Slow Walking

One of these days, I'll collect all of the picture I've taken on walks with Sam - almost all of them consisting of looking at Sam's back as he races by me.

I took these photos on our first couple of walks this spring and I intended to update them, but since then... well, no walks. It's either rained, been freezing and in more than one case, snowed. Add to this my chronic lack of energy and it hasn't been very productive in the walking department.

Soon, I hope. Soon. Until then...

Many Questions

About half way to work this morning, I passed a hitchhiker. I don't see hitchhikers very often, but today, I noticed that when I do, I do two things.

The first thing I do is I drive right by them - which is the only sane choice to make. But the second thing I do is, after I pass them, I always look in the rear view mirror.

I can't figure out why I'm doing this. What am I looking for? Am I looking to see if they got picked up by another car - or maybe, if they're rolling around on the on the ground from when I sped by? Am I looking to see if they're flipping me off? Am I looking to see if they're currently clinging to my rear bumper?

Why am I doing this? What's going on?

This has been bothering me all day.

Easter Giving

This year, give a gift that's both thoughtful and personal, while managing to capture the true meaning of Easter.

Currently, $20.00 plus tax (if applicable)

Interlude

 Taking a break from life by visiting Grandma - and then having a picnic in the car.

This Week's (and Last Week's) Update

Posting has been a little light around here, even more so than usual. And, it's looking like the trend will continue to be this way, at least for a little while longer.

What's going on? Well...

Dealing with taxes is finally winding down, and I think the end might be in site - at least until I find out that I made a mistake somewhere, which might (or might not) bring me back to... well, who knows where? We can only wait and see.

Then, there's the doctors appointments...

Sam had to see an ENT specialist a few weeks ago. This appointment resulted in more drops (instead of the previous drops and the ones before them, along with the antibiotics, which his doctor had prescribed) and it also resulted in a followup. This followup took place about a week ago - and this resulted in more drops - and now, a cream, with another followup scheduled for about a week from now. Sam and I are both hoping that this is the end of our visits to the ENT specialist (no offense, ENT specialist).

On my end (there may or may not be a pun in there) went in for my annual physical last week. I was thinking it was going to be the usual poking, prodding - then out the door. Not quite, it seems. The physical has led to three (so far) blood tests, which, unfortunately have been happening on different days - they get the results from one blood test, then have me come back for another - plus I now have  an upcoming stress test with an EKG (at least they call it a "simple" stress test, so I think that's a good sign) and a CAT scan on the following day.

They're threatening me with another possible test after all of this, but we'll just have to wait and see. All of this testing is a real pain (in more ways than one) and when you work an hour away, these things really disrupt the day.

Also last week, a household emergency reared it's ugly head. I won't get into the details but, so far, it's sucking up a lot of my time (and money) and I think I'm only at the beginning of getting it fixed. At least, I'm hoping I'm at the beginning. I'm not even sure I'm that far along - and there's a long way to go. The less said about this, the better.

On the brighter side of things, Sam continues his transition from being a student to a being valued member of the workforce (which is said with hope and pride, not sarcasm). On the Not as Bright Side, a stack of forms arrived in the mail the other day, which Sam and I need to get working on.

Surprisingly, these forms were sent, not from SSI, but from the school (where he is currently employed).

Several months ago, when Sam first starting working at the school, it was for a couple of hours a week. After a little while, the school bumped his hours up to a couple of hours a day. Then, a couple of weeks ago, a new position opened up at the school and his coworkers sent him home with an in-house posting of the position, encouraging him to apply for it.

As near as I could tell, the job description was exactly what he was already doing - just more hours. This was good news to me but ambivalent news for Sam. It was, after all, a change in the routine - and changes can be tough.

It took some gentle discussing/ encouraging between Sam and myself, some discussing with his then current job coach, some emailing back and forth with his new caseworker, helping Sam with an email to the head of the department, going to the Transportation Center with Sam to discuss possibilities with the ADA transportation, and then working out a plan for continuing to work on independent walking. The spoken and I hope, unspoken message in all of this being, you're not in this alone in this.

