I can't taste my beer...

...or anything else! Actually a few tastes still come through but overall nothing tastes quite right. We went to the Knights of Columbus pancake breakfast at St. Phillips this morning and, had I been blindfolded, I am not sure I would have known what I was eating (no offense to the cooks). Fortunately, coffee tastes pretty good so I can still enjoy my morning jump start. Having the weekend off from radiation is a welcome relief in some ways but with the end in sight I'd just as soon have treatments seven days a week and get it over with that much quicker.

Worked on dissertation data analysis for a few hours yesterday. The preliminary results look pretty interesting but I have a mountain of data entry in front of me. Overall, results appear to be generally consistent with my primary hypothesis but are rich in unanticipated insights as well. What I am attempting to do statistically would have been nightmarish (if not impossible) a decade or so ago (when I "should" have been finishing my so-called appropriate "terminal degree"), even with access to a mainframe computer. Now I can do it all on a desktop (or a even a laptop). Still amazes me.

While I was working on the computer, James was watching Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (hopefully for last time for this year!). When it finished he said he wanted to watch the "cookie movie" but it "wasn't working" -- turns out he had jammed a coaster (which he calls a cookie) into the VCR along with Rudolph! This morning, after an hour or so of minor VCR surgery involving an ice-pick, a blow torch, and an eye bolt I was able to extract Rudolph and the offending cookie so now, for better or worse, videos are again an entertainment option for James.

Lenore went over to Lloyd & Bev LaPlant's in Grand Rapids yesterday and found the violin of her dreams -- early 1800s from France no less -- so now her once prized Canadian Schryer fiddle is on the market (in case anybody is looking and has a big bag of spare change cluttering up their living room). Tonight we are going to a wild game dinner hosted by Betty and Steve Spigarelli -- should be an enjoyable evening. /dps

P.S. By unpopular demand, James is watching Rudolph "one more time" -- and to think we could be watching something important like NFL playoffs! Oh well, back to data entry!