16th century german Caspar Huberinus, not Ovid, as it’s frequently attributed to, but I do believe that it fits Ovid’s themes.

From Fasti, VI, lines 771-772:

Tempora labuntur, tacitisque senescimus annis,

et fugiunt freno non remorante dies.

More colloquially:

The times slip away, and we grow old with the silent years,

and the days flee unchecked by a rein.

Hubernius rendered it as:

Tempora labuntur, tacitisque senescimus annis;

If there is one difference between my right foot surgery compared to my left foot surgery, it’s been the pain. Or rather, the great deal less pain.

My left foot hurt a lot, and I was taking pain medication fairly regularly for at least the first month. I think I was at taking 1 Percocet every 6 hours that entire month, especially after I started working again. The hours of remaining sitting with my leg propped up did not exactly feel great.

Since the left foot went so darned well (no, seriously, my surgeon was fantastic and recovery went really REALLY easy), it’s time to do the other foot!

Yeah.

Ok, enthusiasm off for a moment–don’t get me wrong, I am most definitely enthusiastic about this. Otherwise, why go through the entire painful process all over again.

I’m not looking forward to months of being completely reliant on other people for transportation. And I don’t mean just having to use the scooter if I want to move from point a to point b, no, I mean more the whole “if someone doesn’t drive me to where I want to go, I’m not going”.

It’s done.

It took living here most of my life for me to actually go through with it, but it’s DONE.

I am a proud citizen of these United States of America.

And, something even more important:

Happy Birthday, Mom!

And the wait is (almost) over.

Well, sort-of. I still have to wait until the 3rd of July. Funny that. I had been hoping I’d be able to take my oath before the 4th of July so that I could celebrate my first Independence Day as a U.S. Citizen. Looks like I got that hope. And, on my mother’s birthday as well!

Exciting!

I am not always the world’s most patient person.

(Yes, yes, I know how silly that sounds. Please do try not to laugh.)

I received a notice that my citizenship application has been approved. Now, I just have to wait until my oath ceremony is scheduled.

waiting… argh.

I hate waiting.

Another really smooth and frictionless visit to Cleveland’s USCIS offices.

Man, I really have to say this: Cleveland USCIS has got to be the smoothest, easiest, and downright friendliest USCIS office in the country. Those folks made the entire process incredibly painless and efficient.

I answered some questions, went over some details on my application, confirmed that I was who I presented myself to be, and then went on to the meat of the appointment: The citizenship test and interview.

That went faster than I expected. Both the waiting and actual biometrics processing took an amazingly short amount of time. I think it actually took longer to drive to Cleveland, find a parking spot, and then walk to the building, than it took waiting for my name to be called and my picture and fingerprints to be recorded.

And that’s including that I didn’t fill out the back of the notice (whoops) like I was supposed to.

I’m turning 46 this year.

No, I have turned 46 this year.

I don’t really know how I feel about that. Well, other than maybe giving in to a little midlife crisis.

So, in the great tradition of middle-aged men who do somewhat crazy things to remind themselves of their youth and virility, I am giving myself two birthday presents this year:

• I’m going back to school (“Uni”, for my European friends)
• I’m applying for U.S. Citizenship

“So long and thanks for all the fish.” –Douglas Addams

With all of the changes at Twitter recently, I’ve been less and less enthused at the platform.

With a lot of the folks I followed on Twitter leaving, I have less and less reason to even use the platform.

With the elimination of 3rd party Twitter clients, is it even a platform any more, or is it just some rich guy’s*¹ web app?

So, you know how yesterday I said, “I’m not sure I’ll have the stomach to look, much less take pictures, MUCH less post them, but… I likely will.”

Turns out I had the stomach. I :

• looked.
• was ecstatic.
• cheered.
• took pictures.
• (Or Llewellyn) took a LOT of pictures.

I’m not sure I’m going to post them, certainly not without an NSFW tag. Not because they’re gory, but just because some folks might have a problem with the sight of bandages, dried blood, antiseptic, and stitches. And rods. Sticking out of my toes. Rods. Seriously, they look like sausages on metal skewers…but… Rods!

