Family and friends help too

99% of the reason I didn't lose my mind is the wonderful care from the staff.
The other 1% is the Xanax.

Successfully got through chemo and left the staff at the hospital this note as I returned to rehab.

What Is a stronger word for thank you?

For the nurses and aides who treat me better than many people treat their own children.

For the therapists who routinely get hurt so I won't get hurt.

For the people who bring me my meals and treat me better than any waiter ever did.

For the people who clean my room who see me once a week and know my name.

For the doctors who work tirelessly to fix me.

To the Recreational Therapist who came in on a Saturday and helped me type this.

To the medical schools who taught one young nurse how to properly diagnose me and got me to go to the hospital immediately.

Lawrence O'Donnell said it better than me, but I would have used the whole hour.



Later I will write things that may make you laugh and things that have made me cry.

What You Shouldn't Have To Know Because You Are Not Me.

Guillian-Barre Syndrome

More later when I can type.

it is like I was on my last long run before a marathon and I got hit by  a truck, then the ambulace got hit by a truck.

Good news - Bad News from the dentest

This wont hurt so much because you already had root canal on that tooth.

 This is what I looked like.......

Nobody is gonna ruin Boston for me

If you look up "Boston" in a regular dictionary you get a card game, a dance, or a reference to a geographic place.  If you say Boston to a long distance runner you get a different meaning.  If you have ever run more than 13.1 miles you can skip the following paragraph, because you already know it.

Boston is the fuckin' holy grail of marathons.  It's not that it is just the oldest continuously run  marathon in the world and has a history that is connected to the Modern Olympics.. It is that you have to qualify for it.  You have to BQ, Boston Qualify.  Yes, this race has qualifying standards. You have to be fast. (yea, you can give a lot of money to charity and they can give a chunk of that to the Boston Athletic Association, but don't get me started on that.). For people who were given shit for genes like me qualifying for Boston is a dream. The people who do it are not like us.  They are the people who start in the front of the pack and finish when I am halfway done.  They are the people who casually walk down the street in that yellow windbreaker and have no idea what they are doing to me.

Back in the day, I did everything it my physical ability to break 4 hours in the marathon.  When I did  looked around for new goals.  Then, at age 36 I would have had to break 3:10 to BQ.  But 3:58 would have qualified me if I were 60 years old.  So in just 9 years I have to go back to the gym, loose a few pounds, get serious and run another sub 4 hour marathon.

Photo by Robert Reese at the 2013 Boston Marathon. 

But today I will drive.  I will drive to Boston.  Gonna borrow a big car and fill it up with my closest and newest friends.

I don't know about their reasons but I am going to say FUCK YOU to the little shits that want me to be scared.

I am going to show the people of Boston and those who go there to run that I am there for them.

Because one day, one day, they will be there for me.

Michael Ring of the Prospect Park Track Club shares his story.

A real dive

On Monday we made a quick trip to Philly and figured that we should actually act like tourists and go to a "famous cheese steak place".  We found the one that seemed to get the most attention and added it to our map.  We went to Tony Luke's.

First, I would like to point out that the food was good.  I ordered The Roast Pork Italian, with Provolone and Spinach..  It did not look anything like the photo on their Internet menu but it was really good. If one is gonna shave a day or two off your live by eating so much fat and salt, this is the way to do it.

My daughter had the classic roast beef.  My son and his friend had a chicken cutlet hoagie.  My daughter (rightly) scowled at the boys because ordering a chicken cutlet sandwich at Tony Luke's was like ordering a hamburger at Nathan's.  I was just glad nobody puked on the 95 mile ride home.

Below I embedded some of the professional videos that were made about this place.  None of them show that this place is a true dive.

- It was full of cops, (they look the same in Philly, as they do in NYC)
- It is next to a highway
- Has abundant parking
- and no indoor bathrooms.  Yea, portapotties.

I had the time, so I let this photograph affect me

We took a quick road trip to The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia.  Now that they are not so dependent on me, all I have to really do is say is "Have fun and we will regroup near the big statue of Ben at 2pm."  I got to walk around and enjoy a museum like an adult.  I really did not need to climb in the Giant Heart or the Train Factory again.  So I  meandered into the 50 Greatest Photographs of National Geographic and decided to read every caption.

One of them helped me understand the power of a photograph.

William Albert Allard, 1982. A Peruvian boy mourns his sheep, killed by a hit-and-run taxi driver [461x331]

This "boy" is 9 years old but has the responsibilities of an adult.  But when his herd is decimated he cried. The caption explains that the photographer wished he could have helped him but could not.  He had nothing to give.

Below is text and images from Burnéd Shoés  The story has a good ending.

Here’s a picture of William Albert Allard showing the well known picture to grown up Eduardo and his family (source):

WILLIAM ALBERT ALLARD: PERUVIAN BOY

Above photograph shows Eduardo Ramos with his dead sheep after a hit-and-run taxi driver had killed half of his family’s flock in 1981. Photographer William Albert Allard had been exploring Peru at that time and stumbled upon that crying boy near Puno.

The photo was published in National Geographic in March 1982. The readers of the magazine responded so generously that the boy’s family was able to buy five new ewes after more than 6,000$ have been contributed. Enough money was left over to aid other people in the region.

This story demonstrates how a photographer can give something back and make a difference in a person’s life. Find more examples on the National Geographic website.

Here’s a picture of William Albert Allard showing the well known picture to grown up Eduardo and his family (source):

Evidence that there will be another season of Boardwalk Empire.

I stopped watching a long time ago.

Yea, gotta move the car.

I wonder if these are the people who complain about government imposed safety regulations?

We make jokes about Darwinism in action.  But they are not really that funny



Are they the same people who complain about Obamacare and don't have insurance when they drop a silo on their heads?

Yea.