April, 2011

This month is starting to look like one of the best months we have had here in a while. Winter has loosened its grip on us, though we did have some snow fall on us a week ago. Today on the western plains of the Enchanted Mitten we enjoyed blue skies and a high temp of 85F. In a few weeks our cottage near Oscoda will be opened for the season and we will start to enjoy the sites, sounds and the shores of Lake Huron. Updates to follow as conditions warrant.

3 YEARS

It just hit me when I was taking Samson around the block for a post-work walk. I retired from the Navy three years ago today. Wow. Sometimes it seems like it was only yesterday and other times it seems like it was a lifetime ago!

STOP TOUCHING ME

It was a heck of a week. I was in Cincinnati from Sunday-Friday for a business meeting. On Saturday morning we dropped Samson off at his happiest place on Earth for an overnight of boarding. After I dropped Samson off, Deirdre and I headed to Livonia for a wedding. The daughter of one of my cousins was getting married to a wonderful man named Stephen. Dee and I stopped in to see a couple of our nieces and a nephew, before we changed into our "Sunday go to church" clothes for the wedding.

The ceremony was officiated by my cousin Tom, who is a Catholic priest. The service was moving and the bride and groom could not have looked any happier. At the reception, I was hauled out to the dance floor my one of my aforementioned nieces, where I danced the Locomotion, the Chicken Dance and a few other dances I had never heard of before. All in all, it was a wonderful day.

Deirdre and I stayed at a nearby hotel on Saturday night, and we hit the road for GR a little after 8AM. As is typical for us with a morning road trip, we stopped at a nearby McDonald's to grab a quick breakfast. The McDonald's we chose was on the way to the freeway and I assumed that it would be like most other McDonald's we have visited. Well, I was wrong. I walked into the restaurant and there were two older men a head of me waiting to make their order. The first person, let's call him Dave, ordered his breakfast and then stepped back from counter. He made eye contact with me and said, "Is that your red car in the parking lot? It looks like the new Fiesta, but it is not." I told Dave, "No, that is not my car." Dave then walked into my personal space, tapped my arm with his hand and said, "Well, I have a Mercury Marquis, and it gets lousy gas mileage. They are discontinuing the car because nobody wants a car that gets 14 miles to the gallon. See that Marquis in the lot? It is like mine, but that is not my car. I am trying to sell it, but nobody wants a car that gets 14 miles to the gallon" I took a step back to re-establish my personal space between myself and Dave and said to him, "Thanks. I can see why you are having a hard time selling it."

The next elderly gentleman, call him "Bill," made his order then stepped away from the counter, and then it was my turn. I placed a breakfast order for myself and Deirdre and we waiting for the McDonald's employee to fill the order. I stepped away from the counter and Dave reengaged me. He said to me, "Yep, that Marquis gets terrible mileage. I want to sell it, but nobody wants a car that gets 14-15 miles to the gallon. I got a great deal on it, but now I just want to sell it. I can't keep gasoline in it for very long" Dave once again violated my personal space to share that information with me, and he touched my arm again. I tried not to look annoyed, though I was, as in the span of about 2 minutes, this person I did not know tried to strike up a conversation with me and he felt that it was perfectly acceptable to tap my arm to make a point about his trouble selling a Mercury Marquis. Once again I stepped away from Dave and said to him, "I am sorry to hear that you are having a hard time selling that car. Dave got his breakfast order and walked away from me... finally.

Now, it was Bill's turn. Bill got his order and started to walk out of the restaurant. Bill looked at me and said, "Is that your Fusion in the lot? I have a Fusion and I helped my brother buy one. I am a Ford employee and I got him a deal on the Z program." I told Bill that the Fusion in the lot was not mine and walking out the door he said, "It is a great car."

What struck me is that these two people thought nothing of asking me which car was mine and that Dave thought it was acceptable to tap the arm of a stranger. And to touch my arm not just once but twice. Maybe I am being too sensitive, but it was just plain weird this morning.

Another reason to Relay

A few days ago, I blogged about the 2011 East Grand Rapids Relay for life. Just a few days later, a good friend sent me the note below (names and locations changed to protect privacy):

Hi Paul,

Just wanted to give you an update, unfortunately a bit of bads news: a few weeks ago Amy noticed a lump in her right breast and had it checked out right away. She has been diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma. The good news is that every single subsequent piece of information since then has been the best that it can be, and her condition is expected to be curable. She is having three chemotherapy treatments, to be followed by radiation, and expects to be done by Christmas. Everything is being done at the hospital in Atlanta, which is simply one of the best places in the world for this kind of treatment. Also she has a very positive attitude and is not too crabby, which is a good sign! So while she can't travel overseas for a few months, she will basically be OK for other activities, and can continue to travel between Atlanta and Charleston. Her first session was almost three weeks ago and she did quite well despite a small adverse reaction to one of the drugs. The next session is Wednesday; I am heading out tomorrow to be with her for the treatment (she went back to Atlanta yesterday). We are coming back to South Carolina on Saturday and will be here until the next treatment in early Nov. The worst thing so far is that Amy had to get her hair shaved off today because it had started to fall out quite badly. More than anything this has gotten her depressed about the situation, but we keep reminding each other that it's a lot better than any of the alternatives. It is amazing how effective the treatments are today. Amy is lucky because she was an early stage one person when she started her treatment. The tumor, by the way, is now indetectable, after just the first chemo treatment.

