Submitted my grad school app. Scary stuff. I'll meet the new senior professor they just hired next week. He's coming out to tour my lab. Hopefully facetime is > past GPA :).

Masters or PhD?

If PhD, it often helps to know the professors you want to work with - if they want to work with you, they can push to get you in.

For masters programs, it can't hurt but it's not as big of a factor as for a PhD program.

Good luck @Ttoc6! Remind me again what you're studying??? Is it EE?

I'm right handed. My right arm's been in a sling the last month due to my broken clavicle. So I learned to use my left hand for my mouse.

Now, I can't seem to go back to using my right hand.

Due to a low pressure system, our temperature dropped around 25 degrees today after weeks of 100 degree days. 3 of us went for a ride and it was wonderful, I had forgotten what it was like to feel cool air on my skin. It was so nice that we stood around and chatted afterward instead of rushing off for a shower and a/c. Simple pleasures for simple minds.
Supposed to be back up to 100 next weekend.

I broke my right hand once. I had to get use to using my left for other purposes.

I noticed last week my water heater had a small leak. I called a couple plumbers, got a few estimates, and on Monday, I scheduled one to come out today to replace it.

When I got home from work last night, I found that minor leak had turned into a major one. I had to shut off the water to the house to stop it. Seems like it was pretty fortuitous timing.

It looks like the heater was probably OK, but the expansion tank had rusted out and was leaking. I could have replaced just the expansion tank, but I'm having the whole thing done. It's 13 years old now, so I figured why spend $300 to replace a part of it now when the whole thing could die any day.

I did consider going tankless, but that was going to be twice as expensive, and I'm not sure how many more years we will be in this house.

I was supposed to have surgery yesterday, but I developed a cold, so they decided to postpone it a week. That threw just about everything off. I'd arranged time off work and a substituted to cover my work for me, but now I had to push that off a week (fortunately, my substitute is flexible like that). My in-laws were in from 5 hours away to watch the kids, so now we need to host new people (probably my folks if they can get down) next week. Important meetings that I'd pushed off until I got back now either have to come a lot sooner or get pushed back another week. Plus, there's been all the variations of the, "I thought you weren't supposed to be here" conversation all day today. I get the surgeon not wanting my weakened immune system to get in the way of my recovery, but it feels like a little cough (that I can only hope is gone by next week) really f-ed up a good chunk of my planned life for the next month or so. Or at least reminded me of how little control I have over things.

That sucks. I get it, for them they'd rather be safe than you get pneumonia, but for you it's a big deal.

One of my employees has surgery in about a month, and they have to decide how much time to take off to recover, how much I can let them work from home and when, it's a big process losing someone for 3 or 4 weeks, and of course it can all change. We're coming into a slow period (meaning we've been unsuccessful lately at winning enough work, which as one of the main bidders rests somewhat largely with me) so I'm fine losing her for a bit right now, it's good timing.

I hope things work out Himespau.

I was fortunate that my surgery a few weeks ago was relatively minor, and I was able to get back to work the next day and that my manager was more than accommodating at letting me work from home. Technically, I don't qualify to work from home until next week, when I've hit my 120 days at my company.

I teach at the college level and run a research lab, so this is not an ideal time to take off (hell, it never is, but during the semester is the least ideal) but I've got an aggressive but non-malignant mass that's eaten the top third to half of my fibula (which means I'm going to need my LCL and at least one hamstring tendon moved to attache to the tibia - now they're hanging loose), so it needs to come out ASAP. Hopefully, after some serious PT, I can eventually get back on the bike. I've been off ever since my knee started acting up last winter. I'd thought I'd just sprained my knee (and potentially dislocated my fibula) when I slipped on some ice, so I didn't worry until it never got better.

Fortunately, I record all of my lectures and have several semesters worth saved. If recovery takes longer than the two weeks the surgeon says I'll be off, I can just either start uploading lectures from last spring or make new recordings and teach it as if it were an online course. Students don't like that as well, but it can work in a pinch.

Damn. I didn't even know that was a thing, but it sounds scary. Hope it goes well and the PT is successful. I'm sure you'll put in the work necessary.

Yikes @himespau, I hope you've gone through the worst of it.

Fortunately, the fibula isn't a weight-bearing bone. If the surgeon is able to reattach everything right, he says I should regain most of my mobility. I'm not sure if that means walking or other things like cycling too. My daughter just took up volleyball and I'd love to be able to get out there again and help her out. I used to be an ok setter, which should hold up even if my vertical for hitting and blocking is shot.

Sounds nasty himspau. Hope surgery goes well (when it goes) and recovery is smooth.

Thanks. I've had extended family with addiction issues, so I'm a little worried about the painkillers, but I've had them a couple of times in the past without issues.

Definitely get off the narcotics ASAP.

I was prescribed them after I broke my collar bone and again after my surgery. I can definitely see how one can easily get addicted to them. My mother-in-law, who was staying with me after my surgery, kept commenting on how much discomfort I appeared to be in, and I would say, "Yeah, I just had surgery, I'm supposed to be in a bit of pain. The Tylenol is good enough." But for those who think there should be no pain at all, narcotics work.

I took Oxy when I punctured my lung, it gave me this drunk euphoric feel. Definitely didn't like and just dealt with the pain.

gee whiz. good luck with the injuries folks. wishing you all well.

moved this week to the north country. head to disney next week for a few days of decompression with my wife before a big life event.

back in march she slipped and fell on ice. she had pretty serious head trauma and was on disability for a couple of months. at the end of it she had continued hearing issues. Finally one of the specialists at her hospital were able to diagnosis that she broke her balance organs and cochlea in both ears, and opened additional pathways to her brain in the ear canal. She'll have surgery in october in which they'll drill holes in her head (like we need another) and use 'concrete' to repair a skull fracture and the balance organs. If this works they won't need to 'lift her brain.'

Can't really make this **** up.

A bit stressful. I'm not really very good at anything without her. She's at the new apartment setting it up in NYC and I'm up in the north country alone. It's cold up here already, and it's a bit surreal being alone with all this looming and setting up the house for full time living.

Best of luck. With her balance issues, how will she handle Disney?

Good luck all.

GStein, does this mean she can get a scooter and cut in line for buses and stuff?

sort of. but anything that beeps is a non starter. so we can't actually take buses (the beep beep when they lower for the scooters), or even do rides. She can get a special thing on her magic band so we don't have to wait in lines for the few things she can do like meet and greets, but any rides will basically be non starters. she gets vertigo pretty easily.

Mainly going to eat. So we'll do food and wine fest, do some shopping in the afternoon, and then nice dinners.

That's terrible, best of luck to her.

I took Vicodin when I had surgery on my shoulder. Made me feel sick so I stopped taking it after a few days.

As an alcoholic I am aware of my addictive nature. I had shingles in my eye 2+ years ago and they gave me Gabapentin and Percoset. I took the Gab twice and never opened the opioids. A friend gave me a couple THC pills and they helped a lot. The Gab just knocked me out but the THC allowed me to function without concentrating on the pain.