This is really important stuff.

This is really important stuff.
I went to my friend Lisa's house for an early Sunday dinner. I had a great time there. Lisa's husband cooked some really great spicy chicken sausages and ribs.

My contribution to the meal was a couple of bottles of Coppola Pinot Noir wine. Everyone at dinner, except me, had some connection to the filmed entertainment industry. I though the wine from Francis Ford Coppola was a logical choice. As I explained the wine selection to Lisa, I said it was theme wine.

Ahhhh.

That wasn't the really important stuff.

The important stuff was that I arrived after the suggested arrival time of 3:30 PM in the invitation. I showed up around 4:00. This was a real change for me since I am usually on time or I should have been around 3:30.

It felt good for me to arrive when I did. I wasn't tense or nervous or bothered by arriving later than I usually would have arrived.

Vanities
Vanities is the name of the musical I saw on Saturday night.

I enjoyed the play and would recommend seeing it. The play is a musical version of a drama that has played off and on Broadway for years. The play is about the lives and interactions of three women as they move from high school into adulthood and beyond. The musical was performed in one act and starred just three women. That was expected.

The part that I liked the most was what I think Doug would call the second act. This section of the musical took place when the three women were about to graduate from college. The women were talking about selecting new pledges for their sorority, Kappa Kappa Gamma, at a Texas university.

The Princess would appreciate that since she is or was a member of the Kappa Kappa Gama sorority at the University of Utah. She also acted as an advisor to the sorority chapter when she was in graduate school at the University of South Carolina.

The musical finished its run in Pasadena on Sunday. Now, it moves on to a Broadway opening later this year.

The Pasadena Playhouse announced its 2008 - 2009 season recently. I am not all that excited by the decision to feature plays by and about women for the entire season. The next play is about Ann Landers, the advice columnist; I think Lisa will be going to the theater a lot more in the coming year.

Odd and Ends
My new big screen television was delivered this morning. I bought it at Best Buy and had their employees set it up for me. Having them do the setup was a brilliant idea on my part. They were in and out in less than twenty minutes.

I now have to have the cable company come out and replace the cable converter. Even with the old converter box, the new picture is epic.

My friend Gloria appreciated my comments that I had about her frozen yogurt and ice cream store.


Be well and stay happy.

Cleaning Up the In Box Mess

Cleaning Up the In Box Mess
I thought I would get started with my organization task by cleaning up my In Box Mess. I don't really have an In Box except at school and it always empty; probaly because no one sends me mail at school.

I am going to make the great sacrifice over the weekend by skipping the Tattoo Expo 2008. I know this is a significant event in Southern California. I hope the readers will forgive me for passing on it.

The Princess and I had a long talk over the weekend. I was saving this bit for my Tuesday blog. But, you all know what happened to Tuesday's blog.

Moving along.

I caught up with the Princess on Sunday after dinner. She had been working in her office during the day which explains why I couldn't reach her by cell phone. She turned hers off. The Princess is rolling out a new software program at her job that ought to improve things greatly by creating more effective management information and reports. The project launches October 1st so I hope it all goes well for her.

I wanted her to understand how Doug and I feel about the cancer condition and the future treatment plans. I think she feels better now with a broader knowledge of the medical plans for me.

Doug is proud of me, I guess, because I finally broke down and purchased a big flat panel, high definition television and Blu Ray DVD player. They are both made by Samsung. They will be delivered and set up on Tuesday morning.

Today was making appointments day for me. I scheduled the phone company to come out to the flat and fix a phone jack next week so I can move the laptop and printer back into the spare bedroom which doubles as an office for me. The move back into the spare bedroom will make it easier for Doug to work when he visits me. I also made an appointment to see my regular doctor so he can renew my prescriptions.

In preparation for the delivery of the new television set, I tossed out an old and partially broken television stand today. The flat looks a little less crowded.

I live so close to the ocean that I can hear the foghorn from the local small boat marina. I certainly glad that I do not live in one of those very expensive and fancy condominiums and apartments that overlook the small boat marina. Sleeping in the Winter, when we have a lot of fog, must be close to impossible.

No Dinner with Merit - Dinner for Dr Kwan
I phoned the El Gringo where Merit said she normally works on Wednesday again. And, again I was told that Merit was not working on Wednesday night. Normally, when I go to El Gringo, I have four small soft tacos with either chicken or beef. Sometimes, I will splurge and go with mahi mahi for the tacos.


