So What's New???

For the folks that find their way here on purpose, the title to this post is a dumb question. For accidental visitors, some explanation is in order. And for the intentional, you may be looking for more details.

First things first: why might there be accidental visitors? Because to make it easy to find for the intended audience if they lose the url, this blog is searchable. That also means that Blogger's "next blog" link could bring anyone here from anywhere in the world.

Speaking of accidental . . .

Two weeks ago, August 3rd to be exact, I had a serious car accident. My nephew Sam (from my wife's side) and I were in my Miata on the interstate when I got cut off by another driver. While I was able to keep from hitting the other car, I could not keep my car out of the median or out of the cable barrier that separates the north lanes from the south. Sam and I were both injured. I was unconscious for a time and lost a lot of blood; but was released from the hospital after overnight observation. Sam is far worse. He sustained a brain injury, spent the time between then and now in the trauma ICU. Fortunately, while he was touch and go for a while, he has been transferred to a regular hospital room and when evaluations are complete, he will be transferred again to a hospital with a pediatric rehab unit.

Since there were so many people who wanted to know, and since I had pre-existing blogs, I was tasked with setting up a place to share info about Sam's condition. http://sam-update.blogspot.com tells more than you wanted to know about how he is and a little more about the accident itself. If you are wondering "so how are you?" My first answer is: it's not about me at this point. I am recovering, still breathing as though I am at altitude, but now it's only when I walk up steep hills or try to work out. (Feels like being at 6,500 ft on Mt Hood rather than 13,500 ft on Mauna Kea.) The other answer is this blog. I think I am going to put some stuff here, kind of "for me" but in a place that will not distract anyone from Sam. What this blog is not is something to keep anyone who already has my phone number from calling! (You know who you are ;-)

Love to all

--Patton