Bizzard Backyard

My family where there is no snow think it would be wonderful to come play in this snow.

My family who are here are out shoveling the driveway.

-30-

Merry Christmas

This was a very pleasant morning.  Just the stocking and core family gifts.  The major gathering is tomorrow.  That will be fun.  This was pleasant.  They are different in subtle ways with neither being better, but more appropriate to the time, place and people.

The gist of the matter, this is a holiday, last year, I didn’t know if I would make or not.  I am so happy I did.

Love is good.  Don’t waste it!!!

Hogmanay!!!

-30-

Boom! December!!

My friend, the highly talented M. F. Conklin is sharing on Facebook the horror story of her returning from a holiday in the country to find her city apartment without heat or hot water.

"On the Fritz" New Yorkers say.

Anyone have the origin, of the fritz phrase not my dear Friend's freezing.

Around the same time we found water in the basement laundry of our most New England shack.

At first we thought it water coming up from the ground.  We checked the pits wherein lay our sump pumps. (plural)

Amazingly dry.

Further investigation found the water to be coming from under the wall dividing the laundry from the boiler room.

We were hoping it was a leak from the water heater.  Nope....

To be continued....

Wican in Afgan Countryside

Listening to NPR, an odd color piece came on telling of a Wiccan rite being celebrated near the front line.  It was a sweet piece accented by the comment about two MP's standing by to ensure no one came along and did something "STUPID."

That is so Americans.

Don't forget to vote!

-30-

Things Happen

Bobbie Burns was correct in his comment about the best laid plans.  I am currently in the peripheral of a well planned day being rearranged in the style of the end of this century's first decade.

It did not occur to anyone in the group to pick up the phone.  Through texting & Facebook the lives of people in three states were rearranged with astonishing speed.

Smartphones now rule our lives.  We've grown beyond Star Trek in so many ways. How soon the replicator and beam me up Scotty for real?

10-10-10 10:10,101010

10-10-10 10:10,101010
Originally uploaded by sgtret.

This is a picture of a moment in time that won't happen again for another 100 years. There is also something about it being the binary number 42 and the Meaning of Life, but that is way beyond my understanding.

-30-

No Scan!

We were mistaken.  There was no scan.  This was a visit to the oncologist and a blood test.

The medical staff were happy with the results.  The scans are six months apart now.

I know that is good news, but, as a geek,  it would be nice to see electronic confirmation.  That isn't to say I have no faith in the doctor or her staff.  I love these people, big time.

-30-

CATT Scan on Thursday

Three months have passed since the last PETT scan.  I go in on Thursday for a CATT scan to see if the cancer has returned.

All of the hair removed by the chemotherapy has returned.  It's even getting a tad shaggy.  Superstiously, I decided not to get it trimmed until after the test.  If I need to return to chemo, why waste money?

-30-

Better Than a Rubber Band

One of the things my wife says about me, other than I look like santa claus mixed with a biker, is give me a rubber band & corner seat and I'll be good for hours.

My new smart phone is that runberband.  What it does do is get me out of my cave.  It allows Mr to blog directly from wherever I am.

This could be dangerous.

-30-

Blog Subject

This is a test of the blog subject shortcut when posting. If the Sorry, etc. message appears, we've narrowed it down.

Played with Foursquare while getting ...

Played with Foursquare while getting my car serviced this morning. First lesson, be careful what you say, it gets posted all over the place. Stay tuned for second...

5,000 instead of 3,000?

It was close to a religious tradition to have my last two cars serviced every 3,000 miles.

When we bought our 2010 Sion Xb we were told the services were at 5 000 miles. The last two took me well over 300,000 miles.

it does make me nervous, but we will stick to their program. Now if they'd wash the waiting room floor once in a while, it might become a pleasant experience.

Ping isn't working> On TweetDeck for ...

Ping isn't working> On TweetDeck for me. I have tried re-installing it twice. We'll try HootSuite to see if it's Ping.fm.

Erased a Boring Entry

It was so boring, I fell asleep while writing.  You can thank me later. It's time now for chocolate.

-30-

Spending More Time on Evo

When the only way to communicate with the geeks in the community was on our PCUG's BBS; the cutting edge place to be was at the base unit as the SysOp.

