Ultranated

A couple of big events went down yesterday as well as one of the big blockbusters of the year. As part of my penance to my much smarter and elder sister I must report on results of all medical tests. She’s a nurse and heroically obstinate about ensuring I take better care of myself. She has an able ally in my wife so I was extremely happy with my latest foray into the dermatologist’s office.

I have to go to there twice a year and have a strange woman run her hands completely over my body, although it is all decidedly clinical. I’ve had a couple minor bouts with skin cancer over the past few years so hearing that no additional Mohs Surgery was on the horizon yesterday was a definite plus. She only had to burn (with extreme cold) one spot on my forehead off (of course right at the hat line).

I returned home to find my wife fully engaged in her vast array of gardens laying in the spring plantings. The real estate guy showed up to put the “for sale” sign up and I casually mentioned to my wife that I’d approved a showing of the house today. This sent her into a semi-serious rage in which she questioned my general sanity. She feels the house must reach operating room sanity levels before she’s comfortable allowing strangers into “her” house. This was juxtaposed against my innocent thought that selling the house means people will have to see it.

A Sign The ABFA Will Not Like

These competing visions had a direct impact on date night as our movie going was delayed while frantic efforts were made to clean up the fringes. She told me to go by myself to the early show but even I’m not that big a cad. I sheepishly tried to assist waiting for the rage to blow over. We got a lot of work done in the couple hours before show time. She’s still more than a little miffed though (I inevitably have that effect on her).

We did eventually make it to the movies although for a fairly late showing that didn’t finished until nearly midnight. There was no way I was going to miss Avengers: Age of Ultron though. Josh Whedon was back at the helm for this sequel to one of my favorite movies of all time. He continues to do a fantastic job of melding all of the prodigious acting star power and plot lines he’s responsible for. It did lack the memorable gathering sequences of the first movie but the action was predictably non-stop and breathtaking at times.

The Avengers must defeat an artificially intelligent uber-robot, voiced by the always droll James Spader, and his army of robots. At the same time a mind witch has all of them contemplating their navels for various reasons. While this did little to move the plot forward it did allow interesting insights into some of the origin stores. Whedon walks a delicate line of trying to do too much but accomplishes it through the talent of the actors and the sweet sometimes, amusing side comments and plot lines. It was everything I hoped for and that’s saying a lot.

R.I.P. Mike

A kind of poignant story crossed my computer screen yesterday. One of my high school classmates was frantically trying to contact another of our classmates. I was never friends with the guy she was looking for but he was extremely well thought of within the class. She was down in Georgia and he lived in New Hampshire. She hadn’t heard from him in a long time so she was pulling out all stops to find out if he was okay. She finally contacted the local police who did a wellness check and unfortunately found him deceased in his home. While this confirmed some worst fears he would still be untended if not for the dedicated friendship formed more than forty years ago.