Johnnie's On The Spot

You can take the man out of Chicago, but you can't take Chicago out of the man. Pretty tired of hospital food and days of thinking about Johnnie's down the street - authentic Chicago "red hots" and all the fixins including neon green relish - I smuggled one in to Old Wildcat. He loved it. Suddenly, word on the street is he's going home tomorrow. Coincidence? I think not.

Bill and The Big Sort

Amy saw Bill Clinton speak the other day and he recommended the book The Big Sort. It's all about how our country has become so divided, how we cluster around other like-minded people, making it more and more difficult to listen to other points of view. I'd read it, but it would probably just upset me. A couple of weeks ago, I watched Bill, along with Bush and Biden at a 9/11 memorial dedication in Pennsylvania. Bush spoke first (I muted it so I wouldn't throw up as I watched the crying crowd and thought about the memo that said Bin Laden was going to attack inside the US, and the intelligence that was missed while he vacationed and the fake Iraq war and the year 2000 surplus and how the Pennsylvania memorial still wasn't finished because they were short a few thousand dollars). Then Clinton spoke. He got up there and praised Bush, talked about how they were just a couple of guys from the South and how the Texas-Arkansas connection may mean more than the other things in common they share. Maybe he has a point.

Movie Madness - Moneyball

Brad Pitt. Baseball. Beautiful.

Loved it.

Sunday Yoga

Ohhh..YIN YOGA AUTUMN EQUINOX WORKSHOP

Lots of talk about Fall and balance and communication and inspiration (bringing the spirits in)and diamonds in the rough and harvest - what do you want to grow, what to you want to store, what do you want to leave behind? And then the good part - long,long,long poses, acupuncture without the needles, like a massage somehow. 


I'm pretty sure I was snoring at the end.

Wildcat Weekend

Whaddya get when a Duck walks by a Wildcat? Well...who really cares?

We all had a blast at Shana's last Wildcat Parent Weekend, starting with a full mall of tailgate partiers. Here's our crowd, complete with bean bag tossing, some incredible food and fun, fun, fun.











Here's a guy peddling his way to happy times.

We caught up with Shana's amazing roomies (including token boy, Zach, and head of the household, Oscar)

Aunt Amy taking a rest on the mall on a beautiful afternoon.

 Party of twelve Mexican Quando, Quando Fiesta!

The Eyes Have It

It was the eyes. Opened the door this morning and immediately saw it. The not so Old Wildcat was back. Clear. Focused. Ready to get a move on. Scary ride part over, coasting back to normal starts now. 

Pus, Pee and Personalities

So, a two legged man walked in to a hospital and nobody knew what to do. But finally, after a week, we've got some direction. I hate to get all gender-y here, but let's get a shout out to the ladies. A clear-eyed Radiologist, called in two days late, spotted the pus, a non-rushed Surgeon stopped and worried about the pee and a thorough Cardiologist spoke to another Specialist, while he looked shocked that she actually opened her mouth. I read an article the other day about how Obama's female staffers have been getting the cold shoulder and they had a little pow wow to clear the air (they look mmaaadd).

So let's hear it for the girls. Speak up. The squeaky wheel gets the grease. It takes a village to hit the nail on the head and see if the picture hangs, no matter what the guys say.

Book Club - Seven Days in the Art World

PolynAsian grilled pineapple fishy I'm alright I'm alright I'm alright friend fest. Surrounding the pool, celebrating petite ya ya Lindsay in London, taking the art world by storm and celebrating everything else, the stunning candlelit faces in the dark, getting home so late I ended up washing mine with Palmolive. So arty, I know.

Also slowing getting through Juliet this month.

A Bright Spot

A little "autumnal concerto" from adorable Shawn.

Aye Aye Cap'n

So, a man walked into a bar with a three-legged pig...but instead of stand-up comedy at the hospital today, we got a new doctor, a Napoleon-like surgeon with a gaggle of residents scampering behind, hanging on every word as he conducted the room with a there's a new sheriff in town flourish. I'm the new captain of the ship, he said, launching into a mixed metaphor melee - cowboys and Indians circling the wagons, bombs away, M.A.S.H., smart fruit falling off a strong tree until he sucked all the air out of the room with his charismatic ego, seeming to push ex-Captain Internal Medicine right down the plank. He gave a kind of wimpy Cub Scout salute and as I watched him walk away all I could do was hope he would hurry up and turn this ship around and hand the helm back over to the rightful owner, Old Wildcat.

Movie Madness - Higher Ground

Powerful film about the search for God. Well done. Deep. Incredible acting. Funny clothes and penis drawings...

Hallelujuh!

General Hospital

The body's an amazing thing. An integrate team of parts, seamlessly working together, guided by the brain and what it decides to let in - food, deep breaths, stress, Sibelius. Until one of the parts gets stuck, slamming the brakes on the rest of the machine until a new team, an outside team, is brought in. Hi, I'm the heart doctor. No, no, look at me, I'll be managing the kidneys. Wait, wait, over here, the Internist, the leader of the pack, the nurses, the respiratory people, the low salt, make me mourn for Eataly kitchen and the beautiful scrubbed assistant who finally summed it all up - be specific. Specific. Hmm...I wonder where I've heard that before.

No news is no news. Be kind to your web-footed friends. Nobody knows anything.

Left The Chef with his unfortunately bland diet and headed to The Herb Box for some sister time, some Diva time, some salty bananas, some glass is half empty slow muddled watermelon and then, of course, a mandatory Mexican food fix at Los Olivos on the way home.

The Climate Reality Project

What if 98 out of 100 doctors said you have a heart problem? What would you do? What if they said that about your baby?

We have an earth problem. Let's do something about it.

Start by watching The Climate Reality Project - 24 hours on Planet Earth.

