Doctor Day - Again

So I had another couple of days devoted to doctors and appointments. It had nothing to do with the NDPH, but rather a recurring sore on my cheek. It seems that is takes so many doctors and specialists these days to get things done. This was my second appointment for the sore.

But that is not the reason I write today. No, rather it seems that in this day of computers and internet we are still required to fill out reams of forms when we visit a new doctor--which I sadly have done a lot more than I would like to admit lately.

And the forms are all filled out long hand in pen in the doctor's office before the first appointment. Why couldn't they have provided me with a website to complete the paperwork before hand and then had me just certify it in their presence. I mean--how many times do I really want to answer the question about all of the medicines and vitamin supplements that I am currently taking? And I tell you--it is too many to remember, I'd use a cut and paste function on the computer to get them all.

My experience yesterday was with a dermatologist. It was generally good--right up until she wanted to cut out a piece of my face. You know you are in trouble when they bring in the consent form and tell you that the xylocaine is going to hurt like a bee sting, and then laughingly they add it could be a big or small bee sting. Wait--I thought xylocaine was supposed to deaden the pain????

Small bee sting as it turned out.

And after the sawing was completed, the cauterizing began and I cracked a joke about the room smelling like burning flesh, oh yeah, it was my burning flesh.

Hopefully, I will soon get to the bottom of the recurring sore on my cheek and get my dashingly good looks back.

OK--so I'm not dashing.

Suffice it to write--another day, another doctor.

Here's hoping my 57th year gets better as it goes along and my visits to doctors decrease dramatically.

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Camden Yards Finale for 2011

Last night, Chris and I made our final sojourn to Camden Yards to see the Orioles play baseball for the 2011 season.We went to see some meaningful September baseball since the Red Sox, whom the O's were playing, are battling for a playoff spot. The final game of the season is tonight--but let night I went to see the Red Sox lose, which they did not do.


I got frustrated with the game in the sixth inning after the Red Sox took an 8-3 lead. It was a slow plodding game punctuated by Red Sox home runs and then inadequate responses by the O's. Although the final score was 8-7, the outcome was never really in doubt. Thankfully, the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Yankees so thoughts game will be equally as important since the Rays and Red Sox are tied for the Wild Card entry into the post season.

So, during the sixth inning Chris an I left our seats, wished Dave our usher a happy off season, and headed off to walk around the park and enjoy the sights and smells for one last evening.

We walked down Eutaw Street looking at the vendors and marveling at the playing field from the perspective of the famous flag court where so many lefties hit home runs. We went into the Orioles Store and checked out the over-priced wares. We heard the home run siren scream one last time as Adam Jones hit a shot to make the score 8-4.

And then it was time to say good-bye to the stadium I enjoy so much and head off to the car. I had lost interest in the game, sadly. Even the most ardent Orioles fan can lose interest when the team is performing so poorly in all aspects of the game--base running, fielding, pitching, and timely (or not timely) hitting.

There is next year. There is always, it seems, next year. We'll get them then. Play-off baseball will return to Baltimore next year, I hope.

And as we walked out the gate, for the final time in 2011, I said good-bye to another piece of summertime. The boys of summer are giving way to the boys of fall. And it shows.

I was even searching for Penguins tickets at one point during the game, if you can believe that.

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Matt Wigler - House Concert Review

Saturday evening Chris and I attended another house concert in the series provided by Cellar Music House Concerts. Sadly, this concert was not heavily attended, probably because of the type of music--Matt Wigler is a jazz and blues pianist, composer, organist, and singer.

I admit, I am not a huge jazz and blues fan, but Saturday night changed my view of this genre of music. Matt, accompanied by Mike Aubin on the drums, provided a hugely entertaining, dynamic, and varied performance full of energy and enthusiasm for the music. Most importantly, it was fun!


Matt and Mike displayed a comfortable, jam session like attitude and ease right from the start. Their ability to improvise on the fly was obvious and that they play and work together a great deal was evident. Matt's piano work was fantastic and at one point I thought I would need to get a bucket of water to cool off the keys on the piano because his hands were flying over them so quickly making music that I was sure they were getting hot.

Matt is a talented vocalist as well and his singing ability simply highlights his multifaceted talent as a pianist, organist, singer, and songwriter. I was impressed that he was a visiting artist at the Strathmore Artist in Residence this past year and it shows in is music. His own compositions displayed a variety and depth in style and composition that highlighted a maturity in music beyond is years. They were interesting and complex in design with competing rhythms and themes. I admit, my favorite pieces of the evening were the Boogie Woogie ones which were cried by his ability to play a strong bass line.

This was a great concert and I need to also highlight Mike Aubin's smooth percussion work which complimented, and at times led, the performance. The two musicians appeared to work together effortlessly and easily through some really difficult pieces.

Gary and Pam--Cellar Music House Concerts hit another home run. Keep them coming.

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Thanks for the Birthday Greetings

This is just a simple thank you to everyone who took a moment from their day to wish me Happy Birthday. I really appreciate it and was humbled by your greeting.

thanks.


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Monday Musings - September 26, 2011

1. I went to a fabulous house concert Saturday evening to see a piano prodigy play jazz and blues music for which I gained a new appreciation. I'm working on a review for tomorrow.

