I make a lot of mistakes when I type. I was an English major and typed a lot. But I never learned to type properly.
One night, I realized that Boggling is an anagram of Blogging. And I anticipate a lot of typos.
Hence the name of my blog.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Start The Day Right...
Low fat Chai Lattes...
...and a hot tub.
It just has to be a good day, right?
UPDATE: Rachel's long delayed diability check AND a rebate from Bausch and Lomb for my contact lenses came in the mail. So I am going to take a long lunch with my wife today, go to the bank, and then pick up Michael Clayton and The Darjeeling Limited, along with a big wire nut for the golf cart.
Yummy, bubbly, cheesy, stick to the ribs, perfect on a cold rainy Sunday Shephard's Pie. And I cheated a bit. I used Potato Buds. And I used ground turkey instead of ground beef.
Travis was over playing guitar with Jake. Rachel was off watching the Oscars with Lauren. The boys loved it.
I dished us each up a bowl - about a third of it. When I came upstairs later, another third was gone. And then later only 2/3 of the remaining third remained. Which will be my leftovers for dinner. Provided Jake hasn't gotten to it yet.
After Travis left, Jake and I hung out watching a little TV and working on his Spanish homework. Then it was time for his first home Humira injection.
I shot a video just in case something went wrong. And Jake would prefer it if I don't publish it, so I won't. But it was weird and creepy watching him. He did great.
This afternoon, we worked on the golf cart a bit. It seems a wire between the charger receptacle and one of the batteries came loose, overheated, melted the wire, and the battery terminal. I'm trying to McGyver a fix without having to buy new batteries. New batteries are expensive. And as much as I'd like to upgrade from 36 volts to 48 volts, it would run around $800. You can't just replace one battery because it will quickly degrade the newest in the set. So hopefully we can get this to work. But I need a bigger wire nut or a smaller socket wrench.
While we were working, the peacocks came back for another visit. There were seven today - the pimp and his 6 hens. Some of those hens are his daughters. We are not optimistic about the next generation with this limited gene pool. Strangely, there don't seem to be any new males and we are wondering if perhaps Papa peacocks are homicidal towards other males, even their own offspring. Anyone know the answer to this one?
Here's a little video.
They walk around us and don't pay much attention to us anymore, unless we make a loud noise or move suddenly. But we can get within a couple of feet. I had my back turned on them when he honked the first time and I about jumped out of my skin - which cracked Jake up.
Work wasn't much fun today. I'm going over requirements from an existing system and trying to determine whether to replicate the existing system or do it over using what I like to call, "The right way." Boring and a little frustrating. But it will get fun once the details are ironed out and I can start building.
Now it's Rachel time. I assure you, despite the lack of pictures lately, she is alive and well and watching Scrubs in the next room.
Oh no! Look what we did! You might recall Rachel and I were still registered Green and we voted for Ralph in the California Primary...
By HOPE YEN, Associated Press Writer 48 minutes ago WASHINGTON - Ralph Nader on Sunday announced a fresh bid for the White House, criticizing the top contenders as too close to big business and dismissing the possibility that his third-party candidacy could tip the election to Republicans.
Nader said most people are disenchanted with the Democratic and Republican parties due to a prolonged Iraq war and a shaky economy. He also blamed tax and other corporate-friendly policies under the Bush administration that he said have left many lower- and middle-class people in debt.
Nader said Obama's and Clinton's lukewarm response was not surprising given that both political parties typically treat third-party candidates as "second-class citizens." Nader said he will decide in the coming days whether to run as an independent, Green Party candidate or in some other third party.
Pointing a finger at Republicans, he described McCain as a candidate for "perpetual war" and said he welcomed the support of Republican conservatives "who don't like the war in Iraq, who don't like taxpayer dollars wasted, and who don't like the Patriot Act and who treasure their rights of privacy."
"If the Democrats can't landslide the Republicans this year, they ought to just wrap up," Nader added.
Well, he's right about that. And he will probably get lots of support from Republican donors.
Rachel and I had an interesting discussion last night about Clinton and Obama. She feels that Hillary's familiarity with world leaders would be an advantage in efforts to repair our image around the world. I feel just the opposite - that she represents more of the same. Obama, in my opinion, would represent a radical change - a new face to represent us. I think he has a much better chance of repairing the damage done by U.S. actions around the world.
