Carol finally called Teri this afternoon and talked to her a good while. It's good to know everything is well with them. Found out that Rick & Kathy really did move to Wisconsin. Joey played football this year instead of baseball. Sounded like everything went well with that. They finally had to put Cocoa down - she was 11 years old.

On our way out the door this evening I see a breaking news story on ABC about American Flight 63 from Paris to Miami being diverted to Boston with an F-15 fighter escort. A guy with a British passport was trying to set his shoes on fire, because they had detination cord and C-4 in them!!! Two flight attendants were hurt and the guy was subdued. Great. I really feel safe. Jeez.

Carol & I had dinner at Magnum's in Rolling Meadows with Barry & Buffy & Debbie as our holiday get together. Definitely a carnivore night. Very good Green Apple martini's. I had a great appetizer - sea scallops wrapped in bacon (yum!) and had my first escargot (I'm almost 45 and never tasted snails). I had a char-broiled 24oz ribeye that was like buttuh with a side of roasted garlic mashed potatoes. Unbelievable. Barry had the same. Debbie & Buff had London Broil and Carol had a filet & lobster tail. Great waitress (Char). Actually had a piano bar at the end of the room. The bar actually had a piano built into it. A guy sang & played all night. Was great. The room was great. All in all, I'd definitely recommend this place if you're a carnivore.

Buff filled us in on her cousin TJ's wife Patty. She had gone back to France quite a few months ago. They had separated and she was allegedly back in France to try to get treatment for her MS. TJ wrote her about 2 months ago and told her that he wanted a divorce and wanted to start the process. She never contacted him about it. Buff talked to hear on the phone around thanksgiving. She was moving out of her parent's and into her own place.

Buff found out this past Wednesday that Patty was found dead in her bathroom in her apartment. She had been dead 1-2 weeks. An autopsy was being performed, since there was no indication of why she had died.

Needless to say, this was a bit of a shock to all of us, not to mention Buff's family and especially TJ. I'm Shocked. I'm stunned. I don't now what to say. I don't know how I feel. It's just a numb feeling. I had met her a few times - great french accent. It's just weird knowing that she was found dead in France. Weird.

Same day - Buff finds out that her sister Karen's place had been robbed - jewelry only. Very specific. Karen's house is just 5 blocks away from my parent's house.

All in all - Wednesday December 19 was not a good day for a bunch of us.

Frustrating. Sounds that don't make sense. Voices from people that don't correspond to the images. I hear squeaking. Seriously start to think Katie is back in the house. It's dark. Drifting in and out of dreamstate. Soon realize squeaking noise is me wheezing. Lungs are filling up. Not good. Roll over awake. Dark outside... just cloudy dark. Damn. I'm up.