When in Spain–Or Vienna–Do as the Spaniards Do

Eyegal and I are back home from our D.C. excursion, a little exhausted, but full of stories and good memories of the people and places we saw.

But our travels pale in comparison to Number Two Son. He’s currently on a 3-week tour of Germany, Austria and Switzerland with a group of students from Huntsville. About a year ago he approached us with the idea of going, and since then he has worked hard to help pay for it, including a lot of 5:00 am lifeguarding shifts at the local YMCA.

All that hard work has payed off. From what we’ve heard, he’s having an incredible experience so far.… Read the rest

How to Do D.C.

Eyegal and I have been in Washington, D.C. since Wednesday for a little getaway plus a friend’s wedding, and we’ve compiled a list of tips on how to “do D.C.” I’ll probably have more to say about my impressions of this wonderful city and the wedding later in the week, but since we’re traveling back today this will have to do for now:

  • For outdoor touring, pick the one day in the summer when the temperature tops out at a mere 75 degrees with only a trace of humidity and a few scattered clouds. Oh wait–that was last Thursday and probably won’t happen again anytime soon.
… Read the rest

Coldplay Warms Up the Summer

The boys turned me on to Chris Martin and Coldplay a while back. Since then their stuff has become my favorite chill-and-escape-while-I-workout-at-the-gym-after-a-hard-day-at-work music on my iPod. I get so lost in “Clocks” on the elliptical trainer that I totally forget what time it is.

That’s right, put me down as a Coldplay man. How bourgeois of me, I know.

Speaking of fancy French words, Coldplay’s latest album Viva la Vida is here and I’m listening to it as I write. For those who think Chris Martin’s screeching falsetto is like fingernails-on-the-chalkboard, you will be greatly relieved that there’s much less of that in the new album.… Read the rest

It Simply Ain’t “Happening”

Here’s what the critics are saying about M. Night Shyamalan’s latest movie The Happening:

  • a “woeful clunker of a paranoid thriller.” –The Wall Street Journal
  • “The Happening deflates from its grisly, early promise to repetitive images of people running through fields, the unlucky ones suddenly stopping, then searching about for convenient ways to do themselves in.” –The Associated Press
  • “Shyamalan’s throwback horror flick plays like The Birds meets The Blob; it’s beyond good and evil. It’s dumbfounding.” —The Philadelphia Inquirer
  • “What a bunch of nonsense—effective nonsense, chilling nonsense, occasionally wrenching nonsense, but nonsense nonetheless.” –Village Voice
  • “Here’s a movie trivia game I wish I didn’t have to play.
… Read the rest

Good Vision

My heart went out to Brady and crew this week when I learned of the cruel fate of his beloved Nati at the hands of the Turkish National Team in Euro ’08. Losing in the 90+ minute is a terrible way to go. And with Federer losing too, it made for a very terrible, horrible, rotten Swiss cheese kind of day. Ouch.

But I did take great delight in watching the Azzuri fall 3-0 at the hands (or perhaps I should say “feet”) of The Netherlands on Monday. For those with long memories, you might recall my feelings about Italian footballers.… Read the rest

The Rite of the Funeral Parlor

Last evening, Eyegal and I stood in the receiving line of a local funeral parlor to pay our respects to the family of a man who suddenly died this past weekend. He was a great-grandfather, full of years, and a pillar to his family and community.

We arrived a couple of minutes before the visitation was to start and the receiving line already wound its way through the chapel and stretched out the door into the lobby, snaking its way through the narrow hallway past several other viewing rooms, the water fountain and the bathrooms, all the way to the casket display area.… Read the rest

Good News, Bad News

I’ve got some good news and some bad news.

The good news is that the Huntsville Times finally managed to get my entire column, including the all-important opening paragraph, into the online edition this month. Squeaky wheel gets the grease, I guess.