We're both solidly behind Obama, mind you. Our discussion was limited to foreign affairs.
Also, I saw Tina Fey rally for Hillary last night on Saturday Night Live. I was a bit disappointed - rather than make a reasonable, if impassioned case for her, she called her a "bitch" and said that bitches get things done. And that's why I should vote for her? Sorry, Tina. I dig you, but I think you are merely backing the best female candidate and not the best candidate.
We are trying to get caught up on Oscar-nominated movies and performances. So tonight for family movie night, we watched, "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford." It was alright. We're impressed by Casey Affleck's performance. And Brad Pitt was good too. But compared to the other Westerns we've seen recently, it was no great shakes.
Rachel and I watched "American Gangster" earlier in the week. We enjoyed it, but it felt A little like trying to turn New Jack City into The Godfather.
We also watched, "We Own the Night." It was also good. It was gritty and intense and had some really powerful scenes. And we watched Gone Baby Gone. Also good.
Rachel and I also got about halfway through, "Rendition" and had to take a break because it was too intense before bed. So we will probably finish that one up tomorrow.
I've made a lot of progress on the office reorganization. But I am not happy with where I thought I was going to put my new computer. It sits on the shelf on its own fine, but when you start plugging in monitors and other devices that shows it out about 4 inches and it just looks stupid. So I need to rethink that. I did get rid of a lot of old papers and junk and tchotchke from tradeshows. And I found some old receipts to submit for reimbursement. And I figure if I put in a couple of hours on Sunday, I'll be ready to take that after picture.
Rachel is also going through files in her office. The main goal, aside from getting organized, is to get all of her accident expenses together so that we can submit our claim. Along the way, she found a bunch of my old writing -- that's poems, some from college, a couple of short stories, some haikus, and a long piece I wrote called, "Rant -- Run-On Sentence." I might post a few of them up here in the next few days.
She also found was my first attempt at a novel. I remember when I wrote it. I just wanted to see if I could do it, and I found that I could. I had about a week to myself in my apartment at college between my last two semesters. I just started writing to see what would come out. I found that I really got into it. I would go to sleep at night thinking about what might happen next, and the next day I would write more. Finding this treasure trove of old writing is motivating me to get started on finishing those two stories I started this year.
Work was interesting this week. The system I worked on for Wisconsin Public Service went live on Monday without a hitch. It was a limited rollout and they plan to roll it out to a larger group next Monday and to everyone the following Monday. I also worked on a name capture application and got a prototype working. And we started working on what will soon be Adapt's speech recognition banking application. And by "soon" I mean June or July.
Jake is doing well. He is just about caught up on all the work he missed while he was out with his flare up. We're talking to the athletic director to see if we can get him try out for baseball. And we received a letter saying he had made the honor roll. He also received a birthday present from his Bio-Dad. It is a cool bass effects pedal and he has been having a lot of fun playing with it.
On Wednesday and made another curry dish. It was delicious. Less spicy than last time. I think I'm actually ready to cook something like this for guests. I figure since Lauren and Paul gave me the curry book for Christmas, they should be the guinea pigs... I mean first beneficiaries of my new skills with curry and coconut milk.
And finally, I started messing around with some of the moviemaking software that came with my new computer. It's a bit rough, but here it is...
I look forward to playing with this more in the future and putting together some DVDs of pictures set to music for friends and family.
This Mack Daddy has four females in his harem. I think there are another male and a couple of more females in the neighborhood as well. It's good to see them coming back.
We all got a little sappling to plant at Scott and Kimra's wedding. I don't know what's happened to the rest of them, but this one is going strong at Rachel's parents' house...
Somehow Rachel avoided being in any pictures. And it's a shame, because she looked really cute on Saturday. I mean, she always looks cute to me, but she looked, you know, especially cute on Saturday. And all of the pictures of Lauren were too dark. I assure you, they were there, though.
