Archive for the ‘Family’ Category
Wednesday, December 14th, 2005
I saw Joan’s mention of Aunt Carol’s game.
Beverages included? What about spices?
Ok, ok…
If I spend any more time, I’ll just keep fiddling around with them, so here are my picks—
Corn, tomatoes, spinach, almonds, eggs, cheese, avocados, vanilla ice cream, strawberries, and raspberries.
And we get to share, right?
How about if we add to the game?
I wasn’t there at the genesis, but what if we discovered a chest on Magic Island containing three books—a Holy Bible, the Complete Works of William Shakespeare, and Webster’s Dictionary of the English Language (unabridged)—and each of us could pick three additional books, which the chest would produce for our group library. There would be no other books on Magic Island—for the rest of our lives.
What three volumes would you choose?
Here are my selections—
The I Ching (or Book of Changes), The Odyssey of Homer, and James Clavell’s SHÕGUN.
When faced with picking books with pictures or books with words, I chose words. When faced with making more universal choices or being selfish, I decided to be selfish.
What about you?
Would you pick a how-to book, a cookbook (not a bad idea), or a collection of reproductions? Literature? What about a book with blank pages—no other books on Magic Island means just that—or a work you’d want the other inhabitants to read?
Nobody knows how long the chest’s magic will last.
Hurry, but choose wisely…
Posted in Art, Family, Fiction, Food, Nonfiction, Playtime, Priorities, Verse | Comments Closed
Monday, December 12th, 2005
Dana made the trip back to Indiana today so she could help Bruce get acclimated at home again, hoping there’s truth in the old saying, “third time’s a charm.” Uncertainties about the security of his pain medications required her to personally sign and take responsibility for the powerful drugs, but I won’t be going into all that here. Suffice it to say—the long saga continues in Hoosierland, and this woman deserves to receive the 2005 “Mother of the Year” award.
Posted in Angst, Dana, Family | Comments Closed
Sunday, December 11th, 2005
After yesterday’s cancelled release, I wasn’t sure how long it would be, but Bruce learned from his doctors today that he gets to go home tomorrow. They’ve stopped all antibiotics, so this will be an important opportunity for his own bodily defenses to kick back in. He’ll undoubtedly have a few ups and downs—par for the course with dialysis. Nevertheless, I think his home care is really going to stick this time around.
Posted in Family | Comments Closed
Saturday, December 10th, 2005
I’m tired. It was a long day that started out with Dana preparing to drive to Indianapolis, but I found out after I’d been in Liberty for a while that it was a false alarm, and Bruce wasn’t really going to be released, because his blood pressure had dropped too low during dialysis. I spent a lot of time on my feet in the cold ringing the bell for the “no shows,” but it was nice to see members of the Clan, and the red kettles felt heavy at the end of the day (especially the Pamida one), and I also had a good conversation with Kyle Durham, Seth’s mentor, after we’d shut down our Saturday operation for another week.
Posted in Community, Dana, Family | Comments Closed
Thursday, December 8th, 2005
— At tonight’s local GOP Christmas reception, several Republican heavy hitters put on a full-court press, trying to convince me to run for public office in 2006. It’s nice to know I’m on the short list, but the timing couldn’t be worse.
— While we’re on the subject of politics, I was happy to learn that Seth was elected Governor for the 2006 session of the Kentucky Youth Assembly (YMCA). Couldn’t have happened to a better man. Congratulations!
— I surprised myself at the pool today, coming within a second of my 50-yard PR. I haven’t even been practicing my sprints lately, so I don’t know what to make of it.
— Just had to hit the chuck wagon for second helpings, watching the “Firefly” pilot again to catch things I missed on the first viewing. I realize now that I was totally hooked by the time Kaylee got shot and willingly chomped down hard on the barb when I saw Zoe with her “mare’s leg.” I guess Joss Whedon has my number, and Brendan was the first to know it!
