The Flub-A-Dub Award


November is gone. Where does the time go? Why, it seems like only yesterday I was staring out at the summer from my hospital room. Unexpected circumstances loom all around. The buzzing confusion is to be expected. Still, you ask, ''Why me.''

Speaking of confusion. Can you believe this election? How odd that a problem would exist in a state where one of the candidates has a brother who is governor. What would have been the odds of that happening? Frankly, I think the whole thing is a strange quirk of nature, much the same as the circumstances under which Gov. George W's press secretary must have been born. The whole thing will eventually be settled. Someone will be declared the whiner. Immediately, half the population will hate him. If Bush and Gore had an ounce of sense, they'd give it to Ralph Nader.

I can't believe a city that has complained about its cable service for ten years but votes down an opportunity to run its own. There must be an element of logic to this, I just fail to see it. Do people like the current system? Has it been efficient and worth the money? The answer has been overwhelmingly ''no.'' Did the citizens believe the arguments put forth by AT&T? Surely not. Do we believe the city is so inept that it could not run a viable business to compete with AT&T? Well, maybe. But still, we had an opportunity to jump headlong into the 21st century, and we chose not to. Not a good sign.

It seems an inordinate amount of people are getting staph infections after an operation. I remember reading about injuries during the Civil War. Most of the soldiers died from infection, not the bullet. The surgeons had no concept of infection. They went from soldier to soldier using the same instruments, wiping them off on their shirt sleeves. Today we know about infections and how they occur. We just can't stop them. Seems these little creatures are always outsmarting us. When someone mentions surgery to you, ask them about your chances of getting an infection. They'll give you a vague answer and shrug it off. Take it from someone who has been there, the risk is real and the outcome sometimes fatal. The world of medicine is not near as high tech and scientific as they would have you believe. It often boils down to chance.

Confusion reigns in my mind as winter approaches. The season calls for us to slow down, rest, take it easy. Yet I long for answers. I need to know who gets the Flub-A-Dub for November. The above circumstances warrant consideration, but I'm going with Alderman Rick Sundberg. Who cares if he's not going to run for mayor. He would represent more of the same old thing, only in a younger version.



Uploaded to The Zephyr Online November 29, 2000

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