Walie wanted to play with toys all day. APS replaced our crashed hard drive with an even bigger one. I had a 150-yard PR time in the pool during my midday workout. The American economy continues to grow. I solved the cascading style sheets problem in the preliminary Website for Kentucky Trust Company. Dana had an informative talk with a local man who recovered from a case of pancreatitis worse than what Bruce has. Seth helped me put the finishing touches on “Pirate Revenge,” the final segment of my goofy “Houseboat Trilogy” (originated as a teen not much older than he). Discovery landed safely and the astronauts held a press conference. Josh had another night’s sleep at the Blue Bank Farm.
Archive for the ‘Current Events’ Category
Mombo-style recap
Tuesday, August 9th, 2005My heart is once again laden with gratitude
Sunday, August 7th, 2005After yesterday’s race, I had lunch with David in Lexington and hit the gun show, where we bought supplies for our deer ammo project and I bought a soft case for my Marlin. Dana and I made a connection, drove to Indy, and visited with Bruce until late. Today he mostly wanted to sleep, so we headed to Ohio. I read the conclusion of “The Sparrow” aloud, and the two of us discussed its themes for quite a while. When we got to Sydne’s marriage celebration in Bellbrook, it was a surprise to see her in a wheelchair She’d almost lost a big toe in a freak picture-hanging accident (that’s our Sydne!).
At the reception I struck up a conversation with a local couple, and found it hard to believe that they were of the World War II generation, since they looked younger than that. After about an hour, Ruth got Barney to open up a bit and I found out that he was personally decorated by President Truman. He’d been wounded three times—once by a sniper—and had successfully stormed a Japanese pillbox with a flame-thrower before being captured and sent to a POW camp on the Malay Peninsula, where he’d been tortured for information. I could see that his fingers were permanently disabled. I felt honored to have met him and he just averted his eyes when I expressed my appreciation for his service and the sacrifices he made. His attitude was made clear when he reminded me that he’d lost a lot of buddies and then told me this story: When he met Truman he said, “Mr. President, I don’t think I deserve this.” According to Barney, Truman replied. “I don’t give a damn what you think. Your commander says you deserve this.”
Before we left, Ruth said to me, “He’s been through a lot.”
Bruce… Barney… What have I ever been through?
Earlier in the day I’d read in the newspaper about a staff sergeant from Indiana who’d been injured in Iraq during the invasion and was now on his second tour, having just single-handedly taken out a suicide car bomber before his convoy could be harmed. He was recovering from shrapnel wounds to his face and head.
My Lord… may this nation continue to deserve such men.
(Josh is due to arrive home today for his two-week leave.)
Genuinely awe-inspiring
Wednesday, August 3rd, 2005Live helmet-cam coverage on C-SPAN 2 of a complex, unrehearsed spacewalk by two astronauts, requiring the coordinated efforts of the Shuttle Discovery crew, the International Space Station crew, and Johnson Space Center controllers—with one spacewalker pausing at the end to visually scan the surface of California until he was able to detect his hometown. (“My Goodness, what a long road from there to here…”) For a lifetime space-program geek, it just doesn’t get much better than that!
Lust for power, Kentucky style
Friday, July 22nd, 2005The Attorney General of my state is revealing himself as just another clever scoundrel, in keeping with the worst traditions of Kentucky politics. Will the Democrats of this Commonwealth transcend partisanship long enough to rebuke his self-serving manipulation of the legal process? I refuse to believe that my friend Basil left a distinguished (and comfortable) retirement in Danville so he could idiotically commit misdemeanors in Frankfort on behalf of the Governor. Yes, it’s a travesty, indeed… inflicting political damage through multiple indictments as if it’s a matter of scoring hit points in a role-playing game. If there’s actual evidence of wrongdoing, let the proper authority look into it—one that’s free from such a blatant conflict of interest.
Lad, you can handle only a taste
Wednesday, July 20th, 2005Tonight I drafted shamelessly off anybody whose wheel I could suck behind, but they still made me suffer on our 34-miler to Forkland and back. Multiple “knobs” make for tough cycling, but it’s got to be a mere fraction of a percent difficulty compared to racing in the Alps or Pyrénées.
I’ll gladly leave such feats to the gods…
The proper perspective
Tuesday, July 19th, 2005Yes, Tiger is back on top, but the King of Awesome never fell from supremacy in the first place.
