Great cartoons for your new video iPod

And the rest of you too (you don't need no video iPod to enjoy these). I particularly like the 3D rendered cartoon of the caveman rediscovering independence!

Looking Better Already!

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Originally uploaded by Macknal.

We are a week into the kitchen rehab process and it's an improvement already ;) This pic was taken on Day 2 - you can see the plumbing is being moved to put the sink under the "hole in the wall", away from the corner.

Darkness

Blimey, it's that time of the year already!!! It's 5:30pm and dark dark dark outside. Can't wait for the extended daylight-saving to kick in (when, next year?)!

Stage IV - yet Stable

After seeing the doctor yesterday we are decidedly more upbeat about the current situation than we were on Friday (and all weekend). Unfortunately, I've been "downgraded" from Stage IIIb to Stage IV (downgraded, since IIIb was considered curable even if by a very small margin whereas IV is considered terminal).

With the bad news out of the way, I can now focus on the good news which is that my situation is stable. At least, the differences between scans taken between July and now suggest that if any development in my cancer has occurred it has been very small. The crux is with what happened between March and July where noticable growth in my lung nodules took place. For now though, I appear to be responding postively to Tarceva and since I'm tolerating it very well, we aren't going to fix what isn't entirely broken.

Let me add (after finding out that this note isn't being too well received) that the doctor is very positive about my situation. He feels that I have many more years left and is hopeful that during this time, a major breakthrough will occur in the lung cancer field that will improve my overall prognosis (which we agree, just like life itself, isn't soo good ;).

I'm sure, we will get to play out this saga again in 12 weeks which is when I'll have my next round of tests. Stay tuned (I know I will be).

Kitchen Rehab

Our kitchen is now an empty shell of its former self. Yesterday began the process of rehabbing our humblest room in the house. The kitchen, it's safe to say, needed a lot of work and within three weeks, we'll hopefully have one to be proud of. Just in time for putting the house on the market (well of course, not just yet, but soon).

Also - my followup visit with the doctor is this afternoon. I'll let you know as soon as I do what my future (medication) plans hold.

Latest Doctor's Visit

This week has been one of tests and followup and unfortunately the results were not what we were hoping for. The latest CT Scan shows some new activity in my right lung. The doctor, acknowledging that this isn't at all good, wants to make absolutely sure that these new nodules weren't overlooked in prior CT Scans. So it's my job to get digital copies of all my tests results from Northwest Community Hospital and take them to the doc on Tuesday where we hope to paint a clearer picture: Our best case scenario is that the nodules pre-existed in which case my condition remains unchanged and we followup in three months. The worst case scenario will have me going back on Chemotherapy with a different regimen from the Carboplatin that I was on last time.

We wait and see...

Video iPod

Hooray! Just received a call from the Apple Store. My new iPod has arrived :)

More Photos

Although not an exhaustive collection of our recent pics, the link will take you to our Flickr Set page where you can see what we've gotten up to since Moon Beach.

Funny Clip

Thanks William for this link. An oldie, but a goodie as they say :)

Apple Rocks

So one of Apple's big announcements today was their video iPod. Lovely piece of hardware coming in with 10GB more space, more battery life, bigger screen and video support and at the same price as the bloody 20GB iPod (4th Gen) that I was lucky enough to talk Innochka into getting two weeks ago. Sigh!!!

Well after a short telephone call where I aired my discontent, they said they'd replace our dated product with the new one subject to a 10% restocking fee. Not a bad price for a considerable upgrade. Still, it would have paid to wait just a couple more weeks. I wonder what iPod they'll bring out next month?

Fun Times

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Originally uploaded by Macknal.

It's been a real busy few days for us considering how "quiet" things have been on the home front these past couple of months. Of course, "quiet" is not a good way to describe it when there is a four month old at home.

The weekend offered the perfect cure for our bout of cabin fever. We were busy each day playing guest. First Masha & Gena with a Friday night social. Christina and Jeff treated us to a phenomenal meal at their place where we got to meet Mari & Oscar's little Marcus Oscar Corona. Then Mike and Tiffany put on "The Best Tea Ever" at their place while hosting Owen and Tamlyn who were visiting from NC. Here we got to meet little Ethan and Claire. A lovely weekend - thanks to everybody involved for making it so enjoyable.

Then to top it off, Kevin Kubiak (now a private pilot - we were learning to fly together) took me flying on Monday. The flight would take us to Dubuque Iowa, then up the Mississippi river into Wisconsin/Minnesota where we could witness some Fall colors. Then East to Janesville for lunch via a friend's farm where some buzzing was to take place. Then finally back to Waukegan to call it a day. Everything was going beautifully until just prior to take-off from Dubuque. After the run-up our nose wheel tire went flat - we were stuck at the threshold of runway 36. Frustrating for long time pilots no doubt, but very exciting for the likes of us. There is no better seat for watching landing traffic than outside the plane at a runway's threshold. Although it took some time for help to arrive and take us back to the hangar and for the wheel to get fixed, we didn't lose heart. Instead, we grabbed some lunch, shot the breeze and then before long we were back in the air heading back to Waukegan Regional Airport.

Pictures? They will follow shortly...

Dolby Headphone

I first heard about this on the recent diggnation podcast. Even though the technology has been around for some time already, I was so impressed that I had to find more demos on the internet.

Skies are Clearing

After a weekend where both Inna and Danny were under the weather, the skies appear to be clearing. Gratefully, I believe I dodged this bullet. I like to think it's because of my superior (cough) health! My mother-in-law, no doubt, believes this can be attributed to Nikken Green Enzymes. Whatever it is, I'm glad I only suffered a minor sniffle. Very glad that everybody is on the mend and all smiles.