UConn James

We’re taking my little boy to the Rainbow Bridge this evening. Tuft’s vet ER last night said based on history, examinations that it is highly likely a brain tumor and it’s reached end stage. I’ve been a wreck. This is a pre-publishing version of my write-up post to FB to announce it, tho I have told several close friends and fam: Our house has lost its joyful heart and wagging tail. This evening, a day and two months shy of 14 years old, Ruff Ruffman passed over the Rainbow Bridge to meet Sara, Mack, Sammy, his girlfriend from across the street, Elsie, and into the waiting arms of his Nana who was always generous with love, treats & cookies. We tried a few different Rx medications as ‘throwing the gun’ in movie parlance and a trip to Tuft’s yesterday evening where they said because of the progression abdominal their examination, it’s most likely a brain tumor. He has had a rapid decline in neurological condition since my post last month and it has been painful to watch as his body betrayed him…. It’s as if the neuro symptoms stole Ruff’s black & white fur coat and were wobbling, stumbling, and falling around, pretending to be him, belied by that unique Ruff spark missing from his eyes & spirit. This is the decision every dog parent never wants to have to make. You worry that you’ve made the wrong choice for your best friend but you simultaneously know it was the right choice to give them dignity, peace, and relief. It is downright cruel how short their lifespan is compared to ours; if there is a God, he has a lot of explaining to do. This is going to wreck me, just as losing our previous pups did. I was so lucky to have this little boy brought to me in spring 2010 two years after losing my grandfather and Sammy in the same week. I didn’t want another for two years after and those were the saddest and emptiest two years of my life. Speaking as someone who is autistic… the companionship that comes with having a pet is hard to overstate in its importance of social value, connection with another being in a deeper & more trusted way than with other humans, comfort, and keeping me in a routine / getting me up and going through a day. German shorthaired pointers are a unique breed, high-strung, always need to be 1/4 mile ahead working in the field or by pulling on a leash (I tried ‘bout everything to keep him from near pulling arms out of sockets), always on the lookout for birds and posing with raised front paw and straight tail when they see anything with a heartbeat. The inquisitive head tilts, the 50-a-day full-body shake-outs, the endless running around the yard. Ruff had a rough start at 1 year of age when we were attacked and bitten by two dogs while we were walking home on a neighborhood dirt road. He was never really good / at ease with many dogs afterward and missed out on the joy of that kind of play. Losing him means another link to my mum is now gone — how he lay with her after treatments and on her last night and let out an uncharacteristic howl immediately after she passed as if he knew or saw something at another plane than we experience. We have dearly missed our ice cream walks to the corner store with my niece Madeline, who was always his favorite person and with whom he was so gentle; when going to Jerry’s house, he would always first race to her room hoping she would be there, instead of ripped away by 8 years of stall tactics by lawyers, family courts, and alienation. I will miss so many little things. I will miss making an extra egg in the morning to feed him at the table. I will miss cuddling with him on the sofa and bed; he was a first rate snuggler and on cold nights was a portable cordless heater. He was so loved and was so loving. I was so lucky to have him with me. Uncle Duff gave us a small ceramic plate that still hangs over the fireplace that reads, “Heaven is where you meet all the dogs you ever loved.” I hope so and I hope Ruff is first in that line. My beautiful boy. And not just a good boy — the best boy there is.

Going through vision and neurological issues leading to intermittent mobility problems with our almost 14 year old GSP right now. Decisions may be looming before too too long and I need to give him his dignity and don’t want him in any amount of pain. We've had several previously and it’s always been hard. Losing the last one in 2008 was very difficult for me, a week after losing my maternal grandfather in WNY. I told myself didn’t want another and it went that way for maybe the saddest two years of my life. I’m on the autism spectrum and don’t have many friends and my dogs have always been my companions and I’m sure that losing my current buddy is going to wreck me.

Is it possible to be shocked and not surprised at the same time? He was heading down the wrong road for quite awhile, and the bizarre memoir in the past year and some resulting problems were signs of a guy who was not well.

I learned how to use the sewing machine from a retired neighbor lady, and have done several switches for myself and friends for Bills and baseball jerseys. Ordered the numbers / names on eBay from a guy who uses laser / Cricut. Use seam ripper on old name, iron on the adhesive-backed twill, and then sew with a zig-zag stitch VVVVV to permanently affix.

Only time I saw him today was the Progressive commercial with Steph and the gold suits. We’re saving Von for the playoffs but we’re not gonna *make* the playoffs. May not be THE worst ever signing by the team but should definitely be involved in the discussion.

Pats* are wearing their silver / gray (Nike doesn’t do pants with metallic sheen 👎) tomorrow. They’ve worn them once since the slight uni change, which was a loss to Chicago last season.

