First Week in April 2010

The week after Easter 2009, yep, that's when it all went to pieces last year. So this is an anniversary of sorts. I took 40 days off from dancing and Facebook and refocused. It was incredibly beneficial to take the break, although I did not enjoy it at the time. Somethings have changed quite a bit. I lost 25 pounds and for the first time in my life an exercise program stuck and worked. I am much more confident, and for the first time in recent years, I am ambitious, and looking to complete projects, not just start them. Other issues are still lingering, particularly wrangling my money under control, and still looking to keep my self-esteem to be centered in my relationship with God, not in whether people like me or not ... however, both are vastly improved from this time last year.

In other news, this is my first 'weekly' blog post that does not include pictures, weird.

Monday morning I woke up and went to work as sick as I can ever remember doing so. Eventually, my migraine meds kicked in and I felt better, but I really wanted to go home at one point. I ended up canceling my guitar lesson, and instead I laid on the couch and watched Troy play video games, until the last few minutes of the NCAA men's national championship basketball game.

I asked Troy to flip over to it and with Merinda, we watched the end of the game. It turned out to be really compelling viewing, and was still not completely decided until after time expired. With Duke winning, I became the winner of Kaleb's pool. I now have bragging rights for fantasy football and the NCAA pool.

Tuesday I had lunch with CJ and Troy. Troy is now working down not too far away from me, CJ too, we'll be having lots of lunches, hopefully. Tuesday evening was dance practice, and we had ten people there! Yay! Wednesday and Thursday evenings, I basically stayed at home and did nothing memorable. It was a nice break.

Friday at work I tried to be a tech geek, and I watched a little bit of the Masters golf tournament on my iPhone. The picture quality was better than I thought it would be, but it wasn't that watchable, it's just too small to keep attention on it.

Friday night I predictably went dancing. I had my camera, but I didn't take any pictures. I probably talked more than I usually do, rather than dance. I had a funny moment dancing with a person (who will remain nameless) who indicated that the strong, silent dancing type would be more appreciated. I guess I was talking too much. I'm cursed to be the guy who likes to talk.

On Saturday, Troy and I started the day off by taking a trip to Hy-Vee for lunch, and then over to Best Buy. When we came home I started off my game of Final Fantasy 13. Maeg is insisting I'll hate it, but I think I'll let it play out first. I read a few reviews on it, and they varied wildly, I guess I'll have to make up my mind for myself.

Later on Mae, Frank, and I went to eat at Old Chicago. Our server seemed a little on the unsure side, Mae and I can be pretty outgoing and enthusiastic at times. Fortunately Frank showed up and calmed everyone down. We ordered our food and had a great time. After a side trip to Hy-Vee, where we didn't get thrown out, eventually, we ended up back at the house and sat around the table and talked.

Sunday began the big project. Remember last week, I wrote

After Mass one of us came up with doing a tour of the all the churches in Omaha. Ha ha ... expect remember the last time something like was said offhandedly. I ended up walking most of the NRD trails. I think Brianne is all in, Joe seems like he'll go along, and I think more news will be coming on this little project.

Yeah, well it's underway. We had kind of a soft launch, just myself, Brianne, and Frank. But there are plans, big plans. We have a group blog. A link to it is over in my project area. We're calling it Mass Chaos, and we're going to try to get interviewed by the Catholic Voice, the local Catholic newspaper. It's not a big deal (yet), but it's the biggest deal I've been part of in a good long time, if ever. Here is my contribution to this weeks visit, Saint Bridget in South Omaha. Before church we had breakfast at IHOP, yes, this means I was up at a very reasonable hour on a Sunday morning.

Later in the afternoon, I went golfing with CJ at Dodge Park in Council Bluffs. It's officially called Dodge Riverside or something like that. I like it. The problem with the course is that in the summer, it gets really buggy. I hit a bunch of greens in regulation, and zero fairways. Good: one great sand shot, a mostly amazing save from under a tree on 18. Bad: I managed to miss a six foot putt for birdie and go over the green on 8 so badly it made a save impossible. Final score: 79.

And that was it for this week. I really want to get the camera out and go on a shoot.

