…for the next couple of days as I return to Phoenix and try and put things back together after a crazy and hectic week that featured one crisis after another, both at work and at home. Normally, there are enough crises at work to test even the most stout-hearted, but The Big Nipper’s passing, my dad being in the hospital for several days, and a raging case of insomnia have made this week a far cry from the welcome “New England getaway” I was hoping for and looking so forward to.

If y’all could, please keep my dad in your prayers, as I am for the fellow he roomed with who has suffered from long-term alcoholism for years, to the point where 95% of his liver is gone and he worries for two of his sons currently stationed in Iraq. The sad truth is, no matter how bad you think you might have it, there are always people who have it far worse, and it is for them my own prayers are offered up this night.

See y’all back in the Valley of the Sun.