Poor Helen--while Larry, Larry, Jr. and I were there, the technician came with his equipment to test the pacemaker. Unfortunately, it wasn't working properly and the upshot was, Helen had to have the wires reinserted. Because she had eaten a light breakfast, it wasn't done until evening. By the time she got back in her room, it was after 8:00. The assumption is that this time, it will be okay, as we all fervently hope.
Larry, Jr., a big (6'2"), ruggedly good-looking guy, his beautiful wife, Magda, Jim, Karen, Elaine, and I were there and stayed until Helen ate the soup young L. and wife, M. brought, then left to let her get some rest. Daughter Nancy was also there often and Jeanne (Jacksonville) and Terry (Mississipi) kept in close touch by phone. If all goes well this time, Helen should be discharged today.
Also today, granddaughter Alycia is having a third birthday for her little Bella, and presumably, a large contingent of this very large family will be there. I'm looking forward to it, if it's possible for me to be there. So sorry Helen probably won't be able and maybe, not Larry either. Incidentally, Alycia is right on the cusp of delivering her new baby girl--maybe a little "Boo" Halloween baby?
Earlier in the day, Larry took me to two casinos and we had a great time looking and comparing to A.C. and Vegas. Other things went on, and I continue to have a wonderful visit. Love the sight-seeing, the new venue, the palm trees, the weather, but the very best part, by far, of my Florida trip is getting to know my brother's remarkable--and wonderfully warm and welcoming--family.
WIDER: Think I'll copy Chris Floyd's "Empire Burlesque" entry of today in full. It's just so exactly my reaction to the TERRORIST THREAT!! all over the cockamamie "news" lately:
Cargo Cult: Questions on the Latest Terrorist Threat
Written by Chris Floyd
Sunday, 31 October 2010 09:57
First we were told that the recently intercepted package bombs sent, we are told, from Yemen, were targeted at synagogues in Chicago. Now we are being told that they were intended to blow up the cargo planes themselves. We are also told that the bombs' design shows the mark of a "highly sophisticated" operation by extremist Islamists, most likely al Qaeda.
All of which prompts one question. If you were indeed a "highly sophisticated" Islamist extremist operation wishing to blow up cargo planes bound for the United States with package bombs, would you really a) mail those bombs from Yemen, a country currently under intense counterterrorism scrunity by the United States, and b) address these packages, from Yemen, to Jewish institutions -- in Barack Obama's home city?
Either a) or b) alone would be enough to set alarm bells clanging all through the thick mesh of security systems that now overlay modern life. Put them together, and what you have is either a) the mark of a very unsophisticated, cack-handed, two-bit operation whose sporadic and isolated threats hardly justify a world-wide, never-ending, mass-killing, liberty-gutting, multi-trilliondollar war, or b) the mark of a highly sophisticated organization that wished to ensure maximum publicity for this attempted terrorist attack -- and even more publicity for its heroic thwarting ... especially on the eve of a national election, and after weeks of leaks and bad press about atrocities and corruption that call the whole Terror War ethos into question.
Points perhaps worth pondering in the coming weeks as we watch the ever-more profitable security mesh seize on this incident to call for ever-greater funding, and ever-greater measures of control over our lives.
(Yeah, these thoughts came to mind for Chris and me and--oh, say, sixteen billion other people with brains in their headss, but not, I guess, for our esteemed leaders and their trained media whores. Wonder why? Take a gander at the last sentence above....)