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January 25, 2006
where mom is
I think I have the flu, or a cold, or something. My skin is cold and clammy, I have a headache, and I distinctly do NOT want to be at work today. I guess if you spend most of a weekend in a hospital around sick people, you're going to pick something up.
So here's why I spent the weekend in the hospital: Mom has cancer.
Again.
She had trouble swallowing some months ago; tests found a small lump in her throat on the side of her esophagus. Further tests found that it was, in fact, a rare type of non-Hodgkins lymphoma that is common in African children. Anybody who knows where I grew up can try to figure that one out...not too many Africans of any age around central PA.
The treatment was fairly intensive. Thus, she has been in and out of Johns Hopkins in Baltimore (that's where she had her breast cancer successfully treated a number of years ago) over the previous few months. She has either been confined to a hospital bed, or has been staying at a hostel-type place across the street for her outpatient treatment.
She needs to have somebody with her if she isn't in the hospital, so my Dad has been down there almost continuously since December. The family celebrated Christmas there, and my Mom spent New Year's there as well. Matt has gone down to stay with her, and I went down this weekend to stay with her for a few days while my Dad went home to get some things done.
I wasn't blogging a whole lot before Christmas because this was all going on, and I didn't know how she would feel about me discussing it online, but she is fine with it. It is what it is, and she doesn't really care who knows. So I'm writing about it.
She looks like a cancer patient dockworker with her little woolen hat, and I have seen glaciers that move more quickly. But she is in good spirits, the treatment seems to be working (we will find out for sure once it is all over), and with luck, she'll be back home in early February. She had 6 high-intensity chemo treatments, and has 4 lower-intensity treatments coming up. Her white blood cell count is down to about 6 per cubic mm from about 44000; I guess they shut down your immune system so the chemo can work better or something. As a result, she has to wear this little white ninja mask whenever she goes out.
So that's what's been happening. She should be ok.
I managed to grab lunch with Brian while I was in Baltimore, and I met his new puppy. The rest of the time, I was sleeping, reading, or doing stuff for Mom.
Kara has been working into the wee hours since we got back from Vegas. I'm getting back into the swing of things at work. That's pretty much it.
Posted by Mark at 10:51 AM | Comments (0)
January 18, 2006
food, lost, nerf
Day 2 of Weight Watchers Online, once again. Hey, it worked before.
I guess I don't mind saying it: 242 pounds. Yikes. I carry it pretty well; I'm no Hurley. But it is starting to catch up with me, and not just in terms of pants being uncomfortably snug. I finally got to the point where I said, "Ok, I need to get into shape now, for real this time. Seriously." Just having a salad now and then and hitting the gym every few weeks isn't quite enough, and WW is probably the best program out there...it reinforces the need for a sensible diet and exercise, which is really the only way to get into shape.
Yeah, I know that I'll probably shed some pounds, get off WW and put some on again. And so forth. But, you know, that's fine...sometimes I let my room get really messy before I clean it up. The nice thing is that the initial weight loss is fairly rapid, which gives you some added incentive. I also have enough pants in various sizes that I can keep up the "wow these are too loose to even fit me anymore" over a longer period of time. Hey, summer is coming, and I wanna look good for the beach and on my bike...leather pants, baby. Oh yeah.
Sometimes I want to take the characters on LOST and strangle them. Seriously, guys, you have one of The Others right in front of you and you don't stop to say, "Ok, fine, we'll put down our weapons. Could you maybe just answer some basic questions? Who are you guys? Would you like to work together? What is Dharma? Any idea about all the crazy stuff going on here?" At least they could say "None of your business, bucko" but that would be an answer. Instead, Jack just smolders and tells Locke to shut his trap, and Sawyer does his Dirty Harry impression, and nobody gets any answers. If I was on that island I think I would gag Jack until he learns to shut up.
Seems like there are going to be a lot of Nerf guns around the office soon.
Posted by Mark at 10:07 PM | Comments (0)
January 17, 2006
chakadrum
I just got done catching up on Matt's blog entries. Good stuff in there. I'm glad he has managed to find a good place to live in Philly, and I think it's really interesting that he's going through a lot of the same stuff I went through when I moved out and found my first job. The feeling of big change hanging over you, the tension of trying to find a place to live (that I've gone through too many times), getting nostalgic about leaving the homestead and trying to categorize just who you are, what you are. There's quite a bit to it.
