I kneed a little cheese with my whine

I kneed a new knee, too.

Well, maybe not a whole new knee. Maybe just an overhaul.

Finally talked to my doc about my left knee yesterday. He did an x ray and it showed that I have just a teeny scrap of cartilage left...not nearly enough for peak performance.

He did give me a shot of a steroid and some kinda 'caine right into the joint. Hurt like a MOFO...and still does. But it helps...eventually. Takes it about a week or two to feel the optimum effect and it usually lasts several months.

But he did say that whenever I was ready, he'd provide a referral to an ortho for some arthroscopic surgery.

All righty, then. I'll hafta think about that.
.....................................

In other, even more cheerful (not) news, I could very well be out of a job, come July.

The story is

here

No, I'm not a state employee. But I do work in the "social service sector". We depend on the state for grants...which will be some of the first things to go if and when the deep cuts come.

It's kinda funny...reading some of the comments in regards to the article. Well, it's not funny. Most people just don't understand and take the "may have to cut 10,000 state jobs" to mean the fat-cat Springfield bureaucrats.

"Great, I can't think of any good reason to keep excess government employees. As with most government jobs, many will never be missed."

"Sympathy has nothing to do with it. Why should these employees enjoy 100% protected status for life and cost-of-living increases too, when many thousands of (private sector) workers don't. Maybe layoffs will bring to the la-la land of government a better understanding of what reality is and what normal people face.
NO NEW TAXES."

"Let 'em all go. Let another 10,000 go. Government should be a bare bones operation. It is not there just to provide union jobs, wages and benefits. The government is way too willing to raise taxes to support the inefficient and unproductive. Let 'em earn their keep in the private world"

I tend to agree that the state government has far too many bureaucrats. However, most of those jobs won't get cut. It'll be the little people. Like me.

They're also not thinking about the trickle-down effect.

Let's say they cut grants for child care. Let's further say that you're a young, single mother, working full time at a local retail store and going to college part-time. You bring home...what?...$200 a week? You pay just $25 for child care per week...the rest is subsidized by one program or another.

As an aside, did you know that it costs anywhere from $200 to $350 PER WEEK, PER CHILD for child care in the Peoria area? If you're a woman, working a minimum-wage job, you depend on subsidized child care. You can't afford it, otherwise. Hell, a lotta people with good jobs struggle with this.

Despite what a lotta people believe, in order to qualify for TANF (public aid) money, you have to have a full-time job of some kind...or go to school full-time. It's not "free" money. It's a subsidy.

Um...ok, so the young woman can't work...because she has no child care. And she can't go on the dole...because she can't work...because she has no child care.

Can you say "Catch-22"?

The young woman will be out of a job because she can't afford child care. The child care provider will be out of a job...because the young woman...and 30 or 40 more just like her...can't afford child care. The child-care provider's mechanic will be out of a job...because the provider doesn't have a job...because the young woman can't afford day care. And on. And on.

Yea, yea, yea. I know. If you can't afford a kid, don't have one. Go to college and get a degree and get a better job. Have your parents watch your kids...like we did.

I agree with that, too. But what about the babies that are already here? What about the girl who has just an 8th grade education? What about the girl who doesn't even have a relationship with her parents? Who has no kind of family support?

That's what I deal with every single day. There are hundreds and hundreds of girls just like this in the Peoria area. Thousands state-wide.

Aaaanyway.

Like everyone else, I hate the idea of raising taxes. But I have no idea what the answer is.

Gotta admit, though...having the rest of the summer off just doesn't sound too bad.