that's entertainment...

Received an email from the HAMster this afternoon; rare reader hereabouts he, but wanting desperately to feel my pain over the imperfection that was yesterday's Superbowl blowhole.

Here it is: Oh Well!

As I had been hitherto made pleased, but not deleriously so, by the Sox winning the Series last October, so am I not so wantonly devastated the Pats couldn't hold the line against a most ferocious Giants pass rush. I dunno, maybe 3 Superbowl titles and 2 World Series crowns in the last 6 years, not to mention 3 NBA flags in the 80s, which seem like yesterday to me (one of which I witnessed from the press box with locker room access), isn't enough for the next greedy fucker. But me? I think I've grown a little desensitized by the multiple orgasms.

So, like, Oh Well!

Look, kids, I'm pushing 50 and Lord knows I've had my share of ups & downs as a Boston sports fan. The game yesterday enabled me to invite a friend and his lady to my brother's house to see both the brothers and their kin; slap some hootin' & hollerin' 5s with 'em when Brady hooked up with Moss one last time in the endzone; wonder what in hell Belichick was doing channelling Marty Schottenheimer by going for a 4th & 13 instead of letting his kicker go for 3 on the 49 or by not throwing the challenge flag on an apparent fumble recovery that should've been ruled down-by-contact -- I mean WTF, Bill??; and fall out of our chairs when Manning got away from the Pats' rush and finally connected with Plaxico for the winner.

We drank a little, ate a lot, goofed on the commercials (by the by, the interrupting shirt stain was by far the funniest comm) and a halftime filled with Tom Petty. 'Course the Pats might be confused as the Heartbreakers by hungover New Englanders this day.

But as the man said: Oh Blasted Well!

Sports is entertainment. The game was highly entertaining. The boy got his money's worth. Had a good time. Lovin' the family! Life is short! Get along, li'l doagy!

18-1 is what it is, then. Still more wins in a season than hanybody ever before. My cup has been runneth over.

Congrats to the J'ints and their fans!

Pitchers & catchers later this month. But, uhm, maybe I'll be reading s'more books -- y'know?

P.S. to Hammie & Chaatoes: Sorry to take the wind outta yer sails, fellahs! No gnashing of teeth to be had here.

And HOW 'BOUT 'DEM REDSKINS!?

prediction...

Patriots 42 - Giants 17

the chi lites...

"Oh, Girl" w/Eugene Record as lead singer... 

Anybody too young to have lived through the 70s may find the garb amusing, or the fact that back then we'd say (and rather conversely) it's outta sight! -- but the song and the melody are still all that.

i'm f*cking matt damon...

Catchy li'l tune...

Very funny stuff..

(h/t to HuffPo)

hanging curveballs for the holidays...

Huckabee: Enough with 'God Questions'

But, Guv'nah, ain't this one of them "As ye sew, so shall ye reap" deals?

Ooo, sorry!

without you...

Say what you want, I dig Mariah Carey.

ann coulter endorses hillary...

Need I say more?

Obama for President!

aw, jeez, schilling again... ?

Curt Schilling has endorsed John McCain.

Schilling also endorsed and stumped for Dubya in '04.

The first time in '08 that Curt Schilling gets pulled early in a game after getting lit up, please let me be there behind the 1st base dugout at Fenway holding up the sign saying: "McCAIN SUCKS! AND NOW SO DO YOU!"

which reminds me of a joke...

E. Coli Bacteria: A Future Source of Energy?

And now the joke:

The bad news is: The Martians have landed.

The good news is: They eat politicians and pee gasoline.

lest we forget what the last 7 years have meant...

dear god... !

Reason #37 thousand plus five why George Bush (and, in this case, other de-regulatory australopithecenes) should be waterboarded and then force-fed the Atkins Diet.

Warning: This video does disturb!

hillary the union buster enabler...

Reason #37 why Wal-Mart -- and Hillary -- SUCK!

the hearts & minds -- remember... ?

Obama Would Hold Muslim Summit

Muslim and Western leaders would be invited to the summit for "a discussion about how we can prevent the widening misunderstandings and gaps between the Muslim world and the West," Obama said in the interview to Paris Match.

"I will ask them to join us in battling terrorism but we should also be willing to listen in terms of some of their concerns," he said in the interview to be released Thursday.

Wow! Listening. What a novel idea. A damned good one, too, that'd require treating a quarter of the world's population with respect rather than dismiss them as lackeys or "evil-doers." Of course that never occurred to the Bushies, who could only talk about victory and not know anything of the actual concept -- victory as being defined by winning the hearts and minds of the Arab street. Absent that, we have what a McCain presidency would portend -- "More wars!"

And while a Republican-lite, corporate Clinton co-presidency, would be infinitely superior to anything the Neo-con can offer, it is still believed here that as only Nixon could go to China, so too can only Obama heal this wound.

is your democrat a lemon... ?

powerful piece... must view...

the mythic little town of Brattleboro...

Ah, the lyrical, intimate little villa along the Connecticut River ensconced in the lower right corner of the Green Mountain State, abutted by New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Cozy!

Poets will now sing the praises of its people.

I too will bang the drum slowly.

Of course there will be peanuts thrown from the under imaginative gallery:

"Has everyone up there been out in the cold too long?" said one.

"I would like to know how I could get some water from your town," said another. "It's obvious that there is something special in it."

So it's official: Brattleboro will vote March 4th on whether to arrest George Bush and Dick Cheney should they dare show their faces in the land of Cherry Garcia:

"Shall the Selectboard instruct the Town Attorney to draft indictments against President Bush and Vice President Cheney for crimes against our Constitution, and publish said indictments for consideration by other authorities and shall it be the law of the Town of Brattleboro that the Brattleboro Police, pursuant to the above-mentioned indictments, arrest and detain George Bush and Richard Cheney in Brattleboro if they are not duly impeached, and prosecute or extradite them to other authorities that may reasonably contend to prosecute them?"

All in favor say "Aiyeeee!"

thank you, gahd... !

Santana to the Mets means a stronger Sox line-up with Jacoby Ellsbury at the top, followed either by Dustin Pedroia or Kevin Youkilis, likely the former, while Youk follows Manny or Mike Lowell -- like, ooooo!

Keeping Lester is a good thing. Heavy duty baseball people have been saying he's quite possibly the #2 starter in waiting for the Sox. Julian Tavares even went so far as to call him the next Sandy Koufax. But then Tavares is the guy who roles his throws to 1st base. Weirdling!

