Posts Tagged ‘images’
Real Event
Just a (not really) typical night down at the U…
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Did I mention that it rained? Rained and rained? It did. That was the wettest I have been from rain that I can recall. My fingers became pruned. I am only a casual fan of U2, but I have the utmost respect for them. Being there was definitely special. It was a really remarkable event Saturday night. In addition to the natural excitement of such a large gathering of fans, and the world-class production of the show, we were able to view the fireworks of the Minneapolis Aquatennial Festival during the concert. And it all coincided with a pretty dramatic lightning display traveling across the sky. It was not very clear which of the flashes and booms were coming from which source.
With the weather having been so incredibly hot and humid lately, the fact that the evening started out pleasantly comfortable may have caused me to drop my guard. I did not fully prepare for the obvious outcome that played out. Not only did I get really wet, so did everything in my pockets. Luckily, both phone and camera survived. My wallet looks a bit worse for the wear.
Actually, the soaking was not the worst part. Waiting can be a real drain, but waiting in the middle of the night when you are soaking wet was a real buzz-kill. There was gridlock in the vicinity of the stadium for a long time. We were prisoners in the parking ramp for 1 hour, 45-minutes. The eventual exit involved turning around and driving the wrong way down, since everybody else was doing it.
Eventual bedtime… after 2 a.m. Fitting, I’d say, for such a significant event.
Looking Up
Just for the record, I truly did fear that I might not be able to rejoin my friends in the thrice-weekly morning futsal matches on the wood-floor basketball court at a local health club because of my degenerating lumbar disc. However, I refrained from going to the extreme of canceling my membership, even though the only time I use the club is for the soccer with my friends. Deep down, I was holding out hope that I might return.
On Tuesday of this week, my physical therapist spoke the magic words. I am now authorized to begin testing out my normal activities to see if any pain returns. I immediately returned to the wood floor for a test yesterday morning, and am very happy to report that I feel no worse for the wear.
For an undetermined amount of time, I intend to play indoors only one day a week. It is my hope to augment that with one day of outdoor play on grass. I’ll fill the days between with some bike riding, and of course, the ongoing 1/2-hour walking as often as possible.
I’ve begun to recognize a number of other regular walkers that seem to be undertaking a similar routine. I think I can recognize the ones who are treating back issues. There is just something familiar in their stride.
Here are a couple more views I’ve captured during my little expeditions…
Looking down the tracks:
and looking up:
Relative Something 