Willamette River Cruise

Blues Festival
Inserito originariamente da andiamotutti

Way back at the beginning of July, Chris' friend Ken invited a small group of people out on his boat on a beautifully sunny Saturday. Naturally, I took my camera along and I snapped pictures during the entire trip. Unfortunately, the wind and water combined meant that most of the pictures ended up with some kind of droplets of something-or-other on the lens, but theoretically if I had the patience (and time!) I could Photoshop all that out. And the pictures are fun anyway. The one to the right is of the Blues Festival, and you can see the rest of them here.

The End of July

Chris' last day at work is tomorrow. He's looking forward to taking the month of August "off" to decompress, but he doesn't sit still well. He'll be pottering around the house checking things off his to-do list all month, I'm sure, in between long bike rides. He deserves to take a little time and relax, so I hope he gets to do that. And then, well, we'll see what happens next.

This has been such a year of transition and turmoil for us, I think we're both exhausted but at the same time not taken by surprise anymore. I think we've learned to take each new roadblock or speedbump in stride, which, even though it's been tiring and annoying at times, is a good thing to be able to do.

At any rate... A couple updates on other things:

• My dad went home from the hospital quickly, because the doctors think the hole in his esophagus will heal itself. He'll go back in this week for another check up so they can see what's going on in there, and then hopefully they'll have some solutions for him. He's in good spirits, but it's a frustrating situation.
  
• We met with Bub's oncology vet today, and she's very optimistic that he's doing really well. His loss of appetite after his last chemo was explained, too, because she'd increased his chemo dose last time. So, that was good to hear - it wasn't an anomaly, it was reasonable. And I'll continue to obsess over how much he eats, so hopefully the weight he lost last week will be back by his next appointment. He begins going in every other week now, so he should be able to recoup better.

Which photos should I submit to a photo contest? Help me decide!

0911 Breakfast in Piazza Maggiore
Inserito originariamente da andiamotutti

I'm contemplating submitting a few photographs to the National Geographic Traveler annual photo contest, and aside from this photo (which I love) I'm not sure what else I should send in - if anything. I've chosen a few that I think are good pictures, but I'm not sure if they're really worthy. So I'm asking for your input.

What do you think? Let me know which (if any) of these pictures you think I should submit. Many thanks in advance!

Later edit: I should have also mentioned that the incredibly talented photographers out there who I know occasionally read this blog ought to think about entering the contest, too. Will? Alessandro? Are you listening??

Timely Teabag Tag

From my morning cup of tea:

Politics is the art of preventing people from taking part in affairs which properly concern them. - Paul Valery

This is suspicious...

Every time Chris leaves for a business trip of more than a day, I get sick. I swear this is true, and he agrees. He thinks it's a spooky coincidence, I think it's some kind of conspiracy. Whatever it is, it's downright annoying. I mean, I wouldn't be feeling any better if he were here - I'd still have the most congested nose I have ever had, bar none - but at least I'd have someone to fetch me things... Which is, of course, why I'm sure he's very glad he's away on business.

Does humidity cause head colds?

I'm sure it doesn't, but man - after several days of extremely high humidity levels around here (something we're just not accustomed to in these parts), I came down with a head cold yesterday. It's just annoying right now - keeping me from sleeping, making me sneeze incessantly, causing my nose to run ad infinitum - but I'm OD'ing on vitamin C and Zicam in an effort to keep it from getting any worse.

In other news:

• My dad was in the hospital again over the weekend, although my understanding is that he'll be coming home today. His esophagus had been growing scar tissue ever since they got rid of the cancer that had been there, and the scar tissue was closing up his throat so he couldn't swallow. The doctors were scraping away the scar tissue and ended up poking a hole in his esophagus (they apparently warned him that was a possibility). He'll go back in a week to see if the hole is healing itself, and in the meantime he can't swallow anything - including water. He's had a feeding tube back in for a few weeks now, it'd gotten so bad. I kind of wish they'd just go in and remove the offending piece of the esophagus so he can get back to a somewhat normal life - although the recovery time from that kind of surgery is weeks, it still seems like it'd be better in the long run. But I'm not the one who'd have to be in the hospital.
  
• Bub's appetite isn't back after his last chemo appointment (last Weds.), and he's due for his next round this Thursday. I'm not comfortable taking him in right now, since I don't feel like he's rebounded from the last one. I left a message for the doctor today, so we'll see what she says. The last time he went in for this same drug, they sent him home because they said his bloodwork showed he wasn't up for it. I'm wondering if it's the same situation this time. He's shedding like crazy, so the chemo is affecting his fur - it's not falling out in big clumps, but it's definitely falling out. The saddest part is he's losing his whiskers - he's only got two on the right side of his face, I noticed yesterday.

