Life Changes Pt. 2

The swelling in that foot has been much less lately so perhaps some genuine healing is taking place inside my right leg. I still have a limited range of motion in the knee but I do work on that every day. It bends just fine but so far I can't get it to straighten out. It seems to stall somewhere between 15 and 20 degrees shy of straight. I know the kneecap was displaced but I remember them shoving that back into the correct location. I also know that the actual knee joint is okay so the problem is somewhere else. My guess is a lot of scar tissue in the way but I'm not certain that is the correct answer. If it is then I'd also suspect that, at some point, I'm in for some minor surgery to have most of that removed. (Oh boy! More down time!)

As for progress on the new house it's at the cerebral level right now. After way too much hassle and blue streaks of such a level as to make sailors cover their ears and take shelter.... we elected to bail on the laminate flooring and go with ceramic tile. Everyone we talked with before hand assured us that if we could handle ceramic tile (which we could) then laminate flooring would be a piece of cake. Lying bastards! This crap is the biggest pain in the ass since invasion of giant killer hemorrhoids from outer space! Becky and I are comfortable working with the ceramic tile so we're cutting our losses. We have 48 unopened boxes of laminate left and Lowe's agreed to take them back so we could get tile. On the bright side the cost of the flooring just went from $1.80/sq ft to roughly $0.72/sq ft. Also tile is much more forgiving about the surface it is installed over. Things like being perfectly level don't matter nearly as much to tile. Anyway, our main goal was a floor that minimized the amount of allergens in the house and tile still qualifies for that. As a side issue it's also far easier to fix if something goes wrong. Ding a board in the laminate floor and they say "all you have to do is (Run like hell anytime you hear those words!) take up all the floor back to the damaged piece, remove and replace it, then simply relay the rest of the floor! With the stuff we have the odds are you'd break another dozen boards during the removal process. (once snapped together this stuff does NOT want to come apart!) Even if everything went well we'd still be looking at a full day or more to replace a single damaged board. If we break a tile somehow..... all you do is finish breaking the tile the rest of the way our, mix up a little thinset and spread that out.... drop in another tile and then have a beer while it sets up. Later on grout the four sides and you're done. Where else is part of the fixing process whacking the hell out of something with a big hammer and breaking it all to hell?

I think as a parting shot I'm going to briefly covers "Joe's 2 second rule." It has nothing to do with anything else I've talked about but what the hell.... it's my blog. Those who know me know I genuinely hate phones. Oh they have their place but like everything else they tend to be abused by far too many people and that's what chaps my ass. My phone is for MY convenience so most of the time when it rings it's someone attempting to invade my privacy and usually con me out of some money. When I answer the phone I say "This is Joe" and count: one thousand one, one thousand two.... and If, by that time, no one has managed to speak I hang up. I figure that if you're calling me then you'd damn sure better know why and be prepared to speak when I answer. If you're not then it's a damn short phone call for you.