Death comes for the blender

11 May

My SmartPower Duet Blender/Food Processor died less than an hour ago. It was less than three months old but had encountered heavy use over the course of the last five weeks. It served me well over that time. When it happened, I was in the middle of making a No-Bake Black Bottom-Peanut Butter Silk Pie from Vegan with a Vengeance to celebrate the end of classes. I hadn’t quite finished with the parts of the recipe that called for the blender, but all of what remained to do with the blender was just mixing, so I was able to finish with a spoon.

I’m very lucky that this didn’t happen until after I got my jaw unwired. On the liquid diet, I’d use the blender several times a day, but now I only need it occasionally.

I bought the blender at Costco, so I’m hoping that I’ll be able to exchange it for a functional blender. I might try to get a different model, since I never really found anything I wanted to do with the food processor.

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Five weeks

10 May

It doesn’t feel like it’s been this long, but my accident was five weeks ago this morning. Life is pretty much back to normal, aside from being more lost than usual in my classes and not being able to chew.

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Another rubber band shortage

10 May

My next appointment with the oral surgeon is on Tuesday, and I have only one rubber band left (excluding the three that are in my mouth). The fact that the oral surgeon has twice given me only one envelope of rubber bands when the quality of the product is so low suggests, I think, that he doesn’t see many patients with injuries like mine.

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Various updates

9 May

In no particular order, here are the latest pieces of news that relate to my jaw in some way:

  • I’m now able to open my mouth pretty far. I can get my fingers far enough into my mouth to floss normally. There isn’t quite enough space to brush the back teeth normally, but it’s getting close.
  • I made an appointment to see my dentist in a couple of weeks. I would have liked to do it sooner so I could get the chipped teeth repaired by the time I’m able to chew again, but the receptionist at the dentist’s office said I should wait until I can open my mouth further.
  • When I called the dentist’s office, the receptionist remembered me when I explained that I had chipped my teeth in an accident but had to wait to get them repaired because of a broken jaw. I guess this means my injuries are at least somewhat distinctive.
  • I gave somebody driving directions yesterday for the first time since the accident. I don’t know why, but I like giving directions, even though I dislike cars. This time, I shouted the directions halfway across the street. It was satisfying.
  • I’ve been able to incorporate some kiwis (the fruit, not the bird) and bananas into my diet.
  • I got another packet of rubber bands from the oral surgeon on Wednesday, but already, I’m running low. The quality of these rubber bands is inconsistent. It seems like at least two thirds of them break  the first time I try to put them in my mouth. Those that survive this initial hurdle may last for a day or more.

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The old bike

9 May

When I left home for the office riding my old bike on Thursday morning, I immediately realized that the seat was too low for me. This was the bike that I used all of last semester, and I didn’t adjust the seat after I stopped using it, so it occurred to me that I must have ridden it with the seat too low all of last semester. On Thursday, I was in enough of a hurry that I didn’t want to stop to adjust the seat height, so I left it the way it was. If I could ride the bike that way for a whole semester, I could do it for another day. It wasn’t easy, though. I huffed and puffed my way up hills that I had easily climbed on the new bike. On Friday, I raised the seat a few inches, which made things noticeably easier, but I still found that I had to keep the bike in the lower gears.

When I returned home from the office this afternoon, I was pleasantly surprised to find that my new hanger had arrived already. Within a couple of minutes, I had installed it on the new bike. I took a test ride down the street, and the derailleur seems to be working smoothly. The brakes could use a quick adjustment, but I’m looking forward to taking it for my commute tomorrow.

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The bike

6 May

Monday morning as I was running to catch a bus to class, it occurred to me that I might be better off biking at a leisurely pace than chasing after buses. After buying a new helmet last night, I left home this morning on my bike about twenty minutes before class started. This allowed me plenty of time to get to campus even though I was leaving close to twenty minutes later than I would have to catch the bus.

Things didn’t go quite as planned. As soon as I shifted gears, I started hearing the chain rubbing against something. The sound seemed to be coming from the rear, but beyond that, I couldn’t tell much. I stopped a few times along the way, but the noise persisted, except at the highest gears. Fortunately, I was still able to get into class almost on time.

I had previously given the bike a cursory inspection and concluded that it hadn’t been damaged in the accident, but this morning, I noticed that, in fact, the derailleur was badly scratched. The scratches, I reasoned, wouldn’t be likely to affect the functionality, but if the derailleur scraped against the ground, something could easily have bent and caused the chain to come in contact with something it wasn’t supposed to. A quick look in a bike maintenance guide suggested that it was probably the hanger that was bent.

I ordered a new hanger after some unsuccessful attempts to bend the hanger back into shape. Until it arrives, I’ll be using my secondary bike or taking the buses.

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Couscous

5 May

Lunch today consisted of couscous with hummus and couscous with peanut butter and jelly. The main reason for using couscous rather than shredded tortillas was that I needed to use up the couscous, which had been sitting in the refrigerator for almost two weeks. These combinations were unusual, but they weren’t bad, really.

Today ended up being another off day for the blender, but I’ll probably use it again tomorrow.

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Rubber band shortage

5 May

As I expected, the rubber bands weren’t enough to last me the full three weeks. In fact, I’m on the last three already. One of these three is much thicker than most of the others have been, so it restricts my jaw movements more than it probably is supposed to.

I’ll have to call the oral surgeon tomorrow morning to see if I can get more.

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The shirt

5 May

After my accident, I was mildly annoyed about not being given the chance to remove my shirt without having it cut. I’ve been meaning to post this picture for weeks, but a few days later, I looked at the cut-up shirt (which came home with me from the hospital), and I saw that the shirt had already lost its usefulness by that point. In addition to three large holes in the back, there’s a smaller hole in the right shoulder. Incidentally, I don’t know how I managed to get the holes in the back of my shirt without any damage to the skin in the area.

The shirt I was wearing at the time of my accident.

The shirt I was wearing at the time of my accident.

A well-deserved day of rest

5 May

Monday was the first day in more than four weeks that my blender has gone unused. It’ll likely be heading back to work tomorrow, since I’m likely to need to shred a tortilla or two.

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