family and stuff
Apparently my dad had a heart attack Tuesday night, or some kind of coronary event. I found out about it because he called me this morning (Saturday) to tell me he was home and doing great. So I suppose I should look on the bright side. Sure, nobody in my family up there saw fit to call, but I didn't need to get tracked down as the next of kin. The three stents they put into his arteries ought to help a bit, and he's feeling better than he has in a while, which at 85 is about as good as you can ask for. He had long thought he was going to go before my mom, who was about 8 years younger than him, but she passed in 2001 and he's still ticking along.
Also heard from my brother this week, who just retired from the Army Reserve. He finally got a full-time job with medical benefits, so he could afford to get his scary-high blood pressure under control before having a blowout. Which he might still have -- he's got an abdominal aneurysm that's not _quite_ large enough for surgery, which does not fill me with confidence.
Some stereotypes are true. Old people _do_ talk about thier diseases a lot.
It's not all medical issues, though. I had a hankering to revisit Yes' early catalog. I was a big fan in the 70s, less so in the 80s, then largely subsided to occasional replays of Tales From Topographic Oceans when I wanted a bit of background music, but now I'm having some nostalgia for my prog days. (Yes has aged better than The Alan Parsons Project, which I now find way treacly.) I've even gotten bold enough to play some for my indie-listening wife, who has not scorned me for it.
Anyway, googling around for supplemental material I came across a dead-on cover of Heart of the Sunrise by a band called Dream Theater. I'd never heard of them before, but they're a prog-metal band who've been around since the mid-80s. Prog metal... it's actually a thing, and not just a category I invented for talking about bands like Tool and Soundgarden, and is full of music I had no idea existed. Amazon will be serving me up a heaping helping of CDs over the next few months to further my education. (Yes, CDs; I find them easier to keep track of and more convenient than downloads, and likely will until I get an MP3 player built into the car, since that's where I do nearly all my music listening.)
Ramble, ramble.
Also heard from my brother this week, who just retired from the Army Reserve. He finally got a full-time job with medical benefits, so he could afford to get his scary-high blood pressure under control before having a blowout. Which he might still have -- he's got an abdominal aneurysm that's not _quite_ large enough for surgery, which does not fill me with confidence.
Some stereotypes are true. Old people _do_ talk about thier diseases a lot.
It's not all medical issues, though. I had a hankering to revisit Yes' early catalog. I was a big fan in the 70s, less so in the 80s, then largely subsided to occasional replays of Tales From Topographic Oceans when I wanted a bit of background music, but now I'm having some nostalgia for my prog days. (Yes has aged better than The Alan Parsons Project, which I now find way treacly.) I've even gotten bold enough to play some for my indie-listening wife, who has not scorned me for it.
Anyway, googling around for supplemental material I came across a dead-on cover of Heart of the Sunrise by a band called Dream Theater. I'd never heard of them before, but they're a prog-metal band who've been around since the mid-80s. Prog metal... it's actually a thing, and not just a category I invented for talking about bands like Tool and Soundgarden, and is full of music I had no idea existed. Amazon will be serving me up a heaping helping of CDs over the next few months to further my education. (Yes, CDs; I find them easier to keep track of and more convenient than downloads, and likely will until I get an MP3 player built into the car, since that's where I do nearly all my music listening.)
Ramble, ramble.