With no Merit to have dinner with, I ended up at Bob's Big Boy in Torrance. My Brother and I have been going to Bob's Big Boy since we were in elementary school and that was a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. We even had dark hair then.


I had a dinner that would make Dr. Karen Kwan happy. Dr. Kwan is the oncologist who is always nagging me to gain a little more weight while I keep telling her that I need to drop a few more pounds. I had a larger dinner than I normally would have had because I had no lunch on Wednesday.

I started off with a small bowl of chili and beans because that sounded like a very good idea to me. The chili was good but not as good as the chili at The Original Tommy's Hamburgers.


Then, I had my favorite, the Big Boy Combination. It was almost as I remembered it to be except for the fact there was no paper wrapper on the hamburger anymore. Still, it was good.


I finished my dinner off with an Oreo Ice Cream Mud Pie slice. This is a pie that is made with crumbled Oreo cookies, then filled with chocolate ice cream and covered with hot fudge topping and some whipped cream.


Perfectomundo.

I hope the good doctor is happy but I doubt that she will be because I went back to light eating on Thursday.

Le YoGurt and Treats Shop
I finally visited my friend Gloria's yogurt and ice cream store on Wednesday after school and after I went far behind the Orange Curtain to visit Doug.

This is not the run of the mill, strip mall yogurt store. Gloria went way beyond the norms and created an unusual and very inviting place to visit. She hired a local artist to paint murals on the malls. I really liked this feature because I am not much of a fan of the sterile looks that some of her competitors feature.

Le YoGurt has a WiFi setup or at least access to the Internet in the store. This seems to be a growing trend with the younger set who have a very high need to be connected to the Internet.
As for me, I can go unconnected and feel very happy.

Many of you know that I love chocolate ice cream. Gloria's chocolate ice cream was perfect for my tastes; a very nice rich and cold scoop of chocolate ice cream. I had my ice cream straight up, no additives or toppings.

I can't say much about the yogurt because I didn't try any. I did the notice the half dozen or so people that were having yogurt were enjoying themselves.

Gloria asked me if I went to The Original Tommy's Hamburgers in Westminster for lunch when I saw her. She knows that Doug and I love to go to Tommy's. I said not today.

Actually, it makes so much sense to consume a Number 1 Combination or a Mega Combo meal and then head north on Magnolia, over the 405, and then turn into Gloria's strip mall location, Magnolia and Heil, for some stomach calming yogurt or ice cream.

Perfectomundo.

For those of you in the Southeast Los Angeles County or North Orange County, you can find out all you need to know by visiting http://www.myspace.com/leyogurt.


There, that empties out my mental In Box for now.


Be well and stay happy.

Weekend Update - September 21st

Weekend Update
Well, here I am back typing my post at Blogger.com instead of using Word to create the posting. I don't like using blogger.com because it is not as flexible as Word plus it has a smaller dictionary that does not allow you to add your own commonly used but obscure words. I like to add words to the dictionary.

I have been using this method, type in Word and then cut and paste into the post for over two years now. This approach worked just fine last Sunday. I know because I made my usual end of the weekend posting.

Then, on Tuesday, I couldn't make a post to save my life. My Tuesday posting was rejected because there was an HTML error. I made no changes with my laptop between Sunday and Tuesday. I posted a comment on the Blogger error page on Friday but have not received any sort of assistance or response.

My Brother asked why I wasn't posting in the blog when I called to wish him a happy birthday.

I wonder if any other reader noticed. Based on the entry and exit pages, I don't think so.

Oh well, life is not at an end now.

Me and the Cancer
Doug and I went to see the colorectal surgeons on Friday. This was a follow-up visit to my colonoscopy. The visit more or less confirmed my status as being Stable.

As Doug said, Stable is good. It certainly beat the alternative diagnosis.

I will put up a longer and more detailed posting after my next visit with the oncologists on October 3rd. I will go back into a low level chemotherapy maintenance program on October 6th. I don't particularly like the idea of going back into drug [pills] treatment plan because I will have to take seven pills a day.

Bummer.

The Baby Blues must have really enjoyed their Fairytale Brownies because they all sent me and Doug a very nice thank you card. I really appreciated all of their efforts to make my chemotherapy treatments as pleasant as possible.