So, le'me see. '08 Line-up:

1) Jacoby Ellsbury - CF
2) Dustin Pedroia - 2B
3) David Ortiz - DH
4) Manny Ramirez - LF
5) Mike Lowell - 3B
6) J.D. Drew - RF
7) Kevin Youkilis - 1B
8) Jason Varitek - C
9) Julio Lugo - SS

Rotation:
1) Josh Beckett
2) Curt Schilling
3) Daisuke Matsusaka
4) Clay Buchholz
5) Jon Lester
6) Tim Wakefield

I can live with that.

what say we make him attend AA meetings during business hours...

Bush Says Reliance on Faith Helped Him Beat 'Addiction' to Alcohol

Like, yawwwwwwn! I realize applause is the usual and socially appropriate response to when any sorry bastard beats an addiction; but when it's substituted with another addiction, say, the "Opiate Of The People," it's scarcely better on a personal level, let alone when it's become an obsessive compulsive disorder that gets several hundred thousand people killed.

Would that this prick had stayed crawled up in his bottle and left the rest of us to our luxury of growing weary of the last 8 years of Al Gore.

P.S., And why is this news?? We knew back when he was still governor that this fool was, and still is, a dry drunk, which is a whole different animal than a reformed alcoholic.

3 outta 5 ain't bad...

The students are back. Most of 'em anyways. Thought I'd crash a campus center or two, bring along my laptop and see where I could find a hotspot, and maybe get online.

After signing up with a temp agency in Noho, I walked up the hill along Route 9 to Smith College. (By the way, I didn't open up my laptop the other day at Smith as implied in a few posts down -- was just setting up an amusing scenario -- hokay, J? It coulda been funny, but Nooooo!)

So I'm at Smith a little after 1. A gray day, cold, wintery, sorta like how the Buckinghams sang it: Kind Of A Drag. And when the food caf wouldn't take my debit card, I was just a little more bummed. And when I couldn't get online, I said I'm outta there.

Stopped off at the house and ate my salad, which I paid good cash for after all that. Finished and then got back into the car to head over to UMass. Parked it in the garage. And it was still gray and drab, and most of my favorite haunts, i.e., the Coffee Shop, the Hatch, the Study Lounge opposite the Blue Wall were either dismantled, non-existent, or closed. Ok, the Blue Wall was open, but it was overlit and the tables were slow getting themselves cleaned.

Goddamn! This place has changed. So I left.

Drove to South Hadley. Mt. Holyoke College and to Blanchards, its Campus Center. Now this place is cozy. Got online too. Married a girl from here once. Might do it again. I mean they're cuter than the Smithies.

Oop! Back to work!

que the pastoral symphony...

The Bushian forces of evil are beaten back... for the moment:

The vote on the GOP cloture motion -- to ignore all the amendments and proceed to a final vote on the Bush-Rockefeller SIC bill -- has just occurred. The motion has failed, which means (shockingly) that Democrats have successfully mounted a filibuster preventing the vote on this horrible bill from occurring.

Translated to mean the Democrats seem to have evolved into vertebrates, although they're still an endangered species, and their capacity for DEvolving remains viable.

Tidy summary of what just happened to my faithful readers (all 3 of you): Today's anti-cloture vote means the FISA law, as unconstitutional as it is, has not yet been amended permanently with something even more odious called "The Patriot Act," embodied by the corporate/executive (read: fascist) wiretapping of your phones and monitoring of your emails -- of anybody at anytime -- and without warrant. Make no mistake: they're doing that now, but they're still liable for prosecution.

However, the worst of this excretia is Dubya's demand for immunity from civil action for the telecoms, i.e., AT&T and Verizon, for their wholesale participation in violating the American public's right to privacy. The telecoms must be held liable (to bankruptcy is the hope here) in order to hold Bush & Cheney liable (to maximum security incarceration is the dream here). If they get immunity, then the cover-up will succeed.

Of course, nothing is settled by today's events, and this act of what amounts to be heroism could easily be reversed with the help of 3 or 4 snivelling Senate Democrats not comfortable with doing the right thing. Stay tuned.

giving "states rights" a good name...

The good citizens of Brattleboro seem to be verging closer to voting on a warrant to arrest the President and Vice President.

[An activist] said he gathered nearly 500 signatures in about three weeks, and he said most people he encountered were eager to sign it. He started the petition drive about three months ago.

"Everybody I talked to wanted Bush to go," he said, noting that even members of the local police department supported the drive.

The scenario being if Dubya or Dick set foot in Vermont, they are to be arrested for the charges handed down, e.g., for espionage, obstruction of justice, war crimes, etc. And lest anybody say, "Yeah, well, they've never been to Vermont anyway... "

Activists in Louisville, Ky., are spearheading a similar drive, and he said activists were also working in Montague, Mass., a Berkshires town.

It'd be right tasty watching state cops draw down on the black limo with tinted windows. Of course the thing is bullet-proof, which means they'd have to do a Waco-like stake-out, starve the bastard out if necessary.

Slap the cuffs on 'im.

Make 'im do the perp walk.

Put it on YouTube.

jack kennedy to bill clinton: "gi'me back my handshake... !"

News Items:
Caroline Kennedy endorses Barack Obama.
Ted Kennedy to endorse Obama on Monday.

What you get for taking campaign advice from Karl Rove, Billary.

and they called him "jack the dripper"...

Doing a little copyright editing at the home-slash-office, the subject being Jackson Pollock. Came across this little tidbit: The image you see at right is of Pollock's painting, entitled "No. 5, 1948." It sold in November 2006 for more money than has any painting prior to which in history: $140M. Uhm, that'd be a hundred and forty million dollars, people.

I realize this cannot constitute "news" a year & a quarter later, but I only just found out about it.

Trivia question: Which side is up?

Bet you thought the question would be, "What is Art?"

"ipso this, you pissy little fcc"...

FCC Proposes $1.4 Million Fine for Woman's 'Nude Buttocks' on NYPD Blue

Wait! Didn't NYPD Blue bear Sipowicz' (Dennis Franz) bare butt in the shower (arguably unprecedentedly obscene), like, back in '93? And why is the FCC going after the affiliates? Maybe because ABC, i.e., Disney, is too big and powerful (and decidedly rightwing politically) to take on for Kevin J. Martin, the Christianist, i.e., sanctimonious and hypocritical, loyal Bushie bastard chairman?

