April 5, 2004
My son Thomas is studying in Spain and when school’s out he wants to travel to Morocco and to Egypt. Of course his parents are worried to death about him, but they mask this fear with attempts at lame humor and metaphors about college basketball. Here’s a recent e-mail from dad:

“Choices. That's what it is. I hear you say that you are choosing to live, and for that I commend you. Just don't come crying to dad if you get killed over there.

“And speaking of choices, Lute Olson had to pick between several all-American point guards last year and he chose to go with Chris Rogers, Shakur and Salim Stoudamire. One guy who saw the handwriting on the wall, was poor Will Bynum. He knew he would get piddly playing time, so he regretfully left the team, got a scholarship at a lowly school in the south and started over.

“Last night, with 1.5 seconds left in a final four game, Will Bynum scored on a layup to help Georgia Tech beat favored Oklahoma State to advance to the title game. It is the first time the school has ever been there.

“Chris Rogers, Shakur and Salim Stoudamire watched the game on tv. End of sermon.”

Meanwhile, yesterday’s posting on the Exits drew this clarification from bandmate Charlie Waters:

“The song could have been ‘Surf Beat’ because it certainly does have a sax part in it. In fact, for those days, it was a wailing sax part. Call me and I will hum it for you.”

Charlie is right. And as regards the drum riser, that elicited this response from musician Emma Bull:

“In my experience of drummers, which is not insignificant, they're the last members of the band who ought to be allowed to mess around on tall surfaces. Never mind potential damage to themselves; if they're five feet above the rest of the band, when they knock over the cymbal stand the guitar player gets decapitated by a Zildjian. Not pretty. It'd be a memorable show, though.”

Went to the dentist at three and got a partial planing of the upper right quadrant. Not pretty. Tons of novocaine (I’m typing with a puffy mouth).

Sent off a big proposal to Northfield today. We are all excited about the potential.

"Fly on the damn plane! Calculate the odds of being harmed by terrorists. It's still about as likely as being swept out to sea by a tidal wave."
—John McCain, in his book Why Courage Matters