Thursday, April 14, 2005
My lower back started hurting yesterday from the new shoes I had been wearing, and this morning the pain was bad, so I stayed home from work. With the new shoes and orthotics, my knee no longer makes strange clicking and crunching noises, but I find that I cannot endure the back pain it seems to be causing. As of last night, I'm back to the old orthotics and old shoes. I suspect I might have to break in the new shoes and orthotics slowly, but neither the shoe salesman or the doctor warned me that there might be back pain involved in these new orthotics. I made an appointment to see a back specialist tomorrow and let Cindy know I won't be in tomorrow as well. Breakfast: cinnamon roll. Rested all day. Lunch: a sandwich. It's Joel's birthday today, and I agreed yesterday to bring plates and napkins for today's party before the worst of the pain hit my back on my way home so Patrick was kind enough to drop them off on his way to Jumpin Java. Happy birthday, Joel! Dinner at home with Patrick: organic greens with sliced Canadian bacon and green bell pepper, enchiladas, Spanish rice. Watched Wag the Dog (1997) on DVD with Patrick. It was enjoyable and funny—a rather extruded way of making a point about the nature of politics, media, and public opinion. The cover of the DVD quotes Janet Maslin (New York Times): "SWIFT, HILARIOUS, AND IMPOSSIBLE TO RESIST!" and yes, the film is fast-paced, and there are many scenes which I think are very funny (but no true hilarity ensues). The film is clearly not impossible to resist, as this is the first time I have seen it since it was released in 1997. The film did not live up to the hype we had heard about it, so ultimately we were a little disappointed. Still, very good performances by Hoffman and De Niro.