I can't wait for Lance to do this

Charlie Davies went back and hugged all the people who helped save his life and made it possible for him to return to the soccer field: 

Washington Post: Charlie Davies video

BBC 100 Books to read

I've bolded books read, italicized books not completed.

The BBC apparently believes most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here:

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy.
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth.
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt.
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Invitation to connect on LinkedIn

LinkedIn

I'd like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn.

- Patricia

Patricia Murphy Administrator at Yunker & Park plc Lexington, Kentucky Area

No seriously, let's network.

Analogy-shmenalogy.

Job hunt, take 139302841.

Work isn't the cage
it's the money we hold;
some people don't mind
'cuz their shackles are gold.

"They're bracelets, mere trinkets,
and we know what's ours,"
cry the imprisoned as
I stare through the bars.

Tho I don't walk freely,
I will always refrain
from gilding the burden
Of my ball and chain.

No Monkey Business

I'm not a PETA person, per se, but people putting apes in productions for profit plagues my principles. 


It's unpardonable that poor, precious primates are pulled from their parents, pandered as pets, prevented from a proper upbringing, and then placed in a prison when it becomes impractical to suppress their prodigious power. 


I pronounce The Great Ape Pledge to be a praiseworthy program, in which I will proudly participate. 


And so should you. 


http://www.nomonkeybusinesson.tv/

A bit of inspiration

You don't need to be an artist to take something away from this: Don't Look Down

A taste:

Acrostic Poem

Whenever I see you,
It's Always a treat to see you forming a
smile and Kicking your feet. Don't worry about
schedules, we have Enough time. Just know that
we're with you and keep Up the climb.
                                               -Patricia

If I was worth my weight in gold...

I would be worth $3,198,720.

Hey, big spender...

Alexadrine Poetry

"Alexandrine Poetry Type is a line of poetry that has 12 syllables and derives from a medieval romance about Alexander the Great that was written in 12-syllable lines. An alexandrine is used to describe a line of poetic meter." Most of the examples I could find were in French, but I'm still pretty sure it rhymed and only the last line was 12 syllables.

An Alexandrine look at Libya:


How hard for Gadhafi, he's all alone;
The allied forces just increased the no-fly zone.
The US issued targeted air strikes,
Libya will be fighting on camels or bikes.

I enjoy structure, not to contradict,
but alexandrine poetry is just too strict...

ABC poem

An ABC poem has a series of lines that create a mood, picture, or feeling. Lines are made up of words and phrases. The first word of line 1 begins with an A, the first word of line 2 begins with a B etc. 

Another poem for Lance:

Before we once again

Count the days since   

Dawn has seen you dancing,

Energetic and full of voice,

First we should rejoice, and

Grant that whatever our

Hopes may be for tomorrow,

In your mere existence is

Joy. 

Keen as we are for 

Laughter to spring from your

Mouth, we cannot force

Nature to render you whole.

Oh, to be sure we pray for

Patience, but even in your

Quiet we will wait, 

Relentless, 

Strong, and

Tired. 

Unable to fix you, your 

Vigorous family is a troop of

Warriors, who will fight for

X number of days, months or

Years until you laugh again.

Zestfully yours, Trish

Next project: poems for Lance

Dear Lance,

It's been a good minute since I've written. I kind of explained why when I saw you at UK hospital a couple weeks ago, but sometimes I feel like the worst side effect of my drug regimen isn't the nausea, lack of appetite or crankiness, but the blinders it puts on my creativity. While it's a blessing to be able to focus on simple tasks and have control over my impulsivity, it's much more difficult to think outside the box.  All the same knowledge is there, but it's like the difference between ballet and running.  I want to tell you how I feel about Libya and Yemen, but I'm having difficulty stringing my thoughts together with flow or voice. It's more than just mildly frustrating.

Happily, adding structure should help. My new goal is to try different types of poetry to see if that will aid me. These four websites have different examples of the various structures available to me. I think I'll attempt to write them alphabetically by type.