Visitors
We had another good week for visitors with 492 unique visitors, compared to 463 from last week. That was nice. The mix of visitors, foreign and domestic, was about even.

I do appreciate all of you who take time from your days to visit the blog; even if you are only visiting the archives for past issues of the Woman of the Moment features.

The Frozen Yogurt and Ice Cream Store
My friend's frozen yogurt and ice cream store opened on Friday. I sent my friend a box of red and gold M&Ms candy with message of "Good Luck" on each candy. I know she enjoys and likes chocolate just like me. I just hope she won't be too upset with the almost two pounds of chocolate candy.

I will visit the store on Wednesday after my morning class. If I get a hard slap, then, I will know that my good luck gift was not well received.

University of Utah Football
Last week, our, that would be the Princess and me, Utes won on the road. They played Utah State University at Logan, Utah. It was not much of a game unless you were a Utah fan because out Utes won by a score of 58 to 10. The Utes moved up to a record of 3 and 0 and were ranked nationally at 20 in both of the polls.

This week, our Utes played the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. This was the first Mountain West Conference game for either team. This is almost always a very close game. The Utes went into the gamer as a seven and one half point favorite. Our Utes came through for us and won by a score of 30 to 23 in the final seconds of the game.

The Utes are now showing a record of 4 wins and 0 loses and 1 and o in the conference. They may move up in the national rankings since four teams that were ranked higher than the Utes lost on Saturday.


I suppose that I could have written more but nothing very exciting happened to me. I hope you had an exciting weekend.


Be well and stay happy.

Weekend Update - September 14th

My Friend Sunny
I got an email from my friend Sunny. Getting an email from Sunny was unusual since we normally chat as our preferred method of communications.

Sunny and I have been chatting for three years or so now. She is a Chinese student who is now finishing up her Master’s degree at Clemson University. We started out like several others with Sunny wanting to practice her English with a native speaker.

Sunny asked me to review her biography that she had to submit for a job application. I reviewed another paper for Sunny when she was applying to get a student visa to study here. Sunny is a very good writer for someone who is not a native English speaker. She actually writes better than some of my students in one of my advanced writing classes.

Fascinating.

I hope she lands the job.

Teaching
The first week of school ended for me on Thursday night.

For the most part, I think that I will have a good group of classes. Most of my classes are smaller than the ones I had last quarter. Three of my classes have less than twelve students. I am not happy having a Tuesday night class that ends at 10:20 PM and then I have a Wednesday morning class that starts at 8:00 AM.

I spent a good part of today building my online electronic grade books. It takes about an hour or more to create one, depending on how many grading factors there are for the course.

My Friend Sharon
My friend Sharon phoned me on Friday. It was one of her usual “I’m on my way home so I’ll call Chuck” phone calls. Sharon called me on the first half of her drive because the call cut out when she went through the dead zones.

Sharon was talking to me about a new promotion her bank was going to launch. I think she failed to consider some interest on the account and IRS reporting requirements. We had a long discussion about what factors ought to go into the breakeven analysis. The bank is going ahead with the promotion without a breakeven analysis or possible cost analysis. I would have thought that her bank would have done that analysis.

Then, Sharon wanted me to remember the name of a bank that she almost applied at. This was from a year or so ago. I told her that I would search around and see if I could find the name of the bank. I found the name in about twenty minutes and sent her an email with it.

I wonder how long it will take Sharon to thank me.

Visitors
I don’t have a visitor count for last week since Sitemeter.com is changing servers over the weekend. I hope to be able to have some statistics during the week. One of the consequences of the change may be a more accurate and lower volume traffic count.

The Frozen Yogurt and Ice Cream Store
The yogurt store will have its grand opening on the 19th. My friend sent me an email with the announcement. She is having a grand opening special of half off on all yogurt treats. You know that I am not a yogurt eater or fan so I will stop by her store on the 24th after my morning class.

I was Nice Guy Chuck. I sent my friend some red M&Ms that say “Good Luck” on them. I know she loves chocolate. The candy should be delivered the day before I stop by for a visit.

If she throws some yogurt at me I will know that the candy was not a very good idea.

Going to the Theater
I went to the La Mirada Theater on Saturday night for the first time in about a year at La Mirada or at Pasadena for that matter. I didn’t have much interest in the theater while I was going through chemotherapy.

