No news is good news

I gave up on the “news” and I’m a much happier person.

I don’t watch any of the cable TV news networks. I don’t read the paper. I don’t listen to NPR or any other radio station. I don’t read magazines. I don’t visit Internet news websites.

Most importantly I don’t discuss the news with anyone. When I see newsies at work I walk the other way. When I see a news-ish thing on FaceBook I leave that page. If I overhear a news-ish conversation I tune out.

Here’s what Thoreau had to say on the subject:

And I am sure that I never read any memorable news in a newspaper. If we read of one man robbed, or murdered, or killed by accident, or one house burned, or one vessel wrecked, or one steamboat blown up, or one cow run over on the Western Railroad, or one mad dog killed, or one lot of grasshoppers in the winter — we never need read of another. One is enough. If you are acquainted with the principle, what do you care for a myriad instances and applications? To a philosopher all news, as it is called, is gossip, and they who edit and read it are old women over their tea.

I’ve been doing this for a few months now. And you know what? Life is good. In fact, my life is sooo much better now. I can sleep at night. I drive home after work with a smile on my face. I have no idea what’s going on in the world and I couldn’t be happier.

So it’s true what they say. Ignorace IS bliss.

Major reconstructive knee surgery

I’ve had recurring injuries to my right knee over the last few years. I’ll twist the wrong way or put too much strain on it–then I buckle or fall down–and I’m limping for a week.

It’s keeping me from being as active as I want to be. I know I’ll never run again or play high impact sports like soccer or karate. Really, I just want to be able to hike into the backcountry and rock-hop my favorite trout streams.

I finally got serious about having it looked at. After numerous referrals and insurance company hoops to jump through I got an MRI done. The doctor did not have good news to report.

My right knee is really mangled. I have a weak/damaged ACL, torn cartilage, a bone spur underneath my knee cap, and a cyst. Wow. My doctor said that I need to take care of this now, or else I may not be able to walk in 10 years.

So what’s next? The easy ACL repair is not a good option. The Dr does not want to destabilize my knee further by repurposing my patellar tendon. So we have to use a harvested ACL. That means from a cadaver. So I have to wait for a really big guy, like myself, to die so I can have his ACL. Weird.

But it needs to be done. I’m looking at missing four weeks of work. Rehab will be many months. And it’s going to hurt–a lot.

I’m looking forward to being much more active again.