| leatherman's log |
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January 2007 |
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| Week One: |
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I hope you remembered to check out
my holiday update for Christmas 2006 or my Summary of 2006 last
month. Although I was in the middle of moving to a new home, we
still had a nice Holiday season - especially since I was able to
unpack nearly everything before the New Year started.
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Now, we're heading into
a new year. It's amazing to think that I've nearly been up here
in Ohio (2007 - 1985) for as long as I lived in North Carolina
(1962 - 1985). This upcoming November will be the actual
dividing point of 23 yrs. in NC and 23 yrs. in Ohio. Of course, I've been thinking thoughts like
that since I just packed up all my belongings and moved. As I've
sorted through things (12 yr. old accident reports from when I
was a courier and was wrecked into 14 times; my high school
diploma from my Christian school; the obituaries of my Father
and of Randy; a piece of the hood from my GEO; the ticket stubs
to Prince and the Nine Inch Nail concerts), I've thought a lot
about the past, my life and the future. The past life of my
Christian upbringing and schooling in NC (23 yrs.) was so
different from my current life with and without Randy (22 yrs.).
Now, as my health (and mental disposition) has improved, I'm
starting another segment of my life in a new year and in a new
home with the wonderful man that I love. Since I can't predict
how long my good health will continue, there's no way I can say
how long this part of my life is going to last; but whether it's
two years or another twenty-plus years, I won't complain. I've
been lucky to make it this far. I've had the love and joy from
ten cockers spaniels, and I've been luckier to have had the love
of two great guys. Add to that, three moms that watch out and
care for me, an adopted family with nieces and nephews, and a
whole host of great friends, and how could I complain? I may be
headed for 45 yrs. old this March, but I ain't dead, and it's
all a helluva lot better than being sick or in the hospital!
Hello 2007!
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| Final Update on the Move |
I'm hoping this really is my final
update about my move from the house on 14th St. Of course, the tale
I have to tell isn't about a happy ending, but it definitely is an
ending. As you should know, I've been waiting for my Social Security
check to arrive in the mail, as it usually does on the third of each
month. Just think about it. Only a few weeks ago, I was anxiously
awaiting this day just so I could have the money to rent a U-Haul
and begin to move. Of course, after several special Christmas
presents, I've been out of that house for a while now.
Then
I found out that not only had the landlord broken into the house,
but maybe even burglars!
 Needlessly it seems, I had worried
about my friends getting their stored items. Unfortunately for them,
time had run out when I went by the house today to retrieve my mail
(including my SS check).
I pulled in front of the house to find a semi-filled dumpster parked out back,
the carpet ripped up and outside on the front porch, and workmen
inside!
 According to one of the workmen, not only had the landlord
changed the locks again; but the house had already been sold! By the
looks of the place, the workmen had been quite busy. Everything left
inside the house (including the boxes in the basement) had been
cleared out.
Frustrated, I left and visited DO's for a while before going back to
catch the mailman delivering to my old house. After a quick run by
the bank, I made one last visit to my landlord, where I hoped to
vocalize my displeasure with his actions again.
Probably better for me, and assuredly much better for my landlord,
he was quite busy in the office when I arrived. Although I usually
never saw anyone in the office when I made my monthly payments, now
there were two couples there involved in signing papers for houses
of their own. The landlord was shocked to see me again. I politely
told him again that I had said I would be out by the 7th. and that
this was only the 3rd.
He started to make some lame excuses; but I think he noticed the
twitch I was developing as I was working up to a good "mad"
,
and his excuses petered out. Even though he said he didn't need the
key, I made sure to place it in his hand, tell him that I was DONE
with that house, not to mess with my mail (since that is a federal
offense) and turned to leave before I really gave him the brunt of
my wrath in front of those witnesses. |
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But it's all over now.
 I'll
probably stop by two more times to check on my mail; but my
involvement with that house is over. I came HOME
 ,
took the dogz outside in the incredibly wonderful, mild weather that
we're having, and we had a blast playing around.
