Wow!

Has it been almost 10 months since I posted last? Hunh . . . wouldn't have thought that much time had gone by. I better post something soon. Something short but meaningful. Something like this. (He smiles.)

Anniversaries Bitter and Sweet

Tomorrow, 11 Mar 2013, will be a day both bitter and sweet. It's sweet because it marks six months to the day since my surgery to replace both hips. Things could not be better with my health since then, thank the Lord. I am doing quite well. However, it's also the birthday of my late friend Larry Dambeck.

Larry and I met when I first joined the Mount Prospect Midget Football League (the MPMFA) in sixth grade. He and I generally were the last two players to finish the opening run around the football field, which, no doubt, would still be true today. But while Larry played and started from sixth grade through eighth, I broke a hand in sixth grade and an arm in eighth grade, both on the gridiron; both injuries finished my season, of course.

It was during the second half of freshman year at Prospect High School that Larry and I found ourselves in the same gym class. Larry asked if I wanted to start playing softball and such with his other friends, and so began friendships that have lasted all these years. I met Hauslein, Brickwood, Drager and all the rest, as well as their siblings and parents.

Sometimes Larry and I used to ride our bikes to Randhurst mall, buy a Slurpee at the SS Kresge store and sit on our "freak bench" and watch the people go by. When we got our driver's licenses, and had cars of our own, the trips usually involved Jack in the Box, Luke's or Peep's. And, naturally, a little later still, some of our trips were across the state line into Wisconsin for a beer or six. When his folks moved back to Wisconsin, and Larry moved to Cedarburg with them, I often took the trip up I-294 from Mount Prospect to see him. He moved back to Illinois and lived with my folks and I for a couple of years too.

Larry was Best Man at my wedding, and at Drager's, too, though he himself never married.

As children came along our contact diminished, but it picked up some the last couple of years, aided by the cell phone. I'd call Larry once in a while as I drove home, usually a 45-minute trip (which is how long our calls would last). Went up to see him once in the fall, three years ago, and then four of us guys went up two summers ago. I'm certainly glad we did! We fell right into talking about all of the same things, reminiscing about school and old friends as if days had gone by instead of years.

Larry died on Christmas Eve this past December. He was found sitting in his chair, having just had dinner, TV still on. He went quickly, the doctors say. Too soon, I say, because I was looking forward to the next visit, when we could have renewed our friendship over a beer, some good food and conversations about everything . . . and nothing at all.

Happy Birthday, Larry! It was an honor to know you, and call you my friend.

Linus and Lucy

Here's the popular Vince Guaraldi composition "Linus and Lucy" done by yours truly on our Yamaha Clavinova: Click for MP3 on Box.net

Enjoy!

New Lyrics :: Dear Child

The following lyrics are scheduled to be sung in church the fourth weekend in Feb, 2013. They are sung to the tune of the Beatles song "She's Leaving Home", from the Sgt. Pepper album. (Note that there are two or three parts to the chorus.) Put on the song (or click here) and read (or sing) along.

There's a nice analysis of this song here.

Dear Child

Saturday morning, May 26, 1923
Fourth of six children, her family
Loses the youngest before he is three

She is raised Baptist in small town middle America
Reading her Bible her faith's confirmed
Over the years shares what she has learned

She . . .	She always knew He was there
is living . .	Offered her own life in prayer
Love	The greatest gift any person can share
Her Heaven waits as she holds to her faith over many years
Dear child

California, she meets her sailor-husband-to-be
Moves to Chicago, is married, then
Becomes a Catholic, as she promised, when

They adopt two children and raise them both in suburbia
She shares her faith with her family
Worship and prayer and humility

She . . .	She always knew He was there
is living . .	Offered her own life in prayer
Love	The greatest gift any person can share
Her Heaven waits as she holds to her faith over many years
Dear child

Friday morning at 86 her life slips away
Family and friends at her bedside, for they
Live now as she did, for her they pray

She . . .	She always knew He was there
is living . .	Offered her own life in prayer
Love	Now she looks into His eyes and He smiles
Home with her Lord in the place she prepared over many years
Now, she is home
Dear child

Lyrics Copyright © 2012 Mark R. Dopita

A Quotation :: Life at Every Age

Life at every age has its own compensation. I'm still looking ahead. I don't want to die. There's too much fun in this world and a lot of good folks. A lot of them. And good books to read and fish to catch and pretty women to admire and good men to know. Why, life is a joy.

John F. Smith, Speech and Drama Professor at Otterbein University

This quotation is found in AARP Bulletin, dated January-February 2013. It's from the editorial on page 3, The Magic of the Fountain of Youth.

John F. Smith was forced to retire in 1950 at the age of 70. He immediately went to work at the University as a custodian at the college gymnasium. The quote comes from an interview with the late Charles Kuralt, the legendary CBS reporter who travelled the country looking for stories. (Google "On the Road with Charles Kuralt" or click here.)

I guess Mr. Smith understood the meaning behind the Bible verse, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." (John 10:10 KJV).

For this same thing I must give thanks. For in reading this quote I understand that I have an abundance of the things that really matter: an abundance of family; an abundance of friends, young and old; and the abundance of spirit that comes from a deep, abiding faith in God. Without those things, life would be quite different!

A Quotation :: Technology

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

Arthur C. Clarke

A Quotation :: Science and Society

We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology.

Carl Sagan

Surgery :: Post 12 (Final)

Yes, it's been a while, but here's the next, and last, surgery post. It's now been almost twelve weeks since surgery. I've had my last outpatient physical therapy session, and have been to my third and final doctor visit with the surgeon (or his staff).

According to the doctor, and his x-rays, everything looks good. They don't need to see me for another year.

According to the physical therapist, I've made substantial progress. I am doing as well as expected, but for a person who had a single hip replacement. For a double-hip, I'm doing even better! My flexibility is returning and my leg strength is improving, daily.

I feel so good that I even walked back to the train station from a meeting in downtown Chicago, to the tune of 1.4 miles. With no ill effects . . .

So, again, thank you to everyone who prayed for me, to everyone who visited, or sent a card, or called, or even thought about me! Thanks to the surgeon, his staff, the nurses and physical therapists who helped me when I was fresh from surgery, and in the two week period that followed post-hospitalization. Finally, a big, big thank-you to my lovely wife Nancy, who visited me almost every day when I was at the hospital or in rehab, who helped me with the many things I couldn't do for myself once I returned home and who has supported me from the decision to have the surgery through today.

Surgery :: Post 11

I'm into the second-to-last stage of my bilateral hip replacement. Being home, I'm now getting outpatient physical therapy (PT). If I ever thought I was over the "hard part" I was sorely mistaken (with emphasis on the "sore")!

I'm now being asked to stretch, bend, strengthen and generally abuse (well, not really) all of the various muscles around the hips and throughout the legs. I've been asked to cut down the exercises I do from inpatient PT from 25 reps to 10, and from four sets per day to two. In their place, I have about twelve new exercises to do twice per day, with two sets of ten reps each. Progress!

Oh, and two of the exercises are done on my stomach!!! I didn't know I could turn over onto my stomach! I'm going to check with the doctor tomorrow and see if I can sleep on my stomach . . . I've been sleeping on my back for weeks!

Finally, I can walk all I want, provided I don't do so much I can't move the next day.

I said I was into the second-to-last stage; here's what I consider to be the list of stages:

1. Pre-Surgery Office Visits, Blood Donations, et al
2. Surgery and Hospital In-Patient Stay
3. Rehab Center In-Patient Stay with Physical and Occupational Therapy
4. Home on Short-Term Disability with Out-Patient Physical Therapy
5. Return to Work with Continuing Physical Therapy

The "next big thing" for me is being able to get into the car and drive. I'm limited by the "hip restrictions" that are in place, things I cannot do without the potential for dislocating a hip. And I do not want to dislocate a hip! So I'll practice getting in and out of the driver's seat, and test going around the block several times, before I believe I can try a longer drive. Currently, I can't sit for any length of time (in the car) without some little discomfort.

