Just Driving Along...

“I’m leaving on a jet plane…”
(Well...not really)

New Luggage for your travels--$30.00; Airplane Tickets--$520.00;
Car Rental when the flight is cancelled--$360.00

Opportunity to participate in your Brother’s fiftieth birthday--Priceless (especially if you have $910 lying around)

Ah…traveling…

It can be enlightening as well as frightening. In October of 2008, I drove out to Mark’s in Ohio with no problems.

Then I took Jen to Mark’s last October and we hit a hunk of wood in the road, which took out my car to the tune of some $500.00

Then this morning, after uneventful travel and a really good time at Mark’s house, I thought the “curse” of the last trip was a fluke. At 10:24, just as I turned in the keys to our room, Jen’s phone rang. It was an “800” number. The airline called to tell us our flight on the second leg of our journey was cancelled. Jen tried to have us booked on another flight because, we needed to find a passage home. Jen had to work on Monday as it is the busiest day of the year for farmers in their tax season. I, who had used my personal days on the previously mentioned October to Mark’s trip, would have been docked a huge chunk of change had I not attended work on Monday.

No luck with the airlines. Nothing was flying into Illinois that wasn’t overbooked from Delta. Hmmm…how telling is that?

Anyway, we decided to take the already in possession rental car to Bloomington’s Avis car rental company. To drive back to Pittsburgh would be an hour, followed by another hour of finagling with another car rental place, followed by another hour of driving back to where we were sitting, followed by praying that the car rental place in Bloomington would be open at 11:00 PM, which is not even close to being likely, so we would be charged another day.

With limited choices, we decided to venture home.

So off we drove for 8 hours heading back to the land of THE Illinois State University (and that great institution’s Number One ranking Social Science Education Department and Number One Ranking History Education Department—did I mention my master’s in History???); Illinois Wesleyan University, State Farm Insurance Home Office; Beer Nuts; Country Companies Home Office; The First Steak ‘N’ Shake in the world; The Prairie Thunder Hockey Team; the hometown of both Adlai (Vice President) and McLean (Henry Blake of M*A*S*H) Stevenson; the college home of Laurie Metcalf, John Malkovich, and the guy who played the friend of Will of the Will and Grace TV show whose name escapes me; and the place of the only large protest demanding justice on the announcement of Lincoln’s assassination—just to name of few of Bloomington/Normal’s historical and popular culturally relevant tidbits.

Our drive was surprisingly uneventful. We found a few cool radio stations playing 80’s music and “classic hits” that were giving tributes to Canadian rockers, due to Olympic hype.

Bottom-line, we had a great time visiting Mark and Mary, seeing Mom, Dad, Karen, Angela, meeting some of Mark’s friends, and sharing in the Celebration of Mark’s fiftieth year of escaping from the womb.

Jen and I also had some luck in driving, and as frustrating as air-travel can be, we know to be especially appreciative of people coming from all over to attend our wedding next October.

By the way, why does the airline put more emphasis on how much $2.29 shampoo I have than they do in supplying my travel home after they mess up to the tune of some $500.00? Just a question, I really do not expect an answer. I must be the one with the mixed up priorities, I suppose.

A Good Report

Wow, what a relief.

I went to the doctors yesterday (that would be Cardiologist Jim McCrisken and General Practitioner Eric Duncan) and got an A from each on my semi-annual, post-stroke, post-valve replacement surgery, and just general health checkup.

Cholesterol is a tad bit above 150, triglycerides is 137, good HDL is at 34 and bad LD is at 74. Blood pressure at McCrisken’s was higher (but to be honest, going in there twice a year unnerves me a bit,) than at Duncan’s—so I will take Duncan’s score of 117 over 80 and the pulse rate with Duncan also a tad lower at 74. Everything is going well.

Both doctors waxed philosophical on me a bit, which probably shows that they know me as a person and care about me. Dr. McCrisken commented that I might want to check out a non-denominational Men’s group weekend retreat in March. He said it was good for folks who had gone through experiences similar to mine. To be honest, I am interested. Dr. Duncan said he would recommend the same. Both told me that I should live my life without dwelling on the stroke. Both thought that being cog nascent of my meds and keeping up with a healthy lifestyle and checking my INR is an adjustment of sorts, but other than “taking care of myself” there was no reason to worry.

Dr. Duncan gave me a great analogy. He said that it was extremely rare to have a stroke as a result of the valve in the first place, let’s say one in two-hundred thousand. To have it reoccur would even be more astronomical, considering they are monitoring me so closely, something like one in a million. He told me not to live my life with regrets and worrying about things 25 years from now that I could have, should have done.

Both commented that I was in a good mood that was noticeable and equally notable was that I was less of a worrywart.

