Wednesday, August 26, 2009
The Latest Drama
Just when we thought our lives couldn't get any more exciting, Simon confessed to feeling perpetually dizzy, woozy, exhausted and, oh yes, to getting nose bleeds once or even sometimes twice a day. When I asked how long this has been going on, he said he couldn't remember exactly but for a few weeks at least. Grandma's nursing experience comes in handy again (every family should have their own nurse) as she not only knows how to use a blood pressure cuff but actually owns one. His blood pressure was rather low, but not alarming, but his pulse rate was bizarrely low. Both my mom and the doctor today did make a point of saying that "some professional athletes have low pulse rates and that's perfectly healthy for them". When Simon insisted that this could be taken to mean that he doesn't have a problem I pointed out (very delicately, of course) that he isn't and has never been a professional athlete. So here he is wearing a heart monitor. It will record his heart activity (or lack thereof) for 24 hours. Simon is also supposed to keep a journal and record his feelings every hour. (Though comments such as "depressed" and "hopeless" were not, apparently, what the doctor wants to know about.) So far he has recorded: "woozy", "dizzy", "slightly woozy", "rather dizzy", and "a little woozy". Simon is annoyed at being forbidden to swim and is peevish at the nurse for shaving off a small patch of his chest hair for the tapes. He fears his pool buddies will mock him when he goes back to swimming. I reminded him that his pool buddies are all in their 90s and (1) they're likely to be very familiar with heart monitors and (2) they probably can't see their own chest hair let alone someone else's. That didn't cheer him up, though.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Birthday in Chicago
[For the most recent blogs (all in August) I have altered the way I store and upload photos. If you click on the image you should be able to get a full screen- sized picture that is in focus and has all the original detail. This is especially neat with the Chicago cityscape pics below.]
For Thomas's birthday, he and I traveled by train to Chicago (it's the same time as driving and we wouldn't have to deal with either the hassle of parking the car or me getting too exhausted to deal with the drive home--Chicago's freeways have been under contruction for going on 10 years and there is no sign of them being completed anytime soon). So we got up at 6 am, trotted off to the Amtrak station (which is conveniently .6 miles from our house) and waited for our train--which was held up in Bay City because of "freight backup." Apparently it is single track only from Flint to Bay City--what century is this? Then, when we got to Kalamazoo, the train had to slow to 15 mph because of flood warnings...FINALLY got up to speed (and then some--the train must have been going 90 mph, I thought we were going to fly apart when going over roads) and arrived only 20 minutes late. And here is the famous Union Station. And so, with over $200 burning a hole in Thomas' pocket, we set out on the 1.57 mile journey to our destination, The Lego Store!
I wanted to take pictures of all the cool buildings but if I took too long "composing my shot", Thomas would be long gone when I was done. Here is an especially neat apartment building--note the cars parked right up to the edges of the lower levels. It made me slightly queasy thinking about parking my car on the edge of a 15th floor parking spot.
Here is Thomas admiring the view about 3 blocks from the store. He bet me all his money that the store wouldn't be there, would be closed, or would have moved with no forwarding address.
The view Thomas was looking at in the picture above. "Chicago! My kind of town!..."
AHHHH!!! GASP!!! SPUTTER!! THERE IT IS!!! (I just realized that Thomas never did pay up on that bet he lost--he owes me over $200!)
For Thomas's birthday, he and I traveled by train to Chicago (it's the same time as driving and we wouldn't have to deal with either the hassle of parking the car or me getting too exhausted to deal with the drive home--Chicago's freeways have been under contruction for going on 10 years and there is no sign of them being completed anytime soon). So we got up at 6 am, trotted off to the Amtrak station (which is conveniently .6 miles from our house) and waited for our train--which was held up in Bay City because of "freight backup." Apparently it is single track only from Flint to Bay City--what century is this? Then, when we got to Kalamazoo, the train had to slow to 15 mph because of flood warnings...FINALLY got up to speed (and then some--the train must have been going 90 mph, I thought we were going to fly apart when going over roads) and arrived only 20 minutes late. And here is the famous Union Station. And so, with over $200 burning a hole in Thomas' pocket, we set out on the 1.57 mile journey to our destination, The Lego Store!
I wanted to take pictures of all the cool buildings but if I took too long "composing my shot", Thomas would be long gone when I was done. Here is an especially neat apartment building--note the cars parked right up to the edges of the lower levels. It made me slightly queasy thinking about parking my car on the edge of a 15th floor parking spot.
