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All posts for the month September, 2008

Unhappy News

My grandfather has been pretty sick the last week or so. He had a stroke several years ago and it was first thought this was a second one. It was not. He has double pneumonia which has exacerbated several of the symptoms of his previous stroke. The doctors have no optimism about his recovery, but he has already outlived their estimations from yesterday.

I’ll give the old man a lot of credit. He was a medic during WW2 and a beat cop for years in Worcester, MA. He is tough, smart, and will not give up. The stoke didn’t do it and this pneumonia won’t do it quickly. He just had his 95th birthday on Sunday.

I will be flying up there in the next few days although it is unclear exactly when. I’m not looking forward to the trip- I would rather remember him for his great stories rather than his funeral.

I will miss you Grampa Lenny.

[Update: He passed this evening. The funeral will be either Saturday or Monday. They are predicting some pretty bad weather Friday and Saturday so they are thinking of postponing the service until early next week. Rest in Peace Grampa.]

Running Woes

So one of my yearly goals was to run 700 miles in 2008. Yeah. That is probably not going to happen. I rolled my ankle yesterday morning. I heard at least three distinct pops. Yes I screamed like a little girl. It hurts like a mo-fo. I probably ought to see a doctor, but I would rather just whine on the internet.

I survived week one of my survivor pool. Four people are already eliminated (Detroit and Indy) and two more have picks tonight. I am looking at next week and am unclear who to go with yet. Fantasy football looks good this year. I crushed in one of my leagues, am hanging tough in one, and getting beat in the other- but scoring some points. I also went 15/20 picking college top 25 against the spread. I could make money with that ratio.

I went to see the Toadies last night at Stubb’s here in Austin. I always enjoy a good show and they certainly put one on. It was a nice mix of well known popular hits along with their newest released stuff that isn’t getting airplay (yet). They seem to be having a lot of fun doing classic rock intros between songs and other stage antics to shake up the crowd. They have two more shows in Austin this week (tonight and Friday). I recommend going if you have the means.

Today, Dell released their new micro laptop: the Dell Mini. I’m thinking of picking one up. With a 16G SSD, 1G of RAM and running Ubuntu linux it is about $450. I have an employee discount (or should) but not sure how much. It weighs just over 2 pounds but I don’t know what the battery life would look like. It is very intriguing at least.