Needless to say we have been crazy for the last few weeks. Amy got the diagnosis as our household goods were halfway between Atlanta and Charleston. Half of our things are still in boxes but we're getting there.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I wanted you to know what's going on. I will keep you updated. We are confident that Amy's condition is completely curable and neither of us is very worried that the therapy will not work.

Kevin

I am reminded once again how fragile life is and how I must do everything I can so people like Amy can have more birthdays.

More birthdays

Last night I attended the first committee meeting for the 2011 American Cancer Society East Grand Rapids Relay for Life. I will once again be the Logistics Coordinator for the Relay. 2011 will mark my third year as the Logistics Coordinator and I am looking forward to the Relay. For most of the rest of the Committee, their work happens before the Relay, but the majority of my work is done at the Relay. I am tasked with creating the field layout, communicating that layout to the teams and committee members, then I am in charge of executing the layout. The first year I did this work because one of my neighbors, who is a cancer survivor, asked me to help. She said to me, "You military people are always so organized. You would be a great Logistics Coordinator." I agreed to help, but I thought I would then move on to something else.

Well, I did move on to something else. I accepted a new position with GE Aviation which would take up even more of my time and I decided that my first year supporting the relay would be my last. Then, I found out one of my former shipmates and close friend, Bob, was diagnosed with terminal liver cancer. Bob was diagnosed in November, 2009 and he was told that he had a year, maybe 6 months to live. The doctors were wrong. Bob passed away on 12 February, 2010. I dedicated my work for the 2010 Relay to Bob's memory, and I also decided that I would continue to work the East Grand Rapids Relay for Life as long as I am amble.

I am going to work the 2011 Relay and make it better than the very successful 2010 Relay. I am going to keep working to fight back against cancer so that there will be more birthdays for those affected by cancer.

Last days of Summer, 2010

It has been an interesting summer for us. In January, we purchased a cottage in Au Sable Township, just south of Oscoda, with 50 feet of beach front on Lake Huron. We named the cottage "East of the Equator," for obvious reasons. We needed to make some repairs to the property, chiefly new windows, installation of a slider where a door used to be and new flooring. That project was completed in the spring and we moved into the cottage in May, just before Memorial Day. We then spent the next few weeks getting the chi right in the cottage. We did our best to spend every weekend that we could there and we were pretty successful in that endeavor. We spent the week of the Fourth of July there, and Deirdre spent the last week of July and the first week August up there with Samson.

We just spent the week of Labor Day at the cottage, where we shared the first few days of our vacation with our friend Sue. We continue to learn our way the Oscoda to the north of us and Tawas to the south of us. There is definitely a different feel in Oscoda/Tawas. Life is more relaxed and people just don't seem to worry about too much. We are planning on spend a few more weekends there as fall approaches as the trees are already starting to turn from green to red and yellow.

We miss her still

Three years ago today, we said goodbye to Allie. She was kind, loving and a little mischievous. However, a finer dog you will never know.

The last few years of her life were difficult on us and her, but she was always a good dog. We miss her still.

Bald Faced Hornet

Last weekend at the cottage, I noticed a nest attached to the soffitt at under the northwest corner of our cottage. The nest was about the size of half of an American football, and it was a mottled gray in color. I thought about removing the nest myself, but I saw an ad in the Oscoda Press for Dad's Pest Control. I gave the number on the ad a call and Mike answered the phone. He said that he would be able to get to the cottage on Wednesday and take a look at the nest. On Thursday afternoon I called Mike back to find out of he had made it to the cottage to remove the nest. The conversation went like this:

Mike: Yes, I did get to your property. It was a good thing you called me. The nest was a bald face hornet's nest. They are particularly nasty and ill tempered hornets. The will sting you without provocation. I removed the nest and you are fine.

Me: Thanks, Mike!

Mike: Also, since we have a minimum charge, I also sprayed for ants and beetles around your house.

Me: Mike, I really appreciate that. What do I owe you? Can you e-mail me an invoice or a bill?

Mike: I am pretty bad with paperwork. If you don't get anything from me by Monday, give me a call.

