day 3, bored
How many episodes of Band of Brothers can I watch?:) Having some pain, not bad tho. Took pill this morning, will see how I feel when I'm due for another. Would like to forgo the next one, but not going to be a hero. To tell the truth, it's helping but not as much as I would have thought.
Working on getting some dictation software to do some of my documenting backlog, but in the mean time I'm resting and reading a lot about datawarehousing,
typing with one hand is annoying, so I'm going to stop.
Surgery thoughts
(yes, I'm still typing one handed)
How many of you have had surgery where you are put under? Anyone have thoughts/fantasies that you would wake up? That you'd suffer some weird aneurysm and just die and leave everyone to keep living?
Yeah, I know, irrational. Until my Dr. came in, I was super nervous. He showed up and it was gone. I mean nothing, no nervousness, nothing. The even cooler thing was when I thought about the anesthesiologist, I thought it'd be cool to have the guy who put me under for my colonoscopy, and two seconds later, he walks up.
Talk about feeling like I was in good hands:)
The prep room was the weirdest for me b/c I'm usually the one to be making Fae feel better or more secure and here I was, the one who needed reassuring. She was good, cracking me up when I needed it, and just holding my hand when I needed that.
All in all it was fine, and everything worked out. The doc even called me before dinner to check on me:)
In a bit of pain now, so gonna watch a movie for a while.
Just call me righty:)
Sitting in bed, percocet taken, typing one handed:) Surgery went well, just have to heal now:)
thanks for all the well wishes.
What’s up?
Lets see....
Went to New Orleans for a geek conference for a week, with just my wife...and of course I was sick for most of it. Nice 
Went to Great Wolf Lodge with Fae and the kids, Gillian's troop has a trip at the end of the year and this was it. Aidan and I had to carry the bags and stuff like that...yeah, totally It was a lot of fun and the kids enjoyed it too 
We were on our way back when Aidan's phone rang, it was his girlfriend (yes, he's 13 and they've been dating a year), inviting us to game night at her house the next day. Sounded like fun. So we went over last night and not only was it a lot of fun, but they went out and got everything gluten free so Gillian could snack on everything. How cool is that? It's amazing how thoughtful people can bed.
To top it all off, I'm having surgery on Tuesday. Yay! Not. I was in an accident in 2007 and because of it, there was some damage to my shoulder and elbow. They're going in and removing the damaged tissue. Hoping to be in a sling for a week or so and from what the doc says, back to fairly normal in around 6 weeks. Not being able to do any kind of contact exercise has been driving me nuts, so being able to get back to it will hopefully allow me to feel better physically and emotionally
Wish me luck.
O-Dark thirty and I Can’t sleep
Man this sucks. It's 4am and I can't sleep. Can't take a tylenol PM, I have to wake up in 2 hours. Tried going back to sleep but can't get back and I don't want to keep Fae up with me rolling around either.
What do y'all do when you can't sleep?
A star filled week in New Orleans
I'm not one to plotz when I see someone famous, and it's a good thing because I saw two of them this week
I was going thru security at Newark airport on sunday and I saw Patricia Clarkson standing in the other line. One of my favorite roles is when she was in the Station Agent. The other star spotting was Anderson Cooper from CNN, walking down Royal St in New Orleans, right in front of my hotel That is one SKINNY dude!
Okay, for those of you that came for the title, yer done, you don't have to keep reading.
<geek alert>
We touched down on Sunday after a tearful goodbye with the kids and a bumpy ass flight. Yowza, no fun. Getting the car and our stuff proved fairly painless and we got to our hotel mid-afternoon on Sunday. Wanted to get some of the local flavor and we were both hungry, so we stopped at Cafe Beignet on Royal St. There are three in the French Quarter with the same name, but this was a small little coffee and pastry shop.
Have you ever had a beignet? Dude. If you only go to Nawlins for one reason, let it be the beignets - fried dough with powdered sugar, yum yum yum. Ever get fried dough at a carnival? Same idea, but MUCH better. Stayed put for a while drinking cafe au lait and talking about what to do and how much we missed the kids.
To go on record, cafe au laits suck, dude. I guess I'm used to bold coffee or something, but this stuff was weak.
