6 days since my last update.

Not bad, since I was away for most of Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

I went with my friends Matt, Mark, Chris, and Eric to canoe on the Pine River, near Manistee, MI.
Good fun and good companions! We stayed at Chris' family cabin that was really close to the river, like just a few miles.

Back in Clawson this week and trying to beat the heat! It's been gorgeous and in the 80s which is a bit of an adjustment to make! I've been going to the gym in the mornings, so that's good to be in the A/C even if I am working out and sweating!

Monday night, my church (Genesis) hosted a dinner at the local BBQ place in Royal Oak. The idea was to bring our friends, hang out, meet people, and also be visible in the community. I think it worked! The Wings game was on at 8pm so people stayed to watch that, too.

Not much on the job front. It's tough -- nothing is really jumping out at me as something I'd enjoy all that much and with unemployment coming in, I can just coast this summer and enjoy myself.

Watched a DVD today -- Full Metal Jacket (review by Roger Ebert, 1987). Stanley Kubrick, yeah!

Not sure what's up for this evening -- both my roommate and I seem to be stuck at the house. I was going to catch some music, but this cool Coffee House called Xhedos Cafe in Ferndale changed their Tuesday nights for the summer, so there's nothing good there tonight.

I am Jack's long-awaited update.

My friend Shane just reminded me that I should write in here. It's been nearly a month.

Ah...and all the things that have happened in that time!

The internet connection is back and working fine.
I'm at full strength again after my injury and only twitch funny every once in awhile.
My job has gone *poof*

How's that for a short summary?

So I'm looking into different options for a new job but enjoying some time for relaxation now.

Hmmm...I guess I should get around to sending an email to my extended family with this information since I've been procrastinating on that!

(bonus points for those who identify the movie reference from the first line of this update)

Feeling good, going to a Jack Johnson concert tonite.

Internet connection at home is still down but a repair guy will be there Friday morning to swap out the cable modem (hopefully)

Getting back to work on Monday, probably full days. Appointment with my facial surgeon went well today and he continues to say that things are going well. Need to talk with my opthalmologist on Friday to get the ok from him too.

Lots of ideas bouncing around my brain these past few days about future plans. More on that later...

The bad news:

Our cable modem access through Comcast is still down so I can't check email from home. It's been down for a week now and we have no estimate about when it will be fixed. So that's the reason for the lack of updates to the journal.



The good news:

I'm definitely feeling better after my surgery. That was on Friday, 4/19 so it has been 11 days. My face is still a bit swollen and that makes it so I can't fully close my right eye. As a result, the eye itself dries out and has become irritated. I saw my opthalmologist on Monday and he prescribed an ointment for me to apply at night which is a lubricant and an antibiotic. That, plus drops throughout the day is helping.

But the eye is still bothering me and it is sore and blurry at times. I am not back at work yet and will not be until sometime after Thursday, May 9th. That is the next time I see my cranio-facial surgeon.

So I've been relaxing and not accomplishing much. For the first few days after surgery, I was very tired and slept a lot. I was at home with my parents, so I went to church with them and also got to see my sisters, their husbands, and children. After a few days, I had a bit more energy, so my big celebration was to spend a few hours at a high school track meet where my friend Jake was coaching and Toya, the exchange student my parents are hosting, was participating.

That's all for now.

I'm back!

Well, since I last wrote I'm a bit heavier from the screws and stitches but a bit lighter since all I ate on Friday was a small bowl of jello! I was supposed to be on soft foods while at the hospital but they brought me frosted mini-wheats, toast, and scrambled eggs for breakfast! Oh well, it tasted good! *smirk*

Yes, hospital food was good. Yet another reason Beaumont hospital is ranked as the best in SE Michigan.

Everyone has been so supportive and I am incredibly thankful for that. I'm feeling pretty good now, but it will still be a few weeks before I'm really feeling right again.

My girlfriend Stephanie was with me before the surgery and then my friends Rob and Kevin were there when I came out and woke up. My mom was there for most of the evening and then I occupied myself after she left by listening to the Red Wings lose their 2nd playoff game! *grrrr*

Mom and Kevin are headed here now to pick me up and take me to their house for a few days of relaxation. I'm looking forward to that.

Well, CCR rocked last night. Pretty much, they did all the songs off "Chronicle" and did 2 encores. The crowd was thin at the beginning, but the place was pretty packed by about 1/3 of the way through their set.