The play was a musical comedy that was based on a real person’s life story. Florence Foster Jenkins could not sing and yet she used her inherited family money to sponsor concerts. Her final accomplishment was a concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City. She died about a month after the Carnegie Hall concert.

At times, I laughed and, at other times, I felt I was watching a train wreck unfold before my eyes.

Weekend Update
I went to Doug’s favorite Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf by my flat on Saturday for a large ice blended drink. I had to repeat my order three times; twice to the clerk and once to the barista. This was time well spend because she did an excellent job on the drink.


That was my weekend. I hope you had a great weekend also.


Be well and stay happy.

More About Me and the Cancer

More About Me and the Cancer
I read another Associated Press report yesterday about cancer operations. The report said that most hospitals do not remove a sufficient amount of lymph nodes as part of a cancer operation. Most operations remove only three or four nodes. Pathologists need a large sample of nodes, usually at least twelve, to determine if the cancer has spread.

I feel good because Dr. Aileen Takahashi took out fourteen nodes for the pathologists to work with. Unfortunately for me, three of the modes had signs of cancer. I am still happy because the cancer does not seem to have spread in my body and I am in a stable condition.

All in all, this isn’t bad for me.

The Moustache
The moustache received more favorable comments at school on Tuesday night and on Wednesday morning. Most of the current and former female students thought it looked cute. I guess that is a good outcome. The male students thought I looked different.

For now, I think I will be keeping it.

Unless, of course, I find a girl friend who doesn’t like it; then, I will probably take it off.

Postings and Yesterday
I didn’t put a posting up yesterday afternoon because I was tired from staying late at school and not getting home until after 11:00 PM and then getting up for an early morning class on Wednesday.

After class yesterday, I drove further behind the Orange Curtain to talk to Doug and to check out his wide screen, high definition television setup. It looked pretty nice and it helped me determine that I only need a 42 inch to 46 inch wide screen television for my flat. I also don’t need the fancy home theater sound system either.

I invited Doug to go to Albertacos for lunch. Doug declined because he still had some work to do for his web site employer. We can always go to Albertacos on another day; any day is a good day for Albertacos.

Since I was well behind the Orange Curtain, I had to take the 405 Freeway home. I spun off of the freeway [gracefully exited the freeway under full control of the Pathfinder] to see if my friend’s frozen yogurt and ice cream store had opened. It was closed, apparently there are still permits to obtain or work to be done yet.

I stopped at the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf that Doug goes to when he is up here for a large ice blended drink. This store makes the drink best of all of the other local Coffee Beans.

When I got home yesterday afternoon, I discovered that I had two voice mails from my friend Sharon. I wonder what was on her mind. Oh well, she said that she would call me. I guess I have to wait to find out. I will give her a call on Friday if she doesn’t call today.


Be well and stay happy.

Me and the Cancer

Me and the Cancer
I was reading an Associated Press story yesterday on how senior often receive poor operative colon cancer care. The article reported on a study that seemed to indicate the senior’s doctors were not following the recommended treatment schedule of two visits annually, two blood tests, and a colonoscopy within the first year following the surgery.

After reading the article, I felt much better.

I will be seeing the oncologist every three and getting a blood test every three weeks for the next two years. I’ve already had the colonoscopy. This visitation program will work out well for me since colon cancer normally reoccurs in the first few years following the surgery.

The fact that I will get to see the nurse who like to hug is only an incidental benefit for me. Seeing me maybe a bigger benefit for them for me; it is possible, you know.

Microsoft XP
I got an email from Amazon.com yesterday. Amazon said they were still selling Windows XP and that Microsoft would continue to support XP through 2014. 2014 would take me to the next version of Windows which will replace the dreaded Vista product.

I purchased a Vista machine in early 2008 because my old laptop’s hard drive crashed badly. Died is a much better description for what happened to the old laptop. Had I know that XP would have support until 2014; I would have looked harder for an XP machine.

The Amazon email got me to thinking. Why not replace Vista with XP in the new laptop? The new laptop ought to make life great for me since all of the programs I am currently using will run on XP. XP will have 3 GB of RAM to work with and a duo core processor.

Sweet.