And since today is a holiday (but not for me) we let Jake have a couple of friends stay over. Another sign of Jake getting older - his room is not big enough for two of his friends to sleep in sleeping bags in his room anymore. All of them are getting bigger. So we had to blow up two air mattresses in the living room. They had pizza and soda and cake and brownies that Rachel made. They have been playing music or video games pretty much non-stop. I am in the office with ambient music and as many closed doors as I can manage between me and them.
And I also started a massive cleanup and reorganization of my office. You know, new computer, new beginnings, clean slate and all that.
Here's the before...
I'll get an "after" picture up when I finish. I know I'm a total pack rat, but I am finally letting go of things like: -That hard drive I thought I might fix someday. -That keyboard I thought I might fix someday -Software CDs like Windows '95 -Old marketing materials -Hats I will never wear -Key chains, mouse pads, water bottles, plush dolls, tote bags, light up marachas, CDs, marketing slicks, and dozens of other little trinkets from the various tradeshows I've attended over the years. It feels good to let go of all of this crap. I know clutter brings me down.
We were supposed to be at Lauren and Paul's around Noon. But their power went out. So then we were supposed to be there at three, when it was due to be restored. But then they got a call saying it would be off until 10:00 PM. And we found out that bit of news after we were already over the hill. So while we waited for the plan to come together, we went to the local CompUSA store - and I finally picked up a new computer to replace my 7 year old workhorse. Quad Processor with 3 Gig of RAM. It screams. I'm glad I waited - CompUSA is going out of business and there are some really fantastic deals. I paid half as much as I paid 7 years ago for a machine for times faster with 3 times the memory.
Of course, this won't help me blog any faster. (Actually, uploading pictures seemed to be a lot quicker.) But it will let me compile massive speech recognition grammars in a fraction of the time it used to. Plus, everything loads and runs faster, so multitasking will be much easier. And I will be able to use Dragon Naturally Speaking 9. Which will be fantastic for reducing the amount of keystrokes I have to make. And tonight I figured out how to plug in my DirectTV box to the back of the PC so I can watch TV while I work. Or while I blog.
Over the next few days, I'm going to have to spend countless hours transferring files from my old computer and installing all of the software I use. But it will be worth it.
In the end, we ended up going to Mike and Dolores'. We had a cake for Jake and just hung out. I'll see about getting some pictures up tomorrow, but now I need to sleep.
We got back on track with family movie night. "We Own The Night" was the movie. Not really a "family movie," but it was good. Lots of tension at certain points.
I made pizza from scratch again. It's been a while. They came out pretty good - although the crust could have been a little crispier.
Cheese...
Turkey sausage...
And I had some dough left over and decided to try to make a calzone. And I ended up inventing the "Calzastrophe"... And just in case you were coming, I baked a cake (baked a cake, baked a cake).
Tomorrow we go to Lauren and Paul's (Laurelio's) for a little belated Jake birthday celebration and several courses of food.
Thanks for all of the great feedback on that last long post. I got comments here, e-mails, phone calls, and words through the grapevine. It started out being all about the whole "Storti's Dad" business, and then all of that other stuff about my childhood just came flooding out. I experienced a lot of emotions while writing that post, and it's given me a lot to think about. And the feedback I've received has helped me sort through a bunch of things about my past and present and has me thinking a lot about my future.
For a long time growing up, I had no identity of my own. Our friends were usually the kids of our parents' friends. Dad played tennis. I played tennis. Dad golfed. I golfed. Dad fished, I fished. Dad was a goalie, I was a goalie. Dad was a catcher, I was a catcher. My sister and I generally did what our parents did.
Actually, now that I think about it, Laurie swam. And she played Third Base. And she played piano. She was more rebellious. She even ran away from home once. I never did. She became her own person at about age 7. I became my own person at about the age of 37.
But on the other hand, Dad was an accountant, she's an accountant.
But then on the other other hand, Dad's a Certified Public Accountant, and Laurie's also a Certified...Massage Therapist.
I guess it's normal for a boy to want to grow up and be like his Dad. I think it was especially true in my case - I am, after all, a junior. Eric Thomas Soderstrom, Jr.
I was once told that "Thomas" is not technically my father's middle name. Apparently, it isn't on his birth certificate and was added some time later. I have heard different stories about how and when it was added. And I have never seen his birth certificate, so the stories may or not be true. But it seemed reasonable when I was told about it, and I started believing it.
