1. In my mind, at least, I had plans to go to CdA this morning and do one or more of the following: visit the Verizon store, do a little shopping an fuel up at Costco, possibly go to the liquor store, pick up a few things at Pilgrims, and get a haircut before going to the hospital to visit Linda.
But, I succumbed to the pleasures of Saturday morning college basketball and watched parts of four games on a wild Saturday featuring upsets galore: Xavier upset Seton Hall; Creighton surprised Villanova; Wisconsin shocked Michigan State; and, although I took off before it ended, Byrdman messaged me that Providence nipped Butler.
I justified sticking around and watching college basketball by telling myself the stores and probably Supercuts would be much busier on a Saturday, especially on Super Bowl Eve, and that I'd probably face shorter waits and smaller lines if I went back to these places during the day during the week.
We'll see.
2. Mary, Kathy, and I went to the hospital in Coeur d'Alene to see our fellow KHS alum and fellow trivia teammate, Linda. Linda has been weakened by internal bleeding. As of now, the doctors aren't sure of the bleeding's origin and she's had a couple of transfusions. Once Linda's red blood count reaches a certain improved level, she can go through a procedure (I don't know what it is) that can pinpoint the source of the bleeding.
Our visit with Linda was fun and encouraging. Linda was wide awake, alert, conversational, in good spirits, and simultaneously kept track of and joined in several conversations while also following Gonzaga's testy basketball game with and victory over the University of San Francisco. Linda, Kathy, and Mary all attended the University of Idaho at the same time and swapped stories about their time as Vandals and we all reminisced and filled each other in on friends we have in common in Kellogg and the Silver Valley.
We left hoping that Linda will learn more on Sunday about what's going on and what the next few days hold for her.
If I got anything wrong in this update, I hope Mary, Kathy, or Linda will let me know and I'll make changes. Sometimes I don't quite get everything straight . . .
3. After dinner, Mary, Kathy, and I went to Tomato Street for dinner. Linda wanted a picture of a dirty martini, so I happily ordered one and Mary snapped a photo and sent it to Linda. I ordered twice-baked spaghetti and enjoyed it with a glass of Chianti.
Our dinner conversation was really fun. Mary and Kathy have done a lot of traveling in Europe and the USA and I've done enough to have a few things to say and we talked at length about places we've been, the art we've seen and loved in different galleries, and musical theater productions we've enjoyed. The three of us were also grad students at the U. O. Mary and I intersected and saw each other when she was at Oregon about forty years ago, but Kathy had already completed her Masters in French before Mary or I were there. Mary and I were both in the English Department and have fun memories of different professors we worked with back then and Kathy divided her time between the French Department and the local foosball tables where she was (and still is?) an elite player -- not only in Eugene, but across the country and in Europe.
It's fun telling stories and thinking back on those days and upon a kind of University of Oregon that no longer exists and never will again -- for better or worse? I don't know. I'm way out of that league now.
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