The crazy lady strikes again

How many of you remember the movie Chariots of Fire? For those of you who don't, I'd like to provide a plot summary. This movie tells the tale of two runners on the 1924 British Olympic team, Eric Liddell and Harold Abrahams. Liddell is a devout Presbyterian (back when such denominational labels mattered in the Protestant realm) who finds out in the course of events that one of the heats in which he is scheduled to run is going to be held on a Sunday. As a devout Christian, Liddell refuses to... Sign in to see full entry.

This is one of those entries that could go in any one of several blogs. That's because the subject of the entry is appropriate to at least two of my blogs, so I decided to put it in here. Several years ago, I belonged to a Catholic church in another diocese. (I no longer attend that parish.) While I was a member there, I joined the choir. I admired this particular choir director for what seemed like his devotion to God; when he took communion at Mass, it always seemed to me as if it were the... Sign in to see full entry.

October is breast-cancer awareness month. Something bothers me about this, and it isn't the idea that we need people to be more aware of the various ways to treat this disorder. It's that there is a huge difference in publicity efforts going on here. What I mean is simple. I see a great deal of well-deserved publicity for breast-cancer awareness during October, but virtually none in April, during organ-donor awareness WEEK. Both problems - the need for donating one's organs and tissues to those... Sign in to see full entry.

The comment about a liver transplant occurring in the next room - as in, "operating room" - comes from the DVD version of the movie The Fugitive, which we owned at one time. For those of you who live in other countries, the movie version of The Fugitive is based on a 1960s cult-classic television show (which show starred David Janssen). The movie version stars Harrison Ford as fugitive Richard Kimble, MD, and Tommy Lee Jones as Sam Gerard (a US marshal assigned to track Kimble down and bring him... Sign in to see full entry.

At various times during the past year, I have been seeking assistance of various sorts to help my family with our enormous financial problems. One of the forms of assistance we are seeking out is, frankly, welfare. I recently helped my daughter complete and send in the application for this form of assistance - whereby one can ask for cash assistance, food stamps and Medicaid all on the same form - and she was scheduled to have a telephone interview yesterday. Because I was unavailable yesterday... Sign in to see full entry.

This post was prompted by a comment on an entry I'd made earlier today, about the practice of "tear-downs" - tearing down an existing building, replacing it with something more modern and (in the case of housing) larger than might be necessary. I wanted to expand on something I thought might be implied in the aforementioned comment. Such "tear-downs" do have a noticeable impact on the environment, because the practice was so prevalent during the years of the recent housing boom. People would... Sign in to see full entry.

This morning, my daughter and I watched Oprah's show; today's episode featured U2 lead singer Bono (whose real name is Paul Hewson). I mentioned in yesterday's entry that he is in the area because he's promoting a line of clothing, shoes and other products featuring the color red, for the famous red AIDS ribbon. A portion of the proceeds from this line of merchandise will go toward funding AIDS treatment in Africa, or so I understand. I wonder about the effectiveness about such a move. I know... Sign in to see full entry.

I thought I'd get my two cents' worth in on this topic before I forgot about it yet again. I don't know how true this is - I haven't belonged to the middle classes for some time due to heavy medical expenses - but I understand that the middle class is disappearing rapidly from the American scene. I submit that a good portion of the problem is housing costs. In my area, until the housing boom went bust, there were wealthier portions of the area in which "tear-downs" were popular. That's a... Sign in to see full entry.

I had a marathon medical session today - two doctor visits all wrapped up into one day's worth of bills. My morning session was spent at the neurology clinic of the local teaching hospital. I've been experiencing some memory problems lately, and the side of my face which was afflicted with Bell's palsy ten years ago has been bothering me lately, so I threw that into the mix since I was at the neurologist's office. It turns out that my memory problems are due to simple old age (I'm pusing fifty... Sign in to see full entry.

It has happened again in New York - a plane has hit another building. It was a fixed-wing aircraft (as opposed to a helicopter). I don't have all the details yet; I don't even know if anyone was injured. Stay tuned, at least to a news channel. Update: The man flying the plane was a New York Yankees pitcher, and he is definitely dead, as is his flight instructor. As far as I know, nobody else died as a direct result of the crash. Sign in to see full entry.