F-f-f-f-ootb-b-ball

Up at 6am to drive to Dylan's football game in Topsfield. It was 36 degrees. When we got to the field, it was covered in a sparkling layer of frost.

We f-f-f-roze. The kids lost and 2 kids on the Marblehead team were carted off by ambulance with neck injuries - high drama at the height of fall. Luckily the injured boys are fine.

It's LIVE

Gack.

- 2 kids sick, trips to doctor
- launching on Boston.com tomorrow - scramble!
- just signed a new client - National Grid Wireless - in collaboration with Doreen
- Bob's closing the Mattel deal
- Bob's taking the Microsoft deal to second level
- the last two bring us closer to a move
- Dad's having CAT scan today to see how chemo has been working
- oh, and the laundry is behind, we're halfway through painting the hall, need to do bills, blah blah blah

Pre-launch countdown

Have been laboring away on the Boston Globe project. It's nearly there. Set to launch Friday (if all goes as planned) on Boston.com and on Halloween in the Boston Globe. Still in cloaked mode - more as it's live...

Coffee

Beth Schultz, all around great trainer at the Y, has gotten me to do stuff I never thought I could do at Boot Camp and Body Pump & Sculpt. But this goes too far. She wants me to stop drinking coffee. She says it with zeal because she just quit and claims that it's pushed her to a whole new level of weight loss/body tone. She claims coffee increases your insulin levels and does something bad to your liver?

Now, I trust Beth in all things. But come on.

I Googled it and found 10 reasons why coffee is good for you. Ah...nothing like a good cup of rationalization to start your day.

In the Hot Zone

I'm deeply moved by the work independent war correspondant Kevin Sites is doing. Sites' blog, www.kevinsites.net, was one of the first to to provide readers with an intimate, behind-the-lines look at the war in Iraq and how it was being covered.

Now Yahoo! has hired him for one year (a first for Yahoo!) to cover every major global conflict for Yahoo! News Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone. There is text, video, photo essays. It's amazing.

So far he's been in Somalia (where my Aunt D. was a nurse and aid worker). He is now in the Congo, he writes about the desperate situation but how there is laughter there too.

The project is dedicated to Marla Ruzicka, humanitarian and founder of Civic Worldwide who was killed in Iraq in April 2005 by a suicide bomber. I was captivated by this video of her.

Mom & Charles

I just watched Sunday Morning. It reminds me of Mom and Charles Kuralt. Years ago I wrote this little poem and it makes me happy to read it.


Why I write of the dead all the time

All around me
You follow me
Every step I take
It's you taking it with me
I’m not alone
And thank you
Thank you
All of you

Rainforest Ho!

My friend Marianne - adventurer, scientist, neighbor and fearless companion and support in all matters of parenting, love, life and art - invited me to join a group of remarkable women in Costa Rica to celebrate her birthday. And in the face of possibly moving and juggling the usual demands of family and work, I said yes. It's just like Mari to give me a gift for her birthday.

I just faxed the confimation form to Aguila de Osa so it's for real. Rainforest, dolphins, monkeys, hiking, kayaking, and giant bugs all with a group of uppity, smart women followed by cocktails on the porch? Pinch me...I must be dreaming.

The Sky is Falling

This morning I flipped on Good Morning America. They're doing a segment called "Is God Mad at Us?" and the talking heads are Jerry Falwell, Bill Nye the Science Guy and another guy who is (I think) a comedian. No lie. Given this brain trust, the talk of tsunami, hurricanes, earthquakes, bird flu pandemic, etc. in the context of a screen caption that says "Is God mad at us?" is worthy of The Onion. Highlight: Science Guy got apoplectic when Jerry Falwell scoffed at "supposed" global warming.

As I write this I'm listening to OnPoint on NPR and it too is about whether we're in the run-up to the apocalypse. And next hour they're going to talk about the coming San Francisco earthquake.

It's never easy to live on earth. It's brutal and hard and filled with conflict. So why do we have this sudden pervasive feeling that the sky is falling? Maybe because our leadership is so lacking that it's frightening to face the present and future. Is the light dawning???

Chick Thoughts

Went to see In Her Shoes last night. It's good Chick-lit that translates well to Chick-flick. It's not for everyone. But it worked for me. Laughed. Cried. The usual chick response. Cameron Diaz is exceptional in the role of the crazed, self-destructive sister. After the movie, met up with Marianne and some other women at The Hurricane and throughout the night I found myself ruminating about getting older.

Bought Jennifer Weiner's latest book, Goodnight Nobody, for Doreen's birthday present today...she'll always be 2 weeks younger than me.

I'm definitely having massive menopausal mood swings.

Make. Me. Shut. Up.