a history of me

Today is my first day of class. And I mean class, singular, as I have only one later tonight. If you're curious, it's East Asian Cinema. Sadly, it looks like this semester will focus on women in Chinese films, so I guess the works of John Woo and Stephen Chow are out. As long as I don't have to sit through Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon again.

I made use of the extra time and visited the campus this morning. First, I took the bus to familiarize myself with the schedule and stops. I do have a car here but I don't intend to drive it everyday, especially when the weather gets cold (Speaking of the weather, it has improved slightly in the same way that a bullet in the gut is an "improvement" over a bullet in the kneecap). Once on campus, I walked around and tried to get a sense of where everything I need is. I visited all the rooms my classes are in and took care of a few errands along the way. I applied for a parking permit which will apparently take forty-eight hours. I got the necessary forms to apply for Study Abroad next year. The deadline isn't until February 15th so I'm planning ahead.

My roommate still isn't here so I'm assuming he's not going to show up. Since I am a believer in Murphy's Law, this will virtually guarantee he will show up and at the worst possible time, possibly while I am in mid-stroke. I have nothing against him but this room is so tiny I don't know how any two humans could possibly share it. Besides, another body in here means another source of heat, and I can't take that.

My class goes pretty late tonight and then tomorrow's a busy day. I've got three classes, the first of which starts at 8:45 AM, so I probably won't blog again until Wednesday. Until then, just sit by your computer tapping the F5 key.


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I was so happy to hear that Hero, the awesome Chinese movie that MiramAXE bought and sat on for over two years made a big impact on this weekend's box office. After letting it get dusty, toying with dubbing and editing, all the while threatening to sue anyone who was willing to sell the import DVD, MiramAXE finally released it without fucking it up. And look what happened! The people responded and paid good money to see it. Let's hope this teaches those guys that every Chinese movie doesn't need "Kung Fu Fighting" in the trailer to draw a crowd.

If you haven't seen Hero, see it. It's a thousand times better than that piece of crap Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

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One more day of nothing to do. My roommate is nowhere to be seen. If he doesn't show up today I've got to assume he's not coming. I know he hasn't registered for classes yet and they start tomorrow. How many seats could be left? When we spoke on the phone he said he was having some trouble with the administrative side of the school, and I can totally understand. I've got a wee disagreement with the folks in Financial Aid right now.

I didn't sell my car and I might not want to do that right away. The car has been a real liberator this weekend. As I mentioned yesterday, there hasn't been much to do this weekend beyond unpacking, bathing, and eating. Thanks to my automobile, I've been able to kill time as well as purchase some suddenly urgent items like a desk fan and some coaxial cable. The local mall, Crossgates, is quite large and has air conditioning. It's the first mall I've seen that has two movie theatres for a total of thirty screens. So I took a few hours out of my positively empty schedule to watch Alien vs. Predator. It wasn't so bad, and I kind of enjoyed it. The ending was stupid though.

I almost forgot to talk about the show on Wednesday night. I went to see Miho Hatori (formerly of Cibo Matto) and got a pleasant surprise. Yuka Honda, the other half of Cibo Matto, was there! For a while I just stood next to her and I wasn't sure if it was really her. I knew their music but I wasn't 100% I could recognize either Miho or Yuka. Even when I figured it was her, I decided not to try and engage her. I felt that would be a douchebag-fan thing to do. Maybe I was just nervous though. The show was good and I enjoyed the music. Miho is goddamn microscopic and looks like she's seventeen years old. I absolutely did not recognize her and mistook her (heavy) backup singer for her. I stood there wondering what happened to her. It's horrible, but in a way I feel relieved knowing that she is really good looking. It shouldn't (and didn't) matter to me what she looks like, but knowing now that she is smoking hot somehow comforts me. I guess I'm just a pig.

Speaking of hot Japanese women, I had a crazy dream last night. No, I wasn't having sex with Miho, and how dare you jump to that conclusion. My dream involved AV Idol (adult video actress) 笠木忍 (a.k.a. Shinobu Kasagi, link may offend some). And no, I wasn't having sex with her either, you dirty-minded bastards. For some reason I was hanging out with her in some nondescript U.S. location. I think I was some kind of escort. Anyway, I kept losing track of her and had to track her down because she would run off and have sex with strangers. I wasn't mad but I knew she had to be somewhere at a certain time, so it got a little frustrating. I think it would make a great sitcom idea, actually: pair a stiff, humble guy with a innocent looking porn star. He has to take her on a world tour or something and she wants to take in as much, er, "culture" as she can. The tricky part would be trying to explain that neither one of them has a problem with sex, and no one makes jokes about being a "slut." Also, they can't hook up, of course, because that would ruin the show. HBO could air it and it could really work.

