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This week, the MIRA-sponsored voter registration was at 11 a.m. on Monday (rather than 1 p.m. on either Monday or Thursday), at the Museum of Fine Arts. I decided that was compatible with 2:30 physical therapy in Davis Square, and signed up.
The ceremony was held in a rather nice auditorium in the MFA. The MFA (or maybe Homeland Security, which organizes the naturalization ceremonies) invited MIRA to set up tables in the hallway outside, instead of out on the sidewalk. The ceremony started at 11 a.m., meaning newly naturalized citizens started walking out at about 11:45. I registered up at least twice as many people as I did any of the previous timesI did this, including one who was already a citizen and was there to watch a relative be sworn in. Part of why we did this well is that, once things slowed down, we went into the auditorium to ask people who were waiting in line to apply for passports if they wanted to register to vote while they were there.
Another small nice thing: the MFA offered free one-year memberships to all the just-naturalized citizens and their families. I overheard one person asking an MFA employee if that applied to her, since she was already a member. He asked her to wait, looked her up on their system, and extended her membership by a year.
When we were done, I got on the Green Line to Boylston Street, and headed into Chinatown for lunch. It turns out that Yang Chow fried rice, at least as done by Dumpling Cafe, includes squid; fortunately, I like squid.
Then I went to PT; rather than having lots of time to kill, I was there only slightly early. The PT session went well: it was mostly evaluation, because most of what I'll be doing for my knee is stuff I am already doing for the hips.
The (new) physical therapist examined some things, and asked me some questions, and then said that most of what I'm doing for the hips will also help my left knee. I have two actual new exercises, an "isometric knee extension" and knee flexion/extension, both for the left leg only. She also gave me a slightly modified form for one of the existing exercises ("strengthening ASLR"), and told me to start doing the assisted squats again. I'd been skipping those because of knee pain: not intolerable, but while I was waiting to consult someone, doing an exercise that hurt my knee seemed imprudent.
The goal of these exercises includes strengthening my quadriceps and loosening up the kneecap so the synovial fluid will flow better.
I'm supposed to do the new exercises every day, and go back to doing the strengthening ASLR daily for the left leg; I can leave it at 3/week for the right leg. I was worn out by the time we finished that one, probably because that's the one hip exercise I did last night in what may have been an excess of enthusiasm (having done all of them the day before). I am restarting the squats at one set of ten, with the goal of working back up to two sets.
The therapist thinks that the pain is mostly from the arthritis, not from having fallen on the ice this winter. She said I'll probably need three or four sessions, at one per week, which doesn't feel bad at all. I can continue to use ice and ibuprofen to help with pain, but neither is necessary for healing.
The ceremony was held in a rather nice auditorium in the MFA. The MFA (or maybe Homeland Security, which organizes the naturalization ceremonies) invited MIRA to set up tables in the hallway outside, instead of out on the sidewalk. The ceremony started at 11 a.m., meaning newly naturalized citizens started walking out at about 11:45. I registered up at least twice as many people as I did any of the previous timesI did this, including one who was already a citizen and was there to watch a relative be sworn in. Part of why we did this well is that, once things slowed down, we went into the auditorium to ask people who were waiting in line to apply for passports if they wanted to register to vote while they were there.
Another small nice thing: the MFA offered free one-year memberships to all the just-naturalized citizens and their families. I overheard one person asking an MFA employee if that applied to her, since she was already a member. He asked her to wait, looked her up on their system, and extended her membership by a year.
When we were done, I got on the Green Line to Boylston Street, and headed into Chinatown for lunch. It turns out that Yang Chow fried rice, at least as done by Dumpling Cafe, includes squid; fortunately, I like squid.
Then I went to PT; rather than having lots of time to kill, I was there only slightly early. The PT session went well: it was mostly evaluation, because most of what I'll be doing for my knee is stuff I am already doing for the hips.
The (new) physical therapist examined some things, and asked me some questions, and then said that most of what I'm doing for the hips will also help my left knee. I have two actual new exercises, an "isometric knee extension" and knee flexion/extension, both for the left leg only. She also gave me a slightly modified form for one of the existing exercises ("strengthening ASLR"), and told me to start doing the assisted squats again. I'd been skipping those because of knee pain: not intolerable, but while I was waiting to consult someone, doing an exercise that hurt my knee seemed imprudent.
The goal of these exercises includes strengthening my quadriceps and loosening up the kneecap so the synovial fluid will flow better.
I'm supposed to do the new exercises every day, and go back to doing the strengthening ASLR daily for the left leg; I can leave it at 3/week for the right leg. I was worn out by the time we finished that one, probably because that's the one hip exercise I did last night in what may have been an excess of enthusiasm (having done all of them the day before). I am restarting the squats at one set of ten, with the goal of working back up to two sets.
The therapist thinks that the pain is mostly from the arthritis, not from having fallen on the ice this winter. She said I'll probably need three or four sessions, at one per week, which doesn't feel bad at all. I can continue to use ice and ibuprofen to help with pain, but neither is necessary for healing.
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