a sad week

Yes, besides the Bears' loss, there were lots of things to mourn. There was Molly Ivins, for one. Our friend Carl, for another, who passed away last week at 93, was a thoughtful and funny man who ground and polished his own lenses for telescopes. A Stage III trial for an HIV microbicide was closed due to safety concerns, which is baffling since it showed no adverse affects in Stage I or II (safety) trials. This leaves just three microbicides which have made it to the final stage, and while I have high hopes that one of them may prove effective, I'm unencumbered by any actual science knowledge or a full depth of understanding on how rarely these drugs work out. All these things leave us set a little farther back than we were last week.

The Chicago climate, ever innovative, found a way to make it snow even at 2 or 3 degrees F, causing much snarling of people and traffic and running me right into a fender bender. (Me, the the spawn, and the bumper-car opponent all are fine.) If there was ever a week when I needed some chocolate, this might be it.