So this week continues PT, on an outpatient basis, and has me trying to drive, comfortably. We'll see how it goes!

Texas :: Quotations

I think these stand on their own!

"Good judgement comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgement."

"Always drink upstream from the herd."

Ha!

From the site Washington Apple Pi found here.

Surgery :: Post 10

I have only one thing to say . . . I'm home!!!

Surgery :: Post 09

Yes! It's true - I am going home tomorrow! While my time here at the rehab center has been well-spent, getting in shape for returning to work, I am sooooo ready to go home.

I went to the doctor today, with all indications that I am recovering very well. The circulation in my legs is good, so no more TED hose (those white stockings that help protect against blood clots). They also took an x-ray of my pelvis and I got to see the prostheses in place. Quite interesting . . . in a creepy sort of way.

I still have to respect the "hip precautions" that are in place for the newly operated-upon (no crossing the legs at the ankles while laying down, no pigeon-toed stance, no bending at the waist so that the angle between trunk and legs is less that 90 degrees) for the next three weeks, at least.

I can try to drive, but whether I can depends on whether sitting in the car breaks the precautions. I'll see about that this weekend, or early next week. And until I can drive to work, I'm still on short-term disability. No working from home.

The other good thing - I will play with Sing-A-New-Song the second Sunday in October.

In any case, tomorrow, at 11:00 AM, Nancy will arrive and I will depart! Yippee!

Surgery :: Post 08

Hey there, sports fans! Yes, my jaunty mood may indicate to you that things are going well, and, well, you'd be right! I have graduated from a walker to a four-prong cane to a regular cane during the past few days. I went outside to walk today during PT, both on asphalt, on concrete, on grass, through gravel, over brick and over wood. (The rehab center has it set up specially for folks like me.) I still have little to no pain - just muscle soreness - and am ready to move to the next step: going home.

I have a discharge-planning meeting tomorrow and a doctor's visit on Thursday. Provided nothing major happens I believe my last day here will be Friday. I've been getting great care, but I can shower on my own, take care of all my personal grooming needs, dress myself, handle all toilet needs and get around my room and this facility without a problem. Heck, I even made my bed today (before the CNA did)!

Oh, and I learned something you can use in case you're hospitalized. Know those TV controls in each room, that self-contained changer and speaker in one? The one that only allows you to move one channel forward or one channel back at a time? The ones that are prone to having a bad volume control? If you can't get it to stay at the volume you want, because the speaker cuts out, just give that puppy a sharp tap and it'll work! I've had to do this numerous times during my stay at the rehab center. Just a helpful tip . . .

Thanks to everyone who has visited, sent a card, called, e-Mailed or has had me in their prayers! I hope to see you/talk to you at home next time!

Surgery :: Post 07

Wanted to provide the latest information regarding surgery, and, now, recovery and rehab. It's been over a week since surgery, with a lot of PT and OT (physical and occupational therapy, respectively). I have little or no pain, to speak of, and have taken no pain medication since arriving at Manor Care, my rehab center. I have developed a rash, and that's being treated with a steroid cream and (starting today) Benadryl.

The major good news for the past few days is that I was able to walk with a four-prong cane, not a walker, during yesterday afternoon's PT. I've also gone up a set of three steps, using both feet to lead, alternatively. OT consists of several balance "games" involving stepping on a rubber disk and doing various things to test my balance, which, so far, is good. So things are progressing well.

The dressings covering my incisions were removed this morning, and the nurse told me that they looked good. But neither stitches nor staples - looks like they glued me together! (I'm not making this up.) I'd like to look, but I don't think I going to. I guess I might be stitched up inside. Won't know until I go to the doctor on the 27th.

So, for now, all things are looking good! Can't wait to get home!

Surgery :: Post 06

I have been unavailable to provide any updates as the Manor Care router went down last week and has just today been put right. I arrived at Manor Care on Friday afternoon, around 3:30 PM, and have been through several rounds of PT and OT (physical/occupational therapy). I'm following all of the instructions provided by both the PT and OT personnel. I am feeling remarkably well, I think, and continue to have little pain. I'm not taking any pain medication at all, and have only one spot on my left leg that needs special attention. It feels like I have a charley horse, but is most likely the result of some part of the surgery.

I don't know how long I'll be at Manor Care, but want to take advantage of all they have to offer here. I've heard anywhere from one to three weeks, but am uncertain of any specific end date. My surgical dressings are scheduled to be removed on Thursday. The nurses and doctor continue to say they're healing well. After Thursday, the surgical wounds will be left open to the air for additional healing.

I see the surgeon on Thursday, 27 Sep 2012, when my stitches will be removed. I have two additional follow-up visits thereafter, approximately one month apart.

Thanks for your prayers, care and concern! I think that's the reason I'm doing so well! (I give the Power of Prayer a lot of weight!)

And I've got my PC connection to the world again!

Mark

Surgery :: Post 05

This is my first post-surgery update.

Tuesday's surgery went well, from my perspective. It was delayed 90 minutes as the person scheduled to go in front of me was late getting to the hospital. I woke up in the recovery room at about 5:00 PM and was taken upstairs to my regular room. Sleep was haphazard that first night, but pain was under control.

I had a course of radiation therapy on Wednesday morning, about 2 1/2 hours from start to finish. Physical Therapy (PT) started that afternoon. I had two more courses of PT today, and have one more scheduled for tomorrow. Other than weakness, I'm in good shape, with no real pain to speak of. I'm now standing on my own and walking with the help of a walker. After the two rounds of PT I sat in a chair for an hour; it's a welcome change from laying in bed.

I'm scheduled to be taken to Manor Care in Libertyville tomorrow, either late morning or early afternoon.

The surgeon spoke to me yesterday morning. He told me that my hips were pretty much fused in place, due to the arthritis, and it almost led to him doing only one of the joints. Normally, he said, he dislocates the hips before cutting away the bone; in this case, he cut the leg bones while still in my body, and had to use every trick he knew to complete the surgery. Pays to have the best, I guess!

So now it's on to more PT. I'm much better able to move around than on Tuesday. Hopefully, improvements will continue at the same pace on into the near future!

Thanks to everyone for the prayers, kind wishes and compassion. I hope to return to normal living quite soon!

Surgery :: Post 04

Here I am, the day before surgery, and no head cold has manifested itself. I'd guess that there's precious little standing in the way of surgery, short of the doctor being unavailable.

I'm on for tomorrow morning at 11:00 AM.

Our pastor prayed over me with our Sing-A-New-Song band at church yesterday. It was exactly what the doctor ordered, I think. And as she prayed for God's Spirit to be with the doctors, nurses and caregivers at the hospital and rehab center, and with me, a thought came into my head - I prefer to think it was spoken to me - which said, "I am already with you." For those of you who don't believe in God, all I can say is I do, and believe that He was speaking to me.

Now I'm really prepared!

Surgery :: Post 03

Okay, I'm getting a little worried. I feel like maybe a cold is coming on. Or not. My nose is running, slightly, but it's clear. And it rained so the mold count is up. But if it's a cold, my surgery will be cancelled and re-scheduled. And that probably means one of the pints of blood will expire (only good for 42 days). And surgery can't come less than ten days after a blood donation.

Am I worrying too much?

On the "up" side, I've gotten a lot of things done at work, implemented or ready to be implemented when I return. So I'll at least leave a clean slate. Even wrote my own "out of office" memo to the application owners I support. For the next one to three weeks, nothing but emergency fixes.

Saw "Dreamgirls" tonight at Marriot's Lincolnshire Theatre. Nice way to relax in preparation for surgery. Quite the good performance!