For those of you in the Detroit area and craving donuts, I have a secret for you.
If you go to any of the Krispy Kreme locations (stand-alone, not gas stations) between now and April 21, you can get free donuts. (locations in Warren, Livonia, Roseville, and Dearborn Heights)

Yes, I said free. If you walk in and say "Hot donuts now!" then order a dozen, you get a dozen free!
This is according to 96.3 DVD radio. Krispy Kreme was voted the best donuts in Michigan, so they are celebrating!

Unfortunately, there will be no donuts (or anything else) for me this morning. My surgery is at 11:30am (2 hours from when I write this) so I can't eat, drink, or even chew gum!

I won't be posting here for at least a few days, so let me leave you with some things to occupy your time.
The captions aren't finished but the pictures from my Seattle trip are available to view...

Well, I'm hoping to take a walk around the neighborhood before we leave for the hospital so I'll leave it at that...

I'm back on the Internet at home after the purchase and installation of a router/hub yesterday.

So that meant that this afternoon I was able to chat with Michael and post some pictures.
You may have noticed that the picture on the right side of the page has changed. That was me, at about 11pm on the day of the injury. Other pictures are available in the "Jason's Accident" gallery.

On Friday, Stephanie is taking me to the hospital at 10:30 and then I go into surgery at 11:30. Please keep me in your prayers and also think of my friend Shelby out in California who on Wednesday had a pacemaker-type device implanted.

UPDATE: I'll be at the hospital for "23 hours" starting Friday morning.

Why 23 hours?

*shrug*

Apparently, there is a distinct difference between an "overnight stay" and a "23 hour stay" which happens to include a person being in the hospital overnight.

The difference?
Probably price and I'm hoping that 23 hours is cheaper than overnight...

I get to leave the hospital at around 9am on Saturday morning.

So, more changing as a result of finding that. Basically the doctor wanted one thing (the 23 hour stay) but the administrative staff booked another.
But all is well and I'm heading out to see the sunshine!

Surgery = Friday, April 19th "in the morning".

Unfortunately, I won't know until Thursday what time the surgery will actually take place, what time I need to be there to check in, etc.

My doctor had been talking with me all along about having me stay the night after the surgery but now it appears that we are doing it out-patient. Just 5-6 hours from check-in to check-out time!

As one of my last "I'm still feeling good events", I'm going to a Creedence Clearwater Revisited concert on Thursday night at the Palace. Yes, for those of you keeping score, that name is "Revisited" while the original band was called Creedence Clearwater Revival. Why the difference? Well, of the 5 people in this band only 2 are still around from the original CCR. Doug "Cosmo" Clifford (drums) and Stu Cook (bass) brought in 3 other guys to fill in for John Fogerty and Tom Fogerty. Yes, that's 3 people filling the spots of 2 and they still can't quite do it! *laugh*

More about the original CCR can be found on this page...

I just have to make sure that I don't eat or drink anything after midnight that night!! That's one of the requirements for having the anesthesia for the surgery.

While doing a google search for my cranial facial surgeon (Dr. Jefrey Fishman), I only come up with 2 results. Is that a bad sign? One is saying that he is a faculty member in a plastic surgery program. That's good. The other tells me that he is a bit of a car enthusiast and really likes his '96 Chevy Impala SS. *smirk*

Imagine his surprise when I mention that one to him!

This is good homework though because after my surgery, I'm going to talk with Dr. Fishman about setting up a website for him. It's what I do every day and I've never really gotten very active in doing independent projects so this seems like the perfect time! I'm still looking for the things I am supposed to learn/change from this experience and I think maybe that is one of them!

More later (maybe).

Surgery will be either next Wednesday or Friday and then I will stay in the hospital that night. I won't know for sure which day until Monday. Scheduling would probably be better for Friday, but I seem to be healing quite quickly so it is probably better to do it Wednesday if possible.

Still no pain. Soreness, for sure and probably more than I realize but I've just kinda gotten used to it.

And no, even with the screws they will put in place -- I will _not_ set off metal detectors. The screws are titanium which goes through undetected and also will not mess up CAT scans. Yeah for modern medicine!

Saw George Clinton and P-Funk last night! What a party! A local band, the Howling Diablos opened for them and they were what I expected. Local rock band trying to look/feel like a national/international rock band. But they were fun!

I'd link to the website for George Clinton but it annoys me so much that I can't do that in good conscience. It's badly-designed, hasn't been updated since at least November and kinda slow... (yes, I'm a website snob) I'd also link to the website for the Howling Diablos but it's pretty outdated, with lots of broken links and images too. I just sent an email, offering to help out and improve the site.

