Some things going on...

For those of you who want to follow my marathon training, I'll be making weekly updates at my AIDS Marathon site:

www.aidsmarathon.com , Sponsor a Runner, Chicago, 0117

For today-- I ran for the first time since before the Palm Sunday sickness, as I've decided to call it. I feel good today for the first time since I got sick. I think I'm finally kicking this thing. I can sing again. I still get coughing fits, but not so bad as before, and certainly not as painful. It's awesome.

The meds I'm taking now have weird side effects. If I sleep after taking the inhaler, I get completely disoriented, even after just a few minutes of sleep. But if I'm awake it's mostly okay--shakes, but not too bad.

XIXIX

The sad news for this week is that Erika, Nick, and Andrew's mother died. Erika's the one who had the brain tumor a couple months back. She's still in recovery-- not able to go back to school yet because there's still some connections left to be reforged in her brain. She forgets things, mostly. While Erika was still in hospital, her mother had to go in as well. She had cancer, and it wasn't going too well. Just after Erika got out of hospital, her brother Andrew was hit by a car. He's okay, but it took some days. This family has just really not had a good year. They're such great people. Pray for them.

XIXIX

The good news for this week is that 400,000 to 900,000 people gathered in Chicago on Monday to support immigrant rights. Police report that with the rally and surrounding events, there were a grand total of ZERO arrests. It was fun, and peaceful, and uplifting. Some people say that it won't do them any good. I say, how could it not?

Michael and I were listening to an interview with the leader of the Chicago Minute Men. He said that it'll be bad for the immigrants because once people see them all together, they'll realize how big the problem is. He said he spent the day in his office taking calls from people who wanted to join the Minute Men.

Michael said, "Good-- then they'll see what whack-jobs the Minute Men are, and avoid them for the rest of their lives... unless they're a whack-job too and decide to join."

I said, "But you know, once people see them all together, they'll realize how big the problem is."