It's going to be a long day of doctor appointments. I already finished one and found out what I already knew: that last weeks x-ray's showed heel spurs. I guess what was good enough for Joltin' Joe is good enough for me.
But I also discussed my back with the doc. I was diagnosed with scoliosis as a kid but was told it was too mild to be treated. Eh, that reeks of bulls**t in hindsight, but either way its gotten much more pronounced lately. The doc checked my spine, noted a curvature to the right, rattled off some Latin into his digital recorder and said "Your left side is shorter, correct?"
"Left side of what? My whole left side? I don't know, I've never measured."
He nodded briskly. "It is shorter. Note how your left shoulder sits below your right. You must go for x-rays."
So in a few minutes its back out to West Allis to get the ol' spine zapped.
Meanwhile, Lisa has developed an abscess above a troublesome tooth, which is naturally a concern for us all. Oh, and all three of the older kids have scheduled physicals for this afternoon and I'm supposed to drive to Pewaukee this evening to pick up a new couch.
Fun times, fun times.
Published writer, compulsive reader, Old School Whovian, Match Game enthusiast, NKOTB fan, data hoarder, and - surprisingly, given that list - married with four kids. Welcome to my take on life, fatherhood, entertainment, and whatever strikes my fancy. Enjoy!
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Beat the Reaper - a review
In many different ways, Beat the Reaper is a formulaic thriller. Boy's family is murdered, to avenge them boy grows up to be a professional killer, boy repents and quits, bad guys find boy, violence ensues. We've all seen the plot a dozen times or more.
Author Josh Bazell, a medical doctor turned author, decides to shake things up a bit while still sticking to that formula. Our ex-hit man Peter Brown is now living as a working (and exhausted) emergency room doctor, having gone back to med school in the witness protection program. It's pure bad luck that he treats a man he knew in his former life, a guy who ignores his terminal diagnosis and announces that if he dies, he's made sure the mob will know of Peter's whereabouts.
Somehow, someway Peter must keep the man alive to keep the secret safe - or else find a way to kill him without alerting the mob.
I've heard complaints about the books format, which includes footnotes that elaborate on the medical and social issues in the book. I disagree with this critique completely, as I thought it was an inventive and entertaining break from convention.
Where I find fault is in some scenes done in poor taste (such as an act of oral sex with a girl mere feet from her brothers corpse) and a viciously harsh assessment of Poland and its WWII anti-Semitism that populates a flashback. Perhaps the criticism of that country was justified, but in my experience someone capable of that much anger and contempt is often the equal of their target in bigotry.
Based on the work as a whole I would tepidly recommend this book for action/thriller readers, but one scene lifts this book to must read status. The final action is so out of left field and so extreme, that I literally laughed out loud in suprise and said "Oh my [bleeping] god!"
It is . . .crazy.
For that scene alone, you need to pick up a copy of this book.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
American Idol: broadcast on the anniversary of the Titanic's fatal contact with an iceberg and Booth's mortal wounding of Lincoln
Memo to AI producers: I don't give a flying fig about time constraints, I want to hear Simon's critique on each and every performer. If you need to trim the fat start with Paula and her wooden, pre-scripted comments; Kara 'Wrong Song Choice' DiGuardo (sic), or Randy 'Pitch Problems' Jackson.
Keep Simon yakking or lose your audience. Seriously.
* * * *
Quentin Tarratino? Instructing a singing competition? Jeez, who's next in line to tutor these guys, Dean Koontz?
* * * *
1. Allison - Ah, a great voice but a narrow comfort zone. Everything sounds the same. Great, but the same. Wait a few years and put a bottle of bourbon in one hand, a cigarette in the other, and package her as the next Janis Joplin. But she's not gonna win this thing.
