Monday, May 23, 2011

ingenuity




Rest, ice, compression, elevate.
That's what you're supposed to do with a sprained ankle.

I know this because I sprained my ankle over the weekend. Lucky me, I decided to look away while running down a hill at the park just as a large tree root threw itself under my foot.

Today I decided to walk all over the place, up and down stairs, drive the truck (manual transmission) and 'suddenly' it started hurting. In actuality, it's been hurting all day (because it's sprained), so I took the pain for normal discomfort and paid no mind. Unfortunately, when I finally decided to take a look at it, the ankle part had swollen to twice its size and I had to scramble to ice it with whatever we had on hand. I settled on a 3-month old loaf of frozen bread. After twenty minutes of icing, I elevated it on a roll of bubble wrap. And of course this set me to thinking.

I love (passionately, tenderly, joyfully) the human ability to use tools to accomplish our ends. For instance: if there's a dish on a high shelf that I can't quite reach, I can grab a large soup ladle and extend my arm by nearly half its length! How exciting! It makes me giggle every time.
I'm trying to think of other examples, such as using using a pencil to hold your hair back, or an outdated laptop to hold a door closed. They don't always have to make sense.

The bubble wrap is making crunching noises and sticking to my leg. My desk chair was certainly not made to support someone with one leg up on their desk and the other foot on the floor. I'm pretty sure any clients who walk in the door wouldn't have much to say to me with my bare foot in their face. I suppose some tools should be used in private.



pretty bubble wrap courtesy of the Guardian
The origins of bubble wrap - wallpaper?


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