morrowlife

Here’s my new MacBook Pro booting up for the first time.  Look at that beautiful retina-display goodness!  Not the best Great Art, but a really cool computer.  Great Art courtesy of the exclusive iPhone-cam, taken at our apartment here in the Village at the City of Hope, and part of my famous Machinery series.

No post yesterday.  The internet was completely dead.  So sad.  And so sorry, Loyal Readers.  I’m sure you were worried about us.  Don’t worry, we weren’t in Simi Valley.

But we did have a nice Fourth.  The day was fairly normal – we both spent a lot of time working.  More about that later.  But we did have a pleasant, patriotic evening.  At about 8:30, we drove three miles over to Monrovia for their 9:00 fireworks show.  Found a parking lot a couple blocks away from the park.  When we parked the car, we noticed a couple of families sitting on the berm between the lot and the street.  Asked them if they’d seen the show from there before and if it was a good vantage point.  They answered in the affirmative.  We parked ourselves on the lawn.  The view was pretty good from there.  Not perfect, but pretty good.  It kept LRN4 away from crowds and got us out of the apartment, so it was a pretty good night.  Plus, we definitely beat the traffic getting out of there.

There were other fireworks shows visible during the drive back, and neighbors of the hospital were shooting off a few very impressive fireworks shows of their own.  We stood outside in the warm, beautiful night air and enjoyed the show just a little bit longer.  Then, inside and to bed.

LRN4’s feeling pretty good.  Her sore toe seems to be continuing to improve.  Her numb feet are still numb, but she reports less pain than before.  Every little improvement is something to celebrate.  Other than those things, she’s doing great.  She’s stronger, healthier, and better in every way than she was yesterday.

My iOS app is progressing fairly well.  Sadly, it’s not in the state I had hoped for by today – not by a longshot, actually – but there’s good progress and I’m pressing forward to completion.  I’m estimating a one-week slip in the completion date, which still means it’ll be released on or near the first of August.  Got to get it to market before school starts in the fall.

And I can’t believe we’re just a little bit more than a month away from school starting again.  They have no business starting until the day after Labor Day.  Period.  Kids need a three-month summer vacation.  We got it and we owe it to them too.  That’s my completely unanimous opinion.  My Loyal Readers are welcome to opinions of their own, but not on this subject.

Anyway.  Started reading a biography of Theodore Roosevelt, titled [amazon asin=B004DEPH3E&text=The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt].  Quite an interesting character – and in many ways an amazing man.  I’m beginning to see why they thought he deserved a place on Mount Rushmore.  Apparently, this is the first of three books on Roosevelt’s life by the author.  This one covers his birth through his assumption of the presidency.  I can’t wait to finish it and move on to the next one.  Even though I’m less than 10% into it, I’m tentatively recommending the book.

And it’s already time for bed, so I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this shocking food violence news: ice cream assault!

See you on Monday.

Here’s LRN4 spinning.  I have no idea why she was smiling and not throwing up.  Great Art taken at Dorney Park, PA last September, courtesy of the exclusive iPhone-cam, and part of my famous Machinery series.

Good day today.  LRN29 spent the morning with us, as usual.  And we had a nice visit, also as usual.  She and LRN4 went to the clinic this morning and took a walk around the gardens afterwards, something LRN29 hadn’t done before.  They reported it was enjoyable and that we’re living in a beautiful place.

Later in the day, LRN4 needed to head out to the store.  I was working on my educational app (progress so far: small), so she decided to go by herself.  That’s kind of a big step as far as I’m concerned.  Everything went well, of course.  I’m sure she enjoyed a few minutes of alone time, which she hasn’t gotten much any of since February.  Also, it’s yet another sign of how well things are going.

Spent a lot of the day working on my educational app, as mentioned above.  I got some basic structure done after working on it for a couple of days.  Then I Google-Plus’d with LRN1 and discovered a much easier way to make it work better, look better, and include the basic database structure, just by changing the type of project.  Sigh.  I scrapped everything I’d done so far and have started over. This was a good time for that, since I really had made very little progress.  I’m getting back into the groove with iOS programming, though, so it wasn’t completely wasted time.  In fact, I’ll venture that it wasn’t even mostly wasted.  Many software development gurus (maybe I should just skip directly from developer to guru – what do you think?) say software projects are most successful if you throw away your first draft anyway.  This wasn’t exactly a first draft, but maybe I can call my throwaway done on this project.

Anyway.  Spent another hour or so this evening talking with LRN23 about business decisions I need to make on my medical software project.  We didn’t really reach any conclusions, but he gave me lots of good advice and good things to think about.  I really have a lot of work to do on that one too.

It’s great to have more work than I can handle!  Nobody is paying me to do any of it right now, but I have high hopes for a very good payout from both of my major projects in the not-too-distant future.  No guarantees, but no limits either.

And I spent my blogging time talking with my brother, so I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this shocking food violence news:  thrown black pudding incident!

See you tomorrow.

Here’s my beloved pickup loaded for LRN1’s trip to Utah a year ago.  At least I think it was LRN1.  Was it LRN2?  That’s LRN2’s bike on top of the pile.  Help me, Loyal Readers!  Slightly crooked Great Art possibly taken by LRN1, situated in my lamented three-car garage in Lardville, and part of my famous Machinery series.

