About a month ago, my wife had to have gallbladder surgery. Thankfully, it was caught early and she has since recovered nicely. I remember saying something at the hospital along the lines of ..."well, I've never had to be hospitalized for anything myself." It looks like I forgot to knock on that wood. Just three weeks later, I found myself getting checked out in the hospital for what turned out to be a gas/constipation issue that nagged me for over a week. I've always had a strong stomach, seldom complaining of any digestive problems over the years. I can only assume that eating meat for five consecutive days, coupled with stress I'd been under lately, were the likely culprits. Isn't it bizarre how we can jinx ourselves in this way? We say that something hasn't happened for a long time -- say, we haven't gotten a cold, been summoned for jury duty, or broken an ankle -- and bam, it happens. It's as if someone out in the ether hears us ...