SWITZERLAND FORUM

[cklaurence]

I'm glad you had a good holiday Em. It does get lonely here when you're away!

Yes, medicine is a very thriving business, with all their complaining about insurance companies cramping their style, they manage to find their way around the rules and wrack up serious bills. Personally, I do everything I can to avoid the hospitals. I'm told by doctors I know that's the worst place to be when your immune system is low. Apparently they don't report the full number of Mensa cases...

Great to have you back. You know I always get nervous when you disappear, but I probably shouldn't. I'm sure you have enough lady friends to check on you very regularly to be sure all is well. Hugs, c.

[Emeritus]

There really isn't a lot going on at the moment. It's so hot that I mostly stay indoors. The last week has been a little cooler - in the low 90s - but the humidity has been maxed out. Going outside is like stepping into a steam bath. I've mostly been doing a lot of reading and just going out on the weekends to dine and dance.

[cklaurence]

Same here, Em. (No dining and dancing on weekends, though.) I'm getting really psyched about the upcoming season. So much talk, I'm most anxious to see some action to find out if any of the hype has an iota of truth to it...

[Emeritus]

There isn't much news from the Texans, except that some previously-injured players are ready to go. Fortunately it won't be long until preseason and we can get some idea what we have. The Colts look to be strong this year, so it should be a hot competition for the division.

[cklaurence]

I can't help but enjoy the (what appears to be) fall from grace the Patriots are having. Wondering what BB has up his cheating sleeve to compensate for the free fall...

[Emeritus]

I'm sure that he is working on something, ck. Hate him or not, you won't catch him unprepared or his team unready to play. The question is, how much competition will they have in the AFC East? I just don't know what to expect of the Dolphins. I think that their defense will be stout and their second-year quarterback should be better. If they can get the running game consistent, they might be the best team in the division. The Bills have been nothing but disappointments and the Jets are a joke, although they always seem to save their best game for the Dolphins. It should be an interesting race. My guess is that it will be between the Colts and the Texans in the AFC South.

[cklaurence]

I'm reasonably sure about your prediction for your division; however, (as you are well aware) the Dolphins are an enigma. BB is slick and will do whatever he has to to be sure the Pats are ready to compete. I wish I could predict that the Fins will be ready for whatever comes their way, but as always, Ross is busier with his promotions and PR gimmicks than anything else. Of course, he continues to threaten to take the team out of Miami--baby sucking his thumb and having a tantrum in an attempt to get the taxpayers to pay for stadium improvements.

Everything I hear about your team has been great. Hopefully it will be your year...

[Emeritus]

If I were a Miami fan, I would be afraid that a good season would only make the team more attractive to another city. That is what happened to the Houston Oilers. Just when Bum Phillips made them a contender, the owner took them to a town that offered him the moon. I have hopes for the Texans because they finally have some continuity. You never know how a season will go, though.

[Emeritus]

Hello?

[cklaurence]

Apologies, apologies, apologies! I am so sorry I haven't gotten back to your last post(s), but Peter has been home from work and sick for the two weeks we planned to take our vacation tour of Florida. I haven't even been on my laptop, just using my phone to make sure I'm not missing any important emails. My p.r. person has been keeping my fb pages alive with short posts about MYSTERY. The one place I can't go on my phone is here, dammit. Why? I don't know my password. I have to contact Peace (who believe it or not is still with us!) and either get a new password or find out what I already have. I don't know his system, but he knows Switzerland much better than I!

Meanwhile, I had a long response ready to send to you when my husband came along and 'kidding around' shut all my windows down--so I lost every friggin' word. The upshot of it was that I am sick and tired of Ross to the point that I am completely over his monetary demands. He can't blame the 13 year so-called "Marino Curse" for the abysmal teams he's put on the field because we are now going into our 14th year of rotten-ness. He's either got to put a worthwhile product out there or pack up and get the Hell out of Dodge. I am frustrated by the demands made by the NFL for stadiums to be up to its persnickety standards of what a SB stadium is, and laying down the law that if a stadium doesn't meet their demands then they just won't get Superbowls. Disgusting! Superbowl, as everyone knows, is a corporate entity--big bucks will fill the stadiums even if the teams are crappy and the stadium sucks. Clearly, if Ross could put a decent team out in Miami, he'd be filling the stadium weekly and be able to pay for whatever improvements the NFL wants and more. Most importantly, I will not bow to the demands of this billionaire, who could do the improvements with pocket change. He is haughty, self-serving and an ego maniac to boot. So I guess we'll just have to do the waiting game to see how this will all end...

