Saturday Morning Coffee

Good morning fellow coffee and tea drinkers! Grab a cup, sit back, relax, and enjoy the show.☕️

Cold Espresso

CNN: “Robbie Coltrane, the actor who brought to life the lovable gamekeeper Hagrid in the Harry Potter film franchise, died on Friday, according to his agent, Scott Henderson. He was 72.”

This is so heartbreaking. Our beloved Hagrid is gone. Mr. Coletrane, of course, appeared in many other films but he will always be Hagrid to me.

RIP 💔

Sketch - Via LinkedIn: “Today is a very tough day for everyone at Sketch. In response to challenging market conditions and with a desire to keep our product-first strategy, we’ve taken the difficult decision to reduce our team by just over 80 people. This will mostly impact Operations and Marketing, who have done great work in the recent weeks and months. Our Product team remains well-equipped, with a core team continuing to drive things forward.”

This is a real bummer to see. In my mind Sketch is a prime example of a modern Mac application done right. I know many designers who use it daily. To see such a reduction in workforce makes your heart sink. All those people looking for work toward the end of the year.

On the flip side there are now many very qualified Mac and iOS developers on the market. Go find one and hire them.

Also, why in the world wouldn’t you put this on the company blog or as a standalone news announcement on your own website?

Fortune: “Every day, we are confronted with the knowledge of further destruction of Earth at our hands: the extinction of animal species, of flora and fauna…things that took five billion years to evolve, and suddenly we will never see them again because of the interference of mankind. It filled me with dread. My trip to space was supposed to be a celebration; instead, it felt like a funeral.”

William Shatner is a Canadian Treasure, I originally said American Treasure but a friend corrected me. He’s still an American Treasure if you ask me. 😁 I don’t know what more say, other thank this: We must protect our planet. It’s the only place that can sustain life we’re aware of. Even if we found another planet it would be impossible to reach.

It couldn’t have happened to a better man. Now, get this jerk off the airwaves.

Yahoo! News: “The House select committee held its 10th and possibly final public hearing on Thursday, presenting new evidence stemming from its 15-month investigation into the events surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.”

Well, well, well, TFG will finally get his subpoena. Of course he’ll worm his way out of it, like he always does. Here’s hoping the Justice Department gets him.

CNN: “Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd delighted “Back to the Future” fans when they were reunited at the weekend, 37 years after the release of the sci-fi comedy.”

I love this film series. My favorite episode is the third and final installment. They’re all very good of course but the third one is best.

Axios: “Google has approved Donald Trump’s Twitter-like social media app Truth Social for distribution in the Google Play Store, Axios has learned.”

This company is doomed to failure. Besides, if Musk gets his hands on Twitter, which is highly likely, TFG will be allowed back on to continue his reign of terror unabated. That sucks.

Fast Company: “With 15,000 locations across the U.S., the coffee chain is betting it can convince electric vehicle owners that it’s the perfect place to charge up. (Literally!)”

Starbucks has some much bigger fish to fry with workers form unions and their attempts to bust those unions but this is an interesting idea.

I was going to question why a company like McDonalds wasn’t interested in doing something like this but Starbucks is definitely a more high end brand. It’s a place folks spend “disposable” income.

That’s right Peter! You tell ‘em!

Hey! Did you know I developed a feed reader for iOS called Stream? That’s right, I did, no, really, I did! It’s free in the App Store but you’re welcome to leave a tip. 😄

Tiny Apple Core

Kim and the grandkids had fun today. I hope she brought one home! 😄

These are mummy brownies.

I’d mentioned a few days back I always look out the kitchen window into our back yard looking for deer. It paid off this morning. My wife and I watched three grazing along our back fence. 🦌

They’re so beautiful.

Federated vs. Centralized

Hacker News Comment: “This is one of the strengths of a federated system run by people who aren’t looking to profit. Firstly, they care about their users and are more likely to take difficult decisions, like the one Ash has made, for the good of themselves and their users. In doing so everyone involved has time to make an orderly move.”

