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.

    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.

    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?  

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.   

Ups and downs of the week. 

  Formula One – Racing under the lights in Singapore. Very cool. 

   Gas shortages – This could get much worse.

  Red Sox – Well, they threw in the towel on the AL East title, but they’re still in the playoffs.

    Debate – Not much substance, but Obama showed he can run with the big dogs.

  Coffee – Nothing better in the morning.

   Cancer – It took Paul Newman today. We need to find a cure.

  O’zapft ist!- The annual rite of Oktoberfest starts in Germany this weekend. What I wouldn’t give to be there. Webcam here.

  Stock market – I hate having my retirement future subjected to the whims of the greedy slime that run amok in the NYSE.

  Red Sox – They’ll make it to the post-season, but will they get past the Angels or the Rays?

  Politics – I’m getting so sick of it.

  Fall weather – Cool at night, warm during the day. I love it.

Ups and downs of the week.

 Shula’s Steakhouse – Sent my sister and her husband there for an anniversary meal and they were treated like royalty. Glad good service is still in style. 

  Hurricane season – Looks like a bad one this year. 

 Red Sox – Playing better all the time. And now they have several veterans back in the lineup. Lowell was awesome tonight in his first game back, as was Beckett.

  Presidential race – When will they focus on the ISSUES???

  Mark Kotsay – Another valuable addition to the Red Sox. Welcome to Boston, Mark. 

  Kitties – Does it get any cuter than this?

White Sangria. Ice, lots of fruit (I used lemon, lime, orange, and strawberry), a couple shots of peach schnapps, and fill with Riesling wine. Vary the sweetness by adding more or less schnapps. Very refreshing.  🙂

Thanks to Escobar’s for the recipe.

Ups and downs of the week.

 Apple iMac – We bought 5 of them (24″) at the office. Sweet machines that run Apple OS X and Windows XP faster than a dedicated Windows box.

   Red Sox - They swept the Twins while the Yankmees were sweeping the Rays to gain back 3 games, but when they had a chance tonight to gain another game and pull to within a half game, they suddenly forgot how to hit. Or maybe they used up all their offense in Wednesday’s 23 hit rout.

  Noise at the office - This week they were jackhammering the back stairs, demolishing the old library area, and cutting/scraping up the concrete road surface out in front of the building. At times you couldn’t hear yourself think.

 Yet another 3-day weekend – Well, sort of. Monday is the Susan G. Komen foundation BMW Ultimate Test Drive at Isringhausen Imports in Springfield. I’m scheduled to drive a very nice Alpina B7 and a Z4. In the past, they’ve had enough free time slots available to allow you to drive anything you want, so I’m also looking forward to driving a new M3 and maybe a 135i. 

  Amazon’s “Free” Shipping – You don’t pay extra for it, so in the strictest sense of the word it’s free, but if time is money, their free shipping is plenty expensive. I ordered a pair of sunglass last Friday and they supposedly shipped on Tuesday from a town in MO that is only 110 miles from my house. I still haven’t received them. Amazon claims they’ll arrive on Monday. So almost a week to travel 110 miles. Next time I’ll pay the extra 2 or 3 bucks, but I suppose that’s exactly why they make the free shipping so painfully slow in the first place.

Update: I just found out that despite Amazon’s email notifying me that my glasses “shipped” on the 8th, they didn’t actually make it to the post office until today. I suspect they were packaged on the 8th and not picked up by USPS until today.

Ups and downs of the week.

 Celtics – Un-be-lievable come from behind win to go up 3-1.

   Red Sox - Still in first place, but again their bats went silent on the first game of this road trip. Wish they’d figure out why they can’t hit on the road.

 Toronto – Nice city. Pics to follow.

 Garmin Nuvi 660 – My newest toy. Working like a charm so far.

We had a nasty storm blow through here yesterday that took out some trees in our neighborhood. The view out our back windows has certainly changed, as has the view of the front of the house. A big tree on my neighbor’s property got hit by lightning and several trees around it were either blown over by wind, or fell when they were struck by the section of the big tree as it fell. I’m just glad they all missed the house.