And calamity befalls my poor Chromebook again. I opened up my little workhorse machine to do this exact entry and again, the screen was cracked. And again, I have no clue how it happened. So, just as I did just before Christmas, I ordered a replacement, which will be here in a few days, and I’ll fix the thing. Fortunately, it’s very easy. There are a couple of videos that show how to repair the thing. Easy.
In the meantime, the things that I want to write are delayed a day or so, now. I’m just glad I had other options available at the ready.
2.
There was a time when I wouldn’t even have a thought of replacing a laptop screen. I broke my older HP’s screen circa 2009. I left it laying next to me when I went to sleep and rolled on top of it. I had to send it back to get them to put a new screen on.
When I got it back, the machine back, the screen was still acting up. I had to send it back a second time. That time, they replaced the motherboard and the screen. Never have had another problem with it, but all that back and forth was frustrating.
I even went and got a new set of computer tools for the job.
3.
They’re calling for snow for next week. Done with it.
4.
Yay, it’s Black History Month. Back in the day, this was the very time of year that we’d learn about Dr. King and if we were lucky, Malcolm X. Not that we got lucky often. But we’d learn about some other fine folks in between, so it wasn’t all bad.
We had Great Blacks in Wax back then, but not the Reginald Lewis Museum. That would come much later. This generation’s school kids will have the National African American History Museum by the end of the year, which is great.
However, I have a proposal.
Let’s not study any Black history. Let’s not let another February go by with kids and young people learning that racism and inequality are things of the past when they’re still present these days.
Okay, maybe that’s too much. Sure, spend a lesson on the I Have A Dream speech, but In addition, have conversations around situations like Ferguson and the Laquan McDonald and Freddie Gray killings. Have a conversation about the two Baltimores (and no, neither of them is one from the Wire. I’m talking about the real thing). I’m not the only one that refers to the “Real” Baltimore as being the one outside of the Inner Harbor.
Progress has been made, for sure. But there is still a way to go. Have a conversation about where we go from here because looking back into the past and thinking the conditions that people like Langston Hughes and James Baldwin and Audre Lorde and Angela Davis lived through and fought have not entirely abated.
5.
Super Sunday is in a few days. It’s cool. I’m looking forward to baseball season.
Perhaps the biggest news story coming out of Baltimore in the last 24 hours is the last-minute entry of human rights activist Deray Mckesson into the race for Mayor of Baltimore. Deray joins an already crowded race of nearly 30 candidates (it’s a high number, but most of them never had any shot anyway) seeking to succeed Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, who is not running for re-election. The Baltimore Sun quickly reported his filing and reaction came in just as quickly.
Also, quite a few folks were questioning whether Deray actually had fulfilled the residency requirement for running. The news generally shows him working and demonstrating in one place or another at any given time. The Baltimore Sun reported today, though, that he’s been living in North Baltimore for the last several months.
Regardless of any criticism, the race now will find itself under a larger national lens with Deray’s entry.
To put it in perspective, local businessman David Warnock is trailing badly, even as he’s loaned his campaignclose to a million dollars. Whatever money Deray may be able to bring in to compliment his sizable online following, his chances will rest on convincing the probable 21% of current undecideds as well as a probably unknown number of unregistered voters to sign up, the latter before the April 5 deadline. As it stands right now, Ms. Dixon is leading in the key demo of older black women voters, people who are probably much more familiar with her than Mr. Mckesson, regardless of his larger national following.
***
Who’s on the Team?
Another interesting issue I saw being discussed is who’s on his team. The Sun and Guardian have both reported that fellow activist Johnetta Elzie (a powerhouse herself) is moving to Baltimore to work on his campaign. I can’t help but think the local activists I hear already weren’t happy, weren’t thrilled with another high profile activist —one who is definitely not from Baltimore— coming into their turf.