Nahhh! Couldn't be that.

the unevolved bostonian...

But then again, the doofus was wearing Giants regalia in Copley Square fer gahd sakes!

just do it...

Please, Minnesota, trade with the Mets!

I don't want Johan Santana to go to the Yankees, and I don't want the Sox to deliver unto the Twins either Jon Lester or Jacoby Ellsbury, much less than with 3 other major league prospects. Lord knows I can't afford to go to Fenway anymore anyway, but for the Sox having to then sign Santana, after giving away a quarter of their farm, to somewhere in the neighborhood of $20-25 million per for six, is just nuts!

So let 'im go to the Mets, and if they're lucky enough to make it past Philly or Atanta and whomever else in the National League -- which, by the way, should now change places with the American and be considered the junior circuit -- then I'll worry.

Sound like a plan?

P.S., Lest you think me overly sentimental, did you not see the difference Ellsbury made when he replaced Cuckoo for Coco Crisp in Game 6 of the ALCS? And correct me if I'm wrong, was Lester not lights-out in Game 4 of the Series last fall? I mean, c'monnnn...

2do...

Here I am, the artist formerly known as Hospital Boy, organizing my unmentionables while I catalogue my baseball card collection and drink wine (Note to the brothers: 1-2 glasses and not the whole bottle; & not to worry, I'll be there for the Superbowl!).

I've already acknowledged my current habitat as being Hadley, the strip of Route 9 and surrounding farm land that lay betwixt Noho & UMass. Oh, how I so enjoyed life here back in the 80s when I was struggling academically but living a very social existence. Am also compiling my "2do" list of, well, "shit-2-do." I mean, clearly the health insurance company, mandated into existence by Mitt Romulan, i.e., when he was, like, gubernatorial hereabouts, has no interest in expediting my disability claim, so one of my items on the "2do" (or is it by now "23 skiddoo!"?) list is "get a freakin' job!"

I was two weeks short of the magic 15-hundred hours for the temp agency employing me at a defense contractor in Cambridge when I was admitted to the ICU in Keene. Of course, I lost my job and the bonus week's pay the 1500 represented.

So tomorrow is Friday, and getting a freakin' job is fairly generic. First order of bidnezz is to go to Cooley Dick (the hospital) to get my Coumadin level checked. Then I'll head over to the local radio station to see if they need a reporter (the same station I worked for back in the late 80s), call the temp agency's Springfield office, then make appointments with other temp agencies, crank out some copywriting for my buddy, who's letting me house-sit for him as well, work a few personal services for an hourly, e.g., water the plants, chop some wood.

I could go into Boston to schlep some luggage for the courier service that's always interested in throwing work my way. Am gonna need to go over my bills and finances at some point too; call the health insurance company to update my address change and ask 'em, vis a vis my disability claim: WTF??

Ah, yes, the baseball card collection; I just bought the 2007 Beckett Official Price Guide and found out my '71 Hank Aaron is worth $60 alone. Am very curious as to what my '68 Nolan Ryan rookie card is worth today as well. Back in '88 it was worth $1,500. Ok, those are "mint" prices, but whatever scratch I can generate upon sale will be welcome.

My comic books are up to $7K now. Gotta sell one collection or the other, if not both, but not before I get a gist on the cards, eh?

Better get some sleep.

----------
Update: Ok, the '68 Nolan Ryan/Jerry Koosman rookie card, Card No. 177, is priced at $500 in the Beckett Guide -- not $1,500 and not more than. And as I recall now, that price tag I saw was in a card dealer's shop under a showcase glass. Let it be a lesson, those dudes are in to make a profit.

another one bites the dust...

Heath Ledger: 1979 - 2008

[F]ound dead at 3:26 pm this afternoon," a police spokesperson said, saying he was found in his residence in the posh district of Soho. "We don't know the cause of the death."

appeasing their wrath...

Here's what you don't wanna do: Open up your laptop, go online and to your homepage, i.e., your blog, and, in this case, exhibit Laura Bush's unrefined fuzzy, or an unreasonable facsimile thereof, and do it in the food area at the campus center of Smith College. I mean yer bound to get the hairiest of eyeballs (pun quasily intended), if not an armed guard bearing down on yer table.

And so I write, about what I do not know. But that's what they tell you ya' gotta do if you have a hankerin' to write; like, say, a novel. So write, young man! Write, ye bahstad! And send down to the Knights Who Say "Nee!" their shrubbery!

1 mo 2 go fo 19 & 0h...

Good times...  !  Good times... !

why the democratic (in name only) leadership council should be bathed in honey and buried up to its ears in a fire ant colony...

P.S., we, who like to bark, don't torture... !

Digby pretty well summarizes the progressive antipathy toward the DLC:

The idea was to go to the middle, work with moderate Republicans to "get things done" in new and modern ways --- the third way, actually. The thanks that pragmatic Democrat got was that the Republicans (with the help of the press) mercilessly harassed him, impeached him and then stole the election from his successor. From where I sit today it didn't work out too well for Democrats in the long run. (And I'm not sure either Bill or Hill have actually absorbed that ugly truth either --- or took the right lessons from it.)

All in all, it'd be best if the Clintons hit the road, i.e., in the traditional sense of my wanting them to make like sheppards and get the flock outta here. Meanwhile, Barack Obama's keeps playing to the middle, which -- and correct me if I'm wrong -- is precisely why ol' Hill is no longer "inevitable."

Russ Feingold also makes an interesting comment about John Edwards running on his, Feingold's, voting record, and not his own, Edwards'. And I liked Feingold's timber more than I could take Edwards' femininity, but Feingold didn't bust the right move, so OH WELL!!

Al Gore! We hardly knew ye!

Ugh, Politicians (he spat in no particular direction)!

another one bites the dust...

Bobby Fischer: 1943-2008

Maybe greatest chess player ever. Total loon.

oh the mormans hate the baptists and the baptists hate the mormans...

What denomination is McCain again?  And do I really care?

did i mention the dlc is really republicans infiltrating the democratic party... ?

Think Harry Reid won't pull the trigger for Hillary on Saturday... ?

Did they recount New Hampshire yet? No?

so, uhm, nancy, what exactly did you give up in order to become speaker... ? i mean, besides the impeachment... ?

White House to Congress: Yeah, we obstructed justice! What'reyew gonnadewabou'd it?

these bastards could very well get me to hate the ne pats...

wretched fox bastards... !!

On Feb. 3, a k a Super Bowl Sunday, in an original News Corp. smorgasbord, reporters from FOX News will be teaming up with reporters from FOX owned and operated stations from around the country for a three hour broadcast event, focusing on—USA! USA!—presidential politics and professional football.

Want to know the very definition of flag desecration?

It's when a Republican wraps himself in one.

thursday...

evening... the day is nigh upon survived...

knocking the block that is my head...

how 'bout we make the media do its job... ?!

Whaddya say we make Nevada, my earliest memory of a home, i.e., from years 2-9 , a.k.a. 1960-69 (Wanna hear the state song?), the beachhead where the corporate media is beaten to a pulp and then made to cover the very viable presidential campaigns of John Edwards:

Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards are in a statistical dead heat in polling here before Saturday's caucuses.

& Ron Paul for the year 2008?

No major GOP candidate has set foot in the state for two months, and some Republicans are bracing for a possible surprise first-place showing by long-shot Texas Rep. Ron Paul, the only Republican to broadcast TV ads in Nevada.

If each or both win Nevada on Saturday, the media will be forced to cover issues heretoforth untold, e.g., Getting The Fuck Out of Iraq!! and Universal Fucking Health Coverage!!

Wow! Who'da thunk it??

"Home means Nevada. Home means the hills. Home means the sage & the pine... "

just do it...

Join Congressman Wexler's Call For Cheney Impeachment Hearings

another day in year 49...

I fancy myself as a writer, and yet I cannot seem to endeavor the small steps in order to facilitate that end; the first of which, in my mind anyway, is to be prolific. I've pounded this blog for two-and-a-half years, for example, but only in fits and starts; no real fluidity. Somehow, as a consequence, I feel I've shortchanged myself in quality and not so much for quantity. I mean, what the hell kind of chickenshit deal is that?

I'm operating under the impression -- which could be an illusion; obviously it remains to be seen how it all plays out -- that I'm now getting my life back in order. As I edit that sentence, it occurs to me I may never have had my life "in order," precluding the semblance of "getting it back," but nevermind that.

I reside (not yet really living) in Western Mass, this after spending three weeks at my mother's in Maine, after a week at my brother's in New Hampshire, after 10 days in the hospital recovering from congestive heart failure and pneumonia. A million years ago I was living in Southie and working in Cambridge, and the calander says the time that passed between then & now was little over a month. Much like life, I would submit: the passing by thereof and oh so quickly.

At the moment, I'm working for a friend, who could just as easily thrive without my meager contributions but is nonethless granting me this boon, because, well, he's my friend! We've known each other for 27 years, dating back to freshman year when Jimmy Carter was still president. All of which, of course, reestablishes life in my checking account; not enough to suit the credit card companies (But who can give a flying fuck about them, eh?), let alone the tax man, who, once again, cometh. Sheesh! (Ok, they can have a flying fuck.)

The heavy snow slows the thought processes, nobody wants to wade in that stuff. Although I did put in the requisite calls today to the local temp agencies & radio stations. And then I watered the houseplants.

I just may've given up on the big city lifestyle -- that's for the top-of-the-pyramid players anyhow. A one-room cell over a bar in Southie had its possibilities for creative writing, except, that is, for the dim decor and the grand mal depression it retrospectively put me through, and which may have facilitated the onset of my pneumonia, which in turn may've facilitated the A-fib. I even considered suicide. Seriously.

But in the last month and a half, my family and friends have shown me my value to them, even as I couldn't see it for myself. To see and hear them, expressions of generosity and concern. I always knew it was there, but never had I felt it so.

Thus I am inspired to try again. Get back up. On my feet.

I feel better than I have in months, maybe years. My blood pressure doesn't whisper to me anymore. But my knees still won't let me play softball again, a sadness that. But i'll be getting back to the gym soon, and it may open my mind to other avenues of wellness. Yoga. Meditation. Ferreal?

Work, play, love, laughter, perspective; a little wine and some beer. A fire in the fireplace, a toke of the herb. Writing some more, walking some more, meditating, giving myself a chance to make something a little bit more of myself.

If this plays a little ego-centric for you, I recommend you turn the page. As for me, this is therapy.

No TV. Reading.

... and writing.

an insular monday...

Dateline Hadley.

More snow. More than I've seen in decades, cumulatively speaking. Be it in New Hampshire or Maine or, now, western Massachusetts, this has been one white winter. The walk is shoveled, and will be again as needed. The passing plow makes that necessary every so often, and one endures the truth of it. It is the nature of New England and New Englanders.

And, no, we don't think the Pats are "invincible!" Not with an ancient and aging linebacking corp that has prepared us for the possibility they'll give up a score at anytime and everytime. Pretty much boils down to whether theirs can stop our guy behind center. So far they haven't.

My work is part time for now and I've been kicking the can a little as I unpack and wash clothes that haven't seen the light of day in weeks.

Given my friends and family, I realize I'm a lucky man.  I just don't know what to do with it.

just as long as he leaves office...

White House Predicts

'Remarkable Shift': Bush Will Leave Office With 45 Percent Approval

And beer flies out my nose.

sauce for the dukakis is sauce for the huckabee...

another one bites the dust...

Sir Edmund Hillary: 1919-2007

2 pts to anybody who can name the Sherpa* who got to the top of Mt. Everest before Heap White Man.

----------
*Tenzing...

new hampshire to recount... ?

Check the comment section of the previous post. I was only half-kidding when I suggested the electronic voting system in New Hampshire favored the Establishment body-snatchers. Turns out Dennis Kucinich, who only looks like a pod-person, has a similar concern:

“Ever since the 2000 election – and even before – the American people have been losing faith in the belief that their votes were actually counted. This recount isn’t about who won 39% o[r] 36% or even 1%. It’s about establishing whether 100% of the voters had 100% of their votes counted exactly the way they cast them.”

Bully! Let's take care of this once & for all, and well before the general election next November. Because we all fucking know corporate America -- in this case, Diebold -- defaults to the Establishment critters in any race, and tilts heavily toward the Reptiles over the Amphibians. (Guess which party is which!)

(h/t to RawStory)...

wtf, new hampshire... ??

Well, so much for Change!

