More on Da Kine

The news is good. First, from Kin-Shay:

2005-03-16 UPDATE - Courtney just called, she just spoke with CPT Rivera, the military laison to the civilian hospital. Shane is awake and speaking. We are not sure what he is saying, but his nurses described him as a “feisty young man.� CPT R is on his way to the hospital now to visit Shane. More updates to follow…

At first, I was worried Shane might be confused enough to default to one of the other languages he speaks. He'd have a hard time getting water from a nurse if he asked for it in Latin or Romanian... Luckily, Kin Yah Brutha adds some detail in the Soxaholix comments:

hey guys, da kine is out of the drug induced coma two days early and spoke to his wife this morning. he is speaking in complete sentences, but is still a little confused. ever the master of understatement, he said, "i seem to have been in a bit of an accident."

That's our boy!

Luck of the Oirish

Today our building management people set up some fun St. Paddy's Day fare in our lobby. (I know... Wrong day... I guess they have four buildings to entertain... Or something...) So, what yummy treats do you suppose they had for us? Well, I'll tell you!

  • GREEN shamrock cookies with GREEN sugar sprinkled on top!
  • Grapes – because they're GREEN!
  • Honeydew mellon chunks – because they're GREEN!
  • Kiwi bits – because they're GREEN!

That was the extent of the solid foodstuffs, but then there was a coice of beverages, as well:

  • St. Patty's Punch! White grape juice and 7-Up. That'll drive out the snakes! (It's not GREEN, though....)
  • Lime-aid! Because it's GREEN! It's limey! (Hey! That's not Irish!)

Jaysus, Mary, and Joseph it was a sad affair.

As an alternative, I shall be hoisting a Guinness or few (and playing my Songs of Bobby Burns disc — take that, ya bastards!) this Thursday.

If you have some spare good vibes...

Send them Shane's way, please. He was in a very serious accident while serving in Kuwait. Initial signs seem encouraging, but he suffered some nasty injuries.

We love you, brother. Be well.

...

This is purely trivial now, but Shane would be happy if circumstances hadn't interfered: Our BU Ice Dogs made it past Providence tonight and will meet New Hampshire in the Hockey East semis, which will be a single-elimination affair.

More Chris Bourque

As my BU Ice Dogs get ready for Providence in the first round of the Hockey East playoffs, Boston.com gives us a nice feature on our favorite feisty winger, Chris Bourque:Son burst: Once he arrived on scene at BU, it took Bourque no time to excel

Let the record show, too, that it was a certain winger who for years wore No. 8 for the Bruins who most captured the imagination of this Bourque's generation.

"Cam Neely was probably my favorite Bruin," said Chris. "He did everything. He fought. He scored. He killed people, the way he checked and fought. He set up goals and scored some others that were just unbelievable to watch. All in all, I'd say he was the perfect hockey player."

I knew I liked that kid.

Also, congratulations to Chris for his classic quote in response to the various taunts he receives due to his lineage: "I love it. Really, it's wicked funny, and when it's something new, that cracks me up."

Wicked funny...? That's pissah.

So long, Peter the Great

Shit. Forsberg sustains concussion

Swedish star Peter Forsberg was concussed when he was checked into the boards by Peter Nordstrom, disrupting his comeback in the Swedish Elite League playoffs on Thursday.

Forsberg, sidelined for six weeks after breaking a bone in his hand, was cross-checked in the second period while playing for MoDo against Farjestad, which won 5-4 and led the best-of-seven quarterfinal series 3-1. Nordstrom was ejected.

I'll bet this spells retirement for Peter for sure. Damn. There goes this hockey generation's Cam Neely.

(Yes, totally different players and styles, but in terms of talent and ability – pretty much samey-same.)

Wil Wheaton: Slightly less angry at the world

Or at least that's how I think the intrepid Mr. Wheaton comes across in this NYTimes article.

Viewers of tonight's episode of "CSI" may find Walter oddly familiar. Under the Hollywood dirt and scabs, the actor playing a drug-addicted murder suspect may bring to mind a teenage Starfleet officer, or a boy who once sought a corpse. That's because Walter is played by Wil Wheaton, once a wildly successful child actor who these days endures sometimes-painful lulls between gigs - and has, in response, transformed himself into a quirky star of the blogosphere.

Tidbits:

  1. I hate the fact that the term "blogosphere" has made it this far into the public consciousness.
  2. Wil seemed pretty grumpy on the WPT Hollywood Home Game. I wonder if he really is that grouchy, or if he's just that acerbic... Or maybe LeVar Burton just put him off by acting like a pompous ass.
  3. Yeah, Wil's on CSI tonight. I really love that his role got upgraded based on his audition. Good job, Wil!

Uri Gorilla?

Study: Monkeys Do Read Minds

The study is the first to show that monkeys, like humans, not only react to visual information, but also that they can use it to reason about the behavior of others.

The findings suggest that certain human cognition skills are not as rare as once thought. They also indicate that the ability to reason did not evolve in humans. Instead, the brainy trait probably passed down to us from our ape ancestors.

Cheeky semi-psychic bastards!

Actually, this doesn't stike me as all that earth-shattering. I mean, dogs and horses (aka: "Big dogs") can interpret very subtle visual cues, too.

[FYI: Title ref]

Northeast Travel Alert

FYI: The Wife and I are making tentative plans to travel to Boston and Maine towards the end of July. We were hoping to bring along Matt and his lady, but that's not going to work out, sadly. From what I hear, though, there is a possiblity that Hezzy's brother Chris might be able to come along with Auntie Kate.

It's liable to be a bit of a whirlwind tour, but I'd think, if it's at all possible, that we'd need to touch base with any available Corcorans, the Hanh/Van Collective, and possibly Cringe & Co.

Ping us if you're on that list or if you think you unjustly got left off it.

My Millionaire Wife

Hezzy and I often joke that she owes it to me to become rich and famous. It would only be fair payback of the time I supported her while she went to grad school, etc., right? Well, if you believe WIRED, she may be poised to become the next breadwinner in our household after all: Revenge of the Right Brain

To flourish in this age, we'll need to supplement our well-developed high tech abilities with aptitudes that are "high concept" and "high touch." High concept involves the ability to create artistic and emotional beauty, to detect patterns and opportunities, to craft a satisfying narrative, and to come up with inventions the world didn't know it was missing. High touch involves the capacity to empathize, to understand the subtleties of human interaction, to find joy in one's self and to elicit it in others, and to stretch beyond the quotidian in pursuit of purpose and meaning.

The article is adapted from A Whole New Mind: Moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age by Daniel Pink.

Sounds interesting to me. Now if only I could get back in touch with my artistic/poetic self, I might actually be in good shape... ;)