Don’t count out our provincial attitudes. Deray, who even mentioned growing up listening to Miss Tony on 92Q in his statement, has been a powerhouse nationally. But I’m sure he’ll still be painted as a carpetbagger, especially by people who have been working on issues locally, if his campaign starts with much more out-of-town support than local support.
For the record, I grew up listening to V-103 and then 92Q. Frank Ski.
***
Where is the Downtown money going?
People who know Baltimore solely from watching on TV or reading poverty porn might not get that Baltimore isn’t entirely poor. The segregated parts of Baltimore certainly are, but that doesn’t go for the City as a whole. The City is base to quite a few rich people. Outside folks have probably watched Peter Angelos’ Baltimore Orioles or worn clothing made by Kevin Plank’s Under Armour. But it’s the people most outsiders have never heard of who have the deep pockets that make things move in the Harbor City.
Regardless of how much he brings to the table (and so far, it’s a bunch), Deray’s running where there’s a huge machine in place. He’s not going to get far without fealty to, detente with, or a fight from Downtown developers (then again, neither would any of the other candidates). If they feel they’ll lose money or power from his being elected, expect a mess, regardless of how the elections turn out.
***
It’s going to be an interesting 81 days until the primary.
Can the local guy who made good outside really come back and be given a chance to lead? Or will his candidacy ultimately be about raising issues and pushing the next person in the job to make the changes the real Baltimore (outside of the Harbor) needs?
I was ready for baseball season before the Mets re-signed Yoenis Cespedes.
My hope is that the Mets are this year’s Royals. Year before last, the Royals lost a grueling series vs the Giants and Madison Bumgartner. Last year, with a year of postseason experience behind them, they came back to the postseason and finished. They really have to win it all before it’s time for all the young pitchers to get huge contracts. They will get them, but they won’t all be getting them from the Mets.
3.
On this date in 2001, the Baltimore Ravens won their first Super Bowl. I actually watched the game in Giants territory, so the celebration was muted until I got on the train back to Baltimore. I was ready to begin celebrating at halftime and after the Jermaine Lewis TD return.
That game, that season, especially with the accomplishments of the defense, are what began the mystique of the Ravens in Baltimore. It helped begin to put into the past another product of the NFL’s often cutthroat and shameful relocation process — it began to heal the anger from the 1984 event that would eventually lead to Baltimore being represented by the Ravens. These days, talk to younger fans and much of the passionate anger is directed towards teams like the Steelers and the Patriots. These are feelings borne of events that have taken place on the field, not because of shady back room dealings, which is how it should be.
Those of us older fans, who knows? I still talk to people about the original Gino’s and the old Golden Arm Restaurant on York Road. When I sing the fight song at Ravens games, I sing it with both the original Colts and updated Ravens lyrics. Plus, I’m planning on buying this one of these days.
4.
On this date in 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger broke up over Cape Canaveral. We watched at school like many other school children in the country. Even at that age, I could feel hope and excitement people all over felt because of STS-51. And in the aftermath, the pain and confusion and in some ways, the uncertainty.
It’s one of those events like the 9/11 and the 2008 Presidential Election Night that sticks with me and probably in the minds of many who experienced them.
A writer can’t be too negative. You have to have a little bit of innocence to be a good writer. Whatever you have to do to preserve that innocence-the “is that so?” element—you should do it. You can’t be someone who knows everything-“been there, done that.” If you know every thing you shouldn’t be a writer. You should be God.
My day job is in IT. When I’m there, I have to have the opposite mindset. The job is generally about fixing. Like a plumber has to know how all the pipes work and how the toilet works and how his tools work, I have to know how the servers work and how the thin clients work and any number of other systems that people in the organization I work for may use during the course of a day. Or I have to know how to find out how things work. My coworkers come to my desk or call me needing help and I have to know how to.
It’s an ironic position to be in, in a world where most information is a few clicks or taps away. But still, it’s not a place for the sort of exploration I do in my non-work hours.
That’s been my writing life — being often in two mindsets.
