Well, my yearly trip to Baltimore had been scheduled for the weekend of the 15th of September. Needless to say traveling between New York City and the greater Washington DC area was not high on my list of relaxing things to do that particular weekend. The game that we had tickets for was rescheduled for this past weekend. It was a staggeringly beautiful autumn day; you can geta little taste of it in the composite picture above. That is my pal Will on the far left there in the Orioles shirt. That is me next to him (Q: In photographs why do I always look like I need a shave? A: Because I always need a shave.) and waaaaay down there, next to third base is Cal Ripkin. We got to see old Cal play one last time, got to see his second to last hit and (I believe, although I can't be sure without looking it up) his last RBI. Camden yards is a great place to see a baseball game. I recommend it. I look forward to seeing the Cal statue next year when I go to the yard. So, I have been pretty sick. Some nasty cold or flu or something, but it has been really hard to shake. I thought I was better and then when I got back from Baltimore I relapsed. Of course my first thought was "I must have been infected with anthrax, or some other terrible bio-weapon.". This was even BEFORE those poor devils in Florida actually GOT anthrax. BEFORE that woman got anthrax in the NBC building at Rockefeller Center, a building three blocks from my work that I pass more or less daily... Yikes. It doesn't help that now I read in the paper they say the early symptoms of anthrax are "flu-like". Thanks a bunch. Umm, for the record: don't worry. I am not all that sick. I don't have anthrax or the captain trips or anything. I just have a cold. I am talking about it not because I am really concerned, just because in these crazy days it is interesting that thinking crazy shit like 'I have anthrax' is maybe not all THAT crazy. I am scared of this war. I always liked to think that the 21st century was going to be remembered as the period in history where we all realise that we, human beings, are far far far too precious to be starving or cold or sick or unloved or forgotten or abused, and that we are certainly (for fucks sake) too precious to shoot missiles at or drop bombs upon. I hope that we learn that lesson quick, and I hope we learn it by thinking it all through, not like a little kid learning that the stove is hot by touching it.