Chondrosarcoma – ah shit, bob's sick

This Past Week:
This past week has been another crazy week, but I guess you just have to laugh it off like a lot of things or they’ll drive you crazy. Actually, the week started off just fine. Work was good and I was moving ahead on my website projects on schedule and all was well. I was also developing some simple web forms and that was fine too.

On Tuesday we had done our second to the last radio show which was awesome … one of the best ever, lot’s of fun, lot’s of tunes and our guest was just the best. Ray L. who also reads this blog from time to time was our guest and he was just fabulous … and to be honest, I’d expect no less of him. He’s a pro at it and that makes all the difference when you’re doing a live show.

Wednesday was good day at work, Thursday started off well … well, until night that is .

Here’s the scoop … since our electrical fire a few weeks ago, we’d thought we gotten everything under control. New electronics have arrived and we’ve gotten them all situated and working, basically without a hitch. After a few weeks of this we finally thought “great, finally we’re back to where we were before any of this occurred”.

Well, it seems there are always some thing you just plain forget about. Overheads lights for one. We have several over-head fluorescent lights in our house that we seldom, if ever, use. You know, you don’t use every light in your house everyday. As a mater of fact, if you think about it, there are probably a few lights you almost never use. This was the case in our house.

Thursday evening, for one reason or another Sher had placed the overhead lights on, in the dining room … one of those lights we so rarely use.

About an hour or so later, we were in the office when suddenly we got a whiff of that unforgettable scent that had covered the house when we had the electrical fire a few weeks back.

It’s a smell I won’t forget for a long time to come … still fresh in my memory, visions of a house fire flashed through my mind and immediately the adrenaline started to pump through my system.

I made my way toward the dining room and sure enough, the closer I got, the stronger the scent got. Damn! I yelled out to Sher to call the fire department again, as a light film of smoke started to appear at the ceiling level. That heavy scented smoke that thick with the smell of electrical.

Here we go again right! Instant replay. We went down to the basement and shut-off the circuit breakers to that section of the house, leaving in the dark once again, found our way outside and waited.

Flash forward a bit …. After the fire department arrived and checked everything out, we discovered that many of our head lights had taken damage during the original electrical fire and we never realized it.

While no new damage was done, we now need to replaced all the over-head lights and get that damn smell out of the house. Of course I missed a day of work because I wanted to be there when our electrician arrived at seven in the morning and make sure everything got covered and checked this time.

So a lesson learned, if you have an electrical situation like this, make sure you check everything, lights, electronics, switched etc etc., before starting the process of repair. Now Sher will have to write to the insurance company again and start all over … more time spent, more time wasted.

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We had a really enjoyable weekend, I can’t say I got a lot of work related things done but it was the variety of things that made it exciting. For one Alberic was here this weekend and as always we did our typical fun stuff.

One project I’d been working on for awhile is the restoration of a beautiful utility trailer that I had begun last year but never gotten to finish. At five foot wide and eight and a half feet long, this trailer is sort of like a small rack truck. All four sides, or and combination of can be removed for hauling just about any size or type of load from a stack of hay bales to a small tractor. I also have a pair of ramps for it in the event you have to drive something up on it, to load it.

Last year I had completed stripped the frame down, sandblasted the frame, painted it, and then re-wired all the electrical stuff, new tires, greased all the bearing and axles … the whole nine yards. I also replaced the old floor deck with all new three-quarter inch outdoor plywood flooring. Then I hooked up my spray guns and paint that with the toughest outdoor enamels money could buy. All that was painted in black.

The last thing to be done was to refinish the actual racks that go around the trailer. I took one rack at a time, dis-assembled it, painted the slats John Deere green, wire-wheeled all the carriage bolts of rust and painted those black. There were four of these racks and I had finished two of them, so I had two more to go.

Al and I started on one of them this weekend. He did most of the painting and I did most of the dis-assembling. When we’re all finished (maybe two weeks from now), I’ll probably put it up for sale. I don’t think I’ll be using like I had once planned too. The only other thing I want to do, is some pin stripping on it, again, probably in John Deere green and yellow. It’s the strongest and sharpest looking utility trailer you’ve ever seen! … and felt so good getting it to the point where it’s finally getting back together again.