The bad news is that the title, “Even Menial Summer Jobs Can Elevate One’s Stature” is not what I had chosen at all. It’s not horrible, but I don’t think it has quite the punch as my choice, “Looking for Job Fulfillment? Try Cleaning a Floor.” I’m really not concerned as much about “raising one’s stature” in this piece as I am “lowering it,” and finding meaning in humility and service.… Read the rest

Speaking of Bloodletting…

I recently reduced my nostalgia series on work (here, here and here) from a whopping and totally-out-of-control 3,645 words to a slim and trim 672 for my upcoming Huntsville Times community column this Sunday.

Yes, politicians and preachers, it is possible to keep it “short and sweet.” You just have to work at it.

My disdain for “verbal sprawl” goes back quite a ways. Over the years, I’ve served as a reviewer for several professional journals and have edited a large number of manuscripts to prepare them for publication. I gained a reputation as a reviewer who “bled red.”… Read the rest

Like Bloodletting, Only a Lot Less Messy

I managed to make it through an entire winter of seeing patients with various upper respiratory infections, colds and flu without getting sick myself. I credit that to lots of vitamins, exercise, good diet, washing my hands like an obsessive-compulsive, occasionally masking-up if a patient is really cruddy and probably the most important factor of all–good ol’ fashioned dumb luck.

My luck has run out apparently, because I’m sicker than a dog this week. It started with a tickle in my throat Sunday night, progressed to fountain-like snot-works on Monday, and by Tuesday I was generally weak, lethargic and unable to breath beyond that which was necessary for minimal life support.… Read the rest

A 9:11 of a Different Kind

I have seen something else under the sun:
The race is not to the swift
or the battle to the strong,
nor does food come to the wise
or wealth to the brilliant
or favor to the learned;
but time and chance happen to them all.

–Ecclesiastes 9:11

Last Friday, 39-year-old Darren Spurlock was having a delightful lunch with his wife Kelly and their two young sons, Ben and James. It was like any number of such lunches that were no doubt occurring at the same time; family members meeting working Dads and Moms at various bistros throughout Huntsville, sharing some laughs, making plans for upcoming vacations, eating outdoors and basking in the warmth of the early summer sun.… Read the rest

My Favorite Pauschisms: Tell the Truth

If I could only give three words of advice, they would be “tell the truth.”

If I got three more words, I would add: “All the time.”

People lie for lots of reasons, often because it seems like a way to get what they want with less effort. But like many short-term strategies, it’s ineffective in the long-term. You run into people again later, and they remember you lied to them.

And they tell lots of other people about it.

–Randy Pausch in The Last Lecture

Tis the season for political statements and promises, so this one really rang my bell this morning.… Read the rest

Wake Up and Run For Your Life

Numbers One, Two and I ran the Cotton Row Memorial Day Run in downtown Huntsville this past Monday. None of us had been running much lately (I’ve had a bad case of “turf toe” since February), so a 5K for fun (and to get the t-shirt) seemed about right. We were running late, so we ended up at the back of the pack at the start.

As we stood there waiting for the gun to go off, we suddenly heard the people around us applauding and cheering. We looked up and saw the very last 10K finisher (it had started nearly 2 hours before) crossing the finish line.… Read the rest

There Ain’t No More Lead In The Pencil

While rummaging through the attic of my memories last week, I stumbled across another long-lost treasure.

Most residents in the nursing home where I worked during college had long since given up on any more hanky-panky and directed their remaining physical and mental energies toward more fundamental aspects of survival, such as chewing slowly without choking and making sure they didn’t throw off their pacemakers by getting a little too close to the microwave.

But there were a few who were hanging on tight and had a reputation for being real pistols. Especially that retired banker who use to “make his rounds” each day as he slowly pushed his walker from one nurse’s station to another.… Read the rest

Want Respect? Earn It

I was 28-years-old when I graduated from optometry school and finally gained that long sought after title of “doctor.” No more “scut work” for me, I thought. “Let respect flow like a river, and money like a mighty stream” was my motto.

Oh, if only it had been that simple. We moved to Nashville where I started a residency in ocular disease at a large ophthalmology clinic and referral center near Vanderbilt. One of the first patients that I saw in the clinic there stared at me in disbelief when I walked into the room and declared, “And what high school did you just graduate from?”… Read the rest