I’m having some out-patient surgery done tomorrow. Nothing urgent about it, but there’s no reason to delay it either. I’ll be home by dinner time. I don’t know how wobbly in the knees I’ll be afterward, so I thought I’d give myself a longer break and take the rest of the weekend off as well. I’ll be back here by this time on Monday, if not before. See you then.

I’ll be taking this weekend off from blogging. I have several posts in progress, and I should have some time to work on them now and then, but in all likelihood, you’ll not see anything posted here until Tuesday. Maybe I’ll get caught up on a few other things that need doing, and maybe not, but without taking a couple of days off from the computer, I don’t think there’s any chance I will. See you soon!

That muscle in my hip has healed, but it laid me up a long time (the better part of six weeks) and it’s been difficult to catch up. There are all kinds of things that ought to have been done in the meantime, and weren’t.

I was away from the computer most of yesterday, for example, and today it looks like more of the same. Besides the usual slew of reviews, there are lots of articles and other projects in the works, but I’m holding off on them until there’s time to do them and do them right.

I also owe a lot of people replies on emails that I’ve gotten since the end of March, when all this started, including maybe yours. My apologies for that. I’ve let too many things slide for far too long. All I can do is promise to do better. As soon as I can!

It’s been seven days now– I went to the ER a week ago today — and I’m getting around the house, but only with the aid of a walker. I couldn’t do without it, and I still can’t get upstairs to my own computer.

After a burst of optimism at the beginning, I’ve had to realize that the healing process isn’t going to be as smooth and easy as I’d hoped. As many of you warned me earlier, it’s going to slow, uneven and far from easy. They gave me enough pain pills for three weeks. I guess they knew what they were doing.

I’ll be back to regular blogging as soon as I can. In the meantime, I’m doing some reading that I’ve haven’t taken the time to do in a while, but so far, other than watching UConn basketball games, both men and women, not too much TV.

And as a PS to David Vineyard, that was good advice you gave me. I’m trying not to sneeze.

I don’t know what caused it but I had a massive muscle spasm in my right hip Sunday morning, bad enough for us to call an ambulance to take me to the emergency room around 3 pm. They assumed it was a fracture but all of the tests, Xray, MRI and Catscan, were negative.

They finally found a medication that killed the pain, and I came home around 5 pm Monday. The pain is still mostly gone and for the most part I can get around, but I’m still too light-headed to do more than post this message to the blog. I’m using my wife’s downstairs computer. I can’t maneuver my way to my upstairs study where mine is. (We live in a split level house.)

I see that a lot of discussion is still going on following last week’s posts, especially the one about the Mannix TV show that Michael Shonk wrote up, but I don’t imagine I’ll be able to post anything new for the next few days. The visiting nurse made her first visit about 30 minutes ago, and I’ll be making a trip to our chiropractor this afternoon, I hope.

I’ll have to see if there’s as easy way from me to read my email from here. My wife uses gmail or hotmail, and I don’t. I’ll probably have to add updates to this post to stay in touch.

[UPDATE] 03-30-11. Here’s the culprit, clinically speaking: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piriformis_muscle

Located in men right where your billfold sits in your back packet. I don’t know if a possible cause is having too many bills in your wallet, but since that’s hardly ever true in my case, chances are slim that’s what happened to me. I have pills to take, and they seem to work, but the basic cure seems to be rest. And if something I do causes pain, then stop doing it.

Moving laterally is my biggest problem, which makes getting to my computer upstairs still too tough to do. Right now there’s only a narrow passageway up the stairs and into the room. I’ll be careful and not try to overdo anything I shouldn’t.

Thanks for all the good wishes. This was my first overnight stay in a hospital, though it was only in the Emergency Room. My problem seems awfully minor after seeing the incoming patients and listening to them talk to the the doctors and nurses in the cubicle next door. Everything seemed crowded and chaotic at first, but after a while it was still crowded and chaotic — but under control. The staff seemed to know exactly what they were doing.

David, I think it was you who asked about the MRI exam. It was full body one in a narrow closed tube, though open at both ends. They handed me a bulb to press if I experienced any kind of problem. It took me less than five seconds to press the bulb. It took a small sedative to get me through that. If that hadn’t worked, I think they were ready to use one of the conks on the head that knocked Mannix out every so often.

The blog will be back in business by this weekend, I’m sure, if not before. Thanks again for all the cheer and goodwill!

[UPDATE #2] 03-31-11. R.I.P. H.R.F.KEATING (1926-2011). See Comment #20 and David Vineyard’s tribute to one of the Giants of the world of mystery and crime fiction, followed briefly by one of my own.

Technically spring isn’t here yet, but I’m going to take the weekend off anyway.

It’s time to recharge some batteries, get some chores done after putting them off all winter, and most of all, try to forget the snow, the ice, the freezing rain — and look forward to more days like today, sunny and 70 degrees. It was nice — quite wonderful, in fact.

