07.31.05 Got my Butt Out!

Well, I finally got my butt out to kayak. I got up late (8 am - unheard of for me). My oldest son was up, reading. I've gone kayaking with my 5 yr old a few times this year, but not with Dylan. I asked him if he wanted to go out and he gave an enthusiastic 'Yes". I was a little shocked, so I threw on clothes and we took off.











(I wasn't kidding when I said I threw clothes on. Yikes, what an outfit!)
We did the whole length of the lake (.85 miles) and back. This was Dylan's first time out this year, he really improved his technique. We had a blast. It was a good bonding experience.











When we got back, we saw some guy who had a racing 'skull'. It's like a water-skeeter, with a long, thin hull and two oars. He also lives right off the lake. It was interesting to talk to him and learn more about his boat. They are very unstable because they are so thin, but you can kick butt with them because they are so sleek. His personal best time is 18 minutes, mine is 28 minutes. It did feel great to get out even though it was rather late and the sun was getting real hot. So, that was my day pretty much. This is weird to write all of this down and have people visit and comment. I enjoy it, not every day is an exciting one, but it's another day!

07.30.05 What's the Story

Morning Glory












Here are some peas and tomatoes.
I hope to do a little gardening today, weeding and harvesting. It's real nice out, not too humid and about 80 degrees. I hope to tally the ice cream results this weekend and hopefully post them on Sunday.

07.28.05 Taking the easy Way Out

Ok, I'm 'working' from home today and tomorrow, so I need to really work. I'm taking the easy way out with the Blog today.

1- What is your favorite Brand of Ice Cream?
2- What are your favorite flavors - limit 2

The winner gets a free cone!

Random Acts of Kindness

* I now realize that I had a post with the same heading. One bad thing about chemo is 'chemo brain'. I can remember someone's name that I met 30 years ago, but I couldn't tell you what I had for breakfast and one night I forgot how to spell one of kids name.
-at least I think he was my kid, he's still hanging around the house.

I seem to be on a new trend. I have been trying to practice RAK (Random Acts of Kindness) on a weekly basis if not more. They seem to be tied in with my chemo days too. Today, I paid for a woman's bus fare. I asked if she would mind if I paid for her (she may have thought I said do you want to get laid ~ha-ha) and she looked surprised and said 'sure' (maybe she meant the other thing?). I said that I try to something nice for someone that I don't know. A Random Acts of Kindness if you will. I didn't even engage her in conversation (which means I didn't make her talk to me). She tapped me on my shoulder when she was leaving the bus and she told me that I really made her day. That made mine too. The cost? 15 seconds of my time, the desire and courage to ask her (being that I look like I'd been beaten with cactus) and $2. Another time I was in the city, I tried to buy a cop breakfast, but they declined. Last week, I saw some hikers that were hiking the Appalacian trail and I stopped and got them some bottles of cold water. I've also bought cookies for a co-worker because she seemed to be having a rough day. I think her daughters had her up early and there is some guy at work that is always bothering her. Another time on my way to Gilda's, I bought a homeless man a sandwich and a water. I also always will give up my seat on a bus or subway to a woman. It amazes me how many times I see these young healthy looking young men (in their 20's) who do not offer their seat to a woman. It really annoys me. I want to grab them by their shirt collars, and punk slap the shit out of them, and then I want to take my knee and drive it right into their.. But I regress. And last week, the same day I gave the hikers some water, I stopped at McDonalds (I know, gross) and noticed that there was one of those little souped up, low ridin, spoilerladen, hot paintjobbin, cars that many of the young folk are driving these days. And you know what? He was parked right in front of McDonalds, taking up two parking spots apparently so no one would touch his precious little stupid car. So, being the mature, caring, RAK kind of guy I've become, when I came out with my cheese burger and fries, I proceeded to drive my car right behind his, open my cheese burger, remove a pickle (with ketchup) and gently fling it onto his back window. I wish I had my camera with me. The landing was perfect, the pale green complimented his purple car....
Oh, where was I?
Ah yes, Random Acts of Kindness.
I try to do them all of the time.
I love to see how people react, they don't expect it.