I love exploring, discovering. As much as I’ve often enjoyed knowing, being right or accurate about things, arguing points, etc., discovering and learning are much more satisfying. It’s why I love the classic essay so much — meandering, running, ambling, getting to understanding (the lyric essay even more). Not just having the quick-witted comeback for the moment.
That latter sense manifests itself in my writing as a desire to write exactly what I think people would want to read. In being frustrated when I don’t know exactly what I want to say, or perhaps, what I should say. But when I ask myself what I truly think about a thing or an event or what does a thing or an event remind me of and still give myself the space to say at first that I don’t know and go from there (and be okay with not immediately finding a destination), things usually flow better.
When I get home from work, the issue is turning off the mind that has to know in favor of the mind that wants to find out. Sometimes … perhaps often, it’s a struggle, but I’m learning and keeping my hands moving as much as I can.
Didn’t do a Five Things the past couple of weeks. Lots of reasons I could use as excuses, but in the end, I didn’t make the decision to sit down and do them. But we need to move on, so a special weekend Five Things.
1.
I hate snow. I could never overstate how much I hate snow and this weekend, we have #Blizzard2016 all over the east coast. Back home, the word is snow plows might not get to most places until sometime Monday. In some places in my neck of the woods, we might be lucky to see a plow at all. One of those winters, there simply was no plowing done by local government. None. I was anticipating having a 3 day weekend, but since I won’t, I won’t be going outside and frolicking like this guy:
That is, however, how I plan to act when I get into a pool this summer and if the Ravens win the Super Bowl a year from now. Perhaps even if it does snow.
2.
I was listening to Mike Francesa on Friday afternoon and he remarked that the news stations love snow. Snow gets viewers and listeners tuned in. People hear snow and they panic and they get glued to information.
As usual, I fell victim to the hype and watched a bunch of snow coverage — lots of local news, CNN, and AccuWeather, since FiOS doesn’t have the Weather Channel anymore. I miss Weather Channel. AccuWeather isn’t as good. They’re just a continuous loop of the same exact information, with a different meteorologist reading it, over and over again. At least Weather Channel breaks things up with people stationed locally to show how things are on the ground.
I was wondering what was missing with this storm and it was Jim Cantore. I didn’t get to see where the world was ending from, as I wasn’t able to see where Jim Cantore was. CNN was down at the Jersey Shore and they got some shots of local flooding there, to satisfy the storm porn fix. Fortunately, they only had some beach erosion there and no loss of life.
This video from Ocean City, NJ was worth a 5 on the Winter Storm Porn-O-Meter.
I can’t find the video from the police car. In that one, the water sloshing up onto the windshield gives it an 8.
3.
No thundersnow. Forecasters had said to expect some, but I either missed it or it never materialized. That was the only part of the storm I was looking forward to. I talk about my love of thundersnow in a post from last year.
4.
Often on sale on Groupon is the Nexus 7 (2013) Wi-Fi. I have the 2012 version of the slate, which will no longer be receiving any more OS upgrades, just security updates. The 2013 version has better hardware, is already on Marshmallow and with it priced low, it’s seemed like a good buy.
However, I haven’t pulled the trigger.
Just before #Blizzard2016, I was pretty much set to order one; then I decided I wanted the 4G/LTE variant. I figured if the power went off, it was good to have another device that didn’t require Wi-Fi to get online. Hurricane Sandy drives that decision-making. During Sandy, I had no Wi-Fi and I had to use the relatively weak signal from my phone to stay connected. I’d rather hedge my bets and be able to use either.
The LTE version is around $50-$100 more than the Wi-Fi only version, on par with newer, albeit, less impressive tablets in cost. Still, the 2013 Nexus holds its own in terms of hardware, except against higher priced Samsung tablets, too. But are those Samsung devices running the latest version of Android?
Regardless of how enticing the price and value are, 2013 is 3 years ago and I keep reading that Marshmallow is the end of the line for updates for this slate. Unlike the 2012, which I’m still using, the 2013 would likely be a shorter relationship, maybe even just a year. Rumors say Google will be releasing a refreshed Nexus 7 this year.
