Age-Related Injury

The birthday present I gave myself yesterday was a reminder that I’m a year older. I went jogging (calling it “running” would be disingenuous) then, half a mile from home, I felt something pop in my left knee. It came with immediate pain, but I was able to walk home without difficulty.

If the aspirin I took before going to bed helped, it wasn’t enough to keep my knee from hurting like crazy. I kept waking up from the pain, but then I felt something pop back into place. Suddenly it was better I and slept through the night. Today it’s very stiff when bending, but the pain isn’t too bad.

I am reminded of what happened twenty years ago. At the end of a long run, half a mile from home, I felt something pop in my foot. It was my posterior tibial tendon. Today, I’m self-diagnosing an MCL injury.

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/symptoms/inner-medial-knee-pain

So far, I’m not feeling the need to see an orthopedic specialist. I’ve managed the PTT adequately for these many years. Here’s hoping I’ll be able to similarly manage my knee injury.

Unrelated to my physical condition, but related to what I wrote about yesterday, is Trump’s hollow promise of delivering $5000 to every adult if, and only if, Republicans hold onto both the Senate and the House in November. That’s assuming Trump doesn’t do something crazy, like declaring martial law, to prevent the elections from being held.

Let’s pretend this sad attempt at buying votes is actually real. Trump is determined to get hold of state voter registration lists. He would use them so that only registered voters would be eligible for the cash reward. Second, he would deny payment to everyone except Republicans. Third, we suffered a serious inflation spike from Biden’s stimulus payout, so a similar program would likely have the same effect. Finally, isn’t Trump supposed to be worried about Socialism and government hand-outs?

More Cons From the Con

It’s one con job after another. He just can’t stop himself.

“Right after the election, oil prices are going to be tumbling downward.”

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/09/trump-oil-gas-prices-midterm-elections.html

“Here is my promise: if the Republicans win the House of Representatives and the United States Senate … I will issue a dividend to every adult citizen in the United States of America for $5,000.”

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/10/trump-dividend-midterms-gop.html

Besides those reckless and nonsensical promises, Trump is recklessly and nonsensically labeling all Democrats as Communists. Once again, he’s returning to the playbook that he learned from the piece of shit that was Roy Cohn.

Let’s Get Physical Media

At the start of the year I wrote about my first experience with trouble reading a manufactured CD (rather than burned media).

Never Before

Now I’ve encountered a case of DVD rot.

No surprise, it’s a Warner DVD.

Warner Bros. will supposedly make good on replacements when possible, by writing to them at whv@wbd.com. But I don’t want to go through the hassle.

The set appears to still be in print, so I ordered a new copy. If Popeye volumes 2&3 show the same problem then I’ll contact Warner.

If nothing else, this site is useful for checking on some things. I see that I wrote about the Popeye set nineteen years ago today, having paid exactly the same price that I paid again a few minutes ago.

Popeye Is Eye-Popping!

Heating Up Oil Prices

The worst mistake of the George W. Bush administration was its “intervention” in Iraq. The worst mistake, so far, of the second Trump administration is its “intervention” in Iran. $100+/barrel for oil here we come.

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/08/oil-prices-today-brent-wti-hormuz-iran-war.html

Trump’s alleged, outrageous Venezuela oil deal is pointless. The reserves are mostly asphalt oil for making roads, not light crude for making gasoline.

Diesel fuel is the most expensive it’s ever been, and it’s going to continue setting new records throughout the winter. The cost of home heating oil, that I depend on, tracks diesel. I’m going to look for electric space heaters.

That Suits Me Just Fine

Back in my business traveling years, I carried a briefcase and, just as often as not, I wore a suit. My long-idle briefcase was last used when I sold my first house and bought this one. I should shred the paperwork that’s in there from the mortgage I paid off fourteen years ago.

The card and photo are extremely significant for me. They were from the office of the world-class Boston doctor, now retired, who performed the cataract replacement surgery that restored the sight in my left eye. It had suffered a spontaneous and very serious retinal detachment three years before.

The name of the exceptionally talented world-class Boston doctor who successfully re-attached the retina is in the note on the right. What he did for me was unprecedented, as I later learned from another ophthalmologist. However, it took a long time for the eye to heal sufficiently to tolerate the cataract surgery.

So, for almost three years, until the day before my 47th birthday, I was legally blind in my left eye. I could read only by literally holding something close enough to touch my eyelashes. That’s why the prescription for the interocular lens is a very powerful +13.

My need for the briefcase gradually diminished, to the point where I was carrying it around more out of habit than from need. It was later replaced with a USB flash drive on a lanyard I wore at work.

Today, I have two suits, one gray and one black. Each was purchased in something of a hurry for an upcoming event.

The gray suit (“grey” if you’re in England) came from JC Penney’s Stafford line of men’s clothing. They didn’t offer a 43 regular, and a 42 would have been too small, so it’s a 44. I bought it to wear at a niece’s wedding, more than ten years ago. I last wore it when attending a funeral service last year, for someone who died from the same cancer that, thanks to world-class Boston doctors, I no longer have.

At last year’s National Cartoonists Society Reuben Awards Dinner I wore the gray suit. At the time, my only suit. This year I wanted to be more formal.

Checking on what it would cost to rent a tux, I instead went to Brooks Brothers and bought the black suit. It’s a bit shiny for my taste, but a better fit, being a precisely sized 43 regular. Whenever the next funeral comes around, mine or someone else’s, I’ll wear the Brooks Brothers suit.

While packing for the trip to Columbus, I realized the exterior pockets of the suit were stitched closed. Fortunately, something else I had bought in preparation for the trip were a pair of excellent Fiskars folding scissors, TSA-approved for carry-on luggage.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C8BSNJPL

Before heading downstairs at the hotel for the awards dinner, I snipped the threads that were sealing the pockets and opened them up. Here’s the official portrait photo of the dinner, taken before the lights were lowered for the presentation of the awards.

I’m in back with Joe and Hilarie Staton, on the far right. Colleen is in the center, 2/3rds of the way back, in white. Two professionals and an aging fanboy. We were pretty much it in representing the comic book industry at the event.