We went to a mexican place that was highly rated called El Gato Negro. Was down past anywhere I wanted to be after dark, but decent food. Nothing that floored me, tho I had pork and andouille sausage fajitas which were good. As we sat there, I saw a bag of water hanging over the front door, looked like it had practical joke written all over it. Turns out it's a Mayan thing that is supposed to keep the flies away.
Monday I had the conference and learned quite a bit that I won't bore you with since I know you're only interested in what Fae was doing While I was listening to geeky stuff, she was walking around the city and coming close to passing out! YAY....oh wait, that sucks. Boooo! Heat index was up around 105 or so. She stopped at a place called the Palace Cafe and they were wonderful about letting her sit in the AC and got her water. She didn't realize it at the time, but the guy making sure she was okay was the owner of that place and two others, Dicky Brennan. We ended up going back there for dinner where I had my first taste of crawfish in about 10 years. Still tastes awesome.
Tuesday, Fae decided to go out of town and see some of the plantations she had read about, Oak Alley and Laura. I didn't know that Oak Alley was where the filmed Interview with a Vampire, cool Very interesting thing to note that although they are on the same road, Oak Alley is painted white with it's columns and huge lawns and rows of trees, while Laura is smaller, lot more buildings, and the main house is yellow. Back then, as I understand from Fae, painting it whit e and using column architecture denotes white owners, while the yellow buildings denote Creole.
Here's your lesson for the day: according to multiple people we talked to Creole isn't racial, it's about where you were born. "Louisiana Creole refers to people of various racial backgrounds who are descended from the colonial French, Spanish, and German settlers, Africans, and Native Americans from the time before the Louisiana territory became a possession of the United States through theLouisiana Purchase" from Wikipedia. They wanted to denote that they were born in Louisiana and not somewhere else. Very cool.
We decided to walk down Bourbon street that night. Flashy, lots of drunk people, and strip clubs. We don't drink so all the bars didn't really do anything for us. Stopped to eat at a place that I Can't remember the name of and I got my first bowl of Crawfish Etouffee. It tasted really good at the time, but I was on a mission to find the best bowl of it. Found it the next night.
Wednesday while I was at the conference, Fae was just walking around, looking at artwork - lots of galleries down there, and generally getting to know the French Quarter. We ended up going for a walk that night up Magazine street - by the way, people were going on and on about all the shops on Magazine street - didn't see it. Went to a place called Mother's. You walk in and they hand you a menu, you walk along the counter and then order, and go find a seat. They come to your table and bring your food. Not dive-y, but not a 5 star restaurant. Nice homey place.
They win. Hands down. Had Crawfish Etouffee and THAT's what it's supposed to taste like. Talked with some of the staff, Felicia and Tyrone, and they made us feel welcome, told us stories, great great place. If you go to NO, you have to get to this place.
Thursday Fae took a cooking class at the culinary school in the French Quarter, made Shrimp Creole and corn and crawfish soup. Had a good time. I could already taste another bowl at Mother's, so we went back for dinner. This time we didn't eat so much we couldn't walk. Saw our friends again and again, had a great time just sitting and eating and talking.
Friday we drove around in the Garden District and saw a lot of really huge old houses, including Anne Rice's old house. Stopped by St. Louis Cemetery #1 to see Marie Laveau and then went to the airport. Got home to some really glad kids and even gladder cats My Mom stayed at our house for the week and it was a lot easier than the last time we went away
Tips for the French Quarter - don't walk around alone after dark, go with a group or as a couple. Be careful of talking to everyone you see, don't be rude, just be wary. Walking down Bourbon Street at least once is a must. Never go down there in June, holy crap. And go to Mother's on Poydras.
I love my son
I've been noticing lately, that come Tuesday, Aidan's not feeling well, or has hurt himself, or needs to take a nap. I was sick as a dog two weeks ago, they didn't get home in time last week, and when he walked through the door today after school, he was SO tired.
We've been taking Kendo together for about 2 years now, and I had a feeling that he was not into it anymore for a while now, but when I asked him, he'd always disagree - "No no, I really like it, it's fun, I'm looking forward to it next week", but I could tell his heart was in it. I"m not going to convince him not to go, but today I asked him straight out - "Do you want to stop?"
He wasn't sure what to say or think, so I let him think about it, and went downstairs. I heard him talking about it with Fae for a bit, and then the slow steps came down the stairs and he sat across from me.
