Madgirl Travels

I have gallstones (but if you read Mommy Grows Up, then you already knew that) and I have to have my gall bladder removed. The procedure is much simpler than it was when Pop had his out in 1988 (interestingly the first year they started laparoscopic gall bladder surgery), but, it's still surgery.

I "go in" next week - it's an outpatient procedure and I should be "all better" a week or two after.

I'm a little in shock; I really thought that it would be something that I'd be able to control through diet, but the surgeon was very clear, it comes out now, or it comes out later, and if you wait until later, you can get very sick in the meantime. So I guess now is okay.

I love this dog! I may have to knit him a sweater or something!

As I'm sure you know - the true love of my life was my dog, Stefan - okay, okay, yes, he was named after Stefan Edberg (the "un" true love of my life) - I was a kid - what can I say.

Anyway - dear old Stefan (the dog) left us at the ripe old age of 15 back in 2001 (how can it have been that long ago?). I miss him, and get a little more than nostalgic when I see another Yorkie (or similar breed).

But, recently, my uncle got a Yorkie pup - and named him Harley - (okay, okay, yes, he is named after a motorcycle). I got to meet Harley this month - and he reminded me so much of ol' Stefan - it was close to creepy and definitely wonderful! He's the cutest thing - he has the silver coloring on his back, just like our Stefan, and the sweetest face. Stefan too was born in Clearfield County - I'm not sure of Harley's lineage - but it would seem that the two could be related.

We had been at dinner with 21 family members - I took about 20 pictures or so of the group - but I took about 40 of Harley.

Of Stefan Edberg at the French Open. Can you believe that he turned 40 this year? Craziness. Oh, he's the one in the tan pants.

Photo from rolandgarros.com

are just so darned cute - here they are at the carnival riding the "jet skis". Kate rode 10 rides (Amy 9, only because she was too little to go on the Merry Mixer) that night - the girls had a great time, and we adults enjoyed ourselves too!

Kelly lent me the book - I wasn't loving it when i first started reading, but then I had a marathon reading session on Sunday. No biggie, it's too hot right now to move, so reading is a great diversion. Anyway - Kelly has also seen the movie and says that it (the movie) is very different from the book and in some very critical (to the plot) ways.

My favorite character was Christian. Just like one of my favorite literary characters, Henry Crawford, of Mansfield Park, Christian is an annoyance, a fly in the ointment to confuse the protagonist's sensibilities. Sadly, as with poor Henry, there are not many Christian moments, but it was enough to keep me turning the pages.

Can't even like the nice guys in books; huh?

Kafka and I share a birthday (along with Tommy "look at me, I'm crazy" Cruise). So I've always felt even more remiss in that I'd never read any of his stories.

I got a "bargain book" collection of his stories and finally read metamorphosis. I've been feeling not so well lately, and as a result, staying home from work more than I ever have, in my entire life - probably combined. The staying home from work actually worries me more than the feeling poorly bit - but back to the story.

For as icky as I feel - reading that short story made me even worse. I don't know if I was afraid that I too was morphing into a creature or the power of the writing - but I had heart palpitations and my sour stomach turned to plain old sick.

I was amazed by the tale and, in the end, really enjoyed it. I'll have to go back and re-read it once I'm feeling better.

Beerfest - the Movie

click above for the website for Beerfest - the movie. Probably the funniest synopsis I've read in ages - Revenge of the Nerds - with more beer.

With this and Talledega Nights coming out - August is going to be a laugh riot.

As I'm sure you've guessed, I was rooting for France to win the final of the World Cup Championship against Italy. Italy won it on penalty kicks - it was an agonizing but extremely exciting final.

Sunday was quite the sports day as it was also the Men's Final at Wimbledon. Suz and I were perplexed, we wanted to watch the final at our favorite WC06 watering hole (Ludwig's - german restaurant and bar) - and we wanted to get good seats -

The tennis coverage began at 9am - soccer wasn't until 2pm, but to insure choice seats - we had to arrive at the venue well before that. So we decided to go downtown to watch the tennis TOO! Although I wasn't feeling my best - it was a once in four years/lifetime event - so we headed down to Elephant and Castle for breakfast and to watch some Wimby.

We got to see Roger Federer defeat Rafa Nadal - another great match from this duo - to win his 4th straight Wimbledon title.

But now it was time for soccer - We did get great seats to watch the final, and, as luck would have it - we were soon surrounded by other French supporters - we (I) called ourselves the "french quarter" (as most of the other patrons were rooting for Italia) and we sang "Allez les bleus" and "Merci Zizou" - it was a blast.

Sadly the match did not end in France's favor - but it was a memorable experience all the same. We actually ended up going to dinner with our new "best friends" over in Old City at GiGi - for tapas and consolation.