Here is Thomas admiring the view about 3 blocks from the store. He bet me all his money that the store wouldn't be there, would be closed, or would have moved with no forwarding address.
The view Thomas was looking at in the picture above. "Chicago! My kind of town!..."
AHHHH!!! GASP!!! SPUTTER!! THERE IT IS!!! (I just realized that Thomas never did pay up on that bet he lost--he owes me over $200!)
Birthday in Chicago continued...
Thomas can't contain himself and flies up the elevator, leaving me in his dust.
There it is! EEEE!
We're not even in the store yet and are overwhelmed at the sheer awesomeness of it all. Giant Lego rats! It doesn't get any better than this!
Or maybe it does! A wall of pick-a-brick! The idea is that you grab a tub and pack in as many loose bits as you can, and pay per tub instead of by the piece (which is how it works at the web site). Thomas filled a big tub up with seaweed and other essential but rare Lego pieces. My tip: give the tub a good couple of shakes to settle the pieces down and pack in the spaces with the little clear pieces. I got a few hundred more pieces in doing that.
Where to begin? It's all too much.
Thomas decided that he would like the job of deciding which bricks are pick-a-bricks of the day. Is this his career destiny?
There it is! EEEE!
We're not even in the store yet and are overwhelmed at the sheer awesomeness of it all. Giant Lego rats! It doesn't get any better than this!
Or maybe it does! A wall of pick-a-brick! The idea is that you grab a tub and pack in as many loose bits as you can, and pay per tub instead of by the piece (which is how it works at the web site). Thomas filled a big tub up with seaweed and other essential but rare Lego pieces. My tip: give the tub a good couple of shakes to settle the pieces down and pack in the spaces with the little clear pieces. I got a few hundred more pieces in doing that.
Where to begin? It's all too much.
Thomas decided that he would like the job of deciding which bricks are pick-a-bricks of the day. Is this his career destiny? Birthday in Chicago continued...
Look at them! Just LOOK at them--A MILLION Lego clocks set to 12:01! Bwah HAH HAH!
I've lost Thomas in the crowd of crazed Lego maniacs. Here is the Chicago skyline all in Lego. The small "glass" building just at the girl's elbow is the building we are in.
And here is the happy birthday boy with his booty. Now all we have to do is walk the 1.57 miles back to the train station and sit for 6 hours before we get back to Flint. Thomas made it about a mile before he collapsed in exhaustion (it was VERY humid there, but still...) and I ended up carrying the bags for the rest of the way. He got suddenly rejuvenated on the train and attempted to begin building one of the 2,000-odd piece sets on the train floor before I put the kibosh on that plan. He had to be satisfied with the 35-piece robo-police dog set (with the red flame coming out its backside--very disturbing).
I've lost Thomas in the crowd of crazed Lego maniacs. Here is the Chicago skyline all in Lego. The small "glass" building just at the girl's elbow is the building we are in.
And here is the happy birthday boy with his booty. Now all we have to do is walk the 1.57 miles back to the train station and sit for 6 hours before we get back to Flint. Thomas made it about a mile before he collapsed in exhaustion (it was VERY humid there, but still...) and I ended up carrying the bags for the rest of the way. He got suddenly rejuvenated on the train and attempted to begin building one of the 2,000-odd piece sets on the train floor before I put the kibosh on that plan. He had to be satisfied with the 35-piece robo-police dog set (with the red flame coming out its backside--very disturbing).
Thomas Birthday Party--he's (almost) 11
We had Thomas' birthday party on Sunday, the 16th. Here he is (somewhere under the hair) blowing out the candles on his cake. I am betting he wished for a trip to Japan to go to the Pokemon store where, according to him, people get to play all the pokemon games they want in giant ball pits, are surrounded by dozens of tvs each showing a different pokemon show or movie, and get handed free pokemon stuffies by people dressed up as giant pokemons. Who wouldn't want to go?
Check it out--you can actually see the candle smoke. I'm loving this new camera!
Everyone smiling and all at the same time. [Kid in back on the left is visiting cousin Jimmy. He is sporting the latest hair craze, the "Zac Ephron." Thomas's hair style is simply known as the "never comb it and let the pool chlorine do the rest".]
Here is our resident shy woodland creature in his tree house enjoying the paper streamers (which then got rained on, bled the dyes into our pool and are now very slowly decomposing in our tree branches).
Check it out--you can actually see the candle smoke. I'm loving this new camera!
Everyone smiling and all at the same time. [Kid in back on the left is visiting cousin Jimmy. He is sporting the latest hair craze, the "Zac Ephron." Thomas's hair style is simply known as the "never comb it and let the pool chlorine do the rest".]
Here is our resident shy woodland creature in his tree house enjoying the paper streamers (which then got rained on, bled the dyes into our pool and are now very slowly decomposing in our tree branches).
What Do Frederick and Thomas Do All Day Long?
Frederick, after a hard day of playing, swimming in Emily's mom's pool, shopping, gassing up the car (a favorite activity), exploring parks and nature reserves, unwinds in his room with a favorite book. Note tattoo on bicep. He likes monkey tattoos best.
Thomas spends 99% of his time at his computer (which, interestingly, has been riddled with viruses but is still managing to struggle along) making films of sprites. Check out YoshiSpriter123 on YouTube for his complete collection.
Thomas spends 99% of his time at his computer (which, interestingly, has been riddled with viruses but is still managing to struggle along) making films of sprites. Check out YoshiSpriter123 on YouTube for his complete collection.
A LOT of Catching Up to Do
Our last blog was a month ago. What the hell have we been doing?
1) Summer semester kicked into high gear. Simon taught two courses so was teaching every afternoon for almost 3 hours each day and I taught one course and so was busy teaching all morning Tuesdays and Thursdays. Since I also taught a course during Spring semester (Summer 1 semester everywhere else in the world) I am very, very tired of teaching. Good thing Fall semester--the most wonderful semester of the academic year!--is set to start!
2) Visit from Wisconsin relatives.
3) Thomas's birthday.
4) Icky weather. I don't know what it is about hot, humid weather but everyone in this family slides into low gear, pretty much incapable of accomplishing anything productive or fun when it is 80% humidity and hotter n' hell all night long. I think the whine of the window air conditioners makes me slightly CRAZY.
5) Can't remember anything else, but I am pretty sure we were busy doing something. Probably laundry. I know I haven't cleaned out the 'fridge (even though that has been on my list of Things To Do since winter break in February) because we have a bowl of leftover cranberry sauce in the back of the top shelf from last Christmas break that is stuck so thoroughly we can't get it out.
But the real reason for the lack of bloggin' is the fact that all our home computers are infested with viruses. One is being attended by ITS people (every bit as nerdy as those featured in the show The IT Crowd) as I write this. Finally I installed the appropriate software at my work computer and (giving the appearance of working hard to those outside my office who can hear me typing) am now finally set to blog. So, first things first, an updated picture of the turtles (who now all have names because, believe it or not, they really are marked very differently and even I can tell them apart). Note nifty background pics taken from old gardening magazines ("gardeners' porn" I call them).
1) Summer semester kicked into high gear. Simon taught two courses so was teaching every afternoon for almost 3 hours each day and I taught one course and so was busy teaching all morning Tuesdays and Thursdays. Since I also taught a course during Spring semester (Summer 1 semester everywhere else in the world) I am very, very tired of teaching. Good thing Fall semester--the most wonderful semester of the academic year!--is set to start!
2) Visit from Wisconsin relatives.
3) Thomas's birthday.
4) Icky weather. I don't know what it is about hot, humid weather but everyone in this family slides into low gear, pretty much incapable of accomplishing anything productive or fun when it is 80% humidity and hotter n' hell all night long. I think the whine of the window air conditioners makes me slightly CRAZY.
5) Can't remember anything else, but I am pretty sure we were busy doing something. Probably laundry. I know I haven't cleaned out the 'fridge (even though that has been on my list of Things To Do since winter break in February) because we have a bowl of leftover cranberry sauce in the back of the top shelf from last Christmas break that is stuck so thoroughly we can't get it out.
But the real reason for the lack of bloggin' is the fact that all our home computers are infested with viruses. One is being attended by ITS people (every bit as nerdy as those featured in the show The IT Crowd) as I write this. Finally I installed the appropriate software at my work computer and (giving the appearance of working hard to those outside my office who can hear me typing) am now finally set to blog. So, first things first, an updated picture of the turtles (who now all have names because, believe it or not, they really are marked very differently and even I can tell them apart). Note nifty background pics taken from old gardening magazines ("gardeners' porn" I call them).
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