"Dad, I don't know about Kendo, I like it, and I want to keep going...." and he let it slide.
"Buddy, look at me. If you're going because you think i'll be upset or disappointed in you, then you've got it wrong. I go because I get to spend me and you time, I could care less what we do as long as we do something. If you want to stop, then we can, but we can find something else to do together."
"Um, well, yeah then. I think I want to stop, at least for a while" and he starts tearing up. I move over to the other couch and before I know it he's practically in my lap. You have to understand, I'm a big dude, but he's not too small anymore. He kept saying "I don't know why I'm upset or crying" to which I explained that he had built it up so much and not wanted to talk to me about that the relief was overwhelming.
That and he still thought I was disappointed in him. Which I obviously explained I was totally not
So he goes up to finish his homework and I start looking around for my taichi dvds to see if he's interested in that when he comes down and says he wants to take a Parkour class. For those who don't know what it is, go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkour, it explains it. Simple explanation, it's using the urban environment like a big gym and jumping, running, flipping and doing tricks with what's in the neighborhood. So we start looking at videos of the stuff, trust me, go to youtube and look it up - sick stuff, and after about 15 min or so, I tell him to change, and we head out to one of the parks in town to do some stuff.
Keep in mind, I've been in bed for about 3 days and I'm finally starting to feel like a sub-human, so getting my carcass up and out is a process indeed. We proceed to do jumps and small little tricks and interesting stuff on the jungle gym and just have some fun. He was breathing heavy and was favoring one knee after about 20 min, but we did it and it felt good. I talked to him about commitment and sticking with things, but I want to see how much he can accomplish just getting outside and doing this stuff, because truth be told, it was a lot of fun and actually loosened up some muscles in my back and legs
We'll see.
Aidan’s a poet:)
Reading
By Aidan Cushing
Inspired by Robert Frost
I peer down into the foreign realm,
And see the crafting looking back.
An adventure, with me at the helm,
An adventure does no book lack.
Maybe this time I am a lifeguard
Spending my days in the sand
Or maybe even a lazy dog.
Laying around in the yard.
A pirate, a robot, a ninja too.
You can find it in a book.
All kinds of stories for me and you.
Just go to the library, and take a look.
As I peer into this foreign realm,
I think of my next adventure.
Where I am captain at the helm,
Reading is my knowledge quencher.
back up your stuff and other stuff
okay, so this really sucks. I got hacked. Someone or something put something on every single php page on my website that caused browsers to forward onto another site. Not fun.
So I'm back to square one, oh goodie, lucky me. It's cool tho, I've been wanting to make some changes anyway. So I'll be playing with some settings and putting together my portfolio - websites, resume, etc so I can generate more work.
On the elbow front - I'm going to have surgery on my elbow, prolly mid june. The doc recommended it since I've been going for cortizone for a year now, lucky me. I'll post more as it gets closer. I am doing it in mid june because I'm going to New Orleans for a conference 2nd week in June. Bringing the nice lady who lives in my house and puts up with me, we're going to walk around in the French Quarter, looking for ghosts
Did it again
I haven't blogged in a while now and it's been bugging me. Maybe I don't need as much therapy as I did before? Maybe the need to share with the world has waned?
Nah, I'm busy as a one legged man in an ass kicking contest lately Aidan and Fae's birthdays are coming up, work is crazy busy, I've been doing a lot of searching in Genealogy sites, and just generally taking it easier on myself - sitting and reading books for hours with Fae and the kids, working out a little more, that kind of thing.
Biggest Loser update - been floating up and down a bit, but still down around 6lbs. Going to do a lot of things differently to see if I can break 220.
Kendo - missed the last two weeks, but looking forward to Tuesday. Hopefully my elbow won't give me any issues. It's been sending small signals that it might be time for another shot, we'll see.
Life - my son is turning 13 on sunday and I'm quietly freaking out. I'm also madly putting together a D&D adventure for his party on Saturday. Should be interesting - 8 or 9 boys, all hopped up on sugar and candy running around my place killing monsters and bad guys. Hoping they'll keep it sane enough to actually do something this year. Was almost a complete bust last year.
Anyway, won't promise to write more, but will certainly try to be better if only for a journal of my 41st year of life:)