I was talking to Doug about other things when this subject came up. Doug suggested that I take the laptop to the Apple Store and buy a Mac laptop and have everything transferred from the laptop to the new Mac. That was not what I wanted to hear. Doug did later suggest that I think about going to Best Buy and having their Geek Squad do all of the work.

Good solution son.

I got to school early to make copies for class yesterday. I ran into the employee who manages the campus network. I asked him if it was difficult to swap out the Vista for XP. He said it could be done but it would depend on the availability of XP program drivers from my laptop manufacturer since the laptop came with Vista installed at the factory. The network manager suggested that I bring my laptop into school and let him check about driver availability.

Something to think about and possibly do.

My Moustache
Monday was the first day of school. It was also the first day of my moustache being out in public.

Generally, I received favorable to very favorable comments. Some students didn’t recognize me with the moustache. More than one young female student thought I looked cute or handsome with the moustache.

Based on the early poll results, I think I will keep the moustache for a while longer. I think the big tests are yet to come; what will Molly the Stylist say, how will the Princess react, and what will the oncologist and the nurses say about it.


Be well and stay happy.

End of My Quarter Break

End of the Quarter Break
My quarter break is drawing to a close now.

I will be back in the classroom on Monday I think. This is an optimistic view of mine. I still do not have a firm, fixed teaching schedule for the next term. It would be nice to know what classes I am going to teach, if only so I can prepare for them.

I spoke with the Associate Dean on Friday morning after my visit to the oncologists. My teaching schedule of four classes was still up in the air. The Associate Dean said he was still trying to figure out how to make the schedule work. I may have to write the Academic Dean a letter to request the four classes. The possible teaching schedule is a good one for me because I will not be teaching on Fridays and Saturdays.

The Prelude
On Tuesday, I got the Prelude’s front windshield replaced. It had a nasty hairline crack in the upper portion of the windshield in front of where the driver, that would be me, normally sits. One of the side benefits of having a new windshield is the new one has a five or six inch wide, heavily tinted band across the top so that it will reduce the amount of sun glare that I will face when I drive into a rising or setting sun.

Another benefit was that I got the old cell phone antenna removed. It had been on the car for almost twenty years. I was surprised that the antenna was only being held on with some tape. Now, the Prelude is a little sleeker looking without the pig tail antenna.

I need to get it washed this weekend or early next week. It is starting to look really sad and dirty.

The Princess
The Princess phoned me on Wednesday afternoon. It’s always nice to hear from the Princess. The Princess was calling because she missed her bus home from the office. Any reason is a good enough reason for me.

We talked about a variety of things, mostly odds and ends of family life including my as yet unsettled teaching schedule. Things for her are going well in her new job and that is good. Our call ended when the next bus came along. I had to go cook dinner for Doug and me. We had halibut and brown rice for dinner.

I phoned the Princess today to let her know about my cancer and what my status is. She was disappointed when I told her about the downgraded condition from remission to stable. We talked about this change for a while.

My Brother is in Seattle this weekend and he is taking the Family including the Princess and the Golfer out to dinner to a seafood restaurant. I told her to be sure to eat lots of food since my Brother is paying for everything. The Golfer likes to drink Guinness beer but has been having trouble finding it in Seattle. Morton’s didn’t carry Guinness when I was there in May and the Princess said that they went to another restaurant that didn’t carry Guinness either. I hope he has better luck tonight.

Lost Cell Phone
I went to the market on Tuesday as something close to usual. I needed to get food since Doug was spending the week or at least a good part of it with me. I noticed that one of my cell phones was missing when I sat down after the groceries away. I searched the house and had no success finding it.

Doug and I went to lunch at the Corner Bakery, a local Southern California chain of casual dining restaurants. I had a sandwich and so did Doug.

Doug suggested that go to the market and see if someone had turned in the cell phone. I drove to the market since I had nothing to lose.

Apparently, my cell phone had fallen out of its holder and into the shopping cart when I was placing the bags in the trunk of the Prelude. One of the baggers must have found it when they were out gathering carts up in the parking lot.

I have a sentimental attachment to the cell phone number. I was the first cell phone that I ever owned. I bought it back in 1990 after a break up with my then girl friend Shelby. The Princess liked Shelby because Shelby wore really cool shoes, red snakeskin slip-on’s with a matching purse.

Perfectomundo for the Princess.

Shelby and I were supposed to fly to Maui for a week of relaxing and sleeping in the sun. At the really last minute, Shelby cancelled on me. I was bummed out and so I decided to buy something nice for me.

