|
|
| Week One: |
|---|
|
As with most months, by the time I tell you of my latest update (if you were one of the ones I emailed), it has already become the next month and, boy, am I ever glad to be out of last month!  Since February was so very bad (click here to read all about it), I'm really looking forward to this month - even if I do get older!! (On the 14th, I'll actually have made it to the ripe old age of 42.) Cause with the way things go in my life, getting older is very, very GOOD THING. 
All of my other family and friends that are getting older last month and this month (Ritchie, Angie, Linda, Celia, Jon, Lisa, Donny, and Kayla) will just have to deal with their own problems about getting older; as for me, what can I say but,
 WOOHOO!
To prove that it's no longer February (it's only Mar. 2), I already have some good news this month.  Last month, I mentioned Vicki from Trillium Family Services, who helped me through the difficulties of getting my situation straightened around with Human Services. Since I mentioned her, and had seen her email address on her business card, I thought I should send her a special email so she could she her name on the net too. 
Then I received a voicemail from her this morning, saying thanks, but (isn't there always a "but"?) Ohio had run out of funds to cover the medical card spend down amounts for March/April. She was quick to add that she already had a solution for my problem though. Unfortunately, we played phone tag for a while. When she called back the next time, she didn't have bad news though, she had GREAT news! The state had run out of money, but after they had re-calculated my case at Human Services, they lowered my spend down amount (The amount I have to pay before a medical card is issued. The medical card then covers all medical costs.), which means that Ohio had been over-paying my spend down and I have a credit - enough of a credit to clear my medical card through till July!! WooHoo! Oh, and I should mention here that this morning when I woke up, I felt better than I had in nearly 2 months.
 |
Lookie! It's me!
Alive and well,
and busy back at Expert Auto.
Wave to the camera! |
|
|
Week Two: |
|---|
|
OOPS! I spoke too soon.  The barfing has come back and with quite a vengeance. Four days in a row, I've woken up, barfed, and then felt sort of okay. I know that sounds a little bit ambiguous; but I'm kinda half-sick and half-well.  And another rash has appeared. Yippee! For about two days I was pretty itchy and burn-y as you can see in these pictures of my arm and leg and my face. (Heck! I reacted this bad last time I colored my hair too. ROFL)
Luckily, a few more days have gone by (as my b-day is quickly approaching  ) and I'm really feeling fairly well now. plus, I've been able to catch nearly all my bills up (only 2 left and they are "current")! I'm sure I'm feeling much better now that the money stress has been relieved some.
OOPS! I spoke too soon again.  (No, I didn't use the emoticon, I'm not sick again.) I'm just about to turn OLDER!!!! YIKES! LOL Mark the 14th on your calendars! And, so that you have NO excuse, use this handy little form and send me a "Happy Birthday" e-note. (After you "send", you'll be returned right to this spot, so you won't miss anything here. )
| Now that I'm feeling better, and NEED to not look like I'm about to be 42, I've dyed my hair again. This time the red is a little darker; but I used a different brand so I could avoid any "extra" rashes or reactions. I've had enough of those to last me for quite a while. LOL |
 |
| Still recovering, I was offered no help from the slave master Tara at EAC. We had purchased her a new larger hard drive way back in December. Well, she decided that I was quite well enough to get my butt into her office and get her set up. So, here I am, in these pictures, all alone on a Saturday and Sunday, running my ass off between the computers getting things back together. |
 |
 |
| How to tell that you are a Computer Geek: |
|---|
When the sunlight hits you,
you shriek "Get it off me! GET IT OFF MEEEE!" |
| Your skin is so white that light reflects off of it. |
| Vampires mistake you as one of their own. |
| The only reason you even know it's summer is that now at 4am you begin hearing an annoying "chirping" sound outside. |
| You're wearing sun glasses inside. |
| Mosquitoes land on you and inject blood into you to help out. |
 |
 Gabby, waiting for me to come back home |
Special Flash Update for Week Three: "I'm old now!" 
