Chuckay Celebration

Chuckay Celebration
The Annual Chuckay Celebration culminated with a modest banquet for Doug and me at Morton’s Steakhouse in Santa Ana on Saturday night. We had invited our friend Sharon but she faded and flaked on us.

That was fine with us.

This was first large meal in almost nine months or maybe a bit longer. I had regrets about my dinner although I didn’t finish all of my Morton’s Molten Chocolate Cake. I did finish off the ice cream and hot chocolate fudge sauce.

I won’t go into any details about what I ate since some readers are not meat eaters like Doug and me. We tend to think ourselves as omnivores; we like all foods.

My version of favored water is adding some ice cubes to a glass of single malt Scotch whisky and then letting the ice melt. George Carlin said the same thing and he was correct.

This is a photo of Doug and me after our dinner. Becky, our server, took the photo. We look very happy and satisfied; we should be. The meal and service were excellent.


If any readers are planning to the Santa Ana Morton’s, be sure to ask for Becky to be your server. Becky was our server and she was excellent.

Visitors
We had another week where more of the visitors came from places other than the United States. Maybe this is a developing trend.

We had visitors from Canada [18], Italy [6], Singapore [3], India, Chile [2], Germany [15], Malaysia [3], United Kingdom [3], United Arab Emirates [2], Japan [8], Taiwan, Macedonia, Indonesia [2], Iran [2], Philippines [2], Korea[4], Trinidad & Tobago [2], Finland [3], Turkey [3], Sweden [4], Austria [4], New Zealand, Texas [7], Australia [4], Spain [5], Slovakia [2], Brazil [3], Thailand [6], Lithuania [2], Argentina, Mexico [8], China, Egypt, France [7], Netherlands [5], Poland [3], Israel, Croatia [2], Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Belgium [2], Greece, Vietnam, Ireland, Nigeria, Costa Rica, and Russia.

I do appreciate all of you who came out to the blog.

Weekend Update
I celebrated and took a 25 minute long hot shower on Saturday afternoon. It was first real shower in six months for me. I would have stayed longer in the shower but I wanted to leave enough hot water to shave in.

I took the last bandage off on Saturday. I have been wearing a bandage on my arm for six months and the skin is tender and wrinkled beyond words. I have lost most of the first layer of skin and parts of the second layer as a result of the weekly dressing changes where the nurses simply replace one old with a new one.

I have taken showers but I have had to wrap my arm in plastic wrap and then tape the ends and the central seam to keep the water out. Doug was the one who taped me.

My skin is also badly wrinkled from the taping. I think it will take a couple of days before my arm returns to normal or what passes for normal for me

Me and the Cancer
July looks like it will be a month of testing for me. I am scheduled to have a colonoscopy, a MRI, an EKG, and a chest x-ray. I also have five or six blood tests, just so I don’t get complacent.

These tests should help the oncologist and the surgeons how to proceed with treatment. It would be nice to have a plan that I can fit into my life and times.


I had a great weekend. I hope your weekend went just as well for you.


Be well and stay happy.

Graduation Day

Graduation Day
Today was Graduation Day for me.

Cool.

Actually, I didn’t graduate from a university today. Graduation Day is what the nurses in the Infusion Clinic call the day when a patient finishes the infusion regimen. Since most of the Infusion Clinic patients are cancer patients, it is really important and gratifying for the nurses to see a patient no longer need chemotherapy infusions.

There are no caps and gowns or other ceremonies. The nurses gave me a hug and that was great.

One of the Baby Blues, Myrna, took my PICC line out. I was surprised at how long the tube was. It seemed like it when on forever.

Anyway, it’s out and I can take a hot shower tomorrow. I will try not to spend too much time in the shower.

My skin is slowly returning to normal. It is a dull red right now; this comes from having adhesive tape put on my arm and then replacing a week later. It is also wrinkled from being folded and taped in place.

I had a modest celebration. I stopped at Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf and had a large ice blended. I checked out the tea selection while the staff was making my drink. I saw some interesting teas that I think the Princess will enjoy. I also saw some coffees that the Princess’ former roommate will enjoy also.

July looks like a good month to ship coffees and teas.

I tried to take a brief nap after drinking the ice blended coffee drink because I went to bed late last night and was up early this morning. Unfortunately for me, the kids in the park next door were too busy and too loud playing to allow any napping.

I am planning to have a triple celebration tomorrow when Doug and I go to Morton’s. I will celebrate my birthday, Father’s Day, and successes over cancer so far.

This weekend is shaping up very nicely for me.


Be well and stay happy.

Cloudy at the Beach

Cloudy at the Coast
I had planned to make a short trip to the beach after class today. It sounded like a very good idea for me.

Unfortunately for me, the sun never burned through the late night and early morning low clouds along the coast.

After lunch, I ran some errands and worked on my classes. I helped one of students with an assignment that required a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. She had never worked with Excel nor had any training with Excel. I should point out that she could have used the chart function in Word to create the chart.

I read a little from one of the books I received for Father’s Day. The book is a history of the Mediterranean Sea and the surrounding nations. It covers the period from the rise of the great ancient civilizations, Egypt, Phoenicia, and Crete.

I decided to make an early night of it and get a great night’s sleep. I have a long day at school tomorrow.


Be well and stay happy.

My Day with Amber and Merit

My Day with Amber and Merit
I had a great day today. I got to spend part of it with Amber the Stylist and Merit the Server.

I saw Amber first because El Gringo wasn’t open when I wanted to get my haircut. I was past due on the haircut by about a week or so. I think Amber did an excellent job on my hair today.


Amber told me that she would be leaving the salon in the coming months because she will be graduating from college and wants to pursue a different career.

