Happy 1000th Post, Otturatore!

Back when I started this blog, I didn't really think about meeting other bloggers along the way. I didn't have "internet friends." I can't say that anymore, as I've made connections with people from all over the planet - both via BootsnAll and the various expats in Italy I've "met" - but I think I can safely say that my first "internet friend" was someone who I later had the pleasure to meet in person, stay in contact with to this day (something like 5 years later), and who is celebrating a milestone of his own at the moment.

Let me introduce you to Alessandro of the fabulous Otturatore photo blog.

I found Alessandro's blog via Photo Friday many moons ago, and linked to it on my sidebar. Naive as I was to the ways of the web back then, I didn't realize that he'd be able to track me down via that link - but track me down he did, and he commented on my blog. That was back in 2003 or 2004, and it began a correspondence that's continued to this day. Ale's become a great friend, and we've gotten to the point where we'll spend a bit of time just about every week on Skype - me at the beginning of my workday, him at the end of his - chatting in both English and Italian. I'll confess that his English is far better than my Italian (he's completely fluent, in both normal English and all kinds of slang, in a way I dearly hope to be someday in Italian), but he's very patient with my Italian mistakes and has even taught me a word or two in the Friulano language of his home region.

Chris & I had the good fortune to meet Ale in 2004 when we passed through the Friuli en route from Venice to Croatia, and although we were nervous about meeting this "internet person" I'd only corresponded with via email, he turned out to be delightful, friendly, and incredibly generous. He even managed to teach me how to use a couple of the gazillion bells and whistles on my big DSLR (which I'd completely ignored to that point).

I should mention that Ale's a great photographer, with an eye for turning the everyday into something artistic and worthy of a second look. When we met, he was toting a new (well, new to him) medium-format camera, and I'm convinced he's forgotten more about photography than I'll ever know. He posts a photo every day on his blog, and he recently sent out a note to proudly announce that his 1000th post is going up tomorrow, March 26.

So, happy 1000th post, Ale - I look forward to visiting you again - hopefully on a day you've decided to bake something delicious, perhaps to help you celebrate your new house, and (if I'm lucky) learn a new trick or two on the camera.

AUGURI, ALE! E MANDI!

Happy Birthday to, uh, Me!

While I wasn't paying attention (as you'll no doubt have noticed by the distinct lack of posts here in, well, ages), this blog has turned four years old as of today. Yes, it was apparently on March 16 of 2005 that I decided to start sharing my thoughts with the world in an online fashion. No, I don't have the exact date pinpointed for when I mostly stopped doing said thought-sharing on the blog. But thanks for asking.

So, happy birthday, blog. No telling where we'll be four years from now...

Quick Update

It's been a few weeks since my last post, so here's a quick update on what's going on around here...

• My ankle/foot is still healing from my stupid fall, but I still keep it wrapped at all times for extra support. The first 1.5 days I couldn't put any weight on it at all, but since then it's been getting progressively better. Which means I haven't gone to a doctor because I figure I wouldn't be able to walk on it without much pain if it was broken. (Logic is the best doctor ever, right?) It's a slow process, which is irritating, but hopefully in another couple of weeks it'll feel good enough so I can leave it unwrapped most of the time.
• Bub is back on chemo. It's a lower dosage than it was for the first round, but he was steadily losing weight and an ultrasound revealed an intestinal wall that was slightly thicker than normal. They say it's still within normal range, but it could be a precursor to lymphoma in perfectly healthy cats - and given his history, we decided not to take any chances. The good news is that this chemo is all pill form, so he doesn't have to go to the vet any more than his usual monthly check-ups. He's still a major pain in the arse to pill, but we've got a system down.
• Work is busy for both of us, so much that weekends often involve a bit of time spent in front of the computer. We both still love what we're doing, but a little more down-time now & then wouldn't be a bad thing.

I think that's about it. Not terribly exciting, I know. But that's probably why I haven't updated in awhile. So you can count your blessings next time there's a big gap, eh?

Hope you're all well.

That Last Step is a Bitch

So, I'm feeling like an idiot today. Here's why.