— Although I’ve never included John Lennon on my list of personal heroes, when I look back on his art, cultural innovations, and powerful position as a generational role model, I have to consider that he probably had a more profound influence on my life than I’d care to admit. 25 years?
— Bruce is dealing with some post-op pain, but says he’s feeling better every day. They took out the “rubber band drain” in his back, another good indication of progress. I hope he improves enough to be settled back in his home by Christmas.
V & S
Posted in Brendan, Exercise, Family, Firearms, Personalities, Political Affairs, Public Service, Television | Comments Closed
Wednesday, December 7th, 2005
We watched the “Firefly” pilot last night. This is from the box that Brendan loaned to us, and I want him to kindly tell me this is not the only group of available episodes.
There’s got to be more than this one little packet.
Please, please tell me there are more…
Posted in Brendan, Television | Comments Closed
Tuesday, December 6th, 2005
Dana and I decided to just go all the way with a “biopic grand slam,” and so we borrowed “Ray” from the library. Every so often I watch an Oscar-winner at work (Nicolas Cage in “Leaving Las Vegas” comes to mind) and I think, “Is this truly a performance that deserved an Academy Award?” This was definitely not one of those times. I’ll leave it to others more gifted than me to characterize Jamie Foxx’s phenomenal achievement.
As far as the movie goes, it makes “Beyond the Sea” look anemic by comparison—the difference between an obvious indie project and a big commercial picture with the highest production values. “Ray” is one of the best sounding Hollywood products in recent memory. The sound mixers deserved their awards every bit as much as the lead actor. Superbly directed, designed, and edited, the film is a technical masterpiece, but was it a better picture than “Million Dollar Baby?” No—because Clint delivers the full package that your heart is yearning for when you choose a movie like this. “Ray” has its moments—quite a few, and they’re exceptional—but failed to sustain a deep emotional connection for me. I cared more about whether Johnny Cash overcame his addiction in “Walk the Line,” and I really don’t think it was a function of who Ray Charles was or how good a job Jamie Foxx did.
I’ll continue to contemplate the similarities and contrasts of the four musical biographies I’ve discussed in my last two entries, and why one or another excelled in a particular area. In any case, each one of them is well worth the time, but now I plan to accept a couple new assignments in the spare-time department—the complete “Firefly” collection plus an early Paul Watkins novel…
Posted in Craftsmanship, Dana, Fiction, Movies, Music, Personalities, Television | Comments Closed
Saturday, December 3rd, 2005
Someday I’ll have to detail the story of how Dana and Pam, exasperated by the red tape and bureaucratic idiocy of the Medicaid system, decided to pick up the phone and call the Governor of Indiana. Long story short—his office cut through the nonsense and Bruce got the help he needed. My take on it was, “This is how government should work when government doesn’t work.”
Not long after that happened, I read George Will’s column about Mitch Daniels and the possibility that what he’s doing with Indiana state government is the wave of the future in the political world. I suddenly had this consuming desire to reassess my role as a Kentucky Commissioner—to develop a comprehensive vision and philosophical position with respect to my advocacy of bicycle and pedestrian issues. If I don’t have a coherent stance in support of non-motorized infrastructure enhancements, I run the risk of coming off as just another pork-barrel Republican or free-spending Democrat. I have to be able to articulate the advantages of increased exercise as a disease-reducing activity worthy of public investment versus the unchecked explosion of costs to maintain the Medicare/Medicaid entitlement promised to aging baby-boomers.
The way I see it, we have a window of opportunity to be proactive. If we don’t address the current and future demand side of the equation, we’ll never be able to handle the supply side commitments without screwing our combined standard of living and quality of life in America. We’ve concocted a scheme to overwhelm a health-care system that’s already too expensive (read my log entry from Thursday).
I’ve got to make sense of this. Maybe it could become a Clan project!
• Uncle Jerome could summarize the latest empirical evidence on exercise.
• Caitlan could investigate the macro-economic cost/benefit relationships.
• Brendan could explore how to communicate the practical aspects of alternative transportation.
• Ian could reinforce it all with an easy-to-digest philosophical paradigm that would fit on a 10th Planet T-shirt!
