Fifteen Minutes of Delusion

How I Spent My Independence Day Weekend

2009-07-04T16:34:00.003-06:00

Greetings, all. We're still here, hiding out from the heat in our little corner of Texas.

We've been enjoying a quiet, low-key three day weekend. Yesterday, I started out by mowing half of the back yard. I got started too late to finish before the weather became scary hot, and halfway seemed a good stopping point.

I did a little shopping at Wal-Mart. Nothing like Wal-Mart on the day before a major holiday.

Later in the day, Anna and I took Duchess to the vet. She's had some drainage from her eyes, and yesterday she traded her poopy pellets for a full-blown case of the runs. Fortunately, the doctor said she was fine - the eye drainage was probably just a cold that will run its course, and the poops were from the extra helpings of parsley she's been getting.

Anna wondered why she had to go with me to the vet. I explained that it was her piggie, and I'd be darned if I was going to leave her at home playing computer games while I drove a sick guinea pig twenty minutes to the animal hospita..

Last night the girls and I went to one of Alyssa's friend's house. They have a pool, and we swam - a lot - and had a great barbecue. It was really a lot of fun. But then Alyssa screamed and cried clear through her shower afterwards. Not so much fun after all.

Today I finished the lawn, and we made cupcakes. I put too much batter in the cups, and they came out looking like mushrooms. But they are tasty mushrooms.

I didn't work on my new book yesterday, but today I sqeezed in enough time to write 1,500 words. My goal is to write 1,000 words a day during the month of July.

No news on the old book. I don't expect to hear anything until September. Publishing is a slow buisiness.

Alyssa and I went to the park, despite the heat. We took cold water. It helped.

I've just been asked to break up a fight in the girls' room. They're supposed to be folding laundry.

Tonight we continue the classic movie indoctrination program with the Oscar-winning hit, Rocky.

I wonder how Anna will do with a movie about boxing? Could be interesting.

Alyssa's New Look

2009-06-30T20:06:00.004-06:00

Dear, sweet Alyssa got a couple of changes to her face today. One was planned, the other was not.

The bottom braces were planned. She's excited to have them in. Notice how much her top teeth have moved since this post - wow! They're straight.

We're looking forward to the same kind of progress with her bottom teeth, especially the one that's sticking so far out. It's putting such a strain on the wire that one bracket popped off less than an hour after her appointment. Good thing we were still near the orthodontist, getting samples and toilet paper at Costco.

The other change to her appearance is the big raspberry on her left cheek. This was not planned. Poor Aly was running up and down the driveway while waiting for the school bus this morning (she has three hours of summer school a day). Anyway, just as the bus arrived, she took a tumble. It was like she fell in slow motion - to the knees, then the hands, then right onto the face. Ouch!

I'm very glad the tooth sticking out on the bottom didn't poke her lip or break off - I've been worried about that for a while. Yikes!

After The Vacation

2009-06-30T08:43:00.003-06:00

We've been home for a little over a week, and I've accumulated enough little snippets to make a full blog post.

As mentioned in the previous blog post, the AC was on the fritz when we got home. Some guys came and replaced the capacitor, and it worked. For a day. Then it went all intermittent on us.

It was the compressor. Boo.

We got that replaced on Wednesday. A pain in the right hip pocket, to be sure. But so far, so good. And the new compressor is a heat pump, so hopefully our heating bills won't be so high this winter.

Also happening since the last post was our 19th anniversary. We rented a movie and went on a "date" in our room while Shari watched the girls.

It's been very hot here - over 100 ever day since getting back. Bleh.

Alyssa got a baby tooth pulled last Thursday, and today she gets the braces on her bottom teeth. Should be exciting.

I've been feeling wiped out since we got home. Not exactly sure what's up there - maybe a virus? Hope I get back to full-strength soon.

SV2K9 - End of the Road

2009-06-23T08:55:00.004-06:00

As the saying goes, all good things must come to an end, and that would include our fun and exciting Summer Vacation 2009.

As the trip wound up, we stopped by and visited my friend Andrea and her family.