I wish the NVidia Shield K1 had LTE.
5.
Unexpected things on championship Sunday. I thought the Cardinals/Panthers game would be much closer. Thought the Patriots would beat the Broncos pretty easily.
But Cam and the Panthers offense had their way with the Cardinals defense. DeMarcus Ware and Von Miller played most of the game in the Pats backfield. Reminded me of Super Bowl 42, how much they stayed in Brady’s face.
I do fall into the “anybody but the Patriots” camp, with some caveats (Steelers and Indy didn’t make me have to think about it), so I’m happy no matter who wins the game. But I am pulling for Cam and the Panthers. Cam has gotten a lot of undue criticism for his style of play, his celebrations, and any other bullshit some people have seen fit to say. And we know why this nonsense has come his way. So I’m happy to see him shut up his detractors in the biggest game of the year.
I love Cam Newton. I can't wait for him to dab on all y'all racist ass hoes during the Super Bowl. I hope he milly rocks on y'all asses.
According to Moag, Richardson mentored him, got him into the room, and helped guide him through the process, with the end result being the Baltimore Ravens.
Also, once upon a time, Jerry Richardson played for the Baltimore Colts and when you’ve played for the Baltimore Colts, you’re always remembered in Baltimore. He didn’t have a long Colts career, but that tends not to matter. He played in Baltimore and that’s often enough for us to love you. That he would later help us get a new team, means he’ll always have some appreciation in the Land of Pleasant Living (at least among those of us in the know what role he played for us).
No, I did not do any of these posts in December. At first, I was just taking a break after November. November was a crazy month. I did a lot of writing. I’m proud of myself for working so much, but I did need a breather. But then …
1. I was hospitalized for a staph infection. The doctors did throw some terrifying scenarios at me as soon as I got there, but I did indeed survive and without having to be cut open. I’m very grateful. The last thing I wanted was to be put under and cut up, no matter how many painkillers would have been available had they decided to perform surgery.
Being somewhere without access to pen and paper or a laptop or any computer with a keyboard for a few days really sucked. I was happy to get out of there and get back to work. I was close to asking a friend to sneak in a bootable Linux flash drive so I could use one of the hospital computers. It was touch and go. I was getting pretty desperate for a text editor. If I’m concerned I might be hospitalized again, I’m carrying a bag with writing materials and my Chromebook that day.
Still, it wasn’t a wholly bad experience. I got over my fear of needles. They took blood so often and gave me so much antibiotic that I began to become used to it. No brownie points for this, though, as I hope to never go through this again.
Oh and they had some excellent tomato soup. I hated tomato soup when I went in, but now, I love the stuff. I’m a changed man.
2.
After telling myself for probably the last 8 or so years that I’d finally begin to regularly watch basketball, I finally am. I’m catching most of the Maryland Terrapin womens’ games and when I can’t, I’m following online. I still don’t know entirely what terms like “off the dribble” mean or entirely what a point guard does, but I’m learning. It’s a process. I won’t become John Edgar Wideman or anything, but it’s pretty fun. Winning helps, too. I say this with no shame.
I’m happy to see Mike Piazza finally make the Hall of Fame. Looking back, he had some impressive accomplishments, especially in light of so many of his contemporaries being linked to steroids. I’m hoping I can go up to Cooperstown for the induction. As a long-term Mets fan, the only thing that could have made this sweeter would be the Mets having won the Series last year.
4.
I’m not even mad about the Ravens 5-11 record. And not just because they beat the Steelers twice and nearly ruined their playoff chances. Injuries obliterated this season. But Joe is already doing his best to get back next year, Suggs wants back and Steve Smith isn’t retiring now after all. The Ravens will be fine. I’m just kicking back and watching the playoffs and getting ready for baseball, now.
5.
