UNDER THE WEATHER

I've not been feeling well the past couple of days, so yesterday afternoon I called my doctor's office. I wanted to find out when I might possibly get in, when Surprise, Surprise, I was given an appointment one hour later. No, I don't have the flu -- H1N1, or any other variety. Dr. M said I had a bacterial infection, and prescribed an antibiotic. I started the pills last evening, and went to bed early. Slept nearly 10 hours, and felt half decent this morning. Then a few hours later, I started feeling ratty again, and slept several more hours. Feeling a bit better now, but ve shall zee vot ve shall zee.

Humor --

Two infants were born on the same day. Antonio Secola was born in Florence, Italy, and Michael O’Hara was born in Dublin, Ireland. These two children had remarkably similar upbringings. Both attended Catholic school; both did very well in school, finishing at or near the tops of their respective classes. Both attended Catholic seminaries where they both did extremely well, and became Catholic priests. Because of their obvious intelligence, and their understanding of their religion, they both rose quickly in the church hierarchy and both became Cardinals at about the same time.

Several years later, the Pope passed away, and it seemed rather obvious that either Antonio Secola or Michael O’Hara should be chosen to replace the deceased Pontiff. If there was any difference between the two it was that Antonio was just a very little bit more intelligent than Michael.

And so the waiting began. Both Michael and Antonio were at the Vatican awaiting the results, but Antonio really expected that he would be elected. Days passed without a decision. Everyone was getting fidgety, when suddenly the signal came that a new Pope had been chosen. The announcement was that Michael O’Hara had been chosen to be the new leader of the Catholic church.

Antonio was stunned! Actually, he was furious! He knew he was the better of the two. He took matters into his own hands by storming into the room where the electing Cardinals were still gathered, and demanded to know why he had not been chosen. There was dead silence in the room. Antonio once again demanded an answer. Once more there was silence until finally a very old Cardinal stood and said in a quavering voice, “We understand your disappointment. We know that you are a bit more qualified than O’Hara. But we argued the point for many days. Despite your obvious advantage, we could not elect someone who would be known as Pope Secola.”