Campy

Same here. Thanks for the reminder, WWVaBach (real name remembered but not used to protect identity ).

Congrats and good luck to Steely for continued remission. My wife fell and broke her nose and I've shredded an abdominal muscle at Bills' games (VABills referenced those incidents in an earlier post), but no broken backs, yet. But it is nice to know Uncle Ralphie will be there for me when I do! -------------------------------------------------------- Again, sincerest thanks to all of you for the well wishes - and thanks for celebrating with me!

Wow, I had no idea. Next time you speak with her please let her know she's in my thoughts. Also, thanks for the kind words and remember me to Lisa and the little one.

My sentiments exactly, well said "In space." I'm sorry to hear of your loss, Bob. And Nick RaCha, we'll keep Mira in our thoughts and prayers.

Let me make clear my feelings. I don't hate you, but I do despise some of the things you do to other posters. That said, sincere thanks for the kind words, seriously. To everyone else, thank you, too. And Lori, maybe you should start dusting more.

Being a proud son of the "Scottish race," I nerd out for Highland Games. And haggis. And yes, I wear the Scottish skirt, and no, nothing's worn underneath - it's all in fine working order. Spearing is a Celtic equestrian event where riders attempt to "spear" a ring on the ground with their lance. Kind of like knights of yore in a joust, but spearing a ring instead of striking an opponent's shield (or the opponent himself). It was used as practice for "tent pegging," a sneak-attack strategy where riders attacking an enemy encampment would target the ropes used to hold up tents, thereby collapsing the tent onto enemies trapped inside. Foot soldiers followed the mounted attack, and given the confusion of the enemy, were able to score easy kills. Irish and Scots, likely due to their smaller armies, didn't pay much creedance to the accepted rules of war and often relied on subterfuge and sneak attacks when warring with more "civilized" nations (think Braveheart). In my experience, spearing and tent pegging are used interchangeably.

Generically it's chemo, more specifically, it's called immunotherapy. The cocktail I was taking (past tense!) was actually developed back home at Roswell. My oncologist told me as much a couple of years back when I wore a Bills hat for one of my first infusions (the diplomatic term for being hooked up to a chemo bag for 8 hours at a time). He also told me that "the guy who owns the Bills" directly funded the research. Ironic, no? ---------------- To KDinCT: I knew I'd leave out some people and you're one of 'em. I love the hat - if I wasn't afraid of repercussions from school admin, I'd wear that bad boy around the beach! To SilverNRed: I just caught your sig line. As I've been celebrating the good news about my Lymphoma, I thought it appropriate to throw a few ducats toward your event. Good luck! To the rest of you: Thanks for celebrating with me! *burps*

Since I'm having such a great day, I thought I'd pass along some positive mojo. You're sittin' at $300 now - good luck hitting the 2K goal, Rock.

You know it's a good sign when your oncologist walks into the room with test results in his hand and tells you "It's just short of miraculous." As of today, and after several tests, there is "no clinical evidence" that I have cancer. While my prognosis was nowhere close to "dead tomorrow," I had been told to expect to live the rest of my life with cancer, and the rest of my life was only as long as the cancer avoided making a bee-line through my sinuses to my brain. So while my oncologist cannot declare me "cancer-free" just yet (that'll take a few years of "no clinical evidence"), it's safe to say I'm pretty stoked and I wanted to share the news with you guys - especially the old school TBD tailgaters like GG, Rockpile, AiO, #89, cable, RRich, Mark VI, sammavaca, Jay, RichNJoisey, SDS, Glenn, and stuckincincy (not technically an old school TBD tailgater, but he did invent tailgating when he cracked open a flask of wine while sitting on the back of his chariot outside of the Circus Maximus.) I know by listing names that I've left people out. That stems more from tailgate-induced memory lapses than a lack of appreciation for your good vibes, happy thoughts, or prayers. If I left your name out, please forgive my oversight. If you're planning on having an age-appropriate beverage this weekend, raise your drink to me knowing that I'll be doing the same for you - we'll celebrate together! Slainte'!

Or in layman's terms, he hanged himself while grieving over the sudden and unexpected loss of his wife. As sad as that is, it's made all the more sad because he was one of the good guys...

Touche'

I've been assigned the 2nd for a paper in my Comparative Government class so I've been looking at numbers and arguments for a few weeks now... These stats are a couple of years old, but according to the CDC: 0.21 Japanese kids are killed by a firearm each year. Over 5,200 American kids are killed by firearms each year. The rate of gun violence in the US is 12 times that of 25 other industrialized nations. American kids are 16 times more likely to be murdered with a gun, 11 times more likely to commit suicide with a gun, and nine times more likely to die from a firearm accident than children in 25 other industrialized countries combined. I support the 2nd so you won't get too much guff from me but it's not too difficult to see that America's infatuation with firearms and our refusal to enforce the 2nd as written (edit: due to DCTom's very good point, I should correct myself and say "how I believe it was intended") is killing us -- literally.

