GREAT NEWS

one of my few local friends, a complex character who is gentle and well-read and a formidable chess player, and also rides a harley and is a responsible gun owner, did something inspiring -- he overcame his natural avoidance of being helpless and at someone else's mercy, and went through with open-heart surgery yesterday. the operation, while fairly routine in terms of how often it is performed, was nevertheless a huge deal for Perry. he talked about it a lot, with me and others, before committing to the procedure. even granted that not having the surgery would have meant a high probability of a dramatically shortened lifespan, his was an absolutely courageous decision. now he's in recovery, and doing fine.

here's to you, amigo. salud.