All that snow I almost had a heart-attack shoveling out of the way, it's all gone, melted away. And the backyard, it's a tiny islet of grass in a vast sea of mud.
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Showing posts from December, 2006
The Accidental Atwood (Or Not) Once a year (sometimes twice a year) Pop is struck with the sudden urge to make the rounds of all his doctors. At least once a year this is a valid urge; within a two-month span he'll want to set appointments with his internist, his dentist, his dermatologist, his optometrist, his proctologist, his ears-nose-and-throat specialist, along with the others that don't readily come to mind. The thing is, were he to visit every single one on The List, he'd have enough appointments to fill up every single day of the work-weeks for an entire month—or so it seems. Here's the point: When this happens (our Tour De Medico), a LOT of time is spent in waiting rooms. And then more time is spent waiting in examination rooms. Indeed, two weeks ago, during an impromptu visit to the internist, the waiting lasted forty-five minutes in an examination room the size of two public toilet stalls. These examination rooms are strung together by a labyrinth of narrow ...
The FireVaney's First Letter to the Editor...
To Whom It May Concern: In the December 3, 2006 issue of the Chicago Tribune Magazine, on page 18, Erla Zwingle, instead of having quoted it, paraphrased a passage from Hemingway's A Farewell To Arms. As published in her article, the passage reads: "The world breaks everyone, and afterward many are strong in the broken places. It kills the very good and the very brave and the very gentle impartially. If you are none of those you can be sure it will kill you too, but there will be no special hurry." As published in the 1949 hardcover edition of A Farewell To Arms , the passage reads: "The world breaks every one and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. If you are none of these you can be sure it will kill you too but there will be no special hurry." (Chapter 34, pages 258-259.) My intention is not to come across as being overly punctiliou...