the autumn bullet list update+

I love this photo I saw on the Boston Globe site, attributed simply to Reuters, of construction workers flying a banner during the Red Sox rolling rally. They apparently didn’t have any white paint to cover up the misspelled D-corrected-to-T in CONGRATULATIONS. And you just know the “Yankees Still Suck” was added after a lot of heated discussion that probably resulted in the loser walking away with the can of orange paint.

Now it’s the first Wednesday night in many months without a baseball game to watch on television. There are dozens of other things I need to be doing (instead of browsing the Red Sox gallery). But I didn’t want to see the month of October 2007 go by without a blog update. Plus it’s Halloween night and I’m upstairs having turned all the lights out downstairs because I didn’t buy candy for trick or treaters. It just wasn’t on my radar. Marlin is always excited and ready for Halloween, but he’s been in L.A. for more than two weeks now tending to his mother who is quite ill.

There’s been a lot going on since my last blog update (7 weeks! give or take…). Some of it was incredibly wonderful and some was incredibly maddening. I could sit for hours writing and editing, but even I probably wouldn’t want to read a lot of it. Instead, I’m opting for the bullet list update of the last two months. In no particular order:

• Alaskan Cruise. If you’ve visited the gallery in the past month you’ve probably noticed another 50+ photos. We went to Seattle for a couple days, then took a week-long cruise to Alaska. Friends, fun, food and drink, glaciers, whales, eagles … a delightful time.
• Stomach Ulcer. Nights with little-to-no sleep, stomach cramps, vomiting … I puked so hard one night I broke a blood vessel in my eyeball. After the tests and diagnosis, I was on drugs for 2+ weeks and was finally back to eating regularly at about the half-way point of our cruise.
• I don’t drink coffee any more. This is as shocking for me to type as it will be for many friends to read it. But mostly because of the ulcer, I have transitioned to using tea as my caffeine delivery beverage of choice.
• Hit and Run. When we returned home after the cruise I had a rather unpleasant surprise awaiting me: someone sideswiped my truck while we were away. Dents on front fender and driver’s door, scrape marks the entire length of the truck. Probably a drunk driver.
• A Dreaded Settlement Letter. I could write volumes about this, but due to the situation I’ll be somewhat vague since my settlement was negotiated anonymously. Lawyers for some Really Incredibly Annoying Assholes came after me for some alleged peer-to-peer filesharing. The settlement cost less than what it would have cost to fight the allegations. And as this lawsuit demonstrated (merely days after my settlement was finalized), it could have been a helluva lot worse had I fought it.
• Baseball. Ah yes, the Red Sox. The American League East is ready for a new dynasty.
• Football. Penn State’s in a rebuilding year; the Steelers haven’t found a consistent identity yet but are probably still a playoff team; the Patriots are scary good; and my fantasy football team is 4-4 after 8 weeks and still in search of a running back that is a threat to put a few points on the board each week.
• Home Renovations: Don’t ask! While on the cruise we talked about a re-dedicated commitment to getting the living room done by the holidays. But due to current circumstances, it’s not happening. Looks like we’ll be sitting on porch furniture in our living room and will have to pull the drop cloth off the TV to watch football on Thanksgiving.
• Feline Food Allergies: Unfortunately, Miss Tux has seen a return of her food allergies. We had it all under control until mid-summer when the venison-based dry food we had been using was part of the second wave of pet food recalls. Now we’re back to a very limited and restricted diet for the cats, and her symptoms are clearing up. But now we have to purchase all of our cat food through mail order.

I’m probably forgetting something along the way, but that fills in most of the blanks from the past couple months. I hope your autumn has been fantastic thus far.