Lisa: "You haven't updated your blog since Tuesday."
Ben: "No, really? Maybe you internet browser is caching the page Hit refresh."
Lisa: "Nope."
Ben: "Hmmmm, twitter must be keeping the commentors at bay..."

My dear reading public. I am sorry I haven't updated. Between my face hurting most of last week and doing a lot of work combined with a short week I have been thrown off a bit. (What day is it?)

Happy 4th of July! Errr... yesterday. A happy 203rd anniversary of the US's 29th birthday! To celebrate yesterday I woke up, did some stuff around the house, and when Lisa woke up 3 hours later we made fruit salad and headed off to our first BBQ. We were there until about 6pm and then we moved to the second one and we got home about 1:30am. Being as we left our house at 12:30 that means we BBQ'ed/ 4th of July partied for 13 hours. It's nice to be able to go out and about. I remember last year we were halfway hoping I would be in the Hospital over the holiday so that we could watch the fireworks from my room overlooking lake union. That didn't happen and I figure we probably spent the day at home, me on the couch. I guess I could always look back at the archives, but I am still trying to work through that mentally.

Today we're taking it easy about the house. I am letting Lisa work on some things for her internship but doing things that need doing around the house. (Laundry, dishes, bathroom cleaning, etc) I figure she did a lot of that stuff on her own last year, I might as well take some of the work off of her so she can do some "professional development".

Medically: I'm doing well. Muscles REALLY need some work. I played Wii baseball yesterday and my arm is pretty sore today. I'm still hovering around 140 weight wise. I'm trying to eat healthier and push myself a little harder and get stronger everyday. Thank you for the continued prayers in that area. I covet your prayers as I continue this summer.

Ok, I think I need to go clean something now. (Oh, the picture is of Niko "helping" me make fruit salad. (Hint: He's not REALLY helping.))


~B.

Labels: food, Funny, health, parties

Hello Everyone!
It's been a little hotter than Ben likes it this weekend (over mid-80's? Really?) however some people seem to enjoy it so I am going to adopt Ryan's view on the thing and be happy for those people who find happiness in heat. I will be happy to continue in the 60 degree summer weather though, with an occasional mid 70's day to break up the pattern.

While trying to stay cool this weekend I found myself in the a movie theater about 3 times. My current summer movie ranking looks something like this now:

1. Wall-e
2. Caspian
3. Iron Man
4. Hulk
5. Get Smart
6. Indy 4
7. Wanted

Wall-e is great. Very well animated, and the story is VERY well told and the emotion a little Robot can convey is incredible. Well worth the price of admission. (The short at the beginning of the movie is pretty funny as well! (It's like 2 great movies for the price of one!))

In other news my Xbox 360 DVD drive died today. Was it the heat? I don't know, all I know is that the grinding sound is bad. I called tech support and they told me (surprise) the drive was bad and it would cost 99 bucks to fix it. Being as that is 1/3rd the cost of a new one I decided against it and I am going to utilize my "computer taking apart and putting back together skills" to install a new one. Not like I can void a warranty that doesn't exist. (The strange thing is that I honestly don't play it that much... not like it dies from overuse or anything.)

Lisa was feeling the weather today and took a sick day to stay home. I think she's feeling better (headache, nausea, etc) than she was this morning, but she spent a lot of time sleeping today.I am sure she would appreciate some prayer for her health.

IN the health department I continue to do fairly well. I'm going to try and cap my hours per week to 32 to avoid burning myself out, at least for the next few months. We'll see how things go after that.

I continue to thank God for my mobility and how I am getting stronger every week. I really look forward to what God has for me as I get better. Thank you all for your continued prayers! Vacation is sounding so great right now! (Well, vacation without medical complications...)

~B.

Labels: health, movies

When you can buy WINDOWS. Yes, so we got a quote to replace the (aged/ing) windows in our condo and, low and behold, it is the same cost we had assigned to buying a second car. I am guessing that the windows will probably win out over the car being as we would use the windows on a daily basis and the car on a semi-weekly basis. Besides, odds are good the windows would start saving us money, where as the car would draw money on a fairly regular basis.

I have a bit of a confession to make. I'm Twitter-patted. (Bambi reference for you there) The "micro-blogging" site Twitter.com is kind of fun and I wish I knew more people on it. It's kind of like a Facebook status, combined with a group chat. I can post whatever I want to say in 140 characters or less, and my "followers" can see and reply to what I have written. It's fun, I've been having little "mini" conversations with people I haven't seen in person in a while. Plus it's kind of fun to see what people are posting if they happen to be by a computer and posting to twitter. (I use an Adobe Air version called Twhirl that sits on my desktop quietly whist I work.) It's also allowed me to have conversations with people who see my Facebook status and ask more about what I meant.

I been having a lot of dreams lately. Last night specifically I had a dream that I had to go into surgery again. It was strange because it happened in my dream just like it did in real life. In my dream I kind of "blacked out" at a certain point and only remember after I woke up. At this point in my life I am trying really hard not to think about what I went through last year. I don't think I would say that I am "out of the woods" by any stretch of the imagination, but it is kind of nice to have the time that God has given me to see people and do things to help people.

I don't know if this has anything to do with being shut in a hospital for so much of last summer, but I have also had quite the desire to travel these last few months. I want to go out and see the world. I'm sure that probably has something to do with being faced with the possibility that I might NOT get to travel when I am "older". It seems to me like traveling is a two sided coin. On one hand you get to experience new places and new people and expand you horizons, on the other hand it keeps you from close friends and family. The dichotomy of travel.

(Picture courtesy of writing this blog and being side-tracked by a small green bird with really bad posture!)

~B.

Labels: family, health, travel

Tomorrow it's back to the helm of the IT department(s) I am in charge of. In some ways this has been a rough weekend, but in other ways its been nice and relaxing.

First off after completing a 41.5 hour work week (woooo!) Lisa and I went on a date. We had dinner at the Coho cafe and then saw "Get Smart". It was a funny movie (3rd best in my movie lineup so far this season (for the record: Prince Caspian, Iron Man, Get Smart, and Indiana Jones) I'd like to add "The Incredible Hulk" (Dan and Jane are both in the credits!) and "Kung Fu Panda" to the list as well, but "Wall-e" comes out next weekend, so we all know what Ben will be seeing.)) and it was kind of interesting to see Steve Carrell playing a somewhat different character than he normally plays.

Saturday morning Lisa and I got up and went to see a technical dress rehearsal for Taproot's next musical, "Big River". It's starting July 11th so it has some time to get perfect, but already it's looking pretty good. Feel free to book your tickets now. It's going to be a good one!

After the rehearsal we went and looked at a used car*. It was a little more "used" than I wanted to invest in so we passed on the opportunity and came home. Both Lisa and I have felt pretty under the weather (sore) and tired this weekend. I was going to blame it on working as much as I did, but Lisa feels bad as well and she works that typically. (Which I guess doesn't rule it out entirely...) I think we've probably been "bug battling".

We've been trying to blend into the High School group at church a little better. It's hard at this point because a lot of the kids are going on vacation and I feel like I barely see the same people twice. Lisa has jumped right into party organizing and has scheduled a "girls sleep over" for next weekend. Thankfully they won't be sleeping over here.

* Used car: Yes, we are looking for another car. There are times when our commutes mean that we can't be going the same place at the same time, and going back to get the other person is a big time suck and well as a waste of gas. (IE: driving from Bellevue to Bothell to Bellevue to (insert place Lisa needs to go (Renton? Monroe?)) to Bellevue to Bothell to Bellevue. As opposed to: Bellevue to (wherever Lisa need to go) to Bellevue. And Ben: Bellevue to Bothell and back. And if the Eastside had a more robust Metro system (that didn't take me an hour or two to get from Bellevue to Seattle or Bothell) I would most likely do that route, however this isn't the case and so it appears there is another car in our future.

I thank you as well for those of you that continue to pray for Lisa and I am I continue to recover from cancer. I've been trying to make the most with the time I have now and hope that when August and October roll around that I will continue to be cancer free.

~B.

Labels: health

It's now been almost 4 months since I wrapped up radiation treatments. I have to say that I am enjoying the whole "not going to the hospital more than once a week thing". Being able to work more than 2 hours a day (or less) is pretty cool as well.

While I am sore most days I think that stems from continued healing AND using muscles that haven't been used in over a year. I'm starting to get to the point where I can work full days and not be "dog tired" at the end of the day. I have also been thinking that some exercise might very well be possible soon.

I have also gained a few pounds weight wise. At this rate I'll be back to my normal weight in 3 to 5 years! (Well... hopefully not actually... as I have lost it I'd kind of like to keep it off... (or... muscle weight... yeah muscles...))

I appreciate your prayers for continued healing and strength. I look forward to seeing those of you I will be seeing at the party on Sunday. The rest of you, I thank you for your prayers, and I am sorry you can't make it! May God bless you for praying for me!

~B.

Labels: health, parties