1. Kidney Day II got stretched out over a few hours, but as long as my blood sample makes it to Baltimore, all turned out well. As I thought might be the case, when I took my blood kit to the clinic uptown at 8 a.m., the people working at the clinic didn't know how to deal with it in their system. A very helpful front desk person took my kit back to the lab and came back with handouts as to where LabCorp labs can be found in CdA and told me that if I saw my primary care provider, I could get a code assigned to my blood draw and then they could poke me and send the sample to Maryland.
I thought to myself, no problem. I'll bet my provider Linda Jo Yawn will cut right through all of this and I was right. I made a 10 o'clock appointment, went home, returned, and when Linda Jo Yawn sauntered into her examination room, heard why I was there, and inspected the blood kit, she said, "I'll go see who's available at the lab and if no one is, I'll draw your blood." And she did. She told me she'd figure out a way to get my monthly blood draw entered into the system at the clinic so that things would go smoother next time.
So, yeah, it took a little over three hours to have a vial of blood drawn, centrifuged, and mailed to Baltimore, but I had anticipated that what I need done every month might be unfamiliar to the staff at the clinic, so I was prepared to be patient and understanding -- and I was -- and it all worked out. In the end, the clinic staff were very happy to have learned what I needed and to have figured out how to help me.
2. Once back home, I settled into the third episode of Ken Burns' and Lynn Novik's documentary series, The Vietnam War. By 1964, the Vietnam War had become something much bigger that an armed conflict. It had become much more political. By that I mean that LBJ was making decisions about how many troops to send over and whether to negotiate with the North Vietnamese based as much on how it would affect the 1964 presidential election than on military decision making. In addition, LBJ and the USA leadership could not cut their losses and get out of Vietnam because of the deeply ingrained idea that the USA cannot fail, cannot lose, even though, in private, these leaders talked openly about how this war would probably never be won. It's grueling to watch this documentary knowing that politics and concerns for the USA's national reputation kept us at war as much or more than fighting Communism or helping the South Vietnamese did.
3. The Deke and I held a successful Hill Street Depot Summit late in the afternoon to talk about decisions that lie before us over the next few months. Afterward, the Deke hosted a Sock Monkey making party with Ashley, Becky, and Tracy. I met Cas at Eddie Joe's for a few beverages.
When I walked into Eddie Joe's around 5:30, a scene was unfolding that reminded me of when Mom and Dad went downtown in Spokane to see Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf in about 1966. Mom's famous remark when they returned to Grandma's house was, "I didn't have to go to the movies to see that. I can just go to the Sunshine Inn."
Well, Eddie Joe's is across the street from the Sunshine Inn and all I had to do to hear some screaming and berating was go to Eddie Joe's.
I didn't know the 2018 Eddie Joe's version of George and Martha. I don't really know what today's Martha was screaming at George about, but I can say that Edward Albee did not infuse his scenes between George and Martha with the generous flow of f-bombs that our local Martha was dropping on our local George. I joined Cas at the bar who said, "Welcome to Eddie Joe's. It's not always like this." After a while, our local George retreated to a buddy bar and I think Martha went outside to have a calming smoke and guys rallied around George, telling him he'd done a good job keeping his cool and not to worry, that Martha was just drunk. I think George knew that.
There were no more eruptions and Cas and I yakked with Chip and Pat and Danny and Ron. We were well taken care of by Adam behind the bar and around 8:00 we went down the street to the Sock Monkey party. Before we got out of Cas's pickup, we listened to two tracks from a superb album by Willie Nile, Positively Bob: Willie Nile Sings Bob Dylan. We went inside and admired the newly made sock monkeys. Cas and Tracy hung out with the Deke and me on the deck for a while and after they left, the Deke and I capped off our evening by splitting a 12 oz bottle of Founder's Double Trouble, reviewing the day, and soon I retired for the night.
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