A new Liam story

No shit, there I was, trudging through the Valentine's Day Nor'easter to see evilnicola, who was at that point safely ensconced in the emergency room at Beth Israel Hospital. (Asthma and med issues. She is fine.)

I walk into the comforting heat and see that both the security guard and receptionist (nurse?) are occupied.

The security guard leans over and asks me what I need, and I tell her my daughter is in the ER, and she continues to give directions to the guy in front of her.

I tell the nruse what I need, and she asks the last name (strangely, she has a Post-It Not with the name "Toscano" in front of her. The reason will become clear in a moment.

I ask how to get to where she is, and the receptionist points at the person in front of the security guard and says, "Just follow him. That's where he is going."

I look at the fella. Tall, a touch scruffy, and I smile.

"What are you, the boyfriend," I ask.

He smiles and says, "Yes, I'm Steve," and shakes my hand while the security guard and receptionist chuckle.

We go in and visit Niki.

And that's how I met TCBF.

Pitchers and catchers have reported . . .

"It breaks your heart. It is *designed* to break your heart.

"It begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone.

"You count on it, rely on it to buffer the passage of time, to keep the memory of sunshine and high skies alive, and then just when the days are all twilight, when you need it the most, it stops."

-- A. Bartlett Giamatti, "The Green Fields of the Mind"

Great Big Sea and Jimmy Buffet tickets on sale . . . .

In Boston.

Great Big Sea for Thursday, April 12


At Gillette Stadium, Foxboro, Mass.

Jimmy Buffet for Sunday, Sept. 2

Jimmy Buffet for Saturday, Sept. 8

The password is, oddly, shark.

Amusement and compliments . . .

1. A colleage told me this week that I am the only person he knows who says, "Boom!" in a Boston accent.

2. Sometimes I have to substitute for another teacher when during my duty period (when I am doing newsletter and PR stuff). They tend to give me the "difficult" classes. Three days this week, I have been teaching the English Language Learners' class for Science. These kids are fluent in Portuguese, Albanian or Spanish and half-fluent in England. I have been working hard with these kids.

I suddenly came to the realization that I am teaching them English with a Boston accent. They're gonna be walkin' around saying, "My cah's in the pahking lot."

3. A compliment from a friend (not a daughter): "Liam, if I was going to have an asthma attack, I would want you to be around."

4. A compliment from someone else: "Pretty much everyone I've ever heard talk about you (dozens - no, scores - no, hundreds!) says you're one of those people who knows people," [and goes on to ask for my help.

5. The 30-minute ride from Waltham to Peabody took an hour and 40 minutes yesterday. At least we'd had a two-hour delay.

A book and some movies

I got a ton of books for Christmas. (I love book-store gift certificates).

1. "Empire" by Orson Scott Card.: There was no way this book was goingto be good. Anf it wasn't. Orson Scott Card does the upcoming American Civil War, Conservatives vs. Liberals. Convoluted plot. A request for serious suspensipon of disbelief. Special Forces soldier is assigned to plan ways to klil the president "so the government can counter them." Of course, the plan ios used successfully, then another faction takes over New York City with robot-like mechanical soldiers. It spirals from there. There are a number of books on this topic, and this is not want of the better ones.

2. I was catching up on movies this week (snow day). I finally saw "The DaVinci Code" after cooing about it last year. It was a faithful re-telling of the book. Tom Hanks was better than I expected. Jean Reno as Bezu Fache was every bit as good as I exp[ected.

3. More to come later.

4. I am watching parts of "For Love of The Game."

"What I want you to do is smile, pat me on the ass and go back to the dugout."

--Billy Chapel