Thank God Tim's OK

I don't want to get into it in detail -- want to respect Tim's privacy. But he's going to be OK -- For a while I wasn't sure. I was scared. It was the kind of thing that makes me think -- think about how important I am to my family; what I mean to Katie and the kids; what she and the boys mean to me; what things would be like if Katie or I were gone.

I started praying God's help for Tim on Saturday night, and I must have talked to God more from then to now than I have in any other weekend that I can remember. I know Tim had an angel with him Saturday afternoon. No other way to explain it.

Tim -- it sounds crazy, but thank you for this opportunity. It makes me remember what is important in my life -- helps me recognize priorities that sometimes I put aside. I'm glad you're OK.

I wanna go home with the Armadillo

One of the coolest things about visiting Jackson's class the other day was getting to read his 'profile' that they posted outside the class. It's the teachers' way of getting to know everyone, so they ask about a dozen questions like:
- What's your favorite food (mac and cheese)
- What's your pet's name (Hunter)
- What's your favorite song (The Armadillo Song)

And that's the one that got me: The Armadillo Song is 'London Homesick Blues' by Gary P Nunn, famous by Jerry Jeff Walker. We listen to it all the time, and it's what Jackson always asks me to play for him on the guitar. We sing it together while I play, and he plays along on drums / harmonica, or whatever. He even has a couple of little stuffed toy armadillos in his group of 'lovies.'

I am amazed that the song made such an impression on him, a song we share together. For most of the other kids, they said ABCs song, Twinkle-twinkle, or some other kid song. My boys, though, love Jimmy Buffett, 'Stacey's Mom', Black-Eyed Peas, and Jerry Jeff Walker (and his little boy Django). And it seems that the time I spend playing music with them and for them has made an impact with Jackson -- so much that he tosses out The Armadillo Song on his school questionnaire...

I'm a proud Dad.

Parents' Night

SVDP School hosted the Primary Parents last night for an orientation and open house. Katie and I went to meet Jackson's new Pre-K teachers, Ms. Noonan and Ms. Blackwell. They both seem very good at the role of PK teacher -- lots of apparent love, wonderful caring words, and a take-it-as-it-comes attitude. I think Jackson will fit in nicely -- even though I know he'll have his days.

One of the best things said last night was about the Friday notes home. Ms. Blackwell said that, rest-assured, our kids are wonderful 90% of the time. But as for the other 10%, they are going to tell us about it, and we should take it in stride, speak to our kids about how to do better, and move forward. What really cracked me up: "There should be no reason one of these sheets should ever ruin your whole weekend." Wish I had known that last go around!!

I felt really positive just being in Jackson's classroom. I know it's the right place for him, and at the right time.

After orientation, Katie and I went to Goode Co. Seafood for some fine fish, oysters, shrimp and fixins. Fantastic in every way! It was nice to have a night out just the two of us, too. Thanks to Mimi and Papaw for making the trek into town to watch the boys for the evening.

This morning I got up early and drove to Dallas -- wanted to bring my guitar, and didn't want to bring it on the plane. Long drive, but having something to play in the hotel room through the end of the project makes it worth it. Lots of practice time = better playing, right? Hey, if I'm living the rock star life on the road, might as well make a little music...

Little Afternoon Downpour

We went to the beach this weekend, and today brought several downpours on the coast. The winds kicked up on one of them and blew skyward a cabana that someone had left out on the beach during the storm. It ended up about 100 yards down the beach -- lucky it didn't hit anyone's car, or one of the condos. After the second round of rain, we decided to head back to the house. It was already a little after noon, so no big loss -- but the rain came down really heavy on the ride back. Katie was with the boys; I came back in my own car. I was afraid that someone was going to get hurt -- you could hardly see the road or anything in front of you. It was really bad for about 10 minutes, then I got into the clear. Glad to be safe.

When we got home, Katie found that Sylvester had thrown up all over one of the chairs, floor, bed, everything. Stuff's in the wash right now... I figured Katie needed a few minutes to herself, so I took the boys to the comic store, and when we got back read the 3 we got (one Scooby Doo; 2 Spider-Man). That killed about an hour and a half -- but Porter's still full of energy. Katie's got them outside now trying to run Porter out of energy -- don't think that will ever happen!

Beach was beautiful this weekend -- not too crowded. Lots of shells and driftwood. Clear skies with high clouds most of the time. Katie got me a steak and her some salmon for Friday night, which was really good, and a nice special treat. Other than that, we just played on the beach and in the surf; I played guitar a bit; we read the paper and Rolling Stone; and kept the kids happy.

Good weekend, all around.

Fun with shock tests

OK, so the latest in the 'numb finger' saga was today's Electromyography (EMG) test. I've got to know how they came up with this one... basically, it's a test to check for Carple Tunnel Syndrome, nerve damage, etc. And they shock you. Over and over again. That's right. They put these little sensors on you in various places, shock you, and see how long it takes the ZAP to go from one nerve to the other. But they don't just do it on the area where the problem is -- no, then they wouldn't have anything to compare it to... They have to do BOTH arms to get a fair reading... have to do a side-by-side eval...

In all honesty, the ZAPS were really not all that terrible. Some of them were a jump, but most just felt strange -- it's odd when a machine can bypass your brain and make your body react just on 'hardware' (muscles and nerves). I kept waiting for the ZAP that makes you involuntarialy wet yourself -- lucky that's not part of this test, though. A couple of times the doctor (Dr. Irr) had to really turn up the voltage to get around a tendon, muscle, or whatever, and it really made a difference -- ZZZZIIPP!!!