Why all this ink about whether or not the impossible Nicklaus feat can be matched or bested? Tiger is young. Lance was actually doing the impossible, past the recognized prime of cyclists, as all those keyboards were tippity-tapping away!
The summer of 2005 will shine with blinding intensity in the history of sport not because Woods won a few more majors or because the beloved Golden Bear walked proudly off the stage, but because Armstrong did the inconceivable and retired at the pinnacle of athletic achievement. This past weekend proved it, and the sports editors are fools if they don’t begin to take notice and more adequately document a true legend in formation, as they did when Jack was untouchable, and as they surely will do when the full potential of Tiger’s career is manifest.
Various & Sundry, part twenty-one
Thursday, July 7th, 2005— If we need another grim reminder that the world is at war, this story makes it clear that we’re all potentially in harm’s way—especially when we leave the homeland—as Joan, Aunt Carol, and Uncle Bob are planning to do this weekend. Manolo, get out your Blessing Engine. Meanwhile, the rest of us will pray—hard.
— Speaking of Bobs, I’ve known a few in my life. A Bob is never wishy-washy, but invariably an exceptional guy (occasionally you’ll encounter one who is distinctly uncool), and always makes an impression. This Bob is one of my favorites, and so I’ll do my part to extend his 15 minutes of fame.
— At Aunt Alma’s funeral I talked to cousin Don (accomplished musician and former CEO of Rolodex), and, without any prompting from me, he declared Centre professor Vince DiMartino as the greatest living Jazz trumpet virtuoso. Hmm… At the Brass Band Festival, Vince gave the honor to his friend Allen Vizzutti. Anyway, here’s a montage I made from shots I took during the Festival, so you can see the world’s finest trumpet player in action, whichever one he is!
Josh—be safe and secure until you come home
Wednesday, July 6th, 2005The latest news is that my nephew has lost another fellow Guardsman. There is no doubt that the mission of the 623rd in Iraq is extremely dangerous. Nothing yet about whether Josh was assigned to the convoy that day.
Oh, the humanity
Sunday, July 3rd, 2005I won’t miss this
Saturday, July 2nd, 2005A must-have “peep-hole” for the desktop.
Whatever happens—the thrill of monumental victory or the agony of shattering defeat—this shall be made manifest at a level one rarely gets to observe in the world of sport. (Secretariat in the Belmont, Ali in Zaire, Gardner topples Karelin from Olympus, Donald James Larsen on the 8th of October, Edwin Moses unapproachable, Gretzky unstoppable, Spitz in the water, Nicklaus in the zone, Arnold dominant, Jordan supreme…)
How many things are actually very, very good?
This is going to be very very good.
Various & Sundry, part twenty
Friday, July 1st, 2005— Month of June workout totals: Swim-8; Bike-1; Run-0; Lift-0; Yoga-1.
— If the state of my exercise program gets any more pathetic, I’ll be counting the times I cut the lawn with Uncle Art’s old mechanical push mower.
— Lots of people reach a point in their career and then say, “I think I’ll retire.” A few say, “I think I’ll do something really amazing and then retire.” One man says, “I think I’ll eat all the paintings in the Louvre, bed every woman in Paris, kick over the Eiffel Tower, and then retire.”
— And, by the way, if you think there’s too much rancor in the nation’s capital, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.
The stench of political decomposition
Thursday, June 30th, 2005Politics can often be an ugly thing, whether it’s business, entertainment, or on a university campus (which is almost as nasty as Hollywood). With government, it tends to be rather public, of course, because media types tend to think that elected officials are the only politicians. There’s a festering brew of ugliness seeping out of Frankfort now, as the Kentucky capital sheds decades of one-party rule. It’s hitting close to home, because we’ve learned that one of our friends and former clients—he left retirement to help the new governor clean up the mess in state government—is being pulled personally into a growing controversy that isn’t anywhere close to dying down. It’s already damn ugly—especially if you don’t like the appearance of maggots hard at work on something rotten—and it’s going to get worse before it gets better…
A time of horror vs a shining moment of solidarity
Tuesday, June 28th, 2005Dana and I took time tonight to have a nice dinner at Two Roads Cafe in Danville, sharing a Cabernet from my favorite Washington State winery, Chateau Ste Michelle. I remember first learning of it during a riverboat cruise we attended for the wedding rehearsal dinner of a former Centre intern. It wasn’t long after September 11 and I was wearing my flag lapel pin, which attracted a New Yorker who was present. He expressed his thanks to me for the show of support (yes, he took my gesture as personally significant to him—you have to recall the mood of the times), and we enjoyed each other’s friendship as he kindly introduced me to a family of reliably fine wines before we said our farewells later that evening.