Mean People Suck!
(and so do people who take up 2 parking spaces)

07.27.05 HOT!

It's going to be another scorcher today in NY. I am, unfortunatly, in the city today. I do like coming in for the most part. It's a great place to visit, with loads of interesting people to watch. The thing I hate the most, however, is that almost everything outdoors smells like urine. Sometimes I wish I was 'hard of smelling' but alas, I have the keen sense of smell of a bloodhound. It's also a drag in elevators. Did you know that elevators smell different to REAL short people. I will hopefully get out of here by 1 pm and maybe home by 3 pm or so. Then, time to hit the pool and then the computer.
My boss, who I shall call 'Paul', is a rather hip guy who has been very supportive of me with dealing with my 'health issues' that have risen over the past year and a half. Some people who I work with, think that he's a geeky, star wars loving, techno-nurd. And I think 'she' thinks that I am too. Humph, some people ;-) But anyway, he was nice enough to let me work from home for the next few days, so that will be a treat. Not just because I can sit at the computer in my underware (I do that at work anyway - I just happen to have pants over them!), but I'll be able to work at my own pace and take a swim break whenever I wish. Plus, my 'office' for lack of a more descriptive word, is in the subterainian part of our house (the basement) and it is much cooler there. So hopefully I will be able to be productive and finish this mini-project I am working on.

07.26.05 Now for something completely different

Most nights, I love to take a swim after dark. One night last week, I was able to see 4 satellites pass overhead. Sunday night, while I was floating in the pool, I kept staring into the sky. It's amazing how your eyes adjust and the longer you are out there, the more stars you can see. Well I finally got to see what I was hoping to see all along. A shooting star! It was so cool. It took up about 1/3 of the visible sky and it seemed to be directly over me. It was great to be alive....

Love him, or hate him - he's amazing!

He is one fucking
amazing survivor!

07.24.05 The Moron behind us

We live in a nice community in NY State, about 50 miles north of NYC. It's relatively quite, except for an occasional barking dog, or songbirds that wake me up sometimes instead of the buzzing of my alarm clock. The house behind us had abeen a rental for about a year, and the renters had 5 (yes 5) Mastiffs that they were doing something with, what it was, I didn't know. the dogs barked but they seemed to try to take resonable care of them. Well, those people left and the man who owned the house, his son moved in. The first thing he did was to block up a 'cut through' that all of the neigborhood kids used for many years. This moron just hammered up two pieces of fencing that he had with no concern what-so-ever for how it looked to us, and he also nailed it to his neighbors fence without his permission. I went out and noticed that he had about 2 inches of 'screw' hanging through the fence and was a danger to our kids, so I went out there and broke them off with a hammer. He yells to me 'what are ya doin?'. I said 'I'm taking these screws off of my side of the fence'. (thought bubble - you fucking moronic asshole) Then this asshole (he's been upgraded from moron to asshole) also has 2 big friggin dogs that bark all of the time. They had escaped on a few occations when I was not home and were wandering the area. I wound up nailing wood at the bottom of his stupid fence to keep his dopey dogs out of my yard. He has since constructed a very small cage, 8x8, that he keeps his dogs in all day while he is out being a rocket scientist or whatever. So now the dogs bark even more. Then, the other night, he comes home and starts to take a hose to his dogs telling them to shut up. I wanted so bad to take the hose and stick it up his dopey, moronic asshole and give it 'full throttle'. This morning, while having our peaceful cup of coffee on our patio, the moron starts up his chainsaw at 9 a.m. sharp, and proceeds to cut something with it.
Ah...the peace and quiet of country living....

Go Canada!

Canada wins dumbest government at World Stupidity Awards; Bush wins one award.
MONTREAL (CP) - The Canadian government secured a surprise win Friday, beating out such luminaries as Iran, North Korea and the United States, for the dumbest government of the year at the World Stupidity Awards....