There's nothing quite like those first few months on your own. Scary, and intense. The feelings settle and fade as you get older and more used to being away, though, and I don't think that's a bad thing. It would have been much much harder to not spend Christmas with the family this year had I just been out of school. Of course, I have to say that I'm looking forward to doing it next year.
So, if you're reading this, brother Matt, everything you're experiencing is totally survivable. Enjoy it, it's part of getting older. You'll settle in soon enough...in the meantime, savor the excitement of the new and the different. But, don't feel that by leaving one place you are leaving those people and memories behind for good. I still see plenty of people from back in the day, and it isn't all that much different at times.
Heh...says the 27-year-old embarking on plenty of his own new beginnings.
Posted by Mark at 04:40 PM | Comments (0)
still here
Yeah, still here.
Slept lousy last night. I think I'm still getting used to EST.
Starting Weight Watchers Online today. I'll let you know how that goes. It's worked quite well ijn the past, and I think I've reached the point where I'm really ready to get back in shape.
Posted by Mark at 10:16 AM | Comments (0)
January 16, 2006
mba away
Just submitted my MBA application to BU. I still need my recommendations to come through, but I'll take care of getting on people's cases tomorrow.
Other than that, not much to report. It was a quiet long weekend featuring mainly sleep and video games. After the non-stop travel of the last few weeks, it was nice to sit still for a bit.
I am debating whether or not to start my 5-gallon fermenter brewing tonight or not. It's not super time-consuming, but I'm lazy.
Oh, also, I just submitted a little backstory nugget to EVE Online, the space MMO I'm playing right now. With many new players in the game, their hardware is getting hit hard, and a lot of people are experiencing lag during peak times. I came up with some backstory that suggests lag is actually "Loaded Amplitude Gapping," caused either by large numbers of people using limited amounts of space bandwidth to run their communication systems, or by gravitational space-time anomalies doing the same thing. The result is ship systems appearing to freeze for awhile, or the "LAG effect." I guess they publish reader-submitted stuff now and then; we'll see if they like this or not.
Posted by Mark at 07:41 PM | Comments (1)
January 13, 2006
long time, no blog
I'm sure that's not the first time I've used that title.
When you go this long without writing, there is inevitably a lot to talk about. Much of it is also so long ago that I don't feel like going into great detail about it.
So, ok, Christmas.
People liked their gifts. Kara got a chocolate fountain (one from me and one from her Dad, actually; one went back for credit at Bed, Bath and Beyond), an amethyst and diamond necklace, a wok, and some other little stuff. Matt got a joint birthday/Christmas gift consisting of most of the dishes and cookware he needs for his first place. Dad got F.E.A.R. and a pillow from Brookstone (one of those squishy really comfortable ones). Mom got a sweater, a moose calendar and some word searches. Mike got the Family Guy season 1 and 2 DVD and a laundry basket. Kara's mum got a toaster, and her Dad and stepmom got some gift certs for dinner. Various relatives got scented jar candles.
I made out like a bandit. I got not one but two homebrew kits, a big 5-gallon one from Mike and Matt, and a smaller Mr. Beer 8.5 liter from Kara's Dad. More on that later. I got from Mom and Dad what I thought was going to be a desk calendar and turned out to be an iPod nano (!). That was surprising. Kara got me some clothes, a talking Yoda, a magazine basket for my Home Office (auxiliary), and a Wing-It deep fryer hot wing maker. That was also surprising. Kara's mum got me a whole mess of books and some neat wooden toys including some tangram blocks; I used to play with those when I was little. What else...oh, a Leatherman, some Homestar Runner figurines and a Trogdor Polo (happy 3rd birthday Trogdor!), and various candy, junk food and gift certificates.
So much for being healthy...between the beer, the chocolate fountain and the wings, I should've bought a forklift as well.
We had a New Year's party at my place during which I bought and we consumed waaaay too much food and beer, including wings, pizza rolls, spring rolls, homemade salsa, champagne, various dips, etc. It was a low-key affair with just a few people but we had a great time, and the next day, Kara and I sat on the couch eating leftovers and watching many episodes of Law & Order.
