Oops.

I learned a great way to annoy a Texan. When they have a Texas flag either in their yard or hanging from their rear-view mirror or on a sticker on their truck (one of the three is almost guaranteed), ask them why they are flying a Puerto Rican flag.

For my more sensitive readers, this is not to say that there is anything wrong with the Puerto Rican flag or that all Texans are racist (and I'm guessing that any reader who immediately wondered what was wrong with flying the Puerto Rican flag is also the kind of person who assumes all Texans are racists of some kind). But the two flagg look just enough alike to plausibly be confused for each other and Texans, especially those flying the flag, are particularly proud of being Texan. And there are a lot of them in the military--be they natural born Texans or those who claim the residency for tax purposes.

I was also reminded by a doctor that I am, at the most basic level, an idiot as well. It fits well with the Scott Admas theory of humanity. I went in cause my knee was bothering me. I probably hit the treadmill too hard, too fast without letting my body adjust to the impact. He asked how long it had been bothering me. I told him.

Then he asked what I'd been taking for it. I told him a mix of naproxen and Vitamin M (Motrin... the military cure-all). He asked if I'd been taking them together. I said no. Gee, I'm not THAT dumb. Then he asked how often I'd been taking them. I told him periodically, and neither one consistently, usually whatever was at hand.

So he, the wisened old doc, shook his head and told his aid to go grab some naproxen. They have pre-measured baggies with the direction cards all set. They see a lot of pulled muscles, over-training injuries, etc. here. Too many hooahs with too little to do but hit the gym.

Anyway, he admonished me to stick with the one medication, take it regularly, and ice my knee. He even gave me an ice pack.

I know better. I've been through this before. I'll be through this again. Lesson learned.

This time.

He also told me to hit the pool and use the eliptical for a while. I've been meaning to hit the pool. Now I really need to. Fortunately, the SEALs go pretty regularly. All goes well, I'll hitch a ride with them. They'll laugh at me, do mulitple laps for every one of mine, and maybe I'll pick up some tips.

The other incentive to recover so I can PT hard again is that I am rapidly collecting sodas. I'm not much of a soda drinker, but they make a simple currency for bets. I was having a chat room "discussion" with one of the other weather guys about a forecast. I disagreed with him, my peers in SOF disagreed with him, but he owned the official airfield forecast (as opposed to the mission forecasts, which he doesn't need to know). Finally, since it was getting circular, I cut off the discussion with a Coke bet. If we're right, he owes me a Coke. If not, I owe him.

Getting into a prolonged internet fight seemed unprofessional. We'd stated our positions and reasoning. He wasn't going to budge. As the lead weather guy for my element I made the decision to end it for now with a face-saving friendly gesture, lest it get out of hand.

Anyway, I haven't lost a Coke bet yet.

In other news, today is fat pill day. First, one of the guys has a friend who works for Utz Potato chips. This friend shipped us a box full of a variety of flavors of chips. I've got one snack bag of BBQ and one Natural Gourmet Medley.

Then one guy got cookies from his sister. So we all had cookies.

Good day.

I also hit the PX and got a new battery for my super cool giant Suunto watch. This will allow me to finish recharging my super cool giant Casio solar-powered watch.

My big accomplishment for the day was closing the Level 1 Captain of Crush grip strength spring thing. 150 lbs of pure crush in these fists. I may end up buying the Level 1 off my neighbor when he leaves so that we can continue the circle of crush. In time the level 1 will become easy and I will need the 1.5 or the 2 and will sell the 1 to my neighbor's replacement when I leave.

And to see if people are paying attention, I put "Biblical Dust" in my powerpoint slides. I guess people do read what I put out because I've gotten a few laughs.