Today pointed another way in which I miss my father. Today, Washington and Lee beat Sewanee in Lexington, 31-13. As I worked in the yard and checked the score on line from time to time, I thought about who I could share it with. In the past, I would have called Dad and discussed the game. Tonight, Georgia is beating South Carolina 38-26 in Athens. The game has included quite a few amazing plays like a 100 yard kickoff return and an end around for a touchdown. It would have been nice to call Dad and hear the excitement in his voice when we discussed the plays we were watching on our respective televisions. We would discuss the upsets and the near upsets of the day. Even the Braves beating the Cardinals and the Phillies losing to the Mets (if they couldn't just defeat each other at the same time, which would have been the best).
Oh well. There are always other games and opportunities to share the excitement with others. Tomorrow I will see a lot of my friends at church. I am sure I will get the opportunity to discuss the games of today.
College football is the only thing that comes close to March Madness.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Why I like Thursdays
Thursday is one of my favorite days of the week. Thursday has all the anticipation and possibilities of the weekend, without any of the letdowns that come with Friday, Saturday or Sunday. On Thursday, you get the idea that the weekend is just around the corner. On top of that, sometimes you get a long weekend and the weekend actually begins on Thursday night. In addition, now that it is football season, you get Thursday night games under the lights, like tonight's game between Georgia Tech and Clemson. I love watching Georgia Tech play at home on Thursday night. They always seem to play better on Thursday night. And I really dislike Clempson, so you get a double whammy. Meanwhile, beyond the extra football on Thursday night, there is a lot of good television on Thursday night and Cindy doesn't work on Friday, so everyone can sleep late on Friday and I can go in to the office as early as I want to. Finally, you can think about the fun you might have on the weekend without thinking that the weekend is almost over, like you do on Saturday or Sunday.
Yes, Thursday is a good day.
Yes, Thursday is a good day.
The effect of flowers blooming on a gloomy day in September
I dropped Cindy off at the front of Griffin Tech this morning and sipped on some herbal tea as I drove through town towards my office. The skies were overcast and grey. It had rained last night and there was a bit of moisture on the ground as I drove. I finally pulled through the intersection at 8th Street and College Street and drove down the last block before I got to the small parking lot in the back of the white Victorian house in which my office is located. I pulled into the lot and parked next to an old white frame garage building behind the house. I removed the key from the ignition and stepped out of the car.
As I walked from my car to the front of the building, I passed a number of bushes and plants planted alongside the drive and the house next door. Both houses are former residential houses, altered to house commercial enterprises. The landscaping and plantings remain from the days when people lived in the houses and planted for their enjoyment and the beauty of the greenery.
But I stepped under the porte cochere and suddenly the fragrance emanating from one of the bushes, blooming at this time of late Summer hit my nose and it was such a delightful smell. It being this late in the Summer, I didn't expect to smell such a fragrance as I walked through there. But the effect on my mood was elevating. I was happy and suddenly glad to have an office in this old residential building.
There was a bit of a jump in my step as I entered the front door of the building and ascended the steps to my office. Simple pleasures. Simple pleasures.
As I walked from my car to the front of the building, I passed a number of bushes and plants planted alongside the drive and the house next door. Both houses are former residential houses, altered to house commercial enterprises. The landscaping and plantings remain from the days when people lived in the houses and planted for their enjoyment and the beauty of the greenery.
But I stepped under the porte cochere and suddenly the fragrance emanating from one of the bushes, blooming at this time of late Summer hit my nose and it was such a delightful smell. It being this late in the Summer, I didn't expect to smell such a fragrance as I walked through there. But the effect on my mood was elevating. I was happy and suddenly glad to have an office in this old residential building.
There was a bit of a jump in my step as I entered the front door of the building and ascended the steps to my office. Simple pleasures. Simple pleasures.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Sun among the clouds
We went to church tonight and we got to sit down with our friends and eat a nice meal of pasta and green beans and salad, washed down with iced tea, and then sit together with some of the church members and talk about the fruits of the spirit. Tomorrow, Cindy and I will eat supper with Kate, then go to Williamson to have dessert and a study with our community group from church. This group is made up of five couples, two of which were connected enough to want to attend the memorial service for dad back in July. Connections are important in many ways, but when you are suffering from such a loss it is so tender to see friends with whom you have taken communion for many years now take the time to drive up from Griffin to do nothing but give you support. I really appreciated that. Of course, Mike McNeil came down all the way from Lexington, Kentucky. Allison and Brad Howell came down from Alpharetta, even though our connections were so new. Friends of my mother, friends of my father, friends of brother and sister. John and Joe. They were all appreciated.