Then on the way out of town, we dropped by Elizabeth's house and hand-delivered the cocoa maker she won playing the 500th Post Liar's Game. That was a lot of fun.

The hardest part of these long road trips is always the drive home. Everyone is tired. The fun and excitement are past. And, after two days of driving, we'll be greeted by two weeks worth of work that needs to be caught up. Yeah, it can be a bit of a let down.

So to help with the trip, we stopped at several parks and playgrounds along the way.

We knew we were in Texas when the thermometer hit 100 degrees. Yeah it was hot. I mentioned it to Kara, and she said, "Think cool thoughts, because the air conditioning stopped working this afternoon."

Great.

But we arrived home safe and sound Sunday evening. We said our happy greetings, got the essentials unpacked, took cool showers and went to bed - hot, tired, and glad to be home.

And, so you know, the AC was fixed by Monday morning - blown capacitor. Hooray for cool!

SV2K9 - Too Much Fun for Regular Posts

2009-06-17T14:24:00.005-06:00

Yeah, it's been a busy one. No two ways about that. I've been working hard all day and playing hard all night. Well, at least until 10 or 11.

Man, I'm getting old.

Anyway, here are some highlights from the last few days.

Sunday night we got to visit with my friend Mike and his wife Shauna. They live in Austin, three hours from us, but we never see them in Texas. Instead, we all had to drive 20+ hours to Utah to get together.

Monday we piled into the car and headed to Jeff and Kathy Shumway's house for a Hawaii Friends get together.

On the way, Anna went shopping with cousins and aunties, and got a makeover, complete with ear piercings.

Then last night we went to my dad's and had a fun evening visiting and playing games.

SV2K9 - Running Amok With The Cousins

2009-06-14T15:19:00.003-06:00

Here they are - all eleven cousins, in a rare moment of stillness.

We went to Jen's house and had a family barbecue. After eating, the kids rode the horse.

There was also some time to jump on the trampoline.

And Alyssa enjoyed playing with cousin McKenna.

SV2K9 - Dude Ranch

2009-06-11T21:31:00.004-06:00

Yesterday the girls had a great time playing with their cousins and going to the pool with Grandma. I have no pictures, because I was working. At least, no pictures other than that of Alyssa and Jake playing trains, which happened after I got home.

Today the girls went to spend a couple of days with my sister Jen and her girls. They have horses, which is why I titled this post "Dude Ranch." Hopefully Anna will take pictures.

At work, we had a basketball tournament finals and a barbecue. I was not a good dieter at the barbecue, and did not burn off any calories with basketball. I may need to walk home.

SV2K9 - Days 3, 4, and 5

2009-06-10T17:02:00.004-06:00

Sunday we went to church in Carlsbad, and met the granddaughter of the man who was our first bishop in Hawaii. I love those "small world" moments.

Then we went to the Birch Aquarium, which was very interesting.

While we were there, the girls tried their hand at presenting the news.

Then it was back to the sea. We walked up and down the beach in La Jolla, looking for shells and letting the waves lap at our feet.

We had a nice dinner out at the Olive Garden, and then returned to our room and basically crashed.

The next day, we drove back to La Jolla to see if we could spot some seals, which we did. We went to Shell Beach, where Alyssa ran and ran, and Anna looked for shells.

Then it was off to Mission Bay in San Diego, where we played miniature golf at Belmont Park, and the girls rode on the Tilt-a-Whirl.

Then we went to see Up!, after which we drove back to the beach. Unfortunately, Alyssa was pretty much worn out by now, and not even sitting in the movie theater for a couple of hours could stave off a bad case of ballistic whining. It was not pretty.

We went to bed early, got up early, and drove to Utah without incident. Today, I've been working hard, while the girls have been running amok with Grandma and the cousins. I miss the little buggers, and can't wait to leave work so I can hear how their day went.

SV2K9 - The Beach

2009-06-07T10:12:00.005-06:00

After our long drive Friday, we slept in a little on Saturday, then continued our westward journey. Despite being a much shorter driving day, it seemed to take forever. This was complicated by the fact that Carly gave us some unwise directions, taking us from the freeway and onto a winding, two lane mountain road with a ton of stoplights. I told Carly some bad words and threatened physical violence against her.

