As I’ve mentioned, I’ve taken up rollerblading.*  This was the compromise I reached for the fact that (1) I have a manic golden retriever who is incapable of unaccompanied pooping; and (2) I hate exercise.   Rollerblading is an excellent solution because the ratio of dog exercise to human exercise is much greater than with running.  For example: I can cause Saguaro to run like this:

while I exercise like this:

I reckoned (read:  was too proud to admit the alternative) that since I’d figure skated** as a kid, I’d be pretty good a rollerblading, and that has largely been the case.  After two recent falls, though, I decided I should have at least some protective gear.  Not wanting to look like something out of Mad  Max a dork who didn’t know how to rollerblade, I was determined not to go all out, gearwise.  Hence, the following analysis:

1.  If I break my leg or skin my knee, I can still practice law.  No need for knee pads.

2.  If I get a head injury, I will be unable to practice law, and thereafter no one will yell at me through font changes about deposition scheduling.  No need for a helmet.

3.  If I break my wrists, I can still practice law, but typing will a pain in the ass.  Wrist guards!

So I now wear wrist guards, especially after spending a couple of weeks with very sore wrists following the RUI incident I described earlier.  That and a heinous yellow fleece for pre-dawn rolls are now my only concessions to safety.

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*I know, that’s a brand name.  I’m supposed to say “in-line skating” or something like that.  But given that I skate in anything *but* a line, I find that sort of awkward.  I also take a sort of perverse pleasure in companies that are so successful they have to talk us out of using their product names.   Band-aid!  Xerox!

** Not well: