We have kind of an aural household. As in, there’s lots of sound most of the time. It’s live radio, streaming radio, or the squawking of Beth’s computer. It’s Siri on Beth’s iPhone reporting her blood sugar levels, or the time of day, or the current temperature and weather forecast. I guess that’s predictable given […]

This week I learned that one of the 16 identified victims of the Surfside collapse was only 26 years old. From the Miami Herald: Luis Bermúdez, a 26-year-old man from Puerto Rico and 7th floor resident of Champlain Towers South, was killed in the collapse, according to family members who announced his death on social […]

We visited some friends in Urbana the week before last—at some point, as we talked about our home town and its problems, one asked, “Do you know people who have actually moved away?” We do. One couple left after the second round of looting last summer. Two other couples probably were on their way out […]

Today I went in for my annual chest MRI. It’s annual because way back when I was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation. When I was scheduled for a procedure called an ablation, pre-procedure imaging showed that my aorta was on the large size. My cardiologist said it might be nothing—I might just be a big-aorta guy. […]

This past Friday, Chicago dropped most of the pandemic restrictions. We still are required to wear masks on public transportation (something I think I may do forever) and in certain other circumstances like schools, medical facilities, etc. (All of this relaxation applies only to vaccinated people—how we can tell who’s whom, I don’t know.) Also […]