Knee update, CV stress, & Bonestock

I haven’t really been up to posting as of late. Although I’ve been working on my Süd Tirol slideshow (should be done today or tomorrow), and I’ve got a few ideas how to condense my thoughts on Tirol but I’ve been motivated to do other things.

I saw the Orthopedist on Monday. He jerked both knees around and maybe over emphasized the fact that my right knee has the snappy rubberband effect and my left does not. The drawer test revealed that my muscle training (mainly from last week’s bike excursions) have significantly reduced the forward motion of the tibia, but there is a 4 mm difference with the left leg. Docs says I could do more muscle training, but that would mean I’d have to subscribe to Schwarzenegger style I’ll-pump-you-up workouts. Not gonna happen.

If I don’t have surgery, I’ll likely have a knee replacement at 50. Ugh! So my surgery will take place sometime the first week of October (right after Oktoberfest) at OCM (Orthopädische Chirugie München) in Sendling. The surgeons will be Dr. Mayr or Dr. Wasmer, who perform around 240 ACL surgeries per year. I’ll be in good hands. After last weeks incredible sport adventure, just the thought of starting this handicap all over gives me the willies. Gotta keep in mind I’ll be better, though in 6 months. Easy.

Other things that preoccupy me: converting my English resume/CV into a discriminatory, german-style Lebenslauf. I got my stinkin’ picture from Sauter for 18 Euro, I’ll tell you my marital status, and I’ll tell you how many kids I don’t have. Luckily, these days it isn’t necessary to tell you what religion I belief in or where my parents come from. Well in my case, the parent question will be asked with a glance at the application photo. Aside from all that bloody red tape, the real challenge is describing what I did throughout my career, especially describing what I did as a Staff Engineer. The German style is different, if not terse. I just can’t leave it to major assuming that the interviewer has a clue. It’s been hard finding anything equivalent in German because much of lingo is specific only to civil and environmental engineering in Florida. Still. Must search deeper…

In between all this I’m learning to cook stock, fond, or jus. Oh my! Most jarred or canned stock I’ve found has MSG and no matter how hard I try, my various sauces tend to be boringly similar, with an after taste of this powdered organic vegetable stock I use. I want to bring my cooking up a notch and because it isn’t blistering hot here like in Florida, I can finally afford to make the supreme cooking commitment. Here are some websites I found helpful:

• Lucy’s Kitchen Notebook: Fond de Volaille
• Tigers & Strawberries: Making Stock
• Butter Pig’s Stock 101

My first attempt is a beef stock. Wish me luck.

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