Barry got me a copy of the Vampire Weekend CD and I was listening to it today. It’s really good. The songs that stand out the most to me are Oxford Comma and M79. M79 I really like because of the use of strings in it.
I was pretty busy this afternoon aside from a few e-mails with Amanda. I called Mary Joe Quinn around noon to offer my condolences about John’s passing. She told me how hard things had been in the few weeks since he’d been home- how he could hardly move except for his left arm and how it was difficult to move him around. She gave me the awesome details about what happened right before he died, too. She said all the girls were at the house except for Rebeccah, who was had just come off a plane at the airport. Mary Joe had been told by the hospice nurse that she doubted John had much longer, though the doctors gave him about three months, so she had told Rebeccah that she needed to come on home if she wanted to see her dad.
Anyway, Becky called and Mary Joe put the speaker phone on so she could talk to John. She told him she loved him and what not, then John, who could barely speak, talked to her. Mary Joe said she had talked to John and told him they were going to be alright, and he could go if he wanted to. He pulled Mary Joe to him as best he could with his left arm to give her a hug, took a few easy breaths, closed his eyes and was gone. She told me that in 35 years it was the quickest he’d ever done anything she told him to do.
I want to get down to Lexington to pay my respects, but it’s just not feasible for us right now. My parents are leaving early in the morning and my mom said I wouldn’t even have to worry about paying gas money and such, but even with that it would be a pretty big strain for us right now. I was really struggling with it when my dad called to see if I’d decided yet, and he told me that he knew I really wanted to go but that it was okay if I didn’t. I thanked him and told him he made things so easy sometimes.
A few days ago my Xbox 360 controller died. No problem- it’s got a rechargeable battery pack, so I just plug it into the Xbox and keep on chugging, right? Well, not so much. I couldn’t find the cord. Michael was over the day after I couldn’t find it and he looked for it too. I finally found it today underneath the Rock Band guitars in my office. I hid it in Amanda’s purse, which was in the kitchen, then called her cell phone, which was also in her purse. She got up and got the phone but then was annoyed that it was me calling her since she had to get up and run around the couches to get it when she was trying to watch gymnastics on the Olympics. She didn’t even notice the giant bundle of power cord wrapped up and taking up almost the entire purse. To alleviate her annoyance I came out and got her purse then dropped it in her lap. She finally realized what I had been doing.
We ended the night with Amanda watching the Olympics while I played College Hoops 2K7. I started over coaching Campbell, Amanda’s alma mater.
Zach Dotsey
.