Don't look now, but it's an update

Wow, has it been TOO LONG.

And you have my apologies.

How's my friend doing? JUST DAMN AWESOME. Although he did lose his thumb (too little bone remained after they took the biopsy) his prognosis is excellent. And due to the miracle of surgery, he isn't out a thumb- they moved his index finger over so he has a thumb again. It was a bit scary for a number of months as it was not showing any signs of growth where the bones come together. Finally, it's just growing like a weed. Thank GOD, Yahweh, Muhammed and Tiny Tim, too.

School started, but we didn't do the annual take-the-children-out-for-breakfast-on-the-first-day thing because Favorite Son starts at 7:25 now.

MSU is 3-0. UofM is 1-2. ND is 0-3. Tigers are not looking very good right now.

OUR KITCHEN IS IN SHAMBLES, and our house is full of dust. This hopefully will be over in 3 weeks if everyone stays on schedule.....

A position I lost-out on late last fall opened again because the loser couldn't handle it after 6 months. And I got the position. Now I wait for my replacement to be hired, then jump into damage control because the loser was a total hack and fouled up nearly every thing he touched.

Speaking of work, I traveled to Japan for a few days in May. Too short a trip, but it was a once-in-a-lifetime trip (due to late bookings: FIRST CLASS.) Oh, the spacious skies. I don't mean to be a prick, but I'll never see that part of an airliner again so let me gloat for just a moment.

Lake Michigan is still the holiest water on the planet. It's good medicine.

My Jet-Ski won't start. Wanna buy it? Let's make a deal.

My friend's wife filed for divorce. On his birthday. I think she's having a mid-life crisis, but unfortunately she's now going to subject her daughter to divorce for a second time and since she's 13 and entering middle school, well, you be the judge on how that will impact her.

I want to surf. Or that stand-on-a-surfboard-with-a-long-paddle thing.

Love you all. Gotta run

So THIS is what the 3rd snowiest February looks like

 


Photo taken by Favorite Son on his sick day home from school. Not a bad job, I must say.

Happy Day

It's been too long since a new post, so here's a weeks old picture of my good friend's li'l cherub.




That's Favorite Daughter holding him. I have a much better picture, but I'm not real keen on identifiable pics of my children on the internets. Now, don't go looking at me in the way you might look at Dan Akroyd in full "Sneakers" regalia; there's plenty of freaks out there and I'd prefer my kids don't meet them. You'll get over it, trust me.

Anyway, she was positively GIDDY at the experience of holding a real-live baby instead of one of her many many dolls. And that's notwithstanding the fact that, due to his pre-mature birth, he's smaller than many of her dolls. Or at least he was at the point this picture was taken. He's now putting away 4+ ounces each feeding, weighs over 7lbs and has grown an inch. Yup, he'll be palming a basketball any day now......

And just when we thought Winter was taking the year off, we go and have the 3rd snowiest February on record. . . sheesh! But I can't complain, I can't imagine what those poor folks in Oswego, NY must be doing with all their snow.

TTFN, and be safe. All of you~

It wasn't me

Sometimes I can look quite handsome, you might even say "princely". But make no mistake about it: I did not have sex with that woman, Ms. Smith.

And what's up with the Grammy folks? 5 for the Chicks? Have you actually LISTENED to that stuff? I mean come ON! How political can this be? For a second I thought I was watching the CMAs or somethin'. What are these awards for again? Courage, or talent? I thought it was for talent. These are the Grammys people, not the Nobel Prize, or Carnegie Medal for Heroism. Let's get our priorities straight and recognize talents, not just gutsy nuts from Texas.

Record of the Year? Maybe. The nominee list wasn't that strong, and "You're Beautiful" wasn't really James Blunt's best effort.
Album of the Year? No way. I'm sorry, but the rest of the pack simply blew this one away. All the Chick's tracks were consistently nasal and droning. Gnarls showed a ton of creativity, the Peppers featured an amazing number of hits from it's two (not one, count 'em, TWO) disc set.

I just don't get why they continue to try to award things in the most outlandish way they can. And another thing: could someone please explain to me how Gnarls Barkley is now "alternative"? Wha?

I have a cold.

Slowly

My good friend's baby came home on the First of this month. It took almost two whole weeks, but he's finally home. That's just so good to hear.

His chemo developed a complication last week, his kidney function is down and they couldn't give him the more-potent half of the two drugs he's getting. Now it seems they are going to abandon that drug and change to a different one for his next treatment in two weeks- one that will require him to now be at the university hospital for three days of treatments rather than two. And because they scheduled him to start at 7am, he's gotta be gone for three nights, too. It's so sad to see this with the new baby at home- he would just rather be there.



On another front, big scare at home tonight. It's quite bitterly cold outside and wifey has been wanting a fire, as well as favorite son. After getting back from shoveling GF's drive, and also clearing out the present from the city plow truck at the end of mine, it was time to get back inside. Anywho- paper was wadded, kindling added, flue opened, starter torch seemed to start drawing just fine so the papers were lit.

Slowly, smoke starts rolling.

Doors close.

Smoke still rolling, fire starting to slowly grow.

Press on doors (as though there's some sort of weatherstripping there.....doh!)

Marvel at all the spots smoke is pouring out around closed doors. Thinkthinkthinkthinkthinkthinkthink THINK! Think about all that snow we've gotten and how much might be plugging the top of the chimney. Think about how many candles are gonna have to be lit to clear the thickening air throughout our house. Think how little that lone bathroom vent fan will do to help clear the air.

Marvel again at the condensation on the inside of the fireplace doors, the flames still surviving through all that smoke, the sound of a snow plug falling nearly two stories down our chimney, the agonizingly slow clearing of the air in the fireplace after a good draft starts......

It was well after halftime before all the windows were buttoned up tight. I think it was about two degrees outside at that time.

Sorry, but Happyness is threatened

Awright, I'll be frank with ya. I'm pissed. You know my old friend, "C"? The one that took Bob's Mary, my Aunt, Sharon's Joe, Bart's Lois, Bill's Lois and Wifey's co-worker? Gol-danged junk is back. This time it's now dropped by to visit my friend's life. Started out as just a bump on his thumb, turns out to be osteosarcoma. What's worse, the diagnosis was confirmed just after Christmas and on top of that he and his wife were expecting their first baby at that time. All that promise during that time of year balled up into a wrenching ball of fear and unknown.

They had the baby yesterday, and Lord willing it will be home in a week (it's a bit of a preemie due to a run-in with gestational diabetes and pre-eclampsya.)

It's just hard to see him go through this. He's only had one treatment and it wiped him out for over a week. Give me the strength to put my fears and emotions aside and be there in any way they need.