Clinton and P-Funk sure know how to put on a show and now we all know why the tickets were $30+ -- they had over 20 people on stage at various times! Vocalists, back-up singers, guitarists, horn players, and George up there bellowing and conducting the whole thing. Leading the group but also taking the crowd anywhere he wanted.

20 years since Clinton started up his journey on the Mothership, right here in Detroit...

Unfortunately they didn't go on until almost 10:30 and by about 12:30 everyone I was with was exhausted (myself included). I'm sure that the show went on for at least another hour and finished up around 2am.

Fortunately, I was able to sleep in a bit before coming into the office.

Back in the office.

Trying for 1/2 day today, 1/2 day on Thursday and probably most of the day on Friday.

Surgery is next week, either Wednesday or Friday but probably Friday. That's when my facial surgeon, Dr. Fishman, has reserved time in the ER each week. They'll knock me out (gas, not a blow to the head) and I'll be on a breathing machine of some sort for a couple of hours while they operate. Total of 3 incisions made and a bunch of screws added to hold things together.

The surgeon let me ask lots of questions on Tuesday and explained things really well, but I forgot to ask one important question:

Will the screws set off the metal detectors at airports and elsewhere?

*laugh*

Seems like they would. I guess I'll have to carry a doctor's explanation or something.

Oh well, I'll see the facial surgeon again on Thursday afternoon and I can ask him then.

My boss just stoped by as I was writing this to chat. He (like many others) was surprised to see me. This is a pretty serious injury so I've been surprised that I am currently in no pain even without any medication right now! Initially I was taking lots of Advil but the facial surgeon asked me to stop taking that, in preparation for the surgery. We thought I might need to hit the vicodin but there has been no need yet.

I will be out of commission for about 2 weeks following the surgery so I'm trying to get things accomplished before the surgery.

On Tuesday, an opthalmologist confirmed that there is _no damage_ to my eye. *smile* That was great news! I thought it was fine and the ER staff thought it was fine, but it was good to have a thorough exam to confirm that. Even though it's undamaged, there was some trauma so it is sensitive. I think the drugs were taking the edge off that, so last night and this morning it bothered me a bit.

Irritated from the smoke at the restaurant, probably. Stephanie was in town on Tuesday for her birthday an to cart me around to my appointments. We baked banana bread and, watched the Wallace and Gromit movie "A Grand Day Out". I think she enjoyed it, but I forgot how much better both "The Wrong Trousers" and "A Close Shave" are. Stephanie asked about the tapes sitting on my movie rack and it was easier to show one than to explain...

We also watched "Law and Order", which I have gotten a bit hooked on over the past month.

For dinner, Stephanie wanted barbecue, so we went to Memphis Smoke in Royal Oak and stuck around for some music.

The Tuesday night entertainment is called "The Pazman Super Sessions" and essentially it's a big jam session of people from local bands who don't have gigs on Tuesday night. There were 2 guys from Mudpuppy, 2 of the Brothers Groove performing last night.

This morning I rested and watched "The Fast and the Furious". Decent flick. Good for a solid wake-up at 10 in the morning.

If you're still reading this and thinking that I'm really pushing it being so active, you're right. I know I'm going to be feeling cruddy for awhile after the surgery so right now while I feel ok I am trying to enjoy myself and run errands that need to be accomplished. I _still_ need to do my taxes and hopefully I can get that taken care of this evening.

Long entry, stopping now...

Thanks to everyone for their prayers, comments, phone calls, and emails.

Appointment with specialist = delayed
I called in the afternoon and they said that if I'm doing fine (which I am) and if I wanted to go to the office that is only 1 mile away instead of 20 (which I do), that was fine.

So, the appointment is at 11:30 Tuesday morning. Stephanie is going to be here for the day (Happy Birthday to her!) and that will be one of our errands for the day...

For tonight, Rob and Beth invited me over to their house and I accepted. Beth works just a couple of miles west of me and will pick me up on her way home from work. Relaxation time with friends plus being able to pet their beautiful Collie, Chase will be nice.

Looks like my mom is going to come up later in the week but I'll wait to cofirm that until after my appointment tomorrow.

Before I left the ER on Sunday, they gave me my X-rays to take to the facial surgeon. Today, I opened them up, took a look and snapped a few digital photos of them. *grin* My new roommate (among others) will laugh about that one! He'll laugh mostly b/c one of the first things I had him do after I got home on Sun. night and explained the situation was to ask him to take a couple of digital pics of me.

I have to wait before posting them b/c right now I'm on Bart's (roommate) computer. Mine isn't hooked up to the internet yet.