This vexed me because technically, if the stories are true, I am not a junior, despite what it says on my own birth certificate. And there were times when I would write "Jr." on certain applications and not on others. And sometimes, "S_O_D_E_R_S_T_R_O_M__J_R_." wouldn't fit in the boxes allotted for last name. It became a real problem when we got our first mortgage. The notary public and our mortgage broker were both very concerned- "Well which is it? This is important." I settled on using my own birth certificate that I had seen as the rule and had to tack on "Jr." every time I signed. And, of course, I screwed up several times because I am not accustomed to writing my name that way and then had to initial and date every single goof.
I have occasionally been mistaken for other Eric Soderstroms. Often, I was mistaken for my Dad. But once, I was mistaken for a Physicist from Cal Tech. I had a friend at Cal named Laura Schultz. Her father was a Physics professor at one of the Southern California U.C.s. I called her once over break and her father answered and asked, "Can I tell her who's calling?" I said, "Eric Soderstrom." And he got all excited and started asking me questions about some particle accelerator. He was thrilled that a brilliant scientist was calling on his fair daughter. His demeanor changed considerably when I explained that, no, I was an English major in some of his daughter's classes at Cal. "Oh...hold on, I'll get her." Oddly enough, that guy committed suicide in October of 2006.
There's another "Eric Soderstrom" who writes for a golf magazine, and since my father is such an avid golfer, I have been asked if they were the same person. They could tell by my swing that it surely wasn't me.
There's also an "Eric Soderstrom" who is very active in the Gay/Lesbian/Bi-sexual community in the East Bay. And when people ask if that's me, I say, "No, that's my father."
OK, no I don't.
When I was very young, I was called "Ricky." When we would visit my grandfather, Papa Harry, he always said, "Hello there Ricky...Racky...Roooooo." Ricky lasted until I started Kindergarten. Then it was, for the most part, Eric. Except for my cousin Rob, who I haven't seen for several years, but he still calls me "Ricky...er...Eric." Hard habit to break for him, I guess.
My Dad has always gone by Rick. And most of his friends called me "Little Rick." Once his friend Dick Jacoby walked past me at The Club and said, "Hey Little Rick!" I replied, innocently, "Hey Big Dick!" That got a lot of laughs that, at that age, I was just beginning to understand.
My Dad was, and still is, I imagine, fairly well known around town, and when people saw me, I was "Rick's kid." My Mom too. She worked at the post office in the grocery store. So I was also "Sue's kid."
And I was taught to always refer to my friends' parents as "Mr. Moyer," or, "Mrs. Lescohier." I never called them by their first names, even when they told me too, until I was 21 or so. I think by that time, I figured if I could drink a beer with them, I could call them by their first names.
Oh, except now that I think about it, I still call the parents of the friends I grew up with by their last names. "Mrs. Kishi," "Mr. Gillen," and so on.
Anyway, the point is, I had no identity of my own except for my connection to my parents.
Perhaps it was when I got my first job. Or maybe when it became a career. Or perhaps it was much later when I started getting a reputation in speech recognition circles. I don't remember when it happened, but at some point, I became my own person. Anyway, since Jake has a different last name than either Rachel (nee Bainter) or I, and since Jake has always called me Eric, all of his friends have always called me Eric.
I remember feeling a little nostalgic for the respect children used to give their elders by referring to them as "Mr.," "Mrs.," "Miss," or even Ms." so-and-so. But it just sort of makes sense these days with all of the non-traditional families. And it seems that most kids today refer to their friends' parents by their first names. And since they call me "Eric," it would be silly for Jake's friends to call Rachel, "Mrs. Soderstrom." Even though Jake calls her Mom.
Anyway - back to the point that I am sure is around here somewhere...
Rachel and I are watching Jake grow up, and we are seeing him develop his own identity. He is becoming his own person and not just "our child." He has his own interests and tastes in things. He has his own morality, his own style of dress, his own talents and abilities. He is building his own identity at what seems to me to be a much younger age than I did.
I mentioned in an earlier post about how another child's parent told us how Jake stuck up to bigger kids that were teasing her son when he was injured. It was great to hear a tale of our boys courage from a world we don't know much about - Jake's world outside of our home.