It ran on pre-GUI standards DOS software using first a 300, then 1200 and finally a 9600 baud modem.

Lightning fast, let me tell you.

Now I sit here with my Evo nestled in my hand, typing faster with my thumb than I ever did with both hands.  The  message I am writing will be seen only on my blog.

This blog was started in 2004, cutting edge at the time. Now it feels like finger painting on the wall of a cave in rural france. 

-30-

Dinner before we leave.

Spinney's near Fort Popham.  My son & I went for a walk on the nearby beach after dinner.


-30-

After Rocky Ridge, visiting the Garanson Organic farm was close to a Zen experience. -30-

-30-

Garanson Organic Farm

If you can't pick it yourself, second best is to visit the farmstand right where your food is grown.

-30-

Rocky Ridge Orchards

We gathered our apples here in Bowdoin, Maine. Cortlands, Macs, Golden Delicious, Ruby Reds.  All soon to be apple sauce, butter, bread, cobbler, crisp and just apples for the lunch box.

There's something about eating fruit you pick yourself.

Farmer's Market in Bath, Maine

The winds are blustery after Earl's skirting the edge of mid-coast Maine.  This didn't deter the farmers, over burdened with their bushels of heirloom tomatoes and sweet corn, from setting up shop here on the banks of the Kennebec River. 

-30-

God Daughter's Birthday

Just thought it a good idea to wish our god daughter Mell a happy-happy on this, her 15th birthday.

-30-

Argument Exception-WTF?

If you visited this blog recently you may have noticed an enormous blog entry title with to entry to follow.  It was another attempt to blog from the HTC Evo.  When I saw the exception, I closed the window with the expectation it would go away.  Instead, it published the exception as the title of the blog post.

I hope this fixes that.

-30-

Blogaway

The next Android Blogging app we're going to try is Blogaway.

So far it seems easy enough. A lot less hoops to set up and run on Blogger than most Windows programs.  Here too, the Froyo keyboard thinks faster than I do.

The Best feature right now is when I clumsily hit a system key, leaving Blogaway, an on-hone draft has automatically been saved.

-30- 

At first I thought...

 ...it was going to be a lot easier to blog with the HTC, especially with a key board that reads my mind no matter where my large thumbs hit as long as it's in the general area of the key I want.   The Droid Blogger app I tried first worked well but then decided to just pop up creative error messages.   I deleted it an am now trying Pixel Pipe.

-30-

We Thought It Would Be Easy...

This is the first exterior picture taken with the HTC Evo's native camera.  I have tried to download other camera utilities from the Android Store, but they all froze with undecipherable error messages.




-30-

I Am Begining to Understand

The sight of our cat,The Booger, napping on the rug must've inspired me to doze as well. I woke with a start at the sound tires peeling down the street.

In my hand was tightly grasped my new HTC EVO. Sinse I first lit this thing up it has not left my sight.

I understand 2 things now.

The first, why people seem to be constantly using these and why they constantly complain about the batteries petering out. The first creates the second; simple as that.

-30-

Published with Blogger-droid v1.5.5.2

HTC EVO & Blogging

This is the first entry into Belltower News using the HTC EVO. There is a slight learning curve with the keyboard but the suggested words is a very smart feature. the double space automatic period should be followed by a capitalized letter but that may be in the settings. I've only had it for two hours.
-30-

Published with Blogger-droid v1.5.5.2

Casualties Of Gulf Spill, 100 Dogs Co...

Casualties Of Gulf Spill, 100 Dogs Come To N.J. For Adoption « CBS New York- News, Sports, Weather, Traffic and the Best of NY http://bit.ly/cElAGO

At the request of Beth Kehoe Flick,

I am posting the following message. - Children with special needs don't have an illness, so there is no cure and it's not contagious. They want what we all want -- to be accepted. Most of you won't copy and paste this, but will you do it and leave it on your status for at least an hour? This is in honor of all the kids who n...eed a little extra help and understanding

Added a Tumblr.com Blog

Belltowernews.tumblr.com is the latest of the Famous Grazing blogs created to spread the word, whatever that word may be.
-30-

Having an off day

There are days where I am getting obviously better. Then there are days like today. I can't say I feel bad, but I am feeling closer to how I felt on Chemo then I remember how I felt before it. The good news is, the beard is looking less scruffy. We must take some pleasure in the small things.
-30-

The factory whistle had its place.

