6/11 Update - Ask the cranky critic

Larry's back in Gainesville for the weekend (and much of next week), and now Larry will stop referring to himself in the third person. It was hard to be gone for a whole week. Jake looks good and feels well. The blood tests yesterday show Creatinine climbing a bit (.87) and potassium up. Jake knew he hadn't been drinking a lot, and told Jen that he now knows its necessary because both sets of doctors mentioned it. If only one set of doctors says something, he's not fully convinced. We've moved pill time to 9:45 am and pm. It makes it easier for him to wake up (late) and fall asleep (late). I guess we'll try out "summer hours" and go back to normal bedtimes when school starts. That also gives me time to get in a 50 mile ride before they wake up.

We had hoped to go home within 2 weeks, but now we won't go home until the levels are truly stable. We'll resume the Monday blood tests to go along with the Thursday clinic visit (and blood tests). I'll be here for the upcoming Thursday test. The catheter won't be removed until we go home, but we apparently can get that scheduled at Joe DiMaggio Childrens Hospital on an outpatient basis without too much difficulty.

Jen's Mom and pre-nurse Lauren took care of the family while I was gone and did an incredible job.

And now the content you all have been waiting for - my consumer column. First off, I'm a very happy Palm Pre customer. I was walking back from court and passed by Radio Shack. They had the big Palm Pre display in the window, so I went in and found out that they actually had them in stock. The Sprint network has been good, and the Pre has lots of neat functionality. Most importantly, I'm able to type on it much better than I could with the iPhone. It has a real blackberry-style keyboard (a little small, but usable). My office hasn't decided whether they are going to support it, but it syncs well with Gmail, Google calendar and Google contacts so I can do what I need to do. Battery life is a little better than I had with my old iPhone. On the kid entertainment side, you can watch TV on it through the "Sprint TV Network". Very cool.

The usual thumbs down to . . . Best Buy. After buying the Palm Pre, I needed to buy a car charger. Since I'm on one of my crazy self-designed diets, I decided to drive to Aventura for D'Lites low carb ice cream. Since I have no life, this was pretty much the most exciting part of my week. I stopped in at Best Buy to try to pick up the charger, but Best Buy doesn't stock genuine Pre accessories - just their own crappy knock-off house brand for the same price as the real thing. If I wanted to buy a knock-off, I'd go to Walmart and pay the knock-off price.

One last observation that may be useful for you stock market investors. I went to the Borders bookstore in Aventura. That place is a toilet. Most of the magazines that I was looking for had the April issue out on display. I have to think that the chain is millimeters from bankruptcy. Sell short.