I really love seeing this take. It’s the first reply to this Hacker News post on the shutdown of mastodon.technology. Yes, it is a sad day amongst folks in the Fediverse, especially for folks on mastodon.technology but the network persists because it’s federated with other instances. The folks who are losing their accounts will be able to move to another instance or perhaps spin up their own!

It some ways it’s like having your own blog. If you decide to stop writing and let the domain lapse your writing will disappear but the internet of blogs continues to march along.

I’ve heard so many folks say Mastodon isn’t a good substitute to Twitter but if it isn’t, what is?

Once Elon Musk has Twitter it would be fantastic to see Twitter implement the protocols necessary to participate in the Fediverse.

What does that even mean?

It means Twitter would write some code that would allow Mastodon based servers to find it and render Twitter tweets into a unified timeline of users.

It would allow a Twitter of Twitters to blossom. Sure, Twitter is a for profit company and others could have for profit Mastodon instances but it wouldn’t be required. All that’s required is the will to fire up an instance.

A true open social experience

Folks like Manton Reese, the creator of Micro.blog, have already implemented these protocols to allow Micro.blog to federate with other Mastodon instances! In fact, I follow quite a few folks on Micro.blog from my Mastodon account on my instance, curmudgeon.cafe.

I could also see news papers, streaming companies, and movie studios running their own instances. Think of names on services like @wolfblitzer@cnn.social for Wolf Blitzer, @maggie@nytimes.social for Maggie Haberman, or @maddow@msnbc.social for Rachel Maddow. Of course I made all those names up and each of those companies may choose to use a different domain extension for their federated servers, but you get the picture.

Those custom domain names can’t be used on Twitter today because it’s completely centralized as opposed to the open, federated, system employed by Mastodon.

The really nice benefit to the federated system is the survivability of the network. If one system disappeared the remainder of the systems continue to operate. There is no set of central servers.

Hey! That’s how the internet is built!

Latest Halloween themed flag.

Oy, I have a domain queued up and ready to purchase. I don’t need another domain, I don’t need another domain, I don’t need another domain.

I let a few lapse recently. Maybe that makes it ok to buy this one? 🤔

Saturday Morning Coffee

Gotta keep it brief today my granddaughter is visiting so it’s busy. 😄

Spicy Mexican Coffee

Petapixel: “It doesn’t look good for Meta as the company is trading at its lowest stock value since 2019, advertisers are dropping spending, and users are leaving its platforms.”

Couldn’t have happened to a better company.

As you can tell, I don’t like Facebook.

Cal Newport: “As I recently discovered, however, the bestselling fantasy novelist Brandon Sanderson put us all to shame. His home office heroics began in 2008, when he and his wife bought a nondescript house in a nondescript Utah suburb.”

Go read the article. I now want to do what he did.

The Atlantic: “Yesterday, the world got a look inside Elon Musk’s phone. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO is currently in litigation with Twitter and trying to back out of his deal to buy the platform and take it private. As part of the discovery process related to this lawsuit, Delaware’s Court of Chancery released hundreds of text messages and emails sent to and from Musk.”

Tech bros at their “best.”

Barn Finds: “The 1956 Golden Hawk was one of the many derivatives of the Studebaker Starliner, craftily styled by Raymond Loewy.”

I want this car for my collection! Of course I don’t have a collection but if I did I’d want this one.

Ash Furrow: “I have sad news that I have decided to shut down the mastodon.technology instance. In accordance with the Mastodon Server Covenant, the server will be shut down no earlier than December 1, 2022.”

It’s a bummer to see Ash go through a rough time and it’s completely understandable why he’s shutting it down.

Tiny Apple Core

The Smell of Musk

Poynter: “The question is whether Musk is serious this time or if it’s some sort of legal maneuver.”

Platformer: “Today let’s talk about the backdrop against which he made this decision, whether it’s somehow an incredibly elaborate effort to get out of the deal, and what Twitter’s beleaguered employees were saying about it internally.”

Slate: “Here are four theories as to why Musk is now changing course. Let’s loosely rank them from ‘by far the most likely’ to ‘certainly in the realm of possibility,’ which covers almost anything when it comes to Musk.”