Wish me luck,

yours, etc.

For Lance's Birthday

Lance turns 25 years old on Thursday (3/10), which normally we would've celebrated by going to the Beer Trappe or a movie marathon (or an actual marathon, ew), but this year is a little different. Lance is back home in Vanceburg and doing great, but he could still use everyone's support. Here are a few things that you can do to let Lance know that you are still thinking about him:

1. Make a YouTube video. It doesn't have to be elaborate or high quality, but let Lance see and hear you. Tell him a joke, sign him a song, introduce him to your cat/dog/grandma/spouse. With our crazy cool computers, this takes five minute to shoot and another one or two to upload. Heck, go to an Apple store and use their stuff. Then once the video is on YouTube, send the link to livethelion@gmail.com (and me!).

"All I want for my birthday is this guy's hat."

2. Send Lance a birthday card by snail mail. He is reading a little, so include a message (written fairly large, like size 20 font) that he can read. His address is:

PO Box 609
Vanceburg, KY 41179

3. Send Lance a present. Photos of yourself (and especially with him) are good. Send a CD of music or podcasts. Maybe he could use some sweatbands for all that biking and PT he's going to be doing.

4. Send an email. His family reads him whatever you send, so go ahead and let him know that you're out there, thinking about him. Try to make him laugh or get a rise out of him. Challenge him to get better. Send an essay or short story to keep him amused. Send those to livethelion@gmail.com

5. Keep thinking about him, include him in your prayers (if you do that sort of thing), donate blood, sign up for a 5k you've been considering, and keep on keeping on.

T

P.S. The O'Culls are making shirts which will be grey with red letters. If you guys want to order through me you can, otherwise let Chelcee know (chelceeocull@gmail.com) and she can leave yours with me in Lexington or we'll figure out how to mail it to where you are. I guessing they will be $10 plus any shipping. I was thinking of wearing this at a few road races this spring/summer.

Epic dream with Lance.

Lance:

You were in a dream of mine the other night. There was kind of a complicated plot.

We were members of a team of eight or so aliens that were sent to Earth to help out. The longer we stay on Earth, the stronger we become and each of us slowly gain some sort of power, be it super-strength, x-ray vision, telekinesis, whatever.

However, after about a year, the word gets out to the people that we are aliens and they hunt us down. Why they are so mad I'm not sure, but someone basically started a smear campaign calling for our deaths. There is a showdown on November 1st. We don't want to hurt anyone, so we escape back to space because our leader (who I'm pretty sure was my Starbucks manager from Des Moines) is strong enough to create a wormhole that we literally climb up.

Pretty badass, right?

Except that by going though the wormhole, we not only lose what powers we gained, but can't remember the past year and the disastrous ending. So we return to Earth, again with the goal of improving what we find, fighting some crime, tweaking technology, etc. We once again gain power and strength, but each of us now has a different ability than before.

Again people track us down and there is another battle on November 1st. The cycle continues twice more and is only broken because my newly acquired gift is the ability to locate our kind anywhere on Earth and we get a new understanding of how the energy of our team can work collectively.

During this cycle, you have the power of flight.

Turns out, the original reason for coming to Earth was to hunt down a rogue member from our planet, but he had a big enough head start on us that he was able to build up his power and shield himself, all the while directing the humans to drive us away. By now he has amassed so much power that he has several abilities at his command and is ridiculously strong. However, I am able to find him because of my otherwise pretty useless power, and by harnessing the whole team's energy and abilities together we take him down.

And there was much rejoicing.

It was good to see you, if only in my dreams.