My fridge arrived during my blogging and it's time for brunch. I'll have more news (and pictures) in the days to come. Don't forget to leave comments or e-mail. あばよ。

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Hey there, I'm still alive and sweating to death in Albany, New York. I thought packing up everything I owned in one day (Thursday) was rough, but unpacking it all by myself was worse. As a kicker, it is extraordinarily hot and humid in Albany right now. I slept on a towel last night because I didn't want to soak through my new XL sheets. I would have blogged all this last night, but I couldn't get my computer on the university network until today, and at this point the connection is still a little spotty. Apparently in the matter of seconds it took to activate my computer and install the necessary software, I got a virus. I have since eliminated said threat, but my computer is still behaving a little weird. Hopefully I can clear this up soon because I can't afford to call people anymore. It's e-mail and blogging from now on, folks. You might as well forget what my voice sounds like.

It's really late and typing makes my fingers sweat. I'll blog more tomorrow because I don't have anything to do until Monday. I wonder why they wanted me to arrive on Friday at all. This "welcome students" weekend is shockingly devoid of planned activity. Later!

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This will be my final post from my home in Croton, New York. Tomorrow the cable company will come by and take my equipment away. Friday I move into my dorm room at Albany, which was recently named the number one "party school" by the Princeton Review. Follow the link to see Albany's high ranks on the "Scarce Professor," "Ugly Campus," and "Bad Food" lists as well. You'd better believe I'm excited. As soon as I get set up in my dorm I'll begin blogging, hopefully Friday evening.

Tonight I must make one more excursion into NYC. It seems Miho Hatori (formerly of Cibo Matto) is performing material from her upcoming solo album at Pianos. I've missed opportunities to see Miho perform before and I can't miss another. I know I should stay home and clean my apartment but who am I kidding? If I stayed home tonight I'd only waste more time just as I wasted the whole summer. We all know when this apartment is getting cleaned and that's tomorrow because that's the absolute last day I can do it. Of course I'm working on solving my procrastination problem and I promise I'll do something about it next week.

To my hometown, I bid an e-farewell. さようなら！ Feit...out!

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Is this really QT's Diary? I hope so because I love his work. Check it out.

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Just a few days left here in Croton. I had another "weekend getaway," so to speak. I spent most of the weekend in the city, spending time with my friend Mike and my Dad. Mike and his band Force Theory played Friday night at The Knitting Factory. The were followed by another band, Great American, who turned out to be pretty cool. As a guest of Mike, I was able to hang out in the dressing room all night which was fun. It had kind of a funky smell but no worse than my own apartment, so I wasn't one to complain.

On Saturday my father and I attempted to see a Yankees game but we encountered a few problems. First of all, the Yankees played like ass. They made several errors which lead to runs and recent addition Esteban Loaiza didn't make it any easier. Then the rain started. We waited for about an hour for play to resume but the rain never let up. We decided to go and hoped the game would be called but no such luck. Play was resumed two hours later and the Yankees lost. I spent the night with Mike and friends, hanging out and watching some pretty trippy movies. In particular, we saw a few minutes of Sweet Sweetback's Baad Asssss Song and Head, but they were just a little too strange for us to handle. Later, we watched the comparatively sedate 2001: A Space Odyssey which is quickly becoming one of my favorite movies. If you've seen it you should also check out this Flash site which attempts to "explain" the movie further.

Sunday was a pretty chill day. I had brunch with Mike and then hung out with my Dad. It was the last time I'd see him before going to school. We didn't really do anything, just walked around and had a meal at Better Burger. I had seen it featured Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and it sounded good. It was. We had Ostrich Burgers which tasted a lot like beef but supposedly it's much leaner.

You may notice that the countdown is gone. Today was supposed to be "the end" of my tenure with the Postal Service but there's a few more details to hammer out. I'm sure I'll think of something else to look forward to and I'll start again.