Daily Beast: ”Just a day after Elon Musk announced his intention to complete his purchase of Twitter, a group that intended to provide $1 billion earlier this year to fund his proposed buyout has reportedly stepped away from the deal.”

The Guardian: “Lawyers for Elon Musk on Thursday asked a Delaware court to halt an upcoming trial over Musk’s $44bn deal to take over the social media company.”

AHHHHHH!The Verge: “The pending trial between Elon Musk and Twitter is suddenly on hold, as Judge Kathaleen McCormick granted the Musk side’s request for a stay, pending the closing of their deal for Musk to buy Twitter at $54.20 per share.”

New York Times: “An influx of Trumpists is not going to improve the vibe. Twitter can’t be saved. Maybe, if we’re lucky, it can be destroyed.”

What a roller coaster of a ride!

I’m happy to see Twitter didn’t pull its lawsuit and it’s fine the Judge put it on hold for now.

Musk should be brought to account. If he signs the deal and drops a huge wad of cash on the table he can stop the lawsuit. If he doesn’t, well, that’s a horse of a different color.

It really does sound like he’s trying to avoid some embarrassment. Text messages can bite you on the butt.

No matter. I’m here for it. 🍿

P.S. - Mr. Musk, musk.social is still available for way less than you’re paying for Twitter. Pick it up and you could map it directly to Twitter or use it for whatever.

When I stand at the kitchen sink I always scan our back yard for deer. Every once in a while I get a nice surprise with one or more deer grazing or just passing through.

None so far today but it doesn’t stop me from looking.

Some of our fall flowers. 🌼 I’m surprised the rose is still blooming.

My dreams always include one of the places I love; Seattle, Exeter, or Lindsay.

Lately, instead of dreaming of my time at Visio in Seattle I’ve been dreaming about returning to Microsoft. Did that last night.

Brains are weird. 🧠

Saturday Morning Coffee

My first cup of coffee is poured and cooling a bit, our old kitty — Khloe — is in my lap, and I’m sat in my writing spot at the end of the couch nearest the front window. It’s cloudy and raining and the wind is blowing. I’m not sure if it’s remnants of Ian yet or just a regular storm. Guess we’ll find out. 🌧️

CNN: “Ian slammed into southwest Florida as a severe Category 4 hurricane Wednesday, packing sustained winds of 150 mph. Officials believe the death toll of at least 45 people is likely to climb in the coming days as searchers access areas that had been blocked by debris and floodwaters.”

What a tragic week for Floridians. So many folks displaced and damage beyond belief. Homes and businesses wiped completely off the map, land reclaimed by sand. And the there is the human toll. 😢

Take care my Florida friends. ❤️

Travel Radar: “There have been multiple reports of strange noises coming from American Airlines in recent weeks that neither the passengers nor crew members could explain. Some passengers have been airing their confusion across social media.”

It’s the perfect time of the year to have mysterious moaning sounds coming out of the speaker system on a flight.

It doesn’t sound like an equipment failure to me. I’m going with ghosts. 👻

When the big players figure out they can automate a money making machine they have to get involved and screw everything up.

Luckily we still have great Indie Podcasts to listen to.

TechCrunch: “Now, a Spanish startup called Penpot — which is taking a new approach to design collaboration through an open source platform that brings designers and developers into the mix simultaneously — says that it’s been seeing a huge amount of adoption since the Figma deal.”

I happened across Penpot a month or so before the Adobe purchase of Figma. It’s really nice and if you’re looking for a Figma alternative you might want to give it a look.

Bleacher Report: “Odell Beckham Jr. questioned why all NFL stadiums don’t feature grass fields after former New York Giants teammate Sterling Shepard suffered a non-contact knee injury on the MetLife Stadium turf on Monday night.”

This is not the first time turf has become controversial. I remember back in the 70’s or 80’s this being a topic of conversation. That was before this new wave of turf became a thing.

I’ve always been a fan of grass fields. Bring them back to every stadium you possibly can. I want to see some filthy uniforms.