Surgery :: Post 02

Less than a week to go. All doctor visits completed. Blood work and urinalysis A-OK. All dentist visits completed. New crown to be put in place Saturday morning. Three units of blood drawn for use in surgery, as necessary. Both classes taken. Rehab center contacted. Exercises continue.

Plus . . .

Deck staining completed. Garage cleaned. New screen door installed. Ceiling in family room painted. New carpeting in family room (I didn't install it, but I took the old stuff out, with help from Tim.) Front door painted. Door to garage, and frame, painted. Bills paid.

Plus . . .

Final roll-ins at work to be done tomorrow night. Paper completed for 1 Sep 2012 Expectation. Back-up application support arranged.

Plus . . .

attended final wedding (of five, this summer). Attended a dinner with my Bible Study group (got cards for each hip!). Had dinner with Nancy, dad, Jan and Bill for summer birthdays. Had Randy, Lori, Ron & Edie over. Made a nice big first one evening.

Plus . . .

TOO MANY MORE THINGS TO DO!!!

Surgery :: Post 01

Okay, sports fans . . . here's the first post about my upcoming bilateral hip replacement surgery. It's scheduled for Tue, 11 Sep 2012. I went to an internist this morning for a pre-surgical check-up, and, providing my blood work (and other tests) don't come back with any abnormalities, I've been cleared for take-off, so to speak. (I could make a joke about the first step in surgery being a take-off - taking off your clothes, that is - but I'll hold off.)

The run-up to surgery has included two classes - one at the doctor's office regarding the procedure and another at the hospital about the orthopedic floor, physical therapy and the rest of the support network. I've also given two pints of my own blood (with a third donation coming next week) which will be held in reserve in case I need it during surgery. Finally, there's been the aforementioned doctor's visit. It's been busy.

I'm also trying to leave work in good shape, as I'm the sole support person for three areas.

I have certain exercises to do each day, too, stretches that I'll be doing post-surgery as well.

Eighteen days to go!

On Defining Our Existence

Everybody needs work to do . . . Work makes us real. Unless you have work to do and people who love you, you don't exist.

James Patrick Kelly in the short story Mr. Boy.

Londoners Love Their London

Londoners do not idealize, real Londoners do not idealize their city so much as celebrate it with sardonic wit.

Robert Bucholz, professor of History at Loyola University, Chicago and author, with Joseph P. Ward, of London a Social and Cultural History, 1550-1750

What I Have Done and What I Have Left Undone . . .

The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone.

HARRIET BEECHER STOWE (1811–1896)
Writer

Life Will Love You Back

I have found that if you love life, life will love you back.

ARTHUR RUBINSTEIN (1887–1982), Musician

Why Don't People Know This Phrase????

You Must Have Been Vaccinated with a Phonograph Needle

To me, this means that someone talks too much. (Another way of saying this is that someone is "too talky", interesting in itself.) Many people I've asked recently have never heard this phrase. Not people who don't know what a phonograph is - people my age. How 'bout you?

Gravy - A Poem

For Sue, Lisa, Kerry and other who may want to read this, here's a poem I wrote for an English Composition class a few years ago. I forget the actual assignment.

For what it's worth, I had a fun time writing it too!

Gravy

Gravy eats time, when cooking don’t boil
or the pan will be black,
the gravy, like soil.

Gravy don’t dress, it’s brought to you nude
for putting on meat
or your wife (but that’s lewd).

Gravy dreams lightly, inside of your gut
and soon it adds pounds
to both sides of your butt.

Gravy is born of spices and juice
a sprinkling of parsnip
a carcass of moose.

Gravy loves meals, at lunch and at dinner;
the folks who don’t like it,
they seem to stay thinner.

Gravy hears footsteps, a rushing to places
and soon it is seen
on shirts, laps and faces.

Gravy kills hunger, a longing for food
the flesh of dead veggies,
dead critters (some moo’ed).

Gravy for Bison, Gravy for Snake
the mashed are the mountains
the Gravy, the lake.

Gravy for Otter, Gravy for Bear
Gravy at food fights
stays thick in your hair.

Gravy for Kitty, Gravy for Dog
Gravy for Wombat
and Weasel . . . Warthog!

Gravy for Elephant (I like it baked)
how many Gravies
does Heinz Ketchup make?

Gravy, I love it! Gravy, it’s great!
So please do forgive me
I’m off for my plate.

On A Marriage . . .

The marriage looked conventional to the casual eye, like a sturdy wooden blanket chest, but in truth, it was more like an elaborate jewelry box filled with hidden drawers and priceless charms.

From The Real Wizard of Oz, a biography of L. Frank Baum (the author, in 1900, of The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz), by Rebecca Loncraine. Published in 2009 by Gotham Books, ISBN 978-1-592-40449-0 (hardcover).

On Language: Invention is Rife in Linguistic Behavior

"It's worth considering that standard English is a sort of invented language. It's not really the language that any particular person speaks. It's a sort of abstraction from that, with some rules added on about how you would do it if you were doing it at your best. It's not really a natural language for most English speakers. So, invention is rife in linguistic behavior."

Michael Adams, author of From Elvish to Klingon: Exploring Invented Languages to Milton Rosenberg on WGN radio

A podcast of the interview, and, indeed, many, many podcasts of the Extension 720 program hosted by Dr. Milton Rosenberg can be found here on the WGN Radio web site.

The Ol' Give-and-Take

"A taker may sometimes eat better, but a giver sleeps better."

Danny Thomas, as quoted by Marlo Thomas

Love . . .

They'd never been lovers, of course, not in the physical sense. But they'd been lovers as most of us manage. Loving through expressions and gestures and by the palm set softly upon the bruise at the necessary moment. Lovers by inclination rather than by lust. Lovers, that is, by love.

From Out of Oz , by Gregory Maguire

My Nancy, circa 1979

And who wouldn't fall in love with her? (I still have the guiter, too!)

On Stuff . . .

No matter how much we consume, we never get closer to happiness; we only speed up the treadmill.

James A. Roberts, in Shiny Objects; Why We Spend Money We Don't Have In Search Of Happiness We Can't Buy, as quoted in Reader's Digest

Do Unto Others . . .

It is one of the great secrets of life that those things which are most worth doing, we do for others.

Writer Lewis Carroll

Mark Twain - An Angry Young (?) Man

Every time I read Pride and Prejudice I want to dig her up and beat her over the skull with her own shin-bone.

Mark Twain, writing about the author Jane Austen

Quoted in "The Writer's Almanac" of 16 Dec 2011

The Presidential Address to Congress of December 8, 1941

Mr. Vice President, Mr. Speaker, members of the Senate and the House of Representatives: Yesterday, December 7th, 1941 — a date which will live in infamy — the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.

The United States was at peace with that nation, and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with its Government and its Emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific. Indeed, one hour after Japanese air squadrons had commenced bombing in the American island of Oahu, the Japanese Ambassador to the United States and his colleague delivered to our Secretary of State a formal reply to a recent American message. And while this reply stated that it seemed useless to continue the existing diplomatic negotiations, it contained no threat or hint of war or of armed attack.

It will be recorded that the distance of Hawaii from Japan makes it obvious that the attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago. During the intervening time the Japanese Government has deliberately sought to deceive the United States by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace.

The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian Islands has caused severe damage to American naval and military forces. I regret to tell you that very many American lives have been lost. In addition American ships have been reported torpedoed on the high seas between San Francisco and Honolulu.

Yesterday the Japanese Government also launched an attack against Malaya.

Last night Japanese forces attacked Hong Kong.

Last night Japanese forces attacked Guam.

Last night Japanese forces attacked the Philippine Islands.

Last night the Japanese attacked Wake Island.

And this morning the Japanese attacked Midway Island.

Japan has, therefore, undertaken a surprise offensive extending throughout the Pacific area. The facts of yesterday and today speak for themselves. The people of the United States have already formed their opinions and well understand the implications to the very life and safety of our nation.

As Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense.

But always will our whole nation remember the character of the onslaught against us. No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.

