The Venting Thread

[Scout]

I do not accept friend requests from folks I do not know. I really, really don't accept friend requests when these folks are messianic Jews.

[mamselle]

I don't see the categorical basis for your objection, but I'll allow you your right to it.

Once again, not all members of any religious group can be lumped together as having either this or that "good" or "bad" trait. But you're free to believe so if it seems to simplify your life in some way.

My vent, unrelated: my trip to Europe in December is booked with Am. Airlines.

Guess whose homecoming layover just went from less than 1 hour to ten hours, leaving at almost midnight?

A-hem.

I'll have to see if there are any better options, I suppose.

But I'm glad NOT to be flying on birds that go down too easily...

M.

[mamselle]

I don't see the categorical basis for your objection, but I'll allow you your right to it.

Once again, not all members of any religious group can be lumped together as having either this or that "good" or "bad" trait. But you're free to believe so if it seems to simplify your life in some way.

My vent, unrelated: my trip to Europe in December is booked with Am. Airlines.

Guess whose homecoming layover just went from less than 1 hour to ten hours, leaving at almost midnight?

A-hem.

I'll have to see if there are any better options, I suppose.

But I'm glad NOT to be flying on birds that go down too easily...

M.

Double grumble. The way they listed it, it looked at first as if the outbound flight was still reasonable.

It's not. Seven hour layover at JFK outbound, 10 hours inbound.

Either I'm going to have to hit a couple museums in between or take the train home.

Or call AmAirlines.....(groans)....tomorrow...and be on hold while all the others do the same.

Hmmmmmmm......

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr........

Hmmm....

M.

[Bede the Vulnerable]

Follow-Up Vent:

My arthritis was so bad last week that I had to let a class out rather early.  I couldn't stand up anymore, and I can't lecture sitting down:  No one could see me beyond the front row.  Plus if I sat down for twenty minutes, I'd need help getting up again.

Groan.

[mamselle]

Very, very sorry to hear this!

What options do you have at this point in the semester/school year?

(We may also need a thread on chronic pain/health conditions and teaching....I don't think one has been set up here).

M.

[Bede the Vulnerable]

mamselle--

I need to have both knees replaced,  But I've been to multiple surgeons, all of whom want me to hold off:  It seems they all think I'm "too young."  Artificial knees only last about twenty years, which would mean more knee-replacement surgery in my seventies, and they don't recommend that.  So I take steroids when it's unbearable.  In addition to that--I vent to colleagues!

[mamselle]

Yikes, what a decision tree to face!

One wonders if it would be worth it now, in hopes that some later solution might develop in the next 20 years, just to be able to get on with things in the present.

But you've probably thought of that, too.

All good thoughts.

M.

[ursula]

A vent? A grump? A rant? A sob? who knows?

But I'm both angry and sad about (again!) not making the shortlist for a job I really want, at a university and in a city where I really want to be.

I think they just see my name and can see the curse upon it. 

[science.expat]

Yikes, what a decision tree to face!

One wonders if it would be worth it now, in hopes that some later solution might develop in the next 20 years, just to be able to get on with things in the present.

But you've probably thought of that, too.

All good thoughts.

M.

My thoughts as well. Delaying needed surgery in anticipation of events 20 years hence seems dubious to me.

[Bede the Vulnerable]

science.expat:

To me too.  But I've actually been to four surgeons, none of whom want to do it.  I am reluctant to seek a fourth "second opinion"; I don't want to doc shop until I find a surgeon who is willing to cut.

The argument--related to the age issue--is that new replacement knees are now being developed which would last my lifetime.  So if I hold out, the logic goes, my new knees will last as long as I do.

Last week, I was desperate for the surgery.  Now that the flare-up has largely subsided, my innate cowardice has again asserted itself.  That's the cycle.

And so I vent.

[FishProf]

So if I hold out, the logic goes, my new knees will last as long as I do.

If you wait long enough, your old knees will last as long as you do.

That doesn't sound like the optimal choice.  My parents both had both knees done.  Now they are enjoying immensely all the life they have left.  They both say if their new knees wear out, they 'll weigh their options then. 

