When my chiropractor gave me the all-clear on April 1st, telling me that the degenerated disk in my neck was healed, he told me: ‘Now you can go and play golf!’ ‘Wow!’, I said, not having played golf before. ‘That sounds fun!’ Joking apart, I was able to play 54 holes without (physical) pain over the weekend with my wife and son James, who was visiting us from Santa Clara on a business trip between Orlando and Austin. So to sufferers of bulging disks I can heartily recommend the treatment – Spinal Decompression Therapy – as something to be investigated in place of invasive surgery – something I have undergone eight times on my lower back. It works by using delicate machinery to widen gently the vertebrae around the damaged disk to allow the disk to be rebuilt with fluid and tissue from the surrounding area. It appears to have worked for me. I duly completed our census form on the right day, and sent it off on April 2nd. And then, in the mail on April 3rd, we received another set of forms, and a threatening letter indicating that ‘This is your last chance to respond by mail before a Census Bureau Representative contacts you.’ The letter went on to say that our answers ‘will only be used for statistical purposes’. If I do get the 2 a.m. knock on the door to be hauled off to the Lubianka for not filling in the sections on race and ethnicity (see ‘The 2010 US Census’) , I shall be sure to ask them whether they can define what ‘Chicano’ means, and what kind of statistical conclusions they think they can arrive at if they base them on such subjective and meaningless data. That there are not enough Chamorrans represented on the Brunswick County School Board, perhaps? I shall keep you informed. (April 5, 2010)
Today is the day when the US National Census takes place. To read my somewhat jaundiced take on this event, please click on ‘The 2010 US Census’. I have also added a substantial number of items to my Commonplace entries (see Commonplace 2010), and one new example of Hyperbolic Contrast (see ‘Hyperbolic Contrast Examples’) Today also marks the completion of my first set of sessions of Spinal Decompression Therapy to repair the degenerated disk in my neck. I shall be reporting on the success of this treatment shortly. And congratulations to my old school, Whitgift, which won the Daily Mail National Rugby U-18 Championship at Twickenham yesterday, easily beating RGS, Newcastle 34-10! (April 1, 2010)