The summer was tough. There were times of real fun and relaxation. I remember Kate and I went to see the Braves sweep the Phillies on July 2nd. It was a great game and the Braves went way out to celebrate our Patriotism on the verge of July 4th. It was a lot of fun and the Braves won and it was a great time to share with Kate.
Then came July 3rd and we drove up to Dunwoody to enjoy the weekend with Mom and Dad, and then Dad had to go into the hospital and he soon began the long descent toward July 13th. Of course, we had the Dunwoody parade and tried to celebrate July 4th without dad there. Later, Cindy and I had the following weekend we spent with our community group up in the mountains. We watched the sun go down on Brasstown Bald. I saw a bear skitter up into the trees. We enjoyed fellowship and a trail walk around the lake at Vogel State Park and Bill and I waded into a river and went after trout with fly gear. On the way back, we stopped at the hospital and saw dad and he seemed to be doing better and the doctor said he would be going home the next day....
Then came Monday, July 13th. We begin our lives with this concept that the world is this way, populated with certain family and friends and when you are very small, the loss of family members is not so personal for most of us. One of my grandfathers was gone before I was even born. Although I lost one grandfather when I was a teenager, it was a long time before my grandmothers passed away and Kate could know them both, although she was young when they passed.
But when dad passed away, it was different. Perhaps it was because I am fifty two and feel my own mortality. Perhaps it was because I have always depended on him to be there. Perhaps it was both. We all felt the loss in such a significant way. Still, I think we were all amazed by how many of our family and friends came to our side. Aunt Meg and Uncle David were there. All the cousins came. Then the IBMers, the Women's Club members, the friends from high school, the friends from church, the ladies from Mount Vernon, Mrs. Baker, Mrs. Honeycut, Lee and Pete, Jeff Rummel and Mrs. Rummel. It was amazing.
Then Aunt Meg. And the trip to St. Pete and sitting in the hot sun at the military cemetery. Of course, we could go out to the beach and watch the sun go down again and enjoy family members and friends and it wasn't all gloom.
At this point, we need to keep our connections. We need to work harder to show we matter to each other. In a lot of ways, we are doing that. In some ways things have worked to make this more of a reality. Kevin and Susan live closer to mom. Maggie is at Emory. All of those things draw us closer together whether we started that way or not. Thanks to our friends. Thanks to our family for making it easier to handle. All we can do is come alongside of each other and make sure they know we care.
The summer was tough. There were times of real fun and relaxation. I remember Kate and I went to see the Braves sweep the Phillies on July 2nd. It was a great game and the Braves went way out to celebrate our Patriotism on the verge of July 4th. It was a lot of fun and the Braves won and it was a great time to share with Kate.
Then came July 3rd and we drove up to Dunwoody to enjoy the weekend with Mom and Dad, and then Dad had to go into the hospital and he soon began the long descent toward July 13th. Of course, we had the Dunwoody parade and tried to celebrate July 4th without dad there. Later, Cindy and I had the following weekend we spent with our community group up in the mountains. We watched the sun go down on Brasstown Bald. I saw a bear skitter up into the trees. We enjoyed fellowship and a trail walk around the lake at Vogel State Park and Bill and I waded into a river and went after trout with fly gear. On the way back, we stopped at the hospital and saw dad and he seemed to be doing better and the doctor said he would be going home the next day....
Then came Monday, July 13th. We begin our lives with this concept that the world is this way, populated with certain family and friends and when you are very small, the loss of family members is not so personal for most of us. One of my grandfathers was gone before I was even born. Although I lost one grandfather when I was a teenager, it was a long time before my grandmothers passed away and Kate could know them both, although she was young when they passed.
But when dad passed away, it was different. Perhaps it was because I am fifty two and feel my own mortality. Perhaps it was because I have always depended on him to be there. Perhaps it was both. We all felt the loss in such a significant way. Still, I think we were all amazed by how many of our family and friends came to our side. Aunt Meg and Uncle David were there. All the cousins came. Then the IBMers, the Women's Club members, the friends from high school, the friends from church, the ladies from Mount Vernon, Mrs. Baker, Mrs. Honeycut, Lee and Pete, Jeff Rummel and Mrs. Rummel. It was amazing.
