Sorry for the downer on WAC Friday, but I have something to say...one of the plentiful things that have been on my mind of late. I'm very, very sorry in advance...it's quite a downer.

Every now and then, I'm reminded of how much thicker blood is than water.

My mom's side of the family is kinda small. She had a sister and a brother. The brother's two children just about all of you have met or at least been in the same room with...my cousins Will and Julie.

My mom's sister and her family moved all over, ending up in Houston. The sister was my godmother, and I always felt close to her family, even though they lived way down in Texas and we rarely saw each other. My aunt kept us all well-tied together and informed. I wrote her letters and she'd write back all the time. But she passed away four years ago...while I was in Missouri, actually. When she died, I drove through the night to make it for her wake and funeral. From 1am (when I got out of work) to noon, when I arrived in Houston. That's how much she meant to me. This after my mom told me that everyone would understand if I didn't make it. But I did.

But over the years, even before her death, I'd felt more distant from my three cousins down there. That tends to happen: As people get older, they get busier. It just happens. There is also an age gap between myself and the three cousins that "complicates" matters. Not a huge one, but several years between myself and the youngest of the three. Never did I not like them or not love them, but the distance just seemed to grow larger, especially after I "yelled" at them via email for sending me forwards that I just didn't want, incessantly, repeatedly, but not having time to say even hello otherwise.

Well, at any rate...they all have kids now, and we got some really scary news a week or so ago. My cousin's little son (quite young...five?), who had had some eye trouble develop the last few months, was found to have a brain tumor. So he needed surgery, obviously...he had it, and things looked pretty OK, for having had brain surgery. But the pathology tests came back today, and it was found to be malignant. So now, my little cousin, a little boy, is going to have to have all this chemo and radiation treatment and everything. And that's only after he recovers from the surgery, which is no picnic and hasn't been thus far either...and he keeps roller-coastering in terms of his recovery.

But my point is, even though I barely know him, I sit here almost wanting to cry for the kid. I know that won't really help, which is why I don't actually feel like it will happen. But even through all the distance and the silence over the years, I feel horrible. Flat-out horrible, and all this just because it's family, even though family is so far off and out of touch. Rarely do I worry about things this much...but this is something that has been on my mind.

Please pray for him, if indeed you are the praying type. Otherwise, just think good thoughts in his direction. He's going to need it.

Reminded by Kim, it's time for another installment of WAC (Word Association Chain) Friday.

Today's word: Crotchety

Here's a new game that maybe I'll feature now and then on "Displaced." We'll call it "Guess the Product"...Here's how it works...you make wild, uninformed guesses as to what, exactly, the name of the following product is, based on the ingredients list. It's a new product, so you'll be able to get it in stores soon...but whatever...here's today's product:

Ingredients: Sunflower seeds, salt, sunflower oil, genuine Jim Beam bourbon, sugar, tomato powder, molasses powder, raisin powder, tamarino powder, modified corn starch, natural mesquite, citric acid, caramel color, spice, extract of paprika, maltodextrin, triacetin, propylene glycol.

Good luck...

Streaming audio feeds are nice. Of course, for whatever reason, I've been limited here in Chi-town...I've had no choice but to listen to The Loop. That's fine, because they have the "No Repeat Workday"...so that's nice. However, there are times I'd like to listen to something other than classic rock. I guess this is better than nothing though...later, I'll listen to the Sox game.

I met a couple of the PFW guys yesterday for lunch, and it was good to catch up with them. Since softball ended almost a month ago, I hadn't talked to them, really. It actually helped me feel a little better too about my football knowledge. :) I've been sitting and "worrying" about my upcoming fantasy football drafts, a feeling that's foreign to me because of my overpreparedness for the past three seasons. But I held my own in conversation about players and outlooks and whatnot. So that was good. I guess I've been keeping up with it better than I'd thought. I'll probably be meeting them every Wednesday for "Burrito Wednesday" at Chipotle.

Gina went and saw two condos yesterday that I will hopefully see today. I guess they were pretty good, although one of them is out by River Road, in "Condo City" where the parking will probably be as bad if not worse than Wrigleyville on game day. But I'll make do if we decide to buy it...we're getting close, we're just not quite there yet. And we're "running out of time" if this is to go off without me having to move twice. That's not a problem...I told Gina that I'd figure something out if we couldn't move in right away...I'd find somewhere to go until we got the place. But we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

All right...back to work I go.

I love Mayor Daley. Really, I do...partially because I really hate the Tribune. :) Go Daley!

Also, I heard a clip of Alan Keyes on the radio this morning about his wife telling him what to think (when they decide where to live), and I thought it would have been funny if (as I had forgotten from the past) the man's voice didn't sound like that of a raving lunatic. I expected him to cackle uncontrollably at the end of the sentence. Really.

Hmmm...too much politics. I'm off to have some Chipotle for lunch soon. Ahhhh...

Did you know that concentrates basically are blends of critical active ingredients such as enzymes, emulsifiers, flavors and other ingredients designed to do everything from slash fermentation time to improve dough machinability to enhance shelf life?

I sure didn't.

Oh, hi, it's you. How have you been?

I've been great. It's Monday now, so the beginning of another week is here. Let's see...

Condo searching has been interesting, but not quite fruitful of yet. We've seen some places...nothing truly outstanding. But that's a factor of the price range. Still, that's static, so we're just going to have to keep looking. We simply cannot afford any more than our current range, so we have to stay focused. As Cartman says, "Focus....on....the....candy..." We're gonna go see a handful of places this evening...these are actually in our price range, unlike the four open houses we went to yesterday (we didn't know the prices ahead of time).

My illness lasted about 48 hours, which means it was something I ate. Thankfully, it's all over now. Speaking of eating...lunch in a few minutes...

The Sox are pissing me off, but that's not unusual. Personally, I'm pretty psyched for football season to start...and I'm actually worried about my performance as far as fantasy football goes, especially given my distance from the game now. I'll probably do OK though...I shouldn't worry. :)

Ah well, that's about it for now...hope everyone's been doing OK...since I haven't really talked to many folks in a bit. Hopefully my evenings free up a little bit down the line here...hopefully. I haven't been home in the evening in several days...and that kinda sucks. I don't like that. But when you're busy, you're busy I guess.