While New Hampshireites were voting for the most establishment characters they could find on the ballots, I was driving from Brunswick, Maine, to Keene, New Hampshire, down to Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Boston, to Charlestown, back out to Westford, then to Lawrence, up to Derry, New Hampshire, over to Merrimack, up past Lake Winnipesaukee, to Center Ossipee, and then finally back to Brunswick by way of Westbrook, Maine. It was dark when I set out, and it was dark when I got back some 21 hours later.

And whether I'm tooling along the rock-bound coast or in the granite hills, my preference for easy listening while on the long hauls is Boston radio. During the day it was AM sports talk, most of which about Roger Clemens' quite absurd if not disturbing taped phone conversation with his erstwhile best friend and former drug dispender (B-12 or HGH? You make the call!), whose kid is dying, which the Rocket felt a need to share with the world in hopes of disabusing the skeptics of their conviction of his being a cheat and a 3rd-rate scalawag t'boot.

Later in the evening, I had on NPR's campaign coverage, which, at one point, was carrying the most sacharin victory speech I've ever heard, and this from John McCain (leaving no doubt here that the Manchurians still have a tight grip on his hypothalamus), insisting all he ever does is tell the truth, and did so with an apparently drug-induced sing-songy spittle. I mean, dear gahd, if we're left to choose between him and the synthetically tear-jerking Hillary (And well done, m'dear!), then nothing will have changed.

Thank YOU, New Hampshire!

----------
Update: And apparently we haven't enough Establishment body-snatchers afoot.

and they want to, what, "parade" that... ?

Numb-nut publication Parade Magazine has this for it's cover yesterday, dated 1/6/08 -- ten days after Benazir Bhutto was assassinated and with no reference to that fact, leaving the underinitiated to wonder if she'd come back to life, which could then put real teeth behind the statement of terrorists fearing her most. I mean, that'd make sense.

But this, coming after last week's cover of a smiling war criminal (and resident First Twit) named Dubya with yet another insufferable utterance, words to the effect of "Hey! I had a purdy good year. How 'bout ya'll?!"

Christ Almighty! Is there any more loathsome and irrelevant bird-cage liner than Parade Fucking Magazine?

Reader's Digest maybe?

Trailer Trash Quarterly?

la marseillaise...

Being 1/4 Canadian Frog, this clip always brings a tear to the eye.

quote of the week...

Give [Mitt] Romney his due: It is quite an achievement to be too phony for even the GOP.

Via TPM

freak me out... !!

Pic courtesy of Driftglass via C&L.

the dean scream...

Iowa Caucus night, and, for old time's sake, we bring you once again The Dean Scream from Iowa Caucus night '04. The bastard M$M had great fun with this then, and that quite probably undermined the now DNC chairman's presidential candidacy, but, in retrospect, it's gotta be considered "a classic."

Cracks me up everytime.

it rains, it pours...

Today may be the coldest day I've experienced since childhood, appropo given I'm back in southcentral Maine, land of said misspent youth, and not Virginia. Weather.com says it's 7 degrees on the other side of the frosted glass, and that it "feels like" minus-11. I'll freakin' goddamn say! It's a breeze to freeze fersherr!

My mother's headed to surgery as I post this. Sister dearest is with her going in. I'm headed over to greet her coming out. Too many trips to the hospital can surely level the mental playing field for any ex-jocularity, and yet it's reassuring to know the smaller regions of New England are well represented by the medical establishment in terms of perceptable competence as well as aesthetics. Now if we can get the insurance and pharma industries brought to heel, America might be a decent place to live again.

As to the latter point, I'd certainly like to see John Edwards take Iowa tonight. A good progressive champion is exactly what this country needs right now. Obama talks like a Republican, and Hillary is a Republican. As such, they are no genuine help to those in need of it. So to the curb with 'em, I say!

Meanwhile, the bet here is on the Huckster winning for the Repos, where beauty can now be defined by Rudy's corrupt freefall or by Mitt's expensive clothing growing less visible by the moment. (Uhm, strike that last part as "beauty" beheld. Please!)

Conversely, and it could be my imagination, everyman Americans seem to be showing less of their collective ass these days, i.e., not getting suckered by the reflexive fearmongering of the radically wrong right. A good thing, si?

One continues to hope we can save ourselves.

if you can't amaze 'em with articulation...

... baffle 'em with their own bull cookies:

The appearance of the Flying Spaghetti Monster on the agenda of the American Academy of Religion's annual meeting gives a kind of scholarly imprimatur to a phenomenon that first emerged in 2005, during the debate in Kansas over whether intelligent design should be taught in public school sciences classes. . .

"We have evidence that a Flying Spaghetti Monster created the universe. None of us, of course, were around to see it, but we have written accounts of it," Henderson wrote. As for scientific evidence to the contrary, "what our scientist does not realize is that every time he makes a measurement, the Flying Spaghetti Monster is there changing the results with His Noodly Appendage."

This is choice, using their own rhetoric to illustrate oh so well their inanity.

And weren't my own appendage so noodly.

day two, anno domini...

There was a period o'er the last coupla days when I thought it wouldn't stop snowing. Heavy fall with many inches. The sky seemed blanketed as the ground, an almost mystical, insular universe of gray and white. Small coastal towns in the corner of the universe lend their own ambiance to the sense. Time could very well have stood still.

Today the sky is cloudless. The sun is setting as it does so early this time of year, and the contrasting light and shadows are akin to what might have inspired Edward Hopper to his particular greatness. I am filled with fear and wonder and know not what to do with the conflicting emotions as they can oft times paralyze.

And so I sit quietly in the Little Dog Coffee Shop, appreciating the decaf "Little Dog Blend" and the cost-free wifi. Some places are better to be than others.

happy new year... !

'07 had a very rough landing at this end. May '08, then -- yours, mine, ours -- be smooth as Wild Turkey.

Salute!

add the congressional dem leadership to the indictment and i'll go make the citizen's arrest...

By the way, Brattleboro is the coolest little town too:

A group in Brattleboro is petitioning to put an item on a town meeting agenda in March that would make Bush and Vice President Cheney subject to arrest and indictment if they visit the southeastern Vermont community.

You go, Green Mt. Boyz! ... and Grrlz!

seasonal falicitations...

Merry Christmas!  Happy Hanukkah!  Falice Navidad!  Happy Holidays!  Merry Kwanzaa!  All of the above and below.

Am tooling up to Maine and don't know when I'm back online.

Friends & Family:  I'm getting stronger by the day, now on my 2nd cup of decaf.  I bought a pair of boots yesterday to keep my feet dry in the myriad Nor'easters already fallen, and this is only the first day of winter?

