News From the Poor and Obscure... as Opposed to the Rich and Famous

There’s light at the end of my Adventures In Modern Dentistry tunnel in the form of a date: September 21. That’s the day I get my new prosthetic molars installed. Yays!

I had a follow-up with Dr. Thompson yesterday and he says things are looking good. We need to give everything six months to heal, “everything” being the recent (last month) installation of screws in my jaw that hold the prostheses in place. I now get to begin thinking just where I’m gonna go to enjoy my first steak in over a year and a half. It’ll be ABQ, Amarillo, or Lubbock… I’ve eaten in excellent steak houses in all three cities. Neither P-Ville nor The Big(ger) City^TM have first-class steak houses and The Golden Corral… or even Cattle Baron… just ain’t gonna cut it, yanno?

OTOH… I could buy a slab of beef and grill it myself. But let’s be honest here. NO one grills a steak in his or her backyard to the same standard as that found in a first-class steak house. I do good work, true, and so do some of my friends. But I’d give the best backyard steak I’ve ever had a B+… no higher. And this occasion calls for an A… nothing less.

―:☺:―

Speaking of The Big(ger) City^TM… we were over that way yesterday to run the periodic errands, like giving baby a bath, picking up the week’s supply of El Pinto, and such. And new de-flappers for the awning, too. The Velcro strap on one of my old de-flappers came apart in my hands as I was cinching it down yesterday, and de-flappers ONLY work in pairs… one just doesn’t cut it. I bought a pair of High Plains of New Mexico Class de-flappers (which look like they’d be suitable for tornadoes and such), meaning they have approximately four times the clamping surface area of the old units. They may not work any better than the old ones, but they sure as Hell look impressive.

I also have a new scar on The Green Hornet. I was attacked by a passel of tumbleweeds on the way over to Clovis… including about three really big suckers… all of which came at me like a Greek phalanx. There wasn’t any sort of evasive maneuver to be had, at least not for a vehicle confined to two dimensions. So I just held on as I plowed through them, one of which had the nerve to jump about a foot into the air as I made contact. The resulting collision was with my hood and windshield (as opposed to the bumper area which got yet another two or more), leaving a noticeable scratch on my hood. I’m just glad the damned thing didn’t land inside the car (the top was down, of course)… coz those things HURT.

Ah… we do have SUCH exciting news, don’t we?

―:☺:―

Predictions are in for the Wings-Ducks series, which begins tomorrow evening in Detroit. ESPN’s Scott Burnside sez Wings in six, MLive.com's own Ansar Khan sez Wings in seven, The Hockey News sez Wings in six, Eric Duhatschek (Toronto Globe and Mail) sez Wings in six… and so on. Curiously, neither the LA Times nor the OC Register make predictions… and that might be telling. Or not. As for me? I went on the record day before yesterday as saying Wings in six. But these are the playoffs... and anything can happen. See: New Jersey.

One common thread: everyone agrees this will be a fun series. I’m thinking they’re right.