Apple Newsroom: “Amid the tools used by archaeologists for centuries — trowels, buckets, brushes, and pickaxes — there’s a new piece of equipment: iPad Pro.”

I am so here for this. Seeing tools used in ways you never expected is always such a joy for the developer.

Congratulations to Top Hatch, the makers of Concepts, and my friend Marc Palmer who is a developer on the engineering team! 👍🏼

Politico: “A federal judge delivered a blistering rebuke of Republican Party leaders Tuesday for what she said was a cynical attempt to stoke false claims of election fraud of the kind that fueled the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.”

I really wish Republican leaders weren’t so power hungry and had the guts to all come out against TFG.

Here’s hoping one of the many troubles TFG has leads to conviction and elimination from running for public office. 🤞🏼

9to5Mac: “This week, a new Instagram client called “OG App” caught the attention of the internet as it promised a better Instagram experience without advertisements or content suggestions from people you don’t know. The app seemed too good to be true, but it has now been taken down – not by Meta, but by Apple.”

If you’re surprised by this, don’t be. Instagram cut off developers long ago. At one time there were plenty of great Instagram clients, even for iPad!

It’s a closed platform. The best we can hope for is alternate services — like Glass — to catch on and take a big share of Instagrams user base.

Of course the United States, Britain, and Ukraine aren’t the only countries in complete disarray. Iran is having another revolution. Women are coming out in force to demand equal rights and an end to its totalitarian regime.

Yahoo Sports: “Again, if you don’t like the “White Bengal” look with the black stripes — which included the debut of the white helmet with black stripes on Thursday night — then it’ll be a while before you find an NFL uniform you like.”

I loved the white out uniforms worn by the Bengals Thursday night. Being a Bears fan I’m really looking forward to seeing the new orange helmets the Bears will be wearing on special occasions this year.

I kind of wish they’d go orange helmets with their navy blue color rush uniform but they’re not going that direction

Hayseed Blog: “I’m happy to announce a new Stream release. Version 1.3 is a minor release with one new feature and two bug fixes.”

I wish I could turn this little project into my full time gig. Heck, I’d be super happy with a few hundred bucks a month! 🤣

That aside I am proud of my little labor of love and hope you’ll give it a look.

Getting this version out the door has allowed me to get back to the Mac version. It’s slow going since this is my first real Mac app but I do hope to ship it at some point. 😄

Time for my third cup. ☕️

Tiny Apple Core

One of my favorite flags. My wife has at least one for every month of the year. For fall and Christmas she has so many we could swap them every few days.

That kitty looks happy. 🎃🐈‍⬛

I think of Home Alone as a Christmas movie. Not a only watch in December movie, but a Christmas movie nonetheless. I like watching it on Thanksgiving night. 🦃

Anywho, all that to say, it on now and I’m watching it.

Oh, and I want that house. 😃

Saturday Morning Coffee

I got a nice little treat with my coffee this morning. Kim made some pumpkin spice cinnamon rolls. 🤤

Pastries and coffee are perfect together.

Frap

Robin Rendle, hat tip Om 🎩: ”There are no rules to blogging except this one: always self-host your website because your URL, your own private domain, is the most valuable thing you can own. Your career will thank you for it later and no-one can take it away. But don’t wait up for success to come, it’s going to be a slog—there will be years before you see any benefit.”

If you’re reading this you have to know by now I love blogging. I don’t see giving it up. Sure, I’ve gone through extremely dry spells over the years but I still enjoy it.

In the early 2000’s I’d do little one line posts and it was fine. When Twitter became a thing I felt like my blog posts needed a title for some strange reason. When I switched back to this domain for my blog I started posting stand-alone short posts without a title and pictures.

I like the way it’s going. I post more frequently.

The Daily Beast: ”Dearie, a semi-retired federal judge in Brooklyn who’s playing the role of temporary referee, wants to speed up the process and get federal agents back on track. And while Trump has been alleging on social media that he already declassified the records he swiped from the White House, Dearie is demanding that Trump put up or shut up.”

