Oy

Well, today kinda sucked. I took off so I could get a new shower head and downstem installed. It was only supposed to cost $70. I was actually looking forward to it.

The plumber got in there, removed my icky old shower head,  and discovered that my "threads" were worn away and had to be replaced. Now what? He had to replace it. But that required a hammer and a hole in the wall.

Now I have to tape a bag around my shower to keep the hole in the wall dry. And I had to pony up another $70 because it took twice as long as it was supposed to.

Sigh.

I had over $800 in my supersecret "household stuff" fund. I think this qualifies.

As will having the hole repaired and painted over. Which will entail another day off.

Oy.

It sickens and it hurts

Chicago Tribune

There was a mass shooting here last night. According to the Chicago Tribune, "A gunman with a military-grade assault rifle opened fire on a pickup basketball game in the Back of the Yards neighborhood late Thursday, injuring 13 people …"

One of the victims is this lad, Deonta. He is 3. He was standing near the court, watching his relatives play under a harvest moon on this particular warm autumn evening. Look at his face and know that he was shot behind the ear, and the bullet exited through his cheek. Amazingly, he will live, though he will require surgery.

They will all live. All 13 victims. Which is proof of God's hand. How else do you explain how 13 people, hit by 16 bullets, could all survive?

What I find harder to explain is how an asshole got his hands on a military-grade assault rifle.

Yeah, I know this was a gang shooting. But that little boy, who was awake and trying to talk when he was admitted into the hospital, is no gang member.

Yeah, I know that the vast majority of us in this city I love are safe because we don't live in the isolated, gang saturated neighborhoods. But that doesn't make it acceptable. Not remotely.

Earlier this week, a gunman opened fire at the Navy Yard.

There is something very wrong in this world. And that something is guns.

I don't want to hear if you don't agree with me. I am not so inured to the violence around me that what's happened this week hasn't left me very upset. If you want to post a "guns don't kill people" screed, you'll simply have to do it on your own blog, not on mine.

Because I'm not allowing that talk anywhere near the face of a toddler that has been ripped apart by a military-grade assault rifle.

Happy!

Remember Carol? She's the older sister of a high school friend who had a massive heart attack back in early July. She was kept alive by machines until she was strong enough for major surgery, then she went through weeks of recuperation and even more weeks rehab.

Monday, she goes home! She's not only not going to die, which is what I'd feared, she's going to recover! She has another month or more before she can go back to work. But she's going to live.

I have been sending positive thoughts her way every day, but I haven't contacted her or Judy. There's just so much drama attached to Judy and I'm not interested in diving back into that. So I guess this chapter of my cyber snooping has a happy ending!