CatCam

My cats don't wear collars (two of them won't even tolerate the things), and they don't go outside except to wander on the balcony, so this project wouldn't be interesting at all in my house. It is pretty funny, however, in the original house: It's Mr. Lee's CatCam.

Seems a German guy was curious about where his cat went during a day, so he affixed a modified keychain digital camera to his cat's collar with a timer set to take a photo every few minutes. I've been very curious about some of my cats' antics, but I think I'd be more inclined to set up a CCTV-type camera before I'd go to this length. But hey, if I had the technical know-how, who knows? I just might have three cats running around with cameras on their necks.

(Thanks to Alessandro for that link!)

It Lives!

I'm happy (no, ecstatic is probably the more accurate term) to report that I'm typing this entry on my trusty old laptop. Yes, the very same one that got doused with liquid just the other day. After spending about 36 hours in pieces air-drying on my dining room table, it was put back together (by yours truly, who now knows how to remove a keyboard from a laptop - knowledge I hope to never again need to use on my own equipment) on Saturday morning and presto, it started up just fine.

Happy me.

And if you need pointers on how to disassemble your own laptop, lemme know. I'm full of wisdom now.

Computers Don't Like Green Tea

So, the day before Friday the 13th I had some nasty bad luck - I accidentally (because, really, who would do this on purpose?) spilled some green tea onto my laptop while I was at work. The monitor immediately began flickering. The computer guru at my office sits right next to me, thank goodness, and he switched the laptop off and began taking it apart. We dried everything we could see but the monitor was still barely visible to completely black when we tried starting it again. My stomach was, by that point, home to an awful sick feeling...

I've got an archaic spare machine now which I'm borrowing from work, and my laptop is in several pieces on my dining room table airing out. Chris is pretty confident that once it's dry it'll start up again just fine, but of course I'm worried. The good news is that the daily backup I do means that there's essentially nothing that will be lost data-wise, it's just an annoyance if I have to send the machine to Texas to have Dell fix it, or an expense if I have to buy a new one. I'm not looking forward to either of those possibilities, so I'm hoping Chris' optimism is well-founded.

I learn quickly, generally speaking. After I nearly lost my entire senior thesis in college because I hadn't hit the "save" button in hours, I got into the habit of hitting the "save" button every 30 seconds or so. In the future, you probably won't find open containers anywhere near my computer.

Another Stop at the Chinese Garden

Lotus Flower
Originally uploaded by andiamotutti

We went to the Chinese Garden again recently - I think it was about a half-hour before closing, so we didn't stay long, but it was nice to wander (as it always is). The last time we were there, the lotus flowers were basically done for the year - we saw one still in bloom. This time, most of them were still blooming, and several were still only buds. They're just stunning...

We also renewed our membership to the garden, and learned that they've opened it up on Wednesday evenings for members only - I'm not sure it'd be good for photographs at night (no tripods allowed), but it'd sure be pretty to just wander through and grab a snack at the tea house. I'd like to do that one Wednesday this summer, before the thought gets away from us entirely.

Rundown of the Last Week

Quick update, since it's been awhile...

• Our weekend was exceptionally busy - too busy, frankly - but one highlight was a potluck we went to yesterday at the home of some friends who live outside St. Helens (about an hour from Portland). She's a professional chef in Portland, so the guest list was almost entirely made up of other professional chefs. I tell you, that's the way to do a potluck, people. I was clever enough to fast before the party, only having a light breakfast and no lunch, so I actually went in for 3rds and possibly a small helping of 4ths before calling it quits. It was amazing stuff.


• Bub's appetite still isn't great after his last chemo (2 weeks ago) and he goes back for the next round tomorrow. He seems fine, however, which is good - happy and energetic. I take that as a good sign. I just hope he's gained a little weight the past 2 weeks, or at least maintained.


• Abby, his sister, was at the vet's today getting her teeth cleaned. It's an all-day event, so I just got her home about an hour ago. She didn't have any extractions like her poor sister Jasmine, so she's just a little disoriented now. But she's happy to be home, and I'm glad for that.


• We've got no plans for the 4th this year, mainly because neither of us is feeling particularly social or energetic lately. It's partly cat-related stress and partly job-related stress, we figure, but we're just pretty content to be at home by ourselves these days (this past busy weekend not withstanding). I've always wanted to test the theory of whether we could actually see the Lake Oswego fireworks from our window, so we might get a chance to do that this year.