Perhaps someone should create an app that shows up on your screen and sounds a steam whistle when it's time to put down the tools and go home.

I Enjoyed the Sorcerer's Apprentice

Beyond the good/evil-Hero/Villain was their use of Manhattan's mystical symbols that are everywhere.

On the way to home to rest...

Just left a room full of newly enlightened bodies.

Twitter has taught me economy of word...

Twitter has taught me economy of words. Even in longer prose, I now go back and edit one more time to sweep out the unneeded baggage.

The last of the wisdom teeth are now ...

The last of the wisdom teeth are now gone from my mouth.
It took over 40 years for this one to follow the others. Stubborn little bugger!

On Education - A Chosen Few Are Teach...

On Education - A Chosen Few Are Teaching for America - NYTimes.com http://ping.fm/X7RPw

I was very surprised to find that the...

I was very surprised to find that the My Opera blog that comes with signing up for My Opera can easily be edited using the newest vs. of WLW

Thanks for the well wishes

There are times when you find out just how many people are part of your life.  This has been one of them.  The routine of life, where you get up, drink you tea, shower, get dressed and go off to work, work, finish work, come home, have dinner, watch TV, answer email, go to bed and see only the few members of your family and the people with whom you work builds a false sense of being part of a very small community.

Then the proverbial fan became struck and my support structure came together with amazing speed and solidity.  I can only say thank you so many times, but consider it a looped messages that will only end when I do.

-30-

HootSuite could use some work on its ...

HootSuite could use some work on its facebook interface. It doesn't show the comments very well. Friends list in Contacts would nice too.

Mark Twain's Unexpurgated...

RT @nytimes: Mark Twain's Unexpurgated Autobiography http://ping.fm/RuNhx

GeekBeatTV: Watch Your Car Repair...

GeekBeatTV: Watch Your Car Repair Live, In-Flight WiFi Price May Drop & Invisibility Cloaks Are Coming! episode 7- http://ping.fm/HdGFv

RT @CBSRadioNews: at 5amET: Temps cou...

RT @CBSRadioNews: at 5amET: Temps could soar to triple digits in parts of the East Coast... raising concerns re: health & power outages.

@BlogForaCure Thanks. I just complet...

@BlogForaCure Thanks. I just completed chem two weeks ago and am now is test mode for the next five years. It does suck, big time!

Last Airbender was a disappointment. ...

Last Airbender was a disappointment. A mishmash of special effects and karate. Missed the point of the show completely.

This site Now Fits in the Newest Windows Live Writer

This is great news.  This blog has been left to rot while the Chemotherapy was still going and I wasn’t in the mood to update pages one at a time on line.  I am now off chemotherapy for now and am in tri-monthly evaluation mode with a scan every six months instead of every month.

This should decrease my chances of glowing in the dark!!

-30-

amhistorymuseum: Today in 1960: 50th ...

amhistorymuseum: Today in 1960: 50th star added to the American flag to honor the new state of Hawaii.

RT @Alyssa_Milano: WARNING - iTunes A...

RT @Alyssa_Milano: WARNING - iTunes Accounts Hacked - http://bit.ly/aWUVpT /via @mashable

RT @gavmccaughey There's a line in Ba...

RT @gavmccaughey There's a line in Back To The Future where Christopher Lloyd sets the DeLorean for "25 yrs in the future" THAT'S TODAY!

Notepad.cc is a simple way to extend ...

Notepad.cc is a simple way to extend what you want to say on Twitter http://ping.fm/mn1ry

I know they've been around a while, b...

I know they've been around a while, but I just discovered The White Buffalo-It's like Leonard Cohen meets Richie Havens http://bit.ly/atxCSB

I Love this photo ...

http://ow.ly/26CB5 I Love this photo listed in 6/26 Interesting Photos blog. Stand up to the Man!!

RT @enterprisenews: Mosquitoes in Hal...