In other news, I got a parking ticket last night. I was parked in front of our house and apparently you cannot do that between 2-6am. *sigh* So, Tuesday I'll pay a personal visit to the city offices, show my face, explain and hope that they wave it. Sure $10 isn't bad and under ordinary circumstance I would pay it, but... Talk about hitting a guy while he's down!

Made some butterscotch pudding and it's cooling in the fridge. I was going to do some green beans with mushroom soup but will wait for that. Decided this will be a good time to start using my Cuisinart/juicer. My buddy John likes doing carrot juice, but I'm not so sure about that one! I can eat and had leftover spaghetti for dinner but soft things are good too! Crackers with jam and a banana was breakfast.

After that exciting discussion of food, I should stop. It seems like I'm at least a little bit loopy from the meds. No need for the vicodin yet. Trying not to resort to that.

Major event of the weekend:

Sunday afternoon, during our first softball practice of the year, I "took one for the team". One (a ball) in the eye, that is.

After many hours at the Beaumont Hospital ER in Royal Oak, they determined that the orbital around the eye
(the bony part) that protects your eye was fractured. The x-rays showed 2 fractures, but then the CAT scan
gave more detail and showed that there are actually 6 fractures.

Today, I am taking meds, resting, and getting ready for an appointment with a specialist today at 2:45. Most likely, my recovery is going to include reconstructive surgery of some sort.

Stephanie will probably be here for the day on Tuesday and my mom said she would drive out later in the week if I want her to.

That's all for now. This is just something that happened, so I'm dealing with it. Fine to talk about and all that.

The softball team was with a group from church, so the guys have been very supportive. My friend John is the captain and he stayed with me almost the entire time I was in the ER. Bill was the guy who hit the ball and he felt terrible about what happened. I tried to explain that it's just an accident and that I wasn't mad at him (which I'm not) -- he was with us at the hospital the last couple of hours and then helped get my car back to my new place.

Fortunately, everything is moved into my new place and pretty well situated. Still a few boxes around but not bad.

Moving this week = busy.
Finishing up this afternoon and early evening, then unpacking this weekend.

More about the week, weekend and moving later.

Heard/read lots of interesting news bits over the past couple of days, but I'm waiting to post links until decisions are made on what was an April Fool's Joke and what was just weird and happened to hit on April 1st.

Happy belated Easter, everyone!

I was able to spend time with my co-workers (Friday lunch), extended family (Friday night and Sunday), plus good friends (Saturday night).

For those of you who don't know or have forgotten, I grew up near a small town south of Hillsdale, Michigan. Hillsdale is about 30 minutes south of Albion or Jackson.

Anyway, I bring this up because for years every restaurant in the area has been mediocre at best but now there is a great restaurant nearby. It's in Jonesville and is called the Chicago Water Grill (it's on/near Chicago Street). The chef grew up in the area and then went to culinary school in Colorado Springs and came back to open the restaurant. Beautiful place with an interesting menu.

Shark, grouper, pheasant soup, and pirogies (I know I'm spelling that wrong) were the most unusual items and the menu also included ribs, prime rib, and peanut-crusted chicken. The desserts were phenomenal too!

Stephanie and I went to dinner Saturday night with my friends Andy, Carrie, Shane, Amanda, Mark, and Carla. Good conversation and only a few "old times" stories. Looking forward to making more memories as we plan our camping trip for this summer.

That's all for now -- off to watch the Osbournes!

Interesting article in the New Yorker called "The Myth of a Paperless Office". It's the discussion of a book by that name, but there's quite a bit of information in this review.

For those of you with messy desks, it gives you justification for it!

(and as many of you know, I love being able to justify things so it's great for me)

Also in the New Yorker is an article with new evidence of Saddam Hussein's genocidal war on the Kurds. Difficult topic, but important to read. It's very long, but a quick skim over the article will show you how powerful it is. I need to go back and finish up later.

On a happier note, it's time for the weekend!

Packing up tonight, going to Genesis, and stopping by to see my new roommate for a bit. Need to look at how we're going to network the computers and talk a bit about colors for my room.

Hopefully going to watch Space 2001 on Friday morning.

I'm a designer again.

Well, I've always considered myself more of a "web designer" than a "webmaster" (my actual job title) and over the past few months, my job has been slowly creeping even further into the "web developer" realm. That means dealing with databases, programming code, and lots of trial/error trying to figure out why something won't work and it usually ends up that you forgot a semi-colon or something.

But at least in the short term, I've been given a reprieve from that. Sure, I still need to be learning and fiddling with things on the development side but it looks like redesigning the look of the website, navigation, and some of the department areas is more important.