This blog will be back in business around this same time Sunday. Ciao for now!

… this made me very sad.

http://thegoglog.blogspot.com/2011/03/remains.html

   It’s a couple of days early, but I’ll wish you a Merry Christmas and the Happiest of Holidays right now, with plenty of time to spare.

   I’ll also take a short break from blogging until early next week. Maybe this bit of time off will give me a chance to get caught up on email, but yes, I know, you’ve heard me say that before.

   Thanks to all of the contributors to this blog over this past few months. I’ve learned something from every review and every article you’ve sent me, and from every comment that’s been left. This blog wouldn’t be the same without you.

           — Steve

   The last time I was seriously online was Friday, which was when Hurricane Earl had us in New England squarely in his sights and was barreling up the coast toward us. Most of the projections were correct, though, and the storm missed us … by that much.

   We scurried around outside the house though, picking up and storing in the garage the table and chairs on the deck and anything else strong winds might pick up and dash down the street, or through a window, just in case. Sometime preparations in advance work, and it did this time. All we got was 15 minutes of rain and no wind to speak of.

   Just a little excitement to start the beginning of September and the end of summer. Wish I could say that postings on this blog are going to become a little less erratic, but I don’t think I can. Bear with me. I didn’t mean to go quiet all weekend, but that’s the way it turned out. It wasn’t planned; it just happened.

   I also am hoping to get caught up on email sometime soon. If you haven’t heard from me in a while, and you were expecting to, I apologize. Your only consolation might be that you’re not alone. I’ll try to do better.

   Looking back, I didn’t do a lot of reading in August, and that frustrates me, but everything I’ve read has been reported on here. Not reviewed have been six or so movies, but it’s been too long since I’ve seen them for me to report on them with any feeling that I could do them justice. You’ll have to wait until I watch them again, which I may.

   What follows are some announcements of sorts, some of this and more of that, as the heading says. Some might deserve posts of their own, but in order to cover them all quickly, I’ll combine them into this one long post.

    ● First of all, I’d like to to remind you that Dan Stumpf’s book ’Nada, as by Daniel Boyd, which I previewed here last July has now been published. You can buy it from Amazon and other online sources, and if I may once again, I strongly recommend that you do.

   I’ve just posted a version of my review of the book on Amazon, but I see that both Bill Crider and George Kelley have beaten me to it. (All three of us have given it five stars.)

    ● Ken Johnson has asked me to mention that he’s revised and expanded his checklist of the digest-sized paperbacks that were published mostly in the 1940s. I’m happy to do so, and in fact what I will do is publish his note to me in full:

    “I want to let people know that The Digest Index, my online reference to digest-size paperbacks, which was originally posted two and a half years ago, has now been substantially revised and reposted. It is hosted by Bruce Black on his Bookscans website and can be accessed here: http://bookscans.com/Publishers/digestindex/digestindex.htm

    “Among the revisions are the addition of 11 new imprints, the addition of series information into both author indexes (to books and contents), and the addition of artist identifications into the publisher index. Because I still lack a lot of cover artist data, I did not attempt a full artist index but instead supplied a summary of which imprints each artist was mentioned under and plugged in scanned samples of their signatures. This is in addition to tightening up the original data with more identification of abridgments and retitles, as well as additional personal data for a number of authors.

    “I’ve put a lot of effort into this Index, but it still has a lot of holes in it. Additions and corrections are always welcome. Actually, feedback of any kind is welcome; I get the sense sometimes that hardly anyone has seen it.”

   To which I reply, while I don’t go there every day, I do find the need to refer to it at least once a week. A large percentage of these books were either mysteries and westerns, making the information for me very useful. It’s a remarkable piece of work. Check it out!

    ● Finally, a comment left by the anonymous PB210 following my review of a Hugh North novel by Van Wyck Mason needs some additional exposure, I thought:

    “I tried to compare the Hugh North novels to other long running secret agent novel series by one author:

    “So far based on what I have written above, De Villiers has the overall record, while Van Wyck Mason has the record in the English language. Others more knowledgeable may have thought of a longer series by one author.

    “Anyone have any information about Herbert New?”

   I’ve not had a chance to check any of PB210’s data, nor do I know the Herbert New to whom he refers in his last question, but comments and suggestions of other authors are most certainly welcome.

Since late last week we’ve been packing up Jon’s apartment for his forthcoming move to the DC area (Bethesda, MD, to be exact). He’s the recent law school graduate, as you may recall.

It’s taken up way too much time already, it’s been hot, and I’m going to stop fooling myself that I can come home and start blogging until it’s done. The movers are coming Wednesday and he leaves on Thursday. By Friday things may be back to normal.

But don’t expect to see anything new here until then, except maybe comments from me on recent posts. Sorry about that, but I’ll be back when I can!

— Steve