I was supposed to be a rocket scientist. 99th percentile this 99th percentile that. You know what? What they were measuring in me was only partly intelligence...what it really boiled down to was that I'm an excellent test taker. Whether that has anything to do with my base intelligence or not, I do not know. I do know that I'm not a rocket scientist.

So true, lamp.

How ironic, your username suggests an aptitude for riding rockets before we put people in them.

Can you sue a newspaper for Gross Stupidity?

The obit for my friend has a whole other first name. A woman's name. It is one of those sort of preliminary obits without much information. The official obit usually comes from the funeral home. Indeed, there is no obit for anyone after Nov 17th on the funeral home site. My friend's son apparently called the funeral home and they said it was the paper's doing. So could the paper go online and yank the WRONG obit until they have the right one? Apparently not.

I know the arrangements are made (visitation Thursday Funeral Friday) so why the eff can't they fix the crap?

What are the words to describe their inability to act? Insensitivity? "don't give a fuck-ness"? Stupidity never before known to man? I mean COME ON. Show some freaking respect for these people.

I'm way pissed off right now.

Oh yeah, and there is no paper on Tuesday in that godforsaken town. But no one can get off their ass and go online and fix what should be an embarrassing error for them.

As far as anyone who isn't part of the grapevine (which we are finding out is actually very far-reaching, people call friends who call friends etc) some woman no one has ever heard of died and services are pending.

Grrrrrrrr.

Well, the funeral home posted the correct obit finally. Seeing his face really brings it home. I know my friend (his sister) won't really be hit with the reality of it until the funeral. I know I'm still in shock. He was so healthy except for his asthma he'd dealt with his whole life, and his only vice was occasional beer.

Sorry monkey.

Thanks Griff. They have it right in the paper now. It just seemed so...disrespectful.

Glad they got it right. Finally.

How's that saying go?
"Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence"

I have that printed out and hung up in my office!!!!!!! Leftover from the days of Jabba the Hutt.

But yeah, I knew it was incompetence. Like my ma says "it's their CRAFT...why are they so bad at it?"

So sorry that happened, Monkey. Sounds like the funeral home might've phoned in the preliminary obit for the newspaper to make such a bad mistake. I worked the obit desk at my local paper after high school graduation, and that's what they sometimes did even with full obits back then. Very risky, especially for something so important to friends and family. :(

Rule one of newspapering is to SPELL THE NAMES CORRECTLY.

Infi, maybe the word you are looking for is incompetence. Or fuckwittery.

Feeling bummed by some misery in my right chest that's kept me from sleeping the past couple nights, made it painful to walk or laugh or pretty much just breathe, and nothing showed on preliminary tests today. I made it through the Annapolis trip on pain meds but can't just keep doing those ... the pain lessened this afternoon and I thought I was on the mend. No such luck, it's back tonight.

I really don't want more tests; I just want this to go away. And while I'm wishing on a star, a little energy would be great, too. Falling asleep while talking to patients in clinic tends to be frowned on. :right:

When you talked about all the things you were going to do during chemo I was wondering if it was over ambitious. I don't have any first hand experience, just listening to those that have gone through it. Don't push too hard, your first priority is to get well.

Such wonderful advice.

As I said, I laid on the couch-----for a year. Please take care of yourself ortho. Please. You won't do anyone any good if you aren't kicking cancer's ass first and foremost. The rest can, and WILL, wait.

You guys are right. At the moment, getting dressed feels over-ambitious. Sitting up in bed ditto. Think I'll fall over sideways and take a nap.