All of my boxes are out of the garage now (although they were
replaced with Jim's old couch, headboard along with my refrigerator
),
and nearly everything is unpacked inside the house. WooHoo!
Tomorrow, with the pushpins that I just bought today, I'll finish
hanging up the rest of my masks, and call the moving part of this
adventure just about over and done with. |
| I'm going to guess on this date, but I
believe that in was in 1987, while we lived in Cleveland, that Randy
and I took his mom (Carolynn) to the Palace Theater to see the
Broadway musical "Dream Girls". During my college years I had seen
several musicals ("Oliver Twist", "A Chorus Line"); but up until
this night out on the town, I had only heard the soundtrack to the
"Dream Girls" musical. The performance was wonderful, and this was
always one of the happy memories of my time with Randy. |
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Now, twenty years later
,
I went with another one of my moms (Joyce aka DO) to see the movie
version of this musical. This new performance was just as good as
the stage version I saw all those yrs. ago. There were a few song
changes and a few new plot devices introduced; but all in all, they
told the same story, and maybe even a little bit better. This movie
gets two thumbs us from DO and me. (I'll just have to break out the
Phantom of the Opera DVD until this movie hits the stores.
LOL) |
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| I told you the moving was nearly over
and it really is. I'm just down to a few projects left to handle. I
washed down my frig, so we can decide which one to keep in the house
and which one stays in the garage for the Summer parties. I moved
the last of my furniture pieces into the house, and have no more
boxes to unpack. Best of all, making this place my home now, I
finally got ALL of my masks hanging on the wall.
(and YES, there is still a little bit of wall left for some new
masks. hint hint.
) |
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Week Two: |
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| WooHoo!
All the packing,
unpacking, cleaning and moving is DONE! And all of the pets are
still alive! You know, we were a little worried as to how well the
catz and dogz were going to adjust to each other; but there's been
no problems to speak of, and all the pets are co-habitating together
well. As you can see here, Nami has found a good place to get out of
the dogs way. |
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While I have nothing but
good news to report on how things are going on living with Jim now,
I do have some bad news, of sorts. My poor old Taurus is dead!
It seems that the loud noise I heard the last time I drove it and it
was overheating (about 10 months ago!) really was the head cracking.
Unfortunately, there's no way I can afford to get a new engine and
have it installed in a car this old (15 yrs) with this much mileage.
Since it's not even parked on my property, I really don't have the
time or ability to try to put the car up for sale either. I signed
over the title this past weekend and sent it back with my friend,
Mike P, who had tried to repair the car for me. Now he's going to be
having it hauled away to the scrap yard.
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| Even though I'm without a
car now, I haven't been stuck in my new house. Several times over
the last few weeks, DO has graciously loaned me her car to run my
errands. The last time I borrowed her vehicle, I was able to sneak
in an extra errand and picked up a new client.
While I was leaving
the bank and about to return the car to DO, my friend Ruth (another
ex-Waikem employee) gave me a call for an opportunity. |
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Ruth is now working for an auto body
repair shop (Lambert's Auto, Inc) a few miles down Cleveland Ave,
and it only took me a few extra minutes to swing down and visit her.
It seems they wanted some help getting a computer ready for a new
software program (that was an easy, quick in-shop fix I was able to
do during lunch
),
plus they needed a couple of ads put together for the Yellow Pages.
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So once again, as a
computer guy, I'm working for another car place and this time it's
another repair shop.
 (check out my preliminary sample ads) Luckily, with all my moving finished, I
have the time to work on this project, and, we all know, that a
little more money sure couldn't hurt my situation. Even though I
moved in with Jim and the situation is better since I'm not paying
out as much in rent and utilities now as I was running my other
house; my check is still that small amount for another two years.
So, any extra job I can get is always welcome!