When I think back to experiences like that, I wish that it was easier for us humans to discern the core essentials of life at times other than peril, tragedy, or loss…
Various & Sundry, part nineteen
Sunday, June 26th, 2005— Richard Benedetto’s recent column rests on that blurry line between news reporting and opinion, but it’s nevertheless a thought-provoking read. It’s title, “Turning old enemies into friends has long benefited the U.S.” makes me think about the other side of the coin: “Turning old enemies’ enemies into new enemies has long been the role of the U.S.” That’s the part of this issue most would agree on. And with the way things are, that’s probably the only part.
— The enormous virus/spam wave that’s going on right now is a huge problem. That’s why I get such a kick out of finding a sparkle of joy in the whole mess: Spam as Folk Art—the only silver lining out there. Last week my email service had 1.6 million mails hit their machines. Some 500,000 were rejected as viruses, and a bit over 800,000 rejected as spam, leaving some 200,000 or so to be delivered as legitimate mail (hopefully), but some crap does get through. I feel for all the “good guys” trying hard to stay on the back of this tiger. Somewhere out there is a young vigilante looking for his cause. A suggestion: 1) round up every spammer and virus writer, 2) make them swallow an overdose of viagra while getting an enema bag of liquified mortgage applications on the other end. (Uh-oh… I told Brendan’s mom that this would be a mom-friendly blog).
— Just in case you notice half a grand of spare cash sitting on your dresser top, and you don’t particularly care for shooting real handguns, add a Han Solo Blaster to your cart (or, for the more civilized, a nifty lightsaber).
— OK, it’s time to be serious. Good news from Bruce
personally; they talked to him about his eventual transfer to a rehabilitation center, which is a clear sign that his medical situation is improving in a positive and predictable way. See that light at the end of the tunnel, my son? I pray you’re there in no time!
— Best wishes to my brother Jay and his bride Glenda, who got hitched in Liberty this morning among a large contingent of our Clan. God bless you both, and may all our dreams meet to expand His glory.
Calling Benton Quest, calling Benton Quest
Monday, June 20th, 2005After the Y2K doomsday scenario dissolved and then the family was unable to put together a comprehensive emergency action plan in the wake of September 11, I guess I’d had enough of preparing for potential calamity. But a recent warning from Frank Gaffney about the EMP threat almost makes me think I should become a card-carrying Crashologist again. G-bo used to talk about EMP as a clear and present danger, but never suggested what could be done about it at the personal level beyond the fundamentals. Maybe I need to look into this more deeply, although it probably comes back to the basics of surviving any catastrophe—clean water, nutrition, shelter, power, communications, medical care, and self defense.
I understand, dear reader, that you might see a name like Gaffney and think, “He’s one of those right-wing think tankers who’s actively helping Rumsfeld and Cheney reshape the entire U.S. power structure.” Just keep in mind that when I check out the Websites that work to expose all these scary conservatives, I usually say, “Wow, these guys are great!”
The prince of perseverance vs the king of irrelevance
Tuesday, June 14th, 2005With another successful surgery behind him, Bruce is back in a critical care room until he’s stable enough to return to his “home away from home” on the seventh floor (Solid Organ Transplant unit). When they “hosed him out” this time around, a major section of large intestine had to be removed, along with his gall bladder. As he faces down the pain with his characteristic stoicism, he’s optimistic that this is the turning point that will put him on a firm path to recovery.
ps — Meanwhile, I don’t care about Michael Jackson or his brothers. I don’t care about the jurors. I’m not interested in their private circumstances. I don’t want to know speculative opinions about their motivations. I couldn’t give a rat’s ass if they decided to exonerate him, admonish him, coronate him, or personally administer a lethal injection. (I just wanted to make that clear.)