I believe that I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost but will make it very certain that this form of treachery shall never again endanger us.

Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory and our interests are in grave danger.

With confidence in our armed forces—with the unbounding determination of our people—we will gain the inevitable triumph—so help us God.

I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December 7th, 1941, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese Empire.

Failure Is Not An Option

I'm proof against that word failure. I've seen behind it. The only failure a man ought to fear is failure of cleaving to the purpose he sees to be best.

Novelist George Eliot, a.k.a. Mary Anne Evans, a.k.a. Marian Lewes

19 Nov 1863, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

President Abraham Lincoln

Up Sh*t Creek?

I believe the appropriate metaphor here involves a river of excrement and a Native American water vessel without any means of propulsion. 

Sheldon to Penny in The Big Bang Theory, "The Lizard-Spock Expansion"

Hope

Hope has two beautiful daughters. Their names are anger and courage; anger at the way things are, and courage to see that they do not remain the way they are.

St. Augustine

Political Satire Alert!

No drug, not even alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of society. If we're looking for the source of our troubles, we shouldn't test people for drugs, we should test them for stupidity, ignorance, greed and love of power.

Political Satirist PJ O'Rourke

I Second This Endorsement, Albeit 500 Years Later

Who loves not woman, wine, and song remains a fool his whole life long. 

Martin Luther

Perhaps This Is Where We Are, Historically

Democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts and murders itself. There was never a democracy that did not commit suicide.

Second President of the United States, John Adams

Language

A description of language as something beautiful . . . it is:

a bouquet of discrete understandings

Ojibwe novelist David Treuer

 

Are We Lost And Alone?

"We are forlorn like children, and experienced like old men; we are crude and sorrowful and superficial — I believe we are lost."

Erich Maria Remarque, author of All Quiet on the Western Front

We are hard pressed, but we are not crushed
We are struck down but not destroyed
Cause no matter what may happen
We are not abandoned
We are not alone

Carolyn Arends, Not Alone, Polyanna's Attic

No, we're not.

Winnie-the-Pooh

My daily e-Mail message from The Writer's Almanac (here) tells me that Winnie-the-Pooh, by A. A. Milne, was published on 14 Oct 1926.

I cannot tell you how much influence the Pooh characters have had in the development of the life of my youngest son, Timothy. Well, Tim, nowadays. He's 24, and no longer a little boy. In fact, he's a Critical Care Medic, and someone who you'd probably want "in your corner" when you are the critically ill patient.

Our lives were filled with Pooh books, Pooh videos and Pooh stuffed animals for a long, long time. Tim even got to hug a real live Pooh Bear when we went to Disneyworld way back when. Now, so many years later, I sometimes can't help but get teary-eyed when I think back on it.

My thanks to the author, who, I just found out (through his Wikipedia entry), died the same year I was born. And thanks to Disney who picked up the stories . . .

Quotation :: How Boys Think

I, personally, think this is right on:

I suppose if there is anything more exciting to a young boy than an ocean liner, it is an ocean liner sinking.

Historian and Nonfiction Author Walter Lord

Rest in Peace, Steve Jobs

Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

Laughter

"Laughter is the hand of God on the shoulder of a troubled world."

Humorist and Southern Baptist minister Grady Nutt 

The Greatest Thing Since . . .

7 Jul 2011 - Sliced bread was sold for the first time on this date in 1928. Up until that time, consumers baked their own bread, or bought it in solid loaves.

Otto Frederick Rohwedder, a jeweler from Davenport, Iowa, had been working for years perfecting an eponymous invention, the Rohwedder Bread Slicer. He tried to sell it to bakeries. They scoffed, and told him that pre-sliced bread would get stale and dry long before it could be eaten. He tried sticking the slices together with hatpins, but it didn't work.

Finally he hit on the idea of wrapping the bread in waxed paper after it was sliced. Still no sale, until he took a trip to Chillicothe, Missouri, and met a baker who was willing to take a chance. Frank Bench agreed to try the five-foot-long, three-foot-high slicing and wrapping machine in his bakery. The proclamation went out to kitchens all over Chillicothe, via ads in the daily newspaper: "Announcing: The Greatest Forward Step in the Baking Industry Since Bread was Wrapped — Sliced Kleen Maid Bread." Sales went through the roof.

Rohwedder not only gave Americans the gift of convenience and perfect peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, but he also provided the English language with the saying that expresses the ultimate in innovation: "the greatest thing since sliced bread."

Courtesy of The Writer's Almanac

The View From Kari's

At Kristiansand, Sat, 18 Jun 2011

Sidsel, Nancy, Vivian, Sonja, Mette, Kari and Kerry in Kristiansand, Norway.

Paris 2011, at the Eiffel Tower

Tomorrow :: A Quotation

"Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself into our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday."

Actor John Wayne

Your Story :: A Quotation

"There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you."

Dr. Maya Angelou

And So It Did: A Quotation

"Is there not some reason to expect that the discovery will greatly change the commercial and personal intercourse of the country?"

Samuel Morey, who received a patent for the internal combustion engine, 1 Apr 1826

And So Much Better: A Quotation

"You know, when you're a kid, they tell you it's all 'grow up, get a job, get married, get a house, have a kid and that's it.'

No.

Truth is, the world is so much stranger than that. It's so much darker. And so much madder.

And so much better . . ."

Writer Russell T. Davies, from the 2006 Doctor Who episode "Love & Monsters"

On Life; A Quotation

"My grandfather always said that living is like licking honey off a thorn."

Author Louis Adamic

On Old Age; a Quotation.

"Old age isn't a battle, old age is a massacre."

Philip Roth, in Everyman

Good-bye Facebook

So this is the night on which I'm pulling the plug on Facebook. (This post will be cross-referenced to my site.) Why? A couple of reasons. First, I pretty much talk to many of the people I'm friends with fairly often . . . they're friends, and they're local. Second, I don't have that much to say.

So, good-bye Facebook.

If anyone needs to write me, I'm at Mark_Dopita@Yahoo.com.

A 31-Cent Gift

I'm kinda embarrassed. And kinda not.

I was in line at the grocery store today, when one of the employees came up to buy a simple bag of chips ("crisps" to you in the UK; I like that). It turns out that she didn't have any money with her, so she told the checker that she'd have to put it on her debit card. I was packing my groceries into the large, gray, plastic tub I use in place of plastic grocery bags (hate 'em) and overheard the conversation.

After insisting on paying the 31-cent cost of the chips, the employee insisted that she pay me back. "Not to mind," I told her. No problem. No worries. Consider it a Christmas gift. A New Years present. Pay it forward. "When's your birthday?" I asked. "Consider it an early present."

I don't know if I was more embarrassed to have her insist on paying me back - I hope she doesn't, actually - or if I was more sad that she didn't have even 31 cents in her pocket. A simple kindness, which was surpassed by tens of thousands or "larger" kindnesses around the world today, no doubt.

My wife and I have been there - one year after Christmas we had all of $47.00 to our name. To be sure, we also had a house - with its mortgage, property taxes and utility bills; two cars - with their insurance, gas and repair costs; and four kids - with their clothing, schooling, doctor and dental bills. And we were working, which solves a lot of monetary ills. So I understand.

Or am I getting too far away from life-as-it-is for many: living week-to-week, paycheck-to-paycheck?

Quotation: Preparation

"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity."

I love this quote! I find it attributed to many different people, but one of the oldest is Seneca (the Younger), a Roman philosopher, politician and dramatist.

I've spent my life getting education on various things, especially things surrounding my job as a computer programmer and analyst. I learned COBOL, IMS DB/DC, CICS, DB2 & SQL, LotusScript, Java, HTML, JavaScript, CSS, C++, XML, XSL, SAP's Java Web Dynpro, project management techniques, structured analysis and structured design. And I was ready for the "next assignment".

