- I saw my orthopedic yesterday and it turns out my knee is suffering from wear of cartilage (osteoarthritis) and my knee cap moves a bit off-kilter as it tracks to the outside; or, as he puts it, patellofemoral pain syndrome. He wants me to strengthen the vastus medialis oblique muscle, with the best exercise being cycling. I was impressed with how he wanted to work with me and my deductible, which starts over at the end of the month. Originally he wanted to give me a shot of Supartz, which is made of rooster combs, but I’d have to come in once a week for about five or six weeks, at $400 a pop. Instead, he gave me an injection of Synvise One which is just a one-time injection. And if case you are wondering, a shot directly underneath the knee cap didn’t hurt one iota. But he did have to use some sort of x-ray type of machine to maneuver the need to the proper place, which was kinda neat.
- I mentioned yesterday that on his website, there’s an Icky Woods endorsement, who use to play for the Cincinnati Bangles. Well, it didn’t occur to me, but his last name is Schott, just like the former infamous owner of the Cincinnati Reds. So I wondered if there was some sort of Cincinnati connection going on. Marge Schott didn’t have any kids, do he may not be a direct descendent, but I’d bet he’s related some way.
- My father was a native of Cincinnati and I can remember watching that 1990 World Series as if it was yesterday with him. That was a fun team managed by Lou Piniella with some great players like Eric Davis, Chris Sabo, Barry Larkin, Rob Dibble, Randy Myers, Jose Rio, Todd Benziger, Luis Quiñones, and Paul O’Neill.
- With today’s technology, I don’t know why we still need to hand write the same information, like name and address, on numerous forms when visiting a new doctor. The patient should be able to electronically fill out a name/address/phone one time, and that information autofill those fields on all forms.
- One of my loyal readers, a lawyer for what it’s worth, posted a piece on his blog about what it was like living in Tyler five years after desegregation. I found it pretty insightful.
- At the U2 concert in Toronto, Bono helped out with a marriage proposal. I like what the woman had to say, ““Every marriage should begin with an Irish blessing.”
- “That’s the whitest white part of the eye I’ve ever seen.”
- When I was a kid, I got the biggest kick out of seeing those stuffed Garfields suctioned cupped to the window of a car. You can still buy them today for only ten bucks.
- Report: George W. Bush charged $100,000 to speak at 2012 charity fundraiser for wounded veterans – I guess some will feel it’s inappropriate to send people to war and then charge to speak at an event to raise money for the wounded, but I guess one should also put this in perspective – According to the charity’s yearly reports to the IRS, it raised about $2,450,000, after expenses, from the 2012 gala where President Bush spoke, ABC News reported. The report said the following year, the gala netted the charity substantially less, about $1,000,000. Speaking and traveling fees for the former President were paid by the charity, but the amount was underwritten by a private donor, the charity’s lawyer told ABC News.
- A funny and quirky short film about a one-minute time machine, but there are a few f-bombs.
- Why Lamborghini Trashed the Manual Transmission – Basically, there was no demand.
- If you live around Dallas and enjoy very large water slides – The Urban Slide – This is a family-friendly 1,000-FT slip-n-slide event which will include food, cool gear, and music!
- Blue Bell planning a trial run at its Alabama ice cream plant – But you should still plan on having a Blue Bell-less summer.
- I love the Mavs, but the whole DeAndre Jordan emoji drama yesterday was quite entertaining, and I liked how Tony Romo and Whataburger even got into the act.
- Why couldn’t it be the former Rangers pitcher with the same name – Father of Buccaneers’ C.J. Wilson says son lost 2 fingers in fireworks mishap
- The price of diplomacy – Twizzlers, string cheese, and mixed nuts (in large quantities) fuel Iran nuclear negotiators – The US negotiating team here over the past five weeks has gone through 10 pounds of Twizzlers (strawberry flavored), 20 pounds of string cheese, 30 pounds of mixed nuts and dried fruit, and more than 200 Rice Krispies Treats.
- Nike Has Their Own Air Force And Futuristic Air Base
- Listen to the incredible sound of a supercar accelerating past a world record
‘Game of Thrones’ This and That
So, Who’s Winning the Game of Thrones?
We know that in the game of thrones, you win or you die. And we know who’s dead. So…who’s winning? We’ve put together a comprehensive video tracking all five seasons of HBO’s grimly set jawline spectacular Game of Thrones, so that you can quickly and easily know who’s winning, and who’s dying.
