I like it when my physical therapist shocks my butt.

I went to physical therapy today. I have gotten to where I look forward to going to physical therapy because, when I go, my therapist hooks me up to a machine that really eases the pain of my slipped disc. That’s a picture of the exact machine to the right. What happens is, my therapist attaches these sticky pads to my butt, and the pads are attached to the machine by wires. Then, the machine shocks my butt for fifteen minutes and when I get up, the pain is typically gone (or at least dialed way down) for as much as two hours.

I like my physical therapist. She’s a young blond thing who looks a little bit like Kelly Ripa, with the same goofy, bubbly personality and friendly demeanor. Typically, when I go to physical therapy, my therapist shocks my butt for fifteen minutes and then has me do a few light stretches and walk on a treadmill or something. Then I leave, feeling a little better for having gone.

Today, my physical therapist transformed from Kelly Ripa into Torquemada. For starters, the butt shocker (which, technically, is called the Exel Ultra IV or something) was dialed way down today. It hardly delivered any impulse at all, and I could tell that I wasn’t going to get as much relief out of it today. Secondly, the exercises and stretches she had me do today weren’t light. They were really difficult and they hurt like hell. And they were repetitive. I realize that physical therapy for a herniated lumbar is going to be painful, but up until now it had been relaxing, and I guess I’d been lulled into a false sense of security. The hard stuff began today, and I felt like I was being knotted into a pretzel by a little blond thing in her early 20’s that might weigh 95 pounds. If I’d thought it would have helped, I’ve have started screaming ”I admit it! I admit it! I’m a heretic!”

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We’ve tried to take advantage of my laid-up time as well as possible. We’ve been reading the Chronicles of Narnia to the kids, and they’re loving it. Especially Hailey, who’s the oldest and might be at the best age for the stories. If you’ve never read The Lion The Witch And The Wardrobe or the other books to your kids, you really should… especially before the movie comes out and deprives them of seeing the stories first in their own imaginations.

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I have read a little bit today on the net about John Roberts, the president’s nominee to replace O’Connor on the SCOTUS. I don’t think I’m particularly well informed about him, but at this point I feel safe in saying that my first impression is a positive one.

Of course, the liberal broadcast media outlets have branded Roberts already. NBC and ABC say he’s not just conservative, but “very conservative.” On CNN, Paula Zahn was concerned that Dubya hadn’t nominated a woman…. Yadda, yadda, yadda, yadda.

Michelle Malkin has a good list of opinions and links about Roberts.

I like what William Kristol had to say, it makes me a little optimistic:

The occasion was an opportunity to reshape the Supreme Court. Bush seized the opportunity, in two ways: He moved the Court a solid step to the right (to speak vulgarly), and he elevated its quality. It's true that Roberts is a Rehnquist, not a Scalia or a Thomas. He'll be a little more incremental, a little more cautious, than some of us rabid constitutionalists will sometimes like. But he is a conservative pick, and a quality pick--and, to my surprise, a non-PC, non-quota pick.

Of course, all the pro-abortionists are yapping and chasing their tails because Roberts has expressed his concern that abortion on demand might not be such a good thing:

Abortion rights organizations declared their opposition to Roberts, a 50-year-old federal appeals court judge. But as yet, there were no outright calls for his rejection from any of the Senate's 44 Democrats.

A liberal organization, NARAL-Pro Choice America, announced its opposition to Roberts even before Bush formally made his selection public in a prime time televised White House appearance on Tuesday. The group planned an "emergency demonstration" against the nomination across the street from the Capitol at midday.

The good news is, political forecasters think Roberts ought to squeak through:

"The White House managed to find a nominee who will move the court to the right without having the kind of provocative characteristics that could cause problems during confirmation," said Dean Spiliotes, a political scientist at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm's College.

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One other item I checked out today, after my friend Jamie mentioned it in an e-mail… It seems that the White House is doing everything it can to keep tempers cool between us and China:

"The United States does not consider China a threat, the White House said today after China protested about a Defense Department report which expressed concern about its military buildup.

'We're committed to peace and stability in the region, but that should not be viewed as us viewing China as a threat,' White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters.

The report was released only days after a Chinese general reportedly warned that Beijing would retaliate with nuclear weapons if the US military intervened in a conflict over Taiwan.