Love,

Trish

More Trash Talk for Lance

Also talkin' trash: Carleton Scott

Dearest of Lances, my stalwart friend,
I'm taking my chances pursuing this end:

Louisville is about to take on number seven Notre Dame
and the Cards can expect a discouraging game.
They won't get a win, just the Victory March ringing
for hours in their ears from the Irish home crowd singing.
Just look at our team – how are they gonna fight us?
We have Atkins, Nash and Tim Abromaitis. [ab-row-'Might-us]
And have you watched the sophomore Jack Cooley?
He plays like Gody [go-dee], and is just as unruly.
And don't get me started on Mr. Ben Hansbrough,
He'll outrun your team and sink every free throw.
To round out the Irish there is Carleton Scott,
Who you're sure to notice as he blocks your shot.
To top it off, no other team controls the clock
like the University of Notre Dame du lac.

Though it hurts me to see you take a beating,
It helps to know that the pain will be fleeting.
(With apologies to your family, I'm not often this brash,
It's just nice to have a reason to talk a little trash.)
Feel free to speak up, it's alright if you stumble,
but, as they say in wrestling, get ready to rumble!

If you want to watch it, it's on ESPN-U,
but as not everyone gets that, it's live online, too.
I'm really excited, we have such competitive teams;
I'm quietly entertaining Big East Champion dreams.
(Though as I say that, I'm knocking on wood,
Getting my hopes up won't do any good.)
What's that, Six-Lane? Enough of this sport?
Okay, but on Thursday expect a report.

As always, keep your chin up. You look bad with a pout.
From the chilly Bluegrass, this is Trish and I'm out.

Talkin' Trash to Lance

Lance,
Another day, another rejection letter.
You'd think I'd be sad, but I've never felt better.
I'm listening to "Beautiful Day" by those Irish U2
and I can't help thinking of all we've been through.
Right here in Lexington, I'm beginning to thrive,
and you, despite the odds, are coming alive.
(I'm humming a little, it's a catchy tune.)
I think it's good that you're coming home soon.

It's hard to describe what's going on in the world,
All seemed right in Tunisia, a new flag unfurled;
In Egypt, the process isn't nearly so neat.
Some think the revolution is just an Iranian repeat.
I'm not too worried about the potential power vacuum,
Even with the Brotherhood, democracy's in the room.
Sadly the Egyptian economy will be negatively affected,
But with foreign assistance, it hopefully won't be neglected.

South Sudan successfully voted to secede!
From Omar Al-Bashir they're finally freed!
It's not everyday we get a new nation;
July will mark the official state formation.
The vote was peaceful, favored by 98%,
Even Bashir himself had to consent.
The whole ordeal is incredibly sweet.
I've attached a picture of dancing in the street.


Last night was the Super Bowl, the Packers won.
As a Lions fan, it didn't matter in the long run.
I had a beer, then spilled the second in my lap,
which I've done in five different cities (I keep a map).
Also this weekend, I threw Torri a shindig.
Her birthday is Thursday. She had fun, go fig...

Oh goodness, oh no, now I feel all abash.
This whole time I should've been talking trash.
Our basketball teams play this week
and Notre Dame is lookin' sleek.
I hope it won't be a big issue
if your first words are to ask for tissue
because after this game you'll be crying
and your Big East hopes will be dying.

Sorry.
Love ya.
Murph

List for Lance.

You know what I miss, Lance? 

Other than just you in general, being a friend to call on?

Other than your smile and laugh? 

Other than knowing you'd be there to fall on?

I miss the way you start conversations, 

how you'd jump straight into situations. 

I miss the way you say, "Hey, you know what's crazy?"

And get me feeling fresh as a daisy. 

It's not like we spoke on the phone everyday, 

but when we talked, we'd have so much to say. 

And when I ranted, you were content to just listen, 

or when we shared music, how your eyes would just glisten. 

What we had, what we have, it's something like love,

To call you a friend is a fact I'm proud of. 

So, I'm making a list of things that we'll do

when you get back, if you're down for them too: 

Go on walks, climb tall trees,

Finally fly my kites on a breeze.

Eat Indian, Korean and chinese,

Listen to records and mp3s.

Help the Bessins steal honey from bees,

Breathe the salt wind off the seas.

Grab a couch and watch dvds,

Roll down hills and skin our knees.