|
|
Week Three: |
|---|
 |
Although my name is misspelled, it's the sentiment that counts! plus all that great icing!! DO keeps the local bakery hopping during March with all the cakes (and several of the birthday boys are named "Mike"), so a little error like this isn't surprising. It still tasted great anyway. |
| Jim liked the Christmas present that I got for him so much that he got me the same thing! A shower CD player. Instead of inflicting you with photos of me, naked and wet, dancing in the shower, I was a good boy and took just a normal picture of me taking a picture. |
 |
 |
This is my attempt at following advice from those "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" fellows. A little bit of printer paper, an old CD and floppy, and, viola, this lava lamp is now an attractive, interesting package for one of those other Mikes having a birthday that I know. |
$$ for the "New Jeans Fund" |
 |
I got more Birthday Cards than Christmas cards this year. That blue note at my monitor is there to reminding me that it is NOW time to go my car plates renewed. They have expired, along with my birthday. LOL 
|
Among my many health problems lately, of course, I've also had a problem of keeping my weight up. Between my last two doctor visits, I had actually eaten quite a lot and was to hoping to have weighed a little higher up on the scales than 125 (normally it's about 135). However, those bouts of barfing with the new meds negated any gain, so I had a net gain/loss of 0 lbs. for the second weigh-in. Having a birthday with such a lovely cake coated in thick white sugarery yummy icing has got to be a cure for this weight problem. ROFL (I know, I know.  Most of you have the opposite problem; but let me tell you, being skinny isn't any fun either.)
MouseOver to see the Cure! |
 |
Now that my birthday has passed, and my health is on the upswing (no doctor appointments until April 1st; but my blood is "feeling" better, so my counts should be too. LOL ) my mind has turned to another upcoming event and I have a project for some of my friends to help me with. |
 | Although Spring brings the flowers (by now, you should know that I really love my flowers and my yard work), it also brings up all my memories of Randy. Oh, I have lots of good memories of him that aren't just associated with this time of year; but this time of year holds the most intense memories. |
The help that you could provide me is some more memories and pictures of Randy. As we approach the 10 year anniversary of his death (yes, it is hard to realize that it has been a decade without Randy), I thought that it would be nice to use my expertise and collect pictures and stories of Randy and combine them into a memorial website for my beloved departed significant other. please, take some time to check through all those old pictures from the 80's that you have shoved in a drawer somewhere and see if you have any of Randy. Dredge through your memories and jot down some story that YOU remember about Randy. In a future update to this site, I'll give you more information on how to submit your photos, scans and stories. (If you live nearby, I have access to a nice scanner, and will eagerly scan in your pictures of Randy and return them to your safe-keeping.) I greatly appreciate any help that you can give me in creating this memorial remembering Randy. | |
|
|
Week Four: |
|---|
|
Thanks! to everyone that sent me b-day emails. I was getting worried when the only card I got was from my GrandMother the last mail day before my birthday. (I was even worried that my Mom was going to forget me. No card. No gift. No phone call - and we've nearly all got free minutes on the weekend and my bday was on a Sunday! But she finally came through about 6:30 that night to wish me a happy Happy. Still no gift though. ) With the wonderful annual gift from my GrandMother ($30!)and the cash others gave me (everyone knew about my financial problems by now and wanted to help me out), I kept the utilities on, got a new pair of jeans, and paid for my car tags (they come due in Ohio on your birthday). Thank you all! It's nice to have things still improving after that
disastrous February; but I still have a ways to go.
March sure has been busy. First I was dealing with all that health and health care issues (evil Human Services Dpt. 
and lots of ing); then I got busy (huge upgrade at Expert Auto and new clients for the "Computer Tutor"); and after that, I got older (gosh! 42 - I still find it hard to believe!). Now I've still been really busy with EAC (Expert Auto Collision) and a bunch of clients . . .
. . . Wait a minute. Did I forget to mention that it's gotten all cold and sn*wy again?
