Yesterday would have made 100: Happy hundredth in heaven, dad. Below photos, in no particular order…
With the 4 boys at Mom’s funeral in 2015.Near the end of the line – last trip to hospital.Trimming peach trees with Wayne in the 70’s.Spraying apple trees, a never-ending job.Wolf Brothers: The fruits of our labors.On vacation at the cabin: Happy days!
At Elmcroft in Dillsburg, with and without Mom.
War time wedding, 1943.Dad and me in the late 1960’s.
Waaaaay down the list of news stories today there was this little blurb about Modern Pentathlon dropping its equestrian component after abuse claims about a trainer who allegedly punched a horse in the face at the Tokyo Olympics. You heard me: Punching. A. Horse. Whoa, Nelly.
Modern Pentathlon currently consists of 5 events: running, shooting, fencing, swimming and horseback riding. The rationale for including these particular events – as opposed to, say, events of the Ancient Greek version of Pentathlon (wrestling, running, javelin, discus, and long jump) – comes from the skills required of a “modern” military cavalry officer. From the NY Times story:
Envision a soldier trapped behind enemy lines. He might ride a horse, fight with sword and pistol, run and swim to reach safety. The pentathlon simulates this little tale in an athletic setting.
Oh-Kay then.
I know a young guy who trained for years in the events of Modern Pentathlon. He competed internationally, though he didn’t quite make the U.S. Olympic team. And now he is a medical student at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, AZ. That plus my own past experience set me to thinking: What if the IOC wanted to make Modern Pentathlon into something truly modern. Specifically, what if they made the 5 events all things a med student learns as part of 3rd year clinical rotations? Then, instead of swordplay and shooting – or punching a horse in the face – we could have the following skill set on display come the next Olympics – which will be in Paris, btw – Mon Dieu!
Event 1 – Start an IV on a someone with collapsed veins, as is often the case with dehydrated cancer patients who have notoriously lousy veins. If back-of-the-hand or side-of-the-arm don’t work, move on to the sub-clavian.
Event 2 – Intubate a car crash victim with a punctured lung in the ER. Degree of difficulty here is related to how close they are to flat-lining, also to how many other broken bones there are – besides those broken ribs, I mean.
Event 3 – Once the patient has flat-lined, bring them back by applying cardio-version paddles to their chest and restoring their heartbeat to a normal sinus rhythm. Extra credit for shouting “Clear!” before the resuscitation.
Event 4 – Insert a large-bore needle between the lumbar vertebrae of a patient with suspected meningitis. Withdraw cerebro-spinal fluid and inspect under a microscope. Extra credit if the pathogen turns out to be an obscure parasite like Cryptosporidium rather than garden-variety Meningococcus.
Event 5 – Set a broken bone by applying a plaster cast to a suitably affected limb. Extra credit for signing your name – along with “Get Well Soon!” – in purple Sharpie once the plaster has hardened. Points off for not consulting the X-ray and thereby casting the wrong limb.
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Think about it, IOC. I’m sure with a little pre-planning, this Modest Proposal for a New & Improved Modern Pentathlon should work out just fine for all concerned – including the TV networks. After all, it’ll provide a seamless lead-in to the season premier of Chicago Med. And when it comes to the Olympics (well, the MODERN Olympics at least), it’s all about the TV ratings. Amirite?
DISCLAIMER:
<No horses were punched in the production of this post.>
Some young street punk reading poolside on a recent trip up to Mt. Princeton Hot Springs.
What am I reading these days, I hear you ask? Fair question. The answer is “Fair Warning,” by Michael Connelly. It’s the latest installment of his Jack McEvoy ace reporter series. Not to be confused with his Harry Bosch ace detective series. Or his Lincoln Lawyer series featuring Mickey Haller, who is – as you might imagine based on the name – a lawyer who operates his practice out of the back seat of a chauffeur-driven Lincoln limousine.
Got all that? Good.
Connelly has been at it a long time. He’s almost the same age as me, only a lot richer. After a brief career as a newspaper reporter, he wised up and started writing crime fiction. Good move, Mike. After 36 novels which have sold over 80 million copies worldwide, he more recently branched out into movies and TV as an executive producer. Taken together, he’s now conservatively worth around $250 million. Not bad for a former ink-stained wretch, eh?
Since we’re so close in age, I decided to go back and read his first offering, The Black Echo, which won the prestigious Edgar Award for best debut mystery back in 1992. A lot has changed in the world over the past 3 decades, most notably communications technology and social mores. I mean, The Black Echo has reporters using payphones to call in stories to their editors, and detectives typing up crime scene reports on IBM Selectric typewriters, fercrinoutloud. Also, smoking in the office was commonplace in ’92 but is verboten today. See what I mean? Apologies to Aldous Huxley, but it really is a Brave New World.
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Third and Pacific in Santa Monica, where we once lived, not far from the setting for Fair Warning.
All of Connelly’s stories take place in L.A. which is where we used to live back in the day. And his style pays homage to the iconic L.A. noir novelist Raymond Chandler. Back in ’92, the backstory for The Black Echo was heroin smuggling from Vietnam in the days following the fall of Saigon. Today, with Fair Warning, it’s the unregulated sale of genetic information used by a serial killer to track potential victims. But regardless of whether the good guys are calling on cell phones or payphones, Connelly’s flair for describing the dark underbelly of urban street life remains constant. And whether the loot is a safe-deposit box full of diamonds, or genetic code from a DNA lab, his knack for relentlessly driving a plot forward is second to none.
Stay tuned for Connelly’s latest, The Dark Hours, due out in just 5 short days. It features his newest protagonist, female detective Renee Ballard. I know, I know, waiting is hard. But try to contain your excitement please. The Dark Hours will be here before you know it.
They say good news comes in threes. After previous post (see here if you missed it) and today’s post (see below for the newly minted MA in Translation Studies from Univ. of Birmingham), that just leaves one more bit of good news to make it an even three.
Here is a message from my daughter after a month spent helping resettle Afghan refugees at Ft. Pickett, VA. If you are on FB, you can reply to her directly at the FB link here. If not, comment below and I will gladly pass along.
Photo credit: RGW.
Flying home in the morning after a month supporting the massive collaborative effort of refugee resettlement of our Afghan guests. We’re starting to see more get matched and go off to new homes, and it will be many more weeks and months until they all are finally off the base. It has been a privilege working with so many dedicated people and spending every day talking with our Afghan guests and amazing linguists. They are doctors and linguists and mothers and embassy staff and everything in between. And there are so many lovely children. I urge you to welcome them in to your communities when they come, and support your local resettlement agency. It has been a long, hard road, and starting a life from scratch in a new language will be another one. #welcome #oaw #refugeeresettlement
*For my own part, I have just 3 little words:
*Couldn’t. Be. Prouder. *
Also this:
To those who say “You can’t save the whole world,” I reply, “Maybe so.” But I would sooner spend my life in company with those who make the effort, rather than passing by with head down on the other side of the road.
And this:
To those who say “We have our own problems here at home we need to solve first,” I reply, “If you really want to Make America Great Again, then this is how it’s done.” Not ‘America First.’ But rather, ‘Welcome to America – let’s all make it great together.’ And you can quote me on that, too.
Finally, this:
Today is Election Day.
So if you haven’t already, get out there and VOTE!