Good!  I too shall enjoy the Solstace.

clarence the cross-eyed justice...

It's unanimous then:

Clarence Thomas: "I wouldn't say I Like" Being Supreme Court Judge.

Do us all a favor, Clarence: Go bungee-jumping. Leave the cord. Take the canoli.

for the record: today's asshole health insurance carrier is CIGNA... !!

Two words: "Wrongful Death"!

A 17-year old died just hours after her health insurance company reversed its decision not to pay for a liver transplant that doctors said the girl needed.

And here I am fresh off a 10-day fun-filled adventure in the ICU.

somehow it's always the other shoe that makes the story more interesting...

Alycia Lane is really a piece of *cough* work. Sending bikini shots by email to Rich Eisen, where his wife can (and did) intercept them. (And I woulda paid-per-view on that conversation.) Then she gets busted for busting a "dyke" cop across the chops (all alledgedly, of course). Then she puts in a call to PA governor Ed Rendell to, what, get a little sympathy? Fun stuff, all of this -- especially since she's a hottie.

But, well, there's the other side of the story, and it fits fairly nicely with my general narrative of America slouching toward a police state worthy of the Soviet Union:

Exactly. In fact, Lane's case -- tabloid lurid though it may be -- is a prime example. Without her pictures, we only have the damning and one-sided account of the police officers on what actually precipitated the alleged assault. American citizens have a right to film public police activity -- whether it's a potty-mouthed nightclubbing TV news sex symbol or the man who filmed the arrest and beating of Rodney King.

What we haven't seen yet is a cop getting videotaped tasering the camera op for taping the cop tasering the camera op.

Meanwhile, here's betting this story doesn't go away soon. It's got it all, Sex & Violence!  ...  and Sex.

Still hate Philly, Naahm, old buddy?

dropkick murphys: i'm shipping up to boston...

Just reminding myself I ain't done w/the city. I'm just recuperatin'.

a chronically offended dinner guest is no more welcome at the table than a chronically offensive one...

'Tis the season to punch somebody's holiday lights out...

Bill O’Reilly and Focus on the Family have been waging an aggressive campaign to pressure people to use “Merry Christmas.” In the past, O’Reilly has argued that saying “Happy Holidays” to people “absolutely does” offend Christians.

Really? It offends the Christianists when you say to them "Happy Holidays!"?

Well fuck 'em if they can't take a glad tiding.

sliding slowly seaward...

The scale says I'm at 248 today. That'd be down 6 lbs from yesterday, a shitload of water that. Lasix would be the miracle drug, i.e., diuretic helping me shed said water.

Meanwhile, back at the Lawyer's office, Brotherman the Elder finely tuned the bet via email today:

First, you have to stay at or below that weight throughout the duration of those three lessons for me to pay for all three of them. For example, if you schedule the lessons over three consecutive weeks, but you make your weight for only the first lesson, then fall off the wagon after that (and into a large pot of chili, say), I only pay for the one lesson. Second condition, your weigh-in has to be on a scale we both agree is accurate -- your gym locker room or mine, either one works for me.

All of which presupposes I'll be right at/around 225 and not 5-10 lbs less on May 1, a bit of exactitude I find fairly amusing.

And even as I would like those golf lessons, my true motivation is to save my life... and score chicks... uhm, in that order.

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Update: Wait, chili is fattening?

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Update II: And, yes, scoring chicks would be a whole lot easier if I could find the sunny side of 200 and not hang around at 225... 

And hold down a job:  Yeaaaaah!  That's it! 

more CEOs agree...

They're overpaid!

Two words: "Salary Cap." Regulate the bastards. Max a percentage they can receive relative to the lowest paid employee.

Works for the Japanese, works for me.

nixon had sex... ?

Flynt Claims Nixon "Couldn't Get It Up" with Hooker During Bombing of Hanoi

I did not! have to visualize this (but you may)!!

in that case, nobody'd care who shot J.R...

Ok! If I'm not the only person in the world who doesn't find Ben Stiller funny or even interesting, then why is he in so many goddamn movies? J.R. Ewing? Excuse me?

I'd rather see a zillion year-old, baggy assed Larry Hagman come back to reprise the role. Why not the A-list Rat-Pack, i.e., Clooney, Pitt & Damon, and not the B-listers, Stiller, Vince Vaughn and the Wilson brothers (a virtual guarantee the production will slide into camp)? In fact let's lose the B list altogether and move on, shall we?

focus...

Just off a conversation with Big Brother, i.e., R. He has offered to buy me 3 golf lessons should I get my weight down to 225 by May 1. Having just hit the scale, that'd require I drop 29 lbs. in 5 mos. and a week. Easy, no?

Dunno. I haven't seen the sunny side of 245 in a few years. I have one more day here in NH and then drive to ME, all part of my recuperation from Cardiomyopathy and Pneumonia. My BP, at last check, was 100/70, artificially low, given the meds I've been, er, given upon leaving the ICU at Cheshire Medical in Keene a week ago Monday.

R. & D. have put me up since then and are my favorite people at the moment. Leaning on Mom in ME starting Friday; shoulda been tomorrow but yet another Nor'easter is promisin' to party, so we're playin' it, like, conservative.

I get by with a little help from my fffffamily.

hillary once again disses the base...

As a former talk show host & producer, I totally grock Ed Schultz's frustration when he spouts:

I am done with the Clintons. I’m done with the cheap shots. I’m done with the innuendoes. ... Hillary, I do not want you to be the nominee. Biden, I do not want you to be the nominee.

From a distance, then, I see Hillary for what she is: a queen-wannabe with a flinty heart, particularly when as applied to the great unwashed of her party, where she expects she'll be held to account for the across-the-aisle collaborating (i.e., with those who won't collaborate back). What's interesting is she's fearless when facing the dark side of the media, but when it comes to real Dems wanting answers, none are soon to be forthcoming. Why is that? Because she'd be exposed as a Republican in Dem clothing that much more easily?

Bah! And to her I say, "Feh!"

Save yourself the aggravation, Iowa. Vote for John Edwards.

a former anti-dixie chicks protester repents...

Touching story about a mother who regrets her reactionary ways vis a vis the Dixie Chicks.  (h/t to DK).

oedipus call yer office...

Bill says George the XLIst will seek to repair the damage caused by George the XLIIIrd, and do so on behalf of Hillary.  

Would love to hear that next conversation between father & son.