This was not what I wanted to hear. Actually, I knew it would be coming sooner or later; we all move and progress in our lives. Amber said that she wouldn’t be moving on for a couple of months. That balanced the sad news somewhat.

Being a natural planner and one who thinks ahead, I asked Amber who she would recommend to take her place. Amber suggested that I let Molly cut my hair after she moves on.

Molly makes sense to me since she regularly cuts men’s hair. She is also a part owner so she is unlikely to move on before me.

Excellent.

I came home from the salon for lunch and a trip to the market for food. The drive was really enjoyable because I was in the Prelude and I was zipping along the freeway and changing lanes crisply every now and then. I had the sunroof open and the windows down. It was a perfect Southern California day to be out in a sporty car.


I went to dinner at El Gringo. Tuesdays are my new days for dinner with Merit. I was not all that hungry but I went anyway. I was supposed to have gone to El Gringo last week but I got wrapped up in watching the Los Angeles Lakers implosion that was Game 6 of the National Basketball Association Championship Finals.

By the time I decided the Lakers had no chance, it was late and I was not in any mood to go for dinner.

Merit and I had a long chat session, mostly about her trip to Chicago and my cancer treatment and the Annual Chuckay Celebration on Saturday. It would have been excellent to have invited Merit to join Doug and me at the Chuckay Celebration.

I decided to have a couple of tacos for dinner. Merit convinced me to try a ground turkey taco. I went with a beef taco. The turkey taco was not one of Merit’s better suggestions. It was clearly healthy but it tasted on the mushy side and sort of low on flavor.

I do appreciate Merit’s suggestion since it was in my best interests.

It was a great day for me.


Be well and stay happy.

Weekend Update

Weekend Update
I don’t think my decision to go to Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf on Friday evening for a large ice blend coffee [coffee and shaved ice] with mocha and white chocolate and whipped cream is going to be one of my best decisions of the Summer. I picked the drink up around 6:30 PM and didn’t drink it until around 7:30.

It tasted wonderful as a dessert and refreshing end to the day.

Unfortunately, I didn’t remember until sometime around midnight when I couldn’t fall off to sleep that I didn’t ask for decaffeinated coffee in my drink. I had a miserable night’s sleep on Friday night.

On the other hand, my decision to pick up a six pack of Kona Brewing Company’s Longboard Lager on Friday was epic. It will help me work through the weekly grading tasks.

I spent two hours and change out on the balcony grading papers. That was longer than I had planned to spend. I needed a little more than one Longboard Lager. I had two Heineken’s to help me through the process.

I had a phone call from the Princess today. Actually, I phoned the Princess to let her know how my most recent visit with the oncologist went. The Princess was as pleased and happy about my progress as I have been.

With cancer, all steps are small steps it seems.

Visitors
This was a significant week for the old blog. This was the first time the blog had more foreign visitors than from the United States. The spread was 45% domestic and 55% foreign.

Fascinating.

We had visitors from Canada [20], Peru [2], Portugal [4], United Arab Emirates, Sweden, United Kingdom [16], Germany [15], France [13], Australia [5], Greece [2], Switzerland, Japan [14], Mexico [7], Texas [10], Spain [4], Korea, Slovakia, Belgium [2], Italy [4], Venezuela, Iran [4], Poland, Netherlands [2], Colombia, Singapore [4], Indonesia [4], Denmark [2], Norway [2], Ecuador, China [2], Thailand [2], Cote D’Ivorie, Europe, Trinidad & Tobago, Philippines [3], Turkey, Ireland, and Saudi Arabia.

This was the first time that we have had a visitor from Europe or European Union.

I think that I have probably missed some visitors because I don’t always check the visitor list as frequently as I should. Still, I do appreciate every one of you who took time out of your day to visit the blog.

Brilliant Idea
I went to California Pizza Kitchen for my dinner to go. I planned to have a sensible meal that consisted of one of their Original Bar-Be-Qued Chopped Chicken Salads. I also added some avocado to the salad. The salad was wonderful.

Then, I saw that CPK was featuring some Red Velvet Cake. I had missed out on the Red Velvet Cake at the Princess’s Wedding. I was on the verge of almost burst colon so I was not in the mood for food.

This is my dessert for dinner tonight.


Not a bad weekend for me.


Be well and stay happy.

Me and the Cancer

Me and the Cancer
Yesterday was another visit with the oncologists. Overall, Doug and I think it was one of the best visits we have had so far. I think our success can be attributable to me dressing up; it made the nurses happy and they got me processed quickly.

We didn’t discuss my colon much since it seems to be well under control. There were no signs of cancer in my colon when the clinic did an extensive test in May.

The attention has shifted to my liver and the spots on it. The doctor referred to the spots as lesions for the first time today. The doctor will be scheduling another MRI examination for me and my liver. This is an easy process; I just have to lie still while they scan me. I can do that all day long.

Dr. Kwan also has scheduled me for another surgical conference. This is likely to be a preliminary discussion of a potential liver resection [open me up and look at the spots or lesions up close] and likely biopsy. That makes sense since I will be open and under anesthesia.

I anticipate that I will have another round of chemotherapy after the liver resection. I think this will just be a precautionary measure to make certain all of the cancer cells have been killed off. I can do that; I managed to deal with the combination of Oxaliplatin and Xeloda for the last six months.

Dr. Kwan said I could have my PICC line removed. The PICC is a semi-permanent catheter that is in my arm. It has been used for the Oxaliplatin infusions. Doug asked if it made more sense to leave the PICC in my arm if there is a possibility of more chemotherapy. Dr. Kwan said it was relatively easy to put a new line in my arm.

I said that I would prefer to have it out so I could take long, hot showers. In the end, my long, hot showers won out over keeping the line in my arm.

Then, the prospect of the Baby Blues putting another PICC line in my arm was not unpleasant for me.