[Bede the Vulnerable]

Thanks, Fish Prof!  I'm glad that your parents are doing well; those stories help.

This problem is affecting my quality of life--e.g., Mrs. Bede and I will be vacationing in Paris over the holidays, and the knees will limit what I can do.  She'll climb the 300+ stairs to the top of Sacre Coeur.  I'll wait for her in the nave.  Which isn't as much fun.   I'd like to be "repaired" in time for next year's trip to . . . Well, wherever.  I'm taking suggestions, but that's a different thread.

[backatit]

Ugh, yes, I think we need such a forum. I sometimes wonder whether it would be better to try to think about disability of some sort. I have really bad arthritis in my hands, and there just isn't much I can do about it. I try assistive technologies, but they're just not great stopgaps (voice to text is ok, but I find it clunky and the vocabulary tweaks are not that great). I've found a temporary solution with a 13" apple laptop - the keyboard is so soft, that I can manage if I'm careful and take frequent breaks.

And mamselle, that really stinks about the flight. Our daughter just came back from the UK and had such a flight, and it took her forever to get in due to flight displays. I am thinking about flying up to NYC the next time (obviously a first world solution) just because I cannot bear the night flights. I go nearly 24 hours without sleep, and it's miserable.

[mamselle]

Thanks for the commiseration and sympathy. I was snowed with editing and writing tasks so haven't called yet.

What would the title of the thread discussed above be? "Decision-making around chronic pain and conditions indicating surgery"?

Or something shorter?

Glad to start it if it's useful...or anyone else can....

M.

[paultuttle]

My 13-year old Mazda6 hatchback--my baby, which just hit 190K miles--has in the last 18-24 months become a money pit. The last fix was a $1000 passenger-side headlight assembly. Yes, those are three zeroes after the "one" in the previous sentence. And now, it requires an "ABS control module" that is both $2300 and back-ordered nationally with no firm date by which it'll next be available.

The upshot: planned obsolescence has got me by the throat. I've got to get another car, and very soon.

The good: Honda's now selling a bright red Accord sedan that is approximately 95% of what I had in my "volcanic red" 2006 Mazda6 hatchback. The new Accord is laden with all sorts of electronic doohickeys (most of which I'll probably turn off once I buy it), so resale value might still be decent in a decade. It's comfy, fast, large, commodious, and (can't forget this!) bright flaming red. It also handles very well.

(Yes, I drove one yesterday. Yes, the salesman judged me accurately--without my having said a word about my need for speed--and pinned me back into the passenger seat with acceleration immediately upon getting on the highway. And yes, I played cool and said "I'll have to think about it," when inside I was experiencing a complicated mixture of emotions.)

The bad: It's not a hatchback, and its electronic thingamabobs ("lane keeping assistance," "smart cruise control," etc.) will probably be obsolete well before the car itself dies. Oh, and it doesn't have a 6-CD player in the dash or a subwoofer in the trunk, as my Mazda6 hatchback does. And we're back to having a car payment--which we weren't really ready for, because we were focused on paying down debt.

But by far the worst is having to give up my Mazda6, which is 99% of what I want in a car (sans heated leather seats and heated mirrors). Is it so crazy that I'm . . . grieving?

Certainly I'm ticked off that a car that's only 13 years old can't be kept alive indefinitely, which is why this post is in this thread, but I suppose I do have to admit that I'm filled with sadness as well. My Mazda is the only car I've ever had that acted like a sports car when I wanted it to (at triple-digit speeds, it was calm and unflustered, regardless of its age) and acted like a wagon when I needed it to (we carried home a full-size washing machine in it once, with the hatch closed; it has several times held 6-foot fishing poles, again with the hatch closed, when we went camping all over the Southeast).

My husband's and my relationship is only 2 years older than my car. We have a lot of history in it: For instance, I still have the video on my iPhone from when the odometer passed the 100K mark. (Yes, I'm that kind of guy.)

So there you have it--I'm sad to have to consign it to the Great Automotive Graveyard in the Sky, and I'm upset that circumstances are conspiring to push me into a new car with lots of (too many?) digital bells and whistles before I'm really ready to make that transition.

/self-pitying vent over; now onward to calling our credit union and seeing about setting up a loan