11.17.2006 (02:00:00)

This morning I went to the hospital to get a septoplasty (deviated septum surgery). Of course, this didn't go as planned, and during surgery prep I had a seizure and my heart came very close to stopping again. After freaking out everyone in the hospital for about 20 minutes, they cancelled it pending further tests. Oh bother.

Later in the day I went to the post office to send some packages. The clerk and I talked about the Indian names of the New England towns some were headed to. This turned to talk of our ancestry. After my brief story, he told me his. Only instead of the usual "then my great-great grandfather came to ..." preface, he said "and when my great-great grandfather was BOUGHT and transported to America to be a slave." Really puts things into perspective. That is some crazy bad stuff.

11.30.2006 (11:45:00)

Greetings from Austin, TX. Here on business for the third or fourth time since 2004. I really love it here, despite my general disdain for Texas. I have a nice view from the 10th floor of my hotel too. Six hours after this photo was taken (yes, from a picture-phone), a tornado tried to form overhead. I watched four cars slam into each other on I-35, pool side furniture relocated to the parking garage, wind like I've never witnessed before, and a mostly orange sky at 2am.

In the evening (before the storm), I went to the famous 6th street downtown for food and entertainment. Indeed I experienced both, and was mesmerized by an eccentric street musician playing solo bass, with a visual homage to Bootsy Collins. There is a gigantic homeless community here.

My work here is done, and I fly back to the east coast tomorrow. Late today I started developing a cold. My chest hurts real bad like. There is nothing worse than being sick on a plane. Wait. Snakes would be worse than a cold.