There must be something about this I don’t get
Monday, May 23rd, 2005Here’s the way I’d characterize what the Republican majority in the U.S. Senate is proposing:
“We want to prohibit a parliamentary practice that has rarely, if ever, been used prior to the election of George W. Bush, specifically, the filibustering of judicial nominees, and would leave the rule intact to employ in legislative matters.”
That doesn’t seem to me, despite the rhetoric of Democrat leaders, to be a radical assault on our system of government.
Ghuy’cha’ hoch
Wednesday, May 4th, 2005I knew the global War on Terror was going to get nasty, but nobody said anything about Klingons!
Various & Sundry, part fifteen
Sunday, May 1st, 2005— Month of April workout totals: Swim-5; Bike-0; Run-4; Lift-0.
— Just when I was determined to boost the frequency of my fitness sessions to get in triathlon shape, the cookie began to crumble, everything hit the fan, the wheels fell off, and the pooch was screwed…
— What do you do with a Jennifer Wilbanks? Has she had time to contemplate what a thoughtless, selfish, and ultimately cruel thing she’s done? On the one hand, you have the family, with the job of loving and nurturing a very mixed-up woman old enough to know better. On the other hand, you have the authorities, with the job of ensuring effective deterrence and managing the limited resources of taxpayers. Court-ordered counseling? A public apology to volunteers? Ample community service among Hispanics? An invoice for the overtime hours clocked by each peace officer involved? Perhaps all of the above… Nevertheless, my hope is that she finds a new direction for her life and in some way learns to put others before herself. May she find the inner strength to use her inadvertent celebrity to do more good than the harm and pain she’s already caused. And one more thing: every sensational media outlet that milks the aftermath should donate the profits to assist the victims and families of actual abductions.
— Maybe I’m thinking about the Wilbanks affair because this morning I met six young people, three men and three women, who are leaving to spend the summer in Russia and Chile helping others have a better life. It’s an adventure into the unknown for them, but I can tell their real motive is to serve—to be Love in action.
— Speed bump. That’s the message from Indianapolis concerning Bruce. He’s still waging war against infection and having his ups and downs. It remains a difficult situation, now that he’s back on drugs that suppress his immune system (to prevent rejection of the transplanted kidney that’s miraculously kicked back in).
Various & Sundry, part fourteen
Tuesday, April 19th, 2005— It’s a perplexing day when the media decides to focus on the naming of a new pope instead of the monumental story of the year: that Lance Armstrong will retire!
— Joan tells me it’s difficult for her to read this log on her computer because each entry is a single, horribly long horizontal line of text that scrolls endlessly. Must be a problem with her browser settings, and I hope it can be fixed. Don’t stop reading, Sis! I can’t afford to lose 50% of my fan base!
— I have no idea how it ended up in the library of the University of Indiana Medical School, or why it’s on display, but Marty and I couldn’t deny ourselves a close look at the death mask of John Dillinger. It’s got to be one of the creepiest damn things I’ve ever seen, not because of the casting itself, but how it was so amateurishly hand colored. And while we’re on the subject of creepy, you’ll find a whole archive of death masks at Thanatos.net.
— I remember Joe scolding me the time I made a condescending remark about Pookie, explaining that he just needed to find his identity as a dog, and, if we gave him a chance, he would. I never thought about Pookie the same way after that, and now it gives me a bit of pleasure (within the sorrow) to know that he got the second chance that Joe could see and I couldn’t.
— Bruce is breathing on his own and striving to gain the upper hand against his numerous infections. I try to accept how often they put him through yet another test, but that’s just the nature of modern pharmacological care. They try to match the drug to the bug. Dana is by his side at the hospital while I hold the fort at the studio. According to her latest report, he’s able to maintain a good, steady rate of respiration and cough productively, much better that when the ventilator was removed before. They’ve taken away the special bed that rotated and vibrated his chest. The PT seemed pleased that he’d gained strength since the previous therapy. The nephrologist cancelled the scheduled dialysis. Nobody has made an official statement that he won’t require it again, but the kidney numbers are normal. My son is a freakin’ warrior! God bless him up one side and down the other!