2. Anoop - the best performance of the night, just smoooth like buttah. Well done.
3. Adam - Some weeks he's as good as he imagines he is, sometimes he's not, not by a long shot. I promised to judge him against his own standards and not those of the group, but by any criteria I thought tonight was pretentious poop. It was one step away from drag queen camp, Vegas style, and about as rugged and 'wild' as a crocheted scarf. Ah, I know there are ladies who are now eager to blast away at me for daring to cross the man, but with all due respect: stop thinking with your Vajayjay. It's as unbecoming as men voting for Megan just because she was hot.
4. Matt - I thought it was very good until about twenty-five seconds from the end. Then it fell apart, but I think he did well enough to stick around.
5. Danny - ho hum. It was like dinner with your Grandmother: pleasant enough, but more than a little on the dull side.
6. Kris - wow, who paid the guy to take a dive? I thought it was gut wrenching, and not in the sense of 'captured my empathy and emotions'. He might be in trouble.
7. Lil' - better than in prior weeks, for sure, but she's put the bar so low it's not difficult to best her par. She's adrift artistically, and her weekly reactions to the judging makes me question her maturity and temperament. But again, better than her past performances.
My bottom three? Lil, Kris, and Adam.
America's bottom three? Lil, Kris and Matt.
Who goes home? Probably Lil, just because of the cumulative effect of lousy performances, but on a 'this week only' basis it would have to be Kris.
Keep Simon yakking or lose your audience. Seriously.
* * * *
Quentin Tarratino? Instructing a singing competition? Jeez, who's next in line to tutor these guys, Dean Koontz?
* * * *
1. Allison - Ah, a great voice but a narrow comfort zone. Everything sounds the same. Great, but the same. Wait a few years and put a bottle of bourbon in one hand, a cigarette in the other, and package her as the next Janis Joplin. But she's not gonna win this thing.
2. Anoop - the best performance of the night, just smoooth like buttah. Well done.
3. Adam - Some weeks he's as good as he imagines he is, sometimes he's not, not by a long shot. I promised to judge him against his own standards and not those of the group, but by any criteria I thought tonight was pretentious poop. It was one step away from drag queen camp, Vegas style, and about as rugged and 'wild' as a crocheted scarf. Ah, I know there are ladies who are now eager to blast away at me for daring to cross the man, but with all due respect: stop thinking with your Vajayjay. It's as unbecoming as men voting for Megan just because she was hot.
4. Matt - I thought it was very good until about twenty-five seconds from the end. Then it fell apart, but I think he did well enough to stick around.
5. Danny - ho hum. It was like dinner with your Grandmother: pleasant enough, but more than a little on the dull side.
6. Kris - wow, who paid the guy to take a dive? I thought it was gut wrenching, and not in the sense of 'captured my empathy and emotions'. He might be in trouble.
7. Lil' - better than in prior weeks, for sure, but she's put the bar so low it's not difficult to best her par. She's adrift artistically, and her weekly reactions to the judging makes me question her maturity and temperament. But again, better than her past performances.
My bottom three? Lil, Kris, and Adam.
America's bottom three? Lil, Kris and Matt.
Who goes home? Probably Lil, just because of the cumulative effect of lousy performances, but on a 'this week only' basis it would have to be Kris.
Tuesday Update
Well, a Wednesday update as it's after midnight, but who's counting? I'm back online, courtesy of YaYa's Godfather, who restored my old desktop up to factory default after being on the sidelines for several months. I've had to swipe a 10 year old monitor from a computer the kids sometimes goof around with, since the monitor is kaput, but at least we're online. Alas, it does not look good for the computer that Smiley may/may not have vandalized. That laptop might be KIA. Keep your fingers crossed.
And if I didn't say it loud enough - THANKS MAN! Those Sprecher's will be in your hands shortly! (Pick 'n Save only had the low cal)
* * * *
Plenty of pics from this past weekend, from the traditional Good Friday Easter Egg Dyeing to the baskets of Easter morn and a trip to the park I took with Smiley. I'll get those up (knock on wood) once I get my software reloaded on my desktop.
