Thursday « Kenny Smith | A remarkable thing happens …

Thursday

The baseball Iron Bowl

Alabama visited Auburn for a three game series, starting tonight. Things did not go well for the Tigers.

Ryan Tella was 1-of-5 with three strike outs:

Tella

Garrett Cooper had one hit in four at bats and struck out once:

Cooper

Between the two they stranded five of Auburn’s eight base runners as Alabama won 6-2.

In the major sports – football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball and baseball – Auburn is now 9-43 against the SEC since the 2012 SEC baseball tournament. I’m keeping count because someone has to.

Other things: Nineteen percent of Alabama are on food stamps.

Then there’s this most depressing lead:

In Hale County, Alabama, 1 in 4 working-age adults is on disability. On the day government checks come in every month, banks stay open late, Main Street fills up with cars, and anybody looking to unload an old TV or armchair has a yard sale.

[…]

As far as the federal government is concerned, you’re disabled if you have a medical condition that makes it impossible to work. In practice, it’s a judgment call made in doctors’ offices and courtrooms around the country. The health problems where there is most latitude for judgment — back pain, mental illness — are among the fastest growing causes of disability.

[…]

In Hale County, there was one guy whose name was mentioned in almost every story about becoming disabled: Dr. Perry Timberlake. I began to wonder if he was the reason so many people in Hale County are on disability. Maybe he was running some sort of disability scam, referring tons of people into the program.

After sitting in the waiting room of his clinic several mornings in a row, I met Dr. Timberlake. It turns out, there is nothing shifty about him. He is a doctor in a very poor place where pretty much every person who comes into his office tells him they are in pain.

“We talk about the pain and what it’s like,” he says. “I always ask them, ‘What grade did you finish?'”

What grade did you finish, of course, is not really a medical question. But Dr. Timberlake believes he needs this information in disability cases because people who have only a high school education aren’t going to be able to get a sit-down job.

It is an enlightening piece, and worth your read.

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21
Mar 13

Just hanging out

One of the better parts of my day. Thought I’d share it, because Allie hasn’t been famous in a while.

But she should be.

(She’s been sitting right there most of the afternoon.)

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14
Mar 13

Anyone have any marshmallows?

Pausing on a quick evening ride:

I saw a fire as I rounded for home. I believe someone was doing a prescribed burn to clear out the underbrush, but there was no one around.

I sit there for a moment or two, looking or waiting for someone to come back to the fire, but no one is around. The occasional car or truck cruises through, slowing down in the smoke and haze, and I’m taking pictures. So, great, someone probably think I started this. I did not.

The sun was just to that point of getting to ready to let go and the world was quiet, except for a little whirling wind over distant crackling. It was as if a great thing had been done, but the environment didn’t know what to do with it. There was a stunned feeling. There was an anticipation.

Love the woods, but not a fan of this fire. Just down this little country road there was a house and in the driveway of that house there was a man who made a big point of waving at me as I went by. In his yard was another small fire. I assume he was taking care of the serious business of the controlled burn. He wave awfully emphatically.

Most importantly, no one stopped me to ask if I did it. i did not.

Atlanta by nightfall, we picked up the in-laws for the weekend. There was a former basketball player waiting at the airport and giggling teens and people who were happy to take their picture with him. There was a family looking for their Marine and a limo driver flagging down clients with names on his iPad. Everyone was walking to the left of everything. It was amazing and awkward at the same time.

Sort of like Segways, which are now appearing at the airport. Because navigating the crowds isn’t challenging enough on most days. Who needs a Segway here? There are already shuttles and a train. There are wheelchairs and carts. I suppose if you’re working there and going back and forth you could use something that moves at slightly faster than walking speed that’d be the way to go.

But I rode 30 miles late today, through fire.

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7
Mar 13

Swimming and diving

At the intramural swim meet, it was the Auburn Master’s, of which The Yankee is a part of, versus all the various fraternities, sororities and any other group that heard there was pool time available.

The Yankee took part in the diving competition and swam in three events. She was a diver in college, so maybe she’s a ringer. She won on the one-meter board:

Not everyone’s dive was as nice or innovative as hers. I have a great unfortunate dive to share later in the week. Here’s the tease: I said to the judges “Give that guy extra credit for volume! You heard the smack! He earned those points!”

She also swam in three races, the 50-free, the 100-free and the 4×200 relay.

She placed fourth in the first two races. She cleaned up in the relay, though, swimming the best time on her team and, perhaps, the entire pool. If she could apply that 50 as an individual race she would have qualified for nationals. Not bad considering she’s been on the swim team for less than a year. She’s pretty fast.

Also, she made faces at me:

We had dinner with friends at a Mexican restaurant, where the chips flowed with abandon. At home we caught up on a bit of television. It was pretty much the best kind of night.

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28
Feb 13

Day four of sick watch

I’ll eat this orange, I thought to myself, and maybe that will help.

So, champion orange peeler that I am, I struggled with that for a few minutes at the end of my day in the office. Vitamin C! I feel better just smelling it! This was a great idea! I exclaimed in my head.

(There are exclamation points in there.)

By the time I got home I had a mild fever.

Thanks, orange.

So more sinus medication, now some Nyquil and a Costco-sized handful of cough drops are the order of the day.

I saw a terrible accident on the freeway. One killed and four hurt. Backed up traffic for four miles the other direction. Everything was in the median and it looked gnarly, perhaps one of the more violent rear-end accidents you might see:

I found the coolest story on al.com today, a high schooler is building prosthetics out of old bikes, for about $25. Here’s a little rewrite I did. I just love that he was feeling lazy and bored one Saturday and dreamed this up. Of course this kid has had more than a dozen physics classes, so his idea of bored might be relative.

And, finally, the existential dilemma of our time: Rocky and Rocky II are playing opposite one another. Now what? Do I fear Apollo Creed or having a grudging respect? Then Rocky V came on, too. What are the movie channels trying to do to me?

How the franchise could have ended: