Computer Jealousy

My computer hates me, and I'm beginning to have unfriendly feelings toward it, as well. If I finish this very, very brief blog post, I'll feel a sense of accomplishment. Tomorrow, perhaps, I will take the beast to see a computer doctor...or will buy a new one in the hope of causing this one to healt itself out of jealousy.

Republican Reaper

I just love the graphic created by The Dark Wraith:

Anti-Trust & Labor Law Quiz

The Dark Wraith is posting on The Fat Lady Sings while she is recuperating from an ailment. The October 29 posting has a link to an economics quiz on anti-trust and labors laws, created by The Dark Wraith...it is a bitch! I thought I knew much of what the quiz covered, but I was so, so wrong! I scored 10%...and I feel utterly uneducated. Take the quiz...it's an eye-opener.

Sunday Mutterings

Last night my wife and I watched a video, "Black on Broadway," an hour of a stand-up routine of comedian Lewis Black. Black has an ascerbic wit and a sharp tongue and a way of making people laugh at his 'black humor' about the state of affairs in our lives today. If one is inclined to be offended by the word 'fuck,' one would be deeply offended by the video, but if one doesn't have such sensitivities, it's worth the hour.

My right shoulder and neck have been giving me fits of late. I've had severe aches in both of them, making it tough sometime to turn my head and generally being annoying and making me cranky. The last couple of days, the nerves in my neck have made my neck and lower jaw start tingling, like the skin is 'going to sleep.' I'm relatively sure they are related and that there is some connection between the very, very tight muscles and the tingling. The last time I had something similar, various specialists wanted to do ugly things to me, including trying to "replicate" the pain after it got much better. I thanked them and said no. The idea, I thought, was to make the pain go away...not to make it come back. I think I need a good massage...that will probably be the cure.

It's back to the office later today, and to the polls for me. Today is my voting day, my day to try to return control of state and federal offices to people who I find far less offensive than the criminals in office today. I'll go Democratic except for two races: for Texas Governor, I'll go for Kinky Friedman, an independent. My vote for him is to acknowledge that he has some good ideas (among some very bad ones) and to avoid voting for more of the same. For Texas Comptroller, I'll go for Susan Combs, a Republican. Despite her ugly party affiliation, I think she's extremely sharp and has very good business sense. She's been Commissioner of Agriculture for the past few years. Her opponent, a Democrat named Fred Head, has publicly attacked her as a pornographer because she wrote a romance novel a number of years ago. Any idiot who takes such a position will not get my vote. Head is an imbecile who should not have been permitted to run for office under the imprimatur of the Democratic Party; another piece of evidence that the Democrats do not have it together. I mean, my god, if you're trying to resurrect the Democratic Party in Texas, why in the world would you put a ranting lunatic in a high-profile race? People who claim to want to protect the morals of young people, as Head does, frighten me, anyway; they're often the types that our Republican friends are having to deal with in the Foley situation in DC.

Venture Capital Sought!

The last few days have been stressful. I put a senior staff member on administrative leave because her performance has utterly and completely tanked; I'm afraid it may be caused by a medical condition. I've had no luck impressing on her the need to seek a doctor urgently. Subsequently, I've learned how bad things have been. Virtually nothing has been done since May and a client is on the warpath. I have been dogging her for performance, but believed her when she said things were being done, but were behind. Bad stuff. So, spent the last few days dealing with it, including about 9 hours today, cleaning up the office and trying to file a required campaign finance report on a tight deadline. Nasty crap.

Last night, my wife and I went to another client affair, a wine tasting, at a popular wine warehouse. Not too bad, but they charge obscene prices for wines that are, for the most part, only mediocre. They get wines that no one else can stock and claim they are exclusive and can command a high price. I find them adequate, but wines half the price are easily had and better. So, despite the nice ambience and such, we did not get much from the event.

Thai food last night, a wonderful Mexican seafood lunch, and a more traditional Tex-Mex tonight (again, after a miserably long day in the office)...and more office time and probably more restaurant food tomorrow.

So, there you have it. A snapshot of a stressful life of a couple who own their own business, yet long for lives more quiet and peaceful. My wife had a great idea for a business today as we drove to the office. I want to try it. All I need is some capital. Unlike most of my ideas, this one may actually have the potential of being of interest to venture capitalists. I'm going to put in under my hat until I return from my trip to China...and then I need advice from someone who's actually dealt with VCs. I have not, at least not more than talking about the industries of our client associations.

Enough for tonight. I am mightily tired and ready to kick back.

Update

I'm not sure whether to be scared or giddy. The November 7 elections are just around the corner. The results could mark a new opportunity for the USA...or, they could seal the fate of a country turned ugly and unfortunate. I'm scared, but giddy...I do think progressives will take on a much greater role in the governance of this country, but I am not sure the requisite number of changes will be made to assure a turnabout.

I am encouraging everyone I know to vote. I will have to vote absentee because I have a very brief trip out of the country (no chance to experience another culture...more like airport to hotel and back).

Today was hard. I had to force an employee out of the office, insisting that she see a doctor and telling her she cannot come back without a doctor's declaration of fitness. That has never happened before...very tough.

My sister will visit just after Thanksgiving, joining other members of the family as we attend a "blessing of marriage" of my niece. That's great!

I'm looking forward to getting my trip to Beijing behind me. I only wish I had time and money to stay over and experience the country. As it is, I'll spend three days in Beijing and an overnighter at the Tokyo airport on the way back. A grand opportunity missed...but not my choice. If I could, I'd take advantage of my good fortune to see the countryside of China. But, I'm not able to stay long enough to see much of anything. My only trip to Asia, spoiled by a major time-crunch. Aaarghh!

Maybe I'll return to China one day.

Good night, world around me.

Greek Night

Another long, busy day at the office today...and it continued well into this evening. But, we had a very nice break, turning up our noses at the smoked salmon we had planned to have at home (oh, I love salmon...it's just an expression) in favor of sampling the wonders of a nice little Greek restaurant just a few miles from the house. Together the two sampler plates we ordered gave us little bits of dolmas, spanakopita, tzatziki, avgolemono soup, lamb chops, mousaka, chicken and pork souvlaki, and eggplant dip. It was voluminous, but not as overwhelming as it looks in black and white in front of me. The occasion was what I wrote about last night: my wife has been cancer-free for three years. It still makes me giddy.

It's time for me to take in the news of the world, so I'll shuffle off and read English language news sites from around the world. It gives me a radically different perspective than I get from CNN...and it's even more enlightening than a lot of the material presented by NPR. I have to stop...if I'm going to read it, I can't write about it at the same time.

Life is Good

Tonight is a night of celebration. The celebration is because of this: my wife went to see the surgeon who performed her surgery after she was diagnosed with breast cancer and had to undergo a mastectomy. The word from the surgeon, at this 3-year juncture, is that there is no sign of cancer. And he said more than 50% of recurrences come within 3 years, indicating that my wife's outlook is very, very positive, indeed! So, I'm beyond happy, I'm ecstatic!

My celebration goes on despite the fact that I'm doing the work at home tonight of an employee who is utterly unproductive (I'm afraid she may have some sort of illness that is causing her deep, deep unproductivity). Somehow, it doesn't bother me as much as it might ordinarily. For one thing, if she's ill I want her to be well, but for another, I just can't help but thank my lucky stars that my wife continues to be healthy and cancer-free. Life is good.

I'm easily lured down the path of being annoyed, upset, angry, and unhappy with the world. When I think about what my wife went through and how she came through it, I feel embarrassed at my petty emotions. Life is good, indeed!

Birthday Fish

Friday night, my wife and I celebrated my birthday a day early (it's on Saturday the 21st) by going to Kampai, our favorite sushi place. We decided to splurge, in celebration of my increasing geezerhood...and we did that in a big way. We let the sushi chef guide us this time around, for the most part, which meant we did not order much of what we normally do. We had "Live Oysters," which were very large oysters that were pried from their shells before our eyes, then sliced into 4-5 pieces, then returned to a half-shell and drizzled with a very spicy sauce, then topped with jalapeno zest. Incredible!

Next, we had ankimo (monkfish liver), three silver-dollar sized (but much thicker) discs of molded monkfish liver, also topped with a zesty sauce and various shaved vegetables.

We had black peppercorn tuna, wonderfully flavorful and unexpectedly hot and spicy. We had one of our favorites, a volcano roll, rice rolls filled with a mix of very spicy crawfish and scallops.

We had sauteed string beans, another spicy one with wonderful flavor.

We had yellowfin tuna and unagi (eel), another couple of favorites.

I could have eaten twice what we did, but am glad I did not.

After dinner, we went to the Watertower Theatre, where we watched Man of La Mancha; we both enjoyed it.

All in all, it was a nice night. Tomorrow, we'll be less inclined to overdo the food...we'll probably still be full from tonight.

Vote

I repeat. I am not a Democrat. I am independent. But this year, almost all my votes will go to Democrats. We need them in power. Or someone like them. I'll go for Kinky Friedman for Texas Governor, despite the fact that he is apt to be slaughtered re: votes. I still want to make a statement. Otherwise, probably Democrat.

Someone called last night, asking if they could put a sign in my yard. Democrat? hell yes, I said! I have to figure out how to vote absentee. MUST!

Dinner Time

My favorite wife and I left work late yesterday so, instead of coming home to grill steaks as we had planned, we opted to have dinner at a restaurant. She had gone to lunch with a now-former employee some time ago at a place she said served decent chicken-fried steaks, so we stopped in to the place, called the Chop House.

It's biker bar that tries to evolve into a steak house at night. We entered and noticed a huge dance floor in the middle of the caverous place. There were almost no diners, but a few groups were clustered on the bar side of the place. Since we were not greeted when we came in, we picked a booth near the door. A guy finally came over to offer us drinks; we both asked for water. Just after he left, I noticed that the place was a smoking establishment and I noticed a very loud group of obnoxious women near our table. Moments after I noticed the group, a couple of them started shrieking in high-pitched and very loud and disturbing laughter. My wife must have read my face, because she asked, "Do you want to leave?"

I said I did and abruptly stood up, strode to the door, and held it open for her as she came up from behind. I think the people in the place got the message about why we were leaving, but they didn't care.

We got in the car and headed east toward our house but decided to stop in another place, called Remington's Seafood Grill, a place we'd never been. It was outstanding, and not expensive. My wife had grilled sea scallops and I had horseradish-encrusted tilapia. Both of them were excellent, as were the sides, steamed broccoli and cole slaw for me and baked squash and cole slaw for her.

Tonight, I'm grilling New York strip steak and okra...maybe a sliced tomato on the side. If I'd been thinking, I would have quartered an onion and thrown it on the grill, but I'm tired from a long, long day's work.

Now, it's dinner time.

Smart People

That my oldest brother is a better writer than I, and more observant of his surroundings, will become apparent to the reader who reads his recollections of a quinceañera he and his wife attended recently in their hometown in Mexico. Take a look at what he wrote. Having met the parties to the event, albeit briefly, during my visit to Mexico last year, I can say that his description of the family as hard-working and connected rings true. I've not personally ever participated in a quinceañera.

Despite my heartfelt desire to understand and be integrated into other cultures, this particular celebration seems bizarre to me; I am more inclined to support forced child labor than extraordinary public displays of affection for children reaching a specific age, but then I am a strange man who has never had children and who has never wanted them.

Tonight, I watched and listened to Bill Moyers and many others talk about 'net neutrality' and the horrific pressures being exerted on Congress, et al, to cede control of the Internet to major media and communication firms. If that were to happen, I assure you, dear reader, that I will kiss this country goodbye. I do not trust the government and its minions now; such a change would cause me to run for my freedom.

I agreed, after receiving a telephone call from an almost-illiterate call center calle tonight, to have a Democrat's political poster put in my yard. I know little of the woman running for office, but I know her opponent is DEEP REPUBLICAN and, therefore, deserves to be served as an appetizer, so i opted to allow the sign. Democrats do not automatically get my vote. I will ignore certain races, run by people whose political leanings seem highly Republican to me; I will ignore anyone who gives Bush and his allies any leeway...ignore is not the word...'fight with a passion against' is a better phrase.

I will not be in the USA on election day. I ABSOLUTELY MUST find a way to vote absentee in advance...lest I heap enough hate on myselft to say I won't come back.

I offered a woman friend who works for American Airlines a bottle of booze if the correct party wins on November 7. I don't know what she drinks; if it's $200/bottle tequila, I'll happily make the purchase. She shares my political leanings, as does a co-worker/employee. I like smart people.

One More Thing...

The attorneys I hired to deal with a nasty situation with one of our clients sent me their bill today. It was more than $16,000! This was not a major case involving massive legal issues. This was a minor case, albeit one that scared me.

Ask me and I will tell you the name of the firm and will give you my estimation of what they actually deserved, based on performance. It's less than $16,000.