Governor Larry Hogan is pledging a few hundred million bucks to tear down vacant houses in Baltimore and replace them with new development. This is a huge thing. I just hope it doesn’t end up only gentrifying these neighborhoods and meaning that the people who live there and most need the help now won’t get it. If this is followed up in the next year or so with a commitment to a real Red Line alternative other than buses, it probably will end up helping those who need the help now in these neighborhoods.
This was quite the surprise. Given the general dysfunction of the (reconstituted) Browns, I wasn’t expecting their owner to go out and get Paul DePodesta, one of the top minds of Sabermetrics and hand him what seems like most of the keys to the franchise. My gut instinct said Haslam would again do what most football organizations do: go hire the Director of Pro Something Or Other from another NFL team, give him a glowing introduction to the media, and start the countdown until he had to fire him.
But Jimmy Haslam did something way different this time, so different that as ridiculous as it may have sounded on its face, there are lots of people saying it’s going to work out and work out well. SI’s Tom Verducci wrote a glowing piece about the move. Yahoo! Sports’ Tim Brown says it’s definitely the right move.
#
Bringing in DePodesta is fitting.
The main reason Billy Beane and the A’s resorted to the “Moneyball,” or applied Sabermetrics, is that they couldn’t compete financially with baseball’s big money powers. If they have this massive advantage, how do you counter? What do you do when you can’t continue doing business as it’s always been done?
DePodesta, Billy Beane’s former right-hand man is one of the first to go hard after the answer in baseball.
While the NFL’s hard salary cap likely makes money a moot point, the (reconstituted) Browns haven’t been able to compete because of a different reason.
Look at the rest of the division: the Steelers have had the same GM since 2000 and have changed coaches only once, upon the retirement of Bill Cowher. Ozzie Newsome has been running the Ravens since the same time and the Ravens have changed coaches only once, to John Harbaugh. Even the Bengals, whose owner/GM has shouldered his on share of criticism over the years for one thing or another, has had only one head coach since 2003, Marvin Lewis.
Then there’s Bill Belichick and his continuing tenure in New England. Four titles, 6 Super Bowl appearances in 15+ seasons.
Bill Polian’s 13-year tenure in Indianapolis. A bunch of playoff appearances and a championship in 2 Super Bowl appearances.
Tom Coughlin just ended a 12-year run as Giants head coach. Two championships in four years, both over favored Patriots teams.
The Browns have trended in the exact opposite direction during the same time.
One playoff appearance since 2000. Yet, they’ve had 3 head coaches just this decade alone and just as many general managers.
You can’t win in the NFL like that and Haslam, at least now, understands.
The Browns have the financial resources, but have never had another currency as important in the NFL: long-term stability in the front office and on field.
I doubt DePodesta was hired to bring the same sort of statistical analysis you see in baseball the on-field football product. As former Ravens head coach, Brian Billick, said earlier:
“You can’t quantify the game of football the way you do baseball. It’s not a statistical game. The parameters of the game, the number of bodies and what they’re doing in conjunction with one another.”
Or in other words, a thousand yards for a receiver isn’t always just a thousand yards. There’s always a deeper story and context to those yards that involve other players. Unlike your shortstop’s fielding percentage or your number two batter’s on base percentage.
Instead, I think SI’s Verducci is right in believing cleaning up the Browns’ organization, not necessarily implementing advanced statistics, will be DePodesta’s immediate job in Berea:
Immediately, though, DePodesta’s challenge is not how the Browns play football as much as it is how the organization is structured and how it evaluates, acquires and develops talent in a holistic manner. With his year scouring for information, Haslam understood that his Browns, long a disorganized mess, were in serious need of organizational repair.
If you’ve seen the Cleveland ‘95 episode of NFL Network’s “A Football Life,” then you’ve seen a glimpse into how Bill Belichick and Ozzie Newsome systematically go about choosing players. Since then, I’m sure both have refined and even further systematized their practices even further. The success of both the Ravens and Patriots are a testament to their practices. Quite a bit has been written about Ozzie and the Ravens and how the front office runs.
