I'M BACK WITH SOME MISCELLANY

It has been a frantic and hectic time recently, so I have not had time to return to the world of blogging. My wife had knee replacement surgery scheduled for February 7. She went to the dentist yesterday with a gum complaint, knowing that you are not allowed to have antibiotics for ninety days after surgery and figuring in advance of the surgery to get this ckeckup out of the way. Much to her dismay, she found she has an infection lodged in there and today must go to an oral surgeon for a root canal---with the result that the knee replacement is temporarily put on hold until a determination is made of the degree of infection and how long the recovery period will be. In a sense, it's a real bummer for her because she was mentally prepared, if still anxious, for the knee surgery. The orthopedic surgeon would not want to take a chance of the infection traveling in her body until he knows more about the gum problem.

Life keeps throwing curve balls at us, and we must learn to adjust and keep swinging. Speaking of curves, I see that pitcher Andy Pettite, one of the real class acts in baseball, is retiring. He is one of the good guys and will be missed. You can be certain the Yankees will open their limitless pocketbook and buy a replacement. Baseball excitement is beginning to buzz around here in the Fort Myers, Florida area with spring training soon to start. The Red Sox and Twins are both here, and exhibition games are usually sold out. Now, I note, the Madoff Ponzi scheme scandal is involving the Mets' owners!

The Super Bowl hype continues unabated, and I will be glad when they stop talking and play...Jerry Jones playing genial host shows the world what an asshole he really is. A 30-second spot on the Super Bowl now costs $3,000,000. It must be worth it, as they stand in line to buy such spots. Careerbuilders.com, I heard, had a 29% spike in revenue and use their Super Bowl spot at other times, as well.

I'll be back at you sooner, I hope!