I purchased a car mounted cell phone. In 1990, these were quite popular and expensive. I think the phone and installation were around USD$850.00; now, you can be a phone with more features for USD$200. The cell phone number came with a 213 Area Code which is now rare for cell phones.

I suppose that you are wondering why I still have the phone.

Perfectly good question.

I have kept the phone because the phone has Verizon as the carrier, the same as the Princess. With free in network phone calls, it makes it very easy to call each other without any long distance call charges.

Me and the Cancer
I guess I typed too soon about my condition a couple of weeks ago. I think I asked the wrong question of the wrong person.

With all of the talk about the late President Ronald Reagan at the Republican National Convention this past week, I should have remembered one of his more famous quotations, “Trust, but verify.” I should have asked the resident to verify her interpretation of my condition with her supervising physician.

Doug and I went to see the oncologists on Friday. Each time at Harbor UCLA, we see a different resident, as you know, so in the musical chairs game known as seeing the resident, one who had little to no prior knowledge of my case said I was in remission. On Friday, we saw a doctor who has a working knowledge of our situation talked and she said that I was in stable condition.

I do have more confidence in Friday’s doctor. She is classified as a Fellow. Setting aside the obvious opportunity for humor, a Fellow is a doctor who has completed her residency and is staying in a program for two to three more years to increase her knowledge and degree of specialization. My Fellow is going to be at Harbor UCLA for two more years.

Doug is also happy with the new Fellow. Doug feels like we're going to be in good hands with her. I’m going to try to see her for every time I visit the oncology clinic from now. She put me in her panel, which basically means, every time I’m in there, I should be seeing her. This doctor was the one who ordered the colonoscopy and the other tests.

The second and postponed Tumor Board meeting was sort of a bust with nothing really decided. The decision to perform any exploratory surgery regarding the liver lesions or the tumor remnant is in the hands of the colo-rectal surgeons we're going to see on the 17th. The problem was when the case was presented to Tumor Board; they didn't have any of the surgeons' report [that would be Dr. Aileen Takahashi] from the initial surgery back in October, 2007. The colo-rectal department had the paper work because I gave it to them back in late May or early June, but they lost it. So, now, the oncology people have a copy of the reports and we're bringing additional copies to the colorectal people. I hope the colorectal surgeons do a better job of tracking instruments used during a surgical procedure than filing operation reports.

The doctors are unsure if there's still a small piece of tumor left near my ureter, which is preventing me from having the liver spots removed. The Tumor Board doesn't want to perform exploratory surgery to see exactly what's happening. The doctor we saw on Friday doesn't understand why they wouldn't want to perform surgery. In regards to the bit of tumor that was left, the chemotherapy will have reduced its size if there is any tumor left.

When Dr. T did the original surgery last year, she couldn’t take out the entire tumor because part of it was right on top of or next to the ureter. She didn’t want to run the risk of damaging the ureter during the removal. That makes sense to me.

I don’t see why there is a delay on any exploratory surgery. I may not know much about anatomy but I have learned that my liver is on the right side of my abdomen and the ureter in question is on my left side. If surgeons can perform arthroscopic surgery on a professional athlete’s knee and rebuild the ligaments, I don’t see why the surgeons can’t perform a simple slice me open and cut out the lesions and send them off to the Pathology Department. Then, we know once and for all what the lesions were.

Yes, I do have one more scar but as Dr. T said, men look good with scars so another scar is nothing to worry about in my mind.

The current oncology doctor has scheduled and run all of the non-invasive tests that can be run. This was an attempt to find out whether the lesions are cancerous or not. There aren’t many options left to try outside of surgery.

Going forward, I will go back on the medicine [Xeloda] I took during the chemotherapy for basically the rest of my life. This is low level maintenance. It should start up in early October after the colorectal surgeons meeting on the 17th. The doctor doesn’t want to start me on the Xeloda if the surgeons change their minds about operating. That makes sense to me.

Doug sent his mother an email after the visit on Friday. I took this next paragraph from it.

“Obviously, Dad is disappointed with the news of having to go back on the medicine, but it's better than having the cancer return. It's disappointing to hear that he's not completely out of the woods yet, but stable is a lot better than critical or worse. I mean, the doctor says that all the signs and vitals have been stable over the course of treatment, so it's a good sign.”