All in all, I think this was a good day for me and my battle with cancer.


Be well and stay happy.

Wednesday

Wednesday
I had a long day today. It started off with a wonderful drive to school this morning. It was so enjoyable to be able to drive fast on the freeway and be able to hold a nice line into and out of a curve.

I picked up my Student Evaluations from last term. Overall, I did very well; I picked two Superior Instructor bonus payments out of four classes. That was sweet. I have one class that I teach that I know I will never earn a bonus on and that is Microeconomics. It is one of the most difficult courses in the school.

In my other class that I did not pick up a bonus payment, I had three students who did not like me; they probably failed the course. One of the students who obviously like my teaching wrote in his or her evaluation the following comment on your humble scribe.

“Mr. Reinhardt….1 one….UNBELIEVEABLE!!! I absolutely love his discussions. Most of the class turns into a debate time and it is fun and educational. I so enjoy attending his class. He is there for his students outside of the class whenever we need. He allows us to email our papers to him for review in order to improve our grade (submissions have a deadline) before they are actually due. While having to write a paper every week can be very exhausting, I understand why. I could go on and on about Mr. Reinhardt but I won’t. Just know that he is a gem to the school and I hope to have more classes with him.”

Comments like that make up for all of the deadhead students who ruin good classes with their immature behavior. It also makes me happy to know that I have reached at least one student and made him or her a better writer. At the end of the day, this makes it all worthwhile for me. I almost feel like Mr. Chips. [Watch the film GOODBYE MR. CHIPS; either version of the film works well].

Now, my problem is how to I improve myself with this term’s evaluations.

On my way home from school, I stopped by the clinic for a dressing change and a blood test. I was unlucky today because I didn’t have one of the Baby Blues change my dressing. Today’s changer was a new nurse to me and I couldn’t see her name on her identification badge. Oh well; life happens.

The blood test was easy for me because the nurse found a blood vessel near the surface of my skin and hit square on so I quickly filled the test tubes. The nurse who drew my blood commented that we shared a common birth year and I quickly said that she didn’t look my age. That made her laugh and smile.

I figured that I was safe with a comment like that and I was.

Lois the nurse from the Oncology Clinic thought I looked handsome today. She complained that I almost never dress up when I go her clinic. I said it is because of the long waits. Lois shrugged her shoulders and sighed in agreement with me.

On my way home from the clinic, I did deiced to wear what Doug calls a “MICHAEL CLAYTON” outfit. You have to watch the film to understand this one. I will make Lois very happy when I show up in a dark blue blazer, grey flannel pants, and a burgundy and white striped dress shirt.

My last stop before I got home was my local Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. I picked up a large ice blended drink with half mocha and half white chocolate, whipped cream, and caramel dripped over the cup and whipped cream. This was a perfect way to unwind from a long day. I expect to be back at my local Coffee Bean on Friday after the next visit to the oncologists.

Doug and I finally decided on a date for the final Chuckay Celebration. We picked June 28th. Doug said it was fine with him if I invited my friend Sharon to join us for dinner. Doug suggested that she will probably flake out on us. I said that sometimes life happens and, if she doesn’t join us, I won’t have to burn some extra gasoline to pick her up and take her home.

Life is good for me.

People Magazine overlooked me again this year in their Ten Sexiest Bachelors list. I don’t understand how this missed me again this year.

I started to watch the new Korean soap opera again last night. I think I have given up on the show; its plot seems similar to one show that was before. It has some of the same actors that generate no interest or sympathy from me. Some of the sets are even the same. All of the shouting in the dialogue is no substitute for acting.

I will enjoy the extra sleep time.


Be well and stay happy.

Minimal Thoughts

Minimal Thoughts
The Princess called me after I had posted yesterday’s blog. We had a nice, long father – daughter Father’s Day conversation. She seems to settling into Seattle very well.

I drove the Prelude to class yesterday. It was a pleasure to drive the Prelude; it is about two feet lower than the Pathfinder and it is holds the road much better. I was able to take some elevated freeway connections at close to 70 miles an hour – 110 kilometers per hour.


The Prelude also felt much better on my back. I was able to sleep better last night because I get better support from the seat frame in the Prelude. Of course, driving a car in Southern California with a sun roof is close to epic.

I went to the market today. I saw some “Fried Ice Cream” for the first time.

What a disastrous idea.

What were they thinking?

I picked up a six pack of Kona Brewing Company Longboard Lager at the market. This is will be perfect for the weekend when I am largely over the cold sensitivity from the chemotherapy. My market only has some six packs in every few months so I picked it up when I saw the red carton on the shelf. I will be able to enjoy grading papers when I am out on the balcony.

Epic and excellent.

I’m going to give the new Korean soap opera a chance tonight and see if I like it. I saw the trailer last week and was unimpressed. If it turns out to a dud, I can pick up an extra thirty minutes of sleep time instead.

Perfectomundo.

My classes seem to be coming together nicely for the term. It looks like most of them are going to fun classes for both me and the students. This may lead to high instructor evaluations and a nice bonus payment for me at the end of the term.

Excellent.

All in all, it was a nice day for me.


Be well and stay happy.

Father's Day

Father’s Day
I lazed around for most of the day. It was Father’s Day and relaxing seemed like a very logical thing more me to do. I read the Sunday paper or rather I read parts that interest me. I don’t care about fashions and such as that.

Doug called to wish me a Happy Father’s Day this afternoon.