* * * * *
My Escort has also returned to active duty. While still needing a strut in the back it's running, and not taking the bus feels sooooo good. Now we'll have to get the van in for a tunep and an alignment.
* * * * *
YaYa has declared her intention of doing something 'different' with her life. Her stated career options are as follows: actress, writer, firefighter, astronaut, and NTSB air accident investigator.
* * * * *
Thursday YaYa went with me to the hospital to get x-rays to ID/eliminate bone spurs as the cause of the constant pain in my left foot. She got to sit with the nurses and view the x-rays, which she thought was cool, but was slightly embarrassed when we left.
"Dad, your foot stank. The whole room smelled when you were done."
And if I didn't say it loud enough - THANKS MAN! Those Sprecher's will be in your hands shortly! (Pick 'n Save only had the low cal)
* * * *
Plenty of pics from this past weekend, from the traditional Good Friday Easter Egg Dyeing to the baskets of Easter morn and a trip to the park I took with Smiley. I'll get those up (knock on wood) once I get my software reloaded on my desktop.
* * * * *
My Escort has also returned to active duty. While still needing a strut in the back it's running, and not taking the bus feels sooooo good. Now we'll have to get the van in for a tunep and an alignment.
* * * * *
YaYa has declared her intention of doing something 'different' with her life. Her stated career options are as follows: actress, writer, firefighter, astronaut, and NTSB air accident investigator.
* * * * *
Thursday YaYa went with me to the hospital to get x-rays to ID/eliminate bone spurs as the cause of the constant pain in my left foot. She got to sit with the nurses and view the x-rays, which she thought was cool, but was slightly embarrassed when we left.
"Dad, your foot stank. The whole room smelled when you were done."
Blogger Issues and Changes to the Comment Page
I had a big scare here on Slapinions yesterday. With my home computer still down I visited the local library after work to check my email. That worked fine, but I was unable to view my site on the first computer I tried. So I tried another. No site. Another. Still no Slapinions. I could sign into my dashboard page but venturing any further resulted in a Blogger error message.
The first Blogger resource I queried suggested my site had been automatically shut down as a 'spam site'. I guess it's not all that uncommon for Blogger to close a site because of a false negative whenever their algorithm mistakes a phrase or link in the site as spam content. Naturally I'd noticed that my last post had resulted in two spam comments, at least one of which linked to porn. Great.
But, the resource was quick to say, Blogger is quick to restore the site in cases of mistaken identity, while of course always searching for a way to improve their algorithm and bring sunshine into the life of all God's creatures.
Phooey. So much for Google being the safe haven of the exiled J-Landers.
A little later a rash of complaints quoting the same error code came up on Blogger help groups, which cheered me up quite a bit. One guy getting screwed is easy to ignore. Not so much when three dozen people are moaning about it all over the web.
Today, the site was back up where it belongs.
So as of today, with some regret, I've added the annoying anti-spam, word verification step to the comment page. I know Ken, in particular, hates that step but I'm gonna have to play it safe and run with it anyway. It's not like I'm inundated with comments, spam or otherwise, but I'm not going to take the chance and have one moron out there knock out five years of my work.
And you better believe I'm searching for a way to back up the site - again - this time off Google, which ain't easy to do, as the big G is to the web what the Mantle era Yankees were to baseball.
Who knows, maybe the first Blogger resource was dead wrong and it was just a general error - but why dare to take the chance?
The first Blogger resource I queried suggested my site had been automatically shut down as a 'spam site'. I guess it's not all that uncommon for Blogger to close a site because of a false negative whenever their algorithm mistakes a phrase or link in the site as spam content. Naturally I'd noticed that my last post had resulted in two spam comments, at least one of which linked to porn. Great.
But, the resource was quick to say, Blogger is quick to restore the site in cases of mistaken identity, while of course always searching for a way to improve their algorithm and bring sunshine into the life of all God's creatures.
Phooey. So much for Google being the safe haven of the exiled J-Landers.