Yesterday afternoon as I was walking down the lower flight of stairs in my house to retrieve a clean load of laundry, I wasn't paying attention to where I was walking and I missed the last step. I landed hard on my right foot on the tile floor and then (of course) collapsed. I thought I'd rolled my ankle badly and possibly broken it. Chris helped me back up the stairs and we got some ice on the ankle, and after a few hours (and a couple ibuprofen pills) it was just annoying rather than seriously painful. I was feeling more optimistic that it might just be a sprain - until, that is, I tried to walk to the bathroom.

Yeah. That really sucked.

We're more than 24 hours later and I still can't really put weight on that foot. I can move the ankle around, and there's basically no swelling or bruising, but there's a pain on the top of the foot when I try to walk on it. I think I'm finally resigned to the need for an x-ray, although I'm planning to wait until tomorrow when I can go to my regular doctor (they have an x-ray machine) instead of the ER... Because I don't even want to contemplate how much that trip might cost.

Anyway, we called around to a few friends we thought might have crutches lying around in their garage, but none did. So Chris is now on a mission to get some crutches for me (I seriously had no idea places like Walgreen's or RiteAid even carried crutches, but I'm assured they do) so I will no longer be forced to hop everywhere on my left leg.

Y'know, when we first bought our house, I loved the fact that the townhouse didn't feel like an apartment (despite being attached to our neighbors' homes) - and the main reason it still feels more like a house than a condo to me is now the thing I hate about this place: the STAIRS. Bedroom on one level and kitchen on the other? I can tell you right now that's going to be the biggest pain in the ass for the forseeable future.

Happy Moroccan Independence Day!

Happy Nepal National Unity Day! Happy Anniversary of the Designated Hitter Rule!

The point is, every day is a holiday somewhere in the world. And today is no different. I bring this up because, well, I didn't poke my head in here to wish you a Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, or Happy New Year. I could go with my usual tried-and-true excuse of being overly busy (which is still very much the case), but this time there's actually something else going on.

I wasn't ever one of those people who got seriously gung-ho over the holidays (and especially not since I entered puberty), but when my dad died a scant four days before Christmas in 2007 it made the holidays particularly un-festive that year. As you can imagine. I'd heard people say that "the first year is the hardest" when it comes to dealing with the death of a loved one, but I thought I was doing really well throughout much of the year following my dad's death. Yes, I thought about him every day, I missed him very much, and yes, I cried occasionally. But I thought I was handling things well - so much so that I figured the 2008 holidays would be back to business as usual.

Oh, how wrong I was.

First, it was the damned holiday music that started playing in every store even before Thanksgiving. I don't spend much time in stores, so I wasn't subjected to it as much as I might have been, but it was enough that by the time early December rolled around I realized that every time I heard a Christmas song I got angry. Not depressed, not nostalgic, but angry. It bothered me that everyone was preparing for a fun holiday, when I was coming up on the anniversary of my father's death. Evidently that whole "first year is the hardest" thing has some truth to it after all.

I made it through the holidays just fine in the end, and I don't think anyone really knew what I was thinking through most of it, but I couldn't help but wonder - will there ever come a time when I don't automatically think of my father when Christmas comes around? When I don't get upset with the cheerful dispositions of shoppers and the glittery decorations in front windows? When the holidays are just the holidays?

In 2007, I skipped doing a holiday newsletter for the first time in many, many years. In 2008, I couldn't bring myself to do one, either. I wrote a draft, which still sits on my computer (un-looked at since I first attempted to create it). I don't know if I'll eventually get a letter out to people in the early part of this year or not. I feel like I need to send out something, because I know some friends and family feel out of the loop - they're asking questions about things they'd know about had I gotten around to sending out a letter - and because I kind of feel like I need to force myself back into something of the old routine. But it's hard. I wish everyone was as web-savvy as the few folks who I know read this blog, because I'd just send out an email with a link to some kind of online holiday missive and be done with it. As it is, I'm still faced with the daunting task of finalizing the letter, printing it and getting copies made, addressing a gazillion envelopes, and stamping them all before dropping off the stacks at the post office. It's a holiday ritual I used to kind of enjoy, but that may be a ritual I never find pleasurable again.

Then again, maybe I'll just get my act together and send the letters out in honor of India's Republic Day on January 26. Yeah, okay, that's a little ambitious. How about Kuwait's Liberation Day on February 26? Could be do-able. Point is, whatever day you receive a holiday letter from me, whenever one should arrive, I guarantee it's a holiday somewhere in the world.

Maybe I should just pick a different holiday to mark with an annual letter from now on, actually. Any suggestions?