So what the heck is this all about..........

We recently had a baptism for our youngest grandchild in Chicago, little Petey. Everything was going well, the ceremony was beautiful, all our kids were able to be there, from St. Louis, and LA and Chicago, and a lot of other family and friends. So what do I do?.....I start to get flippy and my heart rate goes up and I feel like I'm going to pass out. Lots a fun, I am.....
So long story short, I miss the whole after party, and end up going to the ER. Everything checks out ok, except I have an elevated pulse, and what does that mean....So back home for some tests and an "Event recorder" for two days....and a thalium test for heart function....
This bites, to use the current slang.
It may be high bp, or anxiety, may be something to do with dehydration, or the sun, or maybe aliens have overtaken my body....I don't know.
Hopefully soon to find out.
Is there anything more boring than listening to someone talk about their medical condition......
Sorry....

DUCK AND COVER

AS A KID GROWING UP IN THE 50'S AND 60'S, THE FEAR WE HAD WAS THAT THE RUSSIANS WOULD BOMB US. I RECALL THE SIGHT OF GIANT MISSLES RISING UP ON THEIR DERRICKS, READY TO HURTLE DEATH OUR WAY.
OF COURSE, WE WERE GOING TO BE OK, ESPECIALLY IF AN ATTACK OCCURRED DURING SCHOOL HOURS, BECAUSE ALL WE HAD TO DO WAS PUT OUR HEADS UNDER OUR DESKS.
IN RETROSPECT, THIS TECHNIQUE WAS AKIN TO PUTTING OUR HEADS IN THE SAND.
WHAT WE REALLY WERE DOING IS GETTING OUR SELVES IN POSITION TO KISSING OUR $%##@ GOODBYE.
TODAYS THREATS ARE MORE REAL, WITH A GREATER PROBABILITY OF HAPPENING, BUT WITH FAR LESS POTENTIAL EFFECT. BUT THEN, IF SOME CRAZY DUDE GETS THE IDEA TO BLOW UP A DIRTY BOMB AT A BALL GAME......
AH...LIFE.

NBA HOOPS REVISITED

Well, the Spurs and Pistons showed me something. In what I think was a record low scoring NBA final, I saw a game that I will probably come back to next year. Defense was a key, and the 3 point shot was almost all but taken away as a result. Not like the college game, where the trey is an offensive mainstay. Still, I was amazed at how fast these guys are, given their size. True athletes, yes they are. That in itself was worth the watch. Manu Ginobli, who looks like Balki from that show with Cousin Larry, Perfect Strangers.....that dude can play. He should have been MVP....
Now it is back to baseball....this is the year for the Cardinals...last years October was an abberation, a misalignment of the stars...Boston will never repeat what they did, winning 7 straight post-season games...
GO REDBIRDS!!

NBA HOOPS

I just can't get into the whole NBA thing anymore....you cant't pry me away from the college game, especially during March Madness..but the pro's leave me cold. It's not a racial thing, especially since so many of the players are now coming from Europe and other countries. Maybe it is the whole thing about how incredibly rich they all are...but then, look at baseball, which I will watch at any level, and the outrageous money that is being thrown around there.
So, tonite I am going to give the 7th game with the Spurs and the Pistons a look.
Maybe I can get back into it.

Summer memories

Coming home to lunch for fried baloney sandwiches and mom pouring hot water down my throat everytime I swallowed an ice cube from drinking grape koolade from a sweating tin lime green tumbler that probably caused cancer but made the koolade sooooooooo cold and then going back to playing baseball in jeans and a white t-shirt until the shirt was gray and dirt streaked and waiting on the porch with two gloves til dad came home from work and no matter how tired he was he would take a few minutes to play catch........Father's day and it's three years he has gone ...I miss him more the longer it gets....went by the old house the other day with my youngest Joanie....funny how everything always seems so much smaller....there was the yard where we threw that old Mr. Rawlings back and forth, back and forth.......I told Joanie how me and my brother used to jump off the roof of the garage on the side of the house...she laughed, and I guess it was because she could almost see her old dad as a nutty little kid, rolling around on the grass by the hill on Wilson's yard, 'cause it hurt so bad when you first hit the ground....only to get up the ladder and do it again.....told mom today as my daughter Kate and her son patrick (bubba) went to lunch....she was shocked..."I guess I didn't watch you close enough" she said with a laugh.... I guess that's why I am equally shocked when I hear some of the goofy stunts my own kids tried when they were young and indestructible.............you just don't think anyone could be as stupid as you were...............

TALENT

All my life I wanted to play the guitar. Most guys my age dreamed of being like Clapton or the Beatles or wailing like Jimmie Hendrix. The best I can do is pull some chords on my old acoustic. I am trying to get my 14 year old daughter interested so I can have an excuse for getting a cheap starter electric.........you know, guitar and amp for under $200....that we both can use. Son Joe out in LA has been getting pretty good on his...taking lessons...trying to get into a band...living every boys dream.
Maybe he'll teach me when he comes home.
Of course the issue of talent comes in here. Of which I have none. And short fingers...not a good combination for five-string prowess.

THE JOY OF NAPPING

With apologies to Joyce Kilmer, "I think that I shall never see, something so wonderful as a ..nap."
I can sleep on concrete, in the car, sitting up...and much to the dismay of my wife, can fall asleep mid-sentence as we lie in bed, discussing this or that. While it takes her sometimes an hour to hit slumberland, I have already entered into my first REM cycle. This serves me well, since I can also hit the pillow mid-day and knock off an easy hour-hour and a half of downtime. Sometimes the kids are sent up to check my breathing.
Oh, well. Just another one of my many talents...........