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Gratitudes, Day 5

I waited to write this one because I went to see the knee specialist this afternoon. Something happened during a soccer game a few weeks ago—I’m not sure what it was—and I felt a burst of pain and pressure against the back of the knee that had the replaced ACL. After feeling some bad pressure on the top and bottom of my kneecap when trying to jog last Sunday, I was pretty much convinced that I was running on three functional ligaments in my right knee again. After some x-rays and a brief inspection, the doctor thinks there’s no permanent damage, just inflammation.

  1. My right anterior cruciate ligament — I spent a lot of time with the original one torn in half and then recovering from surgery, but I still don’t appreciate it very much… at least until it stopped working properly again.
  2. ACL replacement surgery — It’s not the original ligament, but I can walk and run and my knee moves in the direction it’s supposed to.
  3. Dr. Randy Lewis — The doctor who performed my ACL replacement surgery and doesn’t think I need a second surgery. (The x-rays look good and when he was moving my knee around, the graft still feels solid.)
  4. Soccer — It’s my favorite sport to play and I’ll be back on the field soon.
  5. National Sex Day — If it’s not an official holiday, it should be. Even if you don’t get to actively celebrate.
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Gratitudes, Day 4

After a day of 100+ degree heat, it would be pretty easy to use air conditioning as three of the things I was grateful for yesterday (the house, my car, at Augsburg), but I’m trying not to repeat myself.

  1. Minnesota weather — As contradictory as that may seem, I’m grateful that the high temperature one day can be over 20 degrees lower than the day before.
  2. Massages — They help my muscles relax… or at least they will once my muscles stop being so tense all the time.
  3. L.I.P. Scarlet Garcia — This blog entry says that the Scarlet Garcia who was murdered a few years ago wasn’t my partner and it usually gets one or two hits a day.
  4. Scarlet Garcia — She’s probably the best partner I could have had on Beauty and the Geek.
  5. Informal dress codes — I can go to class at Augsburg in a t-shirt and shorts when it’s reeeeeally hot outside.
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Gratitudes, Day 3

It’s getting close to summer camp for the Scout troop and they’ve got a beach with canoes, sailboats, etc. To use the boats and the entire swim area, you need to pass the swimmers’ test. To take the swim test at camp, you have to stand in a loooooong line filled with lots of other Scouts and adults. We like to avoid that by doing the testing here.

  1. Swimming pools — I helped 18 Scouts and adults take their swim tests here at home so they wouldn’t have to do it at camp.
  2. My lifeguard certification — I have the authority to do swim testing.
  3. Wacky Noodles — I used one of those long foam tubes as my “lifesaving device” for the swim testing. I also used it to slap the water to get the swimmers’ attention. (Thankfully, I didn’t leave any permanent marks on any of the kids.)
  4. Quesadillas — Dinner was yummy.
  5. “Shawn’s Favorite Hotdish” — It’s been my favorite since I was a kid: egg noodles, ground beef, corn, mushroom soup and cheese all mixed together and seasoned with garlic powder. I ate some for Dinner #2 and it was yummy as well.
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I think Sirius XM is racist

I admit it, sometimes I sing along with the radio while I’m driving. Sometimes it’s been a long time since I’ve heard the song and I get the words wrong. And sometimes the words in the song aren’t the same ones that I remember.

I was listening to the 90s station yesterday and they started playing Everlast’s What It’s Like. They cut out a lot of words. A lot. To the point of silliness. Maybe they’re trying to be overly protective because some of the words aren’t really that offensive. Everlast uses the line “if I find that man, I’m cutting off his ______” and it rhymes with “calls”… is the word “balls” really going to scar anyone for life?

But people might say, “That’s the way the single was released to all the radio stations, of course that’s how it’s going to sound!” If that’s the case, I’d like to present to you Exhibit B: Blessid Union of Souls’ I Believe.

I hadn’t heard that song in ages, so I was happily singing the words I remembered and stumbling through the ones I didn’t. Then it got to the part where the song goes “One day Daddy’s gonna find out she’s in love / with a brother from the streets.” At least those are the words I’d heard on the radio in the past. That’s not what I heard yesterday.

It turns out the phrase they use on the CD is “with a nigger from the streets.” That is what I heard yesterday. So Sirius XM doesn’t like Everlast’s use of the word “balls”, but Blessid Union of Souls singing “nigger” is okay. If you toss out the race card, can anyone else think of a good explanation?