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Over the years, I've learned a few
tricks, and one is to really use my camera. Rather than copy
their ad, or run off a copy, I simply took pictures of their current
ad, the building, and some of the ads in the book that they liked. I
tried to get a good picture of Ruth to show you; but she was wise to
my tricks, and kept ducking behind the phonebook.
 I did however catch her off guard when a customer
distracted her for a moment. MouseOver to see the picture I did
finally get of Ruthie.
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Week Three: |
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| WooHoo!
While I have still been working on those auto body shop ads, I got a
call from one of my old clients. I was able to borrow DO's car
again, and got in a few hours of easy, fun work. Afterwards, DO and
Rosita visited me for a while after taking me back home. |
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| The interior designer that
I worked for a few years ago had called with some email problems,
and needed her computer moved to a new location in the office. I
didn't mind helping out with that since I had spent plenty of
time on dusty, dirty car dealership floors hooking up computers.
At least, this office had carpet and wasn't too dusty at all. I even
got a free lunch out of the deal.
MMM, that Turkey Reuben wrap from Arby's is awfully good. |
| What an amazing Fall and
Winter we've been having up here in Ohio. I've been afraid that if
it got any warmer, I'd had to drag out Jim's mower (can't use mine,
since it was stolen from the old house.
) and mow the lawns. Of
course, this is Ohio, so we all knew this weather wasn't going to
last through the rest of Winter. We've now dipped down into the 20's
and 30's and we've been seeing flakes - some on the ground; but most
only in the air. Although we haven't had much snowy weather yet,
it's bound to hit us sometime this Winter. I just hope that it
hurries up and snows! As soon as we get that out of the way, we'll
be on our way to Spring!
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| As I was moving into Jim's, I noticed
something rather distressing. Two of our kidz are really showing
their age now. We have been able to get through some of the
accompanying problems with one of our pets; but I don't think we'll
be able to do anything very helpful for our other pet. |
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My oldest baby, Gabby, is showing her
age with a couple of problems; but they aren't so bad that she and
we haven't been able to compensate.
Her hips aren't so great now, and she isn't able to jump up onto the
couch anymore. We had already been carrying her up and down the
stairs to and from bed since before I moved out of the old house.
She can still make the climb up sometimes; but going down the stairs
worries not only her, but me too, so carrying her has been the best
solution. (Thank goodness, it's not Joxer with this problem.
He weights a ton!)
Ever since last Spring, Gabby's eyesight has been getting worse too.
It hadn't even dawned on me that moving to a new home would present
problems because of that, but I guess I should have realized it.
Luckily, she still has some sight and is a very smart little doggie.
She pays close attention to where my voice is coming from when we go
outside and is quick to follow the boyz around to get to places. She
has bumped into the doors and doorframes some, but she's a fast
learner and doesn't have too many incidents like that. |
| Unfortunately, Tsunami's problems
aren't as easily handled.
During the last year, he's slowly been getting thinner and moving
around less. Just after me and the dogz moved in, Nami was sick a
few days. We think drinking some bleach water out of the toilet
might have been the cause. However, after getting better from that,
Nami has taken a more serious turn for the worse.
Just like with my Sheagra a little over a year ago, Tsunami is now
very weak and lying off in the bathroom, away from the rest of us.
He seems to be as comfortable as he can be. Now time will take it's
course.
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| Unfortunately, it didn't
take long for time to follow it's course. I wrote the section above
late Friday (1/19) night . Although Nami was eating and drinking on
Saturday, by Sunday he was just too weak to even take any
nourishment. We kept a close eye on him throughout Sunday, and knew
the end was coming soon. Just like with Sheagra, it was
heartbreaking to have to check every so often to see if Nami was
still breathing or if he had already passed. Before going to bed on
Sunday night, I made sure to spend some time lying on the bathroom
floor beside Nami, reminding him how much we loved him and how good
a kitty he had been, knowing that he probably wouldn't make it
through the night. I woke up just before 5am to find that Jim was
not in the bed. Dreading to find out, I went downstairs to find Jim
crying and our Nami gone.
