Found

I found one of the missing posts. I guess it stayed as a draft after I hit publish... The other, however, is long gone.

I'll have to figure out what went wrong.

~from the train.

Jake

"But this could be a bad year for the family. And that's where the coping really hits home. See, her oldest 2 daughters, both in their 80s, are watching their husbands' declining health. It's likely both husbands will not see 2009. One for sure, the other it's hard to say."
~From 'Passed' - February 23, 2008.

Last Wednesday morning, I was thinking back over the latest "weekend that wasn't" and was thankful that for a couple hours on Sunday afternoon I'd gotten a chance to honestly kick my feet up, lay back on the couch and RELAX. It had been a while and I figured it would be a while longer before I could do it again. It was while I was riding the train to work that I realized I should've done one thing that Sunday afternoon: Visit Uncle Jake in the hospital.

Uncle Jake's been sick for a few years, had a lung removed because of cancer, had a brain tumor removed, and gotten over various illnesses in between. He'd always been strong, but the cancer was back for round 3 and not many people make it through 3 rounds of cancer. For the second time in 2 years, the family was called to his bedside, and this time people knew he wasn't going to make the recovery he did the first time around.

I visited with him the first time and he was so thankful that people were visiting. It kept his spirits up, even when things looked awful for him. He held my hand tight the entire 90 minutes I visited with him. I even sorted out the problems he had with the portable DVD player his grandsons had brought in so he could watch videos of his favorite hymns.

So, there I was on the train thinking to myself: "I should've gone in." I decided there and then that going in at 8 at night was acceptable. I could go in after work. Of course, being Wednesday I knew it would be next to impossible, so I might cut work early to get in an see him. It was decided.

When I got to work and opened my email, the message at the top was from my wife, titled "Uncle Jake."

Uncle Jake passed away last Tuesday night after drifting into a coma earlier in the day. His breathing had slowed to a halt and within moments he was gone. He leaves behind 4 children, 13 grandchildren and a handful of great grandchildren. His funeral was today.

I never got to see him again after the funeral in early March. I'll miss him.

Rest

Wow! I had a single post for the entire month of March. Come to think of it, that's one more post than I read on anyone's else's blog.

Wow.

And to think it just got busier at work. Well, the plan behind the cell phone with the keyboard was to do the writing thing. It's not working out, seeing as how this should be my 4th post for April, but it's somehow my 2nd. Yep, there's 2 mystery posts... somewhere. I'll get back to them another time, I guess.

Work is busy. I'm at work between 55 and 60 hours a week and then you can tack on 2-3 hours of commuting every day, so I'm basically gone from home for 13-15 hours a day (or 70 hours a week on average). And now it's busier.

Sadly, coming home does not mean resting. This is a quick update just to say "still alive and still trying!" but my schedule's packed and my official weekend off and time for "rest" should start sometime late Sunday night.

No wonder people get burnt out. And that's without having a family to deal with!!

Eep

My wife had a job interview with one of my old departments yesterday. I knew about the interview and I knew about the department.

I didn't know who all was in the department now.

I knew Cee was there and my wife would be working right next to her. The head of the department loves me (I was one of her favorites when I was there (gah!) 8 years ago). My wife told me last night that the department head's assistant is Sex Caffeine.

Yep.

SO NOT what I was expecting to hear.

It led to a sleepless night. See, Cee (ha!) was one of my confidantes at work and my official sounding board for the trials and tribulations I was going through with Sex Caffeine back then.

And now they work together. And my wife be joining them.

What was it George Costanza said? "Worlds are colliding."

This can't end well.

(from the train).

Cell

The first post in quite some time, I know. I'll make it special.

Short but special.

I finally got a new cell phone, an HTC 640, which has a QWERTY keyboard. So, this blog entry comes both from my phone AND while I'm onboard the train. Ha!

Fear not. This post may be short, but I'm saving up a bunch of stories... including the return of Sex Caffeine.

Yeah... I said it.