80% is a B- but this is one time that's A-OK with me! My orthotics from Advanced Tech came today. They were a nice, efficient company with which to do business. My feet have been gradually doing a lot better because of my new Dexter shoes, but I am eager to see if custom 80% insurance-reimbursable shoe inserts will make them good as new. Well, that's too much to hope for - the nature of this problem is that they weren't really good when they were new - but the instructions say that I should notice about an 80% improvement in a month, and that it may take several days or even weeks for me to get used to them. If that level of improvment happens, I won't care that the 80% reimbursement has to go against a deductible first! My left foot, which is the most painful, is protesting the orthotic...owww...that's the same thing that happened with the new shoes. But only time will tell.

Here is an editorial, "One Nation Under God," from the New York Times. I couldn't agree more. No need to elaborate, bravo NYT!

And here is another editorial, this one from Time.com, entitled "Please. Somebody Derail Amtrak." I couldn't disagree more. Here's my letter to the editor, based on an earlier one to et al. (and from Gully Brook Press, a short essay from 2001 entitled Amtrak Summer).

If I get through the work I need to do for class (roster reconciliation and some curriculum tinkering for next week), I plan to reward myself by putting mulch in the garden. It rained last night and I want to save future watering by capturing that moisure in the soil. Planted lettuce yesterday, better late than never. The roses are in bloom!