Man, this video cleared a whole lot of stuff for me, I got a tad lost in the massive and complex storyline and this pieced a lot of it together.
The Evolution of Game of Thrones’ Effects With VFX Boss Joe Bauer
When you get a chance to talk to Game of Thrones’ VFX supervisor Joe Bauer, you don’t ask him about the weather. So we didn’t—instead, we asked him to discuss the greatest FX scenes over the show’s five seasons in this exclusive io9 video, and the show’s ever-evolving with practical effects and digital wizardry.
Lance Armstrong Trolls the Tour de France
Lance Armstrong is back in the saddle at the Tour de France, trolling one of the world’s most prestigious athletic events and spitting in the face of his lifetime ban. Unable to actually compete, he’s instead riding several stages of the race the day before the actual race does in a thinly veiled f-you to honest athletes, cycling’s governing body, and the legion of heart broken fans he betrayed, all in his all-too-familiar role as the good guy trying to raise money for cancer.
Bag of Randomness for Wednesday, July 8, 2015
- While registering our vehicle online I remembered how we use to place an actual small rectangle sticker on the actual license plate back in the day. Dad used to let me put those on when I was a kid, and I felt it was a real important job.
- It’s open enrollment for benefits at work again, and during a meeting about this yesterday it hit me that our current year deductible totals end at the end of the month. I bet most places just use the calendar year, but we have to be different for some reason. With about $500 to reach my deductible, I went ahead and schedule an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon to look at my bum knee today. When you visit his practice’s website, there’s an endorse from Icky Woods of all people. I might trust Icky about some cold cuts recommendations, but I’m not so sure about the medical field.
- I got my invite from Google to partake in their new mobile phone service, Project Fi. Users are limited to only one phone, the Nexus 6, but service is only $20 a month with unlimited voice and text, and then a choice of $10-per-gigabyte tiers, so it would only cost me $30 a month, and what data I don’t use would be credited back to my account. It works by using both Sprint and T-Mobile networks (the two with the worst coverage in DFW) and open Wi-Fi networks, so I’d be switching from Sprint to Sprint/T-Mobile/WiFi, which isn’t much of an upgrade regarding coverage. My contract with Sprint ends on the ninth of September, and Project Fi invitations don’t expire, so I think I can wait about 60 days. As for the phone, I can buy one for $500 (I just happen to have $200 gift card to Best Buy) or you can finance through Google for about $21 a month.
- One more phone note, I have the choice of getting an entire new phone number, transferring over my current number I have with Sprint, or using my Google Voice number. My Google Voice phone number, after the area code, is GEEDING. So you could dial (—)-GEEDING and reach me. If I choose not to use my Google Voice number, I lose that number, so no one can call (—)-GEEDING and reach me. Decisions, decisions. I’ll probably just keep my number from Sprint since most folks have that number and that would save me the trouble of having to contacts folks to update it.
- While watching the local evening news, there was a story about a Fort Worth police officer saving a man from drowning in Lake Como. It was a nice surprise to find out the officer was someone that was in my graduating class. I was attracted to her back then, but she played for the other team, as Seinfeld would say.
- Speaking of friends in my graduating class, one of my closest friends lives in Abilene. After seeing footage of all the major flooding yesterday I decided to send him a text to see if he and his family were okay, but it turns out he’s out of the country on a mission trip.
- The new season of ‘Mythbusters’ starts on Saturday, July 18.
- U2 let a U2 tribute band get on stage with them and they all sang ‘Desire’ together.
- New stand at Dallas Farmers Market takes ice cream to luxurious heights
- Buzzfeed – Here’s 100 Of The Most Stylish Celeb Wedding Gowns Ever
- Not sure if I like this idea of finding out about his past – ‘Star Wars’ Han Solo Spinoff in the Works With ‘Lego Movie’ Directors
- I saw a wallaby on television last night which caused me to look up the difference between a wallaby and a kangaroo.
- Don’t shoot the messenger (see what I did there?) – Whataburger: No ‘open carry’ in our restaurants despite new Texas law
- Today’s dose of ‘MURICA!
- Every Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman actor merged into each individual character
- A new video promoting “201 Days of X-Files,” a re-airing of the original series ahead of its January return
- What College Majors Are Most Likely to Marry Each Other?
- I don’t care how much the show has changed, this is great news – Harry Shearer is back on ‘The Simpsons’