....U.S. President George W. Bush may not have led the dumbest government, but he was honoured with the award for the Stupidest Statement of the Year after telling a news conference: "They never stop thinking of ways of harming America, and neither do we."

taken from http://news.yahoo.com/s/cpress/20050723/ca_pr_on_en/laughs_stupidity_awards

07.22.05 Which is the Best?

07.21.05 What size is Everyone?

07.21.05 - Relgion & Politics - I broke 2 rules

"It is good, that you enlighten people about Harry Potter, because those are subtle seductions, which act unnoticed and [can] deeply distort Christianity in the soul, before it can grow properly.

-JOSEPH CARDINAL RATZINGER, in a newly disclosed letter written in 2003, before he became Pope, in response to a German critic of the Harry Potter books -

This was from this week's Time magazine.
I wonder what the heck he means by this???
Anyone have a clue?

On the 'lighter side'

"ESPN magazine says that Lance Armstrong is considering running for Governor of Texas. Well, finally Texas would have a Governor who knew how to ride a bicycle."
-JAY LENO

07.20.05 Gilda would be Pissed!

Last night I went to Gilda's Club, like I normally do, but this time my wife and kids were coming along, partially because we have been reduced to a one-car family for the time being, the other reason was that my wife wanted to see what Gilda's club may have to offer her as a 'caregiver' to me, who has cancer. They also claim to be kid friendly so we thought the boys could hang out while we were in group support meetings. Well, was I wrong! First off, they looked at us like we were ready to come in and ransack the place or some shit. Then, the lovely receptionist said that we would have to meet with Julie, who runs the place. So we figure, okay, we'll explain that my wife wants to check it out to see if it's a good fit, and the boys are great socially and would not be a problem at all. Well, that dopey f-ing #$%&* tells us 'Well, we have to do a screening first and see what group might be best suited for our needs'. HELLO, I have FUCKING CANCER, this is NOT a FUCKING news flash to our family. Then, she was real condescending to us and just really rubbed me the wrong way. She offered to let my family 'wait in the reception area while I go in for a support meeting'. They offer as much support as my Grandmother's panty hose! NADA! I told the woman that I'm out of here, I saw my facilitator and told her I was not going and I wrote her an email last night explaining what had transpired. I may not go back. I mean who the fuck needs this shit. I went through a similar thing with CancerCare.org. I had a counselor who I didn't 'gel' with, I asked if I could see another one and they told me I would have to work out my issues with her. I felt like I was in a Seinfeld episode! See my counselor to figure out why I don't want to see my counselor???
She SUCKED, THAT'S WHY. OK?
I guess it could very well be me???????

meanwhile,
let the controlled poisoning begin.........(again)
;-)

07.19.05 Cool Photo

This is a cool photo I got from someone at work. It's of John Lennon, Eric Clapton and Keith Richards.
Nice tongue actions boys!

Check out this weird dog

I kayaked again today, first time since last Thurday.
I have round 2 tomorrow.
6 more to go...can't wait...hate it!

07.16.05 Kayak Lake

I found this really cool program called Google Earth. If you put in an address, it zooms in using satellite photos to your location. It does not run on older PCs.
Check out my kayaking lake.

07.16.05 Saturday

Well, I don't want this to be a daily chronicle of my chemo, but I will say that I feel a little better today. Most of Thursday and all of yesterday, I felt like I was kicked in the side and thrown down a flight of stairs. Today, I just feel like I was licked in the side. I haven't kayaked since Thursday, probably won't go today - too sore. I do hope to go swimming but I'm not as motivated as I was before. I had a hunch this would happen which is probably why I was all 'gun-ho' before I started up with this crap again. Also, my fuc*ing car is STILL not right. Of course, I bring it in to the mechanic, and like a bad tooth during the ride to the dentist's office, my car is fine while it is at the shop. Starts every time, not one probelm. I get it home, go to start it this morning, and nada. So, back on the phone to the mechanic and they are going to flat-bed it to the shop. The car does have 275,000 miles on it, but I'm not ready to put it to pasture (plus we can't afford a new one, so that, as they say, is that). I just don't feel like dealing with all of this little BS that is such a major part of life. I try not to dwell on it since in the scope of things, it is so trivial. Anyway, I hope to post something a little more interesting later or tomorrow.