For the first time this year, he had a math problem that neither of us could help him with. I can do a lot of algebra, and there are certain kinds of heavy math in the work I do. But I'll be darned if I could remember how to factor a polynomial. But eventually, he figured it out- on his own.
The other day I heard some great music coming out of his bedroom, and it was him playing.
Last week, when we were picking up school work for Jake, the school nurse said that several girls had come to her saying they were worried about Jake. So I guess the girls call him Jake. Anyway - that means that there are people in his world that care about him a lot that we don't even know about, let alone know personally.
When I meet his teachers, or other parents in athletics, I introduce myself as "Eric Soderstrom, Jake Storti's Dad." So in that sense, I have defined myself as his father. But for the first time last week, somebody defined me in relation to Jake. Jake has been out of school for two weeks now. Last Thursday, I went to the market, and a kid about Jake's age approached me and said, very politely, "Excuse me, sir, aren't you Storti's Dad?" And then he asked how Jake was doing, and I told him much better and he would be back in school Tuesday. Can I tell him who asked about him?
It was weird. Jake is always Jake to us. Sometimes he's "pickle" to his mom. And sometimes he's "boy" to me. But he has always been Jake. In our world everyone calls him Jake. In his world, it seems, most people call him "Storti."
The wrestling team calls him "Storti." Sometimes they call him one or another affectionately derogatory freshman nicknames, but generally, it's "Storti."
And now I'm "Storti's Dad."
I'm not "Eric Thomas Soderstrom, Jr.," or even "Eric Soderstrom." I'm Storti's Dad. I have been Jake's Dad for a long time, I just never realized it before, I guess. At least not in this way.
He's not taller than me yet, but the other day I was in my socks and he was in his new Doc Marten's and, well, I felt short next to my son. Rachel told me to get over it - she went through that one a while ago.
On a call Friday, my friend Gary reminded me of the advice I gave him about spending as much time as possible with his boys because one day you wake up and realize that you can't play, "One-two-three- SWING!" anymore. It wasn't that long ago when I gave him that advice, and when I did, the experience was still fresh in my mind.
And tonight I realized that this is the last Presidential election that Jake will be too young to vote in.
I had a little cry in the car on the way home from the store when I was Storti's Dad for the first time. I'm sure part of the emotion has to do with my 40th birthday coming up. I am feeling older. I used to be wise beyond my years, but the years are catching up with me. I'm realizing that our boy is becoming his own person- he's making a name for himself.
I'm also realizing that I'm not ready for it yet.
And I don't know if we'll be ready to be "empty nesters" in three short years. Especially if they fly past as fast as the last eleven have.
The other day I said to Rachel, "You know, if we got you pregnant this year, I'll be 58 when he graduates high school."
And she said, "What do you mean 'he'?"
Let me be clear - I'm not sayin' anything, and I'm not NOT saying anything either.
And I want to stay on message: Jake is growing up too fast for me. And I need to do a little more growing up myself and accept it.
And I need to learn what this next phase of parenting is all about. And quick.
I think Lauren and Paul were trying to curry favor with me at Christmas.
That joke was for Paul, and Paul alone. Nobody else gets to laugh at it. And probably nobody else would, anyway.
Anyway, I didn't use any specific recipe, I just read around a bunch of different chapters and pulled the dish above together. The food part of it is a bunch of Costco chicken breasts and a bag of veggies from Trader Joe's. The sauce is Green Curry Paste with onions, garlic, cardamon, cumin, coriander, paprika, salt, soy sauce, chicken stock, coconut milk and...drum roll please...creamy peanut butter. Yes peanut butter. It's the first time I've used it for anything other than a PBJ or cookies. And it was grubbin'. Maybe I'll make that my catch phrase like Alton's "Good Eats."
"Grubbin!"
Totally stole it from Lauren.
Anyway, 2/3 of our family is feeling much better. Rachel is still coughing a lot. I even did some outside chores yesterday and today. Yesterday I mowed the lawn out back. Today Jake and I hauled the rest of the firewood, got a rubbish pile started (rubbish - totally stole that from Paul), and dismantled the rickety old shade/gazebo thing. We've still got lots to do - like figuring out what we're going to do with the flat 18 foot circle where the pool was and getting some mulch and such. And hauling the rubbish pile to the front to get JR Dump Run to come take it all away. But we took advantage of the nice weather got off to a good start.
