I watched Superman/Batman: Apocalypse over the weekend, a direct-to-video animated film from DC. It’s the sequel (or follow-up) to 2009′s Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, which I haven’t seen yet. However, this was available for streaming, so I couldn’t resist the impulse. Based on the original comic storyline, this is an origin story that reintroduces Kara Zor-El, Superman’s cousin from Krypton, into the modern age. Batman discovers Kara after her spacecraft crashes in Gotham after being stuck inside of a Kryptonite meteor for some years. She’s young and inexperienced in handling her new-found powers, so Superman / Clark tries to acclimate her to her new world. Wonder Woman and her fellow Amazons of Themyscira come to take her and train her.

This wasn’t the best DC animated film from the series, but not the worst either. It’s worth checking it out.

Superman/Batman: Apocalypse (2010)

Would you believe I’ve never seen the 1992 Disney animated flick Aladdin? Yup, never. It was on cable recently, so I recorded it for the kids. It was a decent flick. I noticed the early computer animation with the flying carpet. How times have changed.

Aladdin (1992)

Wednesday night, we went out for dinner to celebrate my wife’s birthday. We decided to try out a new Indian restaurant Delhi 6 that opened in the area. The food was good, but they weren’t kidding about it being spicy.

My knee brace

After working out last night, then falling asleep on the couch, I woke up this morning with an aching knee. I didn’t do anything last night that should have aggravated my knee, but argh. I opted to work from home, and wanted to get an appt with my doctor. It’s not that I’m experiencing intense pain, but I’m concerned that I’ve misdiagnosed myself, and could potentially do some irreparable injury to my knee. Who knows, right? Better to speak to my doctor, and make sure I’m doing the right thing.

My doctor called me back later in the day, and I explained the situation and described the accident. It’s her diagnosis that I indeed sprained the ligament. She advised me to wear a knee brace for the next two weeks, and pop Alleve daily (it’s an anti-inflammatory.) Fine, I figure. I just want to get back to doing cardio ASAP.

I spent an inordinate amount of time perusing the braces at CVS later this afternoon. There are lot to choose from, and who knows which is best? I ultimately went with this Futuro Infinity brace. I’ve been wearing it, and I’m finding it to be annoying. The brace slips down constantly. Also, with the pressure around my knee, and then no pressure around my lower leg, I get this constant sensation that my left sock is falling down.

Annoying. What terrible timing for me to hurt my knee.

Tonight, I went to the gym to work out. It’s the first time I went after I slipped and injured/sprained my left knee last Thursday. My knee still bothers me, but it’s better than it was initially. I still limp, as it hurts to put too much pressure on it. I think of this keeps up much longer, I may give in and go visit my doctor for a checkup.

I could have taken the easy way out and skipped another workout tonight, but that is a bad precedent. The more workouts I skip, the momentum will decrease further. I opted to avoid cardio and any strength training that would stress my knee. I worked on upper body — arms, shoulders, back, abs. I also did those leg extension curls to work the backs of my thighs. It was a good workout, and I’m firmly back in the saddle. I’m not sure when my knee will be better. Since cardio may not be on the menu for awhile, I will have to be on my best diet behavior this week.

Nothing like a few hours to get your website up-to-date. I’ve been remiss here and there to update my website, due to my work schedule and family life. I’ve finally caught up with missing postings from January and February, so do yourself a favor, stop working for a few mins, and go back to read those new posts. They’re chock full of photos too. Go ahead, I don’t mind. I’ll wait.

I also caught up on photos — I sorted and published January 2011 and February 2011 photos.

Sigh. Back to the salt mine tomorrow.

Our two carts loaded up

We had this plan to get up, get brunch at IHOP, and then go see one of our movie selections from the night before. Instead, we woke up at 11:30am this morning, and wouldn’t make it to any movie. Also, my wife was still feeling ill. I’m not complaining, as we never have the opportunity to sleep in anymore. Nor should we be pushing ourselves to exhaustion or further illness. We modified our plans, decided on a late lunch/brunch at a local diner, then hit Target for toothpaste. Toothpaste, my friends!

Before I begin to recap the wealth of items we purchased today, let me explain a few things:

1. We had a nice lunch. I had a pastrami sandwich, and I only ate a portion of my fries.
2. We’ve been searching/discussing additional seating for guests in our living room.
3. We’ve been searching/discussing how to best display/organize our DVDs.
4. Yes, we remembered the toothpaste.

Have I mentioned how much I like Target? They have such nice stuff. Anyway, after picking up toothpaste and milk, we went to the furniture section. Oh, a nice bench that has built-in storage, perfect for movies! Oh, a nice bookshelf to hold our movies and pictures! Oh, pajamas for Josh! Oh, a larger plush blanket for snuggling on the couch! The list continues. We loaded up the car, and rushed home so I could put the shelf together before I had to pick up the kids.

I put it together in record time — under 2 hours, as I’m an expert. So far, they both look great, match our furniture, and we fit all the DVDs and some picture frames. Next on the list? More wall shelves and new living room tables.

New wall shelf
New leather bench	And it has storage

Saturday night, the kids were sleeping over with the grandparents, so we had plans to catch dinner and a movie out somewhere. I was up for either The King’s Speech or Cedar Rapids, but my wife wasn’t feeling well, so things didn’t work out too tell. Instead, we ended up having a late dinner at a relatively new Afghan fast food joint in Robbinsville named Afghan Kebob & Grill. It’s a decent place, and food isn’t expensive. It was mostly empty on a late Sunday night, but I figure they’re more crowded at lunchtime.

When we got home, we checked out our streaming options, and we elected for No One Killed Jessica, a 2011 Bollywood film. This film is loosely-based on the real-life murder of Jessica Lall in 1999 in New Delhi. The son of a political family kills a young woman, and a multitude of partygoers/witnesses claim to not have seen anything. the powerful and rich encircle to protect their own and pay off / threaten witnesses. Meanwhile, the sister of the victim and another television reporter independently work to get justice for Jessica. It stars mostly people I didn’t recognize, except Rani Mukherjee. I thought there were strong performances from all of the actors/actresses, and thankfully, no dance routines.

No One Killed Jessica (2011)

Since my wife was travelling this week, we missed out on a proper Valentine’s Day dinner. With the kids at a “pajama party” Friday evening, we took it upon ourselves to go out for a much-delayed romantic dinner out. Where should we go? Why, our favorite steakhouse, Ruth’s Chris.

I called ahead of time to let them know there was a romantic theme for the dinner, and the wait staff obliged us with candles, rose petals, and champagne waiting for us. The meal was amazing, and I can’t wait to go back.

A delayed but delicious romantic dinner

The human knee

Am I getting old? Is my body failing me?

This morning, I was taking the train to NYC, and had parked my car at my usual New Brunswick parking garage. I had meetings during the day, and plans to go out with friends in the evening. As I was walking through the garage and texting someone, I slipped on either ice or water (I’m not certain.) It all happened quite fast, but I was able to catch myself on a nearby vehicle before I actually hit the ground. At least I wasn’t sprawled on the ground.

However, I did something bad to my left leg. Well, I thought it was my leg. As it happened so fast, I don’t know what happened exactly to my leg. As I fell, it definitely got bent in an unhealthy direction. Again, no idea how it twisted as I lost balance.  In the late afternoon, the pain subsided in the leg, and localized just below my left knee.

I checked out diagrams, and it looks like the pain directly correlates to the Ligamentum Patella, or the ligament connected and below my kneecap. It’s awfully painful to bend and put weight on my knee, but the knee itself isn’t swollen, which is a good sign. I’m hoping it’s just a sprain of sorts, and will recover in a reasonable time period.