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Here's a story that gives you real confidence in the system our government uses to safeguard the airlines: It seems that Ted Kennedy was denied from boarding airplanes on five occasions earlier this year. His name apparently "resembled an alias" used by a suspected terrorist. That was proof enough for airline employees to dismiss a seventy-two year old from flying.

This exposes an almost hilarious hole in the methods used by Homeland Security. All terrorists should start using celebrity aliases. Once they start fucking with the rights of rich people, then the system will change. I recommend Rosie O'Donnell, Jennifer Lopez, and Oprah, Otherwise, if some guy just happens to pick my name to use, I'll be totally fucked and no one will care. I don't have any friends in the Senate to call.

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I'll be frank, I still have a lot of work to do to get ready to move. When I'm not working I'm just wasting time, so there won't be a lot of time for blogging over the next week. I feel good that I've recently made my 100th post, as if that magical number means this blog is suddenly more interesting. I think things will get better once I'm at school. More daily activity=more blog material!


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Behold this glorious new game I found online: Furious George and the Cross-Country Crime Spree. You too can waste hours following the criminal exploits of a reckless monkey.

EDIT: No more than two days after I found this game the site appears to be down. I'll leave the link intact in the hopes that someday it will be restored.

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"Popular" music sucks right now. You know it, I know it, and the American people know it. It's being mass-produced and double-fisted down our throats so fast no one can tell that's just same shit, different day. It turns out someone actually found proof. Someone took two Nickelback songs and fused them together (one in the left speaker, one in the right) and guess what? They sound exactly the same. Length, chorus, pitch, all identical. God I hate being right sometimes.

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Yeah, I flew in yesterday. Did I mention we flew to Florida on the new Song airline? It's a low-cost service run by Delta. We had a direct flight from JFK to RSW with a personal TV screen for everyone. While I was disappointed by their musical selections, I enjoyed watching the Olympics during the flight. There was no free food, just free soft drinks, so I brought a sandwich with me. I figure someday they'll realize the only way I'm spending money for airline food is if I have no alternatives available. Soon they'll start disallowing outside food and beverage onto the planes, which means security will get even tighter. Then it'll all turn into Woodstock 99 again.

I now face the unenviable task of packing or trashing everything I own. I've got less than two weeks before I have to check-in at Albany. One mixed blessing is that my TV finally broke today. I got it from my mom when she moved to Florida and declined to take it with her. It's a old projection TV with a giant speaker for a base. It's been a blast having it for almost a year, but I wasn't going to take it with me anyway and without the constant distraction of TV I might actually get something done around here.

Speaking of Albany, I finally received my room assignment today. No, I'm not going to type my exact location onto the Internet, that's just dumb. I will say that I've got a roommate and sometime this week I'll try and get a hold of him. They gave me a phone number and an address, but the number is area code 718 while the address is in Baltimore, MD. Further compounding matters is his unusual name. Yerachmiel. Frankly, I'm not sure how to pronounce it. I hope he speaks English. Without a language in common things tend to break down between roommates pretty quickly.

Going back to the TV, I should share a new experience I've had: HDTV. My friend Dave is, well, loaded, and his dad has a beautiful flat, widescreen HDTV in his den. Since Dave's family goes out of town every summer, we hang out at Dave's a lot. Almost as much as we spend time in our own homes even. Unfortunately, this is the first summer I can recall when we weren't alone in the house. One of Dave's sisters has been around all the time and she camps out in that den, cutting us of from the wondrous HD technology. But last night she was nowhere to be seen, so we moved in to give it a whirl. I needed some HD-lympics!

The perks are harder to describe than the shortcomings. Picture and sound are top-notch but I can't really explain how. The widescreen aspect of the TV is the fun part for me. This is the tool to explain to people why they've had to put up with letterboxing for so long. Regular TV signals are shown in the middle of the screen with blank space on the sides. HDTV signals take up the entire screen. That means full widescreen presentation of movies, sporting events and even some TV shows. But that "some" is the root of the problem. There simply isn't a lot of HD content to be broadcast right now.

Take ESPNHD as an example. They now broadcast their signature show, Sportscenter, in HD. This means a new stageset and new graphics to fit the screen. But all the sports highlights are collected from regular broadcast networks which must then be shown with big spaces on the sides. ESPNHD cleverly fills that space with graphics, but the different between the dressing and the content is glaring.