Relax, Uncle John… You’re really getting carried away this time.
Posted in Brendan, Caitlan, Dana, Exercise, Family, Ian, Jerome, Political Affairs, Priorities, Public Service | Comments Closed
Friday, December 2nd, 2005
I was mildly freaked out when Ian told me on Thanksgiving that he ordered “The Forger” based on my recommendation at this site. I hope he’s not disappointed. One never knows if another will have a response to a work of fiction similar to one’s own. I think he may find interesting the parallel between a young man living alone in Paris and his own solitary travel to an unfamiliar city.
But Halifax had it easy. He only had to deal with the Gestapo.
Posted in Family, Fiction | Comments Closed
Thursday, December 1st, 2005
— Month of November workout totals: Swim-7; Bike-0; Run-3; Lift-0; Yoga-0
— If I keep up this exercise pattern, I won’t be able to call myself a triathlete any more. It’s interesting that during these weeks of low-grade anxiety and stress, I’ve fallen back primarily on what was my “boyhood sport.” Since those days of backyard family fun and our frigid plunges at Dunn’s pool, swimming has always been my favorite physical activity. (Don’t tell anybody on the Bicycle Commission!) More than that, being a lifeguard enabled me to escape unpleasant fast-food and grocery jobs, providing a foundation of employment during my youth until I developed entry-level creative skills. Truthfully, I never understood why a young guy would want to work all day when he could build a nice tan while observing pretty girls in bikinis.
— Dana and I were badly in need of some soul nourishment, so we visited the Indianapolis Museum of Art this morning before our stop at the hospital. The special exhibition we “accidentally” found out about and then had to see—International Arts and Crafts—was even more astonishing than we’d hoped for. It was so phenomenally well-done, I have to think back to the famous Tutankhamen or Impressionist exhibitions, or my experiences at the Van Gogh, Rodin, or Tate galleries in Europe, to find any parallels. This one will stick with me for a long, long time and open up many new areas of personal investigation. The
Speed Museum was still open when we came through Louisville tonight, so we caught about an hour of Mary Ann Currier. Fortunately, her stunning work can be appreciated purely at the sensory level, because the show at the IMA had thoroughly exhausted my capacity for intellectual delight.
— I can’t get over the costs involved in maintaining Bruce‘s extraordinary care. Prior to his recent surgery I saw him get a 1-ml intramuscular injection that carried a $1,000 price tag. That’s a million dollars a liter, for cryin’ out loud! The night before we came home, the lab prepared a bag of custom-mixed IV nutrition that was worth $1,500, but for some unknown reason Bruce refused to take it. Certain people were not very happy about that. I’m beginning to think his months-long iron will is morphing into a bored, laid-back stubbornness. He needs to get out of the frickin’ hospital.
V & S
Posted in Art, Exercise, Family | Comments Closed
Wednesday, November 30th, 2005
Bruce is out of surgery, doing well, and will go directly back to the fifth-floor renal unit rather than into critical care, and that’s the best news of the day. The surgeon said he broke up and removed a pool of pus around the spleen the size of a “small dinner plate.” He irrigated the area and put in a “rubber-band drain.” When I asked him if he had to remove the spleen (something they warned might be necessary), he said, “No.” It looks to me like he tried to get the most benefit from the shortest procedure and smallest incision, since Bruce can’t handle much time under anaesthesia until he gets stronger. This postpones for another operation the intestinal reconnection and a minor pocket of infection around his nonfunctional, transplanted kidney, which could disappear on its own, if all goes well after today.
Pam said she was told that Bruce is only the second patient in the history of the medical center to survive this long after such a severe case of pancreatitis.
Ave, Ave, Ave, Maria.
Posted in Bruce, Family, Prayer | Comments Closed
Tuesday, November 29th, 2005
Yesterday my gray matter felt like a gooey mollusk, but today it’s firing in hypermode, typical of the period leading up to an Indy departure.