I think this is what Paul DePodesta will be aiming for in Cleveland now. With the right mix of philosophy and process, a pledge to the long term, as well as his commitment to data for sound decision making, we may one day look back and see Cleveland ‘16 as the first steps towards a turnaround for the (reconstituted) Browns.
I’m not resolving anything. Chances are, if you made resolutions, you may have already broken one or two. Or several. Or all of them.
You come up with a list of things you think you want to do and if you really want to do them and they’re really something you believe you can do (and perhaps consistently), you’ll do those things. Otherwise, you won’t. Since resolutions are generally related to things we want to change, if you’re not ready for those changes (or change in general), you can forget it.
No judgment. We’re all like this.
Given that, I decided not to make any resolutions. I forgave myself from looking at a list of shiny new things that might look good or make me feel good if I accomplished them.
I might not believe I’m capable of those specific things.
For instance, I might not believe I’m capable of really completing another book.
I bet if I resolved to write another one, I might not make it. By the end of next week, it might be all over. Not wanting to set myself up to fail at things, I instead, I made decisions on who I wanted to be.
Deciding the kind of person you want to be takes the edge off. For me, it feels easier to grow into a role or idea of who I want to be or lifestyle, rather than committing to a list of specific things.
Take losing weight as the resolution. Instead of that, the decision is to be the kind of person who eats healthy and exercises. When I make that commitment and take the actions and create a habit, my mind can wrap itself around doing the things that support losing weight. Not changing my mind and simply giving myself a bunch of things to do without making a habit or making the whole enterprise believable, is a recipe for failure.
Consider something like becoming Vegan. Within that lifestyle, there are certain practices, which are all easier to adopt once you’ve made the decision not to do those things, but to be the kind of person who does those things.
Plus, deciding who you want to be is much more fluid. You may think who you want to be is one way and does a specific set of things. You may get down the road some and make new insights. With a list of resolutions, you’re either expanding your list or editing your list. When you’re practicing a lifestyle, it’s easier to make adjustments. That’s also a much more fulfilling and fun way to live, adding and refining for yourself, the new way you’ve decided to live.
I’m not sharing all my decisions, but with respect to this site, I’m deciding to be a more professional writer. With that comes with continuing to develop my writing habit, including blogging more. Becoming better at generating ideas and submitting more are part of the territory too. All of those things as disparate things would overwhelm me. Instead, adopting the lifestyle, growing my mind more into it and going from there feels more more freeing. It’s not simply a challenge to overcome, but a higher ideal to live into.
It’s a good thing you came in when you did, you might have died if you’d waited too long.
Or at the very least, lost your arm.
It’s an abscess.
We’re probably going to need to lance it.
(Are they using swords in the operating room these days?)
Surgery.
Surgery? Like putting me out, surgery?
Yes, surgery. With you under anesthesia.
Really?
If we don’t and this infection spreads, you might still die.
Well, hello to all of you doctors, bumrushing me with this news. Telling me I might die when you’ve barely introduced yourselves — that’s really heavy. Can I at least get a loved one here before you go telling me you’re cutting me open, lest I probably die soon?
I haven’t had any fevers by the way. Since I’ve been asked approximately 73 times since I’ve been in this hospital if I’ve had any, I take it that’s important. And since I haven’t had any, I wonder if this is really as serious as you’re making it out to be. As serious as my needing to be rushed into surgery in the next couple of hours.
Are night sweats as terrible a symptom as the fevers? I only ask because I have had those the last couple of nights … oh, they’re not? Then can we pump the brakes on you putting me under? The anesthesia sounds scarier than the actual infection.
It’s an abscess.
There’s no antibiotic you can give me that’s going to help? Surgery is the only way? What about after the surgery? You’ve got painkillers for sure, but aren’t you going to give me at least some antibiotics? Oh, they’ll work then?
