Distracted

Been distracted from blogging at work and at home, both of which are going great.

So I started a new job and have had some adventures in medicine, but nothing blog worthy on either front.

The world is about the same. This new war seems like the old war, just new faces and dates. Few Americans connect any dots, so don't expect Americans to suddenly 'get' the fact that our failure in Iraq is creating an emerging regional power, Iran, now pushing for destabilization across the region. Our client state, Israel, will fight our enemies by proxy, kill many, solve nothing.

But on the brighter front, I took home a fat bonus, but then reading about various CEO salaries... One man's fat is another man's skinny.

Vacation

I've been on vacation after the move. It's been pretty great. Caught up with the kids, wife, and some books. I bought Gore's book, which will probably be in lieu of the movie (until Netflix), which is just a picture book, but scary enough. Meanwhile, I plugged away at Diamond's Collapse. This is a scary book.

Mrs. NOS bought Fast Food Nation, which is cool because it shows what people who lack souls do when they win the gamble of fast food business. I'm half reading it. Because Diamond is so thick, the Fast Food book goes down like a biggie shake.

Otherwise summer life is good.

Moved

Mostly moved. Wow, what a trip. Everything's gone pretty smoothly so far. We packed everything and crated it, shipped the rest in bulk, and got ourselves on an airplane. Tough going. But we made it. As for our stuff, I'm going to assume it's all good.

On the plane ride over there were about 50 military recruits of varying sizes sitting all around us. They got a connection, so one measure of their numbers was how few people were waiting around for bags.

When I say something like "military recruit," the image comes to mind of a big strapping guy with short hair. That must be the after-shot These guys were the before-shot. Sorry, I used the word shot.

Anyway, they were about 18 or 19, clearly traveled in packs of 3 to 5 sub-packs, and gave each other hard times. But boy, were they young. When I was 18, I felt like I was pretty tough. Actually, because I got served alcohol by 19, I must have looked fairly old. These kids, for the most part, did not look like they would be legal for another few years at least.

Wish Bush could have been there to explain why they're going to Iraq.

Moving

So we're moving. Last night I spent many hours taking things out to a packing crate and now the place is empty. But in a house, empty doesn't mean empty, just devoid of the large stuff. There are still toys, mats, and folding chairs on the floor. The kitchen still has stuff in it.

Uggh. I've moved before, but never with two girls. Oh the headache.

Anyway, we fly out on Saterday.

Great Run

Yesterday I went for a great run. It was 7 miles, or so I'm told, and it went from an undergrad college to a beach, then back up a huge hill. Meanwhile the sun was setting. Lovely. That is all.

Delete

Today I deleted the email address of one of my mentors who died early of cancer. It was fast, but that wasn't a blessing. Oddly, for a doctor, he must have known the prognosis was grave, yet he fought it all the way to having terrible complications on chemo, including some pretty horrific things involving bowels. When Romeo's buddy gets cut, what does he say? The wound is as deep as a grave, and by tomorrow you will find me a grave man? That's about the size of it.

Knowing that he died was horrible enough. It's been about 3 years since I'd even spoken to him. But to go through my email addresses (I was cleaning e-house anyway) and actually delete his, sending this byte of information into oblivion (or is there a great collection of deleted emails and addresses on another e-plane?) was a terrible thing. Of course, the email itself was only the connection, the portal through which one could speak to this man. Without the man, the portal was dead anyway.

In happier news, I finished a marathon over the weekend under 4 hours. Although I'm slow, I'm steady. And although I'm steady, I'm not all that steady. My split times decresed markedly after mile 21. Now I feel as sore as Jeff Skilling is going to feel on prison day number 2. Walking is a pain, stairs are torture. Is this what it is to be old?

419

Tried to sell a surfboard. Got a great response:

Am using this medium to notify you of my son's interest in particular brand of surfboard, Hence the need to get in touch with you on the negotiations.Making a check payment now let me know your giving price for the merchandise excluding shipping fare to africa, nigeria preciselly..Shipment will be handled by a shipping agent.
Let me know if its still in good condition and ready to be sold..

E. Molloy


I'm thinking of something like this:

Dear Mr. Molloy,

It takes a caring father to buy their son a '9 foot surfboard.' To be clear, in my part of the US, this means a 9 inch phallic instrument of pleasure, which I'm sure your son told you about since he lives out here and it is common knowledge. I commend you on your open mind and excellent english. Perhaps you could have your son drop by and I could show him how it works. He'll probably want a lesson in 'surfing' which I could also provide at no extra cost. Let me know when he'll show up, I live at: fake address.

Otto.