Conan Compares Fox's Take On Obama's Pitch

Rush Limbaugh Is Trying To Steal My Friend!

The other night I ate a ton of ice cream right before bed. That same night I had an awful dream.

In my dream, I called up one of my best friends to hang out for the day. Just after getting off the phone, conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh called me up and invited himself to join us. I was bummed out but figured, if anything, he'd be fun to goof on.

When my friend arrived, I warned him that Rush would be joining us and apologized profusely. My friend shrugged and told me not to worry about it. He said that either way we'd have a good time.

As soon as Rush showed up, he started cracking jokes and my friend couldn't get enough of it. I just rolled my eyes and acted like I didn't care that Rush was getting all my friend's attention, but I did.

There was no definite ending to the dream (nightmare). I only remember feeling like my friend was going to be spending a lot more time with Rush Limbaugh in the future and a lot less time with me.

Science Fact Catches Up With Science Fiction

This evening, I read a story about Russia's 105 day isolation experiment conducted on six men in order to train for a trip to Mars. The story reminded me of the surprise ending to The Twilight Zone's fantastic, premiere episode, Where Is Everybody.

The Russian simulation article can be found here.

The Twilight Zone episode can be viewed in its entirety below:

Eating Up The Scum Is The Hardest Thing For Me To Do

(The title of this post is a lyric from The Jesus and Mary Chain song Just Like Honey from the album Psychocandy. The photo was found here. Neither the title of this post, nor the image have anything to do with the text below.)

I've been on vacation since last Thursday. In addition to mowing the lawn and obliterating a nasty, Trojan virus on my wife's laptop, here's a list of things I've been up to:

• Hiked to the summit of Mt. Washington.
• Visited my grandfather in Connecticut.
• Saw Bruno.
• Visited with family at my cousin's wedding shower.
• Finished reading J. Craig Venter's autobiography.
• Cleaned and vacuumed my car.
• Flew a kite with my friend and our daughters.
• Had some friends and relatives over for dinner.

Tomorrow, I'm taking my daughter to a dental cleaning and having lunch and driving golf balls with my father. I'm not looking forward to going back to work on Thursday, but I feel I've made the most of my time off.

In other news, WBCN "The Rock of Boston" is being reformatted to a digital-only, adult contemporary mix HD station as of next month. I can't say I feel overly nostalgic for losing 'BCN (in high school I was an 'FNX fan). However, I do have 'BCN to thank for introducing me to The Howard Stern Show, which it aired weekday evenings on tape delay in the early 90s.

The Onion Pokes Fun At Brüno

My Wife, My Life

Look at those eyes. I get to look at those eyes every day in person. That's my wife. Isn't she gorgeous?

Okay, enough with the self-congratulatory praise for somehow convincing this angel to marry my sorry, ugly butt. I am, however, admittedly grateful every waking moment for the fact that this chick puts up with my crap on a daily basis.

My wife has been suffering with MCTD for almost two years now. Recently, however, she was diagnosed as being in remission. This means that her immune system, which had been attacking itself and causing her extreme pain and increased susceptibility to more serious illnesses, has ceased doing so. I posted about my family's experiences dealing with my wife's daily pain on this blog, and those posts can be found here.

My wife insists that prior to her initial diagnosis, our marriage was on a downward trajectory wherein we were arguing more and more frequently and growing apart. In retrospect, I'd have a hard time disagreeing with this assessment of our relationship at the time.

It's easy to cast self-blame and self-guilt when you get serious, negative medical news concerning someone you're very close to. While I didn't let my wife or daughter see it, my mind would occasionally get stuck in some very dark places where hope had all but disappeared. Turning this type of negative into a positive wasn't easy.

In the months that followed her original diagnosis in August of 2007, I quickly came to realize just how important my wife is to myself and our family, and just how much I loved and needed her. Having to pick up where she left off was difficult for me.

I was used to being responsible for: working two jobs, paying the bills, mowing the lawn etc.. But now, in addition too all that, I had to be responsible for: grocery shopping, doing the laundry and attending to my daughter's daily preparation and travel demands.

When my wife wasn't at home nursing her joint pain or having a negative reaction to her latest, prescribed, anti-inflammatory drug, she was at a doctor's appointment. At one point, she had between two and three a week!

We were forced to communicate constantly. I had tons of questions regarding what to do and when to do it. She needed my help getting around the house and in and out of cars often times using a cane.

If I could get her to forget about her pain by making her laugh for a bit I would. She, in turn, would always communicate her gratefulness for my help and to her credit, would try everything her doctor's recommended regardless of how unpleasant said recommendation was.

If there's anything I've learned through this experience, it's that the most important aspect of any relationship is being there for the other person when it counts. I don't doubt for a second that my wife would have done as much for me as I did for her. I know this is true, because she has.

While my wife is still not one hundred percent better, she's ditched the cane, and is able to get around much, much better today than she had a year ago. She still has to give herself a weekly shot of a chemotherapy drug called, Methotrexate for another year. There's no guarantee that the disease will never again flare up, but at least we've learned which drugs are most successful for her treatment.

I love my wife. When she feels good, I feel good. I love our life together and I do my best to value and make the most out of every healthy day. If I find myself getting upset about a dirty rug or a small mess in the living room, I take a step back and imagine how much my anger matters in the greater sense of my family's happiness. I will be there for my family until the end. Not because I have to be. Because I want to be.

6,288 ft (1,917 m) In Four Hours

A friend and I hiked Mount Washington in New Hampshire today. We left home at five o'clock this morning, arriving at the mountain at nine. It took us about four hours to reach the summit by way of a trail called, Tuckerman Ravine.

Here are some photos and short videos I took today while hiking: