Vacation Plans

So, we finally finalized our vacation plans for the summer. I'm thinking something relaxing; You know, laying out on the beach for a week, relaxing with a cold drink, chillin' out...

Instead, we're going camping.

Now, I like camping, and I like camping in tents. But I'm a long-weekend type of camper. Seven days in a tent fighting off mildew from within sleeping bags... Not so sure. However, it is inherently not masculine to say no when your wife and 12 year old daughter are saying they want to go. I only recently got leghair back people, my security in my manliness is still trying to get back to normal levels.

So as I said, we're going camping. To be specific, heading up to Rickett's Glen in upstate Pennsylvania (think a crossbreeding of the Mid-Atlantic States and the movie Deliverance). We're going with my brother-in-law's family, so we'll have four kids under 5 at a place where the famous trails include warnings of certain death over waterfall cliffs. OK, I jest - Not certain death, just good odds.

It will be a good time, since we all manage to make these things fun together. What will be interesting is after 8 months of little to no exercise, carrying my 40 lb. son in a backpack carrier should he elect to use me as a pack mule. I mean, I want to get back to working out and all, but... Damn!

It is a beautiful place though, and a lot of the hiker sites give it rave reviews. Gimme a can of Off! and I'll be ready to rock.

Off for Some Hodge Fun in Boston

Well, we're off tomorrow morning (early morning) for some fun up north. We're going to visit Sue's sister up in New Hampshire, and while we're up there, I'm going out for dinner with a number of the great folks from the WebMagic forums, a group of fellow Hodgers (aka my Hodge Homies). It all started when a couple from the UK were going to visit the States. Next thing you know, about 20 of us all agreed to mee up for the weekend.

Visit to Boston: 12 hours of driving round-trip.
Getting to meet people who helped me through cancer: Priceless.

The last two days back to work have been awesome. My new boss threw me on some projects I could help with immediately, and it felt good just to do something. A little tired at night, but nothing earth-shattering. Just trying to get back to the good-ol' NORMAL.

I'll be sure to have some pictures up soon!

Feeling Ready to Go Back

Well, its settled - I go back to work (happily) on Thursday. My lung stuff cleared up for the most part (still have that "I breathed water" feeling, and still get a cough when its humid, but overall pretty good. On the plus side, I had to have another CT to rule out a pulmonary embolism - And that showed no change in lymph nodes (that's good, means no signs of relapse).

Last Thursday's surgery went well, and I've been officially deported :) The spot's a bit sore, but its nice not having a large bump there - Also, I'll be ready to start bench pressing again once the gym opens up.

Can't wait until I get back to 100% normal, but that may take a while. In the meantime, loving being cancer-free and wanting to get to work!

Well Crud...

Due to some breathing issues, I've been on a course of Prednizone (weight gain, anyone?) for the last week.

Still coughing, breathing has become better, but not perfect.

Off for a CT.

Causes? Who knows. Just sick of being sick.

Giants DE Strahan to retire: 15 years, 7 Pro Bowls

So sorry Brian, but no repeat for you and your Giants.

Traitor. ;)

Sent to you by Steve via Google Reader:

Giants DE Strahan to retire: 15 years, 7 Pro Bowls

via ESPN.com - NFL by ESPN.com news services on 6/10/08

Michael Strahan, the New York Giants' 15-year veteran defensive end and seven-time Pro Bowl player who helped lead them to a 2008 Super Bowl win, is retiring, ESPN.com's John Clayton confirmed Monday.

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Tags

OK, this is annoying!

I'm still new to the blogosphere, so bear with me. I'm trying to set up a means of tagging posts - I don't think my family members looking for updates on my cancer remission care about .NET, and I don't think .NET developers care much about PET scans. Anyone know how to get tags to work on Blogspot? I have an email in to my lovely friend Bekah (who has tags), but in case she's busy living life (as any 20-something should be doing in the summer) I'd figure I'd ask everyone else out there. Just pop me an email or leave a comment. Thanks!

DEPORTATION IS SET!!

Well, for those of you that followed my old blog, I have a PowerPort, which is a device stuck under your skin and links directly into a main artery for ease of delivering chemotherapy drugs. Basically I have a huge bump on my left chest that's kept me from working out for the last 8 months.

Here's a little picture of one (outside the body). I'm sure the present one won't look so clean coming out :)

Next Thursday, that bad boy comes out. Ten minute procedure, they cut me open and yank it out. But it will be NIIIIICE to work out again!

Election Blahs

I read on someone's signature today an awesome new definition for something I appear to be inflicted with as well:

Electile Disfunction.

No, not erectile, but electile. As in " The inability to become aroused over any of the choices for President put forth by either party during an election year."

How it is used:
"Is anyone appealing to you in this years presidential race?"
"Naa... No one excites me. I think I'm suffering from Electile Dysfunction."

That is exactly how I feel about the upcoming election. I'm a registered Republican, but I don't consider many of the current crop of Republican leaders to be true conservatives. So let's see what we have to work with, shall we?

