My poor feet

I have a raging blister on my left foot and a minor one on my right, all because I didn't wear the right socks. Gold Toe makes the best sock, IMHO - not the one that mentions blisters, but the one further down the page called Bounce Quarter. They are very padded and soft, and I have never had even the inkling of a blister while wearing them. Target stopped carrying them (I'm still mourning). I wore the Target replacement, I think they're made by Champion, to the gym for the first time yesterday, and ended up with two blisters. Today I must go to the mall and see if anyone still has The Good Socks, or I'll have to order them online, and I'll be on the bike instead of the treadmill until my feet heal a bit. Girlchild and I are both at the gym just about every day, and she also needs socks for work, so we go through a lot of socks and do a lot of laundry. I want to add 6 more pairs to the rotation.

As of yesterday I've done 49 miles for Runagogo, all "official" sweat inducing exercise miles on treadmill or elliptical or bike. With all of this exercise, I haven't lost an ounce. I'm pretty frustrated by that, but I feel great so I have no desire to stop.

I went to the cardiologist yesterday, he says I'm basically okay but I have a slight irregularity in my EKG, which he doesn't think is a big deal, it may have been caused by my brain hemorrhage and my heart is still recovering, or I may have been born with it and it has never been an issue. (I had no idea that a SAH can damage your heart and even cause cardiac arrest until it was over and I was declared healthy - there are so many bad things that could have happened, I'm glad I was ignorant while they could have happened.) I have to go for a fancy stress test after I get back from MD, but I'm not terribly concerned. Even if it is a permanent heart problem I can deal with it, Dr. Z was glad to hear about my gym activities and when I mentioned hiring a trainer he encouraged that too - he's a marathoner and I think he wants to lure me into the cult - he asked me if I've thought of trying a half-marathon.

He didn't put me on any medication and laughed that another cardiologist had put me on Lipitor when I first got out of the hospital. We both laughed that I had too many doctors and couldn't tell them apart - I don't even know who wrote the script for Lipitor, it was just part of my discharge meds and was marked "no refills." When it ran out I stopped taking it, because I was going to see Dr. Z anyway. Dr. Z did not refill it, he said my cholesterol was a wee bit elevated but not really abnormal and he'd rather see what diet and exercise does for me first. So I like this guy too - I lucked into two specialists who believe exercise is better than pills! I've been so lucky all the way around this adventure.

I'm still getting ready for the garage sale, and I'm still finding knitting stuff I can part with - I went through my magazines and was honest with myself - would I really want to make/wear/use anything in them? My monster magazine collection is down to about 15 magazines.

I was listening to the news the other night and a report about the economy referred to us, Americans, citizens, as "Consumers." That is our job as good Americans - consume. Consume more and more, newer, better, different. Buy a bigger house to keep it all. I've been sensing a rebellion against this, at least among the people I know, it seems like if I mention downsizing they all chime in and say that they've been doing the same thing. We've Consumed enough.