In August Ed and I traveled to North Carolina so he could reconnect with a college friend from Kenyon. I booked a hotel reservation with Expedia for the Grand Hyatt at Greenville S.C. Almost immediately I realized the Greenville I wanted was in Greenville, N.C. So I canceled it and rebooked with Expedia for a Hilton in Greenville, N.C. where we stayed. Imagine my surprise when my Visa billed showed a $400 charge for the S.C. booking. Expedia was not willing to dismiss the charge. I had used my New York Times Visa. They are super at running things down. And today I got a letter saying that the charge had been canceled. I will never use Expedia again. And I also wonder at the inanity of having two Greenvilles.

I have been struggling with back spasms since my hospital stay in early October. I am on medication and it works reasonably well but sometimes isn’t very effective at all. My doctor is not giving me refills, which means he has to reauthorize it every time I am near running out. At this stage, I don’t see how I can ever come off of it. When I am late taking it, the consequences are swift and severe.

I won’t be using the physical therapist who gave me the exercise that I believe triggered my collapse and am looking around for another one. Or maybe I would do well with a chiropractor. It’s a mystery. I do know that acupuncture did not work for my back. I gave that several months and it didn't help.

Today was the change to daylight saving time and I think we should just have it all year round and stop this constant shifting. You wouldn’t think one hour could screw you up, but it does.

xx, Teal