Then Aunt Meg. And the trip to St. Pete and sitting in the hot sun at the military cemetery. Of course, we could go out to the beach and watch the sun go down again and enjoy family members and friends and it wasn't all gloom.
At this point, we need to keep our connections. We need to work harder to show we matter to each other. In a lot of ways, we are doing that. In some ways things have worked to make this more of a reality. Kevin and Susan live closer to mom. Maggie is at Emory. All of those things draw us closer together whether we started that way or not. Thanks to our friends. Thanks to our family for making it easier to handle. All we can do is come alongside of each other and make sure they know we care.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Health issues
My laptop computer is programmed to have CNN news as my homepage. This evening the CNN homepage led with a story about a doctor from Ohio who refused to give his patients a chicken pox shot because the insurance companies would not cover the cost of the shots. The teaser on the article said that this was an "alarming" trend.
This past weekend, my father in law, a quite serious conservative Republican, and I were discussing health care. My father in law, who has medicare and other coverage from his former employment at UCLA, to cover his medical needs, mentioned in our discussion, the need for tort reform, as part of the solution to our health care needs.
But I think the ultimate answer to our problem lies in the story about the doctor from Ohio and his decision to not offer the chicken pox inoculation because the insurance companies would not cover it. I find it difficult to assess the cause for the insurance companies' unwillingness to cover chicken pox inoculations against the lawyers trying to make doctors and hospitals live up to their responsibilities. No, the problem with chicken pox inoculations is the cost they bear in relation to what the insurance companies wish to pay. I would assert, strongly, that that is the same reason why insurance is so difficult to come by these days.
The insurance companies want to make a profit. We don't begrudge them that. The doctors wish to treat their patients and make a profit. We don't begrudge them that. The patients wish to be healed of their ailments. Their wishes are not based on profit. They just want to be healed and healthy. But when matters stand between the insurance companies and their profits, they wish to reduce the factors which reduce their profits.
If they make bad investments, like most of us, the easy answer is to raise the premiums, reduce the amount of care available and blame their problems on others. We need better regulation because the needs of the patients need to be addressed. The doctors want to help. The insurance companies should want to help. But sometimes the desire to make a profit stands in the way.
We shouldn't begrudge the insurance companies their profits. We should just make sure that their desire to make a profit doesn't stand in the way of the need for medical care and the doctor's desire to provide that care. When a doctor won't provide the inoculations which can make his patient's healthy, then someone should give. I think it should be the insurance companies.
Just my opinion.
This past weekend, my father in law, a quite serious conservative Republican, and I were discussing health care. My father in law, who has medicare and other coverage from his former employment at UCLA, to cover his medical needs, mentioned in our discussion, the need for tort reform, as part of the solution to our health care needs.
But I think the ultimate answer to our problem lies in the story about the doctor from Ohio and his decision to not offer the chicken pox inoculation because the insurance companies would not cover it. I find it difficult to assess the cause for the insurance companies' unwillingness to cover chicken pox inoculations against the lawyers trying to make doctors and hospitals live up to their responsibilities. No, the problem with chicken pox inoculations is the cost they bear in relation to what the insurance companies wish to pay. I would assert, strongly, that that is the same reason why insurance is so difficult to come by these days.
The insurance companies want to make a profit. We don't begrudge them that. The doctors wish to treat their patients and make a profit. We don't begrudge them that. The patients wish to be healed of their ailments. Their wishes are not based on profit. They just want to be healed and healthy. But when matters stand between the insurance companies and their profits, they wish to reduce the factors which reduce their profits.
If they make bad investments, like most of us, the easy answer is to raise the premiums, reduce the amount of care available and blame their problems on others. We need better regulation because the needs of the patients need to be addressed. The doctors want to help. The insurance companies should want to help. But sometimes the desire to make a profit stands in the way.
We shouldn't begrudge the insurance companies their profits. We should just make sure that their desire to make a profit doesn't stand in the way of the need for medical care and the doctor's desire to provide that care. When a doctor won't provide the inoculations which can make his patient's healthy, then someone should give. I think it should be the insurance companies.
Just my opinion.
