The "Finish Line" Friday Random Ten

I woke this morning to discover that Ron Santo, the Cubs third baseman who was my favorite player as a kid, had passed away. I'll do a post on him soon, but for now, RIP Mr. Santo, and thanks for the memories.

This picture is probably the most famous of him. It was taken at The Mets' Shea Stadium in 1969. The black cat turned out to be an omen of the season. The Cubs dropped from a 14 game lead in first in August to falling behind the Mets by 13 games by the end of the season. The Mets went on to win the World Series.

I've got a busy next few days coming up. I need to wrap up a couple of care plans for school, to turn in on my last day of clinicals on Sunday. Happily, the teacher is cutting the day short, knowing we have a final on Monday. On Wednesday, I take the HESI, a standardized exam for nursing students. On Thursday, I register for my last semester of school. The good news about this is that I drew number 8 in the lottery, meaning I will be the eighth person choosing my schedule. This virtually assures that I'll get my first choice for instructors and clinical times.

And then, beginning next Friday, five fabulous weeks of break. Of course, since I will be taking the nursing boards in late May or early June, I'll probably be hitting the books getting ready for that. Can't believe the finish line is in sight.

One other bit of sadness-- I found out this week that my friend Bisrat, who I met when we had Nursing 101 together (he's the guy lower right, right next to me in this picture) has dropped out of the program. I have to talk to him to return his Maternity Nursing textbook, which he allowed me to borrow (he'd already finished that rotation, and was in the difficult Med-Surg rotation that I struggled with too), so I'll find out if he's planning to try again next year. I certainly hope so.



1. Galveston- Glenn Campbell
2. Old John Robertson- The Byrds
3. Feel the Benefit- 10cc
4. Rumble- Link Wray and His Raymen
5. Ruby Room- The Foxboro Hottubs
6. Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds- The Beatles
7. The Peter Gunn Theme- Henry Mancini
8. Walt Whitman's Niece- Billy Bragg and Wilco
9. Get Off Of My Cloud- The Rolling Stones
10. Both Sides Now- Judy Collins




Notes:
1. One of many fine songs Jimmy Webb wrote and Glenn Campbell performed.
2. The Byrds' Roger McGuinn, a Chicago native, cut his teeth at the Old Town School of Folk Music, which moved from Lincoln Park to my neighborhood a few years back.
3. From "Deceptive Bends," a favorite of mine from the seventies.
4. This wonderful old instrumental was on the jukebox at Danny's tavern, on Damen and Dickens here in Chicago back in the day, and I never, ever got tired of playing it.
5. The Foxboro Hottubs are a side project of Berkeley's Green Day. The Ruby Room is next door to Berkeley, in Oakland, and one of my favorite places in the world. I posted some time ago about the song and about nearly being thrown out of the Ruby Room.
6. One of my great delights in life is that my kids love the Beatles nearly as much as I do.
7. This one came up on my shuffle about a week ago, and my son, hearing it, identified it with the Blues Brothers. It was indeed played, in one of the scenes where Carrie Fisher is trying to kill Jake Elwood (John Belushi).
8. This album, "Mermaid Avenue," keeps coming up on shuffle. Not that it's a bad thing...
9. I've read and heard nothing but good reviews about the new Keith Richards autobiography. I'll wait until after I'm finished with school. Hopefully it'll be on Kindle by then.
10. Miss Collins' version of the wonderful Joni Mitchell song.