The bandages come off tomorrow! I’m not sure I’ll have the stomach to look, much less take pictures, MUCH less post them, but… I likely will.

So far, I’ve found this process incredibly fascinating. I can’t wait to see my new foot.

Pain management has been adequate. My surgeon recommended doubling the amount of Percocet that I was taking, and that’s helped incredibly. I’ve gone from being in “my leg is on fire!” pain for 4 out of every 6 hours to a tolerable level of pain.

I had foot surgery yesterday. The surgeon did a fantastic job, and I can’t wait to walk again.

For now, I just need too tolerate the pain a bit. Nothing like having your entire foot feel like it’s burning up.

At 45, it seems surprising for people to hear that I’ve never had any type of surgeries or broken bones.

Other than Lasik surgery on my eyes back in 2002(?); Nope, never had any.

Well, 2022 and 2023 promise to change all of that.

This year–tomorrow–I’m having corrective surgery on my left foot, and either later this year, although quite possibly in the Spring of next year, I’ll have surgery in my right foot.

The phrase, “patience is a virtue” always struck me as a little wrong. while patience certainly can be a good thing at times, I prefer to believe that patience serves a use, but is no more valuable than anything else.

After all, patience is certainly of very little use if someone is about to eat something that they are allergic to, or is having a heart attack.

But that’s not really what I’m thinking about.

2020 already.

How the last year has flown.

A lot of changes.

Some players left the stage.

Some new players enter.

What will the future bring?

But, definitely for a good long time.

So, why mention it? My doctor mentioned that in my last two blood tests, my glucose was elevated. Elevated enough to classify as pre-diabetic.

So, either I make changes, eat better, exercise more… or I’m looking at eventually full blown type-2 diabetes.

And that would be bad.

So, really, it’s not an “either” case. It’s an “I have to make changes” case.

Like the song said, “Don’t worry, be happy”.

Please?

We all were sea-swallow’d, though some cast again, And by that destiny to perform an act Whereof what’s past is prologue, what to come In yours and my discharge. – Antonio, speaking to Sebastian Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act 2, Scene 1

I’ve been here before, standing at the edge of the water, wet sand between my toes. The water is cold, and I can feel the goose bumps climbing up my leg. The ocean is a dark green color, waves capped in white foam as they crash up against the beach, each wave reaching up on the sand to almost caress my feet.

You know that Bangles song, “[Manic Monday][1]”? It really feels like that today.

‘Anxiously’, although that sounds almost too strong, awaiting news. Although, perhaps “excitedly”, or “eagerly” might be better.

But, let’s be honest. I am both eager and excited. I am anxious.

It’s been a long time since I’ve been this eager. But, I can’t do anything to move things along faster. Things will either work out, or not work out. I can only sit and wait for now.

2017 is over.

finally

Long-live 2018.

Curves on the road can be dangerous, even when you know that they’re there. All that it takes is one patch of unseen ice, and before you know it, you’re sliding and spinning, trying to course-correct before you end up in a ditch…or worse, before you end up in on-coming traffic.

It never fails, that with the first real snowfall of the season, so many drivers seem to forget that they need to slow down, don’t slam on their brakes, and remember how to recover from a slide.

Every once in a while, I wipe and re-install my laptop. When I do that, I invariably have to remember to add smtp relaying via GMail to my local postfix configuration. Since it’s something that I do so rarely, I’ve given up on trying to remember.

So, for posterity, assuming you’re using Gmail, and on MacOS High Sierra (nb: This still works on Catalina too):

In /etc/postfix, edit main.cf, make the following edits

“Any road followed precisely to its end leads precisely nowhere. Climb the mountain just a little bit to test that it’s a mountain. From the top of the mountain, you cannot see the mountain. – Frank Herbert, DUNE”

Yes, I start with a quote from DUNE. It’s my favorite book, and counting just the books written by Frank Herbert, my favorite series. I probably can’t explain why. I don’t even know if I can say which one I experienced first – the original novel, or the film directed by David Lynch.

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