Enough of my frustrated rant, yes? Tell me how you've been and what's happening in your world, and how you're doing otherwise. Please forgive my absence--I know what a tomb this place is when one of us is gone. I know I say it all the time, but I keep thinking that one day I'm going to come here and the old Swiss Family will be gabbing away, just like old times. I don't think I'll ever get over that dream. I really appreciate your loyalty, Em (in case I don't tell you that often enough). Thank you for continuing to keep Switzerland alive. Big Hugs!!!

[Emeritus]

No need to apologize, ck. I know that life has a way of intruding on conversations. I hope that everybody is well now and that you can do as you planned. As far as the Dolphins go, I expect them to do well this season. They will come to Houston in less than a month for the second preseason game and hopefully I will be able to get a good look at them. Of course, I will be hoping that the Texas will keep their streak against the Dolphins going, but all streaks end eventually. This year the AFC South will play the AFC West and the NFC West, and the Texans games based on last years record will be against the Super Bowl Champion Ravens and the Patriots, so it will be a tough schedule.

[cklaurence]

I hope my Fins at least give your boys a run for their money, Em. We really don't have a clue what to expect from the 2013 team and can only pray (for those who do pray) that this is the year they finally come alive again.
Ms Bags invited me for the Fin game in Indianapolis and I'd really love to go. Only thing is, it's in September and we most probably will be taking our cruise in September. As soon as we get our schedule down I'll know whether I can get out there for that game. You know me, anywhere there's a Fin game, I want to be, and I'm grateful to Bags for always giving me the opportunity to share Fin games with her in Indy.
I finished Em's blanket and now I'm working on Abigail's. I don't know why I've felt this sudden urge to finish them quickly, but my hands are flying over the needles to get this last one done. Then I have to find the pattern so I can finish my son Zachary's.
August is finally here (for all intents and purposes), so football is close enough to touch! I cannot wait...

[Emeritus]

After all of the waiting it is hard to believe that football is finally here! No matter what the sportswriters say, you never know what a team is going to do until they start playing. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. The Texans fans are hoping for a third straight division title and to advance in the playoffs, but you never know. I'm going to enjoy the wins and accept the losses. As long as my team gives it all that they have, I'll cut them some slack.

[cklaurence]

I too am so happy there will be football again. Hoping against hope that the Fins will at last put a team on the field that can win some games and be competitive. Long-suffering Dolphin fans have had an off-season full of dealing with the owner's big mouth and threats of taking our team away. I keep waiting for him to figure out that you need to put a team that at least has heart on the field to fill the seats. As much as I love my team, I hope his line in the sand just sits there. When the seats start selling, he'll have more than enough to add to his billions and pay for stadium improvements.
The only time that doesn't fly so fast I can't see it[color=#008080]is [color=#008080]is off-season of football! Let the games begin...[/color][/color]

[Emeritus]

The NFL is very demanding about the venues and they don't seem to care who has to pay for them. The teams that are in small markets are really being squeezed. The revenue sharing doesn't include all revenue, with things like skybox rentals being exempted. That's huge, because corporations are willing to spend big money on them, since they get a tax write-off. In the end, the taxpayers and the average fans foot the bill for everything.

[cklaurence]

True, true and true, Em. As with everything in the world today, the almighty dollar is the bottom line.

Meanwhile, what did you think of the game last night? I know we can't go by much with all the back-ups playing, but it was both teams' back-ups so it's a bit of a clue of what is to come. The Dolphins seem to be suffering the same problems they've had for the past several years. Turnovers of their own, and inability to produce points from recovered turnovers. That damned red zone still turns them into blithering idiots. What to do, what to do?

[Emeritus]

It seemed like a typical too early game to me, ck. Neither offense was ready, but that's just from lack of practice. The difference in the game was one turnover, so it was hard to tell anything. I don't think that either team wanted to show anything, so I don't think that there is much to take from the game. Perhaps by the time that the Dolphins come to Houston we will have a better handle on it.