I started my first homebrew about two weeks ago in the Mr. Beer. It's a fairly simple matter. Basically, you sanitize everything very carefully (they emphasize this, as random little bacteria are the #1 cause of bad beer), boil up some water and dump in a can of beer mix, then pour this into the brewing vessel, let it cool a little, add yeast, stir, close it up, and wait. A week later, you pour the beer into bottles (I used plastic 1-liter bottles for the first batch) along with some sugar for the yeast to convert into carbonation, and wait at least another week. So now my first batch is drinkable, and I might just crack open one of the bottles today. For the best flavor you're supposed to wait a month, so I'll do that with some of the next batch.
So we just got back from LA and Vegas. Company trip to Vegas, and Kara's friend Judeline (sp?) lives in LA and had been wanting her to visit for the last five years, so we combined the two trips into one. Last Friday we arrived in LA at 9:30 local time and almost immediately went out to a club in Hollywood. It was really overwhelming and neat to see the stars on Hollywood Boulevard--I recall seeing Johnny Cash and Bela Lugosi that night--and after clubbing for awhile we went to an old Jewish deli and then to sleep.
Saturday we drove around Beverly Hills and saw the shops, then went to Hollywood again to see Mann's Chinese Theater and the rest of the walk of fame, then to Venice Beach to watch the sunset. I finally touched the Pacific Ocean. Then we went for dinner at a place that serves Shabu-shabu, which means "swish swish" and involves a hot plate with a pot of boiling water on your table. You take raw meat and vegetables and hold it in the water with chopsticks, and basically cook it and eat it right there.
Then we went out for a few drinks, and on Sunday, had crepes before heading to Las Vegas. Overall impression of LA was very positive...there are tons of great restaurants and lots of good boutique shopping, particularly if you like clothes. Plus Hollywood is neat...we did see the sign. And the beaches, with the shops along the sand and the skateboarders and the surfers, are really cool. I would go back. Also, it was nice for Kara to be able to see her friend and for all of us to hang out.
So, Vegas. First thing you see upon exiting the plane is a row of slot machines. We stayed at the Venetian, on the strip. Amazing. The hotel has a Venice theme and they spare no expense towards extravagance. Tons of gaming tables and slots, although the minimum bet at most table games was $5. Our room was a huge suite with a bathroom bigger than my current bedroom.
The thing about Vegas is that it's not just about gambling and drinking. There are exceptional restaurants everywhere, great shows, and just amazing people-watching. We had great food, saw Avenue Q (a show that is basically an adult Sesame Street), watched the dancing fountains at the Bellagio, discovered the joys of Star Wars penny slots and video poker at the bar (free drinks while you play!), went to a neat club (go-go dancers in cages over the tables and regular acrobatic shows over the bar), walked and walked and walked, saw New York-themed casino New York New York and ate at an authentic fake Irish bar, saw dolphins and lions and white tigers, and just generally had a great time.
Also, I had a chance to interact with my coworkers in a social setting, and it really made me much happier to work here...not that I was unhappy, but when you share something like that with people, it gives you something to relate to. We did a scavenger hunt and had many all-you-can-eat buffet experiences.
Anyway, Vegas is amazing. I highly recommend it, even if you aren't a hardcore drinker/gambler. Obviously it works more if you are. I have additional stories to tell, but this blog is getting long. I'll probably write some of 'em down soon.
So I have a long weekend and I'm going to take advantage of it by finishing up some home projects and relaxing. Kara takes another part of the CPA tomorrow and is heading to Rockport Saturday night. I haven't been to Corrib in awhile, so I might go down there tomorrow night to watch the Pats game. Tonight I'm playing EVE and eating pizza rolls. Life is hard.
It was so great to have a vacation. I think that when Mike graduates from college and I finish my MBA (for which I need to finish applying this weekend), I want to take a family trip out there. Mom and Dad would love the shows, Mike and Matt would love the gambling (as would Kara's mum, so I hear), and Kara and I would love all of it.
Ok. Promise I'll update more regularly for at least awhile now.
Posted by Mark at 04:52 PM | Comments (0)