2. Sometimes I need to take a decorating risk--and I talked Chris into that with our crown moulding. All in all it looks really good.

3. Fantasy Football is fickle.

4. We watched Ben, Jeremy's Keeshond, for the past week and it always made me smile to be greeted at the door by my pair-o-kees.

5. Today is my birthday. There is something special about a day that you can call your own. I am not a huge fan of my own birthday, but I would love to know more people who share this day with me. That written, I am honored to share my birthday with Johnny Appleseed (1774), Pope Paul VI (1897), Carlene Carter (1955), and Serena Williams (1981).

6. Alternatively, some famous people have died on my birthday, too. These include Daniel Boone (who knew? 1820), John Byron (1763), and Paul Newman (2008).

7. One of the hardest decisions it seems that I am asked to make is deciding what I want to do for my birthday evening. There are so many options that I want to do them all.



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Football-- The Opiate of the Masses

I remember from my school days that an infamous man, Karl Marx, once wrote that "Religion is the opiate of the people." His meaning was very sinister and he devoted himself to eradicating religion through his writings that say that true happiness cannot be found until religion is eradicated. He wrote, "The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness. To call on them to give up their illusions about their condition is to call on them to give up a condition that requires illusions. The criticism of religion is, therefore, in embryo, the criticism of that vale of tears of which religion is the halo."

As I sit here in front of my TV this Sunday afternoon with the DirecTV Red Zone channel keeping me informed of the progress of every NFL game happening at the moment, I realize that football may have replaced religion as the illusion we use to make us happy, at least during the NFL season which runs from the draft until the Super Bowl.

Now I know this may be an unpopular thought--but when compared against organized religion, I would believe that the NFL has a larger following. Even I have rushed from my church pew on a Sunday morning to my home to partake of the NFL Sunday. And while church may only last just over an hour, the NFL lasts nine hours on Sunday and an additional three on Monday nights, before the Thursday night football games even kick into gear.

Does football make me happy? Sure. It makes me forget the mess that our country is in with a dysfunctional leadership. And that the economy is not getting better. And that while my expenses are rising, my income is static.

Yet football makes it all better. And I prefer baseball, but with the Orioles tanking so bad, I don't get as excited about the game as I used to. Fourteen consecutive losing seasons will do that for you.

And so, at least for Americans--NFL Football has replaced religion as the opiate for the masses--or as Marx wrote, the people.



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Saddest Day of the Year

While for some people summer ends on Labor Day and for others summer ends on the first day of autumn; for me, summer ends with the annual closing of my pool--which I have just completed.


Pool closing day marks, for me, the official beginning of the dark, cold seasons. I am being held hostage by the forces of cold and dark until April when I can reopen my pool and begin to enjoy summertime in earnest.

The pool seemed to resist my efforts to close it this year and numerous small annoyances cropped up as I completed the now well practiced closing operation. But, sadly, I prevailed recognizing that the leaves are beginning to fall and the time was only growing shorter if I had decided to procrastinate and postpone the closing.

For me there are only two seasons--summer and not-summer. Summer is marked by the opening and closing of my pool.

Do I enjoy not-summer? Not really. I enjoy some things and some holidays, but they are really small points of light in an otherwise dismal season.




It is hard to believe that in a few short weeks we have transitioned from family gatherings around the pool, such as the one above--to the picture taken a few minutes ago of the covered pool, hibernating like a bear waiting for the renewal of the year.

Soon, I will again hear the squeals of the grandsons chasing each other around the pool in heat of a nice summer day. And the non-summer season will be forgotten.

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And the rains finally stop

Friday evening and the rain has abated for a short while. Enjoy the blue in the sky.

Rainy Friday and Doctors

The day started off well. I was on the racquetball court at 0530 for a rare Friday match. But then, the day turned and I needed to head off to the doctor to for some stupid thing that keeps popping up on my face.

Then I found out the appointment was for Monday!

Ugh!

But they squeezed me in.

And it is raining. Again! The skies are as gray as my mood.

I was talking to a friend yesterday who suggested we should move to Florida.

I'm in!

But it is Friday.

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Autumn 2011

And it is here. The beginning to the ending of the year has arrived today. Today is the first day of Autumn. Tomorrow is the saddest day of the year as I close the pool and put the period at the end of the sentence which is summertime for 2011.

I can still remember sitting in St Lucia during July drinking a Piton beer enjoying the heat and humidity of the summertime now past. The warm waters of the Caribbean lapping at my toes as it invited me to slide into its warm waters for another fantastic experience.

Or napping on my floatie, now deflated, in my pool.

Behind me is the heat of the summertime sun beating on my now tanned back.

Ahead are the rains and snows of the cold, dark seasons ahead.

We are a mere three months from Christmas.

When I close the pool tomorrow, it will be seven months almost to the day until the cover comes off for another season of fun in the sun. Really, seven whole months. It is hard to believe that I enjoy my pool for less than half of a year and long for its use during the remaining months of cold and darkness.

But through the months of cold and dark I will carry with me the memory of lounging on my floatie in the hot sun with a cold beer, dozing, and letting the troubles of the world pass me by for just a bit. I always come out of the pool a bit refreshed and ready to face the challenges of the day.

April--pool opening day will arrive soon. Until then, I am sojourning in a hostile land.


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