RT @enterprisenews: Mosquitoes in Halifax test positive for West Nile Virus:
The DPH has notified the Halifa... http://bit.ly/ddE7KB

The second PETT Scan after Chemo ther...

The second PETT Scan after Chemo therapy came back showing "no uptake." This is a very good thing.
A very good thing, indeed!
-30-

Wait for the shock to pass

When this news settles down, I promise to make a longer blog entry.  

-30-

Dana Farber

Back from Dana Farber. The scan and blood tests came up clean. I go back in October for a look over with the next scan three months after that!!

-30-

The major anxiety of the moment is wh...

The major anxiety of the moment is where to go for batteries for my Logitech mouse. This is a level of angst with which I can live...

Why Does Hoot Suite Limit Ping.fm?

Why is Hoot Suite's interface with Ping.fm limit the messages to 140 characters for blog entries??

Hello June!

There’s been a dearth of entries because I am currently in limbo. 
The chemotherapy has stopped and I am slowing getting over the side effects. We are hoping the swelling brought on by the steroids will abate.

Next is the PET scan.  This is the limbo.  Until the scan I am in a state of not knowing.  Not knowing is probably the worst state someone like me, a confessed information junkie, can be in.

When we know something, you will know it.  Thanks for you continued support over this long-long process.
-30-

Recovering on the Rocky Coast of Maine

The Memorial Day weekend could not have come at a better time.  It will give me another day of rest before returning to the work world.  I might be able to add to the plant photograph I love to do while up here.

Eagle Island, off Falmouth ME. Admiral Peary’s home.

We will start the weekend at the farmers market and then return to read, eat and be merry with the dogs and Amie.  -30-

Cake & Bubbly!

Chemo # six, the last of the series, was completed today at Dana Farber in Boston.  The most surprising thing was the standing ovation by patients and staff and the gift of a cake and bottle of “bubbly.
They were so sweet. 

I can’t say I looked forward to going in, the procedure itself is a difficult life choice to make and instantly transforms you in so many negative ways, all to save your life.  What I can say is, I didn’t dread it. 

I give most of the credit to my wife, who has stood and sat by me every minute of this ordeal, but, I have to give a good portion to Dana Farber, my doctor, her NP  associate and the nursing staff who poked me in the most humane way possible.

It isn’t over.  I go back in five weeks for another blood test and PET scan. This will be repeated over a period of time.  If the results are good, it will be knocked down to a CAT scan over a longer period of time until five years goes by.

Everybody, all at once, touch wood.

-30-

One More Thing

You know, just when think, what else, else happens.  I was startled from sleep last night by what felt like an animal biting the big toe of my right foot.

The only animal in this house, by invitation anyway, is our orange tabby.  So, whatever logic in my mind that exists at three in the morning put together it was the cat biting my toe.
Mysteriously, once I was awake enough to make any sense of it, the complete nail of my big toe was sitting perpendicular from the now pulp surface upon which it once serenely sat.
Ouch applies here, big time.
Because infection is a major worry while undergoing chemotherapy, I quickly wrapped the wounded toe and dragged myself over to the local ED.
There a kindly physician everyone called Danny Boy shot my toe full of painkiller and very carefully ripped the entire nail from my foot.
Did I mention this was the big toe?  Did I mention ouch!!!
-30-

Update – Chemo

This is picture of the tin man that welcomed us to our son’s school play on Saturday night.

I thought it reflected very well how I feel after the fifth of six sessions of Chemotherapy. 

Parts out of place.

While I probably should have just taken the weekend totally off, even staid in bed, I refuse to let my life stop especially if the eventual permanent stopping has in anyway be accelerated by this.

During a previous time when I was taken out of the flow of life by a catastrophic event information I had gleaned from a book by Dr. Jonathon Miller, A Body in Question helped me substantially recover.

In the book, Dr. Miller mentions how a person when placed in the medical environment becomes a patient. As a patient they assume they are sick and therefore succumb to what they believe are the inevitable results.

I took that advice to heart and determined through dress and manner to be a guest of the hospital, not a patient.  Using the same perspective, I am determined to be guest of this cancer and not its supporter.

To get to the grit of what is happening today, the effects are worse, more pronounced and extremely annoying.  Now it’s time to get on with living as best I can with what I have.