[cklaurence]

You are so logical, Em--you keep me grounded. It will be interesting to see what happens tonight when the Fins play again. Interestingly enough, Ross is now talking about taking the team to Palm Beach (where they would have to build a brand new stadium). He knows just what to do to ruffle my feathers, so I try to filter out any news that is generated by him or about him.

Hope all is well with you. I have some exciting news...at the ripe old age of 65 I'm finally going to be a grandmama! I'm so excited--I think I'm more excited than my daughter Emily is, lol.

Meanwhile, FOOTBALL STARTS TONIGHT AND RUNS THROUGH THE WEEKEND AT LAST!!! Received season tix yesterday, so it's starting to feel a lot like the real thing.

[Emeritus]

I'm just some happy that there is football again. I know that teams are just looking at players and trying veterans in strange positions and testing combinations, so they don't even resemble the teams that will play when the season starts, but it's football! It gives me something to think about besides politics, which always leave me disgusted. If I hear one more rant from that idiot Wayne LaPierre at the NRA I'll be apoplectic. I've never heard as many lunatic conspiricy theories as this year and Pat Robertson is sounding crazier and crazier. The environment is going down the drain and it turns out that 25 Senators, 150 Congressmen and hundreds of state legislators have signed the Koch brothers pledge to deny climate change. With the whole world going insane, I need football!

[cklaurence]

So sorry about my absence! Peter has been so sick with his diverticulitis, and his being home so often totally discombobulates my world. I don't know whether the diverticulitis or the antibiotics he has to take for it cause him more distress, but I do know that taking time off from work and worrying about patients who have waited for their appointments or will have to wait because of the cancellation makes everything that much worse for him. He's so dedicated to his patients, he can't even be sick peacefully. So he goes into work regardless of the pain he's in, ends up coming home early and exhausted. So when he's home, with all the empty rooms in the house, he chooses to lay down in our bed in our bedroom and everything I do (except for knitting) is too loud or too distracting to his rest. Even the clicking of the keys on my computer sound like explosions to him; hence, I'm not keeping up with my daily visits to the cyber-world.

As for your last post, as usual I agree with you completely. I try to avoid news these days because it is so distressing. Peter and I talk about it all the time though, and are constantly shaking our heads at how out of sync we are with everything! It's hard to believe that anyone doesn't see and feel the climate's change. It's undeniable! In my lifetime alone, I've found such a dramatic difference in South Florida's weather--it is frightening. The change is so complete, nothing subtle about it. I clearly remember August being the hottest month (never so hot as in the past 5-10 years though), and Labor Day brought the first clear drop in humidity. By Halloween it was always quite cool, sometime even cold. Fighting with my parents about having to wear sweaters or jackets over my costume were a given. In December, as a teenager in marching band, it was downright cold. So cold, in fact that when we marched in the Orange Bowl Parade, we had to wear layers of sweaters under our all wool uniforms. In college, when the kids would come from up north to school down here, we would warn them about how cold it got and plead with them to get heaters for their apartments. Inevitably, they'd end up as guests in my home where my parents would put up cots in the basement so they could get past our bitter cold spells comfortably. Summer consisted of June, July and August (with each month growing progressively warmer).

The change got clearer and clearer from the '70s on. Now? Summer is year 'round. The heat and humidity stay throughout the year, although some years, come December, January, February, March, we have occasional cool spells where for a day, maybe two, we have some cool weather (50's, rarely into the 40s late at night). We haven't had a long term cold spell in as long as I can remember. When I was growing up, we'd have cold spells that lasted a week, maybe two, but no more. I never need a jacket because it just doesn't get that cold during the day. The weather patterns have changed in every way here and throughout the Country, and so many people are stupid enough to think that just because it isn't really, really hot in their area then it follows there's no 'global warming.' First off, they need to change the term to something like "global confusion" or "weather twists." People today have no ability to look further than the colloquial meaning of a phrase. To say "global warming" only means "global warming." If their area isn't hotter and hotter each year, than it's just not happening! Am I being at all clear here?

