This Site is So 2008...

Hi All,

I love that everyone has been so great about keeping up with me. Thank you all so much for that.

I've been thinking a lot about this site and how I could increase my use of it, without adding too much time to keep it up. I'd also like to be able to put up updates, without needing to make a full website posting. I keep thinking about moving this site to Facebook.

For those who haven't used Facebook yet, it's free and really easy to update. Once you try it, you'll find that you get addicted quickly. The only drawback that I can think of is that people will need to make Facebook accounts. I think that the benefits significantly outweigh the one drawback, so I'm officially moving this to Facebook. The URL for Facebook is http://www.facebook.com. It will be easy to find me once you get there--just search for me by name. If anyone needs any help with FB, please let me know. I'd be happy to help.

See you on FB,

Tim

Whale of a Time

You're invited to check out our whale watching pictures and video. Just click on the title to see them.

Happenings This Week

Update for the Week,

I figured that I'd follow my good colonoscopy news with some good eye doctor news. It's odd--the last time that was at the eye doctor (which wasn't that long ago), I didn't know that I had cancer. Looking back, it really has been a surreal year. Anyway, I got a good bill of health from my eye doctor. He said that my prescription really hasn't changed much. Since there was nothing noticeably different, it appears that the chemo hasn't affected my vision. Armed with good news from both ends of my body (from colon to eyeballs), I thought it was time for some good news from my abdomen. To that end, I think that I'll have a CT Scan this week. I have one scheduled for Thursday. I'm sure it will be more of the same news--unremarkable.

What else? The Erbitux rash that was on my face is now on my scalp. It's gotten pretty bad. It doesn't hurt, but it itches like crazy. Basically, my scalp is a scabby mess. I have blood on my pillow case each and every morning. It's not horrible, but it's not the most fun thing either. Also, I've been pretty tired lately. I worked for 1/2 of a day today and went home to rest. It has gotten to the point where I'm going to suggest to my doctor that it's time for a break from that particular chemo drug.

I think that I'll end this blog post with some more good news. My uncle's girlfriend, Cheryl, has officially beat her cancer. She has a couple more rounds of chemo, but she just received a clean bill of health. Congrats Cheryl! Way to kick some cancer butt!

A Little Good News

Yesterday was an exciting morning of fishing, followed by an evening of colonoscopy prep. While fishing, Erica caught a 7 lb trout. Her friend Derek caught a 5 lb trout. Both are bigger than any trout that I'll probably every catch. They were both thrilled.

After drinking my fill of colonoscopy prep beverage last night (3/4 of a gallon), I started my day at 4 am by drinking the remainder (1/4 of a gallon). By 6:30 am, we were on our way to Kaiser. We parked at 6:47 am and I checked in at 7:02. 15 minutes later, they had me in a gown, laying around, with an IV poking out of the back of my hand. It went like clockwork. I woke up from the procedure and heard good news. No polyps and no evidence of any new cancer or tumors in my colon. The drive home was a blur--I hardly remember it at all. I spent most of the day on the couch and finally got up and moving around 4 pm. Now, I'm just tired and plan to spend the rest of the evening relaxing, happy with the good news of the day.

By the way, click here for a link to a great news story about children with cancer and some very cool construction workers. It's worth having a look at. There's a video on the page. Enjoy.

Tim

It's About Time

Looks like I'm overdue for a blog post! I guess we have some catching up to do. To start with, I got a new cat on February 22nd. We adopted her from a shelter. Her name is Tara and she's approximately 2 years old. She was already declawed and was immediately friendly when I met her. All the shelter knew about her was that she was an "owner surrendered" cat and that the previous owner said that she was fixed. We brought her home and my office became her bedroom. She has been busy getting acquainted. She now likes to wander down the hall and check out the other rooms. Ziggy (our other cat) has not become her friend yet, but that will come with time. We're still establishing who's the alpha cat, but it looks like she's going to fit into our family nicely.

I went to another raw food meetup last weekend. The food was great and the people were very nice. However, they had a guest speaker who was totally nuts. She was very nice and very fascinating and has led an interesting life. Interestingly, she viewed all living things as equals. This includes trees, mosquitos, etc. She liked to "ask" trees if she could take a piece of fruit and the trees "answered" her. She also felt that the worst thing that she ever did was to squash a handfull of mosquitos off of a friend's head. She likened that to mass killings at Auschwitz. That was tough to take and we left shortly afterwards. I will certainly go back to the raw food group, but definitly not if they have the same guest speaker!

What else? Hmm--I'm taking Erica and her friend Derek fishing on Friday. Derek's dad is going along too. I'm really looking forward to that. I have a colonoscopy scheduled for Saturday and have to do the colonoscopy prep Friday after fishing. The last time that I woke up from a colonoscopy, the doctor told me that I had a big tumor that looked like it was cancerous. I can't wait to wake up from the procedure and have the doctor NOT say that.

Work is going well. However the California and national budget issues are starting to hit home. There was a school board meeting last night and they presented budget cut information. The district will have a 44 million dollar shortfall next year and the Board of Education was trying to put a plan into place. Cuts will be deep and difficult. I was surprised to see my job title on the chopping block. They were talking about cutting costs by getting rid of one of the three of us. They were also talking about getting rid of the extra days that we work (I currently work 20 extra days per year and get paid a daily rate for them). The superintendent then presented his suggestions to the Board. He did not suggest eliminating one of our positions, but he did suggest getting rid of our extra days. It means that it's very likely that I'll still have a job next year but that I will probably be taking a little bit of a cut in pay. I can live with that. We'll have trim our budget down, but we'll be fine. A lot of people aren't so fortunate.

Wow--this was a crazy, random blog post! That probably comes with me writing it at 10 at night. Must be past my bedtime.

Goodnight and big hugs to all,

Tim