Visitors
We had a pick up in visitors this past week. That is always very nice to see. We had visitors from Japan [8], Canada [9], Mexico [11], France [6], Australia [4], Texas [9], United Kingdom [5], Italy, Netherlands [6], Argentina, Israel [2], Germany [8], Singapore [3], Austria [2], Belgium [2], Korea [4], Thailand, Ireland, Spain [3], Turkey [2], Sweden[3], Vietnam [2], Poland [3], Iran [2], United Arab Emirates, Peru, Colombia [3], Chile [2], Guatemala, Finland, Indonesia [2], Romania [3], Costa Rica, Bolivia, and Egypt.

I do appreciate all of you who took time to visit my blog.

Korean Soap Opera
The Korean soap opera, Likeable or Not, that I have been watching all year finally ended with Episode 175 on Friday. It was one of those really satisfying endings that wrapped every story line up nicely.

I saw the trailer for the new soap opera that starts on Monday. It didn’t excite me very much so I think I will be able to pass on the show. Maybe, I will sleep a little more instead.


That was my Father’s Day. I hope you had a great weekend.


Be well and stay happy.

I Slept A Lot on Friday

I Slept A Lot on Friday
I got hit by the chemotherapy drugs I have been taking for the last six months. One of the consequences of taking the drugs is you are tired and it takes longer for you to recover from an infusion treatment.

I think my general lack of energy is also due to a build up in my system – body of the drugs. It is taking longer for me to recover my full energy levels or be close to the full levels as I remember them.

On Friday, I took a two hour nap after by dressing change and then another two hour nap after lunch. I went to bed at 9:30 PM and slept until 6:45 AM this morning. Now, that is a lot of sleep for one person.

No Wednesday posting
There was no Wednesday posting because I ran out of time and I was falling asleep as I watched television after dinner.

I had my morning class at school and came home to change before seeing the colo-rectal surgeon. The surgeon had all of the bedside charm, personality, and manner of a rock. The appointment was unorganized and Doug and I didn’t really learn much from this session except that we need to be more prepared for boredom the next time.

We finished up with the surgeon and Doug and I headed off for dinner at one of our favorite places to eat, L. A. Food Show.

We got home from dinner around 8:00 PM and Doug drove home behind the Orange Curtain.

I had enough time to take my evening pills and change into my jammies before my Korean soap opera came on television. Then, I went to bed after the show was over.

That was a full day for me.

Dressing Change
Glenda changed my dressing again on Friday. This was a great way to start my day out.

Glenda asked if I had any plans for Father’s Day. I said that I didn’t really have much a plan since the Princess lives in Seattle and will not be flying down to see me. I said that Doug and I would be celebrating my birthday and Father’s Day at the end of June because that date happened to fit in best my schedule and the chemotherapy treatments. I said I wanted to be able to enjoy the meal fully with most of the drugs flushed from my system.

We talked about the Summer and that it is almost here now. Glenda said that Jennifer was on vacation this past week. I said I missed her.

On my way into the clinic, one of the non-clinic nurses, who was talking to a clinic nurse, said that I looked handsome. I said that I had to dress up for my favorite nurses. The clinic nurse giggled.

L. A. Food Show
Doug and I talked about getting two orders of Avocado, Bacon, Cheese, and Chicken eggrolls instead of sharing one order. I was all for two orders since I had only eaten a bagel and banana so far on Friday.


This was another good idea of mine.

I had the Show Burger and Doug had a turkey burger. We filled ourselves and enjoyed the food greatly, probably because we were both on the hungry side.


We also talked about going to Albertacos. I don’t think that I have been to Albertacos in maybe a year or so. I suggested to Doug that we ought to consider a trip to Albertacos as part of the traditional Chuckay Festival.

Doug nodded his head and said anytime is a good time for Albertacos.

The Prelude
I got the Prelude back from the dealership this morning. It was so wonderful to drive it; I truly had missed the fun and excitement and joy from not being able to take a sharp turn or rapidly accelerate. I also missed not having a sun roof in the Pathfinder.

I am definitely looking forward to taking the Prelude out for a long drive in the coming weeks. I want to be able to enjoy driving around at high speeds with the sun roof open and radio playing loudly.


Be well and stay happy.

Another Slow Day for Me

Another Slow Day for Me
It was another slow day for me except for phone calls. Today was a day for phone calls for a change and none of them were from telemarketers which made it an even better day for me.

I had a phone call from an old girl friend Nancy. She was calling to thank me for some theater tickets for last Saturday night. Nancy and her friend had a wonderful time at the play and were very pleased that the play was a drama.

Nancy said that I should go to the theater instead of giving the tickets to her. She did have a point because the seats are almost dead center in the fifth row on Saturday night of the opening weekend. I could have exchanged my seats for a later performance but the new seats would not have been any good compared to where I am used to sitting.

It was also the day after chemotherapy for me. I knew that I would be tired and unable to enjoy the performance

I was right; I was asleep by 7:00 PM and the play started at 8:00.

Doug called while I was at the market. He wanted to confirm the time for the appointment tomorrow with the colo-rectal surgeon and then our plans for dinner. I said we would have an early dinner at L. A. Food Show. Doug thought that was excellent.

Doug and I also talked about how and when to celebrate Father’s Day. I suggested that we wait until either the 21st or the 28th and combine Father’s Day with the traditional Chuckay Dinner at Morton’s in Santa Ana. This was fine with Doug.

My Brother was the next caller; he wanted to talk to me about some family – relative business and how he became the family black sheep. Personally, I think he did the proper and honorable thing and I fully support his decision. In fact, I will be joining him as well and will probably become a black sheep as well. I was appalled at what my relatives were planning on doing.

That is one problem with families; you can’t chose who you want for a family member.

The last call of the day was from the Princess. She was calling to thank me again for the tea I took to Seattle with me a couple of weeks ago. The Princess loved all of the teas.
She shared the apricot flavored tea with her co-workers and it was almost gone on the second in the office.

Now, I don’t have to worry anymore about the flavors of tea that I pick out for her. All of them from Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf seem to have been perfect.