After hearing their good news, I had reason to reflect. I cannot deny it, something happened to me: spiritually, physically, and amazingly that I truly do not understand. To be here after that stroke, and just as importantly to be here relatively unharmed and unchanged, is an amazing occurrence.

It is a testament to my doctors and the medical care in Bloomington-Normal, but I cannot help but think it is more than that. I feel awakened a bit, as I also feel more clear-headed and more confident. I mean, aside from being a worrywart about my health (which I know will never go away), and I know I will always be a bit too critical of others and things that annoy me; still I feel something happened.

I am relatively certain that I was helped and I experienced some divinity in my presence. I really do, and for someone who was fairly agnostic to admit to those words, well… miracles never cease, do they?

I feel as though I was given a second chance, or as Dr, McCrisken noted, a fourth or fifth chance for those keeping score at home.

I have always tended to look at folks who proclaim miracles or miraculous happenings in their life as a bit of a skeptic. If someone is bold enough to suggest divine-intervention, I also tend to have my doubts raised. I look in the same manner at someone who props themselves up as being more sacred than others in this world. I have no desire to infiltrate others lives with biblical quotes or stereotypical phoniness.

The above noted, I must honestly say that I was given yet another lease on life and I intend to live by an example of being a better person and being worthy of the important gifts I have been given. I will also learn to be more appreciative of those around me and give back to those around me in a meaningful way.

I truly feel my spirit has been lifted and it is an incredibly positive feeling, to be honest.

The Wolfman Remake, Takes Me Back To My Youth

“Even a man who is pure at heart and says his prayers by night
Will become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms and the moon is full and bright.”

--The Wolfman, Universal Films, 1941.


Tonight I was transported back in time. When we were kids, Mark traded Cam Meyers for some Famous Monsters of Film magazines. This was every pre-teen male who loved horror movies (and who didn’t?) favorite magazine. One issue had a story about and pictures from Universal’s The Wolfman, starring the great Lon Chaney Junior s Larry Talbot and Bela Lugosi as Bela the gypsy. It also featured Ralph Bellamy and Claude Raines. I thought this was the coolest thing I ever saw, as a kid. Mark and I stayed up late to watch the Wolfman when it was on Creature Features on Saturday night. I always fell asleep before the good parts, but I loved the make-up and the effects, simple as they were.

Flash forward to 2010. Jen and I saw The Wolfman remake this evening. I picked it as a festive Valentine Holiday film, and it was awesome. Benicio Del Toro starred as Sir Lawrence Talbot and Anthony Hopkins played his father, Sir John. The scenes were gruesome and graphic and very exciting. The make-up was incredible, and there were enough plot twists to entertain. Thing I liked so much about this film was how true it was to the original.

It used the same character names, the basic plot and outline from the first film, and the atmosphere of the film was creepy and gloomy. The main difference was he 1941 original was set in the 1940s and the remake was set in the 1890s. Obviously, this is a minor difference at best. The remake was more logical and more concise in telling a story, as the original is too rushed. The remake contains the old gypsy woman as well, and honestly, their characterization is surprisingly similar. It is obvious that the new filmmakers paid an honor in their homage to the 1941 Universal classic.

Even Del Toro looks a bit like Lon Chaney Junior, and they explain his physical ethnical differences to father Anthony Hopkins in a very realistic way. I thought Del Toro was excellent in his role as the often troubled Lawrence Talbot. Anthony Hopkins takes the former Claude Raines Sir John to a new level of ego-driven arrogance. Evelyn Ankers' version of Gwen was beautiful, and I feel more attractive than the new Gwen in Emily Blunt. Ms. Blunt is the much better actress than Ankers, as my obsession with Ankers is more due to a third-graders crush than anything else. I always had/have a thing for blondes.

I will not give away any of the plot twists, but suffice to say the film is fantastic.

After we watched the new film, Jen and I watched the original from my Universal Horror films DVD collection at her house. She liked both and thought the 1941 sixty minute film was fun, albeit corny. She also said she could see why I was fascinated in Evelyn Ankers. We were both floored when the classically humorous Ralph Bellamy appeared in the 1941 film as a police inspector. It was a pleasant surprise. Best line in the classic was one Lon Chaney Junior’s character of Larry Talbot follows the grave diggers into the churchyard as they are about to bury Bela Lugosi’ gypsy/werewolf character. Two women watch the gravediggers bring the casket into the churchyard. One woman says “There’s the dead gypsy.” The other woman, who spies Talbot following slightly behind says, “and the man who killed him.” The look on Chaney’s face was so incredible.

Perhaps not the most romantic thing for me to watch on this Valentine’s Day, but Jen was certainly show her love for me by indulging in my geekiness and sharing a moment that she knows I will enjoy. I will treat dinner for her at her favorite steakhouse, Central Station, tomorrow.

I wonder if she is in the mood for Dracula.

Nah, I probably should not push it.