HerbM: Here We Go Again, Bilateral TKRs for late October/early November

[HerbM]

The main difference in a "space mission" is that you have precisely the tools and supplies you take with you (until you use them up) and there is NO chance of a service call or extra parts being shipped.

Combat is similar though re-supply may be possible at times -- usually only when things are relatively calm however.

Having been a commercial diver influences my planning as well, from the idea of taking whatever you need when boarding the boat to planning every step of the actual dive (usually diver time is limited and passing things to and from the surface is either difficult or time consuming.)

Even being a computer consultant (all Windows servers for a large US state) is similar -- before you change something you must have a backup of the current state and data, and a plan to expeditiously get the server back online even if things go very badly.

For things I must do for myself, I treat it pretty much the same -- get it done NOW when it's possible to do it myself and do it leisurely rather than waiting to NEED it and having to depend on someone else (e.g., my wife) or even do without.

I am excited to get the knees replaced -- part of being excited is to ENJOY preparing. Trying to make it as effortless as practical in the actuality.

Making it a game makes helps to make it pain free.

By the time we were allowed to jump out of an airplane in jump school most of us were so fed up with the preparations (running, pushups, a thousand other exercises) that jumping itself was a RELIEF even if it hadn't been a whole lot of fun in it's own right. Most of us were downright IMPATIENT to get out of the plane.

 

[Celle]

By the time we were allowed to jump out of an airplane in jump school most of us were so fed up with the preparations (running, pushups, a thousand other exercises) that jumping itself was a RELIEF even if it hadn't been a whole lot of fun in it's own right. Most of us were downright IMPATIENT to get out of the #@%$ plane.

My husband has his parachute wings - from his time in the territorials. He maintains that the only reason he jumped out of the plane was that he was more scared of the Sgt Major than he was of jumping!

 

[HerbM]

And he is probably serious within the joke. Really.

Of course, I never did understand people who were AFRAID to JUMP but signed up for jump school and did it anyway (they never make ANYONE jump) -- they were the brave ones.

Stupid or not, it always seemed pretty safe to me (as long as you did it correctly.) Everything that *I* ever saw go wrong with a jump was someone's abject stupidity OR breaking a simple rule/procedure we were taught in the basic course (over and over and over -- did I mention pushups? )

 

[Celle]

It's not the jumping that would worry me - it's the landing!

 

[jeano]

Its not the drop, it's the sudden stop...