Fall, the beaches and the peaches
Tuesday morning rolled around about 3:30 this morning and then restarted about threes hour later and I was able to eat my new favorite breakfast of blueberries and greek style yogurt with a sizeable glass of orange juice. This breakfast is good and it keeps me strong for the entire morning and I think it is a good breakfast for someone who doesn't drink coffee or eat eggs, so that my best breakfast is a bowl of steel-cut oatmeal and a glass of orange juice, even though I really like country ham biscuits and good grits from North Georgia and it would be something if I could get those North Georgia grits with Broadbents' ham with the biscuits that Grandmommie used to make. That would be way too good with a cup of Irish Breakfast tea and a glass of orange juice.
But with this gout I have to adjust my diet a bit and stay away from sausage (and Octoberfest coming upon us) and probably lower my beer diet (see note on Octoberfest) and lets go onto something else, like the new L L Bean catalog came today and I had a real rush of Autumn clothing zeal hit me and this is the time to think hard on tartans and see how close they got to McKay tartan in the catalog, and they really didn't get close at all. But tweed is here and sweaters and it makes me wish I didn't have the gout because the air will get cooler at night and I will find myself, I hope, in Helen or Blairsville or elsewhere, and the air will be cool and the hops will efervesce into my nostrils and will remind me of how much I enjoy the taste of beer. And a nice wurst.
Aghh. I need adjustment. I am working on it. I promise. That promise is meant for all my ladies: Cindy, Kate, momma, even the nieces. All those nieces. Lil Maggie and all her Peaches.
I got a picture which shows Kate laughing from the seagulls flying around her, juxtaposed with a picture of Cindy at the beach on Hilton Head, with camera in hand, laughing at Kate in the water. They are so beautiful. In so many ways.
But with this gout I have to adjust my diet a bit and stay away from sausage (and Octoberfest coming upon us) and probably lower my beer diet (see note on Octoberfest) and lets go onto something else, like the new L L Bean catalog came today and I had a real rush of Autumn clothing zeal hit me and this is the time to think hard on tartans and see how close they got to McKay tartan in the catalog, and they really didn't get close at all. But tweed is here and sweaters and it makes me wish I didn't have the gout because the air will get cooler at night and I will find myself, I hope, in Helen or Blairsville or elsewhere, and the air will be cool and the hops will efervesce into my nostrils and will remind me of how much I enjoy the taste of beer. And a nice wurst.
Aghh. I need adjustment. I am working on it. I promise. That promise is meant for all my ladies: Cindy, Kate, momma, even the nieces. All those nieces. Lil Maggie and all her Peaches.
I got a picture which shows Kate laughing from the seagulls flying around her, juxtaposed with a picture of Cindy at the beach on Hilton Head, with camera in hand, laughing at Kate in the water. They are so beautiful. In so many ways.
Monday, September 7, 2009
ESPN, thirty years
I woke up this morning around 3:30 and went into the study and watched the sports news on ESPN and found out it was the thirtieth anniversary on ESPN. It happened when I was in the first few weeks of law school at Georgia and I don't think I was thinking much about sports, but on the other hand, it was quite a first year for the city of Pittsburgh. The Pirates beat the Orioles in the World Series. The Steelers beat the Rams in the Super Bowl. Unfortunately, Mario Lemeux was probably just a teenager otherwise the Penguins might have won the Stanley Cup. That would have been quite a year for the city of Pittsburgh.
It was only a couple of years until ESPN would take over sports from CBS and ABC and NBC. I do remember the advent of MTV and VH1 and all of the miniature dramas they played with the music in the 80's. Then there was Miami Vice, which looked a lot like a music video. Sometimes you need to go back and look at some of those shows and realize how lame some of those shows were when they were played. Don Johnson and Phillip Michael Thomas. Fortunately, Edward James Olmos seemed to rise above his beginnings as the lieutenant on Miami Vice.
Well, it has been a long day and a long weekend. It is time to stop this reminicing and go to bed.
It was only a couple of years until ESPN would take over sports from CBS and ABC and NBC. I do remember the advent of MTV and VH1 and all of the miniature dramas they played with the music in the 80's. Then there was Miami Vice, which looked a lot like a music video. Sometimes you need to go back and look at some of those shows and realize how lame some of those shows were when they were played. Don Johnson and Phillip Michael Thomas. Fortunately, Edward James Olmos seemed to rise above his beginnings as the lieutenant on Miami Vice.
Well, it has been a long day and a long weekend. It is time to stop this reminicing and go to bed.
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