07.14.05 My WORST Fear has happened

Dear fellow Bloggers. What should I do??? What I have been dreading for 3 months has happened today. I have been using this blog to put down various bits of information that people I know, don't know about. Well, today a co-worker (who is REAL nosey) happened to see the url of my blog. I don't know whether I should go through my entries and delete all (or most) of the horrible truths I have written about her, or , if I should pay one of my many 'hoodlum friends' to eliminate the problem. Tough call. Since she has proven herself to be a very good friend and my partner in IM escapades, I think I shall let things be as they are and see what happens. If I start to get letters in the mail with cut out letters a la a ransom note, I may have to eliminate the problem (KHM)
;-)

P.S. I once saw a 12x18 picture of me plastered on the wall in her cubicle, I think she may be a stalker!

07.14.05 Life goes on within you or without you*

Well, today has started out as a great day. I woke up and kayaked and swam as usual. the air is so heavy in sourthern NY that you can cut it with a knife (or an oar). Today, I get paid to take an excel course at work. Not a bad deal. It's been rather slow here which is a nice change of pace. I spent a lot of time playing guitar last night, some of it with my wife who plays violin. I sort of got out of control and was trying to crank out some good ol' Rock and Roll. I've been messing around with my brother's 1971 Les Paul custom. Great guitar. I think I mentioned somewhere in a blog that I saw him at Carnegie Hall in the city (NYC of course) for his 90th birthday party, quite a show.
See link.

*george harrison

07.13.05 Let the Fun Begin

Well, Here I am at Sloan Kettering, waiting to start my chemo. The first of 8 treatments over 8 weeks. I've done 24 treatments already over the past year, this is something new. After going through such a pain in the ass with the insurance company, I did get approval to take the Erbitux. It's going to cost $67,000 for 4 months, thank God I don't have to pay it. Anyway, I got up today at 4 am to kayak 2 miles, the stars were still out, very cool indeed, then I topped it off with a nice swim. The pool has gotten up to 84 degrees.

feet

You be the judge.

07.11.05 Lance

07.10.05 Another Relaxing Day

Not a whole lot of stuff is happening today. I woke up at 7am, went kayaking (2 miles), came home, made coffee and went swimming. The temp was around 90 degrees, but not humid. I played my guitar a lot and basically, did nothing and enjoyed it!















I'm supposed to start chemo on Wednesday if
THE INSURANCE COMPANY GETS IT'S ACT TOGETHER!
But I'm not angry about it ;-)

Tomorrow, my older son is having a pool party with his friends from school over. He also, I think, might have a girlfriend. He did invite her over. I'm happy for him, He didn't mention it to him because I've busted his chops in the past (not a smart move) so I didn't do it this time. See, I'm learning. He also had me take some pictures of him that I think he IM-ed to her. Good for him, it's supposed to be REAL HOT tomorrow so it should be a blast. I wish I didn't have to work.













Hey, there's my kayak in the background!

07.09.05 Enjoying Life

What a gorgeous day it is here in NY State. I slept in today, I got up at 7am to go kayaking instead of 5:30 which is my usual schedule. I topped it off by having a swim in our pool. We had about 3 inches of rain yesterday so the pool is nice and full. Since the rain was cool, the water temp dropped from 82 degress to a brisk 74 degrees. Still very refreshing for me. My wife tends to stay away from the pool unless you can steep tea with the water. This shot I took around 7:45 am. The way the morning dew was glistening in the sun reminded me of a winter ice storm.












Then, as I was just floating on my back, I saw how the different layers of clounds were moving at different speeds. It's so cool, this picture can not capture the motion, but it gives a good idea of the type of day it is up here.