On the Donkey side, I have Barack Obama, who, IMHO, might have some racial tendencies about Caucasians, or is partially surrounded by people who have prejudices. He attended a church for 20 years and considered the pastor a friend, a church where the pastor has been caught saying some really vitriolic stuff (as well as more stuff from guest preachers). Are you really trying to tell me that the Rev. Wright just started spewing that type of stuff this year? I think not. There are even rumors about his wife holding similar viewpoints. No, Barack is not his wife. But for those of us who are married... Yeah, the wife holds a bit of sway in things like it or not. As a Caucasian (and with children who are Caucasian), naturally I'm scared of this -- I want equality, not inequality as revenge. Just because I'm white, doesn't mean I grew up with a silver spoon in my mouth. Hell, I grew up in Kensington - We used stainless steel in our silverware, thank you.

I truly believe the only thing holding us back from a color-blind world is ourselves. I know that's easy to say as a white man, but when you're a white man with no real concern over color. My friends are my friends because of who they are inside, not because of their skin color. Therefore, hearing what "white people" are trying to do hurts - I know racism still exists, but recognize that most people don't even think about race. We're all just people - Its how we act towards others that determines how valued we are. I really hope I'm wrong about Obama, since I actually like the guy. Oh well, enough venting on that.

On the Elephant side, I have John McCain. Four years ago, I liked him over Bush. I feel he is generally a centrist-to-conservative. But lately... I don't know if he's trying to pander to the Religious Right (whatever that is) or what, but he's changing some positions from where he voted over the last few years. Therefore, he sounds really... Confused lately. I don't think its his age (I liked Reagan as president, even with his age), but he should stick with what got him to where he is in this election and in government. I even have disagreements on some of his policies now. In particular (and no, its not very conservative), I've come around to the need for some form of socialized medicine. Personally, I'd like to see the government paying the bills for everyone to join existing health plans.

You might say "Steve, the health plans are EVIL!" Actually, they are not. However, they are paying for all of the people who DON'T pay at the hospital, and your escalated costs cover them already. By using the existing plans (and, particularly, their already-established billing and payment systems), we can implement a plan to cover all Americans a LOT faster.

Honestly? Never gave socialized medicine a second thought. After all, I'm employed and have insurance, right? Well, lemme tell ya some more on what cancer does for you. I actually worried more about losing my insurance if my company let me go, then about the cancer itself. That's a problem, folks. You have a million things you need to worry about with a serious illness, whether or not you'll get quality care shouldn't be one of them.

So... I'm in a tossup, and have an awful case of electile disfunction. I really don't care which one of them wins at this point, and that's really really sad. I just don't think either of them are going to help me as an American citizen. Right now I'm leaning Barack, but my heart's not in it, you know?

Treatment Effects

Well, it hasn't been a fun three days so far, let me tell you. I've had a really bad time with a cough, as well as being unable to catch my breath. It's sucked, and could be from a million things between the Hodge being back (least likely) to simple inflammation (most likely). I had a nice long visit with my GP today, who felt my neck (no nodes - that's a good thing), and put me on some more steroids and an inhaler if I need it. Along with that, I got the law laid down: If its not better in three days, we're off for a CT scan. Friday. No waiting BS. Apparently post-cancer its a brave new world for ailments - I apparently get the hairy eyeball now and nothing is toyed with.

Anyway, we will see. I expect he's right and that its inflammation though - My pulse oxygen was 100%, so I'm breathing great as far as getting air from point A to point B. Just need to figure out why its not working as expected though to get that.

On a positive note for the above, I guess it doesn't matter now that my new Gold's Gym's opening has been delayed!

Hello Folks!

Hi all, and welcome to my little blog. So, what am I hoping to accomplish with my little journal? Well, to get an idea on why, its best to give a detailed explanation of where I've been.

Last October, I was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma, a cancer of the lymphatic system that only impacts about 7,500 people a year in the US. I can't get a winning night at the casinos, but I can catch a rare cancer. I think my lucky four leaf clover is actually poison ivy. Anyway, after eight months of chemotherapy and radiation therapy, I'm out on the other side cancer-free and ready to get back on with things. During this time, I kept a blog of the treatments and my reactions to them, and I actually enjoyed the process. So, I'm going to keep a personal journal for everyone to see, but relating to all topics, not just my cancer.

My blog description discusses family, technology, and all things Philadelphia. To be honest, that is probably a lie - I hate to say it, but a mid 30s married guy with two kids is NOT your go-to guy on the club scene on South Street, for example. However, I can rattle off a Top 5 cheesesteak joints in town with ease. Know your audience, people, know your audience.

As for family, I liked the ability of keeping my extended family up to date on what we've been up to: Vacations, kid's stuff, etc. So, I'll be sure to include a bit of that on the site. I'm not the biggest phone talker, so it allows me to let everyone know if one of the kids did something cool. Don't worry, this won't turn into the World Wide Web equivalent of the vacation slide show.

Finally, technology. As I mention in my profile, I work as a Solutions Architect with an insurance company in the Philly area. My area of focus is Informatics, or information processing engineering. In other words, the process of taking terabytes of data and making it useful for knowledge workers at a business. As part of this work, we're starting to include Microsoft's tools in this effort: SharePoint, PerformancePoint, and SQL Server Analysis Services / Reporting Services. I'm a definite noob to .NET, so most of my discussions and discoveries in the products will be old hat to a lot of developers, but the idea will be the same as my cancer blog: It might give a new developer to those products an idea of what's to come. Many blogs give you the latest and greatest on what's happening in the products - But you may as well present it in a foreign language if you're new to it.

Anyway, that's it from me for now. I hope to hear back from some of you, and let me know if there's anything you'd like to see different on the site!

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

OK, just a post to say sorry for the mess, and that the site is under construction!