Weekend Notes
A very busy weekend, with an unexpected bump at the beginning.
Hospital Visit
For the second time in 18 months I spent several hours with a kid in the emergency department because of stomach issues. Last time it was L, who was sick for three days before we caved and took her in. This time it was C. She’s been having some stomach issues for quite some time. She has an appointment to see an adult GI doc next month but was sick consecutive days last week which required me to go grab her from Bloomington and bring her back to Indy for an ER visit.
After 4.5 hours, multiple tests and scans, the good news is there was nothing remarkable on any of the tests. The bad news is there was nothing remarkable on the tests, which greatly frustrated her as she was hoping for some idea of what was going on.
The ED folks were going to send a new referral over to her GI doc. They said sometimes if they send one with test results, the specialists will work you in sooner. We are hoping that shakes an appointment loose so we can take the next step quicker.
When we walked into the ED a little before noon it was pretty empty; no one in the lobby and we just had to wait five minutes for them to clean a room before going back. When we left after 4:00, the waiting room was full. We also had the joys of hearing a lady scream from a room next to ours. Before she was sedated or whatever, one of the things she screamed was “YOU’RE TRYING TO KILL ME!!!” Poor lady. What was most confusing was that the general chatter from the staff outside C’s room did not change at all while this was going on. I guess they’ve heard it all before.
FNL
I was supposed to go watch my buddy Coach H’s team play Friday night. But between the ED visit, not eating all day, and crappy weather, I decided to skip it.
Which allowed me to listen to the CHS game. The Irish were supposed to have last week off, but a city school had their opponent for the week cancel. As it was supposed to be their senior night they were scrambling for a fill-in and called CHS. Apparently the coaches agreed ahead of time that they would institute a running clock as soon as the margin became 35 points rather than wait for halftime. They both knew what was going to happen.
CHS ran back the opening kickoff. They led 35-0 after one quarter and started subbing kids in. It was 43-0 at half, 43-6 as a final. The final two weeks of the regular season should be tougher, with out-of-state teams coming in.
Looking ahead, the defending state champs are in CHS’ sectional and it assumed they would still be the team to beat in 5A. They lost their second game of the year this week, to a team that lost to BCHS, who CHS beat. Soooo maybe it’s not a done deal.
Saturday
Man, Saturday and Sunday were perfect days here. In the low 70s, not a cloud in the sky, no humidity, the gentlest of breezes. Shame we only get a handful of days like this each year.
I watched the first half of the KU game. It took a while to get going, but eventually the Jayhawks looked decent against Middle Tennessee. It seems weird to say they didn’t play well when they won 55-0, but I saw a lot of things to clean up. Now the schedule gets interesting with Utah and K-State the next two weeks. The weakest teams left on the schedule don’t look very weak. I don’t see four wins to get to a bowl game, unless something really changes. I do think 2-3 are possible, but not likely. I just hope they can be competitive and not get trounced for the next two months. Playing well against Baylor in three weeks, when I am going to the game, would be a bonus.
With the awesome weather I only dabbled in games the rest of the day, never locking in on one.
S ran C back to Bloomington but was back in time for L’s big night. She had the double-whammy of it being her birthday and CHS’ homecoming dance night. She had gone to a concert the night before to celebrate with friends - Bryson Tiller, which I annoyed her saying, “I can’t believe he transferred to Missouri” each time she mentioned it - and had a great time there. Her small group gathered at our house for some quick pictures Saturday before going to a bigger gathering, then going to the dance for exactly 10 minutes, then coming back to change before heading to a party.
She said the dance was boring but the rest of the night was a lot of fun.
It was strange to get several emails this weekend from places where she has accounts - Apple, Google, etc - letting me know that since she’s 18 she can manage them herself and any age restrictions have been lifted. Both weird and another reminder that we are getting closer to empty nesting.
IU played in the evening so I did focus on it for the first half. I think Josh Hoover read my comments about him. He looked a lot better this week. He still missed some passes, but in general was much more locked in. IU’s defense is so good he has a lot of room for error. Going to Nebraska this week could be a trap game, as it’s hard not to look ahead to Ohio State, Michigan, Minnesota the following three weeks. I think the trip to Lincoln will tell us a lot about the Hoosiers.
Sunday
The Colts were in London for their game with Washington. I will say again that NFL games overseas are dumb. Still, I didn’t mind the 9:30 Eastern kickoff, opening up the rest of the day.
Daniel Jones looked awful early but settled down and the Colts romped in the second half. Sauce Gardner looked terrible most of the day. We are entering Trent Richardson territory with him.
As an Arsenal (quasi-) fan I am loathe to give Tottenham credit, but that’s how you build a stadium with a hole in the roof. No stupid shadows making it impossible to watch. Of course they can’t close the roof, so they can’t host Final Fours like Lucas Oil can. But at least you can watch the game and get some elements into the mix.
I wondered what Joe Strummer would think about “London Calling” ALWAYS being used when there’s an event in London that interests Americans. I’m not complaining.
We had dinner plans so I never locked in on a game the rest of the day, doing some work outside and inside the house, reading, and prepping to go out. I will have my first quarter look at the NFL in the next day or two.
Finally, it became official Sunday that Melvin Council will be back for KU this year. I said before I’m not sure how I feel about this. He definitely saved the Jayhawks a few times last season. But as it wore on his weaknesses were exposed and I felt like he wore down and both tried to do too much and was less effective because of all the minutes he had played. And I still think it’s weird that he and Tre White are going to roll in after not being on campus all summer and slide into (assumed) starting spots while the guys who have been working together get pushed aside. I guess when everyone is getting paid they can only complain so much.