Sorry, I was very bad and didn't update this site yet - even though I told my Mom that I was going to. But I had good reasons. Check out the update in "Week 2" to see what all has been going on. There's even the added fun of "emoticons" (the smiley faces) in this update. WooHoo!

To catch you up to date, I need to tell you bad news, good news, bad news, good news. And all about my health.

I think it was about Jan. 29, when I went to work one day; but left early. I told several people that I just felt kind of "out-of-sorts". As the afternoon wore on, my back began to hurt more and more and more - just like several other times when I've pulled those lower back muscles.

Going off onto a small tangent (I promise to get back to the original update in just a minute.), I can tell you exactly when I hurt my back the first time. You know, as a Southern boy, I didn't realize that snow comes in different forms. Up here in Ohio, it can be "light and fluffy" and up to "wet and heavy". Well, in 1987 when Randy and I had just moved into our large house with the pet store, I figured a little snow wouldn't stop the Yankees from being out and about shopping. Like a kid, I was outside shoveling our tiny parking lot, while Randy showed some intelligence and stayed inside where it was warm. I was nearly done with the lot, when I scooped up a shovelful that was tooo full. Then, silly me, I twisted and tossed the shovel of snow, while wrenching the heck out of my back muscles. I fell down into that cold, wet snow and wondered, through the pain, whether I'd ever walk again or not. I crawled inside and into bed. Ever since then, about once a year, I've done something to injure those muscles again. Unfortunately, I've done it twice this year, and each time has been the worst yet.

Now back to what I was really telling you.

The bad news was I had hurt my back the worst so far. A week later when I was finally able to stand erect, I had a doctor's appointment and some Good News. Although my T-cells didn't go up much (from 159 to 179 in a month's time), they did go UP. My viral load dramatically changed from nearly 30,000 to 10,000! (down 2/3s). Both the doctor and I are happy, although he's not happy enough. So, it's more blood work in about a month. (Oh yeah! What a lovely birthday present from the doctor - having them suck blood from me again. WooHoo! )

Ah, but we still have some more bad news and good news. The next week, once again, I left work early feeling "wrong" - for lack of a better word. By that evening, I was very stuffed up and figured I had a doozy of a cold coming on. Anyone that knows me, knows that my bedtime is never before midnight (usually 2 or 3am - computer geek hours not bankers hours. ); but I was in bed by 10pm. Not to stay asleep though. I was up at 1:30 and 3:30, barfing. All day Wednesday, I felt like crap, trying not to worry but still wondering if I'd be able to tell if this was just a passing illness or the start of pneumonia. Don't laugh!! It's almost March (when I get pneumonia; the last time being March 1999) and it already fooled me twice thinking I just had the flu. Not that I want to go the hospital with pneumonia; but I'd rather get there sooner and start getting treated than to have it settle into my lungs too deeply.

I did say that I would end on good news and the Good News is that I am recovering. No more barfing, not as congested, only a little cough. WooHoo! Although that means, it's back to work for me tomorrow. But it is PayDay, so it won't be allll bad.

I got a surprise package from home this last week. At first, I thought maybe that they had messed up my shipment of meds that had arrived the day before (I hadn't checked it out yet). Instead, it was a box from Mom. Inside where hundreds of lovely green, foam peanuts that I had to keep taking from the boyz, along with two padded envelopes. After snatching a few more pieces of chewed green foam from the boyz, I found the envelopes contained the two plates, pictured below. Thanks Mom!

And before I forget, Happy Valentine's Day to all you people that I love! (and yes Jim, I know, it's only 27 days till I turn 40. Thanks for the reminder. )

Breaking News!

It's the Friday after Valentines, I'm feeling a little better, so Jim (who makes sure I leave my house occassionally) and I went to visit DO. While we were there, we learned that Prince will be performing in Cleveland on Mar 10th. So after registering with tickets.com (the same site that sells Indian tickets. WooHoo Jim Thome!), I was up and anxiously awaiting to purchase tickets at 10am on Saturday for Jim. (Thanks once again, Jim! As long as Prince isn't canceled like our ELO concert was, this will be a GREAT bday present!)

If you've ever checked out my Tattoo Page, you probably know that I have been a Prince fan for a long time. Now that I know the concert is coming up, I decided to pull out all the Prince music I have and listen for a while. I realized that I have a lot of Prince stuff. Here's the breakdown:

• 18 - CDs
• 2 - CD singles
• 3 - Cassettes
• 3 - Cas-singles
• 8 - 45's
• 6 - Albums
• 4 - 12-in Singles
• 3 - Shelia E. albums
• 3 - Shelia E. CDs
• 1 - Shelia E. Cassettes
• 2 - Time CDs
• 1 - Vanity Album
• 1 - Vanity Cassettes
• 1 - Wendy and Lisa Cassette
• 1 - The Family Cassette
• 1 - Sheena easton CD

It's been a really hard ending to February up here. Please click over to March to get the whole story - plus catch up on how hectic next month started.