Oh, and there was that body we've been meaning to dump as well. We finally got around to that.
We don't really like doing the "wet work," but with Rachel out of a job, we needed the extra money.
This means: -Six months till a learner's permit. -365 or so days until he can legally drive the golf cart anywhere in Hidden Valley -This is the last Presidential Election he won't be able to vote in.
Rachel made him a cake from scratch...
...yep, she scratched the top right off of that box. She did make the frosting from scratch, though. And we had a little Cake Earthquake. And it was yummy.
In the video below, I don't think he was being entirely sincere.
Get it? Cain and Abel. I was also thinking about McCain Inable.
I saw this picture of him today and it reminded me of Steve Martin. So I Photoshopped in an arrow through the head. Because, you know with all of his visits to The Daily Show, he really is a wild and crazy guy!
And maybe he'll pick Leiberman as his running mate making him the first person to run for VP for two parties.
Here's to seeing the Straight Talk Express cross the tracks and get plowed by the Peace Train.
I don't know quite what it means, but it looks like Clinton did great in Bush country. I also did a quick count and found that in 10 of the counties that Clinton won (Shasta and Lassen were two of them, I can't remember the rest), her margin of victory was less than the Edwards votes. So the map on the right should probably favor Obama a little more than it does.
Wednesday was a pretty groovy day. Only down side is Rachel is sicker than she was yesterday. I hear her coughing upstairs, so I'm gonna go wake her up and make her take some medicine. But I feel much better. And Jake is feeling better and acting more like himself.
We got his report card and he exceeded our goals, so we rewarded him with a pair of Doc Marten's he's been wanting. And today is his birthday. And Monday is a holiday, but he should be back in school on Tuesday. He got his homework packet from last week done, including two essays, so I took those down to the school. I saw a couple of kids from the wrestling team who asked about him, and the school nurse told me a few girls came to her and said they were worried about him. And, of course, I've passed on the kind words from you all too. It makes him feel better to know others are thinking about him.
Work was great today - I got a lot done and I'm working on a new proposal to sell on of the applications I've built. That would be the second time we've sold it. And maybe it will steam roll if we get it at the right price point. And my company will shower me with royalties. And I will retire early and get an Airstream and travel this country writing my Great American Novel.
Whoah - I must be feeling better. Either that or I'm delirious.
But I couldn't go to sleep without commenting on how the California "projections" are going. It was called early for Clinton - when she had a 57-32% lead or so. It's now 53%-37%.
When I first looked at the County by County reporting, Obama was winning only Marin and 3 other couties. Clinton was winning in San Francisco. San Francisco is now showing Obama winning 52%-44%. The trend I'm seeing - and I know it's the trend I want to see, so I'm a biased - is that as the % of precincts reporting increases, Clinton's lead decreases. And he's winning 8 counties.
Also of note - Edwards is taking 8% state wide. I believe that more Edwards voters would vote for Obama than Clinton. I still don't understand why he dropped out.
I had some good conversation with Ted tonight around all of this. I like what Obama said tonight in his speech to his supporters - this election is about looking forward and not backwards. And when I look back on the Bill Clinton years, they look great, but that is mostly because they are sandwiched between some disastrous Bush years. The Republican Echo Chamber has fallen silent about Hillary, largely, I think, because they would much rather run against Hillary than Obama. And the people with power, the King (or Queen) makers would also much rather have another Clinton in the White House than Obama (or God forbid Edwards) if it has to be a Democrat.
If Hillary wins the nomination, that now quiet Republican Echo Chamber will crank up to a roar swifter than the swift boaters and it will be brutal - every single Bill Clinton scandal, real or perceived or concocted - from Vince Foster to Whitewater to Monica to renting out the Lincoln bedroom to shady Chinese donations - will be everywhere again. Plus there will be a dozen or so new "scandals."
If it's Clinton v. McCain, I believe McCain will win. If it's Obama v. McCain (or any Republican), Obama will win. The only Republican I think Hillary can beat is Romney. And Romney is bleeding tonight.
