happy birthday david powell.
i am so sorry you have to share today with a bunch of dead presidents — some years, i guess it just must happen that way. and i am so forgetful, sometimes. throughout today i forgot to remember all the way.
maybe sometimes we get so busy that we forget that we can’t see some people anymore. in passing, we forget the thought that it would be really nice to hang out with so-and-so again, if it would not become difficult to do so; and how much more overly difficult could it become?
i was just one in the crowd, and many had contributed so much more to your life, it seemed to me. but did you hear me when i spoke out about the limo, and the man named “zeke”, whom you kept referring to in hemo posts as “zeeg” – he was quite the dashing limo driver, if i remember correctly in the errant moment up and around coit tower, borrowing his jacket in the swift chill only san francisco knows, rita’s dog along with. he imprinted his business card on my palm, and i never used it, but i do have it somewhere to this day, along with the other business cards.
i will remember you driving through the desert; i will remember the destination: santa fe. i remember the NRA insurance policy, with glee; i remember the delicious meal at the heights with grace — why is it, so many places i have been do not exist anymore? — dinner in san mateo at various respectable joints, because above all, you were always respectable — i remember the harsh bite of your ridiculous menthol cigarettes and mostly, i remember your voice: while at Limn, “two-thousand-dollars for a CHAIR!”; while at home: “i’m going to write a book about all these crimes”; while at protest; “the hemos travelled well tonight” … you leave us behind; i believe you to be more peaceful now than when i saw you last, feverish and talking about the army and the triage; the red balloons we all let go… my cracking voice invoking rita and the limo, woefully inadequate but somehow serving my own small purpose, like tonight, how else can i justify myself, how else can i figure out what i can have, what i don’t have, what it all means… because i can’t just go down and visit you anymore.

downpour
how long? like knocking on the windows, my thoughts are keeping me awake, but the water started it. or did it? which dreamed which?

with apologies in advance to health world online and to lombardi springs.

Spring Water
This is the “natural” water found in surface or underground springs. Some companies retrieve and bottle this water. Other than being disinfected (chlorine may be used), this water is not processed… Just as groundwater can be polluted, spring water can also be contaminated. It is a good idea to have spring water checked out or to get full reports or summaries of tests from the company selling spring water. Ideally, these are independent lab reports performed yearly. Also, find out if the water is bottled at the source or transported and then treated and bottled. (Water bottled at the source is preferable.) Though spring water can be costly, it is high on the list of drinkable waters.

There are always potential dangers from microbial contamination in water or food. Awareness and safety measures are important. Untreated water may harbor bacteria or parasites most commonly, or viruses on occasion. Our mountain rivers and streams or lake waters may contain giardia or parasitic amoeba, campylobacter or other bacteria, metals, chemicals, or radioactivity. Common organisms that may cause intestinal infection in Third World countries (or in contaminated food or water in this country) include salmonella, shigella, E. coli, giardia, amoebas, and cryptosporidium. Contracting hepatitis from water may also be a slight concern, but foods are a more common transmitter of infectious hepatitis.