Yep, it is. 365 days ago I got the scare of my life.

So in my mind, I'm one year old today.

The Librarian is coming by this evening for Anime Night (more Cardcaptor Sakura!). It's fitting, I think, because other than my folks and my boss, the only other person that got updates on my condition as it was happening was her.

So remember what I told you a year ago: IF YOUR HEART IS DOING SOMETHING ODD, CALL YOUR LOCAL EMERGENCY NUMBER IMMEDIATELY.

Don't drive yourself to the hospital. Don't have someone drive you. Let the ambulance do it. Let the EMTs work on you while you're there. Because otherwise, you WILL DIE.

Right... it's noisemaker-and-funny-hat time!

Posted by: Wonderduck at 06:01 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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I noticed that Steven was talking about the marraiges of, amongst others, some of the members of Monty Python.

That was just the hook I needed to throw this bit of terrible news to the wall:

Terry Jones has been diagnosed with bowel cancer.

If there's anything good in this, it's that the doctors believe they found it early, and they've a good chance of 'curing' him. They'll know more after the exploratory surgery.

I grew up watching The Pythons on WTTW, out of Chicago. I was horribly saddened when Graham Chapman died, was shocked when I discovered that John Cleese was no longer allowed to 'silly walk', due to his hip replacement, and now this.

For some reason, I suddenly feel remarkably old...

Posted by: Wonderduck at 05:35 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Oh. My. GOD.

The Chicago Bears were down 23-3 late in the third quarter of tonight's game against the Arizona Cardinals. They had SIX turnovers (two fumbles, four interceptions) and the offense just couldn't do a damn thing all night.

Then the Bears Defense, behind linebacker Brian Urlacher, said "To hell with this crap," and decided to take this one over.

First, they drilled Cardinals QB Matt Leinart, resulting in a fumble that was recovered by the Bears and run in for a touchdown. 23-10.

Second, Urlacher strips the ball from Cardinals RB Eddgggerrrinnnn James, which is recovered by the Bears and run in for a touchdown. 23-17, and I feel a slight stirring of hope.

Then the Cardinals are forced to punt... to Devin Hester, called "The Windy City Flyer" on the radio voice of the Bears, WMAQ-AM. He only takes it back 85 yards for a touchdown, and suddenly the Bears are AHEAD 24-23 with just under three minutes left to go. But that's plenty of time for the Cardinals to win it.

And they drove down the field, slowly but surely. The Bears defense stops them, but not before the Cards get within quite makeable field goal range, and 48 seconds left to go. It looks bad for the Bears.

And the field goal try drifts JUST left. Miss. Bears win.

On a night that the offense just sucked, the Bears defense and special teams won it.

Six wins. Zero losses.

I like the sound of that.

edited to correct Bears turnovers

Posted by: Wonderduck at 04:31 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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...Unfortunately, in this context, "it" refers to his habit of making people run into him. It happened quite a few times in F1, usually after he had passed someone and 'suddenly' braked for a turn, making the other driver go all harpoon into JPM's engine compartment.

This time around, though, it was a rookie mistake. Juan Pablo Montoya was actually LEADING the ARCA/Remax race early on, and looked like he had a good enough handle on what was happening around him that he was a serious threat to win... when the second-place car started to come up on the outside.

If you have any experience in watching NASCAR-style racing, you know that the teams use spotters to inform the driver of what's going on around them... even on a one-mile oval, there's probably too much that a driver can't see for it to be done otherwise. F1, on the other hand, doesn't use spotters... fewer cars spread out over a much longer track.

And that's where the rookie mistake occurred. The second place car had it's front tires even with JPM's bumper coming out of a turn when Montoya's spotter called "Outside, outside."

Now, in NASCAR-speak, that means "There's a car to your outside, don't go there." In Montoya's head, though, it meant "You're clear to the outside." So, since he was coming off a turn, he let his car drift up the track towards the outside wall.

I can only assume this is a Spotter's worst nightmare. There must be spotters out there that have tossed and turned and lost sleep, dreaming they're yelling "You've got people to your right" and the driver responding "I'm going right", neverending...

The #2 guy did everything he could... he drifted as far up towards the outside as the track allowed, but JPM kept coming. Then ran into the other guy, who slammed on his brakes ASAP. JPM's car took a right turn directly into the wall, doing damage to the right front, but the worst damage actually was to the right-rear, as that part took two hits: bouncing off the car, then pivoting into the wall.

He dove for the pits, his front right tire rubbing hard against something in the car, to the point that even after they pulled the tire off, it was still smoking like a fiend. Nice big flatspot, too.

It took something like 35 laps before Montoya was back on track. At which point, I turned off the race and went to clean my bathroom.

Which tells you where I put the ARCA/ReMax series if JPM isn't a contender for the win.

For what it's worth, JPM took full blame for the accident, saying in effect "I didn't understand the spotter."

Posted by: Wonderduck at 04:52 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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...is there anyone at home?

Posted by: Wonderduck at 06:19 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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