The way I think about it, if you want to make yourself valuable to your employer, educate yourself. And stay on top of your education needs.

Oh, and Another Thing

It may be that there are one or more new hips in my future. Doctor visit this month will tell the tale . . .

2010 : A Poor Year for Blog Posts

Lookit that - four posts last year. Don't I have more to say than that? Let's see what this year will bring. Potential posts include (cue the preview music):

• A 30th wedding anniversary
• Dad's 90th birthday
• Two 55th birthdays
• A new niece (due in February)
• A neat vacation (more detail on that later)
• The trips to open and close our friends' cabin in northern Wisconsin
• Implementation of SAP NetWeaver Portal at work, replacing our current Intranet (something about which I don't normally post)
• New quotations
• Chicago sports failures (and successes, I hope)
• Notes on plays we're going to see
• A new car (perhaps)
• Some writing (poems, lyrics)
• Some songs (if I can get them recorded)

So . . . let's see where we go with this!

Hello 2011!

"Just think of what it's gonna be like when we're 25!"

I said that back in 1974, when sitting with a bunch of friends in front of a house in Mount Prospect, Illinois, the year many of us graduated from high school.

We turned 25 in 1981, just about 30 years ago.

Seems that everyone tells you, around the time your kids are born, should you have any, "Pay attention, because before you know it, they're going to be all grown up." Now that my kids are grown, I can echo that sentiment to everyone else.

Let me write a corollary: Pay attention, because, before you know it, you're going to be (what used to be called) middle-aged.

What does 55 feel like? In my mind, I don't feel "old". I do recognize that both my hips need to be replaced, and that I'm way-overweight, that I couldn't play a quarter of a touch-football game even if I wanted to, but that doesn't mean I don't feel the same as I did back in '74.

Time sure does fly.

Now it seems that I've got that "yearning deep within me, telling me there's more to come", to paraphrase one of my favorite singer/songwriters. so, perhaps, it's time to take inventory of the good and the bad, work on making the good even better and making the bad good.

Hello 2011! Thanks for making me sit up and take notice.

San Diego

As I happen to be there this week, these quotes are timely:

Truman Capote said, "It's a scientific fact that if you stay in California you lose one point of your IQ ever year."

Alison Lurie said, "As one went to Europe to see the living past, so one must visit Southern California to observe the future."

San Francisco poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti called Southern California the place "where the American Dream came too true."

Too true, indeed, and there are so many here sharing it!

2921 North Keating Avenue, Chicago, IL

My parents lived at this address for several years before we moved to Mount Prospect. I had not been there, ever, since that time, though I had always wanted to drive there and see the place. This past weekend I did.

After leaving my daughter's new apartment on the southeast edge of the Logan Square neighborhood, just off California between Fullerton and Armitage, knowing that the expressway out of town was jammed, driving stop-and-go for who-knows-how-long, I travelled north on California until I came to Milwaukee, then turned left.

Very interesting driving down Milwaukee - lot of shops, mostly open, though with far too many stores shuttered and empty. Lots of signs in Spanish. Traffic was light and driving was pleasant, with the temperature in the mid-80's; it seemed a requirement to open the windows and drive with my arm resting in the sun.

The signs would soon start to be posted in English, Spanish and Polish ("Mowimy po polsku" - "we speak Polish") when I cam upon a sight nobody ever wants to see. A motorcycle lay on its side in the middle of an intersection, with police cars and a couple of ambulances parked around it.

Traffic was being routed slowly through the intersection; by the time I was close enough to see anything the unfortunate rider was hoisted up onto a gurney and rushed to the back of one of the ambulances. "Meat wagons" we used to call them, jokingly. Faced with the absolute certainty that this poor rider was hurt badly, that term didn't seem to fit - humor didn't enter into the picture.

I proceeded past the accident, on down to Belmont Ave., 3200 north on the imaginary grid that Chicago is placed on. Since Keating is a one-way street southbound, I had to pass the 2900 block and circle back. Thoughts of the accident had melted away as I'd continued my drive, and Belmont came up quickly. I turned left onto Belmont, heading west, and started looking for Keating.

This was a part of the city where all of the street names started with the same letter - "K". I passed Karlov and Keeler; Kearsarge and Kildare; Lowell - who goofed this up?; Kostner, Kenneth, Kilbourne, Kolmar, Knox and Kilpatrick, and turned left onto Keating.

Parked cars lined the street on both sides, leaving only a narrow passage for my little Honda Fit. How in the world did cars of the 50's, 60's and early 70's fit down this street, I wondered. Perhaps they simply bumped along, knocking into cars on one side, then another, like a pinball. Maybe they weren't as big as I imagined, or perhaps you could only park on one side of the street in the old days.

Traveling slowly - not used to driving with sentry-lines of cars on either side - I pulled over into a specially-reserved handicapped parking space to let an anxious driver go past. I have to tell you, I had feelings welling up inside of me that I don't really understand, driving down this street to our old apartment.

As I approached the building at 2921 I noted that the only parking space open on the entire block was open right in front of that building. Timing is everything, they say, or perhaps that spot was reserved specially for me being there that day. Who knows? (Something else to ask God when I die.)

I took the time to make sure my phone was off and my iPod was off and hidden in the glove compartment before I opened the door and stepped out of the car. I stood in the sunlight, looking at that building and searched for - what? Something . . . some connection to the past. Perhaps it was not something I should have expected, as I was not even three when we moved, but I have heard so many things about living there, over the years, and have seen the pictures of us living there . . . I thought I should feel . . . something, some connection.

An old man - far older than my 54 years, but perhaps not even my father's age - sat just inside the door of the building, smoking a cigarette. He looked like he had had a hard life. Grizzled. Un-shaven. Stooped-over while sitting on the chair, he had looked at me suspiciously when I pulled up. I wanted to stop and talk to him; I wanted to yell out, "I used to live here!"; I wanted to tell somebody, for some reason I still don't understand.

Un-willing to simply get back in my car and leave, I walked down the block to the corner, crossed the street, and started back up the block on the other side. Some people were talking next to a car parked on the street. They seemed not to notice me; I didn't stop to talk to them. When I got to the point directly across the street from our old building, I crossed over to the other side, past my car, to the sidewalk. The old man looked right at me. "Good afternoon. How are you?" I said. He simply looked at me.

I turned and walked to the other end of the block, still feeling the need to say something, but found nobody to talk with. I looked at the buildings on the rest of the block. While none of the seemed to be in tremendous dis-repair, and some seemed quite nicely maintained, the evidence that this was a neighborhood on, perhaps, a downward spiral seemed evident.

Almost all of the blinds hanging in each picture window were torn. Where there were shades, each seemed also to hang at the wrong angle, or to be old and worn. Where the builders had placed stonework to hold planter boxes (these building were built in the early-to-middle 1910's, I understand), few flowers were even planted in the ground, and no planters were seen.

Yet, life was there. A young Hispanic mother passed by me, pushing an infant in a stroller. A nicely-dressed teenage girl left her home a couple of doors ahead of me, walking over to a car where a young man waited for her. An older woman and her younger companion walked past me and nodded - a smattering of Spanish would have helped me, here. And the grass was green. Many of the parkway trees had been re-planted, and the other, older trees formed a cooling canopy over much of the sidewalk.

As I approached the old man, he asked me a question in Polish (or at least what I thought was Polish). I walked to the bottom of the stairs. He repeated his question, but I answered, "I'm sorry. I don't speak Polish."

He looked down at me sadly. "I used to live here," I said. "Back when I was two, over fifty years ago."

I smiled at him, walked over to my car, looked one more time at that building and drove . . . home.

And Now, on Wid'a Da Show

Thank you Lawrence Welk.

It has been too long since I wrote a blog post, and I'd like to say that I'll do better, but can only really say that I'll try to do better.

So much has happened in the past few months that I suppose I can't really even remember it all. That's what this blog was for - to help me remember when I get older and grayer. (Should I have said "older and more gray"? Seems to me it sounds better the first way.)