The judge that setup this whole mess by allowing for a Special Master was just passing the buck. It’s nice to see Judge Dearie call B.S.

It’s amazing how big a grifter, gangster, bully, TFG is. He really does deserve some jail time, of course he won’t get any, but he deserves some.

The Iconfactory : ”Introducing Wallaroo - the quickest and easiest way to browse and set wallpapers on your iOS devices. The Iconfactory has been crafting custom wallpapers for the Mac and iOS community for over 25 years, and now we’ve packaged them up in a fun, handy app that’s available today on the iOS App Store.”

I’m a huge fan of The Iconfactory. I’ve been a Twitterrific user for years and years and years and I’m composing this post using Tot, their simple note taking app.

When I saw the post for Wallaroo I installed it straight away and subscribed. I love seeing a subscription that is going to provide me with high quality iPhone wallpapers for the length of my subscription, one year.

I’m currently rocking the Jack-O-Lantern from the Spectral Selfies collection. It’s a beautiful piece of work.

Highly recommended.

I was also surprised to see Apple relax the rules around the Dynamic Island (Do you say Dynamic Island in a big booming voice in your head or is it just me?)

Regardless. It’s nice to see Apple allow for this whimsical treatment of the island.

Who know, next week they may reject it? 🤷🏻‍♂️

The Washington Post: ”The issue Wednesday went far beyond a single statue. Residents — neighbors, families — plunged into an emotional discussion about identity and who gets to define it, provoking a heated defense of local heritage. Much of it was couched in an unreconstructed view of history in which the Lost Cause is noble, the Confederacy was a bastion of states’ rights and Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman was an unprincipled butcher.”

This is something I really hate about the South. There is a reality distortion field around this so called heritage. Yeah, it’s a heritage of slavery. The imprisonment and mistreatment of human beings to serve your needs. It’s pathetic.

Every one of these Jim Crowe era statues and monuments need to be destroyed. Melt them down and make them something beautiful or put them in a museum to shame them. It would be a museum similar to the Holocaust Museum. We can’t forget the Civil War and we need to tell it for what it was. It was all about slavery.

The Confederacy was a disgusting attempt to overthrow the government. It’s a stain on our history.

Gotta give this asshole props for being honest enough to say what these right wing extremists believe. Most of the MAGA’s dance around the subject. Not this dude. He comes right out and says “I’m a racist bastard.”

Disgusting.

ESPN: ”CLEVELAND – Nobody, at least still living, knows for sure how Brownie the Elf came to be the first official mascot of the Cleveland Browns some 76 years ago.”

Let’s end on a happy note, shall we?

I know Brownie the Elf is controversial in Cleveland and around the country but gosh darnit I’m here for it! Not every NFL team needs some macho mascot.

I hope the dress him up for the holidays. A Christmas elf would be nice.

Oh, I also really love that he covers a gigantor part of the field. Nicely done Cleveland.

Now, let’s get him on the helmets. 😁

Tiny Apple Core

Stream and Sharing

I love that I can hop into Stream, tap an article from the list to read, read it, and then tap the share icon in the upper right corner of the screen to save the article to Pocket for possible inclusion in my Saturday Morning Coffee post.

I love it when a plan comes together. 😎

Recovery Update — Seven

It’s been just over six weeks since my knee replacement. Therapy continues and I’m surprised how quickly the human body can heal and adjust itself to changes. We’re so fragile, yet so amazingly strong all at the same time.

I’ve recently started walking without my cane. I probably could’ve done it earlier but there’s a bit of a psychological barrier to get through. Can I trust this knee to properly support me and can I do it without pain?

Anyone who suffers chronic pain will tell you they’d do anything to stop it. My brother once told me “If chopping off my arm would stop my back pain I’d do it.” Yes, it can be that difficult to live with. Luckily surgery did the trick for him as it did for me.

My knee feels great. Sure I get the occasional weird nerve twinge and the entire knee area is still kind of sore but that’s nothing, just part of the healing process. The joint itself, the thing that rated eight on the pain scale, is now a big fat goose egg, a zero. That is beyond my wildest expectations. ❤️

Random knee picture six weeks on.