Romania and China and so forth

I had lunch today with an interesting woman who had an interesting proposition for me; she wants me to work with her to create an association that would encourage people who want to help enrich the lives of children in other countries to sign up to visit those countries, live and work for a brief time with those children, and help contribute to their abilities to change the lives of the children for the better. She reasons that there are many people who are trying to "find themselves" and find meaning in their lives who would find personal value in such endeavors. Moreover, she asserts, the children would benefit greatly.

As a first step, she envisions organizing a program to help support an organization in Romania that works to teach children various skills that might equip them to make a difference in their own lives. Many of those skills are in the arts, but some are in more mundane areas. She picked this organization and this country because of her personal experience there in recent months. She is enamored of Romania and its people. And, being a brazen capitalist, too boot, she believes there are amazing opportunities to make money, particularly in advance of the country's adoption of the Euro in 2008, a year after its entry into the European Union. She wants me to go to Romania next June so she can introduce me to the people who run the organization. From what she told me of Romania, I think I would really enjoy the country.

She also had another interest, and that is for me to work with her parents to help establish a framework to ensure the longevity of a not-for-profit theater they operate in Central Texas. My background in association management, she says, would be invaluable in helping her parents look critically at the governance and operational structure of their theater, giving them the opportunity to install systems, structures, and procedures to ensure its ongoing health.

So, that's my most interesting tidbit for today.

Still investigating flights to Beijing; haven't bought the ticket yet, but I found a rount-trip ticket from Dallas to Tokyo to Beijing, returning same route, for only $892. While it's economy class and godawful long flights, I think it's the best bet. Now, I await the official invitation letter so I can try to expedite getting a visa. If only I knew what was involved in getting a temporary cell phone that would enable me to communicate to the U.S. while on the short trip, I'd feel better. Sunday-Sunday trips with no communication back home have no appeal to me.

Festival!

I'm finally back after about 2 weeks of madness, including travels to New York, a local trade show, and enormous volumes of work. Mostly, though, I'm back in the groove to think, mull, consider, and record. It's good to be able to read other bloggers, news posts, books, etc., and then decide what my thoughts are all about.

I'm more liberal in my politics and my social assessments than I was a few weeks ago. I am losing my patience with convervatives, while simultaneously becoming more of a person who sees the opposing views. You know, "on the one hand...but on the other hand." I'm not excusing Republicans, you understand, but they're not always idiots. Some of them can think...rationally. My assessment of life in this regard has nothing to do with Barack Obama. He has his good points, but I don't trust him any more than I do any other politician. I am OH such a cynic! Fuck politicians. They are, in broad strokes, evil bastards that compare unfavorably to George Bush, the atheist's equivalent of the anti-Christ.

My American niece is preparing for her "marriage blessings" with her honey, a Paraguayan native who is still learning English. It will happen after Thanksgiving. I admire them for behaving like real people...ignore cultures, fall in love with someone who shares your ideas and ideals. There's more of this stuff in my family...I have a great family!

After a long respite...

Today's weather is grey and wet, an argument to stay indoors and avoid the nastiness outside. I heard the argument...I agreed with it...but duty called. First, my brother who has been helping me staff a trade show booth for one of our associations, had to head back home today. I felt an obligation to deal with the weather at least a bit...he had to get on the highway for a 3 hour drive, so a bit of local driving was the least pain I could endure as a show of empathy and support.

So, I showed my empathy by going out to get gas, taking money out of my bank's ATM, popping into an ostensibly Brazilian restaurant for lunch, and getting groceries at the expensive showcase of wonderful food near the house.

I had good intentions to use today to be a marathon worker...clear away the work that has piled up during the last two weeks that I have been away from the office. My good intentions fell almost flat. I did spend a few hours online, responding to emails and getting a few odds & ends out of the way, but my energy level is off. I need some downtime to recover from stress, too little down time, and dealing with too many stupid people. My patience grows thin when I deal with people who are, as the Magliozzi brothers say, "unemcumbered by the thought process."

For the rest of this day, I'm going to relax. I may watch the news, surf the net, or just kick back with a book. Speaking of books, I finally got around to starting "Armed Madhouse...," the book by Greg Palast. Just reading it makes me want to enter politics, with a flamethrower as my campaign manager. The bastards in politics today, regardless of party, are corrupt bastards. Either we oust them next month, or we're in for some deeply disturbing times ahead. If we think things have been bad, we have some awful surprises ahead with the current political machine in power.