-30- 

The Body in Question

Five of Six Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the fifth of the scheduled six chemotherapies.  I can honestly say I do not look forward to this.

From the other side of the coin I do.  This is the only option on the table.  In my considerable experience with the lack of options, I’ve learned it makes no sense to fret.

When the options are do or don’t and don’t is obviously the wrong choice it ceases to be one.  That leaves one thing to do. 

The word options no longer applies.

-30-

Balancing Act

 

The next week is going to be a balancing act.  The Chemotherapy number five is this coming Thursday.

There have been many things I’ve not wanted to do but had to because it was the right thing to do.

When “Do the Right Thing” is our family motto, it gives me little leeway.

However, I am truly not looking forward to going through this again.  It would be close to nine on the classic scale.  If you knew me well, it would concern you when I place something that high on the scale.  It concerns me.

-30-

Ahhh, Sun and Heat

For a moment there I thought I was having another hot flash but looked over at the YoWindow display on my Acer monitor and discovered it IS 86 degrees out there and that ambient light is actual sunlight.

If three of the medications I am taking didn’t have the explicit warning to “AVOID EXPOSURE TO DIRECT SUNLIGHT” and there was any hair left on my head, I might be inclined to go outside.

Anyone who knows me would say that would be a stretch even before this whole Lymphoma thing started.

I will admit, it has always been my policy not to go to the beach.  If I do find myself at the beach it is never without an umbrella of any size and a hat with a sizable brim.
--------
It was when I was this size and wearing that bathing suit, I was left to sleep on a blanket at Rye Beach in upstate New York.  It was under an umbrella but either the sun or I moved allowing my legs to be out in the sun for quite a while. 

Look at those legs!  Should they be exposed for any length of time to solar radiation???

Sun Poisoning or Photodermatitis  is what they called it.  Noxzema is what they put on it.  As I know now, cold water would’ve been a better treatment.  Let’s just say, these legs do not now, nor will they ever, be exposed to the sun for ANY length of time.

TMI, I know, but it’s Sunday afternoon & I’ve some time on my hand while Stephen Fry tweets his way from Heathrow to his London flat.
-30-

Fever Has Passed

Woke up at five and took my temperature again!
97.0 F.
Whew!  That was with Tylenol.  At 0830 it was back up to 98.0 without the Tylenol.  I think we can say the fever episode has passed. 

Now let’s hope the mouth lesions go away soon as well.
Over all, not too bad.
-30-

Low Grade Fever

For the past day or so, I’ve been running a low grade fever, bordering twixt 99.9 & 99.5. If it goes over 100.5, I get hospitalized, so it’s important to monitor it. This is in combination with the mouth sores, the last of the Chemo side effects on the list that I haven’t had.

You can say one thing for the chemo therapy, it gives you what it promises, not a good time. Again, if it works, then it’s worth it.

I can see, however, how some people, especially those with a low tolerance for pain, will put this off until the last possible moment or entirely.

It was the “if you don’t treat this, it will kill you…” part that inspired me to go ahead with the therapy and skip the maybe it will go away dream machine. It wasn’t going away, that was made obvious by the small potato that was growing under the skin in the back of my neck.

Alien….

-30-

Finished My Birthday Book

It took me a while because of the room in the house where I planted this book, but I finally finished reading Citizens of London, by Lynn Olson.

Citizens of London: The Americans Who Stood with Britain in Its Darkest, Finest Hour

Ms. Olson obviously has a crush on Gil Winant.  Based on her narrative, this was the man who should have been VP when FDR died.  If he had been instead of Harry Truman, the world would not be what it is today.  Whether that’s a good thing or not, who can tell.

After reading

Team of Rivals

a book so well constructed and researched, the random style Olson brings to history put me off at first. 

Then, after her pages on Winant’s place in dealing with  British reaction to the horrendous US racial policy imported to the UK with the American soldiers; I was able to see the point she was making about the heroics of “saving” democracy supported by the corrupted foundation of democracy itself.

I was saddened to read how Governor Winant died, but don’t go there until you finish the book.

