Current Reading List + The Magic Healing Power of Super Glue
A couple of things. First, I’m reading Ironman Triathlete Chris McCormack’s autobiography, I’m Here To Win: A World Champion’s Advice for Peak Performance. He’s a compelling guy, in large part due to the non-traditional nature of everything he does. Hardcore, hell yeah. Talented, no question. Thoughtful and creative, like few within or outside of the sports world. But, he’s just not very likable and his writing, while insightful in spots, is repetitive and uninspired.
For triathletes and fans, the book is a must read, as there really hasn’t been another competitor in triathlon who has matched either McCormack’s personality or success . And for other endurance athletes, it had enough in it to justify the time to at least page through for nutrition and training tips. I will say that it has helped me find a bit of motivation over my morning coffee but, as I get to the final chapters, I have to say that “Macca” comes across as entirely self-absorbed, manipulative, and seems to revel in his aptitude in not just beating but in tricking, undermining, and subverting the efforts of even those he considers his friends.
End book review.
I’m also well into Bill Bryson’s, A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail. This book is fantastic – witty, informative, easy to plow through, and bound to put ideas into the head of anyone who has ever slept on the ground. I will, I think, some day venture out into the wilderness and see just how much discomfort I can take over a couple of thousand continuous miles.
Also on the nightstand, the next in a line of great science-investigative-journalist-humor books by Mary Roach, Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void. Another winner. After tackling cadavers, sex, and the paranormal, this is perhaps her least controversial topic but she still manages to find angles to make readers squirm and cringe.
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A couple nights ago I cut my thumb while doing dishes. I just HAD to get that last molecule of cheese off the knife and my enthusiastic scrubbing got the best of me. Or at least the back side of the big knuckle on my right hand. The blood started flowing immediately, and heavily. Despite pressure, elevating the hand, and icing for quite some time, the wound was legit and stitches were pretty clearly the right call. But, we were miles from anywhere and it was getting late, and as Alison put it, “We had to go to Dr. Google. We’re living in the jungle here, with no tools but superglue and Internet.”
So, as quickly as we could, we replaced a swapped out the bloody washcloth for a liberal spread of super glue over the wound. It hardened right away, but that didn’t stop a bit more blood from seeping out from the skin, under the Magic Shell-like glue covering. What I had was a mini-geyser of blood, frozen in space and time, jutting out from my thumb. Like a caterpillar-sized crimson sandstone, it took three band aids to cover up the stiff, chunky, protrusion. And I assure you that a stiff, chunky, protrusion is that last thing you want sticking out from any part of your body. The next day, when I was convinced that there was no more congealing to be had, I chipped and snipped away at the blood rock, reapplied more glue, and I’m happy to say that I’m back to having a hardly gruesome, mostly thumb-looking thumb. But here’s where we were at the scene of “the accident,” complete with the offending knife (that was, despite appearances, actually quite a bit larger than the thumb it cut):
Kind of Like Fun 
Very inventive, Son! OMG, that is a totally gross picture. Thanks for sharing. Love you, anyway. 🙂
Love,
Mom
Bill Bryson is AWESOME. Love all his books!