some people just can't catch a break

I saw our friend Mark today. I thought he was looking kind of rough, like he hadn't had much sleep lately or something. Then he told me about the week he had. He was in mediation with his ex-wife - the last time they mediated, they had to be put in separate rooms (ie they don't get along well). So, this time, about 15 minutes into the mediation, Mark has a minor heart attack and has to be taken to the hospital. Then, if that wasn't enough, on Memorial day, he was driving his moped down the road and a woman pulled out in front of him. He slammed on his brakes, but still ended up clipping the back of her car, tossing him into the ditch and his bike onto the side of the road. The woman who caused the accident continued talking on her cell phone and drove off, not even realizing that she hit someone. Mark ended up pulling himself together, but he's suffering some nasty road rash. All he's got from the car that hit him are the pieces of her broken tail light.

Bad news on the nature front. Our island has been fighting a coqui frog invasion. Coquis are an invasive frog species from Puerto Rico with a horribly loud croak, the loudest of all frogs at 95 decibels, which is about the same noise level as a chain saw puts out. Now imagine hundreds of those suckers a croaking in your backyard. The island is losing the battle and the east side is already covered in coquis and they've now moved to MY side. Tonight we could hear them in the distance from our house. A month ago, the closest we could hear them was about 3 miles away. They'll be in our yard before you know it, which means no more peaceful nights for us. The state government has deleted funding to irradicate the frogs, so it'll be up to people to put forth the effort to get rid of them themselves - which hasn't happened so far. We'll give it a shot, but I think we're going to be fighting a losing battle. We're surrounded by hundreds of acres of woods, there's no way we're going to keep them out. I hear the Puerto Ricans have made them one of their unoffical mascots - I wish they'd come get ours and take them back to PR where they came from. Click here to hear/see an annoying coqui. It may sound cheery when you hear one, but imagine hundreds - turn up your computer volume to max to get the full effect.