So here I am, running around, recovering (I guess the meds must be working. Just a week ago, I was incredibly ill and wondering if I had finally pushed things too far.) and handling business, when my computer decides to start acting up. Well, I did know that this time was coming up, and a re-format was in my future. I just didn't know that it would be right after that big EAC project and in-between clients. I took the weekend off (well, not quite; but I'll explain that in a minute) and burned off all my data, removed all my extra hardware and re-formatted. The two-day process went smoothly; but slowly as it always does. By now, I've done this to enough other computers that it is becoming old hat. LOL 
 | As I was house-cleaning my computer and had it all apart, I began to consider re-arranging my real house too. Ever since I had moved my computer to the living room again, I hadn't been quite satisfied with the setup, and add to that, that my old computer had returned to me once again. So Jim (who says that I don't mention him enough in my writings ) and I put our heads together and schemed out a new plan. |
Stealing a couple of dining room table chairs (that I never used anyway), a side board to an old waterbed, the old dining room table that my family used when I was a kid, and some ingenuity, we created "mIkIE's Mission Control". I know that it looks like a lot but you have to remember what a tech geek I really am. This is my job, my occupation, and this is my workstation. |  |
The Dell computer (on the right, upper shelf, black case) runs my three monitors (on the bottom shelf) and
mIkIE-cam, while my old Compaq (on the left in a beige case) runs "yard-cam" (more about "yard-cam" in a minute) - with it's
monitor right beside it, it can be easily removed when I have a customer's computer to work on. I even figured out how to network the two systems together (thanks to all those hours I've spent working with the Expert Auto mini-network ) |
Gratuitous Butt Shot of the Month
MouseOver for the GBS of March! LOL
putting it all together and hoping not to:
fall, drop a monitor, get electrocuted, or blow up the house
mIkIE's Mission Control
Well, I promised to tell you a couple things and I better since the end of the month is approaching. LOL First, while I was busy in the middle of all that re-formatting and re-arranging on Sunday, my client for Wed. called wondering if we could move the appointment to the very next morning! Not! Mission Control was up; but wasn't officially fully operational, so I had to solve my own computer problems first before tackling any others. Another client called in with questions during this time, and even EAC called with a problem (but I love them , so even though they had already gotten their money's worth out of me for the month (since I had been in such financial straights and was having a birthday, I asked them for extra money this month which they happily ponied up. Only problem now, is that I worked so much extra for them that I really didn't make any extra money at all ), Jim and I stopped by for 1/2 hour on Sunday evening and got things back up and running there. I know, I know. I'm a god. LOL )
Finally (and I say that with a week left in the month and we all know that "anything" could happen in my life and end up as another update here. ROFL  ), I am running two webcams from the house now. I'm sure you'll all remember "mIkIE cam" that shows me at my desk (wait! Gotta start calling it "Mission Control" now), added to that, by a brilliant suggestion from Jim, is "yard cam". Now I can watch my doggies when I let them out without having to go into the cold or snow myself. (I'm still not certain if I should call it "yard cam", "puppy cam" or maybe that should be "poopie cam". LOL Let's hope we don't catch any of that online. ROFL
 |
 |
| The pups out, barking at the school kids |
 |
 |
| MouseOver to see the security light light up the patio |
Jim out with the kidz |
 |
 |
| Dogs in the Dark |
My regular cam page has now been updated to include the new cam (although pool Cam is not online....yet! Spring is on the way though, and pool time is right after that! ). Click the link below and check out what's happening now in my house, in the backyard or over at Expert Auto.
http://reigningpages.com/cams
By the way, there is method to my madness for having so many cams. I had originally discussed setting up multiple cams in the bays at Expert Auto that customers could view online. Well, that's the project for April over there, and I'm busy learning how to make it all work now. But watch out! After I set up EAC, and bring my old cam back home (it's the cam in use at EAC right now), I'll have to decide what I want to add next - "Porch Cam", "Living Room Cam", or maybe even "Fountain Cam". ROFL
|
|
|