Next time she suggests a detour like that, I'll ignore her and follow my gut.

But we got to the hotel, bought our first meal out since leaving, then headed to the beach.

That was the point of this side trip to San Diego, after all.

SV2K9 - Day 1 Report

2009-06-06T07:44:00.004-06:00

Summer Vacation 2009 - SV2K9 - is off to a fantastic start. We got the van loaded Thursday night, and made it to bed only a half-hour late. Friday morning everyone helped get ready, so although we missed the aggressive goal of a 5:30 departure, we were on the road by 5:47, and that suits me just fine.

According to Carly, we drove 904.8 miles in 12 hours and 47 minutes, with just under two hours of stopping time. Everyone was pleasant most of the time, and kept themselves entertained in the van.

It's interesting to note that last year Alyssa's biggest complaint was that her feet kept falling asleep, as the were dangling above the floor. We resolved this by putting her backpack under her feet. Well, yesterday we were on our last of our 7 legs when I realized that she hadn't complained about her feet once. I glanced back and saw that they were firmly planted on the floor. She's growing up so fast.

After we got to the hotel, we decided it was time for a wind-down swim. Anna was very excited to try out her monofin - a single flipper for both feet that requires a dolphin or mermaid-type swimming motion. The pool was nice and warm, and we probably spent 45 minutes swimming and (in Alyssa's case) bouncing and walking along the shallow end.

Today we have 6-7 hours of driving, and then we'll spend the afternoon and evening playing. But now it's time for the free hotel breakfast. We haven't spent any money on food so far this trip, having brought a cooler and box full of meals and snacks. It's working out really well. However, we may celebrate our arrival on the coast with a nice dinner out.

Trip Prep - It Just Might Happen

2009-06-04T06:08:00.003-06:00

I have two goals for the immediate future: Sleep 8 hours tonight, and leave home by 5:30 tomorrow morning.

Difficult? Yes. But hopefully not impossible.

If I succeed, I will credit careful planning and children who were finally old enough to help.

If I fail, I'll blame children who were old enough to help, but didn't.

We have a growing collection of boxes and bags that are ready to load in the van, and I expect that collection to double by dinner time. If my careful planning comes to fruition, the van will be completely loaded (except for the coolers) by our 9:00 bedtime. Then in the morning we just shower, dress, fill the coolers, warm the breakfast burritos, clamber into the van, pray for safety, and depart for the Great Summer Road Trip - all within thirty minutes.

It could happen.

Realistically, I'll be fine if we don't leave until 6:00. And I'll survive, even if I don't get to bed until ten. But tomorrow's leg involves 13 1/2 hours of driving time, plus five stretch-and-pee stops. It's gotta start early, and I'll need to be rested.

And maybe a couple of Dr. Peppers will help.

Gearing Up For the Big Get-a-way

2009-05-31T18:45:00.004-06:00

Here it is, folks - the last week of school, and time to prepare for the big summer road trip.

On Friday, the girls and I will pile into the van and head off across freeways with steadily decreasing designations for the start of our summer vacation. But before we can leave, there is a lot of preparation to do.

This past week was already a busy one. I ordered a half-dozen frozen ducks, and had to defrost the freezer to make room for them. Then on Friday, we loaded the sauna into the van for our Saturday delivery. The lady who bought the sauna lives 4 1/2 hours away in Houston, so most of our day was spent driving and unloading and driving again.

Fortunately, the apartment where we made the delivery was near an Ikea. Score! We had in-store credit and a completely empty van! The temptation to fill it nearly overwhelmed me, but I exercised caution and just bought four small things, including some lemon cookies. Yum.

This week is going to be a mad dash to the finish line. I need to get the van lubed and a windshield chip repaired, clean the bathroom, mow both front and back lawns, get Alyssa's braces wire adjusted, shop for two weeks worth of food for Kara, and re-buzz my hair. This is in addition to all of the packing that needs to be done.

Yup, it's going to be an exciting week.

