Kegerator 2.0
Archive for the ‘Nonclassified Nonsense’ Category
Public
Today was a milestone in my professional life.
When I first started working as a paralegal, my boss had me apply to be a notary public so that I could notarize his documents. All you have to do in Colorado is fill out an application on the Secretary of State website saying you’ve read the notary handbook, take a quick test, and send them $10. If you actually want to notarize anything, you also have to buy a stamp. You’re also supposed to keep a journal. I’ve always used cheap spiral bound mini notebooks as my journals and bought the cheapest self inking stamps.
I became a Colorado notary public on December 5, 2005. You have to renew every four years. I figured in four years I’d for sure be doing something else for a living.
In 2009 I renewed my notary certificate. All that you have to renew is to send in another $10. I was pretty depressed about it. I was still just a paralegal, a job that doesn’t even always require a high school degree. I was working for a firm that did nothing but foreclosures, which I didn’t really mind at all, depressing as that might sound. I liked all of my colleagues. I had a nice office to myself. But the boss was crazy and a tyrant. Berck had been furloughed by the airlines and was on unemployment. We were lucky I still had a job. And I was still working as a paralegal.
In 2013 I renewed my notary. By then I was working at a firm that did work comp and Social Security disability. I enjoyed the work and liked the two attorneys I worked for. I got along fine with almost all of the staff. My job was a lot less stressful than the last one. Berck had since finished his degree and got a very nicely paying job writing computer code. We’d bought a house the year before and had spent a lot time laying wood flooring and building shelves. Things were pretty good.
I renewed my notary again today. You can renew it three months before it expires. I ordered a new stamp with my new expiration date (December 5, 2021). I’m on my third journal, I think. I still notarize a lot of stuff at work. I’m now with a new firm, since the sole proprietor of the last one died and the rest of the attorneys decided to make a new firm. I really enjoy my job. I get to help people instead of taking their houses away from them. I work for a fantastic boss, and I think we work really well together. All three of the partners are great and are also good lawyers. I get along great with the other paralegals. I get paid generously.
I’m still a paralegal.
And I don’t mind.
foot hurts swollen top
My foot started hurting on Friday.
It got worse over the weekend, and was really hurting yesterday. Yesterday I wore sandals to work, so I knew it couldn’t be my shoes that were the problem. Last night, despite taking Aleve all day, it hurt badly, it was hot, and once I took my sandals off, I realized it was quite swollen. Berck asked why I was limping around. “Because my foot hurts.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know!”
“Well, take drugs, ice it, and go to a doctor.”
“What’s a doctor going to do?”
“Tell you to take drugs and ice it.”
I decided to save myself a couple hundred dollars and continue taking Aleve and ice it. There hadn’t been any trauma, so I didn’t see how it could be broken. I’ve had broken bones, and that’s a very specific type of pain. Palpitating didn’t indicate any one area of severe pain. While I iced it, I decided to Google “foot”, “hurts” and “swollen”. Google suggested adding “top”, and I accepted that, because it did hurt on the top of my foot. Google knows everything.
I’m not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV. But I have worked in the medical field, and my job as a paralegal in a law firm that does work comp and Social Security disability involves reading lots and lots of medical records. I also know that doctors hate it when you try to self-diagnose using WebMD.
But as soon as I hit enter, Google said I had extensor tendonitis and directed me to podiatrynetwork.com. Here’s what it has to say:
“A common area of pain occurs near the middle of the top of the foot, generally a bit to the outside of the foot. In this area of the foot the tendons that go to the toes can become inflamed. This is called extensor tendonitis. One cause of this condition is excessive tightness of the calf muscle. When the calf muscle is tight it places excessive stress on the tendons on the top of the foot that pull the foot upward and against the tightness of the calf muscles. Wearing a shoe with a one-inch heel will help to take the stress off of the tendons on the top of the foot. Aggressive stretching of the calf muscle is also very helpful. Oral anti-inflammatory medications can help.”
Wearing heels to cure foot pain seems awfully counterintuitive. I don’t really have a pair of daily heels, or even pumps, so I started stretching my calf. And today my foot feels a lot better. I haven’t even taken my night Aleve.
The moral of this story is that aging sucks. And sometimes Google can tell you the most amazing things.
July 4th Weekend Activity
Lions
One of the residents of our subdivision was kind enough to share the attached night-vision photos of some cats at work. These were taken near Highland Lakes, south west of Divide.
“I came upon a fresh mountain lion kill of a 5×5 buck at work. A friend put a trail cam on the site and the attached pictures show what came back. Look carefully at the pictures and you will see the female cat had two cubs with her. In one picture there is a cub on the rock ledge on the left side of the picture. There were 500 pictures taken over the three days that they ate up the deer. I’ll probably never get this lucky again with a trail cam”.
(Highland Lakes Resident)
