When my dad had his bypass, he was originally scheduled for an angioplasty. I found out it was switched to a bypass by my brother calling and saying "Well, we need to remember that this is a routine operation" which made me panic because I didn't need anyone to tell me to remain calm about an angioplasty. Sometimes those "First let me say that everything is fine" stories can be stressful.

Yeah but that's because you know you can hit back.

Sometimes. The training is supposed to mitigate the sheer shock involved in getting hit -- and making sure your responses are appropriate, not merely dictated by adrenaline.

Sounds perfectly appropriate for getting blindsided by a toddler.

Oh, not at all. I figured the sympathies went without saying.

Let me make my sympathy explicit. I had to go look up Bell's palsy first. Scary! I hope she recovers fully.

Hm. Another reason to start taking krav soonish.

Let me make my sympathy explicit.

Thanks, -t. Sis says she's fine, and that her doctor is very good, and confident she'll make a full recovery.

Good to hear, Sean.

Sounds perfectly appropriate for getting blindsided by a toddler.

Yes, it is. But I think there should be a basic training for parenthood, anyhow. I make a damned poor libertarian, and libertine, for that matter.

If I were king of the forest, almost everyone would be in a big time-out, right now.

Can I interrupt for a moment to ask for a woo and a hoo?

Because I just put a check in the mail with payment in full on what's left of my student loan.

We paid off the car in November or December.
We paid off the hospital bills from Annabel's birth last month.
And now my fancy-schmancey overpriced education is finally paid for.

As of this moment, the only debts we have are....the bad credit card kind. And more of those than I'd like, though we're not anywhere near a scary place with them. But now we'll be able to pay more than the minimum on them, and we'll be a lot more comfortable on just the one regular salary. Which is not to say I don't want to build my freelance income a lot more, but still. I don't feel like the wolves are howling at our door anymore.

That's great, Susan! Woo-hoo!

Anybody got spare rent vs own advice lying around?

Dude, Susan. I can only dream of being where you are. CC's aren't a problem for me anymore - I went after those first - but I'll be paying those student loans off forever.