Recovering Anticipation

Finally, FINALLY, I’m feeling better which only bolsters my theory on the recuperative powers present in the visit by one of my children.  Just the prospect of this weekend’s visit by the daughter and son in law was enough to help me turn the corner.  Now that I think about it, this week’s storm also prevented my weekly lunch with the son which must have barred an earlier recovery.  Never underestimate the medicinal effect of a filial hug.

We Lucked Out With Only 3" of Snow this Time
Winds Were Fierce Though - Most of Driveway was Clear While Others Had 2' Drifts

On a slightly more scientific level my wife may have pinpointed the vector responsible for the illness.  She has continued her cleaning rampage through the house following her return from Panama and finally reached the master bathroom.  She discovered a greenish tinge of algae inside of the tank of a waterpik I use each day on my teeth.  Unbeknownst to me she’s been cleaning the thing for me all along.  Since it just held water which was dumped after each use I thought it never got dirty.  Her extended absence put lie to that theory and for the last couple weeks I was dosing my mouth daily with some pretty nasty stuff. 

She took a photo of the reprehensible conditions she found to provide audiovisual augmentation to the obligatory lecture.  She adamantly refused to release the photo to me (knowing it would appear here) saying she didn’t want anyone knowing that such a filthy object existed in her house (her’s not our’s).  She forbade me from writing about it here as well (I’ll think about that).  She didn’t make the connection to my illness until I helpfully added that to our “discussion” which only further elevated her scandalous regard for my ability to take care of myself.  I ended the conversation by saying this is why I should not be left unsupervised for so long.

It’s strange during my time in the infantry I lived in field environments for months at a time around the world, from jungles to deserts to wintry Tennessee to summery Georgia (the worst) and never had health issues.  Two months without the chief of domestic sanitation in residence and I fall apart; being a civilian is tougher than it looks (no sergeants). 

I just finished a book that should be required reading for any lover of the canine species, A Dog’s Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron.  A friend mentioned the book on Facebook and it was on my Kindle about 35 seconds later.  This is one of the times I miss having a real book because I would love to pass this on to some of the other dog lovers in my family (they are legion). The book tells the story from a dog’s perspective.  The narrator moves through several lives as he dies and is reborn in series of other dogs retaining the lessons and memories from his prior lives. 

This grabs you by the heartstrings from the very beginning as we see the dog react to human behavior, both good and sometimes horribly evil.  It’s so funny to see the dog reacting to cats and other animals – it rang so true.  Pseudo-intellectuals will dismiss a book like this but this was some of the best fun I’ve had in a while (it’s akin to the secret shame of still loving the old Disney movies).  It didn’t hurt that in one of the dog’s lives he was named “Bailey” (name of my sister’s dog) and his climatic life is as a black lab named (that’s right – you guessed it!) “Buddy”.  If you love dogs read this book.  Even those socially damaged people who do not appreciate dogs will find something to like in this book.

My Buddy

Mysterious Concerns

The missing Malaysian airliner just gets stranger and stranger.  Part of that is the slipshod way information is released to the press by the Malaysian authorities and the tidal wave of rumor mongering emanating from China.  The strangest thing is that it should have been located by now if it was anywhere near where it was supposed to be.  The scariest scenario has it hijacked and planned for some future nefarious venture.  I think the lack of any frenzied search of capable airfields militates against that worst case scenario. 

I’m still not feeling 100% which is concerning on a personal level.  I think it’s natural to start experiencing feelings of mortality once you reach 50 and the last vestiges of youthful invincibility are stripped away by the reality of an aging vessel.  I’m concerned because I always bounce back quickly (even after 50) and that’s not happening this time. I haven’t been able to work out in nearly a week and I have some serious partying planned for this weekend when my daughter and son in law show up.  They’re usually the best medicine for the soul so I’ll count on that.

View Out My Window Now - C'Mon!

Another thing I can count on is the New England weather, especially this winter, to be predictably ghastly.  The melt is definitively over and I almost went out to chain the house down last night as the winds were cooking.  We’re getting a pretty steady snow now that is falling mostly sideways.  I think March is taking this “lion” thing a little too seriously.

Receding Packs

After a few days of some long sought warmer temperatures the snow pack is finally in full retreat.  While the lawns are still fully covered, the snow is receding from the edges and even the Christmas light posts have re-emerged after spending the last couple months completely hidden.  The downside of this is Buddy’s area, where the snow hid a truly impressive series of “deposits”; so that was fun.  (my rubbish guy is going to be hating life on Friday)

Light Posts and Lawn Edges Re-Appear

After policing up those odiferous layers I took in the season finale of True Detective.  I started watching this and gave up when it was too confusing but my daughter encouraged me back and I’m glad she did.  Matthew McConaughey is on a serious winning streak and this is truly his show although he shares equal screen and credit time with Woody Harrelson.  They play two Louisiana detectives tracking down an evil serial killer (as opposed to – yeah kind of redundant). 

