Safety and Discomfort

I've been contacted by multiple family members, checking on me because of the riots that are happening in Baltimore right now.  To those that haven't asked but want to know: I am safe.  I don't live near, work near, or commute through any of the areas that are affected.

In fact, I was so oblivious to what was happening in the city that I decided to enjoy the sunshine on Monday by going for a run.  I've been staying fit by running on a treadmill at the gym during the winter, but there's just something special about running outside.  Once I started, I enjoyed it so much that when I finished my normal loop, I ran it again.  That's right, I ran 7.5 miles on little more than a whim (and I did it 67 minutes).

However.

The next morning I woke up with my left knee in pain.  I put on a knee brace and tried to stay off it, but it felt like I had twisted it pretty hard.  The fact that it's my left knee seems important.  About twelve years ago, when I was on my mission, I was hit by a bus while I was crossing the street.  Being a missionary, I was divinely protected and the only injury I sustained was my left knee was badly bruised.  So, I experienced a miracle and walked away from something that could have crippled me for life.  In fact, it's taken a dozen years for me to experience any negative side effects.  Not a bad deal.

Where does that leave me now?  My knee feels a lot better than it did yesterday and I plan on wearing the knee brace on my next run.  If that doesn't help, I'll see my doctor to discuss my options.  I'll stop running if I have to, but I want to know what other options I have.  For now, I'll just try to take it easy.

Hidden Fees

I get to ride the bus for free in Stillwater! Well, that's not true. I do not have to pay any additional fees to ride the bus. I was going through the cost of tuition for attending school, and there are a lot of things that I'm paying for, whether I want to or not. Things like the Academic Excellence fee ($360.50), the Academic Facilities fee ($147.00), the Student Union Renovation fee ($60.90), the Student Activities and Student Activities-A fees ($35 and $42, respectively), and the parking and transit fee ($32.20).

I guess my problems with it is that tuition is pretty stonking high already and then they glob all of these extra things on top. The Student Union looks nice, but why do I have to pay for the renovation that (as far as I can tell) already happened? I do like that by showing my ID I get to ride the bus for no (additional) charge, but what if I didn't have to ride the bus? And why is called parking and transit fee, if we still have to buy a parking pass? And why are there two student activity fees? Why not just have one fee at the combined price? That one's just weird to me.

Maybe my problem isn't the extra fees, it's knowing what they go to. Tuition I don't have any argument with because that's for my education, but if I knew how much of my tuition went to stocking the faculty lounge with donuts, I'd probably be telling a different tale.