Holy Week 2010 v2

So, I didn't even come close to making my Lenten sacrifice. Nor did I do well on the 'take on' exercise portion. I feel very humbled by the experience, yet also quite resolved ... I think I will try to juggle my priorities, and instead of focusing on what I don't want to do, I will be focusing on what I want to accomplish. It wasn't a 100% loss, I want to stop drinking so much soda, and I have started on a better plan, and I've been able to change some things that let me sleep much better.

Monday after work I got a text from Shannon that she was at the park with the kids, the park wasn't far away, and the weather was really nice, so I went and did swings, sliding, rolling around on the ground, and tree climbing for what seemed like a very long time, but was only about an hour.

Kamber climbs a tree! After which she posted "I just climbed my first tree and got scraped up ... but life a climb you don't know where it is going to take you ... you might get a few cuts and scrapes on the way but there are always reasons for it."


I think they killed me. Photo credit: Shannon


Does this slide make my butt look fat? Photo credit: Shannon

After the park I sped home ... I mean drove home at the legal speed limit in a safe manner ... cleaned up and went to my guitar lesson. It wasn't horrible, but it was obvious that I had not been practicing in my long absence. Oh well. This week being busy with Holy week will probably not make me a guitar teacher favorite again. On a non-motivational / time note. The last knuckle on my left ring finger is not enjoying the practice time. I hope it doesn't take too long to strengthen it up.

I did some late night cooking when I got home. Plain mac and cheese, well I added black pepper and extra cheese.

Tuesday night Joe and I went to a Penance / Reconciliation Mass with Joe. We went to Saint Bernadette, which may end up as 'our' home church. It was nice enough, and going to confession was definitely good. The priest suggested coming to confession more often, and it's really hard to argue the point. I feel so much better when I go, I feel free. Afterwards Joe and I went to Buffalo Wild Wings. We ate a bunch of wings, Joe whooped my butt at trivia, and we compared notes, and laughed and laughed. Who knew confession would be so funny?

Wednesday was a quiet night at home. I am going to attempt to make this a habit. Wednesday night being a home night. I think I need more of those.

Thursday after work I drove straight up to Saint Margaret-Mary for Holy Thursday Mass, I met Brianne, Joe, and Jen there. Last time I went to Margaret-Mary for Mass was probably in 2004, and it was a visit with the senior delegation. This Mass was much different, I might have been on the old side of average. The odd part of this Thursday Mass was there was no feet washing - ??? - it doesn't have the cultural impact in our day and time that it would have had when Jesus washed the feet of His disciples, but, still, let's not let go of this tradition quite yet. However, I left church absolutely elated.

After Mass one of us came up with doing a tour of the all the churches in Omaha. Ha ha ... expect remember the last time something like was said offhandedly. I ended up walking most of the NRD trails. I think Brianne is all in, Joe seems like he'll go along, and I think more news will be coming on this little project.

After Mass I headed over to game night at Kaleb's. Yep, I didn't play any games. Maybe I should just call it social night. We did play ping pong, but it wasn't really a keep score kind of thing, more of try to kill each other with a ping pong ball kind of thing.

Friday was a half day in compensation for being on call, go me and time off! I had planned on going to church at 1500, but the weather took a turn for the nice (if not windy), so I decided to go golfing. I went to Eagle Hills, got right out, and thought it was going to be a good day when I sunk a 40 footer on the second hole for birdie. Things did not go badly, just not well. I ended up with a 84 (42/42) that had a few mulligans in it. I really didn't chip well, and I spent a whole bunch of time in the sand (eight strokes), but everything else went okay. I was happy because I closed out the round with five straight pars.

I went dancing on Friday night. Jillian was in from New York, but not for any pleasant reason. Still, she came dancing and it was good to see her, and to dance with her. I got six pictures, but I didn't have my SD card in my camera, thus limiting quantity and quality.

Saturday I was really worn out, maybe all the dancing, golf, walking, and fresh air caused issues. I slept more or less until 1130, and then went and met Jillian at Alvarado's in Council Bluffs. We talked about food, friends, and people. She's a good listen. We then headed over to the zoo for some walking.

Dead flowers on a plant after a long winter probably don't bode well for the plant, but it makes for an interesting picture.


This was a lot of work to get this picture. Photography is not for the dignified.


That's a pretty good trick

I was pretty darn happy with the pictures that came out of my camera. The adventure pointed out something, I overdid it on Friday. Golf in the sun, and the dry, windy air, plus a whole lot of dancing equaled very worn out Eric. I got home from the zoo and promptly took a nap.