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Update:   41 says WTF??  Count Bill as another idiot killing his wife's campaign.

a bout of "huckenfreude"...

Enjoying the hand-wringing by the Corporatistas on the right, fearing an actual loss of party control if Huckabee gets the nomination, but can you imagine, should Huckabee actually get elected, the severe damage those Christianist yayhoos could cause if they go marching as to war unfettered?

who framed roger rocket (A: nobody)...

Callahan sums it up for me:

Are we supposed to believe [Brian] McNamee is lying about [Roger] Clemens but not about Andy Pettitte?

I was listening on Boston talk radio saturday. Apparently friends of Roger Clemens are buzzing New England's capital with whispers that Roger wants one more (1/2) year to close out his career, and he wants to play for the Hose.

1) The Sox don't need him.

2) Baseball doesn't need him.

another one bites the dust...

Dan Fogelberg... 1951 - 2007

I see a Bad Moon a' Risin'...

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Update:  Acknowledging my profound ignorance on this one:  Confusing Dan Fogelberg with John Fogerty.  Like, arf!

the cartoon mike huckabee wants u 2 c...

now if there are any "christianity" cartoons out there that mitt romney would like u 2 c...

no man is rich as he who has friends...

I am overwhelmed with good wishes in response to my email. Thought I'd share.

But first, An excerpt R. sent out updating friends on my situation:

D. and G. and I just watched the Pats beat the Steelers on the TV in G.'s hospital room in Keene. Fun game, although the nurse came in once when we yelled over one of the plays. She threatened to turn off the TV, as she felt the game was getting G.'s pulse up too high. G. pointed out to her that his pulse would likely get much higher if she turned off the game. She agreed to leave it on, but said "no more yelling" as this was an intensive care unit, not a football stadium. I asked if she could bring us a couple more beers, but she said the old lady with the heart transplant in the next room had just finished the last of it.

And, now, back to the good wishes...

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Annie in Topsham:

WOW G.! Your spirits are great! - exactly what you need to tackle whatever comes your way.

Hopefully we'll be able to get over to your Mom's for Christmas and see that you are doing just fine ('cause we were a bit worried ...).

Annie

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Naahm in Philly:

Jesus H. Christ, G. And to think my browser tried to screen you out. I think I am fibrilating just reading this.

Bout of pneumo seemed to have gone around my house as well, but no suffering the likes of what you have endured.

Pointless to ask if you are okay, and I need not admonish you to take better care. Lord knows, I gotta do the same and you are the latest cautionary tale.

Sorry about the job; sucks that they would hold a bout of pneumonia and congestive heart failure against you. Heartless cretins.

Well, relax, get well, and enjoy the Patriots laying the lumber to the rest of the league.

Commander Guy deux

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Holly in Santa Cruz:

How frightening! Thankfully, it sounds like you're in good hands, both among family and doctors. I hope that you enjoy this holiday season knowing that you're on the path to health. Take good care of yourself, and please keep me posted!

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Suzette in D.C.

So, clearly I've looked away for entirely too long. Look what trouble you get yourself into!\?!

Dude, I sure hope you get better soon. This is some serious stuff. Please keep me updated, and call me when you can in the evening.

Oh, and a word of advice, DO WHAT THE DOCTORS TELL YOU TO DO. (I know you)

Take care dude, and I hope to hear from you soon.

Suzette

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Jim in D.C.:

My goodness... I'm glad to hear things are a bit better now. When is your procedure?

I'll let the team know, if it's ok with you - I think some would like to send their well-wishes.

Take care, and feel even better...

Jim

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Chris in Wiscasset:

amen, you ARE a lucky man.

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Saadia in D.C.:

I am glad to hear you've been diagnosed and are in treatment. I was worried when you emailed me that you might have pneumonia. One of my work colleagues has similar conditions to yours -- blood clot, heart problems but no pneumonia -- and was in the hospital twice in the summer. But though her blood clot is still around, she's doing much better now.

Where are you going to be living in the next few months? Do you need anything?

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Steve in Wiscasset:

Hi G., glad to hear you are out of the hospital. Sounds like you had quite an ordeal. We all were and still are very concerned for you.

When you get up to your moms, maybe we can get together for a coffee or some lunch. Nothing to serious, just a little hand holding and gazing into each others eyes..... oh wait, wrong G. Maybe we can watch a football game or something.

Seriously though, your big bro has asked us to stop by your moms on the 21st. I am not sure if that will work out or not, but hope to see you over the holidays.

Having been through a similar escapade as yours on a couple of occasions, I may have some resources available to you. Cook books, tips etc. Let me know if you need anything. Take care of yourself.

Steve-O

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P. in Portland:

Hi G.,

What an ordeal for you! I'm glad you're out and resting at Rick and Diane's now - following a sensible diet and such. I imagine you have many thoughts and feelings that could go into some very creative writing now. I hope you can get it down because you have a talent for this.

I also imagine you have some major life changes to make and paths to discover. I'm routing for you. I wish for you to find your way.

Until then, I'll be seeing you at mom's in the near future.

Be well,

P.

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D. in Biddeford:

Greg: I'm so pleased that you are out and about. In the long run, this scare may be the early warning that keeps you vital so that you can help steer our political awareness toward truth.

take care, enjoy each minute.

D.

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Chaatoes in Alexandria:

G.,

Amen to that, I'm ever so glad yer on the mend -- I was indeed worried and apprehensive since talking to you last Thursday. Now, take care of yerself!!!!!

Talk to you soon.....

D.

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Bruce in D.C.:

Yo G.,

Sorry to hear about all your health problems--sorry, but not too surprised. I hope you take this as a wake-up call to lose a whole lot of weight.

I'll be joining you in that endeavour. About a year ago, I hit a personal high of 261 and lost 20 pounds in 40 days using a strict South Beach diet--no alcohol, no sweets, small portions. I'm back up to about 258, so it's time to start thinking about getting back on my diet again.

Hope you're up and around soon. Walking a lot is key too.

Bruce

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Mark in Winston-Salem:

G.,

Sounds like quite a ride. Glad you are still here. Have a Merry Christmas and hope it is all better from here on out.

Mark

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Karen in Memphis:

Hi, G.--

So sorry to hear of all you are going through. What heart procedure exactly are you scheduled for? a bypass? a heart replacement? Do you still have health insurance since you had to leave work? Let me know if you need a place to recuperate after you've worn out your welcome with R. and D.. There are a couple of rooms in my place or my Mother's in Memphis if you need time and attention to recover. I hope you make a full recovery very soon and that you have good doctors. My prayers are with you.