Too worky, not playey enough

Four weekends working. Even with the occasional vacation hours thrown in, it's not enough. I'm looking forward to real free time. Not crazy about going to Beijing, but resigned to it. Monday, I start exploring what I need to do to get a visa in time and secure my flights, hotel, etc.

A brother is helping me staff a trade show booth, Thursday through Saturday. Then, Sunday it's back to the office to recover from 2 weeks out.

Too worky. Not enough play time.

Dammit.

Dammit all.

Sum'bitch!

More New York

I heard some extraordinary presentations today at a conference. It's rare I get excited about speakers, but, having had a lot to do with arranging some of them, I was very happy. I'll write more about them later, but my guess is that our client's members will say very positive things about this meeting.

OK. Now what.

Well, it's looking like I may have to go to Beijing, after all...in less than a month. Dammit! And it will be for only two days, if I go. So, a massively long and annoying flight, followed by a brief visit, followed by a long and massively annoying flight. Oh, well. I like the client. I will do it if I have to.

I saw the Statue of Liberty tonight, while on a dinner cruise in the New York Harbor. I am not one to be a flag-waving patriot, but the sight of that landmark, so close, lit so beautifully, brought tears to my eyes. What a wonderful gift from France! And what a shame the current administration is slashing and burning everything Lady Liberty stands for. This country once stood as a beacon for people the world over. Bush has brought us down to serving as a target to stop oppression.

New York, New York!

Yesterday and today have been whirlwinds. My wife and I arrived at Newark airport about 2:40 pm yesterday, grabbed a cab, and made our way to our hotel in Times Square in New York. Times Square is a garish place, awash in neon and flashing lights that pay homage to excess and indulgence and the prurience of materialism taken to extremes. As quickly as we could, we put away our clothes and began behaving as tourists. We walked south and west...and walked and walked and walked. We soaked in as much as we could outdoors on a beautiful blue day, then waited in endless lines to ride the elevators to the 86th floor of the Empire State Building. We paid extra to go to the 102nd floor...that was a waste. The view from the outdoor viewing platform was magnificent, though, and we were glad we did the touristy thing. This, despite the fact that the TSA stand-ins who run the security checkpoint lost my belt.

Yep, they lost my leather belt, the little brown thing that holds my pants up. And I thought TSA hired incompetents. This dream-staff at the Empire State Building was beyond belief! Oh, well. I needed a new belt.

Then we walked more...and more. We finally got back to our room late in the afternoon, then took another walk, this one to 9th Avenue, north of 42nd Street. The streets were loaded with restaurants, the night life was bursting at the seams. We ate at a Thai restaurant, then drifted a bit and went back to our room, where we finally got to bed rather late.

Today, we "popped up" after 9:00 am, had a continental breakfast in the club lounge, then bought subway/bus passes and caught a series of buses to the Guggenheim museum. More on that in a later post. We ate lunch on the upper west side, in a little Greek restaurant called Nikko's, just off Broadway and 75th. More busing, then a brief stop at the hotel, then busing and walking to Greenich Village (with a brief pub stop at Peculier Pub on Bleecker Street) and walking on to Soho, where we met up with a couple of friends and a couple of their friends for a fine dinner at an Ethiopian restaurant called Genthe (I think), then four of the original six went for drinks at a Soho bar, then taxied back to our respective hotels.

Quite a day. This, all the while I was participating in various phone calls with lawyers and others concerning a huge blow-up with an ethics complaint filed against a member of a client group.

But what a day!

Fun?

I get tired just thinking about it. I've spent at least part of the past four weekends working and am preparing to do it again. This time, I have a conference in New York City, which will be interesting...and my wife will join me for what is intended to be a mini-vacation. We'll see if I can avoid work enough to make it a vacation. My meeting starts in earnest on Saturday evening and goes through late Tuesday. Then, Wednesday we head back home, where I unpack and immediately prepare to set up and man a trade show booth from Thursday through Saturday. I haven't even given the booth more than a few passing thoughts. This will be tough. Such is life.

Today, I finally got around to trying to make flight arrangements to fly to Guadalajara over the Christmas holidays, using mileage credits to get the flights. I had waited too late. There was absolutely nothing left. So, much to my chagrin, I bought two tickets that, together, cost well over $1200....aaaarrrgghhh! Damn my procrastination; one of these days I'll make time to stop procrastinating. We fly down December 24 and return on New Year's Day. I've given up on the idea of buying a place down there, at least for now. My business is showing severe signs of stress and money is hemorraging. Maybe, though, I need to cut my losses and buy a small fishing boat on Lake Chapala and live in a tiny 1 room apartment in the poorer neighborhoods of Chapala. That, or a winning lottery ticket (that I must force myself to buy or risk never winning) could be the answer.