You won’t know how bad this is until you get the pictures from the CT scan? Then, you’ll be ready to go slicing me up?
Well, it’s now busted open and is starting to pus. You said if it drained, that was good and I could avoid all this.
Put this on there.
Nurse, why are you smooshing it with a gauze pad? Shouldn’t we be pinching it or something to make it pus or bleed more or something? No?
(I’m going to have to figure out how to sleep with a butterfly clip in my arm? Guess I can’t sleep as wildly as I normally do.)
You don’t drink this contrast. We put it through your IV. You’ll feel warm inside.
Why didn’t all of you tell me the contrast might make me nauseous before putting me into the machine? I just tried to throw up in your machine. The welt on my arm you intend to cut off isn’t nearly as painful as this even though it’s large enough to fit a small taquito inside it. Did I mention that I tried to alleviate this pain by throwing up in your machine? I had a bagel earlier. I tried to leave it in your machine.
(Later)
Looks like we won’t have to do surgery. It’s just on the skin.
Splendid.
Yeah, you squeezing this thing like tomato sauce in a tube stings like you’re jabbing something into it, but if the alternative is being put under, squeeze away.
Let’s make the hole bigger to help it drain.
And now, you are jabbing long Q-Tips into it. Again, better than the alternative, but I wish I’d gotten some of those painkillers we discussed before. I’ve been in hospitals before. Isn’t there some button I can press that automatically dispenses painkillers?
Oh, you’re just going to give me antibiotics and see how it responds? We’ve come full circle, haven’t we?
(The next day)
We may need to lance it.
(Are we going to Medieval Times for this procedure?)
The doctors yesterday said there wasn’t going to be any surgery.
Different team, different diagnosis? Kinda sounds like literature class as much as biology class, but what do I know?
(Later.)
Oh, no surgery? You saw the pictures. Just a skin infection? Swell. I’ll just chill here with these antibiotics.
This tomato soup is the best. Send me more of this. The chicken is pretty good, too, but the gravy needs some seasoning. Should I send out for a bottle of Mrs. Dash?
More antibiotics.
You’ll have to lay on here while we wheel you to your new room.
I have an infection on my arm, but my legs are fine.
It’s mandatory.
Fine. I’ll play along.
(The next day)
We’re here to take your vitals.
What time is it?
5:30
Well, I’m up. Painkillers are still working. You need more blood? How much blood do you need? Are you keeping some for me for later? Forget it. I feel too good. Take all you need. I’m going back to sleep.
(Later)
Yeah, it’s going down.
The infection is sensitive to the antibiotics.
(I’d rather not know what would happen if it wasn’t sensitive to the antibiotics.)
I can go home?
We’re sending you home with a prescription. More antibiotics.
Matt Schaub will take over the offense on Monday night vs. the Browns. Jimmy Clausen, signed during the week, will back him up. Looks like Buck Allen and Towson’s Terrance West will get the chance to show what they can do.
What a season.
4.
Fall finale for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D was excellent.
I wasn’t as happy for the Blacklist finale. Didn’t like the killing of Reven Wright. I wonder if they have a device that the person in that job will always somehow end up getting killed.
Didn’t like Dembe being arrested with Liz. He was held captive by the Cabal and now he’s captured by the F.B.I. He can’t catch a break this season and they had a good, little thing going at the start with the daughter and granddaughter.
Aram came across like a 5th grader whose crush ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with another boy during lunchtime. I know Aram isn’t a main character, but his keeping Samar’s secret to the detriment of his feelings would have been more interesting than his running to Ressler and selling out Samar and Liz because he was hurt. Not saying he had to be Agent Fitz, but still. (Iain de Caesteker and Elizabeth Henstridge have both done some great work depicting this love triangle without the third party actually there.) Samar’s going to be alright, though. I haven’t forgotten that Red got her that job in the first place
5.
Be nice to your local retail workers this holiday season. And if you find a Patti Pie in the store, let me know somehow.