October 2008


Ups and Downs of the week.

  TGIF – End of a long, tough week.

   School work- I’m sick to death of it. 90% of it seems like a waste of time. Think I’ll take a semester off.

  Formula One – The championship is going down to the last race again this year. 

Meh    Patriots – I’d love to see them beat Indy this weekend, but they could get downright embarrassed.

   Studs Terkel died today - Another great writer gone. 

  Philadelphia Phillies – Kudos to them. They beat all the odds and predictions. Well done, guys.

  The Boston Globe website – I notified them on Tuesday that one of the pop-up (or pop-under) advertisements on their site was attempting to infect my laptop with a trojan. It has happened to my wife as well. Luckily I have McAfee anti-virus and I keep it up to date. McAfee stopped the download and deleted the offending file. I notifed The Boston Globe webmaster and got a reply that they were aware of the issue and were working to correct it. Days later, they still have not removed the offending ad. This is pure incompetence, which has become a fact of life at their website. Earlier this summer they farmed out their online forums to some useless third-party company who completely destroyed what had been a long-standing and active sports forum. Most of the veterans left in disgust. Now visitors risk infection from advertisements. Time for The Boston Globe to find someone competent to run their website.

Ups and downs of the week. 

  Cool cover art – This is Sarah’s most recent cover story for Bookmarks. Great art for an excellent article.

  Bookmarks

  Be it ever so humble. – Good to be home again.

   Stomach bugs- Nausea and travel don’t mix well..

  Serendipity – US Airways needed a volunteer to stay in Boston one more day and I needed to sleep until this stomach bug went away. I ended up with a free stay at a Hilton, dinner, and two free round-trip tickets on US Air to anywhere in the US. US Air got the seat they needed for another passenger. I had almost canceled my flight earlier thinking I couldn’t fly being that ill, but it would have cost me a fortune. I’m glad I waited. Funny how things work out sometimes.

Meh    Patriots – They *might* have a halfway decent season after all, but I’m not getting my hopes up yet.

  Shapiro Center at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston – Awesome care. Super professional staff. Great facility. It’s THE place to go if you need heart surgery. 

  Philadelphia Phillies – They’re making a series of it and showing the Rays that an AL victory in the World Series is definitely not a given. They need to take heed of the ALCS, though, and finish this before it returns to Cowbell Palace.

Red Sox

How on earth can a major TV station screw up so badly that they miss the 1st inning of a Major League Baseball playoff game? Pathetic. TBS sux.

Ups and downs of the week. 

  Red Sox – Can’t believe they came back to win Game 5. Awesome.

   The Trop – Back to the major league’s crappiest stadium.

  Modern Medicine – Dad is doing better. He’s breathing on his own now but is still very weak. I’ll be out there later this week.

Meh    Patriots – Well I guess the question of whether they can win without Brady has been answered.

  Cool weather – Almost cool enough for a fire tonight. 

Ups and downs of the week. 

  Red Sox – Time to play ball! 

   The Trop – The major league’s crappiest stadium.

  Modern Medicine – Dad is going to be ok. Docs are optimistic. I’m the first one to complain about high medical bills, but my Dad’s doc and the hospital he’s in are worth every last dime.

Meh    Debates – They’re really just an opportunity for a candidate to feast on his/her own foot.

  Margaritas – Last ones of the summer (ok, it’s autumn, but it’s going to be 80F this weekend).

   McCain’s Homeowner Bailout Plan – Both guilty parties get a break, the rest of us foot the bill. What’s wrong with this picture?  

They’ve trimmed some of the fat <cough>Manny<cough> and ratcheted up their game and now they’ve sent the Angels packing AGAIN. One more chance to prove they’re the best starts this Friday. You gotta…

Believe

Things are a little different this week. It’s Saturday morning and I’m sitting here after a rough night just thankful that things are no worse and maybe a little better than they were 12 hours ago. My Dad had surgery yesterday to repair a heart valve. It was suppose to be a simple operation and all signs pointed to a successful outcome, but things didn’t quite go as planned. His heart valve was calcified and the surgeons couldn’t do as much as they had hoped. Plus they had trouble controlling the bleeding from his aorta. Last night they left his chest open to monitor the aorta for more bleeding and they told us he had a 50/50 chance. It made for a very rough night. This morning they told us the bleeding appears to have stopped. They are going to leave him sedated for another day just so he can recover further. It’s still touch and go, but it’s looking better than it did last night.

So there are ups and downs, but I’m thinking now the ups are winning. At least I’m hoping so.  Â