New York. If it weren't for the very, very ugly ethics investigation and the backbiting competitors lobbying grenades to see what will explode, it could be fun!

Exchange

I could relate all the nasty crap that happened today, but I won't. Instead, let me say this:

It's worth your time to investigate your own psyche, making appropriate inquiries about why you think the way you think, why you believe what you do, and what motivates you to do right and wrong.

I wish I could run an intensive introspective race. It would be based on stories from my memory or from my ability to adapt and manufacture remembrances.

I wish I could exchange memories with other people...what fun!

Scream

From time to time, I curse my inability to conceal my emotions. But then there are times I curse my ability to control emotions that should not be controlled. When we see or hear about or learn about horrendous acts against men or women or children or nature, we should emote! I've heard too much today. My emotions are not concealed tonight. I may be here alone, but my emotions are raw and they show the open wounds. I feel things tonight. I wish things tonight. I wonder tonight. How can I articulate what I think? How can I articulate how I feel? It's impossible. And so I scream.

Hello in there

If you let it, a long, lonely, high-speed drive on the open highway can clear your mind. Or, I should say, it can clear away the cobwebs that get in the way of lucid thought.

Driving on the highway alone can be lonely, but it can fill you up with ideas, remembrances, wishes, and dreams. An empty car and loud music and the grinding hiss of tires on pavement can create a magical environment that allows you to shed the skin of social expectations. I know, it sounds melodramatic. But I mean it. For me, personally, there's too little time for introspection. That's not true. There's plenty of time for it, but there's too little demand for it. I know I want to think, to consider, to wish, to wonder, and to mull over life's intricacies and oddities. But I rarely go there. The open road, though, compels it. I have no choice.

The road insists I think about what might have been, what could have been, what should have been. If you see an aging myopic geezer, with graying hair, driving a ten-year-old family sedan down a lonely Texas highway, look closely. If his eyes are glazed with tears and his face looks like he's remembering what he failed to do, it may be me. Or it may one of a thousand aging men who, just now, are realizing they let the world shape them instead of shaping the world.

All of us, though, geezer and teen alike, still have a chance. Grasp the geezer's hand and offer to help. Lead the teen toward knowledge. Another John Prine tune comes to mind. Say 'hello in there, hello!'

Mortality

I got an email from an acquaintance this afternoon...it was blasted to a group of his friends and acquaintances...informing me that he is going in for surgery to replace a heart valve tomorrow morning. Having had open heart surgery myself, I know it's scary, despite the fact that most of the time such surgeries go well and without a hitch. I don't know how other people feel just before they go in for surgery...but I know that I was worried that I might die on the table and leave my wife in a terrible situation. One of my brothers who had serious surgery a few years ago revealed that he, too, was worried going in that he might not come out of it.

For some people, even if they have such fears, it's relatively easy to disguise. I tried to disguise mine, but my emotions usually flood out of me like water from a fire hose, so I don't know how well I hid my fear before my surgery. I suspect I hid it relatively well, because the doctors and nurses juiced me up early and often with drugs that put me in the twilight zone. My imagination was active, but my tear ducts were probably dry.

When my wife had major surgery for cancer a few years ago, I tried to keep a stiff upper lip while the medical staff prepped her for surgery, but I think I failed rather miserably. It's just damn hard to watch someone you love being rolled away to an operating room where you know they will be sedated and they will be in danger. That sort of thing makes tears well up just thinking about it.

My buddy will, I hope, be just fine and will be back playing golf in six weeks or so. But hearing that he is about to have either a mechanical valve or a pig valve placed in his heart gives me pause...this stuff is serious. Despite extraordinary advances in medicine in recent years, it's still obvious that none of us make it out of this life alive. We just don't know when the power will shut off. So, we're all mortal, are we? 'pears to be the case.

Some of us think we're preparing for a whole new 'life' when this one ends. Not me. I expect it's just over when it's over. And like one of John Prine's songs says, I want them to distribute my parts to anyone who needs them when my time comes. And anything not needed should be disposed of in the least expensive and least traumatic way possible for those I've left behind. I would hope there will be a party, though.