Dis and Dat

The storms that rolled through our area Saturday Evening caused widespread damage leaving more then a million people without power.

Saturday evening we were entertaining, good wine, food and company was followed by this storm. This proved to be great entertainment for my best friend Joe, his wife Mel and daughter Laura, back east from San Hose. The lightning show was exquisite, bolt after bolt providing a stroboscopic effect, raindrops frozen in mid-air as claps of thunder echoed across the hilltop. Soon, we became part of the million people without power but flashlights, quickly located kept our evening rolling on.

After twenty some odd hours power was restored, only to have it knocked out again by a UPS driver backing into our driveway Monday afternoon. We have a backup generator that allows us to power some devices, but, as I tried to complete a job involving a computer (not on the generator circuit) it's uninterpretable power supply could not handle the generated power. Damn, UPS I hollered out loud..... Kevin..... managed to catch the irony that I had missed. UPS (United Parcel Service) and Uninterpretable Power Supply (UPS). Well, it made me laugh.

All right on other matters, my training is going well even if there is a “Price to Pay”. It seems that any run over fifteen miles will send my guts into some sort of satanic rite for a few hours afterwords. To be honest I am amazed that I can possibly carry so much undue and unnoticed weight for everything exiting is some sort of solid. Sorry guys, hate to talk “Bathroom” but it's a normal part of my life now.

We are not going to Michigan this year which is just tragic, I had hoped for three weeks but it simply won't work out. Kids have different needs, money is tight and JP simply is not available. The “Good News” is that instead of running early in the morning in fifty or sixty degree low humidity temps of Michigan, I'll get to train for my “come Back Catoctin 50K” in the wonderful hot and muggy conditions of Maryland in July. As “Bill Murray” once said, “Caddy Shack”, “I've Got That Going For Me and That's Nicccccce !

So, July the Fourth, instead of being at the “Log Saw” at Amasa MI, I'll be out on the trails running a relaxed twenty with friends.

The past week returned me to the times whom I was prior to cancer, it is amazing how the presence of a special friend can make you forget the present and transport you directly into the past. This was my week with Joey, I was no longer “Cancer Survivor” I was just Mike, we just played golf, drank some beers and enjoyed a couple family dinners . I only wished the “Golf Gods” had been kinder to my friend, but with a bum elbow they punished Joey, .... until and until ..... they decided they should entice him back with some stellar play on our final two holes.

Thanks Joe, I had a blast !

Mike