Category Archives: friends + family

Stuff about friends and family. This might be stuff that happened, things I did with them or …

R.I.P. Harry

Posted on March 12, 2005 | 9 comments

Harry Carswell passed away last week… I’ve restarted this a few times and I guess I don’t really know what to put here… I’ll start with a story: About three or four years ago I was visiting Harry in the hospital, I don’t remember exactly what he said the doctors told him, something like “six months to live” and I laughed and then he joined in so I felt a little better about it because I knew he knew why I laughed. We laughed because ten or fifteen years before that after some major heat surgery they had given him three to five years (or some other deadline he was way past). I’m sure a few other times (not even related to those issues) they had given him some other timelines and they all passed but then he’d have some other problems every so often. He knew it was time this time and moved back into his home last month because that’s where he wanted to be.

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Torn Shoulder

Posted on February 21, 2005 | 1 comment

So I’m in the hospital today. Mom’s getting some surgery on her shoulder. We had to be here by 6:15 am, did you know it’s still dark out then?!? She’s done already and the Doc said everything went perfect and she’ll be out of recover in a few hours. Yeah!!

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Christmas Loot

Posted on December 25, 2004 | Leave a comment

Merry Christmas! We’ll ignore the whole spirit and joy thing for now and just talk about the important stuff: What did I get!!!

I got the Cartographica Extraordinaire: The Historical Map Transformed which is a huge book about maps and the evolution of them. I like maps* and I saw these guys on the The Screen Savers talking about maps and the book and they way they superimpose images and scan and do stuff to make old maps better…

I got shirts and ties and gift certificates and something from my amazon wishlist that didn’t arrive yet (but I don’t know what it is) and candy and wine and a 512MB(!) thumb drive and that’s all I can think of for now.

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Christmas Eve

Posted on December 24, 2004 | Leave a comment

Mexican style food and appetizers for dinner were fun! The kids sure seemed to love it. To clarify these are kids that I bought gifts for last weekend’s holiday get together, so we’re just there to hang out and eat and watch the kids play (this is fine with me they’re hysterical to watch). So now the adults have wrapped up gift cards from the kids for me as a thanks (this isn’t normal). Which is great, I love gift cards, Target and Best Buy (like I’m not in those stores 3 times a week), I’m even conscientious about how I spend them; I won’t use them to fill my prescriptions, I’ll use them when I get music, movie or some accessory for my computer or iPod (then I can tell them what I got).

Okay so I digressed, again, but I buy the presents for the kids ’cause I want to. I find stuff I like and I’ll know they like and it makes me happy. I figure out what I wanted for one the girls and spent too much time/money on it, but it’s what I wanted, so it’s what I got. What I want (at most) is for the kids to make me something as a gift or thank you. Or to make sure you invite me to the birthdays, I don’t eat much and I bring good presents, what’s the problem…
Two of the points made me laugh since they apply to me:

  • It’s just that a geek’s approach to life tends to be if-x-then-y.
  • They don’t get hints.

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    Christmas Eve (day)

    Posted on December 24, 2004 | 1 comment

    So it’s Chirstmas Eve (day) and I’m trying to finish stuff up. All I’ve got to get together is Mom’s loot and some clothes for tomorrow (and I’ve got to wrap Mom’s stuff still). I think everyone else that I’m seeing in the next 36 hours I’ve already exchanged gifts with (at least I hope so).

    Tonight, Mom & I will go over my Aunt’s (or is it my cousin’s? they’re only three houses apart) and watch the kids go crazy, I think they’ll only be four of them (unless it’s at my cousin’s, where there might be kids-in-law). We’ll head to my Mom’s (eight or nine blocks away) and do presents and stuff in the morning. Then dinner with her boyfriend and then I’ll head home and let them do gifts, etc. Now that I’m thinking of it, he might be there tonight if he’s not working.

    Every drive safe and have a great holiday!!!

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    Family Funerals

    Posted on December 7, 2004 | Leave a comment

    So my grandfather passed away last week, just days after I commented on not seeing him and my grandmother enough. We’ll work out the guilt on that later (and we will). I’ve never done a funeral before with that side (my father’s) of the family. I had volunteered to do a reading at the church, I’m glad I did especially since no one else had volunteered to do any readings I got to do all three reading…

    So it was pretty much the same as most funerals but a little more boring. Same church as usual, same place for food after (as usual), but less fun, I know it’s a funeral but I usually feel a little more like it’s a celebration. Nothing super different, just a few more jokes and stories and such afterwards (or even during). I was really ready for a drink by the time we got the restaurant, but they did the no smoking no drinking option; I’m not really sure why I’m mentioning the drink part but it’s days later and it’s stuck in my head so it’s out on this virtual “piece of paper”.

    My cousin’s 11 month-old there and I got to play with her (once she warmed up to me) so that was great, she loved playing with the christmas ornaments on the wall and looking in the mirror. And I got to see all sorts of people that I hadn’t seen in a while and that was nice, I just wish we could do it more often than funerals and other obligatory days.

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    Hospitals and Holidays…

    Posted on November 26, 2004 | Leave a comment

    So since I’ve moved back to the Detroit area I don’t don’t see some of my family as much. Here’s why: I’m now about 30-35 minutes away from most of them compared to 90 minutes. That might not make sense since I’m closer to them, but when I was 90 minutes away (East Lansing area) I came and spent the day or maybe the day and part of the next day and while I was there I’d visit others, heck if it was nice I’d rollerblade or bicycle around town and visit others. Now I’ll just head in, have dinner (or do whatever the mission is) and head home; voila 3 hours later and I’m home and visited for 2 hours where before that was just the the travel time.

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    Happy Thanksgiving

    Posted on November 25, 2004 | 1 comment

    I hope everyone has time today to think about the things we are all thankful for. Of course I’m thankful for my family, friends, health and all that stuff but there are so many extras that we take for granted.

    I’m thinking if you’re reading this over the holiday weekend there are some assumptions I can make about readers (bloogees?) and what they we may take for granted: a computer, Internet access (high speed?) and the skills to do all this. Assuming you have all that, it probably means you’ve got food, shelter, heat and necessities that others may not have.

    This (Internet stuff) is what some of us do for fun and if you’re like me you go into withdrawal if you don’t have access for a while, but it’s really a privilege and most of us don’t think of it that way any more. These days it seems like some of these things are necessities of life but we need to remember and be thankful for them…

    That’s it, I’m done with my sermon. Just be thankful for everything and don’t take too much for granted. Have a Happy Holiday and drive careful.

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