The new normal, Welcome back, More rock, TDS

I played lunch time pickleball on Wednesday. I played ok but when I returned to the office and got out of my car I walked back to the office with a limp which is sadly getting to be the new normal. It’s very frustrating. For the last couple years I have attributed the issue to IT band pain which i have tried to address with stretching and strengthening movements. None of it has been a long term solution. I have only stopped playing pickleball maybe 2-3 weeks in an attempt to see if that would help, it didn’t. Although I am sure the movements associated with pickleball don’t help, I can get the same pain/problem just from walking more than a 1/4 mile.

I do still think the pain which travels between my right hip and knee is from my IT band but I am thinking more and more the hip itself could be the cause. Both my younger brother and my dad have had hip replacements done. I also think my bowed legs, which I think I got from my grandfather lend to this sort of pain as well. Whatever the cause I am feeling more and more inclined to have an orthopedist look me over. It’s been a long time since I have had any imaging done of my lower body. I am pretty sure it would reveal that I am kind of a mess.

The Artemis II crew are scheduled to splash back down this evening after a very successful 10 day mission. I can only hope this success keeps the momentum going so the planned future launches which are supposed to occur at a much faster cadence, can be carried out. That could be in jeopardy as I saw the new proposed budget which includes a heinous amount of money for the defense program, is paying for it by cutting funding to a number of domestic programs, including NASA.

This weekend I hope to get out with my girlfriend on another bike adventure. I also would like to continue work on a small project I started last week, redoing the rock border that surrounds part of the house. This is one of those projects I wanted to do since I moved in but never got around to. These areas had become more dirt than rock over the years. So have I have bought/spread 30 bags of small drainage style rock to replenish these borders. I may need 40-50 more. What I have done so far looks good, it’s just not fun work. However I am motivated to get it done before it starts getting truly hot again in SW Florida.

Trump is really fond of labeling people that do not support or challenge him. Loser and low IQ are two of his favorites but he also likes saying they have Trump Derangement Syndrome. I saw commentary that made a good point. In reality the only people that have TDS are the people that are still clinging onto their false God because it pains them too much to admit they made a terrible mistake in supporting such a man. Nobody is a fan of admitting they were fooled but to continue to show blind loyalty for this insanity is far more damning that just saying you made a poor choice.