Paint a picture, tie-dye some tees,

Throw a party with wine and cheese.

Drink a slushy just for the brain freeze,

Collaborate on some mix cds.

Learn a new language (like japanese),

Perfect our international expertise. 

High fives, low fives, hugs with a squeeze,

laugh, smile, debate, frolic and tease. 

That day, Lance, will be ours to seize,

So if you would, come back to me, please.

T

Corn for Gas

The following comic has a point, but like most economic and energy issues squeezed into a four-panal drawing, it tends to simplify the issue:

Gas prices are a getting higher, there is turmoil in the Middle East, food prices have increased and we do use corn for biofuel. You can't argue that the father is lying, but he is leaving out several other facts that would help his child have a better grasp of the situation. It might has well have read like this:

Child: "Why are gas prices so high?"
Father: "Oil companies cashing in on turmoil in the Middle East" or "High sugar tariffs" or "Hubbert's peak fears" or "I don't know what you're talking about, compared to Europe we're getting a deal."
Child: "What started the turmoil in the Middle East?"
Father: "Global unemployment and corruption" or "Lack of reliable infrastructure" or "People with satellite phones"
Child: "Why are food prices so high?"
Father: "Because we use our corn for every kind of food imaginable" or "Transportation issues of getting food to hungry people" or, hell why not? "Global warming"

I don't know why this one bothered me so much. Maybe it's because the kid has a funny haircut.

State of the Union recap for Lance

To Mr. Lance, who plays the saxaphone
I hope you greet this letter with a smile and a groan.

I realize I didn't tell you when writing yesterday
about what president Obama had to say.
I watched the State of the Union, though against convention
We found out a way to make sure we were paying attention.
Jeremy Fugleberg and I made it a drinking game

Jeremy's SOTU Supplies

(though to be honest his efforts put me to shame).
We each had to take one shot of booze or beer
for every mention of all the words listed here:
hope, change, progress, rhetoric, troops, Iran,
civility, Iraq, debt, China, Afghanistan,
renmimbi, special interests, reform, education,
deficit, austerity, stimulus, regulation,
unemployment, Wall Street, investment, budget freeze,
filibuster, Main Street, and long-term policies.

As you can probably tell, the next morning was pretty rough
because Obama felt he couldn't say the word "jobs" enough.
Torri watch with me laughing, pointing out times I missed
a shot due to another word (or three) said from the list.
When he finally finished speaking about our failing schools
I said, "enough's enough! This game is over, fools!"
So, that in a nutshell, is how the State of the Union went.
I hope you weren't waiting for a summary of content.

I had a busy day, full of boring legal stuff,
Nothing like your PT, which has got to be tough.
I'll say it again and I hope that you heed me,
I will be here for as long as you need me.

-Trish

I hate Red Bull/A letter to Lance

Dear Lance,

I hate Red Bull.

I have severe ADHD, with impulsivity perhaps the most visible factor. I would speak out of turn all the time in class, occasionally with something relevant or even funny, but usually just because I couldn't help myself. That wouldn't be so bad, except the less visible conditions, when I am distracted opposed to distracting, hinder my ability to get anything done. I can sit at a table with a pen and paper and research material for hours without being able to convince myself to write a single word. It isn't that I don't enjoy writing, I do. I'm even pretty good at it at times. But I hit a wall and need to trick myself into doing something that I have to do. This all improved once I started behavioral therapy and eventually was on the right medication. However, taking pills so that I could function like other people was a challenge, it felt like cheating. Plus, I didn't understand that other people didn't have to fight to keep their mouth shut during class. (I still don't get that. I have a hard time believing that everyone can think before they speak *that* much better than I do. I just assume they are vastly more disciplined — or not as witty.)

Why am I telling you this? Because I hate Red Bull.