For an even bigger problem, let's look at what I wanted desperately to watch: HD-lympics. Yes, NBC is airing a special HD version of their Olympic coverage and it's virtually commercial-free. But it sucks and here's why: It's unorganized and way behind the current events. I say "unorganized" because the graphics were often missing or late. During normal Olympic swimming coverage, each lane is marked with the swimmer's name and nation before the race starts, and every time they hit the edge and turn, the leader's lane is highlighted to keep you involved. On NBCHD there are no such graphics. Each swimmer is shown on the blocks and hopefully you remember who's who once they're in the water. That's a minor complaint compared to the time-delay issue. Much like the news, sports has to be up-to-date or else it's pointless. Last night on NBCHD they were showing hours and hours of swimming, specifically the qualifying heats. But those races have all come and gone. It's like watching a pre-season game when you know someone's already won the Super Bowl. The programming shown on NBC at the same time was much more compelling. So don't break your back or wallet investing in HDTV just yet. It will be ready someday, but not today.

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Despite the fact that Hurricane Charley barely grazed the Naples area, there seems to be a fair amount of damage. Many areas were still without power today as we drove around looking for amusement. We spent a little time in a cheesy "theme park" called King Richard's. It had arcade games, small carnival rides, mini-golf, and the like. I played the worst round of mini-golf in my life and then I developed a nasty looking blister on my thumb after a few swings in the batting cages. I've never had a blister before and they're really freaky. It's like my skin is just loose and it hurts but I don't dare touch it or it hurts more and it moves a little. Disgusting.

We tried to have lunch/kill time at the local mall, but thanks to spotty power outages it was only 5% open. Still, lots of people were wandering the halls with nothing to do, almost like Dawn of the Dead. We managed to find a bite to eat at a small Mexican eatery called "Taco Ardiente." Yes, ardiente is Spanish for "ardent." Kind of a silly name, I think, but lunch was pretty tasty.

Most of the afternoon we spent at home watching various Olympic events. I like how they're covering these games so far. Since NBC owns so many goddamn networks they're spreading out their coverage to allow the viewer more choices. Events air live during the daytime (remember, Athens is seven hours ahead of EST) and then recaps are aired at night during prime time. Since I have nothing but free time, I can watch whatever I want and not have to sit through Pat O'Brien's nasally-challenged highlight show. Thank goodness for small favors.

Everyone is going to sleep here so I can't type anything else. But I suppose I didn't have anything else of interest to say. Later.

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...because she didn't even faze me. Sure, we lost power for a few hours and the rain and wind were fierce, but we were never nervous. I guess we didn't really get a full dose. Other folks in the area got it worse. The biggest downside here in Naples is the local TV stations are broadcasting nothing but hurricane coverage. I want to watch the Olympics, bitch!

On an even scarier note, can you believe I'll be moving in to my dorm room in two weeks? I know time flies but this summer went goddamn quick. OK, back to my vacation.

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Well, I'm here in Mom's house, remotely blogging. I think I'll call it "remlogging." The weather here is hot but so is New York so no big deal. What is a big deal is the approaching hurricane! They call it "Charley" which is a silly name because no one named "Charlie" spells it like that. Anyway, it may or may not be heading directly for us. Either way we're expected to survive and there's no danger of flooding since my mom's condo is on the third floor. Still, this means no golf for tomorrow. Bummer.

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Going to NYC tonight then accompanying my sister to southern Florida tomorrow. We're going to hang with Mom and her husband this weekend. I think this will be the last little "excursion" I make before the big move off to school later this month. Frankly I'm running out of time here. Summer is almost over!

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As you may know, one of the greatest motion pictures ever made is The Big Lebowski. I'll never understand how it wasn't a big hit since it followed the critical and financial success of Fargo. I saw it in the theaters during its initial release but few others did. Thankfully, word-of-mouth and DVD sales have allowed it to get the attention it deserves. In fact, after reading this article in the Times I discovered there's actually a "convention" and it's coming to New York this weekend! Sadly, I'll be out of town (again) but if you're not busy you should consider it. More details here.

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Over at The Smoking Gun there's a very funny report about a phony high school in California scamming Hispanic immigrants. People being scammed isn't funny but the method is. Follow the link to peruse the bizarre workbook given to the students. My favorite bit is the disclaimer on the front page "All information is subject to change without notice."

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OK, I'm back and ready to Blog. I haven't written a decent post in a few weeks so let's get to it.

