Connections

Gainesville

Your first shiner, Mom? How did you live such a long and adventurous life without at least one? I've had several, the most memorable of which was when my dog Twist accidentally mugged me when I was out walking him late at night. Playing one of our games to give him exercise, him running back and forth to the ends of his retractable leash, we both zigged when one of us was supposed to zag, and we clonked foreheads. Since he outweighed me, he won, and I landed flat on my back. Asphalt is more forgiving than concrete, for sure, but blood poured out of my nose for awhile, and the next day both eyes were black. I looked like a fly-weight who'd climbed into the ring with Ali in his prime.

Somewhat less pain today, and different. Lower back is now the worst of it. There are three modes: (1) no pain (when I'm sitting still); (2) moderate pain (when I'm moving around) and (3) hideous short term pain when I go from (1) to (2). I guess that's an improvement.

Couldn't drag myself out of bed to go with Bill in the morning, but by noon I was okay, and luckily it was one of those days when his schedule allowed him to pick me up for lunch. He had Barbara in tow, and we ate at Olive Garden.

Barbara happened to mention that her husband John has developed "a strange quirk" since retiring: he's become addicted to The Daily Show. "Me too!" I squeeked, before I could stop myself. Bill said, "Aha!" I'd not admitted my addiction to him yet-- still in denial, maintaining the fiction that "The happy retirees of Suztopia do not watch daytime TV." Barbara asked if I watched the Colbert Report too... well, of course! John and I have so many interests in common it's scary sometimes. I see him in person maybe once every 3-4 years, but we're always somehow on the same page.

Spent the rest of the afternoon working in Special Collections. Got back in synch with Mil and boxes, numberings, locations, etc. And showed him my latest file, and the title sort. Also spoke briefly to Jim, who will in charge of the new collection. He confirmed that the comics and the Belknap Performing Arts collections will both be moving to a compact storage area on the first floor of Library East. That at least provides a basis for making plans for how handle stuff from here. I will meet with him next week to talk this over.

When we left the Library at around 7:00, the air was just awful-- full of hazy smelly smoke. There is another fire to the southeast of us. This is only going to get worse, unless it rains soon. The azaleas and magnolias in the yard have never looked worse: I'll be surprised if we don't loose some of them, drought-resistant though they are. We need to do some fire-proofing around the house-- get rid of everything around the perimeter that might burn. Easier said than done, believe me.

Mom, I think Bill Fendrich's problem is using your old email address-- same thing that happened when we tried to change you over to the new blogger. You are right: the best thing you can do to help diagnose the problem is to send him an email and ask him to respond using REPLY. If that works, then he needs to change your address in whatever his mail system uses for "contacts." This is the fun of trouble-shooting, of course-- there are so many systems, and the terminology and user interface (what it looks like) for each one is just enough different to be hateful.

I need to go finish up the last few pages of Walt & Skeezix. Sandy, if you haven't finished it already, you are in for wonderful stuff.