In NYC

It's been a long time since I spent any time at all on the upper east side. I'm currently ensconced in the posh Bristol Plaza, a stone's throw from Cancer Central--Memorial Sloan Kettering, the Breast Center, and all the many surrounding health facilities. Behind a high wall across the street from MSK is Rockefeller University.

I stupidly brought my little car, because back in the day you could always find on-street parking with a tiny little car. Not anymore. The avenues are all timed meters, and the side streets have impossible schedules for anyone hoping to park longterm. So I'm in a garage, but I did manage to find one $7 cheaper per day than the Bristol's exorbitant prices.

Our apartment has a kitchenette, and I stocked up on Food Emporium salads and bread, so I can run home, do a little work, and have lunch. Days so far have been: Wake at 5, work till 8, walk 10 minutes to the hospital, hang out, go back for lunch, come back in the afternoon, eat dinner in the cafeteria (award-winning, but still a cafeteria), home after 8, watch CNN. A setback (arterial hematoma) means that L won't leave the hospital before tomorrow at the earliest. The apartment is the quietest place I've ever stayed in NYC. (It's a Milstein building, which explains how the CU prez has an in here.)

A word to the wise (or those with an in): If you have cancer, go directly to MSK. They don't mess around. The entire staff, from orderlies and cafeteria workers through surgeons, is unbelievably great.

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Dryden Wins Awards

Dryden's Seussical, the Musical scored big at last night's CRT Awards at Cortland Repertory Theatre. Judges from the theater attend plays in every school district that inches into Cortland County, I think 16 in all. (Interestingly, some districts still manage to put on three or four performances a year.) Dryden won best supporting actor, best supporting actress, best ensemble, and best musical. And their performance of a medley from the show brought down the house. Here are Heather, Olivia, and Allie mugging before the show.

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Photos from Dairy Day 2011

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Required Reading

Yes, this about sums it up.

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Eewww, or A Voter Scorned

Okay, what's worse: Congressman Weiner flashing his at young technogirls or ex-Senator Bayh opting to shill for the Chamber of Commerce?

Oh, never mind. I hate them both.

Heaven has no rage, like love to hatred turned...

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R.I.P.

In honor of the friends we lost in the first 15 years of this 30-year-plague, when a diagnosis was still a death sentence....

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Geothermal, Ho

Well, we've handed over the down payment, signed all the paperwork, and we're on our way to heating and cooling our house via the earth. Our splendid back yard will, in a week or two, be a pile of rubble, as the Gleason folks put in the thousands of feet of piping required to run the system. It will pay for itself in under a dozen years, as opposed to the two dozen it would have taken had we done this five years ago. After that, heat and cooling will be essentially free, except for the electricity to run the pump.

Will we stay here the dozen years it takes to see a savings? Who knows.

Paul will be documenting the work with a series of photographs that I will post as they happen.

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