Okay, I'm going to see if I can make this a quick entry, even though I'll be covering the entire weekend, plus the first part of today.

There's not much to tell about Friday. I covered a lot of the day, until I finally left. Of course, on my way out, I checked the mail. Wouldn't you know, my other doctor bill was there for me. I looked at it, and ... okay, no problem. The radiologist bill was only $27. I guess I shouldn't have opened it up and spoiled that dream. At least until after the weekend. Almost $600. That's to add to the almost $700 I owe for the emergency room visit itself. Wonderful. So anyway, I drive across the state to West Palm. It rains basically all the way across, and I get caught behind traffic. So it takes me almost 3 hours to get there. When I get there, I get to see my dad and some of my aunts and uncles. And then it hits me. I don't have my cell phone charger with me. So Dad and I go looking for a Radio Shack that is open. Fortunately we find one, and now I have a charger to leave in my car (Dad's treat). Woohoo!

Saturday we went to the beach, six of us. Uncle Bill and Aunt Pat, Uncle Larry and Aunt Ginny, Dad and I. We took a picnic lunch, like we did last time I was over there. We got rained out. Well, not exactly rained out. We were under a pavilion when the rain started. We were in the middle of eating, and the skies opened up. Now the pavilion isn't exactly big enough to prevent the weather, so the three sitting on the outside of the picnic table got their backs a little wet. Not too bad, but enough to be a little annoying. It didn't last more than a few minutes, but we sat and watched all these people running up from the beach. HELLO people, you're at the BEACH, in SWIMSUITS! Who cares if you get wet?!? Whatever. To each their own. After the beach, we went back to the house to watch some college football. (Go SU!) Granted, it took Syracuse 3 overtimes to knock off North Carolina, 49-47. But a win is a win. Later on in the evening, Dad and I went with Uncle Bill to Sam's Club to pick up a new monitor for Uncle Bill's computer (Dad and I have Sam's cards, Uncle Bill doesn't yet). We also got some computer paper for Aunt Ginny. So we got back, I hooked everything up, and I started teaching Aunt Ginny a little about her computer. Basically I gave her a few things about the MS Works Word Processor. I typed up some instructions for her, and printed them up. She wants it right now to type up her poems, and only that. But eventually she'll be getting email...

Sunday we went to breakfast at my Uncle Ralph's restaurant. It's a little diner in the southern part of West Palm (called Ralph's, appropriately enough). All Dad's brothers and sisters were there, and we got a big group photo (except Dad, who was taking the pics and completely forgot to get himself in a few). I also got to see Uncle Ralph and Aunt Betty, who were out of town last time I was there. Afterwards, we went back home and read the paper. And I showed Aunt Ginny some more about her computer. We watched a little NFL (Go Bills! Go Denver!), and then it was time to go. I took Dad to the airport. I parked in the short term, and walked in with him. The first twenty minutes of parking are free. After 18 minutes, I was second in line to pay and get out. I finally was able to pull up to the ticket window after 22 minutes. It didn't matter that the person in front of me took 4 minutes, just that I was inside for 22 minutes. So I dutifully paid my 75 cents and left. And it started downpouring... on my way home.

The drive home was interesting. There is a stretch of about 25 miles where Route 80 and Route 441 flow together. There is sugar cane all along both sides of the road. The birds love to have a field day around the road, and are always playing chicken. I saw thousands of birds... and three lost to my car. Damn things. I hated it, but they HAD to take the risk, HAD to live dangerously. But I guess there was nothing I could do... I got home and watched some TV. The president came on and used some interesting words. He said "humane military action". Talk about an oxymoron. Granted, I'm not making any kind of a political stand, one way or the other. This is not a political diary. But you've got to admit, that sounds a little weird.

Okay, I guess today is going to have to wait until tonight. Later all.