Boston

Joe and I went to Boston on July 28th. For maximum economy we shared a room (but not a bed!) at the Motel 6 in Braintree, MA. This allowed us easy access to the city via the subway. Not that we checked, but I imagine all the hotels in the city would have been booked due to the mass of people in town for the Democratic National Convention. Security was very intense. We first emerged from the subway in Boston Common and saw at least five cops/soldiers hanging around plus four or more mounted policemen roaming the area. We purposely came to Boston without an agenda so the only plan was to walk around. The first thing we saw was pretty nuts. In the park a large number of demonstrators had gathered to protest China's persecution against Falun Dafa (a.k.a. Falun Gong). It was quite the set up, with dozens of people pantomiming the torture and abuse that people are facing in China right now. If you'd like to learn more, check out http://www.flgjustice.org/.

We kept going, first looking at the Robert Shaw memorial. No, not that Robert Shaw. Robert Gould Shaw, the civil war colonel who led the first all-Black regiment into battle. You probably saw the movie.

We spent most of the day following the Freedom Trail stopping occasionally to take pictures, eat, or drink beers. Mostly drink beers. By my count we drank beers in at least five different locations including the original Cheers. The most fun I had all day was at Bunker Hill. We got there after dark so no one was around. We were all alone and far from the chaos and security of the convention. No guards, no tourists, just the two of us and a 221-foot obelisk. We ruled that place. We could have stayed there as long as we wanted. In fact, the only reason Bunker Hill is open to public today is because we decided to leave.

The second day was less exciting because after a full day of walking the Trail my feet were killing me. We found time to see the U.S.S. Constitution, which is still a commissioned naval vessel so the security was quite tight. Seems a little silly, but it makes sense for the Navy to protect all of its ships, no matter their age. We tried to visit the aquarium but it closed early that day. We pretty much left right away. Joe was eager to see John Kerry's acceptance speech back at home. A fun little trip.

Joe

Joe is fine. You can read his response to my earlier post. The only downer was he didn't feel well enough to join me on Thursday. Speaking of Thursday...

Yankee Stadium

On Thursday, August 5th I went to a game at Yankees Stadium: Yankees vs A's. I had two tickets but I had no one to go with. So I went alone. My seats were in the very last row in the upper deck (they call it Tier Reserved) but it was pretty nice. I had a roof which gave plenty of shade. I had a nice view of nearly the entire field and I stayed for the entire game. The Yankees won 5-1 but no one hit any home runs. New Yankee John Olerud went 3 for 3 and got hit by a pitch, all on his thirty-sixth birthday. On the way out I sang along with "New York, New York" all four times it was played. I went down to the lower village, ate at the Otafuku and treated myself to a few DVDs over at Mondo Kim's, the most awesome store on St. Mark's Place.

Philadelphia

So Friday night Dylan called and casually mentioned he was going to Philadelphia. I invited myself and-presto!-I found a weekend getaway. When I found out Dylan was going there with his girlfriend Dani I tried to un-invite myself. Three's a crowd, after all. But then Dylan was insisting so I relented. We almost left Friday night but good sense overcame us. We would have arrived at midnight or later and gone directly to bed. Hotels aren't cheap, you know. So we instead made arrangements for Saturday night and left in the morning. The drive took way too long thanks to the endless traffic jam that is New Jersey. As soon as we arrived we walked into a hat store where hip black men sold Dylan and I hats. We tried to see some sights but everything was already closed. But one idea we had in mind was open 24-7: Philly Cheese Steak sandwiches! There are two famous spots in Philly to get 'em, Geno's Steaks and Pat's King of Steaks. The two restaurants are across the street from one another and they have no indoor seating. All you do is get your food at a window and sit outside. Dylan and Dani waited on line at Geno's while I waited at Pat's. My line was much longer so Dylan and Dani sat at Pat's table waiting for me. The guy cleaning up wasn't too thrilled to see them sitting there with Geno's food but I wager lots of people try both sandwiches. Dylan told him what was up and he confidently told him that Pat's was better. Eventually the three of us ate the sandwiches along with some "pizza fries," fries topped with Cheez Whiz and tomato sauce. Both sandwiches were good but we decided Pat's was, in fact, the King. Dylan told the guy he was right and the guy told us to tell the people at Geno's that "they suck." We declined to endanger our lives.