Wonders of WordPress.  I forgot to post Monday night.  Had plenty of time.  Remembered right after I went to bed.  Decided to wait until Tuesday morning.  So I’ll try to confine myself to things that happened on the weekend and Monday.  Tuesday’s doings will be reported tonight.

So what happened?  All the Loyal Readers have come and gone.  We had a great time during our visit.  Overate, overshared, over everything.  Good weekend.

LRN4’s health continues to improve.  I still see improvement every single day.  She has more stamina, she’s stronger, she’s more capable.  The changes are definitely incremental, but they’re visible.  Our Monday visit with the doctor went well.  Her sore toe has a blister under the toenail.  The doctor said it will probably pop soon, followed by immediate pain relief.  Looks nasty, but she apparently isn’t going to lose the nail.  Blisters under toenails – yikes.  Cancer is a strange thing.

Her white cell count was lower again, but her platelets are up.  The white count is fine – he says it’s completely normal and will go back up when it’s ready.  If it gets too low, he’ll give her the same drug they gave Melanie to force cells to grow.  Now that she’s in remission, it’s safe to do that.

The platelet count is a great sign – they’re apparently the last thing to come back.  He told us the other day that her genetic structure is 99% that of her sister and that the cells have definitely engrafted.  So everything’s normal and going exactly as expected.  We just never know what to expect next.

Had a nice Father’s Day.  All the kids called, although LRN5 and I were never able to connect.  We did have nice conversations with each other’s voice mail, though.  We’ll talk Real Soon Now.  I opened my new [amazon asin=B00068EXQ8&text=beard trimmer] and tried it out.  Works great!  The hair is finally out of my mouth.  And the beard is definitely looking good.  Kind of like Colonel Sanders, I think, although I’ve been unfortunately compared to Sam the Snowman.  Have a holly jolly Christmas, everybody!

Tried to go to the “gentle yoga” class in the afternoon.  Turns out you need to pre-register.  To do that, you need your doctor’s okay.  There’s no doubt LRN4 can get that, but I don’t know if she’ll bother.  They let us observe the class.  I can vouch for the fact that it’s “gentle.”  I fell asleep.  So did LRN4.  I think actually doing the yoga would keep you awake, but I can’t guarantee anything.

That’s it for today.  I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this shocking food violence news: hot sauce tantrum!

See you tomorrow.

Here’s an old tractor.  A very old tractor, in fact.  Powered by steam.  There’s a picture of one just like it at Wikipedia.  This one was just sitting in the parking lot of the place where LRN4 and I walked through the corn maze last Halloween.  In the parking lot.  Amazing.  Great Art courtesy of the exclusive iPhone-cam, taken at a farm somewhere in New Jersey, and part of my famous Machinery series.

Fine day today.  I got a little work on my upcoming iOS app done, but I spent the majority of my work time reviewing iOS training videos.  It’s been several months since I spent any time on iOS programming, and with my recent and ongoing work on Windows development, I needed to clear my mind, so to speak.  Mind now clear and a tiny bit of foundational progress made on the new app. It needs to be released by August 1, so time’s a-wastin’.  Also, I need to be spending pretty much full time on my Windows app.  Hmm.

LRN4 is doing very well today.  She’s having continuing problems with her feet – the last cancer treatments really messed them up, and some of those chickens are coming home to roost a bit.  She has peeling skin, swelling, and a very painful toenail, which she is afraid might be getting ready to fall out.  I’m taken aback by the very thought.  As soon as we’re sure we’re through with the suffering, something else comes along.  Oh, how I wish I could do something to make it all better.

On the positive side, did I mention she’s in remission?  She’ll be fully recovered before too long, we’ll go home, and our lives will resume.  As usual, she’s tough.

Last I checked, both LRN9 and my mother are in the air on their way to Los Angeles.  They’re in separate planes, having come from Orlando and Detroit, respectively.  I just checked, and LRN9 should be on the ground in about 13 minutes.  My mom will be a couple hours behind.  They’ll be here until Sunday, after which they’re both heading for Florida: LRN9 to go home and Mom to visit for three weeks.  Sounds pleasant.

Just ordered a [amazon asin=B00068EXQ8&text=beard trimmer] from Amazon.  I have a fairly nice one at home, but I’m not at home and my poor scraggly beard is in desperate need of a trim.  It should be here by the weekend, so my suffering is nearly over.

And that’s about it for today.  Daily walks are curtailed due to foot difficulties, so we’ve been reading, writing, cooking, eating, and napping today.  Not too shabby.

I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this exciting Morrowlife Employment Agency job opportunity: outlaw monkey!

See you tomorrow.

Here’s part of a water fountain at Longwood Gardens.  Great Art courtesy of the exclusive iPhone-cam, taken the day after my birthday last year, and part of my famous Garden, Machinery, and Statue series.

Great day today!  LRN’s white cell count is up to 0.5.  We’re looking for it to make it to 1.0 before the end of the month.  With that done, LRN4 free from needing blood products most days, and her able to get enough nourishment (which I think she’s doing already), we should be able to get out of here next week.  Fingers crossed!  We are so, so, SO ready to get out of here.

LRN5 and family will be back here in two days!  LRN3 will be here in three days!  It’s going to be an exciting weekend and week.  I’m really looking forward to it.  I wish LRN1 and LRN2 could be here too.  Maybe we’ll be together sometime soon.

And there’s nothing else in my life right now, so I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this shocking food violence news: toilet seat gum theft!

See you tomorrow.