Tam Got Some Bad News

That put a little shadow on the Para Weekend. I'm thinking about her and her grandfather today, maybe you will too.

The only upside I see is not finding out until the weekend was over. It seems like several of us got a "Welcome Back to the Real World" message when it was all over.

• Tam found out her grandfather was badly hurt and still in some danger, which had to be the worst.
• Dave Hardy woke up this morning with a fire ladder going past his motel door. A room on the next floor up had burned during the early morning, and he had to step over fire hoses to get his morning coffee.
• The Maddened Fowl had a tire let go on the way home--and discovered there was no jack in his surplus cop-mobile. (Quote of the weekend: "I wanted to put new tires on it before we came, but they wouldn't have had time to do the alignment. I'll get 'em when I get home.")
• I found out my battery had gone bad; also, that you can't get a tow truck in St. Louis at 2:00 a.m. (or 3:00, because I was still trying by then) to save your life. If Matt at the BP station hadn't broken company policy and given me a jump, the car would probably still be there. But I'm sure your heart will be warmed, as mine was, to know that one of the "24/7" services I called actually did call me back--at 7:30 the next morning as I drove to work 100 miles away. That was a relief!