When I have decent health insurance, I take medication to help me battle through work and other important tasks. Sometimes I wouldn't take it because it can make me cranky later in the day and I wouldn't have much of an appetite, but I was good about it most of the time. However, right now I'm on a bare-bones insurance plan after not being on any at all. (You are to thank for this, by the way. After your accident, my mother told me to get on some kind of insurance, or else.) So right now instead of medication, I drink Red Bull, which I've found to be the only energy drink that really works to get me focused. It's a poor substitute, but better than nothing.

Except I hate it. It's gross. The only way I can drink it is to mix it with other drinks. Vodka is probably my favorite, but would be frowned upon at work. Instead I've tried Gatorade, Coke, ginger ale of all types, and today I think I've found my match: fruit smoothies like Odwalla or Naked. They are so thick that you don't need much of it to greatly improve the flavor of the Red Bull. Then you also have a breakfast-like drink with a billion vitamins.

But Trish, you say, surely the cost of that much Red Bull and fruit smoothies costs at least as much as your prescription would. Well Lance, let's do some math. You may be right.

Red Bull costs $20 for 12 cans. Fruit smoothies cost about $2/each. Let's assume that I only use my Red Bull/fruit combo on workdays. There are 21-ish workdays a month. That's roughly $80 a month. Woah. However, the medication I've found to be most helpful is approximately $120/month, plus because it is a Schedule 2 drug, it needs to be prescribed every single month, which adds the cost of a doctor visit (≈$75).  Even if I changed to a (less-effective than my drug, but better than Red Bull) generic, the doctor visit is costly and annoying. It would be easier if he was available at the grocery store. I mean, I need to go to the store anyway, and groceries never require an appointment.

Sadly, the incalculable value is effectiveness. I know that even with the Red Bull, I am not nearly as effective. You're right, Lance. I'm glad we had this talk. There are just some corners I shouldn't cut anymore.

Plus, I really hate Red Bull.

Love,
Trish

Would this be better as a Wordle?

Good morning Lance, it's a foggy day!
It's brisky and  misty, and I think that's okay.
But weather that really makes me go "woo!"
is when it finally will reach seventy-two.

While most folks resolved to do more dieting,
the Middle East seems intent on rioting.
Egypt has followed Tunisia's fashion
of taking to the streets with a peaceful passion.
The protesters hope that their fervorred disruption
will lead to more modest levels of corruption.

Tonight is the State of the Union speech
and President Obama will do his best to beseech
Congress (like they're seated) to begin working together,
though they might not all be birds of a feather.
I'm interested to hear what he has to report,
especially if his speech writers can keep it short.
I get really annoyed by all the applause;
really, must they clap after every pause?

Ah, the sun is shining, the fog is all burned away.
I hope it's shining on you, and you have a good day.
Perhaps tomorrow there will be more to write of,
until then I, Patricia, sign this letter with love.

Not the most cheerful letter...

My dear Lance, my handsome friend,
All news is good of you on the  mend.
I spoke this morning to Sean overseas,
right before he retired to catch some z's.

My running's been dragging, I have a flat arch.
Maybe you'll have pointers when I visit in March
or maybe next month, we're working it out.
But visit you I shall, of this have no doubt.

What else? What else? There isn't much news.
We have a cat who pees in our shoes.

I had a great weekend, the best in a while.
It snowed enough to go sledding, which made me smile.
We used the hill at Shriners, it can't be beat,
but now I admit, I'm pretty sore in my seat.
Remember when we were little, and didn't weigh a thing?
Sledding was so easy, just push off and "zing!"

As for news of the world, I've fallen behind
but one or two things come to mind:
In England Tony Blair's head is on the block
about their involvement with us in Iraq.
The Packers and Steelers are going to the Super Bowl,
I'm cheering the cheese-heads because Roethlisberger's a troll.

Obama received a visit from China's President Hu.
We chided him on human rights, to which he said, "pooh pooh."
Well not exactly, but because they hold our debt,
anything that we can say is an empty threat.
There was a terrorist attack this morning in Moscow
but they don't know who it was, nor why, nor how.
The body count so far has thirty people dead
and one hundred thirty injured, the New York Times said.
This is just so frustrating, can the War on Terror be won
if we lack the basic idea of where to aim the gun?