In any case, the next "real" post is coming . . . hang tight.

Deacon's Redemption

As part of the fifty-year anniversary of our church, our contemporary church band is playing songs originally released in the 1960's, 1970's, 1980's, 1990's and 2000's. But they're not necessarily what you think - in the first two cases they're rewrites of two secular songs. It's the second of those of which I'm most proud. After all, how often do you hear Steely Dan in church?

While I write some instrumental music and have written a few songs, I often find inspiration inside the lyrics of other people's songs, too; inspiration that points me to "what might have been" in the story they tell, rather than what is presented.

There can be no doubt that Deacon Blues (from the Aja album) is a great song, from two perspectives: the music is top notch and the lyrics tell the story perfectly well. Coming from a Christian perspective, though, I was inspired to redeem the main character. There's enough darkness in the world today - drug addiction, alcohol abuse, sexual immorality - and not enough light. That's my perspective, anyway.

So, for our 1970's song, I rewrote the story into what might have been. We added this song to our last worship service in February, where it was well-received. In the future, I hope to add it to a Jazz and Blues Service I'm trying to finish.

Here are the lyrics:

Deacon's Redemption

This is the day
Our great God made for Man
And in His grace
There may I ever stand
Could it be only yesterday
Dark was the glass
A sinner,
No winner
Thank God that’s the past

I once was a fool
I lived for myself alone
Had no need of help,
I’d work it out on my own
So useless at life was I
Thought I’d take my own and die
Then Heaven stepped in
I realized all my sin, I

Learned to love the Lord and pray
Think about Him every day
Drink His word in like a song
It’s He who makes me strong
They got a name for the winners in the world
People who got no complaint
I used to be wearin’ those Deacon Blues,
Now just call me a saint (no complaint)

When I was young
The world seemed alive to me
I’d find success
I’d be what I want to be
Searched for a thing to know and love
But what did I find?
Drinking,
Not thinking
Took over my mind

I crawled through the depths
Not what a life should be
The love of the Lord
Finally broke through to me
I came to my senses then
In a world that has no end
I’ll never more roam
One day I’ll call Heaven home, I

Learned to love the Lord and pray
Think about Him every day
Drink His word in like a song
It’s He who makes me strong
They got a name for the winners in the world
People who got no complaint
I used to be wearin’ those Deacon Blues,
Now just call me a saint (no complaint)

When comes the night
And my time here is through
I’ll say I found success
I found a heart that’s true
Don’t cry when I leave this place
To gaze on His holy face
In Jesus I’m free
Free for eternity

Learned to love the Lord and pray
Think about Him every day
Drink His word in like a song
It’s He who makes me strong
They got a name for the winners in the world
People who got no complaint
I used to be wearin’ those Deacon Blues,
Now just call me a saint (no complaint)

On This Date in (Mark's) Automotive History

The 2007 Honda Fit - the car I'm currently driving, which replaced a 1996 Dodge full-size van - turned over 50,000 miles today. It's a silver Sport model, though I don't think of it as a sporty car, to be honest. It's all of three cylinders and five forward gears in the automatic transmission, four small tires and an iPod jack.

That's my car - it's Chicago, and the Blues Brothers, and old jazz, Louie Armstrong, Dave McKenna, Kristen Chenoweth, Broadway musicals, Dr. Demento, The Beatles, Deep Purple, Cheap Trick and Steely Dan; it's Rich Mullins, Sierra and, not the least, eight sets of Carolyn Arends, she of relative minor fame who deserves relative major fame.

And, truth be told, it's also 23 sets of Frank Zappa and three of Black Sabbath; podcasts of NPR's Fresh Air, Car Talk, Science Friday and A Prairie Home Companion, Old Time Radio Comedies and Old Time Radio Thrillers (138 and 143 of the latter two, respectively). And it's Bill Cosby, Larry the Cable Guy, Woody Allen, the 2000 Year Old Man, Allan Sherman, Eric Idle/Monty Python and 19 other comedians.

All told, it's 5,764 songs and 535 podcasts.

Here's a sample of what I heard at lunch time:

• A segment of Dean Martin's Las Vegas show from 1966 or '67
• Bye Bye, Love - Simon and Garfunkel
• Not Alone - Carolyn Arends
• Truck Drivin' Song - Weird Al Yankovic
• Drive My Car - The Beatles
• American Woman - The Guess Who
• Dancing Days - Led Zepplin
• Ain't Misbehavin' - Leon Redbone
• Mighty River - Louis Armstrong
• A segment from Larry the Cable Guy
• Sweet Thing - Van Morrison
• All is Well - Carolyn Arends
• Loves Me Like a Brother - The Guess Who
• Love Was New - Chicago
• Oye Como Va - Santana
• Oh, What a Beautiful Morning - Oklahoma Cast Album
• The Boston Rag - Steely Dan
• In My Life - Bette Midler
• If Love Is Trouble - Dizzy Gillespie
• I Need You - The Beatles
• The Andy Griffith Show Theme
• Love From a Heart of Gold - How to Succeed in Business Cast Album
• Soap Theme (TV Show)

Chicago, As It Was

Hog Butcher for the World,
Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat,
Player with Railroads and the Nation's Freight Handler;
Stormy, husky, brawling,
City of the Big Shoulders:
They tell me you are wicked and I believe them, for I have seen your painted women under the gas lamps luring the farm boys.
And they tell me you are crooked and I answer: Yes, it is true I have seen the gunman kill and go free to kill again.
And they tell me you are brutal and my reply is: On the faces of women and children I have seen the marks of wanton hunger.
And having answered so I turn once more to those who sneer at this my city, and I give them back the sneer and say to them:
Come and show me another city with lifted head singing so proud to be alive and coarse and strong and cunning.
Flinging magnetic curses amid the toil of piling job on job, here is a tall bold slugger set vivid against the little soft cities;
Fierce as a dog with tongue lapping for action, cunning as a savage pitted against the wilderness,
Bareheaded,
Shoveling,
Wrecking,
Planning,
Building, breaking, rebuilding,
Under the smoke, dust all over his mouth, laughing with white teeth,
Under the terrible burden of destiny laughing as a young man laughs,
Laughing even as an ignorant fighter laughs who has never lost a battle,
Bragging and laughing that under his wrist is the pulse, and under his ribs the heart of the people, Laughing!
Laughing the stormy, husky, brawling laughter of Youth, half-naked, sweating, proud to be Hog Butcher, Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat, Player with Railroads and Freight Handler to the Nation.

Poet Carl Sandburg in Chicago Poems, 1916

Love This Lyric . . .

. . . from West of Hollywood, Steely Dan

I'm way deep into nothing special,
Riding the crest of a wave beaking just west of Hollywood


Way deep into nothing special??? Sounds cynical to me.

In My Fifties, Looking Back to High School

". . . one finds, especially by the time one reaches one's fifties, that there are a limited number of types of people in the world, and you went to high school with every single one of them. You can visit the Eskimos, you can visit the Bushmen in the Kalahari, you can go to Israel, you can go to Egypt, but everybody you meet is going to be somebody you went to high school with."

Humorist P.J. O'Rourke

I don't know if this is especially true - perhaps it's just because I'm not observant enough - but I do know that I look back to high school every now and then. It's funny, isn't it, that we spend some 17-18 years growing up, moving through grade school, middle school and high school, and then find ourselves looking back from twice that distance (35 years for me), thinking about those years.

Shouldn't my high school years be overshadowed by things that came after? Four years in my life versus all that came with a 28-year marriage, four kids, a career, nice home, et al. But here I sit on the couch, reading the PJ O'Rourke quotation and I find myself walking the halls at Prospect High School, completing a verb quiz in German class, intercepting a pass during gym, driving my '67 Olds through the neighborhood, finding that I don't fit in everywhere, working at the A&P, drinking Pabst Blue Ribbon at the beach with the gang . . . It couldn't have been as much fun as I remember it was, could it?