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| Tsunami really was a good boy too! As a
Siamese, he was, of course, quite vocal and pretty ornery. Jim had
to replace patio screens several times where Nami busted through to
go exploring through the neighborhood. After Sarek and Showie passed
away, he seemed to "channel" them, and really became quite a loving
kitty. He really earned the nickname of "Showie-Rekky-Nami-kan" as
he embodied a little bit of himself and his feline brothers. |
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| I'm happy that I can say
that my move into Jim's house wasn't traumatic for Nami. I was so
afraid that he and the dogz would have problems; but within hours of
our moving in, Nami had joined Jim and I and the dogz in the living
room. With me here during the days during these last weeks, Nami got
plenty of extra love and attention, so I know that his last days
were good times for him. |
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I feel so bad for my poor Jim. Within
the last couple of years, he has lost his whole "pack" of kitties. I
remember how hard it was for me as I had to say goodbye to the
members of my first "pack" of dogs. It's quite a dramatic loss when
you've had so many pets and then you lose them. |
| The only comfort,
and this is what I tell everyone when this subject comes up, is that
no matter what heartbreak comes from losing your pets, it's nothing
compared to the years of love, joy, and companionship that you
receive from them. Given the choice of not ever having them, or
having to deal with the grief at the end, I will ALWAYS take the
option of having them as long as possible. |
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Week Four: |
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| We've had another kitty problem, but
nothing as serious as last week. Poor little Baba has had an itching
problem for a few months. She doesn't have fleas, it's too cold for
that
; but something is bothering her, perhaps it's her nerves.
You see, the night after I buried Nami for Jim, I walked into the
kitchen to find Baba busily scratching and digging at her back. As I
watched, I saw that she was actually ripping out small bites of fur!
Although she did strip a big patch of fur off her back, she's doing
better now. While Jim held onto her, I put a bunch of antibacterial
ointment on her sores, and then we wrapped her middle up in gauze.
Believe it or not, the gauze stayed on her for several days. Her
back is even beginning to heal up now. I'll keep a good eye on her
and if this condition continues, we'll have to see about a vet trip
at the first of the month. Hopefully though, the gauze and ointment
treatment (which I need to re-apply) will do the trick.
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They kept predicting snow; but the only
section of Ohio that really seemed to be getting any is an area near
Cleveland known as the "Snow Belt". Luckily, we're miles, and miles
from that section of the state, so things haven't been bad down
here. However, we're under a Snow Alert now, and we woke up this
morning to a couple of inches of snow.
(That's DO's car in the drive right now. I borrowed it for a trip to
my doctor this afternoon - more on the doctor visit later.) |
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MouseOver Special
"How much is that doggie in the window?"
Just like at the old house, the dogs, especially Joxer and Aries (in
this picture) are quite fond of poking their
heads through the blinds to watch what's going on outside. (Look in
the lower right hand corner of the front window and you'll see "DriveWay
Cam".
) |
| This is such a sad sight, I almost
didn't want to show it to you.
Just keep in the mind that in less than 4 months, it'll be Spring
and warm and we'll have the pool open again and ready for more
Summer fun.
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| Speaking of Summer fun,
Jim and I recently chatted with a bunch of our friends. As you know,
it hadn't snowed until recently, so we had already canceled
"Snowtag". Snowtag was supposed to be a Winter version of our Summer
party event of Pooltag. We were hoping to build "sleds" out of pop
bottles for a downhill race. With such a warm Winter and so little
snow, things just didn't work out for this snowy event. |
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However, everyone thought another
Pooltag would be a great idea for this Summer. Things went very
well with Pooltag last year, so I think it'll work out even better
this Summer, as we host Pooltag 2!
This time everyone has a better idea of what Pooltag is about and
about how to build a float for the event. So start saving up your
2-liter pop bottles and join us this summer for Pooltag 2007!
