Sunday, May 18, 2008

A Return To NRA

For Tam, that is. She zoomed away awhile ago, happily anticipating meeting other bloggers and carrying my good wishes to them.

Me, I slept last night (as I had Friday night) with a clever gadget* on my knee, a Cryo/Cuff (link is for illustration), which uses an inflatable knee collar, an insulated jug full of ice water and an intermittent aquarium pump to keep one's knee chilled, compressed, and happy. With one (1) hose connecting the cuff and tank! (The trick is that there's just enough air left in the sealed jug that the little air pump can exchange about a quarter of the water in the knee cuff every time it cycles; with water's high thermal conductivity, that's enough to maintain a good chill for at least twelve hours. As a bonus, this make the compression intermittent, too, so there's no risk of cutting off blood circulation). Clever, yes, but after two days of walking and driving, not quite enough. My vacation ends Monday and my job calls for both legs to be workin', so no NRA for me. (Grrrrr).

Still and all, yesterday was wonderful. Next time, I'll have this better-planned. (Hey, FWIW? Every single individual in the Squeaky/Tam/TD/Roberta expedition yesterday was armed to the teeth, sidearms and [by the time we left, congrats to Squeaky on her first real knife!] blades, and yet at no time did the floors run red with blood. You know, I even think one or two other folks there just might have been packin' heat, too. Oooooo. However did we all survive? Could it be the Bradys are wrong? Y'think?)

Y'all better be sayin' "Hi" to Tam and maybe think about standin' her to dinner, pleeze?
______________________
* Interesting story behind that word. Sounds like pure 'Murrican slang, donnit? Not so much. Dispute rages but odds are good it used to rhyme with "cachet."

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love that cuff- but I sleep like an eggbeater, so I'd never be able to wear it. Still, maybe I could wear it in the truck.

Roberta X said...

It's been a lifesaver for me -- somehow I can (usually) avoid flailing around too much, sleeping with it on and all connected. The cat;s object: "Mooooom, what's this cold spot on you where we usually sleep?"

After my initial accident and surgery, I slept with it on every night and wore it as much as I could during the day. It really helped.

breda said...

oooooh! etymology!!!

phlegmfatale said...

poor poppet! I hope your limb is well on the mend.

Roberta X said...

What, not entomology? :)

Phlegmmie, my knee's on the mend. I've been slowly doing light yard work all day, neither sitting still nor exerting myself all that much, and it seems to be working.

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry I missed you too.

-SayUncle

Anonymous said...

Ugh, can't type

too = two

-sayuncle

Rustmeister said...

Yeah, I'm sorry I missed ya, too.

Roberta X said...

I'm sorrier -- 'cos y'all just missed me but I missed quite a few folks.

John B said...

I picked up one of those cuffs at the thrift store, made it into a cooling system for an overclocked Pent III, then put it back to normal use when my knee acted up. I had to ration my HamFests, NRA-cons etc. I spend a small country's national debt at those. Off to Miscon this weekend.