’s fault as is everything I find weird about Virginia.) The other bit of good news was from NY-04, where Anthony D’Esposito lost. For those who don’t recognize the name, he replaced George Santos in the House of Representatives and had already gotten in trouble over hiring a woman he was having an affair with. Though, to be fair, the main reason I paid any attention to him at all was that he is from my home town.
The most annoying thing that happened in November was falling in my kitchen and being unable to get up. I called my friend, Kim, who rescued me and took me to urgent care, where I got examined and x-rayed. Bottom line was: 1) nothing broken, 2) a diagnosis of osteoarthritis, 3) advice re: painkillers (including an injection into my shoulder, 4) coming home with a knee sleeve, a cane, a sheet of exercises, and general advice. The doctor said I will eventually need knee replacement surgery but “not for a long time.” I am doing better and have been pretty much pain free for a while now. I do need to work on exercises more, however.
Getting my water heater tune-up for winter proved to be extremely annoying because they sent me both a text and an email telling me I’d be notified of what time the technician would show up by 11 a.m., but I didn’t hear a word and when I called back, they told me that was an old message and I just needed to wait. He eventually showed up at almost 3 in the afternoon. Still, it’s one of those things that has to get done.
Of course, there was also the election. I did early voting at the community center near me. Both that and the elementary school where my normal polling place is are easy walking distance from where I live and I would normally walk, but not with my knee problems. At any rate, there was almost no wait to vote. There was really nothing contentious in my district since, as I have said before, VA-11 is so blue that it is practically indie. (Gerry Connolly got about 67% of the vote. Interestingly, I hadn’t gotten any mail or any phone calls from his Republican opponent.) There were also a couple of bits of good news. First, Eugene Vindman squeaked out a victory in VA-07. This is important because it suggests that Abigail Spanberger has a decent chance in her run for governor. (Note that Virginia has its gubernatorial and other state / local races in odd years. I am fairly sure that this is Thomas Jefferson’s fault as is everything I find weird about Virginia.) The other bit of good news was from NY-04, where Anthony D’Esposito lost. For those who don’t recognize the name, he replaced George Santos in the House of Representatives and had already gotten in trouble over hiring a woman he was having an affair with. Though, to be fair, the main reason I paid any attention to him at all was that he is from my home town.
The most annoying thing that happened in November was falling in my kitchen and being unable to get up. I called my friend, Kim, who rescued me and took me to urgent care, where I got examined and x-rayed. Bottom line was: 1) nothing broken, 2) a diagnosis of osteoarthritis, 3) advice re: painkillers (including an injection into my shoulder, 4) coming home with a knee sleeve, a cane, a sheet of exercises, and general advice. The doctor said I will eventually need knee replacement surgery but “not for a long time.” I am doing better and have been pretty much pain free for a while now. I do need to work on exercises more, however.