I can't believe that the Indian Gaming measures are winning and the Community College measure is failing.
Oh - also, I voted Yes on the Community College measure and no on everything else, with one exception - I voted Yes on 96 - one of the four Indian Gaming measures. Just as a goof - I wanted to see what would happen if one of those measures passed but not the rest.
Anyway - I will post a prediction for California - by the time I wake up, or by lunch time or so, Clinton's lead in CA will be 10% or less and she will have a slight lead in delegates.
Super Bowl, Super Tuesday, but we ain't feeling so Super...
The Hotel Yorba is under quarantine. We are all sick. I had a 101 fever on Sunday. It's hitting Rachel today. And, of course, Jake is dealing with a colitis flareup and a cough on top of it. So a quick post before I go take some Nyquil and sleep until the polls close in California.
Despite being sick, Rachel and I did our civic duty, and I am still a political junkie.
Sadly, we are still registered Green. So we couldn't vote for Obama. So if he loses, and it's close, blame Rachel and I and the rest of the Greens in CA who would have voted for him had we been able to. I know a lot of people stay registered Green because it's the party that best represents their values. And that's true for us as well. But we feel like we should have switched to vote in the primary and just didn't get around to it. I did see he has a 13 point lead in the polls in CA as of this morning, so we'll see.
I'm curious - what happens to all of the votes for Edwards that were mailed absentee before he dropped out?
Here's an interesting picture, to me anyway. NeverLost did me wrong at a weird freeway merge and I ended up taking a wrong turn. And I ended up here. This is me in Maryland last week taking a left from Democracy Blvd. on to Swansong Way.
And here's Rachel watching Jake come awake from the anesthesia last Friday.
And here's tonight's sunset.
I said this to Paul, and I'll say it to you all - I promise to get back to being positive soon. I feel like a whiny little bitch lately, and I don't like it.
Oh, here's one cool thing. I finally got my cell phone working as a tethered modem connected to my laptop. So now I can work (or blog) anywhere I can get cell service - and I can talk on the phone while connected. Now if we can just find that used Airstream.
Well the danger on the rocks has surely passed Still I remain tied to the mast Could it be that I have found a home at last? Home at last! --Steely Dan
Nod to Glenn there starting a post with a lyric that feels appropriate.
I am beat, wrecked, and worn out. Somewhere over Nebraska yesterday, I realized that I actually spent more time traveling to and from customer site than I spent actually working on site. That wasn't necessarily the way it had to go down - I mean, I could have run in to more problems than I did and been there longer and all. But I got a lot done quickly, got sign off, and got out of Dodge.
The weirdest thing - and I can't remember experiencing anything like this before - is that I didn't go all the way home yesterday. We stayed over at Laurie's in Santa Rosa last night because we had to be at Kaiser in San Francisco for Jake's colonoscopy at 8:00 AM. It was weird to take my suitcase out of the car at her place and sleep there. But I'm glad we did - it made today a lot easier. Thanks, Sis.
I'll post some pictures and talk more about my trip in the next day or two. But for now, I want to focus on Jake. He had a flare up last Sunday/Monday.
Jake's doing great for what he's been through. He does have a lot of inflammation, and he hasn't eaten since Wednesday. But he hasn't cried once, and he is only a little grumpy. The doctor wants him to do a course of steroids and then start a new treatment called, I think, Humera. It's a bi-weekly self injector type thing that we have to go back to San Francisco on the 11th to learn how to administer. Dr. Rich has had some good success with the treatment with other patients around Jake's age. So hopefully it will work well for him, too.
Ron, if you happen by, I'm curious if you've heard of this treatment or tried it.
Other than that, I think wrestling is over for him this year - there's only a couple of weeks left. And he's got a lot of homework to catch up on - a whole week's worth. And we're not sure when he'll feel up to returning to school. Hopefully some time next week. But it all depends on how quickly he responds to the Pregnizone.
Less spicy than last time. I think I'm actually ready to cook something like this for guests. I figure since Lauren and Paul gave me the curry book for Christmas, they should be the guinea pigs... I mean first beneficiaries of my new skills with curry and coconut milk.
