Okay, I'm Finally Back

Well, this week bore pretty much no resemblance whatsoever to the week that I had planned.

I did get back from the wonderful 29th Annual Superman Celebration in the terrific town of Metropolis, Illinois, last Sunday night on schedule and I will blog at some length about all the fun I had and all the fabulous people I met there as soon as I a) have a little time and b) figure out how to download all the pictures I took there to this here blog. My good friend Bob Skir picked me up at LAX and drove us both over to the legendary Canter's Deli in Hollywood to meet my lovely wife Christine and the What's My Line? - Live on Stage gang for a late dinner. Last Sunday's panel included Boston Legal's Gary Anthony Williams, the remake of The Parent Trap's Elaine Hendrix, Bones' Eric Millegan, and The Daily Show's Beth Littleford. The Mystery Guest for the evening was the wonderful Sharon Lawrence (of NYPD Blue and now Hidden Palms fame). You can check here for this coming Sunday's cast and how to order tickets. I'll be back on the panel on Sunday July 1st and will remind you of that in plenty of time before then. Anyway, I'd planned to blog about the trip when I got home, but it was well after midnight when we pulled into the driveway and I was a little jet-lagged and I figured I'd blog on Monday instead. Yeah. Right.

I got up Monday, ran a few local errands, and prepared to blog when I got a call from the aforementioned Bob, asking if I could come over the hill from the Valley into LA proper to pick him up at his car repair place. I said sure, put aside the blogging, and headed over the hill (which, of course, is where some say I've already been for a long, long time). Anyway, I picked up Bob, we had some lunch, did a little shopping, and then Bob asked me if I'd mind helping him pick up his beloved dog Barda from the vet. Again, I say sure, and we're back over the hill to the Valley. By the time we collected the dog, I realized I didn't have time to go home before my improv class that evening and, since Bob's home isn't far from the studio where the class is held, I hung out with him a little longer, then headed to class. By the time class was over and I've had my dinner, it was about midnight, and I was exhausted. I'll blog tomorrow, I decide. My readers will understand.

Now Tuesday was my birthday, and I was looking forward to the day. I was going to blog, have lunch with friends, maybe catch a movie, then have dinner with Christine and our dear friend, TV writer (Profiler, Reasonable Doubts, others) and novelist (the Circuit series) Melinda Snodgrass. But when I got out of bed, I noticed my big old beloved Golden Retriever Muffin seemed to be having trouble walking, and that she was groaning as she laid down. Concerned, I rushed Muffin to the vet, and x-rays revealed she had a mass of some sort around her spleen. The vet said they'd have to operate to remove the mass -- and possibly the spleen -- if she was going to survive. I told him to do whatever it took to save her, to call me if there was a problem, and went home. I wasn't good for much of anything else for the rest of the day. Bob came over to keep me company. We still went out to dinner. But my mind was on the dog, and not the company. Blogging just wasn't gonna happen.

Wednesday was basically devoted to sitting by the telephone, waiting to hear from the vet how the surgery went with Muffin. Bob came by, took me to lunch, then over to Golden Apple Comics to check out the week's new releases, but I really wasn't all there until the vet called to tell me that, although they'd had to remove her engorged spleen, Muffin had come through the surgery with flying colors. You could hear my sigh of relief in Australia. The vet did tell me that they'd sent the spleen to be biopsied to find out what had caused the problem, and we're still waiting to hear back the results, but at least she was alive, and that was all that mattered.

Yesterday, I spent some time visiting my old dog at the vet's, and was told I could take her home late in the afternoon. I went home, prepared the house, then picked my big old baby up and brought her back where she belongs. She moved slow, and she had big patches of her fur shaved, but she was home and everything else was incredibly unimportant. I spent the remainder of the day and evening keeping company with my dog. I didn't blog. So sue me.

Anyway, here I am at last. I'm back. I'm blogging. And I'll do my best to keep it up daily. Unless, of course, God forbid, something happens to my dog.