A little later a rash of complaints quoting the same error code came up on Blogger help groups, which cheered me up quite a bit. One guy getting screwed is easy to ignore. Not so much when three dozen people are moaning about it all over the web.
Today, the site was back up where it belongs.
So as of today, with some regret, I've added the annoying anti-spam, word verification step to the comment page. I know Ken, in particular, hates that step but I'm gonna have to play it safe and run with it anyway. It's not like I'm inundated with comments, spam or otherwise, but I'm not going to take the chance and have one moron out there knock out five years of my work.
And you better believe I'm searching for a way to back up the site - again - this time off Google, which ain't easy to do, as the big G is to the web what the Mantle era Yankees were to baseball.
Who knows, maybe the first Blogger resource was dead wrong and it was just a general error - but why dare to take the chance?
Monday, April 13, 2009
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Update
I'm writing this from the local library. After what may or may not have been an attempt by Smiley to clean it with windex, our computer is now kaput. I can only hope it's up and running soon.
Some bad news yesterday: the close friend of Lisa's best (female) friend died of an accidental overdose at her home in Michigan. Lisa and I had just talked about her that very morning, which increased the freakiness of the news. She'd been shown here on Slapinions near Christmas - the woman who attended the Christmas Bear concert with the kids. My girls remembered her instantly. "Evie's Mom died?" LuLu asked in shock.
Our prayers are with her family.
* * * *
Good news: here's a link to my article yesterday. If you are not Catholic and/or not from Milwaukee it's of little direct interest to you.
* * * *
And an Easter Good Samaratin: on the way to the library I buckled Smiley into the carseat, putting my books and DVD's on top of the van to free up my hands. Guess who then drove away, leaving $70 or more of library materials to fly away? I was so upset, but as I retraced my steps the guy on the corner presented me with all but one of the items. "Lose these?", he said. Moments later I found the last item, slightly damaged, in the middle of the street in front of my house.
* * * *
If I don't get back online before Sunday - happy Easter to everyone!
Some bad news yesterday: the close friend of Lisa's best (female) friend died of an accidental overdose at her home in Michigan. Lisa and I had just talked about her that very morning, which increased the freakiness of the news. She'd been shown here on Slapinions near Christmas - the woman who attended the Christmas Bear concert with the kids. My girls remembered her instantly. "Evie's Mom died?" LuLu asked in shock.
Our prayers are with her family.
* * * *
Good news: here's a link to my article yesterday. If you are not Catholic and/or not from Milwaukee it's of little direct interest to you.
* * * *
And an Easter Good Samaratin: on the way to the library I buckled Smiley into the carseat, putting my books and DVD's on top of the van to free up my hands. Guess who then drove away, leaving $70 or more of library materials to fly away? I was so upset, but as I retraced my steps the guy on the corner presented me with all but one of the items. "Lose these?", he said. Moments later I found the last item, slightly damaged, in the middle of the street in front of my house.
* * * *
If I don't get back online before Sunday - happy Easter to everyone!
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Smiley takes the Bus
This Monday Smiley began taking the school bus to school.
He loves it. He waits, staring out the living room window until it pulls up, then yells 'bye' and runs out the door. His friend Jay-Jay rides with him, offering him a manic 'hello' wave when the bus pulls up.
He tells everyone about it; in fact when he visited my Mom his first words were his version of "take bus".
Me? I hate it. I'm proud of him, and happy that he enjoys it, but it makes me a paranoid nut. I've kept that to myself, and I'm getting better, but oh my.
He loves it. He waits, staring out the living room window until it pulls up, then yells 'bye' and runs out the door. His friend Jay-Jay rides with him, offering him a manic 'hello' wave when the bus pulls up.
He tells everyone about it; in fact when he visited my Mom his first words were his version of "take bus".
Me? I hate it. I'm proud of him, and happy that he enjoys it, but it makes me a paranoid nut. I've kept that to myself, and I'm getting better, but oh my.