Me: Mike, I will. Thanks again for removing the nest and spraying for ants. I will use you again.

This is sort of how it goes in Oscoda. Nothing moves that quickly and people sort of do things at their own pace. It is one of the reasons we love it up there.

ANOTHER 90 MINUTES OF MY LIFE, GONE FOREVER

Once again, Comcast has taken time from me I can never get back. In the mail on Monday, I received two digital converter boxes which I needed to install in order to be able to continue to receive all the digital channels. Following the directions in the box, I installed the converter box on the TV in my bedroom as well as a TV in my basement. I received an error message on both TVs telling me that I had to call Comcast to active the digital box. I called Comcast and after 10 minutes waiting for a technician, I was able to activate the digital box and use the Comcast remote (which is a cheap piece of junk) in my bedroom, but I was unable to activate the box and use the digital remote for the TV in my basement. I tried all 12 codes listed for Sony (the brand of all my TVs) but none of them worked. I also tried to capture the code from the TV using the Comcast remote but that did not work, either. The technician told me that Comast has found that some of the remote have been faulty and did not work, and that she would forward my call to Billing in order to have a new remote sent to me.

I then sat on hold for 32 minutes and a then a person from Billing tried to help me. He asked me if I had followed the directions to program the remote, which I told him I had and that I was walked through the programming with the previous technician. I told the technician what the first technician had said to me, that Comcast was having problems with some of the remotes that were sent out. He said that was untrue, that Comcast would never knowingly send out remotes to the digital boxes that were defective. He asked me to try one more time to program the remote, and I obliged. I repeated the attempt to program the remote which did not work. I said to him that I was done doing anything more with the equipment that had been sent to me and that I wanted a digital box and remote sent to me. He said that he would, and I told him that I was going to throw out the equipment that did not work. He told me not to do throw the equipment away as I would be charged for the equipment. I asked him what I should do with it. He then told me that I could drop it off at a Comcast center, or be sitting at home and wait for a technician to get it, or I could ship it back via UPS.

I told the tech that under no circumstances would I take time out of my day and drive to a Comcast center, nor would I wait for a technician to get the box. I told him I would be happy to put the box and the remote in a plastic bag and leave it on my front porch for a Comcast technician to pick it up. He said I should not do that as if the equipment is not picked up or is missing when the technician shows up that I would be charged $30. He once again offered to send me the pre-paid shipping paperwork, which I told him to do. I told him that the defective box will sit in my basement until a UPS delivery person comes to my house, and I happen to be here, so I can give it to UPS.

On Monday night, I spent an hour and a half trying to get these two cable boxes to work and at the end of it all, only one set of the equipment Comcast sent to me works. I am then told that I have to be further inconvenienced and take the time and effort to return the defective equipment to Comcast. I told the technician that I will be happy to leave the defective box on the porch for Comcast to get it and I was told not to leave the box on my front porch. I was then asked to take up my free time and take the box to a UPS store and ship it back to Comcast. I will not do either. The defective box will sit in my basement until a UPS delivery is made to my house, and I happen to be home when it happens. I will not be charged for this defective equipment. If Comcast really wants the equipment back, they can come get it at my convenience.

To their credit, both the people I spoke to tonight were polite and apologetic, but at the end of the day, I was sent defective equipment. I was asked by a company to whom I am paying for a service to be further inconvenienced to return their defective equipment. The defective box will sit in my basement until I happen to be home for a UPS delivery, or until the sun grows cold. Hopefully, the next digital box will work. I do not want to repeat again what happened to me Monday night.

East of the Equator

OK, I have had to do a lot of explaining the past few weeks. Since Deirdre and I moved into our cottage, I have made some postings on this blog as well as on Facebook describing our time there. I have had a few colleagues at work and Navy friends who have been perplexed by the name of our cottage on Lake Huron. Our cottage is aptly named "East of the Equator, which is a magical place where it is always a quarter past five." I served as a Surface Warfare Officer for 22 years, shot more stars and sunlines than I can remember. For two years, I was the Navigator of USS FLETCHER (DD 992), a SPRUANCE class destroyer, which required me to take and pass a Navigator and Celestial Navigation course. I am well versed in celestial and terrestrial navigation and I know that technically, one cannot be east of the equator. Well, there is such place just east of the equator if you want to disconnect from the world, watch the sun rise each morning, the moon rise at night from time to time, run your German Shepherd Water Dog into Lake Huron so he can chase Chuckit, and get 90 cent drafts of Killian's Red in a frosted mug at the VFW. Our cottage is a place where we can unwind, unplug and relax. There is a clock over the stove that has nothing but fives on it. At our cottage, it is alway a quarter past five, just east of the equator.