For those who are curious, my back problem is a hernia, which really comes to a series of various pains up and down my left leg. Fun...sort of...not really. At times the pain is mild, at other times miserable, and the one pretty consistent factor is that sitting like a normal person is pretty well out of the question. This is not only interfering with blogging (and with life in general), but it's also wreaking havoc with my chess lessons. I don't believe this is going to be a permanent state of affairs, but for now it's financially inconvenient.
So...if any of you have considered making a small donation to this blog, now would be an especially helpful time for me if you could do so. (If you do, then many thanks!) If not, please don't worry about it. Life and this blog ought to resume their normal ways in due course.