Comfort is relative

Gayle's coming in for her monthly break today.  This trip is early, as her birthday was Sunday, and our anniversary is Sunday, and I got us tickets to the Allison Krauss and Union Station concert tomorrow at the Orpheum. This means that we actually have the chance to eat downtown, as I get off work at 4, and the concert isn't until 8. So, we have a much larger range of possibilities of dining choices as opposed to usual.

Gayle has gotten acclimated to a much warmer environment since she's been living with her folks than what we used to maintain. I've upped the thermostat to 78 during the day, and 74 in the evening, and she'll still put on a sweater when she's here. Now, when she's not here, I jack the temp up to 82 during the day, and 73 in the evening, figuring that the cats don't pay rent, so they get no say in the temperature control.  This has ensured that my electric bill has only been over $200 bucks once this summer.

Late on the 14th my achilles tendon decided to misbehave.  The last time this happened I had 6 weeks of hell in a cast.  This time I limped around, and finally even bought a cane to help walk (which help a great deal...even if it did elicit rude comments about old men and staying off lawns at work).  I got in to see our leading foot doc at the clinic this past Monday, and got a pain patch which works, as opposed to ibuprophen which doesn't, and scheduled for physical therapy, starting Friday. That, along with a night splint to sleep in, beats a cast any time. This sort of service is a wonderful benefit of working at the clinic, especially since it seem that the older I get, the more I tend to break.

Next week I make my first trip to DragonCon in Atlanta.  My sister, who is a regular attendee, is the reason for this.  It seems like every year, she takes someone who has zero interest in SciFi or Fantasy, and that definately doesn't like to participate in the activities that are the reasons for going to such things. Well, when the lady that was going with her had to cancel, and I got invited, I figured I owed it to her to go and see if I couldn't make this one a DragonCon that she doesn't have regrets over. I do draw the line at paying large green for autographs, but I'll wait in line with her if that's what pops her cork.  Since she already knows I'm a cheapskate, this will come as no surprise.