Author Archives: mpomy

A better week

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Remember this guy?

OK. We’re ready for the last go-round, the final cycle of chemo for Emily. One more inpatient (Weds) and one more outpatient (the following Weds) and then we’re done. I can’t believe how close it is. We’ve been looking forward to this date for so long that it almost doesn’t seem real. We haven’t made plans to travel or anything. We’re just focusing on what’s in front of us and not getting too far ahead, but believe me, there will be some day off taken!

My mom is getting a mac for her desktop and I am looking forward to setting it up with her during the holiday weekend. I’ll be with her on Monday for some good bonding.

On Sunday we’re doing a 5k walk/run for ovarian cancer awareness and fundraising. We’ll be in beautiful Fairmount Park with lots of friends and family. Included in the family is the gentleman pictured above. Needless to say, Emily is all a-twitter with excitement.

Black Mac (book)

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New computer is integrating nicely into my work routine. It’s really cool having everything available all the time – that WAS the point. It’s kind of amazing how Outlook doesn’t export calendar at all and the export for contacts is so difficult that it might as well not be available. And this is from Office (windows) to Office (mac) – all Microsoft products. They just can’t get it right!

But everything is going swimmingly and, except for the import/export issues, I really like Entourage. the rest of Office is pretty much the same (Word, Excel, Powerpoint). The project management is keeping me on my toes.

Re-boot

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iPod stops bullet
It’s not quite as bad as pictured, but my 80GB iPod Classic bought the farm the other day. No picture, no power, no nuthin. I went to forums and reviwed troubleshooting guides from Apple and others. I made an appointment at the Genius Bar. The dude played with it for about 12 seconds and then handed me a replacement. Data (67GB)– Gone.

That’s fine, I’ve got everything backed up in various places. So this will have some differences compared to the music on the old (and inartfully named) Progpod. The MpomyPod will feature less Dead. I love them enough to commit to rotate stock. I’ll just start at the beginning of Dick’s Picks and keep no more the one or two set on the MpomyPod at a time. That will free up LOTS of space.

Some of the old stuff is making a comeback. That’s especially true with the fusion and the Clapton. I may even have to get the Derek and the Dominoes Fillmore Concert. Contains the longest known version of ‘EC’s Let It Rain’ (about 1/2 hour).

Clapton

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Slowhand

We can slag this guy all we want. We can say he went soft in the 80’s. We can say he never did anything new or special of different, or at least not after Cream. But, you know what? This dude can play the blues – FOR REAL. And he’s been doin’ it pretty much non-stop for, like, 45 years. He hasn’t stopped because it appears that he can’t. I think a lot about the blues lately. It’s something that speaks to me in a very direct fashion. Even when I was young, I could feel it. there was no intellectual aspect. It was all emotion. When I was too young to know how vital it was to be able to express emotions so that they didn’t back up on me and create havoc (or more havoc) later on, I knew that I could play blues music – simple, almost infantile, expressions of a feeling that is so important and so universal. I think I learned a lot of this from Clapton.

I Feel Like A Backstop

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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

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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.

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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…

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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.