Anyway, Sam got the position which, as it turns out, comes with a lot of paperwork. This has jumped ahead on the Things We Have to Deal With List, which I plan to at least start on, later today -that is, if I can stay sane long enough (which I feel I'm obligated to do).

So, even though it looks quiet around here, things are, for better or worse, busy. And I expect they will continue to be busy (for better or worse) for at least a while longer.

I look forward to a point, which never seems to come, when things might quiet down, at least for a little while.

Soon, I hope. Soon.


Oh, did I mention that Sam got his Jury Duty notice the other day?

Today

Well, taken on Saturday, but today's the day.

Winter Wonderland

With a little more than two weeks to go until spring, we’ve had our second snowstorm in less than a week. Unlike the snow from a couple of days ago, this morning's snow was heavy and wet. And heavy.

One of the things about shoveling heavy, wet snow is that, at least today, along with the snow constantly sticking to my shovel - and therefore having to constantly knock it off - the shoveling was even more enjoyable because the ground underneath the snow (i.e.: my driveway) was no longer frozen. This meant that with every few scoops of heavy, wet snow, I also got to scoop up a portion of heavy, wet mud (i.e.: my former driveway).

Despite the snow being heavy and wet (and heavy), it only took me a mere hour and a half before I finally made it to the end of my driveway - where the snowplow had kindly deposited a thigh-deep bank of the snow - snow which formally blanketed my road. 

This was actually very convenient because if I had wanted to shovel my entire street, this saved me a lot of  unnecessary walking up and down the road to get it done. Instead, by depositing all of the snow in one convenient, iceberg-like mass at the end of my driveway, he (or she) saved me a great deal of additional exercise.

I have to admit though, if nothing else, the snow was kind of pretty.

After the shoveling and after a hot shower, I headed off to work. Here are a few photos from my morning commute...

Epilogue:
Lest you think that my morning commute was nothing but a magical journey through a glorious winter wonderland, here's one more photo for your enjoyment.

This photo was taken during what was either a snow squall or when the wind blowing the snow off of the surrounding trees (which technically might qualify as a snow squall)...

See? It wasn't all fun and games this morning.

Birthday Girl

One of the four lights of my life.

Lost Interview

When it comes to watching videos, it seems I have the same technique as I do when it comes to listening to music - I latch onto something - then I play the thing over and over again. This is the case with the video below.

I somehow stumbled across this video of an interview with Bill Mumy (or "Billy", as I think of him). I don't really know much about him, other than I remember him as a kid (both him and me) from an old Twilight Zone episode. And, of course, he was on the old Lost in Space TV series - which is what this portion of the interview deals with.

Even though Lost in Space was on during my all-important formative years of nine to twelve years old, I never got to watch it. Back then, like Batman, it had the misfortune of falling during that period of  Dad's bizarrely ill-conceived, yet thankfully short lived, "No TV on a School Night" experiment.

Thus, most of what I knew of the show, I learned from the occasional weekend commercial, and by listening to the other kids on the playground rave about the most recent episode. (This, I believe, is where I began living my entire life vicariously through others.)

So, I knew enough of the show to know that, a) it was awesome, b) it had an awesome robot on the show, c) the family lived in an awesome spaceship and d) Angela Cartwright was really cute. I think that pretty much covered all of the important plot points.

Anyway, as I mentioned, this clip deals with some of Mr. Mumy's time on Lost in Space or, more specifically, with stories about his then co-workers. I don't know that you need to be familiar with the show to enjoy this video. I don't think you do.

I like the fact that, a) he tells his stories so well, b) he comes off as a really kind, thoughtful, funny and respectful person, and c) he got to date Angela Cartwright and become friends, even though I didn't.

Somewhere, I have this series on DVD, but I've never watched it. I'm pretty sure it won't live up to my expectations. But that's ok, I still enjoyed this interview and I still have my memories - or, in this case, I have other people's memories. Now, it seems, this will include his memories, as well...