At Random

At the gym this guy was changing his clothes next to my locker after his workout and shower. "You had a good work out?" - I asked. The man said, "I worked out two hours and sat in the sauna for half hour. I feel great. I will probably die if I did not do it." He appeared a little older than I, but I had no clue. "It's hard work to stay fit. How old are you?" - I asked. "I am seventy eight. My son tells me, Dad, I hope at your age I am in as good a shape as you are." - he said. I had nothing more to say. I whine about being in mid life.

On NPR I listened to a commentary on Cat Power's "The Greatest". It was very positive. It was about how she mixed her sound with soul and Ray Charles type music. I came to know about Chan Marshall's Cat Power songs from my daughter's blog site. I clicked and listened to some of it. Not bad even for me.

At work someone (who is on maternity leave) had a baby girl. This was her first. Everyone was talking about it. The baby weighed 7 lbs and some ounces. The new mother is very petite. She used to pass by my office all the time. I suppose I never noticed it.

For me ESR stands for Engineering Service Request. I thought in medical world it might mean Emergency Service Room. When my wife said that my brother-in-law (husband of my sister-in-law) was having a low-grade fever and that his blood test showed high ESR, I had no clue. I don't deal with medical abbreviations. So, I searched in WebMD. ESR stands for Erythrocyte (red blood cells) Sedimentation Rate. When more blood cells stick together, the sedimentation rate increases. It can happen because of many reasons. Live and learn!

An email came a few days ago from Tammy (our daughter's friend, she calls me uncle) from somewhere in Africa. On her way to Tanzania she stopped in Arusha for a few days. She and her friend sat in on the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. They witnessed a court trial of four ministers that helped initiate the genocide in 1994. She stated that it was surreal to be watching men that could have done such a thing. I need to respond to her email.

Events in life are like random numbers or restless electrons. It happens everyday.