This week I got as far as Monday before I got lazy. Therefore I had to piece together activities and thoughts from the remainder of the week. I finally got it done in late afternoon and was lucky in putting up the Civil War pictures. I recall a few weeks ago when the gremlins struck my mind and I was forced to delay the weekly update. I finally got it uploaded and the first response convinced me I had put up too much information. I had commented that I had a whole series of specialists appointments. All but the Ortho doctor are routine follow-ups, Anyway I got a response hoping that one of the doctors would get a handle on my health condition. Actually my overall health is pretty good. As my friend Don would say "I'm in pretty good shape for the shape I'm in" Anyway, the only question now concerns evaluation of a bad hip discovered before leaving for Florida.
Sunday, we braved the monsoon conditions to get to 10:30 mass. The rain wasso heavy that Father Artur said they had decided people had been sprinkle enough so on this last Sunday of the Easter season they decided to skip the traditional baptismal sprinkling. As usual Father Artur did a good job in tying together Mother's Day and Mother church in a simple but wonderfully thought provoking homily. The weather settled down a bit while we were in church and it was misting as we left. We decided that since it was Mother's Day that most restaurants were likely to be quite crowded. For that reason, we headed for Southfork. Southfork is one of the larger family restaurants in Orland. It is not necessarily one of our favorites (there are better breakfasts elsewhere) but the food is not terrible and easy access makes it often a viable option. On returning home I added some new events to the St. Julie Young Adults Activity Page while watching the Cubs come from behind to sweep the Diamond Backs before starting on this page.
Monday is Legion coffee day at the Vet's Center. Leaving about 1PM I stopped to return an item at Best Buy on the way to a 2PM appointment with my cardiologist in Mokena. During some light banter about my son-in-law's pork on the grill in the outdoor kitchen he pinched my spare tire and suggested some pork needs to go. After talking about Grandkids (he became a Grandpa earlier this year) he sent me on my way with a change in meds and instructions to return in the fall. On the way home I made a couple of stops for computer paper and some other things before returning to find the St Julie bulletin in my e-mail box. Apparently the email problem at the parish is solved. Tonight I downloaded Ubuntu. Ubuntu is a Linux based operating software which is open source and therefore free. Unlike other Operating Systems it can give you a dual boot while residing on the same hard drive without a separate partition. It contains a number of open source code applications without interfering with your windows applications like Front Page which I am using here. Before calling it a night I forwarded a newsletter I have been getting to my friend Don.
Tuesday was very pleasant. It was the kind of spring day that puts a spring in your step. A typical spring day shirt sleeve warm and a little breezy. This afternoon I went to the Sportsplex and using the track got in 30 minutes of walking. Hopefully, getting back to a regular walking program will help stabilize my blood pressure. After some pizza for dinner, we watched some TV and I began sorting through the papers in my cave (also known as my computer room. I watched part of a baseball game played in a driving downpour. Anything for money, teams will mistreat their fans rather than give a rain check, playing games under conditions that would have been intolerable not too long ago. Also, does it strike you as dumb that there is a rule about a pitcher throwing a "spitball" yet he can pitch in a rainstorm which has to make the baseball so slick that who knows where it might go. Before retiring, I put the St. Julie bulletin on the web site and dropped an email to my friend Don so he could update the site and send out the Include Me email. It had begun to rain which made it easy to sleep.
Wednesday morning the rain had stopped but the day was gray and cloudy. I was off early (for me) to another medical appointment. I returned about 10:30 to make the coffee. Mary goes to Curves and usually runs at least one errand without coffee and I think she can smell fresh coffee as she pulls in the driveway. Today was no exception. Wednesday night I retired in time to turn on my favorite overnight computer radio show. On WGN there is an overnight radio show. Wednesday nights the first few hours is devoted to computers. That part of the program is called Web Site Wednesday. One can call or email with questions and requests for troubleshooting assistance. One of he participants is a guy named Patrick Crispen, an Educational Technologist from a California University. Patrick coauthors an Internet newsletter called the Internet Tourbus and runs a website www.netsquirrel.com with computer suggestions. Another member is a gentleman named Mike DeMichele who runs a computer repair service on the north side and a website called www.savemybutt.com. Unfortunately sleep took me and I missed the few hours of computer time. Anyone interested who lives outside the Chicago area can live stream it from www.wgnradio.com.
Thursday it was off to another doctors' appointment. Since most of my appointments are on 6 month follow-up, they all piled up together because of our time in Florida. They probably will in the fall shortly before we head for Florida again. This time it was the dermatologist who sprayed some suspicious things on my face with nitrogen and instructions to return in three weeks to see if the treatment was successful. I hung out this afternoon and watched the Cubs beat Greg Maddux for only the 4th time in his career. Ryan Dempster back as a starter after a few years in the bullpen set a career record by striking out 12 before giving way to Wood in the ninth as they combine for a 4-0 shutout.
Friday is Legion coffee day at the Orland Park Veterans' Center. I left early because Mary and I had a 1PM appointment to review our Homeowner's Insurance. Surprisingly the company was offering a policy with slightly different but improved coverages at less money. What a surprise in this economy. Something like this often raises the thought: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. However, the very articulate young man explained that it was a new product offered to customers with a good or in this case non-existent and good credit. It certainly was a big surprise that a company would promote a product that is cheaper but better. The young agent explained that while that is probably true, their agency, supposedly the second largest in the country was given the OK. We have had a good relationship with them over the years and the important thing in insurance from our perspective is response to a claim and they have been outstanding. Tonight Mary went to a shawl ministry meeting at St Julie while surfed the Comcast channels and worked on the Legion Post Newsletter. We are beginning to feel more at "home". We were surprised at the interesting feeling in coming back to your house after a 4 1/2 month absence. You would expect that you would be relieved to be home but surprisingly it took a bit of getting used to. Anyway:
