First Monday with Characters

Edited by Morris Dean

Click photos to enlarge

Allen Crowder,
the King of Jacksonville
     On January 19, Allen fought William Baptiste in the "King of Jacksonville" mixed martial arts event in Jacksonville, North Carolina.

Won the fight. We had weigh-ins in the morning, and I was right on weight even with my jeans and shoes on. Reported back at 5 and had to wait till my fight, which didn't happen until a little after midnight. The fight went well. The first two rounds I did exactly what I was supposed to. Knocked Baptiste down twice and dominated. The third round I was starting to feel gassed and he landed on top of me most of the round. The fourth could have gone either way on the judges score card. And the fifth he won. He landed some great hammer fists down and blacked my eye real good.
    It feels good to be "The King of Jacksonville." With every fight I learn I have more to work on if I want to go to that next level. Still need to get better cardio, although I feel like I mostly gassed out because I had been coughing and Sunday after the fight I was coughing up green mucus. But either way, I need to improve my cardio and take-down defense.

Susan C. Price at the easle
     Since our last update, Susan Price has joined Moristotle & Co. as a contributing editor and signed up for the new monthly column, "Fourth Monday Ethics Up Close and Personal."

Sharon Stoner in the Caribbean

Went on the cruise Carnival Ecstasy, out of Port Canaveral. Rocking and rolling all day and all night, first day out. Me, seasick, knocked out till 3:30 next day. Carnival doubled the number of passengers but not the wait staff. Food was cold, slow to be served, but wait staff put their all into trying to accommodate passengers. Dolphins followed the ship for awhile. Weather was nice and I won some money on slot machines. Nothing extraordinary happened. Sticking to the Fascination, out of Jacksonville. Better service. Next trip is California then 15-day cruise to Hawaii.

The Neumanns at the Super Bowl
    Jennifer sent us the photo before the game from where she and Matt were sitting to let us know where to look for them on TV. [In case you haven't heard, San Francisco didn't quite catch up, but lost to Baltimore 34-31.]

No chance you're going to catch a glimpse of us up here; they aren't going to show this high. 613 right in front of some lights. The air is thin.

Geoffrey Dean dispatching from Italy
     In January we published four dispatches from Geoff describing his visits to a number of Italian cities, including photographs:

"Dispatch from Rome," Jan. 12
"Continuing 2013 Italian Style," Jan. 21
"Tuesday Voice: Ancora 2013 Italian style, Jan. 22
"Tuesday Voice: Tale of two towers," Jan. 29

The fifth and final dispatch will be published tomorrow.

Chuck Smythe in chorus or in the wilds

Not very much to report. I am commanded to learn to pronounce Latin the French way (in order to sing Charpentier, etc.), but I just have a list of rules. Does anyone know of some examples? I’m finding this difficult.
    You asked for pictures. This one is titled: “What I did on my summer vacation: Bonneville Basin from Bewmark Lake, Wind River Mountains, WY. Photography by Ed Schmahl.”

James Knudsen on the other side of the lights
    James is preparing for his directorial debut in March, with eight performances of Why Marry? at Fresno City College, March 1, 2, 6, 7, 8 & 9 @ 7:30 p.m., and March 3 & 9 @ 2:00 p.m. He wrote about some of the challenges of this new assignment in January.

South side of the hospital

The Rogers in Costa Rica

Costarricense de Seguro Social (CCSS) is Costa Rica’s universal health insurance system, commonly known as the CAJA. It is available to all citizens and legal residents. There are small hospitals in major hubs; like the one here in San Ramon.
    Our experience with CAJA has been good. I had had all our medical records in the States loaded onto a flash drive. Our doctora plugged it into her computer and we saved a lot of time. She writes our prescription, orders blood tests, etc.
    Most of the time, everything goes fast and easy. The other day, however, I got my number to pick up some meds and was told to come back in one hour. When I returned, I was told it would be a few minutes. I took a seat next to a gentleman who had been told the same thing. After about 15 minutes he saw I was getting impatient and asked to see my number. He asked me to come around a pillar, where he showed me a window that, from what I could make out (it was in Spanish), was for people over 65. A woman took my number and determined that my meds weren't out front yet. I thought she was going to tell me to take a seat again, but instead she went to the back and got them.
    Thanks to a very nice Costa Rican, I now know the fast way in and out. There are, it seems, a lot of benefits to being old in CR. I would like to say—all the horror stories about universal healthcare are bullshit. In most cases, the system here works better than the system in the States—they just don’t have a flat screen TV on the wall.
                        Pura Vida from Ed & Janie in CR

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Copyright © 2013 by Morris Dean

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