Guest Blogger: Lyme Awareness Month, Part 2

2009-05-27T11:35:00.000-06:00

Continuing our two-part series on Lyme Disease for Lyme Disease Awareness Month, we welcome back my wife Kara as guest blogger.

To make matters even more complicated, ticks also carry other infections. If you have Lyme Disease, you will most likely have one or more of the other infections. The 3 most common co-infections are Bartonella, Ehrlichia and Babesia. Others include Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, mycoplasmas and viruses. They further complicate things by adding their own symptoms. The co-infections are pretty stealthy as well and do considerable damage.
So by this point, I'm sure you're thinking – OK, so if a person thinks they have Lyme or one of the other infections just go to the doctor and get tested. Not that simple. The “standard” test for Lyme Disease is the Western Blot. When it is performed by a “normal” lab such as LabCorp or Quest, this test is between 10% and 30% accurate. The CDC has known this from the start and has always said Lyme diagnosis is a clinical diagnosis. As in, diagnosed by the patient's symptoms. If a patient's symptoms are shouting, “Lyme Disease!”, a negative test result for Lyme Disease does NOT mean you don't have it. In many patients, it takes a while – some, years -- for the body to start producing antibodies. On the flip side, if the patient is very ill, their body may have stopped producing antibodies. Lyme and its co-infections are experts at literally turning off the immune system so it won't fight.
So how does one get diagnosed? Igenex in Palo Alto, CA is the best lab for diagnosing Tick Borne illnesses. Their western blot is about 70% accurate. It is also best to visit an LLMD. The majority of Mds do not know about Lyme Disease. Even when they say they do, they do not.
Once the patient is diagnosed and treatment begins (hopefully by an LLMD) there is hope for recovery. Much depends on how severe the case is and how long the patient has been infected. When the antibiotics kill borrelia or any of the co-infections, there is a die-off effect. The dead bacteria are very toxic and the body must dump all these toxins. The toxins make symptoms much worse and often create new or bring back old symptoms. Most patients feel much worse before they start to feel better. This can go on for months or years. Then, finally, there is progress and the healing process begins!
There are over 20,000 cases of Lyme Disease diagnosed annually. (See CDC's website.) The CDC conservatively estimates the number of undiagnosed and misdiagnosed cases to be at least 10 times that – 200,000 each year. They believe the actual numbers to be much higher.
Here are some websites that have good information about Lyme Disease. The last one is the movie trailer for “Under Our Skin”, a documentary about Lyme Disease.
http://www.nclyme.org/symptoms.html

http://drsusanmarra.com/lyme_disease.html

http://www.anapsid.org/lyme/symptoms/tbi-symptoms.html

http://www.truthaboutlymedisease.com/

http://www.underourskin.com/watch.html
If you have any questions, please ask. We can direct you to good sources for more information.

Guest Blogger: Lyme Awareness Month, Part 1

2009-05-26T12:13:00.003-06:00

Readers, today we have a special treat: my wife Kara has written a couple of posts to help us observe Lyme Disease Awareness Month, which has been going on since the first of May. This is the first of two parts.

Thank you, Kara!