He-Haw
Man, I'm tickled pink!
Today the mailman delivered two envelopes from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. Inside of each was a 'fan' letter to me that was mailed to the newspaper and then forwarded to my home. Unfortunately, I'd ripped open the first envelope thinking it was my check, then got so excited after reading the letter that I greedily tore open the second. That's a pity, because I would have liked to have preserved it for my future musuem. Ah well. :)
* * *
Bridgett - I read your comment on Scott's departure before having a chance to watch the recorded show. No matter - it was actually a better viewing experience, as I didn't have to sweat out the Anoop-Scott drama. As for his early departure, I think the top five *has* to be Adam, Danny, Allison, and Matt, with Kris or Anoop battling it out for the numero cinco. Long story short, whether he went home this week or next, the exit was coming soon.
* * *
Another reason I'm excited: for the first time in a few weeks the whole Slapinions family will have the opportunity to sit down and enjoy a real dinner together. That's odd that it's odd, as from the time of YaYa's birth on we ALWAYS shared dinner together, and 99% of the time, no matter the entree, fruits and vegetables were on the plate.
I don't think I've seen a vegetable that wasn't sliced and on top of a meat patty in a week. Some parts of working evenings SUCK.
My criteria tonight is firm: meat, starch, veggies, and a fruit. Oh man, I can't wait.
Today the mailman delivered two envelopes from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. Inside of each was a 'fan' letter to me that was mailed to the newspaper and then forwarded to my home. Unfortunately, I'd ripped open the first envelope thinking it was my check, then got so excited after reading the letter that I greedily tore open the second. That's a pity, because I would have liked to have preserved it for my future musuem. Ah well. :)
* * *
Bridgett - I read your comment on Scott's departure before having a chance to watch the recorded show. No matter - it was actually a better viewing experience, as I didn't have to sweat out the Anoop-Scott drama. As for his early departure, I think the top five *has* to be Adam, Danny, Allison, and Matt, with Kris or Anoop battling it out for the numero cinco. Long story short, whether he went home this week or next, the exit was coming soon.
* * *
Another reason I'm excited: for the first time in a few weeks the whole Slapinions family will have the opportunity to sit down and enjoy a real dinner together. That's odd that it's odd, as from the time of YaYa's birth on we ALWAYS shared dinner together, and 99% of the time, no matter the entree, fruits and vegetables were on the plate.
I don't think I've seen a vegetable that wasn't sliced and on top of a meat patty in a week. Some parts of working evenings SUCK.
My criteria tonight is firm: meat, starch, veggies, and a fruit. Oh man, I can't wait.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Mama Mia!
Yeah, I like ABBA. Sue me. I haven't had a chance to see the stage version of Mamma Mia! and was eager to watch the movie.
Simply put, it tells of Sophie's attempt to discover the identity of her father in the days before her wedding. The trouble is Donna, her Mom, (played by Meryl Streep) was very . . . adventurous one week twenty years ago, and there are three potential Daddy's. Each gets an invitation to attend the wedding and adventure ensues, while the music of ABBA develops the characters and moves the plot forward.
It's good to see the continuing (if small) revival of movie musicals (High School Musical, Enchanted, etc.) and I was pleasantly surprised, watching the subtitled version of the film, at how many of the lyrics are polished and literate.
I'm not sure if it's a flaw carried over from the stage version or not, but both Lisa and I felt the movie felt disjointed at times. There were some ludicrously naive plot points: the daughter who's sure she'll recognize her father on sight and that when she does "everything [in her life] will fall into place"; the fact that Donna seems unable to put two and two together, turning this into an elaborate episode of Three's Company; and Sophie's out of left field actions during the wedding.
Small complaints, all in all. My biggest problem with the film was that some people (cough Pierce Brosnan cough Meryl Streep cough) were hired for their name and not their voice. Pity that. Kudos to Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) for her great voice and natural beauty, both of which help elevate the film above the norm.
2.8 out of 4
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