What kitty? I don’t see a kitty.

If Flynn wants to cuddle and you don’t want to — normally I’m cool with it but I’m guarding the knee — just throw a blanket over him and he’s happy as can be.

Gotta understand your kids and their needs. 😁

Recovery Update — Six

A wonderful bouquet of flowers.Today marks four weeks since my knee replacement.

I know it’s only Tuesday but it’s been a good week. I’ve been walking more naturally and my leg is feeling stronger, turns out your quadriceps are really important to recovering from a knee replacement.

Today I went to my first physical therapy session outside of our home. I was kind of worried they’d drive me in the ground but they didn’t. The two things we did work on were; quadriceps strength and flexing the knee by extending my leg straight out and flexing it by pulling it back toward myself.

My hope is to be able to flex my leg to 120 degrees. I haven’t been able to do that in close to 20 years. I can currently bend it to 90 degrees, which I believe is better than I could do pre-op!

Oh, I also switched over to a cane today. Bye bye walker.

I’m getting there. 👍🏼

Kim is taking Kolby to the doggy groomer.

I think it’s time for a nap.

Saturday Morning Coffee

This is my favorite part of the morning. It’s quiet. Our puppers, Kolby, and our kitties have been fed and Kolby has been let out to do his business. I have my coffee — on the couch with an ice pack on my knee — composing this post.

Sweet silence.

Ars Technica: “Brian Kernighan said hello, asked how their US visit was going, and dropped off hundreds of lines of code that could add Unicode support for AWK, the text-parsing tool he helped create for Unix at Bell Labs in 1977.”

It’s so encouraging to see a legend of computing going strong.

Steven Beschloss: “I didn’t intend to return to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis so soon, but the combination of his latest nastiness combined with the emerging approach of his newly decided Democratic opponent, Charlie Crist, made it clear that the Florida race for governor represents more than the question of who will lead Florida into the future. This is shaping up to be a battle between leadership driven by anger and cruelty and leadership that believes kindness and compassion must define our fate.”

I can’t for the life of me understand why people vote for someone so cruel. He has every trait that made Trump such a disaster and he’s a lot smarter than Trump, which makes him even more dangerous.

Platformer: “Zatko maintained his public silence for eight months — and then showed up on Tuesday throwing bombs.”

My initial reaction to this news was it would help Musk get out of the Twitter deal. Now I don’t think it’ll help him.

He’s still gonna need his $54.20 per share.

There’s also the ever popular musk.social sitting out there for a $1MM donation to Planned Parenthood. Quite a deal!

Puck News: “‘It’s not been a fun morning,’ Stacy Spikes told me today from New York, where he’s been prepping the new and (hopefully!) improved MoviePass.”

I totally took advantage of MoviePass in 2017. I saw a few movies and it was so worth the price.

This new and improved version could be a boon to movie theaters looking to put butts in seats in our endemic COVID world.

Macworld: “The problem is that, with a month or so to go before macOS Ventura goes final, the System Settings app in the beta is a bit of a disaster. Unless things change in a hurry, Apple is in danger of replacing one of the worst system apps in macOS with a new app that’s just as bad or worse.”

I would love to know why this new OS app is so klunky. I haven’t experienced it myself but from all accounts it’s a real mess.

Now, it could be the app is waiting on some changes from the SwiftUI team to fix some nasty bugs or, perhaps, we’re seeing learning pains from the developer responsible for the app? It happens to the most seasoned developer when you have to make that brain shift to a new paradigm.

If it manages to ship in a buggy state with a terrible user experience it doesn’t bode well for SwiftUI. Who wants to invest their time in a technology that’s not ready for prime time?

Of course SwiftUI is the future of app development for all Apple Platform based applications, it’s just really ugly at the moment.

It's a real scorcher here in the San Joaquin Valley!Fresnoland: “In 2021, the Fresno area experienced 69 days over 100 degrees – a record-breaking number of days, according to data from the National Weather Service. There have already been more than 50 days over 100 this year.”