Always being an optimist, I can find something positive about the on-going treatment plan.

I get to be greeted by nurses who say, “Give me a hug handsome,” every three weeks. I get to see the same young women who will weigh me and take my blood pressure every three weeks. It is almost like being married as one of the nurses once said, I think of it as being more like having several girl friends, except at the end of the day I can leave my clothes on the floor in my bedroom and I don’t have to share the television remote control unit.

I did pass out the Fairy Tale Brownies [http://www.brownies.com] to the nurses who took care of me in the Infusion and Oncology Clinics and the nurses who took care of my catheter. I am highly confident that they all liked and enjoyed the brownies. I am almost highly confident that they will not be using the refrigerator or freezer options to enjoy the brownies over several weeks. One of the nurses said, “Oh my God, I had a taste of one of the brownies and it was so rich and yummy.”

I smiled.

Cinema
I went to see STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS cartoon on Thursday at an afternoon showing. I was the only one in the small theater in the multi-plex complex. Doug suggested I was the only one in the theater because it was in the middle of the week for a cartoon and school had started up. Doug is probably right here.

THE CLONE WARS seemed to work for me. The cartoon closed up some loose ends from the live action films for me and introduced some new characters. It also served as a good introduction and overly long trailer for the new THE CLONE WARS weekly cartoon show that starts in October.

Frozen Yogurt & Ice Cream
After lunch on Friday, I drove out to see my friend’s new frozen yogurt and ice cream store. She planned to have it open last week. Unfortunately, she is being held up by a couple of permits and some training for her employees on how to use the frozen yogurt equipment.

I have to go visit Doug next week. I can stop by her store on my way home since it is located right at the freeway off and on ramps.

College Football
I was watching college football on Thursday night. South Carolina was playing away from home against Vanderbilt University. It was a close game until the very end with Vanderbilt pulling out s small margin of victory, 24 to 17. The Gamecocks played well but seemed to have trouble with the offensive scheme and a relatively inexperienced quarterback.

I suppose the Princess will be disappointed since the loss will drop the Gamecocks out of the national rankings. They had been ranked at Number 24.

On Friday night, out of loyalty and prior service in the United States Navy, I watched the Naval Academy play Ball State University. The Midshipmen were outsized and outplayed but not out smarted. Midshipmen must take a heavy course load of mathematics and hard science courses plus they have specific size requirements based on the needs of the Fleet and the Marine Corps. I don’t think too many Ball State players could pass Physics or Calculus.

A supporter of one of the service academies, you are generally faced with poor chance to win in football. I continue to support the Naval Academy because this is what an officer does. Besides, the season is usually considered a success if Navy beats service rival Army.


That was the end of my second week off from teaching.

Be well and stay happy.

Labor Day

Labor Day
I didn’t get up early this morning. There was no reason to get out of bed. I knew the only news stories of the day would be Hurricane Gustav and the Republican National Convention; I saw those stories last night.

The holiday started out overcast and cool. Not a good sign for a holiday. Things turned around in the afternoon following the burn off of the late night and early morning low clouds and fog along the coast.

Teaching – Part III
I phoned the Associate Dean on Thursday to see if there had been any resolution for my teaching schedule. I was not surprised when he said that the two department chairs were still working on the trouble.

I think I will end up teaching three courses that are ones that I would not choose first. That really makes me sad.

Women of the Moment Encore – Eiko Koike
My favorite or second favorite Woman of the Moment, Eiko Koike, got married last year. Fortunately for me, I still have about sixty images of her saved on two different CDs.




American College Football
The Princess should be happy with the start of the American college football season this past Thursday night. Her graduate school’s football team, the University of South Carolina Gamecocks, won its home opener by a score of 37 to 0. They took advantage of North Carolina State University in a game in Columbus.

While some might decry the lopsided score, the Princess would probably say something like, “Isn’t that ever so special that my boys won a glorious victory?” The Princess has always loved a winner and she hates to lose; I think she is like the vast majority of the rest of us in liking winners and hating to lose.

Our underdog University of Utah Utes will have a much more difficult time with their opening game. They are playing the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor before 105,000 screaming Michigan fans. This is probably the biggest crowd the Utes have ever played in front of.