I made a phone call today. I called to make an appointment for a haircut with Amber the Stylist. Natalie answered the phone at the salon as usual. Natalie was “just peachy” today except for the fact that she was at work. I had hoped to book a session with Amber for next Tuesday. Unfortunately, Amber was booked for next week so I will see her in two weeks.

All in all, it was not a bad day for me. I hope you had a good day.


Be well and stay happy.

Odds and Ends and Dust Balls in the Mental Corners of My Mind

June 5, 2008 and Other Dates
Odds and Ends and Dust Balls in the Mental Corners of My Mind
This is one of those clean up postings. It is the stuff that I sometimes have skipped or otherwise felt like not including the comment or thought or whatever in the current blog posting that I was working on at the time.

I sent my friend Lisa an email on Monday about our lunch plans for Saturday. Maybe I should say my lunch plans. We did agree on the time and date but not the venue. I wonder if she will respond so we will be at the same place at the same time.

My friend Sharon emailed a couple of weeks ago, asking how I was doing. I sent her a second email to let her know I was doing very well. I also reminded her that she had offered to take me out to lunch or dinner.

I think Sharon may have lost that email because I have not heard from her.

Doug and I have the delayed Annual Chuckay Dinner at Morton’s to plan for this month. It looks like it will just be Doug and me at dinner. This is fine with me. I suppose that I could invite Sharon to join us but she will likely flake out on us.

I received an email from one of my co-workers this week. Ellen wants to get together for lunch in the near future. I will be able to do this later in the month after the next school term gets underway.

The blog passed the 15,000 visitor level at the end of May. This was a nice accomplishment for the blog.

Dinner with Merit
Dinner with Merit was great tonight; she was in a particularly good mood since it was Dresser Coin Day. I take all of my loose coin change that has accumulated over the span of a month and drop it off in the El Gringo non-server tip can. I am highly confident the cooks and the busser appreciate the drop off.

Since it was Game 1 of the National Basketball Association playoffs on Thursday and the local team was playing, the crowd at El Gringo was off. Merit came over to chat with me and pulled up a chair for “How is Charles doing update and when will I see you again?”

I said I was doing very well and I may be considered as a cancer survivor since the most recent scan could not find any traces of cancer in my body. Merit thought that was excellent progress.

I thought that I would be seeing Merit next Tuesday because of my class schedule change for this term at school. Unfortunately for me, Merit is taking some vacation time and will not be back for a week and a half or so.

I said, “I guess our next dinner will have to wait until June 17th.” Merit thought that was fine. This means that I can give my stomach a brief rest from spicy foods.

I wished Merit a safe trip and a fun time in Chicago [vacation trip] as I left El Gringo tonight.

The Baby Blues
Friday was dressing change day and my regular and last infusion.

It was also my lucky day; Glenda changed my dressing today for the first time in maybe a month or more. We talked about how happy I was to have her change my dressing; I asked about Jennifer. Jennifer had the day off; it must be nice to have been Jennifer.

Glenda cut her hair recently. She had always worn it in a long pony tail that came to the middle of her back or maybe even lower. I’m not certain how long the pony tail was because the baby blue coat that she wore covered everything.

I like the new hair look. The new hair style stops just past her ears.

When I left the infusion clinic on Friday, several of the nurses gave me hugs because I had successfully gone through a treatment cycle with them. I guess having a patient complete a treatment cycle and not have to take anymore treatments is their version of success.

Programming Notes
With the start of the new school term on Monday, the 9th, my posting schedule will, of necessity, have to change. I will not be posting at all on Mondays or Wednesdays since I am at school all day and I have to share a faculty terminal.

It looks like my posting days will be Tuesday, Thursday, an occasional Friday, and the regular Weekend Updates.

June 7, 2008 and Other Dates
Odds and Ends and Dust Balls in the Mental Corners of My Mind
I received an email reply from my friend Lisa that confirmed our lunch for Saturday. All I have to do now is show up and enjoy the food and our conversation.

I live in a building with 36 flats and one communal laundry room with clothes washers and dryer. Sharing is one of the things I bought into when I purchased my flat. I can get along with this arrangement.

I do have a problem with some of the lazy-ass, lard-ass tenants in the building who place several loads of clothes in the washers late and night and then go to bed. Fine so far because I am very likely to be sound asleep and could care less what happens at that time of night.

I get up early day; sometimes I get out of bed and sometimes I will turn the alarm off and roll over for a few more winks of sleep. I will sleep in tomorrow morning because all that I have to do tomorrow is get the Sunday paper, read, do the Sudoku which is rated as “tough,” and then toss the paper in the recycling bin.

I recycle my paper, all of the plastic that I can, aluminum, steel, and glass containers.

Lazy-ass and lard-asses complain that their wet damp clothes are removed from the washer and then left in a pile.

I put a load of wet damp laundry on top of the machine this morning when I went to start my laundry. I had no desire to wait until someone showed up; I had finished my laundry and folded it while the wet, damp pile of laundry was still sitting on top of the machine.

What are we, the ones who want to do laundry in the early morning, supposed to do? I certainly am not going to wait around until it is convenient for them to show up and removed their clothes. I certainly not going to pay for a ride in the dryer

Here is my solution; get your fat ass out of bed and take care of your problem.

Lunch with Lisa
I had lunch with Lisa on Saturday. It was at a casual dining restaurant by her house and on my home from school. I took care of some administrative matters before lunch.

I think you can conclude that we had a great time at lunch. Lunch was three and a half hours long. We talked an awful lot during the meal about our families, the bank were we both worked, our co-workers and the drama in their lives, the Cannes Film Festival and the parties, and the things we like to do like going to the theater and chocolate.

