Went and saw these guys last week all by my lonesome.
What. A. Blast.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Thursday, February 28, 2008
An eye for an eye and, um...
WTF...?
Blind Irishman Sees With The Aid Of Son's Tooth In His Eye
Thu Feb 28, 1:30 AM ET
An Irishman blinded by an explosion two years ago has had his sight restored after doctors inserted his son's tooth in his eye, he said on Wednesday.
Bob McNichol, 57, from County Mayo in the west of the country, lost his sight in a freak accident when red-hot liquid aluminium exploded at a re-cycling business in November 2005.
"I thought that I was going to be blind for the rest of my life," McNichol told RTE state radio.
After doctors in Ireland said there was nothing more they could do, McNichol heard about a miracle operation called Osteo-Odonto-Keratoprosthesis (OOKP) being performed by Dr Christopher Liu at the Sussex Eye Hospital in Brighton in England.
The technique, pioneered in Italy in the 1960s, involves creating a support for an artificial cornea from the patient's own tooth and the surrounding bone.
The procedure used on McNichol involved his son Robert, 23, donating a tooth, its root and part of the jaw.
McNichol's right eye socket was rebuilt, part of the tooth inserted and a lens inserted in a hole drilled in the tooth.
The first operation lasted ten hours and the second five hours.
"It is pretty heavy going," McNichol said. "There was a 65 percent chance of me getting any sight.
"Now I have enough sight for me to get around and I can watch television. I have come out from complete darkness to be able to do simple things," McNichol said.
Blind Irishman Sees With The Aid Of Son's Tooth In His Eye
Thu Feb 28, 1:30 AM ET
An Irishman blinded by an explosion two years ago has had his sight restored after doctors inserted his son's tooth in his eye, he said on Wednesday.
Bob McNichol, 57, from County Mayo in the west of the country, lost his sight in a freak accident when red-hot liquid aluminium exploded at a re-cycling business in November 2005.
"I thought that I was going to be blind for the rest of my life," McNichol told RTE state radio.
After doctors in Ireland said there was nothing more they could do, McNichol heard about a miracle operation called Osteo-Odonto-Keratoprosthesis (OOKP) being performed by Dr Christopher Liu at the Sussex Eye Hospital in Brighton in England.
The technique, pioneered in Italy in the 1960s, involves creating a support for an artificial cornea from the patient's own tooth and the surrounding bone.
The procedure used on McNichol involved his son Robert, 23, donating a tooth, its root and part of the jaw.
McNichol's right eye socket was rebuilt, part of the tooth inserted and a lens inserted in a hole drilled in the tooth.
The first operation lasted ten hours and the second five hours.
"It is pretty heavy going," McNichol said. "There was a 65 percent chance of me getting any sight.
"Now I have enough sight for me to get around and I can watch television. I have come out from complete darkness to be able to do simple things," McNichol said.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Boxing Cat
So, I'm not ashamed to admit that I am a sucker for animal videos. This one in particular made me laugh.
My dad was a former Golden Glove-er who later turned pro. Very early in his career, a hand injury took him out of the ring forever. But he remained a boxing enthusiast through the end of his life. As such, if there was a boxing match to be found on television, dad was watching it. Actually, "watching" is too passive a term. His involvement with these matches was a decidedly more active affair. He would sit upright on the front of the recliner cushion and yell at the T.V. while involuntarily bobbing, weaving and throwing his own shadow-jabs. I would often have to explain what was happening when I had friends over and they'd hear the old man in the next room screaming "GET IN ON 'IM! USE YOUR LEFT, YOU SONOFABITCH!"
This cat made me think of him...
My dad was a former Golden Glove-er who later turned pro. Very early in his career, a hand injury took him out of the ring forever. But he remained a boxing enthusiast through the end of his life. As such, if there was a boxing match to be found on television, dad was watching it. Actually, "watching" is too passive a term. His involvement with these matches was a decidedly more active affair. He would sit upright on the front of the recliner cushion and yell at the T.V. while involuntarily bobbing, weaving and throwing his own shadow-jabs. I would often have to explain what was happening when I had friends over and they'd hear the old man in the next room screaming "GET IN ON 'IM! USE YOUR LEFT, YOU SONOFABITCH!"
This cat made me think of him...
Monday, February 18, 2008
Big doin's over at My Chrysalis Year
Find out why I'm going to be eating frozen waffles for the next two weeks.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
A Little Valentine's Mush For You
A poem I wrote for The Missus last year, on the occasion of our tenth Valentine's Day...
Ten Valentine’s
I remember buying the flowers but
Beyond that I didn’t have much of a plan
I remember heading up to 70th and Amsterdam
(or maybe it was Columbus)
And having something in mind about
Officially acknowledging the beginning of us
but
I was running purely on impulse and was therefore in
Uncharted waters
For starters, I was falling in love.
I was falling
in
love.
I was falling in fucking love
and that was about as far from the master plan
as a man who didn’t have a master plan can get.
I mean, we weren’t even saying “boyfriend/girlfriend” yet
And here I was on the 1 and 9
with a big bouquet and a card I hadn’t even signed
Grinning like a dope and completely clueless as to what the hell I thought I was doing.
But knowing nonetheless that I simply wanted to be with this girl on this night.
That despite how much I’d pooh-pooh’d the holiday,
And tried to minimize her expectations,
some smarter part of me took over and shoved me out of my own way long enough
to actually enjoy whatever it was that was starting to happen.
I was falling
in love.
And as far as my heart was concerned
it was absolutely right.
It was just the rest of me that was putting up a fight
though,
in that moment,
standing across the street from the wig shop where she worked,
losing
definitively and for good.