-30- 

Technorati Tags: Book Review

Grazed Net

While we were waiting for Belltowernews.com to reappear, we discovered an old URL from a now discontinued website we ran BB. (Before Blogs)

As did happen to most of the blogs we used to provide up to date information. Grazed Net became dormant once blogging and it’s younger cousins Facebook and Twitter came into the mainstream.

Grazed Net was one of the first sites we put up using a proprietary desktop application.  We forget the application name, but we do remember it was on our 286 box.

That dates it before 2001. 

Ancient by web standards.

-30-

We're back up!

That didn't take as long as we thought it would. We've simplified how the oldest of the Famous Grazing blogs presents itself. There should be no more problems with loading it in RSS.
-30-

Belltowernews.com

Belltowernews.com will be down for a few days while we realign the server and database. None of the content that started in 2004 will be lost.

-30-

Sharing Google Reader with Ping.fm - Duck!

This was probably a rash decision, but I have set the Share button on Google Reader to share using Ping.fm's new feature that does just that. Now, I will test it by sharing something and then seeing to where it is posted. This may happen just once, so don't look forward to my sharing all of the useful to arcane information I think worthy of sharing when I browse through the hundreds of blogs I have Google Reader browse. -30-

They Kept Saying it Would Get Worse

And they were right.

The last PET scan was very promising with "No Uptake" as the result.

The chemotherapy has been most forgiving for the first three sessions.

Not so the fourth.

The possible side effects have been openly listed from day one but they have, up until now, been few and mild.

Up until now

I should've kept a list, but I am fairly sure if there was a list for each of them, I would be ticking them off one by one over the past three days.

This is not a complaint. I am just reporting the facts.

If suffering through this is what it takes to stay alive, piece of cake... sort of... okay, slice of pie.

-30-

LiveJournal Tags: chemotherapy

via Writerous

Posted via web from grazing's posterous

No Uptake

The news at Dana Farber was promising.

After undergoing three sessions of chemotherapy and waiting for my fourth, I was given a PET scan.

As I waited with an IV in place dripping saline solution, my nurse came to tell me that scan came back with "no uptake." She then gave me the bump.

(fist to fist).

Then they started hooking me up again.

I know this is good news, but my body feel worse than it has through the other sessions of chemotherapy. It's hard to rejoice at such good news trying to overcome the feeling you will vomit at any given provocation.

The bottom line seems to be, that I am in the beginning stage of remission. I will be tested for another five years before the cancer can be said to be clear.

Of course, what I heard is they expect me to be around for another five years.

Around that, I can get my head.

-30-

Post Chemo-Hubris

On Thursday, I went through the third of six planned chemotherapy sessions. On Friday, I managed to make it through a business meeting in the morning but by mid-afternoon I had just enough energy to make it into getting the white blood cell shot before I was wasted for the rest of the day.

Then, with the help of the associated medicines to counter the negative side effects I was feeling better last night. I agreed to go out to a Mexican restaurant in Norton, MA. The food and company was invigoration.

The hubris is was in not thinking ahead and having the Mole Enchilada with hot sauce. I’ve done some pretty idiotic things in my life, some of which culminating with my being given supreme unction, but last night at home, the suffering was at least a six where supreme unction is a ten.

And then, what do I do. I not only agree, but suggest Thai food for tonight. I was wise enough to settle for the Phad Thai and not the green curry, but still, I might as well run with scissor behind Dr. Crane.

-30-

LiveJournal Tags: Chemotherapy

via Writerous

Posted via web from grazing's posterous

When we were visiting the Yukon

A place I never thought I’d be, the presence of the wilderness, the bears fishing in the stream, the hardened faces of the inhabitants who came out to feed the fleshy visitors, the oddly mystical light of the day, all left a lingering impression on my soul.
I won’t say I want go back there, but I can say I’ve been there and for now, that’s enough for me.

-30-

via Writerous

Posted via web from grazing's posterous

@Writerous In Communication

@Writerous, the author of the plug-in we're trying to use in conjunction with Windows Live Writer is communicating with us via Twitter. We are up to the part where he now has the version and system information.
We will keep you posted because I would really like use Live Writer for all of the Famous Grazing blogs.
-30-

via Ping.fm

Posted via web from grazing's posterous

We're trying to Use Windows Live Writer...Again

We found a plug-in for Windows Live Writer called Writerous that is supposed to allow us to use Live Writer and all of its features to publish to Posterous, but so far, it's not coming up.

