I don’t even know what to call this post

I guess it’s another catch-all.  The holiday weekend is pretty much here, so everything is starting to slow down, and that is perfectly fine with me.  I’ve been enjoying (NOT!) some bowel distress over the past 24 hours, so I’m glad that there’s no work tomorrow.  I prep’d my butt off for an Arbitration on Wednesday and it went south on me because the panel didn’t like my client – they actually said that to me after.  Hours and hours of prep down the tubes.

I’m just about done with Greg van Eekhout’s (like Vonnegut?) first novel – Norse Code.  Despite the title, it’s actually been quite a good piece of fantasy fiction.  If I were in another line of work, perhaps I could have read this book over a weekend, but with distractions and trials, it has taken a bit longer.  Great action, well written, and sexy cover.  What more could you ask for?  As a rumination on Ragnarok, it’s a bit more fluid and entertaining than Neil Gaiman’s American Gods.  The retelling of myth is a bit more fluid in Gaiman’s work, but the van Eekhout has been a more cohesive read.  I certainly liked them both, but in being a bit less ambitious, Norse Code is actually more fun.  Although, I don’t think Gaiman was going for fun.

Company’s coming to mpomy HQ to help celebrate the holiday.  We’re looking forward to Oscar and his mom and dad.  Pictures will undoubtedly be posted.  Also, we’ve arranged a trip to Morris Arboretum to hang out in nature’s beauty with my mom and our guests.  It should be just the ticket after my beleaguered week.

Over at Fretbuzz.net, the insanity continues.  we’ve got Mr. Delaruss now actively blogging, which is great news.  I’ll also try to do little more micro-music because it’s so damn fun.  Maybe Oscar can help with the next composition.

We have also found out that a cousin has breast cancer – which absolutely sucks.  She’s got a bunch of little kids and she’s almost definitely going to have to go through some of the most heinous shit.  But she’s got a great husband (Em’s 1st cousin) and they’re within shouting distance of top notch healthcare.  It’s still going to be a bumpy ride for that family, so we’ll be sending the good vibes that way as the situation and treatment regimen become clearer.

And lastly, I’ll be trying to get Em to watch Virtuality tonight.  It seems like good, low-impact fun before our guests arrive, and I need to take another look before I write up my thoughts.

Have a great weekend, everybody.

An Anniversary

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I Feel Like A Backstop


I feel like stuff keeps getting thrown at me. It’s mostly bouncing off, but it’s still a pretty grueling situation. We’ve gone most of the way, and its starting to get pretty exhausting. There’s the cumulative effect of Em’s chemo, piling up all around like foul balls stacked up to my knees.

I just hit the wall today. It was not fun. There have been signs along the way. I snapped my key in the lock a few days ago. I’ve just been feeling different, and not better. We’re in the trough right now and it’s damned hard getting out. But Em just talked about the feeling she gets riding her bike – the pedals going up and down, the chain driving the wheel, going faster and faster. That’s a pretty powerful feeling. It’s like the name for her magical sword that protects her and causes her to vanquish her enemy, except it’s not a name, it’s that feeling.

Then we shared hot dogs on New England-style buns while listening to a Crowded House bootleg from 1987. That’s been a whole lot better than feeling trapped under our misery.

We’re almost done.

The Low Point

George R. R. Martin's STORM OF SWORDS

I’ve now finished three of these monstrous books and it’s time for a break. This is great fantasy with politics, sex, battle, and just a touch of the supernatural. A lot of major characters get killed off, which is no problem, because it sooooo long. Each volume is nearly 1000 pages. I need to take a break before the next one, just to get my head out of crazy Dungeon and Dragon land.

The Ice & Fire series is tedious, but it’s nothing compared to chemo. Em is now finished with inpatient #5, which means this weekend just plain sucks. Bad taste in mouth, no energy, meager appetite and just general suckiness. Of course, the animals are helping out a good bit. Right now, Grace is parked on Em’s chest and providing a soothing and relaxing hot-water-bottle treatment. It’s nice of that cat to help me out a bit.

The Phillies are getting beaten up by the Giants right now. After last night’s emotional come-from-behind win, it’s hard to imagine they can sustain the intensity. On another sports-related note, Massa is on pole for Turkey, which will hold its Grand P tomorrow. The Indy 500 qualifying is today, I think, but I have to say I’m not all that interested.

That’s it for now. I’m overdue for updating the site, but it’s good to just check in, blog-wise. Peace and love to you all!!

The latest movie is up.

Check out the latest movie over at the videos page. It has a Star Wars theme, pays tribute to a few loved ones gone by, features the garden, the dog and baseball.

The only thing I’ll say is that I sat with this one longer than usual. The general idea was basically repeated chronologically, gardening, followed by baseball, followed by Eve and Karen. After the editing, other stuff came up, like an inpatient chemo infusion, so there was no opportunity or pressure to wrap up. Then, last night, after having a perfectly shitty afternoon, Em kinda suggested that I take another look, especially since we’ve basically got enough ‘footage’ to get going on the next one.

I like what I’ve done with this and I think I’m getting used to being at this plateau with iMovie. Rather than looking for big ways to alter the raw minutes of film, I’m just trying to polish and embellish the the skills i have. The normal pattern had been: intro, chapters, conclusion. Here, I added to the intro so now there are really two intros. The transitions between the chapters and the editing within chapters is pretty much what I’ve been doing all along. Same kind of snipping.

As far as conclusions go, I’m most fond of the re-cap at the end of the Liam Finn movie (#4). The conclusion for #7 feels like a bit of a cop-out, but it seemed important to get Opie in there – I’ve been thinking about her a lot lately. I wanted to end #6 with a clear Cylon defeat, but I can only work with what we have. Convenient excuse. At least Kara kicked one Cylon’s butt.

The latest…

It occurs to me that every post could have this title…

I haven’t posted the next movie yet. We saw some great Phillies games and Em’s Dad is in town. She’s back on inpatient yesterday and today, so that’s really the focus of activity. She seems to be doing well at the moment, but we’ll see what the weekend holds, as the white count is a bit low.

Other than that, Passover is pretty much here, and Dorothy and her family will be following shortly. That should be interesting. We’ll see how much activity I’m up for, as far as Seders and what not.

Other than that, work has mellowed out a bit, but there’s a civil rights case that needs some TLC after yesterday’s plaintiff deposition. The client did well, but I want to set it up right. Maybe I’ll call my new friend Dr. Goldstein.

Latest ‘Cancer’ Movie not really about cancer

What a whirlwind weekend pf activity, as Em is feeling good and on her end-of-cycle break from treatment. This means that she was gardening on Thursday, at a Phillies game on Saturday and entertaining friends from out of town on Sunday – whew! I’m tired just talking about all of that. The thing is, the more good stuff she can do, the better it makes her feel.

So now we have enough clips to do a movie out of those three events. No needles, no blue tubes, no purple gloves, no chemo. A cancer movie with no cancer? That’s something new.

Expected to be done shortly. In the meantime, enjoy the Spring!