Yes, football!!! I'm on it and thrilled to have it to turn to every weekend.. Good, bad or indifferent, at least my Fins are out there playing! I love to lose myself in the sport and am extremely grateful to have it back. I'm hearing really good things about your team. I don't understand though how the talking heads think they can make head or tails over the preseason in prognosticating the events of the regular season. There are so many variables--injuries not being the least of them. I honestly believe the only time you know what the teams have is when the rosters are down to 53 and 'game day' means the actual season, with the first string in place and either ready to make a run for it or not. For my Dolphins, I can only hope this is the year they break out, but realistically, I don't believe it is. Yes, I am using the preseason play as my guide, but if a team can't even make a mark in preseason when no team really knows its destiny, then it's fairly clear there is NO destiny yet...

[Emeritus]

Invalids, like infants, are tyrants. Of course they don't mean to be, but any time that everybody else has to arrange their lives around somebody, that is the effect. I hope that your husband recovers, so you can. I quite agree that all of the "experts" are premature in their predictions, but I guess that is the business that they are in. I wait until a team has played somebody who matches up well against them before making any predictions and I'm still only half way successful. It does help to keep it interesting, though. Hang in there, ck. I need you around.

[cklaurence]

I'm not going anywhere, Em. I look forward to our talks and will keep Switzerland open so long as you are here!

Funny, my hubby asked me if anyone ever came around anymore and I said I have a steady flow with one person and an occasional drop by by others. He mentioned that maybe I ought to save the money and let the Forum go. Of course I told him that just wasn't happening. Hope springs eternal that we'll get some newbies or one or two of the Swiss Family will return. Until then, we are just fine the way it is...

[cklaurence]

Well, (as expected) your guys sure showed our guys how it's done. Congrats!!!

[Emeritus]

I didn't mean to disappear. I'm having computer problems again. It seems that every time that I upgrade I have new problems. I can't even get my home page to come up when I go on line. I go to the control panel to reset it and it works right once before defaulting to a search engine.

I wouldn't read a lot into a preseason game. The third preseason game is when most of the starters play and the coaches show more of the schemes that they plan to use during the season. I am afraid that when the Dolphins do beat the Texans, it will be a loss that will really hurt the Texans, not some meaningless game. Hey, I'm just happy that it's football time again.

[cklaurence]

I too am just happy fb season is finally here. After Saturday's game (which I attended :*( , I am quite sure you have little to worry about when the Fins play your boys. Unless Philbin is trying to 'mess' with everyone's heads--nothing has changed since last year. Bad play calling, sumb moves with the players and a lot more NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING! I'd love to believe it's a ruse, but I don't think Philbin is clever enough to pull something like that off and the mistakes are all too familiar... (I'm just sayin'...)

Your team, however, looks like it is one to be reckoned with in the coming year. Lucky duck! Glad your absence was nothing more than a computer glitch. I dread the day I'm talking to myself here, lol--which, no doubt, I would be should you leave town...

[cklaurence]

We play at home tonight and I couldn't get a soul to go to the game with me. How sad is that?

[Emeritus]

I suspect that when the Dolphin win a couple of regular season games the same people will be calling you up. The Texans went 3-1 in preseason without playing many of their starters. I was especially pleased at beating the Cowboys, since it is for the state championship. We go to San Diego next week and I'm hoping that the team travels well.

[cklaurence]

I was extremely disappointed in the cuts and keepers for the final roster. Once again I feel as though their errors are overwhelming. They always seem to have their heads up their asses when it comes to putting the team together when it counts. I hope they prove me wrong, but I don't see it happening.
Your team seems to be in a good place, and I'm happy for you! Reecey must be really excited as well! I miss him so...

[Emeritus]

I've noticed that Fox Sports is divided about the Texans. Brian Billick ranks them eighth and seems very unimpressed. The computers rank them third and Peter (Kiss of Death) Schrager has picked them to win the Super Bowl. I'd love to see improvement. We've won our division three years in a row, but we are stuck on winning one playoff game. I'd like to see them make the conference championship game in the AFC this year.

[Emeritus]

Boy, the Texans went out to San Diego Monday night and really dug themselves into a hole. I'm glad for the win, but they need to do a better job of taking care of business. I hope that everything is going your way.