From the Editor

A week in the life

Wed, 09/27/2017 - 8:00am

Another Tuesday night and I'm thinking about what to write about.

OK, I've got it. Let's review my week, starting with Wednesday, Sept. 20.

There was a new moon on Sept. 20. The late Joyce Bell, whom I worked with here at the newspaper for about 20 years, always told me that around the new moon was when lots of deaths occur. Over the years, having edited hundreds upon hundreds of obits for the paper, I believe she was right much of the time.

On Sept. 21, after holding a reporters' meeting, I had an afternoon doctor's appointment in Brunswick. The week before I had done an at-home sleep study and this was my follow-up. Yup, sleep apnea. A brother and sister suffer from it, so why not me. Getting my CPAP machine shortly. I wonder how many of you don't know you have sleep apnea? Looking forward to perhaps getting some restful nights of sleep. 

Sept. 22 -- another doctor's appointment. Wow, turning 60 has really been disappointing. When I was 59, everything seemed to be going normal — a bit overweight, but feeling fine. Then six months after turning 60, I had a spell and since then, it's been test after test on my brain, heart and other body parts. We'll see what comes next.

Celebrated a fall rite on Sept. 23 — did some apple picking with the granddaughters. They got right into it — climbing on their parents' shoulders, picking the red ones off the trees and filling a grocery bag in no time flat. Of course, I had to have my usual two homemade doughnuts.

Sept. 24, I caught up with my mowing. After cleaning up, caught a few Z's while waiting for the Patriots game (did I mention I have sleep apnea?). Missed a lot of the first half, but managed to catch the Patriots’ comeback win.

I did mention I've been having ailments — one of them has been a sore knee and it flared up over the weekend. Something floating around in one of them. Strangely, the pain went away on Monday and Tuesday. Perhaps another doctor's appointment is in the works if it flares up again.

Sept. 25 was "back to work day," with 10 hours of editing, posting news on the website, working with the reporters and more. Got a rare letter to the editor questioning my editorial on sports being a diversion from the "real world" news. With only a limited amount of space each week, I didn't explain in that editorial that I watch sports for the athleticism and teamwork, not the current protests going around the sports world. It's a free country and I believe they can protest all they want. Just give me a good output during the game.

And talk about good athletic output — the Seahawks field hockey team is on a roll and having perhaps the best season ever in the 40-plus years of the program. I time their games while also reporting and Monday's contest was another impressive win for the team, now 8-1. Take in a game if you haven't seen them. You might study the rules if you're not familiar with the sport. I've been watching for nearly 20 years and some of the officials' calls still baffle me.

Sept. 26 was another 10-hour day. One of my jobs is to make sure all the pages are filled with news, columns, letters, etc. Went pretty smoothly this week — it should, with only 20 pages printed. As is the case each year in fall and winter, fitting all the news in a limited space takes some juggling, but we manage.

So that was my week. Worked, lived, loved, took a small ego hit and dealt with a few of life's curve balls. Pretty typical, I would say.

Carry on. And I hope my mentor, Mary Brewer, is dealing well with her curve balls and is back on this page next week.