I was born and raised in the great San Joaquin Valley of California. Yes, it’s hot, no way around it, but these increasing days over 100 degrees isn’t good in so many ways. Climate change is real and we’ve screwed ourselves. The human toll is just getting started.

Jalopnik: “Tesla CEO Elon Musk is none too pleased with Tesla drivers who are pointing out major issues with the company’s Full Self-Driving software, according to Insider.“

Have you seen some of the very damning videos of Tesla’s running over child sized mannequins? It’s really disturbing and Musk isn’t happy about it. He wants them pulled. So much for open feedback.

Fully Self Driving vehicles is a pipe dream at the moment and Tesla is experimenting right out in the open. Tesla’s are dangerous cars when used in FSD mode and it should be banned from general use until Tesla can consistently demonstrate it works.

Yes, believe it or not, University of California schools were once free to attend. As a nation we need this to come back. Make all State Colleges and Universities free. If you want to go to Harvard that’s fine, you can pay for your education. It gives folks choice and will make America a better place.

Tiny Apple Core

Recovery Update — Four

Duct Tape, fixer of all things!I had my final in home physical therapy session this morning. I’m always excited for PT days to see what the therapist has in store for me. Today was pretty straight forward. It was basically graduation day.

He had me walk about 10 feet, turn around, and walk back, all without the walker. It felt really great to be able to do that.

After that we chatted about how it felt. Then I had a do a timed version of that. While seated I had to stand up, walk 10 feet, turn around, and walk back. All controlled. It’s not a test meant to break records, it’s meant to compare to the same movement earlier on in the process. We didn’t do it early on so there’s nothing to compare to, but it felt natural and the leg felt strong.

The final exercise today was to do as many “sit-to-stand” as I can, in 30 seconds. Using one of our dining room chairs I would go from the seated to standing position and back to seated. I was able to do seven reps in 30 seconds. It also felt great! Toward the end my left quad was feeling it. That’s a good thing. These exercises are about strengthening the muscle structure around the knee. It’s working. 😄

To round things out he measured how far I could bend the knee. He’s been doing this all along. Today I could get to 90 degrees. I could t do that prior to surgery.

I’m pooped out because I’m very out of shape and still nowhere near a 100%, but I’m very excited about my progress and really happy with the overall improvement to my knee.

Exciting day!

Recovery Update — Three

Progress has slowed a bit. Last Thursday I woke up with a painful left ankle. I figured it was from physical therapy and was just sore.

It wasn’t just sore. I couldn’t work it out and I couldn’t walk properly because of it. I called the doc, she had me come in on Friday, and decided it could be one of three things; a stress fracture, blood clots, or tendinitis.

I got an X-ray which eliminated that possibility. The next order of business was to check for blood clots.

Saturday rolls around and it’s still painful, but as the day progresses I notice it’s feeling a bit better.

When I wake up Sunday I notice most of the pain is gone and I can walk pretty normally. Seems like it must have been blood clots.

As I get started this morning I feel like I’m back where I need to be to move my recovery forward. 👍🏼

Recovery Update — Three

Watch out! It's a blog fly!I can already see today is going to be a half day for me.

I’m having a minor setback in my recovery. Over the last couple weeks my knee has never been the issue during the recovery process. Last Friday it was a pulmonary embolism and I got past that.

On Monday I had a really great PT session and it felt amazing.

On Wednesday I had two different doctors appointments and walked a lot, which wiped me out.

Queue up Thursday. My ankle hurts, a lot. I’m not sure if it’s blood clots or I’ve somehow done some real damage to it. For the first time in over a week I had to use my pain meds.

And here we are, it’s Friday. My brain decided it wanted to be awake at 4AM and my ankle is extremely stiff and painful. Walking is a real bear, so of course I’m trying to avoid it, but it’s necessary for the recovery process!

I’ve taken some more pain meds and wrapped my knee and ankle in ice in hopes the ankle will start to feel a bit better because I have my final physical therapy session today and would like to make some decent forward progress.

More later. For now I’m getting some coffee in me. ☕️