Sincerely,
Karen

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Laura in Fairfax:

Not a hey howa ya been? Just a hey I almost died? Well hello to you too!

Anyway- god that is awful and I hope you are feeling better! And 1 glass of wine a day is supposed to be good for your heart. Just ask my 97 year old grandma.

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J. in Portland:

Word, man. I'm so glad you're on the upswing. I was rootin for you. I'm off to yosemite early wednesday, but when i get back in january we should hang...meditate together, eat some raw kale, and then pick up some chicks and go on a long bikeride.

Cheers,
J.

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Paul in D.C.

wow. that's fukking intense. thanks, first of all, for letting me and others know. too often i think people don't, for whatever list of reasons, and i'd much rather know so that i can share the concern across the cosmic pathways... keep taking care of yourself, and keep eating and exercising well... we need you and your voice out there...

oh and get some rest...

cheers, paul

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The Harvster in D.C.

G.:

That its the worst (but best written) e-mail I have ever received. I am so sorry about your ordeal. I cannot imagine the fear and difficulty you experienced and continue to experience dealing with the physical issues and the related mental and financial stress. I got a little taste of prolonged illness when I missed two months of work with vertigo earlier this year--but only a taste. Your situation is in a completely different league. I am terribly sorry. I wish I could say more, but words fail me. Please know that we are pulling for you. You are a good man. You deserve some good luck.

My prayers are with you,

The Harvster

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Gil on Bailey Island:

hi g.,

so, it takes this kind of drama to persuade you to visit brunswick? you need to get out more!

let me know when you've settled and interested in a visit. bailey island is near. perhaps i'll come by. we'll go for a walk, introduce ourselves to the natives and terrorize them at a later date.

onward,
gil

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Beth in Portland (via R.):

Thanks for keeping me updated on G.. I did call him again on Tuesday, but he was pretty drugged up and I told him I'd just keep trying until he was able to talk. But please let me know if you think it's not a good idea for me to call. I know even with just pneumonia a simple conversation can wear one out, so I don't want to tax him further.

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Kathleen in South China (ME) via Rick:

Good to hear from you with updates. Glad he is getting stabalized. This is a shock as it's the first we have heard about G. being ill. Crimy he's my age!!! Give him our very best.

love kathleen and david

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Mike in Boston via R.:

Tell him we love him and need him back for the holiday rush

Thanks R.
mike

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Mark in Topsham via R.:

Hi R.,

Tell G. we are thinking about him and your family during this time.

Mark

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Dan in Pittsburgh:

I'm glad to hear that the problem has been diagnosed and the prognosis sounds positive. I was concerned with the "from a NH hospital" quote and was hopeful that you had just stuck your foot in your mouth or something.

Please keep us updated on your health and know that you are in my prayers that God's healing hand would touch your heart.

- Droid

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Susan in Alexandria:

Hi there!

I just tried to call, but your line was busy. As I don't check my e-mail too often, I just got the message you are in the hospital. Thank goodness you have Rick & Diane there to help "take care" of you. How frightening. I hope the doctors are able to figure out all that is wrong and get you up and well again soon.

Am going out with a friend this evening, but am thinking of you and hope that are steadily getting better by the moment.

Love you!
Susan

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I also received very nice falicitations from Ingrid in Alexandria and H.A. in Darnestown, but I'm switched to find them to post them. Sorry, guys!

Also: Cannot -- CANNOT -- leave unacknowledged other brother J., who helped me cover the cost of the pharmaceuticals and, with his 2nd son, moved me out of my one room cell over the bar in Southie over the wknd.

Family! You dig?

Thank you all. Very much!

on the mend...

Email sent out last night:

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Family & Friends…

Roughly 'round 2:45 p.m. this afternoon I was discharged from the Cheshire Medical Center in Keene, NH, after spending 9-1/2 days in the Telemetry and Intensive Care units. The initial diagnosis was Pneumonia in my right lung, such that I had to leave work for an indefinite period, thus subsequently losing my position for lack of being available to work.

I drove up to R. & D.'s on Thursday, the week after Thanksgiving, where he urged me, at her suggestion no less, to come and stay for a little while so that they could look after me. I had been suffering since late September and was only slowly getting worse. I spent one fitful night trying to sleep but with little success. That Friday, I was struggling mightily to breathe and with a persistent though mighty dry cough. Rick insisted on taking me to the E.R. in Keene. I didn't resist.

It wasn't long before the medical staff on duty discovered that not only was I suffering from "atypical pneumonia", but my heart was in A-Fib, i.e., Atrial Fibrulation, meaning the top part was beating considerably more rapidly than the bottom half, a decidedly unhealthy development. They treated me with antibiotics for the lung, and blood thinners and pressure meds for the heart.

Long story short, I was given a variety of drugs for a variety of symptomatic ailments. One of the intended procedures, after having been admitted, was to put me under anesthesia whereupon they could take the electric paddles, yell "CLEAR!" and shock my heart thru my sternum (vs., say, shocking my heart, then yelling "CLEAR! Oops!! Sorry!"). Except when they scoped me in the O.R., they discovered my atrium was harboring a blood clot. Shocking it could then possibly dislodge said clot to where it might cause an embolism or stroke. My diagnosis was downgraded to "Congestive Heart Failure!" I'm only 48 and must say, those words scared the hell out of me.

So I'm scheduled for the procedure in January, after the clot is made gone; meanwhile the blood thinners, the diuretics, and more antibiotics and vitamins. The good news in all this is medical technology: it makes for a possible near complete recovery. 20 years ago? Not so much.

I write this while sitting at the dining room table in Rick & Diane's home in Troy. She's preparing a low-sodium chicken soup for dinner, and I am drinking water while fantasizing it is wine.

I suspect I'll be collecting disability for at least a couple of weeks before being ready to go back to work, wherever that'll be. I just wanted to thank those of you Rick contacted about my situation, in response to which you kindly wished me well. Believe me – it was greatly appreciated. I was careening the emotional sturm & drang for certain, fearing life was indeed way too short. I found great comfort in your sympathies.

Suffice it to say, I have a fantastic family – The Best! – some of whom visited me at the hospital and the rest of whom called and text-messaged to wish me well.

Thank you, all. Please know this one believes more than ever no man is rich as he who has family & friends.

g.