Pain and Piñatas

Yesterday was profoundly weird in a physical sense. I was up until all hours Wednesday night/Thursday morning as is my habit… I finally gave it up and hit the sack sometime around 0300 hrs. I felt absolutely, positively normal when I went to bed; six hours later I awoke to screaming pain in my lower back and left leg. “Screaming pain” is defined as difficult to walk or stand up straight and impossible to sit comfortably… in this particular case. Rx: two Aleves and back to bed. The Aleves took the edge off, but things weren’t “right” for the entire day and I spent 90% of said entire day flat on my back, as that was the only position I could tolerate.

This literally freaks me out when it happens but it doesn’t happen all that often, Thank God. Long-time readers may recall I’ve mentioned I had back surgery for a herniated disk ten years ago. The operation was successful but the recuperation process was lengthy (eight months or so) and certainly wasn’t pain-free, in and of itself. This was an event I’ll never forget and is the very first thing I think of when I experience ANY sort of back pain, and most particularly the type of back pain that is accompanied with pain in either leg. Freaks me right the Hell out, it does. The Good News: I got a good night’s sleep and I’m fine today. The Bad News: I have NO idea why this happened.

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The upshot of the above is yesterday was pretty much an “internet-free” sort of day. I spent some quality time with C-SPAN (a LOT, actually)… watching the Senate floor debate on the auto industry bridge loan and associated comment here and there. Most all y’all Gentle Readers are probably most gratified to learn the Republican filibuster held and the bridge loan failed. But I’m sure ya knew that already. Interestingly enough the Dow Jones Industrials are up…modestly… in the early going. Today will probably be a day of volatility in the markets as I’ve seen 100-point swings already. It looks as if Harry Reid was wrong (ed: what’s new about that?) about today being a market bloodbath (or words to that effect). Harry was speaking specifically of the US market when he made his statement last evening, but he might as well have been speaking about global markets. They ain't doin' so well.

“Let us pray…”

―:☺:―

Today’s Pic: I spent about two months in Brownsville, TX back in 2000. I made a weekly trip over the river to Matamoros to pick up expensive tequila cheap (hecho en México), cheap Kahula (hecho en México, también), cheap cigars (hecho somewhere entirely different but the country of origin shall remain unnamed), eat, drink, and be otherwise entertained… the last item in the foregoing being the subject of today’s pic.

I spent about 30 minutes in this piñata store, chatting with the nice saleslady and the folks that made the piñatas you see here. I was amazed that one could make a business… and an apparently successful business, at that… out of a single product as esoteric as the piñata. But then again, piñatas ain’t strange at all in México, are they?

I thought piñatas were pretty appropriate for today's post, since the US auto industry has been beat all to Hell and back in these pages... well, in comments, anyway... of late. Just sayin'.

February, 2000.