A few rants on life, the universe and everything...

The shingles are still hanging on. Things have improved quite a bit the last couple of days, but I'm still not 100% yet. The worst part is trying to resist the urge to scratch the itchy areas. It's taking quite a lot of willpower, plus the fact that I know I'll be worse off if I scratch it. Still driving me crazy, though.

Looks like the big rumored Red Sox trade is more fiction than fact. To refresh your memory, the trade involved sending Nomar to Anaheim, David Eckstein and prospects from the Angels to Texas and Alex Rodriguez from the Rangers to the Sox. I can't see how the Sox could possibly take on A-Rod's contract without getting rid of Manny's. As much as I'd love to see Rodriguez in a Sox uniform, I can't see it happening.

Can someone explain to me what the big attraction is to the Olive Garden restaurant in Framingham? The place is always crowded. The parking lot seems to be full even well before dinner hour or late in the evening. The food is decent, but it's not THAT good. I just don't get it.

Veterans Day made me think a lot about our troops in Iraq. Does the Bush Administration have an exit plan to get these people out of there sometime in the reasonably near future? I have a bad feeling that the U.S. is going to be in Iraq for a long time to come. God bless those men and women, and all our veterans everywhere, for doing a difficult job and serving our country with honor.

A. has been volunteering in J.'s kindergarten class. It astonishes me how many parents of his classmates don't take an active role in their children's education. The teacher sends materials home in a folder nearly every day and she says that several of them are never touched. Some of these kids are never read to. Now, I know lots of people are spending lots of hours trying to make ends meet, but I can't believe that they can't find 15 minutes to read to their kids at bedtime.