When I have to tell someone no, I pick up the phone. I hate talking on the phone, but I do it anyway.

When you're answering no to someone, you're disappointing them even if just a little bit. So you owe it to them to talk instead of sending an email. It's the polite thing to do.

But there are two other reasons, selfish reasons, for making the call. First, you get immediate feedback on how they took the news. If they're upset then you can do damage control straight away. And at least you know! And second, delivering bad news directly and respectfully is an important skill to develop. We can all use the practice. And it's never as bad as I think it will be.

Three days ago I was hobbling around on a sore knee with a torn meniscus. But after just three days of icing and Ibuprofen and resting on the couch already my knee is almost better than it was before. This arthroscopic surgery stuff is amazing.

My knee had been getting progressively worse for the past few months. But the clincher was six weeks ago, when I was chasing around a dog that was loose in our front yard. A twist, pop, and I was down. The doctor I saw the next day confirmed that it wasn't anything "serious" like a torn ligament, but something was definitely wrong. When we went up to a week of family camping a few weeks back, I couldn't go on any hikes and could barely play ping pong. It was a real bummer.

So I met with a sports medicine doctor at Palo Alto Medical Foundation and got an MRI. He saw a few things wrong in there. A few days later, I was getting the procedure done. Viola.

Afterwards I was surprised that it didn't hurt. They did prescribe some pain medication (Hydrocodone plus Acetaminophen) that I've been taking when I go to bed, but haven't needed during the day. I've been using a machine that pumps ice water through a pad around my knee all day to keep it cool, and that's worked really well. So much better than ice packs. Totally recommend the ice machine.

Thanks to the good surgical team at Palo Alto Medical Foundation especially Dr. Colin Eakin. Their surgery center on Willow Road made the whole experience smooth and reassuring.

But one pro tip for you out there considering this. Don't read the wikipedia article on General Anesthesia the night before surgery. It's crazy stuff. Especially the parts about how we're still not really sure how it works, or the part about how the level of anesthesia where it is safe to operate is right between "excitement" where you vomit and twitch, and "overdose" where you stop breathing. Don't read that part.

I'm back to work tomorrow, and I expect to be back on my bike by next week!

I often wake up with a song going through my head. I don't know why this happens. The stranger thing the songs. Yesterday was good, I woke up to Led Zepplin's Immigrant Song — what a great way to start the day. But earlier in the week it was inexplicably the Golden Girls Theme Song. Gah!

I've heard them called earworms: songs that get stuck in your head and don't get out. So I'll share with you now the antidote, taught to me by my good friend Jane Manning. Thanks, Jane!

Sing David Bowie's song John, I'm Only Dancing. Not one of Bowie's better known songs, nor even one of his best, but remarkably well suited to this. I believe it's because the melody is kind of odd and not all that pleasant, so it's not going to get stuck itself. You kind of remember the melody and lyrics, but not quite, so that keeps you busy. It always does the trick.

I really don't like tipping. I'm not like Mr. Pink. It's not that I don't want my server or driver to get something extra. I just don't like the awkward social situation of deciding if this is a tipping situation, and if so, how much.

Two services have come up recently where I will happily pay a premium to not have to fret about too much or too little:

• Uber. Lots to like about this service but the act of just leaving out of my cab without paying is joyful. I always rate my drivers, good or bad. 98% of the time, it's good by the way.

• OrderAhead. Are you supposed to tip when picking up takeout from a restaurant? I've never known. Neither way feels right, so I usually end up splitting the difference and rounding up to some amount, say leaving a 6% tip, which is the worst choice. Either that's 6% that wasn't expected, or I'm inadvertently shafting someone.

Both of these services decouple feedback from money. Both avoid awkwardly changing money. I'd definitely pay a premium for that.

I wonder what other service business would benefit from decoupling feedback from money?

My family hasn't avoided the colds that are going around now. My way of fighting back is making chicken noodle soup. It's not too hard, it's satisfying, and it tastes great. The recipe belongs to Peninsula School and gets used at our annual Craft Fair. It's benefited from years of refinement.

I add more salt. I don't do peas. I've tried with rice but it got starchy and weird, stick with egg noodles.