Money.

That's the bottom line. The college needs to concentrate on "revenue sources" like getting new students to take classes. Lots of 'em. Many new students would be good.

It seems like this is going to be a work-dominated post.

Sitting in my boss' office today, discussing all of this and going back-and-forth with out usual good-natured banter. He's a 30-something former English major, so we can relate to each other.

Anyway, the college closes at noon on Friday b/c of Good Friday and we have been trying to plan a going-away lunch for one of my co-workers. This is my last Friday not to be at the office before my schedule changes to 5 days x 8 hours.

But he asks me "are you available on Friday?".

I ask him, "can you define 'available'?" *smirk*

So he starts explaining that he's trying to plan the going-away lunch for Friday, since we don't work in the afternoon, etc. I begin to ask if we could do it on Thursday and then it hits me.

--He wants to do it on Friday b/c none of us need to go back to the office and that means we can have drinks with lunch!

*laugh*

His word for what I experienced was an "information bomb". Dennis (my boss) just dropped the information and then waited to see how long it would take before it exploded.

Twerp!

Friday = "In the Bedroom" (movie review to follow later)
Saturday = Amber and Marshall's wedding
Sunday = early wake-up to do work stuff

You know it's a small, informal wedding when you go as a guest and end up as a participant... *laugh*
Yup -- I arrived at the chapel as the date of the Maid of Honor (Stephanie looked fantastic in her dress) and ended up with my own small role in the wedding. *smirk*

First, they asked if I would light the candles at the front of the chapel. No problem, fire is good. Turns out that meant I would be the first person walking into the chapel with guests watching.

The second task they asked me about was unrolling the paper for the bride to walk across on the way down the aisle. Not a problem...squat down, calmly move the roll, everybody's happy.

Finally, they asked me to walk the mother of the bride down the aisle!!! Mind you, I just met the woman that afternoon!

Essentially, my thought at times like these is "well, I'd rather be useful than to just be standing around".
Everything went well. No massive fire from the candles and I didn't trip the mother of the bride as she was walking. The roll of paper wasn't long enough to come all the way down the aisle, but that was the only small complication.

The family also asked me to videotape the ceremony, but fortunately they found someone else b/c it would have been tough to do that while also taking care of the other little things.

After all that?

I got to ride in the limo and drink a beer. (purchased by the groom) *grin*

The reception was fun, with much eating and dancing. Due in part to the fact that I helped out at the wedding, I was asked to join the head table. I didn't know anyone there, except Stephanie, so it was good. The bride was eager to taste the meatballs. The groom was just glad to have the ceremony over and couldn't wait to go gambling. She got her wish right away, but he has to wait until later this week.

Dinner, toasts, speech, laughter, dancing, and lots of chatting followed. Everyone was there for a good time and both families were filled with fun, easy-going people.

There are a few constants at wedding receptions. One is cake, another is the Macarena, a third is the throwing of the garter and bouquet.

(Can anyone see where this story is going?)

As you may have guessed...Stephanie caught the bouquet.

I caught the garter.

We had little choice in the matter. Amber (the bride) dropped a fairly strong hint that she was going to make the toss in Stephanie's direction. I say again, this was the bride, and it's not good to cross a bride on her wedding day.

Marshall (the groom) did his best Babe Ruth imitation when the single men (only 2 of us) walked up. He checked the wind direction, compensated for the gusts, and pointed. It was a screaming line-drive right to me!

Stephanie and I make a great couple, so who can blame Amber and Marshall (plus the D.J.) for having a little fun with us?

Snow. Cold. Sunny. Michigan.

Weekend!

Yes, my weekend has officially begun! All the work for the day is complete, after numerous calls back-and-forth with people at the office and also to my roommate in his office at Ford. Previously, he worked for Quicken Loans doing software testing.

Yet another reminder that I need to do my taxes on Sunday!

The weekend now begins with the exciting tasks of picking up tax forms and going for a haircut! Oh, the life I lead! *laugh* Action...Intrigue...mundane tasks...

But after that, Stephanie is meeting me at my place. *grin*

We're thinking about a movie, so there could be a review and links up early next week. That, or we're going to see a Jimmy Buffet cover band called "Air Margaritaville". Saturday is a wedding with Stephanie in Davidson, so not too far away. She is in the wedding and they are having a limo take them from the chapel to reception hall. I might get to ride with them!! (can you tell I'm excited about that?) I've been in 2 weddings, but didn't get in a limo for either.

I hope everyone has a good weekend -- I plan on it!