The service was not slow at the restaurant. We were in obviously no hurry to eat our meal and cut short the conversation. We decided that the food was good.

I offered to help Lisa understand why the bank’s stock had fallen so much recently. This was easy; income was down and the bank is big in real estate, not a good combination.



Lisa had a good time at lunch and so did I.

Visitors
We had another big week in terms of visitors this past week. We had visitors from Canada [10], Japan [18], Spain [7], Turkey [2], Netherlands [3], United Kingdom [8], Australia [4], Iran [2], Poland, Texas [7], India, Taiwan [3], Mexico [6], Malaysia [2], Brazil [2], Italy, Portugal, Singapore [4], Germany [3], France [9], Indonesia [3], Pakistan. Algeria, Venezuela, Finland, New Zealand, Slovakia, Vietnam, Korea [2], Saudi Arabia, Austria, Ireland, Hungary, Norway, Sweden, Chile, and Ecuador.

This week was the first time for a visitor from Algeria.

We also had one visitor from South America who seems to have discovered some of the back issues of the Woman of the Moment, based on the entry and exit pages. This visitor managed to view 106 pages in less than half an hour.

I do appreciate all of you who take out of your day or night to visit the blog.


This was my weekend; I hope your weekend was as good as mine was.


Be well and stay happy.

Seattle Trip - Part 2

Photos from Seattle
This is the group dinner after dessert and two bottles of Francis Ford Coppola Diamond Collection Pinot Noir wine. Great wine will help make any group happy I think.


I was very happy with the chocolate ice cream with small chips of chocolate in it.


I also had a healthy salad to start my dinner. I didn’t only eat food that was bad for me.


Virgin America Airlines – Fly Now Before It Flies Off Into The Sunset
I flew on Virgin America Airlines to Seattle and back. It is a new airline and I wanted to see how it compared to a great airline like Continental Airlines. As its name implies, it was developed by Sir Richard Branson and incorporates some of the Virgin Atlantic business practices; for example, passengers are called “guests” and the lead flight attendant is called the “host.”

Cute title and names do not make a great airline.

My flight on Saturday was the first flight of the day so I knew my plane would be on time. It was. The Sunday return flight was the turn around from the first flight of the day so I knew it was likely to be on time since there were no adverse weather patterns along the Pacific Coast. It, too, was on time.

I cracked open my wallet to fly first class. I felt I deserved the treat.

I should have rethought that decision.

On my Saturday flight, either the powered foot rest was broken or incredibly slow to extend. This was not what I would have expected on a nearly brand new aircraft. That maintenance could be deferred since it has nothing to do with the airworthiness of the aircraft.

The “host Mezz” announced that the flight was a training flight for new flight attendants. There would be two in first class and five in the back of the plane. Trainees are almost always less efficient than a fully trained crew.

The early morning flight was on the less than half full side in the back of the plane so service was going to be good there. First class was full, but full is only eight passengers in first class so service was likely to be average.

Still, the “cabin team members” managed to disappoint me.

Mia the Trainee asked me if I would like a drink. I said I would like a Bloody Mary with a lime. On a Continental Airlines flight, this would have been a really routine order. Continental flight attendants would have been set up for a bar service in first class before the first passenger boarded the aircraft.

After nearly ten minutes of floundering around, trying to get things set up properly and my Bloody Mary, the “team members” finally managed to make my drink.

I like to drink my alcoholic drinks slowly so I can enjoy them more. I used to be able to chug a drink but that was when I was I college and the Navy after graduation. When they brought me the drink, I did a quick calculation and determined that it was highly unlikely I would be able to finish the drink in an orderly before the “team members” would be around to take my drink away so the plane could take off on time.

Virgin America has another annoying practice from my point of view. The airline likes to have Captain Sketter or First Officer Billy Bob come out of the cockpit and introduce themselves to the passengers. I would have felt a whole lot better if they were in the cockpit, going over pre-flight checklists and route weather reports.

The pilots on Virgin America are all young or so they seemed that way to me. I feel much better flying on a plane whose captain has some gray hair. I just like all of that extra experience when I fly.

Do you like experience too?

The meal service was on the unusual side, even for a first class flight. We had a choice of a three cheese quiche or a sausage and egg on a muffin. I took the sausage and egg entre.

Besides, real men don’t eat quiche.

We had a choice of appetizers along with the main course. None of the appetizers included any fresh fruit that would have made sense for a breakfast time flight. I selected one with three small pieces of cheese and three half grapes.

Frankly, I’ve had much better Sausage McMuffins from the Golden Arches compared to what the airline served me. It was on the bland side and the only condiments were salt and pepper. If you wanted to make the airline sausage and egg on a muffin tastier, you needed something much stronger.

When I served with the United States Marine Corps Reserve, I learned that a large enough quantity of Louisiana Hot Sauce will generally make any meal taste better. Regrettably, I had no Louisiana Hot Sauce with me.

So much for the flight to Seattle.

The Sunday flight was better. First class was only half full, just four passengers. The back of the plane was fuller. The “team members” were more organized and professional about their jobs. The “host” was able to get my Bloody Mary out to me well before the aircraft pushed back from the gate so I was able to enjoy the drink.

The meal was another bizarre one for me; either that or I just have really sensitive food tastes. We had a choice of duck comfit or cheese ravioli. I went for the cheese ravioli that came with a nice pesto sauce. The appetizer choices consisted on some bland Thai noodles or some spicy ham slices that weren’t all the spicy to me anyway.

I don’t think this airline is going to be around for a long time. The flight crews looked like they were just going through the motions. Maybe I am unfair to compare Virgin America to Continental Airlines. I still think the comparison makes sense.

The Continental flight crews had a sense of commitment and desire to win and succeed at a time when the airline was on the edge of its last trip to Bankruptcy Court. I can remember one flight on an aircraft that was well past some major overhaul work on the cabin. Some of the overhead storage bins popped open as the plane landed because of improperly working latches. A couple of the bins were tapped closed with duct tape because the latches were broken. In spite of all of this adversity, the crew was confident and positive.

I saw none of that on my flights; especially the Saturday flight where almost all of the flight attendants gathered in first class so they wouldn’t be bothered by the passengers.

I have read Gordon Bethune’s book on how he and his team took Continental Airlines from worst to first. I even have an autographed copy of the book. Bethune was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the airline at the time. I have even had personal conversations with Bethune about how the airline turned around.

I know that you can successful run an airline profitably in the current chaotic market. Continental still provides a free snack meal in Coach Class on all of its longer haul domestic flights, something no other major domestic air carrier does.

New planes and catchy buzz phrases do not make a successful airline. I don’t think this message has gotten down to the people who will have to implement the strategy.

I think the Virgin America strategy, as far as I can see it, is dubious at best. The airline wants to be a premium, low cost carrier. This is a close to non-starter in my mind. In this case, except for the eight seats in first class, Virgin America is no different than Jet Blue. Southwest, the discount juggernaut, is improving its business model to include more non-stop flights.

Virgin America flies mostly up and down the West Coast and from the West Coast to New York. It competes head on with the established regional carrier, Alaska Airlines, and the majors like United Airlines, Delta Airlines, and Southwest Airlines on the West Coast routes. With a much smaller fleet, Virgin America can not offer the frequency of an Alaska Airlines or Southwest.

Virgin America must compete with all of the major carriers and Southwest and Jet Blue when it flies to New York.

As I look at the apparent strategy, it seems to me that Virgin America is trying to fly in a very small niche of luxury discount service and compete on a basis of price. I think the only factor that Virgin America has as an advantage is that none of its competitors is going to engage in a price war while jet fuel is over USD$3.00 a gallon.

One more thing that Virgin America needs to do is train its flight crews to not lie to passengers. The “host” on my Saturday flight did that with me and that is just intolerable and unacceptable.

I told him that I was going to write a letter to complain about the crummy service. I also told that I would write about my crummy experience in the blog that gets read by a lot of people because airlines usually just ignore passenger comments. There must be a really ginormous recycle bin of customer complaint letters.

The “host” said Virgin America really cared about customer comments and that he would give me the address to send my letter. He only had ninety minutes to do this and he failed miserably. Mia the Trainee could have easily covered the first class passengers since it was just food tray pickup left to do. The “host” said, more than once, that he would get me the address.

What was the end result of lying to me and failing to follow up on a passenger commitment?

Instead of a handful of Virgin America employees who would have read my letter, now, over a thousand readers of the blog will have learned about my experience.

As for me, the next flight to see the Princess and the Golfer and the rest of the family in Seattle will not be on Virgin America.


Be well and stay happy.

Weekend Update - June 3rd

Me and the Cancer
Doug and I went to the regularly scheduled meeting with the oncologists on May 30th. It was not a very exciting meeting for me because there was no new news; Doug and I picked up the new information at the prior meeting. The doctor did say that my tests were all fine and in the normal range.

The doctor offered a personal suggestion of a web site that provided recipes for very healthy eating. She had seen some amazing results from the diets the web site has to offer. I said I would give it a look and see.

The doctor said that the hospital’s Tumor Board would probably consider my on going treatment plan later this month. I have scheduled visit for an evaluation with a colo-rectal surgeon next week.

I wonder if there is a Tuless Board at the hospital.

That was a medical joke; tumore and tuless. Get it? Maybe I need some help from Doug with my humor efforts.

The diets are all based on raw and organic foods. That lost me almost immediately. I looked at one for ketchup. It included some raw dates that were placed in a food processor and then pureed. Naturally, I don’t have a food processor and don’t plan to buy one. I don’t think that I have ever had any ketchup that included dates in the recipe; the H. J. Heinz Company doesn’t include dates in their ketchup.

For those of you who would like to visit the web site; it is http://www.hacres.com.

Seattle and the Princess and the Golfer and the Nephew and his Girl Friend
I’m going to write about the trip in two parts; one is the plane ride and the other is the dinner. The plane ride can be a feature tomorrow. I will probably add some photos tomorrow as well.

I walked from my hotel to the Seattle Morton’s; it was only six or seven short blocks and it was all down hill. I got a ride back to the hotel from the Princess after dinner. It was on the cool side so I was very happy that I brought my raincoat with the liner zipped in and my wool scarf.

We had a perfect table that was close to the kitchen so we could see our meal being cooked. It was also nice and warm there too.

This was a family dinner and I was interested in meeting the nephew’s Girl Friend. I think she is dead solid perfect; she loves beef, enjoys a good glass of wine, has a great sense of humor and is a good conversationalist, and loves chocolate. What more can you ask for in a woman?

Not much more in my mind.

I had my usual small steak with a salad. I was going to have a couple of scoops of vanilla ice cream until our server mentioned that he had chocolate ice cream available. I had three scoops of chocolate ice cream.

The Girl Friend followed my small steak and salad. She ordered the really incredibly rich chocolate cake. She also helped herself to some my Nephew’s dessert ice cream. The Nephew had his usual Cajun style rib eye steak with French fries and a salad. I’m not sure if he was willingly sharing his dessert with the Girl Friend. I’ll just assume that he was being a gentleman.

The Princess and the Golfer ordered identical dinners; jumbo limp crab cakes as an appetizer and grilled salmon. I know the Princess was not sharing her Morton’s Chocolate cake dessert with anyone, even dear old Dad. I think the Golfer had key lime pie for his dessert.

I know well I should say that I am highly confident that we had a fun time. Maybe we were on the loudish side because we were having fun and wanted to make the most of the evening.

I know we went through two bottles of wine and that probably helped us along with our fun.

The Princess said that she wanted to have more family get togethers now since the family is growing. Excellent.

Doug and Defamer.com
Doug is among the gainfully employed, recent college graduates and has been for a couple of months now. That makes his parents happy and proud. Plus, he can say that he is a working writer in Hollywood.

Sweet.

Doug writes some really crisp and sarcastic commentary, based on paparazzi images, for Defamer. Defamer is an entertainment industry focused web site so it sort of helps if you have some passing knowledge of film and music. Doug takes an image and then adds his own spin to it and that may include his versions of imaginary conversations and quotes.

Doug has made several publicists and agents upset enough to call his editor and complain, all of which excites his editor because this means Doug has been successful. It also points out how many of these people in Hollywood have no sense of humor.

His dad watches TMZ on Fox to stay sort of close to the rapidly spinning loop.

If you want to check out his writing, go to http://defamer.com and scroll down until you come to an article captioned, “A Call to the Bullpen,” as how Doug’s articles are identified.

The Baby Blues and Changing the Dressing
I had hoped that I would see Glenda or Jennifer to change my dressing last Thursday. Instead, Myrna changed my dressing. We talked about my chemotherapy progress. Myrna thought that I was doing so well in such a short time.

My next dressing change is this coming Friday. I will combine a dressing change and an infusion session. This should be my last infusion session unless I get put on a new and different round of chemotherapy.

Dinner with Merit
As I drove over to El Gringo last Thursday, I had one of those epiphany moments when I realized that with my new teaching schedule I would not be able to have dinner with Merit on Thursday because I have a Thursday evening class that runs from 6:00 to 9:20 PM. Even if I had an early dinner, I would not be able to be in the classroom on time.

That made me sad.

Merit greeted me with a “Hello Charles and where have you been the last couple of weeks?”

I explained that for one Thursday Doug and I had gone to the Original Tommy’s Hamburgers for a late lunch and had both ordered Mega Combos for lunch. I told Merit that I was still full the next morning. Then, I had a faculty meeting where they served food. I could only eat half of what was expected of us so I skipped visiting El Gringo.

Merit said she understood and that she was happy that I was not seeing some other food server.

Then, I told Merit that I wouldn’t be coming to El Gringo much in the near future because of my teaching schedule. I thought Merit would be unhappy.

Surprisingly, Merit was not unhappy. She asked about my schedule and I told that I wasn’t teaching on Tuesday or Wednesday nights.

“Excellent Charles, you can come on Tuesdays when I work here and even better its Taco Tuesday where you get two tacos for the price of one.”

This is a money saving opportunity for me to a limited extent since I don’t like to eat tacos every time I visit El Gringo. I like some variety in my meals. Still, everything will come together for me going forward.

My Brother
My Brother flew into town on Monday for a short business trip. He stayed with me on Monday and then stayed with our friend George on Tuesday. He is scheduled to fly back to the Bay area on Wednesday.

Our big event was our dinner at L. A. Food Show in Manhattan Beach. We each had an order of their Avocado Bacon Chicken eggrolls. It is a family tradition to not share our favorite foods; if someone wants to try them, then they can order the dish. My Brother thought they were on the spicy side; I said that was because he dipped them in the spicy sauce.

I wimped out and showed no enthusiasm for any adventurous food. I had a half pound Show Burger with avocado and raw onions. Our server Courtney giggled when I said I was wimping out on my food choice.

My Brother decided to try a new item on the menu. He had the Seafood Enchiladas with wok fried rice and refried black beans. The enchiladas were filled shrimp, scallops, and swordfish. It also came with a Salsa Verde sauce; this made the dish too spicy for my Brother.

We skipped dessert on my suggestion that we put off dessert until later since I had some Starbucks Java Chip Ice Cream [coffee ice cream with chunks of chocolate] at home. My Brother thought that was one of my better ideas of the day. We had the ice cream while we watched my Korean language soap opera. I’m not certain that he could enjoy it as much as I could; maybe if he had been there since Episode 1. Last night was Episode 163.

One of the big topics at our dinner was the Seattle dinner. I said that I thought everyone had a good time. My Brother said that he had spoken with his son [the Nephew] on Sunday and the Nephew said the dinner was “awesome.”

That is a pretty great review.

Weekend Update
Changing times.

I read an Associated Press report on Friday the 30th that the Kingdom of Bahrain has just appointed a Jewish woman to be its ambassador to the United States of America. Bahrain is a Persian Gulf emirate with very close ties to the United States. The ruling family is Sunnis and most of the Arab population is Shiites.

Fascinating results in a complex and changing world.

Visitors
We had another good week for visitors. We had visitors from Germany [6], Latvia, Ireland, Japan [28], Spain [5], Greece, Denmark, United Kingdom [3], Ukraine, Turkey [2], Australia [3], Texas, [5], Israel [2], Iran [3], Austria, Malaysia, Thailand, Netherlands, New Zealand, Mexico, Brazil [4], Italy [5], Poland, Sweden, Russia, Canada [7], France [2], Finland, Singapore [3], Korea [2], Saudi Arabia Slovenia, India, Panama, United Arab Emirates, Belgium, and Morocco.

I think this may have been the first time for a visitor from Morocco. The Japanese visitors, 28 strong, must have discovered my archival postings of the Women of the Moment that featured Japanese actresses. That would explain the surge in visits over the past week.

We had a total of 1,070 visits for the month. I do appreciate everyone who ventured out to see the blog this last week and month.


That was my extended vacation weekend. I hope your weekend was worthwhile and enjoyable.


Be well and stay happy.