Well, I just hooked up some outside speakers. I saw Les Paul at Cannegie Hall on Father's Day and a buddy of mine sent me a CD of the concert. I don't know how he does it, but Henry, you're the MAN! So I am going to listen to it now.....

07.08.05 ZeFrank.com 'Do Not Call'

Not having a whole lot to say right now, plus I DO have work to do, I thought I would post something that is from possibly the funniest site I've ever seen on the internet. If you haven't been to ZeFrank.com, I suggest you visit. It's a scream.

1. Use a husky, dirty phone sex voice but ask normal questions about the proposed offer.
“Is it a low interest rate? mmmmm…I like low interest rates…really low…”

2. In an outrageously excited tone: “Thank god you called!!!” Explain that an online psychic told you that your future lover would randomly call disguised as an asshole.

3. Say you are hard of hearing and see how loud they will shout into the phone.

4. Allow the telemarketer to fully explain his offer. When he is finished explain that his company hired you to randomly spot check telemarketers on their performance. Tell him that he did a good job overall, but that he is a bit monotone and needs to fluctuate his tone of voice more to sound convincing. He also should pause longer between sentences, and more clearly pronounce the letter “s”. Tell him you won’t report him if he repeats his speech to you with the appropriate corrections. Repeat.

5. Be incredibly polite as they explain their offer, but make farting noises once in a while and ask whether there is something wrong with the connection.

6. In an annoyed tone cut the telemarketer off mid sentence : “Dan, stop screwing around…we have to get rid of this body fast, did you find a chainsaw or not?”

7. “Congratulations! You’re the 100th caller on the (insert local radio station) Sweet Vacation Giveaway Blast Marathon. You’ve just won a pair of tickets to Negril, Jamaica and the use of Sean Paul’s celebrity vacation house.” Take down her address and send her all of your L.L.Bean catalogues for the rest of your life...after you use them as liner for your cat’s litter box.

8. Flirt.

9. Keep repeating, “I knew you were going to say that…”

10. Stutter on a syllable of an obvious word in a sentence… see how long it takes before he completes the phrase. When he does, get upset, and say “That really hurts my fee…fee… fee… fee…feel…fee… fee… fee…” ad infinitum.

11. Pee on the phone while he’s talking.

12. Mid pitch, stop him and complement him on his wonderful voice. Explain that you are a voiceover scout and might have a breakthrough commercial job for him. Ask if he wouldn’t mind doing a quick test. Ask him to say in a deep husky voice “May cause dizziness, diarrhea, vomiting and shortness of breath. A small number of participants in a recent clinical trial experienced weight loss, irregular clotting, abnormally frequent and/or painful urination and hair loss. Results may vary”

13. Ask how much it would take to get him to stop working as a telemarketer. Start at $1000. Say you are dead serious.

14. Ask if he will be your friend if you sign up.

15. Tie obscure facts about Barbara Streisand to everything thing he says,, “2.3% interest rate? oh my…did you know Barbara was 23 when she filmed Funny Girl…”

16. Every few minutes repeat, “You’re going to have to bear with me, I have a slight short term memory loss problem…who is this again?”

17. “Oh my god, I used to have your job…does Bob still work there (repeat names until you find a match)…which building are you in?” Escalate coincidence until you both realize that you sat in the same chair. Explain that you had to quit work when your genitals mysteriously vanished.

18. Regardless of the offer tell him you’ll take 7. If he asks what you mean say he drives a hard bargain and you’ll take 9, but that’s as far as you’ll go.

19. Every half-minute ask him to hold and pretend to scream at your invalid mother. “You want to use the bathroom??? Well stop whining and get up out of the wheelchair for a change. You just sit there and think about that for a while, mother. Can’t you see I’m on the damn phone?”