If you are a regular reader of our blog, you will know that our family has Lyme Disease. All four of us. Since we have been diagnosed with Lyme, we often get questions about how we all “happen” to have it. Quickly followed by “What is Lyme?”, “How do you get it?”, “What kind of symptoms do you have?”.
We hope that the knowlege you gain here will be of help to you or someone you know and love.
Lyme Disease is the #1 vector borne disease. It is a serious bacterial infection caused by Borrelia Bergdorferi, a spirochete. It is transmitted most commonly by ticks. Once infected, humans can transmit it sexually and also congenitally to the fetus.
A bit about ticks: Ticks are little creatures but they carry big diseases. They can be as tiny as the period at the end of this sentence. Or smaller if they are in the nymph stage. Ticks are found in grassy or wooded areas. It used to be that you would only see ticks in these areas. Today, this is not the case. Ticks are found just about anywhere. The most common place to get Lyme Disease is in your own yard. Most people do not know when they've been bitten.
There are most likely over 100 strains of the pathogenic borrelia (Lyme) bacteria in the United States. It is a spiral shaped bacteria that literally bores itself into the tissues and then inside the cells and hides there. By doing this, it is able to evade the immune system and often goes undetected. This bacteria can also “sense” danger and hide in a cyst. When it does this, it cannot be killed by antibiotics. The cyst must be opened first.
Lyme Disease can either be an acute or chronic infection. The acute illness happens soon after you are infected. Symptoms MAY include a bulls eye rash (really any rash), or a “flu-like illness” within 2 weeks or so after the bite. The infected person may experience fatigue, fever, sore throat, swollen glands, nausea and other more typical flu symptoms. ** The rash occurs in the minority of Lyme infections and is not a reliable indicator. ** OR you may not have any symptoms at all. Remember, this is a very stealthy bacteria. If there are symptoms, you should go to the doctor and be treated with antibiotics. If caught at this phase, often, this is where the infection ends.
If the borrelia is not killed at the acute phase then the infection becomes chronic. This is where it gets tricky. Lyme is a multi system, multi symptom illness. It effects every organ and tissue in the body. Lyme can cause approximately 75 different symptoms which include both physical and psychiatric symptoms. It can “pop” out all at once unexpectedly or slowly percolate over a lifetime coming up 1 or 2 seemingly unrelated symptoms at a time. Symptoms may totally disappear and then pop up years later. If there is a trauma to the body, it may pop out all at once.
No two people infected with Lyme Disease have the same symptom set making it very difficult to diagnose. It is often mis-diagnosed as Multiple Schlerosis, ALS, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, Lupus, and arthritis just to name a few. Lyme Disease is known as the “Great Imitator” because of it's ability to mimic other diseases. The average chronic Lyme patient sees 9 doctors before being diagnosed. I was super-lucky in this area – Dr. #28 diagnosed me. The vast majority of chronic lyme patients are treated by a “Lyme Literate Medical Doctor” or LLMD.
Common symptoms of chronic lyme disease include extreme fatigue, dizziness, nausea, diarrhea or constipation, fever, tremors/muscle twitches, burning/tingling sesations in extremeties, numbness, anxiety, memory loss, confusion, depression, weight gain or loss, allergies, muscle aches, joint pain, head aches, sweats, hearing loss, light and sound sensitivity and many others. You can see a more extensive list here and here .

Mixed Blessings from the Sky

2009-05-23T07:23:00.005-06:00

We've always had a television. However, for the past year or so, we haven't had any TV reception. Our rooftop antenna got beaten to death in a hail storm, and it was nice not to have the added distraction.

That all changed this week, as we got the DirecTV antenna attached to the side of our house activated and a receiver box installed. Now we get enough programming to fry the brains of a small city.

It's nice. But I'm scared.

Now, this is not to say that the girls haven't been watching TV during the last year. They have. But it's all been pre-recorded stuff. Anna has become an expert in all things Cosby Show, and regularly quotes from the various episodes.

And Alyssa has watched Toy Story 25,263 times. So there was a viewing problem even before we got the satellite turned back on.

My biggest fear now is that the annoyance factor is going to go through the roof. I don't worry about Anna picking inappropriate shows to watch - she's got a better eye for appropriateness than I do. But the shows she likes annoy the snark out of me - so much so that I'm tempted to block the Disney Channel.

Hopefully the kids won't suddenly turn into total TV zombies, and we won't have big, knock-down fights over viewing limits.

I'll keep you posted.

The Tin Grin - Still Some Issues to Resolve

2009-05-19T19:02:00.004-06:00

Alyssa got her braces today. Here's the before (complete with eye-patch, but that's another story):

and the after:

She did pretty well during the installation/application. Not perfect, but she managed.

Unfortunately here at home things aren't going quite so well. One of the wires has poked into her cheek, and it's been a real challenge getting wax on it to keep it from poking her again.

Also, one of the front brackets came off already. That means another trip to the orthodontist tomorrow. 20 minutes away. Nuts.

And dinner was a non-event. We had a very soft quiche-type breakfast casserole, but didn't get more than a few bites down her. Even water was a tough sell. I don't think she's really in that much pain, but more along the lines of discomfort.

Hang in there, Alyssa. You can do it!