Here's a local event that seems like a good idea Zocalo in Phoenix. Monday 10/24 at the Heard Museum. 6:30pm

Movie Madness - The Guard

 I love a little Irish humor sprinkled with language and accents and small town folk and a rogue cop and a fancy FBI guy and that Tallahatchie Bridge song - perfect. F---in' go see it!!! The Guard. 

9/11

Like so many other mornings, the phone rang before I was awake. My mother-in-law always figured since she was up, everybody must be up, as she delivered some news that could have easily waited another hour or two. This morning was no different. "A plane hit the World Trade Center." "Uh huh," I mumbled, rolling back over, thinking these things happen. An accident. A guy in a small plane probably had a heart attack. Then I wondered about Amy, working hard in Manhattan, knowing she was fine, but got up anyway to turn on the TV. Chaos. The plane was not small. Then, unbelievably, in real time, a second plane hit the other tower and everything changed. As the day went on, smoke, bodies, tumbling buildings, two more planes, Shana to school, Shawn and I to work, hovering around a rabbit-eared black and white TV somebody ran home to get, I finally spoke to Amy. She saw it happen. She had looked up and watched as the plane flew into the building. Probably a dozen more phone calls that day, first hand account of our worst day, the smell, the taste, the pain in her throat, chest, heart, fear in the voice of one of the strongest people I know as she walked and walked and walked. As I listened to a sister I couldn't help, cried about the thousands that were just killed, watched the images I couldn't process and was led by a President I didn't trust, I understood, somehow, that I, she, we, you, would never be the same.

Renegades

What a bunch of Renegades. Tell us you're selling cheap wine and we'll be there. Friday night Happy Hour down the street as the sun went down - the clam clams, the purple mountain, the cross your fingers job interview, the trip planning - Pinetop, The Farm, NYC, Oregon, Berkeley, the beer cans in the closet, the reel the girl in so you can throw her back out technique, the Team Diva Decolletage, already missing the Octoberfest in September German traveler, the way past seven ships passing in the night, the party bus and the wrap it up ride home.

Write On

Talk about scary stuff. All she said was, "OK, get out a piece of paper" and my heart stopped. I knew it was coming when I signed up for the latest semester, but it happens every time. Sitting around a table with a bunch of strangers, trying to write something that doesn't make me look like a fool. Then she told us to write down our names and make a name tag.

Now that I can do.

The Boys Are Back In Town

It seems to have been a little quieter lately as the D.C. folks took their wonderful five weeks off from their  jobs, jobs that we pay for, jobs that give them security, health care and lots of paid vacay, jobs that they seem to think are meant to take all the loot from the middle class and hand it over to the millionaires, the war contractors (ten years after 9/11), the massive corporations, since those brilliant ideas will lead to more jobs. Except that's not happening. The U.S. economy just fell to fifth place in the world. We were number one in 2007.  Here's a little graph about the state of our debt giving a little reason for the fall.

It's about to get louder. There's a GOP debate tonight. I missed the last one since the Faux News channel at my house has a parental control block on it (something about my blood pressure), but I may tune in.

And, so things don't stay quiet, we've got Obama on tomorrow, back to jobs, Boehner sitting behind, smirking, while his crowd yells and throws things until all hell breaks loose.

Get the ear plugs back out.

Deep Breath

Sweaty since Saturday, clammy, dizzy, tired, weak, hard to breathe, hot, hot, hot, achy, lots of baths, lots of ice water, not much sleep, Advil, Tylenol, Avelox and today, day four, doctor visit for a chest X-ray that says pneumonia and a big bad shot in the butt = Shawn's long holiday weekend.

Oedipus For Kids

Everyone said "do not bring your kids" but I did anyway. It was raunchy. It was inappropriate. It was politically incorrect, but Shana and I cracked up the whole way through Nearly Naked Theatre's Oedipus For Kids as adorable "little" Eddie(pus) made his way through life, meeting interesting characters along the way, learning some bad, bad lessons. HILARIOUS!!!

Bounced

Shana got bounced. It was fun while it lasted, but those Tucson door guarders know one long-haired blonde from the next and caught the poor kid in the act. At least it wasn't the police or Janet Napolitano. Then, instead of just having the goods confiscated, she could have have been the one locked up in a drawer somewhere. Lesson learned.

I hope.

Three and a Half Day Weekend!!!

How about a half day at work - lipstick call at the Z with The Four Musketeers, some Chambord margs and catfish, some Laverne and Shirley to "Pray away the Gay" Bachmann, some eavesdropping on the grey-haired, big-bellied loud mouth - how about the tall, blonde Diva next to me? Would that challenge your sicko 27-and-under-only rule, Bucko? From the left and right wingnuts to proper, non-offensive, book club etiquette to the baddest of the bad girls in high school ending up on Facebook covered in little gold crosses, we covered it all. Took the party to the Phoenix Art Museum, open for free on a finally not so bad outside First Friday. The place was jamming with activity, hip people, music, a great Modern Mexican art exhibit, including this by Diego Rivera

of his take on Toledo, Spain in 1913. I found something to lean on and took a while to absorb that one. Here I am with Shana in February, almost a hundred years later in beautiful Toledo. 

Made it home in time to find cool neighbors sitting on porch enjoying the first under a hundred night in a long time, so after they waved a big glass of wine at me, I joined them as we watched the slumber-partying kids run around, caught up on the latest cul-de-sac gossip and tried to solve all the problems of the world, included being married to carnivores while planning the next vegetarian potluck at my place. Day Two started with ratatouille with recipe from latest read Lunch in Paris. Birthday lunch with Shawn's BFF and new bride at the yummy Persian Room, advice from the old married pros included.  Next up - playing with the little ya ya, home from T-town with Mr. Z.