20. Forgive him. Tell him you did. Over and over again, until he hangs up. Then secretly take it back.

07.07.05 Teaching our son to swim...

Day 1
We have 2 boys, one is almost 12, the other is 5. We also own a pool. Our 5 year old has been in a pool before, my sister-in-law has an inground pool where my son can go in at his own pace. He seems to enjoy it and does not show much fear. Our pool, on the other hand, is an above ground pool where he can most likely touch the bottom of the pool, but he will not go in it. So we decided to take him to swimming lessons. Let the 'fun' begin. The first night, he was all jolly and skipping down the hallway at the middle school in our town where they have an indoor pool and the lessons are given. Once we got to the pool area, he froze like a deer in the headlights. He refused to even put on the inflatable 'swimmies' on his arms. We tried to reason with him to no avail. I was so frustrated, I felt like giving him his 'final exam' and hurling him into the pool like a drunken Austrailian at a dwarf tossing competition.










Needless to say, I did not do this. I did what most men would have done. I went into the locker room, clenched my fists, silently SCREAMED, and let my wife deal with him. I returned about 45 seconds later to try to talk reason with him. If anyone has tried to talk reason to a 5 year old, they would know that it's not always easy. So, we wound up packing everything up and going home defeated.
Day 2
I took our son by myself to try it again. We told him that if he goes every night and gives it his best shot, we will buy him a game for his Game Boy. He seemed to like this idea so off we went. We got to the pool and he put on his swimmies and I went off to the sidelines. He started to panic. I kept eye contact with him and he seemed to calm down. All of the other kids were in the water while he sat by the side. The young girl who was one of the instructors kept on trying to win his confidence. She was taking a sponge and wetting it and dripping it on him. Then he would take the sponge and wet it and drip in on her, and throw it at her too. Watching their exchange, I couldn't help but think of Jane Goodall working with the chimpanzees and the sponge was a banana. He still did not go in the pool. To finish off the night, all of the kids were lined up against the wall and they would go, one after the other, and jump into the arms of an instructor. He was, of course, the last to go and they had to pry his hands off of the pipe that ran along the wall. They then slowly placed him in the water into the arms of an instructor. I went to greet him and gave him a big hug and told him how proud I was of him. He told me he was scared, but I assured him he would be alright and it's normal to be afraid. I then bought him some Pop Tarts and we went home.











Tonight is our 3rd night.
I can hardly wait...

07.06.05 - On Hold.......

Well, I was all psyched up for starting with the chemo today, but I am still waiting on my insurance to basically see if I am 'sponge worthy'. It's absurd because it is an FDA approved drug for what I have.
WHAT'S THE PROBLEM???

on a separate note, this was an actual phone conversation with a receptionist at my Doctor's office about 2 weeks ago. (to defend my Dr, I do think this receptionist was subbing while the 'normal people' were out to lunch)

me: Hello, I have an appointment to have a scan at 1275 York Ave, NYC on Saturday. Could you please tell me what the cross street is?
receptionist: Yes what is your name?
me: Phil XXXXXX
receptionist: Could you repeat that?
me: sure, Phil XXXXXX
receptionist: How do you spell that?
me: P-h-i-l--X-X-X-X-X-X
receptionist: When is your birthday?
me: 9/28/57
receptionist: could you repeat that?
me: 9/28/57
receptionist: Okay, please hold....
2 minute pause.......
receptionist: Yes, it's at 1275 York Ave
me: CLICK! (I was able to find the cross street but with no help at all from her)

Astrologer Sues NASA Over Comet Probe

MOSCOW - Marina Bai has sued the U.S. space agency, claiming the Deep Impact probe that punched a crater into the comet Tempel 1 late Sunday "ruins the natural balance of forces in the universe," the newspaper Izvestia reported Tuesday. A Moscow court has postponed hearings on the case until late July, the paper said.
(the rest of the story) http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050705/ap_on_fe_st/russia_comet_case

07.05.05 Thought for the Day

If it weren't for cancer, I'd say I have the perfect life.
If it weren't for cancer, would I even realize this?