We returned to "City Center" or "Center City" (signs say both) to get drunk. We found an old pub named McGillin's Ale House and did our best. Little did we know it was Karaoke night. After a few drinks we started goading each other to get up there. I ended up singing "Working for the Weekend" and Dylan sang "Road to Nowhere." Somehow Dani got out of singing anything.

On Sunday we finally got to see stuff. We went to Independence Park to see the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. The first thing we were struck by was the absurd level of security. What was once an open park is now surrounded by fencing and concrete planters. The first stop for any visitor is the security checkpoint, which means metal detectors and intense scrutiny. Then you can enter the small museum containing the Bell. While inside there are at least six park rangers watching you. Dylan had a bottle of water which was allowed so long as it was capped. When Dylan absent-mindedly took a sip, one of the rangers asked him to keep it capped and reminded him he was "in a museum." What the fuck does that have to do with anything? Dylan asked where he could throw it away and he was told there are no garbage cans inside for "security reasons." So we've been scanned and searched already but we might still attempt to put a bomb in a trash can? Get serious. I took a picture with the bell but Dylan didn't bother. I suspect he was irritated by the hoopla surrounding it.

After leaving the Bell the rangers offer a choice: remain inside the "security" area and continue across the street to Independence Hall or leave the park. Of course this is all open-air and there's cars driving through. This is about as "secure" as Central Park. We waited behind Independence Hall for our tour to start, amazed by the money and effort wasted to protect an unprotectable, un-endangered building. What should (and used to be) an free area to congregate was now a permanent police event. And it seems that some people want to increase the security. Sights like this make me want to blow this popsicle stand and live abroad.

Movies

In case anyone was curious, I saw a couple movies during these past few weeks. I rented Starsky & Hutch, I bought 2LDK at Kim's and last night we saw Collateral on the way back from Philly. I recommend all three films, although 2LDK was quite odd. I also bought the new Predator two-disc set. Predator is one of my favorite movies and it contained a free ticket for the new Alien vs. Predator movie. So I suppose I have no excuse not to see it.

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I've been real negligent lately in blogging...I still haven't told you about Boston, I didn't update Joe's condition (he'll be OK), and I didn't tell you any of the stories I promised I would. But there's no time for any of that. My buddy Dylan just suggested we go to Philadelphia for the weekend, and I'm inclined to say yes. So we're going. Catch you next week!

Feit...out!

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I am moderately surprised that Rick James was found dead in his home, presumably of natural causes. I think we all know what his epitaph should read:

Cocaine's a hell of a drug.


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You've probably heard all kinds of stoires about "backwards messages" in popular music. Here's a flash site which plays a few songs backwards and tries to make out what's being said.

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Great news! Someone who is clever and funny actually got paid this week. Dave Chappelle is found fame and fortune, signing a deal for two more seasons of his TV show as well as possible movie roles. I was also pleasantly surprised to see his friend Neal Brennan also got paid. Neal does most of his work behind the camera but he obviously contributes a lot to the show.

Congratulations to all. I hope some of that money finds it way to Charlie Murphy.

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This weekend was a disaster. How much of a disaster still remains to be seen. Hopefully all parties involved will turn out OK without any serious mental, physical, or legal ramifications, but as of right now I don't know how fucked up things are.

I can't share any details but I can give you the big picture. I went to my buddy Joe's house on Saturday afternoon. We were hanging out and drinking beers. Somehow everything went straight to hell. Joe became violent and started making a mess. I became frightened and hid in the bathroom. Thankfully, Joe's brother Wayne was at home and somehow got him to calm down. But Joe managed to hurt himself in the process. His head was bleeding and Wayne called the paramedics. I was, in the mean time, totally incoherent and unable to do much. Certainly I was in no condition to drive myself all the way home. So I had to call a friend to come get me, which was no small favor because it's a long drive.

As of now I still don't know much. Last I heard Joe was still in the hospital on Sunday morning, which scares me a little because twelve hours should be more than enough time for someone to recover from a superficial wound. I suppose I should call today and find out what's going on but I'm more than a little scared to hear the news. I'm at home now but my car, keys and wallet are all still at Joe's house. So now I've got to count on another favor to retrieve them, which is inconvenient but nowhere near the inconvenience Joe and his family may have suffered.

I just hope Joe will be OK and then he'll be right here with a comment about his night in the hospital.

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Can you tell the difference between these photos? Make sure your sound is on, you'll need it!

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