My heart attack education continued the day after the I checked into the hospital. I was to learn all about the joy of the stress test. Given my condition, however, they weren’t going to make me run on a treadmill. Instead I was to undergo a chemically induced stress test with a nuclear component for imaging. This is about as much fun as it sounds. | Read the rest of this entry …

I’ve made it to the emergency room. It took me five days, a few hundred miles of motorcycle riding and some encouragement from family members to get me here, but I’m in the hospital now. I check in with the emergency room nurse and tell her I’m having chest pains. She takes my information and has me sit down. Sitting is good at this point because the pain and burning in my chest, a result of my walk to my car from my apartment and later from my car to the emergency room, is not fading. This kind of pain had been coming on after walks to stairs all weekend, but it would fade if I sat down. Now the pain just sits in my chest and doesn’t let go. Still, sitting feels better than walking. | Read the rest of this entry …

Having a heart attack was nothing like what I expected. Yes, I had thought about it prior to actually experiencing it and, much as one would assume, it was nothing like in the movies. I was lucky (a theme you’ll note I’ll repeat many times through these posts) in that my heart attack wasn’t a “lights out” attack. I was also stupid (another theme you’ll see again) in that I didn’t recognize the symptoms. I was even dumber when I suspected what the symptoms were pointing to and I continued to ignore them, and luckier that my lights didn’t go out before I got to the hospital. So what was having a heart attack like? That’s what I’m going to be writing about in this post - part two of the “Heart Attack Chronicles”. | Read the rest of this entry …

It’s been another long break for me from the blog that few ever read. I’ve had plenty to write about, but the transition from my brain to the page has been problematic. The simple fact of the matter is that I don’t feel that I have all that much original to say. All the posts I’ve had tend to follow some kind of party line, even if the party in question is never really clear (especially to me). Still, there’s enough other people writing exactly the same sentiments out there that I don’t really feel that the addition of my two cents is all that worthwhile. So while there have been the regular frustrations, the occasional inspired experience and the constant annoyances with the politicians, I just haven’t felt the need to report on them here in my blog. However, I don’t want to stop posting, so I spent a few moments thinking about subjects where I could write something interesting and/or useful. It became obvious that my experience with a heart attack at a young age was something that fit the bill. Therefore, consider this post the first in a series of installments that I have taken to calling “The Heart Attack Chronicles”. | Read the rest of this entry …

I’m one of those people who is comfortable in small circles and, as such, I have a small group of friends whom I’ve known for many years. It once was a point of pride for me to know that the people I’ve known since Junior High School are still amongst my closest friends. However as we’ve gotten older and our lives have become ever more unlike one another’s, I find that the connections we’ve maintained for so long are growing thin and strained. It’s not an active tension, rather it’s more a gradual dissolution. We’ve all grown apart. | Read the rest of this entry …

I know my rants about the ever growing web of surveillance cameras and the “Big Brother” phenomenon tend to fall on deaf ears. I also know that most people out there could give a rat’s ass about a law that seems good on the surface but, in reality, strips yet another right or choice away from the public. But it’s hard not to think that people would be up in arms at the latest government invasion going on in Arizona. Not only is this invasion attempting to bring the citizens of the U.S. one step closer to the CCTV-laden world of Great Britain, but it’s also a blatant example of state government finding a way to fleece their populace and visitors to their state because they can’t reign in their own budgetary excesses. That’s right, Arizona Governor, Janet Napolitano, wants to deploy photo radar and “other speed enforcement technology” on their state highways in order to capture people driving over the speed limit and send them tickets in the mail. | Read the rest of this entry …

It becomes ever clearer to me that I just don’t understand. Somehow people have this insane notion that they’re entitled. Period. Entitled. To cars, to food, to a job, to a house, to everything that anyone else has. People seem to believe that these things are guaranteed to them, as opposed to things that have to be earned and paid for. For example, an eviction was postponed in Dorchester today. Why? Because people got together and protested the eviction with signs that read “housing is a human right“. That’s lovely and it would be heartwarming and meaningful if the woman was being chased off her property for some poorly implement Eminent Domain case, or because she refused kickbacks to the Mayor’s office. Problem is, the woman was being evicted because she defaulted on her loan and was no longer meeting her obligations or paying her bills. Since they weren’t being paid, the bank, which was unfortunate enough to pick up her mortgage, foreclosed on her home. She no longer owns that home, because she didn’t meet her responsibilities. She wouldn’t even pack because “God” was on her side. As far as I’m concerned, she’s squatting on the property and should be evicted. | Read the rest of this entry …

Congratulations to the Patriots on another AFC Championship win over the San Diego Chargers. It was a tough game and the Pats didn’t play very well, but the defense stood strong and prevented the Chargers from scoring any touchdowns. What bothers me, and what inspired the title of this post, is the reaction of the Patriots’ fans when owner Kraft and players like Seau congratulated the Chargers on their hard work and great playing: they booed. That’s friggin’ lame. | Read the rest of this entry …

Going to see a performance of the Boston Symphony Orchestra has been something I’ve wanted to do for a long time, and while I regret that I didn’t have a chance to see Seiji Ozawa conduct, I did get a chance to see Sir Colin Davis guest conduct an excellent performance of Mozart’s Symphony No. 36, Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23 in A and Schubert’s Symphony No. 2. Even better, I was able to see Mitsuko Uchida perform Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23 in A. Not a bad way to get to know the BSO. Besides, I’d be crazy not to take in a performance at the legendary Symphony Hall, considering I’ve spent most of my life in and around the Boston area. It’s an amazing building with an incredible history, though I do have to say that the seats, original to the building, are rough on the ass after a couple of hours. | Read the rest of this entry …

It’s coming up on the end of Yule and I’ve spent most of it with parts of my family, which is one of the best ways to spend it, only exceeded by having the entirety of the family and my friends all in the same place. So when Yule’s over, that means only one thing: the New Year is here. 2008. And it’s now official: I’m old. Not only have I had a heart attack (that makes ya feel like an old man, let me tell ya) and my own personal odometer will click over once more a few days into January (which is lucky for me, considering the aforementioned heart attack), but I found myself standing in a toy store buying Legos for my nephew and saying to myself, “Man, they don’t make Legos like they used to.” That’s old. Seriously…they don’t. They’re so specifically cut for the model on the box cover that reusing them for any other kind of model is near impossible. And they don’t carry tubs of generic Lego pieces…that’s where you could just pull a pile of Legos and build something that vaguely resembled the object in your mind. It’s crazy, I tells ya! Oh well, if feeling old is the worst thing that happens to me in 2008 I’ll consider myself quite lucky. Anyway, just a quick note from my holiday gatherings to wish everyone a happy New Year.