-30-

Posted via email from grazing's posterous

Sam Shepard | interview | Stage | The Observer

via guardian.co.uk

Carole Cadwalladr gets one of the better interviews I've read about Mr. Shepard. There's a bit of fluff in the beginning, but it's worth the effort to complete.
-30-

Posted via web from grazing's posterous

After Two Weeks Off...

Not from work, certainly, but from Chemotherapy, this is the week of dose three. I've been getting beyond tired at the end of the work day.

Last night I had the luxury of eleven hours sleep. This will add to the bank, because that won't be happening for most of next week.

The good news is Spring is here, the birds are back and the mosquitoes aren't, yet. I certainly won't take this season for granted as I have almost 60 of them in the past.

-30-

via Ping.fm

Posted via web from grazing's posterous

Three days of rain. My body's aching...

I wonder how many new Blues songs were written in New England over the past few days. There's nothing compared to the rest of what the Earth's dished out elsewhere over the past three months, but this is our bad weather and we get to complain about it as well.
-30-

via Ping.fm

Posted via web from grazing's posterous

The Dell Inspiron Has Arrived.

After using the extended HP keyboard is is good to get back to one my fingers know. I am still adapting the settings to be MINE, but it already feels at home.
-30-

via Ping.fm

Posted via web from grazing's posterous

Hellotxt didn't hack it

We spent sometime with hellowtxt but found its interface somewhat wanting in the method it used to determine where the emailed entries would go.  Posterous handles this in much more instinctive fashion when email is the method used to post messages.

Posted via email from grazing's posterous

Preemptive Skinning

Shearing perhaps would be a better word. We went as a family today to the local barber to remove what as left of the hair. The chemotherapy had left little on the sides but spared much of the mustache. It looked silly long without the beard to match it, so I trimmed it to military style. The intention is eventually take it off as well.

The second byproduct of the treatment was an increase in the green about the gills and loss of appetite. I hope this passes with the three way medication because my birthday dinner tomorrow night is at an Indian restaurant in Stoughton MA known for it's wonderfully spicy food.
-58-

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Okay, Whoa!!!

You know how it feels when you ride on an older bus in the seat over the rear wheel near the exhaust pipe? (childhood memory)
That feeling just this moment overwhelmed me. The good news is, there's a pill for that. I'll let you know if it works.
-30-

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Back from Dana Farber

It was an intense bit of infusion today.

The ten hours from the last time was cut to five.

My body is reacting in all sorts of interesting and confusing ways. It reacts one way from the treatment and the another from the medicine give to counter the side effects. It has the rhythm of a heated argument with me as the arena. The most obvious effect is extreme bone tiredness.
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Off for Chemo #2

We are leaving at O-Dark thirty on our way to Dana Farber in Boston for our second of six rounds of Chemotherapy. Film at eleven. Well, maybe not film, but we'll try to remember to fill in the details.
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Dell is Delaying Delivery of My Laptop by SEVEN DAYS!!!!!!!!!

Dell has delayed the delivery of my laptop by SEVEN DAYS!!!!

-30-

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Hellotxt.com and Hair Loss

Now that we've "mastered" Ping.fm we thought we'd try hellotxt.com. We found it in this article http://htxt.it/6tfl on maximizing social communication. UPDATE: The hair is still falling out but not as quickly. Not much else to report. -30-

Hair Razing Day

When dogs shed their hair, there is still some fur left. Today I noticed a ton of hair on the hood of my winter jacket. It is lined with a black felt-like material which set off my white and red hair nicely. I used a Bounce® sticky hair removing roller to take the hair off the hood and the collar to which it is attached. Then I did what may seem like a silly thing, I ran a the roller with a fresh sheet though both sides of my temples. It was like an instant rug; the hair came off so easily.