Ah, please excuse me while I get off my soap box.
Did you know that I'm wearing strawberries on my socks?
When I worked at Starbucks I would often rebel
with colorful socks (hardcore, can't you tell?).
An abrupt subject change, but world news is sad,
and made none better with all the education we've had.

Now I must go, it's my lunch time
and my disjointed thoughts are harder to rhyme.
I miss you, kid, like fauna misses flora,
your trusty friend,
Patricia Maura

Rhymed thoughts.

Another note to Lance:

Gaah! I don't know exactly how I did it,
but the page just refreshed, and my previous work bit it.

It was good, really eloquent, almost the next Shakespeare,
It's hard to just watch such Art disappear.
But now that it's gone, I'll do my damnedest
to restructure the letter, though you won't be as impressed.

Dear Lance, who I hear frequently sits in a chair,
here's to hoping that you've regrown most of your hair.

You're surrounded by Cats fans, but tell at least
are they letting you watch our boys from the Big East?
The conference could send as many as eleven
teams to the tourney, the next highest is seven....
ok I mean six, but did you see what I did there?
Poetic license, I think it adds flair.
But back to the point, the B-east can't be stopped
unless someone's late run cause Marquette to get dropped.
Or maybe St. John's, West Virginia or Cincinnati,
but if our two teams don't make it, the whole world's gone batty.

So yesterday I meant to send to my favorite Shepherd resident
was the terrific speech made on Wednesday by our President.
I'd just send the text so you can be read every clause
without needing to wait through all the applause.
Obama did great, I mean he really nailed it.
If it had been Everest, then by Jove, he scaled it.
His message was firm, yet gentle and wise,
his writers know how to bring tears to the eyes.

Meanwhile, we now have two continents flooding
while in Tunisia, democracy is budding?

Anyway, I swear, the first draft was better,
but for now, please accept this letter.
Have a good night, remember I miss ya,
I'll talk to you soon,
your silly friend Tricia.

A letter to Lance

Our friend Lance has moved into a great facility in Atlanta, GA called the Shepherd Center. I write him emails through the center's website that his family is kind enough to read to him. It's a bit odd, to write letters knowing there won't be a response for a long time, so this week I've decided to rhyme:


I'm pretty sure this is just one of my powers
I mean, let's be honest,  I could rhyme for hours.
If I don't impress you with all of my cunning,
You ought to know that I've begun running.
Sure my mile splits just ain't what they once were,
But every step counts, as I'm sure you will concur.

I swear it could mist and this whole city flinches.
They called a snow day for less than two inches.
Admittedly, the roads are still pretty bad,
But compared to Iowa, this is just pathetic.
 (made you look?)

Some time in the past week I tweaked my right shoulder,
it's now to the point I can't lift a file folder.
I switched the mouse to the left hand and will use my RICE:
Rest, Elevation, Compression and Ice.
(If I lift my arm, the joint goes "pop-pop,"
it's amusing, but painful, so I ought to stop)

Lebanon is in crisis, the government folded
But don't worry: Clinton made sure they were properly scolded.
Tunisia's in a panic, the whole country's rioting,
though with a police-enforced curfew, perhaps it is quieting.

Here's something lighter, to make you feel cheered,
in Belgium they are protesting by not shaving their beard!
As the current government should have been temporary,
all the men have been encouraged to grow themselves hairy!

There is more bad news, just as you were feeling better:
Australia is flooding, and keeps getting wetter.
When you ask about geography, and beg for no tricks,
It's possible our continents will only number to six.
(Not really, my friend, just a bit of mirth.
But seriously, dude, don't plan on traveling Perth.)

My work day is done, it's time for some raw fish,
I am, as ever, your loyal friend Trish.


(As it would happen, almost nothing rhymes well with "sushi.")