The show spans almost two decades of their lives and the first part is told through a series of flashbacks which led to my initial confusion.  Starting from the beginning it made a lot more sense and was immensely entertaining.  I’ve heard some complaints about the ending but I thought it was perfect as the detectives reflect about light versus dark after their final confrontation.  This show had great texture and McConaughey is fast becoming a national treasure although he smokes so much that it almost becomes a distraction.  If you haven’t seen this show and you like a good murder mystery, check it out.

I was stoked yesterday because I finally had a date for date night and the movie 300: Rise of an Empire was playing, so win:win.    I knew it would be a stretch to convince my wife to see this hyper-violent film but I went back to my signature move of couching it as a “love story amid the wreck and ruin of ancient war”.  I mustered my not inconsiderable persuasive talents to convince her to see the movie.  So we headed out to see the movie, Son of God. (maybe a little less considerable than I estimated).

We were about halfway to the theater when her fairly pronounced sighs and gasps indicated she was trying to communicate something to me (no moss growing on this stone).  I thought she was simply reacting to our traditional pre-movie ritual which has me at the bottom of the stairs begging her to hurry up since we are already late.  Her time in Panama seems to have reestablished her cultural aversion to timeliness.  However it turned out she really wasn’t feeling well and asked that we return home so she could take something for a headache.  She said the movie would make the headache worse because she knew she'd end up crying (another reason to go with my movie - there is not crying in Sparta!)

I got her parked in front of the television and I noted that she had a ready novella scheduled for viewing so I became a little suspicious.  She encouraged me to go see “my movie” but I told her I wasn’t going to abandon her on date night.  Since the novella was starting, she insisted and I abandoned (Buddy was completely confused by this point).

300: Rise of an Empire is everything you think it is – heads are flying off, bodices ripped open, and sexual encounters in the middle of battle – so highly “realistic”.  It picks up the story directly after the battle of Thermopylae as Xerxes descends on Greece and focuses on the Athenians this time instead of the Spartans.  It was cool to see Strikeback’s SGT Damien Scott (Sullivan Stapleton) playing Themistocles – he looks to have a bright future as he was completely at home on the big screen.

They Aren't Kidding About the Tidal Wave of Heroes' Blood

The filmmakers went in a different direction this time trying to woo female viewers (guys were a sure bet).  In the first movie it was lingering shots of male abdominal six packs that were almost homo-erotic.  They abandoned that for some kick ass female characters that were stabbing and decapitating along with their male counterparts.  Eva Green plays the villain and is carving out a real niche as a spookily evil temptress “type” (I was going to but didn’t use the b-word – daughter’s influence again).  This movie was all about making the blood spurts as dramatic as possible (3D, don’t you know) and frantically maintaining a bare fingernail hold on the real history of the events.  It was a lot of harmless fun (except if you were in the Persian navy at Salamis) if not taken too seriously; exactly what I expected and I loved it.

My wife was craving on some cup cakes over the last couple days so I detoured on my way home to pick up a set which immediately returned me to her good graces.  It is upon these small acts a successful and “entertaining” marriage is built.

Down Shift

I believe I validated my course of action yesterday by coming into work even though I wasn’t feeling 100%.  My wife was seriously critical of my decision making process but I’ve felt better each day and yesterday was no exception.  My excellent boss did send me home in the early afternoon after he and I talked about my past weekend (I think he may be in cahoots with the spousal unit). 

So Nice to Have Such a Cute Nurse!

I used that time to catch up with the HBO series True Detective which my daughter encouraged me stick with.  I’ve got the season finale lined up for tonight so I’ll write about that tomorrow.  As usual my daughter’s entertainment advice was spot on (well except for the whole Magic Mike fiasco, but I digress).

The situation over in Malaysia continues to confuse.  Jetliners just don’t disappear like this (outside of the cinema).  Everyone jumped on the two stolen passport dudes and it was a bit chilling they ended up being used by two Iranians.  The fact that this came up so fast in the investigation means one of two things – they’re innocent putzs who were just trying to escape Iran or the Iranian Quds Brigade is slipping up in their tradecraft to have been identified so quickly.  It is disturbing that they show up in Malaysia just a few days before the ill fated flight and are readily supplied with the stolen passports and flight tickets. 

All of that points to some organizational type assistance.  We’ll know more when they locate the wreckage which is probably in a Vietnamese jungle since they haven’t been able to locate it in the fairly restricted ocean area.  The scariest scenario is that this was a test of the soft Southeast Asian underbelly of the security system for some future attack.  Again, we don’t know what we don’t know but some hard questions are forthcoming.

I finished up Diane Capri’s latest foray into Reacher land with Get Back Jack.  This is her second novel detailing the search for Lee Child’s (and my personal hero) Jack Reacher which she writes with Child’s approval.  I finished thinking, well Capri is certainly no Lee Child and it pissed me off a little that Reacher was placed in the hands of a less capable generator, even if he’s effectively not in the book at all.  I got over that but never felt pulled into and compelled the way a real Reacher novel does.