When I finally awoke, I went and picked up Joe to go to Saint James for the Easter Vigil. What an absolutely gorgeous church, although it is nondescript on the outside, it is amazing inside. That is as close to agoraphobic as I have been inside a building ever. It's Brianne's home church, and she was in the choir. The Mass was wonderful, I very moved, to the point of tears, at a couple times, most notably during to the Litany of Saints ... I can't really say why, but it's nice to know that the heroes of the church are on our side. It was a beautiful service, and I only commented to Joe once about the length.

Brianne's husband, Andy, is the drummer there and helped to make the music pretty amazing. After the service, I met a load of Brianne and Andy's relatives and friends. It was such an enjoyable time that I hardly even noticed that it was 2315 before we left out of there.

When I got home the living room was filled with people, and we sat and watched Troy play Borderlands for a couple of hours. I don't know what it is, but I don't get much motion sickness watching that game, it could be the 'cartoonish' renderings.

Sunday I slept in until 1145, so I didn't make it to church. But I did make it out to golf. CJ and I met and played Tregaron. I shot a 81, but it was an odd 44/37 eighty-one. The 44 might not have been that good, and the 37 might not have been that bad. The bad news, I was in the sand again five times, I three putted five greens. The good news, I made thirteen greens in regulation, and I mostly struck the ball well.

That was pretty much it for my week. Next week: It's been one year.

Fourth Week in March 2010

Monday I really got back on the exercise wagon. I was sore pretty much the rest of the week, but it felt good to start to be active again.

Tuesday we had dance practice after work and started to work on the different way that they are teaching Lindy Hop now as opposed to the way I learned it. I think my personal light bulb went on after trying out the new way with Brianne. The whole thing really points out how much I suck as a (real) dancer (not as a social dancer), counting is hard and making your feet do what you want them to do is even harder. I like the style of Lindy Hop I learned, but I certainly think the new way it is being taught can look more interesting from afar.

Merinda believes follows should follow regardless of the style. I'm of two minds to that, but I certainly understand what she is saying. Yes, follows should follow, but Lindy-Hop is hard enough to begin with. Although we're speaking the same language, but the dialects are different enough to allow potential for misunderstanding. A great dance is full of give and take, and quite frankly, I don't dance with a lot of follows who know how or when to hijack the dance appropriately. Merinda will, particularly if she thinks I'm not paying attention. Maeg does too, although in a different way. Follows ... let's dance, not together, but as one.

Wednesday was really busy for on call. Mostly because one of my coworkers kept butt dialing the on call phone. Thursday was even busier, but it didn't have anything to do with butt dialing. I think it is amazing I have coworkers in Mexico City, Shanghai, and Brisbane and I just talk to them like it's no big deal. The delay from light speed in speaking to people in Australia should be right around the threshold for people to be able to detect, somewhere between 1/5th and 1/7th of a second (roundtrip with electronic delays). I can never pick it up, it seems like a normal conversation to me.

Friday I didn't dance. I stayed home and did nothing. I went to Hy-Vee at lunch, does that count for interesting?

Saturday was all over the place.

Troy and Merinda had to put down Cleo. Cleo mostly hated me, at least until Troy and Merinda went on vacation and I was the one feeding her ... then I was the best person ever. She developed a tumor, and it finally got bad enough that she wasn't able to eat. Merinda thought for about a week that something was wrong, and she took her into the vet on Saturday and she never came back home. I will miss her.

Katie, Laramie, meet Cleo. Show her the way around kitty heaven, let her eat whatever she wants. We'll all see you soon enough. Photo credit: Maeg

I got out and walked, over a mile later in the day, at kind of a breakneck pace ... I guess I'm making up for lost time. Insert token complaint about this past winter.

Later in the evening, Merinda asked that people come over for games and socialization. CJ, Maeg, Ben, and I played Arkham Horror and then more than a few games of Zombie Fluxx. It was kind of a late evening. Merinda held herself together much better than I would have. I appreciate the wisdom she has surrounding herself with friends when something bad happens.

Sunday morning I managed to get out and get to church for Palm Sunday Mass. I love the Passion Play. I like that the congregation plays the part of the crowd, "Crucify Him, crucify Him" we shout, there can be little denial that we would somehow have acted differently. I feel for Peter when the rooster crows and he is left with nothing but his own bitterness. Jesus, fully human, understanding completely the pain he is about to be put through, but still, He follows the will of His Father, and brings us with Him to heaven.

