Morning, all. It’s another lovely cool morning; the Idiots are thrilled, they LOVE to just sit outside and enjoy the day when it’s nice like this.
Great OP, FCM! I agree that gummint employees are for the most part seriously trying to do a good job. I look at Papa Tigs and his coworkers, civilian and military, and see what they do for the hundreds of patients in their care, and it is seriously impressive. Oh, sure, there’s the occasional nuisance employee, but they get weeded out – or at least marginalized – pretty quickly these days; they don’t have time for layabouts, there’s too much work to be done. Although Papa Tigs has taken it upon himself to try to change the attitudes of a couple of layabouts, and in one case, at least, he’s been fairly successful. But I tend to see red when people tell me gummint people don’t do a good job, because, believe me, some of them work their ASSES off.
Now if we could only get the various military services working as well together as your exercise folks did. The consolidation of Walter Reed & Bethesda? What’s going to happen depends on what suit the person currently chairing the consolidation committee is wearing. :rolleyes: (It’s not supposed to be that way, of course, but the real world takes over in such situations. :rolleyes: )
Bobbio, I had that type of knee brace that I had to wear to sleep in, but they let me leave it off most of the day. I HATED it, too – it was SO uncomfortable, and the metal would dig into me every time I moved – but I realize it was necessary to make sure I’d get adequate extension in the joint; it’s too easy to just keep it bent when you can’t move much at first, and that’s not healthy for the joint. I agree with Rosie, it’s probably up to her physical terrorists when she can stop wearing it; I think I had to wear it at night for two weeks after I got out of the hospital, but since I had only one knee done, comparisons are not a good idea. Tell VWife to have patience, even though it’s really hard; it’s a slooooow process, and at first it won’t seem like she’s making any progress, and then BAM! a few weeks down the road all of a sudden she’ll forget about the new knees for a few minutes and realize how far she’s come. It’s TOTALLY worth it in the end – as long as she does her exercises!! (I bet nobody’s ever told her that before. 
)
Good luck with your new stuff, Delectable Food Server, but I’m sorry you’re having such a difficult day. It’s a shame you’re having to pick up for your parent; OTOH, isn’t it fortunate that at least you are able to be a grownup? There comes a point for most of us where our parents revert to dependence on us; I don’t know if it’s early or late in your case, but it’s always difficult.
I should get back to work; I had been sent a chunk of my favorite job that arrived Saturday, and since it was so short I got the next chunk this morning. Which is fine by me. It’s a board meeting, which sounds dull but is actually one that deals with provision of legal services to the poor, and it always teaches me so much about the ways people find to help other people with seriously limited resources. So it’s very much a feel-good job. So I’m to be a good girl for a while. Don’t have too much fun today, everyone!
And why should I give a crap about her aunts and uncles who haven’t seen her in 3 days, when my parents, who live several thousand miles away, will be leaving in 2 days and won’t see HRH again until Christmas 2008? :mad: :mad: :mad: