The Wayback Machine

OK, let's see if I can remember some of what I have been up to for the last month or so...

[interrupt to go see why Boy is crying...]

October 31: Halloween Day - Very momentous day. Boy's first Halloween. He was dressed up as a punkin, which is generic but very cute:

He officially trick or treated at one house (our next door neighbor Susan's) and then we headed off to a party. The party is question was a reunion of sorts, with several friends from college congregating at Gimpel's place. It was nice to see some friends who live in different parts of the country (ranging from Campbell to Tennessee) and hang out. I talk to most of them fairly regularly online, but it was nice to actually be able to hug them and look them in the eyes without an iSight being involved.

November 5: The Flu - We all got jacked up pretty hard. Boy was vomiting much more than usual (to the point where he would be asleep, barf all over his front and go right back to sleep - poor little guy!) earlier in the week. He appeared to be improving as Friday rolled around though. Wife called from work and announced that she was collecting Boy and coming home because she had barfed all over her floor. I headed off to work, got there, spent 20 minutes or so trying to focus on reading my email and decided I had better go home too. Good thing I did, because I spent the rest of the afternoon retching violently. A trip to the doctor's (minor miracle that they were able to get me in at Kaiser Livermore 15 minutes before closing, saving me a late night trip to the ER at Walnut Creek) later, and I had drugs to counter the nausea and Pedialyte to rehydrate me. As a general rule, when I get sick (as in 'throwing up' sick), it ain't gonna stop until I get some kind of drugs to stop it. My system goes into 'freak out' mode, and I end up dehydrated. Fortunately we nipped it in the bud this time.

Interesting factoid: If you are vomiting and running the risk of dehydration, it is better to drink Gatorade or Pedialyte than water, because without salt in your system for the water to bond with, it will just cause you vomit even more. Go figure.

November 12: Progressive Dinner - Our bible study at church did a progressive dinner (where you have a different course of the meal at a different house). Originally the main course was supposed to be at our place, but because we had all been sick the week earlier, they didn't want to put pressure on us to have to get the house back in order (usually no small task even when we've been healthy!). So we ended up just going along for the ride. Of course, Ryan and I were late getting there because some idiot in a big rig ran off the road (680N) near Highway 84 and smashed into a tree. Traffic was quite literally stopped for 20 miles starting at around 3:30. Ryan got on the road at 4:30 and at 7:30 was still trying to wade through it. I avoided it and took 880 to 238 to 580. Ryan and I got there within 10 minutes of each other. Food was good, company was good.

Random days between then and last week - Shari's wedding was coming up, and Mom and Dad had been very very busy with wedding stuff. Dad and I took a bunch of photos of Shari and BJ and edited them into a nice slide show using iMovie and iDVD over the course of a few nights. Also related, after telling Shari for 10 years that I would not sing at her wedding I caved. I sang, Mark Stoebe accompanied me on the acoustic and I sang.

November 20: The Wedding - It went well, and the wedding appeared to take. They are in Cancun now. The reception was nice as well. Lots of fun, some folks were more entertaining than they meant to be (a little too much to drink), and there were lots of folks I hadn't seen in some time. I am now re-retired from singing at weddings.

I am sure there is a ton more that has happened, but I am ready to move forward. Thanksgiving is this week, and we are not going anywhere. Wife, Boy and I will be having Thanksgiving with my mom and dad and relaxing. I am quite ready for a less eventful holiday for once. I have lots of work to do this week before that happens though.