Capri spends a lot of time agonizing over the petty insecurities of her lead character, a female Asian American FBI agent trying to track down the elusive Reacher.  In this book she hooks up with some of Reacher’s former Army buddies and all hell breaks loose; at least I think it does.  With very few exceptions Capri avoids the action scenes and arrives for an in depth discussion of the aftermath which is disconcerting.  All events aim towards a major confrontation that gets muted down.  Capri is the master of the anti-climax but we finish knowing exactly how Agent Otto’s feelings were impinged.   On second thought, I’m probably going to avoid future Capri books to steer clear of being so snarky but Reacher has a way of drawing me back as well, so no promises.  

Sick Day

I spent all of yesterday flat on my back and not in a good or enjoyable way.  I thought Saturday that I was coming down with a cold but yesterday right after breakfast I felt as though I’d been pole axed.  This was weird because it didn’t feel like a cold other than a general malaise where I had zero energy to go along with a headache and digestive inconvenience.  I’m usually a pretty healthy guy so I don’t’ always acknowledge it when I’m feeling bad.

There was no denying this.  When my wife came down she immediately sensed something was wrong and cancelled our planned trip up to New Hampshire to see the Keene Friend.  I reluctantly agreed and said I was going to lay down on the couch.  I ended up spending the next fifteen hours there as I drifted amidst levels of consciousness.  I lay down thinking to turn the television on but before I knew it several hours had passed with hardly an electron being charged.

A huge difference having the wife back for this episode; she’s a fairly strident lioness when it comes to enforcing care and I was helpless to resist.  A steady stream of chicken soup followed the customary lectures on my inability to take adequate care of myself.  She even called both of the children to admonish them for not calling to inquire about my health.  I gently reminded her that they had no way of knowing I was sick.  She did not allow any excuses in the area; like I said – a true lioness. 

We had a long discussion this morning about me coming in to work.  I can’t remember the last time I took a sick day and I wasn’t going to spend one when I felt better.(we’re into male pride area here where I brag to employees I haven’t taken a sick day in over five years)  I’m not back to 100% but good enough to get the job done.  She was not happy with my decision which I’m sure will generate some admonitory sessions tonight.

I saw this cartoon in today’s paper which I’m sure will drive the Cantankerous One into fits of apoplexy.  Apparently I’m not the only one who thinks Obama’s sophomoric approach to foreign policy is reminiscent of the failures of Jimmy Carter.  We all know how important it is to give Putin “the space he needs”; even if that space inconveniently belongs to another country.

Taxing Spring Forward

Yesterday should have been more.  I wanted it to be but the second cold I’ve had in recent weeks descended with not a little bit of ferocity.  I followed my usual treatment plan of denial until my wife called me on it.  Cold medicine helped but I spent most of the day with a minor head ache that wouldn’t succumb to chemical attack.

We did knock out the weekly grocery store run so there would be food in the house that my wife likes.  It’s telling that the small things in life, like going to the grocery store together is the kind of thing that’s treasured when she returns.

I was feeling awful anyways so I decided to bite yet another bullet and finish off the 2013 taxes.  That involved a little more adventure as the computer’s installation and updating seemed to fight each other for my attention.  Since my printer also wasn’t cooperating I decided to take a chance and file electronically for the first time.  Impossibly easy, yet another of my dinosaur tendencies falls.

The good news – one hour less sleep last night due to daylight savings.

First of Fridays

Readers of this blog know that one of my legacies from the Army is the intent to celebrate the passing of the first Friday of each week.  The civilians I work with  have taken this effort to heart and we normally arrange for a table at Brew City in Worcester to mark this weekly momentous occasion.  I had another reason to celebrate this week as this was the first Friday in a long time that I could bring a date.

Buddy Now That He's Allowed Outside During the Day
Works on his Tan

The problem was coaxing my wife to leave the house with temperatures still below what she considers acceptable.  She agreed to come but was trying to come up with excuses as the day wore on.  She’s only left the house once since her return and that was to go out for our anniversary dinner which was touch and go.  I eventually convinced her to come and she had a fantastic time as we welcomed some other old friends back as well.

My Wife at Her Triumphant Return to Zorba's Last Night

It’s funny how fast we fall back into our routines and as we made our way to Zorba’s from Worcester my wife offered a running commentary on my driving proficiency.  It was still fun and she couldn’t figure out why I was smiling throughout her commentary. Zorba’s was typically superb as the waitresses streamed by to welcome her back.    

Happy Dude

Putin’s moves continue to unveil in the Ukraine.  It’s amazing how fast a political process has started within the Crimea in an effort to legitimize his land grab.  It’s almost as if this was set in motion ahead of time as part of an overall plan, hmmmm.   An interesting side note coming out of the Kiev is that the snipers who killed so many protesters and police during the uprising that toppled the Ukrainian president may have been Russian special forces.  Preliminary investigation revealed ballistics on the bullets that killed people on both sides of the conflict came from the same weapons.  Who was to benefit from the destabilization this escalation provided.  Your first two guesses don’t count and he has an office in the Kremlin.