Sugar Cookies With Colored Frosting

2009-05-17T19:42:00.004-06:00

Many of you know that artificial food colors have gotten the boot at our house, thanks to the Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde effect they have on our girls. Not pretty.

The problem is, natural food colors are generally lacking in quality.

Well, the other day I bought some food colors made by India Tree. This purchase was inspired by Alyssa's repeated request for a Blue's Clues birthday cake, and the need to make it actually, well, blue.

India Tree had some colored sugar sprinkles that had some pretty impressive color for being vegetable derivatives, so I decided to give them a shot.

Today, as a test run, we made sugar cookies and frosted them with icing that used our new colors.

As you can see, the blue (red cabbage) was still a little bit purple, but much better than any other natural colors we've tried. I was able to get a very nice magenta out of the red (beet). If we ever need true red, I think I'll add a tiny bit of yellow (curcumin) and a lot more of the red.

The results are delicious. However, I'm not exactly sure what to do with all the frosted cookies now. I'm don't think they'll stack very well in the jar.

California Dreamin'

2009-05-17T07:29:00.005-06:00

A couple of weeks ago, I went to the San Diego area for work. I spent my evenings down by the beach. I really miss the ocean.

A plan was hatched that first night, watching the sun dip towards the waves: I could bring the girls to the beach as part of our summer vacation.

Now, San Diego is not quite on the way from Dallas to Salt Lake City, but it's actually not all that far out of the way. We would only be adding another 10 hours of driving. The hardest part is the cost of the additional hotel nights, but it looks like we may be selling the poplar sauna, so that may not be such a big issue after all.

The schedule, however, is not working out quite the way I wanted. See, the little ice storm we had a while back knocked the kids out of school for a day, and they will now be using a make-up day. Because of what that does to our departure date, the day we would be able to spend in San Diego is a Sunday, and that presents some problems.

We've been working very hard at our house to try and keep the sabbath holy. We're not as perfect as many, but we're making the effort. So the thought of playing at the beach on Sunday doesn't sit well with me. (Ironically, I don't have a problem with driving all day on Sunday - still trying to figure out why that is.)

Anyway, I'm messing with my various options. I could have the girls miss the last day of school, and then we'd be at the beach on Saturday instead. Or we could leave on schedule and stay yet another day by the beach, giving us a Monday to play with. But that would delay our arrival in Utah by three days.

Those faithful readers who live by the sea: What kind of sabbath-appropriate activities do you plan at the beach?

Mixed Blessing: The Kitties are Gone

2009-05-12T20:11:00.004-06:00

Jezebel and her kittens are now residents of a nearby goat farm. Giving them away wasn't nearly as traumatic as it could have been. I don't think anyone even got watery eyes.

Except maybe me, but I'll blame that on having just finished mowing the lawn. Yeah, that's it. I'm sure I got some dust or grass pollen in my eyes.

The yard had grown very long with the cool rainy weather and the three weekends I was out of town, and vanity required me to cut it. I like to at least pretend to be a minimally competent groundskeeper when guests come to call.

After I put Jezy in the cat carrier with her kittens, she sat down and sulked. I felt like such a heel - here I'd worked so hard over the last few months to build her trust, and then I betrayed it.

Yes, I understand that it had to be this way and we were very fortunate to find someplace where the whole feline family could stick together. Still, I felt dirty.

So I went and bought some ice cream. Cherry vanilla always helps.

Award-winning Musician

2009-05-11T19:50:00.003-06:00

Tonight was Anna's band concert. For a bunch of sixth graders, they were quite impressive.

Here's Anna with Ellie the Baritone and the award she won as one of the most improved musicians in the band.

Twisted Satanic Freaks Need Not Apply

2009-05-10T17:28:00.004-06:00

We're giving away our kitties. You probably know that already if you follow this blog at all.

We took them outside this afternoon and conducted a photo shoot.

Then we posted the pictures in an ad on Craigslist with a photo of each.

Of course, we're all freaked out about the thousands of people who get free kitties to make manapua and do other terrible things.

Please - one or two or four of you really nice people that we know: Take a kitty!