And the really funny thing is that I know my dad generally feels the same way - especially when we talk about growing up in Plainville, Kansas - and he graduated 71 years ago!

And the Name Is . . .

"Bishop's Gate"

Yes, this is the name of the band which will be performing a reprise of the "Beatles Service" I wrote for church. Bishopsgate is written into a line in the song Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite - "The celebrated Mr. K. performs his feat on Saturday at Bishopsgate".

I should note that we didn't have a name the first time we did the service.

“Bishopsgate” itself is a road in London, named for one of the seven original gates in the city wall. (See the wikipedia.org article here for a more lengthy description.)

The band members are on board; next, I have to talk to upper-management at church - the senior pastor. We're not going to do this during an actual service time. It's to be scheduled after a pot-luck dinner on a Saturday night. This frees us from the approx. 60-minute limitation of Sunday morning. Indeed, I think I'll add a little more!

Time: Perhaps This Is What I've Been Trying To Say

“I have begun to suspect that time is, in some sense I don’t yet fully comprehend, subjective to the viewer. What a day signifies to me is quite different than what it signifies to you. How strange my day might seem, were I able to see it through your eyes.”

“When we are young . . . the days crawl by. I remember summers of my youth that seemed to last for generations. But as we grow older, the months and years flit by like dragonflies, one after another in their dozens. But by the calendar, a day is still a day, is it not? Why is it, do you suppose, that the duration of a span of time should seem so different to us in one circumstance than another?”

The character Ling Xuan in Chris Roberson’s short story,

“The Sky Is Large And The Earth Is Small”.

The Beatles Service: Reprise

So. . .people - namely my wife Nancy and friend Carol - are after me to do The Beatles Service again. For those of you who don't know - and you are without number - I wrote an entire church service using the music of the Beatles and re-written lyrics. We ran it at all four services (Saturday night and three on Sunday) the week after Easter in 2007. Then we added one more service for the confirmation kids.

I had a lot of people tell me how much they liked it - that was nice. But the best compliment I received was from one of our (now) pastors. She said, "I want to tell you that this was the best service I have ever been to at Messiah, and I've been to a lot!" That was nice . . .

So we're looking at a Saturday night "extra" service, as it's sometimes difficult to schedule things within the framework the ELCA provides our churches. And now I'm thinking, "Why do only an hour's worth of Beatles music?" I have a lot of music I'd like to do, and three drama's as well (all musical). We could make it a full two hours! Why not? If you're going to do it, do it right!

We'll see what happens . . .

Eternity

"Do not try to live for ever. You will not succeed."

"What is life but a series of inspired follies? The difficulty is to find them to do. Never lose a chance: it doesn't come every day."

"I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live. Life is no 'brief candle' for me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations."

George Bernard Shaw

A Tribute to Mediocrity

"Only the mediocre can always be at their best."

As heard on Car Talk on National Public Radio.

Remember Willy Loman?

"For a salesman, there is no rock bottom to the life. He don't put a bolt to a nut, he don't tell you the law or give you medicine. He's a man way out there in the blue, riding on a smile and a shoeshine."

The character Willy Loman from Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman"

Top Ten Ways to Increase Church Attendance

Tonight's "Top Ten List" comes to us courtesy of my friend Louie da Garbage Man who found this in the Pope’s garbage and sent it to his cousin, who sent it to his uncle, who sent it to his bookie, who sent it to me . . . .

From the home office in Vatican City . . .

Number 10: New rule: No more Broccoli on Fridays during Lent

Number 9. Official language of the church now igPay atinLay

Number 8. Services piped on closed circuit TV to nearest Sports Bar

Number 7. Priests to be addressed as “dad”

Number 6. Bible replaced with “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten”

Number 5. Sins can be redeemed with Betty Crocker coupons

Number 4. No more nuns – bunnies!

Number 3. For each parishioner: Christmas bonus checks!

Number 2. Communion to feature bratwurst and beer

And tonight's number one way to increase church attendance . . .

Next Pope will be Jewish!

Originally written for Pastor Chuck Merkner's 20th anniversary at Messiah Lutheran Church in Wauconda, IL in February, 2006.

On Chicago's Bid for the Olympics

Excerpts from the weekly podcast of NPR commentator Frank Deford:

Poor Chicago, odds-on favorite to host the Games in 2016, is thrown out on its keister by the International Olympic Committee, a cabal that loathes the United States only slightly less than do the Taliban and Roman Polanski.

As for that quadrennial global reality show, Chicago's abject rejection is no one's fault here - not the President's, not Oprah's; for once we can't even blame the Cubs. Rather, the greasy antics of the International Olympic Committee make Chicago's own fabled politics look by comparison like Periclean Athens. The IOC members still hold it against the United States that the Atlanta Olympics were so tacky, and that the Salt Lake City Olympics highlighted the IOC corruption that has so often attended the selection of host cities.

Forget it, America; any US metropolis that may be pondering a bid for the 2012 Olympics would be more wisely advised to petition St. Augustine to become the designated City of God. It would have a much better chance to earn that distinction.

"Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour."

"Lies are a lubricant in the social machine. They ease the friction when two moving parts mesh imperfectly."

From Babel's Fall'n Glory We Fled, Michael Swanwick

A Good Word: Poignant

1 : pungently pervasive
2 a (1) : painfully affecting the feelings : piercing (2) : deeply affecting : touching b : designed to make an impression : cutting
3 a : pleasurably stimulating b : being to the point : apt

synonyms see pungent, moving

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I have recently gotten onto Facebook and have connected with a friend from grade school (who I had lunch with today) and another from high school. I graduated high school 35 years ago, and have now had various memories brought back into focus from 1974 and earlier. The word poignant - as in both painfully affecting the feelings and deeply affecting/touching - seems to fit the bill as the perfect word to use.

Here am I, from 1972, ready to take on the world! Notice the smile . . .

We Interrupt This Broadcast . . .Breaking News!

But only good news! My son Tim passed his Paramedic exams, and daughter Amy and son-in-law Matt have successfully bid on a house!

Lord, I feel old . . . great!

Words To Live By?

“Any idiot can face a crisis; it is this day-to-day living that wears you out.”

Writer Anton Chekov

“One must think like a hero to behave like a merely decent human being.”

Author May Sarton

“Since it is difficult to join them together, it is safer to be feared than to be loved when one of the two must be lacking.”

“The fact is that a man who wants to act virtuously in every way necessarily comes to grief among so many who are not virtuous.”

Philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli

This Guy Got It Right

"There is no fun in doing nothing when you have nothing to do. … Idleness, like kisses, to be sweet must be stolen."

English author and Dramatist Jerome K. Jerome

How Soon They Grow Up

That's what everyone tells you . . . and it's true. Tim and Amy in this photo, the day after Amy's wedding. The "shutter shades" went with the 80's band that rocked the reception. "XC" on Tim's shirt means "cross country"; the "W" stands for Wauconda. Get the message?

Note the talented beer bottle grip that holds not only the bottle, but also the cap.

Gotta luv em!

You Am What You Is

"Homo sapiens [are] a tiny twig on an improbable branch of a contingent limb on a fortunate tree."

Naturalist and Science Writer Stephen Jay Gould

A Study in Opposites

"No matter how much a woman loved a man, it would still give her a glow to see him commit suicide for her."

American Satirist H. L. Mencken

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height

My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight

For the ends of being an ideal Grace.

I love thee to the level of everyday's

Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.

I love thee freely, as men strive for Right.

I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.

I love thee with the passion to put use

In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.

I love thee with a love I seemed to lose

With my lost saints—I love thee with the breath,

Smiles, tears, of all my life!—and, if God choose,

I shall but love thee better after death.