I'm happy with it too, just not how it has been selectively used and exploited. After all, how many gun owners do you know that are members of your local militia? The 2nd, after all, says that a well regulated militia is necessary to the security of a free State and therefore the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. If you take an objective look, if one is not part of a well regulated militia, one's "right" to bear arms is non existent - at least according to the highest law in the land, the Constitution.

Just curious- Increased airborne pollutants (sulfuric acid from coal and nitric acid from auto exhaust) have increased the amount and relative acidity of acid rain - measurements have been recorded indicating that the ph in rainfall can, and has, reached that of battery acid (~0.9). Aside from the harm it causes in ecosystems, when acid rain seeps into the ground it is corrosive to many rock types. When a sedimentary rock as prevalent as limestone, for example, is broken down by acid rain, it leads to faults slipping. No big deal if you're not on a fault line, right? Wrong. Undersea fault slips create tsunamis. In addition to fault slippage, sink holes open in karst topography (which constitutes the topography of much of the south east). No big deal, unless a busy interstate bridge collapses during rush hour in Atlanta and you happen to be on it. Another result is increased volcanic activity. Not living in Hawaii or the Pacific Northwest, who cares, right? Google "Krakatoa" and "yellowstone super volcano" What would be the harm in reducing the amount of pollutants in the air - and in turn make the planet a safer place?

While I don't believe in "global warming" (it's more accurately called "climate change'), I fail to see the problem with reigning in consumption of non-renewable energy sources. I also fail to see the problem with reducing the amount of crap (more specifically, carbon) we put into the atmosphere. If a side effect of such actions is a healthier environment, reduced incidences of cancer, healthier oceans, bays, and rivers, and ultimately a healthier planet, what's the problem? Every scientific organization, group, and entity has stated that human actions play a role in the climatic changes we've been experiencing over the past century, save for the American Association of Petroleum Geologists. And they don't have an agenda or anything... But then again, it's kind of hard to take an organization too seriously when they proclaim a work of fiction (Crichton's State of Fear) worthy of their organization's 2006 Journalism Award.

Thanks for the tip - DVR set to record!

Check out Slammin' Sammy's on the Bypass at Milepost 10 1/2 - they're open year round and have something like 40 TVs. One thing about Outer Bankers is that they're always helpful (they need the tourist dollars). Give 'em a call (252-449-2255) and if they're not showing the game, ask them if they know who might be. Click here to see a list of Nags Head restaurants. Good Luck!

I know what you're asking - kinda' like the way teams load up on run-stuffers when their division is stacked with talented RBs, right? I don't think that they would pick a specific guy over another due to their schedule - if only because it's (generally) at least a 3 year investment in a player when he's selected. That's a pretty heady investment to make to take gamble that a kid will play well enough to help in his first season against opponents that they might play once in four years. Just my opine...

Maybe he should have said that. But let's face it, Willis isn't the exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer. I'm not too terribly sure he has the wherewithal to communicate multiple ideas and nuances within a single sentence - unless the multiple ideas and nuances consist of him interrupting himself every fourth word to ask "know what I'm sayin'."

For some reason or another we only used nicknames on our youth hockey team - every kid had one. "Soupy" was already being used by a kid who's last name was Lipton, so they dropped the "-bell" from my surname and added the 'y' But thanks to you Nick, whenever I hear someone call me 'Campy" while I'm wearing the Scottish skirt I'll probably giggle like a, well, you know...

I hope you are basking in the peace and comfort that you were unable to find the past couple of years. I'm glad I had the opportunity to meet you Paul.

You already bought the tickets? I have collected money from 28 Virginia Beach-area Bills fans for the Jets game. You'll just have to go back and get more you selfish jerk. Kidding..... Juuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuust kidding! To the 4 of you who know I'm a putz but still don't seem to mind being seen in public with me, Mrs Campy and I will be there. We have a friend getting us some tix so we'll be sitting elsewhere during the game, but we'll be at the Tailgate. And afterall, I know you'd rather hang out with Mrs Campy than with me - not that I'd blame you. I think she's cooler than me too! Any idea when the Hammer's Lot sign-up thread get started, or have I overlooked it?

Thanks everyone. Sounds good Ramius - I'll even let you buy!

Some of you more astute posters may be able to deduce that things are going pretty well. I learned last week that my cancer is in remission. I've been pretty busy this spring so I haven't been online too much, but I wanted to let you guys (and gals) know the good news. Thanks to all of you who kept me in your thoughts and prayers. Ya'll have provided me a great source of comfort. I go back in 3 months for more lab work to make sure it doesn't sneak up on me, but knowing that my therapy was effective bodes very well for the future. Who knows? Maybe one day I'll be cancer-free! Thanks again.

Oh, sure, you say that now, but we know you were sobbing the night Dharma and Greg went off the air.