After that, though, came the really sucky part -- doing internal muscle probes to listen to the muscle activity. With a needle. Seems that muscles that are normal are quiet when resting, and make noise when they are active. Muscles that have some nerve damage going on are noisy (rythmic) when resting. [Seems that my C7 nerve muscle group is a bit noisy.] They only had to do one side of the needle tests on me, but for some folks, they have to do both sides to get a comparison. Lucky me.

Of the 8 or so times he stuck me with the needle / probe / microphone, the one that hurt the most was in the palm of my hand that did the thumb muscle group -- very sensitive area of the body, he said. Lots of nerves and sensory capabilities in the hand -- of course! It hurt a bit in the bicept too, but that was because he had to wiggle it around a bit to get a good spot.

End result from today: no Carple Tunnel -- looks like a pinched nerve in the neck / shoulder. I go back to the other doctor to find out what my 'treatment' options are next week, once the test results are formally sent over.

Shoulder / Arm pain is still here; so is the numb finger --

Back to School

This morning was the official start of school for Jackson at SVDP Pre-K -- We all took him to school this morning to get things kicked off in the right direction. Last year was rough for him, so Katie and I have strong feelings about the new year. I'm sure Jackson does too --

After we got him in touch with the rest of the Pre-Kers in the gym, I took Porter to school, then swung back by to check with Katie to see if I had the right car pool tag to pick Jackson up this afternoon [Jackson asked me this morning if I would pick him up.] When I saw Katie at the parent's coffee, she said that Jackson was in tears. The teacher had asked the other kids to pick their name out, but forgot to ask him, so he felt left out.

Certainly not the way I had hoped to start the year -- but I'd be sad if I were Jackson, too. No one wants to be left out or forgotten on the first day.

Hope the rest of the day goes better for him -- he really was excited this morning. He deserves a good day --

Quickies

Friday: doctor appointment for arm pain / tingling. Wants to run some tests; didn't go to beach since boys were being 'terrible' for Katie; grounded Porter from Spider-Man for being mean to Katie and Jackson

Saturday: ran errands with Porter; Jackson didn't want to go, so he hung out with Katie at home; took the boys to James Coney Island for lunch -- first time they had chili-cheese fries or Deleware Punch; helped Hadden load-in for the show at the Texans game; got in a fight with Katie about me going to help out for Had's later show -- ended up not going (right decision)

Sunday: played at the park with the boys in the morning; 3 Amigos Party (Jackson, Spencer and Kyle) at some jumper place way the hell out in Katy; packed for Dallas and got car/air scheduled, but forgot to make hotel reservations; couldn't sleep from all the arm pain, so stayed up until 1:30am watching water polo on the Olympics

Dealing with the pain

The theme of this week has pretty much been dealing with the pain in my shoulder and numbness in the fingers on my left arm. I hate to keep harping on it, but this is really quite rough. I called the doctor on Tuesday to see if she could do anything via the phone, but no luck. I touched base with my bone/joint doctor that helped me with my broken elbow and have an appointment with him tomorrow afternoon when I get back to Houston. I trust him more than the other doctor, and hopefully he can shed some light on the issue -- and do something about the pain.

Tuesday night was bearable, but only because I had a few several beers at Dick's Last Resort and the Gingerman (team outing). Last night I was supposed to go with the guys to the Rangers/Yankees game, but had to bow out -- I ended up hanging around the hotel, rubbing Icy Hot on and popping Bayer Back and Body pain asprin until going to bed early.

Today is a little better, but not much. Sometimes if I'm alone in the car or something, I just scream. I'm planning on taking it easy around the hotel tonight -- maybe venture out for dinner, but nothing big.

Project update: back on track for now. All is pretty much well -- just working through requirements at this point. Lots of things to keep on top of.

Can't wait to get home tomorrow...

Pain and tingling

Shoulder is killing me today -- and numbness in the left hand index finger is lots worse that it has been in a week and a half or so. Not sure why the relapse, other than perhaps just slept on it wrong again. I popped some advil, plus my normal prescription NSAID med, but to no avail. I found a leftover Vicodin and took that -- but despite the fact that it should have kicked in, I'm still hurting to about 55%. I hate this!

I stayed in Houston today and will hit the road in the morning for Dallas. Later tonight Katie and I are going to the Liz Phair show -- Great 6th row center seats, too!

Sticking close to home this weekend

Jackson's got a bit of a cough and a horrible scratchy voice, so we decided it was best to hang close to the house this weekend instead of going to the beach -- We all need a little rest time around the house.

I took the boys to work with me yesterday and they had a blast!! Everyone at work was so nice to them, I was really happy. I'm glad they had a chance to go with me -- not that I was doing anything important, but just so they can enjoy some time with me at 'work'. Basically, we went through my expense receipts for the past 2 weeks, did expense reports, and had a con-call with Hung and Diann. At lunch, we went to Mambo Seafood and basically everyone in the office joined along --

Other than that, work has been a little sucky lately -- the problems with server performance at FSMB have really weighed heavy on me since we couldn't find a good solution until mid-week. Things should be better now, but we still have to figure out what the cause of the slowdown is. I'll get back to it next week, and hopefully things will stay focused on the good stuff we have working in Phase 2. Need to move forward!

Kids are resting / napping with Katie for a while, so I think I'll head to Soundwaves to check out used CDs...

Remembering the Dead

Over the weekend we were sitting around the table at the beach -- Katie picking crabs, the boys helping, and me just relaxing -- and were listening to The Grateful Dead play Uncle John's Band. Of course, the boys know the Jimmy Buffett version, and Jackson pointed out that this was a different one.

I told him about the Dead, and how they have lots of great music that other musicians liked so much that they wanted to play the songs too. We started talking about Jerry Garcia, and I told him that Garcia played guitar and sang -- and that he passed away a few years ago.

When I told him that, Jackson got a concerned look on his face, relaxed and said, "But we still have his music, Dad."

Yes we do --