07.04.05 Happy 4th of July

Well, Happy Birthday America! This year, actually, just about 2 weeks ago, I finally bought an American flag. For some reason I have always wanted to have one. I kind of remember having one as a kid, but I don't think we had it on the house for that long. Then, when I had my own apartment, I did have a kite flag. It was pretty cool. I lived over a store in a main street in a nice town in NJ. I was right over an oriental gift shop. As an advertisement for the owner of the store, I used to fly this cool fish flag that had about a 20 foot tail. I also had a Gumby flag, but never an American Flag. I got married, then moved into a 2 family house and still no flag. Then, 2 years ago, we bought a house or our own. It's no mansion by any means, but there are 3 bedrooms and a good sized basement that we are in the process of fixing up for the kids, a nice yard, a quite dead end street ( a private street which means a dirt road!) and we also have an above ground swimming pool (another thing I always wanted) that is about 30 years old. But the cool thing with that is that it is right off of our deck, so it kind of gives the illusion of being built in because you do not have to climb into it to get in. It's 12 x 24 x 4 deep. Just enough. and the water temp has been about 84 degree, thanks to our solar cover so I am able to swim every morning and night. I seem to be in there an awful lot as of late. But back to the flag. Since we now have a house I was able to buy a flag for it. I'm not a flag waving American by any means, but I am very proud to be an American and I wouldn't trade it for anything (maybe New Zealand). Now for some reason, I am getting on the subject of flag burning. I don't think it's right to burn the flag, but I think it is very wrong for congress to be passing an amendment to prohibit the burning of the flag. It goes against what America stands for - freedom of speech. So there, I said it. I started to get into a discussion with a neighbor about this, a lose/lose one so I dropped it. He also can't figure out why flowers that are called annuals have to be replanted every year. He thinks an annual comes up every year. I used to wonder why they said someone went insane. If you are 'normal' you are called sane. If you are 'insane' wouldn't that be in the realm of being sane? Shouldn't it be called 'outsane'? But enough of that, I'm starting to sound rather outsane myself! Today was a gorgeous day in NY state. Clear and low humidity. My wife had to play at a wedding (she's a violinist) and our older son is at camp. So I took my 5 yr old out to play mini golf.














He really enjoys going to this place. It is very nice. I ran into the mother of one of my older son's new friends. I met her one time before, but we talked that day for about an hour. She's a real nice person. She is involved with cancer patients and is herself a survivor of cervical cancer. We had spoken about cancer the first time we met, it was rather odd because I didn't know her and usually don't just start talking about it. But she asked how my tests went and said she wanted to call us to see how things were, but felt awkward since we only met once. At any rate, I mentioned that I am playing the insurance waiting game to see if I'm covered for the medication and that it costs something ridiculous like $12, 000 per month for it. She mentioned having a fund raiser for us. I said no way and I'm sure insurance will cover it, but what a nice gesture. Then since her son and our son get along very well and they have a daughter about my younger son's age, we talked about dropping our kids off at each others house so we can get out to the movies with our spouses. I thought that was way cool. My sister in law lives 1/2 mile up the street and it like pulling teeth to have them watch our kids (Who get along great with her kids). We also offer all of the time to watch their kids so they could go out, but they are having major relationship issues and that is another blog. Well this is a rather rambling blog. No funny little stories or anything, just sort of a slice of life for the day. I'm off again Tuesday and hope to kayak again at 5:30 am and then swim and have coffee at the pool. It's off to the city on Wednesday for my first chemo.











The loser of the golf game had to buy the winner an ice cream!

07.03.05 Crazy...

Shit, have family over, everyone's driving me nuts today. I think I'm just starting to freak a little. Damn I wish I could have a brew...

07.03.05 - The Past Few Days...

This was how I started my Friday,
I took a nice 2 mile kayak ride,
then came home for a good swim.

Then, we took our oldest son to camp,
his first time away at a camp. It looks
like it will be a very good experience for
him. One of his good 'buds' will be going too.














This was taken a few weeks ago.
This is our oldest son at his Karate class.
Look who he is fighting -
Himself!What a metaphor for life....

07.02.05 - today's catch

Well, here is this morning's Catch of the Day. So much trash out there, so little time.

07.01.05

Jerk Site - you all know how to find it I assume