Various & Sundry, part twelve
Friday, March 25th, 2005— I woke up this morning with a distinct phrase in my mind: magnesium fusion triggers. Look, I don’t drive the thing. I’m just ridin’ shotgun…
— Marty called last night and we talked about a subject that’s totally captured his excitement, the new Sony PS Portable. Hey, you’re allowed to get excited about something like this when you’re thirteen. For me, at that age, it was probably Art Linkletter’s “The Game of Life,” or something like that. However, I can’t help but think of this quote from Ben Stein: “I tremble for the day that the next generation has to provide for themselves with what they have learned from their video games.” Relax, Ben. They’ve probably learned more than I ever learned from watching too many hours of “The Avengers,” “The Prisoner,” “Hawaii Five-0” and “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.”
— From what I can discern through the Associated Press, Josh and his 623rd Field Artillery unit was with the convoy that came under attack on Sunday morning, but it stayed with the trucks during the battle and sustained no casualties (from a Bruce Schreiner byline story).
— The new brochure we created for the Brass Band Festival is a major hit, according to our friend who’s retiring as director of the Visitor’s Bureau. I told her I hoped our work makes a good impression with her successor. She said she thought it would and will put in a good word for us. Sounds promising, but the new person brings strong connections to her former employer, a previous client of ours turned competitor. All I can do is stay positive and make my case at the appropriate time. I’d insert a link to the Festival, but the site is just too ugly. Wait a second! This is a job for Website Makeover™ Man!
— Dana and I are heading back up to Indy today to check on Bruce. Normally I have my Rotary Club meeting, but we’re dismissed for Good Friday, so we’ll deal with any urgent matters in the studio and then hit the road before it gets too late.
— I decided to google for “magnesium fusion triggers” and found myself reading an overview at GlobalSecurity.org about special weapons facilities on the Indian subcontinent. OK, so what am I supposed to be more scared of, the metastasis of the World Wide Web, unchecked nuclear proliferation in South Asia, or my own dadburn subconscious?
Various & Sundry, part eleven
Thursday, March 24th, 2005— Now that the corner has been turned, and Bruce’s life has been preserved, he faces a difficult future, short- and long-term. A tough row to hoe, as they say. Today it appears as though the doc has given up on salvaging his transplanted kidney—too little function, too much chronic deterioration. This means more dialysis, a process which Bruce grew to loath, and will surely dread to accept back into his life on any regular basis. It may be several more hours before his awareness clears enough for him to evaluate his choices (or lack thereof). He’s being moved from intensive care to progressive care, and taken off anti-rejection drugs, narcotics, steroids, and sedatives, plus he’ll be down to a single tube—oxygen. One of the reasons they doped him is because he became combative and ripped out the nasal/gastric tube at least twice (as I might have, too, had I been in his situation). Or maybe I have that backwards (side effects of medication causing aggressive behavior and colorful use of language). In any case, the outlook is encouraging, but I’ll keep up my prayers. It’s likely that there will be more bumps in the road…
— If I came up with an idea for a new method of capital punishment—slow death by starvation—would it be declared cruel and unusual? If authorities came into your home and discovered all the pets were dead, would they say, “…within his rights—slow death by starvation.”? Sorry, just thinking rhetorically here. (Did I do the punctuation correctly on that?) “…I can’t imagine why, the world has time enough to cry.”
— As an avid watcher of Brian Lamb’s “Booknotes,” I was disappointed when he wrapped the 800-show series on C-SPAN. Listening to writers talk about writing makes me want to write. Listening to politicians talk about politics doesn’t make me want to run for office. Listening to artists talk about art definitely makes me want to make art. Now the only other good interview show with the classic all-black set is Charlie Rose. I think Rose is at his best when he’s talking to artists. Not that he doesn’t demonstrate the same level of skill when interviewing journalists and politicians, but I guess he tends to insert more opinions that sometimes irritate me. His recent conversation with Daniel Day-Lewis and his astonishingly brilliant and beautiful wife, Rebecca Miller (daughter of the late Arthur Miller), was just about as good as television ever gets. How in the world does he get these creative people to relax and describe the inexpressible aspects of their talent and craft? His style is totally different than Lamb’s, but they both make it look so easy. Not the performance (if that’s what you can call it), but the technique of coaxing the guest to say things that are genuinely interesting. I made the mistake of watching a perfunctory interview with Clint Eastwood, leading up to the Oscars, and the interviewer managed to avoid steering him to a single topic that was remotely enlightening… quite a feat, actually.