After church I went over to The Game Shoppe (trip #1), as I walked around, I noticed about 25 to 30 men in the store playing games (along with two women). All of these men were ignoring the beautiful woman who was working the counter. I wonder if she ever gets a complex? Now we all know what's up with game geeks, we can be pretty focused on what we are doing, after all, someone has to save the universe in an epic way.

Later in the afternoon, basically the same group from Saturday night went out to eat at China Buffet, and stop me if you've heard this one before, I ate too much. The group kind of split after that, Maeg, Ben, and I came back to the house, Troy, Merinda, Frank, and Joe went to see Hot Tub Time Machine. The three of us went to The Game Shoppe (trip #2) for the said reason of getting Maeg some dice. Ben got the dice, and Maeg bought Martian Fluxx. Which we played for a couple hours until Maeg and I got our camera geekery on.

Nothing to worry about neighbors, if you look closely, you'll see the camera is pointing up the sky ... and Ben is pointing towards the ground.


Anyone who has listened to me whine about my camera's inability to take THIS photo will be happy to know it's figured out now. Maeg gave me the clues.


Zeke showing catdoms usual disdain for human endeavors. Photo credit: Maeg

Yeah, well I took more pictures, mostly of sky, the red dot is Mars, not a really accurate picture, but it kind of came out cool. Maeg took a bunch of pictures too, but only one of the moon made it into the set, what's up with that?

In other news. I am alive in the tourney pool. My highly scientific bracket selection process that involves historical seed data, the Sagarin Index, and percentile dice gave me a final four of Duke, Kansas, Kansas State, and Kentucky. Well my brackets worked out about as well as everyone elses did. That's the bad news, the good news is I am still alive in the pool! If Duke wins out, I am the winner. If Duke has just one more win, CJ wins.

Thanks to my brother David for pointing this out: My brother Carl is the winner of the 2010 Walt Whitman Award, for really really good poetry. Congratulations!

Next week: Holy Week, Batman!

Third Week in March 2010

So, what is redemption? Since I am writing about it, I am tempted to access a dictionary and provide a textbook answer. However, that is really not what I am looking for, I am talking about myself, and what it means to me. I think redemption is the process by which you go from have 'mean spirited' or 'selfish' personality traits to having 'redeeming' ones instead, clever, huh? When you wrong someone, badly, frequently the only thing you can do is to change your own life to become a better person in an attempt to make amends. Several of my friends are willing to give credit to me for achieving changes via hard work. I am hesitant to take any credit, because quite frankly, I am unsure I've ever wanted to change a thing about myself. Still I've changed, and what's behind the changes? I like to call this process "God".

Even though I've never really wanted to change a thing about me, I've certainly been more than willing to love my Creator. God has taken this love, and taught me that the rest of creation is something that should also be loved. It's not necessarily all about the selfish boy inside me, it's about God and my neighbor too. What is redemption? It is how God turns you into the person you are supposed to be, despite your best efforts to be what you want to be. The good that comes out of me comes out of my relationship with God, I am the Redeemed, and it grants me peace I cannot achieve by my own works.

Number of the week: 107. That's how many days we went in the Omaha area between days with the high temperature above 50F, December 1 to March 17. I did some checking, and over the last five years, the second longest such streak was 68 days (Nov 19, 2007 to Jan 28, 2008). This year, between December 5 and March 3 (88 days) there were only two days that the temperature got above 40F. During that 68 days referenced above, there were 14 days where the temperature got above 40F. I wanted to get a longer baseline to compare numbers, but I found it difficult to find the information. When I thought I had found the correct numbers, I was asked to pay $70 for it, and for just a casual 'hobby' type of project, it wasn't worth it. However, why isn't that data of available free of charge? What does it all mean? This winter sucked!

Monday I finally gave up on the two week long migraine, it was bad on Monday, and I called in to work and then set an appointment with Doctor Lorrie. We had a talk about things that had changed recently in my life, new place, new bed, no girlfriend, and giving up pop for Lent. She seemed to think this last thing was the "BINGO!". So my Lenten sacrifice is officially off, although it wasn't going well anyways ... I have more thoughts on this, but they aren't put together quite yet. I ended up with a shot in my backside, which, must have been good, I basically slept for the next 30 hours.

Tuesday was mostly like the end of Monday, spent staring at the inside of my eyelids, finally around 1700 I felt good and got up and going. I ended up going to dinner with Kevin. We talked about girls, technology, girls, dancing, girls, friends, and dancing ... only not so much the technology, dancing, and friends ... it's the only subject we ever talk about. Kevin waited until I ordered, then he ordered the same thing I did! It's a clear violation of man rules.

Wednesday was Saint Patrick's Day. I don't usually go out, I think of it as amateur night, and this year was no exception. I stayed in and was enjoying a quiet evening when I got a text from Merinda saying people were on their way over for games. Pretty soon Ben was there, and Sarah, and Joe, and well, no Merinda. I guess I'm the host! Merinda did show up, as did CJ and Amy. We played Zombie Fluxx in which I made the zombies win two games in a row, it was great fun ... for me ... but then they wanted to switch games. So onto Catch Phrase, played like we always play it, which may or may not be by the real rules, I've never read them. Actually it can't be by the real rules, because we've never kept score. One thing is for certain, there is a lot of laughing, and plenty of inappropriate discussion that cannot be mentioned here.

Thursday night was supposed to be dance practice. It was my idea to mix up the days of the week, but it didn't work, no one was coming, so it got canceled. I ended up going to game night at CJs. We only played one game, it was Tales of the Arabian Nights. I really like this game, but once again play went longer than I could really stay.

Friday this happened at lunch:

Following a tradition ... also following a newer tradition of the car being still when I take the picture.

Friday night was the annual "Rite of Swing" toga party. I'm not a big toga fan, but I'll play along...

I'm not really certain what Rachel is doing, I was too busy grazing.

I took a few more pictures, but it sure seemed I was working more on dancing and keeping my toga in place rather than actually thinking about taking pictures.

After the dance, and dressed in jeans, myself Brianne, Merinda, and eventually Ben went to Village Inn and talked about dancing until 0230. The way they teach Lindy Hop now is different from when I learned five years ago, and this certainly explains why I have so much trouble dancing with certain people, we're not doing the same dance. Styles change, deal with it, but it certainly would have been nice to be told that the styles were changing, I might have been tempted to take a couple classes in the new style, now I'm more determined to learn it on my own ... well with help.

After the late night, Saturday I slept in and bummed around pretty much all day. I ended up going out to dinner with Shannon, Rachel, and all the littles. We went to a Chinese place near 114th and Dodge. The management/owners were very patient with all the littles (not the bigs, of course) making noise and crawling around ... mostly on me. It was a very good time.

After this I headed over to Kaleb's for game night. It seems like game night is becoming more about socializing and less about games. That's okay with me, although some games would be a nice change. We played two games of Lupus in Tabula, and that was it. There was a classic moment in the game when the game was down to Kaleb, his sister Sara, and his girlfriend Merriam. Merriam and Sara accused each other, and Kaleb had to decide which was the werewolf. He chose correctly, but it was fun. There was a couple hours of Ping Pong, which I don't remember being such a contact sport. Then we played Rock Band, oddly enough, the only instrument I didn't play was bass, and that's my usual. Kaleb started Dragon Age, and we noticed that it was 0230, and the party then broke up.

Sunday I had lunch at Fatburger with Troy, CJ, and CJ's mom, Peggy. Troy likes Fatburger. I was not so impressed, although I didn't have a burger, I had a chicken sandwich.

In the afternoon I did something I hadn't done since November 29th. I went for a walk, outside! Boy that felt good. I was so excited to get going that I forgot my iPod, and just went. It was only 0.8 miles, but I'll take it!

Troy and I went out to dinner too. We ate at Imperial Palace. One of their TVs had soccer on it (must have wanted customers to sleep), and the other had 1000 Worst Ways to Die (must have wanted customers to throw up). I had the Orange Chicken, I like theirs because it is usually spicy hot. Merinda managed to nap all the way through us having dinner.

Troy left for Des Moines, and I started to play the original Mass Effect, which is how I spent my evening.

Next week, all the excitement of a Tuesday evening in Blackduck, MN in the middle of the last ice age. Yep, you guessed it, I'm on call.

Second Week in March 2010

Monday morning, and I'm still sick with the migraine that I said started last week. Grrr. I didn't really get up until 1400. In order to entertain myself, I watched the first season of Big O. I started season two, but I was too tired to stay awake. I obviously skipped my guitar lesson.

Tuesday I felt much better, but not over it completely. After work we did the dance practice thing again. This time we concentrated on swing outs, I guess I can triple step in practice, but it gets lost during social dancing. Sigh. Frank said I was a "solid" dancer except for that one thing. Double sigh.

Wednesday was food day at work, and I ate WAY too much. I have seven plates of food during the day. Unsurprisingly, I was not hungry when I got home. The odd, almost related, part of this story is that I felt that I have been gaining weight over the last two weeks, because I have been eating like mad, not feeling satisfied with my meals until I felt bloated, and not being active. I got on the scale at work and 174 ... huh? Right where I have been for two months.

It has now been a year since I made my last Lenten sacrifice; to give up fried foods. This combined with beginning to exercise in May last year has resulted in, literally, a body changed. Last year at this time I weighed 198 pounds. Forty days of giving up fried foods made me lose my cravings for it, and now, if I can order something other than fries, I do. I'm not a nutrition expert, and I understand that bodies are all different, but eating healthier, eating less, and moderate exercise has made for actual results that are visible. I feel better and feel more confident. This all started by watching Jose eat anything he wants, as much as he wants, any time he wants. I became envious, and it spurred me to action, it's kind of the opposite of 'ends justify the means'.

After work I was determined to do nothing, and so I watched 'Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull'. If you judged it against the first three movies, it probably isn't as good, however, it was quite entertaining. This was part of my plan to do nothing on Wednesday and Thursday. I quite succeeded. Thursday I was in bed by 2100, slept all night, and surprise! I didn't have my annoying several day migraine when I woke up.

Friday after work was the dance, you know, that one dance that happens every Friday that you should be at.

While I was not paying attention to my camera, several pictures appeared on it, I think I know who took them.


Debbie has spent all year complaining that I missed her last birthday jam, well I didn't miss it this year.


Jose is not afraid of jumping into any picture, now if only I can keep my eyes open.

I salvaged more than a couple pictures from the event. Matt put some up too, but you'd have to go searching for them somewhere on his page 4, or so.

Speaking of Matt (that's called a segue), after the dance he and Vivian graciously hosted an after hours pancake party. Thank you. Viv was the chef, and other people brought stuff too. I had a nice visit with Jessica when we went to the store together to search out juice for the party.

Vivian couldn't make 'em fast enough. Photo credit: Matt


Look at how delicious these look ... oh, and don't worry, there was no mischief with the whipped cream


Hi, my name is Cameron ... "Hi Cameron." Photo credit: Matt

Here are my pictures from the Pancake fest. Matt took some too. This particular panorama shot I took came out pretty cool.

Saturday was right back to not feeling well. Grrr! I slept most of the day, but managed to get out when Rachel invited me to Suppers 8 at Shannon's.

Here is what we got fed...


...and here we are enjoying it! Mmmmm!

I had originally planned to go to an event afterwards, but the headache came back again and I went home and went to bed early on a Saturday night.

Sunday more sickness. Ugh, will this ever go away? I didn't really want to get up, but I ended up going out to lunch with Troy to Q'doba. After lunch a curious thing happened, we went to several different stores to find a memory card for an XBox 360 so I could play and be able to move my information around consoles. All three places we went were sold out, so we came home. Troy did some additional research and couldn't find any online, with the exception of the MicroSoft website. What I figure is that they aren't being made any longer, probably because MicroSoft is going to change the configuration of the XBox to not be able to use them any longer. That'll show Datel for suing them.

By 1730 I felt better, so instead of resting, I went to the Prairie Cats / The Grand Marquis show at the Horseshoe Casino in Council Bluffs. I wonder if I should feel bad, I took Ben out for his first night of drinking, and now I went with him for the first time he gambled ... well at least I didn't get him down the road of coffee drinking.

Jose is back in front of the camera!


Kevin and Jessica do the Paso Doble.

As you might be able to guess, there are more pictures of this event. Wait, don't tell you, Matt took some too. Don't forget, Brianne put some up on Facebook, including a priceless one.

Next week: redemption and finally going to the doctor.