Another week, full and rich

It's been an interesting, meaty week. Very productive, from a work point of view, and busy from dawn til dusk. Some events of note include:

Last night

We had a lovely evening. Nick and I met at a bar called the Carnegie Club for a couple of glasses of wine before dinner. It's actually a smoking bar (Mayor Bloomberg, are you listening?) and once the place filled up it had an atavistic quality. Dark and smoky, the place was inviting. Apparently there's a dress code, and Nick was quietly chided for not wearing a collar. But they were subtle about it, so it was fine. From there we went to dinner at Beacon, a Waldy Malouf restaurant, all about grilling and wood roasting. Quite good. The main event was a production of Synge's play "The Playboy of the Western World" at City Center. We were pleasantly surprised (one review I read called it "ponderous") at how light and witty it was. Nicely done and we really enjoyed it. Overheard a woman next to us say that she was seeing "The Emperor Jones" next week, which was amusing because so are we. We liked this theater. Even though it's part of City Center it's a small, intimate venue (it's Stage II.) This was the first play in a four-play series that also includes upcoming plays by GBS and others, and we may do a subscription for the rest.

Today and tonight

We leave mid-day for NJ to attend a wedding: it's the daughter of someone I work with. Should be fun -- we'll get all dressed up and go play there. Liv has a concert tonight. She's seeing Peaches (who?) at Terminal 5. Tomorrow will be lower-key than the rest of the weekend. We have no plans save a house visit from Linda and a new client. Otherwise it'll be a hang-out day, and instead of doing our usual Sunday night cooking we'll go have Indian food, which Liv has had a poorly-concealed hankering for all week.


Three choices, all bad

I spoke with Jose (hip ortho) on Tuesday evening. This was our first chat since last Friday's x-ray guided injection. For all the subtlety and sophistication of medicine this measure seemed pretty basic -- gross, not fine. If the shot gives pain relief, then the problem is in the hip. If no relief, then not the hip. Hmmm. Jose said I have three choices, and in his words they all suck. They are:

a. do nothing and live with this a while
b. have another arthroscopy and see if there's a new tear
c. have a hip replacement

As aggressive and scary as option c sounds, it has more logic behind it. Option a is a Hobson's choice -- no choice at all. Option b is a half-measure; if there's no tear or anything else that can be addressed arthroscopically it will have been a waste. Option c at least guarantees that the hip pain will disappear, with the hip. I'm going to see him during the week so we can talk it though. I'll probably get another opinion, though that seems to be a fool's errand. Orthopedics follows a protocol which begins with the least aggressive treatment and moves inexorably to the most aggressive, though most people get relief along the way.

And I've done everything -- everything -- that the protocol calls for. This includes the most benign options like nsaids and mild painkillers, to physical therapy. It includes the medium-range options like injections of cortisone, both in the bursa and in the joint itself. And finally I've done the most aggressive of the least-aggressive options (also the gateway to major interventions): arthoscopic surgery. There are simply no other options available. But I'll get another opinion, see Isis (Joe's witch doctor) and do anything else that seems responsible and sober before I make the decision. But like political non-apology apologies, this is starting to seem like a non-decision decision.

More to come.

A military promotion

Whitney got a promotion! She's no longer a private first class -- now she's a specialist. We'll have to address the letters and packages differently, and we'll tuck in a congratulations gift in the next shipment.

Two other things of note:

http://www.facebook.com/StopJoe

I heard about this on Countdown, and immediately signed up. At the facebook site I saw lots of people I know, and this was definitely an effort worth supporting.

Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels

I've never even thought about Kate Moss, let alone quoted her, but I saw this on huffingtonpost and found it a pithy way to express how I feel about eating. Well done, Kate.