Do the Yak

So how's the family? Becky: OK since Saturday, but fevers Thursday and Friday afternoons. The back story is that she's been having fevers (sometimes rather high, like over 103) for several weeks now. The adventures have included three visits to the pediatrician in a single week, plus gallons of ibuprofen (which works wonders in the short term, thankfully) and snuggling in bed with her when she feels ill. Poor kid. More detailed blood work with all sorts of fancy chemical tests, blood smears, etc., came back indicating basically "some sort of infection somewhere, but unclear where or what's causing it." Yeah well, I could have told you that. Among the tests was a Lyme disease titer which came back equivocal (a bit higher than normal, but not enough to make a definitive diagnosis). So now we have an appointment with an infectious-diseases specialist after we get back from Florida (much-anticipated vacation April 20-27) and another one to be scheduled with a rheumato...

Busy busy busy... but I still remembered to bring a little radio yesterday so I could listen to the Sox home opener on the way home by public transportation. After the game was over, I saw the zillions of photos of all the pageantry, heard the oceans of words... but one observation was glaringly omitted. And it's this. In all the years since Bill Buckner was blamed (unfairly) for blowing their chance at a World Series trophy in 1986, in all his years of exile and now redemption, in all the moving moments of his return to throw out the ceremonial first pitch yesterday... has no one else noticed that he bears a frightening resemblance to Dabney Coleman? The camera does not lie: The busy-ness resulted from about a month's worth of almost daily fevers for poor Becky, culminating in last week where she did not attend a single full day of school and went to the doctor three times. They finally sent us to a Children's Hospital outpost in Lexington to get fancier blood work and a ...

GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS The bad news: we had two sets of tickets to two different Red Sox games this summer. The bad news: we (I) lost them in the move. The good news: my friend D. gave me her other standing-room ticket to a recent game. The bad news: it rained all afternoon and was still raining when we got to Fenway , but we wanted to see where we would have been watching from, so we went in anyway. The good news: the tickets were for the third-base pavilion, way up high and under a light structure -- a fabulous view plus a nearby new and clean restroom and concession stand that wasn't mobbed by 33,000 fellow fans. Plus during the rain delay, they showed Red Sox compilation clips (I would not call them "music videos") on the big screen accompanied by each song from the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper," as this summer is the 40 th anniversary of the album's release. Unexpectedly excellent sound quality, and the orchestral crescendo at the end of "A Day in th...

Daisuke Matsuzaka pitched a complete game last night, giving up just one run. Which is a good thing because we're apparently losing Beckett for a while due to his finger problem (too much Boston driving, perhaps?). For those who just can't get enough, there's a blog linked to the Boston Globe web site all about Dice-K in his mother tongue . * * * How to infuriate me and a lot of other people: calculate what the U.S. has spent on this idiotic war in Iraq and what we could have gotten for the money if spent more wisely. Oh yeah, and a lot fewer people killed, too. * * * Always good for a laugh in this American Idol culture: Go Fug Yourself, specifically the discussions of how to dress for success in a car sunshade and how to tell when your boobs are simply Too Big . * * * Amusing lines from the little ones recently... Becky: "I love you as much as the earth! And you love me and the moon the same gallon!" Sarah to Ben at the dinner table: "Are you getting gas ...

Last night Pedro revisited Fenway, expecting to blow away his inexperienced opponent Josh Beckett, only to have his most suck-ola outing of the year. The hype was big enough that Ben and I decided to eat in front of the TV. the only way to make this fall within our no-food-in-the-living-room-or-you-die guidelines was to make it a picnic on the floor, on a huge beautiful Lands' End beach towel that I actually didn't buy, but that his employer got him at some sort of staff retreat. Anyway, we had pizza, we had beer, we had fun. And then I had more fun when I read Wall Ball Single's hilariously raunchy metaphorical descriptions of the event. Much more fun than the night before, when I had to pick up both girls, which takes an hour and a half due to the locations and traffic, and then tried to collaborate with Ben on an overly elaborate yet pressed-for-time dinner when all I really wanted to do was eat cold cereal, and then for some reason we decided to be hard-line about Sara...