I have this great workshop that I haven’t used much in the past year and felt so good to be back out in the shop doing something physical like that … especially with this great weather we’ve been having. I’d been thinking of turning it into a wheelchair repair and rebuilding shop. I love to work on things like that … always gives back a sense of accomplishment. I have great spray painting and sand blasting equipment … so it makes the whole job do-able right from within my shop.

I got carried away with that story … anyway, while we were waiting for some of the paints to dry, Alberic spotted our “RS Salamander”! That’s the small dingy that we use to go out in our ponds and maintain them. When Al was younger those ponds were like lakes to him, but now that he’s older, I let him out by himself. He usually takes a hook with him and sort of dredges the bottom for branches and stuff that have fallen in over the winter.

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I got an email from Amy Ochalski today and they’re opening a new Proton Center in Somerset, New Jersey!. Sad to say that New Jersians (if that’s a word) will have to wait till at least 2012 before it opens … but at least the ground-breaking has started. You can read more about it here: http://procure.com/nj . If you know someone in NJ that may be in need of proton treatment … feel free to pass them my email address, and I’d be happy to explain more about treatment, of course that’s providing they’re in a position to wait.

It’s strange that I’ve gotten so many mailings for Proton Therapy Centers being built around the country … well the world for that matter. Somehow they all seem to send me information on new developments and centers. I did sign onto Harvard’s program last fall … maybe that’s it.

We’re starting to get a bit comfortable with our new stove, which I now have to admit is pretty nice. I took this photo with my cell phone, so it’s not the highest quaility … but good enough to get the idea across. Now I can cook again!

One of the amazing things about this stove, is the speed in which it heats up. It’s so fast and energy efficient. I had thought our old one was the best for longevity and still may be, but no matter how you cut it … this is one awesome piece of cooking equipment.

I received an email from my friend Rose in Sweden and she was just leaving on the Silja Line Serenade (cruise ship)! … I wish her all the best on this trip and hope she returns healthier then when she left … She deserves a nice break  . She’s traveling with her daughter, son in law, and two wonderful grandchildren. How lucky can you get! All the best to you Rose … we wish you well!

We have decided to end our live radio shows (after all these years) at the end of April (last show, April 27). We’re doing this to free up some time, reserve energy for future projects and do some serious relaxing during this summer. I’ll miss producing the show, it’s been a lot of fun … but to be honest, it’s also been a lot of work too, and my energy only goes so far these days … and so be it. I want to focus on family, work, and a few projects I have going on myself.

So while I will continue playing Guitar Hero … live shows will be out after the end of April. Gee whiz, what am I gonna do with all this free time?

I’ve been feeling much better since the weather has turned warmer. It feels so nice not to be cold all the time and my energy level seems to have returned slightly because of this. Fighting off the cold always burns energy and for the time being I’m free from that. My tiredness continues, but I’ve been slowly adjusting my hours and work accordingly and it seems to be paying off.

All the burns have totally healed and besides a dis-colored patch of skin, and a small lump … you never know I ever recieved such powerful treatments. It’s truely amazing. Of course I feel compelled to tell you that I still glow (a strange greenish tint) when the lights are out though!

Walking hasn’t improved, but neither has it gotten any worse. Somedays I can travel further then others and at this point in time I have to assume that it has to do with my all-round energy level, rising and falling. We all have days that we’re more tired or energitic then others … I guess it’s no different then that.

I don’t think we’ll be planting much of a garden this year … maybe just one small one, with some tomatoes, peppers, brussel-sprouts, and a few more crops. I have to grow tomatoes at least! I’d miss those fresh summer tomatoes too much. Oops … and a few acorn squash … yummy. Besides, yard work will be a challenge I’m sure …. Time to start the tractor up too!

Well that’s it for now, we’ll see how things go over the next few weeks.