There is still hair there and I was going to go to a barber tomorrow just to get the rest off, but the spouse wants me to wait until Saturday so she can be there. I can't not give her that considering the amount of support she is giving me.
Another good thing is I found an old non-tech friend in NYC with SMS. Now everyone who should know, knows. No surprises. -30-

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Interesting Things

The "interesting" thing this morning is I am starting to shed like a dog in Summer. I know it's only March, but at least there is a hope the weather will turn warm enough for me not to have what I've come to call the cancer hats. I lean toward baseball caps myself. Now, perhaps, I'll have an excuse to wear one indoors. This is something my Marine Corps training will have a hard time with.
-30-

If You're Following the Adventure...

The chemo #2 is on Thursday. The hair really started coming out today. Not in hand fulls but in amounts that can be noticed. I think a haircut on Friday may be in order. -30-

This is, For Now, the Last Ping.FM Post

As with most geeks, tinkering, tweaking & Configuring is what we like the best. We do believe we have corrected the double posting issue by creating a new group in Ping.FM. This will be the post that tells us if that is true.
Of course, this does nothing for the defeat of the US hockey team this evening, but we need to do something for distraction.
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There Was No Joy in Mudville!

Instead of shouts of jubilation, we heard, "Oh well..." The loudest sound were the three dots ...
I would not want to be on a Canadian street for the next few hours, days perhaps. I have a feeling they will drop their famous native polite bearing and consume massive amounts of Moulson's and Seagram's 7.

-30-

Pinging Again

We've reset the passwords for the blogs associated with Ping.fm. This is our test message to confirm all of the associated blogs are receiving what is the equivalent to a mass mailing.

via Ping.fm
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The cancer card

Image by sgtret via Flickr

If the blog entries have been sparse and few between, we are going to pull the cancer card.
Starting with the discovery of a lump in the neck the day before thanksgiving and up to last week I have gone through a roller coaster of emotions. “Could be cancer, could be something else.” This was the phrase that put a damper on getting treatment started.  The next was “Could be lymphoma, could be carcinoma.”

Where we are now is it could be only aggressive or it could be aggressive combined with slow growing.  To determine that a sample of the bone in my hip needs to be taken tomorrow. 

The chemotherapy begins on Thursday.  We’re expecting blizzard like conditions on Wednesday.  My son was born during a blizzard, so I will take that as a good sign.

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LiveJournal Tags: cancer

We Forgot the Blogs Fed by Ping.FM

The Famous Grazing blogs were all updated on the turn of the year, but we forgot to include those blogs which cannot use MS's LiveWriter and depend on Ping.fm to feed them.

That's the purpose of this short entry. It's important when you run a blog to keep the entries as up-to-date as possible. If you let a month slip, Xanga as an example, the blog appears and for all goods and purposes, is dead.

We've added PING.FM to a permanent sticky next to the computer screen to remind us when we post not to neglect Trounce Ally and the Xanga Weblog.

-30-

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That Was a Quick Ten Years

Image via Wikipedia

As I recall the 1960’s, they took forever.  Starting with Eisenhower still President and ending with his VP, Nixon as the same, everything in between seemed so full of moment, as narrated by Walter Cronkite.

A visit to the Newseum in Washington, D.C. last summer brought to focus how we were and now are presented with what is happening in the world.  Back then the filter was huge.  The networks had only forty or so minutes to tell us about what had happened in the last twenty-four hours. Then we went to the newspapers for details and Time and Life for the color photos.

This morning, before my shower and tea, I knew about a drone attack in Pakistan, bridge curve deaths in San Francisco/Oakland and saw pictures of New Year’s celebration around the world.  I heard about the New Years Honours in the UK and New Zealand and the death of a philanthropist phrama heiress.

When I bring up Thunderbird, my email will tell me much more about what the intimate and commercial connections to me think I should know.

And then there is Facebook and Twitter. Before and after midnight last night, I was communicating with friends and acquaintances from Juneau to London, from New Zeeland to Manhattan. 

I watched the first day of the year unfold through them from the fireworks on the South Island, to Sydney, New Delhi, Cape Town, Paris, London, Boston, New York, Philadelphia and then went to bed.  Midnight is no longer so singular when you watch it happen over and over again.

And now we’re off with the kids to see Avatar. (We already saw Sherlock Holmes and loved it.)

Happy New Year, all!

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LiveJournal Tags: New Year