That was ten Valentine’s ago.
Ten.
And though we’ve grown exponentially since then,
something was revealed to us that evening.
Sitting at that bar on the Upper East Side,
Her, with her vodka tonics and me with
whatever I was drinking at the time,
Thoroughly engaged in conversation, but silently digesting
a bigger revelation about
-where- - we might- - be headed.
Having visions maybe, even then,
Of London.
Of Paris.
Of Florence.
Of Ghana.
Of Sardinia.
Saugerties.
Sandwich.
Eastham.
P-Town.
Orleans.
A silver station wagon and a
tiny house in Queens
filled with overweight cats and a
three-legged dog that leans
a little when she walks.
Of car trouble, ruined dinners, crazy landladies, incorrect delivery orders, cat litter, cat food, cat hair, hair in the sink, hair in the shower drain, haircuts – both bad ones and good ones, the 6 train, the N train, “That’s a Wrap”, “Bistro 33”, birthdays, break-ins, new curtains, new couches, new floors, the old bed, the new old bed, a new new bed, Omaha, Denver, Cadillac Mountain, the Stella Maris, the Chances, the Hans Cottage Botel, Elkmont, Mather, Skaket, Marconi, First Encounter, Ten Bay, Three Maples, Bright Angel, Phantom Ranch, Hermit’s Rest, Cade’s Cove, Andrew’s Bald, Windsor House, my mom’s house, Galena, Dylan, Tabor, Rondout, Conch’d Out, LaGuardia, JFK, Le Marais, the TGV, pain au chocolat and café au lait, Virgin Atlantic, Jet Blue, Amtrak, Greyhound...
Ten Valentine’s
I remember buying the flowers but
Beyond that I didn’t have much of a plan
I remember heading up to 70th and Amsterdam
(or maybe it was Columbus)
And having something in mind about
Officially acknowledging the beginning of us
but
I was running purely on impulse and was therefore in
Uncharted waters
For starters, I was falling in love.
I was falling
in
love.
I was falling in fucking love
and that was about as far from the master plan
as a man who didn’t have a master plan can get.
I mean, we weren’t even saying “boyfriend/girlfriend” yet
And here I was on the 1 and 9
with a big bouquet and a card I hadn’t even signed
Grinning like a dope and completely clueless as to what the hell I thought I was doing.
But knowing nonetheless that I simply wanted to be with this girl on this night.
That despite how much I’d pooh-pooh’d the holiday,
And tried to minimize her expectations,
some smarter part of me took over and shoved me out of my own way long enough
to actually enjoy whatever it was that was starting to happen.
I was falling
in love.
And as far as my heart was concerned
it was absolutely right.
It was just the rest of me that was putting up a fight
though,
in that moment,
standing across the street from the wig shop where she worked,
losing
definitively and for good.
That was ten Valentine’s ago.
Ten.
And though we’ve grown exponentially since then,
something was revealed to us that evening.
Sitting at that bar on the Upper East Side,
Her, with her vodka tonics and me with
whatever I was drinking at the time,
Thoroughly engaged in conversation, but silently digesting
a bigger revelation about
-where- - we might- - be headed.
Having visions maybe, even then,
Of London.
Of Paris.
Of Florence.
Of Ghana.
Of Sardinia.
Saugerties.
Sandwich.
Eastham.
P-Town.
Orleans.
A silver station wagon and a
tiny house in Queens
filled with overweight cats and a
three-legged dog that leans
a little when she walks.
Of car trouble, ruined dinners, crazy landladies, incorrect delivery orders, cat litter, cat food, cat hair, hair in the sink, hair in the shower drain, haircuts – both bad ones and good ones, the 6 train, the N train, “That’s a Wrap”, “Bistro 33”, birthdays, break-ins, new curtains, new couches, new floors, the old bed, the new old bed, a new new bed, Omaha, Denver, Cadillac Mountain, the Stella Maris, the Chances, the Hans Cottage Botel, Elkmont, Mather, Skaket, Marconi, First Encounter, Ten Bay, Three Maples, Bright Angel, Phantom Ranch, Hermit’s Rest, Cade’s Cove, Andrew’s Bald, Windsor House, my mom’s house, Galena, Dylan, Tabor, Rondout, Conch’d Out, LaGuardia, JFK, Le Marais, the TGV, pain au chocolat and café au lait, Virgin Atlantic, Jet Blue, Amtrak, Greyhound...
Of travel.
Of family.
Of God.
Of home.
Of a Sunday evening wedding
And everything that might come after.
Of dealing with getting gray
with humility and laughter.
And tonight
Sitting at this bar in the West Village,
You, with your Sauvignon Blanc and me with my Carmenere,
Thoroughly engaged in conversation
but silently digesting a bigger revelation about
where
we might
be headed.
Ten Valentine’s from now.
-IMBA
Valentine’s Day, 2007
Of family.
Of God.
Of home.
Of a Sunday evening wedding
And everything that might come after.
Of dealing with getting gray
with humility and laughter.
And tonight
Sitting at this bar in the West Village,
You, with your Sauvignon Blanc and me with my Carmenere,
Thoroughly engaged in conversation
but silently digesting a bigger revelation about
where
we might
be headed.
Ten Valentine’s from now.
-IMBA
Valentine’s Day, 2007
.
Happy 11th Valentine's Day together, baby.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Thursday, February 07, 2008
Happy Birthday, Dad
My father would have been 88 years old today.
Crazy.
Hard to believe he's been gone 13 years.
Crazy.
Crazy.
Hard to believe he's been gone 13 years.
Crazy.
Monday, February 04, 2008
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