Surprise, surprise; our Utes shocked Michigan, winning 25 to 23. It was much closer than the score appeared to be. The Ute defense almost self destructed by making some really unnecessary penalties. This allowed Michigan to get back in the game. The flight back to Salt Lake City will be very nice for the Utes, carrying home victory and a big paycheck from Michigan. Schools like Utah are invited to play at Michigan because they are good schools and Michigan will play nicely to give their fans another home game.

My Brother must be very happy because his University of Southern California Trojans won their opening game at Virginia 53 to 7. The score sounds like it was a dull game unless you happen to be a Southern California fan. Doug thought the game was interesting. I watched the Utah game since it was on television at the same time as the Southern California game.

Doug
Doug phoned me on Friday morning after John McCain announced that he had selected Sarah Palin, the Governor of Alaska to be his Vice Presidential running mate. Doug supports the other candidate and he wanted to know what my reaction was to the selection.

I said that I really didn’t know too much about Governor Palin except what I had heard on the early morning news programs. I knew that she was pro-life, a hunter and outdoorswoman, and that she had five children, one of whom was currently serving with the Forces in Iraq.

I also thought the selection might appeal to a number of the disaffected female Hillary Clinton supporters. Doug wasn’t so sure that I was right on this idea. I guess we will have to wait and see what develops between now and November.

Lunch with My Friend Gary
I had lunch with my friend Gary on Friday. We went to a newly opened Corner Bakery. I think it had been open for about a week now. The staff was a little rocky but they were eager to please. I had a sandwich and a bowl of soup and my friend had a really large salad.

We talked about how credit unions were doing. We came to the conclusion that most credit unions are overpaying for poor performance from their CEOs and probably just accepting the poor performance because everyone else is not doing well.

I did point out several credit unions that were making money. No one wants to hear that story.

We kept wondering how our old credit union board continued to accept ongoing losses. In the past, this was unacceptable performance and we probably would have been asked to step down if we turned in similar sad performance.

After lunch, I checked my old credit union that I was CEO. The new CEO doesn’t seem to be setting the world on fire. So far, the old credit union is shrinking and losing money. It will probably end up losing money for the year and probably will do poorly next year as well.

Cinema
I saw TROPIC THUNDER on Monday. This was a film that one of Doug’s friends worked on. I stayed after the film ended to see if I could see her name. I think I missed seeing her name.

Overall, I really liked the film. It was a good comedy that made fun of war movies and Hollywood in general. I thought Tom Cruise’s portrayal of the over the top studio head was near perfect. I also like Ben Stiller’s performance as the Colonel Kurtz like character at the end of the film. This is a film that you can see more than once. I believe that Doug has seen the film more than once.

I was going to watch STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS on Monday. Then, I got to the box office and did some math. My ticket would be much higher than if I saw the film during the week. I will catch the film during the week since I have time on my hands except for Friday when I see the oncologists.

Weekend Update
I decided to grow a moustache while I was on the quarter break. It is about a week old now and it is taking shape. I didn’t get any comments from Molly the Stylist about the moustache when I went for my hair cutting. Had I saw Natalie the Receptionist, I am fairly confident that Natalie would have tossed one or more comments about the moustache and its appearance.

Maybe Molly was just being nice to the new client.

I went out to look at high definition wide screen televisions. I will probably buy one this month. My current television is only 21 inches wide; the televisions I looked at were in the 40 to 50 inch range. Doug wants me to buy a Blu-Ray DVD player and get a home theater sound system as well. I can see getting the Blu-Ray.

I have my doubts about the home theater sound system. I lost part of my hearing when I served in the United States Navy. I am unable to hear the high end of the audible spectrum. I don’t think that I need to pay for something I can’t use.

Doug will disagree with me regardless of my logic.

Visitors
We had a good week for visitors again. We had 624 visitors to the blog this week. This will be the best month ever for the blog in terms of visitors. The final results for the month will be out sometime this week.

We had 2,850 visitors to the blog during August. This was our best traffic count; it beat the next best month, July 2008, by 900 visitors. Wowie. That was a major improvement.

This week, we swung back to the foreign visitor dominance. 54% of the visitors came from overseas. The largest sources of foreign visitors were Canada and Singapore.

I do appreciate all of you who took time from your lives to visit the blog.


This was my weekend. It was a god one for me and I hope it was good for you.


Be well and stay happy.