"How do I love thee? Let me count the ways..."

by Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

(Public domain. )

Edna St. Vincent Millay

Edna St. Vincent Millay
I saw that name in print today
Some notes about the Sonnet form
Ten syllables; that is the norm
But not for me

A Poem: Foreseeing

Foreseeing

by Sharon Bryan

Middle age refers more
to landscape than to time:
it's as if you'd reached

the top of a hill
and could see all the way
to the end of your life,

so you know without a doubt
that it has an end—
not that it will have,

but that it does have,
if only in outline—
so for the first time

you can see your life whole,
beginning and end not far
from where you stand,

the horizon in the distance—
the view makes you weep,
but it also has the beauty

of symmetry, like the earth
seen from space: you can't help
but admire it from afar,

especially now, while it's simple
to re-enter whenever you choose,
lying down in your life,

waking up to it
just as you always have—
except that the details resonate

by virtue of being contained,
as your own words
coming back to you

define the landscape,
remind you that it won't go on
like this forever.

"Foreseeing" by Sharon Bryan,
from Flying Blind. © Sarabande Books, 1996.

And Now, the Happy News

Weighing in at Weight Watcher's today . . . total lost to date: 20 pounds!

Still workin' out, and still feelin' good!

Since I've been watching my weight (in earnest) I've gone from 292 on my home scale to 265, but I started WW after I had already started losing weight. That accounts for the difference.

So, 8 more pounds to go until I reach my 10% (and initial) target. The rest of the targets go like this: haven't been below 260 for four years or so; haven't been below 250 for probably 16 years (since I worked at Kemper Insurance); haven't been below 240 in even longer. My doctor set my target at 235 (back four years ago or so); he thought that would be about the best I could hope for, without training for marathons. But, while my two bad hips won't let me run, I am working out, so perhaps it's not out of the question to drop below that.

Looking back to April I see that I've taken a while to get to this point, so I won't try to rush the remainder, which I think is the correct thing to do. Guess we'll see, in about a year or so!

I Do Most Of My Work Sitting Down

"I do most of my work sitting down; that's where I shine."
- Humorist Robert Benchley


I do most of my work sitting down, as I
Am a computer programmer. Not
A desirable job, to say the least, rather
I consider myself to be just another

Tradesman, plying his trade like any
Other would do, driving nails, bending
Pipe (of one variety or another), tarring
Roofs of buildings, plowing furrows . . .

A computer is just another tool,
Is it not? Like a hammer, a saw, an anvil
(Though perhaps much more like an anvil
Or an anchor than I’d like it to be.)

Some days, like today, I rather wish I
Was Garrison Keillor, Teller of Tales
Of Lake Wobegon, or Harry Connick, Jr.,
A Singer of Popular Songs . . . but I’m not.

Not that I don’t shine, sometimes;
Sometimes I impress with the speed
At which I pound out code, fingers
Lighting the keyboard on fire, Logic

Firing on all synapses, it’s all there
Before me, like the world laid out at
The feet of Christ himself. For a time
I have it All Together; I am Happy.

Arbeit Macht Frei, nicht? A Self-
Sacrifice in the form of endless labor.
Or should a sign be posted:
Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter Here.

For this is not the sacrifice Christ
Made for us; the means of salvation.
This is the sacrifice of time away from
Those we love, to be able to support

Those we love. And realizing that, it
Seems evident and obvious that
I cannot really be Happy, even in
The minor successes of working.

But I am often Happy sitting down
Wife next to me on the sofa, watching
Dancing with the Stars, rubbing her
Feet, and, quietly, loving her.


© 2007 Mark Dopita

Today's Weight Watchers . . . Hooray!

Yes, the results are in. My Weight Watchers weigh-in this morning showed me down a full four pounds! At home, where I weigh myself each day, I dropped below 270 yesterday (269.4). So, excellent progress is being made! Is it possible that I could soon approach the 260 mark? I'll give it six to eight weeks . . .

It's Election Night!

Here in Island Lake and Wauconda. I don't have any results yet, but can comment on one thing: the advisory referendum to build the Illinois Route 53 extension through Lake County appears to be passing about three to one. Perhaps this means that "53" will be built, after all. I had thought it was dead-and-forgotten until I saw signs for the referendum during the past six weeks or so.

I'll comment on some of the results as they become available . . .

And I only have a couple of comments: I'm happy with our choice of mayor and trustees, generally. My advice to them would be to make sure we have good police and fire protection; make sure the garbage is picked up; make sure we have a clean water and sewer systems; continue to provide some pre-school and park board programs. If you do so, you'll be re-elected.

Route 53 was approved (as I noted above) but there are really no plans yet in place to build it. It doesn't mean too much to me, except that its future path crosses my route to work.

Participation was pitiful - 16% in Lake County; probably no better in McHenry county. I, personally, have voted in every election since I was old enough to vote. I wish everyone did.

I Fell Off the Plateau!

Okay, I guess I wrote yesterday's post a day early. This morning, when I stepped on WII Fit, I found I had lost 2 pounds! That's the breakthrough I've been waiting for. If I drop just over two more I'll be down below 270 for the first time in four years or so. And when I'm down below 270 it's on to 260!

To be perfectly honest, the lowest I've been for years was my low point four years ago - 258. Since I switched jobs - I've been at my current job for 16 years - I haven't been below 250. My long-term goal for this year (and on through the future) is to get down to 235. I haven't been there for 20 years, or so.

Weight Watchers sets intermediate goals of 5% and 10%. My 5% goal is 14 pounds; I may get there this week when I weight in. The 20% goal gets me down to 260, right near my "historic low".

I can only pray that I don't lose focus; keep workin' out and keep eatin' smart.

Plateau . . . 'd (A Weight Watchers Word)

For the last ten days or so I've stayed in a one-pound weight range. No real progress, though the Weight Watcher's scale did show me down .6 pounds from the previous week. This morning, though, no change at all from yesterday. Could this be a sign of good things to come?

I reviewed my Weight Watcher's log, and have found that while I've lost weight every week except one, I lose much more every other week. On the even weeks I'm down a total of 3 pounds, while on the odd weeks I've lost a total of 9 pounds. Seems to be a pattern - one I hope repeats itself this coming week!

Oh, and for you Weight Watcher purists, I realize that a plateau isn't considered to be in place unless your average weight loss is .5 pounds per week or less (since joining the program) and your weight hasn't changed for several weeks. So I guess this is a "mini-plateau".

Workin' Out . . . Just in Case You Were Wonderin'

So here's the good news:

Fifteen pounds lost since the beginning of the year; twenty from my last-Autumn "high point". Inches lost: 14 1/2, 1 1/2 in the waist alone. (I've been able to pull my belt in two notches.) Body fat: down 3%.

Next measurement: 6 weeks or so.

Poetry: My Lover Asks Me

My lover asks me:
"What is the difference between me and the sky?"
The difference, my love,
Is that when you laugh,
I forget about the sky.

Nizar Qabbani

Workin' Out, But Gettin' Olde

Okay, so I'm working out for the first time ever, really. It's not quite the end of my first month, and I'm already feeling better and seeing a difference. But . . . I've found that I'm not really very flexible any more.

I'm using a personal trainer to help me get started with a workout regimen. She was stretching me out at the end of my first workout and found that she couldn't stretch out my hips. She suggested Yoga; I went to the doctor. (I have been rather stiff for a while.) I was sent from my Internist to a Othopedist. X-rays were taken, and I met with the doc.

Guess what? I have bone growth around the hip socket - where no bone growth should be - so I'm not flexible for good reason. I'm basically locked from pointing my toes inward, rolling my hips in, that is. Want to see what's wrong? Stand up and point your toes in toward each other as far as you can (but don't hurt yourself). How far can I point my toes in? Not at all . . .

Aging . . . bah! Youth is wasted on the young!

Removed Books, Added Blogs

Not sure this is really important, but there ya go! I hadn't been keeping "Books" up to date, and with Blogs I don't have to!