Daily Success February 14 – Very Good. Solid, upper part of the range. Poker last evening was the key limiting factor for pursuing an “Outstanding,” but being tired at bedtime reduced the whisky consumption to the point that Outstanding could have been in play.

Yesterday

Yesterday was a lot of Poli-Sci, Spanish, and exercise. Sam has started posting some things that hint that he’s either ready to deal fairly or that he’s decided to simply act without my permission to use my Intellectual Property. I hope it’s the former, because if he’s moving forward in the belief that he can get away with anything, I’m going to have to notify both DARPA and NASA that he does not have permission to do so. That will produce ends to both contracts and, possibly, do real damage to his little companies.

The cards despised me at poker last night. One winning hand all evening. I started playing a bit more aggressively late in the hope of catching “the one card I needed,” but that only produced an extra dollar or so of losses. Maybe two.

Today

Allen is not available today, so I won’t find out if Sam is moving in the right direction at least until tomorrow. While the temptation to take some “ok, this is what you’re about to be up against” action, say just notify NASA of a dispute, is tremendous, I don’t think it will be productive.

Exercise, Poli-Sci, Spanish are on the list.

I’m feeling pretty good this morning, legs a bit tender, but not at all bad. I had no real hesitation in walking down the stairs without support from the banister. Is the improvement in my legs due to pausing the atorvastatin or something else? It does appear to be correlated. Is there a causal relationship?

My left knee is “close” to glory once again, but “close” is still a bit stiff and discomfort would turn to pain were I to stretch it as much as the right.

The Future

Murky.

Sam is a huge unknown. If he sees reason, I’m busy for a year and my Camino options will be very limited. If he doesn’t, the opposite is true, but spending will have to be handled a bit more carefully. More albergues and hostels, fewer hotels. Less money for a “both of us” vacation in Arles before starting to hike.

“… starting to hike” assumes Monika can get my piriformis, SI joint, and left leg issues fixed so that I can walk more than a kilometer at a time, that Dr. Higgins can get a few more miles out of my left knee, and that Dr. Sheikh’s magic injection can keep my sciatica at bay “long enough” for me to do what I so deeply want to do one more time.

Finally, of course, is the deeper question. Will “one more time” satisfy whatever it is that drives me so? Maybe. But I would not bet that way.