Ground Rules

Today I'm feeling: Pretty good.
In fact, I ran 2.5 miles this morning. I think I could have gone longer or faster, but it's my first run in 10 days, on the orders of the surgeon after the biopsy. No sense in pushing it too hard. I typically run about 3 miles, three mornings a week, then 3-5 on Saturdays, depending on what kind of day we have planned. Lungs feel good, legs feel good. The incision on my hip from the biopsy looks fine. All very encouraging.

I like running. It's an efficient workout. I started running again about 20 months ago, after a very long layoff. I'd been biking a few days a week for about three or four years. It became obvious pretty quickly that 30 minutes of running was equal to about 90 minutes of biking. I don't think I've ever gotten the fabled "runner's high," but I do feel very good when I stop running, which is something, I guess.

I plan to keep running as long as I can. Dr. R, the oncologist, says to keep it up as long as I'm able. The likely treatment won't keep me from running, though it may slow me down some. I'll keep you all updated.

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OK, it has quickly become necessary to establish ground rules for the blog, especially leaving comments. Leave it to my dear brother to make this necessary; see his comment from the first posting about what is and isn't appropriate for him to put in. Comments can be seen by anyone who gets online. If you want to say something and only want me to see it, feel free to e-mail me privately. I've been a teacher long enough to know that if one person has a concern or question, others do too, so I'll consider addressing the issue in a blog post for all to see.

Now, as for ground rules for comments, my dear brother:

1) Mother Theresa won't be reading the blog, at least not in an earthly sense. Although it's probably a good rule of thumb to live your life as if Mother Theresa were watching you. Especially when you're driving, from what your daughter tells me.

However, my wonderful brother-in-law Lee has long worked very closely with the Missionaries of Charity (Mother Theresa's order) in Washington, DC. The sisters are sending me a prayer card that contains a piece of Mother Theresa's habit, for which I am deeply, deeply grateful.

So, when considering what to say in posting comments, dear brother, please:
a) don't say anything that might cause the Sisters to ask me to return the prayer card.
b) don't say anything that would cause a beatific relic to actually incur physical damage simply from the words you write.

(And, yes, I do believe if anyone could think of something to say that would do physical damage to a beatific relic simply by saying it, it would be my brother.)

2) Remember that, even more important than Mother Theresa, my mother-in-law will be reading.

3) The wonderful people at St. Rita's will be reading. These include Sr. Maureen, the school principal; Father Charlie and Father Paul, our parish priests; the kids' teachers; and other friends from the parish.

I would rather we didn't alienate any of them. The St. Rita School family sent us a beautiful card yesterday, along with a wish that Isabel and go out tonight, and a gift that will allow that to happen. They're very good to us, and we love them for it. Same with Father Charlie, who even offered to baby-sit the kids for us if we need him to. (Although we're giving him 48 hours to really think that over. We all say unwise things in the heat of emotion that we regret later on.)

4) As you know, being in the technology industry, nothing on the Internet is private, and can come back years later to haunt you. Please don't write anything that might come up later should it appear on the same page as something one of my nieces or nephews writes, that could be seen later on by a potential employer, and could get them in trouble just by digital association with you.

I hope these guidelines help, dear brother. I hope they help all of you, but mostly it's my brother that I'm worried about.

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So we're going out tonight. My mom and dad are here for the wekend to watch the kids. Mom bought me a Jon Lester shirt. Lester is a pitcher for the Red Sox who was diagnosed with NHL last year, overcame it, and won the clinching game of the world series for the Sox in October. So I'll be wearing this a lot.

Isabel and I were planning on dinner and a movie, something we haven't done in a while. So I looked up the North Haven cinema online to see what was playing:

The Bucket List. A movie about two terminally ill men who decide to do all of the things they'd always wanted to before they die.

P.S. I Love You. A movie about a woman whose soulmate dies, and who leaves her love notes that she reads after he's gone.

What is this, freakin' Cancer Week at the Cineplex? Do I get free Milk Duds if I show them my PET scan? I'm not even going to bother looking it up, because I'm sure the 30th anniversary revival of Brian's Song is playing at the Criterion Cinema downtown.

We'll do dinner, but the movie is still up in the air. If anyone has a recommendation for something non-cancer related that's playing now, send us an e-mail before this afternoon. Jeepers.