It's WHAT Time?

2009-05-03T11:42:00.002-06:00

I suppose sleeping for 9 1/2 hours at the end of a long trip is not so unusual. The fact that I didn't start sleeping until after 1:30 this morning, though, meant that it was 11:00 before I pulled myself out of bed. Little bit of a shocker there - I probably should have set an alarm.

It's good to be home, although the next 50 hours or so are going to be filled with busy-ness getting ready for this next trip. Not that the trip itself will require a lot of preparation, but there are a lot of things that I couldn't do while I was gone, and need to have done before I leave.

The lawn is one thing that should be on that list, but I'm going to ignore it for now.

Hanging Out at DIA

2009-05-02T18:27:00.005-06:00

There are storms in Texas tonight. Storms big enough that Frontier canceled my flight home. They booked us all on the next flight, which leaves 3 1/2 hours later than the original. My concerns about not having enough time to get dinner or have my suitcase make the connection appear to be unfounded.

Well, at least I hope the concerns about the suitcase are unfounded. I won't know for sure until the bag is in my hot, tired little hand.

But as for dinner, I did okay. I found a Kung Pao chicken salad, and it was good. Now I'm plugged up to a power outlet at one of Denver's handy little charging station, using their free internet access.

So aside from not getting home until around midnight tonight, this delay is not such a bad thing. And since so many people told me to travel safely, I suppose I have no choice but to wait out the storms.

Heading Home for a Few Days

2009-05-02T09:02:00.003-06:00

The time remaining on this trip is now measured in hours. The time before I travel again is only measured in days. I'm not particularly excited about flying off on another trip less then three days after getting home, especially with Kara still sick with whatever virus is hanging out at our house, but a man's gotta do... well, you know.

I got my suitcase packed up this morning. I wasn't entirely sure that would happen. It was a pretty tight fit, and I still had a bunch of stuff to squeeze in. Then I noticed that the expand-o-matic zipper was in the closed position. Once I zipped it open, I had plenty of room.

The other reason everything fit is that I am leaving behind all but four of the 12 books I either brought, bought, won, or was given over the weekend. I saved Christmas and birthday money for the LDStormakers conference bookstore, where great bargains can be found. I picked up books from most of my writer friends, but failed to have them autographed. Why? I have no good excuse.

But since I knew I wouldn't be able to pack them home this time, and I'll be in town with the van in just over a month, I decided to share the bounty and spread the wealth by lending books to my sisters and nieces. That way they get some good reading material and my writer friends get some extra exposure. As the girls stood by waiting anxiously and I quickly wrote my name in the fronts of all the books, I had a glimpse of what a book signing might be like. That could be a lot of fun. I need to work on my signature, though.

I'll be leaving for the airport in a couple of hours, and should get home a little before bedtime. Then I travel again for work Tuesday evening, and don't get back until next Saturday afternoon. It's a trip to fix a tricky problem on an important printer, and probably should have happened a couple of months ago. But now it's an urgent issue, so I'm on my way.

But first, two and a half days of hugs and kisses and snuggles. Rumor is there may even be a party sometime tonight. I'll let you know.

Swine Flu? Let's Hope Not

2009-04-29T16:43:00.002-06:00

I was a little concerned when I found that Anna was staying home from school Monday with a fever, sore throat, and cough. As much as she complains about school, she hasn't missed a day so far this year, so I knew if she was staying home she really needed to.

She seemed to be doing better on Tuesday, and talked about going to school when she woke up. But apparently the effort of taking a shower convinced her that she could use another day to convalesce. Hooray, and 'whew' she was feeling well enough to go to school today.

Alyssa, on the other hand, stayed home. Sore throat, upset tummy. And Kara was feeling about the same. Yikes!

Meanwhile, I'm still in the office working hard. The first two days I had to improvise a bit, because IT was trying to figure out how to get rid of a nasty virus. Today was spent rebuilding my system, because wiping it clean was the ultimate answer.

Now I have two and a half days to get a week's worth of work done, and I might - might - be flying to San Diego on Friday to work directly with a printer that's giving us some grief. I won't find out until tomorrow. Talk about last minute.