Kicking Ass and Taking Names

So it's been a few days since I rapped at ya. I was giving That Squirrel Story some time to sink in before I went on with the rest of the craziness that is my life. Well, I assume it's sunk in by now.

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C'est La Vie

I have no idea if that heading is proper French or not, but we'll assume for now that it is. Editor's Warning: This is about to get nasty. One of the sad side effects of running a bazillion miles, as some of you in Readerland put it, is that you sometimes find yourself losing toenails. Yes, this is a gross subject but one I think is worth discussing.

Saturday, prior to The Great Squirrel Fiasco of 2007, I was out in The Boulders running a few miles. I was wearing a pair of less-than-ideal shoes because they had some dog shit on them and I wanted to let the granular snow get all up in those treads and clean them out once and for all. As an aside, it didn't work and the soles are poo-stink-stained to the core. I guess they'll be my shit-kickers from now on, pun intended. Anyway, when I got home my index toes were killing me. They had that feel about them that toes get about two weeks before they lose the nail.

Well, as the day wore on the left index toenail really took to hurting. I iced it for a while, elevated it, but by about 8:00 I could no longer stand it so I took off my slipper (which helped) and sock and much to my chagrin the entire toe looked like it was going to explode. The nail itself was floating on a sub-cuticle (if that's a word) blister. I had two choices: leave it alone and hope I didn't step wrong and explode the whole freaking digit, or drain the blister and hope the nail doesn't just fall off right then and there.


(Note: Just a picture I found online, not my foot. Pretty gross though)

I opted for the latter, which involved standing in the bathroom burning a needle with a lighter, heroin junkie style. I hope the neighbor wasn't looking. I then, with the skill of a surgeon, inserted the needle under my nail all the way to the base of the nail. I could actually see the needle through the nail, which I have to say is pretty gross. I repeated this process a few times to drain all of the blister pockets, and when I was done the nail was noticeably less swollen. I popped two Tylenol to help with the swelling in the rest of the toe and slept with my foot on a pillow to at least elevate it a little. The worst part was that I wouldn't be able to run in the morning, as I would be a-hobbling around for most of the day.

Nasty, I know.

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Upgrades

While I was wallowing in my toe sorrows, I found my web browser aiming itself in the direction of running snowshoes. I have a pair of snowshoes, but running in them requires your feet to be unnaturally far apart and after a few miles your hips are wicked sore. Plus the two snowshoes side-by-side are wider than a snowmobile track, which is commonly where you're running. At any rate I treated myself to a new pair of snowshoes made specifically for running. I didn't do a whole lot of research, let's hope it works out.


Last night I swung by my buddy Lenford's house to "take a look" at the camera he was looking to unload. If you know me, by the time I'm "taking a look" I'm already sold on it and I hope to go home with it. Needless to say I'm the proud owner of a Canon EOS Rebel XTI DSLR. He upgraded to the 40D, and sold me the kit lens that comes with that since he wouldn't be needing it. He had already sold the kit lens from the XTI, which is reportedly a piece of junk. It seemed like a good deal all around.

After we finished playing cameras, talking cameras and photography in general we hooked up the Wii and played a few video games. I had never even seen one of those things in person before and I have to tell you, it's freaking amazing. We played baseball, tennis, golf, boxing and bowling (just a little sampler of each), and I lost handsomely at every single game. We even did the "Fitness Test", and I have the Nintendo Fitness Level of an 80 year old man. Weak I tell you, weak.

Besides knocking over a table full of framed photos (not the whole table, just the photos) I didn't do too much damage. You really need a lot of room to play those games, and it wouldn't hurt to have some towels around cuz you get hotter than a June bride on a depot stove.

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One Last Thing

Just in case you were concerned that my toe was holding me back, I knocked back a cool 9 miles in the 33 degree rain tonight. It was a little icy, but I'm a tough sonofabitch so I can handle it. In reality I was drenched with sweat when I finished, and my face was caked with salty goodness. Shortly thereafter it was caked with chocolate cakey goodness too.

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WTF?


Over and Out,
Old Coot