I sincerely look forward to seeing Bruce, while at the same time admitting that I detest almost everything else about these trips.
Posted in Angst, Family | Comments Closed
Monday, November 28th, 2005
Bruce‘s surgery is scheduled for Wednesday, so we plan to head out Tuesday evening. In order to keep the operation as short as possible, they plan to deal with the most troublesome pockets of infection by operating through his back.
I see I haven’t been very talkative in my recent entries, but I can’t explain it. Everything that’s going on right now evades my verbal capacities.
“When the mind is actively and vitally at work, for its own creative uses, it has no time for word-building: words are too clumsy: you have no time to select and group them. Hence you must think in terms of images, pictures, of states of feeling, of rhythm… Writing is but the slow, snail-like creeping of words, climbing laboriously over a little structure that resembles the thought: meanwhile the mind has gone on and on, here and yonder and back and out and back again.”
—Louis H. Sullivan, 1934
Posted in Blogging, Family, Personalities | Comments Closed
Sunday, November 27th, 2005
Our trip to Indy is on hold until we learn more about the surgeon’s outlook.
Posted in Family | Comments Closed
Saturday, November 26th, 2005
It looks like Bruce will find out on Monday how soon he’ll be having surgery, so I’ll be returning to Indianapolis with Dana tomorrow.
Posted in Dana, Family | Comments Closed
Friday, November 25th, 2005
My mom has a blog. How about yours?
Posted in Mombo | Comments Closed
Tuesday, November 22nd, 2005
When I saw huge crows crisscrossing above me, settling noisily into the tallest tree at McDowell Park, I knew that there was more than crisp November in the air.
…three, four, FIVE—the numerological indicator of change.
I found out Dana had called 9-1-1 so Bruce could be rushed to Methodist Hospital, and later I learned from Mombo that he was back in the critical care unit.
My prayer request is for stability and the resumption of his steady improvement.
Posted in Dana, Family, Mombo, Nature, Prayer | Comments Closed
Monday, November 21st, 2005
Yesterday I went to church at the Salvation Army, which inspired me to write a Thanksgiving prayer, so I treated myself to a sandwich at my neighborhood hang and wrote it out. I saw Tim and Jo Ann, learning that they’d been able to buy the infamous “Banker’s House” on Perryville Road and were in the midst of moving. They said that if they didn’t do it before the holiday, they might be too busy until January (Jo Ann) or April (Tim). Yep, that sounds about right for those two. I wondered how far into seven digits the sticker price climbed. They asked me how Bruce was doing. Given Tim’s long, long recovery from his accident, these are two people who understand the meaning of “slow progress.”
Afterwards I puttered around at home, taped plastic around the air conditioner in the mud room, and managed to fit in a nice cross-country run on Mack‘s Trails with Milton and Jim before joining the Strocks for an evening of relaxation. Terie invited me to share a delicious birthday dinner for Marty—venison chili with cornbread and salad, followed by cake and ice cream (mounds of it!), plus a DVD thriller with Kathryn Morris.
Later on, Marty and I both realized we were still in front of the tube watching, for no reason, a Will Ferrell movie with Mike Ditka that stunk to high heaven—because we politely assumed the other wanted to—so we promptly re-adjourned in front of the PS2, enabling the Galactic Empire to capture Hoth, the ice planet, and closed our night with a burst of energy.
Moral of the story— If you’re going to eat two bowls of chili, birthday cake and Breyers, be sure to run hills for five miles first.
Or maybe eight.
Posted in Birthdays, Exercise, Family, Food, Friends, Home, Marty, Movies, Personalities, Playtime, Prayer, Television | Comments Closed
Saturday, November 19th, 2005
— I reconfigured the screen saver on the Mac G4 Mini to display a sequence of abstractions by Kurt Schwitters. I can’t say why, but, as far as motivating me to make art, nothing of late has been more inspirational to me than the rule-shattering creations of this early 20-century master. One could say he basically invented the medium we know as collage (he certainly was the first to perfect it), and it won’t hurt if I can subconsciously absorb a wee bit of his genius. Did KK really go to Newcastle? My God, that’s the repository of the Schwitters “Merzbarn,” one of the most genuinely innovative artistic concepts of the last hundred years! I may never get to see it myself… Go back there, Caitlan; it’s in the Hatton Gallery at the University of Newcastle!
