James:
> >1. some unusual joint pain in my hands?

Bob:
> sounds like the beginning of arthritis, which is one the things a high
> protein diet is noted for.

Yeah, that's what I thought.  Complicating factor is, I am recovering
from a badly broken wrist which was held in an extreme position by an
external fixator for two months.  I beleive this pressed the knuckles of
my left hand together unnaturally and may be responsible for the pain in
that hand.  And as for the pain in the thumb joint of my right hand, I
think I may have figured that out too.  I took a long motorcycle journey
last weekend and am using a new lowered handle bar which just happens to
put a lot of weight on that particular joint of my throttle hand.

I'm going to change the handlebar this weekend and see if that doesn't
help both hands.  In case anyone's curious, the motorcycle trip was to
attend a Deer Tribe Quoduoshka seminar (spiritual sexuality, native
American style)