Hussey’s crew:

I’ve done a lot of antenna stuff for myself and family / friends who cord-cut and went to streamers & OTA for locals. Pointing between the towers doesn’t do it, especially if it’s labeled as a yagi, that typically have a quite narrow beam, like 2-3*… at least for my much bigger XG91 yagi that I use to pull in Boston at ~58 miles away which is near the maximum for antennas due to earth’s curvature… besides the odd & brief times when tropospheric ducting does weird things. I like the Antennas Direct db_e series, with the blank being either the 2, 4, or 8 bay “bow-ties”. Great signal strength in every case I used ‘em with a beam of about 15* and a solid build unlike most of the cheapo antennas. In your situation Jack, the db2e would likely be fine. If going to multiple tvs in your place once coax enters the house, use a powered distribution amplifier rather than a splitter which roughly halves your signal strength.

Deepest condolences, Chef.

According to some reports I saw his Angels teammates smashed something he left behind. Like a cup or a mug iirc?

I don’t even watch pre-game shows anymore. It’s just a waste of time.

Can I just ask… what the heck is with Torrence stabbing / tomahawk chopping the air a second before the snap? That is incredibly annoying to see on-screen and had me worried about false starts through the game… but… it’s allowed? Didn’t notice that in the preseason games. It kinda gives away the snap count.

Merry Natal Anniversary, Scott!

Short term requires the guy to have made the final 53 on paper, after which the team IRs him and can sign someone else. IRing him before means he’s out for the season or if given an injury settlement he can sign with another team but not the Bills.

Like Christian Wade, the English rugby player we received an additional spot for during preseason a couple-few years ago. He had some really great runs… and then… never heard from again during the season.

Wow. It helps the historic drought situation of the last decade+ I imagine but it happening feast-or-famine is always terrible.

Just looked it up… Bill Dwyer was in the Penn. State House and had been found guilty a few months prior of a bunch of racketeering, bribery, perjury, conspiracy charges about taking money to award a contract to an auditing firm in California. He was to be sentenced the next day. Some say that the hounding of the press drove him to it, but 🤷🏻‍♂️. That was a lengthy sentence coming his way and his life was basically over so he probably would’ve have done it anyway, but maybe in a different, private way. News can’t / shouldn’t let a guy off easy there’s a chance of whatever. But if it hadn’t happened how he did so publicly, I imagine the coverage would have been quite different.

In J-school, the ethics of reporting on it was that public suicides like this are fair game for coverage… bc quite a lot of people saw it. The case study then was the government official accused of embezzlement in Philly iirc who called a news conference and shot himself in the head on air at the podium. To not mention it at all is a whitewash to something that happened so publicly. That they published graphic description and so many photos including a lot of the sheet-draped remains? Yeah, that is *quite* tough to defend… but I’m also betting the story got a lot of clicks for the same reason people slow down and look over at accident scenes #rubbernecking. Suicide where it was done privately is generally not reported unless the person was a public figure, and even then is not accompanied by scene photos… but for some true rags like NYP it may have less to do with decency and more that they don’t have access to the scene.

You do know they’re printing organs in labs *now*, right? It’s going to take time before it’s a routine thing to replace a heart but surely not 50K years. Maybe 100, and that’s with massive-profit insurance companies & the slowness of public health guideline changes blocking the way.

There was a guy whose autopilot Tesla got into an accident because he went to sleep. He thought the car would be able to do everything. I don’t remember if he died. The thing with this technology is that it is / will be there as the basis / primary system but it still requires & will likely always require a human to be behind the wheel supervising it and making corrections and decisions that AI isn’t / might not be quite programmed to do. Detour, road washed out, debris, accidents, animals in the road, etc. It’s a long way off from what they call the “Level 5” self-driving.

My uncle (a Marine ‘Nam vet) hanged Stern out of a window by his shirt collar when he was in Hartford in the ‘80s(?). It was at an office party or something, my aunt worked at the station and Stern said something to really p— him off.

Bipolar runs in the family a bit on my mum’s side, and my mum was in and out of treatment for it when I was very young, and my oldest brother and, from the sounds of it, his son (11) have it. (Autism — which I have) & schizophrenia also are cluster diagnoses that run alongside with bipolar in heredity.) He hit on good drug treatment for it and they’re looking into for my nephew with aggression and a lot of sleep issues. Thanks for some insight. BTW, diabetes also runs on my mum’s side, and my brother’s numbers were up, and he started Ozempic awhile back and it’s been terrific for him. A1c is down into the 5s, and he’s lost 50 pounds so far; doc says he’s the poster person for it.

On the FB page of Bobby Trosset: Full piece: https://tinyurl.com/2s44vrt7 That was back pre-Internet and 24/7 media with space to fill. Hopefully Angelos continues to feel the heat on his BS.

I believe I saw a headline that said a Yankees announcer also laid in on O’s front office. Broadcasters have to stick up for their own lest other or their own ownership tries to put the screws to them and the job just becomes happy-face jingoism or else you’re canned.