— Don’t know any details, but it seems as though conditions are imploding at the school where my sister Joan has worked for many years. I feel bad for her because I think I know what she’s going through. Dana and I still refer to the “Golden Age” at Wright State University Communications (where we first met) before that department went into a nose dive. Things were never the same. Some of our coworkers saw it coming early and escaped most of the madness. Dana and I saw the handwriting on the wall before many in our group, but we still had to endure six months of collapse until we made the leap and started our partnership and studio. Several of our friends tried to make the best of it and had to experience a lot of nastiness before what was left of our creative “dream team” had been totally dismantled. A few of us from those years started our own companies and continued to work with each other sporadically, and we keep in touch as friends to this day. Since then I’ve learned that good working relationships and situations can rarely be sustained indefinitely. Everything always changes. Undesirable situations can improve, but, unfortunately, great situations inevitably decline, or even crash and burn. There’s been quite an ebb and flow in our clientele since those days (26 years ago). It’s not that existing relationships will sour, but it’s more often a matter of the natural, dynamic flux in any organization’s personnel equation. Never underestimate the wake of change that can occur when outstanding people move on with their lives. It can cause a “brief, shining moment” to fade into personal mythology. The silver lining for me—I still have my “partner in all things” and my Clan, and that’s as close to permanent as I’ll ever know.
— Today Dana told me that Bruce had a bad night, but pulled through without having to go back to the hospital. He gets into vicious cycles of fever, nausea, low red cell count, weakness, low blood pressure, and then sometimes passes out when he tries to stand up, if he has the energy to move at all. I don’t know the actual sequence of it, but he manages to will himself forward, or he relies on his mother or Pam for the encouragement to ride it out when this happens. It apparently has something to do with dialysis, or the lingering infections, or another factor I’m not aware of. He told Dana this past week how much he wants to feel good again, and that he’s not giving up. Dana will stay with him until he improves enough that she can turn her role over to someone else. Until then, she must be there while Pam is at work. Meanwhile, I continue at the home-front and make my effort to get work, be productive, juggle the volunteer commitments that have a momentum I can’t control, and resist the kind of distractions I’ve always invited to avoid facing—right now—the full emotional impact of bearing life’s load (for example, making overly long blog entries).
V & S
Posted in Art, Blogging, Business, Caitlan, Creativity, Dana, Family, Friends, Home, Joan, Personalities, Priorities, Studio | Comments Closed
Wednesday, November 16th, 2005
“List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they’re any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now. Post these instructions in your Livejournal along with your seven songs. Then tag (at least) seven other people to see what they’re listening to.”
1. Sibelius: Violin Concerto, Op. 47 — Jascha Heifetz and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
2. Tchaikovsky: Manfred Symphony, Op. 58 — Riccardo Chailly and the Concertgebouw Orchestra
3. Fauré: Requiem — Charles Dutoit and the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal
4. Grieg: Sigurd Jorsalfar, Op. 22— Neeme Järvi and the Göteborgs Symfoniken
5. Romances for Saxophone — Branford Marsalis and the English Chamber Orchestra
6. Best of Mission: Impossible, Then and Now — Original TV Soundtracks by Lalo Schifrin and John E. Davis
7. That’s All There Is — Eric Copeland (Cooler)
I actually doubt if there are seven people who read this Weblog (and most of those who do have already been tagged), but, regardless of that, I’d like to know what music these clansfolk and friends are currently enjoying…
• Marty S
• Seth D
• Nic D
• Kristi H
• Josh D
• Holly H
• Rita D
• Lee S
• Andrew W
• Alyx D
• Jerome D
Posted in Family, Friends, Music, Personalities, Television | Comments Closed