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As you can see, I've already been working on new ideas and graphics
for the Pooltag website. I'll be making changes there soon and
updating everyone on the plans (date and time) as we get closer to
Summer. Just start saving those bottles now and designing your float to
enter into the contest! It'll be here before we know it. Don't
forget to start stocking up on duct tape too!
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| It's been several months
since I've had to see the doctor and it's that time finally. Oh
don't worry. This is just one of my regular checkups.
Actually
because my blood work had been so good at the end of summer, I
haven't had to see the doc since the end of last September! WooHoo! |
| I got pretty good news
from the doctor. My T-Cells, like my weight, really didn't change. I
still weight 135 lbs (as I have since I was in college), and my
T-Cells changed from 262 up to 263. That's fine with me!
An average person has a count of at least 1,000; but mine have only
been over 300 one time in over a decade of dealing with this
illness. The Viral Load change wasn't as good though. It went
from <75, which is clinically
"undetectable", up to 3,892. I know why those counts are
higher and explained to my doctor that I know I missed several doses
over meds during the holidays and while I was moving. Just to make
sure that's the cause, I've got to do blood work again at the end of
Feb. and return to the doctor on March 15th (the day after I turn
45!!!
).
I'm sure my counts will be better then, since I've already gotten
back into my daily habits here in my new home.
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| Click the chart graphic
above if you need further explanation. |
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| Even though Christmas was last month,
some belated gifts have started to arrive. As she did last year,
Jodi put money into her mom's (DO) Amazon account and had us all
pick out gifts.
Along with a new pair of (plastic-frame) sunglasses to wear in the
pool this Summer, I got this new 1gb MP3 player to replace my old
one (with only 256mb). I'll have to go get more rechargeable
batteries since this new one uses a different size. It'll much
cheaper in the long run, since I do tend to run the power out
listening to my tunes.
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| DO ordered herself quite a
few books for herself (although she's already shared the newest
James Patterson novel, Cross, with me, I'm anxiously
waiting for her to finish up Dean Koontz' Brother Odd
so I can read it.
). Jim ordered a new Star Trek book to read
and add to his collection, and I'm sure I'll be reading it soon too. |
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Speaking of Jim's Star Trek Collection
and me reading his Star Trek books, I should tell you about that.
During all the unpacking and moving, I've been gathering up all the
Star Trek items that Jim has collected over the years. I've been
trying to use this old dresser (which was built by my
great-grandfather) and hutch to display the collection; but it's
tough with ALL the things that Jim has! All of the dresser drawers
are STUFFED with Trek books, with more lying on top and in the hutch
shelves. There's also models, t-shirts, posters, trading cards, toys
from the shows, figurines, computer games, signed photos, calendars,
jewelry, etc. Why there's even Star Trek Barbie and Ken dolls
that I got for Jim a LONG time ago. Maybe one of these snowy days,
I'll do some research and see how much this collection is worth.
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| Well, me and the doggies
have been living with Jim for a month now and things are going
okay.
For the most part things have been great; but I have to temper
my enthusiasm because of losing Tsunami. While the dogz seemed to
have adjusted really well (How much of a change has it been for them
really? They are still living with me and Jim, and sleeping on THEIR
couches during the day.
Ah, I wish we could all be dogs and live the
high life.
).
As for myself, now that everything is unpacked and put away, it's
beginning to feel more like my home too. Jim and I have always
gotten along very well, and just don't believe in fighting with one
another. (It's always amazed me how people can claim to be "in love"
and yet fight so much with their partner. How is that love?!?) The
worst part of living with Jim is that he goes to work and I miss him
during the day.
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Week Five: |
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| Although this January seems long with
almost five full weeks, it has really flown by for me. Most of the
month, I was occupied with unpacking and trying to put things away
at my new house. It wasn't until the end of the month that much else
happened; some good things, and some bad. We were very sad losing
Nami after his short illness; but happy that I had another good
report from the doctor. I got a little more happiness when I got a
couple of customers handled too. Luckily after that, having just a
little bit more snow was the only thing that happened in this last
shortened week of the month. |
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